Restore v Martyr, A raging debate!

There is a big debate raging at the moment within The Gerbils about the merits of the two viable approaches for countering stacked conditions. Warning, this post is another Maths post, ala the Kindle/QS v Barrage debate!

First, some history.

There is a new "Flavour of the Moment" build running around Tombs that involves lots and lots of traps. This grew out of the bug that was with traps immediately after the update and people realised just how lethal stacked traps could be. This build specialises in applying 10 degen to an entire team, as well as complimentary conditions such as blind and cripple.

The skill options.

Restore Condition - Elite Monk Spell. Remove all "Conditions" from target other ally. That ally is healed (10..70) [54 pts @ 11 Protection] points for each condition removed. (Attribute: Protection Prayers) Cost: 5 Energy, Cast: 3/4, Recharge: 2.

Martyr - Elite Monk Spell. Transfer all "Conditions" and their remaining durations from your party members to you. Cost: 5 Energy, Cast: 1/4, Recharge: 10.

Heal Party - Monk Spell. Heal entire party for (16..80) [63 pts @ 11 Heal] points. (Attribute: Healing Prayers) Cost: 15 Energy, Cast: 2, Recharge: -.

The debate rages around whether it is better to clean all the party of conditions and drop a small heal on everyone, or whether it is better to selectively cleanse party members of conditions while dropping a big heal on them. Lets look at some examples.

All these numbers assume certain facts:

Starting Variables:
- Minimum 3 conditions on each party member.
- 3s to put all 3 conditions back onto a party member.
- 10 degen delivered by conditions.

These are somewhat realistic. Against a trapper team, each trapper can drop 1 trap every 3s, allowing 1s to move into position. Teams usually have at least 4 trappers, usually more. That means that, most likely, there will be MORE conditions put on the target than 3 and that they will be put back on quicker than the 3s.

So, Martyr + Heal party or Restore Conditions? Driven by the recharge on Martyr for this combination, we'll extrapolate out to 24s, allowing 2 full cycles of Martyr/Heal Party.

Per Martyr, .25c, 5e
- 7 party members are fully cleared of conditions
- 3s to put those conditions back and restore the 10 degen
NEGATED : 420 [7(10*2*3)]

Per Heal Party, 2c, 15e
- Heal 8 party members for 63 each (Mass degen to team, counting all heals as "successful" and not overheals)
HEALED : 504 [8x63]

Total for this combination is 20e, 2.25c, 924 damage "handled", repeatable every 12s. 2 cycles, 40e, 4.5c, 1,848 damage "handled".

Per Restore Conditions, .75c, 5e, 2r
- counting all heals as successful again, no allowance for overheals
HEALED : 204 ([(3x54)+42])
NEGATED : 60 ([10*2*3])

Total for this combination is 5e, .75c, 304 damage "handled", repeated every 2.75s, for a total of 8 per 2 cycles of martyr/heal, or 40e, 6c, 2,432 damage "handled".

So we can see instantly that chain casting Restore Conditions is more effective versus stacked conditions than Martyr is. You would be silly to take Martyr on a pure numbers basis.

In fact, lets look at these numbers closer. Lets change those starting conditions for demonstrations sake.

New starting variables:
- 2 conditions per character
- 2s to put them back
- 6 degen

Martyr now does:
- 7 party members cleared of 6 degen for 2s (NEGATE : 168 [7(6*2*2)])
- Heal Party (HEAL : 504 [8x63])
Total over 24s : 1,176 handled

Restore now does:
- 1 party member cleared of 6 degen for 2s (NEGATE : 24 [6*2*2])
- Heal component (HEAL : 150 [(2*54)+42])
Total over 24s : 1,392 handled

With less conditions, less degen and a shorter time to reapply them, we see Restore winning the efficiency race again, although its much closer this time. For the final piece of the puzzle, lets look at playing against a GREAT team, totally in love with their conditions.

Starting variables:
- 5 conditions per character
- 1s to put them back
- 10 degen

Martyr now does:
- 7 party members cleared of 10 degen for 1s (NEGATE : 140 [7(10*2)])
- Heal Party (HEAL : 504 [8x63])

24s cycle : 1,288 handled

Restore now does:
- 1 party member cleared of 10 degen for 1s (NEGATE : 20 [10*2])
- Heal Component (HEAL : 312 [(5x54)+42)

24s cycle : 2,656 handled


Discussion Points

The obvious discussion point that is going to be raised is "Why Heal Party?" or "why not use skill for healing?". The point here is to compare the condition removal. Heal Party is included to add a heal component to the Martyr equation so as to get a more accurate comparision. Similar equations, with more effective mass heals (Divine Healing) require too much positioning to be effective or to be easily measured mathematically.

In all of the above examples, both monks have much "extra time" in their cycles. The Martyr/Heal Party monk has 19.5s every 24s to do other things. The Restore Monk has 18s every 24s to do other things. Both have spent the same energy.

Conclusions

From a purely mathematical point of view, Restore Conditions, under almost every circumstance, is a far superior skill to use than Martyr. Thats just looking at numbers as it affects healing and damage mitigation. The flipside to the argument, which is what opponents of Restore Condition versus heavy condition teams present, is the timings.

Versus a condition heavy team, applying their conditions slowly, Martyr, indeed, gives you a window of team "unconditioness" in which you can execute plans, spike an enemy, reposition as a team, etc. There is no such window when you are using Restore Conditions, as team members are free from conditions in sequence rather than in mass. Your team planning needs to take that into account.

Hope you find these numbers useful and I hope to see more and more protection monks making use of Restore Conditions. Personally when planning builds, my entire condition removal strategy is based around 1 Restore Condition using Protection monk and some carrying Contemplation of Purity for self removal, including the Restore monk. http://www.theamazonbasin.com/gw/forums/index.php?showtopic=3722