Curse

Kills Like Sword · Jan 15, 2008, 01:00 AM // 01:00

Hey everyone, I've decided to start a new monk, and have been looking into the many different roles of Monks. I will probably be running many different builds as a monk can serve many practices. I have looked up on 55, Runner, and Healer.

My question is, what is the build/strategy of the 600/Smiter combination that I often see running the Cathedral of Flames in EoTN? I couldn't find much detail on them, any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Syntonic · Jan 15, 2008, 09:04 AM // 09:04

Go take a look at PvXWiki and their farming section. There's a few variations of the 600/smite team for different areas but this one deals with CoF in particular:

http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:Te...mned_600/Smite

The staple for the first bar is mantra of resolve so ignore the optional slot as it isn't really optional for most runners and necessary for a quick and easy run. Also, instead of a divine favour +2 rune on the smiter, consider making a whole new head piece to get and adding a superior divine favour rune plus on +1 divine favour head piece. This is helpful if you are planning to do both smiting and 600 tanking. Before casting blessed aura as a 600, switch to your divine headpiece and then switch back after you finish casting it. Blessed Aura will then net 37% over 32%. It isn't a big difference in the long run but it does give you a second more in spell breaker and prot spirit I think. You can also use it while smiting though to power your blessed signet. Remember to switch to a normal health/armor when you get to the area filled with fire arrows right before Murakai. This allows for an easy way to switch out for more life to get past traps and the like. In addition to the 20% enchant modifier on a weapon, try to get some mods that provide a half skill recharge chance. That way, you get the chance to recast SoA at your convenience as the 600. For the smiter, you probably want to stick with a defensive type set (shield and 20% enchant mod weapon.)

My general usage is a slightly different as I normally start off with Mantra of Resolve, Prot Spirit, then Spirit Breaker. After that, I aggro the monsters, cast spirit bond and then shield of absorption depending on the mob and how quickly they attack. Renew when necessary and time your SB to cover your SoA's recast and time it takes to build up. It's fairly easy if you have learned how to monk at all as it is pretty self intuitive and common sense (like waiting to use spell breaker when Murakai summons her minions. Renewing your spells in that time is also a good idea due to the amount of hits you take.) I'd suggest that you do a few practice runs if you are 600ing with a hero so you know where monsters pop up and more importantly what type. There's nothing worse than seeing a person waste their spell breaker against enchanted weapons and having downtime because of it. Alternatively, you can follow as a smiter or simply as a passenger to find the route people take and where things are generally.

There's a few tricks that people try at certain areas as well. For example, at the end against Murakai, a few runners might try to lure her towards a fire fountain so she suffers burning and dies quicker. It's not an exact science and honestly, I don't bother doing this myself. In any case, check out the area specific notes on the PvX link for more details on each level. You'll learn to despise blood song and menders soon enough.

15AR armor costs about 20 gold and only a few basic supplies to construct if I remember correctly. The runes will be slightly more expensive but you'll easily recuperate the costs in a single good run (solo+hero.) It's easy to do but relatively boring without having another person alongside of you. However, there are some people who aren't so great at the 600 part even with experience for whatever reason.

If you happen to be one of them, just keep with smiting as it is relatively mindless and stop making other poor smiters suffer unless you are just heroing your way through. Keep in mind of how far enchants can be maintained (full radar screen length away and a bit more but try to keep them at least in radar distance). There's no need to get close (meaning right outside your aggro circle/beginning of spirit range.) You can throw BiP in between every battle (which should not be necessary at all) or simply wait for the 600 to call his/her energy. Throw a BiP on them whenever they get to a boss area just in case though whether or not they call it. Other than that, it's your job to sit there and look for hidden treasures for the most part. Rather boring so try to keep your group operating smoothly by either drawing all sorts of lines on the map so they don't get into the aggro range or just talk to them so they are occupied. Some group members take skills to help out the running process (succor, heal party, party wide running skills, hell even mending/healing breeze etc.) so since you are free, give them a thank you and other common courtesy. If you are just duoing, make sure you stay out of the 600's way.

For running other people, most runners ask the people to pay before Murakai. Current prices are around 2.5k per person with the smiter getting in free - which is uh, well extremely profitable for the runner since they also get drops/treasures/etc. along with it. There are still a few people who charge 3k and also a few people who go with just tips or 2k run. Normally, it depends on what they are doing. Generally, smiters aren't part of that paycheck and only get a free ride but a few 600s will tip the smiter after the end of the total runs. There are also several nice people being runned who will also tip the smiter as well but it's extremely random with the odds stacked against the smiter. Either way, you'll be making a profit normally despite if you are a paying customer or the runner since you get money for completing the quest which covers part of the cost. After that, it's about selling quick items (charr carvings, golden rin relics, diessa chalices etc.), getting rid of vendor trash and keeping a few mods/gems that people might want. After the vendor trash however, you should have broken even/turned a small profit as long as you have enough space in your inventory.

This is probably the longest PvE related post I have ever made in my life. Must be due to lack of sleep. There's probably a guide somewhere on guru too but the PvX link should give you the basic run down. Hope it helps.

Edit: Also, expect this to be closed. This belongs in the farming section.