Monks & the Second Profession

Hiya,

Sorry if this isn't the most exciting question, but I've been looking over builds for monks and I haven't found a secondary profession which convinces me to take it on.

I'm currently in pre-Searing ascalon and I can't make my mind up about which secondary profession to use with my monk.

If people could suggest what 2nd profession *they* have used and been successful with (regarding monks), and the reasons why they recommend it, I'd be very grateful

Ideally I want a healer monk who generally "helps out" the team; not a PVP player, so which 2ndary class would compliment this?

thanks!!!

As a healer I personally love Mesmer as the secondary. The energy steal that they get is always very helpful. That is what I use. If you go with War then the monk will beable to farm a little bit better.

Mesmer? Hmmmm. Do Monks often run low on energy?

I've heard that a monk/Warrior is best for in the underworld

they can run low if the group is taking a beating/are aggroing everything within 10 miles.

Considering that you won't be able to enter the UW until ascention, so the choice of going */w isn't that critical at this stage.

My choice initially was Mo/E so that the Glyph of Lesser Energy could help on the high-cost spells. The glyph comes early, the high-cost skills come later.

Mo/Me is also nice for the already mentioned energy drain skills, yet these skills come later in the game.

Necro offers a popular energy management elite in Offering of Blood, yet this is also only available in the late game.

It's a balance with what you wish to do.

Browse through the monk build discussions and decide which one fits your choice.

Generally, what you want to look at as a monk is energy regeneration. Both Mo/N and Mo/Me provide for this need, with Offering of Blood (E) for Necromancers and Energy Tap or Energy Drain (E) or energy-gaining interrupts for Mesmers. Mesmers also have access to Hex Breaker and Illusion of Weakness, but both of those are generally better in PvP than PvE. Mo/E can provide you with limited energy recovery in the form of Glyph of Lesser Energy and Glyph of Energy (E), though I don't generally recommend the elite.

Other than energy recovery, there are a few useful options for monks with a secondary profession. Mo/R provides access to defensive stances or a pet. While Mo/E shouldn't be wasting its energy on costly Elementalist spells, you can get Earth Magic enchantments and wards to boost up your AL or provide evasion and take less damage. At the very worst, you could use Lava Font or Firestorm to make PvE opponents flee from you Mo/N could farm with Spiteful Spirit or use many interesting curses, though again, you will most likely be expected to just heal. Mo/Me probably offers the most options with its stances and energy recovery. And as mentioned above, Mo/W will have great success in farming due to a certain build that's floating around.

If this is not your first character, just pick a profession you don't already have on another character to unlock the skills for PvP. If this is your first character, go with Elementalist because that's my favourite In any case, do all the "introductory" profession quests (the ones where you get free skills) in pre-searing to squeeze out more xp from it. By the time it starts to matter what your secondary is, you could probably do the quests in the desert to change it.

They all have something to offer for the "normal" monk - not counting soloing the world, etc:

Warrior - defensive stances
Ranger - stances? not much here
Elem - earth spells for armor
Mesmer - energy stealing
*Necro - Blood spells to heal yourself, well of blood to heal team, later offering of blood for energy

Necro is my favorite. I started out as mo/elem and used armor of earth when I needed to for the boost to armor. After ascending I tried using the monk's Peace and Harmony, mesmer's channeling and energy drain and finally the necro's offering of blood and find the necro the best for energy management. The others were OK, but I found necro best.

Basically - There are 2 Popular Choices.

A. The "Is Gonna Farm" Monk
Monk/Warrior

Farming...99% of monks in PvE are made exactly for this. Thats why you see so many...they have a move set avialable that lets them solo.

B. The Healer/Protector Monk thats actually going to party and play the game after they hit the desert.
Monk/Necromancer or Mesmer

Monks that are deep into just being a healer or protector for the party DO need energy management (that was one of your questions), so they either go mesmer, or necromancer, usually mesmer, because they can take along a blood is power necro.

Other monk builds..never really used. Be a Rebel and try some other combo..

thanks for the replies everyone. I wasn't expecting that much information!

I think, from what information I've gathered from you guys, that I'll try a monk-necromancer. I like the idea of blood magic; and I think it'll go well with the monk. I can always build a farming monk later for when I'm more used to the game.

ty!!!!!

I choose Mo/E when building my character. It seemed the most rational and versatile grouping at the time.

This is mainly because when in a party everyone wants you to be a healer, which works fine for time. You serve a major role. But when you get out on your own with the henchies you have to play a more aggressive role in the battle. And having long ranger capabilities with the Elementalist really comes in handy compared to the rather weak Smiting skills that seem to be your only offensive skills as a Monk.

You forget that roughly one half of the mobs in the game are "Undead" type - and take double dmg or more from your "weak" smiting skills.

this is what i know:
you want to use your secondary for energy management...

mo/w - ViM <e> can be used with trappers in your team to gain energy and health (better for pvp though). in addition, you have bonneti's defence for farming...

mo/r - beats me... maybe serpent's quickeness? maybe a spirit or something? defencive stances? eh, i dunno.

mo/n - helping with spikes using vamp gaze can be nice, but you really only want oob <e> here... some like it, some don't. i prefer other methods...

mo/me - 99% of the inspiration line is for you

mo/e - you have a lovely combo here that wasnt mentioned yet. using glyph of renewal with divine spirit, allowing you to easilly keep DS up permenantly, reducing those spam heals to 1 E per spell. (keeping it up using a staff wrapping and maybe blessed aura).

note - if you plan on playing as a prot mon, you always have the bonds + balth spirit + blessed sig line. mesmer works here because of mantra of inscriptions though...

I love my monk/necro.

Have had him for ages, only did missions to get him to the desert fast for ascension <We usually always need a monk for FoW =)>

The Pros?

1. Modest mana pool, which allows spells from both to be utilized together.
2. Healing Monk/Prot Monk, or both even, with necro wells/blood magic..it rocks
3. You can play the role of battery if needed, seeing as you can easily heal what you sacrifice to replenish blood rituals, and other saccy skills.

The Cons?

1. Even though you rock at spellcasting, some of your lifetaps require up close combat and with monk armor, that's a no-no.
2. Mana can tend to run out fast as you can't blood ritual yourself. So be conservative.
3.BE careful not to sac life into large amounts or you can die.

Other then that, Monk/Necros rock, as I've explained. I'm sure they could be used in even more lethal comboes, but it's what I'm preferred towards.

Hope this helped a bit.

--The Shim

The best Mo/R I can think of is melandru's resilience with draw conditions. You get the condition removal and energy regen. Plus as long as half of the conditions you get don't cause degen you will gain a net health regen.

This isn't really that great, but it is something to think about.

I tried a monk Ranger (3rd character) and liked the pet early on as a shield. But ... really its not helping me out to much now. Im @ lvl 13 with him and I may drop back and punt w/ a Monk/Mesmer

That's not a bad skill combo but I wouldn't want to invest my elite slot for it, especially if you are counting on it for your energy management as it is too dependent on others to work. The other team/monsters have to apply conditions and you have to pull them before you can gain from them.

Easier just to go mo/ne and use offering of blood as needed.

Mo/N.

I agree wholeheartedly. Mo/N's FTW!!

<read my post above>

--The Shim

The Mo/N is definitly better, I was just throwing something out there as an idea for a Mo/R.