Derv PvE HM help, heroes/hench

So im trying to go thru hard mode with my dervish, ive been somewhat successful, cleared the first two missions on istan, skipped the third one and now im on consulate docks one. Roadblock hit. Here whats im using for skills /attributes.

Avatar of lyssa/balth
Eremites Attack
Mystic Sweep
Eternal Aura
Zealous Renewal
Faithful Intervention
Conviction (till i just found out the armor doesnt stack)
Rebirth Signet

Scythe Mastery 12+2+1
Mysticism 12+2

Being the leader I usually go in first and get raped unless i have avatar of balth, maybe its just the sheer number of mobs on the consulate docks mission I dont know. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

As far as heroes go, should I bring more interrupts? More damage? Been trying diffrent mixes, morgahn as party support, acolyte as sf ele, and dunkoro. I have all the heros. Just unsure what would be best in HM.

1st off doing HM with any profession with just h/h is a pain in the ass, my suggestion is this PUG your HM stuff or get a guild/alliance group

a good build is one thing but if h/h arent pulling their weight your dead in the water.

HM is just that, its hard. It isnt for everyone, it is meant to get the good ol "team up to kick some ass" thing back in the game and has been great for that. sure some of it is doable with h/h but it is sooooooo much easier with guildies

gl and sry i couldnt help ya much

apparently minion bombers are the way to go

dont think i died at all thru the whole mission with 20 minions and jagged bones/death nova going off

Hey-as, if you need a group I am online doing HM missions, typically around the main GMT hours. My IGN is "Ibuki Helios" - send me a whisper!

I'm not generally a fan of Avatars, except in specific situations where there are a lot of conditions, or hexes, or spell casters. Usually when doing a HM mission I generally use a traditional Reaper Sweeper build and modify it to suit the situation:

Scythe Mastery: 12 + 1 + 3
Earth Prayers: 8
Mysticism: 10 + 2

[skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill][skill]Faithful Intervention[/skill][skill]Mystic Vigor[/skill][skill]Heart of Fury[/skill][skill]Mystic Regeneration[/skill][skill]Mystic Sweep[/skill][skill]Victorious Sweep[/skill][skill]Reaper's Sweep[/skill]
If you are having trouble managing energy, swap [wiki]Heart of Fury[/wiki] for [wiki]Zealous Renewal[/wiki]. If you prefer [wiki]Wounding Strike[/wiki], including [wiki]Armor of Sanctity[/wiki] can be very useful.

It's not the best build for every situation, nor is it a specialised build for Consulate docks - frequently I change build completely in order to have better synergy with my companions. However, it does try to balance damage output while reducing pressure on the healers.

When selecting Hero/Hench I typically take either two monks or a healer monk and restoration ritualist. Depending on which mission, sometimes 3 monks (or 2 + 1) are appropriate - although it is necessary to pump out more damage to balance survivability vs destructive potential because energy management can become an issue. Why? The longer the opponents live - the more the team needs healing.

On Consulate Docks, a Ranger with barrage, traditional nukers or anyone with a stance removing skill can be effective against the lines of archers. I wouldn't bother going after them as a Dervish because they enjoy maintaining Whirling Defence, which without an appropriate counter, welcomes you to a block/miss frenzy.

Also, using either Olias and/or MoW as a Minion Bomber can be very helpful to create an explosive fodder screen. There are plenty of corpses to utilise and even a [wiki]Jagged Bones[/wiki] can be extremely effective!

Prioritise the Kournan priests where necessary. They love to kite, so ensure that a member of your party can apply crippled to them. Ranger skills such as pin-down are usually sufficient but it is useful have another member of your party bring some too. Once crippled, they go down fast and the rest of the group is pretty straightforward.

Kournan Scribes are a pain in the neck - try to take them down quickly. Sometimes it is advantageous to reserve someone in the group to keep the elementalists busy because if the melee attempt to gank the same monk, an AoE spell can cause them great annoyance. Yet, without monk support, the Scribes generally fall very quickly, and if the monk opponent isn't too busy healing himself, the distraction caused by healing their ally just makes the monk fall faster.

