Moskvich's Guide To Boon Prot

Moskvich’s Guide To Boon Prot!

Hey! This is my first article, so tips are appreciated!
I, IGN [Sword Breaker] been playing monk pretty much since I started PvP’ing last year around September. In my guild, Weak And Ineffectual [Lame] At the moment Rank 33, which has been around by one name or other since I’ve been doing PvP, probably longer, I’ve been playing monk in 99% of our battles. Although Boon Prot is my personal specialty I will try to write this guide to somewhat correspond to the other professions to the best of my ability. Well I’m not going to waste anymore of your time with nonsense so here goes.

#1. Know your skills.
You must absolutely know how, why, when, and what your skills do, learn them, study them, memorize them. For all the builds you run, this goes for all professions, not just monk.

My Boon Prot Build
Almost Everyone knows this build but I will list it here anyway.
Guardian
Mend Condition
Reversal of Fortune
Protective Spirit or Spirit Bond, depending on what the other monk is running
Contemplation of Purity
Inspired Hex
Divine Boon
Mantra of Recall

#2. Know your attributes.
Make absolutely sure that your attributes are as efficient as they could possible be, wasted att. points equals less efficient heals.

My Boon Prot Attributes
10 Inspiration
11 Protection
15 Divine Favor
I have seen these attributes slightly modified in the past, if you feel something works better for you, feel free to change it.

#3. Make A PvE Character!
There are countless benefits to making a PvE Character rather than a PvP Character.
For one… you can have more than 4 weapons, which is necessary to optimize your build to it’s highest efficiency.
You can get items that are unavailable to PvP characters, some collectors in PvE have items that are not available in the PvP selection screen.

Unfortunately, this really applies to the more wealthy of us, getting the armor, runes, weapons, etc. can take quite a bit of cash.

#4. Know your equipment.
Gain experience, do RA, TA, HoH, GvG, Alliance Battles… it doesn’t matter, gain lots of experience and learn what equipment suits you best.

After my tiring hours of research :P I’ve come up with this set up that I feel works best for me when running Boon Prot.

Also please note that I run a PvE Monk, not a PvP Monk.
Weapon Set One…
Prot Rod
Halves Casting Time of prot spells (20%)
Energy +5 while Health is above 50 %
Divine Symbol
Armor +5 While enchanted
Health +45 while enchanted
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Weapon Set Two…
Prot Rod
Halves Casting Time of prot spells (20%)
Energy +5 while Health is above 50 %
Divine Symbol
Energy +15
Energy Regen -1
Health +30
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Weapon Set Three…
This weapon set is tricky for a number of reasons, first off, there are several choices as to what to put here. You could go for another 15 energy, which I personally don’t recommend because it could seriously complicate your energy and leave you in quite a bit of negative energy. But one thing is certain, it is definitely best to have a Divine Favor+1 (20%) off-hand at one point or other. Here is what I use

Prot Rod
Halves Casting Time of prot spells (20%)
Energy +5 while Health is above 50 %
The Soulstone
Divine Favor +1 20%
Health +45 While enchanted.

After I roll a +1 Boon, I swap into this shield.
Shadow Shield (Gold/Rare)
Physical Damage -2 while enchanted
Armor +10 vs. Slashing Attacks
It is necessary for the shield to be either Gold/rare or Green, when it is either gold or green, you get a minimum of 8 armor from the shield, no matter your attributes.

Weapon Set Four…

This Weapon Set is used against Energy Denial teams, if you are getting E-Denied, switch into this weapon set ASAP.

Katana Of Fortitude
Damage +15%
Energy -5
Health +30

Earth Scroll
Health +25
Armor +5
Energy -5
This scroll is easily obtainable from the Cities of Ascalon quest I believe.

Armor is your personal preference, I like to use Armor +10 while enchanted armor, but it is really best to have at least 2 sets of armor, one with +health (vs. spikes). I unfortunately can not afford this luxury quite yet, but am working on getting it soon. One thing that is a must though is 2 headpieces. One with a Superior Rune of Divine Favor, and one without (both should be a +1 Divine Favor headpiece).
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How to use these weapon/armor sets effectively…

If you do manage to get your hands on The Soulstone then great! If not then you will still do fine.
At the beginning of the match switch into your Third Weapon Set, with the Soulstone equipped. Start casting Divine Boon until you roll a +1 Boon, which, with my attributes would equal 73 points. Now, take off your headpiece with the superior rune on it, and put the regular +1 Divine Favor headpiece on, without a superior. Now you have a lvl 16 Boon, with only 13 in the attribute! Now take out your shield, replacing The Soulstone.

