handwrap questions

[CrankVulcan]

ok so i have been told that the effect of the twf feats applies to handwraps.....is this true? also i was wondering if since you cant duel wield handwraps, do you get double damage from power attack? more Qs is improved crit worth it when using handwraps? sorry for the many questions ut i wanna be sure to make my monk effective. thx in advance..........

[Dcloak]

Handwraps count as two-weapon fighting so yes you are dual wielding handwraps so to speak. Taking the twf line will help your monk.

You only get double the bonus to damage from two-handed weapons with power attack on.

Improved crit is worth it, imo.

[CrankVulcan]

ok sweet thx man......so handwraps arent two-handed weapons? you should get to equip four different ones for both hands and both feet XD

[Sithias]

TWF line = must have for monks

Power attack = good for lower strength (dex/finesse) monks

Improved Critical:Bludgeon = Good to have to improve the crit range on handwraps from 20 only to 19-20

Keep asking questions, we like to see someone that wants to learn

Other good feats to have as a monk:
Weapon Finesse if a Dex build
Toughness
Stunning Fist
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So, essentially, your feats lists may/should include:
Two Weapon Fighting
Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Weapon Finesse*
Toughness
Stunning Fist

Anyone add anything I may have missed?

[Dcloak]

ok sweet thx man......so handwraps arent two-handed weapons? you should get to equip four different ones for both hands and both feet XD

Handwraps come in pairs. Each hand is a weapon so there are your two weapons for twf.

Any single weapon that requires you to hold with both of your hands e.g. greatsword uses thf.

Feetwraps! Nice.

[CrankVulcan]

i'm actually a relatively experienced player but i was nervous about taking the twf line in case it didnt actually take effect. here are my stats. tell me if i've screwed up lol

str 12(gonna eat a tomb for power attack)
dex 18
con 14
int 8
wis 16
chr 8

ima halfling by the way

[Kyrn]

To be technical, handwraps are not weapons. But it buffs your unarmed attacks. Unarmed attacks count as two-weapon fighting (2 fists, or 2 legs).

[Timjc86]

i'm actually a relatively experienced player but i was nervous about taking the twf line in case it didnt actually take effect. here are my stats. tell me if i've screwed up lol

str 12(gonna eat a tomb for power attack)
dex 18
con 14
int 8
wis 16
chr 8

ima halfling by the way

Your stats look perfect to me. I would make sure to put all level ups into dexterity to maximize your to-hit for epic content if that's something you want to do.

[Geonis]

i'm actually a relatively experienced player but i was nervous about taking the twf line in case it didnt actually take effect. here are my stats. tell me if i've screwed up lol

str 12(gonna eat a tomb for power attack)
dex 18
con 14
int 8
wis 16
chr 8

ima halfling by the way

Nothing personal, but I have done the Dex based Halfling Monk, and it rocks, up till about level 9.....

I love my Halflings, but for some builds, they are not the correct choice.

Try a Human for this.

Stats - All level ups into Str
Str 16
Dex 16
Con 10
Int 8
Wis 16
Cha 8

Feats
TWF
ITWF
GTWF
Toughness
Pwr Atk
Imp Crit


You can go either way as far as Light/Dark, my current Monk is Dark and loving it.....

[CrankVulcan]

another Q......do weighted handwraps do the job? are they better/equal to paralyzers? 5% i mean

[Timjc86]

another Q......do weighted handwraps do the job? are they better/equal to paralyzers? 5% i mean

If you're fighting things that only rarely save against paralyzers, I'd use them. However, by about level 14 and on, stuff starts saving quite a bit against paralyzers. At that point, switch to weight 5%.

Also, weighted 5% weapons are HUGE contributions in epic quests (with mobs that can be stunned).

[CrankVulcan]

ok i see......next question XD is stunning fist an extremely important feat? do i ABSOLUTELY have to have it?

[Impatiens]

ok i see......next question XD is stunning fist an extremely important feat? do i ABSOLUTELY have to have it?

