My two cents - On getting your dervish through Gates of Madness

Followed this setup this weekend and finally got my dervish through on 1st attempt

As you know most people do not want a dervish in there group for the gates of madness mission. After endless attempts with PUG’s only to get slaughtered. I did some research and came up with the solo Dervish Hench group build. I did not rely on any degeneration for Shiro. I took Koss set up as adrenaline sword warrior with Watch Yourself and Wild Blow and Rez, and both monk hero’s one set as prot monk and the other set as healer. I then took the following henchmen: Mhenlo, Devona, Cynn, and Odurra. Me a Dervish/Warrior (Max points in Mysticism then put Scythe Mastery to 9 or higher up to you, and the balance in Tactics) I used the following skills Avatar of Balthazar, Balthazar Rage, Heart of Fury, Chilling Victory, Wild Blow, Watch Yourself, Resurrect, and one of the following Defensive Stance or Protectors Defense. Not a high dmg build but good for armor and spamming watch yourself helps everyone. I used skills in this order Avatar then Balthazar Rage then Heart of Fury then Defensive Stance or when it is recharging I spammed Watch Yourself, and chopped away at everyone on the way to Shiro.

With three Melee and three monks getting to Shiro should be not be too hard (Watch your agro, take your time, and let your healers regenerate energy before tackling the next group.) Once you close the portals do the following. In the door way to the next area that has the Shiro and the Lich 1. Flag Koss in the middle hall way. Next walk straight back from Koss with him in plain sight (centered on the hallway) and flag all henchmen so your agro bubble just overlaps Kosses green dot. Now put one hero monk to the left of your henchmen and make sure your agro button overlaps Koss a little. Now go to the right with your final monk. All must have plain sight on Koss. If done correctly your group will look like a fan on your radar screen. After everyone is flagged walk towards shiro wait for him to run to you. Turn and run back to your party past Koss. Koss will get the agro of Shiro, and Devona will run in for the fight. At the same time your casters will start wanding / spelling away. Attack Shiro and spam wild blow when you see Ripositing Shadows or Battle Scars. When you see Impossible odds coming hit Defensive Stance (Do not use a skill till this is over) or Protectors Defense (Once activated do not move at all). I was able to finish him off in about 4 minutes. Then I went temple to temple killing all the temple guards to get the bonus with the lich following me around barley doing anything to me. After getting all temples I killed the lich very quick.

Alternatively, run in, kill the lich, then just play parade and lead shiro all over the place while you kill the margonites and cap the shrines, as long as you're not hitting him all that much, shiro doesn't do that much damage.

You know, I've beaten this mission 5 times now, 4 of which with all henchies. Beat it with a Dervish, Necro, Warrior, Monk and Paragon and I've never had any trouble with it.

The main thing is your heroes. I took:

Zhed: Fire: 15 Earth: 7 Energy Storage: 11
Searing Flames
Glowing Gaze
Liquid Flame
Fire Attunement
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Ward Against Melee
Leech Sig
Res Sig

MoW/Olias Blood: 15 Soul Reaping: 10 Inspiration: The Rest
Spoil Victor
Well of Blood
Signet of Lost Soul
Power Return
Leech Sig
Power Drain
Blood Ritual
Res Sig

Morgahn: Spear: 9 Command: 14 Leadership: 12 Tactics: 8
Spear of Lightning
Go for the Eyes
Watch Yourself
They're on Fire
Incoming
Stand Your Ground
Shield's Up
Res Sig

On my Dervish I ran the build:
Mystic Sweep
Wild Blow
Reaper's Sweep
Faithful Intervention
Watchful Invention
Mystic Regenration
Conviction
Sunspear Rebirth Sig

Zhed + Morgahn combine for an insane amount of damage reduction. Olias uses his wells to counter all the degen on the way down. Getting to Shiro is easy enough.

Once I got to Shiro, I simply walked down the ramp, killed the Lich, then turned to Shiro. I didn't do any special pulling. Spoil Victor was made for Shiro. No idea why you wouldn't use it. Just Wild Blow him out of Battle Scars. When he used Impossible Odds, I made sure I was standing in the Ward Against Melee and tanked him. His health drops fast with Spoil Victor on when he uses IO. Real easy to tank him in Ward Against Melee with 50% reduction of damage from They're on Fire, ~150 armor with Armor of Sanctity, Stand Your Ground, Watch Yourself and Windwalker Inscriptions. Oh and the occasional Incoming and 10 health regeneration.

Try this out. Piece of cake. And if you want to do bonus, like the above poster said...just kill the Lich first and let Shiro chase you around. No big deal.