Curse

BDStyle · Jan 21, 2006, 12:45 AM // 00:45

Ok was in 'newUW' today and have found a nice monk build after some tweaking.

MO/Me
Divine favour=11
Smiting=10
Protection=12

Blessed signet
Arcane echo
Aegis
Rebirth
Bane signet / signet of devotion (depends on preferances really as its a spare slot)
Shield of judgement
Balthazars spirit.
Life bond

It needs some tweaking with att points for efficiency of skills usage (eg don't need 11 df as i only need +12 energy from blessed signet) however it worked so i'll post as is.

Its fairly self explanatory but heres how it works.
Drop balthson yourself and life bond on 2/3 warriors (insert whoever takes the agro be it warriors or other 'tanks'). 4/5 party members is fine if you are experianced with -2 degen on energy.
Use arcane echo and Aegis constantly when party is engaged for near permanent aegis. You will need to use blessed signet as soon as it is ready every 10 seconds. YOU SHOULD NOT experiance much energy loss with 3 essance bonds as if the warriors aren't taking the agro something is wrong with your team tactics. This constant aegis is at the core of this build so keep it going.
Drop SOJ on anyone being focussed by melee to break the pressure for the healer/s.
Rebirth is my rez of choice as I never rez mid battle, its always only used if all are dead and i have to wake the party back up.
Essence bond and life bond are there to keep your energy up and drastically reduce damage to your warriors to the point the healers energy management is not under pressure. Also if you run 4 or more the blessed signet gets you more energy than regen does. Mainly because it comes as one big lump instead of a trickle.
I use Bane signet in a'pug' in the spare slot because i use it to escape unwanted agro, if i'm with my guild i use Signet of devotion because unwanted agro rarely happens.

Most people problem with this build will be the enchanments, fear not fellow monks. Be dutiful and no that the chaos attack does not strip enchants of anyone but primary monks (what i've noticed anyway). You aren't here to enchant monks so don't worry. As for the mesmers that strip them its fairly easy to handle if you know how to flash and cover enchantments. Put essence bond over the top of life bond and recast it when someone looses it.
This build is not an easy one but no protection build is when mesmers are about. If you counter them with forward thinking EG kill them first to take pressure of this build. The monk does need to be aware always of who loses what..but thats the same for any enchantment based build

The single worst thing to happen is a team in a big rush with random people running random ways...but then that messes up most monk builds doesn't it lol.

Feel free to comment... advise and mess around with. I am always up for new idea's and I'm still adding the finishing touchs to it so you never know you may help me out

Effigy · Jan 21, 2006, 03:53 PM // 15:53

The main problem I see is that you're using Essence Bond for energy management, which requires the target to get hit to generate energy, but at the same time you're using "permanent" Aegis, which reduces their chances of being hit by 50%. Another problem with this setup is that you have to double bond each tank, which will severely limit your passive regen.

One suggestion I'd make is using Balthazar's Sprit on yourself instead of Essence Bond on the tank. This will only give you -1 pip, but it will still get triggered anytime one of the tanks gets hit, since they are Life Bonded and half the damage (minus reduction) will go to you. I can't verify for certain, but I think Balth Spirit will trigger even if Life Bond reduces the damage you take to -0. If you want even more energy management, use both Balth Spirit and Essence Bond on yourself and you'll be getting 2e everytime either you or one of the bonded tanks gets hit, and this setup only gives -2 pips (plus the Life Bonds).

BDStyle · Jan 21, 2006, 09:31 PM // 21:31

i shall try that out in oh.... 2mins when i get back in game. As for balths working at -0 damage i'm sureit doesn't but its a good idea none the less

sno · Jan 22, 2006, 01:10 AM // 01:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Effigy

One suggestion I'd make is using Balthazar's Sprit on yourself instead of Essence Bond on the tank. This will only give you -1 pip, but it will still get triggered anytime one of the tanks gets hit, since they are Life Bonded and half the damage (minus reduction) will go to you. I can't verify for certain, but I think Balth Spirit will trigger even if Life Bond reduces the damage you take to -0. If you want even more energy management, use both Balth Spirit and Essence Bond on yourself and you'll be getting 2e everytime either you or one of the bonded tanks gets hit, and this setup only gives -2 pips (plus the Life Bonds).

That's simply not true. I agree with taking balths spirit instead of essense bond for MOST bond builds, however using essense bond on yourself DOES NOT give you more energy when life bond hits you. only physical damage triggers essense bond, and redirected damage from life bond does not count as physical damage. As most bonders do, use life bond and balths spirit.

The reason he's probably bringing essense bond however (instead of balths spirit) is that balths must be maintained on a monk. If the enchanted person is monk primary or secondary, fingers of chaos strips it immediately. Not smart to hold enchants on monks down there.

Quote:

As for balths working at -0 damage i'm sureit doesn't but its a good idea none the less

it does, trust me. but it won't work down there, because of fingers of chaos.

BTW: why do people keep calling it the 'new uw'? IT'S NOT. It's the same as the old tombs, except now it's pve. "the underworld" is simply what the first lvl of the road to the hall of heroes is called.

BDStyle · Jan 22, 2006, 01:39 AM // 01:39

well i just completed UW/tombs/whatever it is with the revised build and i got to say it worked a charm.

The darkness didn't strip any enchanments and life bond + aegis just made them 1/4 as effective when hitting.

Balthazars spirit gave me a huge amount of energy during fights, good call on that skill change.

Fingures of chaos can go suck it tbh. Re-enchanting people was surprisingly easy, the hardest part of this build by far is keeping aegis going in a protracted battle.

To be honest if i'm using a protection build this is definately the one i'm taking in this UW/tombs/new place.

BDStyle · Jan 23, 2006, 12:49 AM // 00:49

Well after 2 days of testing in the new version of tombs i have found this build invaluable. If your inexperianced at replacing lost enchantments then don't try this. Alsoof note that when I went with the guild all non primary monks changed there secondarys from monk if they had it.

If you do this then Fiingers of chaos is nerfed by you and not areanet as all enchantments now stay on. This made my build sickeningly good as noone loses bonds unless a mesmer comes along and that is alot easier to deal with.

Oh and The Darkness bosses are shite with aegis+bonds running as they have no enchant strippers barring their fingers of chaos power.

Try it, you'll see it works

p.s. there isnothing better than watching the grasping's flail about missing your party after they think they have just ambushed you out of the ground