Curse

Son Of The Axe · Feb 27, 2007, 06:57 AM // 06:57

This is a full protection build, with a Divine Favor heal elite.
Mo/E build with Glyph of Lesser energy for energy management.

I prefer this build over ZB monks for its ability to remove the various hexes thrown at you or your teammates. BL also offer conditions removal and a 108 heal. This means it can remove anything from backfire to expose defenses.

Blessed Light{e}
Guardian
Protective Spirit
Reversal Of Fortune
Shielding Hands
Aegis
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Signet of Devotion

Stats should be 16 protection and 14 divine favor with Superior rune of Health. After you've gotten these swap around b/w vitea and attunement runes with mostly energy armor. With a staff of +15 energy and upgrades of your choice i like 20% enchant, you should come out to about 53 energy and 460 hp.

Usage-start with Glyph then aegis, followed by spell of your choice for no mana. Keep your team free of hexes and conditions. Keep guardian or reversal on your wars/sins/dervs, and pritective spirit on low armor teammates.

If targeted first pop up guardian to relieve pressure, if hexed with Expose defenses, no problem, just remove with Bl then reapply guardian. After you have guardian back up hit glyph then aegis.

Energy management shouldn't be a problem with this build if you get low on energy just step back a set a use spells sparingly until glyph is back up.

Thom · Feb 27, 2007, 07:20 AM // 07:20

Not a horrible builds, but a few comments:
1) No need for sup protection and major divine favor. No one runs that anymore. Most people run all health mods: so you're at ~650 health, 40 energy. You obviously carry multiple energy sets. These types of rules may be less vital for TA, but I don't know if you could take on two players for an extended period.
2)Aegis is kind of gimp for 4v4. The skill is balanced for supporting 8 players against 8 attackers. I'm not sure its worth it.
3)What you cast depends on what's attacking you more than who you're casting on. Your statement regarding guardian or your wars makes zero sense to me as a long time monk.
4)I already miss Gift of Health... just saying. I realize that you don't want to build the meta, but the skill is so good!
5)Blessed light is really inefficient as your primary removal for both conditions and hexes.

Here is a meta-game inspired B-Light Monk for comparison:
13prot/11DF/11healing
Blessed Light
Holy Veil
Gift of Health
Shielding Hands/Guardian/Shield of Absorb
Prot Spirit/spirit bond
Dismiss Condition
RoF
(GoLe)

Wilhelm · Feb 27, 2007, 05:43 PM // 17:43

Considering almost everyteam in RA has at least 1 Burst sin, I would never run anything other than Mo/A, or Mo/W to defend myself.

My usual bar goes as follows.

1 - Zealous Benediction
2 - Gift of Health
3 - RoF
4 - Spirit Bond
5 - Dismiss Conditions
6 - Holy Veil
7 - Disciplined Stance/Deadly Riposte
8 - Sheild Bash

Fun build to run. Not completly sure on stats, but I beleive it's something like 13 Protection, 10 Healing 7 Divine, 9 Tactics. Have a Req 9 Tactics sheild, with the + 30 Health Mod, and either + Armor mod depending on what you see.

moko · Feb 27, 2007, 05:50 PM // 17:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilhelm

Considering almost everyteam in RA has at least 1 Burst sin, I would never run anything other than Mo/A, or Mo/W to defend myself.

i go /D in ra and its ftw. most burst sins are nobs anyways. ;o

top the op; i like the build <3

Dr Strangelove · Feb 27, 2007, 05:52 PM // 17:52

ZB's hex removal issues are pretty easily fixed with purge signet + a low energy set. Just have to make sure you don't waste it removing a single pbond.

And agree with wilhelm, without some way to defend yourself while KDed or stop melee chains you'll last about 10 seconds in the arenas.

holden · Feb 27, 2007, 05:59 PM // 17:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Son Of The Axe

Blessed Light{e}
Guardian
Protective Spirit
Reversal Of Fortune
Shielding Hands
Aegis
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Signet of Devotion

Stats should be 16 protection and 14 divine favor with Superior rune of Health. After you've gotten these swap around b/w vitea and attunement runes with mostly energy armor. With a staff of +15 energy and upgrades of your choice i like 20% enchant, you should come out to about 53 energy and 460 hp.

no real need for prot spirit in TA. no need at all in RA.
no need for Aegis at all. the duration isn't long enough and it's too expensive even with the glyph.
if you want to use blessed light and sig of devotion you should put 14 in divine imo. you only need 9 in prot. you could then fit 11 in heal and take gift of health.
don't use a sup rune. you should have 600 health. there is no good reason not to.
you have no condition removal besides blessed light.

blessed light
RoF
gift of health
sig of devotion
shielding hands
dismiss condition
smite hex/holy veil
grasping earth

prot - 9
divine - 14
heal - 11

for real fun in RA go monk/w

Your All Alone
RoF
gift of health
shielding hands
dismiss condition
sig of devotion
smite hex/holy veil
balanced stance

Thom · Feb 27, 2007, 09:06 PM // 21:06

I would never run the build I posted in RA, I would run Mo/A. My intent was to stay within the spirit of the original build (so Prot sprit, Blight and GoLe, which aren't horrible skills to learn to use). Blessed light is hardly the best choice at the moment, but it is a good skill to know how to play.

