Help! My monk Sux0rZ

[Praxian09]

Ok, so my first monkey is up to lvl 10. I've got so-so equipment, in table top I've got decent stuff, but online I suck.

I've got a 26 AC (and die often). My resists are 8 10 and 12 (again, on hard / elite dungeons I fail... often).

And I'm trying to be a better monk. I really am! But I don't know what equipment to get / do for making a better DDO monk.

Advice?

[Hobgoblin]

stats please!!

[Memnir]

stats please!!

Agreed.
Not sure it's a gear issue...

[hu-flung-pu]

It sounds like your saves are telling us a little too much about your stats.

if that's an 8 fortitude save, too low, you need CON in this game. On monks a naked 18 CON is desirable for greater mountain stance which people like for the Ki strikes. I personally don't feel it's a necessity to achieve that, but it's great to have if you can get it.

Reflex save is ok, and will save is great. So that tells me you put a ton of attribute points in to WIS and DEX. Again you need a naked 18 DEX for Grand Master of the Storm stance, which makes you one of the fastest attacking characters in the game.

You kinda had the right idea, I'm assuming your STR is a 12 or 14 as well, and you probably went Elf. The dragon mark is kinda cool for them on a dark side monk.

Your AC isn't horrendous at that level if you've got the hit points to back it up. Which I don't think you do. If you have the mod 4 adventure pack, shoot for the bracers there. Even when not upgraded it's fairly decent for the level. Or, you can strive for the black widow bracers from water works in the harbor.

It sounds like it's also a 28 point build, which makes the monk tougher to play, but do-able. Toughness is vital in this game, because you need hit points, period. It's why it's included in the monk only feats in the first two levels.

Hope this helped.

[Praxian09]

Stats are: (32 pt build)

Human

Str 16, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10 (maybe 12), Wis 21, Cha 8.

Wis includes the stuff I've used for enhancements and my level up points. I'm more focused on the fire stance than the air / earth one. Also, a LG Light-side monk.

I do have Toughness, and have 132 hp's @ lvl 10.

[Eurytos]

Stats are: (32 pt build)

Human

Str 16, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10 (maybe 12), Wis 21, Cha 8.

Wis includes the stuff I've used for enhancements and my level up points. I'm more focused on the fire stance than the air / earth one. Also, a LG Light-side monk.

I do have Toughness, and have 132 hp's @ lvl 10.

There's your problem. That STR should have been your base starting point whether you're finesse monk or strength monk. Wisdom as a main stat is for clerics and favored souls. You also need more CON, 14 should be the base starting point there, I'm assuming your numbers are including items.

[hu-flung-pu]

Wow, I was way off!

Everything looks kosher, but I'm still not sure about some stuff.

What feats did you select?

[smilinJ]

are you sure you are always focused? other then that i would have suggested you even out the wis and dex as they both give ac mods when centered. also i started out using fire stance as well but learned in my low teens that the str bonuses arent a good as the melee speed of air or the increased resists of water. also do you have the skills concentration and balance maxed (and kepts maxed every lvl)? concentration is of the utmost importance as it determines how much Ki you have/aquire/loose and balance just helps.. oh yeah almost forgot .. fortitute .. even if you only have a lesser fort item that is still a 25% chance that all crits and back stabs on you are rolled as normal damage.. if yo uhave none i strongly recommend getting at least a lesser fort item.. save your enhancement points for a couple lvls and get at least 2 dex upgrade enhancements.. and imo path of the Monkey enhancement is the best for keeping us alive .. gives great trap resists and solid base elemental resists. if yo u are anything like me you will end up resetting your enhancements a few times before you are happy with it
i hope find some useful tidbit here and can enjoy the experience with him a little more. can glady answer any question "in person" any time you are able to track me down

Quaichane Kane {20 Monk of Ghallanda} member of <Council of the Elders>
Azterath {17 ranger/2 rogue of Ghallanda} member of <Council of the Elders>

[smilinJ]

There's your problem. That STR should have been your base starting point whether you're finesse monk or strength monk. Wisdom as a main stat is for clerics and favored souls. You also need more CON, 14 should be the base starting point there, I'm assuming your numbers are including items.

dex and wis are a monk's primary stats .. then con and then str.. or str then con depending on your preferences.. but the OP seemed to be asking on advice to stay alive and rarely will a high str help you if ac/hp/resists etc have already failed.. imo 16 is perfect if not counting item bonuses and you dont even really NEED any more con but 2 more points there would help but yo uneed your dex up just as bad or more

Quaichane Kane {20 Monk of Ghallanda} member of <Council of the Elders>
Azterath {17 ranger/2 rogue of Ghallanda} member of <Council of the Elders>

[Pithrin]

Looks like you've already received some good info regarding your stats for your build. You mentioned equipment and what you should look for....

