Orison of Healing
Dwayna's Kiss
Blessed Signet
Life Barrier
Life Attunement
Life Bond
Balthazar's Spirit
Rebirth
Healing @ 14 (10+3+1)
Protection @ 13 (12+1)
Divine @ 9 (8+1)
Smiting @ whatever points remain
Saw this build elsewhere and was considering using it to help out the Tank in my group. Is this a good bonder build? Have any suggestions? Changes? Comments and criticisms are welcome since I've mostly played a pure heal monk and never a bonding one.
My Bonder build
Bastard Son
Lady Lozza
IMHO life barrier is only good in 4 man teams when you need to get the extra enchants to make blessed signet worth something, even then I actually take vital blessing.
Life attunement is only good for casting on other monks who typically do no damage in combat.
Balthazar's Spirit, once again I don't think that this one is much use except if your tank is a 55.
Personally I would stick to prot and DF and take reversal and mend ailment instead of the heals.
The real key to bonding though is remembering that you need about 7 enchantments up, and you have to keep them up. This really only requires 2 skills, Life Bond and Blessed Signet.
BTW if you want a quick lesson in bonding I'll take you to the Isles and show you how it is done.
Life attunement is only good for casting on other monks who typically do no damage in combat.
Balthazar's Spirit, once again I don't think that this one is much use except if your tank is a 55.
Personally I would stick to prot and DF and take reversal and mend ailment instead of the heals.
The real key to bonding though is remembering that you need about 7 enchantments up, and you have to keep them up. This really only requires 2 skills, Life Bond and Blessed Signet.
BTW if you want a quick lesson in bonding I'll take you to the Isles and show you how it is done.
seifer402
if you have 7 enchantments up wont you have a -3 energy degen?? :/
DSey
Quote:
Lady Lozza
Yes you will have -3 regen, but you get 21 energy from Blessed Signet. The key to bonding is to keep casting blessed signet.
DSey, I almost never take damage from bonding (ie. 0 damage because of the reduction) so for me Balthazar's Spirit is useless.
DSey, I almost never take damage from bonding (ie. 0 damage because of the reduction) so for me Balthazar's Spirit is useless.
DSey
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Lozza
DSey, I almost never take damage from bonding (ie. 0 damage because of the reduction) so for me Balthazar's Spirit is useless. Balthazar's spirit is triggered even when the reduction from the bond is 0. As soon as the target of the bond takes damage, you will receive the energy bonus + 1 from B.S. If the damage your target receives is 0, then B.S. won't trigger.
I just tested this to make sure outside Sardelac. I took Stephan and bonded him. The damage received through Lifebond is reduced with 26 points, so I never take damage through Stephan. Yet I do receive energy each time he takes damage. When I placed shielding hands on him (-16 dmg), he no longer took damage and I no longer received energy.
Lady Lozza
DSey, last I tried this I was actually getting -0 dmg from the bond and +0 energy from Balth, so it WAS being triggered. Even with smiting at zero I should still theoretically receive some energy from it. There is of course a chance that my team was taking 0 dmg, there was another prot monk in the group, however I fail to see why Balth would be triggered (to give +0) when this happens.
.killjoy
Thats my build but take out rebirth, and orision of healing and put in mend condition, mend aliment or Reversal of Fortune
DSey
I don't know why you saw zeros, Lady Lozza. So far I've only had purple ones when triggered or nothing at all, but never zeros. Maybe someone more insightful into the matter at hand could provide additional information. For now, I'm a happy Spirit bonder. 
Across The Battle
Sometimes I feel to write an extesive talk on my bonder build, but then I get lazy.
What you plan on doing this for is pretty vague, My bonder build I use in random arenas all the time when I am bored. Whilst Im not done testing it yet, I won't post it, but it has farmed me abou 20k faction just from times of me being more, you commonly get 5 consec, with bad teams.
To take a line from the build a better warrior thread(I think it was): Look at where your fighting and base something off of that. For random arenas, it is just that, random. My build is fine vs regular aggro and some ranger stuff(not a 55 build btw) and can help my team get flawless/near flawless. Hexes however are a major problem, which Im working on right now.
Now I hate to seem like Im just pumping my build and not posting it, which I wouldn't normally do, and Im sure the build has been done many times before. Just think of where your playing against and build something to suit that, and test a little, change a little and so on.
What you plan on doing this for is pretty vague, My bonder build I use in random arenas all the time when I am bored. Whilst Im not done testing it yet, I won't post it, but it has farmed me abou 20k faction just from times of me being more, you commonly get 5 consec, with bad teams.
To take a line from the build a better warrior thread(I think it was): Look at where your fighting and base something off of that. For random arenas, it is just that, random. My build is fine vs regular aggro and some ranger stuff(not a 55 build btw) and can help my team get flawless/near flawless. Hexes however are a major problem, which Im working on right now.
