Monk/chanter character

[Pus-in-Boots]

Any pointers on how to build a monk/chanter hybrid? Which subclasses, which abilities to pick? I thought nalpazca/skald, although after browsing the fora I conclude that helwalker and trubadour are far more popular choices. 

 

In the words of my dear friend Tekehu - what say?

[Marigoldran]

As a tank similar to the herald? You don't have access to Lay of Hands or Paladin defenses, but you'll have +3 armor and +10 Con from Iron Wheel.  

 

Spam summons and when you're not, CC enemies.  In which case I don't advise Helwalker.  

[Enoch]

Doesn't seem to me like it'd be an especially synergistic combination.  But I suppose it depends-- what do you want to get out of the character? 

 

The most straightforward way to go would probably be an offense-driven front-liner who provides Phrase-chanting support and supplements their weapon/fist offense with some fast-casting offensive Invocations.  Skald could work here, but Monk doesn't really add much to crit chance, so a Troubadour is probably going to be generating Invocations faster (if  you're OK with chanting only 1 phrase at a time, that is). 

 

Could use Chanter mostly for summoning.  The problem there is that most of the summons have a long cast time, and Monks don't offer much that helps in defenses or Concentration to ensure those summons get off.  So ranged is a good idea there, which makes me think Helwalker with the Scepter modal or maybe a Hand Mortar build (Nalpazca for wounds?). 

 

Going Tanky is possible, I guess, but apart from Duality/Iron Wheel there isn't much to lend this combination to that. 

[Elric Galad]

Skalds like crits... obviusly.

Monks like crits too. Stunning blow, Heartbeat Drumming, swift flurry and enervating blows benefit from it.

The better part is that Heartbeat Drumming and swift flurry trigger even more attack for more crits.

 

So even without direct increased crit chance, it might work quite well.

 

Max Per would help. It would help also the cheap AoE CC that the chanter get so it's a good synergy.
1-handed style is an option, even if it might not be optimal for DPS.

Using a fast weapon adds up. Clubs and Dagger add +5 Acc.
Rapier also add +5Acc and even has a modal that add +20 Acc (at the cost of attack speed, so maybe not ideal).

Club modal would also help killers froze stiff.

So you can get a decent Accuracy even without party bonus, maybe with a bit of party support.

 

The number of crits also depends on attack speed, and monks have good buff in this regard.

 

Finally turning wheel is very nice for chanter CC.

 

I've never tried this build but I was thinking about it.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Elric Galad

[DozingDragon]

I think that Hylea’s Talons and Instruments of Pain could provide you with ranged melee attacks with a decent chance of causing enough self-damage to gain wounds while hiding behind summons. If you want to stick to melee, you can get some decent mileage by focusing interrupting enemies with Thick Grew Their Tongues and Efficient Anguish.

Edited January 9, 2019 by DozingDragon

[Boeroer]

Troubadour + Helwalker + Lightning Strikes + Turning Wheel + Mith Fyr + Sure Handed Ila + Night's Revenge + dual mortars provides excellent damage due to MIG + triple lashes as well as decent debuff (AoE Weakened) and CC (Stunning Surge and Killers Froze Stiff). Play it as a mid-ranged guy and also use Flagellant's Path.

 

The advantage of guns is that you can skip reloading at any time to cast an invocation to save the day. Besides that Sure Handed Ila + Lightning Strikes will give you fast reload.

 

The advantage of mortars in particular is that the +10 INT from Turning Wheel will give you a huge AoE.

 

Another apporach might be Skald/Nalpasca with Swift Flurry, Heartbeat Drumming using Ngati's Tusk and Instruments of Pain. The Pike has some crit conversion that can be used in addition to Killers Froze Stiff and with Instruments of Pain you get a range of 10.8 meters with the Pike. Alternative Weapon would be Quarterstaff. The modal of the Pike lowers enemies' delflection by 10 which is great, too. Mith Fyr + Turning Wheel again does good damage. Dance of Death will grant you +12 accuracy (Enduring Dance at least) and together with Nalpasca's drugs will ensure that you will get a constant stream of wounds. Use Raised Torment's Reach + Killers to stun + paralyze foes.

Alternative weapon with normal range: Karabörü. Does stuff on crit and can be obtained early. Another option: Amra. Afaik its Carnage-like ability can crit and that might work with the Skald's passive.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Boeroer

[grasida]

Stalker’s patience with single weapon style looks like a nice choice for a monk/skald, since the chance to ignore recovery on crit will stack with swift flurry and heartbeat drumming in exciting ways. Scordeo’s edge might be even better since it gives tons of accuracy, and thus higher crit rate. But the premium skald weapon should be sun and moon, since it’s fast and hits twice, which means it should generate twice as many crits.

