monk guide

[oblivious]

MONK

1) Why would you choose a Monk as your primary profession?

Because of the fact that a Monk is a much needed asset too every party intended on completing a mission successfully. The Monk is also the profession less chosen, which causes a lack of Monks in game and while trying to form a successful party. Being a Monk will lead you to feel appreciated in a party because of the fact that they will solemnly depend on you or other monks in your party. Being a Monk also helps you while trying to find a good party in towns or outposts because, as I have said early, of the lack of Monks and as everyone surely knows by now, every party needs at lest one Monk.


2) What exactly is a Monk?

A Monk is a person that uses divine powers to heal or protect himself or/and party members with a various array of skills or uses divine powers to smite foes with holy damage dealing skills.

3) What are the different categories of Monks found in Guild Wars?

a) There’s the Healer who’s job is too, hence the name, heal himself and party members. This category of Monks is more popular then the other categories.

Advantages of this category:

The advantages of choosing to make a Healer Monk is the quick invites into parties and the quite simple job expected to do within a party: Heal.

You will also see that a Healer doesn’t have a lot of tactical issues to deal with in comparison to other professions or categories of Monks. The only real tactical issue is too find out what healing skills you should choose too better heal the team your in.

Disadvantages of this category:

The Monk doesn’t have a lot of energy to work with, this will force you too think carefully about what skills you should use and why. You will probably have to stay away from skills suck as “Heal Party” which is helpful but costs 15 energy points to use.

The other disadvantage of this category is that farming for gold will be quite difficult because of the lack of firepower in the Healer’s weapons and skills.
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b) Another category of the Monk is the Protector who’s job is too, hence the name, protect his team. This category of Monk is seen less then the Healer but is becoming more and more popular because of the fact that people are starting to see the tactical edge that there team can possess in a PvP or in a particularly hard mission.

Advantages of choosing this category:

The Protector can be very effective in a party if used and mastered correctly and his skills can greatly help your party reach its goal.

The Protector has a lot of skills that work well with one another and let the player experiment with different protecting aspects. This lets the player create is own unique Protector that match is also unique game play style.

Disadvantages of this category:

The Protector is hard to master and the player might have to wait a while for that one skill that will make is skill set complete.

The tactical issues this category has to deal with might overwhelm a player new to the game. A Protector will also have to change is game style frequently to match the team hi his trying to protect, one set of skills wont work well for every party setup.
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c) The last category of Monk that I will talk about is the Smiting Monk, this Monk’s job is too inflict has much damage possible with is holy damage dealing skills.

Advantages of choosing this category:

If you don’t want to be a team supporter but is bent on being a monk then this is for you, the Smiting Monk is kind of like the elementalist because he uses spells to inflict damage on is foe. The Smiting Monk doesn’t have to sit back and let is team mates do all the damage inflicting; he can join them but still keep away from the line of fire.

The skills at the disposal of the Smiting Monk lets the player think tactically about what he is doing, because not all of the Smiting Monk’s skills inflict damage directly, some of them inflict damage depending on what actions the person you cast the spell on is doing or if he is taking damage.

Disadvantages of this category:

While using these skills you will find that, if you didn’t choose your skills properly, you are losing a lot of energy fast, which means you should stay away from enchantments such as “retribution” or “strength of honor” which reduces one point of your Energy regeneration.

Again, this category of Monks demands that you think tactically and is not recommended for players new too the game. The player will also have to change his skill set frequently to match the team that he is in.

4) What secondary profession would best compliment the category of Monk I chose?

a) The Healer Monk: I find that the Ranger does a good job of complementing your healing skills as your secondary profession if you chose the healer monk. You should use the ranger stat “Wilderness survival” because of skills such as “healing spring” and “quickening Zephyr” which will help you complete your job as a Healer.

b) The Protector Monk: I find that the Elementalist does a great job of complementing your protection skills as your secondary profession if you chose the Protector Monk. You should use the elementalist stat “earth Magic” because of skills such as “Obsidian flesh” and because of the three “Ward” skills which will help you protect yourself and your team effectively.

c) The Smiting Monk: I find that the Mesmer does a great job of complementing your smiting skills as your secondary profession if you chose the Smiting Monk. You should use the Mesmer stat “Domination” because of skills such as “guilt” and “power spike” which will help you gain an offensive edge o

[Delaron]

Awesome thanks for the info... I am really thinking of rolling a monk... Rangers seem to get little love in the form of invites... But I love ranger sooo much.

