Skill balances and Dervish builds...

Sirius-NZ

Sirius-NZ

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2007

Bellevue, WA (I know ... but I moved out of NZ)

Xen of Onslaught

D/

Couple interesting things I noticed here as far as builds are concerned.

Firstly, the Pious Assault ... buff? It's hard to say for sure, but it does now cause deep wound (a good one too), is non-elite, and doesn't hurt you so much. Well, except it rends and costs 10 energy.

However ... there are ways to get around that. If you have say an Intervention or Vital Boon cast, and high Mysticism, it'll only cost you about 6 energy and heal you in the process, for instance. Perhaps it could be useful in a handful of builds now?

There is one other thing I notice. Sight Beyond Sight can be kept up most of the time now without being a Ritualist. Perhaps that would open the way for Avatar of Dwayna + Sight Beyond Sight in PvP to counter most shutdown skills that people can come up with?

Coloneh

Coloneh

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2006

D/W

people were already using sight beyond sight + extend enchantments. you dont really need extend enchantments now. I still wont use pious assault, rending is baed.

Sirius-NZ

Sirius-NZ

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2007

Bellevue, WA (I know ... but I moved out of NZ)

Xen of Onslaught

D/

Rending isn't automatically bad if you WANT to rend the enchantment, but ... it does limit build options somewhat and that isn't necessarily a good thing.

Coloneh

Coloneh

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2006

D/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirius-NZ
Rending isn't automatically bad if you WANT to rend the enchantment, but ... it does limit build options somewhat and that isn't necessarily a good thing. can you name an enchantment you would want to rend that is worth having on your bar other than eternal aura?

blurmedia

Banned

Join Date: Sep 2007

UNCONTROLLABLE RAGE [moko]

Vital Boon, Dust Cloak, Aura of Thorns, Staggering Force and Grenth's Fingers

Coloneh

Coloneh

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2006

D/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by blurmedia
Vital Boon, Dust Cloak, Aura of Thorns, Staggering Force and Grenth's Fingers
Quote: Originally Posted by Coloneh
can you name an enchantment you would want to rend that is worth having on your bar other than eternal aura? reading ftw?

Syntonic

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Feb 2007

Dervishes desperately needed another deep wound alternative that wasn't an elite or wearying strike and this answers it (albiet a bit late.) The cost is steep but fits well in line with other deep wound maybe. I'd like it better if it was 5e myself since the recharge is 12s anyway but I do think it's a step in the right direction.

Coloneh

Coloneh

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2006

D/W

Augury of Death and "Finish Him!" and still better

Seef II

Seef II

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Nov 2005

US

R/Mo

Finish Him is 10/0/15, it's basically a slower, more-expensive Reaper's Sweep without taking your elite slot. I like it, but not on a Dervish. You already have good ways of causing DW, use them!

As for the new Pious Assault, it's looking nice. In PvE, Aura of Holy Might is often worth running, so if it's on top of your stack, bummer.

Sirius-NZ

Sirius-NZ

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2007

Bellevue, WA (I know ... but I moved out of NZ)

Xen of Onslaught

D/

Pious Assault is simply not usable with a standard damage-dealing build, that's the problem. You need a cover enchantment you'd actually want to remove - IOW one less skill slot, because Eternal Aura doesn't recharge enough - or a build with no enchantments you want to keep at all. Which isn't very good for dealing damage, because it means no AoHM.

So... Pious Assault doesn't look terribly good for PvE, unless you're running some Earth Prayers as well in which case you can take Dust Cloak or something.

For PvP it'd kinda-sorta work if you had say Faithful Intervention cast on you (other one is better but it doesn't work if you rend it). The problem is, an AoM build is still better. As freaking always.

Burst Cancel

Burst Cancel

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2006

Domain of Broken Game Mechanics

The other problem is when it removes something you don't want it to remove - say, the monk's pre-prot.

Darkside

Darkside

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2006

Chantry of Secrets

[Angl]

D/

It would be really hard to run this skill because like Burst Cancel mentioned even if you have an enchantment on your bar you want to remove right at that moment a monk might cast a protection enchantment on you and you would end up removing that instead. On my current bar the only enchantment I would want to remove would be Eternal Aura which has quite a long recharge so I wouldn't be using Pious Assault very often. I dunno...I suppose it's nice to have a non-elite dw but I doubt I will find room for it on my bar.

Arkantos

Arkantos

The Greatest

Join Date: Feb 2006

W/

I'll stick with wearying strike and getting weakness removed on me. Less energy, less recharge. The 10 second deep wound is still good, because your enemy will most likely be dead in the 10 seconds, and if not you can reapply it before it ends.

Lordhelmos

Lordhelmos

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Apr 2006

Sentients of Shadow (noir)

Me/E

Pious Assault + Burning Speed and Conjure Flame = win

The burning covers the deep wound.

Great_Harvester

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2007

D/N

I'm personally not liking the change; dervishes have multiple ways to apply deep wound, and pious assault was a unique and fun skill already. It was a staple attack skill in pve.

On another note, if you aren't stripping your enchantments and selecting your skill/enchantment combinations to synergize with being stripped (stripping your own enchantments is a fundamental part of being a dervish) then you might as well play a warrior. You'll have more armor with a tighter damage range, and won't have to worry about stripping your own enchantments.

Burst Cancel

Burst Cancel

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2006

Domain of Broken Game Mechanics

Actually, people figured out early on that stripping your enchantments isn't any more fundamental to Dervishes as 'tanking' is to Warriors. The reality is that many of the most effective Dervish builds (Mel, Lyssa, etc.) don't utilize the mechanic at all. Also, note that tighter damage range isn't necessarily a boon - Dervishes have ridiculous criticals due to high maxes on scythes.

