Self heal

Self Heal is a term used to describe a skill that heals the caster.

Using a build with self heals increases the survivability of the user without the support of a monk. Therefore this is especially useful in solo situations or to simply take pressure off the monk/healer in your party. Also, skills that remove conditions or hexes are a form of self-heal, though they may not return health (i.e. Remedy Signet). Using such skills is a common practice in Alliance Battles and Random Arenas, as well as in GvG in some situations. Self-heals are also usually an integral part of farming.

Common Skills
Self heals are usually monk skills, but some exceptions are:
 * The Warrior skills Healing Signet and Lions Comfort.
 * The Ranger skills Troll Unguent and Heal as One.
 * The Necromancer skills Signet of Lost Souls, Soul Feast, Consume Corpse and Taste of Death.
 * The Mesmer skills Ether Feast and Illusion of Weakness.
 * The Elementalist skills Aura of Restoration and Glyph of Restoration.
 * The Assassin skills Death's Charge, Death's Retreat, Shadow Refuge, Way of Perfection and Feigned Neutrality.
 * The Ritualist skills Generous Was Tsungrai, Mend Body and Soul, Protective Was Kaolai, Weapon of Warding, Wielder's Boon.
 * The Paragon skill Leader's Comfort.
 * The Dervish skills Mystic Regeneration, Vital Boon, Meditation, Watchful Intervention, Dwayna's Touch, Natural Healing and Pious Restoration.

For a list of all health regeneration skills see Regen/Degen health skills quick reference. For a list of health-gain skills, see Gain health skills quick reference.

Note that some melee attacks conditionally give health to the attacker (i.e. Victorious Sweep) and some skills cause the user to steal health, which is a form of self-heal. Many of the skills in the Necromancer attribute line Blood Magic steal health. For a list of skills that steal health, see Life steal skills quick reference.

Some monk skills that are usually used on a monk secondary to increase survivability include:
 * Mending Touch
 * Heal Area/Karei's Healing Circle
 * Healing Breeze
 * Restful Breeze
 * Mending (though it is greatly inferior to many other options)

Preventing Damage
Keep in mind that it is usually better to prevent damage than it is to heal through damage. The Monk attribute line Protection Prayers is designed for this purpose, though there are skills in other attribute lines and professions that prevent damage. Generally a combination of healing and prevention of damage is best.