Curse

Age · Jun 10, 2008, 12:35 AM // 00:35

^He only has or wants only Faction skills ZB is NF and Castation Signet is Eotn.It is better to use Glyph of Lesser Energy then Channeling.I would suggest ether signet for /Mes.Hybrids are still the way to go not pure but if one must insist.

horseradish · Jun 10, 2008, 12:49 AM // 00:49

Also, +energy armor sucks.

learn to manage your energy, and those slots are pretty shit.

Also, BL could be difficult for new monks, and less productive than WoH.

Darkpower Alchemist · Jun 10, 2008, 03:37 AM // 03:37

Radiant runes on just the chest and legs doesn't make energy armor, but builds on the energy reserves. BL may be less bars go up than WoH, but still the total utility of the spell makes it great to use.

As for using 1 campaign's set of skills, I believe our young monk will learn that he/she is thinking more on the line of playing straight through a game, whereas GW has grown so vastly that the skills from other campaigns can't be ignored when you play side by side with others. To watch an HB monk work when you try to just get to WoH, or for that matter ZB is easier to get than WoH for a prophecies monk, yet essentially achieves similar results.

Yet, I digress. We all must learn at our own pace.

P.S. [skill]Ether Signet[/skill] Though a solid alternative for e management, it takes an extra investment to use. Possible, but may not always be desired.

Wyler_Clan · Jun 10, 2008, 02:21 PM // 14:21

Darkpower Alchemist is correct, I am focusing on getting through the factions chapter first. Once the Factions chapter is completed, then I will decide how I feel about the profession and whether I want to spent more time playing it. In the meantime, I have been using the skill bar suggested earlier in this thread, and it has been working out reasonably well. The only frustrating thing I have run into so far is when other members of the party have multiple conditions on them I have not found a skill that clears them all at once and provides a heal, without an insanely high recharge time (suggestions welcome).

The keyboard layout questions I had earlier are still a work in progress for me, as I try different things to find a combination which works for me.

I will probably visit different chapters once I finish Factions to pickup other heros, but only if I decide to spent more time in this profession.

At the present time I have fortified my armor with Stalwart insignia (x5) to give me a better survival rate. I know there are arguments for other insignia which give more energy but I am picking up additional energy with attunement runes, rather than insigina's. As other have observed a dead monk can do nothing for the party.

Wyler.

horseradish · Jun 10, 2008, 07:44 PM // 19:44

The closest skill in removing all conditions is [Restore Condition], but it removes all conditions from other party members, so you better stay in the back.

Even then, [Mend Ailment] could be used for a fat heal in areas that spam conditions, allowing you to bring [Word of Healing] or whatnot.

imho, Survivor Insignias are better than Stalwart and Radiant Insignias. Stalwart only protects against physical damage, not elemental, degen, or lifesteal. Radiant Insigs are great on shockaxe warrs, some sin bars, and farming. E-management skills, weapon sets, and player skill is all the energy management you need.

Besides, more energy doesn't mean energy management.

Survivor armor adds +40 health, and health is the universal defense against anything. It's really more flexible than all other insignias.

In terms of Runes, have a +1 Healing Prayers helmet, +1 healing, Protection, and Divine Favor Runes elsewhere. Attunement Runes are in the same boat as Radiant Insigs for me. I'd put a Superior Vigor Rune there, and the last slot can be whatever you want. You can get away with a superior attribute rune in PvE, but in most cases, the extra 3 attribute points are negligible.

I understand that more health isn't necessary in PvE, but if you're a good player, all other options are unnecessary.

Age · Jun 11, 2008, 12:43 AM // 00:43

Radiants are for farming and nothing else not on the chest or the legs where the most criticals hits even in pve.I would still use WoH over BL and horseradish is right.

sixofone · Jun 24, 2008, 02:29 PM // 14:29

Good information here, folks! Thanks!

Like the OP, I, too, have finally ventured into creating a Monk. And, man, it's a whole different style of play, isn't it? I have been playing as Rangers, Mesmers, Eles, and Necro - plus, I built a Paragon/Warrior to unlock skills for my Warrior heroes. But Monking? Totally different approach, isn't it? With my Rit, I usually do the Channeling/Resto-split, and can open with some direct damage. But with healing and protection spells, all I can do is wand and call targets. Very different.

I H&H in PvE only. (Don't want to mess up any good players with my lack of finesse! Nor get killed by PUGs who are often worse than I am!) So, the trick seems to be: targeting, and getting my H&H into the fray while I stay back and watch, healing and protecting and all that. I usually wand to get my guys moving, and I know I can CNTRL-Shift-Space to get them to target w/o me, right?

