User:Jasminethetender/builds/monk

Monk =Blessed Escaper= This build utilizes the effective support of the Blessed Light monk but adds more self-survivability with Return and Dark Escape.

Equipment

 * A negative energy set for focus swapping will help against energy denial.

Usage

 * Reversal of Fortune and Gift of Health are your two main healing spells.
 * Use Signet of Devotion whenever you can safely do so. This will help keep your energy reserves up.
 * Using Blessed Light to remove a hex and condition and to heal for its full amount is incredibly time- and energy-efficient; try to do this as often as possible.
 * Use Spirit Bond on targets that are likely to be taking large of amounts of damage soon, such as people being converged on by Warriors. Do not use it as a heal as it has a high energy cost.
 * Use Dark Escape when you are being targetted and are suffering lots of damage. The speed boost will help you get out of danger and you'll be taking half damage while doing so.
 * When being spiked by Warriors, use Return to teleport away from danger and leave the Warriors crippled.

Variants

 * Replace Spirit Bond with Guardian, Protective Spirit or Shield of Absorption.
 * Replace Mend Condition with Mend Ailment, Dismiss Condition or Holy Veil.

Template
=Shadow Arts Zealous Healer= This is a monk build to take advantage of the Protection Prayers' damage reducing capabilities and assassin escape skills along with Zealous Benediction in order to conserve energy expenditure.

Equipment

 * A insightful staff of enchanting with a HSR 20% mod such as Kepkhet's Refuge or The Yakslapper
 * A negative energy set for focus swapping will help against energy denial.
 * A one handed weapon with a crippling mod may also be a legitimate choice to increase the cripple duration from Return

Usage

 * Dismiss Condition used upon enchanted allies serves as a good cheap healing spell even if that ally has no conditions on them, but Reversal of Fortune should be used as a primary heal on allies being attacked.
 * Use Signet of Devotion whenever you can safely do so. This will help keep your energy reserves up.
 * Try to only use Zealous Benediction on allies that have health below 50% in order to take advantage of the energy gain bonus from the skill.
 * Protective Spirit should be used on any allies that are taking large amounts of damage per hit.
 * Use Dark Escape when you are being attacked or are being knocked down to reduce damage taken by 50%. Since it is a stance it can be used at any time. The speed bonus will help you get out of the way and prevent being knocked down again.
 * Return is to be used when you expect a spike from warriors in order to cripple them and quickly get out of harms way.
 * If an enemy is using a shutdown hex on you such as Backfire or Mark of Subversion, cast Holy Veil on yourself and leave it on until that hex is cast on you, then cancel Holy Veil to remove the hex without triggering it. Otherwise simply cast Holy Veil  on an ally with a hex on them and remove it immediately afterwards to utilize the skill as a normal hex remover.

Counters

 * Energy denial on this build, just as any monk build, can cause problems. Since it is necessary to have 10 energy in order to cast Zealous Benediction and gain the 10 energy back, having less than 10 energy can be dangerous.  Hiding energy with focus swapping is the best way to protect yourself from this.
 * Mesmer shutdown spells, such as Signet of Humility and Diversion as well as the assassin skill Shadow Shroud can also be dangerous to this build. The best way to combat this is to watch enemies and cast Holy Veil on yourself if you expect to be hexed with something like this and release the enchantment once hexed.

Variants

 * Replace Protective Spirit with Spirit Bond or Shield of Absorption.
 * Replace Return for Shadow of Haste. Once Shadow of Haste has been used, Dark Escape can be activated to cause you to teleport to where Shadow of Haste was initially cast.  Since there are no cast times involved in this process, it holds a bit of an advantage if you expect to suffer from a lot of knockdowns.
 * A minor Protection Prayers rune may be used instead of a major to give the player more health.

Attributes and Skills

 * The optional slot should be filled with one of the following
 * Shielding Hands can be used to follow up Shield of Regeneration to reduce most damage to zero.
 * Shield of Absorption is effective against fast-paced spikes, as it builds up damage reduction rapidly.
 * Aegis is a decent choice as well, though its high energy cost may throw the build out of rhythm.
 * Guardian is a good spammable spell, as it will allow you to heal for a small amount and prevent damage. Remember that in HA, both this and Aegis can be rendered useless against BoA sins that bring Expose Defenses.
 * If you have a dual monk team, Spirit Bond may also be acceptable. Otherwise, its' only advantage over Guardian is the quick casting time.

Equipment

 * Armor
 * Energy armor is suggested
 * Protection Scalp Design
 * Weapons
 * Anything that increases enchantment length by 20%
 * Runes
 * Minor Protection Prayers should be used in GvG and HA, but Superior Protection Prayers can be used for +2 regen and a longer duration on SoR at the cost of some health.
 * Superior Vigor
 * Minor Healing Prayers
 * Minor Divine favor

Usage

 * Provide damage reduction and healing on allies with Reversal of Fortune.
 * Gift of Health provides excellent healing on targets.
 * Use Signet of Devotion for an energy-free heal. It is also usable under Backfire or while Dazed.
 * Remove harmful conditions with Dismiss Condition. Remember that an ally is healed as long as they are enchanted.
 * Glyph of Lesser Energy should be used before casting expensive spells.
 * Protect allies with Shield of Regeneration.
 * Holy Veil is used to remove hexes.
 * AB Note: Note where Necromancer and Mesmer Shrines. If you're not under pressure while on your way to them, pre-cast Holy Veil on soft targets. If you do it early enough, you will recover all your energy and have Holy Veil ready for another use upon arrival. If you're under pressure, it is better to use Gift of Health and Signet of Devotion at these shrines rather than depending on Holy Veil. Beware that the Necromancers cast Defile Enchantments and the Mesmers cast Shatter Enchantment. Strip Holy Veil from teammates who are low on health before arriving or they may be killed.

Counters

 * Condition heavy builds, especially those with daze, can cause problems
 * Armor ignoring damage
 * Knockdown
 * Anti-caster mesmer spells such as Diversion
 * Enchantment Removal, especially when followed by Blackout.

Variants

 * Smite Hex can replace Holy Veil to eliminate the awkward double-click removal of Holy Veil.
 * Shield of Absorption.
 * Protective Spirit.
 * Mending Touch can sometimes save you from condition heavy builds, especially those that daze.
 * Shielding Hands. The 40 armor of SoR and the damage reduction of Shielding Hands often makes hits against your shielded ally do very little to no damage.

=Zealous Protector=

This arena build is designed to help mitigate damage in PvP while providing a somewhat steady heal, and doesn't take any points away from Protection Prayers, allowing the player to focus more.

Equipment

 * Weapon: +5e Spear of Fortitude/Enchanting (whichever you prefer). Offhand: +30hp 20% recharge Protective Icon.
 * Weapon: Protective Staff: 20% Recharge/ 20% Cast Time +10 AL
 * Weapon: 15/-5e Spear of Fortitude/Enchanting (whichever you prefer). Offhand: +30/-5 Shield.
 * Weapon: 15/-1 Protective Rod with 20% recharge. Offhand: +27/-1 Protective Offhand with +30hp.

Usage
Start out by using Hex Breaker, it will make the first hex cast upon you fail, and this is invaluable. Your main job is to protect your allies while being able to heal them if necessary with Zealous Benediction. Zealous Benediction is a powerful elite that heals for the same amount as Heal Other or Jamei's Gaze, but the differences are that Zealous Benediction is a free heal if the target is under 50% health, it can be self targeted and it comes out of the protection line. Make use of Protective Spirit to help prevent against spike damage.

Counters

 * Daze/Interruption
 * Knockdown
 * Signet of Humility
 * Energy Denial

Variants

 * Dismiss Condition can be replaced with Mend Condition or Mend Ailment.
 * Shield of Absorption can also fill one of the Optional Slots as it synergizes with Protective Spirit very nicely
 * Inspired Hex or Revealed Hex can replace Holy Veil if you find energy to be a problem.
 * Channeling.

Equipment

 * A positive energy set, and a negative energy set for weapon swapping.
 * A weapon of Enchanting can lengthen the duration of your enchantments.
 * Note that a weapon with a Crippling upgrade can increase the duration of Cripple, inflicted by Return.

Usage

 * Use Gift of Health for a general purpose heal.
 * Shield of Absorption is to be used for extra protection and damage reduction.
 * Cast Reversal of Fortune for an immediate heal and damage prevention.
 * Remove harmful conditions and heal allies with conditions on them with Restore Condition.
 * Signet of Devotion is to be used for an energy-free heal. It is an excellent follow-up after healing a target with your other spells.
 * Hexes can be removed with Holy Veil. Avoid maintaining this enchantment as it harms your energy pool.
 * Use Dark Escape for a speed boost or for instant damage reduction on incoming attacks and spells.
 * Shadow Step away from targets to your allies with Return. Note the crippling condition it inflicts on nearby foes.

Counters

 * Heavy Energy denial can be devastating if you're caught unprepared.
 * As with many other healing builds, Diversion can be very harmful if it hits a critical spell.
 * Note that the basis of this build does not involve removing conditions on yourself, unless you've taken an extra condition-removing spell for yourself.

Variants

 * Holy Veil can be replaced with any other hex removal skill, such as Smite Hex.
 * Some may wish to replace Shield of Absorption with Protective Spirit. It is vital that your team carries at least one copy of Protective Spirit.
 * For self condition removal, take Dismiss Condition or Mend Ailment. Most of the time it is better just to have a teammate with Draw Conditions.
 * An excellent skill for both condition and hex removal with no energy costs, would be Purge Signet. Since the majority of your skills cost only 5 energy, weapon swapping with Purge Signet can be extremely useful, and with low energy recovery times thanks to your cheap spell costs.
 * Dark Escape, while the preferred speed-boosting stance, can be replaced with another such as Dash.

=Deliverance Runner=

This build utilizes the Elementalist skill Glyph of Lesser Energy in order to provide a way to cast Aegis as well as other skills from the Monk Protection Prayers line. This allows for a quite versatile support build, as well as playing the role of flag running in a Guild versus Guild situation.

Equipment

 * Acolyte's Armor for the +10 Armor while enchanted
 * Insightful +5 energy 20/20 Protection staff with +20% enchanting Suffix

Usage

 * Use Storm Djinn's Haste for increased running speed.
 * Spam Light of Deliverance as needed to heal party members from long-range.
 * Precast Glyph of Lesser Energy, and follow up with Aegis and Extinguish for long-ranged defense and condition removal for the entire party.
 * Use Words of Comfort as a general purpose heal, for both yourself, or allied NPC's taking damage.
 * Mending Touch should be used on yourself to remove conditions. This is especially useful in maps like the Burning Isle.
 * Cast Shield of Absorption on targets under pressure.

Counters

 * Becoming Dazed.
 * Interrupts and Hexes
 * Diversion is a dangerous shutdown that should be avoided.

Variants

 * You may wish to switch Shield of Absorption with Protective Spirit.
 * Reversal of Fortune for extra healing and damage prevention.
 * Hex removal may be useful, but is rarely encountered when flagging. If you expect to encounter it, take Holy Veil to counter it.
 * If you want even more healing, take Heal Party as well.
 * Take Dismiss Condition in place of Mending Touch or in the optional slot for greater healing capabilities when removing conditions.
 * Healing Touch for a strong self heal.

