Advice for my monk.

[Mobeius]

Who said light monks are less worthwhile? I certainly didn't.

I did say that the light path Pre is not worthwhile, and in that same post I suggested Void 4 for a light monk instead. It's right here.



However, as you have first hand experience of Void 4's erase ability I have a question. As it appears it only procs on a natural 20 rather than on a crit, why all the excitement about it?

Don't get me wrong, if I was running a light monk right now I'd have it for the force damage alone and would take the occasional proc as a bonus, but it doesn't seem like you can rely on it. Do you think it goes off often enough (on a strike you can only hit once every 3 seconds anyway) to be worthwhile for the erase alone?

Sorry if this seems like a bit of a thread sidetrack Vaeo, but the answer is relevant to your requirement for a hard hitting light monk.

Oh, and looks like good starting stats to me, again assuming you want to be strength based.

A natural 20 with crit confirmation, and considering I have a bloodstone and power critical, it seems to go off pretty regulary for me. IDK if I am just lucky but I have had ohter monks impressed by how often it goes off, the ability to double/triple proc. and the fact it works on Undead, Constructs, Demons, Devils, Death and Epic warded mobs. Because it can double or triple proc, I think that is what makes it more reliable for erasing mobs from existance.

I think when I confirm crit I have like a +65 to confirm? Something along those lines. I dont "rely" on Void 4 erasure, but certianly makes things nice. Couple it with vorpal kamas for "vorpalable" mobs and you have plenty of insta kill chances. Its one of my primary strikes, followed by fists of light, earth and Lightening (like devils and demons) and sometimes void 3 as well.

[Vaeo]

I don't mind the thread sidetrack! In fact, I don't find it to be one at all! Feel free to openly discuss things about monks in here! I am but a learner, and am soaking up a lot of information from it all.

[Crinos]

A natural 20 with crit confirmation, and considering I have a bloodstone and power critical, it seems to go off pretty regulary for me. IDK if I am just lucky but I have had ohter monks impressed by how often it goes off, the ability to double/triple proc. and the fact it works on Undead, Constructs, Demons, Devils, Death and Epic warded mobs. Because it can double or triple proc, I think that is what makes it more reliable for erasing mobs from existance.

I think when I confirm crit I have like a +65 to confirm? Something along those lines. I dont "rely" on Void 4 erasure, but certianly makes things nice. Couple it with vorpal kamas for "vorpalable" mobs and you have plenty of insta kill chances. Its one of my primary strikes, followed by fists of light, earth and Lightening (like devils and demons) and sometimes void 3 as well.

Sounds like it's as I thought then.

I wouldn't doubt your ability to confirm a crit, I was assuming that was more or less a no fail situation.

What bothers me about it is that even waiting for a vorpal, which is just looking for a natural 20 on any hit (with crit confirmation), seems slower than just DPSing stuff down most of the time. So having to combine rolling a 20 with it happening to coincide with your Void 4 strike on a 3s cooldown, just seems like it must rarely proc.

Of course, if you are using the Void 4 as part of your DPS strike cycle and it happens to go off that's all good. And I get the benefit of it working in epics.

I suppose I just see it as something that's a bonus if it procs rather than something I'd build around. Not that I'm suggesting you are saying Void 4 is something you built around either.

My idea of a build around ability is the stunning fist autocrit feature. So building around being able to regularly land stunning fist. Then capitalising on the autocrit feature by boosting your base damage before crit multiplication (with earth strikes) and your crit multiplier with fists of iron and the earth strike finisher.

That's going to work pretty consistently, and in a way that's under my control, whereas Void 4 erase just seems too random to me.

I've seen a few mentions of it on the forums as all kinds of awesome, so I thought maybe I was missing something.

Mileage varies I guess.

Thanks for the info on it.

[Mobeius]

Well I use stunning fist as well, I am not built around it per say. its good enough that goes off regulary with my +10 Stunners. I didnt bother with Fists of iron, just one less keystroke I have to worry about.

[Crinos]

Well I use stunning fist as well, I am not built around it per say. its good enough that goes off regulary with my +10 Stunners. I didnt bother with Fists of iron, just one less keystroke I have to worry about.

Sure, stunning fist/stunning blow is essential for monk DPS.

I like fists of iron because it counts as an earth strike. So my strike rotation on stunned mobs is earth 4, earth 3, fists of iron, Earth finisher. That gets me 2 strikes with added base damage followed by a x3 crit multilplier strike then a x4 crit multiplier strike. With a 1s global cooldown and a 3s individual strike cooldown I can just cycle those constantly on anything stunned.

Other combos might work slightly better on specific mobs, but it's all about getting the timing just right to cram in as many strikes as possible for me, so having a consistent key cycle I can use really helps me.

Of course I have other strike cycles for stuff that's not stunned, and I break whatever cycle I'm on to hit TOD when it's up.