New player, few questions about Monk class

[Krajzen]

Hi. I have just bought with Pillars of Eternity and seeing how main menu is enough to make me cry of epicness I guess it will be cool adventure.

 

Anyway, obviously I am new player here. I have played BG2 (finished once) as well as many more or less sophisticated RPGs, anyway I am new in PoE. This is a bit problematic because I really, really wanna to play as Monk class which as far as I know is the weirdest class possible.

 

<if this is wrong thread I'm sorry, please put it in more appropriate subforum>

 

Usually I tend to create boring vanilla characters for RPG similar to me from real life, brown hair horrible dexterity wizard nerd guy but I have decided it's lame and I need to do something different. And my new fantasy alter ego will be crazy.

 

My character is going to be a young cheerful tall muscular girl from Ixamilt Plains, monk class, Philosopher background and hidden genius level intellect, absurd Might and Intellect, barefist combat, badass cowboy one liners, problems with alcohol, anger managment and self acceptation, explosive character, crazy ass sense of humor, obsession over prime numbers, rampant bisexuality but mainly heart of gold and great love for all living beings and deep will to improve the world. Half of those characteristics are impossible to reflect in this computer game but whatever, I really care about roleplay :D My point is, this insane character needs to be Monk and it will be damn unorthodox Monk despite it being difficult class and me not knowing anything about game's mechanics.

 

Anyway, besides the facts it HAS to be a monk, crazy girl and philosopher background (despite other proffesions would profit more - it needs to be intellectual at heart. As I said, this girl is crazy.) I am open at advices from (wiser) people about how exactly to build DPS monk because I am completely lost at nuances of PoE mechanics - from what I see there are really many ways to build characters and even main attributes are pretty flexible.

 

1) What attributes are the most important for monk? Like, really the most important, not what the character creation screen suggests (I am suspicious about that ).

2) Any crucial advices at how to manage monk class, for a complele newbie like me?

3) I don't know anything about the game's mechanics besides some overview of classes and NPC companions (party is very important for me in RPGs I play and I always try to plan it before beginning new game). What team would fit the monk main character the best? I am asking about premade characters because I want to play with NPCs having their story and dialogue, not some silent companions made by me.

 

I think my dream team would have

*My little beloved girl monk being main DPS

*Ered fighter as tank

*Sagani ranger as ranged DPS and stealth

*Durance priest as support healer

 

but I am not sure about last two companions (I aim at 6 guy team). Who would fit this composition the best: Grieving Mother/Kana Rua/Aloth/Hiravias? From what I know all these characters use magic to CC enemies/buff team and I am completely lost as what are the difference between them.

 

My Monk Badass Girl character thanks in advance for all advices.

 

http://goo.gl/DBWuLA

 

 

[JONNIN]

Race only matters a little.  All races get +2 to stats (zero sum -- dwarf is +3 -1 = 2)  and unless you want to totally max one stat, the race does not matter.  Ideas for a monk include dwarf and amuaua (spelling?) to get a 20-21 might starting out, but other races may have merits as well.  

 

Might is very important, at least 15 IMHO.

Con is very important, 15+

dex is very, very important, 17+

int can go either way. A powerful single target killing monk does not need it.  If you prefer to use some of his aoe abilities, it is good to have more than 10. 

per is important because it beefs up durability.  (10+)

res is important because it beefs up durability.  (10+) 

 

Pure dps glass cannon monk might go 21/19/18 or something like that (depending a little on race etc) and whatever is left spread amongst int/per/res. 

 

Monks work well with no weapons for much of the game. It takes a heavily enchanted weapon to out-dps their unarmed attack, but unarmed is crush so at times you may face crush-resist enemy and want to swap to some other type. 

 

Monks take a hit, that becomes a damage over time effect called a wound.  Wounds enable damage dealing abilities, some passive and some active.  One of the best active ablities increases his attack speed.  With light or no armor, high dex, and increased attack speed (and, with talents, extra damage on top of the speed...)  that alone will result in high damage output. 

 

The monk is fairly durable but without armor you have to play carefully.  I use a mix depending on how dangerous the area I am in is --- at times I wear full armor and attack slowly but I prefer to drop the armor for a heavily enchanted robe and go for all out speed killing. 

