Curse

Ezekiel Prophet · Aug 21, 2006, 07:34 PM // 19:34

Profession: Monk/Mesmer

Name: Spirit Bonder ("600hp monk")

Type: PvE

Category: Solo farming/power leveling/chest running (Nahpui Quarter [Mission])

Attributes:
Smiting Prayers 12 + 3 + 1 (I use Dragon Mask usually for looks, so it's 12 + 3. But it works just fine =p)
Protection Prayers 9 + 3
Divine Favor 9 + 3

Skills Set:
Shield of Judgment {Elite} (Smiting Prayers)
Protective Spirit (Protection Prayers)
Spirit Bond (Protection Prayers)
Blessed Signet (Divine Favor)
Spirit of Balthazar (Smiting Prayers) or Essence Bond (Unlinked)
Retribution (Smiting Prayers)
Blessed Aura (Divine Favor)
8th skill varies, but generally for me Elemental Resistance (Inspiration)

Summary: I'm sure someone has posted this somewhere, but I've not seen it. And every time someone posts something about it, it seems to confuse the hell out of everyone on how it works. Basically, you get the lowest AL armor you can. My preference is Ascetics' Canthan set from Shing Jea, due to the fact that I'm an energy nut and I don't want to look like every other monk. If you have your starter armor or collector armor from Pre-Searing, then you're going to melt faces. Ok, how it works is the insane interaction of Spirit Bond and Protective Spirit. Spirit Bond (from now on, SB) heals you for a certain amount (88 at 12 Protection Prayers) every time you take more than 60 damage from a single spell or attack. Protective Spirit (from now on, PS) stops you from losing more than 10% maximum health. But here's the deal, SB works on the damage taken before PS caps it off. Thus, you shall gain more health than you ever lose from damage so long as you take enough of it. In theory, you could tank an infinite amount of monsters this way. For equipment, you have a few options. An insightful staff of enchanting, such as Kepkhet's Refuge will suffice. I use Rajazan's Fervor (Totem Axe will work, too) and Shen's Censure(+12e +1 smite 20% 20%HRT). There are two collector Hallowed Icons that have comparable mods, but +30 HP instead of the halves recharge. With enchanting and Blessed Aura, your enchantments will last 50% longer. Now, how to do it. When you start off, begin moving towards what you intend to farm and cast your enchantments. Doing it this way, as opposed to casting them all at once and then going, will make the wait for your energy to cap up much shorter. For this example, I'll run through the Talus Chute farm of trolls then tundra giants. If there are Avicara Brave and Fierce in your path, you can take them out or restart. To take them out, simply cast PS and SB, get near to aggro, then cast SoJ and use Elemental Resistance. Do not wait until the Brave are attacking to use SoJ, as savage slash will make you hate birds. If there are any trolls nearby, round them up as well and have a party with them all. One use of SoJ should either wipe them out or nearly wipe them out. If not, Retribution should finish the job in short order. Keep PS and SB up by recasting when they flash. The same with Elemental Resistance. I’m not sure which, but either the rangers or warriors cannot hit hard enough to trigger SB, so ER fixes this. When approaching only trolls, cast PS, run and round them up, cast SB then SoJ. You must cast SoJ soon before they use Battle Rage and get Disrupting Chop powered up. You can use BS (Blessed Sig) when you first cast SoJ or when they are all about to connect, as they will be knocked down and unable to interrupt. One use of SoJ and they're so much dead troll. Head towards the south exit of the cave, kill the trolls with the boss using the same tactics. If it's Whuup Buumble, just run away afterwards. If it's Krogg Smuush, you can kill him by waiting until he uses Battle Rage, then casting SoJ and BS. You can use BS when he is about to be knocked down. Otherwise, it will be interrupted. I sometimes just run, due to the fact that I feel like I'm wasting too much time playing with him. Now comes tundra giants. Make sure you have full energy, cast PS, SB, and SoJ and run in to aggro. Get as many as you can and activate ER very fast. Knockdowns won’t be too much of a problem, as PS and SB are fast casting. Make sure you keep the ER stance up, or the ranged attacks wont do enough damage to keep you alive (the reasoning there sounds backwards, and with any other build it is). If SoJ does not kill them off before it wears off, they will soon die from Retribution. It is possible to recast it while under attack, but not as easy due to KDs from Giant Stomp and the ranged attacks. Usually trolls will be mixed in and wont die as fast due to the fact that Giant Stomp knocks them down, too, so just hack/wand away at them. They'll die soon enough. You can clear out most of the tundra giants. The ones mixed in with Avicara are riskier, but possible. Degen and enchant removal are a pain, but if you watch closely, you can put SB back up as soon as it is removed.

