Curse

Elurian · Jan 25, 2006, 05:56 PM // 17:56

RoF
Guardian
Mend Ailment
CoP
Holy Veil
Divine Boon
Res Sig
OoB

Is what I currently run when I play in TA. CA gets quite annoying with the N that kills itself before the match start and then screams for a rez the entire match or the wars with sprint + charge or the R/Mo that has purge troll dodge SC escape and troll. I always thought it was hillarious to run an echo shatter mez in the CA and shatter shatter drain monks although I'm quite annoyed when that happens to me. When I play I generally ask my teammates to kill the mesmers first or if one is giving me lots of problems I call the target and ask for it to be taken care of while running around throwing reversals about. I used to run blessed signet instead of res sig but I found that I didn't use blessed enough to make it worth it and carrying a hammer iwth a 20% enchantment mod and a staff with +15 nrg on switch so I can spam out OoB if needed. I'm so glad that I found CoP to run on my monk in the arenas it really does save you as Racloth said in almost any situation. I can see how I'd want blessed signet more if I was maintaining veil on all of my party members, but I generally precast veil and boon on myself before I start the match and apply veil when I see a hex go up on an ally and cancel it. (really wish the double click to dismiss worked every time instead it is sometiems a click 300 times before it goes away)

EDIT: I can't remember my DF and Prot skills atm but, I generally only run 8 in Blood magic because it is generally enough for me. I will try out 10 Blood and see how it does later on just to see.

agentblade · Jan 27, 2006, 05:39 AM // 05:39

I agree monks takes alot of skill to play.. U must also be able to handle pressure very well... good monks are always the key to a good team, but u still need the rest of ur team to play well.. so dun be too hard on urself if u find urself not doing ur job as well as u tot u should. Sometimes it could mean ur team isn't doing their job, there is so much heat that a monk can take before he cracks.

Plus, it's not always that a monk is the center of attraction, playing a mesmer I too get the love from the enemy quite regularly.. the times they dun come for me first usually means defeat for them.. =p

Xasew · Jan 29, 2006, 10:52 PM // 22:52

I'm by far the worst(not counting the inactives) monk in my guild, but arenas are no problem at all. I use a pure prot monk with Signet of Devotion as the only energy management skill.

Senator Tom · Jan 30, 2006, 01:18 AM // 01:18

Blood Magic 10
Protection Prayers 11
Divine Favor 15

Holy Veil
Reversal of Fortune
Guardian
Mend Ailment
Offering of Blood
Protective Spirit
Contemplation of Purity
Divine Boon

1. hit enter mission while in Competition Arenas
2. cast divine boon when it loads.
3. wait for match to start, follow your teammates to the battle
4. use holy veil to remove single hexes, if you are stacked, cast veil or prot spirit on yourself then contemplation then recast divine boon. use offering of blood a lot. think of mend ailment as a heal, not a condition removal. pretend the only condition is deep wound and cripple. heal with mend ailment, who cares if you have three degen, just a dot that you can heal though. rof is a spike heal, guardian on targets attacked by warriors. prot spirit for eles.
5. only stop moving if you are left alone or if you are casting something. not wise to stand in a meteor shower or let warriors pound on you (this is that thing called kiting that everyone says! ex. r9 mesmer on your team: KITE YOU STUPID MONK KITE!!!!11)

went 4 flawless with a lvl 15 on my team till i quit (i didnt even notice)

with this you can win at life

toastgodsupreme · Feb 04, 2006, 12:05 AM // 00:05

I'd like to add that since adding Armor Of Earth (+38 armor for 30 seconds), my survivability has gone up DRASTICALLY.

I'm a bond/boon prot monk with bal's spirit and blessed sig for energy. Honestly, I don't know how I played before without AoE. Really the only thing that scares me now are degen hexes, ranger spikes (how the hell do they still do so much damage?) and hammer KD warriors.

