Maxing Out Dex for Halfling Light Monk

[blumsborres]

can we stick to the topic and work with what I have? unless you're willing to donate all those tomes you mentioned? i just can't afford them.

[TPICKRELL]

can we stick to the topic and work with what I have? unless you're willing to donate all those tomes you mentioned? i just can't afford them.

Keep in mind that if you are willing to grind, you don't have to pay plat or turbine points in order to get some tomes. You get 1 plus 2 tome of your choice when you hit 1750 favor with each toon.

And you canget +3 tomes as an option when you complete your 20th (and multiples of 20) run of high level Raids like Shroud, Vision of Destruction and Hound or Xoriat...

You will also get a lot more plat as you level, so you would almost certainly generate enough plat to buy +1 tomes and probably a +2 tome or two.

[blumsborres]

sorry for double posting but here are my stats again

STR 12 = this time sacrificing DPS for chance to hit
DEX 18 = its more important to hit mobs than to stun them (+5 level up stats)
CON 16 = more HP and Earth Stance
INT 8 = huh?
WIS 14 = sacrifice stunning for hitting ^_^
CHA 8 = i'm ugly but i'm celibate anyway so it doesn't matter

i'm taking weapons finesse of course...

I will use tomes when they drop... but for now I don't have them (other than a +1 STR tome) and I can't afford them.

[Jasam01]

Hi Welcome

This is my dex/wis lt monk. I don't have to turn off PA to hit. I don't need a PrE.

Jasam01, please link your monks.

http://my.ddo.com/character/khyber/dreamler/

I don't have a Wis based monk unfortuantly. And I can't for the life of me work out your starting distrabution + levelups. I'm very intrested in gathering info on whats needed to hit, as a lot of peopel have considered going 14,16,16,8,14+5,8 or similar builds of late, and there just doesn't seem to be anyone who can give an answer to 'can I hit with a 2, with PA, with only 14/16 starter+no levels in my to-hit.




blumsborres by the time you need the aforementioned tomes, you will probably either have the plat, or have had one drop. It's always safe to assume a +1 or +2 in your build.

Either way, if your going DEX based, I can recomend 14/16(+5)/16/8/14/8. I can personaly confirm that gives enough to-hit, PA, good AC, decent WIS. I belive SINIBYTE used a similar build in his thread, though the monk was Dark.

[blumsborres]

ah yes.... thanks Jasam... i'm familiar with that thread....

based on majority recommendation i'm focusin on DEX instead of WIS

i'm just trying to get opinions if it's ok to starting with lower STR 12 and higher DEX 18 compared to 14 STR and 16 DEX

less damage for more AC and chance to hit

[Crinos]

ah yes.... thanks Jasam... i'm familiar with that thread....

based on majority recommendation i'm focusin on DEX instead of WIS

i'm just trying to get opinions if it's ok to starting with lower STR 12 and higher DEX 18 compared to 14 STR and 16 DEX

less damage for more AC and chance to hit

If you are focussing on Dex now rather than wis then my earlier comments apply again. I'd go with 16 dex and 16 con rather than 18 dex and 14 con.

[blumsborres]

yup... if you scroll up at my updated stats my CON is now 16 but my DEX is still 18

[SINIBYTE]

yes... but i'm trying to build a monk without having to use tomes... because.... i don't have that many plats and i don't have that many TPs

Farm TOR, sell scales.

[stainer]

STR: 12
DEX: 17
CON: 14
INT: 10
WIS: 16 < level ups
CHA: 8
I think I got this stat distro right.
max concentration, umd, 1 pt tumble (add spot,balance,jump if you can)

1 Two weapon fighting
1 (monk) Toughness
2 (monk) Weapon Finesse
3 (monk) Path of Harmonious Balance
3 Dodge [or Past Life: Monk]
6 Power Attack (requires +1 str tome - if you are on Khyber I will give it to you)
6 (monk) Stunning Fist
9 Improved Two Weapon Fighting
12 Improved Critical: Bludgeoning
15 Greater Two Weapon Fighting
18 SF UMD

This is basically what I used, modified for the horror of no +2 tomes. It is based on/modified from the Rockan Robin build. Anthios888 uses combat expertise at lvl 18. I don't care for CE but I like UMD. This is gear intensive, and since a +2 tome seems to be an issue, I have doubts that you will be able to get all the gear you need to be successful. Good luck.