Now I hate to seem like Im just pumping my build and not posting it, which I wouldn't normally do, and Im sure the build has been done many times before. Just think of where your playing against and build something to suit that, and test a little, change a little and so on.
legless_the_elf
Why not be a mo/me and use Mantra of inscriptions?
It only take like 5 in inspiration to cut the recharge of blessed signet down by a third.
You could also use energy tap and maybe a enchant remover
If you wanted to go pure bonder (5 man SF for example)
16 prot (12+3+1)
6 inspiration
12 divine (11+1)
skills:
Life Barrier
Life Bond
Balthazars Spirit
Life Attunement (tank only)
Blessed Signet
Signet of Devotion
Mantra of Inscriptions
Rez of choice
This should work
It only take like 5 in inspiration to cut the recharge of blessed signet down by a third.
You could also use energy tap and maybe a enchant remover
If you wanted to go pure bonder (5 man SF for example)
16 prot (12+3+1)
6 inspiration
12 divine (11+1)
skills:
Life Barrier
Life Bond
Balthazars Spirit
Life Attunement (tank only)
Blessed Signet
Signet of Devotion
Mantra of Inscriptions
Rez of choice
This should work
Bastard Son
Thanks for all the tips, guys. I'm new to the Bonder experience and have yet to actually even test out my build as the tank in our group hasn't been around for the weekend. Any other tips/clues/etc are always appreciated.
Lady Lozza: I may take you up on your Bonding lesson at some point. I'll let you know... thanks in advance.
Lady Lozza: I may take you up on your Bonding lesson at some point. I'll let you know... thanks in advance.
Bastard Son
One thing I forgot to mention, this is mainly for SF runs: completing Orozar's quest and Final Assault (have yet to be able to do either as a pure healer in our group). Our group is a 4-man: Tank, Ranger/MM, ElMo, and I. Also, looking for bonding techniques in general, mainly for PvE. So, keep this info in mind....
sunarel
have you tried divine boon before? as a bonder you get enough energy for it and it gives a nice healing bonus
nitrile
My General PvE bonder setup, with lengthy explanation is this:
16 Protect
13 Divine (sometimes 14 with soulstone, a divine +1/20% focus)
8 Inspiration
1. blessed signet
2. reversal of fortune / signet of devotion
3. life barrier {e}
4. life bond
5. remove hex / holy veil / inspired hex / mend ailment / watchful spirit - choose based on the area
6. Mantra of Inscriptions / Life Attunement
7. Balthazar's Spirit / Essence Bond
8. Rebirth
I've used various combinations of this in Sorrow's Furnace, Underworld, Fissure of Woe, Thunderhead Keep and in the ring of fire, with pretty good success using pickup groups and I don't necessarily rely on the tank being able to hold agro. It is however almost pure protect, and normally I'd rely on there being a healer.
Unless the type of damage a party is going to recieve is almost entirely physical I use Life Barrier. This reduces damage from everything, even including spiteful spirit. Life bond is (rather vaguely) applied just against "attacks" and against some mob compositions is almost worthless - even detrimental (mesmers can shatter, a followup fireball can deliver a killing blow, and the enchant is next to useless anyway so at best, it's chaff). A typical forgemaster trip would have me start with life barrier on everyone but the warrior(s), whom I'd life bond (they're the only ones which _ought_ be taking physical damage and able to handle at least a bit of it - channel to me for energy from balth. spirit), then switch everyone to life bond when we reach the forge master and the shadow beasts come up; by the time the abyssals approach it's usually done and I can generate a fair excess of energy through balthazar's spirit, from here through to the spider cave, and gives me energy to help the heal monk, even if it's just with RoF spam (or alternatively, /dance until fight is over and you have to start using blessed signet again). On the way up to forge, you can temporarily add life bond to anyone taking too much damage, say from shadow rangers, or can't get away from an abyssal.
In Underworld, never put life bond on a soft target or you'll have yourself beaten to death by proxy in the event of agro breach. Life barrier + Life bond on the tank(s) (and in that order) is excellent, provided Aatxe don't get past them. Taking Protective Spirit along isn't unreasonable but you need to target it carefully and quickly. My take is that any group that can't quickly learn to hold Aatxe at the front won't be in underworld long enough to appreciate it so it's not normally one of my choices.
I do use Reversal of Fortune rather than Signet of Devotion almost always. RoF negates one attack but it stacks with bonds in an inefficient way. My idea on this is that whereas RoF may save someone with 40hp left (whose life barrier may have been shattered), signet of devotion won't, but my assumption is I won't be the sole monk in these areas. For that matter I often use RoF as a cover enchant since the AI mesmers will shatter or drain the first thing they see. However in cases, where you put RoF on a barrier+bonded tank your RoF cuts in to heal for all of 4hp - though I get by since if they're only taking 4hp damage, the 42hp from divine favour will probably handle mild health degen, and has served quite well. RoF is also useful to cast on yourself, so you can run from an attacker. And even through Life Barrier, chain lightning hurts and so I find I carry RoF.