Notes & Concerns:
Notes: This can also be used to power level people on trolls. Just do the main group of trolls, then maybe Krogg. From what my customers have told me, this kills a lot faster than the typical 55 monk power leveler. And from experience, I know it kills a hell of a lot faster than a W/Mo troll farmer. Chest runs in Nahpui Quarter Mission are supposed to be easy with this build, although I have yet to try it. I don't know whether you would want to use Spell Breaker (Divine Favor) or SoJ for that, or if you would need to go Mo/W and use Frenzy (Unlinked) to boost the damage due to the fact that some of the mobs use elemental damage (particularly lighting from channeling magic). My health running this build is 255, meaning I take 25 dmg and am healed for 88. That’s more than 3 times more healing than damage, which helps with any damage that does not trigger SB. I plan on playing with this, seeing what maintained enchants I can drop, what I can switch up, to make it the Spell Breaker tank for dual UW runs. Someone else might have done this, but I plan on figuring it out myself.
Concerns: Enchantment removal is no big issue, as the only two important enchantments are fast casting and relatively short in recharge. As with all builds, life stealing in great amounts is absolutely lethal. Heavy degen would probably be another issue. I'm not sure how well the healing could keep up with it. Mild degen coupled with low damage is another thing destined to ruin your day. Also, beware that if you power level someone, they may become obsessed with you due to the efficiency, speed, and ease this build has with clearing the troll cave.

Credit: Whoever the genius was that found out this formula; PS + SB = Melted Face(translation: whoever figured this interaction out). Also, whoever found out that you do NOT need 600hp for this to work. Myself for deciding that I don't care what people say, you don’t have to use minor runes for this build. My lady friend, for forcing me to take the money to get all the stuff I needed to make this. And the trolls and tundra giants, for being so stupid.

Feel free to make comments, ask questions, share your experience, or try to shoot me down. You can contact me in game if you wish to see me do a run with this build, to decide whether or not it is as fast as another, whether or not you want to make one, or just for the hell of it. IGN == Vau Rapuung.

ENJOY

--------------------------------------------

Additions: Not that these ideas are totally original, but they get the job done.
Sympathetic/Ancestor's Visage (Illusion Magic)
This is nice for doing trolls if you dont want to worry about them taking time to activate attacks, or to prevent disrupting chop from charging. Take 2 points from DF and Protection and put them into Illusion. It may make you use up more energy when fighting Krogg, but it does look pretty when you're tanking every troll in the cave minus the groups with the bosses. You also might need to drop other skills to use it. I tried it and didn't care much for it, but if it works for you, have at it.

Physical Resistance (Inspiration Magic)
I'm thinking of this for UW tanking, having this and ER with no points in Inspiration for the different mobs that just arent powerful enough. It depends on wether the Coldfires and their little counterparts attack physically or with ranged elemental attacks when not casting. I normally do trap teams in UW, so I'm usually never close enough to find out. Any information on that would be appreciated.

Might add more later.

