Originally Posted by Kaylee Ann

1. She said a PvP tombs prot monk, not a hybrid.

2. Don't bring a res sig on a monk. You have a ton more useful things that can be used in that 8th slot. The time you spend ressing is the time you spend not healing. If you can't do it in 5 res sigs you can't do it at all.

3. I don't see how you find prot spirit not useful in tombs. I bet you were one of the people saying air gank needed to be nerfed too.

4. If you run a hybrid at all, run it with a full prot monk and a heal monk. You can use an elite like Mark of prot which won't affect your healing skills.

5. Besides the seed, because you can NEVER have too many of those, and maybe dual or triple copies of Aegis, there is no point running 3 monks that can heal unless you are an EXTREMELY organized group. You will step on each others toes too much. The other exception to this case is the super overkill energy denial builds where no one ever has energy, and 3 monks chaining sig of devotion non stop actually becomes useful.

6. Mend ailment is one of the most powerful prot skills in the game. Another one of the skills you see no need in.

7. No hex removal and no hex prevention. Granted everyone and their mother runs natures, but getting into bad habits of not running hex removal is dumb. Hex breaker is another good preventative measure. I would rather have all 3 monks running inspired hex or some other means to remove hexes quickly, but preventing them in the first place never hurt.

Originally Posted by cookiehoarder

Notice the word "Sample". There are skills that I should never have forgotten, hex removal, mend ailment. Thank you for correcting me. As for not needing prot spirit. I just lost interest in using it over time. It was and still is a great spell.
This was also my opinion on a prot monk.

So I'll try revising it

1.other
2.touch
3.reversal
4.seed
5.martyr
6.mend ailment
7.drain enchantment
8.smite hex

Anyway, IN MY opinion, a full prot monk is not as useful as a hybrid

Here agian is a sample attribute build

15 heal (11+4)
10 inspiration
11 prot (10+1)

About spike teams, I used to play them, I thought they were the best thing since sliced bread until people started using fertile.

You can also use channeling but I never liked it.

^All this is off the top of my head^

Originally Posted by Kaylee Ann

No divine favor? You might as well be an E/Mo then. And you are going to waste 10 points into prot just for RoF and mend ailment? And why take smite hex if you have points in inspiration anyways? Inspired hex gives you some energy for an extra 5 seconds of recharge.

Atleast Zehly is getting some really good examples of what not to do off of you.....

Originally Posted by Scaphism

Now now everyone, play nice on the boards.

I've been monking since the BWEs and I've been playing a lot of protection the last few months. Here are some issues you'll need to address for any prot monk.

Condition Removal: You are a protection monk. You have the best condition removal spells in the game and deciding how to counter conditions is one of your primary concerns when designing a build and while you are on the field.

Options: Mend Ailment, Mend Condition, Draw Conditions, Restore Condition {E}, Martyr {E}(Unlinked)

Mend Ailment vs Mend Condition:
Similarities: Both remove only one condition. Identical in energy cost and cast/recharge times.
Differences: Mend Condition is target other ally, Mend Ailment can be self cast.
Mend Ailment only heals if the target has multiple conditions stacked on them. Excels against builds that stack conditions (like fragility), mediocre against light conditions.
Mend Condition heals the same as an Orison, regardless of how many conditions are on the target.

These are your standard choices for dealing with conditions, and the majority of monk builds will be running one of these two skills. There is no cut and dry answer to which one to bring. In Tombs I always play with at least one other monk, most of the time two, and between the three of us we bring 2 copies of condition removal. Against teams that don't use a lot of conditions one copy of removal might suffice, but in the Tombs tournament you have to plan for every type of team you might face. That means being prepared to deal with fragility and ranger teams that stack many conditions. Mend Condition on two people is a great way to go, especially since you know (or should know) to watch out for each other.

Draw Conditions is sub-par on a protection monk build. It's terrific on an elmo under Ether Renewal because it can work like Martyr Jr, counteracting the threat from builds that stack conditions. If you do use it, make sure someone else on your team brings Mend Ailment, as you're likely to have a lot of conditions on you at once. Mend Ailment will go nuts.