Just wanted some more PvE advice for those who H&H like me. I've rolled mine up as a M/W right now, and am at Zen Daijun, and I am a little apprehensive attempting it with a character class that still feels so alien to me. (I want to get to KC and over to Prophecies as soon as possible - while I'm still relatively low-level - so in Tyria, I'm about where I should be level-wise. TotA -> Sanctum Cay ->Crystal Desert - Augury Rock: Ascend + 50k xp bonus!) Currently lvl 12 (hard not to level up in Factions!)

joshuarodger · Jun 24, 2008, 04:22 PM // 16:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by sixofone

Good information here, folks! Thanks!

Like the OP, I, too, have finally ventured into creating a Monk. And, man, it's a whole different style of play, isn't it? I have been playing as Rangers, Mesmers, Eles, and Necro - plus, I built a Paragon/Warrior to unlock skills for my Warrior heroes. But Monking? Totally different approach, isn't it? With my Rit, I usually do the Channeling/Resto-split, and can open with some direct damage. But with healing and protection spells, all I can do is wand and call targets. Very different.

I H&H in PvE only. (Don't want to mess up any good players with my lack of finesse! Nor get killed by PUGs who are often worse than I am!) So, the trick seems to be: targeting, and getting my H&H into the fray while I stay back and watch, healing and protecting and all that. I usually wand to get my guys moving, and I know I can CNTRL-Shift-Space to get them to target w/o me, right?

Just wanted some more PvE advice for those who H&H like me. I've rolled mine up as a M/W right now, and am at Zen Daijun, and I am a little apprehensive attempting it with a character class that still feels so alien to me. (I want to get to KC and over to Prophecies as soon as possible - while I'm still relatively low-level - so in Tyria, I'm about where I should be level-wise. TotA -> Sanctum Cay ->Crystal Desert - Augury Rock: Ascend + 50k xp bonus!) Currently lvl 12 (hard not to level up in Factions!)

generally for targeting before the fight, i hold Ctrl+shift+space while i have the target selected. this will get your H/H going so you don't have to be the first one into the fight.

my next piece of advice for you is switch your secondary as soon as you can. as a monk, you should really only use your secondary for energy management skills, namely [[glyph of lesser]. it's the best E management skill available for a monk, IMO.

one thing that i've recently done is change my key bindings to make targeting and casting more effecient. i use the number pad for skill selection, keyboard 1-4,Q,E,R,F for party targeting, and W,A,S,D, caps lock, and C for movement/strafing. it takes some time to get used to this, but has been worth it in my opinion. i feel much more effecient now than i did when i was click-and-casting.

sixofone · Jun 25, 2008, 01:20 PM // 13:20

Thanks for the tips, Joshua!

Well - got thru Zen Daijun (with Masters!) 19:03, at lvl 14. Went to Tyria, took the "What's Beneath" quest to get into EotN, and now have some heroes for my monk.

Starting to get the hang of this. It's different than my other characters because I don't need to watch the health bars of the enemy mobs to make sure they're going down, but hang back and just protect and heal my heroes and henchmen. I caught myself hitting the 'c' key to target an enemy, and realized that this was the big difference between my monk and my other toons! Once I began to fight that reflex, I was able to pay more attention to how my guys were doing, and to start to learn the new skills. It's a lot like learning to play a Mesmer, actually! What skill to use, when.

Went into EotN, got Gwen, Vekk, and Osgood, and decided I wanted a Warrior so I did the quests and got Jora. Now, I'm lvl 16, back in Tyria, and ready to start getting my free (quest reward) skills and head to Sanctum Cay!

horseradish · Jun 26, 2008, 01:37 AM // 01:37

tbh, melee AI sucks. Bringing a warrior henchie allows you to bring a "smarter" hero.

I only use em when I absolutely have to.

Hundbert · Jun 26, 2008, 06:19 PM // 18:19

I have to say that Rathgar posted great advice on page 1.
I'd also like to add that once you become a bit more comfortable with everything you might wanna learn about weapon swapping.

Targren · Jun 26, 2008, 08:36 PM // 20:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hundbert

I have to say that Rathgar posted great advice on page 1.
I'd also like to add that once you become a bit more comfortable with everything you might wanna learn about weapon.

I was thinking about that myself... Looking at the Proph endgame staffs, for example... Which would be better? HCT/HSR for Prots or Healing? My thought was healing, since if I'm pre-protting it's less likely to be a now-now-now situation as opposed to healing in battle...

thoughts?

Hundbert · Jun 27, 2008, 11:36 PM // 23:36

Well in pve you can pretty much use whatever you like.
I know most people in pve don't switch weapons much.
They prefer these "caster" weapons (+5 energy +20% enchantments) but they lack two important things: HCT and HSR.

