Halfling Monk Dex based VS Str based

[Odin's_Hugin]

Stand near a Paladin and ask a Bard to put an AC song on you. Voila -- 71. And there's also 2 from Recitation, 3 more from a full Barkskin, 2 from Chaosgarde, 3 from a Chattering Ring, 4 from a Shield clickie, and almost certainly more stuff I'm forgetting. 85 so far...

Really any Monk build should be able to hit 80s in ideal situations. 90+ possible for the more defensively oriented.

I did some calculations and, as a Halfling build, I could do this:

10 base
40 dex (+15 ac)
32 wis (+11 ac)
Dragontouched armor (+6 AC armor)
Alchemical Armor Ritual (+1 AC alchemical)
Heightened Awarenesss 4 (+4 insight ac)
Barskin potion (+3 ac)
chaosgarde (+2 AC, dodge)
Monk Centered bonus (+5 AC)
Protection (+5 AC, deflection)
Blessing of the Three dragons (+1 AC, guild)
Combat Expertise (+5 AC bonus, feat)
Dodge Feat (+1 AC, dodge)
GH armor (3x Shield clicky, +4 AC, shield, 3x de 1 minuto)
*Race (+1 ac, halfling)
*Chattering Ring (+3 AC dodge)

= 77 AC, with no other classes buffs.

+ Greensteel with permanent blur.
+ 25% Ninja Spy
= 45% auto-miss, solo.


At a raid or an epic quest, with some other people around (1 ranger, 1 bard, 1 cleric/fvs, 1 paladin e 1 mage):

+2 de barskin completa (ranger)
+2 recitation (clérigo ou fvs)
+4 Inspire Heroics (bard)
+5 aura (paladin)
+ Displacement

= 90 AC and 75% miss chance.


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However my question is: Is 90 ac of any use on epic content? I heard fighters and rogues can get into 110-120 AC.

I heard also that people with 100 AC still get hit very often on epic.

[Fafnir]

I think you want a mathematical answer.

But here is two questions:
1. are there times when AC is better than HPs?
2. what epic content are you talking about?

Re 1, this mostly seems to be Suulu TOD tanking. And for that, a WF with lots of hps and whatever AC is good so that the caster can reconstruct you while the cleric/FVS work on the Horoth tank and rest of the raid. Isn't always the case and a high AC toon (like the above; or a ranger or intim pal) is good because they don't get hit much.

Re 2, epic content for any group rather than raid is mostly about auto crit situations and CC. Go with a caster with mass hold, or with barbs with SB or monks with SF, and you're golden. You aren't generally standing up to melee damage. That applies to the easier epics clearly and the desert epics is either the same or about tactics and positioning (e.g wiz king)

Re 2 for raids, you don't need AC for VON6 and for DQ2, you don't need it either. If you could achieve huge STR with enough HPs you can melee the DQ but if you're a low HPs and low STR AC toon then you'll at best be kiting the archers - and for that your AC isn't relevant as it's about moving around.

In terms of the mathematics, no I don't think that AC really cuts it for Epics in the way that you want.

[DethTrip]

Strength all the way. Max str WF fire/earth stance with DR gear and of course 500 punch. Have a TR at lvl10 built this way and I'm lovin it. 18str/15dex/18con stats to start with on TR. Remember that monk DR stacks and you will have clerics to heal you. Yes, clerics, because you can have well over 100% light healing amp on a WF monk.