The Hammer -- DPS Kensai Monk

[Thanimal]

NOTE: If interested in unarmed DPS builds, please also consider The Holy Hammer, a build that plays similarly but offers different advantages and disadvantages. It also appears to be the new high water mark for DPS against 100% Fort (taking that title from this build).

EDIT 2009/09/09: Incorporated some feedback re feat selection from Dark-Star and A_O.

Inspired by the observations of cforce, Goldeneye, zealous, and others, this build is aimed at taking advantage of the significant improvements to unarmed damage that come with the new Greensteel rings.
Some calcs by cforce seem to indicate this build beats both the Monster and the Archon against high fort, while also having better AC, similar saves/Evasion, decent UMD, and situational tanking ability. Against lower Fort, its DPS remains "good," but does not match the very top builds.
I'm hoping Monkey_Archer and/or gfunk can do some calcs on this build, too, to confirm my claims.

Warnings and caveats
- I have not made this and I won't be (since I don't meet the criteria of the next few bullets).
- This build is a pure power-gamer build. More so than any other build I can think of, it really only reaches its full potential with specific high-end equipment.
- This build requires pretty solid twitch skills, to pound through 8 ki strikes efficiently. With Kensai II, you really want every single attack to be a ki strike.
- This build has "only" 19 critical levels: 12 Fighter/6 Monk/1 Rogue. None of Fighter 13, Monk 7, or Rogue 2 is terribly impressive. I went with Rogue 2 mainly for the skills (and +1 DEX is handy for the build as well). Monk 7 is certainly a viable option, too. Fighter 13 seems to bring almost literally nothing (+4 hit points?)
- It's possible that all I've "shown" here is that unarmed has the potential to be amazing, and that some completely different unarmed build will prove better. But so far this is the best direction I can find.
- This is even longer than my usual build posts. Strap in!

THE HAMMER

Warforged Lawful Neutral Fighter 12/Monk 6/Rogue 2

I'm going to start what I hope becomes a tradition, and list my equipment as the first thing after the basic class breakdown, because the numbers after this depend on it. Anywhere where you have to swap out of this configuration for optimal performance, I use gray to highlight the fact that it's a different "mode."

EQUIPMENT
Weapons: Holy Handwraps of Greater <whatever> Bane
Ring 1: (crafted) +6 CON, exceptional WIS +1, Holy Burst
Ring 2: (crafted) +6 CHA, exceptional STR +1, Acid (or your choice of element) Burst
Helm: Minos Hat.
Goggles: (crafted) +6 charisma skills, Raise Dead clickie, random Disrupt on hit
Necklace: (crafted) +45 hit points, +5 protection, +6 CON skills, Heavy Fort, 2 Stoneskins
Docent: (DT) +6 DEX, +5 resistance, +4 Insight
Gloves: Seven-fingered gloves (+5 UMD)
Bracers: Chaosgarde (+2 Dodge)
Boots: Madstone Boots
Trinket: Head (Mod Fort, +2 luck) (swaps to Bloodstone for all-out DPS mode)
Cloak: (crafted) +6 WIS, +3 exceptional Will save, Blindness Ward, Concordant Opposition, +10 Haggle.
Belt: Belt of Brute Strength (+6 STR, GFL)

+4 Tome on every stat except INT, though only +3 WIS, +2 CON, +1 DEX, and +1 INT are actually required.

OK! If that list hasn't sent you away laughing, then this build may be for you!

STATS
STR 16 [10 points] + 6 item + 5 bumps + 1 exc + 2 Fighter enh + 4 Tome + 8 surge = 42 (+2 Rage +4 double Madstone = 48)
DEX 16 [10 points] + 6 item + 1 Rogue enh + 3 Wind Stance + 4 Tome = 30
WIS 11 [5 points] + 6 item + 1 exc + 2 Monk enh + 4 Tome = 24
CON 12 [2 points] + 6 item + 4 Tome -2 Wind Stance = 20
INT 13 [5 points] + 1 Tome = 14
CHA 6 [0 points] + 6 item + 4 Tome = 16

(Note that WF CON I/II and Fighter STR III don't fit due to extreme action point needs. So those are not included above.)

LEVEL SEQUENCE, FEATS, and SKILLS

Master feat list: Toughness, TWF, iTWF, gTWF, 2 x Focus/Spec, Dodge, PA, CE, iCrit, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Luck of Heroes, Quickdraw, Stunning Blow.