 

Management of the monk is mostly allowing yourself to be hit some but not too much, burn the wounds, and kill stuff, while deciding how much armor you need in a given area.

 

You can change your party makeup at any time.   But your standard group depends on your preferences.  Personally, I would carry the fighter or paladin or both to tank/damage alongside you.   I would have the cipher and chanter and priest in the back, giving buffs, debuffs, and healing.   But you could easily replace the priest or cipher with the druid.  Avoid the wizard, he is very poorly rolled.  The paladin is poorly rolled but it can still tank somewhat in spite of it.   The ranger is also fairly weak.    You *may* consider rolling your own rogue to add to the group -- there isnt one to join you.

 

melee dps mechanics...  accuracy, might, attack speed, damage type or DR bypassing, those form the core of it.  Back that up with buffs and debuffs and at higher levels a heavily enchanted weapon(or pair of them).  A paralyzed enemy is going to die fast to a monk, and the cipher can paralyze one about as fast as the monk can get to and kill it, making a deadly duo.  The monk piles on damage by hitting  many times in a short period of time, boosted with talents and class skills, its is nasty.

 

The monk does not seems to perform correctly with unarmed/armed mix, even if the weapon is offhanded.  It seems to revert to a 1 weapon equipped mode.  Just so you know.

Edited May 4, 2015 by JONNIN

[Falkon Swiftblade]

I don't think you need as much con depending on your difficulty level and armor you choose to use. I am playing as a orlan monk with a base chance of hits that allow crits and I like that, but you might want to go fire godlike for raw dps, or maybe moon godlike for passive heals so you don't drop so fast. I'm currently lvl 9 and I don't know if I have any AOE skills and that's the only reason you'd want a high intellect. you could keep it at 6-8 probably. I've only seen 2 instances the whole game it did an intel check. I'd also have at least 16 dex, but you might want to max it out over con. depending on how tanky you want your monk you might want to max out dex if you're gonna be using heavy armor. I don't like that bulky looking style on them so I stick with enchanted other armor usually ~30% recovery or less, but it's not a big deal either way. I would encourage you to have a fighter in the party to engage most of the enemy's, if you play on hard sometimes they have too many monsters per encounter and your monk get flanked and waylaid too easily. Not to mention disengagement attacks can be a blessing or a curse. Good if you want a quick way to earn wounds, but sucks if you're like 3 pixels off from where you wanted to be. You also may consider using a sabre in your off hand. You'll still get unarmed damage on the main hand, but the benefits of weapon enchants and hit a little harder.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Falkon Swiftblade

[Krajzen]

Thanks for such detailed help. I guess I will spend some time on character creation. 

 

However my past experiences showed me that games where I have to spend much time to preapre characters for tend to be amazing ^^

[Khalid the bear]

i finished PotD with Moon Goodlike monk with
18 M,
3 C,
20 D,
9 P,
19 I,
9 R.
I had him in heavy armor, he got knocked out 31 times during the game.
i had 3 abilities that benefited from int for duration (reduced defences,stun and prone) and one for AoE (cone). if you want to take most adwantage of his fast atack (armor increases recovery time, time between actions) you might put lighter armor and more con on him
(my party conposition is in my sig. this was second playtrough and except for Eder all characters had min-maxed stats)
 

Edited May 4, 2015 by Khalid the bear

[kaiki]

 

1) What attributes are the most important for monk? Like, really the most important, not what the character creation screen suggests (I am suspicious about that ).

2) Any crucial advices at how to manage monk class, for a complele newbie like me?

3) I don't know anything about the game's mechanics besides some overview of classes and NPC companions (party is very important for me in RPGs I play and I always try to plan it before beginning new game). What team would fit the monk main character the best? I am asking about premade characters because I want to play with NPCs having their story and dialogue, not some silent companions made by me.

 

1) These are the attributes I made for my monk that got me through Triple Crown Solo

 

Might 17

Constitution 16

Dexterity 10

Perception 10 (was at 9 then got +1 from White that Wends)

Intelligence 10

Resolve 15

 

Might is very important for damage, Con for staying alive, Resolve for dialogue options.

You don't need Dexterity in order to do high damage. You'll be using fists for the majority of the time and they are fast weapons. In combination with the Two Weapon feat, that -does- effect fists, which gives +20% attack speed and you will be attacking fast enough.

