[Request Class Build] Assassin melee rogue

[KDubya]

The problem I always run in to with a stealthy MC Rogue going for backstabs is mechanics. You need to have one guy with 13+ mechanics skill and Rogues have such a skill point advantage by starting at level 3 that I just can't not have the Rogue be the mechanic. Having two Rogues on the team just sounds way too squishy and micro intensive.

 

Devil of Caroc has high base mechanic skill but is better suited as a tanky shield rogue. The other companions at best start with level one mechanic skill so they need 23 additional skill points to get to level 13, the same as any non-mechanic class can get with the right culture.

 

I find that I need to plan my team around having Devil and then either being the mechanic myself early or hiring a Devil clone until I replace. Up to like level 10 mechanics is doable with any class with the right starting culture, even my Paladins have been the mechanic until I get Devil.

 

The other problem I always end up with back-stabby Rogues is the dirt nap time and then the following crippling injuries. If I do manage enough micro and positioning to keep them upright I find that they kill much slower than my Juggernaut Monk 3.0 who requires no babysitting and who just needs a clump of enemies for Torment's Reach to burst down.

[Climhazzard]

I always use Aloth and a chart to get the gloves of manipulation, a bit cheaty but then I could make my rogues how I want.  To bad I haven't figured out how to make one yet.

[Boeroer]

As Loren pointed out you only have to command the backstabbing from stealth. It doesn't matter if you get detected on the way to the target you want to backstab. So you can do it even with a low stealth score.

[Loren Tyr]

Also, you don't necessarily *have* to have 13 mechanics, I'd say. There aren't that many things you need that high a skill level for, and for those you can use Gloves, Rite of Hidden Wonders, resting bonus, or just taking the hit. 

[QuiteGoneJin]

Where are the tanky melee rogue builds, maybe I'm doing it wrong and just need a few fun active abilities on one of these. 

 

Couldn't find runner's wounding shot in the wiki, any link possibly? 

Edited August 20, 2016 by QuiteGoneJin

[Loren Tyr]

Where are the tanky melee rogue builds, maybe I'm doing it wrong and just need a few fun active abilities on one of these. 

 

Couldn't find runner's wounding shot in the wiki, any link possibly? 

 

It's one of the cross-class talents from White March, a slightly weaker version of Wounding Shot (80% of damage instead of 100%, only 1 per encounter rather than 2) that any non-ranger can take. The Wiki isn't up to date in all respects, so often the Gamebanshee PoE page is a good bet: http://www.gamebanshee.com/pillarsofeternity/talents/whitemarch.php (has some inaccuracies as well, but is generally more complete, albeit less conveniently structured).

[QuiteGoneJin]

Ah thanks, now to figure out how to build a somewhat tanky rogue, I like the idea of going bow early game till I have the ability to not faceplant mid/lategame. But yeah I need a tanky rogue build with the freedom to take a few heavy hitting and mobile abilities, if thats even a thing. Love this game, hate my quest for fun melee. And before anyone says anything I just don't like monks, tried em so many times and can't stand them. 

[KDubya]

Where are the tanky melee rogue builds, maybe I'm doing it wrong and just need a few fun active abilities on one of these. 

 

Couldn't find runner's wounding shot in the wiki, any link possibly? 

 

 

The typical "tanky Rogue (works for Devil as well)"

 

Race - Boreal Dwarf - I like Dwarves and the extra accuracy against a lot of the enemies is great. Island Aumaua is nice if you are going for a weapons switching gun alpha striker.

Culture - whatever, I like the merchant for lore and mechanics

culture - Rauitai - starts with Brigandine armor which is awesome at the start

 

Might - 12 - not enough points and Rogues have good damage adds so percentage wise it pays less with a Rogue as compared to a Monk

Con - 10 Rogues have a poor base but I still don't want to dump it

Dex - 17 faster is better

Per - 18 - you want more accuracy for more crits, better interrupts are gravy

Int - 3 - you'll want a 4 if you are using a stunning or prone on crit weapon other than Starcaller. Lets you attack fast enough to have the effect still on for the next attack.

