Curse

Carinae · Sep 08, 2006, 05:22 PM // 17:22

Here's something you don't see very often: a Balanced MM Build. This is my own build i've been evolving since the MM nerf. It's the strongest and most versatile MM build I'm played with so far.

Barbs
Mark of Pain
Fiends
Blood of the Master
Heal Area
Dark Bond
Gaze of Contempt
Empathic Removal {e}

Death = 16 (12+3+1)
Soul Reaping = 11 (8+3)
Blood = 4 (3+1)
Curses = 7 (6+1)
Healing = 8

I love this build. Two Curses to boost minion damage, Condition Removal, Hex Removal, Enchantment Removal, very strong minion healing, good self-healing and spike/damage protection.

This build makes a MM an *extremely* serious threat on the battlefield, while remaining versatile when there are no minions around. During startup, or any time when you don't have minions you can function as a Hexer and auxiliary monk. When you do have minions, the Hexes and Enchant/Hex/Condition Removal becomes even better.

* Barbs - At 7 Curses, Barbs adds 5 damage per physical hit. That pushes the dps for an army of 10 Fiends to ~200dps...not too shabby. Lead the attack with this hex, preferably against any melee fighters and enjoy.

* Mark of Pain - At 7 Curses, this lovely hex deals 24 AoE damage to surrounding foes. Yes....It scatters mobs. Use that to YOUR advantage. Melee attackers like to swarm the Fiends, which don't have a lot of armor. This keeps the melee guys running around...and if they're running around....they aren't attacking. Plus, you can sometimes get convenient situations where they CAN'T run away...then your Fiends deal ~400dps AoE!!! Nothing survives that for long.

* Fiends - Yep. Just Fiends. 160dps by themselves, the highest dps for animated armies. With only one animate spell, you might miss a corpse every now and then, doesn't seem to matter at all. C'est la vie.

* Blood of the Master - SPAM SPAM SPAM! Spam the bejezus out of this spell, then spam it some more. Learn how to estimate the sac from this skill quickly. I know the EXACT amount of health this uses, and can make snap judgments of weather or not to use this or HA in low hp situations.

* Heal Area - Ah yes, the controversial /Mo secondary. This spell is indispensable IMHO. It serves as a self-heal, of course, because Monks DO fall asleep at the wheel and also as a Secondary Minion Heal. Nothing like Distracting Shot --> BotM to shutdown a MM....but not if you have a backup heal!

* Dark Bond - EVERY SINGLE MM SHOULD BE RUNNING THIS SKILL. Clear enough? It lasts twice as long as it's recharge at 4 Blood, so it doesn't require much investment attribute-wise. And the effect is crazy good...75% damage reduction. Run it! Keep it up all the time. Doesn't affect sacrifices or degen.

* Gaze of Contempt - This spell is here to strip enchantments, of course. But there is one enchantment that's particularly irritating for MMs....Mark of Protection. You can't make your minions STOP attacking, and Mark of Prot exploits that fact. So, when you fight a monk with Mark of Prot, have your finger hovering over this counter-skill. As soon as you see Mark begin casting this. Mark will finish sooner and that *guarantees* that the condition for Gaze of Contempt is met. Of course, there are lots of other enchantments that are nice to remove also. This skill uses no attribute points.

* Empathic Removal - An unusual choice for a MM elite....but there's a reason for this, allow me to explain: A MM is a high-sacrifice build. That makes Degen a bad thing. You don't want to be at -10 degen when you need to use BotM at half-health. Plus it has an identical effect on a teammate/hench. Removes 2 hexes and 2 conditions for 5 energy, with a 10s recharge. This skill uses no attribute points.

---Equipment---

I use a 20/20 Bone Spiral wand and Bortak's Cesta when I have less than 10 minions and switch to Konruu's Fervor when I hit 10 minions. For Armor I use either Necrotic or MM Armor, depending on my mood that day. As you can see, I run Double Superior runes. That makes some people nervous, but double sups makes the BotM sacrificing more tolerable/spammable and Dark Bond is all the armor you'll ever need.

Neither the offhand or armor choice is critical to the build, but I have found that this combination works VERY nicely.