=ZB Glyph Monk= This build uses the Monk elite skill Zealous Benediction to provide excellent healing for a party. It uses the Elementalist skill Glyph of Lesser Energy for energy management, allowing the ability to use high energy cost skills such as Aegis to provide party-wide protection.

Equipment

 * Any weapon can be used with this build, providing you meet its requirements.
 * As with any caster build, it is preferred that you take a High, Medium, and Low energy set.
 * Recommended upgrades for your weapon include of Enchanting and of Fortitude suffix upgrades, and "I Have the Power!" inscriptions.

Usage

 * Your primary healing skill is Gift of Health. It should be used on targets above 50% Health.
 * Use Reversal of Fortune as an immediate damage prevention, as well as healing, from the next attack.
 * Remove harmful conditions with Dismiss Condition. Note the healing bonus on enchanted targets.
 * Enchant allies with Shield of Absorption for damage reduction.
 * Zealous Benediction should be used to heal targets under 50% Health.
 * Use Glyph of Lesser energy before casting Aegis to reduce its high energy cost.
 * Holy Veil should be used to remove hexes. (cast and remove)
 * Note that using Zealous Benediction on targets below 50% while under the effects of Glyph of Lesser Energy will actually result in net energy gain.

Counters

 * Energy denial, while not as dangerous as it is on other builds, can still pose a problem with this build.
 * Diversion can be particularly devastating, as it can shut down a skill for a long duration.

Variants

 * For a heavier focus on damage mitigation against pressure swap Gift of Health for Shield of Absorption
 * Dismiss Condition can be replaced with another condition removal skill of your choice.
 * As with all Zealous Benediction builds, Purge Signet can be used.
 * Spirit Bond and Protective Spirit are fairly interchangeable.

=Stanced LoD Infuser= This build is primarily designed for use in Guild versus Guild matches. It utilizes the Warrior's defensive Tactics line to provide additional defense for the user, allowing for both a more mobile, and stable healer. The Monk elite skill Light of Deliverance is used to effectively heal the entire party, and its low Energy cost allows the build to be run without Energy management skills.

Usage

 * Use Light of Deliverance to maintain the health of your party at an adequate level.
 * Words of Comfort is your primary direct healing skill.
 * Cast Infuse Health as fast as possible on allies that are dangerously low on Health. This is your primary Spike heal.
 * Remove conditions through Dismiss Condition. Remember that targets under enchantments will receive the healing bonus regardless of whether a condition is removed.
 * Allies under pressure, or Frenzying Warriors should be covered with Protective Spirit.
 * Holy Veil should be used to remove Hexes. This should not be maintained, but cast and removed immediately.
 * Use Shield Bash to defend against enemy attack skills.
 * Balanced Stance should be used if knockdowns are attempted but not at the same time with other stances.

Equipment

 * A req 8 tactics 16 armor shield with an of Fortitude mod is optimal. However, any max shield with a fortitude mod will do.
 * Any armor can be used, providing it has maximum AL.
 * A negative energy set and positive ones for Weapon switching.
 * Runes of Major Healing Prayers, Major Divine Favor, Minor Protection Prayers, Superior Vigor.
 * Replace the Major runes with Minor runes as needed.

Variants

 * Include Signet of Devotion for a free heal.
 * Replace Shield Bash with Sprint for increased mobility or with Deadly Riposte for blocking attacks.
 * You may wish to replace Dismiss Condition with a different Condition removal skill such as Mend Condition or Mend Ailment.
 * Holy Veil may be replaced with a different Hex-removal skill such as Smite Hex.
 * For a different situational heal, replace Words of Comfort with other Healing Prayers skills such as Dwayna's Kiss, Ethereal Light, or Orison of Healing.
 * Replace Protective Spirit with Shield of Absorption.
 * Use Reversal of Fortune for a different form of protective healing.

Counters

 * Heavy Energy denial can be destructive, due to the lack of energy management skills.
 * Skills which increase casting time can be damaging.
 * Wild Blow and other stance removal skills are able to counter your defensive stances.

Templates
=ZB Infuser= This build primarily uses Protection Prayers skills like Zealous Benediction, Tactics line skills such as Balanced Stance, and the powerful healing skill Infuse Health to keep allies alive whilst preventing from being knocked down.

Equipment

 * Player's Choice.(Energy armor is preferrable)
 * Shield with appropriate mods, requirement of 8.
 * Focus swapping items for energy when needed.

Usage
Cast Balanced Stance and keep it up as much as possible. Use Zealous Benediction and Infuse Health on targets with low health. Use Reversal of Fortune and Shield of Absorption on allies about to be taking heavy damage. Use Dismiss condition for condition removal. Use Shield Bash to knock down attackers.

Counters

 * General spellcasting counters, such Backfire and Diversion.
 * Knockdowns while Balanced Stance isn't up.

Variants

 * Use Deadly Riposte or Riposte instead of Shield Bash. Be sure to bring a sword should you do so.

Equipment

 * Full Radiant Insignia Armor with Superior Vigor, Minor Protection Prayers and Minor Divine Favor. All other pieces should use Runes of Atunement.
 * A +5 energy Sword/Axe of Enchanting and a 20/20 Protection Offhand. Consider equiping low and high energy focus swaps.

Usage

 * Keep Channeling up all the time.
 * Reversal of Fortune, Gift of Health, and Signet of Devotion are your main healing skills.
 * Divert Hexes can remove a large number of hexes from a teammate. It can also be used to remove conditions, but only when there are hexes present.
 * Shield of Absorption and Protective Spirit are protecting skills to prevent spikes.
 * Dismiss Condition for condition removal and healing.

Counters

 * Various Anti-caster builds.

Variants

 * Take Holy Veil to have a counter for Diversion or Migraine skills.

Equipment

 * An Insightful Staff of Healing Prayers (20/20)
 * Armor with Radiant Insignia

Usage

 * The low Hex and Condition removal capability is compensated by the high healing power. The four Healing spells recharge fast enough that you can always cast at least one of them.
 * Even though Ethereal Light has the "easily interrupted" limitation (any direct weapon damage interrupts the cast), it becomes much stronger with a ½ second cast time from Healer's Boon, and Healing Touch, already powerful to begin with, becomes virtually uninterruptible.
 * If under heavy attack, resort to Healing Touch for yourself. Save Dwayna's Kiss for a fast response to your allies in trouble and use Orison for maintenance healing (i.e., keeping yourself and your allies at high Health levels).
 * Dismiss Condition has a faster recharge than Mend Ailment, making it the skill of choice for removing a Condition.
 * Inspired Hex returns useful Energy with Inspiration Magic at 12. Channeling covers Healer's Boon and helps balance the -1 Energy regeneration penalty.

Variants

 * Heal Party is often used in HA and GvG due to the extremely efficient party heal while under Healer's Boon. Keep in mind that this will be extremely hard on your energy, so efficient use of channeling and/or a supportive team build will be necessary.
 * Holy Veil can replace Inspired Hex.
 * Words of Comfort can replace Dwayna's Kiss, Orison of Healing, or Ethereal Light for a large heal on allies with conditions.
 * Heal Other can replace Dwayna's Kiss, Orison of Healing, or Ethereal Light for a fast big heal to save spikes with; similar in function to Infuse Health except without the health loss.

Counters

 * Knockdown
 * Enchantment removal
 * Energy denial
 * anti-caster Hexes
 * Dazed
 * Large numbers of hexes

Related Builds

 * Build:Mo/E Glyph Boon Healer

Template
=RC Protector=

The RC Prot (also active prot) monk uses his high Protection Prayers rank and condition/hex removal to keep the team safe. This build is recommended for Heroes' Ascent.

Usage

 * Restore Condition and Protective Spirit are your main skills. The former removes all conditions at once and heals a significant amount, and the latter limits many kinds of spike damage.
 * Inspired Hex doubles as hex removal and energy management. It can be substituted for its duplicate skill Revealed Hex.
 * Holy Veil is a second hex removal. Most casters will cover important hexes, so it is nice to be able to remove more than one hex in a short time. Holy Veil can be replaced by Contemplation of Purity if the concern is mainly for the monk itself.
 * Aegis is very good against ranger, warrior and assassin heavy teams that attack more than one of your team mates at once.
 * Channeling is a fountain of energy. Just remember not to put yourself in too great a danger.

Equipment

 * Runes of Minor or Major Protection Prayers, Minor or Major Divine Favor, Minor Healing Prayers, Superior Vigor.
 * A weapon of Enchanting is recommended to extend the duration of your enchantments. It is especially useful to maintain Vital Boon with minimal recasting.

Usage

 * Maintain Vital Boon with Conviction as much as possible.
 * Use Reversal of Fortune for damage prevention and a quick heal.
 * Signet of Devotion can be used for an energy-free heal.
 * Increase damage reduction on targets under pressure with Shield of Absorption.
 * Remove conditions with Dismiss Condition. Since you will always be enchanted with Vital Boon, you can use it on yourself for a fast heal.
 * Hexes can be removed with Holy Veil.
 * Cast Zealous Benediction for a massive heal on any target. Note its 10 Energy cost, and the energy gain on targets below 50% Health.

Counters

 * Heavy Enchantment removal can be troublesome.
 * Signet of Humility can disable Zealous Benediction, so beware.
 * Stance removal from skills such as Wild Throw can reduce your defensive capabilities.

Variants

 * Purge Signet can be used with this build. This requires weapon switching.
 * You may wish to replace Shield of Absorption with Protective Spirit.
 * A different condition removal skill such as Mend Ailment or Mend Condition may be used in place of Dismiss Condition.
 * Take Signet of Devotion for a free heal.
 * Take Fleeting Stability to prevent against knockdowns.

=Mystic Protection= The Mo/D Mystic Protection build is a hybrid which utilizes Wind Prayers to provide a powerful, party-wide heal (Mystic Healing) as well as Protection Prayers for another powerful heal (Zealous Benediction), Condition Removal, and other useful Enchantments. This build is primarily intended for 4 person arenas like RA and TA since Mystic Healing will only heal 3-4 allies on average.

Attributes and Skills

 * Some nice skills for the Optional Slot are Featherfoot Grace or Vow of Piety. Lyssa's Haste may also work.

Equipment

 * Any Staff or Wand/Offhand combination will work as long as they are tied to Protection Prayers and have a 20% Enchantment Modifier. A perfect example is Sadi's Benediction.
 * Ascetic's Armor or armor fully equipped with Radiant insignias is recommended for the additional energy, but Acolyte's Armor or armor equipped with Blessed insignias will also work nicely for the additional armor.

Usage

 * Cast Holy Veil on yourself at the start of the match.
 * Cast Shield of Absorption and your other protective Enchantments on yourself if you come under attack, but continue to use Mystic Healing.
 * When you have an opportunity, you can also cast other Enchantments on yourself to make Mystic Healing more powerful
 * Try to only use Zealous Benediction on allies that have health below 50% in order to take advantage of the energy gain bonus from the skill.
 * Dismiss Condition can be used both as cheap condition removal on enchanted allies as well as a cheap heal
 * Reversal of Fortune should be spammed on allies. This should be your primary heal on allies under attack
 * Protective Spirit should be used on allies under heavy fire.

