Guild Wars Nightfall;Dervish Guide V 0.931 by lowerletters

Welcome to this guide/FAQ.This is my first guide so dont throw your
computer at your dog screaming "WHY DOESN'T THIS MAKE SENSE" if you
dont understand. Unless your dog is immortal.

Also, i'll be trying to do pathetic cracks throughout the guide
in a hopeless attempt to avoid hate mail. But don't let that stop
you.

ToC (table of contents)

I: Intro
II: The Dervish
III: Dervish Basics
IV: The Dervish's place in the GW world
V: Skills
VI: Builds
VII: The Dervish in PVP
VIII: Advanced Dervish tactics
IX: Dervish Counters
X: How a Dervish works with other professions
XI: FAQ
XII: Legal crap
XIII: Outro

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I. Intro
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V 0.5: this guide comes into existance. *sniff* my first child
V 0.51: added about 10 lines of text
V 0.75: Added 2 new sections
V 0.8: Im bored. time to add more random useless stuff!
V 0.81: fixed a single typo thats been bugging me. now i can sleep.
V 0.85: Added a small bit in Counters section, and fixed an error
with my build.
V 0.9: Added input from 2 contributers.
V 0.92: Fixed up a few spots, and added a bit more info.
V 0.93: Thanks for contributing. Added some stuff from 2 people.
V 0.931: RAR IMMA EET CHU. Added a single line. Try and find it.
V 1: Due to incredible laziness, I haven't updated this in a freakin'
long time. Sorry to all that contributed, that I didn't reply to.
In any case, I'm probably not going to ever update this again.

Hi. I'm assuming you want to know more about the Dervish, or else
you wouldn't have clicked on this guide.(i'm only writing this
because there isn't already one.) You must know the basics of the
game to understand most of this guide.

My name is Sagean Scythelord(In-game), and my first NF char was a
Dervish. I have been playing for more than 15 months.
I know i'm no normal player because people ask me for my
builds ALL the time. That said, ill be sharing my highly limited
knowledge with you.

People say the Dervish is overrated. I say "SHUT UP AND TRY IT
FOR YOURSELF!". But only at the people that don't like the derv.

Finally, the Dervish is a Nightfall only prof. Buy it now.


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II. The Dervish
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The Dervish is a vicious scythe-wielding Elonian warrior that has
the ability to hit multiple foes with a single strike. The max
damage for the scythe is the highest out of all the GW professions.

The Dervish is mostly about enchantments. While this seems like a
disadvantage when you think about all the annoying necros and
mesmers out there, but SOME enchantments get stacked effects as
the number of enchants on you increases! This makes for hundreds of
defensive builds.

The Dervishes most notable quirk is the fact that they take on
forms of avatars of the Guild Wars gods. Each of the forms has a
different strength.

Now that we have covered all the stuff you already know, lets move
on.

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III. Dervish Basics
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Scythe Mastery: Increases damage done by the scythe blah blah blah.
Mysticism(P): For each rank of mysticism, you get 1 health when
an enchantment ends on you. For every 3 ranks, you get 1 energy
when an enchant ends. Also boosts Mysticism skills.
Earth Prayers: These skills are focused on damage and defence.
Wind Prayers: Wind Prayers have many speed buffs, some damage and
debuffs for enemies. Also contains some heals.

Scythe damage range: 9-41
Scythes have the ability to damage foes adjacent to your target as
well as the foe you have targeted.

Dervishes wear robe-style armor, with a hood as headgear. (dye it
black to look like the grim reaper)

Pros:
good damage output
decent self healing
good protection
4 energy regen

Cons:
(email me if you find out any with the dervish)


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IV: The Dervish's place in the GW world
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There are a lot of Dervishes out there, so you have to make yours
special. Don't advertise yourself as "derv lfg", instead say
"Imperial Harbringer of apocalyptic terror lfg". that catches a
lot more eyes.

People are still going to overlook you, just because of your prof.
There isn't really any way to prove them wrong, so if you get
rejected from groups a lot, don't think you did something wrong.

Dervishes seem to be a good farming profession. Depending on the
build, you can make a good bit of cash in a short time. Combining
a lot of defensive enchantments and Mystic Regeneration, you can
be nearly invincible.

Looking at the Dervishes skills, you can imagine a LOT of skill
combos. For example, Heart of Holy Flame and Mystic Sandstorm.

Dervishes are ideal close range damage dealers, but have less armor
than warriors, so don't try to tank. There are some builds made
for tanking, however.

Hell, i dont even know why i added this section, but doing more
makes me feel special.

