Grenth's Repeating Strike

[arredondo]

Late into the preview weekend, I made this little gem that was just a nightmare to Boon-Prot Monks among other enchanted foes. It was even doing an excellent job stripping DeMos as well. Check it out:

===================================
Grenth's Repeating Strike (DeAs)

Mysticism: 14
Dagger Mastery: 11
Earth Prayers: 11

Avatar of Grenth: For 52s, you remove an enchant with every attack skill used and do Cold damage

Leaping Mantis Strike: Lead attack for 18 damage, Cripples a foe for 12s if they were moving
Jungle Strike: Off-hand does 17 damage, and an additional 23 damage (40 total) on a Crippled foe
Repeating Strike: Off-hand must follow an off-hand, does 16 damage and instantly recharges until it misses

Conviction: +24 AL for 28s if under an enchant or +3 regn without an enchant
Vital Boon: +84 max health for 20s, gain +130 health when it ends.
Signet of Piety: Heal for +107. It removes an enchant, and if there are any it instantly recharges
Rez -or- Twisting Fangs: Does 10x2= 20 damage, Bleeding and Deep Wound are inflicted for 5s (useful for spike finish kills)

I used Vamp Daggers, but Zealous are an excellent option too.
===================================

Put up the enchant, get into Conviction stance and you're ready for action. My typical approach was to find a Boon/Prot Monk and go into Avatar of Grenth form as I got near. I use normal melee with my daggers until he tries to run... LMS can then Cripple him (takes practice to do well) and it serves as the first disenchant. Once snared, I do extra damage with Jungle Strike which disenchants him again. If he has another up, I use Repeating Strike to take it away, and RS is instantly recharged.

For the rest of the time I'm on him, I melee spam with my Vamp daggers until I see him re-enchant. When something foes up, I bring it down with RS. As he Cripple walks away, I re-Cripple him with LMS->JS as it becomes available. Then it's simply taking away enchants once again until he dies.

I didn't play this for more than an hour when the event ended, but every Monk I went after was completely stripped unlike any other disenchant build I've run. Only Guardian occassionally caused RS to miss, but even that is just a short reprieve for him since all the other good stuff often stayed down. My recharges are fine, so LMS is up quickly to try and strip again (with a Cripple).

I also went head to head with DeMos. It's pretty funny to see his enchant-cancel combos fail because all of his spells get removed instantly. Yes, his attack enchants work fine regardless, but the healing enchants underneath are the ones that expose him a little easier. My own heals protect me from major damage 1v1, but he is unable to do his group spike damage when and where he wants to. I also used the huge amount of time the elite gives to disenchant lesser classes like Eles, Necros, etc. There's plenty of enchant stripping for everyone. Energy is fine because I only RS when there's an enchant to strip.

Who knows what the final stats for the Dervishes will look like when the game is released, but as it stands now AoG is the best disenchanting skill that a solo build can use. And to guarantee that even Guardian can be stripped, next time I may go with Dancing Daggers (not an attack, but a Lead)->Fox Fangs (off hand that can't be blocked/evaded)->Repeating Strike. That will do less damage and allows kiting, but it will definitely strip any Monk build of enchants that I can think of.

[ShadowCeiling]

That sounds crazy good. I really wanna see the new fights coming up in the Nightfall ladder. Cause this one is a doozy of disechanter. I love it.

[Wiseblade]

Couldn't fox fangs, nine tail and caltrops get a similar effect with garunteed disenchantments?

[lavenbb]

doesn't the stripping trigger on attack skills only? I think dancing dagger is a spell..

[Bobross]

I tried something else, briefly that was somewhat similar with Avatar of Lyssa...I was using wind though to speed up my attacks, with high dagger mastery...worked alright vs monks, and did extra damage whenever they tried to cast a spell. Worked crazy good against eles and necros as well...but not nearly as survivable, as I didn't have any earth skills.

[MaximumSquid]

The Grenth form is very powerful.

If Dervishes AoE spells get toned down I would expect to see a lot more of it.

Question though: Wouldn't you want to try and use a cold scythe in the build?

You'd be able to remove more enchantments on a single target with daggers, but scythe would mean a lot of calateral damage which may end up being more useful against organized teams that are running smite, for example.

[arredondo]

Thx for the replies everyone. Like I said, it was only an hour before the event ended; I usually test a lot longer before posting a build because of all the potential adjustments I usually make. Consider this an WiP, especially since it may all change in the final release.

For one, notice I have three defensive skills. That was almost required this weekend do to the crazy DeMo action going on everywhere. I may be able to bring it down to two next time if (when) the Dervishes are toned down a bit. On to your comments...

- Fox Fangs, Nine-Tail and Caltrops is missing a Lead so it won't work. Even if it does, you're missing the point of Repeating Strike - it has 0 recharge if it hits. As long as I strip Guardian with something other than RS, I can take away every enchant away the millisecond he puts it up (I begin attacking with RS as he casts anything). That's why it's so good. But Nine-Tail is a good Dual for this if I didn't have RS since it can't be stopped in removing two enchants.

- I indicated Dancing Daggers isn't an attack; I assumed it was understood it wouldn't strip. The reason it's here is so I have an un-evadable/blockable Lead for Fox Fangs. There aren't any others available.

- I agree Earth skills are awesome for defense. I ran with skills from the line in all my other Dervish builds. I actually tried Lyyssa's first too, but I wasn't impressed (with the IAS like you, and high Dagger Mastery for extra double strikes). The +10E and situational damage isn't as "godly" as the others IMHO. She needs +20E and +60 per attack since she doesn't get any extra defense.

- A cold scythe is interesting, but unfortunately I'd lose access to my Dagger attack skills. Maybe I can bring a spare scythe and fit into a free slot the skill Twin Moon Sweep. It's double attack will make the use of AoE 2x-enchant removal in crowds before I switch back to Daggers.

[Woop Shotty]

nice build you have there

[Bozo69PD]

which comes first damage from the attack or the removal? Would be pretty crazy if it removes RoF before he gets the heal.

[arredondo]

Hmm, good question. Maybe we can make a guess by using Order of Apostasy and seeing what happens. I think it hits first, then removes since you can't get a removal without an attack skill hit.

[MaximumSquid]

Maybe I can bring a spare scythe and fit into a free slot the skill Twin Moon Sweep.I like that idea.

I wonder what other classes can take advantage of the AoE even if they had no points in it. . .

[arredondo]

I just made a build with those thoughts in mind, Grenth's Evil Tactics (http://forums.gwonline.net/showthread.php?p=4284652#post4284652). But you don't have to have 0 points in a skill line. You can get damage and AoE enchant stripping.

[Slygar]

There is always Caltrops, instead of Rez/TF to stop the kiting if you go with fox fangs.. been using it in an unseen fury build and it works great.

[arredondo]

In general I'd use Siphon Speed over Caltrops as the non-attacking snare since it's been fixed. It is very spammable if removed, Hex removal is a bit tougher than Condition removal, and SS does a great job at keeping you on your target's butt. Caltrops is better as an AoE snare.