User:Malokai92/Guide Index/Dervish Update

Overview
The Dervish update totally revamped the Dervish profession, this page is about how the changes affect Dervs in PvE. The update took away the broken Aura of Holy Might that made scythes so overpowered to use in PvE. This also applied to the Dervish, but Anet provided a new array of skills for the Dervish. They streamlined combat, introducing flash enchantments and new dynamics with teardowns. Most people who played around with their Dervish before the update will find it much more enjoyable and interesting experience. This essentially made scythes only useful on a Dervish. In a way, Anet gave the scythe back to the Dervish.

Combat
Anet streamlined combat in quite a few ways as well as made it more interesting:
 * Faster attack speed makes combat notably quicker than the sluggish speed scythes were at before.
 * Heart of Fury serves as Flail with the movement penalty, Dervish get a easily maintainable IAS without penalty.
 * Flash enchantments instantly activation without delay or canceling that happens when Form ends.
 * Mysticism provides a direct benefit similar to Expertise, rather than waiting on your enchantments so you have enough energy to fight.
 * All the Dervish attacks are 5 energy and they have Zealous Renewal, Radiant Scythe, and Zealous Sweep to manage energy.
 * A few skills were changed to adrenaline so Dervs didn't have to focus so much on energy.
 * Avatars don't have to be managed with Eternal Aura and cost a flat 5 energy.

Using teardown attacks are interesting, it operates on a give and take system. A single teardown attack can't be spammed unless the flash enchantment has a 6 second recharge. The 4 flash enchantments with 6 second recharge all cost 10 energy. This is excluding adrenaline-based teardowns. Only Rending Aura and Staggering Force can be considered useful (Both inflict Cracked Armor upon ending) and are in the Wind Prayers and Earth Prayers respectively. This means you have three options:
 * 1) Settle on a more expensive, less beneficial flash enchantment to fuel your teardown.
 * 2) Wait longer for more advantageous enchantments.
 * 3) Use another enchantment such as your elite skill to fuel the teardown.

In the case you want to bring more than one teardown, bringing two of the 6 second recharge flash enchantments is unquestionable. It's not only prohibitively expensive, but you give up half your bar to spamming your teardowns. So you turn to other Dervish enchantments you wouldn't necessarily want to strip. Let's use Onslaught and Vow of Strength for an example. Onslaught is a flash enchantment itself with a 10 second recharge. It can easily be used to fuel a teardown without loss of the effect if timed correctly. Vow of Strength can be used for a teardown when it's about to end, but you're better off using the attacks you have to get the most out of the duration. Obviously using more than one teardown is absurd if you're using any Dervish enchantments not used for teardowns. In addition, if any of your teardowns are adrenaline-based, the recharge of the enchantments are in and of themselves prohibitive. You can't spam Wearying Strike everything 3 seconds if you're enchantments aren't recharged yet. Much of the time, you are pushed to provide an enchantment for a single adrenaline-based teardown. Luckily, Anet introduced an elite skill specifically for this, Pious Renewal, where you can spam teardowns to you're heart's content. This means you can spam Wearying Strike, Eremite's Attack, and all that goodness as soon as they're charged.