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V: Skills
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Please don't tell me you expect me to do ALL the skills. I'm doing
the popular and noteworthy ones, so I don't spend my life typing
this.

Scythe Mastery
____________________

Banishing Strike
5 energy, 6 sec recharge

Melee Attack. If this attack hits, you deal +5..17 damage.
If it hits a summoned creature, all nearby foes take 10..70
Holy damage.

Notes: If there is a minion master in your group, TAKE THIS.
if he/she dies, you can take out the rogue minions (unless they
have Verata's Aura. then don't touch the minions.)
_____________________

Chilling Victory
10 energy, 10 sec recharge

Scythe Attack. If it hits, this attack strikes for +5-17 damage.
Whenever it hits a foe who has less health than you, target foe
and all adjacent foes are struck for 15-51 cold damage.

Notes: An EXTREMELY useful attack, since the scythe hits multiple
targets. You can unleash a chain reaction if you're hitting
a mob of weaklings.
_____________________

Eremites Attack
5 energy, 3/4 sec casting, 4 sec recharge

Melee Attack. If this attack hits, you deal +5-9 damage for each
adjacent foe.

Notes: ZOMGWTF EAR MITES?!?! Anyways,the 3/4 sec casting gets you
2 hits quickly in a row.

_____________________

Reap Impurities
10 energy, 8 sec recharge

Melee Attack. If this attack hits, you deal +10-26 damage. You gain
15-63 Health for each foe you hit that is suffering from a
Condition.

Notes: Conditions happen often. Enough said.

______________________

Wearying Strike
5 energy, 6 sec recharge

Scythe Attack. If this attack hits, you deal +1-25 damage and
inflict a Deep Wound for 3-9 seconds. You suffer from Weakness
for 10 seconds.

Notes: Good when combined with Plague Touch.


Mysticism
______________________

Avatar of Balthazar (Elite)
10 energy, 2 sec casting, 30 sec recharge

Elite Form. For 10-90 seconds, you gain +40 armor, you move 33%
faster, and your attacks deal holy damage. This Skill is disabled
for 120 seconds.

Notes: You may be thinking ZOMG its only 30 sec recharge! thats
only if it's interrupted. If it's successfully used, it recharges
for 120 secs.

______________________

Avatar of Dwayna (Elite)
5 energy, 2 sec casting, 30 sec recharge

Elite Form. For 10-75 seconds, whenever you use a Skill, you gain
15-51 Health and lose 1 Hex. This Skill is disabled for 120
seconds.

Notes: Sounds good, even though ive barely used it.

______________________

Avatar of Grenth (Elite)
15 energy, 2 sec casting, 30 sec recharge

Elite Form. For 10-45 seconds, whenever you use an attack Skill,
you also remove 1 Enchantment from your target, and your attacks
deal cold damage. This Skill is disabled for 120 seconds.

Notes: Short duriation, otherwise its pretty good.

_______________________

Avatar of Lyssa (Elite)
5 energy, 2 sec casting, 30 sec recharge

Elite Form. For 10-90 seconds, you have +20 maximum Energy and
your attacks deal +5-41 damage to foes activating Skills. This
Skill is disabled for 120 seconds.

Notes: Goes VERY well with arcane conundrum.

_______________________

Avatar of Melandru (Elite)
25 energy (!), 2 sec casting, 30 sec recharge

Elite Form. For 10-58 seconds, you have +100 Health,
you are unaffected by Conditions, and your attacks deal earth
damage. This Skill is disabled for 120 seconds.

Notes: The condition invincibility is VERY nice, good for crossing
lava in PVP.

_______________________

Heart of Fury
10 energy, 3/4 sec casting, 30 sec recharge

Enchantment Spell. For 5-17 seconds, you attack 33% faster.
When this Enchantment ends, all nearby foes are set on fire for
1-3 seconds.

Notes: The longest lasting attack speed buff in the game, how
could you refuse?

_______________________

Heart of Holy Flame
10 energy, 3/4 casting, 15 sec recharge

Enchantment Spell. All adjacent foes take 15-51 holy damage.
For 30 seconds, your attacks deal holy damage. When this
Enchantment ends, all adjacent foes are set on fire for
1-3 seconds.

Notes: The most used Mysticism skill in the game, I think its
overrated.


Earth Prayers
________________________

Ebon Dust Aura (Elite)
10 energy, 1/4 sec casting, 20 sec recharge

Elite Enchantment Spell. For 5-29 seconds, if you are wielding
an earth weapon, your attack skills also cause Blindness for
4-9 seconds.

Notes: DANG thats a lot of blindness.

