My Monk Build
Brett Kuntz
Incase you want to do another one Rex:
I started out as a basic Monk, using what I deemed after 30 seconds of thinking was a good build. Turns out 4 of the 8 skills I brought I never used, since then I've been swapping them out untill I landed on what I think is a good healing build based on the skills availble at the three towns:
Monk/Warrior (picked warrior at random)
12 Healing
13 Devine Favor
Healing
1) Orison of Healing: 5 nrg, 100+ hp's healed. This is my main powerhouse.
2) Dwayna's Kiss: I found this skill 3 hours or so before Feb event ended. It roughly doubles my healing output.
HoT
3) Healing Breeze: Been with me since the begining. I like it's "fire and forget" usefullness, as well as the ability to spam it. It effectively counters pinkbar, poison, and bleeding when my two stupid removal skills are taking forever to recharge.
4) Healing Hands: I find this a nice anti-sword warrior skill, especially since every 2nd char is a sword warrior. It heals people taking low damage, or lessens larger damage giving me more time to balance the teams health.
Removal
5) Mend Condition: Remove something from someone, then take forever to recharge. Usefull only to the extent I can't find two more usefull skills. Downside is the fact whatever was removed will more then likely come back within a few seconds, making removing it a waste of my time.
6) Smite Hex: Gets rid of pinkbar, need I say more?
Ressurection
7) Vengence: Powerhouse ressurection, by far the best in game. Long range, 4 second cast, and you have at your disposel a full hp/nrg suicidal player.
8) Restore Life: For those moments you can get away with not healing for 8 seconds, 'real' ressurection.
Known issues are, an unused secondary class, and two skills which aren't really effective (5 & 6). I'm looking to see if there's a better way to build a healer, keeping in mind often I'm the only Monk on the team, or there's only one other. Enchantments look nice, but are they really effective?
I started out as a basic Monk, using what I deemed after 30 seconds of thinking was a good build. Turns out 4 of the 8 skills I brought I never used, since then I've been swapping them out untill I landed on what I think is a good healing build based on the skills availble at the three towns:
Monk/Warrior (picked warrior at random)
12 Healing
13 Devine Favor
Healing
1) Orison of Healing: 5 nrg, 100+ hp's healed. This is my main powerhouse.
2) Dwayna's Kiss: I found this skill 3 hours or so before Feb event ended. It roughly doubles my healing output.
HoT
3) Healing Breeze: Been with me since the begining. I like it's "fire and forget" usefullness, as well as the ability to spam it. It effectively counters pinkbar, poison, and bleeding when my two stupid removal skills are taking forever to recharge.
4) Healing Hands: I find this a nice anti-sword warrior skill, especially since every 2nd char is a sword warrior. It heals people taking low damage, or lessens larger damage giving me more time to balance the teams health.
Removal
5) Mend Condition: Remove something from someone, then take forever to recharge. Usefull only to the extent I can't find two more usefull skills. Downside is the fact whatever was removed will more then likely come back within a few seconds, making removing it a waste of my time.
6) Smite Hex: Gets rid of pinkbar, need I say more?
Ressurection
7) Vengence: Powerhouse ressurection, by far the best in game. Long range, 4 second cast, and you have at your disposel a full hp/nrg suicidal player.
8) Restore Life: For those moments you can get away with not healing for 8 seconds, 'real' ressurection.
Known issues are, an unused secondary class, and two skills which aren't really effective (5 & 6). I'm looking to see if there's a better way to build a healer, keeping in mind often I'm the only Monk on the team, or there's only one other. Enchantments look nice, but are they really effective?
Freyas
I'll take a shot at giving some suggestions on improving this build, as I'm pretty familiar with monks(ie. that's what I play 75% of the time)
I'd recommend boosting your Healing more than Divine- since you're mostly using healing spells, the extra point in Healing will give you more additional effect than the 3.2 health you get from the Divine Favor bonus. Possibly drop divine down to 10 or so to put in something from your secondary.
These are both very good skills, and ones that I'd definately bring along. Try to use Dwayna's to heal people that have at least one enchantment/hex, and the more that they have, the better. During the last BWE, I occasionally got over 170 hp healed with this skill before my divine bonus, making it heal even more than Word of Healing in those cases. It routinely did over 100 when playing against teams that used a lot of hexes, compared to the 67 I got with Orison. Definately keep these in.
Healing Breeze is an effective heal, regardless of the damage that they are taking. At 12 Healing Prayers, you get 8 pips of health regen, which is 16 health per second, for 10 seconds. Overall, you get 160 healing, which is almost the same as 2 orisons, and you're free to cast orison and other spells while this is still healing. If you can manage to get your healing up to 14 using a scalp design and a minor healing rune, you'll get 9 pips, taking it up to 18 health per second. It won't cover all your healing, but it definately helps, especially for teammates that just have one person attacking them.
Healing Hands is pretty good, though I generally find that it's not worth the elite spells that you have to give up to take it along. I would recommend trading it out for another elite, such as Word of Healing, which you can buy in Druids Overlook(outpost south of the Wilds). A skill that serves the same purpose, but does much better is Healing Seed, though it can be difficult to acquire. However, if you look me up next beta weekend, I can craft you a charm(though I might need the supplies to craft it).
Mend Condition is pretty worthwhile, especially when you run into conditions such as Dazed on your allied casters or Blind on your warriors. It has a fast recharge: 2 seconds, and can heal quite well if you invest some points into protection prayers. However, if you're not going with any protection, you might want to replace this with something else, unless nobody else on your team can bring condition removal.
I would definately replace Smite Hex if you don't have any points in smiting. Remove Hex has a much faster recharge time, and since you don't have points in smiting, the damage you'll be doing is negligable. On the other hand, if you're not doing anything with your secondary class, I would recommend taking Mesmer as a secondary and using Inspired Hex- even without points in Inspiration, it removes a hex for less energy and has half the casting time. It's got a bit longer recharge(20 seconds effectively as opposed to 15), but for single hex removal, it's much better. If you don't take a Mesmer secondary, I'd recommend replacing this with Remove Hex, or if you can afford the energy, bring Convert Hexes which has the advantage of removing all hexes, though it costs 15 energy.
