Mo/E or E/Mo new concept build

Hey folks I've been playing with a new build concept using Monk+Ele skills. It's a twist on the low hp builds with damage reduction coming from Stoneflesh Aura. There are some issues with this but I've kinda figured it out. Hopefully I can explain it without confusing the hell out of you:

Here's the needed skills:

[skill]Protective Spirit[/skill][skill]Stoneflesh Aura[/skill][skill]Balthazar's Spirit[/skill]

The issue is with the casting order of PS and Stoneflesh Aura (going to use SA from now on to save a few keystrokes). Like Shielding Hands the casting order DOES matter (PS first then SA). Every once in a while I've noticed I start taking damage out of nowhere normally right AFTER I refreshed PS and SA which I found very odd. What I think is going on is the "old" stoneflesh aura stays in affect until it's duration ends regardless if you cast a new copy of it or not. So what happens is you renew PS+SA but you will start taking damage until the old SA duration ends since you've casted PS "on top" of SA (the "old" SA that is). Once the "old" SA's duration ends your damage reduction will go back to normal. So you just need to make sure you never cast PS+SA until the last possible second to ensure the old copy of SA runs out around the same time as your new copy of SA is going up. I know this is wordy but it's honestly the best I can explain it.

The benefits of this build are the replacement of two skills with one (SH+SoA=SA) and the ability to run this build with up to 250HP (Level 12 Earth Magic gives -25 reduction from SA). The downfall is having to use Healing Prayers to combat degeneration instead of that nice +10 Pip Mystic Regeneration. Since some areas don't have any degeneration at all then this build does nicely (not to mention 250HP helps a bunch to combat degen).

So you might be thinking: "Why would I want to invest into level 12 Earth Magic when I've already invested points into Protection Prayers?" Well I tried this combo out because I wanted to use Sliver Armor to slowly kill things off to test the "AoE vs 1-by-1" theory. You could, however, lower your Earth Magic attribs to a more reasonable amount as long as it lasts long enough to cover the 15 second recharge, the two second casting time, and the casting animation delay thing. Also theres some nice damage combo's with Earth Magic...Sandstorm+EQ+AS being a typically used cookie cutter example (although exhaustion sucks).

Here's a sample build I've been using in Plains of Jarin HM to kill off bugs:

[skill]Protective Spirit[/skill][skill]Stoneflesh Aura[/skill][skill]Glyph of Renewal[/skill][skill]Sliver Armor[/skill][skill]Mark of Rodgort[/skill][skill]Flame Djinn's Haste[/skill][skill]Balthazar's Spirit[/skill]

I'll update this with the exact attributes when I get home, but it's something like this:
5+3+1 Protection
12 Earth Magic
7-8 Fire Magic (whatever gives 3 secs of burning)
Leftovers in Divine

The 8th slot is flexible; I think I was playing with Healing Breeze in there to combat degen from Ibogas and such.

I use a Firey weapon to keep individuals burning...MoR + Flame Djinns will "loosen" up the mobs while Sliver takes them down pretty fast. Flame Djinns also comes in handy for a nice speed boost between groups of aggro.

Also you can do this even better with an E/Mo since your damage is increased. Use Aura of Restoration in the 8th slot for nice self heals and instead of leftovers in Divine put then into Energy Storage.

Thoughts? I'm particularly intersested in explanations on the "random damage" taken from the Protective Spirit + Stoneflesh Aura stacking issue.

Please don't reply with "why even try because this build works better crapola" because I already know there are faster/better builds out there. This is just a concept so far with a bunch of potential...