The tricky part I found is where Captain Mwende (Elementalist Boss) and his party are located; at the gate, right after you have received Sunspear allies and killed the second bonus group. Don't rush this part - just keep back and have someone lure members of the group, until it is a more manageable size.

Personally, I think everyone except the monks and restoration ritualists should bring res signets. Don't waste them, however - reserve them for: when a key player falls and needs resurrecting quickly (assuming monks are busy); or the monks get killed. Activating your hero's signets manually is usually neccessary. There are a few bosses, so morale boosts will recharge them enough!

This is only my opinion but I hope it helps!

two words: Shields Up!

When I try HM with heros/henchies (with some success), I usually go for something like:

me -- AoL
General Morghan -- support paragon (stolen shamelessly from: http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:P/W_Party_Support )

two of the following three:

Koss (also with Shields Up)
Minion Bomber
Zhed Earth Ellie (AoE KD rocks in Consulate Docks)

Prot and Healer Henchies
Mesmer (for interupts and empathy)
Herta

i went with a minion bomber build, worked like a charm on olias, and had dunkoro healing, now that thats taken care of

think ill be going reapers sweep and then taking an mm bomber and an earth ele

Alert - Essay!

Lyssa Dervish - OgGjkyrDLTMXNXBFCYibyg9gxXA

16 (12+3+1) Scythe Mastery
13 (12+1)Mysticism (switch to a 16 Mysticism hood when you cast Lyssa)
480 Health

Equip: Windwalkers or Survivor, prefer Windwalkers since i can generally maintain alot of enchantments. If your Scythe isn't 20% enchantments you need a slap...

[skill]Mystic Sweep[/skill][skill]Eremite's Attack[/skill][skill]Wild Blow[/skill][skill]Lyssa's Assault[/skill][skill]Heart of Fury[/skill][skill]Aura of Holy Might[/skill][skill]Eternal Aura[/skill][skill]Avatar of Lyssa[/skill]

Weapon/Resto Rit - OACjEuiMpNYsr9xVaO5GnVvLGA

15 (12+2+1) Channeling
12 (11+1) Restoration
7 (6+1) Spawning Power
566 Health

Equip: Survivors and a staff with ideally +60 health. (Spiritgarden's Repose atm)

Can always drop Rest to 10 and use a major so you can boost Spawning a little more. Turn off the weapon spells and cast them manually, that way he doesn't waste energy on unnescessary Splinters and waste Warmongers on someone else.

[skill]Splinter Weapon[/skill][skill]Warmonger's Weapon[/skill][skill]Offering of Spirit[/skill][skill]Mend Body and Soul[/skill][skill]Spirit Light[/skill][skill]Life[/skill][skill]Recuperation[/skill][skill]Flesh of my Flesh[/skill]

Smite/Prot Monk - OwAT44HDnpeMT20ukFCmeegGBA

15 (12+2+1) Smiting Prayers
13 (12+1) Protection Prayers
3 Divine Favour
576 Health

Equip: Survivors and a staff with +30 and 20% enchantments (Jayne's Staff is perfect for Prot monks).

1. I'm too cheap to pay for Minor Divine Favour. 2. I don't see the extra 3 health per heal as all that helpful when he only has 3 DF to begin with.

[skill]Protective Spirit[/skill][skill]Reversal of Fortune[/skill][skill]Dismiss Condition[/skill][skill]Smite Hex[/skill][skill]Judge's Insight[/skill][skill]Defender's Zeal[/skill][skill]Strength of Honor[/skill][skill]Resurrection Chant[/skill]

Minion Master

16 (12+3+1) Death Magic
11 (10+1) Soul Reaping
8 Protection Prayers
501 Health

Equip: Survivors with a 2x20%HCT Death Staff w/ Enchanting or Death +1, whatever you prefer. With my standard Survivors + Major Vig + Vitae set up he has just over 500 health and regularly survives wipes without DP so is very rarely the main target of enemies over henchman.

