55 Monking - Part 2
This article folows from my previous article on 55 Monks. This edition
contains tips and advise for the advanced player that already has a 55
monk or soon will and is ready for something more challenging than
Hydra's. Part 1 can be read here.
Guild Wars Banter III
So, on with the show - strap yourself in because we're going to get
technical as we discuss the more advanced aspects of 55 monking and if
you stay until the credits scroll, you'll get to see a video of me
putting my money where my mouth is.
Hydras, Minotaurs and Trolls - OH MY!!
If you've followed my first article you should be an expert at bringing
down Hydra's. You should be making a modest amount of money and you
would have made many mistakes and learnt from those. It's time to move
on to something a little more fun and rewarding - Minotaurs.
Elona Reach is rich in beasts of the four-legged variety. And I mean
the mission. Kit up your Monk and enter the mission on your own.
Taking on 6 or 8 minotaur's is a little more crazy than 3 or 4 hydra's so here's what you need to know :-
- as always, make sure your two enchantments (mending and Balth Spirit)
are up and you're fast on the protective spirit. You won't survive
without these.
- If you're taking on a lot of minotaurs, you'll need to use healing breeze constantly. As soon as HB wears off, cast it again.
- Shield of Judgement is your friend. Keep casting this as often as you
can. Watch your energy but. If it's a choice between Shield of J or
Protective Spirit - go with defence first.
- Go easy on your smite skills. You'll need your energy for healing
breeze and Shield of J. If you've got a full bar then go to town but if
you need to slow down on the smite skills then don't be afraid to do
that.
You will, without question, muck this up a few times. No sweat. No harm
done - just try again. If you do find yourself running low on health
constantly, here is a little tip that is not immediately obvious. If
you're taking on a super-sized group of minotaurs, you may find that
all your defence spells are not enough to save you. That is, mending
and healing breeze and protective spirit are not enough to stave off
the massive damage being dealt to you. So - options?
Spam protective spirit. Even if you have it up, cast it again. And
again. Don't wait for it to wear off before casting it again. Cast it
over and over and over if you're low on health. It costs a lot of
points per go but it will heal you and I'll tell you why. If you
remember in Part 1 - I had 4 points in Divine Favour? That's the key.
Everytime I cast a healing spell - any healing spell - I get 13 points
of health thanks to Divine Favour. That's one quarter of my health bar!
So, when I'm low on health and healing breeze can't keep up, I spam
protective spirit as many times as I need to. Not only does that avoid
the uncomfortable situation of being caught without protective spirit
up (which is certain death), but I'm healing myself 13 points of health
with each keypress. Of course, Balths Spirit is converting a lot of
damage into energy so energy should not be a problem in this situation.
I posted this in the previous article but here it is again - me farming minotaurs.
http://www.thefoxer.com/motion/55MonkFox.wmv
Trolls
They are big, ugly, and have crooked teeth. They rarely bathe and have
horrible table manners. Despite all that, you should pay them a visit.
They can be great entertainment for a 55 monk.
Go to Droknar's forge and take the northern exit into Talus Chute. If
you head westerly towards Camp Rankor, you'll enter a cave full of the
nasty Trolls and beyond that, more beasties that are of equal fun.
BUT
You're not ready for this young jedi. These trolls are a challenge for
the simple reason that they have an annoying knock-down ability.
There is nothing worse than getting ready to cast a life-saving spell
just to be knock-down for 3 seconds - sealing your death. In part 1, I
touched on a stance. This is why I carry a stance when fighting Trolls.
I cast my anti-knockdown stance right before I cast my Shield of J.
Shield of J has a 45 second recharge time and I get really really
really annoyed if that gets interupted. I use Wary Stance because it
prevents knockdowns and delivers energy as well. You can use other
skills if you like but that's the noobs choice. It won't last long so
be quick with the Shield of J
I need more help!!!
Seeing is believing so - see - and believe.
www.thefoxer.com/guildwars/articles/5/trollfarmfox.wmv
(10 meg wmv file)
Don't watch the trolls and the graphics so much but watch what skills
I'm using and when. You'll see I'm using a stance and S of J, I'm
spamming the Prot Spirit despite it already being active, and I even
try using Symbol of Wrath which promptly gets interupted. This video
has it all - including 10 Trolls with knockdown ability!!! Fear the 55
monk!!!
Cast off the shadow of death
You'll make mistakes. I make mistakes. I still forget to keep the Prot
Spirit up from time to time. When you die, you'll get the standard 15%
death penalty and your health will be 1. Just one. As uber and fearsome
as you are, even 1 health is not enough to progress. You're toast. All
over red rover.
NOT!!
The death penalty is a minor inconvenience as it reduces your energy
but your real hurdle is your 1 health when you respawn. If you can get
that up to a managable value, you can still continue your farming. So -
the options :-
- swap out that -50 off-hand weapon for a shield or focus item. That will get your health up around the 50 mark.
- swap out all or some of your tattoos for ordinary monk armour. You do carry a spare set with you right?
By re-arranging all your gear, you can get your health up around the 50
mark again and you're back in business. You have 15% less energy than
you had before your death but heck - we're thrill seekers right!! And,
don't forget, because you're getting a truckload of XP with each kill
(over 150xp often), your death penalty drops away very quickly. Just
remember that as your DP is reduced, your health goes up and will
approach 100. You'll need to constantly re-arrange your armour and
off-hand weapon so that your health stays around 55. Before too long
you'll have zero DP and you'll be running your normal armour/gear
configuration.
Conclusion
There is a lot of technical detail in this article as any high-end
description on 55 monking needs to be. If this gets too confusing, go
back to part 1 and practice the Hydra's some more until you get your
timings and strategy right, then come back and read this article again.
The wealth to be gained is immense and the satisfaction of taking on ten trolls and surviving is pretty sweet.
Fox
Ingame name: The Foxer
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