I actually came up with a similar E/Mo 300-330hp build acouple weeks ago using stoneflesh with protective spirit. was thinkin of a mass aggro build for vermins usin Sliver Armor and Shockwave. Also Balthazars, Prot spirit, Ward of Stability, Aura of Restoration, and Stoneflesh. and i think healin breeze. but its not good for pulling bunch of vermins as you will get knocked down. Pretty sure it will work for other farms, maybe Slave Spirits, Wardens and others like that. Can also switch out Ward for Tenai's Crystals or Obsidian to kill low health enemies that run away. I'll probably mess with the build i had alil bit. But pretty much same idea, except mine might be a bit more effective with 16 earth. If I tweak the build for better farmin, i was most likely goin to post it. I also, had made a 105hp ele for 16 fire, with glyph of sac, meteor shower, savannah heat, bed of coals to take out big groups of enemies and keep them from fleeing. It works on luxon sin's quest, where I tanked and aggro'd everything luxon sin in the area, and had around 25-30 or more sins on me and killed them all. But when i try it now, for some reason they killed from touch spells. Also, another 105hp to try out. I havent spent much time on it, but was thinkin bout it acouple days ago. I'll most likely make a post for both of the ele builds i had came up with. But just letting ya know I also had come up with something similar to ur idea, but a bit different. the 105hp build is pretty good for mass aggro, then again you seem to get less drops when you kill a big group all at once.

Any chance you could add the template code? I'd rather spend 10 secs copying and pasting the code than 3 mins setting up the build

same Idea was posted 2 weeks after the Nightfall release... as was the 330 hp mursaat farmer...

i played around with this a bit before, but i found that the higher armor in HM make this less dmging than the armor ignoring dmg with other builds, the burining is a good idea tho, havne't tought of that yet.

as for teh random dmg taken, i found if you have at least 19 secs of PS (don't ask me why, i just pulled that out of my posterior), if you use PS just half a sec or 1/4 of a sec before SFA recharges, and immediately follow by SFA (so SFA cast as soon as it recharges), you'll never take dmg. if you space out the two, things get a little iffy.

E/Mo on the other hand, for some reason does not work perfectly. it will always have random dmg taken here and tehre, no matter how long the PS or the SFA is... nto sure why

i used to use it in UW, after NF came out, because i find it more resistant to interrupts and mass aggro with glyph of concentration (savage slashes does not target glyph, and distracting is easy to avoid, maelstrom does nothing to this awesome combo), and alternating obsidian flesh and ward of stability, you can tank ice king easier than anything else.

p.s. try using spirit bond to combat degen, i've always used it for mass degen instead of fighting degen with regen, and it works wonderfully

I've been trying something similar to this with my dervish. You just have to find something with rather low armor, so no Jade Knights. And the mino's can't be killed either because they KD you if you block them. I'm pretty sure it would be easy to farm Cantha's Rarest.

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When I independently invented this idea, soon after Nightfall came out, I named it "Stoneguard" So if you search on that you'll find some discussion.

EDIT: The most constructive idea I recall at the time was using Protective Bond instead of Protective Spirit. The energy cost of that was a lot more affordable if:

A. Protection was 13, even if it took multiple tries holding a +1 20% focus item to get there.
B. Enough of the damage comes in packet sizes too small to trigger the energy cost of Protective Bond, e.g. Kindle Arrows from Avicara. (Being hexed with Barbs would have the same effect, actually. So might making room on the skill bar for Kinetic Armor of something.) Ideally, one could get a net energy gain from the combo of Protective Bond/Essence Bond/Balthy's.

Ya, for some reason you still take damage using Protective Spirit and Stoneflesh. Not sure why either, but the build concept just wont be effective enough for farming, better of using Shielding Hands and SoA with 105hp Ele/Mo with Glyph of Sacrifice, Meteor Shower, Savannah Heat, Bed of Coals, and of course Balthazar's and Essence Bond for energy. then again, it ain't useful enough to farm alot of areas.

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Armor penetration affects Stoneflesh aura... I read that in an old thread...

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Have you considered using [skill]Zealot's Fire[/skill]?

I think combined with MoR this could cause some nice eoe burning for you rather than the single target burning from your weapon. Obviously zealots duration is sixty seconds regardless of smite prayers so it wouldnt need any attribute investment.

Just a thought

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