Curse

VGJustice · Jan 11, 2006, 11:00 PM // 23:00

I'll freely admit it. I'm crazy. I get psychotic ideas, and I run with them. So, here's my idea for a type of healing monk, that uses a pet for energy managment.

Attributes: (NOTE: I'm not yet far enough along in PvE to find out at what levels each of these skills will be effective at)
Healing Prayers, Divine Favor, and Beast Mastery at somewhat even levels.
Remaining points into Protection Prayers

Skills:
Ferocious Strike {E}
Revive Pet
Charm Animal
Orison of Healing
Healing Breeze/Heal Other
Mend Ailment/Mend Condition
Life Bond/Call of Protection
Res of choice (dependent on the mission/area)

The basic idea is for the healer to bring their own freakin' tank. But, mostly, it's for Ferocious Strike, and its energy gaining abbility. This *should* allow the Monk to have a much larger energy pool from which to work with.

Pros:
-Good DPS from the Pet to take down monsters faster
-Energy Management bonus for the Monk
-Extra target for the monsters to attack (that can be tougher than the Wars)

Cons:
-Potential disaster if the Monk's pet gets taken down
-Chance of body block if there are too many melee characters
-Wouldn't have the raw healing power that some more dedicated monks would have

These are the only problems that I can see for now. I can't remember exactly how much Ferocious Strike gives for energy, but if it gives enough, then Divine Boon may be an option (I somehow doubt this, however). Can anyone think of anything that may help this build?

Sovetskeey · Jan 12, 2006, 12:30 AM // 00:30

Uhhhh wow. There's crazy and then there's useless.
Pets make terrible tanks and Ferocious Strike gives a maximum 9 energy which works out to a mighty gain of 4 energy after casting cost!
You're wasting 3, maybe 4 skill slots on a pet that really doesn't help a whole lot at all.
If you're bored of healing, then look into a prot/boon healer. They're more fun to play than just a straight healer and if played well are just as effective.

In PvP when I was playing with XoO, a couple guys liked to make pet-smiter builds. I don't think they'd work very well in PvE since the AoE nerf though. Basically they'd use things like Zealot's Fire and Balthazar's Aura to do PBAoEs around the pet.

JMFD · Jan 12, 2006, 02:06 AM // 02:06

I've been running a healing/beastmastery build in sorrows, primarily for the purpose of levelling my pet to run a beastmastery/smite build. I've run monk heals including elite for 5 slots, as I know I can happily keep a party alive with that and charm, revive and disrupting lunge.
Had no problems at all, but that was in a very controlled environment with near-guaranteed agro management in the second and hardest stage. Had a few blackouts in Grenths while he was REALLY low level, but if the prot monk is good enough, they can cover you.