Xasew · Feb 05, 2006, 12:37 AM // 00:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by toastgodsupreme

I'd like to add that since adding Armor Of Earth (+38 armor for 30 seconds), my survivability has gone up DRASTICALLY.

I'm a bond/boon prot monk with bal's spirit and blessed sig for energy. Honestly, I don't know how I played before without AoE. Really the only thing that scares me now are degen hexes, ranger spikes (how the hell do they still do so much damage?) and hammer KD warriors.

You can't kite anymore, that's big minus. Sure you take half the dmg you used to, but still.

JR · Feb 05, 2006, 01:05 AM // 01:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xasew

You can't kite anymore, that's big minus. Sure you take half the dmg you used to, but still.

Learning to kite effectively also makes you take half the damage you used to. Not to mention taking armor of earth is another energy drain on you, and it locks down your secondary to one with no decent energy management for a monk. Armor of Earth monks are a horrible gimmick.

taxed · Feb 07, 2006, 02:40 PM // 14:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorien of Mandos

close - here's a bonder build I usually do well with (consistent runs of 10+ wins) in random arena

16 prot (12+3+1), 13 Divine Favor (12+1), rest can go to smiting though its not needed

Insightful 20/20 prot staff of shelter or defense or enchanting

1. life bond
2. blessed signet
3. balthazar's spirit (you gain energy whenever you take damage - works with damage that is directed to you from life bond

)
4. Shield of Deflection (SO many warriors in random arenas)
5. Reversal of fortune
6. mend ailment
7. holy veil
8. rez sig

sit back and laugh as the warrior trying to kill actually gives you enough energy to spam RoF and SoD on yourself over and over! Tell your team to target necros first and foremost (after monks) as this build won't last long against heavy hexes and degen.

I also do a bonder build in the arenas, and it is very sucessful in 90% of all situations, the only problems being hex heavy teams:

Mo/me
15 Prot
8 Inspiration
Rest Divine Favor

1) Mantra of Resolve (no more blessed signet interrupts!)
2) Shield of Regeneration {e} (great counter for life xfer and other big degen)
3) RoF - Your bread and butter heal
4) Mend Ailment - secondary heal + condition removal
5) Life bond
6) Balth's spirit
7) Divine Boon
8) Blessed Signet

If you can get a team mate or two to bring hex removers, and disable opps mesmers, this build is virtually unbeatable. You will laugh at warriors, (3 axe warriors will barely hurt)...with an extra 40 armor because of your shield. Balth's spirit and Blessed signet are more than enough energy to keep shield up most of the time. The ONLY thing that hurts this is degen hex type builds, but hey, we can't prot against them all....

QuixotesGhost · Feb 07, 2006, 03:16 PM // 15:16

I'd say a big part of surviving as monk in TA is making sure your allies are packing skills to disrupt thier offense. Have someone take warrior/ranger hate. Make sure someone has some sort of interupt to *say* throw into the middle of an E-Surge chain. There's more to disruption than stuff that helps you gank the enemy monk faster (which is all a lot of TA teams want nowadays).

Quote:

Learning to kite effectively also makes you take half the damage you used to. Not to mention taking armor of earth is another energy drain on you, and it locks down your secondary to one with no decent energy management for a monk. Armor of Earth monks are a horrible gimmick.

I agree, if I see a monk with AoE I just call a different target. In my experience it seems that monks set up like that can't keep thier allies alive as well as others types of monks can.

Kai Nui · Feb 10, 2006, 07:48 PM // 19:48

You're right, but wrong about one thing. Mesmers are harder to play. At least if you're a monk you defend yourself. If you're a mesmer, you're not always guarenteed a monk to be in your party. I've been slain by warriors many times as a mesmer, but not when I monk. I can at least be positive I'll be the center of attention when I monk and that I'll have crap coming at me and have the skills to heal myself without putting points into other attributes making your skill bar suck.