Note that the level sequence is mainly dictated by maximizing the skills (at level 20), since we want several skills that only one of our classes has as a class skill (Concentration, UMD, and Intimidate).

1. Rogue 1. TWF.
2. Monk 1. MBF: Dodge
3. Fighter 1. Stunning Blow. FBF: Toughness
4. Fighter 2. FBF: Focus: Bludgeoning
5. Monk 2. MBF: Iron Will
6. Fighter 3. Lightning Reflexes
7. Fighter 4. FBF: Spec: Bludgeoning
8. Monk 3.
9. Fighter 5. iTWF [+1 DEX Tome required by here]
10. Fighter 6. FBF: Improved Critical Bludgeoning
11. Monk 4.
12. Fighter 7. Power Attack
13. Fighter 8. FBF: gTWF
14. Monk 5.
15. Fighter 9. Luck of Heroes
16. Fighter 10. FBF: Greater Focus: Bludgeoning
17. Fighter 11.
18. Fighter 12. Quickdraw, FBF: Greater Spec: Bludgeoning
19. Monk 6. MBF: CE
20. Rogue 2.

Key skill values:
Concentration: 23 ranks + 7 CON + 6 necklace + 2 luck + 4 GH = 42
Intimidate: 23 ranks + 3 CHA + 6 goggles + 2 luck + 4 GH = 38 [Tank mode: +15 intim hat = 53]
(Intimidate is purely for trash, will use DPS+Hate if ever called upon to tank bosses.)
UMD: 23 ranks + 3 CHA + 6 goggles + 5 gloves + 2 luck + 4 GH = 43

Getting the most possible ranks of the "off" skills (Jump and Balance) is actual fairly complicated, so here's details that I would normally leave out as "obvious." I show TOTAL ranks after leveling to that level. Rep to anyone who identifies an error! Importantly, I assume +1 INT Tome before leveling to 2. One thing to especially watch for is NOT upping UMD at 15-19, to allow the final Rogue level to be used optimally.

1. Rogue. Concentration: 2; UMD: 4; Intimidate: 4; Jump: 4; Balance: 4; Spot: 4; Open Lock: 4; Haggle: 4; Repair: 4
2. Monk. Conc: 5; UMD: 5; Bal: 5
3. Fighter. UMD: 6; Intim: 6
4. Fighter. UMD: 7; Intim: 7; Jump: 5
5. Monk. Conc: 8; UMD: 8; Bal: 6
6. Fighter. UMD: 9; Intim: 9
7. Fighter. UMD: 10; Intim: 10; Jump: 6
8. Monk. Conc: 11; UMD: 11; Bal: 7
9. Fighter. UMD: 12; Intim: 12
10. Fighter. UMD: 13; Intim: 13; Jump: 7
11. Monk. Conc: 14; UMD: 14; Bal: 8
12. Fighter. UMD: 15; Intim: 15
13. Fighter. UMD: 16; Intim: 16; Jump: 8
14. Monk. Conc: 17; UMD: 17; Bal: 9
15. Fighter. Intim: 18, Jump: 10
16. Fighter. Intim: 19, Jump: 13
17. Fighter. Intim: 20, Jump: 16
18. Fighter. Intim: 21, Jump: 19
19. MOnk. Conc: 22; Bal: 10
20. Rogue. Conc: 23; UMD: 23; Intim: 23

Final Ranks: COnc: 23; UMD: 23; Intim: 23; Jump: 19; Bal: 10; 4 of various random things from level 1


ENHANCEMENTS

Enhancements are TIGHT. The following ended up being my priorities; yours may differ:

(in no particular order)
3: Wind II
3: Sun II
3: Mountain II
3: Ocean II [+3 Tome required for final tier]
6: Monk WIS II
2: Monk Improved Recovery I
10: Fighter Haste Boost IV
3: Fighter Toughness II
6: Fighter STR II
6: Fighter Attack Boost III (prereq to Kensai)
6: Fighter Critical Accuracy III (prereq to Kensai)
6: Fighter Kensai II
2: Kensai Unarmed Mastery II
1: Fighter Unarmed Specialization I
1: Rogue Sneak Attack Training I
2: Rogue DEX I
2: WF Healer's Friend I
1: WF Brute Fighting I (not necessarily always on, but adds a lot of versatility)
3: WF Toughness II
6: WF Power Attack III
3: Fighter Strategy (Stunning Blow) II
2: WF Tactics I
---
80


ARMOR CLASS
10 base
9 DT Docent
1 alchemical
10 dex
7 wis
2 centered
1 Dodge feat
2 Dodge (Chaosgarde)
4 Insight
5 Protection
---
51

