Curse

Iron Monkey · Apr 23, 2007, 08:44 AM // 08:44

I'm kinda floating this, I'm not very experienced in PvP, GvG, but since my guild has picked up interest in playing GvG, I'm looking for a GvG smiter monk, based around Scourges. I'm not interested in dealing pure damage (smiters aren't very good at that), and I'd like to use scourges mainly as a way to get to the monks indirectly and put pressure on them. Note that we have necroes and mesmers who are heavy on hexes, acting as a cover for the scourge hexes.

I haven't really found a decent build yet, and the main problem is energy management when playing smiter. Scourges cost a lot of energy, and you need to apply a lot of them for them to be efficient. So here goes.

- All attributes in Inspiration Magic and Smiting Prayers.

- Weapon sets, armor and health buffs (you'll be more exposed than other monks).

[skill]Defender's Zeal[/skill] / [skill]Signet Of Judgment[/skill]
[skill]Signet Of Rage[/skill]
[skill]Bane Signet[/skill]
[skill]Signet Of Humility[/skill]
[skill]Smite Hex[/skill]
[skill]Scourge Enchantment[/skill]
[skill]Scourge Healing[/skill]
[skill]Mantra Of Inscriptions[/skill]

Anyone actually used Defender's Zeal in GvG BTW? It never gets mentioned, yet it looks pretty tasty.

Given the use of signets, Defender's zeal might not be required, they are energy management in themselves. Sig of Judg. Might be quite good against the assassination teams whose role is to disrupt the monks. The signets are also used against them, but not primarly.

I also understand that a necro or mesmer with secondary smiting prayers would probably be more efficient (mesmer with fast casting, mecro with SR), but I just want to try it as a monk.

Maybe it's complete garbage, maybe it can be improved

Help me out!

LightningHell · Apr 23, 2007, 09:55 AM // 09:55

Single-target smiting skills are virtually worthless. The only skills I would actually use (in other builds) are Signet of Humility and Smite Hex. Both the Scourges apply so little actual pressure it's not really worth that skillslot.

Smiting Prayers can apply pretty good pressure, if you're using Zealot's Fire and Air of Enchantment (although Master of Magic is usually used more, as an E/Mo).

Oh, and...Time for some shameless advertising.

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10080986

(Don't use that build, 'tis outdated.)

Defender's Zeal is not used similarly to why Empathy is not used.

Iron Monkey · Apr 23, 2007, 12:01 PM // 12:01

Yeah, that's what I thought. Smiting feels quite lame compared to other offensive attributes.

ok then, based on the pinciples.

0) Role :
- Pressure the enemy monks hiding in the backline.
- Protect my monks against the disrupters rushing them.
- prevent enemy monks using aegis chains / LoD spams.

rest of the damage, I leave it to the team. I'm not focusing on pure damage.

1) Skill effectiveness :
- Not much damage. This is more of a cover build (apart from scourges). Quite probably something more effective should be possible. Goal is to protect the backline, and hit their frontline. Not over-extending. This becomes a lot less effective when using split teams. But at the moment, we're not good enough on the tactical point. We just want to get used to GvG, and usually move as one group.

Not sure about defender zeal though. It can also act as a cover enchantment. Cheap, spammable, long duration, and because I'll be focusing on the front line which mainly consists of tanks/dervishes/assassins or even NPCs, I should get a pretty good energy input, even with aegis on. Only needs three hits to pay back the cost. Having DZ on will not prevent the warrior from attacking (it's not gonna hurt him), unlike empathy or SS might do.

2) Energy management :
- Pretty self explanatory. Use of signets or DZ if I find it likable enough. That shoudl cover for the cost of spamming scourges.

3) Attributes :
- Full maximum levels for every skills. No self heals. No need for DF. hence why that sort of build coupld be played by other classes.

4) Flexibility.
- It's pretty rigid, apart from the scourges, since they affect all forms of healing and enchantments. The signets are mostly aimed at physical damage dealers and rushers. So is ZB. There is room for improvement at having a more flexible build without sacrificing energy management.

5) prune the weasels.
- Bane signet / signet of rage / sig of judge. These are relatively weak in their effect. Bane is a conditional skill that might not trigger. Signet of rage depends on adrenaline, which is quite random really, since it takes 2 seconds to cast, and it's damage output relatively weak too. Sig of Judgement is ok, but weak as far as damage is concerned. Relatively spammable at 11s recharge. Advantages of those are free in energy, and with reasonable re-casting power (with the stance). Their main goal is disruption and not eating energy so there is some left for the scourges, which is the linchpin of the build.

6) Area Specifics
- This is for GvG, This usually involves long pitched battles, around a choke point (the flag stand). YOu have to apply sustained pressure on the opposing team, and spike at the right moment (flag carrier). There is a lot of pressure put on the monks to perform and heal the party for long periods. They are the linchpin of the team. They go down, it's pretty much over. So they are sitting quite far behind, and are pressured by usually one or two grunts trying to disrupt them as much as possible. This is where the build should perform. Pressure the opposition, and cover my backline.

7) Testing and benchmark

- This is a relatively untried build. Luckily, we are quite fond of scimmage, and get to test builds. We play 4 v 4 scrimmage, or 8 v 8 with heroes, and I've called a bastard a few times

So it's doing something right. But this is coming from relatively innexperienced guild players. One of the problem is the lack of self heal. Being a monk, you are exposed and the armor is weak. I do not have a specific armor for that build yet, and mostly use my pve armor, which is all energy and nothing else. I need a better armor for that specific build.

Iron Monkey · Apr 23, 2007, 12:04 PM // 12:04

BTW I disagree with you about scourges. I found them really effective in GvG. The problem I had was energy managing them.

LightningHell · Apr 23, 2007, 12:50 PM // 12:50

They are pretty strong in (team) hex builds, but that does not make up for the rest of the build's...er...putting it bluntly, badness.

I guess when I say "bad" I mean bad in balanced builds.

Remember, when you design a GvG build, you don't think of each character first, you think of what roles you want this character to play.

Div · Apr 23, 2007, 03:13 PM // 15:13

Low damage, not much pressure in terms of the scourge spells (especially in absence of other hexes), not very able to adapt or split well...

I'd go with a balth aura smiter with SoH or something...

Iron Monkey · Apr 23, 2007, 03:46 PM // 15:46

Fair enough.