Possible Monk Build - Human Ki Master

[Rekker]

Not to derail the thread, I like the build Asp...where can I find out the requiement for the Stances and what each one does (Fire, Water, etc.) ???

Still trying to decide on STR or DEX myself. I know weapon wise the Weapon Finesse build will be useless for damage at high level, but if the damage difference can be made up by hand attacks then it will be OK.

[Aspenor]

Not to derail the thread, I like the build Asp...where can I find out the requiement for the Stances and what each one does (Fire, Water, etc.) ???

Still trying to decide on STR or DEX myself. I know weapon wise the Weapon Finesse build will be useless for damage at high level, but if the damage difference can be made up by hand attacks then it will be OK.

Ask Razorr, or Rameses. I'm not sure what the reqs are exactly....

[Angelus_dead]

Ask Razorr, or Rameses. I'm not sure what the reqs are exactly....

It's simple. Monks have 4 main choices in their development:
Attack rolls: Str or Dex
Elemental Path: Air, Fire, Wind, Earth
Animal Path: Tortiose, Hound, Badger, Crane, Monkey
Virtue Path: Harmonious or Dominating

The elemental path comes as enhancements in 3 tiers.

Tier 1 is level 1, tier 2 is level 6, and tier 3 is level 12. Each elemental path has a prime ability and an opposed ability. To qualify for the enhancement you need a prime stat of 12,14,16 for tier 1,2,3. Each gives you a toggleable stance and an active attack. You can only use one elemental stance at a time, and using it boosts the prime ability +2 and the opposed ability -2, plus has another effect. At tier 3 the prime bonus increases to +3.


Air
prime dex, opposed con
Stance: About +15% melee and throwing speed. +20-30% at tier2.
Attack: +1d6 shock damage, +1d6 at tier 2, +2d6 burst at tier 3

Earth
prime con, opposed dex
Stance: DR 2/-, +2 blocking DR, gain +1 Ki when damaged in combat, -10% running speed. +1 DR at tier 2.
Attack: +4 physical damage, +4 at tier 2

Fire
prime str, opposed wis
Stance: +1 Ki when damaging a foe in combat (on top of the +1 Ki everyone gets)
Attack: +1d6 fire damage, +1d6 at tier 2, +2d6 burst at tier 3

Water
prime wis, opposed str
Stance: +2 saving throws, +some AC when tumbling. Another +1,+1 saves at tier 2 and 3.
Attack: +1d6 cold damage, +1d6 at tier 2, +2d6 burst at tier 3

Also at tier 2 of each path you qualify for another special attack enhancement:
Air: 20 sec of +15% throwing rate
Earth: single attack with +1 crit mult
Fire: attack which debuffs AC
Water: attack which debuffs AC, balance, and leaves flat-foot

[Aspenor]

What is harmonious and dominating?

[RazorrX]

Light and dark path.

Basically:

Harmonious lets you take positive fist that does 2d6 damage to undead (positive energy)..

It can be used to generate combos that heal, buff allies (blur, etc.) and can gain raise dead (50 ki and 50 hp cost to you).

pos pos pos = group healing

Dominating will allow negative fist that does 2d6 negative damage and is used to generate debuffing combos.

air neg air = blind
ice neg ice = paralyze
etc.


I went negative, but have been with light guys, and the raise dead thing is sweet, as well as the cures.

Here is a thread with all the known combos:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=147352

[Rekker]

Well, to muddy the waters even more, they posted this...

http://www.ddo.com/article/973

Now there are 4 tiers to the stances, these could be pretty awesome at level 18

[Dark-Star]

My feedback for your consideration.

Based on my time on Risia, Wind and Earth seem the best stances by far.

Wind for the attack speed, Earth for the strike.

Even at level 2, 8 raw damage that can be included in a crit seems better than the elemental strikes (situational mobs withstanding).

Air stance seems to generate enough Ki for me, and I find Fire stance to be over kill on Ki generation, and slower in overall dps.

In the heat of battle, it is often hard to trigger a chain of x-y-x strikes, mostly due to the delay you get while attacks are cued, but other reasons as well- but that is another discussion. Using Earth-Earth-Earth gives you a +2 crit multuplier, and prevents casting for 30 secs as a bonus if the target fails their DC.

DC based skills with a moderate wisdom so far, for me, seem to be resisted too much to rely on. Perhaps this will improve at later levels, but imo it's not worth going for a super high wisdom (DC) and giving up points in the other three core stats.

I predict Quivering Palm will be a novelty, especially if only available with unarmed.

[Aspenor]

My feedback for your consideration.

Based on my time on Risia, Wind and Earth seem the best stances by far.

Wind for the attack speed, Earth for the strike.

Even at level 2, 8 raw damage that can be included in a crit seems better than the elemental strikes (situational mobs withstanding).

Air stance seems to generate enough Ki for me, and I find Fire stance to be over kill on Ki generation, and slower in overall dps.

In the heat of battle, it is often hard to trigger a chain of x-y-x strikes, mostly due to the delay you get while attacks are cued, but other reasons as well- but that is another discussion. Using Earth-Earth-Earth gives you a +2 crit multuplier, and prevents casting for 30 secs as a bonus if the target fails their DC.

DC based skills with a moderate wisdom so far, for me, seem to be resisted too much to rely on. Perhaps this will improve at later levels, but imo it's not worth going for a super high wisdom (DC) and giving up points in the other three core stats.

I predict Quivering Palm will be a novelty, especially if only available with unarmed.

Define "moderate" wisdom.

[Dark-Star]

From memory I think it's 17ish.

So 10 + 3 (1/2 monk level rounded down) + 3 wis mod = 16.

CR 3-8 mobs seem to be saving a lot against these special attacks, perhaps others are having better luck.

I also had a high DC monk build in mind originally, but have scrapped that idea after actually playing one.

[RazorrX]

I started with 16 in wisdom, have used enhancement boost and level upgrade so far and at level 9 i am starting to see Stunning fist stick more than it did lower levels. I tried it out on sorrowdusk and was able to successfully stick ogres around 80% of the time.

Will try some more tonight (after I respec to harmonious balance).

I have been trying different strategies to see what works best for me, changing out stances a lot, etc. I go fire in areas I am not too worried about to build up key, switch to water for stunning fist, etc. and to wind when I just need to beat down something fast.