Prot bond/Balths Aura video

Not much faster as you can now. The damage output was still SoJ in most builds, and it wasn't better then, so it would be easier, but not faster. Actually it was SoJ, Balth Aura, and Zealots Fire... thats how I did it with NO blessed signet.. So there was A LOT Of dmg output..

It's a shame so many decent skills have been destroyed because they were 'misused'. Prot bond especially, as it now has no conceivable use at all, unless you enjoy having no energy. that's not necessarily true. think of a 2-3 man group, where 1 "tank" is meant to hold all the aggro. using prot bond on the other 2 soft targets ensures that any stray attacks aren't hugely damaging, and wouldn't drain your energy too much, provided that it didn't happen often.

not to say that I ever use it, but it does certainly still hypothetically have a use.

I believe you are right about the recharge time, but I'm 50% sure that you're wrong about the energy cost, I used to play smiters in pvp with Balth's Aura... it always cost 25 energy AFAIK. If you had good energy management though, it wouldn't matter. You're right! BA always use to cost 25 energy!

that's not necessarily true. think of a 2-3 man group, where 1 "tank" is meant to hold all the aggro. using prot bond on the other 2 soft targets ensures that any stray attacks aren't hugely damaging, and wouldn't drain your energy too much, provided that it didn't happen often.

not to say that I ever use it, but it does certainly still hypothetically have a use. Think of a monk with:
Balthazar's Spirit
Essence Bond
Mantra of Frost

With a ranger who drops Greater Conflagration and Winter. +3/-3 energy per hit -> net gain/loss = 0. Protective Bond could be maintained indefinatly against any number of targets, as long as the Me/Mo or Mo/Me stays alive.

Alternatively Prot. Bond works against a small number of Elementalist targets with Storm Chaser.

It's a shame so many decent skills have been destroyed because they were 'misused'. Prot bond especially, as it now has no conceivable use at all, unless you enjoy having no energy. Protective Bond is still useable for a 55 solo Mo/W. Yes, the energy upkeep can cause a problem but the Mo/W can easily have plenty of energy with Essence Bond, Bonetti's Defense, Balthazar's Spirit and Blessed Signet (if required).

On Saturday, I watched a guildie solo farm the trolls outside Droknar's Forge and minotaurs at Elona Reach using Protective Bond. Protective Spirit and Healing Breeze were not on the skillbar. Bonetti's Defense provided the much needed energy and also provided the blocking of attacks to allow a +4 Mending to keep health at max pretty much all the time.

The build negated the worry of the usual 55 build where Protective Spirit and Healing Breeze could be interrupted. You can easily stand in aggro without having to do much except hit Bonetti's Defense when it's ready or you're low in energy. The damage output from SoJ was slower due to Bonetti's Defense, but it was still workable. Zealot's Fire wasn't considered as an alternative as there wasn't a spell in the build to use to trigger it. Symbol of Wrath worked okay in a following test, as the monsters took damage, fled and quickly returned back to continue taking damage.

IMO, the Protective Bond build is more suited to non-solo and keeping aggro, especially where there are interrupts from physical attacks.

On Saturday, I watched a guildie solo farm the trolls outside Droknar's Forge and minotaurs at Elona Reach using Protective Bond. I still prefer P.B. for farming sand wurms in the desert. It's way easier and safer than blindly casting P.S./Blessed Sig. while running through the wurm area. Since it's usually only one or two wurms attacking you, energy is never a problem with bonetties. I would however like to see someone use this on the drok. trolls though. 12+ on you would be a challenge.

You're right! BA always use to cost 25 energy! The thing that changed was the cast time...I think it use to be 1 second