 

2) Stick with your fists, they are the highest damage all-around weapon a monk can use. There can be specific situations where you may not want to use them but overall stick to fists. In conjunction with that take the Two Weapon feat and the Peasant feat in order to give them increased speed and accuracy.

Also, wear the heaviest armor you can find. Even though you're DPS you will be in melee with mobs. That means getting hit so you want to up your DR to withstand those hits.

In regards to monk abilities, take Torment's Reach, that will be your main damage ability throughout the game. Such a wonderful ability.

 

3) Good news for you :D since the build I described is able to solo the game you can choose whatever party you want and it'll get you through!

[MoxyWoo]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=421004220

 

But depends on difficulty,

 

Personally love moon monk using

 

Dex - Mig - Res - Int - Per - Con

 

For stat priorities though.  So much good partyheals and con can be dumped on moon fine.

[Zwiebelchen]

He provided a picture and wants to roleplay, so the race suggestions are out of the question already, as it's gonna be either a human or elf. And even elf is a stretch. 

 

@TO: You can't really screw up a monk DPS build (as there's not many "crucial" talents for a monk). At the beginning of the game, you should probably go for a single one-handed weapon (for the extra accuracy); later, when fists catch up in both damage and accuracy, you can switch to dual-wield fists. The good part: dual-wield fists are always available in combat, no matter what you have in your weapon slots, so a monk basicly gets the dual-wield fist weapon set for free. That means you can also carry a ranged and a melee weapon with you without the need of an additional weapon slot.

 

Playing a DPS monk is a little bit less straightforward than the other classes, as you rely on taking damage to deal damage. The idea is to have some survivability so that you can take a few hits from a single mob, then back out and burn all your wounds as pure DPS.

A typical approach would be to let your DPS monk rush in alongside the tank and let her offtank a single mob to generate some wounds. Then you can use one of your stunning blows or knockback ability to disengage the mob safely (you also gain wounds by forcing a disengagement attack, but it's not recommended as disengagement attacks tend to hit hard).

 

A DPS monk is actually one of those classes where leather armor works quite good: you don't want to stack too much DR, but you don't want to go naked either.

As others have stated: torment's reach is your main DPS source. It works great with dual-wield fists, as it will actually hit the main target twice.

The dual wield talent works on fists. Get it! Weapon focus: peasant also grants you additional much-needed accuracy (again ... torment's reach).

Don't get the talent that decreases the wound treshold. It's only useful for pure tank monks that take very little damage. There is also a talent that grants you a fire lash procc on your attacks depending on the number of wounds you have stacked. It's useless for this build, so don't waste a point on it (as torment's reach will consume your wounds).

If you have some spare talent points, it's a good idea to invest the situational modals ... just to be prepared. Your monk will get attacked from time to time, and it's good to have the modal to pop that increases your deflection if things go downhill.

 

Also, some food for thought: there's a passive that increases your deflection on disengagement attacks. Think about taking it; not only can it be a lifesaver, but it also basicly bypasses the accuracy bonus of disengagement attacks, which means you have reliable way of forcing wounds on your monk by just disengaging a weak-hitting mob.

 

A word about skills:

Lore might be worth an investment, as it allows you to use scrolls. When you're out of wounds, it's always nice to have something to do other than auto-attacking. Also, you're a frontline fighter, so it's always good to have a Fan of Flames scroll ready.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Zwiebelchen

[luzarius]

Monk is good at punch massaging an enemy with high DR.

 

*monk punches high DR enemy*

 

High DR Enemy: "oh that feels good, a little to the left maybe?"

 

Monk punches so fast, woah!

 

0.8

0.2

0.3

1.1

0.5

Edited May 5, 2015 by luzarius

[Zwiebelchen]

Monk is good at punch massaging an enemy with high DR.

 

*monk punches high DR enemy*

 

High DR Enemy: "oh that feels good, a little to the left maybe?"

 

Monk punches so fast, woah!

 

0.8

0.2

0.3

1.1

0.5

 

... what?

Fists attack fast like small weapons, but actually deal damage like medium weapons (and, mind you, also deal higher minimum damage). In fact, DR is much less of a problem for monks than it is for many other classes. Stack some accuracy on top of your already high base accuracy and you will hit hard. Plus, torment's reach adds a tasty 50% extra on top for both hits.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Zwiebelchen

[luzarius]

 

Monk is good at punch massaging an enemy with high DR.

