Well here it is then..my monk

First and foremost: This is a PVE build. It does an ok job in PVP most of the time but due to its low hp and lack of defensive skills it can die very quikly.

Once i collected all the skills i have been using this build for almost a year. and usually noone dies unless i say so. Altough i have factions and most of the new skills except for a few elites i havent used any of them since none really work well for me.
So here goes:

All tattoo armor with Censors Vestments (Vigor rune highly recommended)
Kephets Refuge

Healing Prayers: 16 (12+3+1)
Divine Favor 14 (12+2)
6 points left

Word of Healing (e) 5/¾/4
Orison of Healing 5/1/2
Healing Touch 5/¾/5
Heal Party 15/2/2
Healing Seed 10/2/25
Healing Breeze 10/1/2
Rebirth 10//6
1 slot left to fill with whatever the situation is going to require.


Due to the low cost and quik recharge you can keep throwing WoH and OoH quite fast and lots of times. I do usually wait with WoH untill the ally is below 50% health to maximize its efficiency. And with this build, efficiency is key as it has no ability whatsoever to gain energy. Altough im a secondary mesmer i never bring any mesmer skills.

When your warriors run to the frontline to blob some guy look at the one taking most of the damage and throw Healing Seed on him. With the above attributes that will heal both the guy it was cast on and everyone around him for 32 health, making it extremely usefull if theyre also taking AoE dmg.

Healing Touch is used both as a self heal and for any other casters near me. Sometimes complemented by Healing Breeze. Most of the time i use Breeze to counter degeneration effects. Due to its energy cost however i tend to only use it when the battle is almost over.

Heal Party is often replaced by Divine Healing when i have a good MM on the team as it can do an area heal of 243 hp. So bringing this depends on what were getting into and whats in the team.

Then theres one slot left. I carry a capture signet in it most of the time incase i come across some nice elite but i also fill it with Vigorous spirit every now and then. Again, it depends on the situation. Vigorous Spirit works extremely well in combination with Healing Seed. Basically, while the ally is attacking and getting hit hes healing himself. Giving me more time and energy to focus on other people. Another skill i sometimes bring is Purge Conditions As it removes just about any condition you can think of. Like before, it depends where were going.

The strenghts and the weaknesses:
Lets start with the cons:
- No energy management other than the players ability to judge the situation and determine when to use what.
- Low hitpoints (less than 400 health)
- Weak Armor

And the pros:
- An extremely effective pure healer build (If played right, but that goes for any class really)
- Can spam WoH and Orison quite often
- Good self healing abilities (high df + healing touch is a great combo)
- Can easily be modified to suit specific needs without breaking the core build due to the 2 open slots.


With this skillset people rarely die with me on a team. When they do die, it is because they ran off to the other side of the map on their own or pull insane amounts of aggro onto them. In which case i dont even bother trying to heal them as theyre a waste of energy. When i know beforehand theres no way i can possibly keep him alive i dont even try.

An example would be a QF where i was the monk. some ranger apparantly didnt know how to move and while the warrior had most of the aggro, 2 or 3 of them would still go after the ranger. trying to heal him sucked up all my energy and i could barely keep the warrior alive. So when i told him not to tank and he just stood there tanking again i figured he should learn the hard way then. After i rezzed him again he finally seemed to get the message.

And just some general word of advice to the newb monks: Dont be the only monk on an 8-man team. A monk can effectively heal 4 people, 5 if your real good. Even if you do have an energy management skill that gives you infinite energy you wont be able to heal 8 people due to skill recharges, energy drains, possible self heals that keep you occupied and people on your team usually spreading out too much. If you are the only monk on such a team, tell them beforehand that its very likely people will die. This way they cant possibly blame you when they do. (they still blame you but those people are idiots anyway and they probably had it coming)

Any comments and suggestions are welcome altough its unlikely ill change much

i say take out orision and put in mend aliment. take out heal party and put Dwayna's kiss. the empty spot i put in Reverse Hexes. so then if you do what i told you i think it will make it better but just my opinion because that would be my build

Warriors will love you for condition removal. Bring one, even with no points in prot, and tell them to call blind etc. The one thing I would suggest is bringing some form of energy management. This build would only have a problem if a fight dragged on to long, and then it would be almost sunk with no way to gain energy. Other than that, great healing build.

Removing orison would break it imo. the reason i have it in is because it heals for 73 (not including df) and can be chaincasted due to its 2 sec recharge. I have experimented with removing Party Heal and using Ethereal Light and that seems to work ok. It heals more than orison and the base heal is also higher than woh with the same costs and recharge.

As for condition removal. i do pack it sometimes but it depends alot on the situation. When going up against critters that drop loads of traps (like scarabs or those warden things for example) it is definatly usefull and in those cases i do bring it along.

