Advice for my monk.

[Vaeo]

Hey guys. I've been playing as the monk for awhile, but still haven't found my niche. Basically, I wanna make a light monk who can solo most stuff. I've heard AC matters not in epic. So I'm contemplating going pure str and con (possibly adding a fair amount to wis). I intend to make a human (because I love humans). Advice?

[Crinos]

Hey guys. I've been playing as the monk for awhile, but still haven't found my niche. Basically, I wanna make a light monk who can solo most stuff. I've heard AC matters not in epic. So I'm contemplating going pure str and con (possibly adding a fair amount to wis). I intend to make a human (because I love humans). Advice?

If you are going human try to make use of the bonus healing amp humans get. As a light monk if you should be able to get your healing amp above 200% easily, giving you 2s and 4s on your healing ki.

You can even push it to above 300% without too much pain.

Who needs AC with that sort of healing and a monk's attack speed.

I'd also recommend either stunning blow if you go pure STR, or my preference is stunning fist, although you need some WIS for that to land.

[Vaeo]

The input is appreciated. : ) Can anyone advise some starting stats for a hard hitting light monk? Will I hit well bare fisted? Or are kamas a must? (I much prefer bare fisted.)

[Crinos]

If you are looking for DPS fists are by far the best option.

Of course, if you want the best DPS then dark path is the way to go.

Nonetheless, assuming your requirements for light path and strength based, here's what I'd recommend.

Str 16 (or 15)
Dex 15
Con 16
Int 8
Cha 8
Wis 12 (or 14)

Balance between strength and Wis is a tradeoff on to hit vs stunning fist DCs.

Feats:
Power attack
TWF chain
Stunning fist
Improved crit bludgeoning
lots of Toughness

All level ups into strength.
Run in GM fire stance for Ki Generation.

You will need a +2 dex tome for GTWF and ideally a +2 con tome for GM earth. As you can buy those with turbine points it's not that difficult to do though.

Get GM earth for the strikes
Also get Fist of Iron (giving you x3 crit multiplier)

You can probably manage Void 4 on a light monk as well as the light path pre is worthless right now. (Update coming in mod 7 though).

Cycle through your strikes.
A good rotation on a stunned mob is earth 4, earth 3, Fist of Iron, then that preps the Earth finisher for a x4 crit multiplier.

An alternative would be to go for stunning fist instead of stunning blow, then you could dump stat Wis put those build points into strength.

Hope that helps.

[Vaeo]

Wait. The light path is becoming worthless? >_> And I need the twf feats for fisticuffs? Also, where can I find details on this mod 7? I found an article on google, but it says it was posted in 2008. . .

[Superspeed_Hi5]

Wait. The light path is becoming worthless? >_> And I need the twf feats for fisticuffs? Also, where can I find details on this mod 7? I found an article on google, but it says it was posted in 2008. . .

Not so much worthless as not worthwhile. With dark path and touch of death which hits for 500-1500 depending on your luck with double/triple procs., and an actually decent PrE they have made light monks sort of less useful. Of course since they are a necessity to run TOD you will always have some use.

BTW I still run light also.

[Sauron]

Wait. The light path is becoming worthless? >_> And I need the twf feats for fisticuffs? Also, where can I find details on this mod 7? I found an article on google, but it says it was posted in 2008. . .

Actually just to clarify, he didn't say the light path was becoming worthless he said the pre was pretty much worthless. What he meant was that the shintao prestige enhancements aren't that good.

Dark monks have a few bonus's to damage that a light monk doesn't receive 1) Touch of Death which does a 500 point hit, and can proc more than once. 2) Sneak attack damage if you take Ninja spy. Thus for DPS these types of monks have 2 points in their favor over a light monk.

Right now there isn't much news on update 7 (but update 7 is receiving another Shintao enhancement; and supposedly some adjustments), the article you found posted in 2008 was on a previous mod before the game went free to play.

Regarding Two weapon fighting feats, they effect monk's hand to hand combat. If your fighting with handwraps the increase in damage from greater two weapon fighting is absolutely worth the 3 feats.

[Crinos]

Not so much worthless as not worthwhile. With dark path and touch of death which hits for 500-1500 depending on your luck with double/triple procs., and an actually decent PrE they have made light monks sort of less useful. Of course since they are a necessity to run TOD you will always have some use.

