Skills
Conditions:
Mend condition - 5 energy, 3/4 second cast, 2 second recharge
pros-
Fast cast, low cot, fast recharge, heals ally.
Permanently removes the condition.
cons-
cannot be used on self.
slightly longer cast time than others (still not easily interuptable)
only removes one condition
Great for single monk teams, highly recommended.
Mend ailment - 5 energy, 3/4 second cast, 5 second recharge
pros-
Fast cast, low cost, heals ally.
Permanently removes condition.
Can be cast on self
cons-
Longer recharge than mend condition
only removes one condition
Recommended only as secondary condition removal. Long recharge makes it inefficient.
Draw conditions - 5 energy, 1/4 second cast, 2 second recharge
pros-
Fast cast, low cost, fast recharge
Removes ALL conditions from target ally.
cons-
Conditions are NOT removed. They are transfered to the caster
no heal (except possible divine favor bonus)
Recommended for non-monk caster, to remove blindness and crippled from melee party members.
Martyr (elite) - 5 energy, 1 second cast time, 10 second recharge
pros-
removes all conditions from all party members.
low cost
cons-
elite
1 second cast time (not a big deal)
10 second recharge
transfers conditions to caster
recommended only for 8v8, on an offensive caster.
Restore Condition (elite) - 5 energy, 3/4 second cast, 2 second recharge
pros-
removes all conditions from target
huge heal for conditions removed
conditions permanently removed.
cons-
elite
cannot be cast on self
recommended in 8v8 for active protection monk with adequate non-elite energy management.
Other condition removals can be found here
Hexes:
There are a ton of hex removals, so instead of me listing them, click here to see them all.
Ok, now that you know how you can remove conditions and hexes, let's discuss how to identify them based on what you see on your party window, and what to do based on what you know.
There's 4 different effects that a HP bar in the party window can have.
1: pink arrow (pointing down) with no discoloration
This means that the ally is suffering from a non-degen condition (ie. blind, weakness, dazed.) These are top-priority conditions, because they generally severely hinder that ally's damage output. If blind is on a warrior for instance, he misses 90% of his attacks, and does nearly no damage. Remove these as fast as possible.
2: pink arrow (pointing down) with discoloration (pink or green)
This means that the ally is suffering from a degen condition (ie. bleeding, disease, poison.) These conditions are less important, because they generally don't cause harm to the ally's performance. Remove them at your convenience, because the longer they're left on, the more healing you're going to have to do. Communication between teammates is important here, because sometimes a non-degen condition may be stacked with a degen one, making the party window appear like there's only one condition (for instance, if he's blind and poisoned, he appears only poisoned.)
3: purple arrow (pointing down) with no discoloration
This means the ally is suffering from a non-degen hex (such as backfire, spiteful spirit, diversion.) These hexes are generally very mean, and need to be removed as soon as possible, with top priority. They're more important even than non-degen conditions, however unfortunately, hex removal is much harder to come by.
4: purple arrow (pointing down) with purple discoloration
This is very similar to the degen conditions, because when suffering from them the ally will have negative hp regen (ie suffering, conjure phantasm.) But again team communication is important, because some hexes have degen along with other effects (ie migraine.) In general, treat these with less priority than non-degen hexes, but still remove them as quickly as possible.
How much hex and condition removal do you need? This really depends on your team, and no answer is completely correct. If you're fighting 4v4, it's likely that the monk will be the only player with hex removal, in which case I recommend 2 or 3 hex removals (holy veil, inspired hex) and one quick condition removal (usually mend condition.) In 8v8, you'll usually have several players bring hex and condition removal, and what you bring will all depend on what build you're running. for an 8 person group, I recommend at least 4 hex removals, more if possible. There should be at least 2 condition removals, usually restore condition or martyr, and one non-elite such as mend condition or draw.
Ok, now the hard stuff, how to remove hexes and conditions from yourself! For this section I'll give specific strategies for 4v4 play using a boon prot, but the general strategy works for all monk builds.
The most important thing to do with conditions and hexes on yourself is identify them. This is such a huge step, and once you're able to do it you'll be a much better monk. There are a few hexes and conditions you need to know immediately just by their icons.
For sure, you need to be able to recognize the following when you have them on you (ideally you'll know all of them, as stated by a few posters, but these are major ones that monks see a lot) :
dazed - contemplation off immediately, do not try casting long casts, they'll get interupted every time.
deep wound - lowers HP, remove as quick as possible to avoid death :P
Backfire - try to use CoP, but it's safe to use inspired/veil as long as you're at high hp and not under pressure (or if you have Prot spirit or shelter up)
shame - never cast any spells that target ally. to remove (if you have no enchants) cast Boon and then CoP (since boon isn't a 'targetted' spell)
diversion - avoid casting through at all costs. you can remove another hex with inspired hex if you have diversion on you. it will divert the hex you stole, and only for 20 seconds. You can't remove diversion in this way though, as it ends when the skill is cast, much like you can't remove wastrels worry with inspired hex.
malaise - negative energy regen, ends when your energy reaches zero. To remove, simply switch to your negative energy set, and switch back
wither - same as 'malaise'
mark of subversion - treat like shame, boon+cop.
migraine - do not cast long casts, including 1second hex removals. treat it like shame, boon+CoP will work.
arcane conundrum - same as migraine
mind wrack - remove at your convenience, usually spammed by edenial mesmers. if you're holding on your negative energy set (at 0 energy) it'll never trigger, even if he surge/burns you, so leave it on. if you think the mesmer is done for awhile, switch to your other set and remove it any way you can.
soul leech - treat like backfire, althought it's not as powerful
Keep in mind that all hexes have some purpose, so this is most definitely not a complete list of the ones you should know. These are the hexes you're likely to come accross on a regular basis on yourself when you're playing a monk. It does seem like a lot... that's because it is. Once you know them though it's not too hard, but knowing what to do with each of them is.
it's a start, more guide soon
