Protective Spirit. Am I "doing it wrong"?

meh... spirit bond is a horrible skill imo. sure, the effect is nice, but what do you do if they aren't hitting you hard enough? waste of 10 energy (and that's assuming you aren't spamming it).

prot spirit > spirit bond.



~LeNa~

Quote:

Quote:

On a Monk you should have roughly 600 health anyway. Lets say 580.

So if you're getting hit hard enough for Prot spirit to reduce any damage they'll be hitting you for roughly 60+ damage anyway. They could have hit for 59 however, but in this case, it comes down to just being able to pre prot, and read the situation accordingly.

In the end you'll save a lot more damage with SB than you ever would with PS, as you're actually healing the person when they take the damage as well. The end result is that you won't have to heal the party member as much after you have applied SB as you would with PS.

So. For solo monking, I would generally tend to go with SB.

I'm new to monking, but from reading and just general PvE play...

PS is good to mitigate damage, particularly in areas where you expect to take a lot of repeated mid level damage. It's particularly effective on players with lower health levels in the first place (Players with no health buffs, or Major/Superior runes) due to the lower trigger thresh hold, and as a timed effect, is likely to have at least some effect no matter what if you're in combat.

SB is good at preventing spikes by healing if you take large chunks of damage. Particularly usefull pre-spike, but nearly useless vs pressure. Well timed, it could potentialy neutralize a spike.

So, my advice? Don't use both on the same target. PS I think would prevent SB from triggering.

Seriously, it's probably a matter of preference on the monk level. If you have 2 monks, probably not a bad idea to give 1 to each of the monks, though that could result in the above situation.

In PvE, it probably depends on the area. HM and some high end NM areas, SB might be more functional. as you'll get hit for larger chunks of damage more often. Outside of that, PS is probably more useful.

The other thing to remember is, that on general utility, PS still is helpful when SB triggers, but PS can be helpful on effects that wouldn't trigger SB.

I'm still learning though, so take what I said with a grain of salt.

Both trigger at 60+ damage.
Spirit Bond heals for ~80 when the condition is met.
Protective Spirit negates everything above 60 damage.

Thus spirit bond is more effective at the 60-140 damage range. Starting from 140 damage, prot spirit is better. In PvE Hard Mode, Protective Spirit is generally better. In PvP (the post was about Arena's), Spirit Bond is better, since there isn't much damage that goes above 140.

The use of Protective Spirit and Spirit Bond is the same: pre-prot.

PS isn't particularly good in PvP.

Protective Spirit's and Spirit Bond's trigger points are roughly the same, and if you're not taking any 150-esque hits consecutively you're better off using Spirit Bond. Spirit Bond helps a lot more than Protective Spirits in spikes in any usual situation.

Quote:

Thanks all for those responses. Seems I need to update my build and learn how to use Spirit Bond efficiently.

Are there any mechanisms monks use to "power" spirit bond, or do real monks not use any form of energy management, and rely on careful, and skillful use of the skill? For example, I've been using Glyph of Lesser Energy to aid me in pre-protecting with PS, but it is a cumbersome, 30-second recharge skill, and find myself wondering if it should be replaced, or even any management used at all.

I notice in the post I linked to in my OP, it talks about using a self-defense skill...would I be better off using this than energy management?

iunno... i've tested about every "flavor" skill that people seem to like and they just don't come off as effective as they claim it to be. 95% of my glad points and 70% of my fame are from monking/healing, and, i just never seen a "must-have" factor from SB, SoA, and SH. roughly ~2 weeks after NF was released, i created a build that i monk with when i RA and stil use 'til this day that has given me guarenteed 15+ conseqs almost ALL the time when i monk, but, when i used SoA, SH, SB, ect, they just didn't cut the butter and we have a harder time getting more than 5-6 conseqs.

i'm very fond of the build i created and still use 'til this day, and, i would stand by 'til the very end whenever i say PS is > SB. ^^


edit: @ OP - no, i use glyph of lesser as well, and the energy management is absolutely amazing with skills such as ZB (though i would highly recommend NOT using ZB in AB) and prot spirit. for self-defense, guardian is your best friend. your energ

your energy managment as a monk should be faily high. i monk wit 3 different sets: my low sets (which i am on at ALL times unless pushed/forced to up my energy, which rarely rarely happens), my "normal" set, and my high set (which in my 26 month GW carreer i have only been forced to use this set only twice in pvp).

low set: 45 energy
normal set: 57 energy
high set: 72 energy

an example for some nice energy management for RA would be this: glyph allows you to have a 'very' nice energy storage w/ ZB. 2 free casts and a free +7 energy (if you monk like i do, you play slightly risky/efficiently and don't heal unless they're less than 70ish% health, and by doing so, you can get another ZB off on some-1 for ANOTHER +7 energy)

SB is somewhat stronger on it's own than PS, considering it on it's own is enough to save someone from death under the right circumstances.
Not taking it because of the fear that it won't trigger is dumb. LEarn what does trigger it often. Scythes, Hammers, Sin comboes, 15+ specced axes or adren spikes etc (14 spec axe crits for 59, 14 spec spear crit for 56, expect people in AB to run 16 in their weapon attribute anyway).

If it helps, my typical 4 man bar, most probably stolen from someone is:

rof, zb, mendc, veil, sb/soa (Rarely, I don't like SoA), guardian, mending touch, disciplined stance

I don't see why anyone would favour PS over SB at all, SB negates the damage/heals it, PS just reduces it to 10% of their max. The only thing PS has over SB is that it lasts longer.

I use PS in PvE, but SB in any PvP.

Quote:

You might want to use something other than both mentioned as in reversal of fortune or shield of absorption.It depends on situation.This does not mean to remove PS or SB from your bar.

Quote:

yeah.......PS is great for the insanely large hits

but otherwise, SB

the thread that you have read was purely about RA/TA practise, the skills used in it were only in the content of the arenas, where PS is horrible.

for the rest, if you would like to discuss PS vs SB, there have been threads about this before, please look them up.

closed