Monks in Abbey of the Fallen Moon or "If Superman had a child with Jackie Chan"

[Zidster]

Hello again,

 

I'm seriously helpless right now. So far I beaten the game on PotD with some efforts, but ultimately nothing that I couldn't handle. I had my troubles with the dragons - beat them all, including Llengrath on my second try. I'm max level with almost every class. So when I walked into the Abbey of the Fallen Moon I thought "well this will be easy I guess" ... boy was I wrong. I mean it's not that it's close or something. No, they just completly wipe the floor with me. The monks kick me around like I'm level 1, teleport around and break every freaking line I put against them. It's not just that the own my squishies, they also beat up my tanks (of which I have three atm) like they are the Fist of the Northstar or something.

 

I manage to beat some of them, somehow. Bigger groups are a pain in the arse. I'm crying at the thought of some tough boss battle with 10 monks in it or something like that. My biggest problem is that they just run around like they want to (and even my tanks focusing one of them take forever to kill one). I'm really really annoyed right now. This isn't what I signed up for when I wanted a challange, as this is frankly the total opposite of how the whole game played out so far. Do you guys have any tips for a noob like me? I hope so, or else ... I don't know. Maybe I just build myself a party of 6 monks and rape them all.

Edited October 7, 2017 by Zidster

[Phenomenum]

I prefer to deal this quest peacefully - Go to main door, introduce yourself as a Tidebringer and follow further instructions from Kaoto. You can go anywhere, pick up or steal everything from Abbey and so on. There will be only two encounters:
1. When you will try to open the gate at lower level of the Abbey (but you can avoid this fight - pick one character with high stealth, go to the gate, open it and quickly sneak back).
2. Fight with Kaoto (if you have high PER and RES, you can turn on your side two monks - it will give you sighnificant advantage in this fight).

That's all. Nice and clear. Becose i also hate this freaks with 150+ defences.

[Torm51]

I prefer to deal this quest peacefully - Go to main door, introduce yourself as a Tidebringer and follow further instructions from Kaoto. You can go anywhere, pick up or steal everything from Abbey and so on. There will be only two encounters:

1. When you will try to open the gate at lower level of the Abbey (but you can avoid this fight - pick one character with high stealth, go to the gate, open it and quickly sneak back).

2. Fight with Kaoto (if you have high PER and RES, you can turn on your side two monks - it will give you sighnificant advantage in this fight).

 

That's all. Nice and clear. Becose i also hate this freaks with 150+ defences.

Bah my Shieldbearer will have to talk but MOST of the time I like proving myself in PotD. It might be too late for you but ensure that your backline isnt full of glass cannons.  This game punishes you for it.  So make sure Wizards, Rogues, Priests, Rangers whatever have some type of escape button or a way of temporarily making themselves un hittable.  Then focus fire the monks in the back line.

[Zidster]

Haha, thanks, but if I wanted to play peacefully I wouldn't have picked PotD but I will definetly remember that for my next playtrough. Right now I'm pulling them of one by one. Super exciting, I know, but to me this is just lousy balancing. I mean when I pick of one monk at a time they usually almost manage to kill one of my tanks. ONE OF THEM. I had some good experiences with the frost skeleton hand spell when I entered a new area and was suddenly surrounded by a bunch of them, managed to win this fight. But as they tend to jump around and seldomly are staying together this is not super helpfull. More then two monks at a time is just crazy. And Kaoto doubles himself like 2 seconds into the fight. Yep. Seems logical. Arn't monks supposed to get stronger when they take hits? This should mean if you ignore them they can only do so much. But no, they still kick me around like a goofball.

