Curse

Wazi Wazou · Sep 09, 2008, 02:12 AM // 02:12

Hi !

I came back to guild wars not too long ago and I'm having a hard time trying to deal with interupts. Usually what happens is that they focus fire me and interrupt me so that i can't heal myself and waste all my energy too.

A little trick i found is to try not to use guardian when im heavily interrupted (it has 1 second casting time).

Another solution i have is to remove 'Divine Boon' and 'Watchful spirit' from myself using contemplation of purity. When it manages to resolve, i get a really big heal aswell as a really good condition/hex cleanup.

But when it does resolve, i also end up with no enchantment on me and a pretty low energy. From this point on, i'm usually forced into switching to my low regen gear (but with +25 energy). Then i usually survive for a really short time before dieing.

I'm looking for any tips that can improve my own survival chances when i'm being focused on in a 4v4 battle, and that the ennemies are using an interrupt heavy build.

My current skill set is :
Boon Signet
Reversal Of Fortune
Guardian
Shielding Hands
Purge Conditions
Contemplation Of Purity
Divine Boon
Watchful Spirit (used to be ressurection signet, but i'm currently evaluating how this spell, combined with contemplation of purity, can improve my own survival chances)

I have Divine favor 14 and protection prayers 12

I play mostly in Random arenas and a bit in team arenas. In random arenas, the problem doesn`t come up that often, but in team arenas the opponents really put a lot of interrupting pressure on me and i usually die pretty quickly. It probably has to do with the skill difference between the 2 arenas, but i`m sure that there are also some solutions that i don`t know of yet that could improve my chances.

Demonstar · Sep 09, 2008, 02:33 AM // 02:33

Well, First of all there are better choice of elites in Guild Wars for monks. Boon Signet is by no means a terrible skill, far from it, but it's not being used to the potential your builds has.

Try a more appropriate skill like [[Aura of Faith]. (The actual skill description can be found here: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Aura_of_Faith). Or maybe even an old favorite [[Zealous Benediction].

Purge conditions recharge is way to high to be used at the main source of condition removal. Consider replacing it with [[Dismiss Condition].

I recommend dropping Shielding Hands for [[Shield of Absorption] but both are good skills so the choice is really yours.

Drop Contemplation of Purity. Replace it with something from the healing attribute line. [[Patient Spirit] is a great alternative as it has a quick cast time and low recharge and can be used on other allies as well.

Drop Divine Boon for a hex removal. Consider one of the following: [[Holy Veil],[[Cure Hex],[[Remove Hex].

Watchful Spirit is good on bonder builds, no so much the one you're trying to use. Consider going Mo/W or Mo/A for some defensive skills such as [[Disciplined Stance] or [[Return]. Disciplined Stance is a great way to avoid interupts for a few seconds to get some skills off and Return is a great way to get away from pesky melee classes for a few seconds.

Lastly, it's a good rule of thumb (in my experience) to keep your Divine Favor lower than your main attribute, which in this case seems to be Protection. Make your Protection Prayer 13(11+1+1), you Divine Favor 8(7+1), and your Healing Prayers 10(9+1) and you Tactics 8. (only if you decide to follow my suggestions on going Mo/W

)

And as a note, Monks in PvP usually aren't ressing. If you have to stop to res someone you are prone to all attacks for a few seconds and your not healing you party. It's the other peoples responsibility to bring back dead allies, its yours to heal everyone.

There are also some great guides to monking on The Offical Wiki.

Hope I could help.

Iotan · Sep 09, 2008, 02:37 AM // 02:37

I'll answer this as though it wasn't written by a troll, because if it was it is a pretty poor attempt.

First off, your bar is pretty bad. Word of Healing is probably the best elite, although ZB and maybe Healer's Covenant work well if you know how to play them. Boon has been dead for 3 years and should stay that way. While the rest of your bar isn't good, you asked about interruption and not build changing. The guy above has decent skill suggestions. Patient Spirit should fit well for you.

People playing ranger in RA are terrible to put it mildly. At most you will see 1 out of every 5 rangers who has an interrupt on his bar and 1 out of 50 who can use them well. The easiest thing to do is just kite away from them. RoF will never be interrupted and can be used wherever and 3/4 sec casts should be fine an agro bubble away. If you want to cast longer spells at short distances, use a 40/40 recharge/cast time set. It's a good idea to swap for every spell to different sets but judging by what you've said you probably shouldn't try doing that yet.

