At what health level do you want more armor instead?

ok this has been bothering me for some time...

it seems like monks run low on energy faster when they heal targets using only +health runes/mods/insignia, and no + armor stuff.

I understand the need for high health to midigate spikes, prevent deaths.

But in the long run, would'nt having high armor also make it easier on monks?

(theory being, once you get the team's health to a certain level...say, 550. you then use armor buffs to take less damage. this makes monks heals needed less often, because health bars are capped more easily.)

There must be some sort of curve where having tons of health is less important than increasing armor to protect that health...kind of like the "energy management is more important than having higher energy cap" theory. Isn't armor a good health management?

Prot more, less need for healing then.

Its a very good arguement, but you have to take in the fact that all the extra armor ignoring damage that people use now. +def only really helps vs elemental dmg and auto attacks.

I used to like to the run the +15 arm while under a condition on my monk. It seemed to help most of the time.

Remember the blades of steel finish? that was almost +60 ignoring dmg x 2

Fixed. Shadow's argument is right. The more health you have the more likely you (and your teammates) can sustain the armor ignoring damage. More time to react.

i have 580-600 life on every char, on shield-set a bit more.

Hai The Red Messanger, have you herd about dis contraption called the defensive sets?

PvE, go with armor when you are at the 480-500 mark.

PvP, go with more health.

When you have DP, the extra health is more useful than the extra armor/energy. My opinion, anyway.

PvP = More health (Ofcourse, the mods on a shield will be + armour (Casters atleast))
PvE = 500-600 health (my chars) Rest = +armour for the smaller hits.

I play warrior mainly these days and I tend to have between 590 and 640 health regardless of PvE or PvP. It really depends on what I'm doing, what my bar is and what i'm likely to be facing.

This means that in PvP it can fluctuate more because of shield/armor piece swapping etc, while in PvE there is less of a concern of instagib spikes so i don't swap armor stuff around so much.

It really strikes me a s a personal preference thing, and finding the perfect balance will be different from person to person and character class to character class.
Generally though high health in PvP is a priority over added AL where Possible.
Prot monks (usually) make up for that.

thanks for the tips...ill just keep health high

good point about the DP...it really sucks to be ressed and have like 410 max health. you feel like a walking practice dummy with a target on your back.

I guess i need to learn more about protection monks

Protection Monks are better than Healing Monks. I'm not saying healing isn't needed, but the ability to reduce damage, prevent damage, and remove conditions+hexes is normally a Protection Monks job. This is why the Divine Boon Monks were so popular for so long, and why hybrids are run now. I always run Protection when I Monk unless there is no need for it (another player is doing it) or if I'm solo and running a hybrid.