Question about profession order

I'm rolling a Ranger/Monk, and I just started over since my previous turn I missed a lot of pre-searing skills and quests.

Just wondering what the better order would be, Monk 1st Ranger 2nd, or the other way around. Last time I did ranger 1st, monk 2nd, and I struggled to keep up energy.

Also, I know armor and energy are based on primary profession, what's the Monk's armor and energy pip rate?

I don't understand why Monk for a secondary with ranger, but it doesn't strike me as a good choice.

To answer one of your questions, all caster armor is base 60, ranger is base 70.

Rangers have great energy management for Ranger skills through the Expertise attribute, but they are not heavy use casters.

And you might want to read this Ranger basic guide from our Campfire section
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10261054

The choice of primary vs secondary should be purely based on the role you intend for your character. If you want to play a support character with an emphasis on protecting or healing your team then go monk primary. If you want to play a more offensively oriented character, such as an archer or beastmaster, then go ranger primary.

Monk works just fine as secondary for a ranger. A reusable form of resurrection alone can be worth the choice (particularly if you are still learning the game). In the long run you will have the option to change your secondary as often as you like so do not worry too much about your choice being the right one. Honestly many of my favorite builds do not use their secondary much at all.

...oh, and btw, monks have 4 points of energy regen.

erhm, well, maybe research into urself, cuz this theads are gettin 2 common, make ur own choice, play around and maybe find out what works for u, instead of askin ppl when what works for them doesnt always work for u, but most the time ppl hav R/E or R/W, thats what ive noticed anyway

Sounds like you are trying to heal with a ranger, your primary should be focused on and your secondary should be pulled from occasionally

DPS R/Mo

Marksmanship - Expertise - Smiting Prayers

funky build that is fun and more than effective enough for PVE

also it's different than the status quo which makes it worth it for that alone imo

Also, keep in mind later in the game you CAN change your secondary. So only your primary profession "matters."

What is said above... if u want to monk then mo primary, if you want to ranger then R primary. Both have skills that increase the effectiveness of the primary when seconding, but overall the primary should be ur focus.

A fun example of this is using Signet of Judgement and Bestial Mauling as a beast master. (Not great, but quite fun). Mending Touch, and Rebirth are also viable options for self heal/cond control and rez (in pve).

Monk primary can use some of the ranger skills, eg storm chaser for energy management, natural stride (nf) for self defence, etc. Other classes generaly have better options though.

Ranger base armor is: 70 Armor, +30 Armor VS elemental, +5 energy, +1 regen (Resulting in 25 base energy and 3 base regen).

Monks: 60 armor, +10 energy +2 regen (resulting in 30 base energy and 4 base regen).

As a lower-level Ranger, I can understand having energy problems. Rangers use the Expertise attribute to reduce the energy cost of their attack skills, preps, and traps. Early on, you don't have enough attribute points to keep your Expertise rank high, so you run into energy problems.

Once you have a level 20 Ranger with all 200 attribute points, you can put enough points into Expertise to make your non-spell skills much cheaper. Expertise won't reduce the energy cost of spells.

Check out this table.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Expertise

If you're just starting out, using attacks that cost 10 energy, you're probably still spending close to the full 10 energy each time you use those skills. Later on, if you had, say, 9 in Expertise, your 10 energy attack skills will cost you only 6 energy.

If you're trying to cast a lot of monk spells as a ranger, that's a whole other issue as folks above have already mentioned.

As to what to do, like others have said, it's entirely up to you. Play what appeals to you. Without more info, I'd say stick to ranger primary. There must've been something you liked about that to choose it in the first place. Make a new one, and make sure to get as much out of Presearing as you can this time.

Cheers!

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I should have been more clear. I play together with my wife, so I'm always in a group. I enjoyed ranger, but after trying a few classes, I thought it would be better if we had a dedicated healer.

I figured as a monk/ranger, I'd play a support role, healing and protection, and do ranger for the troll unguent (cheap self heal), and go beast mastery for an "extra" party member to help out with fighting. Primarily though I'd be healing, only fighting when no healing is needed.

EDIT:
I have to admit, thesmiting ranger build sounds kind of cool. When I was playing my first ranger, I used my Bane signet a lot for extra damage, particularly initially in the catacombs, and as a finisher when not fighting undead.

troll unguent is -not- a cheap self-heal for a monk
woh or patient spirit....now theres a cheap self-heal

and the primary monk -should- be backline
u could run a secondary smiting monk for support
but the backline monk should focus purely on heal/prot
usually only relying on their secondary for self-defense utility or e-management

if u want offensive+defensive support (midline)
try paragon (for physical based) or ele (for caster based)