Official GW Advice to Monks: Cast stolen Hexes

Here is the link to the Article on the Guild Wars site that I want to discuss.

http://www.guildwars.com/competitive...r/zaishen2.php

Now, the quote:

The above quote is a tip for a Boon-Prot Monk in PvP. I think this is terrible advice, since a monk will likely not have the attributes to support its use, and a monk should simply not waste the energy or take the time to stand still to cast. I think teaching such a tip to the general masses, especially to those who could learn from an article discussing how to beat the Zaishen is a terrible disservice to the community.

Please discuss your thoughts on monks casting hexes that they steal.

It is the normal practice of a boon/protect for pvp to use I hex to gain energy as well they do put points into inspiration and it is perfectly fine.There is nothing wrong with it.

Ah, c'mon, it's fun. It does specifically say only to do it if you don't have anything better to do 'cos the enemy team has little damage.

Sure, most hexes don't wory well with no attributes. But it can be funny to chuck migraine back on the mesmer, or wither back on the necro even if it doesn't last long.

I'm not talking about the use of inspired / revealed hex. They are excellent skills for monks to use. I'm referring to the casting of the hex that replaces inspired / revealed hex for the 20 seconds.

I've highlighted the important part.

Yeah, i thinks it's fine in pve, especially if you steal an inspiration hex (although i don't think there are many of those). But for pvp, thats pretty poor advice. Most hexes you steal last for about a second or do such minmal damage that wasting e on recasting them is totally pointless. I do however think that getting into the pratice of stealing hexes is a good idea, since there will be (i believe) a hex stealer that mimics attributes. Anyway if you're going up against a team with a lot smaller damage output then your team, you prolly won't have any useful hexes to steal anyway :P

I don't believe that this is done in normal practice and I don't think you can do this with I hex or R hex recast the hex.

If anything you can use the inspired hex as a 'dummy' to psych out the enemy. How often do you mouse over backfire to check it's dmg?

deep freeze still works fine with 0 in water, 25e isnt something to sneeze at though

Surprising it works. You can cover a hex that might be more important and if your going into randoms your not likely to have the same hexes as your team. case in point a casting of SS had me stop attaicking from a twitch reflex, I used smite hex the thing blinked away the monk healed his buddy and then I got emp on me D:

ummm spirit of failure anyone?? cast that bad boy on a warrior and ur getting 4e every 4 swings for 30 seconds..
lightning surge is fun too.

I agree with a few of the recent replies. Obviously you are a healer first, but there is nothing wrong with being creative in the moment, depending on how the situation is unfolding. Just place the extra points in the mesmer attribute you think you'll maybe have a shot at using. You never know.

In Alliance Battles I have killed enemy MM's with a well-placed Backfire and gotten warriors off my back by reusing Images of Remorse. They dont know if it came from a primary mesmer or a lowly monk and as said above, a number of hexes work just fine irregardless of point spread (better yes on a primary mesmer of course).

Diverting Diversion is fun

There are several skills that can prove useful even at 0 attributes. Its up to the BProt to use his judgment as to whether his team will need that energy for a heal of if he should drop a little somethingsomethin into the offensive. many elite hexes are well worth the cost due to their enhanced effects. many skills have unconditional uptime or an effect outside the attribute (ex; cast guilt or shame to wreak a little extra havoc on spell spammers with a poor mans interupt).

Knowing what to use and when to use it is part of being a BoonProt. @OP: I suggest you start learning instead of dismissing a tactic out of hand.

The thing is Monks cant really "spare" any energy, unless the other team just isn't pressuring at all. But I love it when I see a Monk attempt to cast a 3 second skill that he just IHexed off, just so I can -26 him. You can never spare 26 energy mid-battle. Just my opinion from a Mesmer. =]

Recast those ele water hexes nicely

I do it all the time in PvE, because with Boon Prot, you pretty much OVER-heal people. In PvP there's a few you can reuse, but most of the time it's best not to.

Deep Freeze, Spirit of Failure, and Shadow of Fear are effective.

Everything else is a waste of energy, for the most part.

lol. mesmer:'im using migrane on xxx monk"
Mesmer"shit" "i have migrane on me!!"

If you're being hit by mantra of recovery/diversion spammers, then you remove diversion from the other monk (removing it from yourself) then you use the hex you removed to remove the next cast of diversion on yourself, and you can cast a whole lot better that way.

If you have spare energy and time, meh, why not? If you are wise on it's use, it could actually be helpful to cast a random hex, even if you have no attributes in that category.

Cast empathy on a tank and they will likely stop attacking since they are not likely to notice that the Empathy cast on them does almost no damage to them.

If nothing else, it could be a nice cover hex for your teammate.