Solo monk

[goldschlagrbombr]

I'm sure this has been posted before, but what path is the best for somebody that wants to mostly solo with a monk?

[soubal]

I'm sure this has been posted before, but what path is the best for somebody that wants to mostly solo with a monk?

If in doubt: light.

[bobbryan2]

The only choice for monks is to be a light monk or a stupid monk.

[Angelus_dead]

I'm sure this has been posted before, but what path is the best for somebody that wants to mostly solo with a monk?

It's like this: Do you or do you not want infinite healing as long as you have someone to punch?

The answer to that question is the same as whether you should take the path of Harmonious Balance.

[BlackRage]

The only choice for monks is to be a light monk or a stupid monk.

that is entirely incorrect

Light is obviously best for soloing, but Dark is more DPS

[Angelus_dead]

Light is obviously best for soloing, but Dark is more DPS

Fist of Dark + Karmic Strike can mean higher DPS sometimes, but it's still not better for group play. Walk of the Sun and Aligning the Heavens would be better.

[soubal]

Fist of Dark + Karmic Strike can mean higher DPS sometimes, but it's still not better for group play. Walk of the Sun and Aligning the Heavens would be better.

If and when you can get to 30 concentration, you walk into a quest with 30 ki. 30 ki is enough to put out water (5), fist of light (10), water (5), aligning the heavens (10). You have just saved 10% of the spell points used for buffing, for no real cost.

And when it comes to soloing, yes.. unlimited healing as long as you have something to hit.

Though.. that's also true if you combine wholeness of body and badger path, and you even eliminate the 'something to hit' part of it (though you do have to wait a whole 180 seconds between uses) So you can still self-heal on the dark side, it's just not so convenient.

[GlassCannon]

The only build I can fathom to use as far as a Dark Path goes, without breaking the living hell out of your bank, is this one... just change the Path of Harmonious Light to Path of Dominating Tiny Things.

That, and name it something like Junkyard Bully...

[GlassCannon]

It's like this: Do you or do you not want infinite healing as long as you have someone to punch?

The answer to that question is the same as whether you should take the path of Harmonious Balance.

It costs 10 punches to turn that on, and it lasts for 20 seconds or so...

...that, and you have to land the punch. 10 Ki for Fist of Light attack. If the thing dies just as you hit it with Fist of Light, you only get one hit's worth of HP. Heal Amp does work with it, as I have seen Punchy get 2d3 HP back per hit.

[Fennario]

Unfortunately, the light path is really the obvious choice, for both solo and group play. I have tested both on my monks. I really wanted to like the dark side, but light is just that much superior.

It boils down to this:

Dark side:

Really the best thing is that the mobs you hit with your negative attack get the shaken debuff.

The other stuff is all done by finishing moves. You can paralyze a humanoid, blind, nauseate, dish out a 50% healing penalty, or set up one auto crit shot. These all sound cool and useful. But they only work on trash mobs.

Stunning Fist is superior to all of these. One swing for the mob to be stunned and auto critted. As opposed to a finishing move that needs to be prepared and then landed. Stunning fist, quivering palm, unbalancing strike are usually better options.

If the dark side debuffs worked on bosses, that would be a different story.

Light:

Healing curse and healing ki add up for a lot of recovered hit points. Especially if you work in some healing amp, and a superior devotion/potency item.

Your finishing moves are buffs for the whole party. You get:

Heroism that stacks with everything for 1 minute. Nice.

10% spell cost savings for your casters for 1 minute. Can't hurt.

Blur for 1 minute. Useful when soloing.

Stun immunity for 30 seconds. Meh.


Hopefully they will make the dark side more powerful one day. For now don't be seduced by it Luke.