Monk howto?

[der_kluge]

I saw monk was 20% off the other day, and so I bought it.

Then I saw character slots were also 20% a few days later, and bought that.

So, I had to roll a veteran 32 pt. build monk just to see how it played.

Good lord was I in over my head. Holy ****. I had 3 full hotbars full of buttons I had no idea what did.

Seriously, is there some kind of guide on how to play a monk. Because it's like nothing else in the game.

[Deathlos]

Step 1: roll the monk.
Step 2: Get stunning fist and level
Step 3: level 20 your god.

But seriously. Monk is so diverse there in no one way to play him. So to answer you. your going to need to give us what your goals are for monk

[Jaid314]

Seriously, is there some kind of guide on how to play a monk. Because it's like nothing else in the game.

not that i've seen. there are a few useful guides though. my first piece of advice is to read up on the guide to finishers... that should probably cut down a bit on the overload :P

[elujin]

i am not a monk expert but getting the right starting stats is key becous it determens what stances you can get (only base stats and tomes count)

monks make for greath stunners and can get high dc's with stunning fist

then do you wanne be a light monk or a dark monk
while light monk has self healing and smallbuffs , dr breaking and better dps vs undeath and outher "unnatural" monsters

dark as better over all dps and touch of dead at lvl 9 (500 neg energy attack with a fort save based on wis and monk levels)

races
anything without elf in it (mebey half elf i don't know mutch about them )
wf also isn't that greath for light monk

stances most monks go for fire(str) or wind (dex)

if you tell us what your looking for we can help you more :)

[DarkFlash]

For builds: Anything between

Human shintao with 100-400% healing amplification
and
Halfling ninja with maxed DPS.

Sky is the limit!
(I prefer the shintao with maxed DPS handwraps.)

[Gareth_Valinson]

Start here:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=288279

You'll need to do this:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=263737

Read this and follow some of the links:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=292199

Here is some build advice:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=291044

Basically, to run a monk:

Hit some thing to build up Ki (the yellow bar). Once you have some Ki, you can press certain strikes (i.e. fire, fire, fire) and then press the finisher to unleash a fire combo.

You can read about those here:
http://ddowiki.com/page/Finishing_Moves

[Hecore]

When building a Monk:

Strength, Wisdom, and Constitution are your most important attributes. You want enough Dexterity to have TWF, and you can (for the most part) ignore Intelligence and Charisma. Some players will suggest a Dexterity/Wisdom build, but I would argue that it's mostly a bad idea. Keep in mind that you get full Strength damage on your off-hand.

For races I would suggest HOrc or HElf. HOrc's have a bunch of strength and a power attack improvement, while HElves have Rogue Dilettante(3d6 stacking sneak attack dmg) and healing amp. For free races, I'd suggest either Human or Halfing, for respective healing amp and sneak attack damage. Dwarves are okay for their Tactics lines, as are Warforged, but I wouldn't make either of those races my first choice. Elf can be okay if (and ONLY if) you take Least/Lesser Dragonmark and choose to be a Ninja Spy. 25% incorporeal + 50% displacement makes for an effective defense at all levels of play.

A Monk has a few skill options. You obviously want to take Concentration, as that effects how much Ki you can hold in reserve. Another skill you want to keep up is Balance, to help get up quickly after trips. A skill I would suggest is UMD. It's generally a good idea to be LN when choosing alignment, and UMD will allow you to use Pure Good weapons. Also, while difficult, it is possible with the proper gear to get a UMD high enough that you can use the occasional 5 minute blur wand or displacement scrolls.

All Monks should have Stunning Fist (a respectable dc is fairly easy to reach at 20). When you build your Monk you want to decide if you plan to go for the Void line of attacks. Void 4 does respectable damage, and its vorpal strike is highly effective in epic. That said, the line requires a significant AP cost and requires fairly high base stats in Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom and Constitution. If you don't build with Void 4 in mind it is likely you won't be able to take it down the road.

As a Monk your hardest choice is what PRE to take. Shintao Monks have a healing attack and a particularly useful buff (Earth Dragon). They also get a ranged stun and have their fists treated as silver, which makes finding boss beaters a snap. Ninja Spys get a 25% invis/blur ability that works on pretty much all content, large sneak attack bonuses, and a 15 second/500 negative energy damage attack that can strike up to three (glitchily four) times. I would personally suggest taking Shintao until you have effective boss beater handwraps, at which point you can decide which path is right for you.

Playing a Monk:

A Monk is a fairly high movement clicky based class. At low levels of play you won't be that much different then your average fighter, as enemies die quickly and your concentration is low. At higher levels of play your bread and butter will be Stunning Fist. This ability runs on a 6 second timer, and allows any effected enemy to be critically hit. Furthermore, stunned enemies can't fight back AND they boost your Ki significantly.

If you are a Shintao Monk you will want to use the occasional Fists of Light to help restore you and your teammates HP. Three such strikes in a row will allow you to perform a healing finisher, that functions like a mass cure light wounds focused on yourself. As a Shintao monk you will also want to use your 15 second timer smite on the appropriate foes.

