Monk FAQ for Guild Wars
Version 1.2
October, 2005
Complied by Dao Jones
1. Introduction
2. PvE (or "the place where everybody wants you")
2a. List of quests
2b. List of trainers
2c. Beating your mirror
2d. Choosing a secondary profession
3. PvP (or "the place where everyone wants you... dead")
4. Builds for PvE and PvP
5. Equipment (because running around naked is for poor people and female
Elementalists)
6. Monking 101 (this is the section you skip if you're just looking for builds
or quest info)
7. Useful Links
8. Thanks & Disclaimer
9. Final Thoughts
---------------
1. Introduction
---------------
Welcome to my Monk FAQ! There are many reasons you may be here, staring at the
material I've complied.
1. You may be seeking a career in the church. If this is the case, then I'm
sorry to inform you that you are looking in the wrong place. Try this website
instead: http://www.vatican.va
2. You have come seeking the most "1337, azz-kiking class in GW!!!1!!11!!1!!"
If so, I suggest you click the "Back" button on your web browser, and try one
of the Warrior or Elementalist FAQs instead. You'll find those classes more to
your liking.
3. You want to play a Monk or are currently playing a Monk, but are too lazy
to learn how to do it correctly through trial-and-error, like I did. Well,
read on! Hopefully the stuff contained here will make your gaming life
easier. (I feel for you buddy. I'm lazy, too.)
This was written basically as an expression of my frustration that a better
player has not already written a Monk FAQ, even though this game has been out
for months. Monks generate more questions and discussion than any other class,
and yet they're the *only* class on GameFAQs without their own guide (as of
this writing). I'm hoping in time that this FAQ will become "the FAQ that no
one reads", because there will be five *better* Monk FAQs to choose from, but
until then... you're stuck with me. I'll try to make it painless. I had a lot
of great people email me with information about playing a Monk, and a lot of
that info has made its way into this FAQ. In fact, I really can't take credit
for "writing" this thing at all. It's really more like I "slapped together the
hard work of other people." So, basically, if you don't like this FAQ... blame
them.
Readers of my other FAQ will notice that this one contains far less of my
customary humor and neutral information delivery. This is because, unlike the
Morrowind FAQ (which I wrote whole cloth), this FAQ is really just a
compilation of other peoples' information with a few added notes from yours
truly.
------
2. PvE
------
Let me preface this section by stating one thing: I do not intend to include a
farming guide. Nor will you see much in the way of farming builds in the
"Builds" section. Why? Because I want to keep the awesome builds to myself?
Because I enjoy pissing you people off? No, and yes. But first and foremost,
because farming is an ever-changing animal. The techniques and areas that were
proven goldmines yesterday have been nerfed to hell today, and today's
"unbeatable" strategies will most likely be useless by tomorrow. Nor, for the
record, do I support or endorse farming. I'm a Diablo 2 player from way back
in the day, and idiots that did MF (magic finding) runs 24/7 destroyed the
game, ruined the internal economy, and gave rise to a breed of losers I like
to commonly refer to as "twinking idiots". So I'm sure as hell not going to
help that happen here. Seek your 1337ness elsewhere, nerdboy.
2a. List of Quests
------------------
Pre-Searing
-----------
-Lakeside County-
Name: Lina the Healer
Quest: Adventure with an Ally
Reward: Resurrection Signet (not specifically a Monk skill, but get it anyway)
Name: Ciglo the Monk
Quest: Monk Test
Reward: Banish, Healing Breeze
-Green Hills County-
Name: Grazden the Protector
Quest: Protection Prayers
Reward: Reversal of Fortune, Shielding Hands
-Ashford Abbey-
Name: Brother Mhenlo
Quest(1): A Monk's Mission
Reward: Bane Signet, Orison of Healing
Quest(2): The Blessings of Balthazar
Reward: Retribution, Symbol of Wrath
Post-Searing
------------
-Old Ascalon-
Name: Embassador Zain
Quest: Helping People of Ascalon
Reward: Mending
Name: Gate Guard Hollis
Quest: Supplies for the Duke
Reward: Purge Conditions
Name: Grazden the Protector
Quest(1): Protecting Ascalon
Reward: Heal Area, Vital Blessing
Quest(2): Sowing Seeds
Reward: Heal Party, Bane Signet, Orison of Healing
Quest(3): In Memory of Paulus
Reward: Resurrect, Live Vicariously
-Eastern Front-
Name: Cynn
Quest: Caravan in Trouble
Reward: Smite
Name: Annelle Fips
Quest: The Forgotten Ones
Reward: Vengeance
-Seeker's Passage-
Name: Tirzah
Quest: A Belated Betrothal
Reward: Mend Condition
-Heroes' Audience-
Name: Yort the Bronze
Quest: The Misplaced Sword
Reward: Healing Touch
2b. Skill Trainers
------------------
-Sir Bertran-
Location: Ascalon City
Skills:
Resurrection Signet
Bane Signet
Banish
Guardian
Healing Breeze
Orison of Healing
Healing Signet
Retribution
Reversal of Fortune
Shielding Hands
Symbol of Wrath
-Taltosh-
Location: Grendich Courthouse
Skills:
Judge's Insight
Restore Life
-Captain Osric-
Location: Yak's Bend
Skills:
Heal Area
Heal Party
Infuse Health
Live Vicariously
Mending
Purge Conditions
Resurrect
Smite
Strength of Honor
Vital Blessing
-Harnil-
Location: Marhan's Grotto
Skills:
Light of Dwayna
2c. Beating Your Mirror
-----------------------
It seems there are as many ways to do this as there have been players to try
it. For every player begging for help there is someone touting an unbeatable
strategy. Some people tell you you to take no skills, others tell you to load
up. Some say the mirror uses Healing Breeze, others swear that it does not. I
will only offer you this: I used a certain method, and I beat my mirror in 40
seconds. I'll post that build, and if it doesn't work for you then hopefully
it will at least give you some ideas on a way to make it work for you. (I have
seen many other "unbeatable" strategies posted, but they looked neither
reliable nor particularly smart, so I took a pass on them for my FAQ.)