Standard Buffs
4 Shield Wand UMDed
3 Barkskin
1 Haste
---
59 self-buff

Raid Buffs
+5 Paladin
+2 Ranger
+4 Bard song
+2 Recitation
---
72

(-2 Rage ==> 70 theoretically possible in full DPS mode)


Tank mode
5 CE
+1 WIS from exc WIS+3 kama swapped in
+1 DEX from exc DEX+2 kama swapped in
+3 Dodge Chittering Ring swapped in
---
82



SAVES
Fighter 12: 8/4/4
Monk 6: 5/5/5
Rogue 2: 0/3/0
Resist: 5/5/5
Stats: 5/10/7
GH: 4/4/4
luck: 2/2/2
exceptional: 0/0/3
feats: 1/3/3
---
30/36/33 normally

Wind stance
Wind itself: 3/3/3
DEX change: 0/-2/0
WIS change: 0/0/1
---
33/37/37 tanking a caster

The "new" feat set helps quite a bit to make saves pretty solid. Note that Rage adds to Fort save, too.

HIT POINTS
20 base
120 Fighter
48 Monk
12 Rogue
100 CON
45 necklace
20 hat
22 Toughness feat
40 Toughness enhancements
10 Draconic
30 GFL
---
467

Fully Raged
60 more from CON
---
527

Always could use more, but this seems fine with better-than-expected-for-a-DPS defenses.


Now get psyched to punch and kick some stuff!

[BlackSteel]

you could get +4 more damage by playing equipment shuffle

shintao and frenzy set

[Dark-Star]

I like the build, similar to The Beotch Slapper for sure. WF does work better, and were I to build one, that'd be my race of choice most likely.

A few suggestions:

You will have 2x stone skin from your neck, and limitless stone skin from your UMD. Taking the 5 DR feats is a waste. 115 more hit points from 5x toughness would be a better use of those feats.

Seems you missed Draconic hit points (10) and GFL (30) in your HP calculation.

Add those in and you go from 487 hps to 642... now your talking tank!

Also, you might want to consider what going 6 monk levels really gives you over 12 kensai/ 7 rogue/ 1 monk. Windstance 2, 1 more point of damage per hit, 1d6 more every three seconds for your strikes and one more feat are replaced by 3d6+6 more sneak attack, or average 16.5 more per SA hit. Even three monk levels for healing light (less effective on a WF) might be enough.

+4 tomes are a big assumption, as +3's are not even dropping unbound yet.

Lastly, no stunning blow? A build like this screams for it .

+1 rep for a cool idea!

[Jay203]

for lvl split personally i'd go 12/8 fighter monk for better unarmed damage with wholeness of body or 12/7/1 for UMD + wholeness of body

[Thanimal]

A few suggestions:

You will have 2x stone skin from your neck, and limitless stone skin from your UMD. Taking the 5 DR feats is a waste. 115 more hit points from 5x toughness would be a better use of those feats.

Seems you missed Draconic hit points (10) and GFL (30) in your HP calculation.

Huh. You're right. Will fix. Very interesting thought about going heavy Toughness. I guess at the moment I'm a little skeptical of Stoneskin. It seems to me it is going to get used up FAST with Grazing Hits. But experience may say otherwise.

Also, you might want to consider what going 6 monk levels really gives you over 12 kensai/ 7 rogue/ 1 monk. Windstance 2, 1 more point of damage per hit, 1d6 more every three seconds for your strikes and one more feat are replaced by 3d6+6 more sneak attack, or average 16.5 more per SA hit. Even three monk levels for healing light (less effective on a WF) might be enough.

Definitely a good alternative. I was kind of focused on peak non-SA DPS when thinking about this build, as it feels like more and more Fort is coming our way.

+4 tomes are a big assumption, as +3's are not even dropping unbound yet.

Fair enough. Caveat Emptor!

Lastly, no stunning blow? A build like this screams for it .

Yeah. I really wanted to stuff in some DR, but I am starting to think there are some good feats I've missed. Stunning Blow, Quickdraw (for faster Haste boosting), and a few extra Toughness feats could be an overall better package. Does anybody's experience suggest the permanent DR is key under Mod 9?

+1 rep for a cool idea!

Thanks!

[Dark-Star]

On a 600 hp character with healing light, grazing hits are a non-factor, especially if you can cast unlimited stone skin.