 

My backline is rather vulnerable, that' true, but so far the game hasn't been very punishing in that regard. Only annoying things were ghosts who could teleport behind my front line, but they are not comparable to the monks. Problem with monks is not just their teleporting, but they are impossible to bind and run around like they did some crazy amount of coke. And as I said it's not just my squishies. I made a fighter just for this occasion, super high defense and she still gets beat up. Maybe I could switch my wizard for a cipher and have the monks charmed more often, as her confuse spell doesn't do much, but I really want to have some "new" classes left for my next playtrough. I'm definetly maining a Monk next time

 

oh did I just kill Kabuto? you're overpowered but not so overpowered that you can beat me on your own. May your soul find a new life where maybe your not put into an impossible fight.

 

Also I don't quite get their abilites. Just looked away from the health bar a sec, than at once my priest was down. She was standing behind the melee fight, no enemy was around her, she had almost full health. The combat log on xbox is useless so I don't even know what hit her. Guess she just fell uncouncios from the awesomeness of these guys lol

Edited October 8, 2017 by Zidster

[Phenomenum]

"Just looked away from the health bar a sec, than at once my priest was down. She was standing behind the melee fight, no enemy was around her, she had almost full health." - Similar things happens with me in Galvino's Great Dungeon - 4 or 5 constructs casted Noxious Burst with crits and within 2 seconds from start of fight 4 my companions were one-shooted.
Sometimes, strange weird things happens on PotD (especially on first run).

 

About monks, the answer is simple - this is one of the best melee dps class overall. High-level monks have various deadly abilities, hitting hard and sturdy like a bisons.

Edited October 8, 2017 by Phenomenum

[mosspit]

I think this area was designed to trick gamers to underestimate the power of the those npcs there.

 

First time I did that area, I did the diplomatic route and got ambushed by the Low Tide guys near the centre. I mean how dangerous could "Low Tide" be?.... I had to retreat into a cell to turtle up as 2 of my party were knocked out in the first 10secs.

 

Recently, I did a playthrough but went to unlock the room with the Salt Well. I didn't know it will turn the whole area hostile... and it did. Barely made it out via the mountain ledge route.

 

The 2 toughest aspect is the

- Composition: Monks, Priests and Pallys. Monks able to do Flagellant's Path, Force of Anguish, and Dichotomous Souls. Priests can do Crowns of the Faithful.

- AI: The monks and pallys at least are scripted to go after your spellcasters and support, who also tend to built less tanky in general.

Edited October 8, 2017 by mosspit

[Phenomenum]

I think this area was designed to trick gamers to underestimate the power of the those npcs there.

 

First time I did that area, I did the diplomatic route and got ambushed by the Low Tide guys near the centre. I mean how dangerous could "Low Tide" be?.... I had to retreat into a cell to turtle up as 2 of my party were knocked out in the first 10secs.

 

For me, it's a bit strange and lore-breaking. Poor mindless guys, trapped for a years in their "prison" (as the game told us) should be weak, but surprise - it appears that all those people spending their free time (24/24) with martial arts training.

 

And all big drama screwed up, when you realizing that it's not a poor misguided people, but a bunch of superior lunatic-warriors which want to killing everyone and everything.

Edited October 8, 2017 by Phenomenum

[Boeroer]

The problem is the monks. They get stronger and stronger the more you hurt them. You have to use crazy ACC buffing via priest (Crowns + Devotions + Inspiring Radiance = +36 ACC) and then use disabling CC spells and/or mind control so that the monks can't use their wounds on you. Else you will just get obliterated. But some good Whispers of Treason can make those fights a lot easier already.

 

Also, when it comes to dealing damage, pick off one single monk and finish him, then off to the next. Do not attack several of them at the same time (except if you can keep them disabled).

[Phenomenum]

But some good Whispers of Treason can make those fights a lot easier already.

 

I wonder how you will do it - monks have especially high Fortitude & Will defences (up to 150) when upscaled, and all Will debuffs targets... Will of Fortitude. Seems like lucky roll to me.

Am i wrong?

Edited October 8, 2017 by Phenomenum

[Zidster]

The problem is the monks. They get stronger and stronger the more you hurt them. You have to use crazy ACC buffing via priest (Crowns + Devotions + Inspiring Radiance = +36 ACC) and then use disabling CC spells and/or mind control so that the monks can't use their wounds on you. Else you will just get obliterated. But some good Whispers of Treason can make those fights a lot easier already.