Dao's Anti-Mirror Build
-----------------------
Holy Veil
Blessed Aura
Holy Wrath
Life Attunement
Symbol of Wrath
Balthazar's Aura
(I also took Bane Signet, but it wasn't helpful)
Basically, to understand this build, you need to understand two things about
your "Mirror": 1) He is not your exact opposite, and 2) He is not smart. The
mirror uses a bow, for example, while I did not.
Basically, pre-cast *only* Blessed Aura. Your mirror will precast all four
degen enchantments, which will essentially completely stop his energy
regeneration, and cost him 40 Energy. Holy Wrath will cost him 10 Energy every
time you shoot him, so shoot him a few times with your wand or staff to make
sure he's completely tapped out of Energy. At this point, he's essentially
reduced to plinking away at you with his weapon. Now, unleash Balthazar's Aura
and Symbol of Wrath. Assuming your Smiting attribute is high up, he should
drop like a sack of bricks. I don't advocate taking a healing spell, as you
shouldn't need it and you don't want him using it. But if you do take one, make
sure you occasionally shoot your mirror, to ensure his Energy is bottomed out.
(In theory he can't regen Energy anyway, but I'm less than confident that ANet
doesn't occasionally "stack the deck" in favor of their monsters.)
2d. Choosing a secondary profession
-----------------------------------
I'll preface this section by saying that, in my opinion, Monks have the least
need for a secondary class out of all six classes. Within their own skill set
they already have the best possible means of attack, protection and healing, as
well as condition and hex removal. Many times you will find yourself using all
of your skill bar for your primary skills (particularly if you are a healer),
and your secondary will be there only to help you unlock PvP skills. In fact, I
recommend you consider when choosing a secondary that the class you choose be
one that you wish to unlock PvP skills for. Monks have it very easy in this
game: everyone wants you in a party, and your role is not complicated. You can
breeze through missions and quests very quickly, and the secondary you take
will be quickly unlocked for you. (My secondary through the game was a Warrior;
in retrospect, I would have gone Elementalist or Mesmer, as I'm unlikely to
ever play those classes as primaries.)
However, that is not to say that your secondary is totally worthless: several
classes have valuable skills that will enhance your Monk's primary skills,
regardless of what "role" your Monk intends to play in the party. Here are my
opinions for your consideration. (And they are only opinions. Your mileage may
vary.)
Elementalist: Not a bad choice, but don't take this secondary because you want
to use powerful attack magic alongside your Monk abilities. A Monk does not
have the energy reserves of an Elementalist, and you won't have the Energy to
use both your Elementalist attacks and you Monk spells. (If you want to go this
route, make an Elementalist/Monk.) However, there are several spells that
nicely compliment your Monk abilities, and are worth considering. The various
Wards (Ward Against Melee, Ward Against Foes, Ward Against Elements) will
further help you protect your party, while spells like Armor of Mist and Mist
Form will help keep you alive when you come under attack.
Mesmer: Another good choice, because the Mesmer has one ability that the Monk
does not: the ability to steal Energy from other players. As mentioned, Energy
management is a constant problem for Monks, and in difficult battles you'll
find yourself running low before the fight is over. At moments like this the
Inspiration spells available to you really show their worth; many of them allow
you to steal an opponent's Energy outright for your own use, or to cancel a Hex
or Enchantment and convert it into Energy.I've also been seeing a lot of "Echo
Healers" lately in PvP, and Mo/Me overall is a very popular PvP combination.
Necromancer: I've seen these combinations before, but I'm not sure I'm on this
bandwagon. There are good spells in the Necromancer skill set, but I'm not sure
that as a Monk you'll find yourself using them. Offering of Blood, an Elite
Blood Magic skill, will allow you to sacrifice Health and a little Energy for
an Energy boost, but there are better ways to regain Energy (see the Mesmer
class, above). And while the Death Magic and Curse lines offers minion
summoning, additional damaging attacks, and ways to impede your enemy, these
skills are not really first and foremost of use to you profession as a Monk.
While many people can make this work, I would not say this is the best choice
for a Monk's secondary.
Ranger: Like the Necromancer, above, this secondary seems of limited use to a
Monk. Carrying a bow will be of no use to you, so Marksman skills are useless.
Pets are generally not considered useful to anyone (even Rangers) without a
significant investment in Beast Mastery, and you will not want to spend that
many much-needed attribute points (nor free up enough space on your skill bar)
to make having a pet useful. Lastly, although the Wilderness Survival line has
several interesting and useful skills, none really do anything to help you out
as a Monk. I would say, in my personal opinion, that this is the least useful
secondary for a Monk. Some take this in PvP for use in Spirit spamming, but I
assert that the Monk should not be the one in the party dropping spirits.
Warrior: Ahh... the ever popular Mo/W build, first choice of farmers the world
over. 99% of people that take this secondary do so for one stance: Bonetti's
Defense. It's a powerful addition to your arsenal, and well worth considering
for PvE play. However, don't plan on being some sort of holy warrior, running
into the fray wielding sword and spell. Monks are not designed to be primary
tanks and frontline fighters - they can be, but it is a waste of resources to
do so, and an ineffective way to be part of a team.
On a final note I would say this: there really aren't any "Bad" choices when
it comes to choosing a secondary. Guild Wars is fairly remarkable in that all
six classes are well balanced, and even a seemingly unlikely combination can
become quite potent in the hands of a skilled player. So don't worry that
you're choosing the "wrong" secondary - there is *no* "wrong" secondary. It
all comes down to player preference. And, if all else fails, you can change
your secondary towards the end of the game anyway. (But that is a subject for
another FAQ.)
------
3. PvP
------
To be honest, I do very little PvP as a Monk. I've done it on occasion, but
usually there are so many Monks already out there I just use another class. So
while I know how to PvP with a Monk, I don't consider myself the final word on
Monk PvP. However, many of the regulars on GameFAQs know a lot about Monk PvP,
so I'm just going to let them do all the work of educating you for me, while I
sit back and watch movies I most certainly did NOT download illegally off the
internet.
[1.2 Update: okay, so I PvP quite a bit with my Monk now, and I can comment much
more intelligently on the subject of Monks in PvP. I'll let stand the work
others have contributed here, but I may comment from time to time based on my
own experience.]
