Monk question

[Gary1986]

I don't like the idea of having s monk wearing platemail. So my question is, can the story companion monk be viable wearing no armor? Or is it a must that he wears armor?

[KDubya]

Regardless of class, if you are going to engage in melee you want to be wearing as much armor as you can.

 

You can try and use him like a rogue, lighter armor and engage on the flank but the enemy will turn and hit you. Granted you will have a lot more hit points than a rogue and should have more deflection as well, but it will still hurt more than if you had heavier armor.

 

For me I'd give him plate and a fist & shield in one slot, double fist in the other. 

 

Try him with lighter or no armor and see how he does with your team and your style.

[Gary1986]

Regardless of class, if you are going to engage in melee you want to be wearing as much armor as you can.

 

You can try and use him like a rogue, lighter armor and engage on the flank but the enemy will turn and hit you. Granted you will have a lot more hit points than a rogue and should have more deflection as well, but it will still hurt more than if you had heavier armor.

 

For me I'd give him plate and a fist & shield in one slot, double fist in the other.

 

Try him with lighter or no armor and see how he does with your team and your style.

I might try him in leather and see how it goes. Cheers

[MunoValente]

He's good with the soulbound quarterstaff you can get shortly after getting him, so you cam have him use that to avoid directly engaging.

[Killyox]

My Zahua is wearing leather and he is fine on POTD. Later on just pick +1 DR per wound.

 

And I kinda disagree with Muno, I found him better with just fists than Greenstone Staff.

 

 

 

Regardless of class, if you are going to engage in melee you want to be wearing as much armor as you can.

You can try and use him like a rogue, lighter armor and engage on the flank but the enemy will turn and hit you. Granted you will have a lot more hit points than a rogue and should have more deflection as well, but it will still hurt more than if you had heavier armor.

For me I'd give him plate and a fist & shield in one slot, double fist in the other.

Try him with lighter or no armor and see how he does with your team and your style.

I might try him in leather and see how it goes. Cheers

Leather is perfectly viable. I guarantee since that's what my Zahua uses :> and he is very good.

Edited September 16, 2015 by Killyox

[Boeroer]

I used the robe that you can buy at the merchant in Stalwart. It casts Displaced Image on you when you get a crit. That worked great. You can combine it with the cape of the Master Mystic that has +12 defl. and casts invisibility on you at the same time. Stylish AND powerful.

[Boeroer]

Also: When you get Iron Wheel, you don't need a lot of DR any more.

[KDubya]

Also: When you get Iron Wheel, you don't need a lot of DR any more.

 

 

If you save all your wounds for Iron Wheel, how do you spam out Torment's Reach or Flagellent's Path?

 

You'd be stuck just auto attacking, with one wound used for Swift Strikes & Lightning Strikes.

 

Plate gets you 7 DR more than robes at the cost of 22% attack speed (plate is -33% and robes are -11%), have a small shield on switch and you can grab another +26 deflection and +26 reflex whenever you need more defense.

 

The cloak does sound nice though, haven't got into White march yet, just the siege at Cragholdt.

[hilfazer]

Greenstone staff is cool because it can cast Stoneskin that gives +8 DR. You'll need that extra DR with lighter armors.

You can also switch to other weapon set after you cast Stoneskin.

[Boeroer]

 

 

Also: When you get Iron Wheel, you don't need a lot of DR any more.

If you save all your wounds for Iron Wheel, how do you spam out Torment's Reach or Flagellent's Path?

 

You'd be stuck just auto attacking, with one wound used for Swift Strikes & Lightning Strikes.

 

Plate gets you 7 DR more than robes at the cost of 22% attack speed (plate is -33% and robes are -11%), have a small shield on switch and you can grab another +26 deflection and +26 reflex whenever you need more defense.

 

The cloak does sound nice though, haven't got into White march yet, just the siege at Cragholdt.

