Curse

Silvia Shadowback · Apr 14, 2009, 09:35 PM // 21:35

Lately I've been doing a lot of RA and some TA and what I've noticed is most monks are Mo/W or Mo/A. At first I was running Mo/W using some stances, but then I was looking through some ranger skills and it seems that they have better stances. Since most of my points are in monk attributes I was only getting 1-2 seconds of blocking from warrior skills and with the same attribute in wilderness survival I was able to get an upwards of 6 seconds of blocking. Any reason why people don't switch over to Mo/R for seemingly better stances? Perhaps I'm missing something?

I Jonas I · Apr 14, 2009, 09:38 PM // 21:38

the recharge of most ranger stances are really long and not really worth the skill slot.

although natural stride and D shot get you points for bravery.

x_blade_x · Apr 14, 2009, 09:41 PM // 21:41

shield bash/balanced stance = ownage

Ariena Najea · Apr 14, 2009, 09:44 PM // 21:44

Although [[Natural Stride] is awesome, the current hex-heavy meta (blame [[Lingering Curse]) makes it completely fail. It's rare to go against a team without a hexer of some kind.

Beyond just giving the Stances, by investing in Tactcs, the Monks can also gain the full AL bonus from shields. 8 armor doesn't sound like much, but it does help!

superraptors · Apr 14, 2009, 09:46 PM // 21:46

natural is qite conditional if u get hexed or enchanted u lose it and theres a bucketful of curse necs plus u probably have to patient spirit before u hit ns.
________
Free amatuer xxx

zelgadissan · Apr 14, 2009, 09:49 PM // 21:49

Rangers don't have skills that disable sin chains and prevent KD's from hammer warriors/PS sins. Warriors do. Rangers don't have a stance that reduces damage and causes blindness, a stance that gives you IMS+defense, and a skill that cripples and shadowsteps you to safety. Assassins do.

Although for the record, a Melandru's Resilience monk can get you pretty far in RA since almost everybody hexes and conditions the monk. Natty Stride is a good skill, but see the above (everybody hexes and conditions the monk) for why it rarely works. It also ends even if you just Patient yourself.

Gregslot · Apr 14, 2009, 10:01 PM // 22:01

Monks and better at keeping the team and himself alive than ritualists... we can say that for sure.
Just for the simple fact that monks can drop 2 skills of his bar to focus on self defense, meanwhile ritualists have skills that synergize, so you can forget about dropping 2 of them for self defense (and dont get me started on saying that weapons are that awsome because stances cannot be interrupted and weapons can). Yet they seem to ignore this particular but critical advantage.
But again, we are talking about RA, other formats of pvp (and even) pve have their own problem with ritualists.
And yet monks have no problem with any of the formats... oh well...

Skyy High · Apr 14, 2009, 10:12 PM // 22:12

2-3 seconds of protection from a stance is all you really need to survive war, derv, and sin spikes.

belladonna shylock · Apr 14, 2009, 10:42 PM // 22:42

For Mo/W there is also +16 armor from an r8 or r7 tactics shield. add that to whatever one else has said in the post and that's a pretty good summation of reasons why!

lewis91 · Apr 14, 2009, 11:33 PM // 23:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by x_blade_x

shield bash/balanced stance = ownage

As this guy said, shield bash can screw up a sins chain if you time it for his lead attack which is always fun annoying sins. And balanced stance protects you against sins PS build or a hammer war.

Jeydra · Apr 14, 2009, 11:58 PM // 23:58

I'm kind of surprised no one pressed home the fact that Natural Stride ends not only when you get hexed, but also when you enchant yourself. This is really very important, since if you're not getting hexed chances are you're taking prottable damage, which in turn means you need to cast Spirit Bond / Patient Spirit or similar on yourself, which in turn ends Natural Stride ...

Lux Aeterna · Apr 15, 2009, 12:36 AM // 00:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregslot

Monks and better at keeping the team and himself alive than ritualists... we can say that for sure.
Just for the simple fact that monks can drop 2 skills of his bar to focus on self defense, meanwhile ritualists have skills that synergize, so you can forget about dropping 2 of them for self defense (and dont get me started on saying that weapons are that awsome because stances cannot be interrupted and weapons can). Yet they seem to ignore this particular but critical advantage.
But again, we are talking about RA, other formats of pvp (and even) pve have their own problem with ritualists.
And yet monks have no problem with any of the formats... oh well...

I like rit healers quite a bit, actually (but i spend 90% of my time on ab).

Some of them will say they can heal despite sucking and letting you die, but real genuine rit healers could quite possibly out-heal a monk. I've had rits keep my party alive under heavy pressure. Some of their spells actually have better energy management than monks...

[soothing memories] is a 100hp heal for 2 energy with [protective was kaolai]

They can take stances / shield bash, but most go /Mo and get a hex removal which I think is fine because they rule.

1) they can actually be quite tough to kill.

2) they aren't an obvious primary target OMG KILL THE MONK and as such fall under the spike radar as random squishies rather than OMG KILL THE MONK

[spirit light weapon][soothing memories][mend body and soul][spirit light][protective was kaolai][weapon of warding][recuperation][life]
Sub in holy veil if you like.

Note: combined with life, spirit light weapon heals for over 250 hp, eat that healing breeze.

Channeling rit spikers are excellent as well.

Snow Bunny · Apr 15, 2009, 12:56 AM // 00:56

[lingering curse] > [natural stride]

[shield bash] > assassins

[shield bash] > [bull's strike]

[balanced stance] > you just ate a bulls and are about to be raped

Wish Swiftdeath · Apr 15, 2009, 04:27 AM // 04:27

I actually run dstance instead of bash, hardly anyone brings shattering sins so it's fine (wait till sins use wild strike then throw up if necessary).

bhavv · Apr 26, 2009, 03:37 AM // 03:37

I go Mo/E now with Ether Prism sometimes.

Free invincibility to out last anything, including VoR / Backfire.

Wish Swiftdeath · Apr 26, 2009, 06:48 AM // 06:48

I've seen ether prism work well but i think it synergises better with ritualists

Boogz · Apr 26, 2009, 11:37 PM // 23:37

[Hex Breaker] [Distortion]
I'm currently using those guys; well, I prefer dark escape/return or shield bash/balanced stance, but I have to say that it's still usefull; Distortion gives you the time to kite and cast Guardian, Hex Breaker + Veil is deadly for any VoR spammer, Shatterstoners and Mirror of Ice spikers

Kiluna · May 13, 2009, 10:12 AM // 10:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by lewis91

And balanced stance protects you against sins PS build or a hammer war.

[gale][mind shock][bull's strike][shock]
aren't rare in RA either.

Wish Swiftdeath · May 13, 2009, 11:04 AM // 11:04

I'm beginning to like sins more

The extra mobility is well worth the trade off for balanced stance. You just need to watch the field more and act instead of reacting like you would with a stance.

paK0 · May 13, 2009, 01:26 PM // 13:26

in ra i prefer Mo/Me over all

i run a build without healing prayers so guardian and shield are good enough
i really need to have the hex breaker against those mesmers who just keep camping on the monk =)