Curse

terminus123 · Oct 17, 2007, 01:34 AM // 01:34

I'm rather new to the monk profession and now I've decided to start a protection and divine monk. But I'm rather stubbed on which elite to get and which is most useful in both pvp and pve situations.

Shield of Regeneration:I've always liked this one
Life Sheath: looks really good for its low energy cost
Restore Condition: cool healing spell
Shield of Deflection: I donno

So any suggestions on which elite to get first? (let's say I could only choose one), and any good builds with these elites?

p.s. I only have Prophecies and Factions.

horseradish · Oct 17, 2007, 02:01 AM // 02:01

For a pure proto monk, Restore Condition and Zealous Benediction are very popular nowadays.

Shield of Regeneration isn't exactly worth an elite slot, especially because of it's energy cost and long ass recharge.

I've never tried Life Sheath, but i'd recommend Protective Spirit over this, and choose another elite.

Restore Condition is VERY good. holy shit! Add mending touch to your bar, and conditions are no problem as ALL.

Shield of Deflection is also very popular in PvP. I, personally, don't like it because it only negates physical attacks, and a Lightning Orb will kill your ass. -__-

Zealous Benediction is an excellent spell, but you don't have nightfall so...nevermind...

I don't see many monks with Blessed light, but the potential in this skill is excellent. Facing hex and condition heavy groups or areas, it's great. It usually takes 3 different spells to heal, remove a condition, and remove a hex. Using this skill intelligently (when a team member's health bar is low and with a hex and/or condition on him/her) then it saves precious time.

Empathic removal will work for the 5 energy cost considering it takes four 5 energy spells to rid of two conditions and hexes from you and your ally. Albeit, not most necessary, 5e is nothing to argue against

terminus123 · Oct 17, 2007, 02:13 AM // 02:13

wow ok thanks, looks like I'm going to have to use an elite monk tome to get Restore Condition, I'm far too lazy to actually cap it lol, and looking at Shield of Defelction (it dosen't seem to be worth an elite slot looking at what it does),

and o yeah Shield Of Regeneration got it's faster recharge time back from today's update so yay!

Nadia Roark · Oct 17, 2007, 02:15 AM // 02:15

SoR sucks, in this monk's opinion. Regen has been and probably will always be crappy; the +40 armor is nice, but under most circumstances I'd rather have SoD.

Speaking of SoD, horseradish points out that it "only negates physical attacks"--this is not true as it also adds a bit of armor. SoR may still be superior in a few situations, but by my estimation those situations consistute a distinct minority. I really like Life Sheath and I wish they'd buff it (since it's basically the prot line's defining spell) but it really kinda sucks and isn't anywhere near as good as RoF, which isn't even an elite. Of the skills you have listed, I'd get RC and SoD first. Pity you don't have Nightfall or we could recommend ZB too.

EDIT: Saying SoD "dosen't seem to be worth an elite slot looking at what it does" is one of those quotes you're very likely to look back and laugh at once you have a few months of monking under your belt (honestly, I'm not making fun of you here!). Physical is usually the most common and the most damaging form of abuse in this game. Aside from standing in AoE, physical is easily the most dangerous kind of damage to subject one's party to. SoD is not only worth the elite slot, it's one of the best IMO.

Sakura Az · Oct 17, 2007, 08:51 AM // 08:51

Shield of regen works.. just be very carful with it, you'll burn thru energy like no tommorrow if you go trigger happy with it, i usualy save it for myself or to put in on the "tank"

Winterclaw · Oct 17, 2007, 04:16 PM // 16:16

SoR is expensive and doesn't heal the other person that much so I'd forget about it for the moment. If you want to have an elite that heals, choose blessed light. SoD and RC are good. I'm not sure about Life Sheath. Another skill you might want to have is Air of Enchantment. It'll make it easier to protect someone in your party.