Cousin of Morgoth · Feb 13, 2006, 03:57 AM // 03:57

There's a simple answer to this.
Someone has to do it, that's all.

Scary Raebbit · Feb 13, 2006, 04:23 AM // 04:23

Any Bonder in CA/TA should use Mantra of Resolve. Else Distracting Shot/Savage Shot, Disrupting Chop/Blow, Savage Slashs, KD's ruins you're whole "gotta B-Signet this many times or else I won't have any energy to cast". Running 4 enchants means 0 regeneration. Casting takes energy that isn't coming back except from Blessed Signet. Get that interrupted and you're gg. That's why I love facing them as a Ranger

. Mantra of Resolve won't save your butt against KD, but at least it'll help against those interrupt spam happy rangers, etc.

Lorien of Mandos · Feb 13, 2006, 05:10 AM // 05:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scary Raebbit

Any Bonder in CA/TA should use Mantra of Resolve. Else Distracting Shot/Savage Shot, Disrupting Chop/Blow, Savage Slashs, KD's ruins you're whole "gotta B-Signet this many times or else I won't have any energy to cast". Running 4 enchants means 0 regeneration. Casting takes energy that isn't coming back except from Blessed Signet. Get that interrupted and you're gg. That's why I love facing them as a Ranger

. Mantra of Resolve won't save your butt against KD, but at least it'll help against those interrupt spam happy rangers, etc.

Any good bonder will also be using balthazar's spirit which will give them energy whenever they take damage (even damage redirected through them from life bond, and yes 0 counts). I never take mantra of resolve as a bonder because it makes you lose energy if you would have been interupted, making things worse for you than just having blessed sig interupted.

glountz · Feb 13, 2006, 06:20 AM // 06:20

As a bonder I use often mantra of concentration in CA.
at 0 Inspiration it gives 60 sec and prevent from one interrupt (but can be recasted while incanting for 5 energy).
A diversion shot/disrupting chop not only interrupt your skills, it slowers the recharge time so you can't use them again, something you surely don't want to happen.However, these mantras can't counter KD yet.

Rieselle · Feb 13, 2006, 09:00 AM // 09:00

I wont claim to be a good or even useful monk, but in random arenas at least, I have a lot of success as a bonder (with balth's spirit) and packing armour of earth + shielding hands. I do my healing mostly with Sig. Devotion and the occasional Mend Ailment and RoF.

It's a luck thing of course, any disenchant or mesmer and I'm screwed, and usually an experienced damage dealer also gets me. But the vast majority of the time, a bunch of warriors and rangers will focus me, I'll hit shielding hands, and then they'll give up and switch targets because they keep doing 0 damage to me :P

After that I'm free to use to use my spells from the energy that bonds+balth aura gives me, and I can do enough healing to keep the team alive at least. Lucking out and getting a second monk usually helps a great deal. (Heh, a funny story, I had a 13 win streak recently from a random group that was 3 monks 1 gale axe warrior... I was shocked we could still kill teams with only 1 warrior, even in TA

Dont underestimate the psychological power of 0 damage :P

jlwall · Feb 15, 2006, 01:53 PM // 13:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akathrielah

Also don't be too hard on yourself, keep in mind that many times, your "teamates" in random arenas are often doing their best to find interesting and idiotic ways of killing themselves while be as ineffective as possible.

Best quote I have heard yet!

Godefroy · Feb 26, 2006, 10:52 PM // 22:52

There is also the mesmer domination skill Hex Breaker to help deflect hexes, only 5E, recharge is 15sec though if I remember well. ANd does not deal with arrows or melee attacks.

Ruined · Feb 27, 2006, 04:45 AM // 04:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cologne

Monks are spiked first. <--- Monks are spiked first.

I know there is logic behind it, don't get my wrong, I go after that monk first when I face a team with one, but still. Playing as a monk is not the best thing to do in CA / TA. As a matter of fact, it is the hardest position to play. Don't you dare say Mesmers are... They may have low armor stats and not very good defense vs. warriors armor-wise, but are they attacked first and foremost? BY EVERYONE? No.

