Curse

Wyler_Clan · Jun 04, 2008, 04:00 PM // 16:00

Hi all --

I have a brand new PvE lvl 20 Mo/Me, who just got onto the mainland from the noob island in factions. The good news is that I have all the chapters, but very limited access to anything because this is afterall a brand new toon. Using this background, I would like to get the wisdom of this group for the following questions:

a) Recommendations for a starter Monk build (primarily factions skills) that does not suck, keeping in mind that I have not done any of the quests or missions on the canthian mainland.

b) Before I inflict my Monk on real players, is there any way to practice monking before I have to do it for real in the first mainland mission?

c) Since this is a new monk, who has max armor for the profession but does not have any good casting weapons, can anyone suggest casting weapons which are suitable for my stage of the game. I recognize that I can/will upgrade later, but for now where do I start?

I'm sure other things will questions will occur to me as the discussion evolves, but for now I am open to any other suggestions that you can provide. Thanks in advance for your assistance,

Wyler.

some-_1 · Jun 04, 2008, 04:30 PM // 16:30

a) [Orison of Healing][Ethereal Light][Healing Whisper][Healing Breeze][Reversal of Fortune][Heaven's Delight][Heal Party][Resurrection Chant]

Attributes:

12 Healing
12 Divine Favour

Usage:

- Use the first 3 for quick, low energy heals.
- Combine [[Healing Breeze] and [[Reversal of Fortune] when target ally is taking high amounts of damage.
- [[Heavens Delight] and [[Heal Party] to heal the party (doe's what it says on the tin)

b) Try going out with just henchmen.

c) The Scar Eater - Green Monk Staff, Over farmed so you can get one now for around 1 - 3k

Keekles · Jun 04, 2008, 04:37 PM // 16:37

I'd drop Healing Breeze and Healing Whisper for condition removal and hex removal. As well as drop Heal Party for Prot spirit.

[reversal of [email protected]][orison of [email protected]][ethereal [email protected]][mend [email protected]][remove hex][protective [email protected]][heaven's [email protected]][resurrection [email protected]]

Prot: 8 + 1
Healing: 12 +1 +1
Divine: 10 +1

I'd suggest getting [word of healing] as soon as you can and replacing Orison with it. Hybrid skill bars are better than pure red-bars-go-up skill bars. As the bosses in Factions deal double damage, [protective spirit] is a life saver.

I'd personally also drop res, as when you're ressing people as a monk, you're not healing. Which can often lead other people to die during that time.

EDIT:

Henchmen will be a good idea, and the Scar Eater, or Kephet's Refuge are good choices for monk weapons.

Wyler_Clan · Jun 04, 2008, 05:26 PM // 17:26

Thanks for the quick responses, please keep them coming. While reading through the responses so far, it occurred to me to ask:

For a newly minted monk is it easier to be a healer, or a prot monk ?

Wyler.

isamu kurosawa · Jun 04, 2008, 05:35 PM // 17:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wyler_Clan

Thanks for the quick responses, please keep them coming. While reading through the responses so far, it occurred to me to ask:

For a newly minted monk is it easier to be a healer, or a prot monk ?

Wyler.

As stated by others before. Neither.

Running hybrid early will make you a better monk.
Skills available up to kaineng are enough to make a function hybrid build. You also get WoH fairly early.

Rathgar · Jun 04, 2008, 05:52 PM // 17:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wyler_Clan

Thanks for the quick responses, please keep them coming. While reading through the responses so far, it occurred to me to ask:

For a newly minted monk is it easier to be a healer, or a prot monk ?

Wyler.

I don’t know your skill level as a player and I’ll assume you are like I was when I started monking.

Healing is easier (it’s reactive – red bars go down, press a skill or two and make them go up).

Proting is harder but more effective (it’s proactive – you see an ally about to take dmg, you use a prot skill do mitigate damage).

Healing requires a little less pressure on you and you should take advantage of this time to see what’s happening during melee encounters when the red bars are full. This will prepare you for the next step, running a hybrid. This is also a little more forgiving than a full prot monk. Why? Because if you screw up (and you will) you can still heal and save some party members.

