I Need Help With Mystic Sandstorm Dervish

Ever since Nightfall came out I have been playing Dervish. I love them, with their high damage scythes and attack skills along with Earth prayers which make them extremely hard to kill. However, I got bored of stacking up enchantments making myself invincible, rushing into the fray, using attack skills, getting blinded and hitting nothing, while my monk is getting battered.

So I tried a different tactic that Dervish's are renowned for. Stacking enchantments and letting them loose next to a target and destroying them.

This is my build:

Mysticism: 11+1 (12)
Scythe: 8+1 (9)
Earth Prayers: 11+3+1 (15)

Mystic Sandstorm - Removes all enchantments and deals damage.
Aura Of Thorns - Cripples and causes bleeding at finish.
Dust Cloak - Earth damage and causes blind at finish.
Staggering Force - Earth damage and causes weakness at finish.
Ressurrection Signet - Standard ressurrection.
Avatar Of Dwayna (e) - Munches up hexes and heals after every skill used.
Mystic Regeneration - Health regeneration for every enchantment on you (priceless skill)
Vital Boon - Increased health and massive heal at finish.

Weapon - A scythe with 33% increase in crippling and 20% longer enchantments mod.

Armour: Full radiant with the appropriate runes to reach the attribute level with maximum vigor you can afford and 20% less duration of daze.

Useage:

Before the start of the battle (when foes are just outside the battle). Load up your avatar, mystic regeneration and vital boon.

Pick a target in the center of the mob (preferably the monk) and charge.

When the first swing of the scythe is struck hit aura of thorns to snare the target.

Then hit dust cloak and staggering force for some damage making sure you are close to the target.

When you have enough energy hit mystic sandstorm for a whirlwind of destruction.

The energy gain from mysticism is quite large so you should have enough energy to stick on mystic regeneration and vital boon straight away and start the whole cycle again.

The end result is that you deal a lot of damage to a lot of foes, causing blindness for 5s, bleeding for 15s, weakness for 15s and crippling for 15s (+33%).

Problems that I am facing: The energy wait between skills can be quite a while and the wait before hitting mystic sandstorm, the major damage, (although you should be doing a lot with your scythe and the 2 Earth damage enchantments already) is quite long. Also a ranger with broad head arrow is a b**ch. The damage is Earth damage which rangers have amazing armour against and when dazed your'e rendered useless. Also a mesmer with backfire and energy denial is very annoying.

I could a lot of help with this build and would appreciate any contributions you could make.

I'm fairly sure that most enchant bombers use pious renewal, helps with the energy.. I'm fairly sure daze is a problem for every caster, unless you get someone else in your team to remove it.. as for backfire.. *shrugs*

Pious renewal is a better elite to use ( I use these enchantment bombers often ), I like what you were aiming for when you used Avatar of Dwayna I guess it's really what you prefer between Dwayna and Pious.

Mystic regen, why? you will barely have enchantments on you most of the time, after all.. the point is to bomb.

i use the AoD build posted here a while ago for an easy get out. don't fancy bombing then standing around in a mob waiting for my party to mop up tyvm.

also mirage cloak is a good enchantment to use here as it gives a nice added dmg on top of the sandstorm cap.

Thnx for the tips, I'll definately try to fit in pious renewal in there somewhere. The reason why I've mystic regeneration in there is for every enchantment you have 4 pips of health regeration. So while you are loading up your enchantments which can take a while depending on energy you have 8 pips regen already frm vital boon and mystic regen, so making you very hard to kill. Also I tried mirage cloak but I found the 15 energy was way too much, but I never tried it properly and probably wasn't using it correctly. I'll definately try and get in there somewhere. Thnx again for the advise.

Quote: Originally Posted by Abraxas Fafnir

I think the difference between this bomber build and all the other is clear: Other bomber build load up on enchants then aggro and unload them. This dudes build loads up on enchants after aggro... Hence the reason he is using a scythe and not a wand, cos he is loading up after aggro...

Try a zealous scythe dude, you can gain up to 3 energy a hit... Just a thought

daze and backfire are major probs for any caster, thats why a monk is good for removing that

if no monk is around, simply hang out for a lil bit i guess

there are many of these mystic sandstorm builds around, a quick search should turn up quite a few, gl!