dgray62

Quick point, the speed bonuses from Mourning Gloves and Swift Strikes don't stack, see here. Thanks for clarifying this, JerekKruger. I was aware that they didn't stack, which is why I wrote "or." But I'm glad that you pointed this out; I long assumed that they stacked until it was pointed out to me that Swift Strikes suppressed the Mourning Gloves speed bonus.

Livegood118, I've been playing a monk with the long pain (TLP) for awhile now, and am now in WM2 at lvl 13. I agree with you that the cast time is long. My monk's DEX is relatively high, 16 without any modifications, and 19 with the Ring of Thorns. Even so, the cast seems painfully slow, at least in the stress of battle. However, the recovery time with my monk is very short; the recovery bar only appears for a fraction of a second if at all. This is with 19 DEX, a speed bonus from the Mourning Gloves (10%) or swift strikes (25%), and durgan refined Wayfarer's hide. So, as Boeroer commented in his Witch Doctor build, once you get TLP going it hits like a gatling gun. Personally I find this great. I enjoy having the character wade into battle for unarmed combat, but once he is wounded I switch on TLP IF there are still worthy foes to fight. I don't bother doing this in short battles against weak foes, as they're usually over by the time TLP could be activated. But in long battles, particularly against numerous foes in which it is difficult to maneuver (such as against the hordes of vessels and spirits inside Durgan's battery), it's fantastic.

Thanks for the tip! I look forward to trying a chanter again.

The last time I played a chanter, earlier last year, I encountered the save bug in which saving a loading took increasingly longer amounts of time, to the point at which it became unwieldy, and I haven't played a chanter since. I am interested in trying the class again, and am thus wondering if this bug has been fixed. I am playing what I believe to be the latest version of the game, 3.05.

I'm currently running a priest with MIG 14, CON 10, DEX 16, PER 10, INT 18, RES 10. She's a priest of Eothas, and after casting buffs she runs into battle with her Unforgiven flail and shield. She attacks very fast with high DEX and Unforgiven's +20% speed bonus. She's quite sturdy too. I don't think you need MIG too high given all of priests MIG buffs. And I don't want CON and RES below 10 on characters who engage in melee.

Thanks for checking this, Maxquest. I thought to ask since lightning strikes, at least, does apply to crush immune enemies.

Maxquest, are you sure that the envenomed strike won't apply when attacking a crush immune enemy? Just yesterday my party was fighting a bunch of ice blights in WM1, and I was surprised to see that my monk killed a crush immune enemy with an unarmed strike; he scored a crit for 0 crush damage, but lightning strikes was activated and he dealt 10 lightning damage. So the lightning damage was applied even though the base attack damage was zero. I have no idea if this would be the case with envenomed strike since I've never taken it, but I thought I would ask given this experience.

Thanks, Boeroer. I'll try to get them the next time I land a legendary adventure.

Are the glittering gauntlets still bugged?

My main character, a monk, with PER 15, spotted the ring. I'm sure it doesn't have to be as high as 24. Maybe it's different if you use a custom hire from an inn? I got the ring, was able to save the women but not the man, lacking the proper spell, but suffered major fatigue afterward. I've never been able to complete this burning house sequence without being fatigued. Is it possible to complete it without being fatigued and thus having to rest again?

Thanks, Boeroer. I suppose if I dumped RES I'd need help with concentration for the tough fights. BTW, I'm playing this character with two ciphers using your Dichotomous Soulbenders build, and having loads of fun. As you pointed out, there's great synergy between monks or monk-like Novice's Suffering builds and cipher powers.

I have really enjoyed playing this build. However, as I was reluctant to dump RES get too low I dropped DEX to 10 and INT to 17 in order to bring RES up to 10. However, having played this character for awhile I question the wisdom of doing this. I have noticed that it takes him quite some time to activate abilities, such as TLP. Clearly, boosting DEX would alleviate this. How badly does this build get interrupted with RES set at 3? Personally, I do not want to have to buff him in every battle. Also, I was under the impression (perhaps incorrectly?) that in Russetwood you need to pass a RES 16 check to get the silver arrow from the wounded wolf without killing it, which also helps with the Hunter's Favor quest. Is it possible to get the Silver Arrow without killing the wolf if you dump RES?

