Secondary professions for a Monk

Monk/Warrior
Monks often opt for the Warrior secondary profession because of the warrior's defensive stances. Since monks are primary targets in PvP, having some evasive stances can make the difference between staying alive and getting killed.

Some monks use the Smiting Prayers attack skills in combination with warrior melee attacks, thus being a purely damage dealing.

Monk/Ranger
Monk/Ranger is one of the less common profession combinations for primary monks, but there are some advantages in this combination:

Monks are usually a prime target for the enemy offense. A Mo/R can use traps to hurt or disable those melee fighters that attack him. However, this is very energy intensive and is very obvious to enemy teams in PvP. The only thing that can stop easy interruption with this build are Ranger stances, but the only one of which that works well without Expertise is Dryder's Defenses, which has a lengthy recharge time.

A healing monk with a pet and Ferocious Strike has decent energy management. However, one must not only sacrifice an elite skill, but also a slot for Charm Animal, a pet resurrection skill, and all the disadvantages of maintaining a pet in combat.

Similarly, a Mo/R Beast Master can use the pet as a hing with smiting skills. All one has to do is send their pet in next to the enemy and start smiting off it using skills like Balthazar's Aura and Zealot's Fire. Call of Haste is also effective with this build.

The Pokeway build consists of multiple Mo/Rs with smiting and pets. Balthazar's Aura is placed on the pets and they apply pressure on the enemy while the owners spike with Signet of Judgment and spells.

A protection monk can use Draw Conditions to pull ally's conditions to the monk, then use Melandru's Resilience, thus keeping a good health and (importantly) energy regeneration up for most of the time.

Using Symbiosis, a monk can boost her party members' health by combining it with enchantments. This will make your party harder to kill. This might be more effective, however, if the Symbiosis was left up to a ranger who has moderate points in Beast Mastery.

A Monk/Ranger is also one of the bestrunning combinations for the Southern Shiverpeaks. Ice Imps and Ice Golems pose no threat when using Spell Breaker, which can be held up most of the time by using Serpent's Quickness. The ranger speed boosts ensure that running past the enemy is swift and harmless.

Example Builds
 * Mo/R Resilient

Monk/Elementalist
Monks with Elementalist as their secondary profession can use the defensive spells of the Earth Magic line or Glyphs to reduce the energy cost of their spells.

Having a high defense as a healer can be extremely useful, due to the fact that monks are usually the primary target of enemy teams. The glyphs are used as a general means of energy management or to go together with certain high cost spells. Moreover, as glyphs are not linked to any attribute, the player can concentrate all of his attribute points on monk attributes.

Example Builds
 * Mo/E Divine Spirit Spammer

Monk/Mesmer
Monk/Mesmer is one of the most common primary monk combinations. A variety of mesmer spells complement the monk profession well.

Monks often have difficulty with energy management and usually do not hurt the enemy. A Mo/Me utilizing the Inspiration Magic line to steal energy solves both problems. Channeling is often used in combination with 5 energy cost skills, such as Word of Healing. Inspired Hex not only removes a hex from a target ally, but it also gives the player with energy. Other skills give enchantment removal with energy bonuses or allow you to steal skills from enemy monks.

Where Channeling and Inspired Hex demand something of you that you cannot control 100% for it to work, Ether Signet is a good alternative choice that gives you a small boost of energy when you are close to 0.

Additionally, mesmer skills include defensive skills such as Distortion and Hex Breaker, which are welcome for monks who tend to be first targets in any PvP battle.

Example Builds
 * Mo/Me PvE WoH Monk
 * Mo/Me PvP Bonder
 * Mo/Me SB/Infuser

Monk/Necromancer
Monk/Necromancers often combine the monk's healing with the necromancer's Blood Magic skills.

Well of Blood can be a useful necromancer skill early on, and Offering of Blood is an excellent elite for the energy-hungry monks using Divine Boon.

The monk elite Martyr, when combined with Plague Sending can turn the tables on condition teams. This is a slight (and riskier) twist of the classic condition countering monk build that uses Martyr to draw conditions which are then cleared wholesale with Purge Conditions or piece-by-piece with Mend Ailment. Needless to say, the condition-countering/sending monk must be tightly co-ordinated with the mesmers and hex-removers in the party: removing a lot of conditions while fragile or from a fragile ally can be deadly, and conditions are best sent to fragile opponents.

Example Builds
 * Mo/N Boon Prot

Monk/Assassin
Monks with the assassin secondary profession can use Shadow Arts skills such as Dark Escape, Heart of Shadow or Viper's Defense to avoid melee damage dealers. Caltrops and Return can be used to cripple enemies first before fleeing them, giving yourself some extra time. Consider using Deadly Arts in combination with Smiting Prayers, utilizing knockdowns to trigger conditional damage. Assassin's Promise is also effective at combating long skill recharge time.

Example Builds
 * Mo/A Blessed Escaper

Monk/Ritualist
Monk/Ritualist is a rarely-used combination, since the two professions skills do not complement each other well. Usually parties include monks and ritualists as separate characters.


 * Recuperation provides cheap health regeneration for every ally in range.
 * Dulled Weapon can be a valuable defense against assassins, warriors and rangers.
 * Since monks are often a prime target, Vengeful Was Khanhei, Weapon of Warding, and Weapon of Shadow may help defend against multiple attackers.
 * Divine Favor does not grant additional healing to ritualist spells, making direct healing spells from the Restoration line less attractive then equivelent Healing Prayers spells.
 * Many ritualist skills require long activation times and have extremely long recharge times.