[Thanimal]

On a 600 hp character with healing light, grazing hits are a non-factor, especially if you can cast unlimited stone skin.

Pretty soon I'm going to make a set of changes based on the feedback so far, which will probably mean dropping WF DR entirely.

So last chance for somebody to disagree with the above!

[Thanimal]

you could get +4 more damage by playing equipment shuffle

shintao and frenzy set

Cool! Stuffing in a Necklace might cause Slot Chaos (which might be worth it, of course). Has the other half of the shintao set been revealed?

I'm especially curious about the rest of the Frenzy Set, though. The belt provides CON+6 and GFL, which would be a relatively simple rearrangement and result in not losing anything. (Just craft the STR bonus instead of the CON bonus on one of the rings.)

Has the other half of that set been revealed anywhere? Getting 2 extra points per hit would be sweet, especially if the slot cost turns out to be small.

Possibly worth pointing out: Conceptually, each flat bonus further favors unarmed, due to the faster attack rate. But unarmed has slightly worse "slot issues" than anyone else, so it may not quite work out that way in practice.

[Absolute-Omniscience]

Has the other half of that set been revealed anywhere? Getting 2 extra points per hit would be sweet, especially if the slot cost turns out to be small.

Kensai ring is +6 str, +1 str. Shintao is +6 wis, +1 str.

Similar to a build I've planned. But I'm doing 12/7/1-rogue. As 10% more healing amp and wholness of body > nothing.

[Thanimal]

Kensai ring is +6 str, +1 str. Shintao is +6 wis, +1 str.

Similar to a build I've planned. But I'm doing 12/7/1-rogue. As 10% more healing amp and wholness of body > nothing.

Yeah, I like 12/7/1 a lot, too, and that was my original plan (stolen from Goldeneye actually). But as the details came together, I concluded I would never be willing to dedicate 4 precious action points to the second tier of Monk healing amp. Without that, I ended up just barely preferring +1 DEX and some handy skill points. But there's really no need to "finalize" that decision until about 15 levels into the build anyhow.

I'd be curious to know your thoughts on DR. I'm still weighing the advantages of DR 6 (mainly for grazing hits but obviously helps at the margin vs. all hits), vs. the Stunning Blow/Quickdraw/3 extra Toughness package. Or something in between?

[Absolute-Omniscience]

Yeah, I like 12/7/1 a lot, too, and that was my original plan (stolen from Goldeneye actually). But as the details came together, I concluded I would never be willing to dedicate 4 precious action points to the second tier of Monk healing amp. Without that, I ended up just barely preferring +1 DEX and some handy skill points. But there's really no need to "finalize" that decision until about 15 levels into the build anyhow.

I'd be curious to know your thoughts on DR. I'm still weighing the advantages of DR 6 (mainly for grazing hits but obviously helps at the margin vs. all hits), vs. the Stunning Blow/Quickdraw/3 extra Toughness package. Or something in between?

Well, I've personally found that grazing hits are very little to be concerned about. A few stoneskin clickies and they're all negated.

And when playing elite, your ac wont be enough for the new content anyways. They hit 60 ac like nothing, and this build wouldn't reach much higher than that on a regular basis.

DR is nice, but I would stick with something like; QD, Stunning blow, LUck of heroes, iron will, lighting reflexes

[Thanimal]

Well, I've personally found that grazing hits are very little to be concerned about. A few stoneskin clickies and they're all negated.

Interesting. I don't know whether that makes me happy or sad!?

And when playing elite, your ac wont be enough for the new content anyways. They hit 60 ac like nothing, and this build wouldn't reach much higher than that on a regular basis.

Agreed. This is a DPS build with "hopefully-non-useless" AC. I think it can fake it as a tank in some situations, but certainly not at-level Elite content.

DR is nice, but I would stick with something like; QD, Stunning blow, LUck of heroes, iron will, lighting reflexes

I like the way you think! More saves always make me happy, but I often feel like people don't like these feats very much so I tend to leave them out, especially when my build isn't aimed squarely at myself. But what good is a DPS build that is incapacitated!?

Minor note: As initially planned, Fort save is (oddly enough) weaker than Will save. Would you still prefer Iron Will to Great Fortitude?

[Absolute-Omniscience]

Minor note: As initially planned, Fort save is (oddly enough) weaker than Will save. Would you still prefer Iron Will to Great Fortitude?

True, great fort is probably better, especially as fort saves tend to be higher.
However, madstone AND rage pots increases the fort save. By up to 5 more with double madstone and pot... Hard call.