I generally find that having 2 resurrection spells is a waste of a skill slot. Vengeance can be nice, but it has a limited duration, and only helps if one of your team members is dead. It's generally better to bring along more spells to keep your team alive, and only have a spell for resurrection for emergencies. In fact, if you've got a character with a monk secondary on the team, it's far better for them to bring the resurrects- W/Mo's are great for that, since they are much harder to kill. I'd say bring along Restore Life, but replace Vengeance with something else that might help your team more.
I can see a couple ways you can go with this. I've had fun both with enchantment-based healers and non-enchantment healers... you've got a sort of hybrid with Orison/Dwayna's and Breeze/Hands. If you'd like to do more direct healing, you might look into adding Word of Healing(instead of Healing Hands), Signet of Devotion, and possibly even Infuse Health. For enchantment-based healing, you can add in some protection prayers, or just add in Healing Seed and possibly something like Vigorous Spirit.
For a healer, the best elite skills that I've seen are Aura of Faith and Word of Healing. I'd definately recommend adding in Healing Seed somewhere, as it is in general much superior to Healing Hands, without taking your elite slot(though you can't use it on yourself). If you can't depend on any healing from elsewhere, Healing Hands might be worth keeping in, however, simply because it is one of the few effective ways that a Monk has of keeping themselves alive.
Overall, the biggest problem that I see with your build is that it doesn't have too high of healing output. Orison is nice, and is a great staple healing spell, but it does not do much for healing in emergency situations. If someone is getting hit hard, you don't have any way to save their life, much less if it is you that's getting killed. One possibility to help here might be Divine Intervention- with a high Divine Favor attribute, it'll stop someone from dying, and take them almost back to 1/2 life. I personally use Word of Healing in emergency situations like this(170 hp heal + divine favor bonus if they're 1/2 life or less), but Infuse Health can be quite helpful if you're not being targeted, especially since it casts almost instantaneously.
If you're not planning on using much with your secondary class, I'd almost always choose Mesmer for a secondary class for a healer. It's got some pretty nice skills, even at low attribute levels to help you keep your energy high.... Channelling is definately useful in most situations, as if you've got 2-3 nearby enemies, you can basically gain energy when you cast orison(through the energy steal and regeneration).
I know this isn't as in-depth as Saus's build dissections, but hopefully it'll give you some things to think about in the possibility that he doesn't have the opportunity to get around to this one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kunt0r
12 Healing
13 Devine Favor |
Quote:
Originally Posted by kunt0r
Healing
1) Orison of Healing: 5 nrg, 100+ hp's healed. This is my main powerhouse. 2) Dwayna's Kiss: I found this skill 3 hours or so before Feb event ended. It roughly doubles my healing output. |
Quote:
Originally Posted by kunt0r
HoT
3) Healing Breeze: Been with me since the begining. I like it's "fire and forget" usefullness, as well as the ability to spam it. It effectively counters pinkbar, poison, and bleeding when my two stupid removal skills are taking forever to recharge. 4) Healing Hands: I find this a nice anti-sword warrior skill, especially since every 2nd char is a sword warrior. It heals people taking low damage, or lessens larger damage giving me more time to balance the teams health. |
Healing Hands is pretty good, though I generally find that it's not worth the elite spells that you have to give up to take it along. I would recommend trading it out for another elite, such as Word of Healing, which you can buy in Druids Overlook(outpost south of the Wilds). A skill that serves the same purpose, but does much better is Healing Seed, though it can be difficult to acquire. However, if you look me up next beta weekend, I can craft you a charm(though I might need the supplies to craft it).
Quote:
Originally Posted by kunt0r
Removal
5) Mend Condition: Remove something from someone, then take forever to recharge. Usefull only to the extent I can't find two more usefull skills. Downside is the fact whatever was removed will more then likely come back within a few seconds, making removing it a waste of my time. 6) Smite Hex: Gets rid of pinkbar, need I say more? |
I would definately replace Smite Hex if you don't have any points in smiting. Remove Hex has a much faster recharge time, and since you don't have points in smiting, the damage you'll be doing is negligable. On the other hand, if you're not doing anything with your secondary class, I would recommend taking Mesmer as a secondary and using Inspired Hex- even without points in Inspiration, it removes a hex for less energy and has half the casting time. It's got a bit longer recharge(20 seconds effectively as opposed to 15), but for single hex removal, it's much better. If you don't take a Mesmer secondary, I'd recommend replacing this with Remove Hex, or if you can afford the energy, bring Convert Hexes which has the advantage of removing all hexes, though it costs 15 energy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kunt0r
Ressurection
7) Vengence: Powerhouse ressurection, by far the best in game. Long range, 4 second cast, and you have at your disposel a full hp/nrg suicidal player. 8) Restore Life: For those moments you can get away with not healing for 8 seconds, 'real' ressurection. |
I can see a couple ways you can go with this. I've had fun both with enchantment-based healers and non-enchantment healers... you've got a sort of hybrid with Orison/Dwayna's and Breeze/Hands. If you'd like to do more direct healing, you might look into adding Word of Healing(instead of Healing Hands), Signet of Devotion, and possibly even Infuse Health. For enchantment-based healing, you can add in some protection prayers, or just add in Healing Seed and possibly something like Vigorous Spirit.
For a healer, the best elite skills that I've seen are Aura of Faith and Word of Healing. I'd definately recommend adding in Healing Seed somewhere, as it is in general much superior to Healing Hands, without taking your elite slot(though you can't use it on yourself). If you can't depend on any healing from elsewhere, Healing Hands might be worth keeping in, however, simply because it is one of the few effective ways that a Monk has of keeping themselves alive.
Overall, the biggest problem that I see with your build is that it doesn't have too high of healing output. Orison is nice, and is a great staple healing spell, but it does not do much for healing in emergency situations. If someone is getting hit hard, you don't have any way to save their life, much less if it is you that's getting killed. One possibility to help here might be Divine Intervention- with a high Divine Favor attribute, it'll stop someone from dying, and take them almost back to 1/2 life. I personally use Word of Healing in emergency situations like this(170 hp heal + divine favor bonus if they're 1/2 life or less), but Infuse Health can be quite helpful if you're not being targeted, especially since it casts almost instantaneously.
