Centred

[Corion]

Hello all, having (at one time or another) capped chars in pretty much all of the other classes, and really liking the look of Abundant Step, I thought I would build a monk (tending to pure class but not sure yet).

I like to work through my builds before I start a char and so I would like to understand exactly what effect being un-centred has on a monk? As far as I know you lose the +4 to AC you get from 15 levels of monk but retain the Wis bonus. I presume you are also unable to enter any stances, so +3 to one of your stats gone. Are there any other consequences?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

Good question, people still get confused about this especially as the 'centered' AC bonus does not require you to be centered...

check out:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...24#post1879724

and

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...27#post1775627

If you have any more questions about specifics as me here, but after answering the question about four times I'm linking to previous answers now

Garth

[Corion]

Thanks a lot man - those links were very helpful.

I'm just not sure about this monk thing. Seems like the relatively standard "balanced" monk is going to be an almost carbon copy of my ranger, just with a little better AC (my ranger can hit 77, 68 self-buffed, so still good even for most end-game elite content) but significantly less DPS and no rogue skills or UMD - although I would get Abundant Step which may be the coolest looking ability in the game to date.

I keep trying to find an innovative (and effective) monk build that doesn't follow the high-AC wind or water stance (with fire stance for bosses) model, but so far nothing is jumping out at me.

[Lehrman]

Thorough links, Garth. Nice job!

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

Thanks a lot man - those links were very helpful.

I'm just not sure about this monk thing. Seems like the relatively standard "balanced" monk is going to be an almost carbon copy of my ranger, just with a little better AC (my ranger can hit 77, 68 self-buffed, so still good even for most end-game elite content) but significantly less DPS and no rogue skills or UMD - although I would get Abundant Step which may be the coolest looking ability in the game to date.

I keep trying to find an innovative (and effective) monk build that doesn't follow the high-AC wind or water stance (with fire stance for bosses) model, but so far nothing is jumping out at me.

I have to agree. Many people splash monk for the AC bonus and not really for wanting to be a monk. The other option is to go monk all the way but then you do tend to end up going down the AC/low-dps route, which you could easily get other ways - there are many very good high AC builds that make better use of the AC by having e.g. intimidate, or just more dps.

I play my monk because it's a totally different challenge. I find it enjoyable to make the most of the Ki abilities - buffing the group with Walk of the Sun when I have the Ki for it - hitting high HP mobs with debuffs and Curse of Healing and watching the group's hitpoints slowly increase, and using Abundant Step to jump straight to a caster and then hit it with quivering palm.

I also love being in Shroud runs and being the top of the killcount after commenting in the final fight that I'm not taking any damage while all the other people meleeing are constantly having to be healed by the cleric (ok - the example is semi-moot since the clerics were mass healing and it wouldn't really matter if I was taking damage, but I still find that fun).

My monk is also very good at soloing stuff, something I quite enjoy doing when I'm just not in the mood to group.

In summary, monks are an enjoyable class to play, but don't expect them to be uber (at least until GS handwraps come along anyway).

Garth