Let's start with Diamond Angel99. He has a lot to offer regarding Monk PvP; in
fact, he probably knows enough to write his own FAQ. However, he's lazy, so he
just phoned in the data, and left it to me to organize. Still, it's good stuff,
and if you're a new Monk wanting to try PvP then you'll wanna digest the
following words of wisdom. Here he discusses basic skills useful to several
incarnations of Monk you'll see in PvP. I'll post his suggested "basic" builds
in the "Builds" section.
"Ok, since Dao is awesome for writing this up while I'm busy sitting on my lazy
ass chatting to my girlfriend on vent... Here's some expertise from what I've
seen high ranked players do (I'm in TmA, rank 17 guild and I've played with
members from most of the top guilds, sB/Bs, ZPZG, etc.)
This is all PvP advice, you can get away with almost any half assed build in
PvE. Please note that this is a description of popular builds, lots of other
choices work just as well.
HEALING MONK
------------
Elite Skills Rundown:
Top 5 (no order):
Word Of Healing
Spellbreaker
Peace and Harmony
Energy Drain
Offering of Blood
Monk Elites:
Word of Healing:
A popular choice, but not as good as it sounds. A huge boost for 5 energy when
the target is below 50%, but it's also taking up an elite skill slot. You'd get
the same bonus from Heal Other at 10 mana a shot, but free up your elite skill
slot for something that benefits everything you're doing or something that's
more unique to an elite skill. Nonetheless, it's still a very very utilitarian
elite to use, and likely the first one you get. Definately servicable and
always a respectable choice. [Editor's Note: I carry this in my Monk's skill
bar 99% of the time. In my experience, unless your build specifically calls
for another elite, this should be the one you use. It's cheap, fast, recharges
quickly, and heals for a goodly amount.]
Spellbreaker:
Situational use, but can be very devastating especially vs spike teams. If you
can guess their target (90% of the time it's one of your three monks provided
you're not running a mesmer), throw Spellbreaker on both your healing monks
and protective spirit on your prot monk, a spike team will do a countdown and
all of their spells will likely fail causing a huge waste in energy and
cooldown time. Pretty useless vs ranger teams, not as many people are packing
this nowadays.
Peace and Harmony:
+1 regen is useful to no end, especially if you have a high divine favour rank
with a +20% enchanting staff wrapping/sword pommel(+5 Henge Sword). With that
duration boost you can usually afford to keep Peace and Harmony up on yourself
and a partner monk. It's a great elite to consider, but most teams run it on
their protection monk if they're not using Martyr.
Aura of Faith:
Good spell, probably not worth the 10 mana to consistently keep up on more than
one or two members of your party.
Unyielding Aura:
Absolutely horrendous choice, way too much enchant removal/nature's spam in the
PvP aspect of the game. It's a waste of an elite slot, monks shouldn't be
carrying any sort of Res at all except for Res Sig, if they can spend the 4-8
seconds casting a res, then you're team's already steamrolled the other team
and it wouldn't matter whether or not they res'd the dead player. Otherwise,
losing a monk for 4-8 seconds is usually very bad.
Healing Hands:
You'll never cast this on yourself, and both of your healing monks should carry
seed so that they could seed the other, so this shouldn't even be a
consideration. It's a horrible team spell.
Amity:
Do I need to say anything at all? [Editor's Note: I've seen this tried several
times in PvP, and it's proven to be all but useless every time. Against an IWAY
build (Warriors relying on the skill "I Will Avenge You", for the uninitiated),
it might have some use, but otherwise it's a waste of an elite slot.]
Other Elites:
Energy Drain (Mesmer):
A lot of monks run Mo/Me, mostly for Hex Breaker/Inspired Hex, but Energy Drain
with about 9 ranks in inspiration will return 10 energy or so, and deprive
your target of those 10 points of energy. It's definately a useful skill for a
quick fill that cools down rather quickly. It also helps to cripple your
opposition.
Offering of Blood (Necromancer):
Yea.... really only used when you are using a build that cripples your regen...
even then... I'm not a big fan of damaging yourself for mana, Monks are always
spike targets anyways...
Other Skills:
Heal Other:
It's essential, you'll be using it a lot, especially if you don't have Word of
Healing. If you do, consider substituting something else in here, maybe even
Dwayna's Kiss. Definately not Healing Breeze.
Orison of Healing:
Bread and butter skill right here. Low cost, short cooldown, decent 80-90 point
heal with divine favor, what's not to like? [Editor's Note: I never use this
skill, personally. I slot Dwayna's Kiss, instead.]
Healing Seed:
The anti-smite spell, toss it on your partner and stand next to him if they're
trying to smite you. Pretty much nullifies Balth Aura and Zealot's fire. The
ever popular healing ball is a wonderful strategy for holding altars.
Healing Touch:
Not exactly all that useful, it's primarily employed as a self heal due to its
quick cast and self target ability. More often than not, monks in PvP expect
the other monks to look after them and don't spend as much time healing
themselves, still a good quick fix if needed. [Editor's Note: "expect" is the
operative word here. I got into a lot of trouble early on because I expected
the other monk(s) on my teams to heal me. This did not always happen, and for
a while I was running a build that was almost useless for self-healing. In a
good group the Monks need never fear, but in random groups always make sure
you can keep yourself alive.]
Signet of Devotion:
People often think it's not worth it to take a 2 second cast for a 80 something
heal. The thing is, Signet of Devotion isn't a spell, that means a mesmer can't
shut you down as easily and you can remain active even through backfire until
someone takes it off you. It's also a zero mana cost skill that's always useful
in a bind.
Inspired Hex (Mesmer)/Remove Hex:
Inspired Hex if your prot monk has a good hex removal. It's a free removal
basically that returns you some energy. It's not your job to worry about hexes
and conditions anyways.
Resurrection Signet:
Simple, 2 second cast time. if you're a monk and you're out of the action for
more than 2 seconds, your team is at a huge disadvantage. You shouldn't be the
primary res'r anyways. A Me/Mo with a fast res should be the primary res'r.