Skills

 * : The only possible use for this is tanking, and even then it's terrible.
 * : Primarily useful with Pious Renewal, where you'll spam teardowns.
 * : Essentially free snare and bleeding even with low investment in Earth Prayers. Useful in general and fueling Reap Impurities.
 * : Cracked Armor is applied after Bleeding and it doesn't give additional damage. You're better off using Aura of Thorns or another skill to fuel Reap Impurities.
 * : Decent option to fuel adrenaline skill like Twin Moon Sweep, Chilling Victory, Reaper's Sweep, or "Save Yourselves!" It provides a condition for Reap Impurities as well.
 * : The main use would be undead groups, where the damage is doubled. As a spammable attack, it's useful to spam with Zealous Vow or trigger Vow of Strength. It's reduced by Grenth's Aura, which makes it much less useful.
 * : The skill triggers on each foe it hits, which makes this skill amazing, especially with a cost of only 6 adrenaline. Even in high-end areas where the cold damage is negligible, the damage adds up.
 * : Useful as a niche skill, but not for general Dervs, you have better cheap flash enchantments to choose from.
 * : Pretty much superseded by Crippling Victory in PvE.
 * : Without additional damage, this has no advantage over using Aura of Thorns for a snare.
 * : Might serve a few niche purposes, but most of the time you will choose something else considering the cost.
 * : Use if you can't use Harrier's Haste or Pious Haste for an IMS, provides an additional teardown. Dash is better if you want to go D/A.
 * : Whirlwind Attack on demand every 6 seconds makes this very strong for any build. This is especially true when using with Vow of Strength.
 * : You have better options to maintain energy, if actually ever need to.
 * : Shitters will want this for the free health boost, unlimited duration, and anti-wipe. It's pretty useless though and you have to watch your teardowns.
 * : Most enchantments last their recharge, so this is useful in only a few cases, notably Vow of Strength.
 * : The recharge makes this prohibitive to use in general PvE.
 * : Essential turns some of your damage into life steal. This is significant in high-end where you may hit 5s or 10s against enemies. A decent flash enchantment to use if you have points in Wind Prayers.
 * : Useful as a niche skill, but not for general Dervs, you have better cheap flash enchantments to choose from.
 * : If ywant to avoid blocking, bring Wild Blow or Irresistible Blow.
 * : Useless in PvE.
 * : Maintainable IMS that can be used for teardowns. Having an IMS is both useful inside and out of combat.
 * : Core to every Dervish bar not using Pious Fury, this is a main stay.
 * : Useful for undead areas and provides fuel for Reap Impurities.
 * : Tanking skill that you wouldn't bother to use in general PvE.
 * : Can be used to remove Whirling Defense and other stances. You should bring Wild Blow unless this is your teardown attack. This has lower priority over other teardowns unless you're using Pious Renewal.
 * : Because of the long recharge, players should only use this if they want to disable key skills on enemies such as Searing Flames or Ward Against Melee.
 * : Same as Lyssa's Assault, the instant interrupt is useful to spike enemies or prevent your party from being nuked. It's not useful to fuel teardowns despite the recharge bonus.
 * : You have better options to maintain energy, if actually ever need to.
 * : For niche uses in tanking or farming, not useful compared to other flash enchantments.
 * : Seeing as Disease isn't all that useful, it can be used to fuel Reap Impurities but there are better options.
 * : Niche use in healing, primarily for Orders or bonders.
 * : This won't add up to much damage and you'll get more damage from pumping attacks.
 * : Quick activation and decent damage, this is still useful to spam for damage. I think it's great for Zealous Vow and any build that can fit it in.
 * : 8 second recharge means this is far from spammable and the cold damage gets reduced. You'll get more damage from pumping attacks.
 * : You don't need the healing and it can't be used to fuel teardowns, only shitters who want "survivability" would bring this.
 * : Self healing is bad.
 * : The only feasible way to spam this is with Pious Renewal, and that's the only time you should use it.
 * : You can make this hard and attempt to queue enchantments to use Pious Renewal instead of Heart of Fury or you can use it with Pious Renewal; you're choice.
 * : Not really useful in battle since it steals your teardowns, unless you use Pious Renewal. Excellent for getting around outside of battle.
 * : now removes only Dervish enchantments; decreased number of hexes removed to 1...2.
 * : removed Energy cost; added adrenaline cost of 6 strikes; removed recharge; changed functionality to: "This attack strikes for +1 damage for each point of Energy you currently have, maximum 5...30 damage. You gain 1...7 Energy if this attack hits."
 * : Works similalyr to Chilling Victory except it's holy damage. This is quite nice but it means you can't use Wearying Strike unless you cover it with Aura of Thorns. Unfortunately, Deep Wound is applied after enchantments end so you can't use the teardown for Wearying Strike and it's pretty awkward. It has obvious synergy with Grenth's Grasp, Aura Slicer, AoB, and AoG.
 * : Fast recharging flash enchantment that provides Cracked Armor. It is an option if you prefer using it. It's possible to use with Reaper's Sweep or Brawling Headbutt.
 * : Unless you need enchantment removal, it's better to use Irresistible Sweep or Chilling Victory. It provides good damage on it's own but you'd only use it with Pious Renewal.
 * : changed attribute to Mysticism; changed functionality to: "Deals 15...65 cold damage to target foe.  You lose 1 Dervish enchantment. If an  enchantment was removed, target  foe loses 1 enchantment and you gain 1 strike of adrenaline."
 * : Even if the damage is reduced in HM, Sand Shards is still impressive as the Dervish's version of Splinter Weapon. It's not as impressive at lower levels because of the reduction but still useful.
 * : Useful for raptor farming and PvP, not so much general PvE.
 * : Self heals are bad.
 * : You could use this taking a teardown or Aura of Thorns, make the correct call.
 * : Fast recharging flash enchantment that provides Cracked Armor. It is an option if you prefer using it.
 * : You have Technobabble for Dazed. No, it doesn't matter if the foe is a boss.
 * : Because you're using a scythe, this can get impressive with Vow of Strength and can be spammed with Pious Renewal.
 * : Prohibitive recharge, niche use for tanking.
 * : Victorious Sweep had it's damage reduced but it can be spammed, good in general for damage and specifically for Zealous Vow.
 * : Tanking skill, since it's an enchantment you'll end up stripping it, so even shitters won't want to use this unless they bring no teardowns.
 * : Dervs now have a cheap DW available which totally shuts out the usefulness of Wounding Strike. This is the best teardown to bring unless you're using Eremite's Attack with VoS or Pious Renewal.
 * : The cold damage isn't applied if used as a teardown so this is relatively useless.
 * : Still sucks.
 * : A cheap flash enchantment that serves as your zealous weapon and is essential free to use. This will provide any energy management you need.
 * : Acts as energy management and provides a spike in adrenaline, the damage isn't bad either. Very useful in general to keep the attacks coming.

