Curse

xiv · Aug 02, 2006, 02:39 AM // 02:39

ive been observing gvg lately and ive noticed a lot of team with blessed light monk assassin

from what ive seen theyve ran

gift of health
rof
dark escape
prot spirit
signet of devotion
spirit bond
divine intervention/ heal touch
blessed light
or something in those lines

thats what ive seen but how does this work nrgy managemtn wise besides spamming blessed signet?
neways whats everyones feedback on it?

Vindexus · Aug 02, 2006, 02:43 AM // 02:43

I'm sure you mean Signet of Devotion.

Personally I think this is a great Monk build that needs to be played by great monks to be great. It has no energy management outside of your 4 pips so you have to play it every well. But inspite of that I think it's really quite good. A run buff that halves damage on a monk? And it's a stance, not an enchantment? Yes please. It basically means that you can spike out my monks.

xiv · Aug 02, 2006, 02:47 AM // 02:47

yeah sig of dev srry i was like doin off top of head

Vahn Roi · Aug 02, 2006, 02:56 AM // 02:56

I don't see Blessed Light on that build >.>

.neuronster. · Aug 02, 2006, 02:58 AM // 02:58

lmfao. I see Blessed Signet. >.>

Kyle · Aug 02, 2006, 03:05 AM // 03:05

lol yeah. i assume he ment blessed light. I saw evil running this when they were playing fish about a week ago. It was nice that i wanted my PvE monk to use it so i can get some practice on it. But now i gotta trek over to the luxon side to cap it. bah. kurzick ftw luxon ftl.

xiv · Aug 02, 2006, 03:27 AM // 03:27

yeah blessed light lol my bad

cookiemonkie · Aug 02, 2006, 04:14 AM // 04:14

I don't think its a FOTM build unless major balance changes take place to nerf the BL monk. Mo/A addresses the problems that a BL monk has in surviving vs say a boon prot. Dark escape, 1/2 damage and speed to kite, mean less spells and energy protting yourself.

Wasteland Squidget · Aug 02, 2006, 05:15 AM // 05:15

I'm not seeing a lot of advantages this build compared to the Blessed Light Mo/Me, to be honest. While Dark Escape is a better panic button against spikes than Distortion, you're giving up all the energy management that the mesmer secondary offers - no Power Drain, no Drain Enchant, ect. It seems like the energy management would allow you to heal a lot more, while Distortion still allows you to keep yourself alive pretty well.

Jagan Vastary · Aug 02, 2006, 06:10 AM // 06:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wasteland Squidget

While Dark Escape is a better panic button against spikes than Distortion, you're giving up all the energy management that the mesmer secondary offers - no Power Drain, no Drain Enchant, ect. It seems like the energy management would allow you to heal a lot more, while Distortion still allows you to keep yourself alive pretty well.

Since you really only have 1 free spot in the build if you are taking a defensive stance and doing the standard that the OP posted, as a /mesmer you have a choice between inspired hex, drain enchant, power drain, and channeling. So the question becomes if one of those can outperform the potential loss from taking distortion over dark escape, which you can't really quantify. Distortion has a few benefits that dark escape doesn't, and vice versa. But honestly, once you play the build, you will find that you don't really need energy management. GoH and signet of devotion are great low cost skills that you should usually be using on recharge.

The question I have is what you suggest should be taken in that 8th spot.

Dark Escape B-Light

Monk/Assassin
Level: 20

Divine Favor: 14 (12+2)
Healing Prayers: 9 (8+1)
Protection Prayers: 10 (9+1)
Shadow Arts: 4

- Reversal of Fortune (Protection Prayers)
- Blessed Light [Elite] (Divine Favor)
- Mend Ailment (Protection Prayers)
- Protective Spirit (Protection Prayers)
- Signet of Devotion (Divine Favor)
- Gift of Health (Healing Prayers)
- Dark Escape (Shadow Arts)

Its pretty much the same as the one posted in the other blessed light thread, I just changed the attributes. I have a hard time deciding on what should go in the 8th spot though, mostly I've been considering guardian and holy veil. I don't like the idea of heal touch, I might try divine intervention though.

Byron · Aug 02, 2006, 06:29 AM // 06:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jagan Vastary

The question I have is what you suggest should be taken in that 8th spot.

Considering dark escape halves damage, I would take hex breaker and not distortion. I would also forego RoF for an inspired hex or drain enchantment; RoF is tempting, because it's so quick and cheap, but it really doesn't do anything against continuous pressure. I've tried it in GvG, and I ended up not using it about 3 minutes in.

Byron · Aug 02, 2006, 07:23 AM // 07:23

So, I just came out of bed, realizing that you can't have inspired hex, hex breaker, or any mesmer skills on a Mo/A. Stupid mistake on my part - I would thus advise going Mo/Me for your BL.

twicky_kid · Aug 02, 2006, 07:42 AM // 07:42

When I run BL monk my energy usually never drops below 20 from natural regen. Many times I never even used my energy skills unless I just wanted to.