 

Or, you could just go for the singing scimitar. Helwalker/skald with the singing scimitar and the two forgotten sanctum soulbound items should be capable of simply massive alpha strikes with back-to-back empowered “eld nary’s” that then turbo charge your phrase generation and also give brilliant to the whole rest of your party at the start of every fight. Have a priest with salvation of time ready to keep brilliant up on everyone. I suspect this build would work better with a single class skald, but helwalker will be better against big single targets (better at casting “seven nights”, but misses the upgrade to “eld nary’s”) and could possibly keep two chants up at the same time with high initial intelligence and turning wheel.

[Squilla]

What are dual mortars? Is that Serafen's starting gun or is it like an active modal or something?

[Frak]

What are dual mortars? Is that Serafen's starting gun or is it like an active modal or something?

 

You got it. It's like Serafens gun. It's a mortar. You can find/get more of them.

[Archaven]

Skalds like crits... obviusly.

 

Monks like crits too. Stunning blow, Heartbeat Drumming, swift flurry and enervating blows benefit from it.

The better part is that Heartbeat Drumming and swift flurry trigger even more attack for more crits.

 

So even without direct increased crit chance, it might work quite well.

 

Max Per would help. It would help also the cheap AoE CC that the chanter get so it's a good synergy.

1-handed style is an option, even if it might not be optimal for DPS.

Using a fast weapon adds up. Clubs and Dagger add +5 Acc.

Rapier also add +5Acc and even has a modal that add +20 Acc (at the cost of attack speed, so maybe not ideal).

Club modal would also help killers froze stiff.

So you can get a decent Accuracy even without party bonus, maybe with a bit of party support.

 

The number of crits also depends on attack speed, and monks have good buff in this regard.

 

Finally turning wheel is very nice for chanter CC.

 

I've never tried this build but I was thinking about it.

 

swift flurry, heartbeat drumming all have been severely nerfed. i'm not even sure why are they not being outright removed.

[Marigoldran]

For DPS, a single class monk is more reliable in the late game with Whispers of the Wind and Resonant Touch.  

[Squilla]

 

What are dual mortars? Is that Serafen's starting gun or is it like an active modal or something?

 

You got it. It's like Serafens gun. It's a mortar. You can find/get more of them.

 

 

Oh gotcha, the blunderbuss gun type - I'm tracking now, thanks!

[Boeroer]

Those are special blunderbusses though. There are only two of them ("Hand Mortar" and "Fire in the Hole") and for both you have to take Serafen and complete his quest (which can be done very early and easily).

Edited January 10, 2019 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

 

Skalds like crits... obviusly.

 

Monks like crits too. Stunning blow, Heartbeat Drumming, swift flurry and enervating blows benefit from it.

The better part is that Heartbeat Drumming and swift flurry trigger even more attack for more crits.

 

So even without direct increased crit chance, it might work quite well.

 

Max Per would help. It would help also the cheap AoE CC that the chanter get so it's a good synergy.

1-handed style is an option, even if it might not be optimal for DPS.

Using a fast weapon adds up. Clubs and Dagger add +5 Acc.

Rapier also add +5Acc and even has a modal that add +20 Acc (at the cost of attack speed, so maybe not ideal).

Club modal would also help killers froze stiff.

So you can get a decent Accuracy even without party bonus, maybe with a bit of party support.

 

The number of crits also depends on attack speed, and monks have good buff in this regard.

 

Finally turning wheel is very nice for chanter CC.

 

I've never tried this build but I was thinking about it.

swift flurry, heartbeat drumming all have been severely nerfed. i'm not even sure why are they not being outright removed.

Because they were crazily overpowered and led to an endless crit-chain with the right weapons. Now it's 33% on crit with Swift Flurry (which makes it less good than Lightning Strikes with a normal build but better with the correct build) and 25% with Heartbeat Drumming. If both are on you'll have a chance of ~50% that a crit will trigger an additional attack. Which is pretty good.

I never tried if it works with Inner Death + Empowered Strikes. That would be crazy single target gambling.

Edited January 10, 2019 by Boeroer

[Elric Galad]

 

I never tried if it works with Inner Death + Empowered Strikes. That would be crazy single target gambling.

 

 

Inner death is not technically a "melee attack" though. It should not work.

[Boeroer]

It is a melee attack. But it is no weapon attack. It has melee range but its own (high) crush base damage. But no idea if that qualifies for Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming.

 

Edit: just tested it: doesn't work.   

Edited January 10, 2019 by Boeroer