Res - 18 balances out the dumped intellect, gets you more deflection and gets the cool 'tough guy dialogue'.

 

1.) Crippling Strike - blind is better but you get two attacks with crippling

2.) Weapon and Shield Style - more deflection and great reflex defense

3.) Reckless Assault - 20% damage, +8 accuracy and -8 deflection. Great ability. Your 18 Resolve covers the malus.

4.) Weapon Focus Adventurer - more accuracy for more crits. Flails and Warbows are what you'll be using

5.) Deep Wounds - effectively 3 DR penetration with no malus. Refreshes on hit so the low duration makes no difference as you'll be hitting the same guy until they are dead and then moving on to the next one.

6.) Superior Deflection - more deflection

7.) Persistent Distraction - you'll be going behind the frontline enemies and flanking them to set up your own deathblows

8.) Deflecting Assault - more deflection

9.) Dirty Fighting - more crits

10.) Vicious Fighting - more crits

11.) Deathblows - the reason to be a Rogue

12.) Open* - I like vulnerable Attack for the extra DR penetration but it is up to you

13.) Adept Evasion - you have a good reflex defense, might as well go all in

14.) Open* - Snakes Reflex is good to really make him immune to those attacks

15,) Riposte - you have a good deflection so might as well take this

16.) Open* - whatever you want

 

******Keep in mind that you want crits and you have really bad durations on any abilities. This means that you want to avoid Savage Attack due to the accuracy malus plus it does not work with Reckless Assault. This also makes any of the debuff strikes, cross class skills and even Escape not worth taking as the duration will be terrible. *******

 

Your Rogue will have a good enough deflection to survive in melee, especially with a Paladin casting Reinforcing Exhortation. Your Reflex defense will be great plus you'll evade most attacks that target Reflex. You'll have great accuracy, and have a good crit to hit conversion.

 

The weapon set up you want is a Warbow with some sort of tasty on crit effect for initial alpha strike or when you want to stay ranged. Cloud Piercer, Borresaine, and the confusion causing one are all good.

 

Your main weapon is Starcaller with Balgrdr Barricade. this gets you a fast attack speed weapon that stuns on crit, has a damaging spell proc on crit that benefits from Deathblows and Deep wounds, a shield bash that has a very damaging spell proc on crit that also benefits from Deathblows and Deep Wounds. When you Durgan enchant both the flail and the shield you'll be even better at what you were already pretty good at, namely avoiding damage and getting crits with the added bonus of +30% attack speed.

[QuiteGoneJin]

 

Where are the tanky melee rogue builds, maybe I'm doing it wrong and just need a few fun active abilities on one of these. 

 

Couldn't find runner's wounding shot in the wiki, any link possibly? 

 

 

The typical "tanky Rogue (works for Devil as well)"

 

Race - Boreal Dwarf - I like Dwarves and the extra accuracy against a lot of the enemies is great. Island Aumaua is nice if you are going for a weapons switching gun alpha striker.

Culture - whatever, I like the merchant for lore and mechanics

culture - Rauitai - starts with Brigandine armor which is awesome at the start

 

Might - 12 - not enough points and Rogues have good damage adds so percentage wise it pays less with a Rogue as compared to a Monk

Con - 10 Rogues have a poor base but I still don't want to dump it

Dex - 17 faster is better

Per - 18 - you want more accuracy for more crits, better interrupts are gravy

Int - 3 - you'll want a 4 if you are using a stunning or prone on crit weapon other than Starcaller. Lets you attack fast enough to have the effect still on for the next attack.

Res - 18 balances out the dumped intellect, gets you more deflection and gets the cool 'tough guy dialogue'.

