Dervish or Paragon?

Mistah Eff

Mistah Eff

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Feb 2011

Mo/Me

I'm so excited! I just received word from my dad he's buying me Nightfall this weekend! Eeee! I could just jump up and fan myself with my hands like a little girl! *Which I already did* and I have found myself stumped. I have two character slots available, and I have to save at least one for when I get Factions. (My rit will go there) and I'm very attached to my Ranger and Monk. I can't tell which to make, (and I'm not gonna buy more character slots yet, just don't even mention that plz.) The Dervish looks really cool with the scythes, and the Paragon looks really beast and cool. Angel warrior= epic. I liked playing the Ranger and the Monk in prophecies, and maybe a little Elementalist. What to do, what to do...

FoxBat

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Apr 2006

Amazon Basin [AB]

Mo/Me

For each additional campaign you get two more character slots. So adding factions will grant 2, and adding nightfall will grant another 2, for 8 total.

MisterB

MisterB

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Oct 2005

Planet Earth, Sol system, Milky Way galaxy

[ban]

W/

If you link your Factions account when you get it, you will also have two additional character slots. Just make one of each, and play both for now. When you get Factions, you'll have two more slots, and you can reevaluate your decision to keep either or both of the Dervish or Paragon.

Mistah Eff

Mistah Eff

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Feb 2011

Mo/Me

Oh, thanks guys. So that means I can make a Dervish AND Paragon.

LifeInfusion

LifeInfusion

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: May 2005

in the midline

E/Mo

Paragon looks "beast" until you realize it has NO AOEs that do damage and is a support class. The primary build is P/W with "save Yourselves" and "there's nothing to fear".

@ Lord Mip they're not useless. They're just limited in use (support). There's a distinct difference. If you use motivation on a 1 paragon team then it's pretty useless though, 60-110 or so heal every 20 second (5 if you run 4 different ones) is lame when you have "There's Nothing to Fear!".

The best use of a paragon is Command. Go for the eyes, in particular. "It doesn't do much in Hard mode" is BS since criticals add +40% damage regardless of armor (except for scythes, it adds 10%).

P/any:
TNTF ("There's Nothing to Fear!")
"They're on Fire!" ... in Normal mode (combo with Burning Refrain/Blazing Finale)
"Go for the eyes!"
"Stand your ground!" / "Save Yourselves!" (SYG used if only one copy of SY! in team... for yourself)
"Fall Back!" - Necros can run this, but Paragons can pump it higher
"Incoming!" - not really worth the elite slot but it's still useful
Anthem of Envy +10...22...25 damage vs targets>50% : perfect for initial attacks
Blazing Spear
Spear of Lightning
Vicious Attack (esp. with GFTE)
wild Throw
Holy Spear
Spear of Redemption
Cruel Spear
Stunning Strike
Swift Javelin (with Orders/etc.)
Defensive Anthem
Spear of Fury+Focused Anger --> backbone of an imba, otherwise SY! is easier on a warrior
Song of Purification
Anthem of Fury (with Derv/Warrior frontline)
Cautery Signet (better than Martyr usually, but niche)
"Never Give Up!" --> helps monks after a AOE spike
Zealous Anthem ; Aria of Zeal are niche
Signet of Return: if only one person died you can res at close to full HP
"Never Surrender!" --> counters DPS/degen pressure

Some skills are ironically better on non-Paragons due to not being party wide:
"Find Their Weakness!", "Brace Yourself!", "Make Haste!", "It's Just a Flesh Wound."

Lord Mip

Lord Mip

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Aug 2006

Somewhere in a distant land..

Reign of Judgement [RoJ]

E/

Dervish will probably offer more diversity than a Paragon. I really hate that Paragons are so useless, they're my favourite class

wilebill

wilebill

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2005

Mt Vernon, Ohio

Band of the Hawk

W/Mo

I play both. Since the patch, Dervish first would be my suggestion.

Kojima

Kojima

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Sep 2010

Home

En Caligne Veritas [DARK]

R/Rt

Dervish. Since the new update. Loving mine right now.

Mistah Eff

Mistah Eff

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Feb 2011

Mo/Me

I'll make a Dervish/Elementalist and a Paragon/Warrior

firelink

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jan 2011

P/W

I like Paragons better.

A Dervish is a condition class. What they do best right now is disenchant themselves so that they can spread AoE conditions and damage to foes. Even their scythes do AoE damage naturally, the only weapon in the game to do such a thing.

Paragons are a support class, but not complete support. Their popular function is a mix of support and a steady DPS (like 30-60), it is called the Imbagon. You NEED factions in order to run it, because the main skill is "Save Yourselves" which is a Guild Wars Factions only skill. As a Paragon, it is not my sole function to keep you alive. Where if you play a Monk, it is your duty and your sole duty to keep the party alive with your heals, as a Paragon, I feel my role is more flexible. I can afford to mess up every now and then.

Also, Paragon's do have various options. It's just that they are not popular to many of the GW population. If you mention you are an Imbagon, you will get picked up relatively easy in PvE. If you mention you are anything else; Good luck.

akelarumi

akelarumi

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2009

E/

I have both a dervish and a paragon. Personally I like the paragon more cause it fits my playstyle more.

But when you don't have factions yet I would advise to go dervish first. For the most paragons builds you need save yourselves. This is a factions title track skill. To get it you need to have played bout 66% of factions on atleast one character and have farmed 53.000 kurzck or luxon points (if your not in an alliance you need 103.000 points)

(you need to have 100.000 points to unlock lvl one kurzick supporter/luxon supporter, when transferring faction to your alliance the points are doubled, so you need to farm 50.000 faction points to get the minimum rank, the skill itself cost you 3000 faction points to unlock on your paragon, so you need a minimum of 55000 points)