X Frantic Death X · Aug 24, 2006, 08:59 PM // 20:59

Good on you for not giving a s@#t wat other people say.
I hate it when people put builds/guides down because "someone else has all ready done it" unless you go read every other guide how are you ment to know, and 99% of the time its still different any way.
so good stuff man keep it up.
P.S. loving the guide and can be done with most builds with monk as 2nd Prof. (Ele makes a good one with Obsidian Flesh instead of spell breaker) But none as effective as this one

ING X Frantic Death X

Xiaxhou of Trinity · Aug 25, 2006, 05:22 AM // 05:22

The genius was Exile BTW Good guide, but instead of using SoJ for dmg, anything faster than that?

2ndName · Aug 25, 2006, 06:11 AM // 06:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xiaxhou of Trinity

The genius was Exile BTW Good guide, but instead of using SoJ for dmg, anything faster than that?

What about comboing SoJ with a nice smiting skill. His build have the 8th slot open for whatever you want to try out.

Ezekiel Prophet · Aug 27, 2006, 06:16 PM // 18:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by X Frantic Death X

Good on you for not giving a s@#t wat other people say.
I hate it when people put builds/guides down because "someone else has all ready done it" unless you go read every other guide how are you ment to know, and 99% of the time its still different any way.
so good stuff man keep it up.
P.S. loving the guide and can be done with most builds with monk as 2nd Prof. (Ele makes a good one with Obsidian Flesh instead of spell breaker) But none as effective as this one

ING X Frantic Death X

Thanks. Yeah, basically any caster profession with monk 2nd can do this, same as 55, but without Blessed Aura (Divine Favor being a primary attribute). So a N/Mo SS necro could use this build, E/Mo, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xiaxhou Of Trinity

The genius was Exile BTW Good guide, but instead of using SoJ for dmg, anything faster than that?

AoE smites, maybe. But they would cause mobs to break off and run. SoJ for me does 50-53dmg (depending on what hat im wearing, dragon mask or tat) plus 8 dmg from Retribution. And sometimes there is the +1 smiting thrown in from my focus.
I don't know if a skill from some other profession would help, I haven't really tried. The first thing that pops into my mind though would be Silver Armor for E/Mo, althought the dmg is dealt to a random foe. It would have to be E/Mo, though, because Blessed Aura for Mo/* is a must, as it keeps you from having to refresh SB every 8 seconds (very taxing on your energy and a good way to get an interrupt thrown at you).

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2ndName

What about comboing SoJ with a nice smiting skill. His build have the 8th slot open for whatever you want to try out.

For this run, trolls and tundra giants, the 8th slot must be ER. The tundra giants are warriors, so their thrown boulders don't always do enough dmg. But if just doing trolls, you could drop ER and put something else. And if you felt like basicaly spamming SB, you could drop Blessed Aura, as well. Just experiment.

ParanoidDenny · Aug 28, 2006, 12:08 AM // 00:08

Excellent guide

I've tried and tested and it works like a dream.

By the way is it possible to farm the Ice Breaker with this build in Talus chute?

Ezekiel Prophet · Aug 28, 2006, 08:21 PM // 20:21

I haven't tried it myself, but it might be possible. Depends on the skills that the other Grawl have, but it might be possible. You might have to do something like go Mo/W and use Frenzy + Healing Signet (use Frenzy then Spirit Bond for it to work) for Grawl that are not warriors to do enough damage. Try it out.

moko · Aug 28, 2006, 10:25 PM // 22:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by ParanoidDenny

Excellent guide

I've tried and tested and it works like a dream.

By the way is it possible to farm the Ice Breaker with this build in Talus chute?

it is, considering you are careful. use elemental resistance so they deal enough damage, dont let the necros come too close or they use chilblains, and hope there isnt the monk boss healing the others.

Jaesmyn · Aug 28, 2006, 10:31 PM // 22:31

similar build and discussion on

http://guildwars.ogaming.com/forum/i...howtopic=27772

Wanna compare notes?

Ezekiel Prophet · Sep 01, 2006, 12:13 AM // 00:13

I added some stuff. Also I need some information if anyone could provide it. It's at the bottom of the OP.

moko · Sep 01, 2006, 02:48 PM // 14:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ezekiel Prophet

I added some stuff. Also I need some information if anyone could provide it. It's at the bottom of the OP.