Restore Condition provides some amazing healing under the right conditions, but it lacks flexibility to make it a compelling elite. At 7 or 8 energy it would be a lot more palatable, but we don't have 7 or 8 energy skills.

Martyr is unlinked, and is incredibly useful in a Tombs setting where you're guaranteed to run into teams that use conditions, whether to stack them, spread them, or spot use (AOE blind on your warriors). Combos well with Mend Ailment, like Draw Conditions. The trouble is that it's unlinked. Martyr can really go on any monk subjub and be equally effective. In addition, as a prot monk you're best suited to bring Mend Ailment to cast on your Martyr user.

I find it hard to break away from the Mend Ailment/Condition mold on my prot monks, even after months of playing.

Evasion: Outside of ward against melee and a few stances (or stance-like effects such as Swirling Aura) Protection offers one of the few ways to avoid damage entirely. Evasion is an excellent ability to bring to every team, and since you'll be specced in Divine Favor (I'll get to that later) you provide a moderate amount of healing in addition to damage avoidance. Not only that, Protection Prayers lets you give evasion to your allies, when they need it. Stances are all target self only. The key is using them at the appropriate time. Part of that will be identifying likely targets on your team and protecting them in advance, or reacting quickly at the first sign of attack (giving a minor heal up front and avoiding the brunt of an attack).

Options: Guardian, Aegis, Shield of Deflection {E}.
As important as this category is to a Protection Monk, it's a short discussion. Guardian requires a high level of protection prayers to be playable, and is one of the few compelling reasons to pump your protection above the 8-10 range. However, it's an enchantment with a 1s cast time, and I find it completely unplayable under Nature's Renewal. Sorry buddy, see ya when the metagame condtiions are more favorable. Unfortunately Guardian is one of those abilities that can really hose Ranger Spike teams, but they're the most likely candidates to use NR frequently.

Shield of Deflection used to be one of the most broken elites in the game, at 10 energy, 1s cast time, 4s recharge. Thankfully it's been toned down. I think it's approriately priced now, but the 2s cast time has always bugged me. It was (and is) an enchantment that obliterates focus-firing, and screams to be removed immediately by the other team. More trouble: Can be beaten by switching targets quickly. A good team will know if they have spot enchantment ready to use, and if not they will simply move on, and you're down 15 energy. It does it's job keeping one target up, but you can't spam it around, despite the 4s recharge. Speaking of...a 4s recharge is still out of whack, but the cast time and energy cost keep it in check. Unfortunately it gets hosed by NR as well- if someone is getting focused so heavily that they need SOD on them, they needed it on them 2 seconds ago, not 4 seconds + your reaction time later. Goes to the trash heap.

Aegis is your big winner in this department. Aegis alone will give you enough to beat mediocre ranger teams. The cast time is bearable under NR for the team-wide effect it gives, and it can't be beaten by switching targets either. Compares very favorably with Ward Against Melee, with a few significant advantages.
1) Doesn't force you to stay within ward radius (and vulnerable to AOE spells)
2) Affects your entire team (related to #1)
3) Works against ALL attacks, not just melee. (Rangers and Wands too).

I haven't tested the Range, but it works even at long distances. Allows you to protect someone even if they get caught behind enemy lines. One of the biggest problems as a monk is running to try and heal/protect someone- sometimes they're dead before you arrive. Aegis beats that problem, usually giving enough time for the person to get away with their life.

Be sure to bring your +20% enchantment duration mod. Aegis lasts 9 seconds at 9 protection, and doesn't increase to 10 seconds until you get to 12 protection. I don't think it's worth the attribute investment most of the time to get 1 extra second from Aegis, but the +20% mod definitely is.
This lets you use a 12/10/8 attribute setup easily, with only an 8+minor rune in protection giving you full use of your Aegis. Or you can get creative with your attribute spreads, but 8+1 in Protection is a very comfortable spot and easy to achieve with most attribute spreads.