I haven't such problems. First time I get hit I usually have 7 to 10 wounds. Iron Wheel and Turning Wheel get boosted and I receive less damage and wounds. Then I start using Torment's Reach till all wounds are gone and I receive wounds faster again. Since I'm a moon godlike, normally I'm back at full endurance. Then it starts all over. Iron Wheel has a great mechanic: it prevents you from getting knocked out when you got hit a lot and wears off when you need new wounds. That's way better than heavy armour. Now my monk can do some tanking while still dishing out lots of DPS - even when he's only autoattacking. Sometimes I use Force of Anguish, the enemy flies away and my monk rushes after him. Then I forget about them until I realise there are no enemies left because my monk autoattacked them all to death while I was microing my wizard... Edited September 19, 2015 by Boeroer

[KDubya]

 

 

Also: When you get Iron Wheel, you don't need a lot of DR any more.

If you save all your wounds for Iron Wheel, how do you spam out Torment's Reach or Flagellent's Path?

 

You'd be stuck just auto attacking, with one wound used for Swift Strikes & Lightning Strikes.

 

Plate gets you 7 DR more than robes at the cost of 22% attack speed (plate is -33% and robes are -11%), have a small shield on switch and you can grab another +26 deflection and +26 reflex whenever you need more defense.

 

The cloak does sound nice though, haven't got into White march yet, just the siege at Cragholdt.

I haven't such problems. First time I get hit I usually have 7 to 10 wounds. Iron Wheel and Turning Wheel get boosted and I receive less damage and wounds. Then I start using Torment's Reach till all wounds are gone and I receive wounds faster again. Since I'm a moon godlike, normally I'm back at full endurance. Then it starts all over. Iron Wheel has a great mechanic: it prevents you from getting knocked out when you got hit a lot and wears off when you need new wounds. That's way better than heavy armour. Now my monk can do some tanking while still dishing out lots of DPS - even when he's only autoattacking. Sometimes I use Force of Anguish, the enemy flies away and my monk rushes after him. Then I forget about them until I realise there are no enemies left because my monk autoattacked them all to death while I was microing my wizard...

 

 

 

My Dwarf Monk is rocking the Sanguine Plate for Frenzy + Dual Wield Style + Swift Strikes + Lightning Strikes = Super Fists of Fury

 

Monk is the most fun character I've had.

 

So far at level seven I've taken Swift Stirkes, Lightning Strikes, Torment's Reach, Two Weapon Fighting, Stunning Blows, Peasant Focus, and Duality of Mortal Presence.

 

I'd like to fit in Vulnerable Attack, Level Nine Monk Ability, Savage Attack, Flagellent's Path, Weapon & Shield Style, Level 13 Monk Ability, Interrupting Blows. Not sure what to take at level 9 and 13 for Monk Abilities.

 

Too bad they took away the free fists as a weapon slot.

[rheingold]

Talking about monks, what abilities are the must haves? I have never used a monk before so I'm mot sure which abilities/ talents to go with.

[KDubya]

Talking about monks, what abilities are the must haves? I have never used a monk before so I'm mot sure which abilities/ talents to go with.

 

 

The two main schools of thought are to use your wounds as fast as you get them via Torment's Reach - a full attack cone AoE with a small debuff - or to save the wounds to fuel Turning Wheel - which adds +5% burn lash to your attacks per wound. Also the new Iron Wheel gives you +1 DR per wound.

 

For me, YMMV, I prefer the Torment's Reach approach. Wounds only last for ten seconds I think and the fire lash is applied against 25% of the targets armor so you need five wounds just to start to gain.

 

Fists work great as weapons, they do Average Speed damage but at the Fast Speed attack rate. The only downside is they can't get enchantments like weapons can. I tested a dual fist monk against a two handed weapon monk, both level 12, with a superb, kith slaying, burning lash Great Sword. They did virtually the same DPS against identical targets who had the same DR versus crushing and slash/pierce respectively.

 

For stats I like to go with high Might - I can get a lot of speed boosts so I like to go for damage - base dex, high con, high perception, base intellect and base resolve.

 

I like heavy armor with a fist & shield on switch for when I need more deflection. Don't think of Bruce Lee in robes, think of heavy armored guys with big spiked gloves, more like a Templar.