PROTECTION MONK
---------------
Elite Skills Rundown:
Top 5 (no order):
Martyr
Shield of Regeneration
Spellbreaker
Energy Drain
Peace And Harmony
Restore Condition
Monk Elites:
Martyr:
A lot of builds run Tainted Flesh making Martyr not exactly useful, same goes
for any type of fragility build; if you Martyr, you'll most likely kill a
teammate. It's still a powerful skill and helps tremendously vs a traditional
build. Take it if you want, but use it selectively. [Editor's Note: this
skill is awesomely useful in most places. A lot of pvp teams stack conditions
like poison and disease, and Monks can go through energy quickly just trying
to counter degen with Mend Ailment. However, without conditions present this
skill becomes a massive waste of an elite. Get a sense for what sort of builds
are out there before you slot this skill.]
Shield of Regeneration:
Actually useful, despite the 15 energy cost, the +40 armor will reduce damage
to a target by 50%, and the regen never hurts. Basically, you'd toss shield on
one of your characters that's not taking spike damage, but is being targetted
(usually the off-target monk) to make life easier for that player.
Shield of Deflection:
Not exactly as useful as Shield of Regeneration. It has only a 5 second
cooldown, so you can spam it, but at a 15 energy cost you may not want to. The
up to 75% chance to block is nice, but Aegis grants a 50% to the party at the
same cost, which may be nicer.
Mark of Protection:
Horrible skill, losing your protection prayers for 10 seconds is just bad.
Never take this in PvP. You need your protection prayers skills.
Peace and Harmony:
A bit different, this is useful if you run a slightly different type of build,
more on this later.
Life Barrier:
Just no.
Restore Condition:
Underrated skill, because of its spammability, I would personally prefer this
over martyr. In most situations when you would martyr a team, you would only be
pulling conditions off 3 or 4 people, you may as well just purge them right off
using this."
Other Skills:
Mend Ailment:
Pound for Pound better than Mend Condition in PvP, do not take this if you are
taking restore condition obviously.
Protective Spirit:
Single-handedly protects against spike damage, keep this up on all 3 monks all
the time.
Shielding Hands:
Reduces smite damage, plus when coupled with Protective Spirit allows your
monks to forget about a target for 10 seconds.
Guardian:
Not essential, lots of people sub it out for something else, it's a useful
skill that's spammable. Most often replaced by a res sig.
Aegis:
Clutch clutch spell, time it right and it can be a very effective counter to
most traditional teams. Obviously does nothing vs Ele Spike teams, still, very
nice to have around.
Inspired Hex/Remove Hex:
Once again, depends on what you need and how much hex removal you need. Lots of
people run hex breaker in their builds so quick hex removal isn't necessary.
Reversal of Fortune:
Nothing to say here... just use it all the time and you're good to go...
-----------------------
4. Builds For PvE & PvP
-----------------------
All builds include commentary from the original poster. My builds, of course,
have my wisdom and genius appended to them.
My Simple PvE Healer/Prot Monk
------------------------------
Healing Seed
Dwayna's Kiss
Word of Healing
Reversal of Fortune
Free slot
Free slot
Aegis
Rebirth/Restore Life
This was a basic build that helped me beat the game, and did very well in the
Fissure of Woe and the Underworld. In places where you can't guarantee you'll
have a good second Monk, or a dedicated healer/protector this build works well.
Basically, I start battles with Aegis to slow down the initial damage from
melee, then Seed whichever Warrior is taking damage (or whoever is most popular
with the enemy). I then alternate between WoH, RoF and Dwayna's to keep party
members healthy. They all cast fast, have fast recharge times, and cost 5
Energy. I've found Reversal of Fortune to be a fantasticly useful spell in the
later stages of the game, as well as the UW/FoW. I cast it, and it heals for
~40 health via DF. Next, something hits the target, and that damage is
instantly negated (which is basically like healing...), then the player gets
healed for that amount, which is up to about 55 points. Considering how much
damage an Aataxe can dish out, that damage negation can be huge. I should
mention that I carry a +27 Energy -1 Regen focus from the desert collectors,
which boosts my overall Energy to around ~60 (I also use some tattoo armor,
and the crafted Henge of Denravi sword, which adds 5 more Energy), and people
using builds with less initial Energy will find my play style ineffective.
(Since I blow 20-30 Energy within seconds of starting a fight, people with
around 40 Energy are going to tap out real fast.)
I prefer Rebirth over other forms of Resurrection because most of the time
there is someone else in the party that can do the mundane resurrections. I
save Rebirth for those times when I'm one of the last people alive, and the
entire dead party is being camped by monsters. When things go horribly wrong,
your Monk usually has the best chance to escape alive due to your healing
abilities, so there were many times when I was the last man standing. However,
you should always carry some type of Resurrect ability, and I find Restore
Life to be an excellent choice in areas where Rebirth is less useful (Sorrow's
Furnace, for example, because monsters camping your corpse are less frequent
there).
This build works fairly well in PvP, although it lacks much in the way of
Energy management. I usually have either Mend Ailment, Healing Touch,
Shielding Hands, or some type of hex removal in my two free slots.
My soloing PvE Smiter
---------------------
Zealot's Fire
Balthazar's Aura
Symbol of Wrath
Divine Boon
Spellbreaker/Shield of Judgement
Blessed Aura
Balthazar's Spirit
Blessed Signet
12 (+4) Smiting Prayers
12 (+1) Divine Favor
This is a simple, but effective soloing Monk. You're a little lacking in damage
reduction, so wearing Judge's/Censor's armor might help. I also carry a +27
energy -1 regen icon from the desert collector, so I start battles with a lot
of Energy. Use Spellbreaker in places where you expect Hex-casting or
Elementalist enemies, and Shield of Judgement against melee. Precast Balth's
Spirit, Zealot's Fire and Blessed Aura, then use Blessed Signet to help
recover Energy. Right before you enter battle against Hexers, make *sure* you
cast Spellbreaker, otherwise you can most likely kiss your enchantments (and
then your life) goodbye. Cast Shield of Judgement (if carrying it) Balthazar's
Aura, Symbol of Wrath, then Divine Boon as needed to keep your Health up (and
trigger Zealot's Fire). Things will be dead before your Balth's Aura runs out.
