Endless Paths 1-15 PotD solo Monk achieved (story also ofc)! Build and details inside!

[Kaylon]

^ Nice post. Though I might have missed it in the wall of text (or I'm being a noob about monks), but how does this build manage healing if both Moon Godlike and Shod-in-Faith are optional?

Potions?

[Boeroer]

Scrolls?

[hobbitmonk]

^ Nice post. Though I might have missed it in the wall of text (or I'm being a noob about monks), but how does this build manage healing if both Moon Godlike and Shod-in-Faith are optional?

 

• In Act 1, high Constitution/Deflection and Second Wind (monks start with Athletics 1) were sufficient for most fights. With Long Stride you're kiting/splitting tough encounters anyway which is your main source of longevity, you don't fight tough mobs straight up. You split them, or kite them into a more defensible position. I used Healing Hands gloves for tougher fights (boss fights especially). The animat summon also has a weak heal, though otherwise he's mostly just there to provide a flanking bonus.
• In Act 2, especially to begin with, Shod-in-Faith boots definitely help. I'm not sure they're required exactly, even without Moon godlike, although it's not like there are compelling alternatives at this stage really. I used them until I found Boots of Speed. The main issue is that as time goes on and you rack up levels, the healing from Shod-in-Faith is just felt less and less imo. Either an encounter is easy enough to tank in a doorway without Shod-in-Faith mattering, or the fight is tough enough that you're better off kiting/splitting because even Shod-in-Faith probably wouldn't be enough otherwise. Also, eventually your Deflection will be high enough that enemies might not be critting you at all, they'll just wear you down with regular hits, meaning that sometimes Shod-in-Faith wont even trigger at all. I suppose this might be part of what Voltron meant by managing Deflection so it isn't too high, but personally I'd rather get hit less and not need the healing. Building specifically around Shod-in-Faith seems a bit of an ugly solution when you could just crank Deflection as high as you can and use greater mobility to manage tough encounters instead though. Though I think when Voltron wrote his guide, Boots of Speed might not have been in the game yet(?), I don't recall.
• In White March part 1, imo Boots of Speed have more utility than Shod-in-Faith. It makes splitting even more effective, and also makes getting mobs of enemies to fight each other easier. I did most of Act 2 before White March and did the higher level scaling, and by this point I just wasn't feeling Shod-in-Faith much at all, so I switched to Boots of Speed and haven't looked back.

so tldr: kiting/splitting adds more to your survivability than healing does, and Boots of Speed only build on this. Note though that I did Endless Paths before White March, so I did that with Shod-in-Faith.

 

 

^ Nice post. Though I might have missed it in the wall of text (or I'm being a noob about monks), but how does this build manage healing if both Moon Godlike and Shod-in-Faith are optional?

Potions?

 

 

 

Scrolls?

 

I don't use potions, scrolls, or food. Call it personal masochism. I'd rather have more summons in my item slots anyway.

[Jojobobo]

I still find it tough not to pick Moon Godlike on solo. Auto-heals are a much nicer benefit that most of what the other races have to offer, giving you 195 endurance back at level 16. With the third stage Survival healing bonus, and a Belt of Bountiful Healing/Fulvano's Amulet, that becomes 390 before you even factor in Might. Plus, the slots that you're using for potions and scrolls for healing can now be more easily dedicated to something of more use - e.g. offensive scrolls or figurines.

 

I think when I play a class with enough healing likely then I'll go Fire Godlike or possibly something else (the Maegfolc Skull does provide nice healing late game in the helmet slot), and obviously kiters don't really need healing, but Moon Godlike definitely is a solid pick for solo. 

[Kazuma]

@hobbitmonk - True, second wind is better than nothing. And since I posted my question I've quickly learned that with some potd encounters cheese is needed (my first time). I can see how kitting/splitting would be necessary solo. Going to have to get familiar with all the little reusable items methinks.

 

You're making me want to attempt a solo run, but I suppose I need to run thru potd once with this group just to get some experience with what to expect.

[hobbitmonk]

I still find it tough not to pick Moon Godlike on solo. Auto-heals are a much nicer benefit that most of what the other races have to offer, giving you 195 endurance back at level 16. With the third stage Survival healing bonus, and a Belt of Bountiful Healing/Fulvano's Amulet, that becomes 390 before you even factor in Might. Plus, the slots that you're using for potions and scrolls for healing can now be more easily dedicated to something of more use - e.g. offensive scrolls or figurines.

 

I think when I play a class with enough healing likely then I'll go Fire Godlike or possibly something else (the Maegfolc Skull does provide nice healing late game in the helmet slot), and obviously kiters don't really need healing, but Moon Godlike definitely is a solid pick for solo. 

 

Since I'm in the probation purgatory allotted to all newbies, you may have missed my post above, but I'll reiterate that I don't use scrolls, potions, or food. Shod-in-Faith was sufficient for my healing needs before Boots of Speed, and I haven't really missed them since.

