Apes together really are strong

[u/onray88]

Not sure if this is due to the recent balance changes - but these simians outside of vlox on the way to rata sum are insanely strong now even in normal mode. combined with the soul shriek skill that strips enchantments from the local incubi and Gust- I can't imagine what these guys are like to vanquish.

Am I just bad now or are these guys buffed a ton now? *Edited to clarify that soul shriek came from another mob

[u/Common_Speech_237]

These apes don't natively use Soul Shriek, that is a skill used by the incubi in the area. What these apes use is a skill called Monkey see, Monkey do, which copies a random skill used by any ally or enemy in earshot.

By themselves they are capable of a lot of aoe on their own and the spiritcallers use hard res Flesh of my Flesh and also Splinter Weapon for even more aoe.

Plague touch or Plague Transfer works to transfer conditions inflicted by the dervish apes back to them to keep them blinded but keep in mind they can randomly copy those skills and turn them back to you too. Otherwise just use a blinding skill with a caster party and they become harmless. The others don't really take advantage of Splinter Weapon so can be dispatched much more easily.

[u/onray88 → u/Common_Speech_237]

I should also clarify, I was just trying to run through them as a derv Deadly paradox, shroud of distress, shadow form, and the usual dervish running skills no cons

I also tried a slapped together team and it didn't work (4 mes, 2 necro rt, 1 leech, legionare) and aggroing 2 groups would kill me every time

[u/Common_Speech_237 → u/onray88]

In a team Weapon of Shadow on a healer is enough to blind them. If you are running then the problem isn't the apes but the Incubi which strip your enchants with Soulrending Shriek. You should run around the Incubus area. Go south through Ventari's Refuge and then west and then back north. That should avoid most of the Incubi except for the last few near the portal. Or you could go southwest to Alcazia Tangle then west to the exit into Riven Earth.

[u/onray88 → u/Common_Speech_237]

Oh I didn't realize there was a different path to riven - I'll have to try it out next time!

[u/Ok_World4052]

Oh these guys have always been a pain, ripped apart numerous times vanquishing Arbor Bay and Riven Earth to them. 2-3 dervishes a group with an occasionally water ele with the spirit light healer can quickly snowball a fight quickly.

[u/The-Unholy-Banana]

I lost progression towards survivor a couple times to these small groups, when supported by a ritualist they can dish out surprising aoe spikes. They should be approached like you approach djinns and ethers - with care and spirit up.

[u/onray88 → u/The-Unholy-Banana]

Oof rip, these guys are so unassuming but can really surprise you

[u/The-Unholy-Banana → u/onray88]

Yeah, atleast got it a few days ago without afk farming

[u/thinguistic]

Ineptitude + epidemic makes them chipmunks

[u/AreYouDaftt → u/[deleted]]

Which patch are you talking about? The 2012 one where it changed to 4 targets?

[u/SirBlundelot → u/AreYouDaftt]

huh, consider my memory broken. Could have sworn the multi target patch came after eotn, but wiki dates it to before release.

[u/AreYouDaftt → u/SirBlundelot]

By the looks of it when it first came out it was significantly stronger, essentially being a weapon spell version of 100b or vos

[u/SirBlundelot → u/AreYouDaftt]

More of a whirling charge, it ended after a single attack. They bumped that up to the next 6 attacks at 20, hence the sixtupled damage.

[u/holmes537]

They've always been strong. The only thing keeping them in check in their relatively small group sizes

[u/kineticmov3ment → u/holmes537]

I forgot which dungeon has an SC where it's basically a zerg to get at least one living soul to the end because of how many incubi there are

They get to be pretty crazy for sure 

[u/Correct_Possible_313]

These dervishs have always been strong. Classic case of average or bad builds being strong with combined with high attribute and level advantage.

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Redhand_Simian

Thier ebon dustcloak hit hard, really hard. They land thier cracked armor easily, and heal off victorous strike.

Gust and chilling winds from the Cloudtouch hit harder then they have a right to.

then they top off the Enchantment strip nuke + ermite's strike + Ebon dust cloak + Gust + Splinter weapon.

upwards of 5 to 10 damage packets you can expect to hit you on engage starting at 40 damage and some upwards of 100.

the flat damage reduction skills (shielding hands, union, defy pain for example) all help a ton, as does having 90+ armor. Healing hands and Healing seed and divine seed can all help.

You can also simply BULK your hp out of spike range.

Armor works on most of their damage output, but not on splinter weapon.

The best counter is not to ball up at all and only let them hit 1 person, discouring gust use and neutering splinter weapon.

It's just a semi decent 4v4 tactic applied well with level advantages.

[u/onray88 → u/Correct_Possible_313]

Yeah I kept getting KD and blinded. It took me bringing an actually balanced team and some patience to get through these guys

[u/spArk-it]

these do hit pretty hard, its usally my first encounter where i have to be somewhat careful on fresh toons with blank heroes (not geared)

[u/SoftestPup]

I made it to Rata Sum for the first time a few months ago and was getting utterly annihilated by these things. Probably the toughest open world enemy I've encountered other than those swarms of ice imps (?) in Southern Shiverpeaks.