Curse

zoobooboozoo · Jul 13, 2007, 11:33 AM // 11:33

What second proffession do you prefer to take when you're a monk?

Kris · Jul 13, 2007, 12:23 PM // 12:23

My favourite is Ranger. Storm chaser, and Storm embrace are absolutely fantastic options when needed, and melandru's resiliance is a great elite for a PvE monk. Also, if you are just having fun, you can take a pet through pve too.

Stormlord Alex · Jul 13, 2007, 12:41 PM // 12:41

I'd say ele.
Glyph of Lesser Energy is a superb energy-management option, requiring no attribute investment - allowing you to easily spec into Protection, Divine and Healing.

Ideally, you'd look to a secondary that provides energy-management for PvE - though managing your energy with conservative casting and not brining crap like Healing Breeze is important, too.

Jessyi · Jul 13, 2007, 12:46 PM // 12:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kris

My favourite is Ranger. Storm chaser, and Storm embrace are absolutely fantastic options when needed, and melandru's resiliance is a great elite for a PvE monk. Also, if you are just having fun, you can take a pet through pve too.

Wow, just...wow.

Seriously though, there are better non-elite forms of energy management for a monk, like glyph of lesser energy if you're an elementalist secondary, or auspicious incantation if you're a mesmer secondary (and using a high energy skill like aegis). I use glyph lesser and Zealous Benediction on a prot hybrid monk. Please don't bring a pet. That's 2 skill slots and points used in beast mastery to do a half-assed job that the rest of your team should be doing anyways.

-Jessyi

zoobooboozoo · Jul 13, 2007, 04:10 PM // 16:10

sorry for beeing such a noob eh?

but I havn't played the game for like a year an a half and kinda forgot everything, I also havn't played a monk.ever. so...

anyways,
Can you explain to me the concept of energy management you're talking about? you're mentioning some skills, I'm not familir with most of them...

if you can explain a bit less vadely, it would be great, thx in advance

peace

Stormlord Alex · Jul 13, 2007, 04:35 PM // 16:35

Energy management? Basically, it's the use of skills/strategies to keep your Energy at a decent level...

hmm... how to explain...

It's easiest if you break it down into 2 sections - playstyle and skill choice.

Skill choice is obvious - you'll run out of energy fast if you pack your bar with 10 and 15 energy skills with no energy management skills in sight. Try to rely on cheaper skills - 5 energy skills such as Reversal of Fortune, or a free signet, like Signet of Devotion - to do the brunt of your work.

Then, you can take skills that actively manage your energy. For example - Glyph of Lesser Energy, for a monk, costs 5 energy to cast, and can save a total of 10 energy for 2 spells. Overall, this is a net 15 energy saved, once every 30 seconds.
There's also lots of stuff in the Mesmer's Inspiration line - Channeling, Hex Eater Signet, Ether Signet, and Power Drain for the ninja among us. However, unlike GoLE, these skills need attribute investment to be effective.

Playstyle is... well... how you go about monking. Basically, if you spam Orison and Heal Other on every little bit of damage, you'll soon be left at 0 energy.
Unless you've got a BiP necro riding your ass, it's better to be conservative with skill useage, waiting untill people actually *need* a heal - for general PvE, I'll wait till people get to 70-80% health before healing them, for the most part... Anything before that, I'll be spamming Signet of Devotion.

Also, as a general rule of thumb... Protection Prayers >>>>>> Healing Prayers.
It's much better to prevent damage ocurring than to have to patch it up afterwards - this is especially true for PvE, where bosses can deal hundreds of damage in one blow. However, prot can take a while to get the hang of... It's about anticipating damage, watching the battle and pro-active skill useage, rather than reactive 'red bars go up' monking that most PuG monks seem to favour.

Protection Prayers make you a better monk

Snow Bunny · Jul 13, 2007, 07:02 PM // 19:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormlord Alex

Energy management? Basically, it's the use of skills/strategies to keep your Energy at a decent level...

Playstyle is... well... how you go about monking. Basically, if you spam Orison and Heal Other on every little bit of damage, you'll soon be left at 0 energy.
Unless you've got a BiP necro riding your ass, it's better to be conservative with skill useage, waiting untill people actually *need* a heal - for general PvE, I'll wait till people get to 70-80% health before healing them, for the most part... Anything before that, I'll be spamming Signet of Devotion.

Also, as a general rule of thumb... Protection Prayers >>>>>> Healing Prayers.
It's much better to prevent damage ocurring than to have to patch it up afterwards - this is especially true for PvE, where bosses can deal hundreds of damage in one blow. However, prot can take a while to get the hang of... It's about anticipating damage, watching the battle and pro-active skill useage, rather than reactive 'red bars go up' monking that most PuG monks seem to favour.

Protection Prayers make you a better monk

I could not agree more.