The final challenge is running a full prot monk bar with full awareness of the foes you’ll be facing and what’s about to be done to someone or everyone in your party. A prot monk spamming skills AFTER the damage is done is about as useful as a mini pet.

I'm not saying a full prot bar is best for you or anyone, it's just harder to be good at than a healing monk.

Icy The Mage · Jun 04, 2008, 07:26 PM // 19:26

For the weapon, a Scar eater is a really good choice (as mentioned before) as it increases your own HP by 60, and it's relatively cheap, around the 2k mark.

To get max armor, go out to "Bukdek Byway" from "The Marketplace" and walk north to "Kaineng Centre". Max armor can be crafted by the armor crafters there, and it's the cheapest, as well as earliest place you can get max armor from.

As for your build, run a bar that includes both protection and healing. This will allow you to make a good build (limited number of skills available this far in the game), as well as play an active role in monking, using protection skills to protect people about to take damage, and then healing if you mess up or if an enemy shadowsteps to the backline of your party. One thing I don't reccommend is taking [Healing Whisper], as it's a half range spell, and casting at half range will generally draw the enemies' aggro onto you.

Hope I helped!

-Lotus- · Jun 04, 2008, 07:53 PM // 19:53

a)
[RoF]
[WoH]
[Shielding Hands]
condition removal
hex removal
[channeling]
[protective spirit]
optional

try another small prot like guardian in the optional slot
(I hope those are mostly factions skills, cant get to wiki at school)

b) the best thing you can do as a monk is learn to effectively use prot right away. you could try creating a PvP monk and healing for a few matches in RA. this will probably be harder than PvE, but if you can keep those idiots alive you should be fine.

my bigest piece of advice would be to only cast when you need to. if you heal someone to full health you just wasted energy. only healing the players that need it will save you alot of energy.

c) Invest in a good weaponset right away. its no rediculously important but it will help alot. theres a few good options. a 20HCT/20HSR wand and offhand work well, but my suggestion would be to skip striaght ahead to a more advanced set and use a sword/axe/spear modded for a caster with an offhand and a second set with a shield. so thats:

+5energy incription, of fortitude, of defense, or of enchanting sword/axe/spear

and

Heal offhand: (HCR/HCT)

and

a shiled of any req(you wont be meeting it so just get a skin you like at r13 or something cheap) +10 vs slashing/fire inscription with a +30 health mod

oh, and switch to Mo/E ASAP glyph of lesser energy is way better than channeling.

horseradish · Jun 04, 2008, 10:49 PM // 22:49

Some good weaponsmiths are in Maatu Keep and Leviathan Keep/Vasburg Armory.

There you can get 40/40 and High Energy sets.

You're gonna need a 40/20/20 staff, but you gotta craft that on your own. Kephket's Refuge is the closest you're gonna get. You can farm for it outside of Augury Rock in Prophecies.

It helps if you have chars that have progressed far enough to get them.

All you need after that is a defensive set. The endgame mission in Factions lets you craft +5 swords/axes so be sure to bring the right materials and enough $$$! Upgrade it with a +30 hp pommel.

If you have the GotY version of Prophecies, type "/bonus" in chat. It'll give you a sufficient shield.

Age · Jun 05, 2008, 12:15 AM // 00:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keekles

I'd drop Healing Breeze and Healing Whisper for condition removal and hex removal. As well as drop Heal Party for Prot spirit.

[reversal of [email protected]][orison of [email protected]][ethereal [email protected]][mend [email protected]][remove hex][protective [email protected]][heaven's [email protected]][resurrection [email protected]]

Prot: 8 + 1
Healing: 12 +1 +1
Divine: 10 +1

I'd suggest getting [word of healing] as soon as you can and replacing Orison with it. Hybrid skill bars are better than pure red-bars-go-up skill bars. As the bosses in Factions deal double damage, [protective spirit] is a life saver.

I'd personally also drop res, as when you're ressing people as a monk, you're not healing. Which can often lead other people to die during that time.