[skill]Jagged Bones[/skill]or[skill]Animate Flesh Golem[/skill][skill]Animate Vampiric Horror[/skill][skill]Animate Bone Horror[/skill][skill]Blood of the Master[/skill][skill]Dark Bond[/skill][skill]Death Nova[/skill][skill]Signet of Lost Souls[/skill][skill]Aegis[/skill]

Down to personal choice with the MM really. Shambling or Vampiric... Horrors or Minions... to Death Nova or not to Death Nova (i really don't see why the hell thats a choice, MM heroes use Death Nova brilliantly). Don't give them a res... many many times during very bad overlures MoW has survived purely through Dark Bond and stayed alive long enough to appear at the res shrine without geting dp. Plus why would i want them ressurecting someone? I have 6 other hench for that, i want him animating!

As you may have figured out by looking at this build... YOU are the damage dealer. The minions help absorb damage and also make a nice addition when you get your army of 10 going + Death Nova's. Does involve some micromanagement. Changing headgear often and activating Weapon spells when you see them as useful. I began with a Water Hexer instead of Razah, then i eventually went and got him and found Warmongers a very good addition.

It works in 4man areas too, i successfully vanquished Eastern Frontier with this set up, those Grawl Ulodytes never knew what hit em.

Protective Spirit is really all you need to become a temporary tank vs the extremely dangerous groups. If you want extra armour, just change out Wild Blow/Lyssa's Assault for Conviction at 3/4 Earth, don't waste your elite on Avatar of Balthazar for christ sake.

The damage you can get from Lyssa (+53) Judges Insight (holy 20% AP) Strength of Honour (15 damage) Aura of Holy Might (+28% damage, although wiki has it as bugged and adds base damage, giving it about +55% effectiveness) and either Warmongers Weapon (interrupt any non-attack skill on hit, interrupts AFTER Lyssa deals damage) or Splinter Weapon (50 AoE damage per hit for 5 hits) is ridiculously high. Undead i have hit for upwards of 650 on occasion, regular foes get 100-300 usually.

A few problems... Lingering Curse and Chilblains can cause you to go insane, if you want, alter Dunkoro's build and give him Spellbreaker to give you free roam for a little while... thats about it. Prof Gai is an absolute tosser when it comes to Weapon spells... he CONSTANTLY removes your Warmongers/Splinter Weapon to replace it with Weapon of Warding even if your at 99% health!

You can also modifiy Dunkoro with Restore Condition and Glyph of Lesser Energy (or some Inspiration skills if you can make it work attribute wise) in condition heavy areas, mainly those with Enchanted Brambles. Razah seems to work pretty well, although i haven't really experimented with him. You could always bring Recovery instead there too.
Mist Form is an annoying skill in the Tyrian Jungle... use Rending Sweep (or Touch if you think you can handle the self removal side).
Take Protectors Strike or Victorious Sweep if you don't like Lyssa's Assault, i find its recharge ties in nicely with the duration of Eternal Aura though. Wild Blow is a ridiculously powerful hit when you consider all the buffs i use, i strongly advise taking it, even if your not in a stance heavy area.

The general way of this build is... if you can easily take them, charge in and destroy them or stand on the edge of agro casting skills and call a target to make the hench charge in, take the intial blast of skills/enchantment removal, then charge in and destroy them. If the mobs are very likely to own your hench (Awakened mobs can easily do that) try luring round a corner or wall and bodyblocking. Vanquished Joko's Domain with no problems at all this way, it was quite laughable actually with the holy damage and interrupts. If the mob has a particularly deadly boss or just has things like Kournan Scribes that are extremely annoying and lethal to hench groups, run in first with prot spirit (and cover enchantments) and take the initial blast of damage before cutting things in 2. Warmonger's Weapon makes casters useless. Splinter Weapon makes properly lured melee mobs into amusing pyramids of damage numbers (my favourite so far was a mob of 10-15 Stoneaxe/Beast/Pet Hekets that was killed out right in 4 seconds by Cynn, Herta and me).

Note... Jade Brotherhood are still insanely dangerous... i've steered clear of most areas they inhabit in Cantha, not a fan of Wardens either. But otherwise i've done all of Elona and i have 2 areas in Tyria left, managed to hench Rotscale which i'm proud of

im gonna try evilsods build thru eye of the north

try adding in EOTN skills to. a few of the dervish attacks are godly. I think im in love with Radiant Scythe