---Battle Plan---

When you don't have minions, you have 5 spells you can still use to considerable effect:

Barbs
Mark of Pain
Heal Area
Gaze of Contempt
Empathic Removal {e}

You're not going to be a major damage dealer without minions, but you can effectively harass the enemy and assist your teammates. Lead your attacks with Barbs, then back up into your Fiends. They should screen all/most of the aggro, except fast hexes. If two or more melee guys swarm your Fiends, drop Mark of Pain on them.

Another good time to lay down Mark of Pain is when you are facing a tightly grouped caster mob. In that situation, lead with Mark, not Barbs. I've seen entire mobs die before they can run out of the AoE range.

Always keep Dark Bond up if you have minions!

Keep Spamming BotM. Talk to your healers and tell them not to heal you until you hit 50% health. If you do it right you'll be the only person the monk needs to heal. Of course, shit happens and monks fall asleep, or get separated from you, or get distracted by pretty flowers or whatever, so Heal Area is there as a contingency for both you and your minions. Don't use it unless you need it, because it's expensive and BotM is a MUCH MUCH more efficient minion-heal than HA....but it works nicely in a pinch.

Always keep Dark Bond up if you have minions!

You'll only use Gaze of Contempt about once per mission, but it'll be a godsend when you do. Especially vs. Mark of Protection or a smiting enchantment. Use Empathic Removal often! Don't throw off your casting rhythm, but keep whacking the degens whenever necessary. You can also help out teammates (glorified-minions) by de-hexing them at the same time. Warriors LOVE YOU when you whack a slowing hex or SS.

THIS IS THE CRUCIAL STEP. You really want to be constantly refreshing you army, and constantly pegged at 10 minions. This smoothes out your energy from SR and gives you PLENTY of extra energy to run those hexes/removers. If you do this right, you won't slow the party at all. When the last body drops, you should be casting BotM, Fiend, Botm AND GO GO GO! Battle is where you heal your army, not between. Between battles, they need to be fresh and full so you can move out quickly. (Damn I miss VS!)

One more thing: Always keep Dark Bond up if you have minions!

Jetdoc · Sep 08, 2006, 06:14 PM // 18:14

Love the concept of the dual Mark of Pain/Barbs combo.

The only criticism I have of these two skills is that it depends on your minions attacking that foe that is dual hexed...and we all know that minions tend to fire at whatever they feel like, which may not be your dual-hexed target. Chances are, however, that enough of your minions will hit that target to make it worthwhile.

Overall, a very nice build that has some functionality outside of minion generation!

Shadowfox1125 · Sep 11, 2006, 07:30 AM // 07:30

I think I'll try this build. Isn't it Empathic Removal, not Empathetic Removal though?

ubermancer · Sep 11, 2006, 07:34 AM // 07:34

No Putrid Explosion = Fail

Carinae · Sep 11, 2006, 01:35 PM // 13:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadowfox1125

I think I'll try this build. Isn't it Empathic Removal, not Empathetic Removal though?

Indeed, lol.

Fixed.

holden · Sep 11, 2006, 04:52 PM // 16:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by ubermancer

No Putrid Explosion = Fail

lol and you should bring consume corpse as well.....

ubermancer · Sep 11, 2006, 09:33 PM // 21:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by holden

lol and you should bring consume corpse as well.....

No, you shouldnt. But you should bring Putrid Explosion. You dont need to spam it (though that helps), but 126 armor ignoring aoe damage (ideally immediately following a Death Nova) is priceless.

Hella Good · Sep 11, 2006, 09:41 PM // 21:41

I'd drop Heal Area, you can keep minions alive perfectly well with BotM. As for keeping yourself alive, there is better solutions than HA. Death and Curses combos are very potent and MoPain with Fiends is a personal fav, so good choice in there. I dont think you need Gaze and ERemoval tho. I really don't see how they fit in. When you do Death and Taxes (Curses :-)) it's a lot of fun to take Parasitic Bond- it covers your hexes AND since everything dies so fast, serves as an awesome self-heal. Take Lyssa's Balance or something along those lines, if you need chant removal.

Carinae · Sep 11, 2006, 10:01 PM // 22:01

re: Putrid - I refresh my minions with every corpse. If I miss one, it's because an enemy caster got it first. A fiend will do much more damage than putrid, even on a bad day.