EDIT:

Henchmen will be a good idea, and the Scar Eater, or Kephet's Refuge are good choices for monk weapons.

I kew you or some one was going to say the drop Breeze as I would.To the OP I would just playaround KC with henchie and practice with them while doing the quests.Good Luck and don't let the bad pugs get you.

XDeadboltX · Jun 05, 2008, 12:41 PM // 12:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wyler_Clan

c) Since this is a new monk, who has max armor for the profession but does not have any good casting weapons, can anyone suggest casting weapons which are suitable for my stage of the game. I recognize that I can/will upgrade later, but for now where do I start?

I wouldnt worry too much about weapons atm since youre just starting. Try and get some cheap green staffs like kephets refuge or the scar eater. Worry about more efficient mods when your a bit better and have more cash.

To get into prot, I just ran a WoH build but placed in [[protective [email protected]] then eventually moved onto hybrid builds. Once your all settup, have a bit of cash and have completed campaigns I suggest reading the sticky at the top of the monk forum.

Wyler_Clan · Jun 05, 2008, 02:33 PM // 14:33

Again thanks for all the suggestions, and other comments. While playing last night I discovered that I need to have a better keyboard setup. Currently I have everything set to the defaults, and am finding that this is a bit awkward when having to manage monk activities on multiple players at once.

Anybody have comments/suggestions about keyboard setups the make the process easier?

Wyler.

horseradish · Jun 05, 2008, 04:11 PM // 16:11

Well, it's best to set up your UI according to yourself. One person's UI might now work for another. Having a laptop also changes things.

For me, I put skills 6,7, & 8 as t,g, and v. My guild button is h and my char button is j. Skill 6 is for Tahl's Prot Spirit and 7 and 8 are my heroes rez skills.

I kept my weapon slots the same as default though.

The most important thing you need to do is to find a setup that's comfortable for you.

As a monk, it's best to be able to activate your skills as quickly as possible.

Good luck

Yichi · Jun 05, 2008, 05:17 PM // 17:17

Learn to click to move in combat instead of just hitting "r" or "wasd". Also if you have a mouse that has side buttons, place crucial skills binded to those buttons. Say if you're running a monk with return for example. Having it right on the mouse means I can just click on the teammate I want to get to and return in less than a second.

XDeadboltX · Jun 05, 2008, 06:04 PM // 18:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yichi

. Say if you're running a monk with return for example. Having it right on the mouse means I can just click on the teammate I want to get to and return in less than a second.

Quite like that idea ill have to try it.

@OP : You can set your party to the number keypad on the right of the keyboard. I dont know how ppl click with mouse,use skills with left hand and target party with right hand though? Just something Iv seen ppl say a while back. I cant do this because I use a laptop.

I use r=skill 6, f= skill 7, c=skill 8 . Just set auto run to key 8 since i never use it anyway. Weapon sets are still f1,f2,f3,f4.

For the UI making the compass abit bigger can be good. You want to see as much as the battlefield as possible so i put everything a little smaller, and in the corners and sides.

isamu kurosawa · Jun 05, 2008, 08:14 PM // 20:14

i use numpad for party target:

7= player one
8= player two
9= player three
4= player four
5= player five
6= player six
1= player seven
2= player eight
9 = player nine (for npc's in some missions)
0 = target item

skills normal 1-8 for non numpad keys. skills 1-2 also bound to side buttons of my mouse. I place important skills there on all profs, rof on monk and inters on mes etc.

i use a combination of mouse to move and keyboard using:

insert | home | page up
delete | end |page down

as

strafe left | forward |strafe right
turn left | back | turn right

Only really effective if like me you are left handed though.

Age · Jun 06, 2008, 10:57 PM // 22:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by isamu kurosawa

i use numpad for party target:

7= player one
8= player two
9= player three
4= player four
5= player five
6= player six
1= player seven
2= player eight
9 = player nine (for npc's in some missions)
0 = target item

skills normal 1-8 for non numpad keys. skills 1-2 also bound to side buttons of my mouse. I place important skills there on all profs, rof on monk and inters on mes etc.

i use a combination of mouse to move and keyboard using:

insert | home | page up
delete | end |page down

as

strafe left | forward |strafe right
turn left | back | turn right

Only really effective if like me you are left handed though.