If you're not planning on using much with your secondary class, I'd almost always choose Mesmer for a secondary class for a healer. It's got some pretty nice skills, even at low attribute levels to help you keep your energy high.... Channelling is definately useful in most situations, as if you've got 2-3 nearby enemies, you can basically gain energy when you cast orison(through the energy steal and regeneration).
I know this isn't as in-depth as Saus's build dissections, but hopefully it'll give you some things to think about in the possibility that he doesn't have the opportunity to get around to this one.
FrogDevourer
I did a lot of experimentation with my monk in the last event. I wanted to test a few skills I couldn't get in January (thx for the help, Freyas), and to try out protection as recommended in another thread. I even tried out smitting to see if the new Zealot's Fire was worth the effort. My personal setup often looks like this:
- Healing 11 (+1)
- Protection 11 (+1)
- Divine Favor 10 (+1)
- Word of Healing (E) : big fat healing spell (use only when the double effect is kicked)
- Orison of Healing : your base healing
- Reversal of Fortune : heals less than orison but much faster, very handy when Orison is recharging
- Mend Conditions : your basic condition remover
- Dwana's Kiss (very nice if your targets is already enchanted by your own enchants) or Shielding Hands (good 10s life saver)
- Healing Seed : somewhat long to cast but it's a nice energy saver
- Vigorous Spirit : works well on swordsmen and chain casters, it's a cheap and efficient energy saver
- Resurrect : IMO better than restore life (spell range)
If I'm not sure there will be a good secondary healer to save my butt in dangerous situations, I usually drop a couple of "target other" skills an replace them by skills I can use for self healing (WoH -> Healing Hands, Mend -> Healing Breeze or Signet of Devotion, Dwana -> Shielding Hands).
- Healing 11 (+1)
- Protection 11 (+1)
- Divine Favor 10 (+1)
- Word of Healing (E) : big fat healing spell (use only when the double effect is kicked)
- Orison of Healing : your base healing
- Reversal of Fortune : heals less than orison but much faster, very handy when Orison is recharging
- Mend Conditions : your basic condition remover
- Dwana's Kiss (very nice if your targets is already enchanted by your own enchants) or Shielding Hands (good 10s life saver)
- Healing Seed : somewhat long to cast but it's a nice energy saver
- Vigorous Spirit : works well on swordsmen and chain casters, it's a cheap and efficient energy saver
- Resurrect : IMO better than restore life (spell range)
If I'm not sure there will be a good secondary healer to save my butt in dangerous situations, I usually drop a couple of "target other" skills an replace them by skills I can use for self healing (WoH -> Healing Hands, Mend -> Healing Breeze or Signet of Devotion, Dwana -> Shielding Hands).
Brett Kuntz
Ah sorry, I didn't have Mend Condition, I had Purge Condidion. I'll try Mend Condition next event to see if 2 second recharge makes removal a little more worthwhile.
Didn't realize I had access to Remove Hex, looks a lot better then Smite, I'll give that a try as well. (Also just want to point out, Smite Hex is only 5 energy, not 15 like this site states). Inpired Hex looks better though, I could dump the 3 remaining stats into the attrib and get maybe 5? energy per 20 seconds. That would help out quite a bit.
Word of Healing looks interesting, I might give it a try. Can I cast it on myself though? I guess I could try replacing Vengence with Devine Intervention, then follor with with a WoH to get them close to full.
Thanks for your input guys.
Didn't realize I had access to Remove Hex, looks a lot better then Smite, I'll give that a try as well. (Also just want to point out, Smite Hex is only 5 energy, not 15 like this site states). Inpired Hex looks better though, I could dump the 3 remaining stats into the attrib and get maybe 5? energy per 20 seconds. That would help out quite a bit.
Word of Healing looks interesting, I might give it a try. Can I cast it on myself though? I guess I could try replacing Vengence with Devine Intervention, then follor with with a WoH to get them close to full.
Thanks for your input guys.
Bgnome
Quote:
Originally Posted by kunt0r
Word of Healing looks interesting, I might give it a try. Can I cast it on myself though?
|
Heal target other ally for 16-67 points. Heal for an additional 15-83 points if that ally is below 50% health.
you cant cast it on yourself

cpukilla
How about this monk/ranger build :
10 Wilderness, 10 (+2) healing, 10 (+1)/5 or 8 (+1)/8 (+1) divine/protection
Melandru's Resilience
Barbed Trap
Draw Conditions
Orision of Healing
Dwayna's Kiss
Healing Breeze
Signet of Devotion/Healing Spring (mainly pve)
Ressurect (or other res)
It doesn't have the outright healing, but it does have excellent defense and condition management.
10 Wilderness, 10 (+2) healing, 10 (+1)/5 or 8 (+1)/8 (+1) divine/protection
Melandru's Resilience
Barbed Trap
Draw Conditions
Orision of Healing
Dwayna's Kiss
Healing Breeze
Signet of Devotion/Healing Spring (mainly pve)
Ressurect (or other res)
It doesn't have the outright healing, but it does have excellent defense and condition management.
Freyas
Quote:
Originally Posted by kunt0r
Ah sorry, I didn't have Mend Condition, I had Purge Condidion. I'll try Mend Condition next event to see if 2 second recharge makes removal a little more worthwhile.
Didn't realize I had access to Remove Hex, looks a lot better then Smite, I'll give that a try as well. (Also just want to point out, Smite Hex is only 5 energy, not 15 like this site states). Inpired Hex looks better though, I could dump the 3 remaining stats into the attrib and get maybe 5? energy per 20 seconds. That would help out quite a bit. Word of Healing looks interesting, I might give it a try. Can I cast it on myself though? I guess I could try replacing Vengence with Devine Intervention, then follor with with a WoH to get them close to full. Thanks for your input guys. |
Smite Hex: Spell, 5en - 2cast - 15recharge
Smite Hex does only cost 5 energy- it has a 15 second recharge. However, Remove Hex costs the same as far as energy and casting time, and has a faster recharge. Inspired Hex is nice because with a couple points in inspiration magic you can cast it for free, and with a mid-to-high level of inspiration magic, you'll actually gain energy by casting it. You're unlikely to ever have use for the hex that you steal, but it's a free hex removal that only takes one second to cast, and it basically recharges in 20 seconds.