 

*monk punches high DR enemy*

 

High DR Enemy: "oh that feels good, a little to the left maybe?"

 

Monk punches so fast, woah!

 

0.8

0.2

0.3

1.1

0.5

 

... what?

Fists attack fast like small weapons, but actually deal damage like medium weapons (and, mind you, also deal higher minimum damage). In fact, DR is much less of a problem for monks than it is for many other classes.

 

 

Path of the damned, how do you defeat a shade with a monk? Won't he just punch massage the shade?

 

From what I've heard, when a monk hits the shade, his damage is soo bad it actually heals the shade.

[Zwiebelchen]

 

Path of the damned, how do you defeat a shade with a monk? Won't he just punch massage the shade?

 

From what I've heard, when a monk hits the shade, his damage is soo bad it actually heals the shade.

 

 

See, this is the problem here: instead of actually trying it for real, you just rely on hearsaying.

[luzarius]

 

 

Path of the damned, how do you defeat a shade with a monk? Won't he just punch massage the shade?

 

From what I've heard, when a monk hits the shade, his damage is soo bad it actually heals the shade.

 

 

See, this is the problem here: instead of actually trying it for real, you just rely on hearsaying.

 

Fair enough, you got me wanting to try monk again hehe.

[Khalid the bear]

kaiki here actualy TCSed a monk, so they can hit high DR tatgets

[Doug]

Never understood the point of monks.

You need to get hit to do the best damage but if your tank/tanks are working as intended then you won't?

 

I suppose I could roleplay the rest of the team as ex US Airforce and use friendly fire to wound him?

[kaiki]

Never understood the point of monks.

You need to get hit to do the best damage but if your tank/tanks are working as intended then you won't?

 

I suppose I could roleplay the rest of the team as ex US Airforce and use friendly fire to wound him?

 

Toward the end of the game it can help to run 2 tanks. If you want to use a monk, sub a monk in for the tank. Due to how the engagement system works you will be in situations where there will be more enemies then what 1 tank can hold back. You'll have a character with great survivability with high damage output to deal with the rest.

[b0rsuk]

This thread is Wrong, because there's no mention of Force of Anguish. If you are going to pick just one Monk skill, let it be Force of Anguish. You won't regret it.

[JONNIN]

Never understood the point of monks.

You need to get hit to do the best damage but if your tank/tanks are working as intended then you won't?

 

I suppose I could roleplay the rest of the team as ex US Airforce and use friendly fire to wound him?

 

the monk can *be* the tank, if you strap on armor and reduce his dps a bit.   Also, he comes with a skill to wound himself, so you can get the 1 wound cost attack speed skill going without being hit -- which again is solid dps without even mentioning any of the other skills at all.   Also, the AI often targets the person wearing the least armor, or so it seems ... the monk has no problems being hit in most fights.   It is a little odd to play this way, but the mechanic does not really cause any major problems, it just is not that hard to be hit as a melee character, unless you build it to not be hit, which you wouldn't DO for a dps monk...

 

I looked thru a completed game's beastiery journal and very few things resist crush damage as their highest defense, FWIW.  

 

Barbarians and monks are neat in that simply changing their gear out will turn them into pure tanks, raw dps, or somewhere in between the two if your stats support both roles.  The other melee can't quite pull this off as smoothly (they can do it to an extent, just not quite as flexible).

 

As for intellect on a monk:  the big one here is the passive one, I forgot the name already but every wound gained results in a damaging aoe (its not impressive but at times I have gone from 0-10+ wounds in 1-2 seconds...!!)  so he is kind of constantly exploding onto all the enemies around.   The class has some other aoe skills, the flying kick and so on, but a build around the passive bomb would be the only reason to try for a 20 int or something weird.  

[dudex]

i haven't gone that far on the monk but wouldn't a single handed spear user (left hand slot) monk be stronger if you going torment spam then traditional barefist? they share the same weapon class so u wont be wasting any talents with weapon specialization.