Stormlord Alex

Stormlord Alex

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Beyond the Forest of Doom, past the Cavern of Agony... on Kitten & Puppy Island

Soul of Melandru [sOm]

W/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by Great_Harvester
On another note, if you aren't stripping your enchantments and selecting your skill/enchantment combinations to synergize with being stripped (stripping your own enchantments is a fundamental part of being a dervish) then you might as well play a warrior. You'll have more armor with a tighter damage range, and won't have to worry about stripping your own enchantments. Actually, I disagree with this.
The whole 'stripping your own enchants' mechanic is clunky, unnecessary and the skills which utilise it, as a whole, suck.

What makes dervs different to warriors is brute force damage, not enchants.

And pros disagree too Look at a GvG Mel bar, among the strongest Derv bars in the game. 1 enchant, no wasting time with self-rends or any of that shit. Pure, raw damage.

Sirius-NZ

Sirius-NZ

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2007

Bellevue, WA (I know ... but I moved out of NZ)

Xen of Onslaught

D/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Great_Harvester
It was a staple attack skill in pve. It was? I've never seen it being used, myself.

The only reason anyone considered using the Dervish with enchantment stripping was because this skill was early-game and strongly suggested you were supposed to do it. But the builds that don't seem to work much better.

At any rate, if you want instant recharge, use Farmer's Scythe. Not that instant recharge is often worth using...

iridescentfyre

iridescentfyre

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2006

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Great_Harvester
It was a staple attack skill in pve. As I recall, Pious Assault was one of the first skills you get as a new Dervish. If that's what you mean by a 'staple,' sure. But most of us bought better ones as soon as we got to Kamadan..

Great_Harvester

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2007

D/N

Sorry for the overgeneralization, it was a staple attack for me. When combined with earth prayer and the two aoe dmg enchants, dust cloak and something-force, you could get two aoe damage spells followed by two +dmg attack skills that trigger aoe weakness and blind.

Yes, the dervish is a dps powerhouse, but unless you don't want to use many of the dervish skills, you'll need to use a skill that strips enchantments, might as well make it benificial. In my opinion, one of the most important dervish skills (anytime you are not in organized pvp, i.e. aspenwood, AB, RA, etc) requires you to already have two enchantments and strip one. I *never* ra without pious restoration.

Sirius-NZ

Sirius-NZ

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2007

Bellevue, WA (I know ... but I moved out of NZ)

Xen of Onslaught

D/

Yeah, uh... most people don't use wind prayers actually. That'd be one of the better skills to take if you were going to though.

Ensign

Ensign

Just Plain Fluffy

Join Date: Dec 2004

Berkeley, CA

Idiot Savants

The enchantment rend isn't a cost. You can use Pious Assault without any enchantments up, and it'll still inflict bonus damage and the Deep Wound.

Sirius-NZ

Sirius-NZ

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2007

Bellevue, WA (I know ... but I moved out of NZ)

Xen of Onslaught

D/

...yeah, but that only works if you have a build that doesn't use enchantments. Replacing Heart of Fury isn't always that easy - though I suppose you could do it if you had to (Flail?).

It's an expensive skill without the energy return from a rend though.

iridescentfyre

iridescentfyre

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2006

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirius-NZ
...yeah, but that only works if you have a build that doesn't use enchantments. Replacing Heart of Fury isn't always that easy - though I suppose you could do it if you had to (Flail?). If you're already running without enchantments, you might be able to get by with Pious Fury.. its uptime/downtime ratio kinda sucks, but its a stance at least.

Coloneh

Coloneh

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2006

D/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by iridescentfyre
If you're already running without enchantments, you might be able to get by with Pious Fury.. its uptime/downtime ratio kinda sucks, but its a stance at least. last i checked, its uptime/downtime ratio is better than HoF (without eternal aura). and i dont thing there have been any updates to either skill sense then...

Sirius-NZ

Sirius-NZ

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2007

Bellevue, WA (I know ... but I moved out of NZ)

Xen of Onslaught

D/

Pious Fury is only 5 seconds at 12 mysticism (it hits 6 at 14). It has a 10 second recharge.

Unfortunately, that means it isn't better. It's something, though.

Darkside

Darkside

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2006

Chantry of Secrets

[Angl]

D/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirius-NZ
Pious Fury is only 5 seconds at 12 mysticism (it hits 6 at 14). It has a 10 second recharge.

Unfortunately, that means it isn't better. It's something, though. Could combine it with Dwarven Stability. That would make it last the entire 10 seconds at max rank I believe.

Coloneh

Coloneh

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2006

D/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkside
Could combine it with Dwarven Stability. That would make it last the entire 10 seconds at max rank I believe. thats an enchantment. defeats the point.

Dai Ichiban

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Oct 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirius-NZ
Pious Assault is simply not usable with a standard damage-dealing build, that's the problem. You need a cover enchantment you'd actually want to remove Aura of Thorns works nicely with Pious Assault. Cripple, Deep wound and bleeding. Costs 15 energey but is still fun in PvE.Heart of Holy Flame could also be ended with it to do some burning damage.

Sirius-NZ

Sirius-NZ

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2007

Bellevue, WA (I know ... but I moved out of NZ)

Xen of Onslaught

D/

Uh... yeah... the problem is it's also earth prayers, which is a bit annoying. But if you're running a build that is just intended to spam conditions, it might be an idea actually.

Terraban

Terraban

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2007

Mirage Cloak + Pious Assault? Mini-spike ftw.

I know, I know, nothing special.

I think that all of Dervish rending skills should only rend Dervish enchantments...would make it a whole lot easier to run.