Counters

 * Enchantment Removal
 * Energy Denial (Focus Swapping can help negate this problem)
 * Anti-Spam Skills (Such as Diversion)

Variants
Skills to Consider: =Zealous Bonder= A Monk created for random arena matches, which combines two key monk abilities: the restoration, via quick spike heals, and protection of health.
 * Gift of Health
 * Guardian
 * Blessed Aura

Equipment

 * Acolyte's Armor, with a Superior Vigor Rune, a Rune of Vitae and a Rune of Vitae, is recomended although this is flexible.

Standard Set

 * A PvP Axe or Sword of Enchanting with a "I have the power" inscription and a PvP Protective Icon of Fortitude with a "Forget Me Not" inscription.

High Energy Set

 * A PvP Holy Rod of Memory with a "Seize the Day" inscription and a PvP Protective Icon of Fortitude with a "Live for Today" inscription for emergency energy.

Low Energy Set

 * A PvP Axe or Sword of Enchanting with a "Brawn over Brains" inscription and a PvP Shield of Devotion with a "Sheltered by Faith" inscription as a counter for energy denial.

Usage
Begin by casting life bond on all other members of your party, followed by Balthazar's Spirit on yourself and Blessed Signet to regain energy. Throughout the fight maintain all four enchantments, the energy from Balthazar's Spirit (suplemented by Blessed Signet as required) should be enough to fulfill your energy needs.

Utilize Dismiss Condition as a heal for small health loss as well as a condition removal skill - your maintained enchantments will ensure the healing effect takes place, unless enchantments have been stripped. Whenever a players health drops below 50% use Zealous Benediction for a free heal.

Shield of Absorption is an excellent method of protection versus Warrior or Assassin harasment and should be used often to protect the bonder, or other team members.

Counters

 * Enchantment removal, in particular of Balthazar's Spirit, can severely decrease your effectiveness if situations prevent their reapplication.
 * Energy denial
 * Standard Monk counters

Variants

 * Reversal of Fortune can be replaced with any of the following:
 * Inspired Hex/Revealed Hex for greater hex removal capabilities (use with remaining Attribute Points in Inspiration Magic)
 * Signet of Devotion for a free healing skill
 * Guardian for protection against melee foes across multiple team members to supplement Shield of Absorption, which can protect only one person at a time.
 * Spirit Bond or Protective Spirit to counter Spikes


 * Holy Veil can be swapped out for Inspired Hex/Revealed Hex, for free hex removal (with remaining points in inspiration magic) and to eliminate the awkward double-clicking action needed with Holy Veil
 * Adding a combination of Guardian and Deadly Riposte greatly increases your defenses against melee and assassin spikes.

=Divine Wind Runner= The Divine Wind Runner combines the power of the Monk's Divine Favor and the mobility and balance of the Dervish's Wind and Earth Prayers to successfully run a wide range of locations. This flexible build provides powerful spell denial, self healing, speed, balance, and condition removal.

Equipment

 * Full Radiant Insignias
 * Totem Axe or Rajazan's Fervor or equivalent weapon.
 * Divine Favor off-hand with health +30 core, and energy +5 while enchanted inscription.
 * If preferred, a halves skill recharge inscription (Forget Me Not) could be used to increase usage of Spell Breaker.

Usage
The power of this build comes from the long-lasting preventative action of Spell Breaker. At rest points, allow Spell Breaker to recharge while you heal yourself. Successful usage of this build is facilitated by smart gameplay; only use Spell Breaker when you (forsee you will) need it - do not try to keep it active all the time.
 * Begin your run by casting Blessed Aura. This constantly maintained enchantment will help to fuel your Enchanted Haste.
 * If desired, pre-cast Watchful Spirit so you may cancel it in the event of an emergency for a quick heal boost after taking damage. Although you do not need to stop to cancel Watchful Spirit, you will need to stop to recast for future uses.
 * Use Spell Breaker when passing through areas with casters. Even with an enchanting weapon and Blessed Aura, you cannot maintain this enchantment indefinitely.  It should last around 25 seconds, so know your area and plan ahead for the 20 second downtime.
 * Use Enchanted Haste and then Harrier's Haste immediately after Enchanted Haste expires. With 9 points in Wind Prayers, you can run constantly and with no energy downtime while cycling through these skills.  Note that both of these skills are stances and, as such, one will cancel the other.
 * Use Fleeting Stability just before entering a knockdown area. This is an enchantment and, as such, it will not interfere with your running stances. Beware of the self-knockdown effect after Fleeting ends.
 * Use Smite Hex as needed.
 * Use Mending Touch as needed.

Counters

 * Enchantment removal and hexes can be devastating. Avoid running through dense enchantment removal and hex areas without Spell Breaker active.
 * Excessive physical attacks can prove fatal as well. Taking a wrong turn or getting boxed in/body blocked can end your run.  Know the geography and spawn locations of enemies so that you can plan to circumvent them accordingly.

Variants
The build can be customized to conform to specific runs, enemies, and user preferences:
 * If knockdowns are not a concern, consider bringing Conviction for added armor.
 * If you choose to use conviction with this build, consider bringing Featherfoot Grace, as it is an enchantment running spell and will not conflict with your Conviction stance.
 * Watchful Healing can be used instead of Watchful Spirit, as a cheaper regen spell. Additionally, bring a "lose enchantment" skill to cancel Watchful Healing and gain its healing bonus.
 * Pious Restoration or Signet of Pious Light can be used to cancel Fleeting and Watchful Healing if you choose that skill as well.
 * If you're running with a team, consider using Dismiss Condition to assist your allies if needed.
 * If you are not concerned with hexes, replace Smite Hex with Signet of Devotion for self healing, ideally at rest stops or after breaking aggro.

Equipment

 * Max Radiant Armor with the above mentioned runes. Basically your normal prot gear, the minor smiting rune isn't even needed.
 * Whatever you want of enchanting. I prefer a staff of enchanting so I can do some additional damage myself. Another weapon of enchanting will also work but does less damage.

Usage

 * Maintain Blessed Aura, Balthazar's Spirit, and Essence Bond at all times.
 * Gather as many vermin as you feel like, you can tank an infinite number if used right.
 * Keep Fleeting Stability and Shield of Absorption up at all times, I find it smart to follow SoA with FS.
 * Use Mystic Regeneration to counter the health degen of the vermin.
 * Use Shield of Judgment to damage the vermin, follow it up with Balthazar's Aura. The knockdown for SoJ will allow BA to deal lots of damage without scattering the vermin. attack a vermin at all times so it keeps attacking you. Shreader should always be taken down first.

Counters

 * No real threats from Vermin, but Jade Brotherhood may be able to kill you.

Equipment

 * Due to the higher energy requirement of the build, an armor set with Radiant insignia would work the best. Blessed could also be used.
 * Take a Low energy set such as an weapon and offhand with -5 energy and switch to that set if E-denial is expected.
 * Take a Normal set such as a staff (20/20) healing prayers with +60 HP. Use this set for regular healing.
 * Take a High energy set such as a wand and off hand that both has a +15 energy -1 regen mod on them. Switch to this set during emergencies but quickly switch back to the normal set as soon as you cast the spell or spells you need.

Usage

 * In a PvE teamsetup, this monk works best with a full prot monk in the party.
 * Remember that all your healing prayers spells' healing capacity is boosted by 50% so be careful not to over-heal too much by healing party members with little damage.
 * Kite away from enemies and heal and protect yourself using Words of Comfort, Ethereal Light and Shield of Absorption. Use these spells on your self as needed.
 * Make sure you're not under fire when using Ethereal Light. However, the chances of it getting interrupted is low due to the 1/2 second activation time thanks to Healer's Boon.
 * Use Glyph of Lesser Energy then cast Heal Party as needed. Each casting will heal the entire party for 120 HP.  Unless you have a lot of energy, never use Heal Party with out using Glyph of Lesser Energy first!
 * Use Dwayna's Kiss on party members with enchantments and/or hexes on them to increase its efficiency. With the bonus from Healer's Boon it isn't unusual to see 300+ healing from Dwayna's Kiss on party members in areas with a fair number of hexes.  Dervishes and Elementalists usually reap the highest benefit from this spell as they use enchantments on themselves fairly consistently.
 * Using Shield of Absorption on party members right before using Dwayna's Kiss will reduce the damage they take and increase the healing from the spell.
 * When your energy is zero, switch to a high energy set and use Glyph of Lesser Energy and switch back to the normal energy set and then use 2 spells at no cost.

Counters

 * This build is vulnerable to E-denial.
 * Enchantment removal isn't too much of a problem as HB recharges fast and only costs 5 energy.
 * Anti-spam and Anti-Caster hexes.

Variants

 * Replace Words of Comfort or a skill of your choice and...
 * Add Holy Veil as a hex removal in areas with more damaging hexes.
 * Add Dismiss Condition as a condition removal if you are expecting more debilitating conditions where removal is more of a priority.
 * Add Healing Whisper if no conditions are expected in a area.
 * Add Healing Touch as a high powered self heal.
 * Add Signet of Devotion as a zero cost small heal.
 * For people who have a different playing style and prefer to use no prot enchantments, replace Shield of Absorption with Holy Haste and change the resurrection spell to Renew Life. This allows for a 1.5 second resurrection, as well as powerful heal for party members within earshot. Glyph of Lesser Energy helps with the cost of this expensive resurrection spell.

Equipment

 * Superior Protection Rune, Superior Vigor Rune and Minor Divine Favor Rune
 * Use a 20% enchanting mod to increase the duration of your enchantments.
 * Sadi's Benediction would be an ideal staff.

Usage

 * 1) Maintain Blessed Aura to make all your enchantments last 50% longer in conjunction with the enchanting mod.
 * 2) Use Shield of Absorption and Reversal of Fortune for minor attacks.
 * 3) When an Ally is under heavy attack, use Glyph of Lesser Energy and Shield of Regeneration.
 * 4) * You have two energy-efficient options now. Either cast Shield of Regeneration on a different ally taking damage, or cast Aegis for party-wide protection.
 * 5) Cast Dismiss Condition as needed.

Counters

 * Interrupting Glyph of Lesser Energy.
 * Energy denial.
 * Enchantment removal.

Variants

 * Place some points into healing prayers and add Gift of Health for a spike heal.
 * For condition heavy areas, you can switch Aegis for Extinguish.
 * If Nightfall is not available, you can replace Shield of Absorption with Protective Spirit and Dismiss Condition with Mend Condition.

Attributes and Skills

 * You can use Watchful Healing, Mending or Watchful Spirit if you expect degeneration. Aftershock, Crystal Wave or Teinai's Crystals for additional damage. Grasping Earth for bosses that run when they are low on health. Rust is also useful when dealing with Warrior bosses. This requires you to lower Earth Magic by one and put the points into Water Magic.

Equipment

 * A Weapon of Enchanting. The Cities of Ascalon -50HP Grim Cesta can be used but won't make any difference.
 * Armor doesn't really matter, but 5 Superior Runes are required.