________________________

Mystic Regeneration
10 energy, 1/4 sec casting, 5 sec recharge

Enchantment Spell. For 20 seconds, you have +1-3
Health regeneration for each Enchantment on you.

Notes: With 4 enchantments, you get CONSTANT 10 REGEN! =O zomg

________________________

Vital Boon
5 energy, 1 sec casting, 8 sec recharge

Enchantment Spell. For 20 seconds, you have +40-88 maximum Health.
When this Enchantment ends, you are healed for 75-175 Health.

Notes: Pretty good self heal, also lets you take more hits


Wind Prayers
________________________

Dwayna's Touch
5 energy, 3/4 sec casting, 2 sec recharge

Spell. Target touched ally is healed for 15-51 Health
for each Enchantment on you (maximum 150).

Notes: VERY good self heal, considering the recharge time.



only 1 decent wind prayers skill? <=O OMG OH NOES
(i really wanted to put omg oh noes in a publicly viewable
document)

THESE ARE JUST OPINIONS. They are not facts.


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VI.Builds
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Dunno how effective my PvE build is, but i have enough courage
to stick it in this guide.

Sagean Scythelord
D/Mo
PvE
16 Scythe Mastery, 12 Mystisicm, 4 Earth Prayers
Chilling Victory, Eremites Attack, Lyssa's Assault,
Heart of Fury, Vital Boon, Avatar of Balthazar,
Faithful Intervention, Res

Notes: Not much to say
Code: OgCjkyrDLPD4mrAWcLedvlXMOA *

*The last skill is Sunspear Rebirth, so once you have the template
uploaded, change it.


White Reepyr's build

Derv/Mesmer

Domination Magic: 3(or more if needed), Scythe Mastery: 11,
Earth prayers 10, Mystisism: 9

Skills: Vital Boon, Heart of holy flame, twin moon sweep,
chilling vistory, dust cloak, eremite's attack, greneth's fingers,
simple theivery


Matt Goss also has a combo.

Okay, so it's not a complete build but here's a helpful combo:

Avatar of <insert favorite god here> + Eternal Aura (Sunspear
Title Track Skill) = indefinite continuation of avatar usage.

See, what Eternal Aura does, besides dealing a fair amount of
damage to nearby foes, is instantly recharge all Dervish skills
(including Avatar skills) after 10 seconds of its casting. So all
you have to do is cast your Avatar skill, Cast Eternal Aura and
after your Avatar runs its course you can immediately cast it
again. Repeat to maintain continuous Avatar.


Alec Barber's build

Avatar of Balthazar, Eternal Aura, Mystic Regeneration,
Faithful Intervention, Conviction, Eremites Attack.

Alec Barber's other build- The Dervish of Light

PvE

Attributes: Scythe Mastery:10 Earth Prayers:10 Mysticism:12

Avatar of Balthazar, Eternal Aura, Mystic Regeneration, Conviction,
Faithful Intervention, Watchful Intervention, Mystic Sweep,
Victorious Sweep.

Notes:  This is a good self healing build along with a healing
attack and a dam. attack


If you have a good build, email it to me. adress is at the end of
the guide.

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VII. The Dervish in PvP
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If you're doing PvP with a Dervish, make a PVP only character.
I've noticed that they do SIGNIFICANTLY more damage, with the same
equips and build as my PvE.

Dervishes have many purposes in PvP, from close range damage to
condition spam to ally heals (no joke).

Depending on your build, you should have different weapon mods, but
the most popular ones are mods that enhance when affected by an
enchantment.

The dervish you play will probably be a melee attacker, so your
best friend will be a prot monk, and your enemy will be a mesmer
or curse necro. Hexes are the main thing that will bring your
dervish down, unless you have the right knowledge to counter it.

If the hex will do minimal damage, or if it's a hex that has an
effect that you can't control (such as attacking from empathy),
then you should simply ignore it, or pull back and do something
about it. Avatar of Dwayna is the exception, in which case
you should berserk as much as you can while ignoring other things
that won't have an extreme effect.

Here's a little clipping from Vanir Greatshaft.

"As a pvper finding out weaknessess is my specialty.
The dervish has a few weaknesses when fiting it.
Without avatar of balthazar dervishes are completely helpless
against arrows and energy drain. Without energy dervishes are
helpless little grim reapers. Many players always like to enflict
diseases and poison on their opponents. DO NOT DO THIS!!!!!!!
Many dervish skills enhance  their abilities if they have abnormal
status.they give+speed+power etc. First step is to drain their
energy. without it, they are helpless."