[oblivious]

then may i suggest a Mo/R? The rangers wilderness survival really compliments a Monk's style of game play and tactics

[oblivious]

Do you guys think is hould make some more?


I was thinking of starting one for a Pyromancer... but i wont if nobody really wants me too.. took 2 hours of my time that Monk guide did

Defensive Stances can really help a Mo/R too!

Oblivious, I'm sure all the info is really helpful to newer players who don't have much experience in Guild Wars yet. If it's somethin you enjoy doing (sharing knowledge) then you should definately do more! :P

[oblivious]

Defensive Stances can really help a Mo/R too!

Oblivious, I'm sure all the info is really helpful to newer players who don't have much experience in Guild Wars yet. If it's somethin you enjoy doing (sharing knowledge) then you should definately do more! :P

Thanks! :P

It really makes it worth while knowing your work is appriciated!

P.S. Your right about the defensive stance.. especialy "serpent's quickness" and "Melandru's resilience"! My bad for missing those!

I added them to the Mo/R part of the guide, thx again for the info

[DeathShadow]

A quick question about monks..

Does the monks primary attribute "Divine Favor" really help him out alot comparatively to other proffesions?

I never saw the use in pumping up divine favor (correct me if I'm wrong), unless you are gonna use skills from the divine favor line. It also seems that monk primarys are the first target anyone goes for. I have a Ele/Monk that has severl points in Energy Storage and uses Healing prayers. I have plenty of Energy for heals and the Earth magic wards help out on defense. I am also not the first person everyone focuse fires on in PvP.

Great Guide BTW :D

[oblivious]

Oh you are right.. an E/Mo can be a very good monk in the long run.. but Good luck convincing a party that you are :wink:

And divine favor is really good because it makes your healing skills heal a bonus of +3 for every level your divine favors is. If you level divine favor alot.. you wont need to heal so often.. which will let you heal longer because you wont need to use up so much of your precious energy, so yes it is worth it in the long run

[Spux]

E/Mo is a very good secondary healer.

[oblivious]

yes they can be very effective, but the public doesn't know that and dont trust Mo/E as healers.. I know by experience

[Spux]

a monk is ussuallu hit or miss. You either get stuck with someone who is horrible or you get stuck with someone who is a very good healer. In PvP a monk is ussually neccesary though so you may end up with 2 good monks and a crappy one and the party can fail because of that crappy monk.

[Mahomet The Templar]

Run with two Monks. Two good Monks and a good team can do it. Just don't get one named Mahomet Must Die for instance (lol).

-Mahomet

[Spux]

I have personally found that 2 monks is not enough in long fights and that the 3rd monk can make it a lot easier for the other two monks.

You know hardly anyone runs with only 2 monks like we do Mahomet! We get away with it by usually having 2 defensive characters dedicated to helping the monks protect the team, who can also inflict damage offensively when needed.

[Andromeda]

a monk is ussuallu hit or miss. You either get stuck with someone who is horrible or you get stuck with someone who is a very good healer.

Or you could get stuck with a monk that thinks it's a warrior primary! A sword swingin' Monk! Fear me!

[Andromeda]

You know hardly anyone runs with only 2 monks like we do Mahomet! We get away with it by usually having 2 defensive characters dedicated to helping the monks protect the team, who can also inflict damage offensively when needed.

Actually, we get by with one monk! The second monk is charged with healing Wanderer! :lol:

Oh really? Usually I've wandered too far away to even be in healing range, so we both know that isn't true!

[oblivious]

lol

[Mahomet The Templar]

I guess my point was to challenge ones self a bit. Break out of the box. The game strategies become stale or so expected, that the defence then becomes more perfected. There are other ways to bring a team to success than the 3 monk route which often only prolongs the agony of death for the team without a strong capable offensive focused and battle aware team.

nuf said....

-Mahomet

[DeathShadow]

Is it possible to have no primary healer and a group of players that can self sufficiently heal and/or protect themselves... and be successful.

[Mahomet The Templar]

It is unlikley there is any successfull combo that is self healing that can eliminate Monks in 8 v 8 games. If everyone has to heal themselves too, the damage strength is likely sufferring. You may stay alive a while, but will you win is the question.

-Mahomet

[Kevo]

How about a necro group heavy in blood magic? They could spam bloodwell, life siphon, vampiric gaze, and touch, to both damage, and heal themselves. Could this type of team be monk free?

