User:Ocelot never/DSSpammerTank

A very similar build to utilizing the same concept except with a stronger emphasis on keeping yourself alive so you can keep the party alive.

Attributes and Skills
Suggestions for Optional: Condition/hex removal is priority but an Earth Ward wouldn't go astray. Contemplation of Purity is not recommended due to removing Kinetic Armor and Divine Spirit.

Equipment

 * Sword with Energy +5 and Enchants 20%
 * Focus with Health +45, Armour +5 whilst enchanted
 * 'Survivor' insignias on all armor with a Superior Divine Favor, Healing and Vigour rune and Attunement runes on the other two pieces
 * Wand and focus with Energy +15, -1 regen

Usage
This build is designed to spam the many 5-energy Monk spells as often as needed or desired, without running out of energy. Glyph of Renewal is what makes this build possible. Divine Spirit is extremely powerful, but its recharge time is 60 seconds. Glyph of Renewal can effectively cut that down to 15 seconds. With 16 points in Divine Favor and the Enchanting mod on your weapon, Divine Spirit will last for 18 seconds. This means that you can keep it up perpetually if you use it in conjuction with Glyph of Renewal.

The major difference between the aforementioned build and this one is that with Kinetic Armor and your focus providing +49 AL, you will take less that half damage from attacks and most spells. This is only AL and suffers the same limitations as armor levels, such as armor-ignoring damage, etc.

The drawback of this protection though is that there is only room for either a condition or a hex removal, and not both. This can be mitigated by removing a healing spell but is not recommended. If you are facing enchantment removal, Kinetic Armor will be the first one removed as casting an enchantment will renew Kinetic Armor and place it first in the queue. This will eliminate the self-protection basis of the build but will not place it much inferior to the standard build as it provides an extra attribute in healing prayers, with the exception of the condition/hex removal.


 * At the start of a battle, time permitting, cast Glyph of Renewal followed by Kinetic Armor and cast a spell every 5 or so seconds to keep Kinetic Armor up until healing is needed. This enables you to cast Kinetic Armor again quickly during the battle if removed and desperate. Not recommended with the 3 second cast time. Also ensure to keep casting spells to maintain Kinetic Armor.
 * Once the enemy is engaged, use Glyph of Renewal and then Divine Spirit. Now, for the next 18 seconds, all of your 5-energy spells will only cost you 1 energy. Since you gain 1.33 energy every second due to natural regeneration, you will practically gain energy regardless of how often you spam your spells. When Glyph of Renewal is recharged, use it and Divine Spirit again. If you recast Divine Spirit before it has run out, then it will only cost you 5 energy instead of 10, which can make a big difference.

Discussion

 * Many people suggest Divine Boon for this concept as there is a lot of energy to spare. However, it will effectively triple the cost of your spells, making you less able to spam them consistently.
 * Blessed Aura might be useful to keep Divine Spirit, and the other enchantments, up and running longer. With 16 Divine Favor and the Enchanting weapon mod, Monk enchantments will last 57% longer, meaning Divine Spirit will last 23 seconds. For this build, the skill-slot required is not worth it, however.
 * Some people prefer Armor of Earth to Kinetic Armor because you don't have to worry about keeping it refreshed, but since this build is specifically designed to spam spells, you should never run into a situation where Kinetic Armor is about to run out.
 * The +15/-1 wand/focus combo is for an emergency incase you come under heavy energy denial and/or enchantment removal to put up Divine Spirit then switch back to the sword/focus.
 * This is not effective in larger team builds (HA or GvG) as the healing is only meant for a small team. Same goes for with PvE and the self-protection is not even warranted in PvE.

Counters

 * Enchantment removal. Having Divine Spirit removed from you before it's refreshed can put a serious hamper on your healing abilities.
 * Signet of Humility. This build has the same weakness as any build that relies heavily on an elite skill: if timed right, Mesmers can disable your elite, thus disabling your energy management.
 * Spikes. If you can catch a spike early enough, you can counter with spamming your spells.  However, you don't have the anti-spike abilities that a Monk with Infuse Health has.  This level of coordination is very rare in RA and TA, though.
 * Heavy energy denial. Although Divine Spirit gives you incredible energy management, it is not infallible.
 * Backfire, Diversion and other anti-spamming tactics as this is a spamming build. Competent hex removal can restrict the effectiveness of these tactics.

This list of counters looks exhaustive but three of the five are uncommon-rare in RA/TA which is what this build is for.

Variations

 * A Protection Prayers based build would provide even more protection for yourself but would be overkill in the protection and underkill in the healing.
 * Words of Comfort can replace Vigorous Spirit.