Monks and endgame AC?

[Poffel]

Sure it is funny to have ac, but when you take into consideration that, say, you have to switch off PA (-5/8 damage), be a halfling (-1 damage), be a wis/dex build (-3/4 damage at least), cannot wear one of your sets (let's say shocking burst (-4,2 damage), be in wind stance (-2 damage) we are suddenly talking about -14,2 to -19,2 damage per swing. Considering the attack rate of unarmed monk fighting that translates to -16,4 to -22,2 damage on a weapon melee-er.

Well, my point was actually that it's possible to switch between DPS-mode and AC-mode... for example, just because you have CE doesn't mean you can't have and use PA as well when it's more beneficial (you know, about 98% of the time); just because you usually wear two ToD-rings doesn't mean that you cannot carry a Chattering ring as well for those situations I mentioned in my last post... and so on.

Sure, when you're going for this kind of AC, your DPS will be worse - but you don't have to run around in CE-mode all the time. All I'm trying to say is that there are situations where a bit more AC is more beneficial than a bit more DPS... even though they are very scarce.

[Carpone]

In the DDO end-game, the point of high AC is to be able to tank raid bosses to reduce the healing burden. You certainly don't need AC for quests where a hireling or the healing curse can easily suffice. Let's take a look at the toughest difficulty raid content, and assume you have enough DPS+Incite to hate tank:

Elite Abbot - No point in being an AC tank here since the majority of his damage is spell based.

Elite Shroud - No point in AC here. You're going to get healed by Mass Cures/Mass Heal in parts 4 and 5 anyway.

Elite Tower of Despair - AC against the Jailer or Judge is lolworthy. Nythirios is a joke, and two healers are going to be bored healing just you. The place where you can actually put AC to use is against Horoth. But guess what? You won't have the HP to survive a failed Disintegrate save (everyone rolls a 1 eventually). The badges also do significant damage, and with a lower HP pool, healers will have to overheal more often to keep you up.

Elite VoD - AC doesn't really matter here. The healing burden of this raid all depends on how well your melee coordinate on the Orthons to avoid getting cleaved, and your casters for dealing with the bats.

Elite HoX - AC is useful against Xyzzy.

Epic Lailat - You can't get your AC high enough to make a difference.

Epic Velah - No point to AC when the other melee are getting Mass Cure/Mass Heal anyway.

Epic Chrono - Improved Evasion does more for you than AC ever will in this raid.

[Sarnind]

best ac in the end game content is displacement and ghostly

[Carpone]

best ac in the end game content is displacement and ghostly

Which doesn't work against raid bosses.

[Sarnind]

Which doesn't work against raid bosses.

for trash is good and ninja spy ghostly work includes raid bosses

[Carpone]

for trash is good and ninja spy ghostly work includes raid bosses

You're confusing terms.

Ghostly = The effect from Epic Cloak of Night, which is equivalent to Blur, does not affect raid bosses (The Jailer is the exception to the rule, I believe).
Shadow Fade (Ninja Spy I) = Affects raid bosses.
Cloudkill = Affects raid bosses.

And if the best you can do is justify "it's good for trash" then you've made my point for me. Trash does not matter in this game.

[kernal42]

Ghostly = The effect from Epic Cloak of Night, which is equivalent to Blur, does not affect raid bosses (The Jailer is the exception to the rule, I believe).

The Stormreaver in Reaver's Fate does not see through blur/displacement, but that hardly matters.

-Kernal

[GBantaR]

Well I did use search with words "monk ac" and not a single thread popped out. Just a pile of threads which might include these two words. So sorry, if I did one more thread about this, to gather some knowledge.

You are talking about numbers like 80. If its quite hard to achieve even 60. I am wondering how in the hell 80 is possible?

IMHO, the forum search tool is worthless. Use Google and just put "DDO" in whatever you're looking for. For example, if you search "DDO Monk ac build" the first thing that pops up is:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=157557

[Carpone]

The Stormreaver in Reaver's Fate does not see through blur/displacement, but that hardly matters.

Eh, it's difficult to accept Piker's Fate as a raid when 11 people can pike while 1 arcane or divine solo it.

