Curse

stoop14 · May 16, 2006, 02:33 PM // 14:33

I don't pvp at the moment, so this will be maily going threw the game then farming, or just running around killing shit.

Pick Me · May 16, 2006, 02:58 PM // 14:58

Are you playing Prophecies or Factions or both?

Factions - Ritualist is good
Prophecies - Necromancer or Mesmer

In truth, it depends on how you play. If you like to mainly kill things on your own, then a monk isn't a good choice.

Ritualists and Necromancers help you to kill with powerful killing spells and summonings. This will help you keep safe while doing damage to mobs. Mesmers help a little with killing mobs, but mainly a defensive profession, similar to smiting or protection monk. Basically, it won't exactly help you defend yourself very well, but anyone attacking you, gets damaged a lot.

Hope this helps.

stoop14 · May 16, 2006, 03:27 PM // 15:27

i'm playing prophecies, and i'm making this guy so i can farm later with probly a 55 build.

Eragon Dragonslayer · May 16, 2006, 05:26 PM // 17:26

i like to be a monk but whenever im a monk and i say im a smite or dmg monk and not a healing i get kicked....i dont see why just because ima monk/rit i have to heal do u think its fair to kick me just beacuse im not healing?

Pick Me · May 16, 2006, 06:24 PM // 18:24

Monks, then ritualists are ranked as the top two healers. Any surprises?

Since I haven't played with you in a PUG I'll go on a limb and say you are a good smiter. Unfortunately, people have a narrow mind in PvE. They want healers or bonders. Protection monks are the least liked that will be kept. The reason no one wants a smiting monk or at least a non-healer/bonder is because others want to survive, and some people don't bring any self-healing skills at all. So, if you can't heal, then you are considered useless to the party. My monk has all of the Monk Prophecies skills, so I can play any type of monk. I'm better at healing, then protection, then bond, then smite.

Is it fair for you to be kicked out of a group because you don't want to be a healer? No. Is it fair that a group that needs healers accept you just because you are a monk/ritualist? No. When groups ask for monks, they want healers. The will ask what type of monk you are. If you tell them you smite the bad guys, then you are not what they are looking for. So they will kick you out.

I've been in a group with 5 monks. 3 healers, 1 bonder, and 1 smiting. Thankfully I was 1 of the healers.

Samething with a group of monks. Once they have 2 or 3, they shun all other monks, because they have the same mentality as everyone else. Another monk = another healer, which is not needed. Wisper to a group with 2 monks (if you find them), and tell them you are an awesome smiting monk/ritualist. You may find them more accepting to the idea of an offensive monk than a typical healing monk.

As for Stoop14,

Mesmers help you with spell disrupts (which monks don't have), and gaining energy (Monks only have 1 true way of gaining energy, but it means no other elites and no attacking of any sort). Necromancers have 2 ways for you to gain energy (both however are elites).

If you are doing a 55 monk, there are two ways to do it. Protection Prayers and either Smite or Curse (Necro). There are other 55 characters, but these are the two 2nd professions I mentioned before. Curses are good for SS and Insidious Parasite or even Parastic Bond. SS causes damage to target foe for each attack or spell or skill used. It cases damage to target and adjacent foes. Insidious Parasite gives caster health each time target foe attacks. Parastic Bond gives health degeneration of 1 on target foe. When it ends (even removed by a remove hex or something), gives caster health.
Those 3 spells come from the curse skills.

You can look at the topic of 55 monk for other ideas.

I hate the idea of the 55 monk.

Reason:
1) can't be resurrected by Rebirth
2) can get killed if someone removes enchantments
3) susceptable to certain spells and skills (health degeneration)
4) doesn't want to get moral bonuses, as it increases their health, even though the rest of the party would benefit more

There are way more benefits for a good 55 monk, but those are MY reasons for not ever building one.

I have a Mo/E character, but I don't use elementalist skills unless I'm just with henchies.

Necros, I find, are great for killing. Death magic + healing can cause death and body parts all over the battlefield. With SS + corpse explosion, you can watch monsters fall like dominos all around you.

With healing breeze and the odd orison of healing, you can stay alive and watch monsters kill themselves. Cast Vigorous Spirit on yourself and cast orison of healing or attack to heal even more.

Personally I like the necromancer more than the mesmer, only because it offers more options. If you think you'll run out of energy, then use a mesmer, only because necromancers use either Order of Blood (elite) or Well of Power (elite) from the Blood skill tree. As a 55, you shouldn't have any points or little points in this, so you won't gain much benefits from this. Mesmers give you energy even just a with inspiration magic. Spirit of Failure will give you more energy and gives target foe 25% chance to miss you.

Easy victory vs doppleganger by using your mesmer secondary or necromancer secondary, than using your monk at all.

Wrath Of Dragons · May 16, 2006, 06:33 PM // 18:33

My favorite for Prophecies is Mo/me
they are also great at 55ing...impossible to interrupt, can echo SoJ, ya....there uber

stoop14 · May 16, 2006, 07:58 PM // 19:58

hmm, seams like most ppls lean towards messmer as 2nd pro, anyone els have any thoughts?

bRA1N-b0X · May 16, 2006, 08:39 PM // 20:39

Well, Mo/W is also good for farming or running, I believe. The two popular monk builds tend to be either Mo/Me or Mo/W, with warrior seeming to be moreso from what I've seen. Mo/N are probably under that, with Mo/E under that. Actually, Mo/R seems slightly more popular than Mo/E.