So, why do Monks even bother? I mean, sure, if I'm bored I'll make up a quick Healer Monk w/ mantra of recall for CA / TA, but think about this:
[*]You waste all your energy on youself while the rest of your team is suffering conditions like madmen.[*]It doesn't get any more annoying than Life Tranfer... [*]At least 1 warrior is chasing you around the map all match long.[*]Mesmer is your greatest enemy, and yet, she seems to stay alive until your dead.[*]You may as well give up if you have Dazed on you... that means there's a nice ranger waiting for you to cast mend ailment.[*]So many people call you a noob that if they put that much energy into helping world hunger, we wouldn't have that problem.[*]and lastly, don't expect any help from anyone else, they're busy not-killing that mesmer.

So, unless someone has a godly build that is anti-mesmer, anti-ranger, anti-warrior, and can still heal decently, by all means post it. If not, well, I already quit TA / CA long ago...

First off, I usually take down the mesmer first(especially with spike build) because imo it is one of the best classes in 4v4 and hurts my monk. Second, when a warrior chases my monk(i use OoB but i am thinking of switching) i love it. The fact that he is chasing me means that he isnt attacking my teammates and the dmg from his is severly hurt. Third and most important, if you are worried about any of these get into a group that cares. Not just a PuG, but a group with some idea of how the 4 man build will work. Stick with the basic boon prot build(imo it is easily the best in 4v4) and dont stop moving. Also remember, if you are having nrg problems, that you dont need to heal every small amount of dmg, as each heal will do a lot thankks to divine boon and favor.

Later

~Dont use shielding hands because of its retarded long recast time.

ender6 · Mar 23, 2006, 04:43 PM // 16:43

I too prefer the Boon Protector Build (Mo/N)

Gaurdian
Divine Boon
RoF
Mend Condition
Contemplation Purity
OoB
Holy Veil (Remove Hex or Rez sig if you feel the need)
Blood Renewal

But if you want to play a Bonder I recommend you play it as a Boon Bonder
Divine Boon
Life Bond
Balz Spirit
Watchful Spirit
OoB (+14e)
Rof
Contemplation of Purity (or Blood Renewal)
Mend Condition

Sup runes Divine and Prot (should have 15/14)
blood of 9

Dbl bond everyone with LifeBond first followed by Watchful Spirit. This way if Watchful spirit is stripped it will heal the person it is removed from for +180 or so health. You want to maintain Life Bond as much as possible to ensure extra energy through Balz. Never use blessed signet in PvP (IMO) to easy to disrupt. OoB is the way to go. On your self you should cast Balz then Boon then Watchful Spirit . This means you will have a -5e degen. Don't worry with Balz and {OoB} you will for the most part never fall short on energy. If you find this much energy too tricky to manage then drop a couple of Watchful spirits (though i don't recommend).

Notice in both builds I included Blood Renewal -- i find it something I like to maintain when boon prot monking , but I realize that some are weary of sacrificing -- i usually cast BR followed by a quick RoF for precautionary purposes. Your preference.

Healing trick:
If you notice someone is getting spiked cast RoF and to further boost the heal remove Watchful Spirit from them for added healing effect.

Problems to anticpate:

Bond maintainence, count on them being stripped if you see a Watchful spirit disappear, try to locate from who, and reapply it quickly as possible and recast it. Same goes for yourself.

JR · Mar 23, 2006, 05:26 PM // 17:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by ender6

Never use blessed signet in PvP (IMO) to easy to disrupt.

In arena, possibly. With positioning a bonder should be well out of reach of the opposing team in 8 vs 8. Not to mention that you couldn't maintain enough bonds in 8 vs 8 without it, for a bonder to be usefull at all. But then again bonders don't really work very efficiently in 4 vs 4...