Build:D/Mo 130hp Dervish Farmer

The PvXwiki community finds this to be an excellent build. If you disagree with this rating, please discuss it on the build's talk page. This build has been designed for the following use: PvE farming

This is a build designed to farm bosses as a Dervish, by bringing your health down to 130 health, so that Protective Spirit lowers damage taken to a maximum of 13. It is in many ways similar to the 55 Monk build, but dervishes can not lower their health below 130 whilst wielding a scythe, because of the inherent +25 health on Dervish chest pieces. This particular build wields a scythe, thus negating the effects of any off-hand item you have equipped.

Watch 130HP Dervish clip

Attributes and Skills

<pvxbig> [build name="130hp dervish" prof=dervi/monk protec=10 scythe=12+1+3 earthp=6+3 mystic=6+3][Protective Spirit][Mystic Regeneration][Mystic Vigor][Eremite's Attack][Mystic Sweep][Reaper's Sweep][Balthazar's Spirit][Essence Bond][/build] </pvxbig>

Equipment

• Runes of Superior Scythe Mastery, Superior Earth Prayer, Superior Mysticism, and 2 superior runes of your choice, though not Vigor runes

• Radiant Insignia for more energy

• Any kind of armor other than armor with the survivor insignia or health boosting runes will do, as long as it has a total of 5 superior runes on. Note that armor level does not matter for this build, so a set of armor purchased in Kamadan will serve this builds purposes just fine.

• A customized Scythe with a "Guided by Fate"/"Strength and Honor"/"To the Pain!" inscription. A scythe grip of Enchanting and a Sundering or Zealous scythe snathe can make things easier.

• A Zealous scythe is recommended while facing only one foe; if you don't use one you may not gain enough energy to recast all 3 enchantments. Note that energy mangement when facing a single foe may become easier by dropping Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond.

• Dwayna's Grace, Lyssa's Bedlam, Scythe of Corruption, or Suli's Scythe would work well for this build. The Soulbreaker also works.

Usage

• Whenever you enter an explorable area cast Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond and wait for your energy to regen. Before approaching the monster(s) you want to kill, cast the first 3 skills on your bar. Aggro the monster(s) and keep your enchantments up while spamming your attack skills. If you're having trouble staying alive, consider deliberately getting yourself killed; the resultant Death Penalty will lower your health and therefore make the build more effective.

• Mystic Regeneration is quite effective at keeping your health up, however enemies with fast attack speed or powerful health degen spells can render it useless. Try not to face your target alone, make sure he has company. When you aggro a group, make sure they are more or less mobbed up. With the help of Mystic Vigor, you will gain about 25 health each hit; with 3 targets in one hit you will gain 75 health per hit. With fast attacks and the assistance of Mystic Regeneration, you should survive quite easily.

• Mystic Vigor is your anti-spike skill. When you get spiked, it should only take one hit from you while enchanted with Mystic Vigor to bring your health back up

• When there are only 1 or 2 enemies left, it's useful to just use Mystic Vigor instead of Mystic Regeneration, to conserve energy.

• For some bosses, it is more effective to insert Mirage Cloak into the build instead of Eremite's Attack, to help counter the onslaught of melee attackers. This variation can often be used without having to harvest Death Penalty first, and also gives nice AoE damage. Note, however, that Mirage Cloak will lower the effectiveness of Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond, so don't attempt to use it unless you have a zealous scythe equipped.

Counters

• Blind
• Weakness
• Dazed
• Knockdowns (interupting Protective Spirit or any of other enchantments) see Notes to prevent it.
• interupts (interupting Protective Spirit or any of other enchantments)
• Blurred Vision
• Enchantment removal
• Avatar of Grenth
• Health Degeneration exceeding 21 pips
• Health Stealing
• Energy Denial (Spirit Shackles in particular)
• Chilblains - this skill can ruin many of your farming runs

Variants

• Replace Reaper's Sweep with Wounding Strike, Arcane Zeal if you are having trouble with energy management, Mystic Twister, Avatar of Dwayna for hex removal and healing (which can negate the need for Mystic Vigor, which you can swap for Eternal Aura to help keep up the avatar), or Avatar of Lyssa (which works wonders against Elementalist Bosses, as they are constantly casting spells on you, you deal +38 damage on a target that is casting a spell).