 

1.) Crippling Strike - blind is better but you get two attacks with crippling

2.) Weapon and Shield Style - more deflection and great reflex defense

3.) Reckless Assault - 20% damage, +8 accuracy and -8 deflection. Great ability. Your 18 Resolve covers the malus.

4.) Weapon Focus Adventurer - more accuracy for more crits. Flails and Warbows are what you'll be using

5.) Deep Wounds - effectively 3 DR penetration with no malus. Refreshes on hit so the low duration makes no difference as you'll be hitting the same guy until they are dead and then moving on to the next one.

6.) Superior Deflection - more deflection

7.) Persistent Distraction - you'll be going behind the frontline enemies and flanking them to set up your own deathblows

8.) Deflecting Assault - more deflection

9.) Dirty Fighting - more crits

10.) Vicious Fighting - more crits

11.) Deathblows - the reason to be a Rogue

12.) Open* - I like vulnerable Attack for the extra DR penetration but it is up to you

13.) Adept Evasion - you have a good reflex defense, might as well go all in

14.) Open* - Snakes Reflex is good to really make him immune to those attacks

15,) Riposte - you have a good deflection so might as well take this

16.) Open* - whatever you want

 

******Keep in mind that you want crits and you have really bad durations on any abilities. This means that you want to avoid Savage Attack due to the accuracy malus plus it does not work with Reckless Assault. This also makes any of the debuff strikes, cross class skills and even Escape not worth taking as the duration will be terrible. *******

 

Your Rogue will have a good enough deflection to survive in melee, especially with a Paladin casting Reinforcing Exhortation. Your Reflex defense will be great plus you'll evade most attacks that target Reflex. You'll have great accuracy, and have a good crit to hit conversion.

 

The weapon set up you want is a Warbow with some sort of tasty on crit effect for initial alpha strike or when you want to stay ranged. Cloud Piercer, Borresaine, and the confusion causing one are all good.

 

Your main weapon is Starcaller with Balgrdr Barricade. this gets you a fast attack speed weapon that stuns on crit, has a damaging spell proc on crit that benefits from Deathblows and Deep wounds, a shield bash that has a very damaging spell proc on crit that also benefits from Deathblows and Deep Wounds. When you Durgan enchant both the flail and the shield you'll be even better at what you were already pretty good at, namely avoiding damage and getting crits with the added bonus of +30% attack speed.

 

Gonna give this a go, what armor and is thee a special level were i start to come into my own and can play semi-front line? (I know I am flanking, just curious when I will stop going splat easily).  Also any tips on playstyle, entering combat etc would be lovely. ty so much.

 

PS also can't seem to find any info on Balgrdr Barricade

Edited August 21, 2016 by QuiteGoneJin

[Boeroer]

Badgradr's Barricade is inside Durgan's Battery and has 10% reflection against ranged attacks and bash. When you crit with bash it procs Thrust of Tattered Veils (unlimited times per encounter). It's a medium shield.

Also note that Starcaller comes quite late.

 

Funny... my approach for a tanky backstab rogue would be totally different - although I like the combination of starcaller, flanking and low INT. Your version is tanky but not useable for backstabs any more. But maybe QuiteGonJin doesn't want that any more anyways. I guess with constant Deathblows through flanking and stunning Vulnerable Attack is a waste by the way. But what else to take with low INT...?

A good alternative might be Penetrating Shots: it works with Thrust oTT and doesn't slow you down in melee.

Edited August 21, 2016 by Boeroer

[QuiteGoneJin]

I'm grasping at straws trying to find a fun (for me) melee build tbh, I've restarted with so many different builds I'm close to giving up. 

[Boeroer]

That you don't like monks gives me serious doubts about your definition of fun.

 

What makes a melee build fun for you?

Rogues are a very tricky melee class. I never found them to be a source of great fun (with some exceptions).

 

Barbs and monks are my source of fun in melee.

