Curse

Wyld Kard · May 19, 2005, 02:36 PM // 14:36

I for one am a warrior gone monk due to the boredom of hack and slash mentality of it all. Thus I switched to a charactor that well demands more attention. after watching the monk farming video I was amazed at how well she did taking on six white mantle at a time and those hill giants yikes! But until I get higher than well level 10 I will be sticking with my healing spells and protection spell until.
1. Get better armor than the wanderer's set I currently am using.
2. My dmg. on my smites are as high as hers were in the video.
3. Completing the game, gaining excess to all of the outposts and completing all of the quests, also gaining all of the spells/skills I will need to effectively farm my way to riches!

On a side note I before becoming a monk did my research on hit ratios, different monk builds and so on and so forth and the only places I see myself having tattoo's is my head, and arms. do to the high hit ratio on chest/legs and not wanting to have cuts and calasises on my feet from running over sharp rocks and hot lava!

Epinephrine · May 19, 2005, 03:11 PM // 15:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sausaletus Rex

Wanderer's gives you a grand 5 armor against elemental damage which is something like 6.25% less damage, elemental damage is common but the extra protection is laughable. Judge's is much better as it will give you 10AL (About 12.5% less damage) against a very common type of damage, physical which both Rangers and Warriors will be kicking out but you'll take a hit to your maximum energy for each piece you wear. And Ascetic's is 60AL with a 6 energy bonus (7 if you wear the scalp but who's going to pass up the attribute bonus?). So, you can either get a bit of defense, a bit more defense but shoot yourself in the foot in terms of energy, or a bit less defense and more energy to fuel your casting of things that will defend you much more than the other armor sets. As has been said probably the best way to go is Ascetic's with a Judge's Vestments as you'll then have +12/+2 energy and some solid defense - you could make the same case for Wanderer's Vestments (13 extra energy) there too if you're more worried about Elementalists. But if you had to pick just the one set just why would you go with anything but tattoos?

Actually, just to fix the numbers up a bit, 5 AL bonus is 9% less damage, 10 AL bonus is 16% less damage. How do you recommend doing the combination of sets? Arms and feet with Ascetic and legs and chest Judges?

Xavz · May 19, 2005, 03:22 PM // 15:22

That's my stance, legs/chest Judge's, arms/feet Ascetic - if you're getting pounded on, it's good to have a set of full Judge's hotkeyed.

Epinephrine · May 19, 2005, 03:24 PM // 15:24

You can hotkey armour? How? I had no idea, that could be really handy.

Xavz · May 19, 2005, 03:33 PM // 15:33

Same as weapons - you just don't see it on the weapon hotkey, whatever armor pieces you are wearing are also bound on the weapon set. (At least it's worked this way in the past, haven't tried it in release yet.)

aramil · May 19, 2005, 03:56 PM // 15:56

I also have a monk character and I totally agree with this posts except for one thing. I'm a mo/ele and the biggest problem for me is have enough energy to keep my party alive. I need every single point of energy I have for my healing/protection spells wich means I have no use for my elementalist proffesion. so I was thinking that a secondary monk might sometimes be better than a primary since if you put ele as primary you can have 12 healing/10 energy storage and 10 earth magic to keep yourself alive or 10 protection. you might have a worse orison of healing spam, but you can keep up high energy healing spells like heal party way much longer. so I think elementalist/monk is better than monk/elementalist for the energy. if you have more energy you can also spend more of it on protection spells for yourself while you don't have energy for protective earth spells if you are monk primary.

Searatonin · May 19, 2005, 05:04 PM // 17:04

Yeah nice post shame everyone who plays won't read, or even care about what they would be reading.

Been level 20 monk for quite sometime now, always learning, especially in pvp..

I used to feel so bad when people died, i now accept it happens, but with good tanks and good a balanced team things are alot smoother.. its good to find those.

And painful when you find the opposite.. example:

Elementalist thinks it is funny she is taking all the damage, because she refuses to back off from the mob, instead choosing to stay in melee range.
Not realising the amount of health she is losing (due to armour and well being an elem) is so much more inefficient for me and my fellow monks energy that we are dumping most of it on her straight off the bat.. she died a few times, somehow we got them through the Elona mission.. my job is done.

Zfactor · May 19, 2005, 05:25 PM // 17:25

amen to this thread.

I would like to add something tho, I seem to encounter this more and more in the ascention area (my first char was a ele so I never noticed). For some reason, non-tank people (like rangers, eles, mesmers, and necros) think it's a good idea to stand around and take a beating while they try to blitz the groups. This is never going to work, and it really really pisses off the monk. First of all, we have to use healing wind and heal other over and over and it costs a lot of energy. Secondly, if we let you die we will never hear the end of it. I am trying to practice restraint and just let these people die who do this and suck up all my energy so that I can keep the competent people alive.

On a more vindictive note, once I get my hands on that enchantment that kills the person when you remove it (can't look it up atm) ill be killing alot of a-holes who think they have a right to cuss me out because their health dropped beloe 50% for 4 seconds.

--Addtion
I have yet to see an even half-way decent E/Mo, maybe I'm missing all the goodness, but I dobut it.

Epinephrine · May 19, 2005, 05:35 PM // 17:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zfactor

amen to this thread.

I would like to add something tho, I seem to encounter this more and more in the ascention area (my first char was a ele so I never noticed). For some reason, non-tank people (like rangers, eles, mesmers, and necros) think it's a good idea to stand around and take a beating while they try to blitz the groups.

Umm, Rangers have decent armour, at least it's better than a caster's. I'll frequently interpose myself between the guys heading for the mage/monk as a ranger because a) I'm tougher than the target they were heading for, and b) I have a defensive stance on my skillbar - so I will often be seen tanking to some extent. Someone has to stop the group from gangbanging the fragile folks, and the warrior has already pulled the first ones he could and is thus busy. Please keep the healing going, especially because once that stance wears off, or if they Wild Blow I am in trouble.