When facing a team with heavy EDenial, start off in the last weapon set, when things get to hot, switch to your first. Then, back into the fourth. If an emergency arises switch into your second set, cast whatever needs to be cast and immediately switch back.

Keep your eyes open! When you see that you are a target by a warrior or other melee character, quickly switch into your third set giving you at least 8 extra armor against their attacks.

OK! Phew. On to #5
Know your enemy.
Within the first 60 seconds of the match you should already know a great deal about your enemy. You should know what kind of Anti-Monk they have, what kind of damage dealers, whether or not it’s a spike, and many other things.

Alright. We’ll take a break from the numbers for a bit.
Perks, hints, tips, and secrets!
Here are some things not every monk might know.

If you are inexperienced, and just starting out, you should definitely know, that there is such thing as negative energy. If you switch into a weapon set that gives you more energy than another weapon set, use up that energy, then switch back, you will be stuck with 0 energy until that energy which you spent does not recharge back. Be careful when going into your +15 energy sets!

The Ole’ blackout distracting shot.
Ranger/Mesmers love this one, or at least they used to. Builds are constantly changing so you might see less of these characters, or possibly more. I thought this was worth mentioning.
After you have been blacked out, your first intention is to start healing again, ASAP. This is what the enemy thinks you will do, so if those rangers are interrupting .25 second cast spells, you are letting them in on something. Resist the urge to heal right after you recover from blackout!

Diversion
A Monks worst enemy. Know the sound, look, animation, and everything about this skill, when this skill hits you, you should immediately know it. Unless it hits you immediately before you cast, or during cast, you should never cast through Diversion. Unless you follow this little secret. Inspired Hex will NOT be disabled IF and only IF you use it to capture a skill OTHER than the diversion on you. Be careful with this though, because if your partner monk is also using hex removal, which they should be, you might try to remove a skill that he has just removed, disabling your Inspired Hex for almost a minute.

Protective Spirit and Spirit Bond
This little known fact can be quite useful at times. If a character has Prot Spirit on them and Spirit Bond, the maximum amount of damage they can take would be 10% of their health, so unless you have 610 health, Spirit Bond appears to be useless, right? Wrong. Spirit Bond acts so that it heals you “if you would take more than 60 damage” not if you actually do, so Prot Spirit and Spirit Bond “stack”.

Kiting
This is probably one of the most essential skills any monk (or caster for that matter) should have. Kiting theories can be found on several other articles so if you are unfamiliar with kiting, or simply are thinking of improving your technique, definitely be sure to check out those articles.
For example, one thing you might not know about kiting is that if you are knocked down, and you hold forward to start running ASAP, it registers in the server that you are moving, and will allow the enemy to score constant critical hits on you, which could be very deadly.

#6 Adapt to the battle “on the fly”. Be prepared to push up with your warriors, or fall back to over extend opponents. Always keep your eyes open. When you see enemy warriors coming at you, you should start running instinctively, but when you are knocked down, your finger should come off that run button until one second after it appears your character has stood up. When facing an air spike, strafe to minimize damage, but be prepared to heal incase they decide to spike someone else. Be prepared to split. Know from before the match starts who you are following incase your team decides to split. When splitting it can be very difficult to decide for yourself which way to go, and can distract you from your healing duties.

#7 Finger Positioning/Skill Bar
Some might consider this a useless part of the guide, but since about 3 people will actually read this whole thing through, I’m going to include it anyway.
Be sure you are comfortable with which fingers are on which button!
Here is my positioning.