The one drawback to Word of Healing is that you can't cast it on yourself. However, that's a major problem with most of the nice Monk spells. There's a limited number of healing spells that you can use to keep yourself alive- Orison, Heal Area, Healing Breeze, Healing Hands, along with a few divine spells like Signet of Devotion, Divine Intervention, and Divine Healing are the only ones that I can think of that you can use to heal yourself.
Madness
Who know what will happen after beta alot of stuff seems unfair while I was playing but by in large it doesn't seem to be much intellegence to this game.
I got to admit I don't really get the combat it all seem so easy no brains or strategic value just who gets a spell off depending on where you are in relationship to your team. I don't get your beef about a monk any healer in any game is always killed first then the spell caster or most powerful player, then all the warriors. That's normal but in this game I really don't think spell caster matters because the 2 class system.
I played DAOC for 2 years its about 5 times more fun for fighting epic battles of several hundred people at a time and has everything this game has plus about 5 times more stuff. I am sure eventially this will get some of that stuff but I was able to get 2/3 the map revealed in one weekend is pretty sad.
I really don't care about the map issue if their are going to be alot of cool castles like in DAOC you can move catapults, rams, tribulets, and buy things for inside the castle like scorpions and your own counter siege equipement.
I don't expect this game to ever be as good as Dark Age of Camelot, that game has been around for alot longer but I kinda want to have something more to a fight then run across the map for a few seconds then rerun and not really control or counter things.
PS. I will kill every monk first so you better run and stop healing yourself LOL.
I got to admit I don't really get the combat it all seem so easy no brains or strategic value just who gets a spell off depending on where you are in relationship to your team. I don't get your beef about a monk any healer in any game is always killed first then the spell caster or most powerful player, then all the warriors. That's normal but in this game I really don't think spell caster matters because the 2 class system.
I played DAOC for 2 years its about 5 times more fun for fighting epic battles of several hundred people at a time and has everything this game has plus about 5 times more stuff. I am sure eventially this will get some of that stuff but I was able to get 2/3 the map revealed in one weekend is pretty sad.
I really don't care about the map issue if their are going to be alot of cool castles like in DAOC you can move catapults, rams, tribulets, and buy things for inside the castle like scorpions and your own counter siege equipement.
I don't expect this game to ever be as good as Dark Age of Camelot, that game has been around for alot longer but I kinda want to have something more to a fight then run across the map for a few seconds then rerun and not really control or counter things.
PS. I will kill every monk first so you better run and stop healing yourself LOL.
Cruel Skeksis
Thats why it seems that 2 monks are so essential, because it is so hard to keep yourself alive, and yet you are such a popular target. Its also why I like seed a lot - you can put it on someone who is being hurt and work near them to be healed as well.
If you are using seed reliably and depending on it however, its good to bring along something cheap to cover it up.
In reply to the post above: I also played DAoC since day one, and I really dont agree with your viewpoint.
The biggest difficulties with DAoC in my opinion are: interrupt system, dps vs healing, zergs, balance, buffbots.
`The interrupt system flat out is terrible. You dont get to 'enjoy' your character because you cant do anything much without moc3 being up as there are so many interrupts flying around anymore.
To interrupt someone in guild wars you have to earn it, it requires a specific strategy and skill your enemy either chose to bring or didnt.
If you think you can spam an interrupt to lock down the Druid, or run up to them and kill them 1v1 like in DAoC, I have news for you. You will never kill that Monk alone, even 2v1 you would be hard pressed.
It's a whole new system of strategy and intelligence.
`First, keep seiges are boring unless you are running in and bombing and leaving. Second... they are still boring compared to 8v8.
`dps is far too high vs healing. A Druid or Healer, whichever you play compeititvely (because we all know Alb sucks for competition), cannot outheal an assist train anymore. Anymore fights in DAoC last and are decided in seconds between competitive groups. First mez, first ST/TWF, DI, Banespike, DD3 all decide the outcome for you. It is a game of 'I Win' counters anymore.
It doesn't sound like you've really TRIED GW enough, it can be extremely difficult to kill a main healer in GW. It's not like DAoC at all. You said that monks had better run from you. I think you have news if you think you are going to take a monk 1 on 1. A monk in GW has no issues at all standing up on his own feet under assault.
Unlike DAoC, healing is a powerful tool here that is difficult to interrupt or shut down. That is why you sometimes see those exciting battles that can last 5 or 20 minutes as you eek out an advantage, and an intelligent team takes it back. In DAoC they never last above a minute anymore. Usually we win or lose within 30 seconds (BF of Perc), and the battle is decided within 5 to 10 seconds maximum 90% of the time.
How is that fun? It is, until you play in a good GW group. Then its garbage.
`zergs are no fun when you have just buffed yourself with your 2 extra $15 a month buffbots, gone out and been waxed by 40 people.
We don't have that in GW. You dont get zerged unless you got pinched in the Tombs, and its totally avoidable because of the ingame pvp map which shows where your enemies are.
`balance is made clear enough when I say Warlocks or Banshees? The simple fact that Warlocks nuke and heal better than any other nuker or any other healer is a clear statement of balance.
Who knows why Lensar (mackey now I suppose) championed such a nightmare, but the ability to kill a high health mainhealing class in 2 seconds while still being able to outheal that class shows that something clearly awry has happened.
I honestly feel that in GW you will not see this kind of salesmanship. Balance seems to be very important to the company, and I have yet to see anything even remotely like that.
`buffbots mean you pay more for DAoC than you do any other game out there. Every month, you pay your extra money so Mythic can keep T&A Associates pleased with their ROI. Its also a pain in the butt.
`testers have left. Mythic has lost many of their great testers because of the inept decisions they keep pushing out. Who wants to test your heart and soul out for a company/game that sees Warlocks or Banshees, or Animists as balanced? They simply do not listen, and you know what? They never have listened too well.
From everything I can see, ArenaNet listens to its testers and furthermore, there are Quality testers here. That is a huge aspect of the game product. Retaining great testers isnt easy, and Mythic just cant. We made a huge exodus.
Mythic once instituted a policy for the TLs where we couldnt bring up a point of issue on our class more than once every six months. Its no wonder then, is it?