ML 11 item: Minos Legens Helm: Toughness (which stacks w/ the feat and enhancements but not other toughness items). It also has Heavy Fortification which will eliminate critical hits on your monk.

This item alone goes a long way to making your character's survivability in any fight better.

The helm is one of several rewards from the Orchard of the Macabre and requires 20 tapestries which you get from chests in the open area of the Orchard.

The zone may be a little difficult to solo at your level but you should be able to find groups doing tapestry runs.

Lots of undead: Disruption handwraps a plus if you have / can acquire them. I'm not on your server otherwise I could toss you a set that I kept after I upgraded.

[Praxian09]

To Eurytos:
No, that's flat. With bonuses my Str is higher, my Wis is higher, and a few other stats are higher.

Current things equipped:
Robe of Heavy Fort (100% Fortification)
Black Widow Bracers

My Handwraps I bounce between using:
+1 Ghost Touch Handwraps of Pure Good (I do a lot of Delera's - love that module)
+3 Handwraps of Fireburst

And I was wrong, I have 142 hp's.

I am home now, and can access everything easier.

Feats:
I'm a fan of the Dragonmarks, so I have "wasted" (as I've been told in and out of game before... but I like 'em) 3 feats on dragon-marks. (Able to teleport with the House Orien stuff).
Die Hard
Toughness

Skills Maxed:
Balance, Concentration, Jump, Spot, and Tumble

[Greydeath]

Ok, so my first monkey is up to lvl 10. I've got so-so equipment, in table top I've got decent stuff, but online I suck.

I've got a 26 AC (and die often). My resists are 8 10 and 12 (again, on hard / elite dungeons I fail... often).

And I'm trying to be a better monk. I really am! But I don't know what equipment to get / do for making a better DDO monk.

Advice?

Frankly it sounds like this is your first character or that you lack significant in-game experience. In either case, the Monk is an advanced class and it behoves you to have a main and 32points first.

[smilinJ]

Feats:
I'm a fan of the Dragonmarks, so I have "wasted" (as I've been told in and out of game before... but I like 'em) 3 feats on dragon-marks. (Able to teleport with the House Orien stuff).
Die Hard
Toughness

that is the only serious performance inhibiting thing i see... i would have started working on 2 weapon fighting cause that is one of a monk's most important feats. you are missing out on a lot of dps without it.

and on your dieing issue ..
The best way to avoid a blow is to not be there .... <strifing, tumble, strifing,circle behind mobs as much as possible and strifing help me a lot>

[Praxian09]

Frankly it sounds like this is your first character or that you lack significant in-game experience. In either case, the Monk is an advanced class and it behoves you to have a main and 32points first.

I have 32 points, and thanks for the not-so-helpful advice.

[gott_ist_tot]

Feats:
I'm a fan of the Dragonmarks, so I have "wasted" (as I've been told in and out of game before... but I like 'em) 3 feats on dragon-marks. (Able to teleport with the House Orien stuff).
Die Hard
Toughness

Skills Maxed:
Balance, Concentration, Jump, Spot, and Tumble

When using up your precious feat slots by dragonmarks you can't afford to make
another 'frivolous' choices :-) Get rid of die hard, take TWF. You want TWF, you need TWF,
lots of your problems are becuse you don't have TWF. All the way up to GTWF you should
take it, and no less than Greater TWF should be on your feat list. Also, think about
developing the TWF line of feats. Am I getting repetitive? Sorry, forgot to take my dried
frog pills.

[Greydeath]

I have 32 points, and thanks for the not-so-helpful advice.

Anyone can BUY 32points - but if you have not EARNEDit, then you do not deserve it.

In any event, this:

Ok, so my first monkey is up to lvl 10. I've got so-so equipment, in table top I've got decent stuff, but online I suck.

I've got a 26 AC. My resists are 8 10 and 12.

and your join date tell me you are too inexperienced to properly play a Monk. Or more succinctly you have a PEBCAK issue

[Vissarion]

Anyone can BUY 32points - but if you have not EARNEDit, then you do not deserve it.

In any event, this:

and your join date tell me you are too inexperienced to properly play a Monk. Or more succinctly you have a PEBCAK issue

Elitism FTW!

I'll remember this every time I roll up a 32 point character - I just don't deserve it. And just when I was overcoming my self-esteem issues, too.