Damage Reduction Like evasion, a strength of the protection line and one of the only ways to give damage reduction to others.
Options: Shielding Hands, Protective Spirit, Protective Bond, Life Bond, Life Barrier {E}, Shield of Deflection {E}, Shield of Regeneration{E}.

To get to the point: Shielding Hands is one of my favorite spells in the game. It's a pet spell, and I'm glad it has a chance to shine now. Where Protective Spirit protects well against powerful singular attacks (lightning orb/chain lightning at 16 air magic, for example), Shielding Hands protects against a flurry of weaker attacks. Is great against multiple sources of weaker, buff-stacked damage (i.e. Rangers and sword warriors). The cast time is very playable under Nature's Renewal. Is still a good skill in the non-NR metagame, but was unpopular during the big spike phase and sometimes gets pushed off the skill bar. It's excellent against rangers with preps, sword warriors, minions, and is even better under QZ. Prot doesn't need to be maxed to benefit from it- fine in the 8-10 range.
Protective Spirit is useful in tombs, and necessary against some teams. It's really the sort of skill you want to split between multiple monks. Increasing your Protection attribute only affects the duration, so there's no need for a maxed out attribute. You're most interested in the 3-5 seconds immediately following casting Protective Spirit- either they remove the enchantment and continue spiking, or move on. Having a 15s vs 20s protective spirit is largely irrelevant.

Prot Bond is unplayable for multiple reasons. #1, maintained enchantments are a joke at the moment. #2, there's little reason to max out protection, and even then you can't use the 10+1(20% chance) trick to get a -1 energy Prot Bond up- you don't have the time or energy to waste recasting Protective Bond. It's not good for spot duty either- the cast time is bad under NR and using it will suck your energy dry in a heartbeat against most forms of spike damage. Stick to protective spirit.

Life Bond is great- when NR isn't around. The problem with running multiple life bonds is that you're taking a lot of incoming damage, and who puts life bond up on you? There are creative solutions to the problem, but having all of your 10 energy life bonds stripped from one NR is a horrible feeling, and it's bound to happen in tombs. Trying to reapply 4 life bonds, with doubled cast times, is a joke. You can try using them dynamically but the doubled cast times makes it really problematic- when a target starts taking heavy fire, you need to have a "go-to" ability. Bringing 3 or 4 options doesn't help. It might be Protective Spirit, it might be Shielding Hands, it might be spamming Reversal Of Fortune. Sometimes you want two options, holding one in reserve while the first is recharging. With its 2 second cast time(4 under NR), Life Bond is not that option.

Attributes
I've been making the point up til now- you don't need a maxed Protection Prayers attribute. Unlike a healing monk who always wants maxed healing prayers, most of the spells you're using don't gain a significant benefit at high levels of protection. That's important because it frees up attribute points to invest into another line. Most often that will be Divine Favor, but you'll definitely have enough points left over to invest heavily (9 or 10 levels) in a third attribute or even splitting those points between 2 other attributes. Energy management will be a big concern in tombs- Inspiration(many choices) and Offering of Blood are the best energy management solutions in the game.

Tactics (warrior secondary) is ok, but many of your skills(stances) will overlap with the abilities protection offers. The same goes for Earth Magic(elementalist secondary), and I don't recommend picking elementalist to add to the offense. I haven't really toyed with Mo/R much, but there are some possibilities in Wilderness Survival, but it's hard to argue against the energy management from a Mo/Me or Mo/N.

Originally Posted by Kaylee Ann

You can't cast blood ritual on yourself.

Offering of blood if you go /n. Energy drain if you are a /m, along with some decent stances, hex removal, and hex prevention. That is also assuming you have the luxury of not having to bring a monk elite.

Originally Posted by JJ78

aegis is a pretty good spell but keep in mind that NR spam ruins it right now. as soon as i see aegis go up i call down the line to drop an NR.