Energy management isnt much of a problem for me since im so used to using this build. On most teams im on theres another monk and we can usually manage. In pve most battles dont last long enough for me to run out of energy and even when they do, the primary healing skills (woh and orison) have a very low cost so you never really have to wait that long. You start running out of energy when overusing Breeze or throwing too many party heals around. So i tend to reserve those to getting everyone back on their feet after, or close to, the end of a battle.

I have to admit though that in factions most fights seem to last longer. I dont know wether thats due to the newer players not killing fast enough or if npcs have been upgraded. On prophecies its so easy it almost gets boring.

In most cases i walk out of a battle with 10 or even 20 energy left. When there is another monk theres a good chance he will heal someone before they drop below 50% health. When that happens i dont use woh, so i save 5 energy. i basically only use it when i cant keep up with orison anymore. Healing seed takes alot of work off my hands since in some cases it heals for more than the ally gets hits for and if it doesnt it atleast negates alot of the damage which means he wont need as much healing.

Like in the pros and cons part, it depends alot on how you play and when you use what. With Kephets refuge i have 48 energy, for me..it works great.

1st things 1st...

Get rid of the Major Divine Favor

Next I would add in a condition removal and a hex removal (revealed /inspired hex would work best IMO) ,removing seed or breeze.

Also your equipment could be better suited to your build. You said weak armour, so maybe go with the Judges top + pants and the rest Aestetics. And a Healing suited staff wouldn't hurt. (This section is really not NEEDed, but would make for easier play IMO.)

Quote:

yeah i know what you mean about the rune..still need to replace that. I made this char a year ago and back then runes were kinda expensive so i put it in and never out anymore. Party heal doesnt work on minions btw but i guess that was a typo for the divine healing i mentioned. I havent really looked at Dwayna's Kiss but i probably will tonight.

The weapon is more suited to a prot monk. But it was my 2nd ever green so i figured id keep it :P

I like to keep Healing Seed in however. Even if theres only 2 warriors (or just 1) it negates alot of the damage he takes. That gives me 10 seconds to either focus on someone else or regen my energy a little. I know it doesnt heal much and it might not be the best skill but it does work for me.

Condition removal is reserved for the empty spot really. But incase of skillhunting thats the first one i drop.


except for my elementalist char i ALWAYS carry a res. It makes the most sense really. The monk should be in the back as in, the safe place, so imo its kinda obvious hes the one with a res when things get ugly. He has the best chance to run and survive.

Healing Prayers: 16 (12+3+1)
Divine Favor 14 (12+2)
6 points left

Word of Healing (e) 5/¾/4
Orison of Healing 5/1/2
Healing Touch 5/¾/5
Heal Party 15/2/2
Healing Seed 10/2/25
Healing Breeze 10/1/2
Rebirth 10//6
1 slot left to fill with whatever the situation is going to require

Okay, lets look at your skills:
Word of Healing (E) - very good healing spell
Orison of Healing - good healing spell
Healing Touch - okay healing spell (must touch ally)
Healing Seed - okay healing spell
Healing Breeze - good healing spell
Rebirth - must have
Extra slot

My monk uses the following (I have no energy problems unless I'm in a group with me as the only monk and the rest of the group is reckless):

Divine Boon 5/.25/1 1 energy maintain
Word of Healing (e)
Orison of healing
Vigorous Spirit 5/1/4
Mend ailment 5/.75/5
Remove hex 5/2/7 or Signet of Divotion or Healing Breeze
Blessed Signet 2/0/10
Rebirth

Why these?
Divine Boon - at a cost of 2 energy per Monk spell cast on ally, target ally gains 25 - 61 more life. So people get more health per cast.

Vigorous Spirit - cast on warriors and rangers (now assassins too). Each time they attack or cast spells, target ally gains 1 - 11 health

Bless Signet - gain 3 energy / enchantment maintained. You will only be maintaining 1 enchantment, so you gain 3 energy every 10 seconds (assuming us use it every 10 seconds). Many think this is a waist of a slot. This helps me when I use rebirth. I cast it, my energy = 0. I use signet, then my energy becomes 5. By the time rebirth is recharged, i have at least 10 energy, so, i can cast again quickly.

I use VS (not Verata's Sacrifice ) when I have other people to heal, other than the tanks. So I allow them to heal themselves for a bit.

For me, Dwayna's Kiss is good if you plan to use a lot of enchantments or you are going against lots of monsters that hex. Then again, you are also removing hexes right? So I don't bring it for those two reasons (I don't use many enchantments).

I used to bring Healing Seed, but the recharge time was too long and the enchantment didn't last. So unless you have ways to increase your enchantments, I wouldn't bother with that spell either.

This is what I use, and it works for me.