Curse

fireshower · Feb 28, 2009, 10:39 PM // 22:39

I'm currently running the following in Random Arenas:

Zealous Benediction
Reversal of Fortune
Guardian
Dismiss Condition
Cure Hex
Holy Veil
Return
Dark Escape

The build works wonders against melee teams where I can use RoF and ZB along with Guardian to keep teammates up for as long as I need to.

However against teams which rely heavily on degen/etc to do their damage, what am I supposed to do? I feel like using only ZB simply does not allow me to heal to any level of effectiveness.

I definitely want to run some sort of prot build - am I going about the entire thing wrong?

Thanks for your help in advance

moriz · Feb 28, 2009, 10:46 PM // 22:46

not much you can do except try to score ZB's bonus energy as much as possible, and remove hexes/conditions as fast as possible.

i see you have two hex removals, which is a bit excessive... especially since you've specced in heal to get something out of cure hex. a way to improve this is to drop one of them and bring patient spirit, though that requires you to have at least 9-10 in heal to be effective.

you are also lacking a big prot (as in spirit bond/protective spirit), so you'll want to fit that in somewhere.

Tyla · Feb 28, 2009, 10:51 PM // 22:51

Roll an OoB Boon Prot. Do such things and you get my medal of awesomeness.

obsidian ectoplasm · Feb 28, 2009, 11:50 PM // 23:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by moriz

you are also lacking a big prot (as in spirit bond/protective spirit), so you'll want to fit that in somewhere.

Not really needed in RA imo

TheodenKing · Mar 01, 2009, 12:36 AM // 00:36

Teams of four shouldn't need 2 hex removals.

FoxBat · Mar 01, 2009, 12:38 AM // 00:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyla

Roll an OoB Boon Prot. Do such things and you get my medal of awesomeness.

I know people have great nostalgia for boon prot, but divine boon is a really awful skill now. You're near always better off running whatever jank elite and patient spirit, case in point that melandru's resiliance thing (my fave RA build before PnH)

Anyway vs heavy degen, another skill to try is vigorous spirit.

iVendetta · Mar 01, 2009, 12:59 AM // 00:59

If you're paranoid about heavy degeneration in RA, just throw in [[Divert Hexes].

Marverick · Mar 01, 2009, 01:47 AM // 01:47

spec some healing and run [Word of Healing][Patient Spirit]

fireshower · Mar 01, 2009, 02:20 AM // 02:20

thanks for the responses guys, I ran a WoH build earlier with limited success simply due to the fact that nobody really knows how to spike in RA - I just find prot more fun.

Instead of Zealous Benediction, would PnH / Divert Hexes be a better option? And in this case, what would I use to heal? ZB is my only red bars go up skill as of right now.

Vann Borakul · Mar 01, 2009, 02:40 AM // 02:40

Replace Cure Hex with Gift of Health. Try to get about 90 healing from it. That's what I used to run with ZB.

Tyla · Mar 01, 2009, 02:54 AM // 02:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by FoxBat

I know people have great nostalgia for boon prot, but divine boon is a really awful skill now. You're near always better off running whatever jank elite and patient spirit, case in point that melandru's resiliance thing (my fave RA build before PnH)

Anyway vs heavy degen, another skill to try is vigorous spirit.

How dare you, producing such ill mannered phrases on the most awesome bar ever!

obsidian ectoplasm · Mar 01, 2009, 04:32 AM // 04:32

You don't seem to know alot about monking (no offence) so I'd suggets you don't play in korean districs/ or asian, go to inter.

I like how you have 2 hex removals, with all the LC necro's around it is needed.

try and remove dangerous hexes as much as possible ( emapthy, faitherness, ect)

I don't quite understand your question, but I think I kind of understand

I think you are trying to say you just try and heal though hexes?

instead of actually removing them?

Dont try and heal though hexes. this is why Cure hex is such a great skill,

don't always use it to remove dangerous hexes, I am not saying use hex removal on non hexes team mates btw, lol

tbh, I'd go /W for Disapline stance, and maybe even Bonetti's since ZB can chew up your energy

Learning to prot is alot better than healing, it actually takes some skill.

I am abit blank today so I can't give much advise, sorry

Stealth Bomberman · Mar 01, 2009, 04:42 AM // 04:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by obsidian ectoplasm

Learning to prot is alot better than healing, it actually takes some skill

/agree

ill take a pro prot monk over any WoH hybrid spammer any day. which is why im training my friend to be prot monk only. hes done fact and nf w/o any healing att, strictly prot and hes good at it.

