Archive:Mo/Me Boon Prot

Commonly referred to as a "boon/prot" this build is commonly seen in Guild vs Guild and the Team Arena. This build and its many variants became popular after changes to the skill Offering of Blood.

Attributes and Skills
[build prof=monk/mesme divine=11+1+3 protec=10+1 inspir=10][reversal of fortune][guardian][mend condition][mantra of recall][contemplation of purity][protective spirit][inspired hex][divine boon][/build]

Weapons
Generally, any set that meets your requirements (Protection Prayers and/or Divine Favor req) can be used with this build, providing that it doesn't penalize you in any way. A setup for more advanced PvP is listed below.

Standard Set
 * +5 Energy Axe/Sword of Fortitude and 20% recharge/+30 Health Prot Offhand
 * +5 Energy Axe/Sword of Fortitude and 20% recharge/+30 Health Insp Offhand

Low Energy Set (when facing energy denial)
 * -5 Energy Axe/Sword of Fortitude and Candy Cane Shield or +30/-5 Shield or -2 Energy Offhand from Cities of Ascalon

High Energy Set
 * +5 Energy Axe/Sword of Fortitude and +15/-1 +30 Health Offhand
 * +15/-1 20% recharge Inspiration or Prot Wand and +15/-1 +30 Health Offhand

Defense Set (switchable in-fight)
 * +5 armor Sword of Defense (total of +10 armor) and Candy Cane Shield or +30/-5 Shield or -2 enchanted/-2 enchanted Shield

E-Drain Set
 * 20% recharge/? Inspiration Wand and 20% recharge/+30 Health Offhand

GvG Set
 * Focus and Wand with +1 DF (20%) (For precasting Boon)

Note: Do not use items that increase enchantment duration (Unless using Energy Drain) - doing so will increase the amount of time that must pass before the energy bonus of Mantra of Recall takes effect without increasing the amount of energy awarded.

Armor
Any armor set works with this build, but here are some suggestions:
 * Shepherd's Armor is recommended for this build due to increased health.
 * Acolyte's Armor is also a good choice because of the constant enchant of divine boon giving you an armor level of 70. However, if you are forced to use Contemplation of Purity at any time you will be left without the armor bonus for a short time. Also, many teams use enchantment removal in conjunction with knockdowns or Blackout with their spikes, making you lose your armor bonus for the duration of the spike.

Skills

 * Make sure Divine Boon is up at all times.
 * Cycle Mantra of Recall every time it is available, making sure that it is not already active before casting.
 * Use Reversal of Fortune for general-purpose healing, as this has the dual benefit of delivering the healing from Divine Favor on a target as well as negating the next hit on that target. Note that using this damage negation pre-emptively is a waste of energy and healing power; it is better to cover the target with a skill that reduces damage taken instead, such as Guardian or Protective Spirit.
 * Cast Guardian on an ally that is the target of heavy physical attacks, such as those from Warriors, Rangers and Assassins.
 * Cast Mend Condition to heal conditions on allies.
 * Cast Protective Spirit to counter concentrated spike damage or catapults.
 * Use Contemplation of Purity to counter dangerous hexes (e.g. Shame, Backfire, Arcane Conundrum, Migraine, Shadow Shroud, etc.) and conditions (e.g. Deep Wound, Cripple, Dazed, etc.).

Play

 * It is inadvisable to use Contemplation of Purity to sacrifice Mantra of Recall and replenish energy; rather, Mantra of Recall should be allowed to recycle normally. A Monk in need of emergency energy is much better served by temporarily swapping to high-energy weapons.
 * In Guild vs Guild most guilds prefer not to use the superior divine rune, favoring the extra 75 health. High total health gives a player an edge against spike teams. In addition, when that player starts accumulating death penalty, the extra health plays a larger factor. A last factor is that once Victory or Death comes around, the 75 health can make an extremely large difference.

 **NOTE** 

If you are in dire need of energy, it's useful to cast Contemplation of Purity for a quick energy boost, with the added effect of healing and hex/condition removal. Do not use it too much though, because there is a net gain of 5 energy for every Contemplation of Purity, and you will soon wear that out, esp. because of Mantra of Recall's long recharge time.

