Secondary professions for a Monk

This article provides a quick overview of secondary professions for a monk, listing some of the advantages of each.

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. Healing monks profit more from this compared to protection monks, since they are less able to protect themselves with monk skills.

During PvP many monks wield shields, and in addition to defensive skills, 9 points in tactics meets the requirement of most shields and raises the armor of the shield from 8 (without tactics) to 16. That 8 extra armor amounts to 10% reduction in all damage while the shield is equipped. This technique also works well with the warrior skill Shield Bash.

A rare breed of melee monks uses Smiting Prayers attack skills in combination with warrior melee attacks, thus being purely damage dealing.

Example Builds
 * Build:Mo/W Bold Forge Monk

Monk/Ranger
Monk/Ranger is one of the less common profession combinations for primary monks, but there are some advantages in this combination. Usually Monk/Rangers are used in specialized builds.

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.

Monks 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.

A Monk/Ranger is also one of the best running 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.

Damage dealing Beast Mastery monks can use the pet together with smiting skills like Balthazar's Aura and Zealot's Fire, using the pet as the target for the smiting skills while spiking with direct damage skills like Signet of Judgment.

Example Builds
 * Build:Mo/R Resilient
 * Build:Mo/R Shiverpeaks Runner

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 nearly all glyphs are not linked to any attribute, the player can concentrate all of his attribute points on monk attributes.

Example Builds
 * Build:Mo/E Divine Spirit Spammer

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

Monks often have difficulty with energy management. The Inspiration Magic line provides a variety of skills to solve this problem. Channeling is often used in combination with spammable 5 energy cost skills. Inspired Hex not only removes a hex from a target ally, but it also gives the player energy. Other skills give enchantment removal with energy bonuses. Ether Signet is an alternative choice that gives you a small boost of energy when you are close to 0. Furthermore, the inspiration line features the elite energy management skill Mantra of Recall, which provides a huge amount of energy and works together well with monk skills such as Contemplation of Purity. Mantra of Inscriptions is a valuable skill for bonding monks, who need Blessed Signet to regain energy.

Apart from the mainly used inspiration line, mesmer skills include defensive ones such as Distortion and Hex Breaker, which are welcome for monks who tend to be first targets in any PvP battle.

Example Builds
 * Build:Mo/Me PvE WoH Monk
 * Build:Mo/Me PvP Bonder
 * Build:Mo/Me SB/Infuser
 * Build:Mo/Me Boon Prot

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 energy managing elite for the energy-hungry monks using Divine Boon. While being less efficient than Mantra of Recall, Offering of Blood is one of the few skills to deliver unconditional "Energy on demand".

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.

Example Builds
 * Build:Mo/N Boon Prot

Monk/Assassin
Monk/Assassins are a mainly found in PvP. Monks with the assassin secondary profession can use Shadow Arts skills such as Dark Escape or Viper's Defense to get away from melee damage dealers. Especially useful is the shadow step skill Return which cripples enemies while teleporting you towards an ally.

Example Builds
 * Build: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, to allow each character higher attribute ranks. Although a Monk/Ritualist can be a highly effective healer when combining both Divine Favor and Restoration Magic.

If going Ritualist, Recuperation can provide cheap health regeneration for every ally in range, leaving less direct heal to be done by the monk. Weapon of Warding or Weapon of Shadow may be used as replacement for protection spells in areas with lots of enchantment removal.