Usage

 * When you zone in, cast Blessed Aura and Balthazar's Spirit. Switch to your Protection Prayers headgear if you have one.
 * Before engaging enemies for the first time, cast Protective Spirit followed by either Shielding Hands or Healing Hands (if you use Shielding Hands before Protective Spirit, you'll take damage and likely die because Shielding Hands will reduce damage before the Protective Spirit effect, making it useless)
 * Whenever either of these enchantments start flashing, cast Protective Spirit followed by the other one. You should be able to tank an infinite number of mobs this way.
 * Get close to the boss, and use Glyph of Concentration followed by Sliver Armor. If you brought a damage skill in the optional slot, use it to speed up killing.
 * If you brought Watchful Healing, use Glyph of Concentration followed by Watchful Healing when they recharge.
 * If Shielding Hands recharges before it expires, do not re-use it. For some reason doing so will simply nullify the damage reduction from the spell, most likely causing you to die.

Counters

 * Enchant removal will devastate this build, don't try to farm areas with enchant removal.
 * Life stealing bypasses Protective Spirit, and is usually fatal.
 * Interruptions are not a problem as your protective skills are all 1/4 second cast, and you have Glyph of Concentration for Sliver Armor. You might have trouble if Glyph is interrupted however.
 * Heavy degeneration such as Burning, or long lasting degeneration can be dangerous. Make sure you bring a health regeneration skill if you expect to face degen.

Variants

 * Essence Bond can be used if you face energy problems, however you should be fine with just Balthazar's Spirit.


 * Exactly the same build can replace both Healing Hands and Shielding Hands for Stoneflesh Aura. However, this is harder to use with the longer casting time of Stoneflesh Aura. It is highly recommended to use Glyph of Concentration before casting any spell with a 1 second casting time or longer.

Prophecies:
2 current mobs


 * Skyward Reach
 * Hydras - (you may wish to use Ward of Stability to avoid knockdowns.)
 * Prophet's Path
 * Minotaurs - (better farmed in Elona Reach (Mission) - either avoid the traps near the start or go with 105 hp, Mending or Watchful Healing.)

Factions:
13 current bosses


 * Bukdek Byway
 * Kenshi Steelhand - Medium (Huge mob, higher chance of interrupts)
 * Jin, the Purifier


 * Wajjun Bazaar
 * Lian, Dragon's Petal - (try to pull as many nearby enemies as you can)
 * Shen, the Magistrate


 * Xaquang Skyway
 * Ghial the Bone Dancer - (Mending is recommended due to his use of Faintheartedness)
 * Orosen, Tranquil Acolyte - Pull his and the other two mobs in range; otherwise he can outheal your damage even if you use Aftershock.


 * Mount Qinkai
 * Hukhrah Earthslove
 * Arrahhsh Mountainclub - (only if the quest Return of the Yeti is active)
 * Chehbaba Roottripper
 * Tomton Spiriteater
 * These four Yeti Bosses can be done in one run with Watchful Healing to counter Poison and Glyph of Elemental Power to speed up killing.


 * Pongmei Valley
 * Arrahhsh Mountainclub - (Glyph of Elemental Power is recommended)


 * Archipelagos
 * Ssyn Coiled Grasp - Medium/Hard (Dazing will cause you to get interrupted frequently. To avoid this, use Glyph of Concentration for all of your spells. 105hp is also needed.)


 * Morostav Trail
 * Strongroot Tanglebranch (Watchful Healing is advised.)

Nightfall:
9 current bosses


 * Marga Coast
 * Bubahl Icehands - (Watchful Healing is recommended due to the Kuskale Blighters' use of Rotting Flesh)


 * Yatendi Canyons
 * Hajok Earthguardian (Insect)


 * The Floodplain of Mahnkelon
 * Jerneh Nightbringer - Hard (Avoid the corsairs on the way, they can kill you. Also attempt to cast your already maintained enchantments to set off the Ridgeback Kuskales' Agonizing Chop and the Beast Sworn Hekets' Disrupting Lunge. Watchful Healing is recommended due to his use of Rotting Flesh.)


 * Resplendent Makuun
 * Jishol Darksong - (To counter Blazing Finale, go with 105hp and Watchful Healing.)


 * The Mirror of Lyss
 * Riktund the Vicious - (105 hp is recommended. Watchful Healing is recommended due to the Cobalt Shriekers' use of Blazing Finale. Also gather the Rock Beetle and Rain Beetle because they have a very high attack rate.)
 * Yammiron, Ether Lord - Hard/Very Hard (105 hp is a must. Use the same setup as for Riktund the Vicious.  Be careful as to not aggro the Behemoth Gravebanes and Scytheclaw Behemoths due the massive degen they can cause with Suffering, Toxic Chill, and Wounding Strike.  This isn't for the faint of heart but there will be energy denial due the Roaring Ethers.  But this shouldn't be too much of a problem if they keep attacking you. Note that Roaring Ethers use Resurrection Signet.)


 * The Hidden City of Ahdashim
 * Shakor Firespear
 * Leilon, Tranquil Water
 * Yammirvu, Ether Guardian - Very Hard
 * To kill these go with 105hp and bring Watchful Healing against Burning. Switch out Glyph of Concentration for Glyph of Elemental Power.


 * Domain of Secrets
 * Exuro Flatus - Don't even need Healing Hands. Take Shockwave if you have it, else any other non-elite suitable earth skill.

Equipment

 * Any weapon will do, a weapon that lengthens enchantments is recommended (such as a Totem Axe, Rajazan's Fervor or a Staff with Staff Wrapping Of Enchanting).
 * Any armor can be used, as long as it has maximum AL. However, most PvE healers prefer armor with Radiant Insignias.
 * Runes of Minor Divine Favor, Superior Protection Prayers, Superior Vigor

Usage

 * For minor heals, try to maintain an ally's health using Reversal of Fortune and Dismiss Condition.
 * Allies taking heavy damage should be enchanted with Protective Spirit.
 * Aegis should be used to defend the party. You should always precast Glyph of Lesser Energy before casting this.
 * Spamming Dismiss Condition on party members enchanted with Aegis provides excellent healing.
 * Use Glyph of Lesser Energy to remove the energy cost for your more expensive spells.
 * Prevent party wipes and resurrect allies to a safe location with Rebirth. Because it drains all of your energy, avoid using this skill in battle.
 * Remove harmful Hexes with Holy Veil.

Counters

 * Diversion is a major counter to this build.
 * Interrupts or anti-spamming spells hinder your output of healing spells.

Variants

 * Rebirth can be replaced with another resurrection spell of your choice, although this is the preferred spell in PvE. Resurrection skills can be replaced entirely if your party has other members that can Resurrect.
 * Shield of Absorption can replace Holy Veil or Rebirth.
 * For a different type of Condition removal, at the expense of the extra healing while under Aegis, consider taking Mend Condition or Mend Ailment.
 * Signet of Devotion can be used for an energy-free heal.

=Barrier Bonder= This is a versatile protection monk build to use if there is another healing monk in the party. It is primarily designed for PvE.

Equipment
Usually, monks should avoid using runes that reduce hit points. It is very important for a monk to have as much health as possible, thus being able to take more hits before going down. However, in most situations, the Life Bond monk does not get involved in combat, as the enchantments can be maintained from a greater distance than is needed to cast them. The bonder will usually stay as far behind the healing monk as the monks and casters stay away from the warriors. Normally a bonder will use one major or superior rune to boost either Protection or Divine Favor.

For elementalist-heavy areas use the chest piece with elemental resistance. For melee-heavy areas use the physical resistance chest piece and pants. Always use tattoos on hands and feet for extra energy.

Good equipment for this build will be anything that increases energy and anything with a +1 divine favor chance of 20%. Use of +1 items will not change the optimal skill allocations in the table below. No other mods available will be of much use to a bonder as all fast cast and recharge items effect spells only and blessed signet is not a spell. Good options include:


 * The Soulstone
 * Noss' Artifact
 * Rual's Focus

The Soulstone and Noss' Artifact also provide extra HP when enchanted. Rual's Focus provides the same amount of health while in a stance, Mantra of Inscriptions being a stance that will almost always be up.


 * Flint's Wand is a good, cheap way to get cold damage and 5 more energy. (Cold damage is useful when in a party with a necro that has Spinal Shivers, e.g. Sorrow's Furnace Farm.)

Kepkhet's Refuge or The Yakslapper are also a fairly good options, providing extra energy. However they do not increase rank in any skill.

Usage

 * Life Barrier + Life Bond are used on the tank(s) in the party to reduce the amount of damage they are taking and allow them to more effectively deal out damage. Life Barrier should be cast first, followed by Life Bond. Also, depending upon proficiency you should also bond the other members of your party with this priority: Non-Tanks taking damage, melee attackers, Monks, others.


 * Balthazar's Spirit and Blessed Signet are for energy management. Balthazar's is to be cast on yourself. Whenever damage is redirected to you from Life Bond, you still get +1 energy from Balthazar's Spirit, even if Life Bond reduces the damage to 0. The energy gained from these skills can often outstrip the energy degeneration from maintaining multiple enchantments. During a large battle, it is possible to maintain 12+ total enchantments, with Life Bond on every character, plus Life Barrier on the tank(s).


 * Mantra of Inscriptions is used to keep your signets recharging quickly.


 * Rebirth is generally the resurrection spell of choice for PvE. Party members often die in dangerous areas and would easily be killed again if resurrected at the place they died.  Rebirth can be used to teleport the body to the caster's safe location. Be warned however that using Rebirth will cause the caster to have 0 energy, which will make any maintained enchantments over the energy regen rate (usually 4) drop. The bonder should only use Rebirth if there is no other way of bringing a party member back up.


 * Ether Signet is a backup plan for when your energy drops under 8 and blessed signet isn't recharged.