In terms of energy management, mesmer and ele win out, that's a fact.
Mesmer affords you Channeling, which is great if the fighting is busy and upclose, and inspired hex/removal skills are simply very nice additions to your skill bar.
Ele grants you the glyph, which is 2 10e spells for free....which is invaluable. The recharge can hurt though. Personally, I prefer the Me, with channeling.
Often overlooked is warrior. - while there isn't really e-management there...the stances are really nice...but they may be more suited to pvp. Disciplined Stance is very nice when you need a break...it's like a non-elite self Shield of Deflection.

Just a few quick pointers in regards to energy management:
Unless there's a necro giving you energy...don't use heal party.
Heal other/Jamei's Gaze are to be used sparingly.
Dwaynas Kiss and Words of Comfort give you a lot of return for a little investment.
While a bit nerfed, Zealous Benediction is still a nice PvE prot elite.
Light of Deliverance is a lot of healing for 5 energy.

zoobooboozoo · Jul 14, 2007, 01:28 AM // 01:28

well, with an elementalist I can hold some powerful rod or staff as a weapon, mesmer doesn't really have some decent weaponry right?

Is it important to have like a good weapon for between the spells?

Stormlord Alex · Jul 14, 2007, 01:50 AM // 01:50

Wha? ... did you just come from WoW?

The max damage for ALL wands/staves is 11-22. As a MONK, you're better off wielding MONK weapons to get the casting modifiers specific to MONK skills.

Actually, the pro monks wield swords.

Age · Jul 14, 2007, 02:12 AM // 02:12

If you want survivability use /W or /A they make great ways to survive.I can still use Aegis and ZB as a Mo/W or even heal party.

zoobooboozoo · Jul 14, 2007, 02:44 PM // 14:44

So... what's the better for energy managment the mesmer or the elementalist?

also, the elementalist has some good damaging spells, so maybe that's an important point.

oh btw:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Age

If you want survivability use /W or /A they make great ways to survive.I can still use Aegis and ZB as a Mo/W or even heal party.

what??

Stormlord Alex · Jul 14, 2007, 03:30 PM // 15:30

Both Mesmer and Ele have their strong points.
Though GoLE can be a touch clunky to work with, it doesn't require attribute investment, whereas Mesmer Inspiration stuff, whilst more 'on-demand', does require attribute points.

I usually go /E for builds where I'm running stuff like Gift of Health or Light of Deliverance, and am already split across 3 attributes.

And as for what Age said... For Arenas and other PvP setups, the powerful self-defenses of /A and /W - stuff like Return [skill]return[/skill] or Disciplined Stance [skill]Disciplined Stance[/skill] - is incredibly useful for boosting survivability at the expense of active e-management skills.

thor hammerbane · Jul 14, 2007, 08:44 PM // 20:44

Go Warrior or Assasin secondary. I've had my monk for over 24 months, and the survivability is much more important than energy management. A monk doesnt need skills to have good energy management, he needs to have a good build and just overall experience with monking. For example, If you bring skills like heal other, Don't spam them on every single guy that takes 25 damage, use it as a last resort. Just common sense.

Lurid · Jul 15, 2007, 12:57 AM // 00:57

Signet of Devotion is also a wonderful e-management skill. Whilst being more "passive" as it doesn't give you energy obviously, it frees up energy (free 5e equivalent heal on recharge)

Age · Jul 15, 2007, 05:04 AM // 05:04

This all depends on where you are starting your Monk if it is in Prophecies for the physical I would recommend /W for stances and such but over all.When it comes to the Maguuma Jungle or even the Rider in the Desert best to go /Mes even better than /E got GoLE.Those hexes and such are best dealt with /mes inspiration line no matter if it is a little nerfed leech signet,power return and inspired hex are great in those areas.

You may want to start off as /Mes for these very reason as it is not easy doing it as anything else as much as I like the Mo/W and what it others and eventually you can change your secoundary after you ascend.But for PvP use either /E,/W or /A.

Snow Bunny · Jul 16, 2007, 05:24 PM // 17:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by zoobooboozoo

also, the elementalist has some good damaging spells, so maybe that's an important point.

Zooboo. Understand this right now. Do not forget this. You are not an elementalist. You are a Monk. You are not damaging/killing/destroying/rending incapacitated enemies in any shape or form. A monk heals/protects. A smiting monk (offensive monk spells) will never be welcome on a pve group. Your purpose in the game is to heal/protect your party members, not aid them in killing enemies.

The elementalist has one spell that can reduce energy. The mesmer grants energy with certain skills. The assassin and warrior grant you survivability.

You are not to use elementalist/mesmer weapons, they don't really convey a bonus, and you certainly should not use assassin daggers. Many monks these days use spears/axes/swords, but these are +5 energy, longer enchanting weapons, and not actually used to fight with.

Some monks use shields, but most monks that do so at this point are very good at monking and know energy management flawlessly.

I hope that this does not dismay you, but monking is a different type of gameplay. You are the most valuable asset on a team; you are just being valuable on a different level.