What makes a good Dervish?

Hey

Umm, i was just wandering, what makes a person a good Dervish? I have one, who's almost finished Nightfall lol, so i'm not foreign to it as such, it's just i'm used to being a monk so being a melee character is a little weird to get used to i suppose.

So any of you pro Dervishes out there mind telling me what makes a good Dervish?

well, as most ppl know dervishes are built around enchantments, and alot of thought needs to go into each enchantment picked for a specific, build. they should compliment each other, add conditions, or provide defense/healing. 1 important thing to remember is how u stack them.. knowing which is the most important enchantment must be applied 1st, so that others cover it, thus making it harder to be stripped.

another important point while attacking is to make sure vs melee, and casters if possible, is to ball them up. the scythe is able to hit 3 foes at a time, providing enormous healing from sks such as mystic vigor. even with low armour, mystic vigor combined with regen can provide a pretty gd tank, hitting 3 targets can give u the healing needed to keep going.

a pretty smiple tip but key in any build is mysticism. u must hit the break points needed for the energy gain, and any excess points should be dumped into other attributes, or otherwise are pretty much wasted.

gl and i hope this helps, dan *hint hint*

This is what makes a good dervish:
If you're in the middle of a bunch of foes, and someone asks "Jesus Christ, is your hero using SS with curses 30?", then you're doing a good job.

lol thank you, DAN! XD ^_^ nah that was really helpful, should've come to you first *smacks head*
i think its safe to say i've earned the title of "Plonker (10)" XD

But, if anyone else has lil suggestions, PLEASE! add i'd like my dervish to actually kill something without too much aid from ppl... like i've seen dan do O.o

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Fast reactions are probably the most important aspect of playing as a dervish.

A good dervish considers a few things while designing a build, the first step in being a good dervish. One is it survivable? Can you wade into a mob and come out still standing, can you be the last one standing and save a party wipe? Survivability for a dervish is all about enchantments. The staples are Conviction and Mystic Regeneration. Secondly you want to consider damage output. It does no good to try to tank anymore. The AI doesn't stand for it. You have to be able to take down targets. The scythe has huge damage if used properly and some dervish skills provide direct damage,i.e. Mystic Sandstorm. Try to pick attack skills with a manageable cost. You don't do your party any good if you can't consistently attack. Thirdly you should examine what benefits you can give your party members. Many dervish enchantments produce effects when they end or when they are applied. Since the AI likes to blow past your front line now and attack the squishies conditions like blindness and cripple can really save the day.

Once you get the build ironed out then you have to get into the mindset of playing the dervish. Since you started as a monk this isn't going to be as bad as you thought, indeed it's a good deal easier. One of the keys to the dervish is the status bar. You have to watch this constantly. You should be aware when an enchantment is about to expire, and for god's sake let it expire on it's own so you reap the Mysticisim benefits, and be ready to reapply it. A slow reaction time on a vital enchantment can leave you and your 70AL getting hammered by huge damage. Choose your targets well. Dervishes have the only natural AoE weapon in the game so why waste it on just one lonesome monster. Melee mobs still like to stack the odds against casters. They tend to gang up. Find the middle and let them all have it with one sweep of your scythe. Be concious of the monk and other support casters. Many dervish skills strip an enchantment for a benefit. I have found that nothing ticks a monk off more than you stripping off the protection enchantment they just blew energy putting on you. Be aware of your status bar and the enchantments you have on you. Finally, and this can be said for all classes really, plan accordingly. While there are some good all around utility builds you should be prepared to alter your build to suit the environment. Dervishes are very versatile damage dealers with the ability to do massive damage and apply conditions, but why bring an enchantment that causes bleeding when you know you're going to be in an area with lots of foes that have no flesh and are therefore immune? If the other benefits of the enchantment do not outweigh the loss of DoT damage in this hypothetical instance then you should probably consider bringing along another enchantment instead. Dervishes are potent forces of destruction if properly prepped and utilized. If you follow and refine these basic guidelines you'll be a pro dervish in no time.

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Strobo pretty much covered it. Put up your enchants right before you enter battle, go in and use your attacks. Generally bring one attack or skill that ends an enchantment immediately if you need a quick heal or more energy (Sig of Pious Light works well). Like he said though its important to let enchants end naturally. If you never let enchants end on you in battle, you should seriously consider deleting your derv and making another class with derv as secondary since in that case you're wasting mysticism's great energy management feature when you constantly 'refresh' enchants.

Imo, a dervish's specialty is dealing pressure damage. When played in PvE, a dervish will also serve as a tank due to the way AI works. In PvP, a dervish can focus more on damage and utility rather than pure defense since they are fighting actual humans who won't just mob the first enemy in range. Because of this, a general rule is to spec in Earth Prayers for PvE (Mystic Regeneration is your friend) and Wind Prayers for PvP.

A scythe by itself will usually provide pretty decent dps by itself, especially in PvE where you are more likely to be hitting multiple foes at once. Because of this, it's not as important to fill up on attack skills to make yourself worthwhile.

In addition to choosing good defensive skills, make use of certain enchantments as cover enchants to protect yourself from any stripping you may encounter. To do this, put your most important enchantments on first, and least important last since they get stripped in order of last one to be applied.

Hope that helps.

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Why is Mystic Regeneration a staple?
I run 16 Scythe (12+4), 12 Mysticism (11+1) and 6 Earth Prayers for Conviction + Vital Boon if a cover enchantment is necessary. There is no need for Mystic Regeneration; Heart of Fury and Mystic Vigor is more than enough healing.

For me, Mystic Sweep, Heart of Fury, Conviction are pretty much in every single build, and Reaper's Sweep/Chilling Victory for areas where mobs use Call to the Torment.


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