Curse

bungusmaximus · Oct 02, 2007, 06:03 AM // 06:03

The elites suck imo. They have been nerfed because of PvP too in the past if I'm right.

KalleDamos · Oct 02, 2007, 06:03 AM // 06:03

Honestly, why is smiting hate dso much. there are a few missions and one dungeon where it is realy useful. But it has potentail. It had great potential before the massive anit-bot farming nerfs. But why is it so hated. Why not take a smiting monk in your group instead of a second or even third warrior? With eye of the north there are some new skills that give smiters a sort of prot like build, but yet it is still impossible to get into groups! Why not take a smiter? Give some reasons for hating or loving smiting in both PvE and PvP.

DvM · Oct 02, 2007, 06:24 AM // 06:24

expensive skills mediocre damage no pressure.

*except for AoE with Zealots ofcourse.

Div · Oct 02, 2007, 11:49 AM // 11:49

Because Anet wants people to heal or prot when they play monk?

boarderx · Oct 02, 2007, 12:19 PM // 12:19

the only time i smite is vs undead and only if we have plenty of monking alrdy or if im questing around with h/h on my monk, being an attacker on my monk helps so my h/h at least target the right stuff. But yeah smite, i dont use it much at all, there are better sources for dmg imo

Roshi_ikkyu · Oct 02, 2007, 12:30 PM // 12:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by holymasamune

Because Anet wants people to heal or prot when they play monk?

WRONG!

Monks and smite were once powerful, almost to the level of insane. They kicked ass in PvE and were useful in PvP.

but like all awesome overpowered classes they were nerfed, now people only want monks to heal. It was never Anet.

And Monks and smite are only really hated by fools and Newbs who don't know how they can fit into a decent group.

Hvaing said that, there still best to only heal in PvP and use smite for defense. Its just about the way PvP is, and should be played.

Winterclaw · Oct 02, 2007, 05:14 PM // 17:14

Smiting is still good against undead. *remembers shards of Orr.* However yes, it was nerfed to the point it really because useless, largely because it became too popular.

Take banish, it's like something like lightning strike, but it has double the recharge. Spear of Light can do more conditionally, but has even more recharge. Word of Censure is cost expensive and has a long recharge if your foe is under 33%.

Basically a smite monk is an el without the recharge, energy, or damage. It's only use is against undead or armor ignoring damage.

Melody Cross · Oct 02, 2007, 08:40 PM // 20:40

The armor ignoring aspect of their offensive spells have made smite a little scary for balance. It becomes very easy to spike when your damage ignores armor, and pressure becomes very dangerous when you cant buff against it effectively. For this reason, smiting was nerfed and remains nerfed today imo.

There have been many incarnations of smite builds in the past. Smite Boon healing monks are fun and a little popular in RA right now (or they were for the weekend). They can output respectable healing, some measure of defense against conditions and hexes and they add a little pressure. A WoR rit still blows them out of the water on overall utility+offense, but Smite hex and skills like CoP can shift that balance back into the smite boon's favor...marginally.

Mostly, smite is not appreciated because the elites are trash and the "gud" skills are farm friendly, not play effective. Maintained enchantments--passive prot--is easily stripped and hard to reapply in the midst of a fight. Long uptimes mean mobs will die if they wail on you, and only you, for a long time. It is not conductive to a build that should be helping your team survive for a PvP match or extended PvE play. A lot of the holy damage that can make smite skills powerful is conditional on other things happening first or happening at the time of strike (not cast) and the signets slow cast times do not allow for the knee jerk reactiveness their effects require (ex: bane sig and cautery).

Take Holy Strike. Capable of dealing 40+ dmg every 8 seconds is not very powerful (an ele with Flare will output more DPS than you can), but dealing 80 is a whiff of a spike. But the skill requires you (a 60AL caster) to be in touch range to use it, AND it requires your target to be KDed first (btw, all damage is insta critical to KDed targets anyway, so the damage increase for smite is not that stellar, just the AL ignoring aspect of it).

Slow recycles make overall pressure low, but spike is still theoretically possible...if you find 3-7 other people who want to run a monk smite build. Its not easy to find 7 people who want to run monks of any type on at the same time, even offensively.

So people hate smite because it was imba, nerfed, and never raised to an effective--serious PvE and PvP--level of play. Its like eles were for the longest time. You might see a smite skill every now and again. You might see some builds run it exclusively in low level PvP play or in areas where the double damage to undead makes it HUGE, but by and large, there are better things to bring.

...And if the monk's not goanna heal me, why did we invite him in the first place

GGs

Ensign · Oct 02, 2007, 08:42 PM // 20:42

The easiest way to put it, is that the best smiters buff and clean physicals. The PUG community, in general, dislikes physicals.

'Grab 8 and go' PUGs that take anything are usually short on Monks; they rarely have a luxury where the 3rd can go smiting.

Pliskin MacReady · Oct 02, 2007, 09:26 PM // 21:26

I like the idea behind smiting, at least way back when in Prophecies, when I first played with it. Healing restored health to allies, Protection prevented damage to allies, and Smiting punished an enemy for hurting an ally.

I think ANet needs to recapture that in GW2. Since they're starting with a new base (and a promise for fewer and effective skills), that Smiting will get some loving. I think Smiting can become more than just the farming line.

Sir Pandra Pierva · Oct 03, 2007, 04:46 AM // 04:46

I use smiting in pvp but in pve since it has been nerfed so much it's not worth much anymore

artay · Oct 04, 2007, 05:40 AM // 05:40

I've found some of the more protective yet damaging smiting skills, such as reversal of damage quite useful. Especially when combined with smiters boon. I've taken a number of people out because of these skills, being offensive to be defensive perhaps.

arsie · Oct 04, 2007, 05:58 AM // 05:58

I think Smiting as a line is not cohesive enough. It is basically a mixture of damage capable spells for the Monk.

You're half being an inverse Curse Necro (casting stuff on your own party instead of the other), and half being a Nuker Ele (and failing).

I think it lost its Exorcist style to the Ritualists when that came out. And its Holy Warrior style to the Paragon (or was it Dervish).

Maybe it would have been nicer if conceived as a fantasy Shaolin Kung Fu style combat line, to befit the Monk name. Every attack is a Touch, with good dodging and running skills. (Touch Ranger?!?!)

bungusmaximus · Oct 04, 2007, 07:01 AM // 07:01

Yeah just compare balthazar's aura to warmonger's weapon and you kinda know where smiting is at.

moko · Oct 04, 2007, 12:56 PM // 12:56

smiting requires a dedicated gimmick or certain mobs in pve to be useful.

the new smite healer is a little funny bonus that was added for fun, but it's by far not as reliable as a normal hybrid monk.

Monk of Myrodin · Oct 04, 2007, 05:24 PM // 17:24

I don't run smiting often, but one fun one to run is Signet of Judgement + Mantra of Signets and Bane Signet. I always found it funny to watch a melee class come running up then get knocked down 3 times while my teamates came in and finished him off.