The Metaru - Dark Path WF Fire DPS Monk

[Lord_Darquain]

AC is worthless

Hunh?

It seems to me that if you can build to AC, and given the changes to Mountain stance, you could potentially tank anything in the game - even LoB.


And since that would mean putting more into Wis, you would also be able to Stunning Fist, Touch of Death, Touch of Despair, etc. the whole way to 20, doing more damage both the whole life and at cap. You'd be able to tank more (all?) of the game while also DPSing.

Stunning Fist + all other damage
ToDeath 750 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 750 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 750 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDespair (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 1000 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 1000 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 1000 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 1000 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 1000 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 1000 + (all other damage +50%)

And in between the ToDeaths, you could drop Void Strikes to do as much damage as earth's against most enemies and they would speed up the procing of ToDespair AND they would do +50% damage post-ToDespair.

It seems like this strength build is building like a fighter instead of taking advantage of the increased DPS monk offers via procs while also being able to do things like insta-kill (Quivering Palm), tanking (2 stats to ac, mountain stance, etc), control (Curse of the Void, Freezing the Life Blood), and debuffs that increase both yours and the rest of the party's dps (Karmic Strike, Eagle Claw, Unbalancing Strike).

[Habreno]

Touch of Despair (Dark - Dark - Dark finisher) is a 25% fortification debuff and a 25% negative energy vulnerability. Best you could do on a helpless mob would be 925 on failed saves, unless they are debuffed further from outside sources.

[Wraith_Sarevok]

Hunh?

It seems to me that if you can build to AC, and given the changes to Mountain stance, you could potentially tank anything in the game - even LoB.


And since that would mean putting more into Wis, you would also be able to Stunning Fist, Touch of Death, Touch of Despair, etc. the whole way to 20, doing more damage both the whole life and at cap. You'd be able to tank more (all?) of the game while also DPSing.

Stunning Fist + all other damage
ToDeath 750 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 750 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 750 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDespair (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 1000 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 1000 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 1000 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 1000 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 1000 + (all other damage +50%)
ToDeath 1000 + (all other damage +50%)

And in between the ToDeaths, you could drop Void Strikes to do as much damage as earth's against most enemies and they would speed up the procing of ToDespair AND they would do +50% damage post-ToDespair.

It seems like this strength build is building like a fighter instead of taking advantage of the increased DPS monk offers via procs while also being able to do things like insta-kill (Quivering Palm), tanking (2 stats to ac, mountain stance, etc), control (Curse of the Void, Freezing the Life Blood), and debuffs that increase both yours and the rest of the party's dps (Karmic Strike, Eagle Claw, Unbalancing Strike).

What would be the point though? You tell me.

The OP specifically designed his monk to take advantage of the increased DPS and +25% healing amp that Fire stance offers. It's been shown many times that monks can deal insane DPS, in some cases even higher than frenzied barbs and manyshotting rangers can pull off.

If you wanted to build for WIS or DEX and focus on high AC, you'd have to hit numbers like 90+ in order to start taking reduced damage from mobs like epic lord of blades. And even if you were invulnerable to his regular hits, you'd still have to take his massive grazing hit damage. That all costs tradeoffs in STR and DPS, and don't forget that certain mobs can cast deathward making them immune to ToD or that golems and undead are immune to ToD procs. I also doubt it's possible to raise your DC high enough to make Horoth fail his fort save often since most mobs tend to have high fort saves.

This build is already walking around with -20% reduced damage taken from Mountain Stance, a 20% chance to dodge any physical attack from Shadow Fade, on top of a potential 50% dodge chance from Displacement against trash and most bosses. He has access to Repair spells, +25% healing amp from the epic Jidz in Fire Stance on top of his +10-30% monk enhancement line, the +15-25% WF enhancement line, and the standard healing amp boosts available to everyone else. Finally, his HP is scratching 800 and he has all the WF immunities along with high saves all around from being a monk. Oh, did I forget to mention the 10 DR/epic? He's pretty much unkillable with a decent healer behind him.

Heck, all you'd need to throw in is Intimidate to make it a perfect tank, which is easily doable to 60 with max points and the right gear. Play around with the AC mechanic a bit and you'll quickly see that it costs way too much investment and tradeoff in DPS for not enough gain. Best players I know dump stat AC in this game and go all out DPS, HP, and healing amp for defense.