• Replace Eremite's Attack or Mystic Sweep for Fleeting Stability to counter knock down, Heart of Holy Flame when fighting undead for double damage, or Lyssa's Assualt for a no cost attack with bonus damage.

• Replace Mystic Vigor and Essence Bond with Veil of Thorns and Armor of Sanctity.

Notes

• Players who only own the Nightfall campaign can use Zealous Vow as energy management and replace Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond with two utility/attack skills (such as Heart of Holy Flame, Lyssa's Assault, etc.). Managing your energy with this set-up might be a hassle, however.

• It is possible to prevent bosses from healing (this has only been tested on Marobeh Sharptail) by replacing an attack skill with Rending Aura. However, to make this set-up effective, Wind Prayers need to be at 6. Lowering Mysticism to 9 can accommodate this.

• Unlike the traditional Invincible Monk, Death Penalty is not an issue with this build. If you die once, you can still run it fine, it's actually easier if you have 58 health. Same goes if you die twice. If you die 3 times, swap out one superior rune (put on one piece of your normal armor). Experiment with different normal armor pieces and different scythes on. You'll eventually get to a value below 100.

• Keep an eye on the remaining duration of your enchantments. If they are about to end, renew them. If you're having energy problems, don't renew them until they're about to end, and you may not want to use some of your other skills, either.

This build has so far successfully been used to farm:

• Mobs/Various
  • Am Fah
  • Behemoths (of all sorts)
  • Bladed Aatxe In the underworld- no more than two at a time, due to Riposte
  • Djinns (of all sorts)
  • Fire Imp
  • Hekets (all sorts, but you can get unlucky with interrupts from the warriors)
  • Hydras (Prophecies campaign)
  • Insects (all sorts)
  • Jade At the beginning of Ring of Fire mission, avoid the mursaat and pull the Jade alone. Make sure you're Infused first!
  • Jade Brotherhood (Factions campaign) (Easier to kill with 58 HP, you could get unlucky with interrupts from Jade Brotherhood Mesmers.)
  • Kirin
  • Minotaurs
  • Mountain Trolls (Prophecies campaign)
  • Plants (mirage iboga's can be a pain but it can be done) only tested in Nightfall campaign
  • Skale (It's very easy, just charge them and use the build correctly)
  • Titans in Nightfall (See tips below)
  • Undead especially from The Undead Hordes quest
  • Undergrowth
  • Warden
• Warrior
  • Bloodback Morrob (Die first or the excessive warriors will over power you.)
  • Chor the Bladed (Position him beside his healer, and put pressure on the healer until it dies, then finish Chor)
  • Krogg Shmush (Use Vow of Strength, Armor of Sanctity, and Aura of Thorns instead of attack skills.Takes a bit long but he's no problem. Watch for interrupts.)
  • Mahto Sharptooth (By using the hill to the west of Mahto, you can control the damage/energy you take by using it to block the Heket using their wands, dying once helps)
  • Robah Hardback (Very easy, dying once makes it a bit easier)
  • Colonel Chaklin (Enchantment removers are near)

• Ranger
  • Tundoss the Destroyer (You may want to bring henchmen or heroes to kill the two healers near him, then flag them away.)
  • Whuup Buumbuul (Takes a while, line him up with the Mountain Trolls to keep up your health)
  • Zelnehlun Fastfoot (Die twice, equip +30 HP scythe, then kill him, avoid Rampaging Ntouka on the run, they will strip your enchantments)