BTW I still run light also.

Well, I wouldn't say light monks are a necessity to run TOD, but they do make the fight a but easier.

And yes, as Sauron clarified, I didn't say light path was worthless, just the shintao monk pre, which is a light path enhancement.

Light path monks still do pretty decent DPS, but with some buffing thrown in from finishing moves.
Dark path monks are all about DPS.

[Vaeo]

Ah. My bad guys. I am still new to the game and don't know all of the lingo. When you said 'pre worthless', I thought it meant something else entirely.

At any rate. You've all given me a lot of good and solid advice. (Now I'm back from work.) I guess I only have a few more questions at most. Mainly: how much does wisdom effect a monks healing? Like the light finishing move, or for example, wholeness of body?

[Sauron]

At any rate. You've all given me a lot of good and solid advice. (Now I'm back from work.) I guess I only have a few more questions at most. Mainly: how much does wisdom effect a monks healing? Like the light finishing move, or for example, wholeness of body?

From what I understand wisdom will effect monks healing in the following manner:

Wholeness of Body

* Cooldown: 180 sec
* Usage: Active
* Prerequisite: Monk 7
* Description: This feat allows Monks expend 10 Ki to heal some hit points over time. The exact number regained is (Monk level)/2 + Wisdom modifier (Rounded Down) at every second for thirty seconds. This feat cannot be used in combat, and the Monk may neither move nor act while regenerating.

If you want a good link for some info on how the different stats interact and operate follow the link below:

http://ddowiki.com/page/Starting_a_Monk

It seems fairly up to date, but has a lot of information that you may find useful.

[Vaeo]

Thank you! I very much appreciate the resource. : p I've been to ddo wiki a few times, but am not such a hot shot when it comes to the navigation.

[Crinos]

Just to add a bit to what Sauron said.

Light monks have 3 routes to self healing. (Not counting healing pots or wand whipping).

1. Wholeness of body (dark monks get this too)
This is a heal over time on a 120s cooldown.
Any interuption breaks the heal, so out of combat only.
The healing from this is based on your Wisdom score, and is boosted by healing amplification.

2. Fists of light.
This is a strike which curses enemies.
Cursed enemies, when hit deal 1 to 2 points of healing to anyone who hits them.
Don't remember the duration of the curse off hand, but it's a good few seconds at least.
Also boosted by healing amp, but rounded down, so you need at least 200% amp to get 2s and 4s.

3. Healing Ki
This is a finishing move which you can perform once it's charged up
To charge it you need to perform 3 fists of light in succession
This gives 1d4 healing plus 1d4 for every 2 monk levels above level 3, so 9d4 at cap.
This also gets boosted by healing amp.

To give you an idea of the healing potential of this, monks attack at a rate of around 200 strikes per minute. *

So if you can get your healing amp to 200% (which is easy on a human monk) and you keep the curse from fists of light active you will be healing yourself for 600HP a minute from that alone.

Then there's the healing ki which you can easily fire off 4 times a minute if you are spamming fists of light. This will average out at about 45 points of healing a time, for an additional 180HP a minute. Also as it's an area of effect heal, everyone else around gets a heal too (although not for as much if they don't have as much healing amp).

Obviously, you'll only get this kind of healing if you spam one strike and finishing move, but most of the time you won't need that level of healing and can use your ki for other buffs and for damaging ki strikes.

Even so, take a look at the dark side, it's really up there with the best on DPS at the moment, and touch of death for 500 to 1500 spike damage every 15 seconds is a whole lot of fun.

*Edited to correct attack rate error as I forgot to include offhand procs.

[DarkFlash]

....
3. Healing Ki
This is a finishing move which you can perform once it's charged up
To charge it you need to perform 3 fists of light in succession
This gives 1d4 healing plus 1d4 for every 2 monk levels above level 3, so 9d4 at cap.
This also gets boosted by healing amp.

To give you an idea of the healing potential of this, monks attack at a rate of around 100 strikes per minute. (It's a bit more, but 100 is a nice round number for a quick look).

So if you can get your healing amp to 200% (which is easy on a human monk) and you keep the curse from fists of light active you will be healing yourself for 300HP a minute from that alone.