If you bring an RA team into TA, just expect to lose. People there will have broken builds and much better coordination than you.

PRNG · Sep 09, 2008, 02:42 AM // 02:42

Fake the interrupter out. Press the key to cast a spell, then quickly press Esc (the escape key) to cancel. It may use up energy, but the interrupter will have used up an interrupt skill (or skills, if you do this more than once) trying to stop you. Then cast as normal.

credit · Sep 09, 2008, 02:49 AM // 02:49

-Guardian (or another block skill) yourself if it is a ranger, then cast.
-Cancel-cast as energy permits to fake out the interrupter.
-Get as far away from the interrupter as possible, but make sure to still stay in a reasonable position.
-Fake casting without actually casting by moving fowards and/or switching weapon sets.
-Use a 40/40 casting set and hope to get a fast cast.

Rhamia Darigaz · Sep 09, 2008, 02:54 AM // 02:54

my advice is [word of healing] hybrid.
some prots, woh, and since it's ra be like all the cool kids and run at least 5 defensive stances from your warrior secondary
this will help you from being interrupted because they'll probably think woh is bad or something and not interrupt it.

Wazi Wazou · Sep 09, 2008, 03:06 AM // 03:06

Thanks !

I'll probably try most of the skills suggested by demonstar. Disciplined stance and Return are the 2 skills that seem best fit for surviving interrupts.

There are also some nice Eye of the north and nightfall suggestions, even though i don`t own these expansion. I will probably not try those spells unless i find myself still playing guild wars in a month.

Iotan, the comment about divine boon being dead 3 years ago, that is very possible. Most of my playing time was in the first 2 months at launch, and i then played a couple of weeks when factions came out. So it`s been a while for me.

Faking the interrupter is probably a good technique to try in TA, where the players are much better. I`ll definitly try it there.

I'll try swapping weapons for every cast, RA is a good learning ground for that.

I will try disciplined stance instead of Watchful spirit and an undecided yet new hex management spell instead of contemplation of purity. Contemplation of purity used to be my last resort spell and it did a decent job, but i think disciplined stance can do much better.

Ì will also spend some time reading the wiki tommorow and see if i can find good information there.

I really like divine boon and boon signet, but if after im done trying without watchful spirit and contemplation i dont feel powerful enough, i ll try a boonless build.

EDIT : I`m not looking for a build that is only good in RA. I've came back to GW 2 days ago and am only playing RA to get back into shape, not to stay there indefinetly

Demonstar · Sep 09, 2008, 03:49 AM // 03:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wazi Wazou

Thanks !

I'll probably try most of the skills suggested by demonstar. Disciplined stance and Return are the 2 skills that seem best fit for surviving interrupts.

There are also some nice Eye of the north and nightfall suggestions, even though i don`t own these expansion. I will probably not try those spells unless i find myself still playing guild wars in a month.

Iotan, the comment about divine boon being dead 3 years ago, that is very possible. Most of my playing time was in the first 2 months at launch, and i then played a couple of weeks when factions came out. So it`s been a while for me.

Faking the interrupter is probably a good technique to try in TA, where the players are much better. I`ll definitly try it there.

I'll try swapping weapons for every cast, RA is a good learning ground for that.

I will try disciplined stance instead of Watchful spirit and an undecided yet new hex management spell instead of contemplation of purity. Contemplation of purity used to be my last resort spell and it did a decent job, but i think disciplined stance can do much better.

Ì will also spend some time reading the wiki tommorow and see if i can find good information there.

I really like divine boon and boon signet, but if after im done trying without watchful spirit and contemplation i dont feel powerful enough, i ll try a boonless build.

EDIT : I`m not looking for a build that is only good in RA. I've came back to GW 2 days ago and am only playing RA to get back into shape, not to stay there indefinetly

Kind of sad most of my suggestions are skills from NF/EotN then, neh?

Pleikki · Sep 09, 2008, 04:06 AM // 04:06

Patient spirit + Block Ftw

obsidian ectoplasm · Sep 09, 2008, 06:01 AM // 06:01

Hey there Welcome Back

Most of the main points are already answered but i will just some tips that work for me and might help.

If you really want to become a good monk.

Watch the battle field!

by doing this your monking skills become alot better

but what i really wanted to say is watch the interrupter!

