Curse

Liquidus · Jun 06, 2006, 04:48 PM // 16:48

Here's the last char in my TA build

12 + 1 +3 = 16 Air Magic
9 + 1 = 11 energy stroage
9 Healing Prayers
2 Protection Prayers

I don't have the attributes on hand right now, so they might be a bit off

Lightning Strike
Enervating Charge
Lightning Orb
Blinding Flash
Ether Prodigy
Heal other
Draw conditions
Res Sig

This char is pretty standard and serves a lot of purposes. Its anti melee by blinding warriors and rangers and covering with weakness. It assists the monk with heal other, keeps our own warrior clean with draw conditions. I'm hoping the heal other will be a big help against degen teams, which might overwhelm our boon monk if left alone. I was considering taking out lightning strike for gale, to interupt kiters and res sigs. Any suggestions for alternate skills or ideas is appreciated. Thanks.

Divineshadows · Jun 06, 2006, 06:24 PM // 18:24

Exactly the air build I have my team use when running an air ele. Though, I prefer 15 in air (same duration on blind but slightly less damage), 11 in energy storage (a better prodigy and larger energy buffer), 10 in healing (a stronger heal other), and 1 in prot.

NatalieD · Jun 06, 2006, 06:54 PM // 18:54

I use the same attribute setup as Divineshadows.

I like Convert Hexes and Deep Freeze over Lightning Strike and Enervating Charge. I don't think much of covering blindness, because it seems like the only teams that can effectively manage the blindness at all are the ones with Draw Conditions. While I do miss having Lightning Strike, it's ultimately just a filler skill.

Convert Hexes helps a lot against those all-hexes-all-the-time teams that are getting popular lately. Deep Freeze can be used to hold down a target while your warrior beats on them, or as a way to shutdown multiple melee characters at once. And there's nothing more fun than snaring an entire team of touch rangers with one cast.

(Well, ok, fighting a 55 monk on the lava map when you have Vampiric Gaze is more fun than that. But that's all.)

sno · Jun 06, 2006, 07:48 PM // 19:48

Enervating charge is a must-have in TA, since most teams run a boon prot, and most boon prots run mend condition. I'd replace heal other for convert hexes, as the only thing a decent boon prot can't deal with (in a decent balanced team) is mass hex.

Ideally I'd drop strike and Prod for dual attunements, but that's just because I prefer dual. If you can effectively run Prodigy, thats fine too. I do see why prodigy is better against decent mesmers, so thats all personal preference.

If you do choose to go with prodigy then I recommend running 16 air/10 es/10 earth, and running ward vs melee. That way you have a ton of defense, and still have orb/charge, which are your main damage skills anyways. Preventing damage (ward and blind) is much better than healing through it.

NatalieD · Jun 06, 2006, 08:14 PM // 20:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by sno

Enervating charge is a must-have in TA, since most teams run a boon prot, and most boon prots run mend condition.

I just don't see Mend Condition as a threat to my blindness. Unless my warrior and mesmer are completely failing to do their jobs, the monk isn't going to be able to cast it often enough to keep the blindness off. The only times I find myself wishing that my blindness was more durable is when they have a monk secondary running Draw, and then covering won't help.

Quote:

I'd replace heal other for convert hexes, as the only thing a decent boon prot can't deal with (in a decent balanced team) is mass hex.

Against mass hex, I usually end up needing both. Heal Other is for that, and for a backup heal when the monk is blacked out or some such.

Quote:

If you do choose to go with prodigy then I recommend running 16 air/10 es/10 earth, and running ward vs melee. That way you have a ton of defense, and still have orb/charge, which are your main damage skills anyways. Preventing damage (ward and blind) is much better than healing through it.

I've tried Ward, and you're completely right about prevention, but ward only prevents melee damage. Blinding Flash generally gives enough protection from that, in my experience - I only miss Ward when facing a team with multiple melee characters, and good teams doing that are pretty rare. I'm really more concerned about those three-mesmer or two-mesmers-and-a-necro teams.

Liquidus · Jun 07, 2006, 04:21 PM // 16:21

Thanks for the replies, I havn't been able to try it yet, but I'm going to add in convert hexes or deep freeze for lightning strike. Like my mesmer, theres alot more useful skills then I have room for so it's going to be hard to decide what to take out.

It's true that a boon prot monk would have a hard time keeping off blind even without weakness as a cover. But with weakness, it makes it even harder for the monk unless there is a someone with drawconditions. I guess the usefulness of enervating charge depends on the number of teams with draw conditions in TA.

I can see heal other being useful at times, when a monk is blacked out during a spike, when theres heavy degen and extra healing is needed, when the team is split for some reason and the monk can't reach someone in time.

Hopefully I'm get an idea of what to take out when I try the team some more.