Curse

Imrys Starborn · Sep 14, 2005, 04:49 PM // 16:49

I didnt look through the whole monk basics thread, so this build, or something similar to it, may already have been posted. I was just looking for some opinions/feedback on the build:

Mo/W PvP Build
1. Reversal of Fortune
2. Edit: Mend Ailment (I realised after that mend condition was only self heal, I was just going to unlock it when I posted)
3. Blessed Signet
4. Bonetti's Defence
5. Divine Boon
6. Life Bond
7. Balthazar's Spirit
8. Res Sig?

15 Protection Prayers (12+3)
14 Divine Favor (12+1+1)
3 Tactics

So for 4v4 Arena, I cast LB on the lower AL characters, and then BS/DB on myself. Cast blessed sig twice to regain energy, all this before the fight starts. With DB and Divine Favor so high, i do 67+42+(80) per reversal of fortune. With restore condition it obviously depends on the amount of conditions, but minimum 67+80.
Now, I use both of Worth's Items, the Wand and the Icon, for a 40?% faster recharge chance, a 20% +1 Prot prayers chance, and a 20% faster cast rate chance. With these items, you can spam reversal of fortune quite effectively, and mend condition when needed. Of course, you must cast blessed signet every once and a while, but:
Since you have the two lower AL characters LB'd, you gain energy each time they are attacked through BS, as well as when you yourself are attacked. When faced with a lot of melee damage, bonetti's defence is perfect - you all know how that works.
Now, i know that many people don't like a monk to have a res signet, but, in this case, not only have no other skills caught my attention, but I'm not continuously healing, and my team can usually survive while I cast the res. I'm open to any suggestions to replace the res sig.
The one drawback to this build is if you die, you're team is in great danger, at least until you are res'd. I find that even after I've been res'd I can keep my team alive, I slap DB on myself asap, and then spam with reversal and mend until I have a chance to cast lb and bs again.
This build works fairly well in PvE as well, but I have yet to seriously test it in HoH, as I haven't found a good group of players with which to test it yet. (Any serious players willing to plan a HoH run please mention so, or if you have a guild that is dedicated to HoH please pm me)
Any and all -contributions- are appreciated.
Thanks for your time!

Yamat · Sep 15, 2005, 04:40 AM // 04:40

Probably not an issue in Arena, but my biggest concern would be the reliance on enchants... with the current smiting FoTM (although that may be almost out in favor of IWAY), teams should be going in with mass enchant removal... and that being true, you lose boon and bond and suddenly 4 of your 8 skills are useless...

Aside: does Bonnetti's really work well enough for energy management, i.e. do they leave you alone before it runs out and switch targets? If not, and they stay on you after it's gone, are you spending all that regained energy to keep yourself alive? I've never used Bonnetti's in PvP so I have no idea...

thekolman · Sep 15, 2005, 05:10 AM // 05:10

Where to begin. Well, for one thing your only SELF-heal is reversal, which is not a good idea. Restore condition is nice but what do you do about conditions on yourself? Considering you are a monk, there is a good chance you will have more conditions on yourself then your teammates.

Even if your enchants are not removed, conditions will still own you (which is quite an embarrasing way to die from). Also, if your blessed signet gets disrupted (high possibilty even in random arena), you are done.

The fact that you are using PvE weapons leads me to believe that you haven't seriously PvP'd much, which is ok. If I can give a suggestion, use mend ailment instead of restore condition and don't rely so much on enchants.

*edit* You would be surprised at how many warriors still swing at you even if they see bonneti's go up on you. A fun thing to do in random arena is run a mo/me, use spirit of failure and signet of midnight on a warrior. That's almost infinite energy right there.

