Build:D/W Drunken Dervish
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This Drunken Dervish uses the energy management of a Dervish to spam a couple of Warrior general melee attacks, including Drunken Blow, and to heal. The Dervish puts out good pressure damage with two high-damage attacks and applies a random assortment of conditions to a target. The variant adds in more immunity to Knockdown and more conditioning at the expense of some energy management.
[edit] Attributes and Skills
  Dervish / Warrior |
Attribute Rank |
|---|---|
| Scythe | 9 + 2 + 1 |
| Mysticism | 8 + 1 |
| Wind Prayers | 8 + 2 |
| Tactics | 11 |
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The optional slot is probably best filled with a Dervish enchant to power Dwayna’s Touch as the self-heal. Featherfoot Grace (anti-kite/conditions), Harrier's Grasp (anti-kite), Heart of Fury (IAS), and Faithful Intervention (stopgap heal) are all good candidates.
[edit] Equipment
Blessed Insignias are a good choice. Energy management isn’t that tough with this setup, and you should usually be enchanted, so a little extra armor is always good. Since you often might have only 1 enchant up, Blessed is better than Windwalker. Runes are Major Scythe, Major Wind, Minor Mysticism, a Rune of Clarity (stacks well with Featherfoot Grace for countering the two most melee-killing conditions) and a Rune of Superior Vigor (or Attunement – much cheaper).
For a Scythe, I’d consider a Sundering, +15% while Enchanted, Enchanting Scythe. The Enchanting upgrade makes Onslaught stay up for 18 seconds out of every 20. Dwayna's Grace fits the bill perfectly.
[edit] Usage
This build is straightforward. Upon entering battle, put up Onslaught, whichever enchant is in the Optional slot (covers Onslaught), and then Balanced Stance. Lead with Drunken Blow unless your target has already stanced up, in which case lead with Wild Blow. Alternate the two attacks, putting in a Reap Impurities to heal up. Watch for Balanced Stance ending, and discontinue Drunken Blows until the stance cycles back up. Keep up Onslaught as much as possible to keep cycling Wild Blows and Reap Impurities. Dwayna’s Touch heals when needed. Both the guaranteed Wild Blow crit and the high damage Drunken Blows do good pressure damage.
[edit] Counters
Anti-melee Hexes, as this build does not shed hexes. Energy denial can be annoying, though Onslaught helps with this. Stance removal stops the Balanced Stance/Drunken Blow combo. Anti-melee conditions are bad unless you have Featherfoot Grace + Rune reduction.
[edit] Variants
The major variant is based on using Earth Prayers instead of Wind Prayers. Drop Onslaught and Dwayna’s Touch. Add in Ebon Dust Aura and Fleeting Stability, and use an Ebon Scythe of Enchanting. The optional slot is no longer a Wind Prayers enchant; Mystic Regeneration works well. Now, when you open, go Ebon Dust/Fleeting Stability/Drunken Blow. Your target is now Blind as well as suffering from another random condition. Watch for Fleeting Stability to end, putting up Balanced Stance BEFORE FS ends so that you are not knocked down. If FS ends early due to a disenchant, the knockdown does NOT trigger. Just be sure to go Balanced before launching anymore Drunken Blows! Equipment – Ebon, Enchanting, +15%(Enchanted) Scythe. 8 Earth is sufficient (gives +3 regen and gives 7 secs of Blind off EDA), so I have no Earth Rune, increase the scythe to +3, and tack on an Attunement rune where the Major Wind Prayers rune was in the original build.