How really well does this work as I am a lefty as well?I amy try this set up out.What hand is on the mouse?

isamu kurosawa · Jun 07, 2008, 12:15 AM // 00:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Age

How really well does this work as I am a lefty as well?I amy try this set up out.What hand is on the mouse?

Mouse on the left of course. although i use standard left-click is primary as i have gotten used to it over the years.

I find it very effetive as your arms are well spaced (the reasons games tend to use wasd for movement instead of arrow keys these days for right handed controls) and you also get strafe keys close to other movement keys.

you can use a combination of mouse/keyboard movement while beingable to target party members and use skills without any loss of movement ability.

The 2 skills bound to my extra mouse buttons are very handy too, but not needed. just nice to click someone and RoF them or click any enemy and interupt them without touching the keyboard.

I'll be getting myself a g15 soon so hopefully that will make things easier. Shame the macro keys are not on the right and side.

The factions Zboard keyseyt is a very left handed oriented keyboard, i was gonig to get one but the keys themselves are horrible. You get this on the right hand side, leaving your left hand for the mouse:

Melody Cross · Jun 07, 2008, 04:21 PM // 16:21

You do not require RL players to make it to the mainland in Factions. A standard spam healing build will suffice for the early (and its so quick, you are probably already through as I write this). Factions levels your character very fast. Once you are on the mainland, you should be able to get to GW:EN even this early in the game. That will give you 2--3 if you push on just a little further and get Gwen--lvl 20 heroes very early in your career. Do the same for Nightfall and you'll have a substantial pool of skills and professions to build around. Return to Factions or play through your preferred chapter. Do make a point of visiting Profescies, however, and either playing through the missions or having your heroes pound you a way to the desert. WoH is easiest to get there, imho, and still one of the best elites in the game at present for heal and hybrid heal.

GGs

Darkpower Alchemist · Jun 08, 2008, 05:35 PM // 17:35

As for a general monk setup, hybrid has always been king to me. The rest of the GW world has only just in the last 6 months or so even thought that hybrid builds were good enough. Glad to see the way of thinking around here has changed slightly in my absence.

Anyway, depending on team sizes-either 4 man,6 man, or 8 man teams will dictate to some degree what type of defensive skills you may decide to employ as a monk. I am a personal fan of the classic Aegis Chain for an 8 man team, especially now with that spell being used on both henchies and available to myself and my heroes. Nothing wrong with an E/Mo with fire magic and Aegis on the bar to mitigate the partywide damage.

Personally, I use my MM with Aegis on his bar and my E/Mo with Aegis. Plus myself, will make the chain complete and constant. Some may think this to be overkill or poorly used with hero AI, yet that is more opinion than fact.

Another option is [skill]Zealous Benediction[/skill], [skill]Blessed Light[/skill], or [skill]Healing Light[/skill] as elites if you either start Factions missions or NF missions first. Prophecies has and will always be the true testing ground,imo, for a monk to play through, but choices are abundant nowadays.

Always look to have a condition removal, as well as a hex removal spell on your bar,too. And later, look for energy management methods, as the further you go as a monk, the more tested your energy reserves become. Radiant runes on the chest and legs of the armor to gain maximum results. I'm a staff man, but I do own caster swords and a shield, as well as a High energy set(wand+offhand).

[skill]Signet of Rejuvenation[/skill] and [skill]Signet of Devotion[/skill] are classics for e management while staying in the monk realm of spells. [skill]Castigation Signet[/skill] is more for the advanced smiting builds. Also, look into your secondary skills and enchantments to make energy last in tough areas.

[skill]Channeling[/skill] is great for areas with large groups of enemies, and [skill]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/skill] speaks for itself. Their's much more to learn. Feel free to hit me up online.