 

Also, when it comes to dealing damage, pick off one single monk and finish him, then off to the next. Do not attack several of them at the same time (except if you can keep them disabled).

 

Yeah, but that's exactly what I tried! And I thought "ok this must be it, the monks get stronger when wounded - so I just wont attack them and they should become a lot easier. But this is not true unfortunately. I specifically focused one monk at a time, even had my wizard cast direct spells instead of her explosion splash damage. I let the barb use his crossbow instead of letting him slash away (maybe I should've exchanged him). But the thing is, they still are super powerfull. Especially when buffed (and my debuff, 3rd level wizard spell doesn't do anything). Well, it is over for now (unless the return in the Lair of the Eyeless) and all the monks lie dead. When I walked back trhough the surreal amount of corpses (stopped picking up loot a looong time ago) I thought "Well, maybe, just maybe you are not supposed to fight in this area at all."

[Phenomenum]

Maybe you're right. All and all, this monks haven't done nothing bad to our hero (exept lunatics in Low Tide) - we came to the Abbey for our reason, while this guys is busy with their own business.

Edited October 8, 2017 by Phenomenum

[Boeroer]

 

But some good Whispers of Treason can make those fights a lot easier already.

I wonder how you will do it - monks have especially high Fortitude & Will defences (up to 150) when upscaled, and all Will debuffs targets... Will of Fortitude. Seems like lucky roll to me.

Am i wrong?

 

 

Fighter with Disciplined Barrage or Paladin with Sworn Enemy + Zealous Focus, then add a priest with Inspiring Radiance, Crowns and Devotions. Whisper of Treason from Munacra Arret has +10 ACC and gets +1 per char level. At lvl 14 this would result in +20+10+20+6+10+14 = +80 ACC on top of your base ACC.

 

Cipher can do the same with Tactical Meld (+20), then on top Borrowed Instincts (+20) for a total of +100.

 

If you want to go totally crazy you can add a paladin with Coordinated Attacks + Marking for another +20, even +30 if it's a Darcozzi. That would mean +110 for a fighter with Munacra Arret, +111 for a paladin with Munacra Arret or +130 for a cipher with his own WoT. On top of base accuracy at lvl 14.

 

Base accuracy at lvl 14 would be 72 for fighter and 67 for paladin and cipher. PER bonus comes on top.

 

One could add Distant Advantage (Wood Elf) as well.

 

So if you want to charm an enemy you can do it reliably.

[Torm51]

*shrug* I've never had an issue in this area. I just cc, debuff and focus fire monks. And I don't think there is a Kith enemy that can touch my tanks. Just Dragons.

 

Blind and daze the monks and they won't touch you. Also prone with a fighter/monk and a paladin marker is a dead monk don't care how many wounds he gets.

Edited October 8, 2017 by Torm51

[Zidster]

 

 

But some good Whispers of Treason can make those fights a lot easier already.

I wonder how you will do it - monks have especially high Fortitude & Will defences (up to 150) when upscaled, and all Will debuffs targets... Will of Fortitude. Seems like lucky roll to me.

Am i wrong?

 

 

Fighter with Disciplined Barrage or Paladin with Sworn Enemy + Zealous Focus, then add a priest with Inspiring Radiance, Crowns and Devotions. Whisper of Treason from Munacra Arret has +10 ACC and gets +1 per char level. At lvl 14 this would result in +20+10+20+6+10+14 = +80 ACC on top of your base ACC.

 

Cipher can do the same with Tactical Meld (+20), then on top Borrowed Instincts (+20) for a total of +100.

 

If you want to go totally crazy you can add a paladin with Coordinated Attacks + Marking for another +20, even +30 if it's a Darcozzi. That would mean +110 for a fighter with Munacra Arret, +111 for a paladin with Munacra Arret or +130 for a cipher with his own WoT. On top of base accuracy at lvl 14.