[MasterCipher]

Options:

 

Deflection:

Paladin with Reinforcing Exhortation: gives you +25 deflection

Priest has a buff with 25 Resolution = 25 deflection

Priest and druid have a buff that is +10 all defenses which stacks

Talent: Superior Deflection +5

Talent: Weapon+Shield +6 (not counting up 18 possible deflect from the shield itself)

Weapon: Hatchet +5

Deflection item: +9 ring/cloak/gloves or +12 neck

 

Damage Reduction:

Cipher pain block +10 Damage Reduction and small heal over time

non-armor gear that gives +3 to +5 Damage Reduction against specific types

belt that reduces incoming critical hit damage by 33%

 

You don't have to fully commit to one path or the other; pick and choose what you like. Personally, I like the idea of greenstone staff for a 5% chance to proc petrify if the 2 duplicates from the 8 wound dichotomous ability can proc too. 

[rheingold]

 

Talking about monks, what abilities are the must haves? I have never used a monk before so I'm mot sure which abilities/ talents to go with.

 

 

 

The two main schools of thought are to use your wounds as fast as you get them via Torment's Reach - a full attack cone AoE with a small debuff - or to save the wounds to fuel Turning Wheel - which adds +5% burn lash to your attacks per wound. Also the new Iron Wheel gives you +1 DR per wound.

 

For me, YMMV, I prefer the Torment's Reach approach. Wounds only last for ten seconds I think and the fire lash is applied against 25% of the targets armor so you need five wounds just to start to gain.

 

Fists work great as weapons, they do Average Speed damage but at the Fast Speed attack rate. The only downside is they can't get enchantments like weapons can. I tested a dual fist monk against a two handed weapon monk, both level 12, with a superb, kith slaying, burning lash Great Sword. They did virtually the same DPS against identical targets who had the same DR versus crushing and slash/pierce respectively.

 

For stats I like to go with high Might - I can get a lot of speed boosts so I like to go for damage - base dex, high con, high perception, base intellect and base resolve.

 

I like heavy armor with a fist & shield on switch for when I need more deflection. Don't think of Bruce Lee in robes, think of heavy armored guys with big spiked gloves, more like a Templar.

Awesome thanks for the response. Think I will go torments reach. It's a pity because turning wheel sounds great but seems like it doesn't quite work in practice.

[gkathellar]

Regardless of class, if you are going to engage in melee you want to be wearing as much armor as you can.

 

This is truer at low levels than it is at high levels, due to the diminishing returns of armor DR relative to attack speed.

[Ymarsakar]

High level content White March, DR is very important due to better AI and enemy cc.

[Tigranes]

I disagree. A lightly armoured monk may not always be ideal, but he is viable. Zahua is currently running in hide armour in White March in a party, and though he will definitely die when things go bad, he remains an effective damage dealer that doesn't require constant babysitting. I was also able to go naked with my monk quite a lot of the time in TCS, though you always did need a plate armour in the pack.

 

Monks, with the right attributes, equipment, and then the +Defence talent, especially the +9 Deflection equipment and a Paladin or Priest in the party, can have enough defences to survive most battles without cowering in the corner. If you're doing the wounds/tormented reach juggle, they're also able to turn a sticky situation (10 wounds easily in an instant in WM) to a quick dispatch of the enemies. They're especially fine with the Second Chance ring, as they can get right back up and fire away hundreds of damage against ill-armoured enemies before they can respond.

 

In later levels, Iron Wheel + Tormented Reach is still a good combination, because again, in WM, a single high damage attack can rack 5 or even 10 wounds on a monk, so you're effectively sporting a temporary DR bonus equivalent to chain mail. If you play your cards right, you're either carrying wounds and the DR, or you're slamming your enemies faster than they can blink.

[Boeroer]

AS I said: I'm using a monk with robes and Iron Wheel and he's tanky AND a whirlwind of death.

[KDubya]

It depends on the role that you use your Monk for, they are versatile enough that you can change roles as easily as you change equipment.

 

I use my Monk as the tip of the spear, the vanguard of a melee heavy team. From group stealth I start with the Monk and Itumaak approaching, Eder fires a pistol then swaps to sabre & shield, Pellagrina fires a FoD with an arbalest and follows with hammer & shield, Kana fires a pistol and then either goes W&S or Quarterstaff for the reach, Sagani shoots away with her arbalest and Hiravais shoots with Persistence hunting bow, fires spells or goes were-cat.