Edited August 21, 2016 by Boeroer

[KDubya]

 

 

Where are the tanky melee rogue builds, maybe I'm doing it wrong and just need a few fun active abilities on one of these. 

 

Couldn't find runner's wounding shot in the wiki, any link possibly? 

 

 

The typical "tanky Rogue (works for Devil as well)"

 

Race - Boreal Dwarf - I like Dwarves and the extra accuracy against a lot of the enemies is great. Island Aumaua is nice if you are going for a weapons switching gun alpha striker.

Culture - whatever, I like the merchant for lore and mechanics

culture - Rauitai - starts with Brigandine armor which is awesome at the start

 

Might - 12 - not enough points and Rogues have good damage adds so percentage wise it pays less with a Rogue as compared to a Monk

Con - 10 Rogues have a poor base but I still don't want to dump it

Dex - 17 faster is better

Per - 18 - you want more accuracy for more crits, better interrupts are gravy

Int - 3 - you'll want a 4 if you are using a stunning or prone on crit weapon other than Starcaller. Lets you attack fast enough to have the effect still on for the next attack.

Res - 18 balances out the dumped intellect, gets you more deflection and gets the cool 'tough guy dialogue'.

 

1.) Crippling Strike - blind is better but you get two attacks with crippling

2.) Weapon and Shield Style - more deflection and great reflex defense

3.) Reckless Assault - 20% damage, +8 accuracy and -8 deflection. Great ability. Your 18 Resolve covers the malus.

4.) Weapon Focus Adventurer - more accuracy for more crits. Flails and Warbows are what you'll be using

5.) Deep Wounds - effectively 3 DR penetration with no malus. Refreshes on hit so the low duration makes no difference as you'll be hitting the same guy until they are dead and then moving on to the next one.

6.) Superior Deflection - more deflection

7.) Persistent Distraction - you'll be going behind the frontline enemies and flanking them to set up your own deathblows

8.) Deflecting Assault - more deflection

9.) Dirty Fighting - more crits

10.) Vicious Fighting - more crits

11.) Deathblows - the reason to be a Rogue

12.) Open* - I like vulnerable Attack for the extra DR penetration but it is up to you

13.) Adept Evasion - you have a good reflex defense, might as well go all in

14.) Open* - Snakes Reflex is good to really make him immune to those attacks

15,) Riposte - you have a good deflection so might as well take this

16.) Open* - whatever you want

 

******Keep in mind that you want crits and you have really bad durations on any abilities. This means that you want to avoid Savage Attack due to the accuracy malus plus it does not work with Reckless Assault. This also makes any of the debuff strikes, cross class skills and even Escape not worth taking as the duration will be terrible. *******

 

Your Rogue will have a good enough deflection to survive in melee, especially with a Paladin casting Reinforcing Exhortation. Your Reflex defense will be great plus you'll evade most attacks that target Reflex. You'll have great accuracy, and have a good crit to hit conversion.

 

The weapon set up you want is a Warbow with some sort of tasty on crit effect for initial alpha strike or when you want to stay ranged. Cloud Piercer, Borresaine, and the confusion causing one are all good.

 

Your main weapon is Starcaller with Balgrdr Barricade. this gets you a fast attack speed weapon that stuns on crit, has a damaging spell proc on crit that benefits from Deathblows and Deep wounds, a shield bash that has a very damaging spell proc on crit that also benefits from Deathblows and Deep Wounds. When you Durgan enchant both the flail and the shield you'll be even better at what you were already pretty good at, namely avoiding damage and getting crits with the added bonus of +30% attack speed.

 

Gonna give this a go, what armor and is thee a special level were i start to come into my own and can play semi-front line? (I know I am flanking, just curious when I will stop going splat easily).  Also any tips on playstyle, entering combat etc would be lovely. ty so much.

 

PS also can't seem to find any info on Balgrdr Barricade

 

 

For armor I'd go with the brigandine at creation, upgrade to plate as soon as you can. Then once you gain a few levels and come up with a nice set of medium or light armor try switching.