Variants
The most commonly used skills are Life Barrier, Life Bond, Mantra of Inscriptions, Balthazar's Spirit, Blessed Signet, and Rebirth. This leaves two open skill slots, shown above as optional to use on utility spells and several options have been listed here:


 * For a more passive monk, use Watchful Spirit for regeneration and spike heals while remaining safely outside of spell range. Note that Watchful Spirit does not require any points in Healing for its Healing over time and makes for a great cover enchantment in areas where the enemies use enchantment removals.
 * Aegis and Guardian are excellent utility skills as well and can also serve as cover enchantments in areas with high enchantment removal. When using Aegis, Blessed Aura can be added to extend the duration of Aegis.  This leaves the bonder without self healing, so do this only if you are confident the healing monk can handle the load.
 * Vital Blessing can be used to great effect in small groups, where maintaining more than three enchantments on each party member is possible. Since Vital Blessing adds its health to the target's current health this can also serve as an emergency heal but if the enchantment is shattered or removed this can result in instant death.
 * Inspired Hex is an excellent utility skill to add to an open slot for this build. Besides the obvious benefits of hex removal it can also return energy.  This is most useful in areas where foes cast Rust or Ignorance so that Blessed Signet can continually be recast.
 * Signet of Devotion is a good direct healing spell which can be used on the bonder themselves or on other casters. Bonders use this skill to cover health lost through Life Bond as well as to help allied necromancers cover life sacrifice costs.  It costs no energy and benefits from Mantra of Inscriptions.
 * Reversal of Fortune can serve as a cover enchantment in areas where enchantment removal is prevalent as well as to provide supplemental healing for the group. When used as a healing skill the energy cost can be quite high because to heal effectively it must be cast several times in a row.  This also requires the bonder to be within spell range of the target being healed.  Despite these drawbacks this skill can be used to great effect in areas where aggro can be drawn to a single character.
 * Mend Condition can be put to good use in this build, especially if you have great Aggro control, resulting in not needing to remove conditions on yourself. Then, you would probably be using Mend Ailment, which has a slightly longer recharge time, and is inconsistent with the healing bonus.
 * Dismiss Condition may also be utilised effectively with almost guarenteed bonus healing due to the fact that it heals extra if the ally has an enchantment on him.
 * Life Attunement can be used to buff the bonders healing skills when no healing monk is available. This is also an excellent enchantment to maintain on tanks to make healing easier.
 * Early Prophecies variations: It's possible to run this build relatively early in the Prophecies campaign. Once Beetletun is reached, Blessed Signet can be captured, Life Barrier is found just outside of Beacon's Perch and Balthazar's Spirit and Life Bond are available from trainers.  Other skills need to be adapted for such an early-game build.  Vital Blessing, Inspired Hex, Guardian, Reversal of Fortune, and Signet of Devotion are all available at this point via quests and/or skill trainers.

Inspiration Magic vs. Divine Favor
Both Inspiration Magic and Divine Favor govern energy gain, and by extension the number of bonds that can be maintained. The trade-off presented here is between energy gain on use of Blessed Signet and the number of times Blessed Signet can be used. Since this is a protection build the table has been limited to high levels of Protection Prayers, it also assumes that a Superior Rune of Divine Favor is used as well. The optimal values are in bold. Simply select a desired level of Protection Prayers and use these values to optimize energy gain from Blessed Signet and Mantra of Inscriptions. Take note that neither type of +1 chance 20% item, Inspiration Magic or Divine Favor, will have an effect on the optimal attribute levels shown here.

=Blessed Light Bonder= Having Blessed Light as multi-purpose skill, this bonder sacrifices some energy management for better Hex and Condition removal via use of Blessed Light. The unconditional heal and increased self-healing make it very sustainable.

Equipment

 * Ascetic's Armor or Acolyte's Armor
 * Any weapon or focus item with 20/20 recharge on Divine Favor spells.
 * Any weapon or focus item with +1/20 chance on increased Divine Favor when using skills.

Usage
This build is played similiarly to any other bonding build.
 * Start by casting Life Bond on 4 members of the party. Then use Mantra of Inscriptions.
 * Follow up with Blessed Signet.
 * Cast Life Bond on the rest of the party and Balthazar's Spirit on yourself.
 * While your party is in combat, so long as they take physical damage, you will have a very steady supply of energy.
 * If your energy supply is high, use Blessed Light to remove hexes and conditions while healing your target.
 * Otherwise for healing your party, use Signet of Devotion.
 * Replace Life Bond as quickly as possible if removed.
 * When a party member is low on life, use Reversal of Fortune first, then Blessed Light for a quick and effective heal.
 * Use Blessed Signet whenever you are down to half of your energy. Keep Mantra of Inscriptions up all the time.
 * Self-sustained you can support Life Bond on up to 9 characters.

Counters

 * Ignorance is a major counter to this build.
 * Energy denial / skill denial / enchantment removal.
 * Damage spikes can render you helpless, especially if you're caught casting Blessed Signet.
 * Hexes like Rust can be devastating if not removed properly.

Variants

 * You may wish to replace Resurrect with a different resurrection skill such as Resurrection Signet, Sunspear Rebirth Signet, or even Light of Dwayna.

=Elona's Bonder=

The Mo/any Elona's Bonder is a variant of the traditional bonder build which utilizes only core and Nightfall skills. Unlike the traditional bonder, the Mo/any Elona's Bonder relies on the elite skill Scribe's Insight in conjunction with Mantra of Inscriptions and Blessed Signet to maintain energy rather than relying Balthazar's Spirit or Essence Bond.

This build is mainly intended for people who only have Nightfall.

Equipment

 * Ascetic's Armor (or comparable armor) is recommended due to the need for a high energy pool.
 * Any weapon combination that lowers casting and recharge times of Protection Prayers will work well with this build. A couple of suggestions are:
 * Kepkhet's Refuge
 * Jayne's Staff
 * Several Runes of Attunement are suggested due to the need for a high energy pool.

Usage

 * Try to maintain Life Bond on as many party members as possible. Check allies frequently to see if anybody has had Life Bond removed, and re-apply if necessary. When energy drain becomes too burdensome, it may become necessary to remove bonds from party members and re-apply later.
 * Before battle, cast Mantra of Inscriptions and Scribe's Insight. Try to maintain these skills at all times.
 * Use Blessed Signet frequently, i.e. whenever it has recharged to mitigate energy loss due to bonds.
 * Use Reversal of Fortune and Shield of Absorption on party members who are under attack to help further mitigate damage.
 * Use Dismiss Condition for Condition Removal as well as a cheap heal.
 * Use Signet of Devotion as a no-cost heal. Note that Signet of Devotion will actually result in a net energy gain of three due to Scribe's Insight.

Counters

 * Energy Denial
 * Massive Enchantment Removal
 * Areas With High Amounts Of Elemental-Only Damage

Variants
The bonder can be a very personal build, with many, many variations.


 * Consider replacing Scribe's Insight with Signet of Removal for a relatively spammable, no cost condition and hex removal.
 * As long as you are careful about energy, Zealous Benediction will also work as a replacement for Scribe's Insight

Equipment

 * Full Ascetic's armor for a maximal energy pool.
 * 5 Superior runes, at least 1 Superior Protection Prayers and 1 Superior Divine Favor.
 * A Scythe with a 20% enchantment mod with the "I Have The Power" +5 energy inscription or similar bonus.

Usage
This build uses SOA and PS to tank and the Scythe's ability to attack more than one target, even with Illusionary Weaponry.
 * Use the maintained enchantments first. Switch to a +1 Divine Favor head gear when using Blessed Aura and keep using the +1 Protection Prayers head gear for fighting/tanking.
 * Before aggroing, cast PS>AV>SOA (Keep a Visage up at ALL times during an aggro).
 * Take the aggro and watch out for the nightmare. use power return to interrupt the spell cast by it and wand it with a backup staff/wand.
 * If a second nightmare pops, interrupt one and wand the second. if you die from the second nightmare, bad luck and try again.
 * When the aggro is under control and the mob has 0 energy and no adrenaline, cast IW and begin to slash away with the scythe. Make sure you attack the monster in the middle of the mob to hit the two beside it.
 * When dealing with mobs of 4+, just attack the same target until it is dead and the scythe will take care of the surrounding mob. If smites break, they will spam Reversal of Fortune, but DON'T WORRY, they won't be able to keep spamming it long enough to fully heal another smite.
 * If one smite won't die, switch to another smite.
 * Avoid coldfires at all times, this build has no way to kill them as interruption and slow is a pain.
 * You can counter the Dying Nightmares by just aggroing the Aatxe's and running behind the dead spirits the Aatxe won't hit you any more but the Dying Nightmares will use Rend Enchantments so you won't need to worry because the Aatxe's won't be hitting and you will just need to reenchant yourself and kill.

Counters

 * Death is a stand out counter.
 * A second nightmare popping up without you noticing, resulting in death.
 * Miscasting SOA, resulting in a death.
 * Bleeding at the beginning as it may degenerate your health quickly at 105 hp, resulting in death.
 * The recent changes to the skills Rend Enchantments and Shield of Absorption may have a significant effect on this builds stability. SoA is now fair game for Bladed Aatxe's interrupts, and Dying Nightmares are even more of a threat now with a 1 second cast time to Rend. More testing will be needed.(I suggest switching soa for Shielding Hands) resulting in death.

Attributes and Skills
Please see the Variants below.

Equipment

 * A Smiting Rod from Ornhelm Brightaxe or Arliss Vaughn.
 * A Jeweled Chalice from Mourn Drakespur or Bariel Darkroot.
 * Wanderer's or Censor's armor; Ascetic's is not recommended due to its lower AL and the fact that this build doesn't need the bonus energy.
 * Rune of Superior Vigor.
 * Extra runes of Attunement or Vitae.

Usage

 * Activate Mantra of Signets before battle.
 * In general, use skills in this order: Signet of Judgment, Bane Signet, Banish. Timing is important; try to keep the target constantly knocked down.
 * If the foe is a melee attacker, you may wish to lead with Bane Signet instead, and save Signet of Judgment for a caster foe.
 * Dangerous spellcasters are easily denied by leading with Leech Signet.
 * Interrupt with Leech Signet and Power Drain as necessary.
 * Use Smite Hex and Drain Enchantment as necessary.
 * Reactivate Mantra of Signets as soon as it recharges.
 * If there are spirits/minions, use Banish. It deals much higher damage to them.

Counters

 * This build can't (directly) heal itself or deal with Conditions, except for Ether Feast.
 * Any anti-Signet skill, such as Rust or Panic. However the latter is rare, and the former is easily counter-countered with Smite Hex, Inspired Hex, simple interruption, etc.
 * Anti-knockdown skills or foes that can't be knocked down.
 * Removal of Mantra of Signets via Wild Blow or such.

Variants

 * Ether Feast is a convenient self-heal that is worth considering.
 * Mantra of Inscriptions could replace Mantra of Signets, for a possibly better DPS and interrupt recharge; however, it doesn't allow for easy chain knockdowns.
 * If in an area where Smite Hex and/or Drain Enchantment are not needed, replace with Resurrect, Symbol of Wrath, or Smite.
 * If facing only Hexes, exchange Drain Enchantment for Inspired Hex.
 * If facing only Enchantments, exchange Smite Hex for Inspired Hex.
 * If facing primarily non-caster enemies, drop Power Drain and take both Mantra of Signets and Mantra of Inscriptions. Or swap in Resurrect, Symbol of Wrath, or Smite.
 * When appropriate, consider substituting in a Mantra. For example, versus the Mursaat, Mantra of Lightning may be useful.
 * Holy Strike is a dangerous but powerful skill. It is not recommended, because in most cases it is not worth the risk to get within touch range of foes.
 * If you have Factions, consider replacing Banish with Spear of Light.

Template


=Tank Bonder=

Built on the Mo/Me Barrier Bond Monk but instead of using Life Barrier for protection, Protective Bond is used to prohibit damage spikes to tanks and any damage to the bonder. This build has been designed with Underworld foes in mind.

Equipment

 * Ascetic's Armor for larger energy pool.
 * Weapon and Focus of choice.

