Protection Prayers

Protection Prayers is a Monk secondary attribute meaning that any character with a Monk for their primary or secondary class can put points into this attribute.

Guild Wars Description
"No inherent effect. Many Monk skills, especially enchantments which prevent damage or provide healing, become more effective with higher Protection Prayers."

General Description
Protection Prayers make a nice complement to Healing Prayers. You won't find any skills that provide direct healing linked to this attribute. However, what Protection Prayers does is prevent damage from being dealt to you, either through normal means, conditions, or hexes. Therefore, a Monk primary may want to invest in Divine Favor and use cheap, quick protection spells to heal indirectly.

The first use of Protection Prayers skills is preventing damage from being dealt. There's no better way to prevent damage than to heal yourself the amount you would have been damaged, and that's what Reversal of Fortune and Mark of Protection do. A casting of Mark of Protection can result in your target being fully healed as your foes struggle to deal damage. Aegis, Guardian, and Shield of Deflection give your target a chance to avoid attacks, while Shielding Hands reduces all damage you would receive. Life Bond and Life Barrier both reduce damage your target receives by half. Meanwhile, Protective Bond and Protective Spirit help prevent Spike Damage from being dealt.

The second use of Protection Prayers skills is preventing damage from being dealt - from conditions and hexes. There are surprisingly few skills in the game that deal with these, and a good Protection Monk can save you from a foe who enjoys loading them on. Draw Conditions tranfers all conditions on your target to you, while Mend Condition and Mend Ailment cure conditions. The single spell Convert Hexes is the best spell in the game for removing hexes, since it both removes every hex, and gives armour bonuses for every Necromancer hex removed.

Perversely, not every Protection Prayers spell prevents damage. The skills Amity and Pacifism prevent foes from attacking, Life Attunement increases the amount of health healed to your target, Rebirth resurrects your target, teleporting him to you, and finally Vital Blessing gives your target a bonus in health. However, Protection Prayers is still all about one thing: keeping yourself and your allies alive. There are no damaging skills in Protection Prayers whatsoever, so you must either use another attribute if you wish to deal damage, or simply focus only on healing and depend on your party to deal damage for you. All-in-all, healing Monks are almost required later in the game, and a Protection Prayers Monk will be the most treasured member of any party.