But if you wanna learn how to weapon switch properly maybe if you wanna move on to pvp one day you should use different weapons depending on the spells you cast.

If you cast protection enchantments a 40 HCT 20 HSR 20% enchantment staff is the best.
Healing spells? A 40/40 healing wand and 40/40 healing offhand is the best.

You have to take a look at your skillbar and figure out what you need.
These questions about weapon sets and weapon swapping have been discussed many times. If you search for it in this forum there should be several threads about it.

This guide by divine ambassador has alot of quality information about weapons and everything else: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10222589

sixofone · Jun 30, 2008, 04:18 PM // 16:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by horseradish

tbh, melee AI sucks. Bringing a warrior henchie allows you to bring a "smarter" hero.

I only use em when I absolutely have to.

Well, at the time, my Monk character hadn't been to Elona, yet, and I wanted to pick up some heroes, so EotN seemed the way to go. Plus, Jora is just so nice to look at!

Started with those 4 - Gwen, Vekk, Ogen, and Jora - before taking the "Sunspears in Cantha" quest and heading over to Kamadan.

Mostly, yes - using Vekk, Jin, and Gwen. Zenmai has made a useful A/R ranged interrupter, actually, using [disrupting accuracy] and her critical hits attribute! Critical Barrage, I know, is a very good way of using her, too.

Proud Elitist · Jul 03, 2008, 05:13 AM // 05:13

Well generally speaking, in a dual monk team, this is what you should have in your bar:

[Reversal of Fortune][Gift of Health][Mend Ailment][Protective Spirit][Guardian][Holy Veil][Glyph of Lesser Energy][Aegis]

If you are solo monking, 4v4 team, this is what you should be looking for:

[Reversal of Fortune][Gift of Health][Mend Ailment][Protective Spirit][Guardian][Holy Veil][Shielding Hands] (or: [Signet of Rejuvenation] for a bit of e-management) [Return]

So you can see that there is a core. The only difference is the utility.

When solo monking, you want to have one of your utilities to be self survival like: [Return] or [Grasping Earth] or [Shield Bash] or something like [Disciplined Stance]. And the other utility skill to be something like: [Mending Touch] with [Mend Condition] or [Vigorous Spirit] or [Signet of Rejuvenation] or [Shield of Absorption] or [Shielding Hands].

When working with another monk, you generally want to focus on party-wide buffs and energy management like [Glyph of Lesser Energy] and [Aegis] or [Heal Party]. Although [Heal Party] should be taken care of via your defensive support character.

Hundbert · Jul 04, 2008, 08:19 PM // 20:19

Dude we are talking about pve here

Abedeus · Jul 04, 2008, 08:28 PM // 20:28

Guardian in PvE is pretty bad.
Dwayna's Kiss > Gift of Health in PvE.
Dismiss Condition > Mend Condition > Mend Ailment
Return, Grasping Earth, Shield Bash and so on are only for pvp.

Tyla · Jul 04, 2008, 08:34 PM // 20:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abedeus

Guardian in PvE is pretty bad.

Disagree. Enemies in PvE don't target switch, so it actually makes it more effective.

Especially since you can take aggro.

JDRyder · Jul 04, 2008, 10:08 PM // 22:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abedeus

Guardian in PvE is pretty bad.

no, it works better in pve then pvp

Age · Jul 04, 2008, 11:01 PM // 23:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proud Elitist

Well generally speaking, in a dual monk team, this is what you should have in your bar:

[Reversal of Fortune][Gift of Health][Mend Ailment][Protective Spirit][Guardian][Holy Veil][Glyph of Lesser Energy][Aegis]

If you are solo monking, 4v4 team, this is what you should be looking for:

[Reversal of Fortune][Gift of Health][Mend Ailment][Protective Spirit][Guardian][Holy Veil][Shielding Hands] (or: [Signet of Rejuvenation] for a bit of e-management) [Return]

So you can see that there is a core. The only difference is the utility.

When solo monking, you want to have one of your utilities to be self survival like: [Return] or [Grasping Earth] or [Shield Bash] or something like [Disciplined Stance]. And the other utility skill to be something like: [Mending Touch] with [Mend Condition] or [Vigorous Spirit] or [Signet of Rejuvenation] or [Shield of Absorption] or [Shielding Hands].

When working with another monk, you generally want to focus on party-wide buffs and energy management like [Glyph of Lesser Energy] and [Aegis] or [Heal Party]. Although [Heal Party] should be taken care of via your defensive support character.

This was answered some time ago and it is for pve not pvp.