But "best" really depends on application. Farming, running, missions or quests, PvP. Lots of different roles to fill. I'd stick to finding the things you like to do most and find the build (and Secondary) which can do most, if not all, of that. I've learned to try and not spread yourself so thin. You CAN always clear a slot and make a new monk.

bRA1N-b0X · May 16, 2006, 08:39 PM // 20:39

Well, Mo/W is also good for farming or running, I believe. The two popular monk builds tend to be either Mo/Me or Mo/W, with warrior seeming to be moreso from what I've seen. Mo/N are probably under that, with Mo/E under that. Actually, Mo/R seems slightly more popular than Mo/E.

But "best" really depends on application. Farming, running, missions or quests, PvP. Lots of different roles to fill. I'd stick to finding the things you like to do most and find the build (and Secondary) which can do most, if not all, of that. I've learned to try and not spread yourself so thin. You CAN always clear a slot and make a new monk.

jummeth · May 16, 2006, 09:33 PM // 21:33

I really depends on what you want to do with your monk.

55ing is a lv20 job. So you can always change secondaries then.
Mo/W fills this job nicely. Although when using 55, the only war skills you use are stances, namely Bonetti's

For bonders, Mo/Me wins this flat out. No other 2nd prof is as efficient. With Mantra of Inscriptions you are able to bond much more things. Typically its quite reasonable to have about 9-10 maintained enchants up. Since your Blessed Sig charges almost 40% faster.

Healers, This is open game, there are many different types of healers. But you get a lot of Mo/Me for MoR, PD for energy management. Mo/N use OoB. Mo/W has sprint to kite.

The thing about monk smiters is: most of the time, any other class can EASILY outdamage you. Also many of your spells suffer from the AoE nerf. Therefore thats the reason people dislike taking you. However, that doesn't mean you should stop playing smiter.
Just bear in mind, if the party wants healers, you are effectively joining as something that they don't want. Its like a W/N joining, when they are asking for healers.

Active prots, these are very useful to have on a team. Its silly to say that these are the least desired. Boon Prots also heal just as good if not better. They also have self targeting skills aswell.

Boon Prots were very popular in PvP since you have a lot of enchantments to use CoP on which sheds 1 hex and condition per enchant. They typically used MoR for energy man. also, by using cop.

Recently, after factions, there have been a lot of enchant hate skills around, so straight boon prots or active prots are less appealling, however your have you have some nice heal skills in Divine Favour.

In general, you can't really go wrong with a Me secondary. You can always change it if its really that bad.

sno · May 17, 2006, 02:22 AM // 02:22

In team play, a monks role should usually be either healing or protection. While smiting (when applied correctly) can have decent damage, it's usually better to leave the offense to truly offensive players. Regardless of what type of defensive monk you are, all of the skills you should need are in the monk skill line. The only thing you can't get with monk skills is energy management. The few monk skills that do give you energy are terrible, and since you don't need your secondary for anything else, that's what you should use it for.

Mesmer is by far the best energy-management class. The entire inspiration line is dedicated to energy, and it's a monks best friend. Hex removals and energy management are priceless with mesmers, which help the monk out a ton. Before they nerfed it, a lot of monks went with necro secondary, for Offering of Blood. This isn't a viable option anymore, so mo/n is relatively useless now.

Creeping up the metagame recently seems to be the draw conditions/melandru's resilliance combo. By keeping lots of conditions on you, you can have a ton of hp and energy regen. The problem with this is that if your opposition doesn't have any conditions, you have no energy management. Also you may get nasty conditions on yourself, such as crippled or dazed, both of which are really bad to have on a monk.

summary:

for team-play, mo/me is the obvious choice, but mo/r can work well if in the right environment. secondaries should generally be used for energy management in a team environment.

For farming, you ideally should be creative and come up with your own way of doing things. You can get away with almost any secondary to farm with, if you're creative. The rewards of being able to solo monsters quickly should be earned, by originality and careful thought. With the existance of fansites however, this is unrealistic, so feel free to use any of the countless farming builds on this very site

Roupe · May 18, 2006, 04:59 PM // 16:59

Well, for team play:

Monk/necromancer is actually great, blood ritual (to give enrgy to others, Offering of Blood for sure gain of self energy (though it cost some health)

Im not impressed with the faction classes to be used as monk secondary

Monk/ritualists - the spirits dont last to long. Making the the ritualist skills almost useless for the primary monk

Better combination is Ritualist/monk , at least then the spirits have a longer duration , and can affect the battle mch better

Monk/assasin seem a bit better than Monk/ritualist (for self heal and escape spells)

For farming, well it depends where & what u farm

Monk/warrior for solo farm

Monk/necro or Monk/mesmer for team farm most areas

-my two cents

Age · May 18, 2006, 10:20 PM // 22:20

You can still use a M/W in teal play but not as a affective as a M/Mes.They make great infusers if we are talking PvP by useing balance stance.