First need to understand how this works (and any % of health "DA" type of ward). If I have say, 7k health, and this says 35% of max health, if something hits me for 500 it isn't warded, but if it hits me for 2451 it wards for that full amount, or just the 1 point over? At T6 I don't find much hitting me for that much if so. For PvP would combo be the better end-line Monk AA to get?
Superior Guard is an extremely useful tool for raiding monks as we can use it to absorb AE's from mobs and not have to joust. It's only real use is in raiding, so at T6 I would suggest taking Combination over Superior Guard. As long as the attack does more than 35% of your max health, Superior Guard absorbs the entire attack.
how do I use combo then? It seems rather hard to push a punch, jab, and kick button then combo fast enough before it dims out. I wasn't aware I was playing an arcade game (or LoTRO which does similar 'must press x before y is active' ) .
To be quite honest, for the average PvE monk all three of the Monk tree endline abilities suck. Superior Guard has some specialty uses on raids and in PvP, but is fairly useless outside those specific conditions. Combination is poorly implemented, and not documented at all. And Evade Check is the height of uselessness now, since it's a positional deaggro for a class that a) is a tank and b) has FD. What you should know about Combination, should you choose to take it, is: The timer for doing all the moves is very short, and begins when you use the first ability. Be sure and use fast activating CA's, as a long one will completely kill your chances of seeing the combination button light up. All three hits must connect on something. If they miss for whatever reason, you won't be able to use Combination. You can use the HO designations on each ability to sort of guess what counts as a kick, punch, and jab, but some of them are mislabeled so you'll probably have to experiment. Annoyingly, once you do get your combination key to light up, you still need to press it before the timer runs out and hope that you don't lag or you'll get an error message about being too late. The reward for doing this is an attack that's barely a third the size of your average Monk CA, and you have to wait a minute before you can try again, so it's probably less than most weapon procs. Granted, I spec'ed out of Combination when SF hit, so maybe they've improved it. I hear it can hit 3 times now, but it still doesn't seem to be worth the herculean task of getting it to work in the first place. You'll get much better DPS if you concentrate on timing your CA swings between auto attacks.
Evade Check is VERY useful (to the non tanking DPS monk--- yes there are such creatures....) For it allows them to use their big hits that are definitely going to steal aggro IF these be immediately followed by EC. So Aggro is stolen only for a second or so.... and normal service resumed.
I use evade check when i'm not tanking all the time. It's a great way to keep your threat low if your just DPSing.
NamaeZero wrote: Fing Rings, Waking Dragon, and Silent Palm are jabs. Rising Dragon, Rising Phoenix, and Roundhouse Kick are kicks. Frozen Palm, Striking Cobra, and Arctic Talon are punches. Combination actually hits rather hard, I usually get it to trigger twice when I use it, and my only CA that actually has a higher listed damage is Five Rings (and Devastation Fist). The trick about using Combination is that it can be rather hard to pull off and it has a rather long reuse which means it is usually fairly low on your typical monks parse. It is still extra DPS if you know how to use it, so I don't really see a reason not to take it (especially if you have nothing better to spend your AA on). I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to use Combination. Regarding Evade Check, I still think it is worthless, especially considering the amount of AA you have to "waste" in order to actually pick it up. There really is no scenario that this can really be seen as useful. Even if you are a DPS monk, it is usually best if you are riding at that #2 hate spot so you get agro if the MT goes down. You should be able to hit something like Inner Focus -> Bob and Weave -> swap to defensive stance and still be alive. Doing this also ensures that an an actual tank has the mob, in the spot the mob is supposed to be. Doing this can easily save your guild from wiping on a mob, plus it makes you look like a good monk if you can actually pull it off. If you're a DPS monk and your tank can't hold agro off you, your tank is doing something wrong or you far out-gear that tank. With hate transfers, hate buffs, and numerous hate procs there really isn't much reason you should ever be peeling agro off your tank (memwipes and the like excluded). If you are actually tanking than there is typically no scenario where you would want to lower your hate on the mob. The only thing I can think of off hand would be Sara Greenheart if your other tank is slow to climb back up the hate list (if you aren't using a scout to tank it). Anyways, to the OP, I would suggest you look into filling out some of the options you have in the Brawler tree before taking too much in the monk tree. The monk tree doesn't really offer much in the early game for a monk, you'd be a lot better off picking up things like crit and DA increases in the brawler tree to start off. After you get more AA you could check back here or check EQ2Flames for a good monk spec.
