Ki?

[seanmonroe]

Okay, I'm newly back to the game, have been gone for about a year. I'm starting up my first monk, and finding that Ki is about as useless to me as a suit of full plate. Though the full plate would at least give me an AC. I think I've used a Ki ability once? The only time I was able to get up to 5 ki before the combat ended, or I moved, or any of the many things that apparently send my ki shooting back down to 0. Am I doing something wrong, or is the ability just useless in the low levels?

[Lymnus]

Well, I'm not a monk main, but I know most monks don't use ki much at lower levels.

Concentration is a "must" skill for Monks. When not in combat, as you've noticed, ki starts degening. Now, if you have, lets say a 15 concentration. Ki can never degen to less than 15 points.

That's probably not the best explaination, but if you need me to clear something up, just ask.

[Borror0]

Ki (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/edit/Ki)


Characters with one or more levels of monk will possess a yellow bar under their HP meter, called the Ki Meter. It displays three numbers.
The first number is the current Ki. The second number is the maximum Ki (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/edit/Maximum_Ki) the monk can acheive. Your base maximum Ki is equal to ten times the character's monk level plus fourty. To that number, you add five times your Wisdom (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Wisdom) modifier. The third one is written between parentheses and represents the rate at which a monk's Ki regenerates or decays. A rate of (+1) means you're gaining 1 Ki per six seconds, however, a rate of (-2) means you're loosing 2 Ki at every six seconds.

The rate at how much you gain or loose Ki (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/edit/Ki) is determinated by your Concentration (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Concentration) skill. Concentration is a critical skill (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Skill) for the monk. If your Ki is equal to or less than your Concentration skill, it does not decay. For each multiple of your Concentration skill that it exceeds it by, you receive -1 Ki for every 6 seconds. If your Concentration score is zero or negative, it's treated as if it were 1, which makes retaining Ki difficult.

Gaining Ki


There are different ways to gain Ki (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/edit/Ki). The first is by attacking a monster. In general a melee attack that does more than zero damage will generate 1 Ki and scoring a critical hit (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Critical_hit) will net you 3 Ki. If you are in fire stance (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/edit/Fire_stance) you gain 2 Ki instead. Way of the Tenacious Badger (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/edit/Way_of_the_Tenacious_Badger) allows your monk to gain more Ki while damaging an opponent for as long as the monk is bellow a certain percentage of health and Way of the Elegant Crane (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/edit/Way_of_the_Elegant_Crane) increases the Ki a monk will receive when scoring a critical hit (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Critical_hit). Also, Mountain stance (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/edit/Mountain_stance) grants Ki on being hit. Ranged attacks (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/edit/Ranged_attack) will not generate Ki.

The second way to gain Ki is to rest at a Rest Shrine (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/edit/Rest_Shrine). Your Ki then will reach the maximum substainable amount which is equal to your concentration (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Concentration) score. Zoning in or out of a dungeon will have the same effect, just as your buffs reset so does your Ki.

The third way to gain Ki would be to use the Meditation (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Meditation) feat which is gained at level two. This will regenerate your Ki based of the monk's wisdom (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Wisdom) modifier (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Modifier) and monk level. While mediating you can go over you centered Ki up to your maximum Ki (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/edit/Maximum_Ki).

Centered


It is important that a Monk remain centered (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/edit/Centered), which means that he does not wear an armor (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Armor) or a shield (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Shield), is not heavily encumbered, or is not using a weapon that is not a Monk or Ki related weapon such as Kama (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Kama), Quarterstaves (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Quarterstaff) or Shuriken (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Shuriken). A warforged monk remains centered as he is in Composite Plating (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Composite_Plating) he does not wear a shield. A monk also remains centered if he is wearing equipment that gives armor bonuses (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Armor_bonus) but that are neither armor nor shield, like Black Widow Bracers (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Black_Widow_Bracers).

A non centered monk will not be available to perform these abilities:

Fast Movement (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/edit/Fast_Movement_%28monk_class_feat%29)
Slow Fall (http://ddo.enterwiki.net/page/Slow_Fall)

[Beherit_Baphomar]

Again, I dont play a monk, but Ive 'heard' several monker's say that Ki is useless at low levels but once you get
up some the monks Ive ran with seem to have endless ki.

[feynman]

Okay, I'm newly back to the game, have been gone for about a year. I'm starting up my first monk, and finding that Ki is about as useless to me as a suit of full plate. Though the full plate would at least give me an AC. I think I've used a Ki ability once? The only time I was able to get up to 5 ki before the combat ended, or I moved, or any of the many things that apparently send my ki shooting back down to 0. Am I doing something wrong, or is the ability just useless in the low levels?

It is useless at low levels :)

Seriously, you will start to be able to use is pretty quickly; your base ki depends on your concentration skill. I have 29 base ki on my level 16, which is replenished every time you shrine, enter a dungeon/instance, etc. At low levels, you pretty much zerg through until you build up enough ki to use, and then you get our awesome (yawn) finishing moves. Actually, at low level, the mass heal is pretty nice; carry a potency I item to switch out before you use it, if you can.

[negative]

It really sounds like the OP has invested no skill ranks in concentration. I was finding ki useful by level 2, even more at level 3 with Fists of Light. With a 15 concentration already, you could be popping off a Healing Ki fairly frequently. The only problem I had at low level was mobs were dieing too fast.