Blessed Aura will make everything last 32% longer, which means Spellbreaker
runs ~20 seconds, Balth's Aura ~13, Shield of Judgement ~28, and even lowly
Symbol of Wrath gains a second or two.
I only offer this warning: this build works for me, because I'm also a careful
player. I can run against packs of 4-5 Flesh Golems with no trouble with this
build, but 6 or more *always* kill me, because I can't heal fast enough. So
this is certainly not "the best" solo Smiter out there. It's just the one that
works for me. [Editor's Note: recent patches have put a 1 second recharge on
Divine Boon, making it less effective. Additionally, it no longer seems to
trigger Zealot's Fire, although I have not definitely proved this theory at
the time of this writing.]
The 105hp PvE Protection Smiter
-------------------------------
Protective Bond
Balthazar's Aura
Balthazar's Spirit
Zealot's Fire
Bonetti's Defense
Mending / Healing Breeze / Orison of Healing / Healing Hands / Essence Bond
/ Symbol of Wrath / Shield of Judgement
At level 20 you will have a base Health of 480 without any mods. The goal of
this build is to lower that amount as low as possible. Why? Simple magic:
Protective Bond prevents you from taking more than 5% *max* Health in a single
hit. At 480 Health, this is a cap of 24 damage per hit. But at 105 Health,
you're looking at 5-6 points *max* per attack. How do you get 105 Health?
Simple: five superior runes in your gear (one of each type, and double up on
one for the last). With level 13 Mending, you'll have a Health regen of +4,
and a Healing Breeze regen of +8. Together, you can pretty much blow off even
the most wicked degen. Balthazar's Aura and Zealot's Fire are your main damage
dealers. The last 7 listed spells are generally "choose what you like" spells.
I've seen several variants of the 105hp build, and although the first 5 were
common to all of them, the last 7 varied frequently. Essence Bond will help
with your Energy management, while Orison and Healing Hands are there for
additional healing (which is good if you're crazy enough to solo the
Underworld's Aataxes). Symbol of Wrath and Shield of Judgement, of course,
are just additional sources of damage.
With this build, soloing any melee opponents is ridiculously easy. Your mortal
enemy is the enchantment-breaking monster (which ArenaNet is inserting into
areas with increasing frequency). I'm surprised more people don't carry
Spellbreaker to help with these sort of foes. And it goes without saying that
this build is all but useless in PvP, because one Mesmer or Necro will ruin
your day.
As of the more recent patches, Protective Bond is now capped at 3 Energy lost
per attack, which makes it less effective. There are still ways to make a
105/55 (there is a focus item that gives you -50hp, lowering your overall HP
to 55) work, but I don't really know them currently, nor do I really care to.
ILoveEverything's FoW/UW Protector
----------------------------------
Protective Spirit
Reversal of Fortune
Aegis
Shield of Regeneration
Purge Condition
Smite Hex
Remove Hex
Rebirth
I tried that out with 16 protection prayers and 14 divine favor and I have to
say it worked wonders in FoW. If your second profession is mesmer I would go
with arcane mimicry, to cast aegis two times, or hex breaker instead of one of
those skills, probably reversal. Hexes are usually what screws up a monk in
FoW, so having hex breaker helps a lot.
I easily made it very far in FoW using that build with another healing monk
backing up the party. I guess it would work in UW as well, but I didn't try
it out.
SineNomine's 2-man UW Smiting Team
----------------------------------
Monk/Warrior
Protective Bond
Bonetti's Defense
Mending
Symbol of Wrath
Zealot's Fire
Healing Breeze
Healing Hands/Restore Life/Holy Strike/Balthazar's Spirit/something spammable
This build is similar to the basic 105hp Prot Bond Smiter, and will try to get
his max Health down low. He casts Prot. Bond on both party members, Mending on
himself, and recasts a spammable spell to trigger Zealot's Fire. This guy is
the "tank", who will be the target of the enemies' attacks.
Monk/xx
Balthazar's Spirit
Balthazar's Aura
Zealot's Fire
Healing Hands
Succor
Blessed Signet
Watchful Spirit
Essence Bond
This member has +enchantment duration, so the balth aura always lasts 15
seconds or more. Between the two members, healing hands will last 23 out of
every 25 seconds. The tanker will have 7 life regen [4 mending, 2 watchful
spirit, 1 succor] and 2 energy regen [1 from succor].
The 'protector' who is actually just a second smiter, will have the most
problems here. No energy regeneration and a constant drain from succor.
However, the essence bond is generally good enough to counter this in crowds
of more than one. Obviously the second smiter is the one constantly casting
balths aura onto the first guy. When fighting dryers or terrorwebs, the
essence bond gets dropped as does succor.
Diamond Angel99's Basic PvP Healing Build:
------------------------------------------
Elite Skill*
Heal Other
Orison of Healing
Healing Seed
Healing Touch
Signet of Devotion
Inspired Hex/Remove Hex
Res Sig
(*of your choice)
Although the Fi-Boon healer template is effective in PvE, and often times
works well in competition arenas, the -1 regeneration from Divine Boon tends
to have you relying on Offering of Blood a lot more frequently which in turn
makes you a huge spike target.
Healing Breeze sucks. Don't ever take it. Especially if you want people to
take you seriously. It's a regen boost, which is good in PvE, however, in PvP,
90% of damage is spike damage, the other 10% is condition damage, and healing
breeze will only help to balance out the degen. You're better off running
hex/condition removal instead.
Coordinate with your other healer and your prot, don't randomly do things like
you would if you were the only monk in a PvE group. When you're about to do
something big, say it. "I'm seeding X" is a very important call, otherwise if
you both see that he's under smite damage and you seed him at the same time,
you just wasted a 25 second cooldown skill that's very important vs smiters
and you've wasted 15 energy.
Your prot monk is important! Don't forget him, and don't think he can heal
himself, because he can't. He should be top priority for heals.
Many people have suggested running Blessed Aura in place of Guardian and Peace
and Harmony in place of your elite skill. Not only will you maintain 4 regen
pips, but with Blessed Aura and a 20% enchanting weapon upgrade, you can
effectively maintain Peace and Harmony on your two other monks as well as up
to 4 protective spirits.