Now I dont mean to shoot down your idea, but in defense of you shooting down Guild Wars I pointed out a few MAJOR flaws in DAoC that nothing is going to be done about.
You do not see a single one of those flaws in GW.
If you are really willing to give GW a challenge, I think you will like it. The PvP system here is very superior to DAoCs. The only downside I know of in favor of DAoC is if you are a big fan of huge coding complexities. Not complexities in strategy. Some people really enjoy the complex coding system they use, because of all the unknowns it creates in attempting to find an advantage.
For me though, there is just no clear advantage DAoC has anymore. It takes far more time, it costs far more, and it isnt nearly as fun.
On top of that, buffbots are a filthy practice - and using utterly ridiculous classes to boost sales is poor for the health of the game.
There really are better alternatives. On April 28th just give GW a good try, and coming from DAoC like I do, I think that you also will see in it what I do.
It really IS a fantastic design, and it is far more humane on your budget and time. If you love DAoC like I loved it, then you have met your soulmate in Guild Wars. Trust me, its 8v8 like you've never seen before.
If you are using seed reliably and depending on it however, its good to bring along something cheap to cover it up.
In reply to the post above: I also played DAoC since day one, and I really dont agree with your viewpoint.
The biggest difficulties with DAoC in my opinion are: interrupt system, dps vs healing, zergs, balance, buffbots.
`The interrupt system flat out is terrible. You dont get to 'enjoy' your character because you cant do anything much without moc3 being up as there are so many interrupts flying around anymore.
To interrupt someone in guild wars you have to earn it, it requires a specific strategy and skill your enemy either chose to bring or didnt.
If you think you can spam an interrupt to lock down the Druid, or run up to them and kill them 1v1 like in DAoC, I have news for you. You will never kill that Monk alone, even 2v1 you would be hard pressed.
It's a whole new system of strategy and intelligence.
`First, keep seiges are boring unless you are running in and bombing and leaving. Second... they are still boring compared to 8v8.
`dps is far too high vs healing. A Druid or Healer, whichever you play compeititvely (because we all know Alb sucks for competition), cannot outheal an assist train anymore. Anymore fights in DAoC last and are decided in seconds between competitive groups. First mez, first ST/TWF, DI, Banespike, DD3 all decide the outcome for you. It is a game of 'I Win' counters anymore.
It doesn't sound like you've really TRIED GW enough, it can be extremely difficult to kill a main healer in GW. It's not like DAoC at all. You said that monks had better run from you. I think you have news if you think you are going to take a monk 1 on 1. A monk in GW has no issues at all standing up on his own feet under assault.
Unlike DAoC, healing is a powerful tool here that is difficult to interrupt or shut down. That is why you sometimes see those exciting battles that can last 5 or 20 minutes as you eek out an advantage, and an intelligent team takes it back. In DAoC they never last above a minute anymore. Usually we win or lose within 30 seconds (BF of Perc), and the battle is decided within 5 to 10 seconds maximum 90% of the time.
How is that fun? It is, until you play in a good GW group. Then its garbage.
`zergs are no fun when you have just buffed yourself with your 2 extra $15 a month buffbots, gone out and been waxed by 40 people.
We don't have that in GW. You dont get zerged unless you got pinched in the Tombs, and its totally avoidable because of the ingame pvp map which shows where your enemies are.
`balance is made clear enough when I say Warlocks or Banshees? The simple fact that Warlocks nuke and heal better than any other nuker or any other healer is a clear statement of balance.
Who knows why Lensar (mackey now I suppose) championed such a nightmare, but the ability to kill a high health mainhealing class in 2 seconds while still being able to outheal that class shows that something clearly awry has happened.
I honestly feel that in GW you will not see this kind of salesmanship. Balance seems to be very important to the company, and I have yet to see anything even remotely like that.
`buffbots mean you pay more for DAoC than you do any other game out there. Every month, you pay your extra money so Mythic can keep T&A Associates pleased with their ROI. Its also a pain in the butt.
`testers have left. Mythic has lost many of their great testers because of the inept decisions they keep pushing out. Who wants to test your heart and soul out for a company/game that sees Warlocks or Banshees, or Animists as balanced? They simply do not listen, and you know what? They never have listened too well.
From everything I can see, ArenaNet listens to its testers and furthermore, there are Quality testers here. That is a huge aspect of the game product. Retaining great testers isnt easy, and Mythic just cant. We made a huge exodus.
Mythic once instituted a policy for the TLs where we couldnt bring up a point of issue on our class more than once every six months. Its no wonder then, is it?
Now I dont mean to shoot down your idea, but in defense of you shooting down Guild Wars I pointed out a few MAJOR flaws in DAoC that nothing is going to be done about.
You do not see a single one of those flaws in GW.
If you are really willing to give GW a challenge, I think you will like it. The PvP system here is very superior to DAoCs. The only downside I know of in favor of DAoC is if you are a big fan of huge coding complexities. Not complexities in strategy. Some people really enjoy the complex coding system they use, because of all the unknowns it creates in attempting to find an advantage.
For me though, there is just no clear advantage DAoC has anymore. It takes far more time, it costs far more, and it isnt nearly as fun.
On top of that, buffbots are a filthy practice - and using utterly ridiculous classes to boost sales is poor for the health of the game.
There really are better alternatives. On April 28th just give GW a good try, and coming from DAoC like I do, I think that you also will see in it what I do.
It really IS a fantastic design, and it is far more humane on your budget and time. If you love DAoC like I loved it, then you have met your soulmate in Guild Wars. Trust me, its 8v8 like you've never seen before.
Freyas
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madness
Who know what will happen after beta alot of stuff seems unfair while I was playing but by in large it doesn't seem to be much intellegence to this game.