[Thanimal]

True, great fort is probably better, especially as fort saves tend to be higher.
However, madstone AND rage pots increases the fort save. By up to 5 more with double madstone and pot... Hard call.

Since I've found Iron Will is far better in the early game, I think I'll put that one in the plan relatively early and then somebody who actually plays this build can decide if they want to respec to adapt to the specific saves that are most critical in the new end-game content.

Thanks A_O! Will probably update tomorrow.

[Thanimal]

Feats updated. Thanks for the input, guys. Keep it coming!

Also, I'm surprised nobody pointed out my original plan was taking iTWF with a BAB of 5. I fixed that, too.

Key improvements:
- Noticeably better saves (+1/+3/+3 from feats)
- Stunning Blow. I'd like to figure out how to make room for more Stunning Blow DC enhancement, though.
- Quickdraw improves medium-term DPS (by reducing activation time of Haste Boost).

Key loss:
- Rely on Stoneskin instead of WF DR

[rimble]

and Unbalancing Strike available.

Not like you have to spend a lot for it...but, DC 20 all super maxed out...? I wouldn't waste the time clicking the button...I guess you could spam it on bosses and pray for a 1...but even then they'll shake it off a few seconds later.

[Thanimal]

Not like you have to spend a lot for it...but, DC 20 all super maxed out...? I wouldn't waste the time clicking the button...I guess you could spam it on bosses and pray for a 1...but even then they'll shake it off a few seconds later.

Whoops! I thought that was a STR modifier.

Update: I dropped that and made a few other minor concessions to add +3 to Stunning Blow DC, which should now be 10 + 16 STR + 3 enhancements = 29 before considering Rage and Weighted. If swapping to an equipment set designed for it, DC could be in the high 30s under ideal circumstances.

[Humperdink]

I built a WF 18 Fighter/ 2 monk Kensai III. I decided to play around with unarmed combat to see how that would be to try something different and if I didn't like it I could switch to Khopeshes or Heavy Picks. He's not really equipment optimized and no greensteel yet, and I'm still playing around with feats, but I thought I'd share some results. I fully spec'd him out with all conceivable attack and damage bonuses for unarmed bludgeoning combat, including WF Power Attack III.

Level 20 stats: 32/22/22/10/22/14

Saving throws with +5 resist item and GH-

Fort:29
Reflex:24
Will:24

With +5 holy handwraps here are some numbers in different strength scenarios:

32Str, No power attack: 1d6+24, Crit on 18-20/ X2
32Str, power attack: 1d6+32
44Str (Power Surge, rage pot, single madstone rage), power attack: 1d6+38

Typical damage is in the 45-50 to range including holy damage. Crits are in the 110 point range including holy and bloodstone.

For Stunning Blow to land in Mod 9 content you need at least a 35DC at a minimum and more like 40 to really land it on most everything. My Stunning Blow DC is 33 with a 44Str, 2 ranks of fighter enhancement, and 1 rank of WF racial enhancement. When handwraps work it will be a 41-43DC depending on if you are using 4% or 5% Weighted. I sometimes cheat with a weighted hammer and then quickly switch to handwraps.

The build is fun to play. Intimidating the mobs to encircle you and then hitting cleave and great cleave is awesome. The unarmed cleave animation on a monk type is a hoot to watch. Of course landing Stunning Blow is nice, allowing you to just pummel away on a helpless opponent. Hit Fighter Haste Boost IV and it just turns into a whirling crazy speed driven powerhouse. Is he a top tier elite build? Not really. His DPS isn't the same as Heavy Picks or Khopeshes. Probably 65-70% of that power. He's more like that old car that's fun to pull out of the garage occasionally on a nice sunny day to enjoy the drive, not what you use to get the job done Mon-Fri.

[Thanimal]

Thanks for the detailed information. Just one comment:

His DPS isn't the same as Heavy Picks or Khopeshes. Probably 65-70% of that power.

At least according to the calculations I've seen so far, the rings change unarmed DPS numbers rather dramatically. The whole reason I posted The Hammer is that it appears it may be one of the top DPS builds possible against 100% fortification. Of course, more actual game experience with the rings and the new content is needed. (And not by me -- I don't have the focus to even get to end-game, much less grind it. Always rather make a new build!)

[geoffhanna]

I am also working an 18ftr/monk2.

Better DPS, but no UMD. Probably not as well-rounded. Also, mine had to be Halfling while yours can choose the most suitable race. Rather than posting the whole build for comparison, here's a link, just in case you are curious.