Curse

Maladjusted · Jun 26, 2006, 05:09 AM // 05:09

Hi,

I just started to try being a bonder in FoW and Underworld and I need a few tips. Here's the Build:

RoF
Guardian
Shield Of Deflection
Blessed Signet
Mantra of Inscriptions
Balthazar's Spirit
Life Bond
Rebirth

Stats are mainly in Protection and Divine Favor with about 8 points in Inspiration.

Here are my questions:

1) Should I be bonding everyone in my party? What is the order of importance for bonding teammates?

2) When I bond everybody and cast Balthazar's Spirit upon myself, I still lose a lot of energy that only seems to be topped up when I use the Blessed Signet. Am I using Balthazar's Spirit incorrectly? I thought if bonded teammates were taking damage regularly, my energy would automatically top itself up without needing to use Blessed Signet much. In my current situation, I've almost always got my eye on the Blessed Signet recharge (sped up from MoI) and my energy bar for fear of losing some bonds that it's hard to do much else except kite.

3) I die often from massive spikes of damage directed at me through the bond. How do I prevent this? Is Reversal of Fortune my only heal? Sometimes I'll die in 2 seconds from a massive spike. I'm too slow in hitting the RoF skill?

Thanks.

holden · Jun 26, 2006, 03:41 PM // 15:41

max out prot and take life barrier as your elite. you dont need life bond at all. bond everyone with barrier and spam blessed sig. keep your inspiration at 7-9. keep mantra up at all times. i think i did take essence and put it on a warrior but i didn't take balth's.

you can probably keep prot at 15. i think that's a straight 50% reduced dmg.

life bond doesn't stop all damage thrown your way in fow.

gabrial heart · Jun 26, 2006, 04:29 PM // 16:29

I agree tossed Shield and use life barrier (e) instead. You can tell just buy AL level who needs a bond over who doesn't... Warrior(s) the least needed - Monks (caster) the most needed. Also, as a bonder you can have a really good distance to be away from aggro, so you shouldn't be taking much damage (if any at all). But using life bond, you're going take dmg hits and usually not at the most opportune times. Basically as a bonder you're job is to keep them up and stay close to the healing monk to buffer the extra damage he/she might take extending his/her position to heal, using reversal, guardian and mend condition/ailment *or go inspired hex* (toss balths too).

Since they ditched the book trick, I would rely on blessed/mantra combo for the e and if you're lucky you'll have a BR necro or straight battery necro in your group. Bond everyone (but yourself of course), you can easily maintain a 4 e degen with the blessed/mantra combo, even if you dont have mantra up all the time. 6 or 7 inspiration (i forget the breaking point on this) - 12 divine - 15 or 16 protection (with +health armor, major vigor, +60 health prot staff and a superior prot rune for a comfy health pool).

BrutusV · Jun 26, 2006, 04:44 PM // 16:44

Life bond works decent in FoW but not as well in UW due to significant stripping and huge damages from the aatxes. As holden said you should be just fine with life barrier.

As bonder your job is to keep the bonds up (and survive to rebirth others), the healer is supposed to take care of the rest, so I would bring very few other prot skills. Regarding energy, you shouldn't need mantra of inscriptions if you max out divine favor. Just be selective in who you bond, don't bond people who aren't supposed to get hit (such as rangers). Although keep your finger on prot spirit when first engaging the enemy.

I'd suggest:
16 protection
13 divine favor
3 inspiration

Rebirth
Life barrier
Blessed signet
Reveral of fortune
Protective spirit (use sparingly, ex. in UW when life barrier gets stripped)
Signet of devotion (mana free heal)
Inspired hex (free hex removal)
Mend condition (or drain enchant or ether signet, up to you)

captainccc · Jun 27, 2006, 04:12 PM // 16:12

^It was about 3/4 seconds after i looked at your avatar that i said WTF lol

Prince Zyphr · Jun 29, 2006, 04:47 PM // 16:47

I use

1.ROF
2.Guardian/Hex Removal/ other stuff I've taken to this is a utlity spot
3.Blessed Sig
4.Mantra of Inscriptions
5.Life Barrier(E)
6.Life Bond
7.Balths Spirit
8.Rez of a sort

I don't like to take rebirth as my rez because the bonds will all die if you rez somebody and I hate re-bonding

but for some reason I always find myself with rebirth probaly because I know thats it is essential.