Usage

 * Cast Protective Bond, Life Bond and Essence Bond on the tank(s) or probable targets in the party (recommended 3) to reduce the amount of damage they are taking and prevent spikes. NOTE: Protective Bond first will result in you taking no damage, Life Bond first will lower the amount of times Protective Bond is needed, so less energy demand, but bonder may take damage.
 * Cast Life Bond on a couple of party members who are grabbing aggro.
 * Cast Balthazar's Spirit on yourself to receive energy every time Life Bond protects an ally.
 * Mantra of Inscriptions is used to keep your signets recharging quickly. Maintain it.
 * Blessed Signet and Boon Signet are for energy management.
 * Rebirth is for restarting the team in case of wipeout.

Variations

 * Take a risk that the enemy won't wipe out the whole team, and take Dismiss Condition or Revealed Hex instead of Rebirth.
 * Bring Ether Signet instead of Essence Bond if you plan to cast Life Bond primarily, then Protective Bond maybe just once or twice.
 * Replace Boon Signet with Mantra of Recall (if only chapter owned is Prophecies).
 * Replace Boon Signet with Scribe's Insight (if lacking Factions but own Nightfall).

Counters

 * Enchantment removal.
 * Energy denial.
 * Constant powerful attacks which will drain away energy needed for Protective Bond.
 * Health degeneration without another monk to mend.

Armor
It is essential to wear infused armor for the run to Marhan's Grotto or Thunderhead Keep where many Mursaat and Jades with Spectral Agony would instantly kill you without Infusion. Other than that, consider the following armor types for additional protection:
 * Acolyte's Armor for its +10 armor (while enchanted) bonus.
 * Wanderer's Armor for its +10 armor (vs. elemental damage) bonus.

Weapons
A weapon with 20% longer Enchantments is essential for lengthening the duration of Spell Breaker, and shortening the recast gap between 2x Spell Breaker. Divine Favor Skill Recharge bonus is helpful but not strictly required for this build to work. Options:
 * A weapon such as Gardock's Staff offers 20% Skill Recharge for Divine Favor and 20% longer enchantments.
 * A Totem Axe or a Rajazan's Fervor and the Divine Symbol from collector Cinder Linnwood in the Diviner's Ascent
 * The weaponsmiths Gertrud (Vasburg Armory) and Telamon (Leviathan Pits) also craft the same item.
 * There are also many other Divine Symbols available throughout the campaigns that provide beneficial bonuses.
 * A Holy Staff obtained from collector Rylan Paval in Skyward Reach, upgraded with:
 * a perfect Insightful Staff Head (+5)
 * a perfect Staff Wrapping of Enchanting (20%)

Usage
Maintain the following casting orders when running.

Enchantment Sequence

 * Activate Blessed Aura and Watchful Spirit (in this order).

Note: Watchful Spirit, though providing only a Health recovery of +2, can quick-heal you for 160 Hit Points (12 Divine Favor) or even 190 (Divine Favor of 16) when canceled by double-clicking on it. Recover your Energy bar after that. Therefore, in emergency situations (Avicara Rangers, Jade Bows) cancel this skill, if you need immediate health. Blessed Aura helps keep up Spell Breaker - your only insurance of not dying right away.

Running Sequence

 * Activate Serpent's Quickness, Spell Breaker, and Storm Chaser (in this order).

Note #1: With Serpent's Quickness you initate your running sequence. It will give Spell Breaker a minimal advantage to recover faster. Try to keep up Spell Breaker at any given moment. Blessed Aura (supported by your weapon with +20% longer enchantments), and Serpent's Quickness guarantee that Spell Breaker will get recharged within 18,5 secs or less if you delay the activation of Storm Chaser (which cancels Serpent's Quickness' Quick-Recharge-Skill ability) (See Bug: Serpent's Quickness under Specific Hints No. #6). Eventually, Storm Chaser will boost your speed for 18 secs, the same period of time Spell Breaker is being active (with Divine Favor of 16). If there aren't any Hex-casting enemies on your route, you, of course, are free not to use Spell Breaker.

Note #2: As soon as Spell Breaker fades away, recast it, and use Storm Chaser again. You can do the Running Sequence twice, without a gap between 2x Spell Breaker.

Variants

 * It is possible to use Dryder's Defenses instead of Dodge in order to start aggroing multiple Rangers (Jade Bows, etc.) since Dryder's Defenses is one of the evasion stances that is not tied to Expertise unlike Dodge.
 * Zojun's Haste can replace Dodge, as it is a Factions duplicate skill.
 * Holy Veil can replace Smite Hex, as both are generally one-second cast Hex removal skills, and you will not have to stop to remove a hex if you pre-cast it where needed.
 * Divine Intervention for fatal situations can replace Smite Hex but be aware of the missing hex remover in emergency situations (unforeseen aggroing) where you simply aggroed enemies w/o Spell Breaker being active. Be aware of the long skill recharge of 30 secs.
 * Healing Touch can replace Smite Hex when in need of healing, but don't want to cancel Watchful Spirit. With 16 in divine and 3 in Healing Prayers, Healing Touch will heal for about 25+102 HP for the cost of 5 energy.
 * Dodge can also be replaced with other running skills, such as Storm's Embrace or Natural Stride.
 * For users with Nightfall, Purge Conditions can be replaced with Mending Touch.

Major Running Principles

 * 1) Don't aggro too many groups.
 * 2) Evade and choose a direct pass through groups.
 * 3) It's better to aggro one group than two, even if the one group is much bigger.
 * 4) Avoid boss aggroing, because bosses have a different aggro radius. They won't give up chasing you as easily as all the other non-boss characters.
 * 5) Take your time for regeneration of your Health and Energy.
 * 6) If you are a paid runner, run your routes secure rather than fast.

Specific Hints

 * 1) It is vital to keep up Spell Breaker as long as possible. With a 20% longer enchantment item, Serpent's Quickness and Blessed Aura you should be able to keep up Spellbreaker for at least twice  in a row.
 * 2) Use Dodge for encountering Jade Bows due to its Dodge abilities, or in emergency situations if Storm Chaser is not available or for short distance sprints.
 * 3) Make use of your high Divine Favor attribute to gain health by using skills that you may not need at the moment like: Purge Conditions, Smite Hex before thinking of canceling Watchful Spirit.
 * 4) Smite Hex is there for emergency anti-hex situations. (E.g. you aggroed an Ice Imp but did not notice...)
 * 5) Storm Chaser gives you much energy for elemental attacks. Though, do not start the running sequence with less than 30 Energy (5 + 15 + 10).
 * 6) Although Storm Chaser should cancel Serpent's Quickness, it is still active and recharges Storm Chaser 33% faster, so that you can use Storm Chaser immediately again (1 sec gap in-between).
 * 7) Sometimes it's useful (e.g. Iron Mines to Grotto) to recast your already used Watchful Spirit even while running, and immediately cancel it again to boost up your health. Pay attention to your Energy bar, though. Spellbreaker, and a running skill has the first casting priority.

Possible Routes
Note: The second route can be a 100% guaranteed run. Use henchmen for attacking the Pinesouls and therewith luring the Azure Shadows (keep calling your targets). Use Watchful Spirit and Divine Intervention whenever needed. Take the middle way.
 * 1) Deldrimor War Camp -> Granite Citadel -> Copperhammer Mines
 * 2) Copperhammer Mines -> Iron Mines of Moladune
 * 3) Iron Mines of Moladune -> Marhan's Grotto -> Thunderhead Keep

Equipment

 * Ascetic's Armor for a larger energy pool, with a +1 Smiting Prayers scalp design. You will need to upgrade your armor so as to bring your health down to 55 hp (as seen on this section of the Invincible Monk page).


 * Any Axe of Enchanting. The bonus must be +20%. Also, a +5 Energy modifier (or the inscription "I Have the Power") helps to increase the energy pool even more. The Totem Axe is a good choice for this. A two-handed weapon cannot be used or your health will be more than 55.


 * Consider bringing a scalp design that provides a bonus in Divine Favor and/or a staff of Mastery in Divine Favor.

Usage

 * First cast Blessed Aura. If you are using a Divine Favor headpiece and/or a staff of Mastery in Divine Favor, equip them now to maximize its effect. Note that if you are using a staff of Mastery, it may take multiple castings for the Divine Favor boost to kick in. Be sure to re-equip the Smiting Prayers scalp and your axe/offhand combo after you are satisfied with your cast.


 * Then cast Strength of Honor and Balthazar's Spirit. This will provide you with added melee damage, Adrenaline for your Lacerating Chop, and help your energy management.

Note: These three enchantments can be cast in any order according to preference.


 * After all of the enchantments are cast, head towards your enemies (but see Choosing Enemies, below).


 * Before entering battle cast Protective Spirit and Shield of Absorption. (You should do this no more than two seconds before you do the next step.)


 * Aggro your enemies. You must keep up Shield of Absorption (near-)continuously. Depending on how high your Divine Favor attribute was when you cast Blessed Aura, you can have as little as .5 seconds to recast it - or you may have as many as 1.85 seconds. Note that if you miss a recast by a few seconds, the health gained from the Divine Favor Attribute alone and combined with the damage reduction from Protective Spirit will help prevent death, but don't take your time about recasting it. (Be aware that larger mobs mean faster death in this situation.)


 * Use Shield of Judgment for damage and Knockdown.


 * Use Lacerating Chop and Cyclone Axe for damage. The steady supply of Adrenaline should help recharge your Lacerating Chop fast and if you pair it with the Knockdown effect of Shield of Judgment your target will start to bleed. A good strategy is cycling your targets for the Lacerating Chop thus getting more to suffer from Bleeding. Use the Cyclone Axe as long as your energy management is comfortable to strike all adjacent opponents.


 * Cycling targets is in generel a good idea - the longer you have the more enemies the better is your energy management and the adrenaline gain on which your Lacerating Chop thrives.

Counters

 * Enchantment removal can be deadly if it hits Protective Spirit and/or Shield of Absorption. Because Necromancers and Mesmers have so many skills to do this, avoid them.


 * Most health degeneration will also kill you as you only have the raw Divine Favor Attribute as your healing. Again, avoid places with Necromancers or Mesmers. (Note that minor health degeneration may not necessarily be deadly as you will heal yourself every time you cast a spell on yourself due to the healing bonus from the Divine Favor attribute.)


 * If Shield of Absorption is interrupted, you could be in trouble. You will have to last ten seconds with only the healing boost from casting Protective Spirit on yourself - although Protective Spirit has a five second recharge.

Variants

 * Healing Breeze is useful when killing foes that cause -3 (or greater) health degeneration.


 * Zealot's Fire can provide relatively consistent AoE damage; you must be cautious as to how you time your spells so that there is at least three seconds between each of them, or you will cause your enemies to scatter.


 * Consider bringing Judge's Insight if farming undead, but beware that it can strain your energy management.


 * Consider changing the Axe skills to something causing various Conditions or one causing Interrupt to make you better suited at farming bosses. If centering on bosses, as oppossed to a mass of enemies, it might also be an idea to trade the Shield of Judgment in for another elite. Either an aggressive one to increase your damage or something to protect you from the bosses skills or spells. It doesn't really matter about the adrenaline cost, as your adrenaline is virtually infinite.

