Finishing Moves!?!?!?!?!

[Talon_Moonshadow]

I've gotten my monk up to lvl 7 now, and I still can't figure out finishing moves.

From what I know and can do so far, if I use a special Ki attack 3 times in a short period of time, my finishing move button wil change, and I can use some kind of finishing move.

I believe I have used all the ones listed in the lvl 1 tab of the compendium. (like burning hands...etc.)

I have also had success with the healing one from using the positive energy attack against undead.

But that has been the only finishing move from the lvl 3 list in the compendium, that I believe I have successfully used.

(and then there is actually remembering what is possible and using them on the right opponent or in the right situation.....but that is anothe issure)

How do you unlock them? Can you choose between them? Like say burning hands or a higher lvl fire based finsher.

Any advice you can give for using them would be appreciated.
Tactical ideas for when to use some of them and how to be more successful with them.....etc.

Heck, I'd appreciate any commentary whatsoever about them! Since few people seem to have successful monks or have written then off as gimped....etc.

[Aspenor]

the only really important ones to know are:
Fire Positive Fire - Walk of the Sun
Earth Positive Earth - Mana Buff
Air Positive Air - Blur
Pos Pos Pos - Mass Cure

[Aerendil]

Finishing moves list can be found at the DDO mainpage under Compendium -> Classes -> Monk, near the bottom of the page (also has stances info, etc.)
http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Class:Monk

Also, Aspenor noted above the mana buff is earth-positive-earth, but I think it is water-positive-water, no?
Earth-pos-earth = sleep/stun/daze immunity for 30sec, if that compendium is correct.

[Aspenor]

Finishing moves list can be found at the DDO mainpage under Compendium -> Classes -> Monk, near the bottom of the page (also has stances info, etc.)
http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Class:Monk

Also, Aspenor noted above the mana buff is earth-positive-earth, but I think it is water-positive-water, no?
Earth-pos-earth = sleep/stun/daze immunity for 30sec, if that compendium is correct.

Ah, you got me. My mistake.

Water Positive Water for the mana buff.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

the only really important ones to know are:
Fire Positive Fire - Walk of the Sun
Earth Positive Earth - Mana Buff
Air Positive Air - Blur
Pos Pos Pos - Mass Cure

Thx.
This actually helps a lot.

I've was under the impression that you had to use the same more 3 times to get a finishing move, and couldn't figure out how to get the other ones.

I do sometimes mix them, but had not seen any results to date.
I was just hitting buttons to get as much DPS from whatever I could......

Is there a complete list of each one and how to unlock them?

And what are some good tactics or occasions to use certain ones in?

I'm sure I'll get some ideas when I know each one and can use it on demand. Thx again.

Edit: I might have just found what I needed at the bottom of the compendium.... doh! never noticed that before.

[Ikuryo]

In case you have not found it yet. You need to do the combo of moves with no other action in between each step. No looting chests, opening doors, pulling levers, picking up collectables, etc etc

[Hasteclicky]

As a new monk I haven't noticed a time limit on how long you have to perform all 3. I also have yet to loose the charge once I have it from time lapse, though any action will cancel it, even drinking a potion. also meditating to increase ur mana enough to pull off the final move will drop it also. Essentially U can only attack while building the charge. Climbing a ladder will also start the process over I think, so U need to plan ahead.

[Jay203]

well, you don't have to use the finishing move right away
when you are charged with the finishing move ability, it stays on you as long as you don't do anything other than basic running, jumping, and attacking, as well as meditating, any other action will remove it off you

and also, the charge is invisible, so you REALLY have to keep track of what you have used already in order to use your ki effeciently
if you forgot what you've used before, you can always tumble to reset the combo charge and start from scratch


hope that helps =)

[Aerendil]

Yeah, pretty much any other action starts the process over.
Once the charge is up, though, it's definitely not invisible! Your finishing moves icon on your hotbar will change into something, and you'll get some sort of weird aura around you (usually neck/shoulders area) that matches whatever element(s) you've been using for the combo.

One thing I haven't tested yet is whether you can kill one target, acquire your finishing move, and then switch targets and unleash it. This could be good for dealing with low-level swarms, by beating up one target, rounding up a group of enemies, and then unleashing the cone of fire move.

But finishing moves aside, you should be building ki fast enough that every couple of seconds you have enough ki to use a special attack.
And that alone is kinda nice. +1d6 fire/cold/lightning/earth (or 2d6 damage if light or dark) every 5-6 seconds? Yes, please!