 

You should not be going splat in combat. With your pumped Resolve, a small shield, weapon and shield style and reckless Assault your deflection will one less than a Fighter who has base Resolve and not using a shield. You should be good to wade in right from the start once you have a shield.

 

I'll have the melee guys, Monk and/or Barbarian  engage right away, guys with a ranged weapon on switch will fire a volley and then enter melee. The Rogue would fire maybe two volleys from the Warbow and then engage the flank.

 

 

 

Badgradr's Barricade is inside Durgan's Battery and has 10% reflection against ranged attacks and bash. When you crit with bash it procs Thrust of Tattered Veils (unlimited times per encounter). It's a medium shield.

Also note that Starcaller comes quite late.

 

Funny... my approach for a tanky backstab rogue would be totally different - although I like the combination of starcaller, flanking and low INT. Your version is tanky but not useable for backstabs any more. But maybe QuiteGonJin doesn't want that any more anyways. I guess with constant Deathblows through flanking and stunning Vulnerable Attack is a waste by the way. But what else to take with low INT...?

A good alternative might be Penetrating Shots: it works with Thrust oTT and doesn't slow you down in melee.

 

Good suggestion on Penetrating Shot.

 

I did not even take backstab or stealth, went heavy (13) on mechanics and lore up to 8 Backstab takes way too much micro for a small payoff. For less micro I can be a Wizard and lay waste to everything.

 

Starcaller is available as soon as you enter Twin Elms so it is faster to get than any of the stun/prone weapons besides cladhaliath, Tall Grass and St Rumbaldts Before you get Starcaller you can use either the temple flail with the endurance drain or the fire lash one with speed from the Magran temple reward.

 

If you are OK with re-spec for convenience you could spec into something else then spec into flails.

[Boeroer]

Yeah sure. I just thought because QuiteGoneJin initially said he wanted a backstabbing rogue with lots of maneuverability options and stuff my suggestions should evolve around those things.

 

If we put backstabs and positioning aside then I also would use a very similar approach as you. Just more INT and lower DEX - but all of the special attacks like Crippling Strike and such because of the full attacks. Played the Devil like this with Godansthunyr and also Bittercut (both have two damage types instead of one) and the Barricade as well as Aspirant's Mark and it worked really well. Also took Pen. Shot for an opening volley with a Blunderbuss and for the Barricade's Thrust. But back then the crit-bash triggered ToTV twice - don't know if it's still effective enough compared to a normal shield.

[QuiteGoneJin]

That you don't like monks gives me serious doubts about your definition of fun.

 

What makes a melee build fun for you?

Rogues are a very tricky melee class. I never found them to be a source of great fun (with some exceptions).

 

Barbs and monks are my source of fun in melee.

I really don't like having my abilities only available after taking damage, Maybe I didnt play a monk long or make him tough enough or to a point where he could take that damage but it wasn't fun for me. 

[QuiteGoneJin]

Yeah sure. I just thought because QuiteGoneJin initially said he wanted a backstabbing rogue with lots of maneuverability options and stuff my suggestions should evolve around those things.

 

If we put backstabs and positioning aside then I also would use a very similar approach as you. Just more INT and lower DEX - but all of the special attacks like Crippling Strike and such because of the full attacks. Played the Devil like this with Godansthunyr and also Bittercut (both have two damage types instead of one) and the Barricade as well as Aspirant's Mark and it worked really well. Also took Pen. Shot for an opening volley with a Blunderbuss and for the Barricade's Thrust. But back then the crit-bash triggered ToTV twice - don't know if it's still effective enough compared to a normal shield.

Aye, his "Tanky rogue" is very different, wanted to see if it could be played with mobility or some fun actives. It's more of an auto attacking crit machine which is cool but probably not my thing. I know, I'm impossible to please. 