Counters

 * Remove Divine Boon with an enchantment removal skill. Even though Divine Boon can be cast quickly again, it causes the Monk to waste valuable time and energy. It is likely that removing Divine Boon may be difficult, as BP Monks almost exclusively use enchantments; as a result, it may be "buried" beneath other enchantments.
 * Energy denial is very effective, as BP Monks require quite a bit of energy to operate. The sheer popularity of BP Monks in Guild vs Guild has caused a corresponding increase in the popularity of energy denial Mesmers. To counter energy loss, Monks should make use of weapon swapping to temporarily boost or lower their energy.
 * While Contemplation of Purity is an effective condition removal skill, its effectiveness against multiple reoccurring conditions - such as bleeds and poisons inflicted by Assassins - is diminished. This is mainly due to the 10 second recharge of Contemplation and the need to sacrifice enchantments to generate healing power.
 * Signet of Humility can be used to disable Mantra of Recall, followed by energy denial: Ether Lord, Panic, Malaise, Arcane Echo, and Energy Tap.
 * Due to the predictability of the build, Gaze of Contempt followed immediately by Shame will reliably counter Divine Boon. With a high enough Fast Casting skill, Shame can be used with Arcane Echo to take out both Divine Boon and Mantra of Recall as BP Monks often have both of these enchantments up at all times.
 * As the BP build heavily relies on a small number of spammable enchantments to heal allies, Diversion can devastate a Monk if used properly. Combined with enchantment removal skills, Divine Boon can also be disabled, severely crippling the Monk.
 * A counter growing in popularity is the use of the Assassin hex Shadow Shroud. A victim with this hex on cannot be the target of enchantments, rendering a huge majority of a BP Monk's healing power useless on that individual.

Variants
While the above is considered to be the standard skillset, many variants exist.


 * Often Energy Drain is used instead of Mantra of Recall. There are, however, many downfalls to this swap. Energy Drain transfers energy from a target foe to the Monk, but to get the full effect, it is necessary for that foe to have the amount of energy transferred by Energy Drain. Also, at 10 Inspiration, Energy Drain has a net energy gain of 0.42 points of energy per second, while Mantra of Recall has a net gain of 0.62 points of energy per second. Furthermore, Energy Drain does not have the synergy with Contemplation of Purity that Mantra of Recall does. However, Energy Drain can be used with weapons or offhands that provide a chance of faster inspiration spell recharge and can be used with 20% enchanting mods. Also, monks usually stay in the backline, but in order to use Energy Drain, the monk to is required to get close to the opponent, thus making himself a viable target.
 * Holy Veil may be used instead of Inspired Hex, but beware of the lessened energy management options the build has.
 * Mend Ailment may be used instead of Mend Condition, but in many cases Mend Condition is more reliable in its healing power and has a lower recast time.
 * Dismiss Condition may be used instead of Mend Condition, allowing you to remove conditions from yourself without using Contemplation of Purity. However, the extra healing with this spell relies on enchantments, so it is best if you cast another enchant on the target ally before Dismiss Condition to allow for greater healing.
 * One of the first four listed skills can be dropped in favor of Signet of Devotion for healing that requires no energy.
 * One of the first four listed skills can also be dropped for Drain Enchantment or Power Drain for more energy management.
 * One of the first four listed skills can also be dropped for Distortion or Hex Breaker.
 * If you are using two boonprots in GvG, one should take Protective Spirit and the other should take Spirit Bond.
 * With the new popularity of Shadow Shroud some boon prots prefer to replace one of the first four skills with Gift of Health. If this variant is used the attribute distribution changes, typically high divine favor with an even split among the other attributes.

Factions Boon Prot
Using the skills listed in variation, it is possible to create a Boon Prot using only core and factions skills, which is almost equivalent to the prophecies one, but lacks the interaction of Mantra of Recall with Contemplation of Purity. Simply switch:
 * Mantra of Recall for Energy Drain
 * Inspired Hex for Revealed Hex
 * Contemplation of Purity for Signet of Devotion

Related Builds

 * Archive:Mo/N Boon Prot - a variant using the Offering of Blood skill.