earth stance monk

[hockeyrama]

I have been thinking about the shintao set upgraded to give good and evil damage bypass and so was thinking of making a shintao monk. So I also wanted to make a toon that is great in epic. Currectly I am all out of tr ready toons and have an open slot to experiment with a monk. SO waht I plan on doing is taking a monk to cap and experimenting with his dc a bit and then seeing how effective he is before i tr him into a slightly better version of the following build.

SO what I came up with is an earth stanced monk using litany, madstone, the tod set, jidz.....(whatver gear you want to add, I never actually capped a monk so not sure what will help the best). I already have a +5 thundering stunning +10 handwraps that I will add icy burst kit to for him for epic. I was told that when you add the jidz and other gear you can actually cap the die multiplier 9somewhere around 2d12 so you can actually go over the max it will give you for damage with the new lordsmarch gear so i thought about adding 2 fighter levels for +1 str, +1 stunning blow dc and more feats. His first life i added the phoenix line so i can raise people in pugs more (level faster). Tr build will have 3rd tied improved recovery and none of those required for phoenix for more toughness points (unless i change my mind playing him). All extra feats are toughness as well hps are always important. With good gear, madstone and rages this guy whould hit an awesome ac. On the tr version I may switch skills to take intimidate for secondary tanking orthons at times and other times he will probably have enough hp and damage to hate tank in some groups.

STONERSSS build (needed to give a name that matched the build)

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.8.0
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Level 20 Lawful Neutral Half-Orc Male
(2 Fighter \ 18 Monk) 
Hit Points: 370
Spell Points: 0 
BAB: 15\15\20\25\25
Fortitude: 18
Reflex: 14
Will: 16

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             17                    27
Dexterity            15                    17
Constitution         16                    18
Intelligence          6                     8
Wisdom               14                    19
Charisma              6                     8

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               5                    26
Bluff                -2                    -1
Concentration         7                    33
Diplomacy            -2                    -1
Disable Device       n/a                   n/a
Haggle               -2                    -1
Heal                  2                     4
Hide                  2                     3
Intimidate           -2                    -1
Jump                  3                    18
Listen                2                     4
Move Silently         2                     3
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                   n/a
Repair               -2                    -1
Search               -2                    -1
Spot                  2                     4
Swim                  3                     8
Tumble                3                     4
Use Magic Device     n/a                   n/a

Level 1 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Discipline
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Two Weapon Fighting


Level 2 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Stunning Fist


Level 3 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Stunning Blow
Feat: (Selected) Toughness


Level 4 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Power Attack


Level 5 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Path) Path of Harmonious Balance: Fists of Light


Level 6 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Bludgeoning Weapons


Level 7 (Monk)


Level 8 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Toughness


Level 9 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting


Level 10 (Monk)


Level 11 (Monk)


Level 12 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons


Level 13 (Monk)


Level 14 (Monk)


Level 15 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Weapon Fighting


Level 16 (Monk)


Level 17 (Monk)


Level 18 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness


Level 19 (Monk)


Level 20 (Monk)
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy I
Enhancement: Fighter Strategy (Stunning Blow) I
Enhancement: Orcish Extra Action Boost I
Enhancement: Orcish Fury I
Enhancement: Orcish Power Attack I
Enhancement: Orcish Power Attack II
Enhancement: Orcish Power Attack III
Enhancement: Orcish Strength I
Enhancement: Orcish Strength II
Enhancement: Lifting the Veil
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortoise I
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortoise II
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortoise III
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortoise IV
Enhancement: Fists of Iron
Enhancement: The Receptive Earth
Enhancement: Restoring the Balance
Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery II
Enhancement: Shintao Monk I
Enhancement: Shintao Monk II
Enhancement: Shintao Monk III
Enhancement: Rise of the Phoenix
Enhancement: Difficulty at the Beginning
Enhancement: Adept of Rock
Enhancement: Grandmaster of Mountains
Enhancement: Master of Stone
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Fighter Strength I
Enhancement: Monk Wisdom I
Enhancement: Monk Wisdom II
Enhancement: Monk Wisdom III
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness I

[sephiroth1084]

Why earth stance?

[hockeyrama]

with 2 stun tactics, and wizs casting massholds alot lately and earth being the max damage with the highest crit multiplier on a str build should put out some nice dps in epics.
jidz
http://ddowiki.com/page/Jidz-Tet%27ka -one more die step in earth
garments of equilibrium
http://ddowiki.com/page/Garments_of_Equilibrium
fists of iron gives one times stpe multiplier.

so that with the earthx3 finisher that gives the higher multiplier you will do alot of damage and get alot of attention. So with alot of hp and 8-dr you will get alot of ki back when you getting hit. I just think the way most epics have run lately i like this stance. As monks seem to go in first and stun then beat on the mob while the other melee hit the stun and held mobs. The monks also have the archers and others hittting them. The capstone dr does not help in epic but the earth does. The extra con means more hp, and gettig hit will give ki. The 2 stunning attacks will make it easy to keep on stunning and using earth attacks.

Truth is I think this toon will get alot of aggro and so want him to take as little damage as possible while having lots of hp. Like I said I am going to run him through once to tr to see how he will turn out. There is alot of gear that is getting more dps in earth stance like jidz so i want to see how well it turns out with a str toon.

[sephiroth1084]

The Garments of Equilibrium fist die increase doesn't stack with that of the Jidz bracers.

You can use the Earth Strikes and finishers irrespective of which stance you're in. Both Wind and Fire stances offer much better DPS than Earth. Also, Earth stance's DR doesn't stack with that of the monk capstone, so it may be useful before 20, but at 20 not so much. Unless you're being teamed up on, Wind and Fire are going to be much better Ki gen as well.

I think it's worth getting enough Con to qualify for Earth IV for the strikes, but it's just not really worth planning to be in Earth stance predominantly while leveling or at all at end game.

[Dat1]

Although I have not capped my monk yet (only lvl 13 atm), I do have both the Jidz Tet'ka and Garments of Equilibrium. Just want to point out from personal experience that the +1 fist die from both items together do not stack. MAN DO I WISH THEY DID!!!

I also like the earth stance w/those bracers, but so far the ki gained from being hit is far less than the ki gained from hitting-- especially in fire or even wind stance combined with the Way of the Crane enhancement. IMO, earth is good perhaps situationally for dr, but with the Garments, you dont really need it. Plus, stuns + dps = mobs dead before dr can be fully appreciated. At least this is true for now. I admit I have no idea about epics.... yet

[hockeyrama]

i am redoing this guy, just testing some things out with vet stat start first. Will up date him later once i figure out his build.