[Avenger]

I wouldn't recommend it, since those skills cost alot of energy to cast, which would mean every1 would have to be heavy in blood magic to alternate healing while others regain energy, which would mean no Warriors to take in the damage, which would mean you'd be pin downed one by one by interruption skills and kill off quicker then you can heal.

[Kevo]

I wouldn't recommend it, since those skills cost alot of energy to cast, which would mean every1 would have to be heavy in blood magic to alternate healing while others regain energy, which would mean no Warriors to take in the damage, which would mean you'd be pin downed one by one by interruption skills and kill off quicker then you can heal.


Maybe throw in hex removal and soul barbs, etc... to counter that.

[Avenger]

Those skills can get interupted too :wink:

Monk's our healers because there skills take a very short time to cast, making them hard to interupt, and have a fast reload time, making Monk's hard to pin down between healing or over powering a Monk. Its very hard for one person to do more damage then a Monk can heal.

but you can always try your theorie and prove me wrong

[Kevo]

Those skills can get interupted too :wink:

Monk's our healers because there skills take a very short time to cast, making them hard to interupt, and have a fast reload time, making Monk's hard to pin down between healing or over powering a Monk. Its very hard for one person to do more damage then a Monk can heal.

but you can always try your theorie and prove me wrong

No, I understand your point. One on one, you are correct. Heck, not much of anything, except a mesmer, is going to take down a monk one on one, at least without great struggle.

My lvl 20 warrior was pretty much at a standstill against a damned cleric, and two undead monks outside of beetletun. The cleric would use reversal of fortune, and spam orisons and I could not take him down. If I tried to attack the monks, then the cleric would heal them. We were getting nowhere. Then again, neither could they get me either. It was a classic standoff! :lol:

However if the Necro(8v8) build practiced focused gang ups with a few distractions thrown on the others and got one down. Then they could whittle down the monks, maybe.... lol That's what I'm really getting at. I wonder if if is feasible in an arena game.

[Avenger]

There's only one way to be you can be sure.. On paper it might not look liek it would work.. but then again you gonna take into account that The opposite team wont know what your doing.. and might respond in a incorrect way.. if you get what im saying.You have to take into account that the other team might not be pro's.

[Kevo]

True. It will also depend on how many monks are in their party.

[Avenger]

So much things ahve a huge impact on both our theories.

But lets just say its a 8v8.. Including 2 monks, 2 W/Mo, one W/E, 2 rangers and one E/Mo(pyromancer)

What tactics would you use?
Whould just like to see on you would implement your strategie into a situation such as this.

[Kevo]

This is tough, especially since I'm a noob at PvP. I have only did an arena match three times at Yaks, with my mesmer, and twice in Droknar's with my warrior.

That said, it would also be dependant on what skills your said party had equipped for the match.

There is no guarantee that any stratagy will work. No matter what skills I choose and name, you can easily have a counter for them. The question is not what will counter this stratagy, but what skills will a PUG or guild have ready to meet my stratagy.

That said, and again, I'm a noob, and still not fully thought through on this yet, here is the beginnings of my statagy.

I would focus fire all my necros(8) on soul barbs and life draining skills. I would expect the monk to use reversal of fortune, and recieve heals which would all cause further damage. I would also expect hex removals, so turns would be taken in the group to keep reapplying the soul barbs. Meanwhile, since there are eight of "us" an archer cannot distract us enough to shut us down, and the life drainage will(hopefully) be enough to keep the warriors from killing us. Since these skills we use are not via touch, it will make it hard for an AOE skill to do a whole lot as we can have a bit of space(but not too much) between us.

You don't have a mesmer in your line up, so that is good. Should you replace one of the rangers with a mesmer, then we could be in real trouble! :D

Since you sound to be more experienced in PvP, try to build off my beginnings of a stratagy and help me choose my best skills for this setup, if you are willing. Then we will see how good I could stand up against the average group in HoH. Mind you, all I'm looking for is to win the HoH, not fight everything and hold it forever, lol.

Another issue is if the warrior builds are hammer builds. That can offer enough of a disruption so that my necro party may well lose.

Some skills to start with would be soul barbs, life siphon, vampiric gaze, plague touch(to get rid of conditions onto the main target)

What other skills should I bring to have a chance to win in your opinion.

BTW I'm glad we are discussing this as I need to learn more about PvP and each build's strengths and weaknesses!