Basically bond everyone put balths on yourself, keep mantra up and spam blessed sig whenevr. And once you get into a groove and are sitting at max or close to max energy most of the time start use Barrier on people.
Start with Monks/Eles/Mesmers/Necros/Ritualists/Assassins/Rangers/Warriors
Hard to keep Barrier and Bond on everyone (mainly due to barrier's 15 e-cost - if someone has br though thank them

) And plsu you can't put barrier on everyone because once you reach 10 energy degen you lose one enchatment so the max you can have is:

7 Bonds
1 Balths
6 Barriers

And thats what I use.

Arya Nibelrund · Jun 30, 2006, 02:42 PM // 14:42

There's a nice article by Makkert on the Guru website about bonding. Be sure to give it a read.
Some other tips: rebirth is a NO NO for bonders. Resurrect is the way to go.
That's what I usually run after the book-keg trick nerf ( not really a nerf, they just raised AI from obscene level to a-little-more-decent level).
1.Resurrect: absolutely DON'T bring rebirth
2.Inspired Hex: good for energy management
3.Signet of Devotion: nice and free healing, it's a signet so it works wonderfully with Mantra of inscriptions
4.Reversal of Fortune that's the most controversial skill, it's not very good to bring as the bonded target shouldn't suffer too much damage; you need it only as a healing backup for the primary monk. Before the nerfing of the book trick I had Dwayna's Kiss; even with a low level of healing prayers the main tank had at least 4-5 enchantments and a few hexes so it was a 150+ healing. I sometimes take instead of it Divine Boon for 4 to 6 men party. You won't need the regular healer, just spam Mend Condition with Boon on and it will be enough healing. Still looking for a better skill than RoF for regular parties.
5.Mend Condition: removes and heals well enough with a high level of Protection prayers.
6.Life Barrier: that's the bond you mantain on everyone. You might not cast it on the other healer if you know he will not get into troubles, but I usually apply it to everyone just in case
7.Mantra of Inscriptions: essential skill, recharges your divine signets; make sure it's always on
8.Blessed Signet: cast it as soon as it recharges

15-16 in Prot prayers 11 divine 8 inspiration but lately I've dumped inspiration for a higher divine. Weapon: Kepkhet's, armor full ascetic.

dansamy · Jun 30, 2006, 02:46 PM // 14:46

I would ditch RoF and bring Vital Blessing. It can be applied and dropped as needed, but it's a lot of extra health in a pinch.

ender6 · Jun 30, 2006, 04:59 PM // 16:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by dansamy

I would ditch RoF and bring Vital Blessing. It can be applied and dropped as needed, but it's a lot of extra health in a pinch.

I would say that VB was never designed for use in a pinch but the exact opposite.

VB is the worse skill a bonder can bring IMO. What happens when you use it in a pinch and then it gets stripped?

Mathematical explanation:

Tank health is at 100/500
you apply VB
Tank health is now at 300/700
Tank takes 100 pts dmg
Tank health is now at 200/700
VB gets stripped
Tank is now at 0/500
and Tank is dead.

VB is virtual health, as a bonder your mission is to prevent/mitigate dmg intake. Not to buff up target ally with virtual health.

If you need to help out your ally in a pinch don't bring VB, if you insist on dropping RoF use Watchful Spirit instead. With watchful spirit you can apply it and then remove it for a ~200 pt heal. Far supeiror to VB.

B Ephekt · Jun 30, 2006, 05:27 PM // 17:27

Aegis should be on a bonder's bar at all times. Aegis > Aataxe.

But personally, I find bonding to be extremely boring so I just go active prot. It's a lot more fun and can be much better protection than just bonding.

dansamy · Jun 30, 2006, 05:34 PM // 17:34

He's not in UW. And VB is not the worst skill a bonder can bring. Prot Spirit is. (It doesn't stack with bonds in an effective manner so it doesn't actually further reduce any damage from your bonded party member. It's only useful to cast on yourself and you shouldn't be taking anything other than redirected damage from bonds anyway.)

B Ephekt · Jun 30, 2006, 05:52 PM // 17:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by dansamy

He's not in UW.

