Help with monk gs cloak

[Mumu720]

So i am finally crafting my first gs item, and im going with a cloak. I know i want it to be an hp item, but aside from that idk what to put on it. The concentration +10 could be useful or mayb the deflection +3. any ideas? Also i camt decide which gaurd i would like. Which is generally considered the most effective?

Thanks in advance,
Zaruk

[DevHead]

Oh geez, that kinda depends on your build focus and other gear. You could go Heavy Fort and Prot +5, which is what I'm doing for my goggles. Uhhhh, I'm not too knowledgeable about the guards, but Corrosive Salt is pretty good, I believe.

[Kmnh]

I wouldn't put 24 larges into an HP cloak for a monk. Make a "Great commander" cloak to use for now, and try to get the Epic Cape of The Roc. It's the only way to get +2 exceptional strength without gimping one of your ToD rings

[DevHead]

I wouldn't put 24 larges into an HP cloak for a monk. Make a "Great commander" cloak to use for now, and try to get the Epic Cape of The Roc. It's the only way to get +2 exceptional strength without gimping one of your ToD rings

Orrrr, if you can't grind out Epic gear like the cool kids here (does *not* include me), then make your cloak. If you have an ml 16/20 Epic Cloak of Night from the Mabar event, I'd highly suggest that.

[ImFour20]

I wouldn't put 24 larges into an HP cloak for a monk. Make a "Great commander" cloak to use for now, and try to get the Epic Cape of The Roc. It's the only way to get +2 exceptional strength without gimping one of your ToD rings

this

[LawfulGood]

/agreed, and the Epic Cape of the Roc actually gives a total of +3 exceptional STR. The +1 and +2 exceptional STR on it stack.

I wouldn't put 24 larges into an HP cloak for a monk. Make a "Great commander" cloak to use for now, and try to get the Epic Cape of The Roc. It's the only way to get +2 exceptional strength without gimping one of your ToD rings

[Cardtrick]

/agreed, and the Epic Cape of the Roc actually gives a total of +3 exceptional STR. The +1 and +2 exceptional STR on it stack.

Right, but there are plenty of ways to get +1 exc STR. It's the +2 that monks can't get anywhere else.

[Mumu720]

/agreed, and the Epic Cape of the Roc actually gives a total of +3 exceptional STR. The +1 and +2 exceptional STR on it stack.

Ya, true but normally the +2 is all that counts cause the +1 u can get from the rings. So i think ultimatley once i do all my epic farming ill do a gs belt woth same stats as my cloak and go woth the full abisha set. And throw gfl and true seeing and +4 insight on my dt amor and toughness on the envenomed cloak and dex on the gauntlets. And the epic ravens sight with epic gem of many facets.

[nolaureltree000]

yeah youre going to want to get the epic cape of the roc on a monk, so i wouldnt do a dual shard tier 3. i like my triple air, air guard cloak. has a chance to knock down your enemy, has a chance to haste you for 30 seconds when youre hit (which procs fairly often), and gives you 2 1:35 second haste clickies. or is it 3 clickies? its 2 or 3, i cant remember off the top of my head.

[DevHead]

yeah youre going to want to get the epic cape of the roc on a monk, so i wouldnt do a dual shard tier 3. i like my triple air, air guard cloak. has a chance to knock down your enemy, has a chance to haste you for 30 seconds when youre hit (which procs fairly often), and gives you 2 1:35 second haste clickies. or is it 3 clickies? its 2 or 3, i cant remember off the top of my head.

It's 3 clickies.

[Mumu720]

Ya i was thinking about the epic cape of the roc, but im a wis/finese halfling build, and if i did not do the gs cloak spot ild have to go with helm, which means ild loose 20hp, so it comes down to which is better, 20hp or 1dmg? Ive decided to go with cloak 45 hp +6 con skills/ stoneskin/ heavy fort +5 protect.