I got to admit I don't really get the combat it all seem so easy no brains or strategic value just who gets a spell off depending on where you are in relationship to your team. I don't get your beef about a monk any healer in any game is always killed first then the spell caster or most powerful player, then all the warriors. That's normal but in this game I really don't think spell caster matters because the 2 class system. I played DAOC for 2 years its about 5 times more fun for fighting epic battles of several hundred people at a time and has everything this game has plus about 5 times more stuff. I am sure eventially this will get some of that stuff but I was able to get 2/3 the map revealed in one weekend is pretty sad. I really don't care about the map issue if their are going to be alot of cool castles like in DAOC you can move catapults, rams, tribulets, and buy things for inside the castle like scorpions and your own counter siege equipement. I don't expect this game to ever be as good as Dark Age of Camelot, that game has been around for alot longer but I kinda want to have something more to a fight then run across the map for a few seconds then rerun and not really control or counter things. PS. I will kill every monk first so you better run and stop healing yourself LOL. |
The combat system in GW takes some getting used to, and may seem simple to someone who doesn't have much experience in the game- however, if you run up against skilled players, that "easy combat" will see you lying face-down on the dirt within a few seconds. GW doesn't have "epic" battles with hundreds of people, because those don't take skill- they're zerg-fests. The more people you introduce into a battle, the less individual skill makes any difference at all.
You may have revealed 2/3 of the map available during BWE's- but the content that is available during the preview weekends is nowhere near the entire game. Don't worry- there's a lot more to the game than people know about so far, and they aren't even finished with it yet. I never played DAOC, so I can't make much in the way of comparisons, but some of the people I know in the Alpha spent several years playing there, and they pretty much all find GW a superior game in most every respect. I don't know if it's just personal preference, or bias, since I haven't played DAOC, but GW is by far the most fun game that I've had the privelage of playing.
ps. Feel free to attack my monk- it's expected, but if you want a chance to kill me, I hope you've brought lots of friends to help out

mostro
Quote:
Originally Posted by Freyas
ps. Feel free to attack my monk- it's expected, but if you want a chance to kill me, I hope you've brought lots of friends to help out
![]() |
Yeah, from my experience it is usually very hard to take down a decent monk player, especially if the one being targeted is being supported by another monk in the team. Monks also tend to hang in the back of their group making it somewhat risky to go after them because you may go too deep in the enemy territory.
I played as a monk on the last event, and the only thing that I have problems with are those pesky mesmers (and I already know this before hand because my primary is a mesmer


Brett Kuntz
Quote:
Originally Posted by Freyas
I believe you can buy Mend Condition from Denravi- I'd almost always choose it over Purge Condition- though you can't use Mend Condition on yourself. Mend Ailment can currently be used on yourself, despite the description, so if you want to be able to mend your own conditions, you might try that one out as well. IIRC, you can pick that one up in Ascalon City.
Smite Hex: Spell, 5en - 2cast - 15recharge Smite Hex does only cost 5 energy- it has a 15 second recharge. However, Remove Hex costs the same as far as energy and casting time, and has a faster recharge. Inspired Hex is nice because with a couple points in inspiration magic you can cast it for free, and with a mid-to-high level of inspiration magic, you'll actually gain energy by casting it. You're unlikely to ever have use for the hex that you steal, but it's a free hex removal that only takes one second to cast, and it basically recharges in 20 seconds. The one drawback to Word of Healing is that you can't cast it on yourself. However, that's a major problem with most of the nice Monk spells. There's a limited number of healing spells that you can use to keep yourself alive- Orison, Heal Area, Healing Breeze, Healing Hands, along with a few divine spells like Signet of Devotion, Divine Intervention, and Divine Healing are the only ones that I can think of that you can use to heal yourself. |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skills Page
Smite Hex
Description Remove a "Hex" from target ally. Foes near that ally suffer 12-54 damage. Energy Cost 15 Casting Time 2 seconds Recharge Time 15 seconds Skill Type Spell Linked Attribute Smiting Prayers |
Whats it mean the Hex I remove replaces my Inspired Hex? Does this mean if I remove pinkbar off an ally, I have 20 seconds to cast it on a foe? That actually sounds pretty cool.
Freyas
It lets you cast the hex that you remove from yourself or your ally. The only problem can be if you don't have the linked attribute for the hex- most hexes aren't all that great at 0 attribute points, so you're unlikely to get much of a benefit, though occasionally you can get lucky and get a hex you can use- Malaise can be a nice one- they use it on you to drop your energy regen, you can remove it and cast it back on them, and it'll last 20 seconds or so even with 0 attribute.
Thanks for catching the mistake on the skill description for Smite Hex- it should hopefully be fixed soon.
Thanks for catching the mistake on the skill description for Smite Hex- it should hopefully be fixed soon.
kee mo saw bey
2 cents
Picked up a neat spell near the end of the last beta but I didnt have a chance to use it.
Heal Party
Im a Monk/Mesmer and tend toward holding 3 attributes - adjusting them based on party members - i.e. lowering illusion attribute and increasing divine and healing when Im the only monk.
So the spelll that none of you are talking about which I have seen used quite effectively - Thank you Bullet Proof Monk - is a speed increase. BPM is a monk/warrior so he uses his version of speed. Im a Monk/Mesmer so Ill end up using Illusion of Haste. Although it leaves you crippled for a bit at end of the spell, that can be cleared. Havent tried it yet but plan to next beta.
Anybody else using a speed boost for their monk?
I also use healing touch and like it alot. That coupled with Orision and Healing Breeze and you can keep a continuous flow of heath if you have a high Divine Rating.
Based on what was discussed above, I should pick up Kiss and Word and drop signet of devotion and one other. Any body get the area effect restore skill?
Picked up a neat spell near the end of the last beta but I didnt have a chance to use it.
Heal Party
Im a Monk/Mesmer and tend toward holding 3 attributes - adjusting them based on party members - i.e. lowering illusion attribute and increasing divine and healing when Im the only monk.
So the spelll that none of you are talking about which I have seen used quite effectively - Thank you Bullet Proof Monk - is a speed increase. BPM is a monk/warrior so he uses his version of speed. Im a Monk/Mesmer so Ill end up using Illusion of Haste. Although it leaves you crippled for a bit at end of the spell, that can be cleared. Havent tried it yet but plan to next beta.
Anybody else using a speed boost for their monk?
I also use healing touch and like it alot. That coupled with Orision and Healing Breeze and you can keep a continuous flow of heath if you have a high Divine Rating.
Based on what was discussed above, I should pick up Kiss and Word and drop signet of devotion and one other. Any body get the area effect restore skill?
Cruel Skeksis
Heal Party would be great for those times your monks are seeding each other at the lord so everyone is compact as can be - and you get hit by an Elementalist with an AE build.