Sure, Monks aren't an easy class to play, but it seems reasonable to roll one up, have it suck, and learn important lessons from doing so. My first Monk was suboptimal, but that just made my second one more effective once I assimilated the information from experience. Seems like a more helpful way to look at things than the attitude that if you're inexperienced, then you shouldn't roll up such a character.

As for OP, it's definitely your feat selection that is making life difficult, along with the decision to focus on putting levels into Wisdom (since Wisdom doesn't improve your attack bonus or damage, just your AC and combat trick DCs).

By level ten, good feat choices for a Monk include:

TWF/ITWF (can't emphasize enough)
Toughness
Power Attack (since it can cover a Monk bonus feat)
Weapon Finesse (if finesse build)
WF: Bludgeoning
Stunning Fist (with your high Wisdom, you should absolutely have this)
Dodge

As for other things, what stance are you in most of the time? It's pretty hard to beat Wind Stance, so this might be part of the problem.

How does your AC break down? It seems like it should be higher, and that would reduce your squishiness considerably.

A quick level 10ish AC breakdown:

10 Base
7 Wis (I'm assuming that you have around a 24 with items and whatnot)
5 Dex (at least, if you have an item and are in wind stance)
3 Centered
3 Protection (a Cloak of Protection +3 should be pretty cheap at your level)
4 Armor (Black Widow Bracers)

That gives a rough 32 AC that is easily buffable to 35 (Barkskin potion) or 39 (Barkskin plus Shield clicky). With Dodge and optimal stat boost gear for your level (+4 min level 9), your AC should get even higher.

You could get your AC even higher with some minimal grinding for the Chaosgarde bracers from Xorian Cipher, because then you could throw on something like the Vulkoorim Dervish Robe and end up with a higher net AC than with BWB alone. Chaosgarde are always useful to have, too, and since they're not bound to character, you can bounce them around to other characters eventually.

You have heavy fort, which is good, but your HPs seem a tad low. For comparison, my level 9 WF Monk has 190. Do you have a Con item? A false life item? Toughness enhancements? Since monks get a lower base HP total than other melees, optimizing here is pretty crucial.

What your total gear setup? You only listed the Bracers, the Robe, and your wraps. Monks are ironically pretty gear intensive, so this could be part of the problem as well.

Hope this was at least somewhat useful. I probably forgot some important stuff.

[Shade2891]

Sorry to the OP but posts like the one above really tick me off. I understand that some peoples(including mine) join dates aren't from the every beginning. I also realize that game experience makes people who play the game better.

That being said it's not our faults that we can't move our join dates or have joined sooner than we did we each have our own reasons for playing or not playing games.

I honestly can't understand where people who claim to be vets or even are vets get off talking like they are better than everyone else. How exactly do you expect us newbs to ever learn if your so busy blacklisting anyone with a join date that's "too new"? If people like you would pull you head out of your "insert" then maybe there would be more players who knew the ins and outs of the game.

To the OP I am new only have 28pt and have a monk that arguably is low lvl I just hit 4 today but I would say that getting some more exp playing with your monk would make you better with your monk.

Happy Hunting

[gott_ist_tot]

I honestly can't understand where people who claim to be vets or even are vets get off talking like they are better than everyone else. How exactly do you expect us newbs to ever learn if your so busy blacklisting anyone with a join date that's "too new"?

That's one of the DDO neat things - there only a few bad elitist apples. Just ignore them, and focus
on the answers of these who are helpful. Put them elitist on yer own blacklist. They won't help you, ever,
just taunt you. It's not important whether they had to learn what they know, they behave like they knew
it always. And since 'the knowledge' is a boon of the chosen, if you do not posess the knowledge, they won't
enlighten you. You are already doomed: you're too young, have bad spelling skils or whatever.

If one listens to helpful advice, one will give it oneself when 'grown up'.
When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.

[Shade2891]

OK I though of some other tips from a newb so take what you want from them.

I use sun stance to build ki up in the first few moments of the dungeon after that I usually switch to wind for the speed/dex bonus alternatly you can switch to ocean to get the bonus to saves/wisdom. If your up against melee mobs you can use montain stance to help with hps and armor too.

Other than that you should switch feats out and take the whole twf line as suggested above you'll get additional attacks added. Additionaly if you group with rogues much the stunning fist will open them up to the rogues special abilities .

Above all have fun that is the most important part and if you find someone in game willing to show you the ins and outs to a questline or one you can just group with and get along well keep em in your friend list.

oh and I agree about the elitests there are not as many as it would seem but they just really get under my skin don't really know why but I suppose it is from reading all the trash talk in forums on 28pt, F2P, new players, etc. I seem to fit into the catagory of new therefore stay away. I hate to take away from the info that the OP was asking for so agian OP I am sorry!