[Mumu720]

What makes the epic cape of the roc so good? I get that it is 2 exceptional str but is it really that important going up against the minos legens +20? does 20hp < 1 dmg?

[drromanelli]

What makes the epic cape of the roc so good? I get that it is 2 exceptional str but is it really that important going up against the minos legens +20? does 20hp < 1 dmg?

You can slot toughness.

[ImFour20]

What makes the epic cape of the roc so good? I get that it is 2 exceptional str but is it really that important going up against the minos legens +20? does 20hp < 1 dmg?

monk's ring slots are dedicated to ToD rings 99.9% of the time. instead of you being able to craft +2 con/str or whatever onto your ToD rings, Monks have to(or get to. . .however you want to look at it) craft extra unarmed dmg(holy burst, shocking burst, etc) onto the rings.

So, this cape is the only way a Monk can get +2 exceptional to str

[Mumu720]

You can slot toughness.

Are you sure? Toughness is a blue and i think the roc has a yellow slot.

And yeah i no rings are for burst effects.

Yes i will eventually try and get epic gear, although i wouldnt go with the roc, im thinking the abisha set with charged gauntlets the envenomed cloak and idk what else i would go with but probably the boots, but it will be awhile till i will be able to get all of those things so until then i decided to go with this as my capped(pre-epic) gear. * = ned to aquire. Also im lvl 17 so i havnt been able to farm a lot of it yet:

Minos legens
Bloodstone
Gs cloak 45hp 6 exception con skills/ stoneskin/ heavy fort +5 prot.
Spectral gloves*
kundarak delving boots*
knost's belt*
oremi's/encrusted rings holy/shocking bursts*
tharne's goggles*
Chaosgarde
Oremi's necklace*
Dt vestments +5 res/ +6 dex/ +4 insight ac

[Cardtrick]

To actually answer the question, if you're sure you want to go with a cloak, I would say either triple air (for HP +45, air guard, haste clickies, and +6 stacking to dex skills) if you only want to make a single-shard item, or Min2 (HP +45, protection +5, heavy fortification, stoneskin clicky, and +6 stacking to con skills -- i.e., concentration) if you don't mind spending the larges for a dual-shard item.

One other option that rarely gets mentioned is to go for a Rad2 HP item (HP +45, radiance guard, sunburst, +2 con skills, +4 dex skills). The sunburst is useless, and the +4 dex skills aren't ideal (although balance, hide, and move silently can be useful). The radiance guard could be awesome, though, for a certain type of character: a Ninja Spy and/or rogue dile monk using a sneak attack item like Tharne's Goggles or the Brawling Gloves, who gets significant DPS from sneak attacks and often plays solo. No idea if that describes your character, but if so -- and if you're not planning on using Dragontouched Armor or want a different Sov rune -- it's worth considering. Monks don't get Radiance handwraps, after all.

As a final note: if it were me, I would build a tier 2 air-air cloak right now -- doesn't waste any larges, and it gets you +25 HPs and some nice Haste clickies. Then save up the larges for a dual-shard item once you have a better idea of what other gear you'll be wearing. It may very well make more sense to use a Min2 helmet and slot toughness in some epic item, ditching Minos, so that you can use a better epic item in your cloak space (epic cape of the roc, epic envenomed cloak, even the epic Mabar cloak).

[SolarDawning]

Personally, I suggest a Smoke II cloak. +45 HP, +6 dex skills, perma 20% blur. (Great if you're not in a group with an arcane caster that can throw blur on you.)

It also has two Displacement clickies, which are a very powerful emergency button.

[Mumu720]

Personally, I suggest a Smoke II cloak. +45 HP, +6 dex skills, perma 20% blur. (Great if you're not in a group with an arcane caster that can throw blur on you.)

It also has two Displacement clickies, which are a very powerful emergency button.

Yeah, i would actually like a cloud ii or air gaurd cloak more, but i would really like to keep the +6 con skills, for some added consentration.