[Solo] Spec for (Soon-to-be)capped Monk, going back to solo old content?

[GrantAnderson]

My Shintao Monk will be level 28 soon (probably today!), and my current plan is to go back and hit Shavarath, Devil Assault, etc. to see how close I can get to a greensteel item for when I TR. (I don't think soloing the Shroud is an option, though I would be happy to be wrong!)

The main thing I'm wondering about is enhancements. My layout at the moment is:
Human: 4 core, 3 improved recovery, 3 ambidexterity (18AP)
Henshin: 2 core, 1 mystic training, 1 way of monkey, 3 contemplation (9AP)
Ninja Spy: 3 core, 3 faster sneaking, 3 acrobatic (12AP)
Shintao: 6 core, rise of the phoenix + prereqs, smite tainted, jade strike, tomb of jade, kukan-do, 3 deft strikes, 3 conditioning, meditation of war, empty hand mastery, 2 wisdom (41AP)

It's been working reasonably well for me, but Iron Skin and Violence Begets Violence look pretty sweet, and Dismissing Strike might be handy in Devil Assault (I assume not in Shavarath, as that is their home plane?).

How would you spec my enhancements for soloing (particularly with an eye to Elite Shavarath content)?

[Rhysem]

TBH I think your epic destines will have more influence than your heroic talents in your success. I would guess with GMOF and a twisted cocoon you should be able to do elite shav right now. You'd do better with fixed enhancements though (or be able to deal with missing epic stuff better, if you don't have those destines and don't want to grind them out):

The phoenix line is a waste (as is conditioning), compared to what you're missing in Shintao (the Iron Skin line, Dismissing Strike). Take the first elemental curative if you want (probably vs curse?), but overall meh. You'll be in earth stance if you're going to succeed this anyway, with an occasional jump to fire for ki as needed or water for saves if it is traptastic, so you need the 3x Iron Skin. I wouldn't 3x Instinctive, that's a waste. Just 1 to unlock Violence.

Similarly, faster sneaking is probably a waste, I'd do 2 ranks of sneak attack, 3x acro, and an agility. As soon as you stun, SA starts working, which is an extra few damage per swing.

Monkey is generally out in favor of turtle. At elite, 8 energy resistance really isn't cutting it anymore.

That said, what is your weapon? You presumably got at least one raider's box -- did you get antipode or sireth out of it? If sireth, you probably want to see what points you can squeeze over to mystic and push up the qstaff line, course your TWF feats would be wrong then (as would deft strikes). It is a real pity here the devs didn't put in the Rules As Written where you can use a quarterstaff as either 2hf or 2wf as that could be useful to you here, but alas they didn't.

[GrantAnderson]

Thanks for the advice - I suspected I could improve my survivability with the Earth line from Shintao, but I hadn't really thought about changing animal nor dropping the fast sneaking. By omission, I'm guessing the human line is okay; I do like my healing amp :)

I have maxed GMoF, but am building up Fate Points at the moment to twist Sense Weakness (so I'm currently in Shadowdancer and wondering what immunity to Energy Drain actually blocks - presumably not just the level 9 spell!).

Weapon, I've got Antipode and Grave Wrappings, and I've been switching between those. Fire Stance + Sun Soul set + Grave Wrappings means each vorpal heals me and gives a temporary hp buffer, so that's been quite good for survivability too. I don't use Air Stance, particularly not now I've got Blinding Speed, which I'm pretty sure it doesn't stack with.

I had the Phoenix line as a hedge against dying, but I guess rearranging enhancements so as to be Not Dying is also good for that (and I can just chug potions in place of the curatives?). Faster Sneaking - well, I had an idea that I might stealth quests. It turns out I just punch them instead.

I started with (what seem to be) the easier ones - I did Weapons Shipment and Wrath of the Flame on Elite yesterday, but got Dungeon Alert: Red in New Invasion and got trampled. (Before that I'd managed to beat the red-name beholder after 16 negative levels - pre-Sealed-Soul, which I'm hoping extends to beholder neg-levels.)

[Rhysem]

I'd think it is the same as the old paladin hunter of the dead version, in which case, yes, beholders are your new chew toys. Should cover stat drain and negative levels. You'll still want deathblock to block the instakills (except disintegrate), but that's no big deal these days. (Death Ward ~= deathblock + immunity to energy drain)

Human heal amp is fine. Heal amp good. You might want to see if you can pick up the ivy wraps -- their vampirism will do much better than just temp HP, and then you can be in earth stance rather than fire. Stonedust Handwraps out of the droaam invasion line would also do -- either should be findable on the AH or SH (BtCoE). Ivy better because they are epic (as well as heroic).

If you're even thinking about a shroud or similar solo, phoenix won't save you. You'll either not die in the first place, or you're not going to manage it because you won't have enough phoenix to keep getting up after getting beat down. You can always get cakes if you want a "one more try" thing.

[GrantAnderson]

Yeah, Phoenix is more of a "I stuffed up, now I'm going to get back up and pay more attention" thing than a 'keep zerging a raid' thing (with a 15 minute cooldown, and only 1/rest, can't really be anything else).

I shall look for the Ivy and/or Vampiric wraps - thanks!

I don't think I'm ready for solo Shroud. I can handle Devil Assault, though, and I have a bunch of ingredients already. Hopefully some kind soul on Thelanis will let me 'borrow' their airship altars if and when I have the necessary components.

I also have enough xp to hit 28 but I'm holding off a little - I prefer Elusive Target to the other Martial Epic Destiny feats, and it needs two maxed destinies, so I have a few bars of xp to go there - Elusive Target seems like a no brainer; I think First Blood is a bit weak, and I've no interest in Skill Focus and no need for Pierce Damage Reduction.

[Rhysem]

As a light monk I'd guess your problem with shroud will be sufficient DPS to make progress, rather than ability to stay alive through it. I don't have any specific advice for that, though. If you can live through the devil assault waves, you can probably live through heroic shroud just fine.