User:Krschkr/Thinking About Your Build - Monks

For a monk, your skill bar is the main thing within a team build that is going to keep your team alive. Fortunately there are two of you, and your skill bars need to compliment each other in order to keep your team alive.

= The Standard Templates =

Firstly, let’s look at the most common monk builds that are played;

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Restore Condition protection monk
An overview This build contains skills that are useful in any 8v8 matchup, be it a pressure build such as necro balance, or a more spike oriented build such as dual ele spike. The main aim of the build is to prevent as much damage being taken as possible (through effective pre-protting) and removing multiple conditions from a target to provide a large amount of healing with [[Restore Condition]s.
 * Build article: Build:Mo/W GvG Restore Condition

It contains a selection of spike catching / preventing spells ([[Spirit Bond] and [[Aegis]), and skills that are useful against pressure matchups ([[Shielding Hands] and [[Guardian], aswell as [[Holy Veil] against hex heavy setups).

This makes it a relatively safe build to play, as it has answers to any 8v8 scenario. However it is not a perfect build should you play against a split build (particularly one that attempts to force the monk to be alone), there are also improvements that can be made for against pressure builds (vulnerable to a Power Block mesmer).

The detail
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Healing Burst infuse monk
An overview This build is chosen to combo with the Restore Condition monk as it provides extremely good party healing (one of the most underrated ways of reducing the effectiveness of a spike, while also being very energy efficient against pressure teams).
 * Build article: Build:Mo/A GvG Healing Burst

The anti spike of the bar is [[infuse health], if you think someone is going to die before you can cast Healing Burst due to a clean spike from the other team, this skill will instantly heal the spiked target (well 0.25 seconds later).

The bar is then rounded out with some protection spells (to try and reduce the need for healing), a fast condition removal (mostly used for blind on frontline) and a stance for when the incoming spike is on yourself.

The detail
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= Improving the basic template =

These bars are great for when just starting out, they are the average monk bars, used by the majority of the monks in GvG.

However as stated above, they are not perfect. Improvements can be made on both bars based on a combination of factors:
 * 1) Your team build
 * 2) The enemy build
 * 3) The Guild map you will be playing on
 * 4) Your monk partner’s bar

Why would you want to change your build?

Slight changes to your build, can provide enough of a counter to the opposing team’s build to give you the edge required to win.

Even if you cannot guess the build you are going to play against, the map that you would play may have more suitable playstyles or provide greater opportunity for more utility focused skill to see play.

Why don’t more people change their builds?

Fear.

And quite often, there isn’t a need to change, the build you play should come down to preference, and as you experience more games and situations, you may begin to think “I really wish I had xxx skill in this game.”

But what skills could I take?

Well… the truth is there are many useful skills that have a place within GvG. Below is a breakdown of the options available, why you might want to take it and when you would consider switching it in or out.

As such, below are a list of the other sometimes valuable skills available to each of the standard templates shown previously.

Other Elites choices
The below elites are other optional elites, however they are generally overshadowed by one of the above three elites in a similar task. However they are not unworkable (only way to decide is to think about them / try them). For these elites suggested builds will not be provided.

Alternative Elites
Honestly, heal monks have far less options than protection monks as [[Healing Burst] already provides the most utility out of the other elite options.

Instead the options tend to fall into if you feel you need more single target healing, or if you are worried about interrupts.

Other Elites choices
Healing monks have far less options available to them as many of the skills have either long casting times or low healing value compared to the energy costs.

= External Links =
 * This page is based on Reed's Guide "Thinking About Your Build - Monks"
 * Some sections mention Lemming's guide Armor vs HP