Kotoso · Mar 01, 2009, 05:10 AM // 05:10

I find draw conditions+mending touch (@ 14 prot) counters all condition based degen very well, just leaving physical damage that is easy to prot against, and hexers.

turbo234 · Mar 01, 2009, 05:52 AM // 05:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kotoso

I find draw conditions+mending touch

good combo right there. use it most of the time.

2 hex removals are fine but i personally would drop dark escape for patient spirit. you already specced into healing for cure hex so take advantage of patient spirit as well.

Revelations · Mar 01, 2009, 07:54 AM // 07:54

Sorry for the long rambly post, but I think its all applicable.

A couple of things no one has suggested:

1) Dual hex removals are nice now in RA with the number of broken hexes flying around in there. If you're brave and weapon swap well I would suggest Purge Sig. It is stupidly easy to interrupt though, so make sure you obstruct any rangers if possible before using it. Use any means necessary to get it off; guardian, faking, shield bash if you carry it.

2) RoF is decent, though it is a bit unreliable to redbar with, as it may only catch something like a wand hit. I tend to use it just to delay a death enough to get a ZB off. However, you did list another pretty decent redbar skill that no one has really picked up on. Make full use of your dismiss condition - with the high DF typical on prot bars its usually a ~100 heal if your target is enchanted.

I would personally either drop healing prayers altogether or just run a WoH bar. The advantage that ZB has over WoH is that it doesn't have to split attributes like a mental, which you just ignored by speccing heal prayers anyway.

Another thing of note.... take careful note of whether conditions/hexes actually need removing or not. I often play midline in RA, and its amazing how many monks will remove blinds from casters, draw from feast necros, and remove empathy from themselves. Unless you have absolutely nothing better to do (read: after you've won) then this is a waste of time and energy.

Against skills like Wounding Strike, if the derv is spamming it around the team you don't actually NEED to remove the DW if your allies are getting hit with wounding then ignored. Whether or not to remove the bleeding that covers it is your choice at the time. Similarly, a lot of rangers in arenas are bad, run apply, and camp one target. Rather than wasting your energy and condition removal constantly mopping up poison from one target you may as well ignore it or throw a guardian that way. This especially applies since you're running dismiss and if your ally isn't enchanted.

Learn the animations for conditions - particularly blind/weakness/daze and watch the field for your team showing those animations, instead of using condition removals when you see bars change colour/have a down arrow.

Icy The Mage · Mar 01, 2009, 08:00 AM // 08:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Revelations

take careful note of whether conditions/hexes actually need removing or not

Learn the animations for conditions

^ Those are the best pieces of advice given in this whole thread, listen to them.

fireshower · Mar 01, 2009, 08:14 AM // 08:14

Yes, I am rather new to monking in guild wars - in fact I've only had the game for about a week now.

However this isn't the first MMORPG with pvp that I've played, so I'm not completely in the dark.

Again, thanks for the responses - it seems that I should focus on removing hexes and conditions before they can do the degen.

Just to clarify - I feel that when a N or Me spams a bar full of hexes across my entire party, I simply cannot remove the hexes fast enough.

I'm not sure if this is a natural issue to face as a protter or if I'm doing something entirely wrong. From what I gathered, I should use cure hex carefully along with perhaps another healing spell besides ZB to make the red bars go up.

I found the point about condition animations particularly useful - I was unaware that anything except for cripple had a special animation, I'll try to be more aware of that.

Revelations · Mar 01, 2009, 09:22 AM // 09:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by fireshower

Just to clarify - I feel that when a N or Me spams a bar full of hexes across my entire party, I simply cannot remove the hexes fast enough.

Unfortunately this is just the state of the game (arenas) right now. There are a lot of overpowered hexes flying about right now, and there still isn't viable nonelite hex removal to deal with them. You could try running PnH, but its hard to fit a big rebar skill onto PnH, so even though it has amazing cleaning power it eventually loses out to pressure.

The way I've been monking lately is to determine which (if any) of my frontliners are most competent, and focus on keeping them clean of anything that will stop them killing things. A decent warrior will usually destroy most RA monks if not impeded in any way. Other players have lower priority, though obviously removing blinds and anything that will seriously shut them down is still in order.

Obviously if you don't have a frontline you just have to use your judgment when prioritising.

Wish Swiftdeath · Mar 01, 2009, 12:20 PM // 12:20

Bring spotless soul and veil.

Veil you pretty much use just for yourself, maybe preveil someone before the round.

Unless a mesmer is camping (in that case your team is crap)you veil should be more than enough for yourself.

I would take spotless soul but that requires a pretty decent spec in healing...

The dishonorable thing i guess would be to sync with a ranger that knows what he's doing

. I don't do it but when i get a decent ranger on my team it makes things 100x easier.

For me spotless>cure hex