I agree that there are people who shouldn't be in the tanking posistion, but a ranger has to step up sometimes and take some hits for the team, and we are pretty dependent on getting the healing goodness too.

buggsy · May 28, 2005, 06:13 PM // 18:13

I've been a level 20 monk for about 2 weeks now, and lapped level 20 about 15 times now.

13 healing
13 protection
11 divine favor

Best secondary monk:

The best secondary monk for a group would be an elementalist/monk that primarilly uses heal party/heal area. This is because divine favor doesnt effect heal party, and heal area. These mana-intensive spells put a huge dent in a monk's mana pool. Primary monks are better off as emergency healers for the weaker armored players in your group. You know, those types of warriors tromping around the desert with Yaks Bend armor on drawing aggro like a naked mesmer, yeah you. Reversal of fortune's high cast rate and mana efficient super heals that target 1 character are better saved for a primary monk. Aegis kicks butt too. Also, an elemntalist/healer can mix it up with the bad guys, and do a little aggro drawing themselves by casting aura of restoration on themselves and using heal area on friendlies.

Its all about mana efficiency. If your running into a bunch of sand scarabs that poison 6 players simultaneously, and everyones down to half health in 10 seconds, would you rather have a monk that can only cast 4 heal partys in a short period of time, or would you rather have an elementalist that can cast 10 heal partys in a short period of time? On the other hand, if your facing a couple heavy hitters that love to pound one group member to death, leaving everyone else untouched, a elementalist/monk would never be able keep up.

Primary monks:

For god's sake get Aegis before entering into PvP, its range is like that of heal party, anyone on the radar screen. And that dudes right about wearing tattoes while battling Koreans. Good god. Although I do enjoy the occasional chase by a single warrior (not wielding a knockdown hammer), I will cast pacify on them and start dancing in front of them, your usually chased by more then 1 enemy warrior at a time. I hate that.

Xavz · May 28, 2005, 11:41 PM // 23:41

Divine Favor does affect Heal Party and Heal Area - it heals the caster for the DF bonus.

nennafir · May 29, 2005, 05:04 AM // 05:04

I would just echo the thoughts of some people. Namely, that an E/Mo with 14 energy storage, 12 healing prayers, and ether prodigy, can pump out a lot of heals and not run out of energy.

Has someone actually run the numbers on a build like this compared to a monk one with maxed divine favor and healing prayers? It would be interesting to see. I expect that the E/Mo would last longer though and overall heal for more over time, although the monk would be better dealing with spike damage.

EinValentine · May 29, 2005, 03:13 PM // 15:13

Don't forget that Divine Favor is the base attribute for several useful skills, many of which include *gasp* Energy Management, including the Signet of Devotion (no energy cost heal) and the Blessed Signet (which gives you energy for each enchantment you are maintaining) as well as the Elite Skill Peace and Harmony (which gives an additional pip of energy regen so long as you don't attack or use abilities targeting an enemy).

Not to say that Monk secondaries can't be excellent healers, but Divine Favor is a lot more than just a bonus to healing.

kimchipoisen · May 29, 2005, 11:15 PM // 23:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by jericho

3. Do not settle for a secondary class monk. Despite what others might tell you, a character without Divine Favor is not a healer.

i'm a ele/monk and i'm a great healer. With 60 mana, you don't got to worry about mana problems.

funbun · May 30, 2005, 01:42 AM // 01:42

To Jericho:

Great post. It's fair and gives insight into all sides.

BUT I must say that you pre-supposition is that Monk should be nothing more than Heal-Bots. I am a Smite/Protection monk. Most monks can't even beat their mirror test because they only know how to heal. I think it's a great dis-service to only think of monks as Heal bots. If you want a heal bot get the hench.

Smite and protection prayers are the MOST under used attributes of a monk. Yet smite is the only way to kill the mirror in Acension. Why do think there are so few Ascended Monks? Once you Ascend everyone and his brother want you on their team. Why? Because monks who have ascended have truly mastered their character. Not just Heal-Bots

During the Kryta missions smite prayers get and exrta 200% damage against undead. Why not take advatage of that? Yet people only want monks to heal.

With the passing effects Divine Favor and Divine Boon,you don't need healing prayers. In fact, I no longer use healing prayers. I do divine favor, smite, and protection.

What's more my groups stay alive!

Plus, there are always people who quit the group in the middle of a mission. As a smiting monk the group loses very little firepower!

mommas_b_o_y · May 30, 2005, 04:20 PM // 16:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by kunt0r

Tatoo's are noob? They give the most energy which is deathly imposrtant. I've played both phys armour and tatoos, and believe me, a tatoo healing monk is far superior to a armoured one with 11 less energy.

You are right tatoos do give the most energy. I agree monks with all tatoos are far superior to monks with the other kinds of armor, but besides that point jerico was right on.

Forboding Angel · May 31, 2005, 08:48 AM // 08:48

I disagree with the tattoos thing, but that's just personal preferance. The energy that tats give is exceptional.

funbun · May 31, 2005, 11:01 AM // 11:01

The tatoos look funny, especially on female monks. They look like Amazon Queens, lol.

Neo-LD · May 31, 2005, 11:25 AM // 11:25

1. Tatoos are great but I put them only on feet hands and head. Legs and especially chest get hit way too often and need a silk or judgers set armor.

funbun · May 31, 2005, 12:12 PM // 12:12

Good point. I use a mix matched set of armor also. Tatoos on the arms, Wander's Sandels, Sacred pant/chest.