Shield of Regeneration is a plausible choice here despite my early rant about
regen because the +40 armor is equivalent to a 50% damage reduction which
helps tremendously against spike damage.
Always work in coordination with your healer monks, tell them what you're doing
so that they can pick which targets are more susceptible to damage.
Alternatively, you can run a Life Bond with Blessed Signet and bond up your
entire team and use Blessed Signet to replenish your energy. Keep Peace and
Harmony up so you can spare an arrow of degen and cast protective
spirit/shielding hands/reversal of fortune as needed. This is much more
effective on an altar map.
Mantra of Recovery
Divine Spirit
Divine Boon
Balthazar's Aura
Smite Hex
Channeling
Zealot's Fire
Resurrection Signet
This is a good smiting build for Tombs, but not for Team Arenas. To begin make
sure to have Zealot's Fire and Channeling up always. Your objective is simple
head to areas where there are lots of enemies that will be adjacent to you.
When you initialize your attacks make sure to cast Balthazar's Aura followed
by Mantra of Recovery and Divine Spirit immediately after. Mantra of Recovery
will allow Divine Spirit to recharge in half the time which is very important.
Then begin to spam Divine Boon as fast as possible. You will be using 1 energy
per Divine Boon and as long as 2 enemies are near you you should actually be
gaining energy from this because you will be stealing energy due to channeling.
After Divine Spirit has ended if you have any hexes on you feel free to cast
Smite Hex for a substantial amount of damage. Now recast Zealot's Fire and
Channeling and repeat everything again. This build is especially effective in
Altar matches where many people are stacked right on top of each other and
doesn't even require Divine Spirit to keep your energy up. Of course any build
that runs Nature's Renewal will own you, but that is every Smiting Monks Bane.
And of course since this is PvP always bring your Resurrection Signet, because
nothing is more important then the ability to resurrect someone.
As for equipment tattoos will probably be most beneficial in the initial attack
to ensure you do not run out of energy. I would recommend using 20 20 Divine
Favor staff in hopes of your Divine Spirit recharging even faster and
increasing your Divine Boon casting rate by a bit. As for the mods I would use
Insightful Staff Head and Staff Wrapping of Enchanting. The enchanting will
increase the length on your Divine Spirit and Balthazar's Aura, which can be
nice. For your secondary weapon use the Wand and Focus that add +15 Energy
just incase you run out and need a little extra in a tight situation.
(Teams Arenas variant is a Mo/W with Axe Mastery who uses Shield of Judgement/
Divine Spirit/Divine Boon/Balthazar's Aura/Smite Hex/Penetrating Blow/Zealot's
Fire/Res Signet)
Orison of Healing
Heal Other
Word of Healing
Healing Touch
Healing Seed
Mend Ailment
Smite Hex
Resurrection Signet
This is pretty straight forward. Orison of Healing and Healing Touch are the
best self healing skills. People may think Healing Breeze is effective, but
if you are dealing with hexes or conditions you might as well just get rid of
them. Especially since Healing Breeze can be removed in so many ways. Heal
Other becomes more effective since it is an instant heal. Dwayna's Kiss is
nice, but since you can not target yourself with it and it is somewhat
conditional I prefer to leave it out. I choose Word of Healing over Peace
and Harmony, Aura of Faith, and Martyr because they are enchantments that
are usually shattered and Martyr really only help to fight disease other then
that it isn't really effective. Word of Healing provides the power of Heal
Other for half the energy, which is helpful. As far as Healing Seed goes
there are usually only 2 things it should be cast on...Monks (especially if
one is using Life Bond) and Ghostly Hero in Altar matches other than that.
Otherwise your team should have enough raw healing power to take care of any
other person in need. As far as the condition and hex removal choices go they
are pretty straight forward. Mend Ailment has a much faster recharge time than
Purge Conditions and there usually any heavy condition teams in higher end PvP.
Mend Ailment is better than Mend Condition because it can be cast on yourself.
As for hex removals Smite Hex provides damage and takes less time to cast than
Remove Hex. You may argue that the recharge time is better, but the amount of
time it takes to casts tends to hurt you in the long run. Only hexes that you
should really be worried about removing are Backfire and Arcane Conundrum
everything else you are probably just going to have to deal with, because those
will hurt you a lot more than anything else.
If you are in a coordinated group I would recommend bringing either Smite Hex
or Mend Ailment, but not both. Instead you should probably bring Divine Spirit,
a hard resurrect (preferably Restore Life), or a skill of a secondary
profession such as sprint.
Equipment selection for this I tend to wear Wanderer's with the +5 to
elemental attacks, because that is what you will be seeing the most of. Weapon
choice for this should probably be the Divine Staff with 20 20 for Healing
Prayers. You will probably want to use the Insightful Staff Head and Staff
Wrapping of Fortitude. This will increase your health and energy pools, which
is important to monks and why I avoid using superior runes. Monks need as much
health as they can get otherwise they tend to die much faster. Of course for
your secondary weapon I would choose the +15 Energy Divine Wand and Focus for
that little extra energy when you are in need.
(Teams Arena Variant swaps out Word of Healing for Aura of Faith, since you
yourself will be the most common target of attacks.)
------------
5. Equipment
------------
First, the list of desert collectors, because there is where you can get some
of the best Monk gear in the game:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/showpost.php?p=111070&postcount=76
Second: a website with pictures of 15k and Fissure Monk armor:
http://topolla.net/armor/monk/
A link to the new green items from Sorrow's Furnace:
http://www.guildwiki.org/wiki/Unique_items_list
Also, for those of you seeking the +1 Protection Prayers focus for your
cookie-cutter 105hp Monk, the collector you want is Crispin Bryllis. He is
located right outside Bloodstone Fen, and he wants 5 Jungle Troll Tusks. The
+8 Energy version is carried by "Wintun the Black". He is located midway
between Lion's Arch and the Ascalon Settlement, and he wants 4 Feathered
Caromi Scalps for it.
The -50 hp focus item that people want for their 105/55 Monks is given to you
by Symon the Scribe in Ascalon City, as a reward for completing the "Cities
of Ascalon" quest.