Elite Skills

 * : Armor is negligible and only against melee, you get about the same amount of adrenaline from Onslaught, the holy damage isn't armor-ignoring, and Burning is applied before Wearying Strike which sucks because using Reap Impurities becomes less useful with this.
 * : This is pretty niche for healer support and serves no purpose for players.
 * : The life steal is fun but you won't notice much of a difference. Disease is applied before Wearying Strike which sucks because using Reap Impurities becomes less useful with this.
 * : Most flash enchantments recharge fast enough and it doesn't address the problem of adrenaline-based teardowns. It provide it's own energy management but just ends up as a cheap imitation of Pious Renewal.
 * : Random enchantments makes this practically uesless for PvP and PvE.
 * : This has no advantage over Vow of Strength for general PvE.
 * : Useful for spamming Reap Impurities on recharge, only viable way to use Wearying Strike and Reap Impurities at the same time.
 * : This is great for spamming your adrenaline skills and it provides your IAS and IMS for compaction. Scythe build adrenaline pretty fast by themselves, bring multiple hit skills and you're set. Onslaught can also be used for teardowns as a bonus. Spamming Chilling Victory, Wearying Strike, "Save Yourselves!", or Whirlwind Attack has never been so fun.
 * : In normal cases, spamming Twin Moon Sweep, Eremite's Attack, Wearying Strike, and Pious Fury on recharge is impossible. This is where Pious Renewal comes in. You will probably be staring at the skill bar to make sure Pious Renewal is up while you button mash your skills.
 * : Dervish version of 100b, this allows them to participate in manly spike. The difference is you're using a fucking scythe that can hit 3 foes at once. Add in the newly buffed Eremite's Attack, Whirlwind Attack, Twin Moon Sweep, and Sand Shards that just happens to be in Earth Prayers as well. Use Chilling Victory, Sand Shards, and Splinter Weapon with this up and watch the screen fill with numbers.
 * : Made obsolete by Wearying Strike.
 * : With the introduction of Zealous Renewal, cheap attacks, adrenaline attacks, and teardown attacks; Zealous Vow is probably obsolete. It's still my opinion you have no other way to spam Victorious Sweep and Banishing Strike on recharge though. Spamming attacks is always awesome.

Builds
While describing the use of individual skills can be valuable, it's more useful to focus on builds built around elite skills. Dervs no longer have a generic attack spam build since many attacks are teardowns and Mystic Sweep and Eremite's Attack had their recharges increased. Anet did a good job at providing niche roles for elite skills. Each provides a different mechanic for the Derv to use. I'd have to say the exception would be the forms, where only Avatar of Grenth stands out as being useful instead of serving a niche role. Each of the listed builds plays a little differently and focuses on maximizing on certain skills. Overall, the goal should be to spam AoE damage nonstop as Anet designed the Dervish to do.

Pious Renewal Dervish
[build prof=d/any scythe=12+1+1 myst=12+1][pious renewal][wearying strike][eremite's attack][chilling victory][optional][optional][pious fury][optional][/build] Optional should be:
 * Twin Moon Sweep
 * Irresistible Sweep
 * Rending Sweep
 * Whirlwind Attack
 * Reap Impurities (Bring Rending Aura or Aura of Thorns)

Last optional should be:
 * Aura of Holy Might
 * "Save Yourselves!"
 * Pious Haste
 * 

You can bring Mysticism to 10+1 since that's the break point for Pious Renewal. This will let you bring Grenth's Aura or any other flash enchantment you want. Aura of Holy Might doesn't pump as much as you would think, but it works very good for undead areas. This is the only way you can spam Wearying Strike as well as the other teardowns, so make good use of it. Whirlwind Attack is actually an option here since you have the other teardown attacks available.