Eg. Use skills just after they tried to interrupted you, and use skills when the ranger is using skills such as apply poison ect so they wont be able to react fast enough to rupt you

sorry i cant really help much

xDusT II · Sep 09, 2008, 06:46 AM // 06:46

pre-cast guardian, watch your positioning versus the ranger, try to stick obstructions between you and the ranger, try to keep maximum distance between you and them. Try to avoid chaining casts together, spam low risks kills like Patient Spirit, get your team to stick some hate on the ranger or if it's a mesmer tell your team to mash it's face, have a rough estimate of the recharges on their interrupts...

Wazi Wazou · Sep 09, 2008, 09:51 PM // 21:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demonstar

Kind of sad most of my suggestions are skills from NF/EotN then, neh?

Well i haven't checked out the eotn and nf skills yet so your suggestions introduced me to at least a few of the spells that are most relevant to me. I also didn't ask for specific set information on purpose, because by getting the best tips without set restriction gives me better information on whats really good. Gives me an incentive to buy nf (though if i do it will be only for the skills, i cant stand PVE and never liked it)

Watching the action is one thing i try to do but i know that i can improve on that a lot, as well as learning more about the skills i'm going againsts (i've almost exclusively played monk, with a bit of mesmer play too but i was really bad at it)

Thanks everyone for the tips

Demonstar · Sep 10, 2008, 03:23 AM // 03:23

As a side note, try observing some monks in GvG. Just hit B on your keyboard to view some matches.

Sun Fired Blank · Sep 10, 2008, 03:54 AM // 03:54

Strong rangers d-shot shit when you:

1) Queue up skills back to back so he / she only has to adjust for aftercast
2) Use a skill when you stand up, so he / she only has to wait for when you stand up
3) Queue up a skill and move forward to cast on a target out of range, so he / she only has to wait until you get in range of the target
4) Use a skill on recharge, so he / she only has to count until the skill is back
5) Use a skill the instant a criterion is met, so he/she only has to wait until that criterion is met
6) Let them stand or move close to you so there's no flight time to account for and they can easily reflex 3/4 or higher

In arenas, if you face a strong ranger, you're in trouble, and here's why. You have to push your buttons so that people don't die, and you have to push those buttons in a predictable fashion. As you become a stronger monk, you become even more predictable, and you actually get easier to d-shot on a predictive level.

Of course, as you get better, you also learn how much time you have to push those buttons, whether or not you have to push those buttons, whether or not losing a certain button to d-shot is going to collapse your team, and whether or not the ranger knows all of the things that you do, but in general it's a little easier for a ranger to hit key skills, especially in arenas, than it is for you to keep the ranger from hitting those skills.

It's kind of a reverse of the psychology that permits axe / sword warriors to force you into stancing and land bull's strike. At the very end of the day they have so many ways to harrass you, control the situation, and force you to push your button, and once you push the button, it's gone. In this case you have so many things you have to do and you have to push those buttons, and they can push their one button and potentially nullify anything on your bar.

Bonhart · Sep 10, 2008, 07:50 PM // 19:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wazi Wazou

How to avoid interrupts?

Don't cast

Taisayacho · Sep 10, 2008, 07:58 PM // 19:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iotan

RoF will never be interrupted

I disagree. I wish I had a screen of the time I interrupted it twice in one RA match. Good ol' [distracting shot]

AnonTerror · Sep 10, 2008, 11:59 PM // 23:59

From a Ranger's perspective, prime targets for interrupts are usually WoH, Guardian, and Holy Viel. With WoH you just have to use it less predictably, use patient instead when you drop below 1/2; always use guardian on a 40/40 set and if you're facing a ranger try it have it on you before casting WoH.

SuTiH · Sep 15, 2008, 07:20 PM // 19:20

fake (use it and cancel it before he can interupt) your boon signet, they waste interupt(s) ...

The Classic Jam · Sep 15, 2008, 07:47 PM // 19:47

yeah most monks i see fake a interrupt, i usually camp on a warrior while i wait for the monk to use either a 3/4 or a 1 skill then try for d shot. but the warrior can easily tell the monk that the ranger is camping on him and to try and fake a interrupt or either get a smite monk to place rod but that doesn't occur often.

Age · Sep 16, 2008, 12:15 AM // 00:15

You could always use use [deflect arrows] but I thought[guardian] was enough it has been some time since I Monked in pvp setting.