 

Base accuracy at lvl 14 would be 72 for fighter and 67 for paladin and cipher. PER bonus comes on top.

 

One could add Distant Advantage (Wood Elf) as well.

 

So if you want to charm an enemy you can do it reliably.

 

 

 

*shrug* I've never had an issue in this area. I just cc, debuff and focus fire monks. And I don't think there is a Kith enemy that can touch my tanks. Just Dragons.

 

Blind and daze the monks and they won't touch you. Also prone with a fighter/monk and a paladin marker is a dead monk don't care how many wounds he gets.

 

Wow, you guys seem to know your POE For me the problem with the things you mentioned is:

 

-I have no cipher - thats my own fault admitetly

-I never had to really worry about ACC before, so I'm not very familiar with those abilities you mentioned, but it sounds logical to up ACC for WoT

-I could've tried upping my Wizards ACC before trying to blind them - without multiple buffs (just the level 4 priest spell) it didn't do much good. Most of the time only grazes and the effect was over rather fast

-CC them is impossible because they seldomly build a crowd. One goes here, one there and puff it's over - CC is basically how I played the game before.

-my Tanks just go down very, very quickly - the monks just unload on any character. They strike like twice a second. Their base damage isn't high, but it adds up very quickly

-I'm not a master of the game, so maybe the problem is with me not optimizing their defenses

 

What's bugging me is that it is such a high rise in difficulty. The whole game on PotD was doable without applying multiple buffs to my party. It adds a whole new strategic problem to the fight: how can I buff my party before they strike me down? One spell at the start of a fight is no prob, but to reach those ACC values you spoke of seems to take some time.

 

Before the Abbey I stormed through the fort of the Iron Flail like I'm a monk of the Fallen Abbey myself! The three eyeless after that were nothing else but another random mob. And when I was told to go to a silent monks retreat I didn't expect much resistance. But they terrorized me like only Irenicus could untill now. Later I will finish WM2 and I bet that neither the boss nor the Eyeless on the way will provide any difficulties whatsoever.

 

Anyways, thanks for your replies, it is deeply appreciated and good to know that it is possible to beat them fair and square. Hopefully on my next run I wont have to cheese

[Phenomenum]

 

 

But some good Whispers of Treason can make those fights a lot easier already.

I wonder how you will do it - monks have especially high Fortitude & Will defences (up to 150) when upscaled, and all Will debuffs targets... Will of Fortitude. Seems like lucky roll to me.

Am i wrong?

 

 

Fighter with Disciplined Barrage or Paladin with Sworn Enemy + Zealous Focus, then add a priest with Inspiring Radiance, Crowns and Devotions. Whisper of Treason from Munacra Arret has +10 ACC and gets +1 per char level. At lvl 14 this would result in +20+10+20+6+10+14 = +80 ACC on top of your base ACC.

 

Cipher can do the same with Tactical Meld (+20), then on top Borrowed Instincts (+20) for a total of +100.

 

If you want to go totally crazy you can add a paladin with Coordinated Attacks + Marking for another +20, even +30 if it's a Darcozzi. That would mean +110 for a fighter with Munacra Arret, +111 for a paladin with Munacra Arret or +130 for a cipher with his own WoT. On top of base accuracy at lvl 14.

 

Base accuracy at lvl 14 would be 72 for fighter and 67 for paladin and cipher. PER bonus comes on top.

 

One could add Distant Advantage (Wood Elf) as well.

 

So if you want to charm an enemy you can do it reliably.

 

 

"Fighter with Disciplined Barrage or Paladin with Sworn Enemy + Zealous Focus, then add a priest with Inspiring Radiance, Crowns and Devotions" - i know you as a "professional PoE player" and you talkin' about buffchain from Priest etc., but for mediocre players encounter might end within 2-5 seconds. Basically, sometime you couldn't do anything - just watching how your partymembers knocked out, one by one, within a seconds.