[Spux]

Ok, if i was using the above posted proffessions i would do something like this.

W/mo, W/E, 1 ranger = team 1

W/mo, 1 ranger = team 2

E/mo = team 3

First, i would send team 1 to hit a monk. im assuming that the W/E is hammershock so he can deal out massive damage. Team 2 would then hit either another monk or a mesmer. Team 3's jon is to a) take out warders b) do massive damage to multiple enemies to keep the enemy monks busy. when either team 1 or team 2 takes down their monk they switch to the other teams monk and quickly take him out two. Depending on friendy casualties the ranger drops a frozen soil so that the monks are out for a while. 1 of the rangers would be posiening the whole team for the duration of thew fight and the other one would be anti caster and would be disrupting the target for its team.

1 of the major problems i forsee with this build would be defensive ability. With only two monks your team is gonna drp quickly to any spike build, especially if u dont have a prot monk. One of the ways to counter this is to use a lot of spirits.

[Avenger]

That said, it would also be dependant on what skills your said party had equipped for the match.

Of course.. But you wouldn't know this if you went up against them i HoH, the idea was to make you implement your strategie to that situation without knowi ng more information that you would have in a real HoH battle.



I would focus fire all my necros(Cool on soul barbs and life draining skills. I would expect the monk to use reversal of fortune, and recieve heals which would all cause further damage. I would also expect hex removals, so turns would be taken in the group to keep reapplying the soul barbs. Meanwhile, since there are eight of "us" an archer cannot distract us enough to shut us down, and the life drainage will(hopefully) be enough to keep the warriors from killing us. Since these skills we use are not via touch, it will make it hard for an AOE skill to do a whole lot as we can have a bit of space(but not too much) between us.

This isn't a bad strategie, altho you'd have to make sure your team stayed packed with energy, maybe specifying one particular Necro to have "Well of Power(elite)" as is elite skill, and another one having "blood is Power(elite)"

Another good thing would be the use of Well of Blood and "Life transfer(elite)" Since you can only ahve one elite skill equiped on your skill bar at a time.. you'd have to choose carefully.

You don't have a mesmer in your line up, so that is good. Should you replace one of the rangers with a mesmer, then we could be in real trouble! Very Happy

Lol i know :wink: Just one Mesmer could've killed you, which comes to my next point.. I want you to replace that E/Mo with a Mesmer focused on Domination and inspiration magic:P

How would you change your strategie?

BTW I'm glad we are discussing this as I need to learn more about PvP and each build's strengths and weaknesses!

Np Im glad i could help

[Spux]

Lol i know :wink: Just one Mesmer could've killed you, which comes to my next point.. I want you to replace that E/Mo with a Mesmer focused on Domination and inspiration magic:P

i think he shoudl change the ele to earth for the eq + as combo then sub out a ranger for a mes/mo who can also be the primary rezer. Also, i htink that it might work better with two W/E and one W/Mo (who is secondary rezer).

[Kevo]

Lol i know Just one Mesmer could've killed you, which comes to my next point.. I want you to replace that E/Mo with a Mesmer focused on Domination and inspiration magic:P

How would you change your strategie?

Hmmmmm, tough call. I would have to attack the mesmer first and spike damage it before going on to the monks. If all eight focus on the mesmer, they won't be able to cast but one or two spells before being dead. Then I would move onto the monk(s). Soul barbs woulds still be useful as it would damage the mesmer if they are healed. Life stealing would still help keep us alive.

Some of the Necro curses, of which I'm not overly familiar with since I mainly do blood, may be helpful. So one or two slots with some good curses that do good damage/effect would be in order.

Still, I don't know enough about the curses since it isn't how I play my necro in PvE. I have all my points into blood, then a fair amount in death for exploiting corpses(which would be rather useless in PvP), and soul reaping(again not good for PvP).

I would have to experiment with some of the curses to better ascertain which would be good for PvP. Until then, I may be a bit lacking with the mesmer in the mix with two monks, two hammer warriors, etc.... Which is a good team BTW. I'll play around with the curses in the next few weeks to get a better feel. See, I'm a PvE player, so learning to think what is best in PvP is going to take time. The general strategies are much different.

However, I want to know since I may be called upon to use my necro in our bid to win in the HoH. :twisted:

[Kevo]

MInd you, the only way this type of stratagy can even hope to work is if we were fast and knew what our plan of attack was. If we didn't do it quickly, then the enemy party would be able to adjust. We only need to rush in and BAM hit the mesmer, or monk. Then, we are up by one, and can repeat the process against the next called targrt.