Quote:

Physical Resistance (Inspiration Magic)
I'm thinking of this for UW tanking, having this and ER with no points in Inspiration for the different mobs that just arent powerful enough. It depends on wether the Coldfires and their little counterparts attack physically or with ranged elemental attacks when not casting. I normally do trap teams in UW, so I'm usually never close enough to find out. Any information on that would be appreciated.

dont take Physical Resistance, take Elemental Resistance for uw. you only need it if you dont trust yourself with aggroing the whole room at once (or some of the aatxes with the graspings) and decide to take out the graspings one by one. well, theres another situation, when you fight stalking nights and the coldfires are dead, you WILL want the elemental buff so the stalking nights wont wand you to death, it nearly happened to me once. so use this to gain armor and their wands will deal 2-3 damage, rest can be outhealed by the divine favor bonus.

theres absolutely no need for Physical Resistance when tanking the coldfires, stand in the Maelstrom (yes! do it!), dont hesitate to use your skills some more so interrupt wont matter, and you will NOT die. MAYBE take it if you feel like doing servants of grenth, the terrors WOULD wand you to death if you stop meteor shower (hell, they even do if you let them cast it >_>)..so meh! for quite many enemies you will want to consider one of the resistances if you dont have the pre searing armor with 5 AL instead of shing jae with 15AL. for example warden in arborstone. youll want ele resistance for those.

about visages..meh, can be used but the skill is probably taking up space for a better one. only take those for shiro'ken,or anything else that uses famine.

lactatemike · Sep 01, 2006, 04:08 PM // 16:08

I've been doing this build for a bit now, and I used to use sup runes, too.
However, after reading the retribution skill description a couple more times and the meaning sinking in, I realized that having more health equates to doing more damage.

Also, for Nahpui, you can kill everything except the bosses as a mo/me with Backfire for the Star Lights. If there are two in a group, though, you can't out-damage the heals.

Symon Butterthingers · Sep 02, 2006, 08:53 PM // 20:53

question: why have armor in the first place? Wouldnt it be better to go naked? Or maybe leave mask, gloves and boots for runes and take off body and leggings?

EDIT:
btw great build! I looked at those skills long time ago but figured they work in opposite order

MelechRic · Sep 02, 2006, 09:10 PM // 21:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Symon Butterthingers

question: why have armor in the first place? Wouldnt it be better to go naked? Or maybe leave mask, gloves and boots for runes and take off body and leggings?

EDIT:
btw great build! I looked at those skills long time ago but figured they work in opposite order

Armor does two things for you:

1. Adds to your overall energy pool.
2. Adds two pips of regen to your energy pool.

Take Ascetic's Armor as an example. Without armor you lose 17 energy and 2 pips of regen. If you're maintaining two enchantments (Essence Bond and Balthazar's Spirit) then you have zero regen.

You could start your aggro with armor on so you'd have the extra energy and regen. Then as you fought you could remove the armor. Normally you don't have to do this as most high level mobs will do 60+ damage to your 15AL set. However, some monks go "shirtless" because the chest has the highest probability to take hits. This puts the chest at AL0 and allows for much higher damage from lower level monsters. Of course this is at the expense of 8 energy (if wearing the Ascetic's set).

MelechRic · Sep 02, 2006, 09:37 PM // 21:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Symon Butterthingers

question: why have armor in the first place? Wouldnt it be better to go naked? Or maybe leave mask, gloves and boots for runes and take off body and leggings?

EDIT:
btw great build! I looked at those skills long time ago but figured they work in opposite order

Armor does two things for you:

1. Adds to your overall energy pool.
2. Adds two pips of regen to your energy pool.

Take Ascetic's Armor as an example. Without armor you lose 17 energy and 2 pips of regen. If you're maintaining two enchantments (Essence Bond and Balthazar's Spirit) then you have zero regen.