 

I think this is a wrong difficulty spike. It's insane, when poor silly monk have defences equal to dragon. This is 

Edited October 8, 2017 by Phenomenum

[Zidster]

I just fought a bunch of those Ondrites at Caryons Scar. Their party consisted of one monk and I think another uniquely named monk. They were no comparision to the ones in the Abbey. I know they have different names and such, but considering that you face them AFTER you're done with the Abbey I'm really getting the conclusion that fighting in the Abbey is only for hardcore players. Just wished they would've told me that earlier

[mosspit]

I think this is a wrong difficulty spike. It's insane, when poor silly monk have defences equal to dragon. This is 

I kinda agree but I wouldn't say it is wrong. But rather there is no real foreboding of how powerful those npcs are.

 

I mean they are in no way impossible to fight - but some of the prep work I see in order to take them on is similar to the prep for boss fights. And afaik I didn't notice any indications in Lore or dialogues that suggest that they are that tough.

 

Also not denying that there are fun and/or challenging. Some clearly clearly like the difficulty spikes. I think this area is one the places that developers cater for hardcore or seasoned gamers (plus they made it kinda optional via the diplomatic route). Maybe this area and those spirit ambushes in WM1 is to address the lack of difficulty of PoE as compared to the good ol' inifinity engine games.

Edited October 9, 2017 by mosspit

[Nail]

Haha, funny thread

Try to one shot them with something like Kalakoth's Freezing Rake...

 

But idk why you are fighting them ^^

Edited October 9, 2017 by Nail

[Boeroer]

Right.

 

They are not impossible to beat, but very tough. Not as tough as some bounty fights though.

But maybe they are so tough because there is a reasonable alternative to fighting.

[Zidster]

Right.

 

They are not impossible to beat, but very tough. Not as tough as some bounty fights though.

 

But maybe they are so tough because there is a reasonable alternative to fighting.

 

Huh? The only bounty I would compare to these was the Berath priest in Searing Falls, and I managed to beat him with level 14 I think? Also he was ONE encounter in comparision to three moderately sized maps full of those monks. Especially on PotD it is annoying when you can only rest 2 times and than have to travel.

 

Anyways, I beat WM2 (boss was dead before the Eyeless even reached my party) and vanilla both upscaled but apparently those are not worth bragging about. Bragging rights in PoE you earn from beating the monks in Fallen Abey. To me that is by far the hardest area ingame.

[Messier-31]

 

Right.

 

They are not impossible to beat, but very tough. Not as tough as some bounty fights though.

 

But maybe they are so tough because there is a reasonable alternative to fighting.

 

Huh? The only bounty I would compare to these was the Berath priest in Searing Falls, and I managed to beat him with level 14 I think?

 

 

Brynlod.

[Phenomenum]

Yes, but bounty is the ONE encounter. In the Abbey we have several fights like this. I've beaten all those monks in my first playtrough (becose didn't know about peaceful way to complete this quest) and that was enough for me - for the next two playtroughs i've always choose diplomacy.

[Zidster]

 

 

Right.

 

They are not impossible to beat, but very tough. Not as tough as some bounty fights though.

 

But maybe they are so tough because there is a reasonable alternative to fighting.

 

Huh? The only bounty I would compare to these was the Berath priest in Searing Falls, and I managed to beat him with level 14 I think?

 

 

Brynlod.

 

 

Ha, I remember that one. Yeah it could've been kinda tough but I managed it on my first try. I confused on sight and the mages were busy blasting their spells on their own front row. Wall of colour worked pretty well if I remember correctly. After Brynlod and his front row were down, only the two sorcerers were left. They had the 8th level summoned bow spell avaible and almost managed to kill of my entire party :D I went after them pretty ill prepared as I thought two wizards would go down easily. But I guess I was lucky and also the AI wasn't really well in this one, as the wizards did not move and could not engage me through the ruined walls. I don't know if this was legit strategy, luck or simply cheesing :D