Warrior
 * Bonetti's Defense - for energy and +75% chance to block attacks, making you more resistant to melee interrupts such as Savage Slash.
 * Balanced Stance - to resist knockdowns and therefore some interruptions

Choosing Enemies
Only certain enemies will be effectively damaged by this build. Enemies that are knocked down by Shield of Judgment are preferred even if they do scatter; enemies such as the Mountain Trolls at Talus Chute can be knocked down and therefore will be vulnerable to this build. It is also possible to take out a range of other groups in the Chute including the Blessed Griffons, the Azure Shadows and any group of Tengu as long as they have no Avicara Guile as they can strip your enchantments.

Before you use this or any other build with Shield of Judgment to farm monsters, do some research to see if they can be knocked down or not. Shield of Judgment can cause scatter but the use of melee damage might be off-setting. And the added DPS of this build decreases the problem of scattering as they often die before getting away, or at least that they do not have to attack you to receive damage as with the builds depending on the Shield of Judgment alone. Your axe is your main damage dealer.

This build is also useful, and somewhat faster than less aggressive 55hp builds, on those monster that cannot be knocked down, but you'll forego the Bleeding and might consider another Adrenaline Axe Mastery skill in place of Lacerating Chop.

Also, when considering choosing an area, try to find an area with abundant melee attackers, who will be drawn close to your and the range of your axe.

Armor

 * Acolyte's Armor for its +10 armor (while enchanted) bonus - you will be under enchantments almost 100% of the time of your run.

Runes

 * Rune of Major or Superior Vigor

Weapons
Two weapon sets are optimal for this run, so that you can switch while running. This, of course, depends more or less on your personal style of running. One set for high energy, and faster recharge, and one for running through groups of Tundra Giants.

Weapon Set #1

 * Gardock's Staff

Weapon Set #2

 * Totem Axe or Rajazan's Fervor


 * Grognar's Defender

Note: The 20% longer enchantment mod helps to keep up the life-saving skill Divine Intervention longer which can be helpful when running through groups having this skill up.

General
The Running Sequence provides an almost constant speed boost. It is not gap-less, that is to say, there is a short pause between one Sprint and "Charge!" cycle. The Divine Favor Cycle provides the best quick-healing, and the Hex-Countering Mechanism the best anti-hex measurements.

Running Sequence

 * Use Sprint, and "Charge!" for a speed boost of 25%. Sprint and "Charge!" together do stack for a total boost of 33%.
 * Use Balanced Stance to counter knockdowns by Frost Wurms, Ice Golems, Tundra Giants, and Azure Shadows.

Note: Balanced Stance cancels Sprint and vice versa, for they are both stances. Never use them simultaneously if you don't want to lose either of them. Balanced Stance should be used with "Charge!" instead. Balanced Stance will outlast "Charge!" by 8 secs. Use Balanced Stance, wait 4-8 secs and activate "Charge!". It is better to be quicker in escape than in approach due to the aggro/ deaggro behavior of the NPCs.

Divine Favor Cycle

 * Activate Watchful Spirit (WS) when entering a new area.
 * Cancel Watchful Spirit whenever instant healing is necessary. Try to recast Watchful Spirit after that.
 * Use Divine Intervention (DI) as backup healing.

Note #1: Depending on your running abilities it is advised to use DI first before canceling WS in order to be still under the effect of the +2 health pips by WS.

Note #2 Your high Divine Favor attribute allows you to heal you from spells like Purge Conditions, and Smite Hex, too. Though, it might not be much healing but in case of little healing it is much better than canceling Watchful Spirit

Hex-Countering Mechanism
Note #1: Always use Smite Hex for removing a Hex before canceling Holy Veil. By not canceling Holy Veil first you make sure that the enemies still need twice as long to cast for their hexes.
 * Cast Holy Veil on yourself first as major hex-protecting mechanism.
 * Use Smite Hex as major hex-remover.

Note #2: For an extra hex remover cast Holy Veil and wait for it to recharge. By canceling it, recasting, and canceling it again, you can remove up to two hexes only with Holy Veil.

Conditions

 * Use Purge Conditions for an all-in-one conditions clean-up.

Note: Beware traps set by Pinesouls that cripple you for quite a long time. It is not unlikely that two traps are behind each other. Go on running crippled to check whether a second trap is about to ignite; only then use Purge Conditions to reduce the chance of getting trapped twice to a minimum. Alternatively, Mend Ailment can replace Purge Conditions for countering multi-traps.

Variants

 * Mend Ailment can replace Purge Conditions for countering multiple Barbed Traps.

Talus Chute
Due to the high damage output by the groups of Avicara, and the knockdowns by Azure Shadows, it is advised to modify the build for the final stage of the Droknar run. However, this is not needed if you have henchmen or real players as meatshields. Do not forget to put some attributes into Healing Prayers.
 * Activate Mending, Watchful Spirit, and Holy Veil (in this order).
 * Before encountering the first Azure Shadows cast Healing Breeze.
 * Activate Balanced Stance when the first Signet of Judgments are about to hit you.
 * Use "Charge!" in the first corner (left hand) near the Azure Shadow Boss.
 * Cancel Watchful Spirit whenever healing is required. Try to reapply it immediately.
 * Activate Divine Intervention as final life-saver skill when running through the groups of Avicara.

=55 Monk= The 55hp Monk is used to solo many popular farming locations containing Griffons, Hydras, Mountain Trolls, and Minotaurs. It is an enchantment heavy build, so it is not suitable for areas with disenchanting mesmers or necromancers.

This build is often called "55 Monk" because of its low health -- only 55 hp. The low health makes Protective Spirit, which limits damage to 10% of a character's maximum health, reduce all received damage to 5hp/hit, which is easily countered by the 8 pips of health regeneration granted by Healing Breeze (16 hp regained every second).

This build no longer works as described because of the Wednesday 25th of October monster AI update, whereby monsters that can be knocked down no longer kill themselves on Shield of Judgment (meaning Hydras can still be farmed with this build for they cannot be knocked down). If you run past the Mountain Trolls in the cave outside Droknar's Forge, use this build to farm the Tundra Giants, be sure to use a skill like Dolyak Signet against them so you can cast your healing skills and Shield of Judgment to prevent them from disrupting you with their stomps. This also works well with Sand Giants  in the Scar area of the Crystal Desert.

It does work in areas such as the zone with Hydras and Griffins outside of the Augury Rock. It is still effective only takes longer. In the Nightfall campaign of Guild wars the build works real well against the groups of  Tusked Hunters and Tusked Howlers outside Yohlon Haven

See the article Invincible Monk for a discussion of the concept of the build.

Equipment

 * Any 20% of Enchanting, preferably with extra energy. A Totem Axe or Rajazan's Fervor is ideal.
 * The off-hand item is the -50 Grim Cesta obtained via the Cities of Ascalon quest.
 * Ascetic's Armor offers the most energy which is beneficial to this build, all armor pieces have to have Monk superior runes: one of each with one extra to bring your health down to 105 (this doesn’t include health deduction with the -50 Grim Cesta). Keep in mind that you don't need high armor for the build, so any Ascetic's with maximum energy will do.

Usage

 * Cast the first 4 enchantments before the fight. You won't have any energy regeneration, so use Blessed Signet to regain energy out of combat.
 * Before aggroing mobs, cast Protective Spirit. You should not need Healing Breeze unless you have more than 3 foes that cannot be knocked down (such as hydras), or 5 that can be knocked down (such as forgotten).
 * The energy gained from Essence Bond and Balthazar's Spirit should be more than enough for all situations.
 * Blessed Aura and your weapon of Enchanting will prolong your Shield of Judgment, which is your core offensive spell.
 * The build is most successful against melee attackers and is least successful against spell casters (especially Mesmers). To use it for farming, find an area with a heavy concentration of melee attackers (such as the Blessed Griffons in Snake Dance or the Hydras in Skyward Reach) and take them on.

List of Soloable Bosses

Wajjun Bazaar Lian, Dragon's Petal - (aggro as many as possible for energy benefit)Instead of Essense Bond bring Zealot's Fire for additional damage.

Variants

 * Monk
 * Replace Essence Bond with Zealot's Fire for more damage output. See the notes on casting in succession to avoid breaking aggro.
 * Replace Blessed Aura with Smite for more firepower. Note that if you are used to Blessed Aura, then getting used to the decidedly shorter durations of Healing Breeze, Protective Spirit and Shield of Judgment will take some time.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Strength of Honor while using a melee weapon to do more Damage.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Symbol of Wrath and use it right after Shield of Judgment tends to kill Mountain Trolls with one round of Shield of Judgment.
 * Replace Healing Breeze with Shield of Absorption for 0 damage (With Totem Axe and Blessed Aura, Shield of Absorption will come back soon enough to recast before it ends.
 * Use Watchful Spirit for more regeneration
 * Warrior, secondary
 * Replace Essence Bond with Bonetti's Defense for an excellent energy providing skill, though dodging will reduce the DPS average.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Balanced Stance to protect yourself against knockdowns, such as Meteor casted by Hydras. This will make Hydra-Farming a lot easier.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Dolyak Signet to securely eliminate knockdowns from monsters such as Tundra Giants
 * Elementalist, secondary
 * Replace Essence Bond with Aftershock. This works fine with the knockdown provided by Shield of Judgment and does not break aggro like Zealot's Fire.
 * Replace Shield of Judgment with Glyph of Renewal and use Sliver Armor for damage.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Bed of Coals.
 * Necromancer, secondary
 * Replace Essence Bond with Suffering. Use this after Shield of Judgment, when the enemy(s) are knocked down because of its 2 second cast time it's easier to interrupt. For large mobs, cast it into the center of the group.
 * Mesmer secondary, you could do one or more of the following:
 * Replace Essence Bond with Channeling to gain tons of energy from crowding foes (this works well in conjunction with Zealot's Fire).
 * Replace Blessed Aura with Arcane Echo to lengthen the effect of Shield of Judgment.
 * Replace Essence Bond with Mantra of Resolve against enemies with interrupts. This can be useful against Titans and Mountain Trolls.
 * Replace Balthazar's Spirit with Sympathetic Visage. This will deplete enemies' energy and cause spellcasting monsters such as Hydras to attack you more once they no longer have the energy to power their spells.
 * Ranger, secondary
 * Replace Essence Bond with Serpent's Quickness for back to back Shield of Judgment casting.
 * Replace Blessed Signet with Brambles to add damage and inflict bleeding when enemies are knocked down by Shield of Judgment. Remember that Brambles is Factions only.
 * Dervish, secondary
 * Mystic Regeneration based:


 * Benefits - more points in Divine Favor and Smiting Prayers means Shield of Judgment does more damage for a longer time. Mystic Regeneration is far better than Healing Breeze (0.25 cast, up to +16 health regen for 24 sec).
 * Replace Watchful Spirit with Mending if you don't have WS.
 * Replace Watchful Spirit with Fleeting Stability if getting knocked down is a problem ("only" get max +14 health regen though). Suggested: Protection Prayers at 9 and Earth Prayers at 6 for longer Fleeting Stability.
 * Additional equipment: a wand + the Grim Cesta in another weapon set. If an enemy runs away, switch to wand, attack it then switch back to usual set. Unless the AI has changed, it should run back to attack you.
 * Mystic Regeneration for healing.