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VIII. Advanced Dervish Tactics
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When you get into your dervish (not romantically), you will prob
want to experiment with your build. This is where you save your
effective one in a template and shift skills around. Take risks
if you have to, as long as you can infanitely test it out.

One of the advanced tactics I have tried was to take Vow of
Strength and a skillbar full of damaging enchants. It seems well
in theory until I found out that after all the casting time,
I had no energy and hadn't gotten a single attack in. Good luck
perfecting that theory.

Some dervishes prefer to refrain from attacking, and use enchants
and other spells to deal their damage. MAKE SURE you know
EXACTLY what the skill does, because i've seen a lot of dervs in
random arenas using skills that have absolutely no effect, so i
have to explain what they do. Example: People use Mystic Twister
with many enchants on them while there is 1 enemy. The effect is
"for every enchantment on you, ONE FOE in the area is struck for
30-106 damage." People 1. think the more enchants, the more damage
and 2. the same foe can be hit more than once at a time. MAKE SURE
you know your skillbar before you use it.



If you know your skills well, you can use them with outstanding
results. One example is:

Dust Cloak
Staggering Force
Mystic Twister
Mystic Sandstorm

If you use those skills in order, assuming you maxed out earth and
wind prayers, you should deal 372 damage to 3 foes, as well as
blind and weaken them.

As I mentioned in the PvP section, some Dervishes are healers.
How? Max out Mysticism and Wind Prayers, then take some of these.

Imbue Health
Watchful Intervention
Dwayna's Touch
Mystic Healing

as for self heals, the list is much longer.

So why are these skills good? Well, they have low energy costs,
low actication times and low recharge times. Combine it with a
decent wand and offhand and you have a healer as effective as a
monk (or healing rit, if you have factions)


One of the more advanced things i've seen is how people use
Mystic Regeneration and defence/health buffs to gain dervish
invincibility, at the cost of dealing no damage. It seems to be
more effective than the famous "55" monk build, but of course
I havent seen much of either.

Now, here's a tactic contributed by Shadoweangel. It seems useful.

I've found the Dervish to be on of the most effective running class
when you have a good D/As set going. The Assassin health regaining
spell that teleport and otherwise move you places are good for
getting into (and technically out of if you like that kind of
thing) trouble. Not only that they have a few non-dagger specific
boosting enchantments that work well with Dervishes.

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IX. Dervish Counters
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As with all things Guild Wars, Dervishes can be countered. Mainly
by anti melee builds, but combined with the dervish's many
enchants,the dervish will be effective against some, not quite so
much against others.

The main professions the dervish should stay away from are Mesmers
and Necromancers, as both of these professions have many skills
for countering both of the dervish's main functions.

There isn't very much choice in avoiding dervish counters, as long
as you take the right build. (It is IMPOSSIBLE to make a counter-
everything build)

So, you may be thinking "What skills do i bring to avoid counters?"
Highly unlikely, but possible. IMO (in my opinion) you should
have 2 (1 is pushing it) skills that will defend against what you
think you will get countered with. Example, you find a lot more
anti-melee hexers than anti-melee single spell effect users. So,
you may want to bring something such as Shatter Hex, or Pious
Restoration.

If you are facing a foe that you know has enchantment removals,
set up a decoy. First, before you enter aggro range, use the
enchantment that you want to keep, then use a decoy, which would
be the enchantment you INTEND for them to remove. The decoy should
preferably be a skill that has an effect that triggers upon
removal, such as Vital Boon. Free healing, and you keep your
enchantment. What more could you ask for?

Sometimes you will find enemies that you weren't prepared for, like
a runner. (In ABs, theres always a kurzick that runs to kurzick
monks before they fight) Try bringing skills that can be counted
as an offensive skill, but will also help against other things.
(harriers haste maybe?)
Consider every possibility before going into battle!

(that sounded valiant. dont get a new impression of me.)

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X. How a Dervish works with other professions
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Consider this.
You are going into battle, armed with a scythe made for hitting
multiple targets at a time. All of your skills are built for
focused attacks on many foes. But... you seem to be fighting
Shiro Tagachi. (quick factions cameo) You will rarely see another
foe, and you won't be as effective as you could be. What do you do?

You get a ritualist at your side.

The ritualist can buff you in many ways, such as Brutal Weapon,
and make your slow, weak attacks into mauling, intimidating, blood-
bathing weak attacks. Hey, at least you'll be stronger.

The dervish has certain...compatibilities with other professions,
some better than others. I'll list my opinions here.

