HO Str Darkness Pure Monk (32 pts)

[Ziltus]

Been playing divine classes (clr, fvs, pal) to L20 all my DDO life, this time round I would like to create a monk which is totally new to me.

Did some research in forum and come out with a void4 grandmaster air darkness monk using HO (only 32 pt race which can hit 16 or higher for all STR/WIS/DEX/CON) and 18 with +2 tomes.

H/w, after trying the new toon yesterday (veteran status) and completed all the newbie starting zone quests in elite, even though can solo like my pally (I comparing monk with pally since both are melee classes unlike my clr and fvs), the result is not what I really expected. While the monk can clear mobs pretty fast, his hp also drop pretty fast (though never die). Besides the noob gears, I have a fire guard robe and fire burst handwrap.

Appreciate if anyone can help to comment and feedback on my built:

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.7.3 (Pre-Release)
DDO Character Planner Home Page
Pure L20 Mnk 
Level 20 Lawful Good Half-Orc Male
(20 Monk) 
Hit Points: 324
Spell Points: 0 
BAB: 15\15\20\25\25
Fortitude: 16
Reflex: 16
Will: 17
                 Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             16                    24
Dexterity            16                    18
Constitution         16                    18
Intelligence          6                     8
Wisdom               14                    20
Charisma              6                     8
Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 1
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 1
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 1
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 1
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 1
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 1
 
                 Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               6                    25
Bluff                -1                    -1
Concentration         8                    38
Diplomacy            -1                     2
Disable Device       n/a                   n/a
Haggle               -1                    -1
Heal                  3                     5
Hide                  4                     5
Intimidate           -1                    -1
Jump                  6                    26
Listen                3                     5
Move Silently         4                     4
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                   n/a
Repair               -1                    -1
Search               -1                    -1
Spot                  3                     5
Swim                  4                     7
Tumble                n/a                   5
Use Magic Device     n/a                   n/a
 
Level 1 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Two Weapon Fighting
Enhancement: Orcish Fury I
Enhancement: Improved Concentration I
 
Level 2 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Power Attack
Enhancement: Way of the Elegant Crane I
Enhancement: Void Strike I
Enhancement: Monk Wisdom I
 
Level 3 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Path) Path of Inevitable Dominion: Fists of Darkness
Feat: (Selected) Stunning Blow
Enhancement: Orcish Strength I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
 
Level 4 (Monk)
Enhancement: Orcish Power Attack I
Enhancement: Static Charge
 
Level 5 (Monk)
Enhancement: Way of the Elegant Crane II
Enhancement: Porous Soul
Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery I
 
Level 6 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Dodge
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Stunning Fist
Enhancement: Adept of Wind
Enhancement: Monk Wisdom II
 
Level 7 (Monk)
Enhancement: All-Consuming Flame
Enhancement: Void Strike II
 
Level 8 (Monk)
Enhancement: Orcish Strength II
 
Level 9 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Enhancement: Winter's Touch
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
 
Level 10 (Monk)
Enhancement: Touch of Death
 
Level 11 (Monk)
Enhancement: Adept of Rock
Enhancement: Adept of Flame
 
Level 12 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons
Enhancement: Master of Thunder
 
Level 13 (Monk)
Enhancement: Void Strike III
Enhancement: Adept of Rain
 
Level 14 (Monk)
Enhancement: Master of Stone
 
Level 15 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Enhancement: Master of Bonfires
 
Level 16 (Monk)
Enhancement: Way of the Elegant Crane III
Enhancement: Master of the Sea
 
Level 17 (Monk)
 
Level 18 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Enhancement: Monk Wisdom III
 
Level 19 (Monk)
Enhancement: Grandmaster of Storms
 
Level 20 (Monk)
Enhancement: Monk Serenity
Enhancement: Void Strike IV

Lastly, just to check:

1. Is void 4 worth getting (needs heavy investment in enhancement pts)? I mean since all the monk atks using same ki pool and ki get used up pretty fast, is there a need to have force/lighting/fire/cold/acid atks esp fire/cold/acid are resisted often in high lvl quests. Will my monk suffer at higher lvl with only lighting and darkness atk? Afterall monk can still use all elemental atks using different types of burst of PG handwrap?

2. If the para/vorpal ki moves worth taking since monk can get them from weaps (or not?)?

3. Even at 16 dex, my L4 HO monk get hit quite often and with only robe, he does take quite alot of punishment from mobs. Will this get better or worse as monk levels up?

4. Is orc power atk worth taking? Does the + 1 to 3 dam bonus really makes a different at high lvl quests and epic (I thought atk bonus is more useful)?