Counters

 * Enchantment removal
 * Interrupting
 * The dazed condition
 * Life stealing
 * Degeneration

Attributes and Skills

 * The optional slot may be used for enchantments with low energy requirement, like Vigorous Spirit, Shielding Hands or Dwayna's Sorrow. Or use a cheap healing spell that benefits from enchantments, like Dwayna's Kiss.

Equipment

 * Ascetic's Armor is recommended to maximize energy pool. This build is all about energy! Generally you don't care too much about Armor, because you will be acting mostly from safe distance, not in the middle of the fight.
 * Items with bonus "while enchanted" are good because this built is designed to be permanently enchanted.
 * Weapons with HSR/HCT bonus are not effective because these only affect spells, not signets, which is what you'll use most frequently. However, HCT on your res skill is useful,
 * A wand and an offhand focus with +15 energy / -1 energy regen is useful. Since energy regen isn't your main source of energy supply anyway, the additional -2 degen don't hurt you that much, but the additional +30 energy pool are a great help sometimes. Just be careful not to swap weapopns when you are below 30 energy, or you will lose all enchantments except four.
 * Since most of your healing is "passive" you are not required to fight near the front. This allows you to stay back, in safe distance, so you can put on several superior runes and reduce your max health without much risk.

Usage
As a bonder this build is quite different from a "normal" healer or protector build. You rely heavily on "passive" healing through maintained enchantments, so much of your healing/protection is "fire and forget". You provide basic protection for the party with Life Bond, which, as an important side-effect, provides you with energy supply when used in combination with Balthazar's Spirit. And you provide basic healing for the party with Mending.

Energy management is crucial for any bonder. The good thing is that when you need the energy most urgently - in heavy fights - you will also have the highest energy supply through Life Bond and Balthazar's Spirit. This allows you to cast additional enchantments and then use Boon Signet for additional healing and energy gain. Energy management is actually harder when the party is not under attack. You may have to cancel enchantments during such times, and re-apply later when needed.


 * Cast Balthazar's Spirit and Mending on yourself and keep it up at all times.
 * In addition, in Luxon or Kurzick explorable areas, consider getting a Holy Blessing from the Kurzick/Luxon Priest at the Resurrection Shrine.
 * Try to keep up Life Bond active on as many party members as possible, including pets and NPC allies. Check allies frequently to see if anybody had Life Bond removed, and refresh it if necessary. You should be able to maintain 10 or more enchantments quite easily solely by using Blessed Signet.
 * Use Blessed Signet frequently, whenever it has recharged. With Divine Favor 14 you gain up to 23 energy per use of Blessed Signet, this means with 8 maintained enchantments you utilize the maximum possible.
 * In times of high energy and heavy fighting, cast Mending on party members who are under heavy attack for additional healing. Remove Mending when the battle is less heated.
 * In times of low energy, use Boon Signet for additional energy supply and (merely as a side effect) some free healing. With Divine Favor 14 you can gain 6 energy per use of Boon Signet. This means with 3 enchantments on an ally you get maximum benefit.
 * In times of low energy, use Signet of Rejuvenation for more free healing.

Counters
This build is ineffective in areas with many Me or N foes who remove or exploit enchantments.

Variants
Many variants are possible, especially for energy supply, depending on the secondary profession of the bonder.

Attributes and Skills

 * Signet of Rejuvenation can be used for better energy management
 * A Hex Removal such as Smite Hex can be brought if some or multiple "critical" hexes are being used in the area

Equipment

 * Any armor is usable, though for PvE Radiant armor may be best
 * A 20/20 +5energy +30hp healing staff is recommended

Usage

 * Cast Holy Haste and recast it whenever necessary
 * Cast Dwayna's Kiss and Ethereal Light whenever needed
 * If multiple allies take damage, use Light of Deliverance
 * Use Light of Deliverance whenever you can't reach an ally in need of healing
 * Healing Touch and Light of Deliverance are your self heals, though the easily interruptable Ethereal Light can be used as one as well
 * Dismiss Condition whenever a "critical" condition appears on an ally such as Blind on a warrior or Dazed on an elementalist
 * Smite Hex whenever a "critical" hex appears on an ally such as Backfire on a caster, Empathy on a warrior or Vocal Minority on a paragon. Of course Scourge Healing is lethal when using Light of Deliverance and therefore this should have high priority when removing hexes
 * Use Restore Life on a fallen ally, however don't do this until you are sure you can spend some free seconds where no allies need healing. The last thing you want is more deaths because of a resurrection

Counters

 * Any spell caster counters (daze, backfire, etc.)
 * Scourge Healing can do major damage when being careless with Light of Deliverance

Variants

 * Orison of Healing can be used instead of Ethereal Light if you get interrupted a lot while using Ethereal Light
 * Words of Comfort can be useful instead of Ethereal Light if many conditions are used in that area
 * Mend Condition can be used instead of Dismiss Condition if you think you don't get conditions yourself or if few enchantments are being used
 * If no conditions are being used in a certain area, consider bringing another healing skill or another hex removal instead of Dismiss Condition
 * Any other hex removal skill such as Remove Hex or Inspired Hex (must become /Me) can be used instead of Smite Hex
 * If no hexes are being used in a certain area, consider bringing another healing skill instead of Smite Hex
 * Signet of Rejuvenation and possibly Signet of Devotion can be used for a better energy management in this build. Replace Dismiss Condition or Smite Hex by one of these signets, depending on what you need most, anti condition or anti hex
 * Resurrection Chant instead of Restore Life for a resurrect from some distance

=LoD Hybrid=

This build concentrates on the excellent party-healing abilities of the Monk elite skill Light of Deliverance. Using additional skills from the Protection Prayers and other Healing Prayers line skills, an extremely efficient and dependable party healer is created.

Equipment

 * Any armor can be used with this build, providing it has maximum AL. However, most healers prefer the extra energy gained from the use of Radiant Insignias.
 * Runes of Minor Divine Favor, Superior Vigor, Minor Protection Prayers, Superior Healing Prayers.

Usage

 * Heal single targets with Orison of Healing and Dwayna's Kiss. Keep in mind each spell's bonus healing effects.
 * Targets taking damage should be enchanted with Shield of Absorption.
 * Cast Protective Spirit on targets taking high spike damage.
 * Spam Light of Deliverance when your entire party is taking damage. Note that the Divine Favor bonus will only be applied onto you.
 * Remove harmful conditions with Dismiss Condition, Mend Condition, or Mend Ailment.
 * Use Holy Veil, Smite Hex, or Remove Hex to remove Hexes.
 * Revive fallen party members with Rebirth. Note that this should not be used in-battle, as you should focus on healing your party.

Variants

 * The most common variant would be to include Healing Seed in the build.
 * Take Reversal of Fortune for a fast heal and damage reduction.
 * For a different type of hex removal, consider replacing Holy Veil with Smite Hex or Remove Hex.
 * You may also wish to use a different form of condition removal, by replacing Dismiss Condition with Mend Condition or Mend Ailment.
 * Rebirth, while the most commonly used and recommended skill for resurrection in PvE, is definitely not core to this build's functionality. Feel free to replace it with any of the forementioned variants, or with another resurrection skill like Restore Life, Resurrection Chant, Resurrect, or even a Resurrection Signet.
 * Words of Comfort can also be utilized with this build.
 * Signet of Devotion if experiencing energy management problems.
 * If you're taking high-energy cost variants, consider switching to the Elementalist secondary profession and take Glyph of Lesser Energy.

Equipment

 * Any armor is usable with this build, but you may wish to switch to Ascetic's armor for maximum Energy if you're expecting to spam your heals a lot.
 * Any focus and offhand combination, or staff, can work with this build. A 20/20 Focus and Offhand can prove to be valuable, but not required.

Usage

 * Orison of Healing, Word of Healing, and Dwayna's Kiss are your main heals. Spam them if necessary, but be aware that long periods of heavy healing without pauses can drain you, although not immediately. Note each spell's special effects.
 * Orison of Healing is the most basic heal. Use this one if the target is not affected by Hexes/Enchantments, or if target is above 50% health.
 * Dwayna's Kiss is very efficient at healing targets with Hexes or Enchantments on them. It is generally used on the main tank upon aggroing the next group of enemies, providing Healing Seed has expired or was removed.
 * Word of Healing is your main spike heal. A single cast of this can easily bring a party member from below 50% health to near-full health. Its 4 second recharge is comparitively longer than the recharge of Orison of Healing, so don't waste casting this on a party member above 50% health.
 * Healing Touch is an extremely useful self heal. Use it whenever you think your health is low. If someone in your party has lost quite a bit of health but is not in any particular danger, you may wish to heal them with this skill as well.
 * Use Remove Hex to remove any Hexes that affect your party. But remember: your main job is to keep your party alive. It is often better to let the hex die off itself rather than taking the time and energy to remove it. This should be used against serious hexes, rather than easily spammable ones like Life Siphon
 * Healing Seed and Rebirth are your only skills which cost more than 5 Energy to use, so use them wisely.
 * You should not be resurrecting in-battle with Rebirth. If you want to do so, you may want to switch to Resurrect or Resurrection Chant, or even Restore Life.
 * Healing Seed should be placed on the main tank upon right before they aggro the next group of monsters. It can also be used in-battle to protect a party member under heavy attack/pressure.

Counters

 * Energy Denial can pose a problem, but is not of immediate threat to this build.
 * Skills that increase recharge time such as Diversion and Distracting Shot can be devastating if more than one primary healing skill is struck by it.
 * If facing large groups of enemies or high-damage dealing enemies, the removal of Healing Seed can mean certain death for a tank, if not covered. This is not a large problem in most areas, though.

Variants

 * Some skills to consider to place into the optional skill slot:
 * Mend Ailment, Mend Condition, or Dismiss Condition (only if you want a rather fast condition removal w/o heal) for Condition removal.
 * Holy Veil for additional Hex removal.
 * Infuse Health for a stronger and faster Spike heal.
 * Healing Breeze for better counters againts heavy degeneration, or to cover small amounts of damage.
 * Heal Area or Karei's Healing Circle can be beneficial if your party contains any Minion Masters.
 * Remove Hex can be replaced by Holy Veil, if you think you will need a cover Enchantment for Healing Seed.
 * Use Smite Hex in place of Remove Hex if you dislike the two-second cast time for Remove Hex, and don't want the awkward double-click removal of Holy Veil.
 * Ethereal Light can be used in place of Orison of Healing if you don't think you will be attacked.
 * Replace Rebirth with an alternate resurrection skill of your choice. You may even want to eliminate Resurrection as a whole.
 * Heal Party is an excellent healing skill, and can be incorporated to this build. However, spamming this can be dangerous to your energy pool. One or two casts can heal your party effectively without putting too much pressure on energy usage.
 * Holy Haste can be used to reduce the cast time of healing prayers if you don't plan on using any enchantments like Healing Breeze.
 * Vigorous Spirit is a good heal over time for other party members, especially tanks. It also synergies well with Dwayna's Kiss.
 * Replace Healing Touch with Signet of Devotion so that you can continue to heal even if you are getting low on energy.