Zauhua or Eder? (using SoEP)

[Larsenex]

So i am picking up the game and starting back at lvl 13. My current party has Zahua in heavy armor sporting a SoEP Durgan refined. However it just 'feels' like Eder would do a better job.

 

My toon is the pally tank while sporting a rogue with durgan refined tall grass, a Cypher, Aloth, and Durance. 

 

I dunno but the Monk feels odd somehow. I was used to Eder but many threads say Zahua is better for the off tank and dmg dealer than Eder ever will be.

 

What are your thoughts and how to use him (Zahua)...

[peko]

SoEP?

[Elric Galad]

Sword of Elemental Planes ?

 

Did you find it ?

[Ymarsakar]

The wound mechanic on the monk takes some getting used to. Other than the con stat and int maybe affecting wound durations, equipment like armor and weapons make a significant difference to monk playstyles.

 

So you have to ensure they take damage at the beginning of the fight to use their abilities, and so that at least one enemy later on in the fight is attacking the monk. Or you can just use harmful aoes on the monk and do priest aoe heals, that's another way to leverage the wound mechanics of the monk as an off tank.

[Magnificate]

Sword of Elemental Planes ?

 

Did you find it ?

No. Where is it and what does it do?

[AndreaColombo]

My money's on Blade of the Endless Paths (maybe the S was for Sword?)

[Larsenex]

Yes its Blade of Endless Paths. My bad. 

 

BoEP....>>> 

[Teioh_White]

If your monks getting wounds, he'll surpass the fighter. Fighter's DPS boost come from a .25 bonus mod, and 20% speed boost passive. Also has some CC and movement through Knockdown and Charge, but both only have two shots, so they not great for the few longer fights.

 

Monk can get a +25% post mod damage boost, and 25% speed boost from lightning strikes, pretty much surpassing fighter with just one move. Then they can toss out some CC and +50% damage CAoE so long as they get wounds, adding up to a lot more damage than a fighter will do.

 

Though, I cracked out my original team that I hadn't touched since April to do WM1+2 with, to knock it down with new companions. That team had Aloth and Durance in it, and with them CC and debuffing the enemy, and buffing the team, as well as 2 barbarians with CC weapons, most fights poor Zahua wasn't getting hurt. I guess I could have Devil start off with a shot to his back, but that kinda seems a bit on the power-gamey side for my taste.

[KDubya]

Personally if I only have one Monk on the team he will use fists, especially if it is Zahua. The reasons are fists self upgrade, don't require Durgan steel, have a nice set of sandals that boost damage and because he starts with Torment's Reach which does best with dual wielding as it is a full attack. If Zahua started with Swift Strikes you could skip Torment's Reach and replace with Force of Anguish and get a spammable 10+ second prone.

 

If you have two Monks on the team one should use weapons, if dual wielding go for Torment's, if two hander go for Force of Anguish. Both should take Swift Strikes and Lightning Strikes.

 

If the Monk is not getting wounds he is still putting out some mean damage just from auto attacking. On PotD my plate wearing Juggernaut Monk with 25+ DR gets plenty of wounds - just be the first target and you'll get a few missile strikes. Lots of times I'll be able to summon the Twins before I've closed with the enemy just from the enemies Alpha strike.

[Teioh_White]

Yeah, it depends on how you're playing. A non-caster play through I imagine it'd be easy to rack them up. A caster play through my alpha strike generally CC's the entire enemy front line and they quickly lose from there. Heh, a big reason I hadn't used a caster team since my initial run of the game almost a year ago.

 

But that's a good point on the fists; Durgan Steel is up pretty dang limited considering each character would like to use 3 ingots of it ideally. Having one char being just fine not using two on the weapons is a big boon.

 

But really, a Monk's just a better fighter when it comes to dealing damage. That issue I had where Zahua wasn't getting wounds? If your problem is the poor enemy isn't doing damage to your team, I think we're at the point where it doesn't much matter what generic dude is swinging weapons at things that can't fight back.