Zhou Feng · Sep 15, 2005, 09:12 AM // 09:12

Quote:

I didnt look through the whole monk basics thread, so this build, or something similar to it, may already have been posted. I was just looking for some opinions/feedback on the build:

Mo/W PvP Build
1. Reversal of Fortune
2. Restore Condition {E}
3. Blessed Signet
4. Bonetti's Defence
5. Divine Boon
6. Life Bond
7. Balthazar's Spirit
8. Res Sig?

15 Protection Prayers (12+3)
14 Divine Favor (12+1+1)
3 Tactics

Nothing wrong with this build however when going prot you might like to consider:

15 Divine Favor
14 Protection Prayers
3 Tactics

Mo/W PvP Build
1. Reversal of Fortune
2. Restore Condition {E} might want to drop this
3. Blessed Signet might want to drop this
4. Bonetti's Defence
5. Divine Boon depends on you
6. Life Bond might want to drop this
7. Balthazar's Spirit might want to drop this
8. Res Sig?

Instead concentrate on brining

Mo/W PvP Build

Reversal of Fortune 5
Guardian 5
Signet of Devotion -
Mend Ailment 5
Aegis 15
Bonetti's Defence
Protective Spirit 10
Divine Spirit 10

Why? A prootection monk should never go around without the likes of Prot Spirit and Aegis. Signet of Devotion is for a quick fix. Reversal is always good. Divine Spirit to lower costs.

You dont bring mantained enchantments because you run a great risk like that. Using Blessed Signet can be interrupted specially with Diversion and if you get drained of energy things wont look pretty. Life Bond and Spirit are good in PvE but in PvP you most likely will run against enchantment removal (but then again you might get lucky). Its better to stick with fast casting spells or effective spells. You will want to be using Prot Spirit on yourself and RoF and SoD on allies. Take out your elite and bring Mend Ailment instead because it removes conditions and heals whenever its used and conditions are still present. It helps to know you can use it on yourself. If under attack from the beggining wait a bit, run then cast D spirit Aegis then Prot Spirit on yourself. This buys a lot of time. With 15 DF and 14 Prot D Spirit, Aegis and Prot Spirit tend to last a good amount-> Also bring a staff with Divine 20% recharge 20% cast speed and insightful head and the 20% enchantment duration to extend D Spirit, Aegis and Prot Spirit. Your other set will be a Wand with Prot 20% recharge and a Prot Focus Item with 20% recharge and 20% cast speed. If you plan on bringing judge armor make sure it doesnt cut out your regeneration and try to being at least one or two ascetic design for energy purposes. Sadly I dont find much use for Prot Elite Skills.

HOWEVER I never suggest running a full prot monk in arena 4v4 because it is highly risky since you lack raw healing. Thats why if you want to run one its better to have as high DF as you can. :P

EDIT I just read the guys post above. Follow his tips too.

Kabale · Sep 15, 2005, 09:55 AM // 09:55

Quote:

HOWEVER I never suggest running a full prot monk in arena 4v4 because it is highly risky since you lack raw healing. Thats why if you want to run one its better to have as high DF as you can. :P

...In which case, bring Divine Boon. Energy management shouldn't be a problem as there are many W/Mo's who will seem to have an affection with your Bonetti's.

If you find that's not the case, switch your secondary around to either mes or nec (e-drain, OoB).

Imrys Starborn · Sep 15, 2005, 12:21 PM // 12:21

Thanks for the feedback guys.
However, don't underestimate this build! I imagine that in HoH it would probably get trashed by enchant removal, but surprisingly enough that -very rarely- happens in 4v4 arena. And as I said, I've been concentrating on 4v4 atm.

Sigil · Sep 15, 2005, 01:36 PM // 13:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imrys Starborn

Thanks for the feedback guys.
However, don't underestimate this build! I imagine that in HoH it would probably get trashed by enchant removal, but surprisingly enough that -very rarely- happens in 4v4 arena. And as I said, I've been concentrating on 4v4 atm.

For some strange reason, even with all the E-smiters most people don't carry enchant removal. I would think your biggest worry with that build would be diversion, or enchant hate.