[yoyorobbo]

My special ability Ki "aura" is quite visible too, however, it is an electrical charge look, while I am usually in Fire Stance. This may be a visual bug, if in fact the aura/look is supposed to reflect the stance or the type of ability that you used to get the special attack built up. I haven't checked for listed/known bugs on it, so maybe it's there all along...dunno. But, yes, it is quite "visible."

Also, on building Ki, I think you may see different results depending on which stance/enhancement line you choose. I am usually in Fire stance, and have gone down the "frightened turtle"....errr "patient tortoise" line. I usually am using a Q-staff, and Cleave/Gr.Cleave whenever I can and when it makes sense. When I do that type of play, I typically find it hard to actually use up my Ki...hehe....it builds so fast, it usually takes some effort to get rid of it. Thing is, I try to save it for the buffs, and for self-healing (purity), which take a big chunk out of it. I need to get used to doing my healing-fists attacks to help the group more there...it's a good reminder to me from this thread....oops.

The stun-immunity buff is sweet for places like the beholder/illithid room in PoP...but man! 30 sec is kinda short. Not so much for the fight to happen and end, but for lever pulls, and "everyone ready?" type of setups..hehe...need more practice there too, or some dev love for a little bump to 60 sec?

Walk of the Sun, is sweet too. I love it when folks see it for the first time. They ask "W-T-F is this buff I just got?" Once explained, it seems to be something asked for after that...heheh.

The mass-heal/cure is cool too. That one does take a bit longer to setup, IMO. Seeing how I only have one trigger for the "good" path/button, the cooldown on that button takes long enough that you have to tell folks to stick around a bit, or you have to try to sneak it in, and hit the special when they all seem to be gathered as close as possible....hopefully there's no chest to open first....hehe.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

I think I've found all the basic info I needed.

Thx.

But god it is so hard to actually get use out of these things.

My best successes so far have been in Delera's against skellie archers. Those are the only monsters so far that have enough HP and stay basically in one place long enough to let me beat on them awhile and pull off some finishing moves.

Very annoying how it disappears when doing anything whatsoever. Or when you try to use it and don't have enough Ki.

I think it disappears if your Ki drops to low also, but that one's a little weird, because you can get the moves without having enough Ki to use them (and lose the move if you try to use it but dont have enough Ki).

Seems the Dark Side powers are much better IMO.

I have trouble making use of mass buffs/heals since the party is always spread all over the place.

But I do now know a lot more and I'm having fun trying to figure out how best to use them.

Still would like any tactical advice anyone has.

Thx.

[Aspenor]

I think I've found all the basic info I needed.

Thx.

But god it is so hard to actually get use out of these things.

My best successes so far have been in Delera's against skellie archers. Those are the only monsters so far that have enough HP and stay basically in one place long enough to let me beat on them awhile and pull off some finishing moves.

Very annoying how it disappears when doing anything whatsoever. Or when you try to use it and don't have enough Ki.

I think it disappears if your Ki drops to low also, but that one's a little weird, because you can get the moves without having enough Ki to use them (and lose the move if you try to use it but dont have enough Ki).

Seems the Dark Side powers are much better IMO.

I have trouble making use of mass buffs/heals since the party is always spread all over the place.

But I do now know a lot more and I'm having fun trying to figure out how best to use them.

Still would like any tactical advice anyone has.

Thx.

Well, first of all, you don't even need to get an attack roll to activate finishers. You can set them up at any time as long as you dont drink a pot or do something to break the finisher. You can even use them before you've attacked one monster if you have enough ki.

[Aerendil]

One other thing to be aware of is that the Ki-related moves are element-related.
For example, the Air/Storm attacks will split oozes. So please be aware of this, and be careful.
(not sure if the research for this has been done already, but this may lead to some nice options, using elemental-based attacks or finishers to exploit an enemy's weakness)

Also, with regards to light vs. dark - it seems to depend on your playstyle. I'd argue that the basic dark attack is more useful (+2d6 to any living target vs. +2d6 to undead only), but the light/positive energy finishers are more useful in most situations. Dark finishers are debuffs, whereas the light finishers offer some great party buffs. Group heals, group blur, immunity to daze/stun/sleep, mana reduction, etc.
Although, to be honest, I haven't played around with dark enough to give an honest opinion of it's finishers. It just strikes me that positive = more group friendly, and dark = more solo friendly.