28 pts build - Drow Elf Shuriken Monk help

[Sunbeamz]

Hello I would like to make a good ranged drow w/ Shuriken. Is monk a good choice? How should I spent points, etc. Thank you in advance.

[Xezom]

I'm no professional with the build but I've done it a few times. Before anything I will say that ranged weapons do not generate Ki like melee does, nor are any of the active attacks from monk feats or the skill trees usable with ranged weapons, making using finishers a bit of a challenge and using many of the active abilites from the trees tricky to work in (possible but requires some creativity) The monk thrower is just that. A thrower. It's a fun niche build if you like seeing a load of numbers come up, but don't go into the build thinking it's going to be Inquisitive level of power. That said:



Basic idea is to stack a hellacious amount of dex for the double/triple shuriken throw chance from the free feat from Drow (Shuriken expertise) and the Ninja Spy core 2 point (Advanced ninja training). For pure 20 monk I went max Dex, Con/Wis second (can argue either way), and whichever you didn't pick as second for the third for any remaining points at start. Wisdom helps with the ranged power bonus from Ten-Thousand Stars, Constitution helps take some extra hits.

For AP, collect the Ninjutsu line on the left side of Ninja Spy tree simply for the hit and damage with shurikens, I opted to pick up the sneak attack die throughout the tree, sting of the ninja for a bit of extra damage on crits, Teir 5's Crippling Strike and Deadly Striker.

In Drow tree take the hit and damage with Shuriken line, envenomed blades is optional (the damage is negligible, but it's damage on hit nonetheless).

If you have access to it, go into the Horizon Walker Tree taking the points to hit with all attacks, skills (spot listen search), favored enemy or protection from evil and good (i prefer favored enemy but your choice) to get up to the No Step Missed active (dex version of Know the Angles). Fill in other desired (dex, dodge, saves, etc.) points in Ninja Spy and take capstone there for innate vorpal.


Gear:
Almost mandatory- - - Shadow Star from Seal of Shan-to-Kor or other deception shuriken to proc sneak attack die and crippling Strike. Late game (raid) Salazar, Borne of Hemlock is great for improved deception and it's double augment slots (good luck on getting it but it IS a great shuriken). Spite, the Fractured Shards can also be really good as you can stakc up the Glass Shards pretty fast with the multi hits from Dex. Up to 75d10 every two seconds fully stacked is nothing to scoff at. (Old Baba's Hut Raid).

For leveling, the Barovian weapons are not bad because of the number of effects and red augment slot on them giving you a way to rack up the added damage from additional throws. Same can be said about the Sharn crafted weapons. Personally the Spelltouched weapon from eveningstar for shurikens get my vote. If you can get some good rolls on the base, you can proc a crazy amount of effects as throwing weapons have a hidden modifier that gives them a second set of randomly generated effects (3 for ML 16 and 20, 4 for 24). More info here: https://ddowiki.com/page/Spelltouched

Stack as much Dex and doubleshot as possible. Follow that with hit chance and deadly, wisdom and constitution.

Play Style:
Use you strong weapon for clearing trash with IPS. Against tougher enemies switch to a deception weapon to proc then return to strong weapon. Make sure before you fight bosses that you either mediate or have enough passive ki generation that you have the needed 20 Ki for Ten Thousand Stars. Activate Ten Thousand Stars and No Step Missed and go to toss town... wait a few minute for all the on hit effects to clear from the screen and proceed. I go path of inevitable darkness(though it really doesn't matter cause you wont be proccing finishers much if at all), and stay almost exclusively in Wind Stance. I've seen some that run Wind with Sun (and a melee or unarmed weapon) just to build up enough Ki on hit for Ten Thousand Stars then switch back to wind to avoid needing to meditate before bosses.



On a personal preferance note: This build is... bland as all hell and is not very good early on, but is borderline comical with all the effects going on as you get later (especially in epics when you have sharadi procs also going off on top of everything else). Now it is important to note that the chance to throw and additional shuriken is coded as a double/triple shot and therefore you dont get the extra procs for additional effects in the same way you used to when each double shot counted as a unique weapon hit (double shot now just doubles/triples/quad/etc. the effects based on how many extra hits you would be doing). This makes the build a lot less appealing than it used to be since you dont get teh ridiculous amont of procs but it's still a good build.

Again, I am no pro at the build, but this is what I've done and it can be pretty fun albeit very simple as far as number of actives. It's your basic just keep autoing character. Hope some of this helps. Best of Luck!

[magaiti]

20 monk, for maximum 10kStars effectiveness.

Halfling fits better due to height and sneak attack dice in racial enhancements.

DEX is very important, as it affects not only your damage/to hit, but also chance for extra shuriken thrown.

You will need passive Ki regen, make sure you have some taken in your enhancements, as well as on gear. Maybe use wisdom stance.

You will barely have Ki to power your 10kStars, so no party buffs or other fancy monk stuff. So no downside in going dark monk for Ninjutsu line in Ninja Spy (+4 to-hit/damage)

41 AP in Ninja Spy, 8 Henshin (Contemplation), 8 Shintao (Iron Skin), remaining into racial tree and more DEX, if possible