[Taimasan]

To be honest, to be a main tank as a monk you need balance. Of course if you build for healing amp with a human build with pally past lives it may be a different story. Anyway, Unbuffed Quis sits at:

http://my.ddo.com/character/sarlona/quis/

36. 26. 31, 10, 31, 10

And AC is at a 54, not even ship buffed. Raid buffed I hit 70s easy.

As a monk, my job is not to take damage. But rather build my toon so that I never take damage at all. Saves are 28 28 30 unbuffed. Long story short its what makes a monk a monk. If you want to see a build that utilizes DPS and AC with a tanking/dps role I would recommend the link in my sig. And the bottom line is that if you build your Earth stance monk to not get hit. You will not build the amount of ki that you will need to keep that yellow bar at 20-30 at all times. Or lower. If you find yourself constantly at 50-60 ki during combat with ToD on cooldown. You are losing DPS. Find a method that is comfortable for you to dump ki. Fast. Just try. =)

Would also like to say this toon has tanked every raid in the game which it is applicable. Including LoB, albiet only Hard difficulty.

Tl;dr: As-is the build is lackluster as a real tank, with some tweaking yes. But is it outdated to the max.

[jmonty]

To be honest, to be a main tank as a monk you need balance.

i haven't seen evidence of that in the last few years. but i haven't played the last few months..

[Taimasan]

i haven't seen evidence of that in the last few years. but i haven't played the last few months..

Then maybe you should play, then enter a valid comment.

[Munkenmo]

Then maybe you should play, then enter a valid comment.

got a feeling he assumed you meant as in the skill, rather than balanced over all.

[Taimasan]

nvm, maya culpa.

[Thok]

Is there a half-elf variation of this build? My 2nd life monk has almost all his gear and I'd rather keep the outfits he has than farm for docents. I'm planning to make him a dark monk. If anybody has a good Helf dark monk build please link it. Thanks!

[Thok]

Oh yeah a dps build? If that is possible for a Half elf.

[Dr_Kyrgenstein]

Necroin' is bad m'kay, but update 14 has changed the playing field.

I've got a 36 point Metaru build sitting at Lvl 17 and looking at the new Epic Destinies and the Epic Moment in particular are making me think that dumping Wis may have been a mistake, especially given the fact I could have achieved an even balance of scores with my 36 build points.

That's not even going into the changes to AC, which, imo have no bearing on the majority of DPS builds since you can achieve a decent AC without building for it.

Thoughts?

[Hydro]

Wow, can’t believe this thread is still going. Metaru is now a Half-Orc monk with 42 Str and 32 Wisdom in fire stance with no other buffs or destinies.

As it stands today Half Orc > WF in all aspects besides tanking. I do not have the hit points a Warforged can have but my DPS is definitely higher. I can still tank just fine with Fury Destiny and earth stance but my HP won’t pass 1000.

When I tested the destinies during beta I quickly realized that Wisdom became much more valuable then when I first made this build and with Half Orc initial stats it was very easy to come up with a great monk build that didn't dump stat wisdom.

I will post up my Metaru 2.0 build soon just have not had the time lately.

[valewalker]

I will post up my Metaru 2.0 build soon just have not had the time lately.

Woo! New Metaru guide, just as I'm approaching TR for the first time. Shame the old character link doesn't work

[Hydro]

New build out, it isnt 100% finished but good enough to get posted.

Here is the link:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=387993

[mikeNEIN]

That's what they said as I slowly built him! I am right there with ya almost exactly! A few differences!
I'm just curious to compare and analyze! However I don't find metaru or " monk the metaru" on any server. Actually there's a metaru lightfoot on ghallanda but not anything you would be building so ??? You mind comparing!? We can swap email, do it here, meet up,... Idcare! I'm on ghallanda please respond so I know how to proceed!
Thanks.

[LargePiece]

Does anyone have an comments on the viability of this ver 1.0 metaru as compared to the horc v2? I got to level 9 on a TR nearly 2 years ago now and have come back to play again. Still keen to keep playing my v1 though! Just a little sad about the nerfing of WF immunities.

Can anyone please summarise the main differences between the two builds? I noticed the addition of the greater sundering, high wis and obviously the various horc bonuses but I have little idea as to what they actually do. I'm also wondering what U17 has meant for the builds too.

[KoboldKiller]

I have the original Metaru capped and love it.

The link to your new build is broken due to forum nerf.

Would you mind linking it with the new forum as I am curious as to what the differences are.