Edit - most people in 4v4 don't carry enchant removal. Then again, most people in 4v4 are either playing around, testing builds, or just starting to learn pvp.

Imrys Starborn · Sep 15, 2005, 02:59 PM // 14:59

Yup, thats what I'm doing, testing builds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thekolman

Where to begin. Well, for one thing your only SELF-heal is reversal, which is not a good idea. Restore condition is nice but what do you do about conditions on yourself? Considering you are a monk, there is a good chance you will have more conditions on yourself then your teammates.

Even if your enchants are not removed, conditions will still own you (which is quite an embarrasing way to die from). Also, if your blessed signet gets disrupted (high possibilty even in random arena), you are done.

The fact that you are using PvE weapons leads me to believe that you haven't seriously PvP'd much, which is ok. If I can give a suggestion, use mend ailment instead of restore condition and don't rely so much on enchants.

Well, since I actually use mend ailment, dying of conditions and self healing aren't a real problem, I've withstood three knockdown warriors with this build! (Although I do agree that dying of conditions is quite embarrasing^^) My blessed signet is hardly ever interrupted, only once in a blue moon when we come up against a group of rangers, so thats not too much of a problem. And in any case, don't forget about balthazar's spirit.
To tell the truth, I find Worth's Items to be a great help. By the time you've cast RoF on one ally, and MA on another, you're ready to recast, and both have low cast times (1/4 RoF, 3/4 MA). Healing is not an issue, as I mentioned in my original post - 67+42+(80), which is plenty.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zhou Feng

A prootection monk should never go around without the likes of Prot Spirit and Aegis.

I understand where you're coming from but really, I love this build because it doesnt use the traditional protection monk skills (which I find are quite limited). So this build is more about finding another way to play a good protection monk then using Prot Spirit and Aegis, etc.

smurfhunter · Sep 15, 2005, 03:05 PM // 15:05

when i went all prot in 4-4 (random arenas), my biggest problem was healing both myself and the team. i could very easily withstand some warriors on me, but when it was like 1 warrior on me, 1 on a mesmer i couldnt save both.

Imrys Starborn · Sep 15, 2005, 03:10 PM // 15:10

Thats where Bonetti's and running around like crazy comes in handy ^^

thekolman · Sep 15, 2005, 07:05 PM // 19:05

Oh sorry, I thought you were using only restore condition, not mend ailment, I didn't see your edit.

Ya, monking on your own in 4v4 is pretty tough. Healing monks won't be able to survive themselves against good warriors and rangers. Protection monks have a hard time keeping everyone on their team alive, not just themselves. Energy denial will also render you useless.

Yamat · Sep 15, 2005, 07:29 PM // 19:29

^^Energy denial renders any caster useless... such is life.

Quote:

Originally Posted by smurfhunter

when i went all prot in 4-4 (random arenas), my biggest problem was healing both myself and the team. i could very easily withstand some warriors on me, but when it was like 1 warrior on me, 1 on a mesmer i couldnt save both.

I really don't have a problem keeping people alive, the biggest issue is rangers disrupting my casting. Mesmers, even energy drain Mesmers, don't bother me because I run Hex Breaker, and there are very few true interrupt Mesmers out there...

Interrupt Rangers own me...

So it seems that the general consensus is, with a few personal preference tweaks this is an ok Arena build but will not work in Tombs...

JYX · Sep 15, 2005, 07:37 PM // 19:37

boon protector...

get the fi boon healer...do a quick coversion...take 11 df 10 prot 10 blood plus whatever runes, I use df hat...prot works ok with low stats...leave in offering, remove hex (replace with smite if you got it), boon, put in shielding hands, guardian, protective spirit, RoF and mend ailment...go nuts

ps. I like to take blood recharge necro focus/wand...Offering is our only and greatest e management...all our other skills cast/recharge fast apart from hands...we need the extra energy more...