Warrior: 4/10, they can tank for you, but thats about it.
Ranger: 7/10, nature rituals, such as Symbiosis, can add insane
HP amounts. (Thanks panu meriläinen)
Monk: 10/10, do i need to explain?
Necro: 7/10, BiP, OotV and other buffing skills will make your
dervish PWN.
Mesmer: 2/10, shatter hex is the only useful thing they can do for
your dervish.
Elementalist: 3/10, water magic skills are the only ones that
will help you. (for slowing foes)
Ritualist: 9/10, many spirits and weapon spells can offer you
protection and damage increases.
Assassin: 1/10, nothing they can do for you specifically.
Paragon: 8/10, shouts,chants and other things will help you
significally.
Dervish: 6/10, focused scythe attacks can take out mobs quickly,
but not much things to directly assist you.

Again, these are OPINIONS.

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XI. FAQ
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For your convenience, the questions that might actually help are
denoted with a *.

Q: This guide sucks. Can I strangle you?
A: No.

Q: Please?
A: No.

*Q: What is your Email Adress?
A: Look at the bottom of the guide. I could put it here but im
  too lazy.

*Q: What is the best secondary for Dervish?
A: 1. It's a matter of opinion. OR 2. depends on your build.

*Q: If i have the right build, will a dervish work well with a
  different type of weapon?
A: As long as you have good mastery in that weapon, sure.

Q: Are you a god?
A: I like to think that.

*Q: Can you make this question a * one?
A: Sure.

*Q: Some of your advice dosn't help.
A: Most of these are opinions. If you have a different point of
view, email me.

Q: Your skills list isn't nearly complete. Why?
A: Read the note at the top of the skill section.

Q: What question is this?
A: the 10th.

*Q: For the profession compatibility thing, does my build influence
those numbers?
A: Yes, damage buffs wont do anything for enchantments, and other
things like that. MANY factors influence those numbers, but the
ones posted there are for a general scythe attacker.

*Q: People hate me and i don't know why.
A: The Dervish is used by most of NF players, and many of them,
like the assassin, don't know when to stop. Hopefully, you have
the intelligence to follow your team, and not run into a huge mob
alone.

*Q: What insignias should I use on my armor?
A: Once again, it depends on your build. Most dervishes use
many enchantments, so windwalker's could be effective. Of course,
survivor's and radiant work well, too.

*Q: Somebody told me that if I have a high Sunspear rank, I'll do
more damage with normal attacks.
A: Untrue. The only difference Sunspear rank makes is skills.

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XII: Legal crap
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Copyrighted (c) 2007 lowerletters. This guide is for use on
www.gamefaqs.com ONLY. If you wish to reproduce this information,
contact me at

[email protected]

or reproduce the info for personal use. Of course, this is not even
worth showing to anyone else.

Also, I am NOT going to licence this guide to ANY other site.
DON'T send me emails requesting permission to add it to another
site, no matter how well-known it is.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
XIII. Outro
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Alright, guys... Thanks for reading. Really. This is most likely the
final version, so thanks for contributing. If you want, you can
try to drop me a PM in-game, although I haven't been active in a
reaaaallly long time, due to just getting Super Smash Bros. Brawl,
and a lot of other awesome stuff. Sadly enough, the next time
I'll probably be active on GW again is when GWII comes out. Until
then... Ciao.

There's probably 9001 inaccuracies since I don't revise the whole
thing each update. DX

Credits go to

Arenanet- For making this AWESOME game. i would have no reason to
live without it.

Me- For making this

Sooke Army- For owning Sagean Allied Grand Empire, the most kick***
guild in history

Franis Ben Mi [PLX], which just happens to be my new freakin' awesome
guild and stuff.

My Arrows Are Sharp- for being my only friend that morally accepts
me

Black Yoshi- For being my only online friend that morally accepts me

St_Griever- for suggesting some sections

Guildwiki- for supplying skill info

Gamefaqs- for being the best source of gaming stuff.
and for having restrictions loose enough to put this on.

White Reepyr- for contributing a build

Matt Goss- for contributing a pretty good combo

Panu Meriläinen- for pointing out a combination bit

Alec Barber- Also contributing a few builds

Shadoweangel- Throwing in some information on D/As.

Vanir Greatshaft/Zero- Sending in a bit


If you have a submission, send all hate mail to
[email protected]. If you have a build, send it in this format

Name
Prof/Secondary
PvE or PvP
Attributes
Skills
Notes (optional)
Template Code (optional)

As I said before, I haven't been active at all lately, which includes
checking emails. It might take up to a month for a reply, might
take a day. Who knows. Anyway, just drop off a message if you have
a question or something, and I'll reply as fast as I can.

Thanks for reading.


All right, 8 hours of my life wasted!

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