BL can't protect themselves very well. I like dark escape but the no energy managment makes this a no noob build. Also going to suck if you run into 2 e denial mes. They most likely have a BR somewhere in the build. I dought that evil would leave that kind of weakness in their monks. If you get e denied you can use the energy swaps and BR to counter it.

Neo-LD · Aug 02, 2006, 07:35 PM // 19:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wasteland Squidget

I'm not seeing a lot of advantages this build compared to the Blessed Light Mo/Me, to be honest. While Dark Escape is a better panic button against spikes than Distortion, you're giving up all the energy management that the mesmer secondary offers - no Power Drain, no Drain Enchant, ect. It seems like the energy management would allow you to heal a lot more, while Distortion still allows you to keep yourself alive pretty well.

I agree.

The whole reason people take BL monks is because they are stronger against DoT pressure than Boon/Prots. Degeneration is fairly popular right now, as are other phsycal pressure builds. Therefore, Boon/Blessed has become a common backline.

While a Boon/Blessed Backline becomes stronger against most forms of pressure, it becomes weaker against spike since the BL monk has no big 1/4s heal. This is especially true if the Boon Prot is the one getting spiked, since the spike will often involve a KD which turns off the most important part of the would-be spike save.

Putting Dark Escape on the BL monk does a couple things. First, it makes him harder to spike, since he can turn on a 50% damage reduction at will. Thats nice, but the BL monk isnt the one we should be worried about getting spiked: remember, its the Boon Prot thats vulnerable since the BL cannot effectively save the spike alone if the Boon is KDed. The secondary effect of using Dark Escape is that the BL monk becomes weaker to pressure builds. Whether you think you 'need' the extra energy or not, having no energy management makes you weaker, period.

If using a Dark Escape makes the wrong monk invulnerable to spike, and weakens the BL monk against the very thing he is supposed to counter, what exactly is the point?

Also, having no management at all makes it impossible to pull yourself out of a hole. Any mistake, any stroke of bad luck, any energy denial, anything at all, could put you behind and you will have no way to pull yourself out.

I therefore find Mo/A BL monks to be substandard.

Wasteland Squidget · Aug 02, 2006, 07:43 PM // 19:43

Agreed with Neo.

Playing against a pair of these builds we were actually able to adrenal spike right through Dark Escape through some coordinated Gale chains. Since Deep Wound takes off 100 health regardless of whether you have Dark Escape on or not it doesn't take that much damage to kill one of these guys, and with no decent 1/4s heals they're very vulnerable to KD. Distortion will cost you a bit more energy, but it also is a lot more likely to keep you alive because you won't get deep wounded.

moriz · Aug 04, 2006, 12:47 AM // 00:47

what i'm really impressed with the Mo/A BL monks is their mobility. to that end, i added Return onto my BL monk. not only is it good for pissing off opponent warriors and assassins ("you chased me all the way here? good, now chase me while crippled, suckers"), it allows me to reach positions that are otherwise unreachable. for example, in the warrior/hunters/nomads/meditation isles, a lot of the outer archers are on top of walls. if my team is hemmed in at the our gate, i can use Return up to one of the archers, and making my position unreachable by opponent warriors.

JR · Aug 04, 2006, 08:13 AM // 08:13

I think the dual Mo/A backline very much suits a certain build and a certain playstyle. You really need a lot of damage mitigation from the other characters in your build to pay for the stronger Monks. Trying to slot them into any old build is not going to work, generally.

Wasteland Squidget · Aug 04, 2006, 08:37 AM // 08:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by JR-

I think the dual Mo/A backline very much suits a certain build and a certain playstyle. You really need a lot of damage mitigation from the other characters in your build to pay for the stronger Monks. Trying to slot them into any old build is not going to work, generally.

I have to say, I don't quite understand this. If the monk backline is 'stronger', why would it require more damage mitigation to be effective? Isn't the stronger backline that one that's able to deal with more unmitigated damage?

Or do you mean mitigation of a certain kind of damage? I guess if you managed to disrupt enemy offense enough that they couldn't effectively spike, the Mo/A could be a stronger backline against pure pressure.

JR · Aug 04, 2006, 08:51 AM // 08:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wasteland Squidget

I have to say, I don't quite understand this. If the monk backline is 'stronger', why would it require more damage mitigation to be effective? Isn't the stronger backline that one that's able to deal with more unmitigated damage?

Badly worded on my part, by 'stronger' I meant more durable. Obviously Monks are key targets to pressure and spike down, making Dark Escape very handy, but you pay for that with the lack of additional energy management. Thus you need mitigation from the rest of the team to cut down the amount you actually have to heal.

Also, not just the use of skills such as Blinding Flash, Wards, Cripple.. etc, but putting them to use in an absolutely optimal fashion. Blinding Warriors as they spike, throwing down wards in the best positions, crippling extended Warriors... People put a lot of stress on Monks and Warriors being the hardest roles to play, but that is only because you can see the effect they are having on a game so easily. Something like a blind bot with a ward is just as hard to micro effectively, it is just far less visible when you do.

However, I'm getting a bit OT here.

D E L E T E D · Aug 04, 2006, 01:36 PM // 13:36

we ran the mo/a blessed light monk about a month ago when we were using nr/tranq in ta. but we used return also.