Improved Sunder and YOU

[OsOscarius]

I believe my feats break down as such:
(currently level 15)

1 Two weapon fighting
1 (monk) Toughness
2 (monk) Dodge
3 (monk) Path of Inevitable Dominion
3 Past Life (monk)
6 Power Attack
6 (monk) Stunning Fist
9 Improved Two Weapon Fighting
12 Improved Critical: Bludgeoning
15 Greater Two Weapon Fighting
18 ???????????????

I'd grab sunder here. Reason? IMO cleave is decent, but just decent. It's a nice thing to have and is probably the best to take for a light monk.
For a dark monk...no, I'd take sunder here, it's simply more synergy between curses and sunder than cleave and the rest.

[nebogloee]

I'd grab sunder here. Reason? IMO cleave is decent, but just decent. It's a nice thing to have and is probably the best to take for a light monk.
For a dark monk...no, I'd take sunder here, it's simply more synergy between curses and sunder than cleave and the rest.

Awesome - that was what I figured from the OP. We will see how it benefits my monk on endgame raids and epic. If anything it is a party dps bump and can help get those triple 500 tods

[Will_Ferrer]

I believe my feats break down as such:
(currently level 15)

1 Two weapon fighting
1 (monk) Toughness
2 (monk) Dodge
3 (monk) Path of Inevitable Dominion
3 Past Life (monk)
6 Power Attack
6 (monk) Stunning Fist
9 Improved Two Weapon Fighting
12 Improved Critical: Bludgeoning
15 Greater Two Weapon Fighting
18 Improved Sunder

Is most monk 2nd lifers self included cept I got CE for the PrC and im a light monk....for now

[Ecoski]

If it's for your level 18 feat then definitely imp sunder, by that point if you're desperate for ki you could wear oremi's, and the damage from cleave won't be all that meaningful like it would be at lower levels. On the other hand imp sunder will start to hit its true potential when you're doing epics, where lowering dc requirements will make everyone love you

[nebogloee]

If it's for your level 18 feat then definitely imp sunder, by that point if you're desperate for ki you could wear oremi's, and the damage from cleave won't be all that meaningful like it would be at lower levels. On the other hand imp sunder will start to hit its true potential when you're doing epics, where lowering dc requirements will make everyone love you

This build is pretty much only for epics/tod/end game stuffs. If Imp sunder did not require PA I would prob grab another toughness, or maybe sap. Anyways thank you OP for a run down on the new imp sunder and dark monks - helped me choose my final feat

[weedf16]

+1 to you sir. Great info...see ya around G-Land.

[ISMisst]

i had a real weird bug happen on my tr monk bodhisattva when i swapped out one of my two toughness feats out for improved sunder.
when i clicked on the improved sunder icon on the hot bar, it said in big red letters requires sunder. no sunder listed in my feat list at all. so it did not work at all.
submitted a ticket, got response back saying submit a bug report, which i did.

poed that i had a wasted feat now, i went and did the free feat swap quest in market, and then went back and swapped out improved sunder for my toughness feat again, and lo and behold i had the sunder feat back in my feat list.

really leery to try and swap for this feat again

[Taimasan]

i had a real weird bug happen on my tr monk bodhisattva when i swapped out one of my two toughness feats out for improved sunder.
when i clicked on the improved sunder icon on the hot bar, it said in big red letters requires sunder. no sunder listed in my feat list at all. so it did not work at all.
submitted a ticket, got response back saying submit a bug report, which i did.

poed that i had a wasted feat now, i went and did the free feat swap quest in market, and then went back and swapped out improved sunder for my toughness feat again, and lo and behold i had the sunder feat back in my feat list.

really leery to try and swap for this feat again

This is because improved sunder can only be taken at certain levels for example, If I try to swap out a toughness that was is a misc slot instead of a class slot, improved sunder would not work. The best way to do this is to make your level 18 class feat Improved Sunder. Might take a bit of time and tp to rearrange feats if you put yourself in this annoying pickle.

EDIT:
Improved Sunder

• Cooldown: 10 seconds
• Usage: Active
• Prerequisite: Sunder, Power Attack

Description

Using this melee special attack, you may reduce the target's Armor Class by 5, and fortification by 10% on a failed saving throw for 24 seconds. Some creatures may be immune to the sunder effect. A successful Fortitude save negates this effect. Additionally, Improved Sunder will apply a -3 Fortitude Saving Throw penalty that lasts for 24 seconds on a successful hit (regardless of if they save). The saving throw penalty stacks up to five times. (DC 14 + Str mod)
Note

• A fighter may select this feat as one of his fighter bonus feats.
• A monk may select this feat as one of his martial arts feats.

Source: http://ddowiki.com/page/Improved_Sunder

[Razcar]

Got it on my fighter. Apart from lowering boss Fort I use it before Stunning Blow on trash. And it's nice for critting the ship dummy :-)

[PestWulf]

Anyone know about the animation with Sword/board ?

I have this scheduled to take on my dwarf fighter, but I would really hate to lose the sunder animation I currently have.

I have not done a time calculation to prove it, but on a dwarven axe/Shield fighter, the sunder animation appears to actually give a boost in number of hits when used. It seems to me that the sunder sets the animation back to one of the double-swing shield bash animations every time it's used.

So you get attack - sunder (which is a 2-hit move it seem with 1 sunder effect) - then an immidate swing, swing, shield bash.

A noticeable increase in the number of attacks when I use a sunder. I'm hopeful that the improved sunder which I haven't seen yet, continues this type of animation chain. It's a much needed damage boost for shield users.

Again, I have done no testing to prove what I'm saying, it's just merely an observation I've made while playing my character.

[BoBo2020]

Been trying out improved sunder on my monk.
It is awesome.
The stacking -3 fort + spare hand from the challenges pushes my stuns into overdrive.
Negative fortification on bosses seems appreciated by most pugs.

[Carpone]

When U11 was released, I dumped Stunning Fist and Stunning Blow in favor of Improved Sunder and another Toughness feat. I haven't looked back. Arcanes and divines are much more efficient at killing trash than a stun monk will ever be. You're there to deal with the boss and any trash that has Deathward. Epic Spare Hand is a definite must have.

[Will_Ferrer]

Ive been noticing that epic drow tend to give arcane casters a hard time. Ive been using stunning fist with improved sunder and quivering palm.

improved sunder to weaken the fort save, if I notice that it lands twice then I know that mobs has a low fort now and I may use quivering palm to finish it off, or if I see a caster has enervated the mob I'm fighting (side note... Goki HATES when her fists proc finger of death)I steal their would be stolen kill and quivering palm it first. I take a little bit of pleasure knowing that they just wasted SP casting a Finder of Death on a mob that is already dead.

/rant
It costs Ki for Monks to engage an enemy and its not the flowing river of awesomeness it used to be. I have to changes stances during encounters to generate enough Ki to satisfy my play style.
/end rant