What bugs me more than the skills choosen is the original players commentary. His philosophy of monking seems screwy.

Son Of The Axe · Feb 28, 2007, 01:27 AM // 01:27

hmm thx guys this is a lot to think about. This is actually my first try at monking and well I thought i worked pretty well. Got 2 glad points in about an hour. My monk's name in Never A Monk In Ra....so yea created the monk because i usually play war and i never get a monk on my team in RA lol, but again, thx a lot for the suggestions....keep em coming. will definitely try all of em out.

nu7z · Feb 28, 2007, 02:52 PM // 14:52

i use mo/w like Willhelm i just changed spirit bond to signet of devotion and i use Disciplined Stance (it gives better defense than ripost ) .The signet is good to save ur energy and the stance good to survive some boa sin .

my attribs: divine : 11+1+1
healing:7+1
prot:11+1
my tactic is only 5 , but if u realy want +8 armor then drop some from divine

equipment: +5 energy , +30hp sword//axe with +30hp -5(20%) shield
-5 energy , +30hp sword /axe with the same shield aganist "fear me" and e-surgers

easy and fun to use the build

Effigy · Feb 28, 2007, 04:00 PM // 16:00

Shielding Hands + Mending Touch > assassins

I prefer GoLE to defensive skills these days in RA. In my experience, getting killed through spike is not the biggest problem. Getting pressured out of energy is. Obviously it's a different story in organized PvP, but in RA you have to build against pressure.

BLight is great, but ZB is really the only elite I'd consider running in RA right now. When you don't have midline Draws, Heal Party/LoD spam, and a 2 monk backline, efficiency is incredibly important. ZB + GoLE makes you very resilient and your prot skills alone should be enough to stop most spikes.

DreamWake · Mar 02, 2007, 03:01 AM // 03:01

Hey I might be totally wrong here, but I disagree with Effigy.

The RA meta (yes it exists!) is really focused on spike damage. Hex pressure teams are a problem, but healing through hexes and removing with veil is accomplished fairly well with a ZB build--that and an understanding of hexes makes the hex pressure build beatable (I admit it can get really hard).

If you use a +15 / +15 -2 pip nrg set then I think GoLE is really over-kill. Plus, without a W or A secondary, you're going to get over-pressured by thumpers / hammer warriors, or burst sins that won't need to be that skillful for them to get their chain + KD off on you.

I know it was mentioned here earlier, but Prot spirit is really not an RA worthy skill. It might work with GoLE, but like I said, there are obvious reasons against an /E secondary, or for that matter a /Me secondary (let's face it, hex breaker is not a game winner in RA). Furthermore, a 10 nrg skill is only going to strain your other skills. There are alternatives, like a well placed RoF.

To reiterate: Prot Spirit won't block well against Thumpers + hammer warriors who will get part of their chain on you, or at least knock you down.

Finally, i'm against Gaurdian on a monk bar. at 16 prot (which is not always the case, like the GoH build), it's like 52% block rating. Now you might be saying "wow! that's amazing". But the thumper build or hammer build out there gets a KD if you end up blocking. That kind of punishment kills your team-mates, and leaves you vulnerable.

Why Gaurdian up when you can go /W or /A? A 5 nrg spam like that will still leave you outpressured and conditioned/hexed while you rely on a coin-flip.

Blessed Light is really inefficient in the spike RA meta right now.

Son Of The Axe · Mar 02, 2007, 03:19 AM // 03:19

good points all. kk guys i tried out at least most of your builds and i ended up using a Mo/W, with deadly riposte.
stats were...i think...11 heal....12 prot....10 or 9 divine...and like 8 tatics

Shield of Regeneration {e}
RoF
shielding hands
guardian
smite hex
remove condition
deadly riposte
gift of health

k with this build i got a glad point on first try but encountered many problems.

smite hex has a long cooldown and i don't like cost and -nrg degen of holy viel. also while usiong a sword it cut my energy from like 50 with a staff to 35 which made it hard to heal while defending myself. also against continuous pressure from a war/sin/derv i could only last like a minute maybe more tops, i never died, but riposte is only a one time block and guardian is only 5 secs during which time i'm healing my team.

GoH helped a lot but SoR cost a lot, 15 mana, and while it can sustain a person for a while continuous casting of it while under pressure is hard to maintain.

One last thing i forgot to mention. i bought a nf game but someone using a key generator got my key before i even opened the box so i have to ship it back to NCSoft in Texas for a replaement...so no nf skills for now which was part of the original reason why i have no ZB elite.

Wilhelm · Mar 02, 2007, 03:34 AM // 03:34

I don't see why if you go the /W route, you wouldn't bring Tactics to 9, to meet the req on shields.

