Dusting off the boon prot...

with the advent of hard mode, i found myself playing the first pve character i've ever made, a humble little boon prot monk equipped with kepkhet's refuge and headgear and runes all set into prot. since then, i've never created another monk character, favoring more offensive caster classes in factions and nightfall. i haven't played my monk in months and playing through the first few prophecies missions in hard mode, it's become quite clear how obsolete my build has become (RoF, guardian, shielding hands, mend cond, remove hex, e-drain). i have been pretty resistant to change for a long time but i think now is the time for me to move on. thing is, i customized kepkhet's refuge (stupid me!) and call me cheap, but i don't feel like spending money on changing my headgear and runes over to healing. so, i ask you all to please recommend a current (playable!) pure prot monk build that would utilize kepkhet's 20+ enchant mod. please help because as pitiful as this sounds, i don't know prot monking without divine boon. thanks in advance.

I always loved the good old divine boon, but you needed heavy energymanagement like mantra of recall, e-drain, oob to make up for -1 regen and the -2 you get every skillcast. Since they have been nerfed, i would not take divine boon, you just run out too fast.

A better option imo is: 1 Healers boon (standard pvp bar), and a full prot / bonder.

Everyone loves boonprots, but it just doesn't work without really strong energy management. If you're set on boonprotting, you can actually make an ok build with [skill]boon signet[/skill] and [skill]channeling[/skill], with [skill]deny hexes[/skill] thrown in for uber hex removal, but it's still beating a dead horse.

ZB is still pretty common, give this a shot

[skill]zealous benediction[/skill][skill]gift of health[/skill][skill]reversal of fortune[/skill][skill]protective spirit[/skill][skill]dismiss condition[/skill][skill]smite hex[/skill][skill]glyph of lesser energy[/skill][skill]aegis[/skill]

I haven't monked much since the glyph and zb nerfs, but it should still be pretty good. Pretty much all prot bars take that same form, with mostly just the elite changing, and changing things like smite hex->holy veil, and other such personal preference things.

The nerfs aren't really that crippling. A build like yours still rocks as a sole monk in a party (I'd use Holy veil though ). I usually still prefer a HB build if I don't have a rit with me. One problem with Hard Mode and Ascalon missions, is the overwhelming numbers of hexes. I still prefer a DF build (Blessed light / deny hexes). The mobs encountered are small, but hit hard and enchant removal and hexes are severe.

It's more manageable later on, especially with two monks. Tyria missions are condition heavy, RC rocks there.

As for Boon Prot, it's obsolete. The new Faction / NF skills are really much better.

I so miss Boon Prot. It was such a solid build. A true sad day when they changed MoR and ED

Wasn't there a thread like 2 weeks ago that reminded everyone that boon prots are dead?

Possibly. Welcome to today.

awww i miss boonprots as well. Please anet! Give them back to use! As my birthday pressie!

I definitely miss boon prot. They can keep the DBoon nerf, I just wish they'd unnerf the Inspiration skills.

[skill]Guardian[/skill][skill]Dismiss Condition[/skill][skill]Signet Of Devotion[/skill][skill]Reversal Of Fortune[/skill][skill]Signet Of Rejuvenation[/skill][skill]Deny Hexes[/skill][skill]Scribe's Insight[/skill][skill]Divine Boon[/skill]

Remember that boonprot has ALWAYS been about skill synergies. As times change, you need to redifine your streamlining.

Dismiss Condition triggers off of enchantments for the heal, allowing yourself a decent self-heal almost always available. It also triggers on your own RoF/Guardian. Deny Hexes will trigger itself. It will also be triggered by Devotion, Insight, and Boon. This will allow you to remove 1-4 hexes in one shot. You still have a 12s recharge to worry about, but that's small change for a build not specifically focusing on stopping hexes on jade. :P

Scribe's Insight triggers on Devotion and Rejuvenation, which are solid performers that do not trigger boon--essentially gaining you 5 energy whenever you want to straight heal.

lol. I haven't used boon prot for so long. Maybe it is time that I give it another shot

Today I tried, normal mode mind you:

Signet of Malice
Draw Conditions
Reversal of Fortune
Signet of Devotion
Deny Hexes
Release Enchantments/Protective Spirit
Scribe's Insight {E}
Divine Boon

Protection Prayers: 13
Divine Favor: 14

Worked pretty well from what I could tell. Probably need to play with it more, but it was nice to relive the boon/prot days just a little.

Quote: Originally Posted by Spazzer

This is how I play active protter:

[skill]Shield of Absorption[/skill][skill]Dismiss Condition[/skill][skill]Gift of Health[/skill][skill]Protective Spirit[/skill][skill]Reverse Hex[/skill][skill]Shield of Regeneration[/skill][skill]Aegis[/skill][skill]Glyph of lesser Energy[/skill]


Protection: 12+3+1
Healing: 9+1
Divine: 9+1

Hope this helps you

Nice build, Spazzer. Only thing I might do is change Guardian for CoP. Guardian is decent, but CoP is just hax on boon prot.

Ive been running this in RA since they switched up deny hexes to great success:

[skill]scribe's insight[/skill][skill]remedy signet[/skill][skill]Signet of devotion[/skill][skill]Divine boon[/skill][skill]Dismiss condition[/skill][skill]Reversal of fortune[/skill][skill]Guardian[/skill][skill]Deny hexes[/skill]

Works especially good against the mass necros in RA who expect monks to be equiped with nothing but veil. With Boon,Devotion, and scribes recharging you can remove 4 hexes at once.

Also Remedy signet doubles as a way to gain 3 energy every 4 seconds, and quite possibly the best way to remove dazed from a monk ( plenty of it in RA too )

I still use Divine boon, only in AB tho :/

Quote: Originally Posted by Spazzer