[blumsborres]

ok...going abit off topic... how much are +2 Tomes in the auction house of Argonnessen and Khyber? in Ghallanda it's an average of 2.5 million gold

[Arel]

Here's Rockan Robin, Halfling WIS based Monk, by Anthios: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...ighlight=robin

Again, there are tomes in the calculations, but none you absolutely NEED to have to make the build work, at least at low levels. The +1 INT tome listed on the initial distribution there isn't really needed till level 18, by which time you will have plenty of gold to buy +1's or even a +2 or two.

And yes, even though you may not have much gold now, you will have enough by mid-high levels to afford a +2 tome as long as you don't visit the AH every time you level up. Until you hit shroud, the only thing you absolutely have to keep an eye out for is Fortification items, you want the highest you can find to be equipped at all times. Other than that, you can afford to be a bit behind on your equipment -- consider looking over the dealers in the marketplace for cheaper discarded gear.

[blumsborres]

Wow! Thanks for the offer stainer. Not to worry i have a +1 STR tome here in Ghallanda

[stainer]

ok...going abit off topic... how much are +2 Tomes in the auction house of Argonnessen and Khyber? in Ghallanda it's an average of 2.5 million gold

250k plat is a couple of days in IQ/Vale/Amaranth on a high lvl character. Monks are expensive to start, but are a cash cow at high lvls. Think of it as an investment.

[Quijonsith]

Check Baaldon in my sig for a wis monk. The only time I ever have to turn off power attack is epics. The key to halflings with lower end game dex than other races is the halfling cunning enhancements. When you have sneak attack that will give you extra attack bonus. You get that when enemies are stunned, which is the point to my build. I run in invisible or look for the enemies that are aggroed on others already (they usually are) and off the bat hit stunning fist while I have sneak attack. If something can't be stunned and you're pulling aggro get out the best 'of deception' handwraps you have and you'll almost always have sneak attack.

My starting stats for halfling were:
Str....11 (+2 tome for power attack, +1 exceptional from shintao ring to even it out at endgame)
Dex...16 (+2 tome for GTWF and Wind IV, +2 halfling dex, +4 wind stance IV)
Con...15 (+1 level up and +2 tome for Earth IV)
Int.....8
Wis...17 (+ 4 level up, +1 monk wis, +2 tome)
Cha....8

End stats:
Str...20
Dex..30
Con..22
Int...10 (used a +2 tome for skill points)
Wis..30
Cha..10 (used a +2 tome for shining star finisher)

What I would do if you don't have tomes 'yet' is stick with it till you save up enough plat for the tomes or loot them yourself. The only one you really 'need' is the dex tome for GTWF, and then just a +1. You can always LR to readjust your stats if you need to. +1 tomes are relatively cheap on the auction house.

I posted my stats to give you an idea of how you can distribute things. You'll obviously want to adjust them as you see fit. If I had to choose one stat to drop by 2 I would choose wisdom as your DCs will not suffer 'too' much but the extra attack bonus or HP will make more of a difference.

BTW: I've frequently told my friends that switching to wisdom focused and taking stunning fist has been the best thing I've ever done for my monk. Now my +2 flaming burst wraps of stunning 10 have icy burst and force crit and I can't get enough of stunning fist. I even consistently stun the orthons in part 3 of tower of despair, NTM epics.

[Fafnir]

I agree with Quijonsith, including potentially dropping a couple of points (only) of wis for dex in a build like this. As he points out, you can stun all the orthon/devil/trog in TOD and obviously stun a lot of mobs in epics.