You could start your aggro with armor on so you'd have the extra energy and regen. Then as you fought you could remove the armor. Normally you don't have to do this as most high level mobs will do 60+ damage to your 15AL set. However, some monks go "shirtless" because the chest has the highest probability to take hits. This puts the chest at AL0 and allows for much higher damage from lower level monsters. Of course this is at the expense of 8 energy (if wearing the Ascetic's set).

Symon Butterthingers · Sep 02, 2006, 09:39 PM // 21:39

bah im doing it on my ele so i dont care about energy pool, and with +2 energy on every hit who cares about regen...

Ezekiel Prophet · Sep 06, 2006, 11:51 PM // 23:51

Man, haven't checked this for awhile.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lactatemike

I've been doing this build for a bit now, and I used to use sup runes, too.
However, after reading the retribution skill description a couple more times and the meaning sinking in, I realized that having more health equates to doing more damage.

Also, for Nahpui, you can kill everything except the bosses as a mo/me with Backfire for the Star Lights. If there are two in a group, though, you can't out-damage the heals.

For solo farming, damage dealt back isnt the main source, its SoJ.
Now if you're doing dual UW with a smite monk, then you want higher health for greater dmg from Retribution and Holy Wrath.

And thanks for the info on the Star Lights. Damn Wailing Weapon!

howaj · Oct 13, 2006, 10:22 AM // 10:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ezekiel Prophet

Profession: Monk/Mesmer

Name: Spirit Bonder ("600hp monk")

Attributes:
Smiting Prayers 12 + 3 + 1 (I use Dragon Mask usually for looks, so it's 12 + 3. But it works just fine =p)
Protection Prayers 9 + 3
Divine Favor 9 + 3

ah yea... If im not mistaken which I don't I am this isn't a 600 monk.

1. U have superior runes on which makes it extremely hard to get the 600 health
2. U have not included the skill Vital Blessing which gives you the need boost of 100 health or so to reach the otherwise implossible 600 health.
3. Not having 600 health means that with protective spirit on you take less than 60 dmg (10% of 600) and therefore dont get the bonus from spirit bond

That last point im unsure of though as I have heard that the dmg is calcluated before armour in which case it might still get 60 dmg.

please correct me if im wrong as you seem to know alot more than me, I simply noticed a possible error.

moko · Oct 13, 2006, 11:29 AM // 11:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by howaj

ah yea... If im not mistaken which I don't I am this isn't a 600 monk.

1. U have superior runes on which makes it extremely hard to get the 600 health
2. U have not included the skill Vital Blessing which gives you the need boost of 100 health or so to reach the otherwise implossible 600 health.
3. Not having 600 health means that with protective spirit on you take less than 60 dmg (10% of 600) and therefore dont get the bonus from spirit bond

That last point im unsure of though as I have heard that the dmg is calcluated before armour in which case it might still get 60 dmg.

please correct me if im wrong as you seem to know alot more than me, I simply noticed a possible error.

1. as stated before, high health for uw, with sup runes for solo
2. you dont need vital blessing either, only for uw to boost damage from holy wrath and ret~
3. spirit bond triggers before protective spirit does

Mr.Pickle · Oct 17, 2006, 01:28 PM // 13:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ezekiel Prophet

Profession: Monk/Mesmer
I plan on playing with this, seeing what maintained enchants I can drop, what I can switch up, to make it the Spell Breaker tank for dual UW runs. Someone else might have done this, but I plan on figuring it out myself.

UW duo with ss*:

Spellbreaker
Prot Spirit
Spirit Bond
Elemental Resistence
Blessed Signet
Blessed Aura
Essence Bond
Balthazar's Spirit

15ar ascetic> keep ur cloths on
Prot 16, Divine 15 330hp & 49/52 energy
1. Flame spitter of enchanting & Prot Icon
2. Kepket's Refuge

Cows, Squids, smites, and colds grab as many as you want 20+ no prob
*Tell SS to swap BR for Power Spike for Nightmares