Many thanks to all in advance.

[Hecore]

A couple minor suggestions:

You can't read an INT tome until level 7, so you need slightly fewer skill points. Technically you don't ever need any in jump; depending on your final gear load out you might consider Spot (That + Tharne's means you can spot pretty much any sneaking foe -- which you ~may~ find more useful.)

You might consider dropping the final Toughness for Sap. It's mostly useless in regular play, but being able to take another foe out of action in Epic can be worth more than the 22 HP.

Crane path certainly isn't bad, but you might want to consider Faithful Hound for epic.

Personally, I'd never grab Wis III - 6 points of tight AP for 0-1 DC's are only worthwhile if you have nothing better to spend it on.



1. This is a little hard to answer -- it really comes down to a maybe. Void IV has some nice epic potential since a vorpal with it is an auto-kill, and Void III is decent for the paralysis (although not quite so nice considering stunning fist/blow). I'd probably ditch it due to the heavy cost, esp. since your losing Earth IV with your current spread.

2. Vorpal is sexy as an auto-kill on epics, para is a decent side effect of Void III's damage.

3. At level 4, at a minimum, you should have +4 AC bracers, a +1 prot. ring, and if possible a robe of invulnerability. Your AC will be in the mid 20's and you'll absorb most glancing blows that make it your way... and you really shouldn't be getting hit that often.

If you can/want to gear your Monk to the hilt you might want to look at farming some Chronoscope gear using a higher level character; it should be good for a couple more AC. Add in Arlyn's Ring and a +3 barkskin pot and you're back in business (well, next level at least).

4. I'd grab at least the first two levels of PA. They can be turned off, but in most instances when you'd use Power Attack the extra -2 won't matter that much.

[Ziltus]

Appreciate the feedback and advice.

1. I agree that hound path sounds more useful in general, just that I'm not familiar with ki so I thought it's safer to have some form of ki regen buff. Given ki can be in -ve rate when doing nothing, I guess I will switch over hound to try out.

2. I just realize there is no vorp handwrap. Will the effect be similar to duel wield vorp kamas when required? Afterall vorp effect only take place when a natural 20 is roll. As for para/banish/disrupt/smiting, it shld be easy to get from handwrap (can I presume same DC?)?

3. Btw, may I ask if para/vorp is short duration buff (like divine might) or an one-time attack? I inspect some of the monks and notice their have vorp effect in their buff so I'm kinda confused.

4. Aye, my ac is 23 b4 barkskin pot, but still get hit till 50% hp by the end of some Korthos Island elite quests. Cure pots is my only source of healing. Yes, I'm farming chronoscope gears using my highbies, need L5 to use them.

5. Just wonder, PA2 means +2 to dam, can I say it's quite insignificant as compared to dam w/o PA2, esp at high lvl?

Lastly, I have the habit of making toons with even start stats as it's quite easy to get +2 tomes now and max tome is +4. As there is 5 stats up during lvling to L20, I thought one way is to have +3 wis from enhancement and +1 wis from lvl up to make it +4. 6 pts for 3rd + is sure expensive, both my pallies don't do that, heh.

Thank you very much!

[Hecore]

1. For leveling I'd either use Crane or Monkey, and switch to Hound for epics. To-hit really isn't an issue until you hit 20 anyway.

2. Vorpal Kama's are for pre-epic -- they should be the only pair of non-handwraps you'll ever use. In epics, however, enemies have an epic ward which stops all instant death effects.

However! Void IV's erase is not a 'death' effect, so it can still kill epic foes.

3. The Void IV vorpal is a one-off (insta-kill and that's it), and I'm less certain about the paralysis effect. It's either short duration or as the spell.

4. I'd think that your AC would be a bit higher then 23. Base 10 + 3 bonus wis (1 class, 1 item or tome), 4 bonus dex (16 base, 2 wind stance), 4 bracer, 1 protection, 3 barkskin -- and I hit 25. I'm guessing that you haven't stuck a class point/+1 item into wis and aren't using Wind Stance, which would help a bit.

In any case, I'd suggest not taking the Dark path until level 9, when you get Touch of Death. Healing punches at levels 1-8 are more worthwhile, IMO, and can help cut down damage.

5. 2 damage is never insignificant. People argue endlessly about the epic Claw set and the epic Charged bracers set, and how all melee should wear one or the other... and the Claw set's epic bonus is +4 damage. 2 more for a couple enhancement points is a bargain. In auto-crit states it is at least 4 more, and is often 8 or 10 more thanks to Iron Fist and the Earth finisher.