Ki Chimera · Mar 02, 2007, 04:52 AM // 04:52

unless you're bringing 8 tactics to meet a req 8 shield (or 9 for a pvp one), you dont need tactics. GoLE might help, but you lose riposte/shield bash; you might want to have a look at shield of deflection.
The -1 degen on veil: How is this a problem? Preveil b4 a match, if there is no need to maintain it, drop it. When removing spot hexes, the degen might cost you 1 or 2 energy over an entire match.
There is no such skill as remove condition....i think you meant mend. No self condition removal can really hurt in ra, and ta if your team doesn't carry any other removal.

for nrg with a sword: use a monk offhand, preferably also with +30hp and w/e mod you prefer (I would go for 20% HSR on healing or prot to increase # of GoHs or shielding hands) as a 2nd or 3rd energy tier to switch to without going into a 15/-1 or 30/-2

I prefer shield bash to DR since it blocks the skill, not just the next attack so it's not as crucial to time it perfectly, however, that build might be a bit hard to manage with a shield due to energy issues (shield of regen kinda begs you to use glyph of lesser)

remmeh · Mar 02, 2007, 05:56 AM // 05:56

Looking at what's absolutely essential:

Mending Touch is really nice for all the burst sins everywhere.
Holy Veil for pre-veil and spot hex removal
Reversal (duh)
ZB (potentially efficient pressure heal)
Gift (efficient pressure heal)
Draw Conditions / Mend Condition - player preference. Draw-Mend Touch allows you to deal with Twisting Fangs pretty easily by drawing/mending... but I suppose Mend Condition is better for the extra heal.

Onto what I feel is "optional" for RA/TA, hard prot:
Protective Spirit / Spirit Bond / Shield of Absorption - Personal preference. I really like SoA for arenas in spite of its cast time nerf, but I think it's still exceptional--but use an enchanting mod and 14 prot for a 8 second SoA. Love those -0s everywhere.

So this leaves 1 "utility" slot.
/A - Dark Escape, Return
/E - GoLE (wonderful synergy with ZB)
/W - Shield Bash, Balanced Stance, Disciplined Stance

Alternatively you could go Dismiss and just bring one condition removal in the build, freeing up another slot for Purge Signet or Signet of Devotion... again, player preference.

That being said, here's what I usually run for arenas:

Mo/E
14 Prot
10 Heal
10 Divine

ZB
Draw
Gift
Reversal
SoA
Mend Touch
Veil
GoLE

XxUberMonkeyxX · Mar 02, 2007, 06:23 AM // 06:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilhelm

Considering almost everyteam in RA has at least 1 Burst sin, I would never run anything other than Mo/A, or Mo/W to defend myself.

My usual bar goes as follows.

1 - Zealous Benediction
2 - Gift of Health
3 - RoF
4 - Spirit Bond
5 - Dismiss Conditions
6 - Holy Veil
7 - Disciplined Stance/Deadly Riposte
8 - Sheild Bash

Fun build to run. Not completly sure on stats, but I beleive it's something like 13 Protection, 10 Healing 7 Divine, 9 Tactics. Have a Req 9 Tactics sheild, with the + 30 Health Mod, and either + Armor mod depending on what you see.

8 - Shield Bash = my saving grace against any assasin

Patrick Smit · Mar 02, 2007, 09:50 AM // 09:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilhelm

I don't see why if you go the /W route, you wouldn't bring Tactics to 9, to meet the req on shields.

well its best to meet one over, with all the weakness around its kinda tricky to just meet the req, so a PvE shield req 8 with 9 tactics would be best (as usggested above to take such a shield) .

holden · Mar 02, 2007, 05:44 PM // 17:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by remmeh

Looking at what's absolutely essential:That being said, here's what I usually run for arenas:

Mo/E
14 Prot
10 Heal
10 Divine

ZB
Draw
Gift
Reversal
SoA
Mend Touch
Veil
GoLE

drawing cripple on you is just a bad idea. mend condition there is better.

grasping earth with 0 spec in earth will allow you to snare multiple melee foes and get to a safe spot. after a while they'll grow tired of your game and find another target.

Trixz · Mar 02, 2007, 10:26 PM // 22:26

Rits are better in almost any form of PVP with their superior healing. 1 rit can keep a team of 6 up. Id say delete your monk and make a rit.

Effigy · Mar 02, 2007, 11:24 PM // 23:24

I have yet to see a Rit healer that can outperform a monk. They have efficient heals, yes, but they lack good prot skills and versatility.

@ DreamWake: You make some good points. I guess it comes down to preference. I'm just addicted to GoLE, to be honest.

@ remmeh: Excellent advice, although you overlooked Shielding Hands. SoA, PS, and SB shine in 6v6 or 8v8. In 4v4 and skirmish where you have less people focus-firing, Shielding Hands is superior to just about any other non-elite prot skill imo. Even against a single attacker, it reduces a huge amount of damage. SoA is a little more spammable, but SH is given me better results.