Skills from one to eight.
Guardian
Mend Condition
Reversal Of Fortune
Prot Spirit/Spirit Bond
Contemplation of Purity
Inspired Hex
Divine Boon
Mantra of Recall

The reason I use this particular set up is because of finger strength. Because your middle finger is the strongest finger on your hand, it should be on Reversal of Fortune, which pretty much is your main healing skill. Your pointer which is also quite strong is going to be on Prot Spirit/Spirit Bond, which is sometimes used right after Reversal to counter very powerful spikes. My ring finger, which is not as strong is on Mend Condition, which a skill that is used, excuse the pun, conditionally, you wont be using it unless your team has conditions on them. My pinky, which is the weakest finger on the hand, is on guardian, which in some battles, such as facing spikes, is completely useless. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great skill, just it might not be used as frequently as the other three.
Incase I get Migraine on me, or any other hex that needs to be removed ASAP, or if I am getting spiked and the other monk can not save me, I reach over with my pointer finger to Contemp Of Purity, and right after I use the mouse to reactivate Divine Boon and Mantra of Recall. The reason I use the mouse to activate the last two skills is because it is simply too much of a reach, reaching over, then reaching back, unless you are very used to it, distracts me from my healing duties. This is all personal preference though, so feel free to modify this however you feel is more comfortable for you.

#8 LISTEN AND USE YOUR HEAD!
Use common sense. Don’t over extend yourself to save someone who is most likely going to die, and get yourself killed in the process. One death is better than two. Also, listen to orders from the team captain, and execute them, if you can’t then tell them, and be an active part of your team. Comment, suggest, and recommend.

Well I think that’s pretty much it. Please leave some feedback as to what else you think I should include in the guide, or any questions you have for me.

more like captain obvious' guide to boon prot.

waste of time imo

Nice Guide ^^ Has been monking a bit now so knew most of it.. Altho i had No clue it was bad to Hit WASD while being KD'ed =o

~Shadow

This guide is aimed at little experience/no experience monks who are just starting to PvP. I don't plan on educating any pro's ^^

Cool guide thanks for sharing@@@!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by KissMyShoe

Nice guide. Read through it all. Im fairly new to the game, so i got a lot of heads up from that. Kudos.







Quote: Originally Posted by KissMyShoe

It was an interesting read, nothing groundbreaking, but very helpful for new players. I did find the finger positioning idea very amusing, as I might try it sometime.

Quote: Originally Posted by Opeth11

hmm, thats a pretty good idea. i might try it out sometime

X is my energy management, also if you get good enough at being a monk you can drop the -regen energy set (i have never used one as a boon prot) and try to run a 20% inspiration recharge, that is if your running edrain (MoR is good too but you would have to CoP it off)

and is it really ideal to cop off your enchants when your being spiked out with the +enchanted armour?

also on the main set, the +45 +5 offhand is good but wouldnt a +5 energy +30 health sword or axe work better for 75 armour level and 530 health with a sup on?

I have tried the Soulstone trick and it never seems to work, just wondered if anyone else uses this and how often they actually get the +1 Divine ???

it really should work, but one thing you might be doing wrong, is you might not be removing the enchantment after you apply it, and just keep using boon.

Great guide, if i had the effort to write one it would be near identical, we even have the same skillbars. I will add in my input of an often overlooked skill: Shielding Hands. It really can help against basic warrior pressure, and completely destroys an IW mesmers' damage. Its a skill that can serve as a replacement for guardian, i think everyone should try it out.

nice guide, I too have a boon prot and really fond of it. There is one think that bothers me though; I have seen so many builds with Mantra of Recall though I think Energy Drain is far better. The reason is (I think) because Energy Drain gives you energy at the time you cast it, not when it ends. So basicly when you are in need of energy you just cast it and you get the energy.

- Energy Drain [Elite] (Inspiration Magic)
Target foe loses 8 Energy. You gain 2 points of Energy for each point of Energy lost.
Energy:5 Cast:1 Recharge:25

- Mantra of Recall [Elite] (Inspiration Magic)
For 20 seconds, you gain no benefit from it. You gain 22 Energy when Mantra of Recall ends.
Energy:10 Cast:1 Recharge:20

There is almost no diferance in the amount of energy gained though.
energy drain: 16 -5 casting costs = 11 energy
mantra: 22 -10 casting costs = 12 energy

one advantage mantra has it that it has 5 less recharge, but (did not test this) because it's an Enchantment Spell and most boonprot staffs/wands have an 20% longer enchantment mod it will take 4 seconds longer before you get your energy. 24 in total. So only one second.

And yes, I used mantra for a while before I got energy drain. So I know what I am talking about.

Quote: Originally Posted by Yannick of Avo

Great guide, but one point I would like to make is, if you are the only boon prot in the team, it may be a good idea to take mend ailment instead of condition as in some circumstances, it may be very important to take off the conditions on yourself so you can carry on healing the party to your full extent.

Quote: Originally Posted by JR-