I havent found heal party yet though.
I havent found heal party yet though.
Freyas
Heal Party can be a nice healing spell, though it is limited in many situations. The things I don't like about it much is the energy cost and cast time. If you need healing, you generally need it now, and 2 second cast times can often leave you with casualties before you finish casting. If the enemy is focus-firing, a lot of the healing from Heal Party can be wasted. I'd say that Heal Party is a useful skill to bring for an E/Mo, though I generally wouldn't put it on most Monks that I build.
As for speed buffs, they can be quite useful. I don't generally use them on my monks simply due to a lack of skill slots available- there's always at least 4-5 skills I'd love to take along but can't fit on my skill bar.
As for speed buffs, they can be quite useful. I don't generally use them on my monks simply due to a lack of skill slots available- there's always at least 4-5 skills I'd love to take along but can't fit on my skill bar.
FrogDevourer
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madness
PS. I will kill every monk first so you better run and stop healing yourself
|


Xapti
with 13 DF I'd rather use divine boon instead of something, and divine intervention instead of the silly waste-of-elite healing hands (condering shielding hands and divine intervention and healing seed do similar things but aren't elite)
Then use word of healing as the main heal, and you'll be pumping out 260+ HP heals easy at only 5 energy cost, and quick recharge.
That's what my monk used, he didn't even have such high attributes and he was healing for 260 per heal.
I dunno if somone said this, but you might want to consider just using vengence, since it's almost guarenteed ther'll be another monk (which will have a normal res) if you are PvP, even likely PvE.
Then use word of healing as the main heal, and you'll be pumping out 260+ HP heals easy at only 5 energy cost, and quick recharge.
That's what my monk used, he didn't even have such high attributes and he was healing for 260 per heal.
I dunno if somone said this, but you might want to consider just using vengence, since it's almost guarenteed ther'll be another monk (which will have a normal res) if you are PvP, even likely PvE.
Dovi the Monk
in the fact with your 13 df, i would defintly agree with the divine boon spell, it is my favorite skill coming out of divine favor. With 13 divine favor youll be giving roughly 45 extra health to every spell, plus orison at 12 is 67 health, so thats 112 health for 6 or 7 energy, and thats not even taking into consideration the extra healing from the actual df attribute.
my personal opinion i dont use vengence, i stick with a good old fashion restore life or ressurection. I mean in pvm a normal rez is the best by far, and in pvp vengence is good until your team reaches 60%dp and vengence becomes almost useless, because its effects are permanent.
i would then take remove hex or smting hex, only like 7 sec rechage i think. much better then smite hex in my opinion. word of healing is always a good elite skill over healing hands, so when ure aly is below that 50% theres an additional 83 health, which means 67 + 83 + 45 = 195 health(man mental math, lol). then theres always heal other, which has been raised to like 280 health for the 15 energy and then like 20 sec recharge. heres a build i made for myself using a pet for protection/annoyance.
monk/ranger
charm animal
orison of healing
heal other
word of healing
remove hex
condition remover one(5 health for each remaining, i find with 0 protection i think it works better occasionally)
divine boon
rez animal(pvm) or healing breeze(pvp)
my personal opinion i dont use vengence, i stick with a good old fashion restore life or ressurection. I mean in pvm a normal rez is the best by far, and in pvp vengence is good until your team reaches 60%dp and vengence becomes almost useless, because its effects are permanent.
i would then take remove hex or smting hex, only like 7 sec rechage i think. much better then smite hex in my opinion. word of healing is always a good elite skill over healing hands, so when ure aly is below that 50% theres an additional 83 health, which means 67 + 83 + 45 = 195 health(man mental math, lol). then theres always heal other, which has been raised to like 280 health for the 15 energy and then like 20 sec recharge. heres a build i made for myself using a pet for protection/annoyance.
monk/ranger
charm animal
orison of healing
heal other
word of healing
remove hex
condition remover one(5 health for each remaining, i find with 0 protection i think it works better occasionally)
divine boon
rez animal(pvm) or healing breeze(pvp)
kai
Quote:
Originally Posted by kee mo saw bey
Picked up a neat spell near the end of the last beta but I didnt have a chance to use it.
Heal Party |
Dovi the Monk
thats a god question
where do u get that skill?
according to the sites ive looked at they dont seem to know and i hvnt found it while exploring or from any bosses....?
where do u get that skill?
according to the sites ive looked at they dont seem to know and i hvnt found it while exploring or from any bosses....?
kee mo saw bey
Picked up "Heal Party" thru a trade by sheer luck. I had never even heard of the spell untill I saw a text message offering at Lions Arch.
I purchased the skill charm and used a monk ring on the skill charm to make it permanent (I hope). Guesss we could cut a deal at the next beta.
Lets say 67 points x 6 to 8 = 402 to 536 points
But it costs 15 points (edited) and 2 sec to cast.
so 402/(15X2) to 536/(15X2) = 13- 18 pts/pts per second
Compare that with:
Word with Divine Boon - About 100- 200 (Ally below 50) points for 5 points and 1 second (But a 4 second recharge) plus mana regen -2
so 100/(5x1) to 200/(5x1) = 20-40 pts/pts per second (But a 4 second recharge)
My Favorite is Healing Touch - About 150 with Divine Boon so 150/(5x1) = 30 pts/pts per second (But a 5 second recharge)
One advantage of Heal Party could be distance. Does Heal Party have a distance issue? (Edit - Distance of Heal Party is Radar Screen per Freyas)
If you factor in Recharge - The Max Table would look like:
Heal Party - 536/(15x2) = 18
Word Heal - 200/(5x5) = 8
Heal Touch - 150/(5x5) = 6
Now Heal Party is looking pretty good.
Please correct Math Errors - Thank You
I purchased the skill charm and used a monk ring on the skill charm to make it permanent (I hope). Guesss we could cut a deal at the next beta.
