Curse

Trinity Fire Angel · Jun 18, 2008, 06:03 AM // 06:03

Hey everyone,

I have decided to finally take the plunge into the dark world of HA Monking. However, there are a few things that i can;t get and some tips would be nice from anyone out there that has any sort of decent HA monking experience;

eg; How to channel effictively, when to use it, where to place body and to know where to move. How to kite and cast at the same time. ie... running away from that annoying dervish giving you hell and try and select team mate and cast a heal. How to best lose aggro. How do i keep enuff energy for the infuse so that i can catch spikes? Do i just spread Patient spirit around to people who look like they are getting spiked or what? etc etc.

Maybe some tips on how to play some of the different bars, HB / RC / WoH./ etc etc

I know that successful teams need to at least have some good players to know how to not over extend, how to place themselves on the field, how to body block, etc etc. But i am still a noob and will be playing in noob teams until i rank up a bit (and by then GW2 will be out....). But any tips would be good....even if there is a HA monking guide somewhere else u can point me to.

Cheers, Trin

Stc95 · Jun 18, 2008, 06:22 AM // 06:22

The best way to learn is to just play.
One of the things that helps me the most when I monk is knowing my skill bar. Knowing what #1-8 are without looking. And always keeping the same kinda of skills in the same slots. IE. my anti-spike skill or big heal skill is normally in the #3 slot, while my little heal i normally use to cap someone is in the #1 slot.

With channeling is a difficult one. Sometimes you dont have to do anything as 3 melee guys will run at you. Other times you have to get into the thick of battle. Which is what i normally do

. Sometimes i find two eles close together and stand by them, normally they are pounding on other targets so im fine.

Losing aggro isnt the same in PvE. People dont always follow the rules of aggro. I would guess the best way to get someone off you is to call the target and get him snared or to run away until he overextends and either kill him or he will run away.

As for the kiting/healing question. When I play GW i use the WASD + Mouse. To me that is normal, but I know some people that can't play with the mouse. So I use WASD to move around, my mouse to select my target, and use the 1-8 keys to heal. Also sometimes I use my mouse to move me around.

Energy Management is probably the hardest thing to learn. I know most monks, including myself, have different energy weapons to help when that mesmer decides to steal 10 energy and you have nothing left, you can just switch to another weapon set to get some energy back. Also the proper use of Channeling can get you free skills. But as a rule of thumb, i try and have no skills over 5 energy, especially the spamming ones. Normally the only skills on my bar that are over 5 energy are Heal Party, Infuse, and Res (PvE).

Again, the best way to learn is to play. Yea you will most likely lose a lot but it will come to you. Practice makes perfect!

Hope I helpped

Icy The Mage · Jun 18, 2008, 06:28 AM // 06:28

Learn to move with your mouse, as WASD keys are client-sided.

kranius · Jun 18, 2008, 06:49 AM // 06:49

use [channeling], go where there is a lot of foes, spam your skills

yakuza · Jun 18, 2008, 07:19 AM // 07:19

kranius wins thread, end of story.
he's actually right, a monk that can find a good channelball is what separates a good monk from a bad monk

Musei Karasu · Jun 18, 2008, 07:45 AM // 07:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trinity Fire Angel

But any tips would be good....even if there is a HA monking guide somewhere else u can point me to.

Cheers, Trin

Don't think there's anything directed at HA only, but there's a few good general monking resources.
Tommy wrote this- http://www.teamquitter.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2844
Divine wrote this- http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10222589

Tommy and Divine are the core monks to dR, one of the best teams in the game as far as PvP is concerned. It's arguable that Tommy and Divine are the best monks in the game so don't worry about if the info is correct. They know their crap. Tommy's guide is a bit outdated, but I think you can draw the general idea from it. I also suggest you read the entire threads, not just the OP more info is posted later.

Chris37320 · Jun 18, 2008, 10:46 PM // 22:46

I would have to say you have to talk to your team and communicate with the monk your playing with. It benefits to tell your team if you get a big skill diverted, if the other team's mesmer is getting to you or what hexes are on you. And just being able to watch the field and stay away from red bar monking. I don't know about other people but I chose to only prot so your mindset is always the same and you don't need to adjust the way you monk every time you switch from heal to prot. Well other than that I don't have much else to say. Good Luck trying to HA Monk the learning curve is quite steep. Keep at it though and don't get discouraged, the first few ranks are rough.

Killed u man · Jun 19, 2008, 02:30 AM // 02:30

GvG monk in HA = wipe in under 2 minutes...

GvGmonking requires more "skill", no doubt. It is, however, far different from HA monking.

In GvG, you will collapse when either a keyskill on your Monk's bar got interrupted, he failed to prot (monk) at a high level or the enemy's build is to OP.

In HA, you will collapse when your Monks don't have Channeling.

In HA, one can easily state it's all in the spam. Find a Channel-Ball, get inside it and Spam away. Invest 5 energy in a rof on a random target to get 6 energy back. Invest 10 energy in a Spirit Bond on the Ghostly in HoH to get 15 energy back.

Once you've learned how to "observe" the battlefield for balls (THIS is the REAL REASON why girls are so good at monking), you can move on to weapon switching, target selecting, active prot, etc...

