I just got my monk ascended. I now want to push and finish the game with the Mes and Monk. I just wanted to know if anyone had any suggestions for a healing monk build or a protect monk build. Also, my monk is a monk/ele, but i never use the secondary, I want more energy so I am thinking about Mes or Necro, what do you guys suggest?
Monk Build Suggestions
- Thread starter Tsawdak
- Start date
joshofstl
New Member
Tsawdak said:
I have been playing with a monk going on 135 hours now, and I am STILL trying to figure out what a good build is. (Privately, I would love to be a full-time smiting monk, but the demand for healing or protect monks are so high that the market just doesn't allow for it. I did get to do it once when a team of mine had 3 monks and it was a load of fun.)
Anyway... I think the game allows you to be legitimately great at both healing and protecting, pushing 11's on each with a 12 on divine favor (with minor runes). Here is my typical heal/protect skill set:
- Word of Healing (elite) - cheap and very effective on sub-50% health
- Orison of Healing - cheap, short recycle time
- Signet of Devotion - slow, but pretty strong and no energy needed.
- Vigorous Spirit - cheap, lets your allies "heal" themselves with attacks
- Protective Spirit - reduces damage to 10% of ally hp; great for defending lightning and other high-damage attacks
- Aegis - indespensible against regular attacks
- Bane Signet - true, it's a smite, but very useful for knocking down attacking enemies when they are clobbering your mages.
- Rebirth - teleports fallen enemies out of the mob they were killed in
Some veteran monks I know also use Healing Seed, which is great if you have a at least 3 warriors running around. I don't favor it as much because of the expense (15 energy); I prefer spamming Vigorous Spirit instead. Also, Heal Party has some use if you have a party of 8, although I still generally prefer using a combination of Orison and Word in most instances.
As for armor, I tend to recommend the Censor's equipment, given the fact that monks seem to be the targets of both PvE and PvP melee attacks. To offset energy issues, you might consider getting arm designs or feet designs, but give max protect to the chest and legs, which statistically get hit more than other parts of the body. I carry all Censor's and offset the loss with an insightful staff (+14 to energy).
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[toj.cc]WildBillKickoff
New Member
There is an elite Monk skill called Mark of Protection (I think, I may be wrong about the name) that changes all damage dealt against the target to healing for up to 16 seconds. So, the only way to take damage is by hexes, poison... DoT stuff. I actually run that on my warrior when I'm tanking-- my thought for that skill is in PvP, since you'll be target #1. You throw a couple of other enchantments on first, and whammo, it can't be shattered away-- that should keep you alive for a while. Perfect for a "decoy" monk.
That skill can be capped off the named Dolyak in the Thunderhead Keep mission.
That skill can be capped off the named Dolyak in the Thunderhead Keep mission.
Smite Monks are a dream, but i don't think that will ever be a practical possibility other than for farming. I have also started thinking about Warrior being a secondary profession.
My skill bar is usuall
1 Ressurection -- Rebirth takes away all energy. That makes me nervious right now.
2 Heal Other
3 Word of Healing
4 Dwyana's Kiss
5 Healing Seed
6 Signet of Devotion
7 Mend Ailment
8 Zealot's Fire / Divine Boon
Like I said, I want to change my secondary to help with energy. I decided before switching to Mesmer, that I would have my Mes/Monk try out a few of the Mes energy spells. I tried Channeling and that skill seems useless, at least when I was using it in PvE. I also tried, Energy tap and that really seems to be the way to go. In PvE I was able to have energy practically all the time. Also, I wanted to use the Stance Mantra of Concentration. This is to keep me from being interrupted. Since both are Inspiration skills, I can switch points into one skill rather than two. I would replace Healing Seed and Zealot's Fire / Divine Boon. The weakness in my build is that Mend Ailment and Signet of Devotion are the only 2 that can heal myself.
I have toyed with the idea of making my secondary profession warrior and then just pump the weapon skill up and then i'd have 8 monk skills and then whip out my weapon when I am being attacked. The reality of any kind of defence really being effective is also a concern. Do I just leave that to the team, or should I prepare *SOME* sort of defence?
My skill bar is usuall
1 Ressurection -- Rebirth takes away all energy. That makes me nervious right now.
2 Heal Other
3 Word of Healing
4 Dwyana's Kiss
5 Healing Seed
6 Signet of Devotion
7 Mend Ailment
8 Zealot's Fire / Divine Boon
Like I said, I want to change my secondary to help with energy. I decided before switching to Mesmer, that I would have my Mes/Monk try out a few of the Mes energy spells. I tried Channeling and that skill seems useless, at least when I was using it in PvE. I also tried, Energy tap and that really seems to be the way to go. In PvE I was able to have energy practically all the time. Also, I wanted to use the Stance Mantra of Concentration. This is to keep me from being interrupted. Since both are Inspiration skills, I can switch points into one skill rather than two. I would replace Healing Seed and Zealot's Fire / Divine Boon. The weakness in my build is that Mend Ailment and Signet of Devotion are the only 2 that can heal myself.
I have toyed with the idea of making my secondary profession warrior and then just pump the weapon skill up and then i'd have 8 monk skills and then whip out my weapon when I am being attacked. The reality of any kind of defence really being effective is also a concern. Do I just leave that to the team, or should I prepare *SOME* sort of defence?
joshofstl
New Member
Tsawdak said:
A few things to chew on:
1) Rebirth v. Resurrection: I'd take Rebirth. Why? Rarely do I have time to resurrect in combat; if I do, others are likely to go down from neglected healing. So I usually avoid raising the dead in the heat of battle unless things get desperate or one of the other primary healers goes down. Additionally, Rebirth is faster (6 seconds to Res's 8) and teleports your target to your location. Rarely will your allies go down outside of a mob, and teleport is gold. I can't tell you how many times I've used rebirth to pull someone out of a mob that would have killed me if I had Resurrection. True, you do lose your energy, but the pros outweigh the cons in my opinion.
As an aside, I am baffled how many allies fail to carry along a res signet. That's inexcuseable, especially because they are fast (3 seconds) and bring someone to full health. Everyone should be required to carry one, and those - not Resurrection or Rebirth - are what should be used in battle.
2) Secondary professions: I'm beginning to realize that monks have fewer luxuries in regards to secondary professions; they're expected to pack as much healing and protection as possible. Early in the game I was a warrior secondary and carried a sword, but as the enemies got tougher my monk armor proved ineffective against enemy attacks. Then I went to tactics, using "Watch yourself," but that has limited use, too. I suppose being an elementalist secondary might be cool, given the access to earth magic, which can be helpful for defending your party. The mesmer spells you mentioned are great, too.
3) Your skill set: Overall, it's a good one. A good variety of healing spells, and Zealot's Fire is a nice, inexpensive way to take a few shots at enemies while healing. Divine Boon sounds good in theory, but typically Heal Other and Word of Healing do plenty of healing on their own. Whenever I carry it I seem to always end up not using it much.
I totally agree with you on this one. I have become "energy paranoid" lately. Actually Light of Dwyana is one I am considering. What do you think?joshofstl said:
Yea. I used the Gale skill which is an area knockdown, but I am not sure how useful and how many times I'll get UP CLOSE ATTACKS. I figure the Armor Buffs would get stripped. I've never seriously considered them.joshofstl said:
ArchAngel
New Member
I found smiting to be great for warrior/monks, because of the low energy cost. that and they double damage vs. undead. ... and symbol of wrath. oh, it's good.