[DreamWayfarer]

 

 

That you don't like monks gives me serious doubts about your definition of fun.

 

What makes a melee build fun for you?

Rogues are a very tricky melee class. I never found them to be a source of great fun (with some exceptions).

 

Barbs and monks are my source of fun in melee.

I really don't like having my abilities only available after taking damage, Maybe I didnt play a monk long or make him tough enough or to a point where he could take that damage but it wasn't fun for me.

I don't think the class you want exists, as all melee characters have some limitations, be it lack of action economy with melee casters or limited use of cool actives with other classes.

 

As for Monks, how were your attributes? Early game they can be a tough class if you aren't willing or able to wear chainmail or a breastplate, but if your CON is high you should have enough wounds to Force of Anguish people across the screen without dying.

 

EDIT: For a pseudo-melee class with cool actives, have you tried a tanky heavy-armored shield-using Wizard that focuses on cone spells? It generally requires less self-buffing than Citzal melee Wizards (the ones who use conjured weapons to deal damage).

Edited August 21, 2016 by DreamWayfarer

[QuiteGoneJin]

That sounds very interesting, would have to be a frontliner cause friendly fire. How would you build it?

 

Monk was usually might, dex perc from 15-18 rest around 10. Probably should have built it hardier. 

[DreamWayfarer]

That sounds very interesting, would have to be a frontliner cause friendly fire. How would you build it?

 

Truth to be told I don't have much experience with that kind of Wizard, but I would probably focus on INT and MIG above all, and some PER if possible. You can take some points from RES if you don't mind buffing yourself more often, or from DEX if you feel you could use more CON or RES. Invest into Survival for more healing received or bonus Accuracy, and take Shod-In-Faith in Defiance Bay for yourself if you don't have another character who would benefit more from it, like a Monk or Barbarian.

 

I would also take Veteran's Recovery and Weapon and Shield Style for more hardyness, and open fights with a Chillfog or other debuff followed by a buff to Deflection or DR, later unloading your damage spells as needed.

 

EDIT: but you are an off-tank, not a full tank so don't try to engage more than two or three foes at once unless you are already buffed and charging your nukes.

 

EDIT2: For armor, I think you don't need "true" heavy armors like full plate, from my experience with frontliner Priests and Druids, but I am unsure because Wizards are more fragile than them.

 

I think you could also like a shieldbearer Druid, since they can afford lighter armors because of their healing spells and higher base deflection and that makes them more dynamic. Take a look at the Batsh!t Crazy build at the sticky list.

 

Monk was usually might, dex perc from 15-18 rest around 10. Probably should have built it hardier.

If you are using fists or dual-wielding any other weapon, DEX can be kept at base. Your high base accuracy means the same for PER. Instead invest into CON and INT (Monks have self-buffs, AoE and CC skills that benefit greatly from it, and so does Veteran's Recovery). For Skills, as always both Lore and Survival are the best. Edited August 21, 2016 by DreamWayfarer

[QuiteGoneJin]

 

That sounds very interesting, would have to be a frontliner cause friendly fire. How would you build it?

Truth to be told I don't have much experience with that kind of Wizard, but I would probably focus on INT and MIG above all, and some PER if possible. You can take some points from RES if you don't mind buffing yourself more often, or from DEX if you feel you could use more CON or RES. Invest into Survival for more healing received or bonus Accuracy, and take Shod-In-Faith in Defiance Bay for yourself if you don't have another character who would benefit more from it, like a Monk or Barbarian.

 

I would also take Veteran's Recovery and Weapon and Shield Style for more hardyness, and open fights with a Chillfog or other debuff followed by a buff to Deflection or DR, later unloading your damage spells as needed.

 

EDIT: but you are an off-tank, not a full tank so don't try to engage more than two or three foes at once unless you are already buffed and charging your nukes.