Then there's the healing ki which you can easily fire off 4 times a minute if you are spamming fists of light. This will average out at about 45 points of healing a time, for an additional 180HP a minute. Also as it's an area of effect heal, everyone else around gets a heal too (although not for as much if they don't have as much healing amp)....

For Healing Ki finisher it doesnt matter how many lvls of monk you have, as long as you have the finisher feat "unlocked". You always get "pure monk" heals from it. (bug/etc.)
And you forgot to mention that potency/devotion I affects the finisher(s) (ONLY finisher, not curse) so thats another +50% more healing.

EDIT: And if you want to get even higher healin amp, try out the Solar Phoenix pallymonk :P http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=248800

EDIT2: Quick math: With only 202,8% amp + potency50% you get average 67,5hp/Finisher. BUT with DT10% amp added you get average 75,3hp/finisher. (the DT10% amp is not needed for 200% amp)

[SINIBYTE]

they are a necessity to run TOD

No.

They Aren't.

I have never run a TOD with a light monk.

[Superspeed_Hi5]

No.

They Aren't.

I have never run a TOD with a light monk.

Im happy for you. Now when it becomes common for everyone else who isnt so uber to run ToD without looking for light monks to begin I will agree with you. However since its not commonplace and since just about every ToD on Ghallandha says "ToD - heals, light monk, and timmy then we go" I will disagree with you.

Not every group or every guild is prepared to run ToD without one.

[SINIBYTE]

Im happy for you. Now when it becomes common for everyone else who isnt so uber to run ToD without looking for light monks to begin I will agree with you. However since its not commonplace and since just about every ToD on Ghallandha says "ToD - heals, light monk, and timmy then we go" I will disagree with you.

Not every group or every guild is prepared to run ToD without one.

I run a soloers guild. I solo constantly. I don't have uber gear, or an uber guild. I actually PUG TOD. ...with whatever comes along. The only requirements I have for TOD is 1 tank, 1 arcane kiter, and 2 healers. I've yet to have a light monk in a raid.

Stating it's a neccessity to have a light monk in that raid is nonsense. And when it comes to dissemination of mis-information, I feel the need to correct it. So I'll just simply be very clear about it. You do not need a light monk to complete a TOD.

[Mobeius]

Really?? You think light monks are less worthwhile? They have their niche just as much as Dark Monks. Light monks can solo better and have more survivability.

I am suprised no one mentioned Void 4 for light monks instead of a PRE. Void 4 is the most prolific insta kill in game. It even works on deathward or epic warded mobs. Not to mention it is force damage to add to the elemental strikes. Which BTW void 4 can also double/triple proc damage and insta kills. I have insta killed three mobs several times with one Void 4 strike.

[Vaeo]

Thanks for the additional input fellows! I've started my monk, by the way. With the STR 16, DEX15, CON 16, and WIS 12. It's been kicking ass so far.

I haven't run by two many issues soling, unless I do a quest above my level on hard. : p But I can easily solo (without a healer hireling) the kobold raid. Which from what I've seen stormreach is pretty good. A lot of people are usually calling for help on that quest. Among us low level newbies, anyway.

But so far things seem to be working well. I'll update this thread with more questions as I have them, probably.

[Crinos]

I run a soloers guild. I solo constantly. I don't have uber gear, or an uber guild. I actually PUG TOD. ...with whatever comes along. The only requirements I have for TOD is 1 tank, 1 arcane kiter, and 2 healers. I've yet to have a light monk in a raid.

Stating it's a neccessity to have a light monk in that raid is nonsense. And when it comes to dissemination of mis-information, I feel the need to correct it. So I'll just simply be very clear about it. You do not need a light monk to complete a TOD.

Agreed. Light monks are in no way necessary to run TOD.

They bring a buff which nobody else can provide which makes the end fight of raid slightly easier, but that's it.

[Crinos]

Really?? You think light monks are less worthwhile? They have their niche just as much as Dark Monks. Light monks can solo better and have more survivability.

I am suprised no one mentioned Void 4 for light monks instead of a PRE. Void 4 is the most prolific insta kill in game. It even works on deathward or epic warded mobs. Not to mention it is force damage to add to the elemental strikes. Which BTW void 4 can also double/triple proc damage and insta kills. I have insta killed three mobs several times with one Void 4 strike.

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.

You can probably manage Void 4 on a light monk as well as the light path pre is worthless right now. (Update coming in mod 7 though).

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.