[Ziltus]

Thanks for the advices again.

2. Didn't know void4 can works on epic mobs, cool!

4. Yes my ac is 27 with pots and hireling buff but when soloing korthos island and harbor elite quests, I still need to supplement to supplement with cure pots. Yes, I'm not using wind stance, was using fire instead coz I was thinking of generating ki for burst damagae against quest boss.

5. Since +2dam is not significant, at least I have 3 enhancement pts now available for other use, if I need them.

Once again, tyvm for your kind advices!

[Hecore]

Nooo no no. I was saying that 2 damage is never insignificant = 2 damage is always significant. Some people will use the regular Claw set (+2 damage) up until cap. While grabbing the 3rd level of Power Attack enhancement might not be worth it, I would ~always~ grab at least 2 ranks.

I'd probably be in Wind Stance, especially early on - your ki strikes don't do much damage, and unless you're hasted you'll be getting 10% increased attack speed in addition to the 2.5% doublestrike chance.

I'd guess that some of the damage you're taking is due to enemies getting partial attacks off on you (rolling a 10 or higher but still not high enough to bypass your AC). The only way to really reduce that damage is using a shield, shield spell, or a /dr item, which is why I'm suggesting an invulnerability robe.

[Ziltus]

Got it, thanks!

Last question: Any suggestion for alignment - will it be better to go for lawful good or lawful neutral in the long run, esp for epic purpose?

[Hecore]

Lawful Neutral all the way. There are some items that grant a negative level if you're good, and a few attacks that deal extra damage to good characters.

With handwrap functionality being somewhat broken (no umd check on pure good handwraps), there's pretty much no reason you'd want to be a good monk.

[Ziltus]

Many thanks!

[Ziltus]

Is the umd check on handwrap fixed? I tried to equip Devotion handwrap yesterday with new monk and he can't use it.

Btw, as I solo half the time with my toons (which is why I play only divine classes which are self-sufficient), I've decided to move to light monk (with void4 and shintao3 so I don't have to worry about finding the rare metallic PG handwrap, just like my pallies' holy weaps, hehe).

[Hecore]

Devotion is a named wrap and exists as an exception to the rule. A holy weapon wouldn't normally force a UMD check anyway.

Light Monk may be the better choice for you. You ~might~ consider switching back to dark when you're geared out, but Shintao has closed a lot of the gap that existed between the two classes.

[Ziltus]

Though holy only, Devotion does required good trait.


Anyway, I wonder if we need everbright handwraps against rusties/slimes (I figure handwraps are made of cloth and shldn't be affected by rust, maybe just acid?)?

[Hecore]

DDO more or less treats handwraps as non-weapon equipment. It doesn't take wear from rusties/slimes, and you pretty much never get perma-damage -- they wear at about the same rate that armor or an accessory will.

[elg582]

Thoughts:

Sun stance is best for dark monk, especially with void4; you never run out of ki, and most of the wind stance bonus is overridden by haste.

I've played with the different animal paths, and keep coming back to tortoise; extra concentration = extra base ki. And the extra HP are always nice.

Any at level quest on elite will hurt unless you are built for mitigation; AC, DR, whatever. This character will get decent AC, but never top notch. Invulnerability is very nice at lower levels but tapers off when everything you fight uses magic weapons.

No vorpal wraps but between void4, touch of death and quivering palm, you should be OK.

I would swap what level you take power attack and dodge; power attack isn't much use until your to-hit is pretty high and you want dodge before 6 for ninja pre-req.

[ghettoGenius]

In any case, I'd suggest not taking the Dark path until level 9, when you get Touch of Death. Healing punches at levels 1-8 are more worthwhile, IMO, and can help cut down damage.

Two words. Shadow Fade. Stacks with dusk/blur/displacement. Might be better for OP especially if hes complaining about getting hit alot.

[Hecore]

Shadow fade really is good, but I still don't think it's worth swapping over to at level 6. You still (generally) have Ki issues at that point, and I find shadow fade doesn't really shine until you have blur stacking with it. That, and 1-3 hp per punch goes a lot further at this point.

[Ziltus]

Thanks guys, I re-rolled again yesterday night, my 3rd monk lol. My final built will be shintao3 void4 tortise2 (animal subjected to change easily). One thing I like abt monk is that the built depends alot on enhancement instead of feats (which means need to respec). For a 32 HO toon, my str/dex/con is 16, wis is 14 (+2 from tome, +2 from enhancement, +6 from item). I will dump my lvling stats to STR (ie 16base +2tome +1enhancement +5lvl +6 item). That's easily achievable by a casual gamer like me.