Lets say 67 points x 6 to 8 = 402 to 536 points
But it costs 15 points (edited) and 2 sec to cast.
so 402/(15X2) to 536/(15X2) = 13- 18 pts/pts per second
Compare that with:
Word with Divine Boon - About 100- 200 (Ally below 50) points for 5 points and 1 second (But a 4 second recharge) plus mana regen -2
so 100/(5x1) to 200/(5x1) = 20-40 pts/pts per second (But a 4 second recharge)
My Favorite is Healing Touch - About 150 with Divine Boon so 150/(5x1) = 30 pts/pts per second (But a 5 second recharge)
One advantage of Heal Party could be distance. Does Heal Party have a distance issue? (Edit - Distance of Heal Party is Radar Screen per Freyas)
If you factor in Recharge - The Max Table would look like:
Heal Party - 536/(15x2) = 18
Word Heal - 200/(5x5) = 8
Heal Touch - 150/(5x5) = 6
Now Heal Party is looking pretty good.
Please correct Math Errors - Thank You
kee mo saw bey
Interesting Thought - When does Heal Party make less sense than Word or Heal Touch? (Taking into acount recharge time)
When you are really only healing 4 people (Max Word) not eight.
Heal Party becomes wastefull (and slow) when you tend be healing only one or two people.
When you are really only healing 4 people (Max Word) not eight.
Heal Party becomes wastefull (and slow) when you tend be healing only one or two people.
Dovi the Monk
[COLOR=DarkGreen]if i remember right heal party only costs 15 energy now, still 2 sec castin time, i forget recharge buts is a medium length one. I think in the heat of battle if the damage is being spread heal party can work pretty welll. while it rechargin word and orison become healers. occasionally heal other if someone is dropping fast. theres an awsome 4 healing skill combo there, 2 main, and 2 that recharge longer. [/COLOR]
Brett Kuntz
Heal Party would be usefull if your team build might be subseptable to AOE attacks.
Dovi the Monk
well, i saw a elem/monk using it in gvg one time, and it really doesnt hve that bad of range, i mean u dont all have to be clumped up together to make thr skill work. there was like 2 rangers right next to him, and the warrior i was killing health went up to, and we were a bit apart from the elem/monk
Freyas
Heal Party was changed a bit- it's 15 energy, 2 second cast time, and 0 recharge. It has a range of your radar- if you can see their dot on your minimap in the bottom right, they'll get the benefit of your healing. If someone is further away than that, they don't get the benefit.
Overall, Heal Party has the potential to do by far the most healing, but it's quite weak against focus-fire. You'll far more often run into situations where one person needs the healing more than your entire party- if 7 of your 8 players aren't taking damage, 7/8 of the healing from Heal Party is wasted, and you could get more healing on that one target by using Orison of Healing.
Overall, Heal Party has the potential to do by far the most healing, but it's quite weak against focus-fire. You'll far more often run into situations where one person needs the healing more than your entire party- if 7 of your 8 players aren't taking damage, 7/8 of the healing from Heal Party is wasted, and you could get more healing on that one target by using Orison of Healing.
kee mo saw bey
Freyas,
Thank you for the answering the range question. I also updated the numbers for Heal Party on the previous page from 25 to 15 points.
On Multiple (Continuos) Casts, Heal Party, on paper, becomes more effective than Word when a single monk is trying to heal more than 2 people at the same time. Obviously this is not the only healing prayer used. Ill use it extensively at the beta and see how it compares, with and without divine boon.
Thank you for the answering the range question. I also updated the numbers for Heal Party on the previous page from 25 to 15 points.
On Multiple (Continuos) Casts, Heal Party, on paper, becomes more effective than Word when a single monk is trying to heal more than 2 people at the same time. Obviously this is not the only healing prayer used. Ill use it extensively at the beta and see how it compares, with and without divine boon.
ratatass
Quote:
Originally Posted by kee mo saw bey
Picked up "Heal Party" thru a trade by sheer luck. I had never even heard of the spell untill I saw a text message offering at Lions Arch.
I purchased the skill charm and used a monk ring on the skill charm to make it permanent (I hope). Guesss we could cut a deal at the next beta. If two monks in PVP had heal party with enhancement spells (Divine Boon) on, they could be pretty effective Lets say 100 points x 6 to 8 = 600 to 800 points But it costs 15 points (edited) and 2 sec plus mana regen -2 (For Divine Boon) so 600/(15X2) to 800/(15X2) = 20-27 pts/pts per second Compare that with: Word with Divine Boon - About 100- 200 (Ally below 50) points for 5 points and 1 second (But a 4 second recharge) plus mana regen -2 so 100/(5x1) to 200/(5x1) = 20-40 pts/pts per second (But a 4 second recharge) My Favorite is Healing Touch - About 150 with Divine Boon so 150/(5x1) = 30 pts/pts per second (But a 5 second recharge) One advantage of Heal Party could be distance. Does Heal Party have a distance issue? (Edit - Distance of Heal Party is Radar Screen per Freyas) If you factor in Recharge - The Max Table would look like: Heal Party - 800/(15x2) = 27 Word Heal - 200/(5x5) = 8 Heal Touch - 150/(5x5) = 6 Now Heal Party is looking pretty good. Please correct Math Errors - Thank You |
I was told by an alpha tester that YOU as the caster is the only one that will recieve the Divine Favor bonus....so the rest of the team will get the 67 heal...not more...
Hopefully Charles Ensign reads this and can verify if this is right or not.
Edit: I have found every skill I ever wanted to test with the Charm Vendor in Lions Arch.
Ratatass
Sausaletus Rex
Quote:
Originally Posted by ratatass
Hopefully Charles Ensign reads this and can verify if this is right or not.
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No, the information you have is right. The DF bonus applies only to the target of the Monk spell (and, yes, only Monk spells) you've just cast. When you cast something like Heal Party or Heal Area, even though it's not specifically stated in the skill description and even if another health bar is displayed as your active target, you're targeting yourself. Heal Party is a spell that when cast on yourself heals everyone in your party within range for that set amount. They don't get that DF bonus heal but you will.
kee mo saw bey
Thank you for the update on Heal Party per divine enhancement. Therefore Heal Party is competitive with Word, etc when healing requires coverage for 4 people or more (At the same time).
Ensign
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sausaletus Rex
Ensign? People actually listen to that newb? He's not even a tester, for pete's sake.
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Things like this can and do change so I wouldn't put money on any combination either working or not working in release. Oh, and never trust skill descriptions. They lie.
Peace,
-CxE