Curse

digimonizm · Jun 16, 2007, 11:38 PM // 23:38

Hi, I have bought both Proph and Factions but not NF, b/c basically I though the 2 professions it offered kind of sucked and it didn't expand...oh, who cares why I don't have it, I just don't.

My point is, I need some alternative skills for [skill]Zealous Benediction[/skill], [skill]Dismiss Condition[/skill], and [skill]Shield of Absorption[/skill]

Seamus Finn · Jun 17, 2007, 12:12 AM // 00:12

Word of Healing, Mend Ailment, and Guardian(or shielding hands) would be the closest replacements I could recommend. But to be honest, Nightfall provides the best monk elite(which is probably Light of Deliverance).

You could also try a Blessed Light monk, but again they are considered rather obsolete...

Actually, on second thought, you could also run an Restore Conditions Monk or Shield of Defelction with what you have, and those are two strong monk bars.

digimonizm · Jun 17, 2007, 12:36 AM // 00:36

thanks alot.

Div · Jun 17, 2007, 08:06 AM // 08:06

Word of healing or blessed light in PvE. RC and SoD remain popular choices in PvP. SoA can be easily replaced with SH or guardian, and dismiss can be replaced with mend ailment.

Only problem you'll really face is the lack of mending touch for getting rid of your own conditions, but that's really not that important in most of your encounters.

romO · Jun 18, 2007, 04:17 AM // 04:17

ZB is terrible. Mend Ailment is often even better than dismiss. Shielding Hands, Guardian, and Shield of Absorbtion are often the "small prot" thrown into one spot on any monk's bar, and the three are often interchangable and depend on the team build, as well as the opposite monk's skill or preference. If those are the only skills that you're missing out on, I wouldn't be too concerned.

assassin of the god · Jun 18, 2007, 06:34 AM // 06:34

If you don't have NF, you should probabley be alot more worried about not having things like LoD mainly, but also stuff like mending touch and divert hexes(sorta). Its not that bad for monks, as the only required new monk skill is LoD. However, if you truely want to be competetive you might wanna get all the chapters(a major fault of this game).

Riotgear · Jun 18, 2007, 12:16 PM // 12:16

Wouldn't say ZB is terrible, just terrible for GvG or HA.

romO · Jun 18, 2007, 08:42 PM // 20:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riotgear

Wouldn't say ZB is terrible, just terrible for GvG or HA.

I rest my case.

Div · Jun 19, 2007, 06:44 PM // 18:44

ZB ownzzzzzz in fort aspenwood though!!!111one!1!

Ensign · Jun 19, 2007, 09:41 PM // 21:41

Actually Shield of Regen owns Fort Aspenwood.

Riotgear · Jun 19, 2007, 11:24 PM // 23:24

GoLE+SoR tends to own everything ZB used to. I'm simply saying that ZB is decent everywhere but GvG/HA because damage is much more relaxed.

Thomas.knbk · Jun 20, 2007, 01:36 PM // 13:36

I wouldn't actually say WoH is a viable alternative to ZB. With ZB you don't really need another self heal. IMO, the main strength of ZB is that it's a 10 energy targeted heal. The only one in this game that we have. The energy return is nice, but not vital to the skill. The closest alternative would be Blessed Light, but if you're using that as your main heal it's going to cost you a lot of energy. With careful protting and good use of Signet of Devotion it's possible though, because you can make up for it when you remove a condition and a hex at once and heal someone. Super efficient. Shield of Regeneration sorta does the same as ZB (big targeted health regeneration, almost the same as a big targeted heal), but I find it hard to maintain my energy with it, even with GoLE.
SoA and Dismiss are very nice to have, but nowhere near mandatory (ZB isn't either outside of RA btw). SoA is a small prot that this game has so much more of. Guardian and Shielding Hands are just as good, and Mend Ailment is perfectly viable instead of Dismiss.

Oh, and when it comes to monks, instantly believe anything Tommy says. He writes novels about how to play them.

Seamus Finn · Jun 20, 2007, 10:36 PM // 22:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thomas.knbk

I wouldn't actually say WoH is a viable alternative to ZB. With ZB you don't really need another self heal. IMO, the main strength of ZB is that it's a 10 energy targeted heal. The only one in this game that we have. .

This seems strange to me. You bring ZB because it is a big self heal? I was always of the opinion that its main draw is the energy efficiency. Anyhow, on a ZB bar that was anything more than a self-healling flagger monk, you would want a second heal anyhow(or at least I would never use ZB without a gift of health... back when I ran it 6 months ago). I always found that ZB is actually pretty bad as your main means of moving red bars up, and more like an elite Sig of Devo than an elite Gift of Health or something. So actually for me, slotting WoH and Heal touch works similarly to slotting ZB and Gift.

Thomas.knbk · Jun 21, 2007, 12:58 PM // 12:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seamus Finn

This seems strange to me. You bring ZB because it is a big self heal? I was always of the opinion that its main draw is the energy efficiency. Anyhow, on a ZB bar that was anything more than a self-healling flagger monk, you would want a second heal anyhow(or at least I would never use ZB without a gift of health... back when I ran it 6 months ago). I always found that ZB is actually pretty bad as your main means of moving red bars up, and more like an elite Sig of Devo than an elite Gift of Health or something. So actually for me, slotting WoH and Heal touch works similarly to slotting ZB and Gift.

ZB is not like SoD at all. SoD is to top bars off at not-so-dangeroes moments. For ZB to be on par with SoD your target needs to be below 50%
No, in GvG I wouldn't run ZB as a big self heal. If I really need a big heal I will probably get assistance from the other monk, exept for when you split 4-4 with your monks split, and then the fact that you can't WoH yourself does become a big drawback. More importantly, I think I wouldn't run ZB at all in GvG. It may be a semi-viable option on a monk runner (though inferior to SoR according to most), but that's it. At the stand it's 0 use.
But the OP didn't exactly give me the feeling he was talking about GvG. If he was planning on playing GvG he would probably have noticed that everyone and their mother runs RC/LoD. ZB is for RA and for TA if you don't have a blindbot. In a 4v4 situation, where you can't depend on another monk simply because he's not there, it's suddenly quite important to be able to heal yourself with your big 10e heal. Healing Touch is not going to be enough.