Watchful spirit is a useful and very powerful heal, but it's very expensive at 15 energy and without gaining energy from essence bond / balthazar's spirit is very prohibitive. Use in emergencies if you bring it, but usually I'd take a hex/condition removal in its place. However if you are "bonding" around a mainly health degeneration area where most damage isn't direct (the chaos plains in underworld for instance, lots of conjure phantasms, migraine etc). At that point I'd drop most barriers/bonds for watchful spirit.
If I trust a party's warriors to handle agro properly I take essence bond, and perhaps life attunement, but that's mainly only possible around book/keg AI exploits with most groups, and even if you find a good warrior you will still get energy with life bond/balthazar's spirit. This is more or less, how I play a bonder and there's always room to improve, but it works quite well for me. It's possible to play much more passively but with a bit of proactivity (changing maintained enchants based on what's best in a given locale) I find it very effective at throwing a protective screen across a whole party, and a little extra where it's needed.
16 Protect
13 Divine (sometimes 14 with soulstone, a divine +1/20% focus)
8 Inspiration
1. blessed signet
2. reversal of fortune / signet of devotion
3. life barrier {e}
4. life bond
5. remove hex / holy veil / inspired hex / mend ailment / watchful spirit - choose based on the area
6. Mantra of Inscriptions / Life Attunement
7. Balthazar's Spirit / Essence Bond
8. Rebirth
I've used various combinations of this in Sorrow's Furnace, Underworld, Fissure of Woe, Thunderhead Keep and in the ring of fire, with pretty good success using pickup groups and I don't necessarily rely on the tank being able to hold agro. It is however almost pure protect, and normally I'd rely on there being a healer.
Unless the type of damage a party is going to recieve is almost entirely physical I use Life Barrier. This reduces damage from everything, even including spiteful spirit. Life bond is (rather vaguely) applied just against "attacks" and against some mob compositions is almost worthless - even detrimental (mesmers can shatter, a followup fireball can deliver a killing blow, and the enchant is next to useless anyway so at best, it's chaff). A typical forgemaster trip would have me start with life barrier on everyone but the warrior(s), whom I'd life bond (they're the only ones which _ought_ be taking physical damage and able to handle at least a bit of it - channel to me for energy from balth. spirit), then switch everyone to life bond when we reach the forge master and the shadow beasts come up; by the time the abyssals approach it's usually done and I can generate a fair excess of energy through balthazar's spirit, from here through to the spider cave, and gives me energy to help the heal monk, even if it's just with RoF spam (or alternatively, /dance until fight is over and you have to start using blessed signet again). On the way up to forge, you can temporarily add life bond to anyone taking too much damage, say from shadow rangers, or can't get away from an abyssal.
In Underworld, never put life bond on a soft target or you'll have yourself beaten to death by proxy in the event of agro breach. Life barrier + Life bond on the tank(s) (and in that order) is excellent, provided Aatxe don't get past them. Taking Protective Spirit along isn't unreasonable but you need to target it carefully and quickly. My take is that any group that can't quickly learn to hold Aatxe at the front won't be in underworld long enough to appreciate it so it's not normally one of my choices.
I do use Reversal of Fortune rather than Signet of Devotion almost always. RoF negates one attack but it stacks with bonds in an inefficient way. My idea on this is that whereas RoF may save someone with 40hp left (whose life barrier may have been shattered), signet of devotion won't, but my assumption is I won't be the sole monk in these areas. For that matter I often use RoF as a cover enchant since the AI mesmers will shatter or drain the first thing they see. However in cases, where you put RoF on a barrier+bonded tank your RoF cuts in to heal for all of 4hp - though I get by since if they're only taking 4hp damage, the 42hp from divine favour will probably handle mild health degen, and has served quite well. RoF is also useful to cast on yourself, so you can run from an attacker. And even through Life Barrier, chain lightning hurts and so I find I carry RoF.
Watchful spirit is a useful and very powerful heal, but it's very expensive at 15 energy and without gaining energy from essence bond / balthazar's spirit is very prohibitive. Use in emergencies if you bring it, but usually I'd take a hex/condition removal in its place. However if you are "bonding" around a mainly health degeneration area where most damage isn't direct (the chaos plains in underworld for instance, lots of conjure phantasms, migraine etc). At that point I'd drop most barriers/bonds for watchful spirit.
If I trust a party's warriors to handle agro properly I take essence bond, and perhaps life attunement, but that's mainly only possible around book/keg AI exploits with most groups, and even if you find a good warrior you will still get energy with life bond/balthazar's spirit. This is more or less, how I play a bonder and there's always room to improve, but it works quite well for me. It's possible to play much more passively but with a bit of proactivity (changing maintained enchants based on what's best in a given locale) I find it very effective at throwing a protective screen across a whole party, and a little extra where it's needed.