 

My revised build of Voltron's was originally an experiment to see if Moon godlike was actually indeed required, and I feel so far that that's definitely not the case. I think it comes down to how much status effects annoy you. I know status effects annoy me a lot, which is why I was attracted to Voltron's build in the first place and sought to build on it, and race choice is part of that for me. Anything that will soften the blow of status effect annoyance helps my sanity. Now that said, Moon godlikes are far from bad, just not the go-to requirement they're often made out to be imo.

 

There's also opportunity costs involved. Building on healing in the way you suggest means equipment slots are increasingly funnelled to that endeavour at the expense of other possibilities, in this build's case anti-CC measures. If we take your example, to get that level of healing we're losing a helmet slot (godlike), cloak, belt, and any benefit a different racial might grant. I'm not denying the utility of a build with that much healing (particularly if you're determined to tank every tough mob straight up rather than kiting/splitting), but in that case you're probably already looking at a different direction for the build anyway. For one, Long Stride might become a bit redundant in that case.

 

Of course in all this, I have to admit I'm biased, since I just personally really dislike the look of the Moon godlikes, so if at all possible I'd rather use something else in most builds.

 

The ones I feel most sorry for are Nature godlikes. Someone throw them a bone and buff them already!

 

@hobbitmonk - True, second wind is better than nothing. And since I posted my question I've quickly learned that with some potd encounters cheese is needed (my first time). I can see how kitting/splitting would be necessary solo. Going to have to get familiar with all the little reusable items methinks.

 

You're making me want to attempt a solo run, but I suppose I need to run thru potd once with this group just to get some experience with what to expect.

 

I think if you can beat the game on PotD then revisiting the game on solo is definitely worth a try. Knowing what to expect, where you might struggle, particularly dangerous enemies etc definitely helps a lot. Broadly speaking the tactics involved aren't too different, but it does make you pay more attention to your build!

 

So far the worst part was Act 1 (no surprise really), mostly because some enemies just can't be dealt with safely any other way than running away and plinking them with a bow or wand or whatever. Becomes very tedious at times, but that does give way and become a lot more fun in Act 2.

[Jojobobo]

 

I still find it tough not to pick Moon Godlike on solo. Auto-heals are a much nicer benefit that most of what the other races have to offer, giving you 195 endurance back at level 16. With the third stage Survival healing bonus, and a Belt of Bountiful Healing/Fulvano's Amulet, that becomes 390 before you even factor in Might. Plus, the slots that you're using for potions and scrolls for healing can now be more easily dedicated to something of more use - e.g. offensive scrolls or figurines.

 

I think when I play a class with enough healing likely then I'll go Fire Godlike or possibly something else (the Maegfolc Skull does provide nice healing late game in the helmet slot), and obviously kiters don't really need healing, but Moon Godlike definitely is a solid pick for solo. 

 

Since I'm in the probation purgatory allotted to all newbies, you may have missed my post above, but I'll reiterate that I don't use scrolls, potions, or food. Shod-in-Faith was sufficient for my healing needs before Boots of Speed, and I haven't really missed them since.

 

My revised build of Voltron's was originally an experiment to see if Moon godlike was actually indeed required, and I feel so far that that's definitely not the case. I think it comes down to how much status effects annoy you. I know status effects annoy me a lot, which is why I was attracted to Voltron's build in the first place and sought to build on it, and race choice is part of that for me. Anything that will soften the blow of status effect annoyance helps my sanity. Now that said, Moon godlikes are far from bad, just not the go-to requirement they're often made out to be imo.

 

There's also opportunity costs involved. Building on healing in the way you suggest means equipment slots are increasingly funnelled to that endeavour at the expense of other possibilities, in this build's case anti-CC measures. If we take your example, to get that level of healing we're losing a helmet slot (godlike), cloak, belt, and any benefit a different racial might grant. I'm not denying the utility of a build with that much healing (particularly if you're determined to tank every tough mob straight up rather than kiting/splitting), but in that case you're probably already looking at a different direction for the build anyway. For one, Long Stride might become a bit redundant in that case.

 

Of course in all this, I have to admit I'm biased, since I just personally really dislike the look of the Moon godlikes, so if at all possible I'd rather use something else in most builds.

 

The ones I feel most sorry for are Nature godlikes. Someone throw them a bone and buff them already!

I was talking about Moon Godlikes in general, not exclusively for the purposes of this build. However, it is interesting you say that Shod-in-Faith was enough without having to take more healing measures. I suppose if you are kiting all the while, the amount of hits you'll be taking will be rather reduced anyway. I find that even with defence stacking, it can be tricky to hit certain levels to make sure negative effects really aren't a problem for you. However I suppose if anyone can do it, the Monk or Paladin would be the best.

[IamNOOB]

Very easy to understand and very useful build !

Thanks !
I am starting tomorrow my II walkthrough, this time I picked monk.