Build:D/any FoW Farmer

The PvXwiki community finds this to be a good build. Through the PvX vetting system, it has reached an overall Rating in the range from 3.75 to < 4.75 and thus qualifies for the lower category of working builds: Good. This build has been designed for the following use: PvE farming

Using Vow of Silence, Dervish can easily clear a good part of the Fissure of Woe. Since it hits up to three foes, deals high damage with the scythe, and is immune to spells, the dervish can clear a few places quickly and safely.

Attributes and Skills

Dervish / No profession 11 + 1 + 3 Wind Prayers 10 + 2 Mysticism 10 + 2 Scythe Mastery Vow of Piety Nightfall Dervish. Wind Prayers 15 Vow of Piety Enchantment Spell For 20 seconds, you have +24 armor and +4 Health regeneration. Vow of Piety renews whenever an enchantment on you ends. 45 ¼ 15 Grenth's Aura EotN Dervish. Wind Prayers 15 Grenth's Aura Flash Enchantment Spell For 20 seconds, you deal 25 less damage and steal 25 Health whenever you hit with a scythe attack. When you cast this enchantment you steal 25 Health from all adjacent foes. 10 10 Vow of Silence Nightfall Dervish. Mysticism 12 Vow of Silence Elite Enchantment Spell For 9 seconds, you cannot be the target of Spells, and you cannot cast Spells. 10 ¼ 5 Heart of Fury Nightfall Dervish. Mysticism 12 Heart of Fury Stance For 8 seconds, you attack 25% faster. 4 Crippling Victory EotN Dervish. Scythe Mastery 12 Crippling Victory Scythe Attack If this attack hits a foe, that foe is Crippled for 7 seconds. If you have more Health than target foe, all adjacent foes take 26 earth damage. 6 Reap Impurities Nightfall Dervish. Scythe Mastery 12 Reap Impurities Melee Attack If this attack hits, you deal +13 damage. Each foe you hit loses 1 condition. For each foe who loses a condition, all foes adjacent to that target foe take 34 holy damage. 5 "Finish Him!" EotN No Profession. Norn rank "Finish Him!" Shout If target foe has less than 50% Health, that foe takes 44..80 damage and suffers from Cracked Armor and a Deep Wound for 12..20 seconds. 15 10 Featherfoot Grace Nightfall Dervish. Wind Prayers 15 Featherfoot Grace Enchantment Spell For 20 seconds, you move 25% faster, and Conditions expire 25% faster. 15 ¼ 10 Template code

Variants

You can remove "Finish Him!" for some other utility :

• Signet of Mystic Speed to prevent Skeletal ether breakers and Rock borer worms from interrupting Vow of Silence.
• Heart of Holy Flame to assist in AOE damage and to kill the Undead.

You can remove Featherfoot Grace and Heart of Fury for :

• Drunken Master to make room for another optional skill.

Equipment

• Any armor full Windwalker insignas. One Vitae rune, and best possible vigor. Health should be around 400-420.
• Zealous scythe of enchanting (you need a Scythe of enchanting to keep Vow of Silence up all the time). +15% with enchantment works wonder.

Usage

General usage

• When you want to run, maintain Vow of Piety, Featherfoot Grace, and Vow of Silence. Refresh Featherfoot Grace every two Vow of Silence.
• Usually, keep Vow of Silence up all the time, since it keeps Vow of Piety also up.
• When fighting, refresh Grenth's Aura every Vow of Silence (for additional AoE life steal). If your energy can't manage it (which should not be the case), you can refresh it only every two Vows of Silence. Spam you adrenal skills.
• Use Signet of Mystic Speed to have instant recast for Vow of silence. It prevents Skeletal ether breakers and Rock borer worms from interrupting it (which leads to a certain death).
• Place yourself so you can hit the most possible monsters at a time. Grenth's Aura can build up to 75 health per hit. Try to ball mobs in order to do so. (if it's worth the time it takes).

Farming places

Although you can kick in most of the FoW, you will most likely farm there for Obsidian shards, so you may want to focus on mobs which drop that :

• Shadow army is hard to do. Shadow beasts, elementals and mesmers are easily taken off, warriors are harder, and abyssals are too dangerous because of knockdowns. Also, monks are really potent healers and difficult to outdamage.
• Skeletons depend on their teams. Ether breakers and icehands are easy to kill (just make sure you use Signet of Mystic Speed since they can disrupt your Vow of Silence). This makes the Forest run easy since you can run to the battle plains, and start the farm from here (also clearing the shadow mesmers + elementals just before the plains), not suffering for the Deep freeze matters which gives hard times to many classes. Teams with bersekers and bonds are harder to take off, even though they can be done. Avoid if not experienced.
• Spirit shepherds and Spirit woods are just easy. Keep Vow of Silence all the time in the forest, even if not encountering shepherds, since it refreshes Vow of Piety and makes any mistaken aggro not dangerous (you won't take much damage from wand attacks). Usually this is the best farming place for the time it takes.
• Rock borer worms are boring and don't drop shards. However, you can take those off easily. Be careful when you encounter other mobs, use Signet of Mystic Speed for Vow of Silence, as their Choking gas can shut you down, and lead you to death if any shepherds are around.
• Spiders are a little more dangerous, because of their poison, plus the fact they don't rely on spells for damage. Try not to aggro too many at a time. More than 3 is usually dangerous, depending on how many mobs you hit. If you want to clear the cave, you need to process slowly. Also, consider that bleeding + cracked armor give them up to +8 health regeneration.
• The shore is an easy place to clear, but neither Doubter dryders nor Ancient skales drop shards. However, Snarling driftwoods do.
• Burning forest and Lake of fire are difficult because of smoke walkers but can be managed if one is using reap impurities. Make sure to ball the smoke walker onto its group, and then spam aura slicer and reap until it runs itself out of energy to cast heal area. Even a group of 6 obsidian furnace drakes and 2 smoke walkers can be beaten this way only slightly slower than other fow groups.

Counters

• Forgetting to refresh Grenth's Aura before Vow of Silence. It leaves you 10 seconds without life steal, which is deadly when under attack from many mobs.
• Too many spiders or skeletal bersekers at a time.
• Losing Vow of Piety and not being able to refresh it.

Notes

• Signet of Mystic Speed is a little bugged. If you refresh it before it ends, it doesn't reset its use up to 3 flash enchantments. Finish its 3 uses before re-using it.
• A typical run takes 25-30 min to clear 5 skeleton teams in plains + 3 shadow guys before plains, and the entire forest.