Lastly, here's some useful info from "theallstarcrab" about the various weapon
mods you'll be able to chose from:
"Weapon choice is pretty straight forward. You can use staves or wand and a
focus. I am just going to go ahead and base this on the PvP weapon options,
because those are your best options. These are all maximums.
Wand Options
Improves Casting Speed 20% Chance
Improves Skill Recharge 20% Chance
Energy +15, Energy Regeneration -1
The only reason you would have to use a wand is for the Energy +15 one, but
the Energy Regeneration makes it an unwise choice in longer battles.
Focus Options
Armor +5, Health +45 While Enchanted
Attribute +1 20% Chance, +30 Health
Energy +15, Energy Regeneration -1, Health +30
Improves Casting Speed 20% Chance, Improves Skill Recharge 20% Chance
As far as focuses go if you plan on being enchanted always Armor +5 and Health
+45 can help some although can be ruined quite easy. Focuses get 2 more energy
than staves, but if you put on a Energy +5 Head then that becomes more
advantageous as that.
Staff Head Options
Energy +5
Health +30
Armor +5
All of the staff heads can be somewhat useful. Energy tends to be the most
important thing for a monk the extra energy can be quite useful. Due to the
large amount of health you will be losing in PvP the extra health may be the
difference between life and death. Armor +5 can reduce damage by about 8%.
That can help a little, but the energy would probably be most beneficial.
If you choose any of the armors you should probably get the basic +5 armor
unless you have a specific build changing physical damage to elemental.
Enchantments last 20% longer will only find much use in Smiting and Protecting
Monks. Then there is the choice of Health +30, which will probably be your
best one for most of the time.
There is rarely a time when you will find an advantage with focus/wand over
staff. My choice is a staff with +5 Energy Head and +30 Health Wrapping, but
there are many good options.
In PvP you get to have a secondary weapon also. In your secondary I would
recommend bringing the +15 Energy Wand and +15 Energy Focus. Some of you are
probably wondering why you would want -2 Energy Regeneration, but there is a
good reason. When you have run out of energy you can switch to that combo and
get somewhere between 27 and 32 depending on what Staff Head you are using.
This can be a great energy reservoir in emergencies, but make sure to switch
back to your first weapon when you have depleted that energy."
--------------
6. Monking 101
--------------
Let's talk about Monks. Monks are, in my humble opinion, the coolest class in
Guild Wars. They are the best healers and party protectors, which makes them
immensely popular, yet when configured for smiting attacks their damage can
rival even the most dedicated Elementalist. No other class has the versatility
of the Monk. Plus, as mentioned, everyone loves you, so you'll be more popular
than a plate of cookies at fat camp, as they say. However, just as there is
no character more beloved than a good Monk, likewise there is no character
more reviled than a BAD Monk. (Except for Mesmers. *shakes fist* Damn Mesmers!
Stop countering my spells, you smug bastards!) So if you're planning on
playing a Monk, please do not embarass the rest of us by being the kind of
Monk that inspires "God I hate Monks" topics on websites around the world,
'kay? Just like you would not buy a car before you learn how to drive, so
should you not even *think* of creating a Monk until you know how to play one
properly.
Now, since I know you all came here to read a freakin' textbook on Monk
methodology (that's a joke, son), I'm going to post a very helpful email I got
from a guy named "Surrealknight" that pretty much sums up the basics about
playing Monks that I think every new Monk should read. Correction: "every new
Monk that intends to be a GOOD Monk should read". If you're just looking for
builds, keep skimming. But honestly, if you don't have the patience to read
one page of text, then you probably won't make a good Monk. Seriously - go make
a Warrior. Warrior FAQs have pictures! Of shiny things! Ohhh... shiny things!
Anyway - Surrealknight's Monk primer:
"First of all, I see a lot of monks that are in my group who don't know how to
move. Monks who are stationary, especially when they're being melee'd or pelted
with ranged weapons, die. Monks should practice dodging projectile weapons and
learn how to run around the field and get the monsters off of them. I've
learned that if I run around the tanks 180 degrees then I can cut back straight
across right next to them and the monsters will "hang" on the tanks 9 times out
of 10. That allows me to go back to focusing on the group. It's a lot easier
to keep tanks alive than yourself.
I think most of the best monks will tell you that energy management is really
one of the biggest factors in being a "good monk". If you waste all of your
energy quickly, chances are good that you're going to lose teammates. The best
way to manage your energy is to use 5 energy spells. Try not to cast 10 or 15
energy skills unless it is strategically the most efficient way of handling
the situation. I see a lot of monks, especially in the mid-game, use healing
breeze a lot. Healing Breeze, in my opinion, is best used when combating
health degeneration. I don't think it's wise to use as a general healing spell.
A lot of times (especially past Kryta) 7-9 pips of health regeneration doesn't
regenerate health fast enough and it would be wiser to use Dwayna's Kiss or
Word of Healing and get that 150 health in 1 second rather than 7 seconds.
I think everyone has their own personality of healing. As far as which skills
are best, it's really a good thing for everyone to experiment with healing
spells to see what they need. Suprisingly there is a healing spell for just
about every situation. I have my own way of handling situations and so my
skill bar is full of skills that compliment what I do. I'm sure there are a
lot of people who use skills very similarly, and I'm sure there are people
who use very different skills. I'm sure there are good monks out there who
would look at my skill bar and say, "geez, I would never use *that*!".
Don't feel bad if you can't save everyone. If a team completes a mission then
you did a good job; it doesn't matter if everyone died ten times. The first
time anyone on my team ever died in a mission was while doing the bonus part
of Frost Gate. I felt so incredibly bad that three people fell. As we finished
the mission one said to me that they had never partied with a monk who was
able to keep their team so healthy through the bonus. The rest of the group a
greed, and I realized then that it's more important to make certain that a
mission is completed than to make certain that not a single person ever dies
during that mission. (Even though it definitely helps if no one dies!)