No. It's fun to have, but at higher levels even with pumping wisdom for the DC it doesn't land a lot especially since weighted wraps don't add to the DC like they are supposed to. If you have an extra feat slot, take it, but if you are trying to work in something like the halfling dragonmarks and don't have room for it, it's not a big deal.

[CrankVulcan]

actually i am taking dragon marks.....are they a waste? imean the xtra healing would be cool but if its screwing something up i need to know....

[Impatiens]

actually i am taking dragon marks.....are they a waste? imean the xtra healing would be cool but if its screwing something up i need to know....

The dragonmarks are nice, especially the heal one, and really in most cases there isn't anything better to take. As long as you can fit the TWF chain into your plan pretty much everything else is optional. What are you looking at taking for your feats?

Ones I consider must haves are:

TWF
ITWF
GTWF
Toughness

Very nearly must haves:

Power Attack
Imp Crit Budgeoning

Nice to have if you can fit them in:
Stunning Fist
Dodge

Situationally Must Have:

Weapon Finesse (but this is only a must have if your Dex is much higher than your strength)

Monks get 10 feats so even if you need Weapon Finesse you can fit in the must haves and nearly must haves and still have 3 feats left over for Dragonmarks. The marks will come at the cost of Stunning Fist and one more AC, really not a big deal. I wanted to take them when I TR, but I have the monk past life feat in there as a must have too, making it harder to fit them in and still get what I want.

[CrankVulcan]

o yeah should i take improved crit? once again sorry for the 20 questions

[Impatiens]

o yeah should i take improved crit? once again sorry for the 20 questions

If you have room for it, yes. It's not amazing with handwraps, but every bit helps.

[Taimasan]

IMO yes, improved crit is a must.

[Darkrok]

On the weighted vs paralyzers question I find weighted to be much more useful on a dark monk from a ki generation standpoint. I don't auto-crit paralyzed mobs but I do get the auto-crit on the stunned ones. Since I took the Way of the Elegant Crane enhancements I get three extra ki for every crit. In the time span of a typical stun that can add up to quite a bit of extra ki which powers Touch of Death and Stunning Fist (which often pays for itself thanks to causing crits) on every cooldown.

[dunklezhan]

Re stunning fist.

Frankly, it never works for me and I've only got to L9. My Wis is 22, so I have no clue why it doesn't work, but it definitely doesn't. I'm actually *regretting* taking it. If I do a feat swap, that's what I'll be dropping, unless its a pre-req to something else, which I'd better check!

Having said that, the monk kills so fast that there's hardly time to get stunning fist off anyway - power attack + relevant handwraps + Finesse + Dex of 24 + Wind Stance = regular mobs usually dead in about a second and a half on normal. Only if I'm surrounded by stuff do I really need to think about CC. So most of the time I'd just have burned 15Ki for pretty much no benefit when I could be working up to my next mini-buff for the party (the casters *love* that 25% SP reduction, and the clerics welcome the mini-mass cure now and again when we're fighting undead, and who can say no to a 20% miss chance, or +2 attacks/saves from time to time?)

On top of that Stunning Fist, like practically everything else, doesn't work on rednames. On top of *that* everything on Hard or Elite resists anyway. Doesn't work on undead either. Since those are precisely the targets I'd want to neutralize and the game mechanics effectively prevent me, my view is: why bother?

I'm told that its a good caster-killer. But casters usually have such low hit points that a holy handwrap in the face is pretty effective too...


I figure I must be doing something wrong - everyone keeps telling me how great it is, but I just don't see it.

If someone wants to educate me in how to make SF work more often I really am all ears. Autocrits on stunned targets who aren't dishing out any damage themselves sound fantastic to me, but all the high HP bad guys are either completely immune, or have correspondingly obscene Fort saves (which makes sense - high HP = high CON = High Fort), and they're the targets I'd want to use it on.


My monk here, for those who want to tear it apart:

http://my.ddo.com/character/argonnessen/tsorte/

For me, the only thing I'm really lacking in seems to be AC. I'm struggling to boost that much further. Reckon I could probably push AC40 fully buffed... I'm just rarely fully buffed!