You can come here QQ all you want how it's bs HA monks can't just spam. I'm sorry, that's the truth. If you know how to channel tank (Coordinate with other monk/team to cover up channeling so it doesn't get stripped), you're already 80% done as an HA monk...

In GvG, where positioning matters, it's a completely different story, one which I will save for later...

Peace

Aera · Jun 19, 2008, 05:54 AM // 05:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Killed u man

Once you've learned how to "observe" the battlefield for balls (THIS is the REAL REASON why girls are so good at monking),
Peace

Because girls keep their eyes out for balls?

Golden Rice · Jun 19, 2008, 08:27 AM // 08:27

learn2watch the field kthx

supa tim · Jun 19, 2008, 09:07 AM // 09:07

Experience

12 digits

JR · Jun 19, 2008, 09:16 AM // 09:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Killed u man

Once you've learned how to "observe" the battlefield for balls (THIS is the REAL REASON why girls are so good at monking)

Your post was fairly sketchy up to this point. Amazing.

tasha · Jun 19, 2008, 09:36 AM // 09:36

Practice, practice practice. I suck at PvP monking, but its something I really want to be able to do. Practicing at every opportunity is key - playing RA will teach you some of the things you were asking about. Since I PvE as well I've been learning to weapon swap in HM missions (ie where it doesn't hurt, but the team is unlikely to get severely punished if I mess up. Yes we run balanced in HM). Its taking a long while but I am noticing an improvement overall which is worth it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Killed u man

Once you've learned how to "observe" the battlefield for balls (THIS is the REAL REASON why girls are so good at monking)...

I was going to aim a huge amount of sarcasm at this but apparently I should go spend my time looking for balls instead.... *gets a magnifying glass*... What? I'm a lesbian, I need practice....

God Apprentice · Jun 19, 2008, 06:13 PM // 18:13

Effective monking is a team effort. You definitely need to watch the field, be ready to heal/prot on spikes against your team, and you can also help by informing any over extending melee into your line. All in all pratice will help you.

phan · Jun 19, 2008, 06:26 PM // 18:26

Preprot =)
watch field =)
be quick with infuse =)
be talkactive =)
learn to push as a monk =) [more GvG though]

/endthread

joshuarodger · Jun 19, 2008, 06:26 PM // 18:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aera

Because girls keep their eyes out for balls?

that's just crude and hilarious.

Trinity Fire Angel · Jun 20, 2008, 12:05 AM // 00:05

Boys tend to just get carried away by testosterone and ego and can tend to lose focus and get carried away. Girls are generally more observant about what is going on in the environment around them i think. They tend to pay more attention to detail and to what is happening. Except when it comes to shoes and clothes, then they get carried away (however they still maintain their focus on price, detail, style and other unseen mystical factors us boys can;t pick up on)... but that is just a generalisation.

That is why i think some of the best PVP players are grrls in RL. I mean... the grrrls that play pvp are mean. like really intense.

Killed u man · Jun 20, 2008, 12:19 AM // 00:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trinity Fire Angel

Boys tend to just get carried away by testosterone and ego and can tend to lose focus and get carried away. Girls are generally more observant about what is going on in the environment around them i think. They tend to pay more attention to detail and to what is happening. Except when it comes to shoes and clothes, then they get carried away (however they still maintain their focus on price, detail, style and other unseen mystical factors us boys can;t pick up on)... but that is just a generalisation.

That is why i think some of the best PVP players are grrls in RL. I mean... the grrrls that play pvp are mean. like really intense.

Well, not from my experience anyways... I've played with 10-15 girls now, and I've yet to hear one rage. Ok, I usuallly call my groups, but even when I know they are pissed off, they still remain calm on vent...

Girls also barely rage. Once again, from personal experience, I've NEVER seen a girl rage (the group)... Even if the group fails miserably, and we pretty much disbanded, it's always the girl that says: "It doesn't matter, better luck next time"...

As for monking, and I'm serious this time. (If you take the balls comment serious, really: crawl out of your basement every now and then)
I do have the tendency to believe girls ARE in fact better. I think, and I'm serious, it's because of their natural "mother-instinct"... Like, whenever the mic happens to be open of a girl monk on the time of a death, you can actually hear a small cry (moan, whatever U wanna call it) ... Like, it happened 4-5 times already, where U can actually "feel" the girls distress when they failed to keep a person alive...

We guys got adrenaline, e-peen, testosteron, competitivism (lol) AND big balls rooting for us. Girls got mother instinct, which is why I think girls are far superiour monks. Yes, I'm dead-honest this time... ^^

supa tim · Jun 20, 2008, 07:54 AM // 07:54

I guess youve been playing with other girls than I have (probably more mature ones), but the girls ive been playing with do not stay so very calm when some1 dies or when the party fails.

I dont think they have a greater will to keep the party alive.
Guys care about winning, so theres also a huge stimulation for those. Ofcourse girls also want to winn, but sometimes when i play with them they tend to forget that when in a match.
Also girls care about keeping the party alive. But when under pressure, there are some sacrifices you have to make (for example let the ele die so the mesmer can stay alive), which girls just dont want to do since their "motherinstinct".

MHO,

Timmeh

deathwearer · Jun 20, 2008, 02:02 PM // 14:02

Know every single spells in your bar and when to cast them on who. That make the difference.