If you are a Ninja Spy Monk, your primary ability will be Touch of Death. This is one of the Monks most powerful abilities, and with it you are able to one-hit kill most foes up through the Vale.

For strikes that benefit both classes, other then the optional Void line, I recommend the Earth and Wind lines of strikes (received by taking the Adept/Master/Grandmaster stances). Both lines of strikes are rarely resisted, with the Earth line doing increased damage versus all foes. The Earth line is particularly effective against a stunned enemy -- Fists of Iron (+1x crit), Strike of the Enduring III (extra damage multiplied by crits/acid damage on crit), Strike of the Enduring IV (extra damage multiplied by crits/acid damage on crit), The Trembling Earth (+2x crit) -- these four abilities, back-to-back, will be enough to wipe out almost anything you face.

[der_kluge]

Ok, I'll try to digest those links.

This is the guy I whipped up.
http://my.ddo.com/character/cannith/orsos/

32 pt. build veteran that I ran through a couple of quests with my friend. Seemed effective enough.

I had every stance, and every finisher, and every special attack in my hotbar. So, as I understand it, I can switch to a water stance, and then use water attacks, and if I manage to get the water attacks in a right sequence (or whatever), then I can use the finisher for water?

I guess I must have had all the necessary attributes for all of them, since all seemed available to me.

I chose light path, since my friend seems to think it's better.


As for what kind of monk I'd want, I have no idea. I played a barbarian very briefly and decided it was just a mindless killing machine, and I got kind of bored with it. So, I think I'd at least want something with a little bit of flair to it. Just bashing stuff constantly gets a little old for me after a while. So, I think light path might suit me a little better to that end, since it might give me some nice party buffs.

[Gummi]

hmm 12 con seem a bit low, but otherwise seem okay on stats

as for finishers you always start with the lowest "tier" of all the stances and strikes but can with the enhancements takes better versions of stances and strikes (get a stance and strike with each enhancement)

also it doesn't matter what stance you are in if you want to fire a finisher. Only thing that matter is the order in which you use your strikes (keep in mind later as you get more strikes a tier I and tier II strike of same element is on different cd timer so you can hit both right after each other making it MUCH easier to get off finishers). so even if you are in fire stance you can still use 3 water strikes after each other and fire the water:water:water finsher

[DelScorcho]

Monks are unique in that playstyles are much more important than builds. Really your main build considerations are race/path/and whether you are shooting for void strike IV, as build and enhancement points are tight.

You need to learn how to play monk, as they play much differently than other builds. Someone above linked the how do you play thread, which was excellent. You need to find a style that will allow you to readily hit your ki strikes, power up your finishing moves and stuns, and maintain enough Ki to perform your special attacks and finishers.

I usually select a bar and use it for my attacks (ctrl-1 for bar 1). As a keyboard and mouse player, my left hand is higher on the keyboard than it would be for another toon, as the attacks are more important than movement.

[elujin]

Ok, I'll try to digest those links.

This is the guy I whipped up.
http://my.ddo.com/character/cannith/orsos/

32 pt. build veteran that I ran through a couple of quests with my friend. Seemed effective enough.

I had every stance, and every finisher, and every special attack in my hotbar. So, as I understand it, I can switch to a water stance, and then use water attacks, and if I manage to get the water attacks in a right sequence (or whatever), then I can use the finisher for water?

I guess I must have had all the necessary attributes for all of them, since all seemed available to me.

I chose light path, since my friend seems to think it's better.


As for what kind of monk I'd want, I have no idea. I played a barbarian very briefly and decided it was just a mindless killing machine, and I got kind of bored with it. So, I think I'd at least want something with a little bit of flair to it. Just bashing stuff constantly gets a little old for me after a while. So, I think light path might suit me a little better to that end, since it might give me some nice party buffs.

you don't have to be in water stance to be use water strikes

i would also go for 14 con at least ^^

[RobinofSpiritwood]

I had every stance, and every finisher, and every special attack in my hotbar. So, as I understand it, I can switch to a water stance, and then use water attacks, and if I manage to get the water attacks in a right sequence (or whatever), then I can use the finisher for water?

I guess I must have had all the necessary attributes for all of them, since all seemed available to me.


All monks get the 4 initial stances/attacks.
You need not adopt a specific stance to use the corresponding strike.
You don't have to use all strikes on the same enemy to get the finisher ready.
You can move around with a charged finisher, and deploy it on another monster.

Earth strikes >> Earth stances generally. At Earth 3 and 4 strikes, there is a substantial regular damage add, plus a burst effect with Acid. These strikes are well suited for hitting a stunned enemy, as you autocrit and do much more damage.
They are easy to use, don't need any setup, and can be used in triple Earth finisher.

But you can't access them with a CON 12 start build, unless you invest points into CON as you level up. We cannot have everything, but getting more HP and much better crits is not something to discard lightly.



I chose light path, since my friend seems to think it's better.


Light path is a very good option, and is rewarding to play. You get multiple uses as an emergency healer/fixer, and are very very self sufficient.
But you will never know the true *power* of the Dark Side.