Seems to me he is...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maladjusted

Hi,

I just started to try being a bonder in FoW and Underworld and I need a few tips. Here's the Build:

Regardless, Aegis is still a staple protection skill... bonder or not.

dansamy · Jun 30, 2006, 07:07 PM // 19:07

Pardon me. I knew he was in FoW. For UW, take a spirit spamming rit. Shelter, Union and Displacement aren't enchantments. They can't get rended and nature's renewal won't affect them. If you want to take a prot monk into UW instead, don't bond. Go active prot.

ender6 · Jun 30, 2006, 07:54 PM // 19:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by dansamy

He's not in UW. And VB is not the worst skill a bonder can bring. Prot Spirit is. (It doesn't stack with bonds in an effective manner so it doesn't actually further reduce any damage from your bonded party member. It's only useful to cast on yourself and you shouldn't be taking anything other than redirected damage from bonds anyway.)

1) I didn't say where he was.
2) I never said bring Prot Spirit. I said watchful spirit. Not sure how you derived prot spirit from watchful spirit considering I even offered a description of how the enchant works -- not even remotely similar to Prot Spirit.
(perhaps you just wanted to throw in that comment about prot spirit and it doesn't relate at all to my post, if so, that was rather nonsqueitor if you ask me)
3) VB may or may not be the worse skill ever when it comes to bonding, to me it is. As i stated: IMO. Further, I exemplified why it is, which apparently you don't have a response to.

samifly · Jul 01, 2006, 06:50 AM // 06:50

Watchful spirit is a great cover if you know the bonds are going to be removed.

jesh · Jul 05, 2006, 04:59 PM // 16:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrutusV

As bonder your job is to keep the bonds up (and survive to rebirth others), the healer is supposed to take care of the rest, so I would bring very few other prot skills. Regarding energy, you shouldn't need mantra of inscriptions if you max out divine favor.

So use one of your highest attributes for 1 skill? Got it.

In my experience, Mantra of Inscriptions is almost necessary if you plan to have 10 active enchants, as there is a *cap* on Blessed Signet. DF won't help you when you hit it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arya Nibelrund

Some other tips: rebirth is a NO NO for bonders. Resurrect is the way to go.
That's what I usually run after the book-keg trick nerf ( not really a nerf, they just raised AI from obscene level to a-little-more-decent level).
1.Resurrect: absolutely DON'T bring rebirth
2.Inspired Hex: good for energy management

This is a PvE forum, isn't it? The only time *any* monks should use rebirth is after the battle is done, the skill is useful to avoid attracting more agro. If you're using a res on a bonder, chances are everyone is dead. You won't lose bonds because there aren't any. If you really don't want to bring Rebirth, tell your ele to bring a res, they can't do damage anyways.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ender6

VB is the worse skill a bonder can bring IMO. What happens when you use it in a pinch and then it gets stripped?

Mathematical explanation:

Tank health is at 100/500
you apply VB
Tank health is now at 300/700
Tank takes 100 pts dmg
Tank health is now at 200/700
VB gets stripped
Tank is now at 0/500
and Tank is dead.

VB is virtual health, as a bonder your mission is to prevent/mitigate dmg intake. Not to buff up target ally with virtual health.

If you need to help out your ally in a pinch don't bring VB, if you insist on dropping RoF use Watchful Spirit instead. With watchful spirit you can apply it and then remove it for a ~200 pt heal. Far supeiror to VB.

Before the sustained enchant nerf, I would bring Vital Blessing, and it wouldn't get stripped because there was always a ton of others on top. Essence bond, Life Bond, Life Attunement, Aura of Faith, etc.

Now I would say its usefullness is limited, simply because you can't take as many enchants with you anymore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dansamy

He's not in UW. And VB is not the worst skill a bonder can bring. Prot Spirit is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by B Ephekt

Aegis should be on a bonder's bar at all times. Aegis > Aataxe.

But personally, I find bonding to be extremely boring so I just go active prot. It's a lot more fun and can be much better protection than just bonding.

I disagree. I would have to say Rust is still the worst.
Seriously though, I do agree with active protection over bonding. The most fun I've ever had as a support character was on my mesmer/monk with fast casting and protection. Nothing like an 1/8 second RoF, or 45 second Aegis.

As for Watchful Spirit, I could just never bring myself to take anything that looked remotely like mending. I know it's a nice heal if it's ended, but I still felt like I'd stepped on something icky with it on my skillbar.