Protection Prayers

Protection Prayers is a monk secondary attribute, meaning that any character with monk as 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 Prayer skills don't provide direct healing, but instead work to prevent damage from being dealt in the first place, as well as to mitigate harm from conditions or hexes. A Monk primary may want to invest in Protection Prayers and Divine Favor, using cheap, quick protection spells to heal indirectly.

Many Protection Prayers skills prevent damage from affecting the caster's allies. When allies enchanted with Reversal of Fortune or Mark of Protection take damage, that damage is negated and they are healed for the same amount. A timely Mark of Protection can result in the target being fully healed by foes struggling to deal damage. Aegis, Guardian, and Shield of Deflection frustrate enemy Warriors and Rangers to no end by increasing allies' chance to avoid attacks, while Shielding Hands reduces all damage its target would receive. Life Bond and Life Barrier both reduce the damage targets receive by half. By limiting the percentage of total health that can be lost in any one attack, Protective Bond and Protective Spirit are invaluable against spike damage.

Protection Prayers also work to mitigate damage from conditions and hexes. There are surprisingly few skills in the game that deal with these, and a good Protection Monk can keep a team alive for far longer against Necromancers and Mesmers. Draw Conditions transfers all conditions on a target to the caster, while Mend Condition, Mend Ailment, and Restore Condition cure conditions. Convert Hexes is arguably the most useful hex-removal spell, since it both removes every hex on a target and gives armour bonuses for each Necromancer hex removed.

Not every Protection Prayers spell directly protects allies from damage. The skills Amity and Pacifism prevent foes from attacking, and Life Attunement increases the amount of health a target is healed for. Rebirth is a very useful resurrection spell that teleports its target to the caster, allowing a player to revive allies from a safe distance.

Protection Prayers are all about keeping the player and allies alive. There are no damaging skills in Protection Prayers whatsoever, so another attribute must be used in order to deal damage, but many protectors focus only on healing and depend on the rest of the (well protected) party to kill that much more quickly. A good mix of Monk skills in a party is almost required later in the game, and a decent Protection Monk will always be an appreciated member of any party.