 

U get +12 acc on both hits of the torments reach's full attack. +5 acc on the aoe and one of the full attacks. Disadvantages are that without wounds and torment spamming he would be incredibly weak and ur attack rate with torment will be slower. However u will be more accurate and potentially hit harder due to critical and weapon mods.

 

custom spear from the caves can have some nice bonus (+1.25 damage when attacking same enemy as ally)

[Crucis]

Dudex, it never hurts any combatant to have alternative weapon choice (of a different damage type) for those times when your preferred weapon's damage type happens to be your target's strongest DR.  For a Monk, that would probably mean carrying a piercing or slashing weapon as a backup option to their (blunt) fists.

 

 

 

Speaking to the OP's questions, having just completed a Monk PC party, I have the following advice.

 

Early in the game, I'd probably suggest wearing some medium armor.  The trick with monks is that you'd like to get wounds to power up their special abilities, but at the same time you don't want to take too much damage and get massacred in the process of getting those wounds.  Medium armor, such as leather or scale, is a decent choice since their DR is usually enough to take the edge off incoming damage without slowing the monk down too greatly.  Later in the game, you'll find better, more enchanted light armors and robes that will give you about the level of "taking the edge off" protection, while having lower recovery speeds, meaning that your monk will attack faster.

 

I personally suggest carrying a ranged weapon on a rogue, because there just might be some times when you don't want to go into melee immediately, and hanging back and taking a few ranged shots keeps you contributing.  Also, consider that unlike a fully tanked out, plate wearing fighter, monks aren't really so well suited to holding the line in melee.  They're better suited to engaging a single target, smacking it down fast then finding a new target.  If they have their druthers, they're better off not being engaged by multiple enemies in the front line.  Better to let a couple of real tanks be the front line and use the monk to flank around the edges, laying the smack down on one enemy at a time.  Or sometimes, if the enemy frontliners are fully engaged with your frontliners, you can have your monk run around the melee and rush into their rear area and deal with their archers and spellcasters up close and personal.

 

Also, don't forget to take WF Peasant for the +6 accuracy to fists.  Also, IIRC, two weapon fighting applies to fists (well, when you're using both fists), so that can be worth taking. 

 

Another feat to consider taking for a Monk is Fast Runner.  I didn't even consider taking it with my monk, because it didn't occur to me.  But if you like the idea of a monk sprinting into the enemy rear and wreaking havoc on their squishy backliners, then Fast Runner might be well worth considering.  +1 to movement speed makes a difference.  But if you're just going to have your monk hang out near the melee wall, it's probably not worth taking.  Just a thought.

[kaiki]

i haven't gone that far on the monk but wouldn't a single handed spear user (left hand slot) monk be stronger if you going torment spam then traditional barefist? they share the same weapon class so u wont be wasting any talents with weapon specialization.

 

U get +12 acc on both hits of the torments reach's full attack. +5 acc on the aoe and one of the full attacks. Disadvantages are that without wounds and torment spamming he would be incredibly weak and ur attack rate with torment will be slower. However u will be more accurate and potentially hit harder due to critical and weapon mods.

 

custom spear from the caves can have some nice bonus (+1.25 damage when attacking same enemy as ally)

 

Spears are a perfectly acceptable alternative. I myself didn't use them all that much because I found that less enemies had crushing DR then piercing DR. In addition that spears are slower, as you mentioned. In combat encounters my monk would go from zero to ten wounds in a few seconds so the speed of which I could spam torment was more important then the additional accuracy.

 

I did use the spears in the early part of the game where you can find some good spears while your fists haven't gotten their next upgrade. That's one of the really nice things about the Peasant group of weapons is that you have access to a versatile set that you can switch in and out as you feel is best for the situation.

[JONNIN]

one interesting item early on are the robes you find for the priests of Bsomething.   They have only a 5% reduction instead of 15 (I think, not at the game currently) and can usually be upgraded to give a modest DR with minimal penalty.   You get a full set of these robes (at least 6 of them)  so you can save some to enchant heavily in the late game and use one right away with a basic 'fine' + slash reduction or something like that.

 

That and some of the other items that provide bonus to deflection and specific DR boosts (usually belts, a few other items as well)  can give you nearly nekkid level combat speed with a soild 10+ DR towards the midgame, say nearing the end of act I. 