Priest's buffs are extremely useful. I don't leave Caed Nua without one! Seriously, they aren't really necessary if you're playing on easier difficulty levels or against trash mobs. But against tougher foes their buffs and "prayer against..." spells are a great help. But you can also get healing from other classes, and can rely on protection scrolls or Paladin abilities deal with the hostile effects from tougher foes.

If you wish to use AI with your priest, the "support" option works pretty well. It instructs your priest to cast general buffs, but to prioritize healing when a party member's health is low. The only downside to the AI is it often ends up casting buffs right at the end of a battle, when they're no longer needed, which is a waste.

A few points in stealth will allow you to sneak up to an enemy group and get in a flames of devotion strike with a firearm before they notice and swarm you. This can allow you to sneak close enough to target more vulnerable characters, such as mages, and one-shot them. It gets very powerful if you have intense flames, scion of flame, and a fire-lashed weapon.

Yes, I did mean "the long pain"/TLP, but mistyped it as TLF. Thanks for the correction, Boeroer.

I like having a monk and Kind Wayfarer front line; the monk is mainly DPS, and the Kind Wayfarer boosts everyone with healing, the ACC bonus, and defense bonuses from the Outworn Buckler and Inspiring Triumph. As Boeroer noted, however, the Kind Wayfarer still does sufficient damage to proc Strange Mercy several times during long battles. I usually give the paladin Bittercut and Spirit of Decay as well, a la Blunderboss' Bleak Walker build. Generally, I like to use a Bleak Walker in evil parties and Kind Wayfarers in good parties. For the latter, your "Monsterlash" is weakened since you don't get the Remember Rakhan Field talent, but you make up for this with the healing boost. So the trade off is slightly less DPS for greater party support. You don't need Lay on Hands with this build; you'll get plenty of healing from the Kind Wayfarer talents. I recommend using the same attribute spread Blunderboss recommended, i.e., 20 MIG and 18 INT, with everything else set at 10.

There's no reason not to take Pallegina along with your Paladin MC. Just be sure to get her Wrath of Five Suns talent, after getting Vielo Vidòrio and Sworn enemy. It's a devastating attack, particularly if you get Scion of Flame and Vulnerable Attack as well.

Thanks for the tips, Boeroer. I will keep using Mourning Gloves until I find Gauntlets of Swift Action or get Blood Testament. I'm glad to hear that the former's speed bonus stacks with Swift Strikes. One nice thing about Mourning Gloves is this character gets many kills, and thus activates the Mourning Gloves in almost every battle. He doesn't always get wounds, however, so the Mourning Gloves 10% bonus has been more reliable for me than Swift Strike's 20% bonus.

I hadn't noticed the gloves being suppressed, but I see that you are right; Anger is suppressed by Swift Strikes. So I guess I was only getting the 20% boost from Swift Strikes, and not the 30% stacked speed boost. The speed is still impressive nonetheless. But I guess that I'll probably end up using the Blood Testament gauntlets, when I get them.

Boeroer, I started an MC using this build a few days ago, and just reached level 7. I must say I am really impressed by its power. I took 10 DEX rather than 16, because I am not comfortable with such a low RES. TLF hits are powerful, and quite rapid too, despite the lower DEX, especially when swift strikes and the mourning gloves are activated. So far this has been one of my favorite characters. Thanks!

Thanks, I've found those boots but never used them. Looks like they're worth a try, given the fact that the sandals don't work with TLF.

Thanks for the detailed reply, Boeroer. The monk is one of my favorite classes, and I had noticed that for unarmed attacks there was little difference between grazes, hits and crits damage-wise, but I did not understand the reason for this. Given the fact that this is not the case with TLF, I see that crit boosting talents and items would be worth it. With that in mind, I was wondering why you recommend the Echoing Misery boots. Is Ray of Pain particularly good? Might Glanfathan Stalking boots be better for this build?

Thanks for the helpful reply. I see that boosts to the crit damage multiplier would be helpful for monk builds using TLP.

Boeroer, do you know if crits are calculated properly with Long Pain strikes? I ask because they do not seem to have any effect on damage in regular unarmed combat. If so, I imagine in would be worth siding with the Doemenels to get the Merciless Hand talent, as the 1.3x bonus would really be a big boost. If not, I suppose it would be best to side with one of the other factions.