Returning to the Dervish

It’s been almost four months now since the Dervish update implementation in Guild Wars. Having looked back over the (short) history of my blog, I’ve happened to notice that my original Dervish update post is one of the most popular pages I’ve made, be that through searches on google or browsing on the blog. Having played around with the Dervish a little more since February, I’ve made other builds I find fun and/or useful, so I thought I’d share them with anyone interested.

This time, I’ll show you what I’m currently using as a PvE anti-melee/physical tanking setup. This build is most useful against small-medium size mobs of Warriors, Rangers, Assassins, Dervishes and Paragons when solo farming or in a small group. Please note: this isn’t a high damage output build, it is used to tank physical damaging mobs.

Profession: Dervish/Elementalist

Template Code: OgakkYp46yqU21zl4G7l7VcppQPI

Attributes: 6 Earth Magic, 11 Scythe Mastery, 13 Earth Prayers, 12 Mysticism

Equipment I use:

Complete maximum armour set of:

Survivor Hood of Major Earth Prayers + 1 Mysticism (stacking)

Radiant Robes of Attunement

Windwalker Vambraces of Superior Scythe Mastery

Survivor Leggings of Superior Vigor

Windwalker Shoes of Minor Mysticism

Droknar’s Scythe (alternatives are available)

Skills:

1.    Dust Cloak – applies blindness condition on tear down. Can be used to re-cast Kinetic Armour.

2.   Twin Moon Sweep – tears down Dust Cloak, damages and gives a healing bonus. (sometimes I switch this for Rending Sweep if I need more damage output/enchantment removal)

3.   Heart of Fury – increases attack speed and adrenaline gain.

4.   Mystic Regeneration – maintaining your enchantments will provide +8 health regeneration. Can be used to re-cast Kinetic Armour.

5.   Avatar of Balthazar – increases physical armour, adrenaline gain and sets adjacent foes on fire when tearing down Dust Cloak.

6.   Mental Block – provides 50% chance to block attacks, auto-renewal when you’re hit. Can be used to re-cast Kinetic Armour.

7.   Kinetic Armour – provides +44 armour, auto-renewal when you cast a spell.

8.   Eternal Aura – provides +100 max health, hard resurrect.

I’ve used this build for Hard Mode areas with many physical attackers, solo farming for tomes/lockpicks/gold, and four-party-member areas. The build works better with bunched up enemies, as the adrenaline gain is increased. So far, energy management hasn’t been a problem, unless battles are drawn out of long stretches, or if Kinetic Armour has to be re-cast mid-battle. If you intend to use Kinetic Armour, as I have, be sure to re-cast Dust Cloak or Mystic Regeneration before those 8 seconds are up, otherwise you’ll quickly lose that +44 armour (re-casting Mental Block can help if the other two skills are still on cool-down).

Counters of this build can include: Groups with anti-melee; most casters; knock down skills; enchantment removal; powerful/spammy group healers.

Feel free to adapt the build however you like. Remember, it isn’t perfect, and this is something to perhaps inspire your own skill bar building.

Maybe next time I’ll post a different profession; Dervishes aren’t everyone’s cup of tea.

– Cornish

MVOP Night and the Dervish Update

Massively Overpowered!

Last night, MVOP met in the Consulate Docks to begin the run through the Nightfall Campaign. I stayed behind to check out the new Dervish update, but I did join the livestream group for the vanquish of Melandru’s Hope. Discussion covered the Dervish skill update, PAX, and of course there was Guild Wars 2 speculation. You can check out the recorded session here, and tune in to the next MVOP Night over at the Massively channel.

In other news, ArenaNet changed up Guild Wars yesterday with the new update for the Dervish, so I’ll give my initial impressions.

Firstly, the Dervish is now much less of a tank than it used to be. Well, I find it harder to use as a tank, anyway. A few of the skills that I had on my old skill bar changed too much for me to want to use them, and others won’t function as I’d like with the new enchantment remvoval skills. At first I thought this was a bad thing, but after changing up my skill bar, equipment, secondary profession, and attributes, I’ve discovered how versatile the new Dervish can be.

"I now juggle conditions like I juggle geese!" - Kronox Gaia, Feb. 2011.

The Dervish is much more of a support profession than before, with more party heals and condition placement abilities available to them. Energy management is better, with the introduction of adrenaline use on certain scythe skills, and the revamp of mysticism. I’m also glad they increased the attack speed of the scythe to get adrenaline notches quicker. These are all great improvements.

As for skills, I’ve always steered clear of the Avatar skills before, but after the update they seem incredibly useful. These elites can now be used for a multitude of beneficial purposes, be it team support, self defense, inflicting conditions, stealing health or energy. The number of different skill bars that have yet to be created with these changes is exciting, and I’ll share with you a new build that I’ve just started using:

Profession: Dervish/Mesmer.