Last thing I'll put in here is that sometimes you party with a character who
believes that because there is a monk in the party they should automatically
become invincible. In the early game (pre-desert) I took a certain amount of
pride in being able to keep these reckless idiots alive. By the time I got to
the desert I learned that these individuals are a great risk to the success of
the group. They tend to stand still while getting pounded by the enemy. They
may have very poor armor. They choose to place themselves in great danger and
yet they're not built to do this. I most commonly find this mind-set in
elemental nukers. [Dao's note: I saw this as well. A LOT.] Not to stereotype
nukers (because there are a lot of them that play very well), but some people
play nukers and believe that since they have the highest damage output (until
they run out of mana or stand there waiting on their skills to recharge) the
monk should focus on keeping them alive over anyone else in the group. I have
easily sacrificed 45+ energy over a period of 15 seconds trying desperately
to keep some of these people alive. Unfortunately that is not healthy for the
rest of the group. I do not think it is impolite to ask these people to try
to hang back and stay out of harm's way so that I can more effectively protect
them from death as well as save some energy for the rest of the team. Most of
the time they comply and are nice. Sometimes you get nasty remarks and/or they
just leave. Occasionally you will find this in necros or warriors. I handle it
the same way with them as well. [Dao's note: I just tell them I won't be
healing/resurrecting them. That usually works well, too, and it's a *lot*
more satisfying for me.]
Monks will always be invited into parties. I've never been kicked out or
refused when asking to party with someone. Unfortunately, you have to be wary.
I've joined tons of groups who simply invited me to join and, once we got
started, obviously thought that I should make them completely immune to severe
damage. They do things like show me that their health is 150/400, while I'm
trying to keep alive two other teammates of theirs who have a sliver of life
left etc. You have to have thick skin when dealing with people, even though
they may say awful things."
---------------
7. Useful Links
---------------
Below are some of the links I use all the time, as well as others that you may
find useful on a per-case basis.
www.google.com
STOP MAKING THREADS ASKING FOR W/MO BUILDS!
www.guildwarsguru.com
Probably the best site for information on skills and quests.
www.guildwarsonline.com
The site I go to when I can't find what I need on the previous site.
www.guildwiki.com
An awesome collaborative site, they have *the* definitive collector database.
Definitely worth a bookmark.
http://www.xennon.co.uk/eliteskills/
All your questions about capping elite skills can be answered here. Bookmark
it, and save yourself a lot of time hunting.
http://cleaned.beyondunreal.com/temp/GuildWars/GW_SkillRewardQuests.htm
This site has the quest rewards and skill trainers for every class. Bookmark.
http://topolla.net/armor
Chrono put together a great site with pictures of all the 15k armors he could
find, and has included some additional info such as material requirements. This
site is a life-saver when you're debating how to spend your 75k, and you want
to know what you'll look like when you've done it.
----------------------
8. Thanks & Disclaimer
----------------------
I'd like to thank the following people for their contributions to the FAQ.
Without you, I'd have actually had to do some real work:
Diamond Angel99 & theallstarcrab - for writing half my FAQ for me, yet still
letting me take primary credit. =)
Surrealknight - for knowing what a Monk should be, and writing it up better
than I could.
Chrono - for doing the thankless task of compiling pictures of all the 15k
armors available (and letting me link to it).
ILoveEverything - for his FoW/UW Protection build
SineNomine - for answering my question about how to make a two-man UW team,
and writing the other 90% of the GW FAQs for us.
ParadoxGP, CamtheMan, Zafal the Waffle, Binro, Cazz, Shocking, reaper_41590,
and anyone else on GameFAQs who submitted information that didn't make it
into the final FAQ. I ended up changing the structure of the FAQ, and some of
the things I asked for I didn't end up needing. But I'm still grateful for
your opinions, and they did influence the work.
And a special thanks to all the crappy Monks I've teamed with in the past. Not
only did you force me to become a better Monk, but you inspired me to sit down
and hammer out this info. This FAQ is for you, my friends. Please stop sucking
now.
Lastly, the disclaimer: Nothing written here is a challenge to NCSoft,
ArenaNet, or any individual or entities' rights or ownership. That's pretty
much a given, right? I'm all about love and respect, people. Love and respect.
On that note, if you want to use anything from my FAQ for your own purposes, I
only ask two things: 1) let me know, and 2) give me credit (or if you're
quoting someone I pulled info from, give them credit instead). I only posted
this FAQ to gamefaqs.com originally, but I don't mind if it spreads. I'm going
to go out on a limb and assume that everyone who contributed thinks likewise.
-----------------
9. Final Thoughts
-----------------
I'm *much* more friendly than most FAQ writers - I answer almost all of the
email I get sent by people, and I try to help when writers have questions. In
addition, I was pleasantly surprised when I wrote my last FAQ that so many
people wanted to email me to thank me for my work - it is very gratifying to
hear how much they enjoyed my style of writing. (Heck, I still get an emailed
compliment every few weeks from people that use the FAQ.) Having said that,
however, I've learned that a few ground rules need to be established.
Before sending me an email asking me a question, ask yourself this: is Dao
the *best* person to be asked this question? Have I exhausted *all* other
avenues of inquiry? Remember: I'm just a guy that plays this game, same as
you. Writing a FAQ doesn't mean I've suddenly become an all-knowing guru with
wisdom beyond the pale. Also important when emailing me a question: good
spelling and grammar. People that write like mentally challenged third-graders
rarely get a response. If you want an intelligent answer to your question,
then ask the question intelligently. Lastly, a few "don'ts":
DON'T ask me questions about how to beat missions/quests. There are other
FAQs for that.
DON'T ask me how to get X item/find X place/locate X guy. I don't know,
either.
DON'T add my email address to your "buddy list", and start emailing me chain
letters and pointless gibberish. You'd think this would be common
sense, because I'm not really your "buddy", and yet it has happened to
me more than once.
DON'T email me to tell me what a crappy FAQ writer I am. I already know.
DON'T ask me non Monk-related questions. What kind of FAQ is this? Exactly.
DON'T email me to tell me cool stories about how 1337 you are, or some
awesome loophole you found in the game. I don't care, nerd.
and lastly...
DON'T ASK ME TO SEND YOU ANY &#@%ing FARMING BUILDS! I swear I will email
you a virus if you do.
Assuming you follow the above rules, I'll do my best to answer your questions.
Email me at dao_jones@hotmail.com.
So that's it! Sorry it was so text-intensive. Hope this guide was helpful to
you in some way. Now get playing, and good luck!