So speed is our ally. If it takes too long to execute the strategy, it is bound to fail!

[Avenger]

then a fair amount in death for exploiting corpses(which would be rather useless in PvP).

That is not completly true, maybe in your case it is( with the build that we are talking about), but "consume corps" and "necrotic Traversal" can give an tactical edge in a GvG or in the HoH.. Also, using "Putrid explosion" on a corpse about to be revived may just kill that monk if he is weakened enought.

[DeathShadow]

Life Transfer

[Avenger]

Life Transfer

What?

[Exiled Child]

the skill perhaps?

[DeathShadow]

Some skills to start with would be soul barbs, life siphon, vampiric gaze, plague touch(to get rid of conditions onto the main target)

What other skills should I bring to have a chance to win in your opinion.

BTW I'm glad we are discussing this as I need to learn more about PvP and each build's strengths and weaknesses!

I'm sorry I posted "Life Transfer" in reply to this post.. I didn't see the other posts that followed for some reason they didn't show up when I was viewing this.

[Avenger]

Ah.. now i get it... i was confused because it had noting to do with what we were saying.. but ya "life Transfer" is important, as i mentioned.

[STINGER]

First, I am not a Monk Guru but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night!

Monks in PUGs (pickup groups) 101

If you cant deal wiht (1) Warrior on your own learn how to!

Dont expect anyone to save your arse, build to be able to save your own as well as saving others.

(1) spot should ALWAYS contain "something" to defend yourself against something wether it is Warriors/Rangers or Casters.

Generally as a PUGer you should be a diverse healer prepared to focus one way or the other when required. I personally like a High Heal/Med Prot/Divine/Small Defense.

Sup runes add little to your build depending on your build so keep this in mind. It is very nice to have a max life Monk with good heal vs a big heal monk with less life! Be smart with rune choices.

ALWAYS have (2) different energy setups, one for max regen and one for max energy. Use the max regen setup exclusively and when needed you can switch for a quick 30 Energy for emergencies.

DONT RUN! This doesnt mean "dont move" it means exactly what it says dont run except in extreme situations. Use your team mates and obsticals as screens like a basketball player. Many times it is best to change the camera angle to virtical and zoomed out.......try it some time. Small subtle moves can be awesome while running with no purpose but kiting can get you snared and killed quickly.

DONT SCREAM FOR HELP!!! Keep people aware of your situation. If you learn to handle 1-2 Warriors then the only time you will be asking for help will be when it is really needed. If you are hex up communicate it if you yourself cant remove it........all teams should have this covered but in PUGs good luck!


The other night I ran wiht a healer in a PUG, he seemed to really know "most" his stuff and was a good healer but he constantly asked for aide when even a single Warrior was on him, not 2-3 just (1) and he wasnt even being focused by casters. This is a good monk gone bad, dont be one of those. You MUST be able to deal with one Warrior solo to be a good monk!


I personally do not beleive in Elmo healers as they can burn out fast and need to use big heals to be effective. Now as a utility healer/Prot/Wards/rez/enchants/removals...etc sure they can be nice. Maybe even some PBAoE for damaging defense but as a main healer no. No Divine bonus hurts many heals alot as they have been balanced to suite the Divine bonuses.


Finally.........the best healer in the world can look like crap if the team cant kill. It isnt always the Monk that cost you the loss, he could of been totally shut down and you didint know it. Case in point, in 4v4 when I run a Me/x build and I take the monk, I garuntee you he wont heal anyone for the first 20-30 seconds and if my team can get kills fast enuff its over in 45-60 seconds. When running that build I have seen several people comment "This monk sucks".........I always whisper them and tell them he never got to cast as I had him shut down. So keep that in mind when PUGin........those monks, regardless of ability are trying.

Your mileage may vary as some do really stink, but attacking them does nothing.......ask them what is happening, what they are running, try and help them improve. They dont want to stink either!!!

[Avenger]

This is a little off topic but.. Is that Avatar from Iron Maiden? It looks alot like Eddie Iron, there mascot.. If yes.. i don't know what album you got it off.. if any, altho it does look like eddie from the cover of there "Number of the Beast" album.... I was just curious.

[STINGER]

It is Eddie and I got it from some Avatar site a long time ago so I have no real idea which album it was from as I didint make it.