Attributes: 13 Scythe Mastery, 11 Earth Prayers, 8 Mysticism, 10 Illusion Magic. Also, I’m currently running with 440 health and 30 energy.

Type of build: Condition spamming and Area of Effect damage.

Skills:

1: Avatar of Balthazar – Elite skill. Use for increased physical armour, faster adrenaline build-up, and applying burning when enchantments are stripped.

2: Fragility – AoE damage when enemies gain/lose conditions.

3: a) Crippling Sweep – Use to apply crippled condition.

b) Zealous Sweep – Useful for energy/adrenaline management.

4: Staggering Force – First flash enchantment. Strip off with skill 5/8 for cracked armour condition.

5: Wearying Strike – Strip off flash enchantment, applies deep wound.

6: Reap Impurities – Strip off enemy condition, damages adjacent enemies.

7: Heart of Holy Flame – Second flash enchantment. Strip off with skill 5/8 for burning condition.

8: Signet of Pious Light – Self heal, use to strip off flash enchantment.

As you can see, this build is based around the application and removal of both conditions and flash enchantments. It’s important to maintain the Avatar and have Fragility active on at least one enemy at all times. With each application of a condition, enemies hexed with Fragility (and enemies adjacent to them) take 15 damage, and once again when a condition ends/is removed. Because of the almost constant application and removal of conditions, most enemies will go down pretty quickly. This skill bar also causes more burning than my Elementalist’s!

I’m loving this build, but I’ll likely tweak it if I find any bosses/foes that counter it. I’d also love to try it with an E/Me hero/guildie with Teinai’s Crystals and Hypochondria.

Here’s the build code (that’s minus rune attributes, of course) – OgWkEop6ayej7dC8f1uBYn74V/C

Have fun with it!

-CornishRocker

Dervishes and their Evolution in Guild Wars.

With only two days to go before ArenaNet releases details on the Guardian profession of Guild Wars 2, speculation has been thrown around everywhere in the community. Today, I’ll add my two pennies by discussing how the Dervishes of GW1 could develop into the Guardians of GW2. There are, of course, big differences between the conventional role of the Dervish and that expected of the Guardian, but the similarities aren’t unnoticeable.

I'm not fond of the name BML, but it sounds better than Azure Hit-stick Woman

The Dervish holds a special place in my heart because it is my main character’s profession in Guild Wars 1. As soon as I saw the ‘Blue Mace Lady’ on the ArenaNet website, how could I not be drawn to the likeness of her to a Dervish? She appeared a mystical soldier, with a blue aura surrounding her, the mace and shield. I immediately thought of the enchantments associated with the Dervish profession.

In Guild Wars 1, the Dervish is generally considered a tanker, spiker or a runner. There are few other avenues to explore with the profession, as they don’t have the armor and survivability of the warrior, or the healing potency of Monks and Ritualists. Yet, there is one main aspect to the Dervish that Warriors generally have little control over; maintaining their own health and energy levels. Dervish healers aren’t unheard of, either. This is down to the power of the enchantment.

The problem with the Dervish, I’ve found, is that one of their great strengths is also a crippling weakness. That is, the enchantments they have at their disposal are useful, but fragile. One of the best aspects of enchantments on the Dervish would be the benefit of the primary attribute of the profession, Mysticism. This attribute gives back health and energy once an enchantment ends. This is both useful for energy management and setting up damage spike combinations. The problem with enchantments is that they are susceptible to removal skills and interrupts. These problems can destroy a Dervish’s usefulness in a group, and they can quickly find themselves dead in the midst of a mob without the support of a dedicated healer.

A Dervish whirled by Wind Riders

With the upcoming update for the Dervish, I’d like to see the profession become less dependent on the failsafe of dedicated healers, and have some sort of interrupt ability of their own to help prevent enchantment removal. As for other skills, I could see the Dervish become a little more of a support class aswell, with some of their skills providing support to other party members, especially melee characters, with damage or healing buffs. This could eventually tie in with the dervishes’ development into the Guardians we’ll see in Guild Wars 2.

It is forseeable in Guild Wars 2 that the Dervish will combine with the Monk, and quite possibly the Ritualist and Paragon, to become the Guardian. In terms of gameplay, this can work because of the nature of the Dervish as a melee spellcaster and the Monk and Ritualist as protectors and healers. As for lore and story, it would make sense for the Dervish profession to become that of the Guardian; classes in Guild Wars 2 cannot be race specific, and Dervishes pray to Human Gods exclusively. Ultimately, it would be impossible for the class to exist in Charr or Asuran groups, for example, and so a common theme should be applied to a class available to all races. The compromise comes in the form of the Guardian.

I certainly look forward to how this class will play in GW2.

An additional note: I’d like to thank GuildMag for adding the blog to their fanlisting. Thanks dudes!

-CornishRocker