Edited May 7, 2015 by JONNIN

[Crucis]

one interesting item early on are the robes you find for the priests of Bsomething.   They have only a 5% reduction instead of 15 (I think, not at the game currently) and can usually be upgraded to give a modest DR with minimal penalty.   You get a full set of these robes (at least 6 of them)  so you can save some to enchant heavily in the late game and use one right away with a basic 'fine' + slash reduction or something like that.

 

That and some of the other items that provide bonus to deflection and specific DR boosts (usually belts, a few other items as well)  can give you nearly nekkid level combat speed with a soild 10+ DR towards the midgame, say nearing the end of act I. 

 

I think that they were priests of Berath.  I didn't use them, in part because I found them ugly.  But also because even enchanted to Fine, they wouldn't have enough DR for my taste at that point in the game.  I stuck with scale armor, IIRC, for a while before switching to padded armor and eventually some excellent or superb robe.  (It might have even been Eder's Scale armor that has the Second Chance enchantment going for it.)

[JONNIN]

 

one interesting item early on are the robes you find for the priests of Bsomething.   They have only a 5% reduction instead of 15 (I think, not at the game currently) and can usually be upgraded to give a modest DR with minimal penalty.   You get a full set of these robes (at least 6 of them)  so you can save some to enchant heavily in the late game and use one right away with a basic 'fine' + slash reduction or something like that.

 

That and some of the other items that provide bonus to deflection and specific DR boosts (usually belts, a few other items as well)  can give you nearly nekkid level combat speed with a soild 10+ DR towards the midgame, say nearing the end of act I. 

 

I think that they were priests of Berath.  I didn't use them, in part because I found them ugly.  But also because even enchanted to Fine, they wouldn't have enough DR for my taste at that point in the game.  I stuck with scale armor, IIRC, for a while before switching to padded armor and eventually some excellent or superb robe.  (It might have even been Eder's Scale armor that has the Second Chance enchantment going for it.)

 

 

Yes, the choice of armor for a monk is going to be something to consider very hard.  Early game, you can run nekkid and do just fine going all out damage.  Mid game is where it gets tricky -- you don't yet have the best robes and belts and such, so your DR is too low,  -- mid game to me was a good time to wear heavier armor and then you can remove it again late game when you find the robes and other items.   My level 12 monk still only has an excellent robe (I actually have at least 3 with different DR enchants).   If you spend the resources you can enchant the priest robes to have a pretty good DR combined with belt and such all on a very, very low loss to attack speed.   Its just an interesting item that worked well for me, ugly as it is, and you can get a bunch of them early on.   

[Crucis]

 

 

one interesting item early on are the robes you find for the priests of Bsomething.   They have only a 5% reduction instead of 15 (I think, not at the game currently) and can usually be upgraded to give a modest DR with minimal penalty.   You get a full set of these robes (at least 6 of them)  so you can save some to enchant heavily in the late game and use one right away with a basic 'fine' + slash reduction or something like that.

 

That and some of the other items that provide bonus to deflection and specific DR boosts (usually belts, a few other items as well)  can give you nearly nekkid level combat speed with a soild 10+ DR towards the midgame, say nearing the end of act I. 

 

I think that they were priests of Berath.  I didn't use them, in part because I found them ugly.  But also because even enchanted to Fine, they wouldn't have enough DR for my taste at that point in the game.  I stuck with scale armor, IIRC, for a while before switching to padded armor and eventually some excellent or superb robe.  (It might have even been Eder's Scale armor that has the Second Chance enchantment going for it.)

 

 

Yes, the choice of armor for a monk is going to be something to consider very hard.  Early game, you can run nekkid and do just fine going all out damage.  Mid game is where it gets tricky -- you don't yet have the best robes and belts and such, so your DR is too low,  -- mid game to me was a good time to wear heavier armor and then you can remove it again late game when you find the robes and other items.   My level 12 monk still only has an excellent robe (I actually have at least 3 with different DR enchants).   If you spend the resources you can enchant the priest robes to have a pretty good DR combined with belt and such all on a very, very low loss to attack speed.   Its just an interesting item that worked well for me, ugly as it is, and you can get a bunch of them early on.   

 

 

IIRC, my level 12 monk ended up wearing a green robe whose name was something like Gwaen Gwist or whatever.  It was a damned fine robe late in the game.