 

EDIT2: For armor, I think you don't need "true" heavy armors like full plate, from my experience with frontliner Priests and Druids, but I am unsure because Wizards are more fragile than them.

 

I think you could also like a shieldbearer Druid, since they can afford lighter armors because of their healing spells and higher base deflection and that makes them more dynamic. Take a look at the Batsh!t Crazy build at the sticky list.

 

Monk was usually might, dex perc from 15-18 rest around 10. Probably should have built it hardier.

If you are using fists or dual-wielding any other weapon, DEX can be kept at base. Your high base accuracy means the same for PER. Instead invest into CON and INT (Monks have self-buffs, AoE and CC skills that benefit greatly from it, and so does Veteran's Recovery). For Skills, as always both Lore and Survival are the best.

 

And might in this case? Whats the idea behind high int on a monk?

Edited August 21, 2016 by QuiteGoneJin

[DreamWayfarer]

And might in this case? Whats the idea behind high int on a monk?

Might should stay high, specially of you plan on using fists or sabers (which I recommend). For a very "active" dual-wielding Monk I'd invest equally into MIG and CON and then invest what you can in INT. If you look at the Monk active abilities, you will see that almost all have either an area of effect or a duration that benefits from INT:

 

Torment's Reach, the main damage dealing ability of a dual-wielding Monk, has a cone AoE. Force of Anguish, a powerful single-target push+prone, can render the target hopeless for the entire fight with high INT. Swift Strikes is a nice buff that you should keep active. I can't speak much about high level powers, but I think that even your Wounds take longer to expire with high INT.

 

Plus, both Veteran's Recovery and the AoE healing over time from Shod-in-Faith benefit from INT. I don't think I need to explain why Monks like cheap passive self-healing.

Edited August 21, 2016 by DreamWayfarer

[Climhazzard]

If you are playing on a difficulty lower than Path of the Damned then I just recommend high Might and Constitution for a monk.  You'll kill everything long before veteran's recovery or shod in faith run out.  Intelligence is nice if you take swift strikes though, helps torment's reach hit more targets, and your prones last longer.

 

Trust me, try the moon godlike monk, it is exactly what you want.  Start with 19 might, 16+ con, 12+ perception, rest 10, get shod in faith soon as you can.  If you use the build I posted, and run your monk in the front position, you'll start every battle with 10 wounds and full endurance.  The only time you can't get wounds is when you're doing super easy fights, which are always over quickly anyways, like if you're doing Defiance bay side quests at level 8+....

 

Just use medium armor throughout the game, you'll always have enough protection because by the time you need more you'll have Iron wheel.  Start with Eder's "Saint's War Armor", upgrade to "Pike's Pride" when you get to copperlane, and consider Maneha's armor when you get to the white march.

 

A little screenshot album I put together illustrating my point, all these were taken around level 10 playing the white march on Path of the Damned difficulty.  Every battle is started with 10 wounds and near to full endurance.  http://imgur.com/a/GmtEW

Edited August 21, 2016 by Climhazzard

[Boeroer]

Monk (normal build) + Moon Godlike is a perfect synergy of class and race. It makes early game a lot easier and is still nice later on. Heavy armor in the early game also makes a monk's live a lot easier.

For monk beginners it's def. the best pick. As is high MIG and INT. Torment's Reach + Force of Anguish are a lot of fun. Veteran's Recovery as soon as possible. Shod in Faith as soon as possible. Then you'll have the perfect mix of tankyness and damage.

 

Have a look at the monk's builds in the list. They are very different but all three (I guess) are very nice to play with their own unique style.

 

Monks usually need a lot of micromanagement to get the most out of them.

Edited August 21, 2016 by Boeroer

[QuiteGoneJin]

Thanks, set up some hotkeys on a high int/might monk and went moon godlike with survival and veterans, you are correct it is fun. I was not stacking the healing so was dropping to easily before. 

[Boeroer]

Great, happy to hear it works for you.