Onslaught Dervish
[build prof=d/w scythe=12+1+1 wind=10+1 myst=8+1][optional][wearying strike][chilling victory][whirlwind attack][zealous sweep][optional][onslaught][save yourselves][/build] First optional should be:
 * Grenth's Aura for life steal
 * Rending Aura if using Reap Impurities

Second optional should be:
 * Reap Impurities
 * Eremite's Attack
 * Twin Moon Sweep
 * Brawling Headbutt

Onslaught can be used as a teardown attack as well, which is let's you spam Wearying Strike. If you like Reap Impurities, Rending Aura will be your choice. You can bring other teardown attacks if it's suitable. Zealous Sweep can be replaced with Zealous Renewal to fuel teardowns, but there's really no point. Zealous Sweep is as much for building adrenaline as it is for damage and energy. The main use of Onslaught is it's innate IMS and IAS, which lets you quickly move from foe to foe. The main focus should be spamming Chilling Victory since it builds so fast. This is a better choice for lower-end PvE but it works well in high-end since it also lets you spam "Save Yourselves!" more often.

Vow of Strength Dervish
[build prof=d/w scythe=12+1+1 earthp=10+1 myst=8+1][eremite's attack][whirlwind attack][optional][optional][sand shards][heart of fury][vow of strength][save yourselves][/build] Optional should be:
 * Chilling Victory
 * Reap Impurities
 * Twin Moon Sweep
 * Aura of Thorns
 * Zealous Renewal

Because Vow of Strength is Hundred Blades for Dervish, you get to abuse AoE attacks. Scythes have innate AoE attack, so you already get plenty of damage from auto attacking. The newly buffed Eremite's Attack and Whirlwind Attack lets you spike the crap out of a ball. Twin Moon Sweep serves as a spike as well. Put that together with Sand Shards, which is Splinter Weapon for Dervs and everything will explode. It sets up a pretty massive spike with Vow of Strength->Sand Shards->Cover->Eremite's Attack->Whirlwind Attack->Chilling Victory. Put in Splinter Weapon and most mobs will be taken down in a couple seconds. In HM, you probably need EBSoH to boost damage, but I never liked it since it only works if you set up the spike. You only need to do this in the real high-end areas.

Grenth's Grasp Dervish
[build prof=d/any scythe=12+1+1 myst=11+1 wind=6][wearying strike][banishing strike][reap impurities][chilling victory][optional][heart of fury][grenth's grasp][optional][/build] Optional should be:
 * Whirlwind Attack
 * Rending Aura
 * Grenth's Aura (10 Wind Prayers)
 * Harrier's Haste (10 Wind Prayers)
 * "Save Yourselves!"
 * Brawling Headbutt

I have a couple problems with Reap Impurities which is why I don't like using it. First of all, it's damage is conditional unlike Chilling Victory, it only does additional holy damage to adjacent foes, so hitting a single foe makes it useless. It's also difficult to constantly apply conditions to fuel it, you have to use an attack like Aura Slicer or Crippling Sweep since flash enchantments don't recharge fast enough. This attacks are pretty crappy to use compared to what else you could bring though. Since it removes conditions, this also means you can't use it with Deep Wound and it will strip any Deep Wound applied by your team. Grenth's Grasp bypasses these problems for you to make Reap Impurities viable. It can be used with Wearying Strike as long as you use another attack skill. Banishing Strike provides a cool 50 damage and quickly lets you cover Deep Wound before using Reap Impurities. Grenth's Grasp also lets you spam Wearying Strike if you bring another flash enchantment, which removes one of the innate problems with spamming Wearying Strike (See the part about teardowns at the start). If you're a real fan of using Reap Impurities, this is the build I would suggest using. If you don't want to bother using Wearying Strike, bring Balthazar's Rage, FGJ, Eremite's Attack, Whirlwind Attack, and so on to spam Reap Impurities. For example:

Avatar of Grenth Dervish
[build prof=d/any scythe=12+1+1 wind=10+1 myst=8+1][Twin Moon Sweep][Reap Impurities][chilling Victory][optional][heart of fury][grenth's aura][avatar of grenth][optional][/build] Optional should be:
 * Mystic Sweep
 * Banishing Strike
 * Whirlwind Attack
 * Eremite's Attack (Replace Twin Moon Sweep)
 * Harrier's Haste
 * Rending Aura instead of Grenth's Aura
 * "Save Yourselves!"
 * Brawling Headbutt

Avatar of Grenth isn't nearly as useful as you would think. The life steal is negligible for the most part since you get most of your damage from AoE attacks. It can be significant at around 12-13 Mysticism as an innate Conjure and spamming Whirlwind Attack and/or Eremite's Attack is quite fun for redbarring yourself. The idea of using Disease to fuel Reap Impurities isn't that great considering the problem with actually triggering Disease enough to continue fueling Reap Impurities. The worst grievance is Disease doesn't cover Deep Wound from Wearying Strike. As Wearying Strike is a teardown, you don't have much choice in getting Deep Wound covered. This makes Avatar of Grenth much less effective compared to other elites. Many players will find the life steal appealing especially when put together with Grenth's Aura. However, it's advisable to only use this for NM and easier HM areas; use when combat isn't srs bsns. Being able to run ahead and c+space everything to death is pretty ^__^