• Monk
  • Chidehkir (Die once, attack him and make sure one of his minions is in your strike range, keep the pressure on and he will die eventually. Try replacing Mystic Vigor with Scourge Healing, you can take points from Earth Prayers till it is at 8 and put those points into Smiting Prayers, keep Scourge Healing on him at all times so he cant heal.)
  • Keshel the Voracious (easy)
  • Shen (easy but die once first)

• Necromancer
  • Eshekibeh Longneck
  • Ghial the Bone Dancer (Consider taking Heart of Fury to help counter Faintheartedness)
  • Jerneh Nightbringer (Video, Easier to try to kill him with 58 HP. Buhon and Robah spawn near him. It's easy, Nightbringer first, then Buhon and at last Robah)
  • Mabah Heardheart
  • Terob Roundback (Very Easy/Easy. Die once first. Careful of Ntouka Birds)

• Mesmer
  • Eshim Mindclouder
  • Jin
  • Neoli the Contagious (Hard)
  • Yamesh Mindclouder
  • Yammirvu (Better if you die once)

• Elementalist
  • Birneh Skybringer (Get your hp below 50 and use Fleeting to make it easier. If a monk is in his group, kill the monk first - try to hit a number of targets at once to make this easer)
  • Buhon Icelord (Easier by dying 2 or 3 times)
  • Exuro Flatus (Video, Easier if you die twice and weild a +30 health scythe
  • Hajkor (Video, use the wurm, before aggroing him, wait for the mandragor group to arrive, kill them, go for the small melee mandragor first, then die once, then pull him and his group away from the margonites and then kill him.)
  • Korr (Video, if you go 61hp (30% DP and trade out one of your armor pieces) and equip Fleeting Stability it makes it exceptionally easier)
  • Korshek the Immolated
  • Kormab (Arcane Zeal makes this much easier)
  • Lian (Easiest way is to pull the knight group in front and solo them then move on to Lian's group)

• Assassin
  • Lunto Sharpfoot (If he has any healers near him, finish them first by positioning lunto and any other melee minions at one side of the healer, and hit Lunto, the healer and his minions at the same time)(user comment: just lure the closest of lunto's minions and the whole group will come running to you, then just kill the monk)
  • Xuekao
  • Faveo Aggredior (Video, Die once and replace Mystic Vigor with Heart of Fury to speed up the process)

• Ritualist
  • Cho
  • Lieutenant Kayin

• Dervish
  • Acolyte of Balthazar (No dying required, he is relatively easy to farm, though this works well in a group where the 130hp derv attacks first)
  • Acolyte of Melandru (Die once, kill seers first, cover protective spirit with mystic regeneration and mystic vigor. Rezone if there are any priests.)
  • Bubahl Icehands (Easy, die once then kill him)
  • Corporal Suli (may need to rezone for a good spawn)
  • Leilon
  • Marobeh Sharptail (Make sure you hit him alone. Let the mob provide energy. He does take a good amount of effort)
  • Vahlen the Silent (Die once, then kill him. It may be easier to die twice, because then they only do 1 damage)

• Paragon
  • Jishol Darksong (Medium, Takes very long time, but possible)
  • Pehnsed the Loudmouth (Takes very long time, but possible)
  • Shakor Firespear
  • Wandalz the Angry (Take henchmen to clear the Kournan Seers, then keep flagged off radar.)

Note: if you add a boss to this list, please post a screenshot on the Talk page.

Tips

• Titans: In the Domain of Secrets, you may have energy problems. If you don't have a zealous scythe, target Pain Titans first, then Titan Abominations and their subsequent spawns. Organizing the Madness Titans behind you helps, and ignore your attacks when there's three or less foes, and Mystic Vigor when you're down to one foe. Reaper's Sweep helps if you have energy. The advantage to going through all this trouble is that you can farm those titans immediately in the area of Exuro Flatus.

See also

• Invincible Monk