[Lil'man]

Alright I'm gonna put something straight here about monk aggro, plenty of the people before have been talking about how monks can't pull aggro and stuff which I find hilarious, monks have an in-built speed boost so my monk naturally runs ahead of the group and 99% of the time the mob in the next room attacks me because first come, first served (except I do the serving). If the other monks or whoever brags about killer DPS then GOOD FOR YOU! If you're any good at doing your business then you should kill the guy before you take the aggro off.

[Seliana]

81 Self Buffed

There are a few things that can still be done of course, On a 36 point build you can sacrifice some dps for temporary 100 ac though without gimping your other abilities. Here are the stats I used with blatant abuse of unrealistic +4 tomes and all epic gear, even with just +2 tomes it would still have a 98 AC and still be pretty decent:

28 Str (16 base +6 item +4 tome -2 halfling +1 epic yellow slot +2 guild shrine +1 litany)
38 Dex (16 base +6 item +4 tome +2 halfling +2 halfling-enhancements +3 tod ring +4 windstance +1 litany)
26 Con (14 base +6 item +4 tome +1 epic yellow slot -2 windstance +2 guild shrine +1 litany)
15 Int (08 base +4 tome +2 guild shrine +1 litany)
38 Wis (16 base +6 item +4 tome +5 levelup +3 monk-enhancements +1 epic yellow-slot +2 epic timesensing-goggles +1litany)
22 Cha (08 base +7 item +4 tome +2 guild shrine +1 litany)

Permanent AC:

10 Base
14 Dex Mod
14 Wis Mod
8 Armor (Sirens Belt)
5 Deflection
5 Centered bonus
5 Combat Expertise feat
4 Insight (Siren Set Bonus)
4 Dodge (Icy Raiments)
3 Profane armor (Epic Abishai set: Charged Gauntlets, Boots of Corrosion, Helm of Frost)
3 Dodge (Chattering ring)
2 Dodge (Chaosguards)
1 Dodge feat
1 Size Bonus
1 Alchemical Ritual on Icy Raiments
1 Dodge (Epic Cloak of Night)

Temporary AC buffs:

1 Dex shrine (1 Hour)
1 Wis shrine (1 Hour)
1 Deneith defender (1 Hour)
1 Kundarak battlemaster (1 Hour)
1 Kobold shaman (1 Hour)
1 Yugo Dex pot (15 minutes)
1 Yugo Wis pot (15 minutes)
2 Abishai Cookies Buff grants +4 wisdom (10 minutes)
3 Barkskin Potion (6 Minutes)

These last ones require about 30 UMD:
30 UMD (11 base, +6 charisma mod, +6 greensteel, +4 greater heroism, +3 vile blasphemy gloves)

1 UMD Haste Clicky from Epic Staff of Arcane Power (5 minutes)
4 UMD Shield Wand Lvl10 (10 minutes)
2 UMD Cleric Recitation (2 Minutes)
-----------------------------
81 Permanent AC
100 Self Buffed Temporary ac

Now with that said, I still think your better off just making a light based Stunner monk and focusing on displacement clickies, healing amp, and str/con/wis. Remember...they cant hit you if they cant move and if your in an epic party or raid the Barbarian or Fighter will really make a better tank anyway.

[dredre9987]

28 Str (16 base +6 item +4 tome -2 halfling +1 epic yellow slot +2 guild shrine +1 litany)
38 Dex (16 base +6 item +4 tome +2 halfling +2 halfling-enhancements +3 tod ring +4 windstance +1 litany)
26 Con (14 base +6 item +4 tome +1 epic yellow slot -2 windstance +2 guild shrine +1 litany)
15 Int (08 base +4 tome +2 guild shrine +1 litany)
38 Wis (16 base +6 item +4 tome +5 levelup +3 monk-enhancements +1 epic yellow-slot +2 epic timesensing-goggles +1litany)
22 Cha (08 base +7 item +4 tome +2 guild shrine +1 litany)

That is more than a 36 pt build with the halfling you are showing. Best you could do would be 15/16/14/8/16/8 and have 1 pt left over.