Curse

Battery Power Heal · Mar 07, 2009, 01:11 AM // 01:11

So I mainly play alliance battles and ra as a monk. I have used disciplined stance and shield stance to defend myself against all the melee characters.

After the update the skills just aren't the same. The duration on them doesn't make them viable to use on a monk now. This makes monks very vulnerable and people know it. There were sins everywhere when I played!

How can you defend yourself when you have one or even multiple guys (sins) spamming conditions, dmg, and kd's? Guardian just isn't enough. Most of the time it gets interupted by a skill or kd.

You don't exactly have a great team to protect you in the pvp I play. This makes trying to pug a group difficult.

I mainly use woh or zb as my elite. I could try different elites but then I wouldn't be able to heal my team as well.

\a frustrated monk

Massive Impulsa · Mar 07, 2009, 01:41 AM // 01:41

Balanced Stance + Shield Bash?

The Air Revenger · Mar 07, 2009, 01:41 AM // 01:41

i would go /A with return and dark escape

Dawn Angelheart · Mar 07, 2009, 01:43 AM // 01:43

Sin Skills.
As im not on Gw atm i cant check the names.
but i think ones are Return And.. dark escape
return if it is rightly named. shadowsteps you to your ally, leaving foes where you were crippled for a few seconds. allowing some respite from attacks.

kupp · Mar 07, 2009, 01:44 AM // 01:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Battery Power Heal

This makes trying to pug a group difficult.

That's half your problem right there.

Anw, I never used stances when monking. [guardian] and [return] were all I used and have been serving me good quite honestly. Also, [shield of absorption] even with it's low durability is surprisingly effective when getting ganked specially if coupled with [spirit bond]. Won't help you with interrupts but can take a lot of pressure off of you, enough to get yourself out of some tight spots in most situations.

Keep in mind though, I'm talking about RA and AB, where brain cells are as common as the yeti.

zling · Mar 07, 2009, 01:50 AM // 01:50

well, playing a Monk in a PuG AB group is just fail!
if you really want to Monk in AB get yourself a group of friends/guildies, otherwise choose a different class...

as for RA, you can always go back to the [return][dark escape] combo as others have mentioned here. or you can learn how to Monk properly and rely on your Monk skills. a little tip, since everybody in RA loves to go *Monk stomp* than [shield of absorption] becomes very very strong. that and either [dismiss condition] or [mending touch] to use with [draw condition] will handle damage and conditions from all those brainless Monk stompers. smart usage of [holy veil] will let you deal with hexes pretty well. it's by no means perfect and if you run into a hardcore hex team you're going to be in trouble, at least if the hexers have half a brain, but that's the most you can do...

Zanagi Kazuhiko · Mar 07, 2009, 01:50 AM // 01:50

Like they said above...Mo/A is the best way to go. Dark Escape and Return.

_Nihilist_ · Mar 07, 2009, 01:55 AM // 01:55

Have to agree with part of Massive Impulsa's post:

[Shield [email protected]] is FTW vs. Sins... I carry it on my Warrior into AB just to frustrate the little pissers, and if there is room on a caster bar for it, it tags along as well...

Bobulation · Mar 07, 2009, 02:53 AM // 02:53

I really don't think disciplined is really that bad one second shorter, because i didn't use it for just general pressure. So I'm still running [Shield Bash] and [Disciplined Stance]

glacialphoenix · Mar 07, 2009, 03:28 AM // 03:28

I AB monk running WoH hybrid, and I've been relying on [Guardian] and shield/weapon-swapping all this while, as well as kiting like crazy.

There's also Dark Escape and Return.

Icy The Mage · Mar 07, 2009, 06:59 AM // 06:59

That's the problem, you should not be running 2 stances on your bar, replace one of them for guardian or some other prot, maybe even shield bash. The thing is, you should't be throwing up your stances to act as general protection, you should be saving them for dire emergencies, such as when a sin has hit you with backbreaker, you're completely wide open, and he starts to chain you while that ranger turns to face you and fire away. If you're using stances as general protection, how are (did?) you survive if they came up to attack you, you put up shield stance, they're still on you, so you put up disc stance, now it ends, and they hit you with backbreaker. You just wasted both of your stances, when you could've just used a guardian beforehand. Stances are meant to be used when you're completely vulnerable to everything else; not as something general that you can just spam when anything decides to walk up to you.

distilledwill · Mar 07, 2009, 07:13 AM // 07:13

Either /A with [[dark escape] and [[return] or /W with [[balanced stance] and [[shield bash]. Easy peasy.

Age · Mar 07, 2009, 07:32 AM // 07:32

I would go disciplined stance plus balanced stance.

Bobby2 · Mar 07, 2009, 08:40 AM // 08:40

Another vote for Mo/A. Against melees with the patience to sit out Shield Bash, Return is a much stronger weapon anyway.

MasterSasori · Mar 07, 2009, 08:51 AM // 08:51

The obvious answer is go Mo/A and use Return and maybe Dark Escape.

However, consider changing your style of playing. Be more careful how you prot. Things are going to be harder, but this way, you'll be a better monk than you've ever been before.

glacialphoenix · Mar 07, 2009, 09:11 AM // 09:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterSasori

Be more careful how you prot.

I agree. If you're not already pre-protting, start now. AB has always been full of 'sins, and while there IS an increase, losing stances all of a sudden shouldn't shut you down like that. If you're using Guardian and you think it's getting interrupted too frequently, maybe you should try upping it earlier? (If the sin is heading your way, it's a good idea to Guardian yourself before he starts chaining on you.)

Lusciious · Mar 07, 2009, 01:09 PM // 13:09

i use stances like [disciplined stance] and [shield stance] against rtw rangers. now that rtw rangers got hit by the nerf bat. ive got nothing to worry about. only thing is that mo/a might get hit next.

Fixed BBcode:Calista

whitehalo · Mar 09, 2009, 02:51 AM // 02:51

ok with disp stance u dont use it as a permanent invincability. Its " ohhh a bunch of melee chars are running at mr I better hit this button so I can have enough time to stop there chain of attacks". This is why you need to not only keep your eyes on the party screen but also whats going on in the battle. This is key to being a good monk. As for return and dark escape thats sometimes better then disp stance its situational. I usualy dont even need shield bash I think its just takeong up space were i can put something better in.

MasterSasori · Mar 09, 2009, 08:11 PM // 20:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lusciious

i use stances like [disciplined stance] and [shield stance] against rtw rangers. now that rtw rangers got hit by the nerf bat. ive got nothing to worry about. only thing is that mo/a might get hit next.

Fixed BBcode:Calista

If Mo/A is going to get hit, then the types of Mo I'll be seeing in RA will be fabulous.

UnChosen · Mar 10, 2009, 02:35 AM // 02:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobulation

I really don't think disciplined is really that bad one second shorter, because i didn't use it for just general pressure. So I'm still running [Shield Bash] and [Disciplined Stance]

Well...Instead of Mo/W, I switched to Mo/R and use [Natural Stride] for my stance now. Ya, it makes me more vulnerable to hexers but generally if a mes starts camping you are going to die if you don't run anyways. The 33% IMS helps alot in getting away from annoyihng sins/wars. Mo/A just isn't that great with all the palm strike sins and quarter-knocking hammer wars running around, most of the time if I don't have pre-prot up I pretty had to eat the full chain before I can use return, and using return before they start the chain is kinda pointless because if I notice them coming that early I can pre-prot instead.

I'm trying to decide whether to run [Guardian], [Shielding Hands], AND [Shield of Absorption] along with [Natural Stride], just because of the insane numbers of wars and sins.