As for a build this should get you started:
Signet of Devotion
[elite you choose]
RoF
PS
Condition removal
Hex removal
Divine Boon
Rebirth

Monk of Myrodin · Oct 17, 2007, 05:38 PM // 17:38

I have to go a little against the rest of the people here and say that SoR (don't forget GoLE with it) can be usefull if you use it right. But using it right is the hard part. SoD is ok, never used it much. Life Sheath is one I tend to run on my hero monks and they put it to good use, but like someone said RoF is about the same. Finally, Restore Condition is probably the one I would go with first, I think they dropped the energy cost down in the last update (or maybe its been 5 energy for a while) which makes it really nice.

Add in Shielding Hands, Shield of Absorption, and Reversal of Fortune and you should be good to go.

Divine Xan · Oct 17, 2007, 07:00 PM // 19:00

1: Reversal of Fortune > Life Sheath (Imo), dont waste your elite slot on it.
2: Changing between PvE and PvP often means build changes.
3: Have you considered Blessed Light? Not bad for RA and AB.
4: Many more focused Prots (SoD, RC, SoR etc) can only work to their full potential in 8v8 arenas/teams, my experience is that they often fail in arenas, compared to Zealous Benediction (I know you dont have NF :P) or Blessed Light
5: I had the same thing when I only had Prof/Factions when NF was already out, best tip for you would be try to get Nightfall, many great skills for monks, (Dismiss Condition, Shield of Absorption, Zealous Benediction, Light of Deliverance etc

)
[Lots of things with it are opinions, you will find your own style with time]

nighthawk329 · Oct 17, 2007, 10:55 PM // 22:55

SoR: Never liked it. Most likely will never like it.
LS: It's decent...on heroes. But that doesn't apply to you, since you don't have Nightfall.
RC: Only godly in condition-heavy areas. I'd only bring it if i knew the enemies in an area are condition heavy.
SoD: My favorite. The recent increase in duration and recharge helps prevent spamming, which is great for people new to monking. It is definitely worth the elite.

So I suggest...SoD.

Melody Cross · Oct 18, 2007, 12:28 AM // 00:28

PvE: BLight. Its not as horribad as some people--including myelf--make it out to be. The recycle makes it worth an elite slot, and its definate utility is hard to scoff at. Needs some attention--some love from the devs--but its an okay elite if you're running onlyt Factions and Prophecies atm.

SoD for PvE is not terrible if you have a good tanking player that you run with regularly.

PvP: Mantra of Recall or Offering of Blood

If you don't have NF yet, get it soon if you want to PvP. For standard 4v4 arena play as you learn how to monk, run an energy manager on a BoonProt. For a pure Factions/Proph toon, its a respectable choice to learn on. Throw DBoon on when you need to power heals, take it off (preferably with CoP to yank conditions and hexes from yourself in the process) when you need energy between poundings.

Outside of those arenas, you are rather limited in what you can run. RC monks all carry Aura of Stability now in HA, and there is considerable reliance on SoA in prot builds (NF skill). You can use Shielding Hands in place of SoA to solid effect, but its...less than you might hope for when something is getting trained...

Off-Topic: anyone else noticed that the more viable elites in this game all come from the latest expansion or are core? If they're not releasing any more campaigns, maybe some of the old stuff will get some love. Then again, after the last update, that may be hoping for too much.

GGs

moriz · Oct 18, 2007, 12:35 AM // 00:35

blight is a good general purpose elite. you just need some way to fuel it because of the high energy cost.

SoR really should be an energy storage elite, since eles are the only professions who can run it without some kind of e-management fueling it.

boon prots are dead and buried 100 feet deep. never run it now. you'll be much better off just running without an elite and just use the general hybrid monk template.

Tarzanboy · Oct 18, 2007, 12:38 AM // 00:38

Shield of Regeneration: was reverted back to its original behavior today, so it can be effective, if used right. Good choice.

Shield of Deflection: can be effective if you know when to use it and when not to. It really depends on how you play.

Restore Condition: great spell in condition heavy areas, nearly worthless otherwise. Good choice.

