One of the questions I get sometimes is - Nuggeet! For a monk main, why do you share so few monk buildz?
Weeeeelll...
Like every monk in Guild Wars, I have builds for each of these four elites:
Healer's Boon
Zealous Benediction
Word of Healing
Unyielding Aura
...but to be honest, while these are 'safe' staples, at least two of them are overrated (UA and HB), and for the other two (ZB, WoH), well, it gets BORING playing them all the time. WoH bars, especially IMO, whether hybrid or otherwise, lack a certain synergy and utility.
As a result, I play around a lot with monk bars - I tend to rope in Alliance/Guild members as guineapigs, or test in FA/JQ.
Now, the problem with testing in FA/JQ is that the damage patterns are very different in PvE and PvP. PvP bars do tend to be easier to adapt to PvE than the other way around. However, you need to remember one basic difference between PvP & PvE (yes, there are masses of differences, but I find while running a heal, prot, or hybrid bar, that this is the greatest one): PvE tends to have way more party-wide damage than PvP.
This particular Protection bar was something I wrote more as a joke than anything, but when I went out and tested it, I found that it absolutely kicked ass. I have tested this extensively in Hard Mode - vqs, missions, whatever. Disclaimer though, it only works in Hard Mode - Normal Mode mobs don't hit hard enough to trigger Spirit Bond.
It is my favourite Protection Prayers build for PvE now. It has the most amazing spike reversal I have ever seen. It can save someone with 5% hp remaining - basically as long as you reach them in time to cast just two spells - Spirit Bond and Aura of Faith - their HP will leap back to full. And due to the nature of the build, it even works in areas with enchant removal (yes, even against mountains of Roaring Ethers with added boss ether]. It is fully meant to be used in conjunction with another healer - monk, rit, dervish, it doesn't matter - but it does depend on someone else to be the redbar provider.
On the down-side, this is not a faceroll bar. It takes a little while to learn and get used to, and if you prefer 'redbar spam' instead of judicious application, this is not the bar for you - you will run out of energy incredibly quickly. Arguably, if you prefer redbar spam, Protection Prayers is not the line for you, but I've written one Protection Prayers build that maximises on that, so, who knows?
Aura of Faith Single-Target Spike Reversal Protter - PvE Only
Skills
Spirit Bond
Aura of Faith {Elite}
Guardian
Seed of Life
Aegis
Cure Hex
Dismiss Condition
Selfless Spirit
Stats
Protection Prayers [12] + [4]
Divine Favour [12] + [1]
Healing Prayers [3]
Gear
- Superior Protection Prayers Rune
- Survivor or Radiant Insignia (I prefer Survivors on monks, but this is totally a personal preference)
- Major or Superior vigor rune
- Vitae or Attunement runes to finish off (I prefer Vitae, but again, personal preference rules here)
- Any staff / wand / spear / melee weapon + shield combo with hct/hsr Protection Prayers, and +20% Enchanting. I prefer a staff for this (Kephket's Refuge is a good one), but as long as you have the +20% Enchanting, anything goes.
Campaigns Needed
Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall
How to Use
- Judiciously. No, really. XD
- Precast Aegis - well-timed Aegis precasting reduces party-wide damage from all physical attacks by more than 50%. The best time to precast Aegis is when the mob of mobs is just a little bit outside of the your party's aggro bubble (that white circle on your radar), and moving towards you. Of course, Aegis should be recast (against physical attackers) whenever it's available, but precasting it always saves everyone pain against physical attackers.
- Seed of Life on anyone taking consistent, consecutive damage packets - helps to even out party HP as a whole, taking a little pressure off your healing partner
- Cure Hex and Dismiss Conditions to... cure hexes and dismiss conditions. -_- Who'da thunk. Hex removal - be circumspect about it. Remove it if they call it, it's something on you you need to remove, or if you're bored. Don't spam hex removal. Especially in PvE, it's just not worth it. All it does is eat your energy, and do you really care if a caster has Empathy?
- Selfless Spirit - Whenever you think the shit is about to hit the fan.
- Guardian - Mini prot, use it on anyone taking consistent physical damage
- Spirit Bond - this is your big prot, toss it on anyone taking consistent damage that redbarring obviously isn't able to keep up with
- Spirit Bond THEN Aura of Faith - this is your 'big gun', and the entire basis of this build. One thing you must remember when using Aura of Faith is that unlike Protective Spirit and the like, Aura of Faith cares when you cast it. To get the full bang for your buck out of Aura of Faith, you must cast Spirit Bond BEFORE you cast Aura of Faith. If you cast Spirit Bond, then Aura of Faith, and your target is hit, Spirit Bond will heal them for 200+ hp per hit, assuming the initial base damage of 60hp is met. If you cast Aura of Faith, then Spirit Bond, Spirit Bond will only heal for 104hp per hit, assuming base damage is met (which in turn is very difficult, because Spirit Bond doesn't count the damage that would have been done before Aura of Faith reduces it by 50%). Because Aura of Faith decreases all damage taken by the target by 50%, while increasing all healing done to the target by 103%, it synergises amazingly with a fellow healer. Not only do you cut spike damage in half with Aura of Faith, and provide a buffer with Spirit Bond, you make all THEIR spells heal for twice the amount as well. Not only that, it affects the Divine Favour healing bonus as well, so if your partner healer is another monk... yippee! It does, however, mean that you have to anticipate spikes, to get the full use out of this build. Please note that Spirit Light Weapon does not benefit from this Aura of Faith, though. :(
Variants
- Deny Hexes instead of Cure Hex Deny Hexes removes at least 2 hexes, as it counts itself as a recharging Divine Favour skill. While it doesn't have the healing power of Cure Hex (which wasn't very much, anyway, for 3 points), removing more hexes can be better than just removing one,a nd getting an extra heal.
- Other than that... there's nothing on this bar I would drop or change. When things get hairy, you will need Selfless Spirit. If you're running with a group that absolutely insists that you bring a rez, then you shouldn't be running a build like this anyway. Bring rez scrolls, or run something conventional to make them feel safe, even if it is less powerful. Failing that, leave the group altogether.
Counters
- General Caster Hate
- Injudicious facerolling - you'll run out of e and be useless
Additional notes
Where have you tested this?
Just about everywhere. Vanquishes, HM missions, Elite areas, you name it. Do not use this in normal mode though. If the damage requirement for Spirit Bond isn't met, your protted target will die. It's also weak against mountains of minions. Minions don't hit hard enough in general to trigger Spirit Bond, so it'll be Death By a Thousand Cuts for your protted target.
Can heroes use this?
No. Heroes think Aura of Faith is Reversal of Fortune.
OMG! A Prot build without Protective Spirit? NOOB!
You don't Protective Spirit with this build. No, really. NO ONE in your party needs Protective Spirit, if you use this build right.