light monk philosophy enahncements?

[kendo]

while dark monks almost always take their philosophy enhancements to get to ToD, most builds I see posted here for light monks don't take any of theirs.

I can see it being useful to have remove disease, remove curse and lesser restore by lvl 6 but does seem a bit redundant when you can just carry pots for yourself if solo or have these covered by a divine or hireling if teamed.

am I overlooking something here because I think I can find better uses for 8 AP then running up to Rise of the Phoenix?

[FuzzyDuck81]

Most of my monks are light ones & i never take them - i go with the view that people should have potions to deal with little bits & pieces like that (the ability to rez teammates is nice but not worth the AP cost to get it vs. other stuff i lose), whereas higher healing amp is never a bad thing to improve my personal survivability.

[dkyle]

Rise of the Phoenix seems like a waste of 12 AP to me, too. Its prerequisite abilities are junk. 2 AP apiece to save a trivial amount of plat?

I went with Healing Amp instead to qualify for Shintao. It's far more useful.

[Arel]

Instead of a damage move like ToD, Light monks get an ability called 'Rise of the Pheonix' (or something similar) that allows them to preform a raise dead for 50 HP and Ki. It's invaluable when your cleric/FvS goes down, you can't make it to a shrine, and nobody else in the group has a way to res... But useless at any other point in time. It also is one of the options for the Shintao II PrC, but given that the other option is Monk Healing Amp III (which you likely want to get anyway due to FoL) that doesn't really bear much merit.

Long story short, it's a very situational ability that is extremely useful when the situation arises, but a waste of loads of AP the rest of the time.

[bobbert22193]

I have taken them on both my monks lives and are valuable to me in that, It makes for less gear/pots I have to tote around. And since weight is an issue at times knocking you out of being centerd with some casters spamming ray of enfelbment and other strength sapping things out there or when all i pull out of chests is full plate of usless heavyness, it is nice. Also like it for when a buddy of mine who plays a cleric goes down when things get crazy and its just the two of us, I can easily res him.

The choice is ultimatly personal some like them and some don't.

[Logicman69]

Back before Pre's, they were extremly usefull. Then again, a light monk's role was much different then as well (more of a support role than DPS). Now I think the AP's could be better spent elsewhere.

[SensaiRyu]

I wouldn't want to waste ki on hitting lesser restore when I can drink a potion. I carry a quickbar full of potions. I get annoyed at people whining about being blind. Step up... bring pots. As for raise dead - get a GS clickie or HElf with cleric dillys for it. Yea raise dead would be occasionally useful. So would a cake... or a portable res shrine.

Personally I'd rather kill the mob and run the stones back to a shrine. Or grab the cleric and run back to a shrine.

If it was greater restore I'd think about taking it. If they were timed buffs I'd consider taking them.

With Void/Sun/Stone IV, shintao III, trap sense II I don't have room to babysit. I'll take the occasional recall/reform over the few times I'd actually make use of phoenix.

[Jaid314]

the only one worth anything at all is phoenix. given that monks are already desperately starved for AP, and getting the phoenix ability involves wasting 8 APs first, it simply isn't worth it.

work towards a GS clicky of raise dead instead. if you're really paranoid, make a second one. yeah, it's expensive in a way (those blank ingredients can be expensive), but in the meanwhile you've got a holy/good burst shuriken to throw at stuff or something like that. or maybe a healing amp longsword if you're a WSS build.

[goodspeed]

ay basically your spending those ap (and more of them then the other route) for **** that's readily available in gear and more easily in pots.

While going the other route, not only do you heal yourself for more, but the cleric heal's you for more as well. Tack on those three +10% monk heals, tack on the ship buff, and your getting 40% extra. And it costs less ap. Ya just can't beat it.