Life Sheath: has to be used with Protective Spirit preapplied for any effectiveness, so 15 cost for something that PS essentially does by itself for 10. Fail, it's essentially a cover enchant for PS.

Life Barrier: can work well in areas where there are few enchantment strippers and where there are clearly defined tanks, when used on a bonding build. In other words, this will work in PvE, but fail in PvP

Blessed Light: can be effective in situations where there are a number of hexes and conditions that are hammering the party.

Cheers,
TB

John Panda · Oct 18, 2007, 01:18 AM // 01:18

get

[skill]Life Sheath[/skill]

nighthawk329 · Oct 18, 2007, 02:18 AM // 02:18

Now that I think of it...it might be in your best interests to start out with Life Sheath as a new monk. It's hard to mess up, has a low energy cost, and can be spammed reasonably well.

Then, when you start to get better at knowing who needs to be protted and when to prot, you can start switching to more advanced elites, like SoR and SoD.

terminus123 · Oct 18, 2007, 03:01 AM // 03:01

o ok thanks,

arcady · Oct 18, 2007, 07:52 AM // 07:52

I have one monk with Life Sheath and another with Zealous Benediction on otherwise near identical builds. Even though the second monk has 30 more attribute points (being from Nightfall) the first one, which uses Life Sheath, seems to be a lot more effective.

Zealous Benediction is a great Healing spell hiding in the Protection Prayers line. If you're mindset is focused on a Protection style of play, Zealous Benediction is going to be out of sync with your instincts. You're going to be working on preventing harm through learning to pre-prot well, and re-prot at the -proper- time when the pre-prots wear off. Zealous Benediction on the other hand, as a heal, comes into play when the protection monk is either overwhelmed or under performing. It is a great spell in the numbers, but the numbers are only half of the game, if that. In the psychology, it is out of place with the bulk of the role you're trying to fill as a protection monk, and essentially reserves your elite slot for those moments when your main strategy of damage prevention is failing. It's probably a good idea for a protection monk to have a heal on hand as an emergency patch, but I'm not yet sold on the idea that my emergency patch should be my most numbers-effective skill.

Surena · Oct 18, 2007, 08:08 AM // 08:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nadia Roark

I really like Life Sheath and I wish they'd buff it (since it's basically the prot line's defining spell) but it really kinda sucks and isn't anywhere near as good as RoF, which isn't even an elite.

What change would you suggest to make it better? Half casting time? Shorter recharge? Preventing more damage?

OS T · Oct 18, 2007, 10:11 AM // 10:11

LS is a very nice elite ye,but if you want it halfed,I suggest you buy ureself a prott offhand inscriptable with 20% HSR and HCT 20%,forget me not is very xpensive...25k-30k

btw,SOR dont suck,I think its a really good elite,ive done all area except almost every area in gwen,done 3,but the point SOR is good,I guess SOD is very nice to,but

I can give u setup for sor that spares you for energy

SOR
rof
dismiss
PS
smite hex or another hex removal,always have a hex removal in ure prot bar
GOLE(glyph of lesser energy)
Aegis, A must skill protters
Rebirth for tight situations and for safe ressing

if you wanna go LS or SOD just switch elite and you have a nice bar.that is the bar I use while I vanq as SOR,but im primarly zb so

.

Nadia Roark · Oct 18, 2007, 05:26 PM // 17:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Surena

What change would you suggest to make it better? Half casting time? Shorter recharge? Preventing more damage?

It should either have a much faster recharge (like... half of what it is now) or prevent a lot more damage. Before NF came out I probably would have leaned towards the first option, but with the kind of damage NF allows us to deal I think it'd be nice to see a basic functionality buff to this skill. I think they got a little too cautious with it, since it could be obscenely powerful when used with other prots.

But since ANet has been shitting all over monks since Factions (with the brief exception of ZB and the lasting exception of SoA) I doubt it'll happen.

Div · Oct 18, 2007, 06:14 PM // 18:14

Zealous benediction.

Life sheath is bad.
SoR is like monking for people who can't monk.
SoD and RC are nice but not as useful in PvE.