 

I keep Duality on the other defense to get a crit which activates frenzy (Sanguine Plate) and Shod in Faith boots. The first wound goes for Swift Strikes/Lightning Strikes for +25% attack speed and +25% damage. If wounds come too fast I can swap Duality for another +8 deflection or even swap in a shield for up to another +26 deflection. For attack speed I get +33% (frenzy) +20% (dual wield style) +25% Swift Strikes + 0 (10 dex) for +78%. Plate is in the order of -33% so together I get around +55% attack speed in full plate. (The frenzy suppresses the Swift Strikes) Speed increase is +33% or +25% and then the +20% from dual wield style for +20% when frenzied and +12% when using Swift Strikes while wearing plate. Not near as good as I thought it was.

 

Robes would get me around -10% attack speed or 23% faster than plate but at the cost of 7 crush DR and 10 slash/pierce DR. When you have at least 7 wounds with Iron wheel you'd have comparable DR as my guy in plate who could also take Iron Wheel to stay ahead in the DR race or take another high level Monk Ability which are all pretty good.

 

 

For Monk Abilities the build choices that I ponder over are:

 

Level Five - Turning Wheel or Stunning Blows - I frequently get 5-10 wounds "in the bank" so to speak as I lay down the Torment's. This would be a 25 - 50% damage lash applied Vs 25% defense which would be substantial. Stunning Blows are nice but only 3 seconds in duration but can be used at the start without any wounds.

 

Level Seven -  I like Duality for the defenses.

 

Level Nine - Whichever I did not choose at level five plus Crucible of Suffering for more defense, Enervating Blows for on crit debuffs (does the Might debuff from Weakened stack with Torment's?), or Rooting Pain for a small AoE retaliate type attack? The damage on Rooting Pain seems rather weak and gaining three wounds in a single hit still only responds with a single Rooting Pain.

 

Level Eleven - Was planning for Flagelllent's Path as being able to zip through the enemy formation attacking and debuffing everyone on the way sounds really great. This is also where Iron Wheel is first available.

 

Level Thirteen - The summon twin Duplicates looks really tasty here. How useful is this ability?

 

I am thinking that Turning Wheel might be the better choice at level five since it'd help more in the tough fights where I get more wounds while stunning blows helps more when I don't have wounds. Then take Enervating Blows for a debuff on crit at level nine and grab the duplicate summon at level 13.

 

 

 

EDIT - The frenzy effect of +33% attack speed suppresses the +25% from Swift Strikes so you can't get both at the same time.   Can any barbarian players tell me if Frenzy stacks with the attack speed buff ability from killing two or more enemies?

 

Also discovered that LoH will suppress the healing effect from the Shod in Faith boots.

Edited September 20, 2015 by KDubya

[Ymarsakar]

What I do for wounds is to have my blunderbuss cipher shoot the monk with DR bypass talents off. It does almost no dps given the monks 20 DR full plate.

 

Well, that time was mostly a test and a joke, but the cipher's antipathetic beam can be pretty useful for a monk that everybody likes to ignore.

 

Just remember, Don't cross the beams.

 

I used the solo monk build someone else posted, that prioritized torment's reach, lesser wounds, and iron wheel with duality.

 

Penetrating attack, savage attack, peasant focus, and dual wield would round out the rest of the dps line.

 

There's no space for stunning blows and even anguish can be hard to pick for until you're level 12. I was testing the monk build in 9-11.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Ymarsakar

[Gary1986]

Thanks for all the tips and advice everyone. Once i start playing again I think ill make the npc monk wear leather and use the soulbound quarterstaff.

 

Quick question. Does the npc monk come equipped with any armor?

Edited September 20, 2015 by Gary1986

[Luma Akasha]

He comes equipped with a "monk outfit", which is basically "hobo who got attacked by rabid badger" clothes. 0 armor, 0 recovery.

[Gary1986]

He comes equipped with a "monk outfit", which is basically "hobo who got attacked by rabid badger" clothes. 0 armor, 0 recovery.

They should make it at least 3 DR. That way you could bump it up to superb and get it to 9 DR.

[Ymarsakar]

They did a good job with Zahua's model since the scars show up and all. Looks very barbarian like.