Pimp My Dwarven Light Monk

[Oakianus]

I'd like to get this build up to the level of being able to tank in eChrono or deal with elite Horoth. I like going with light monk for the self-sufficiency when I'm not in a tanking situation, and think that with the right hate gear, I can generate enough hate to keep the bad guys in my face.

Thoughts, opinions, perspectives?

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Odanta 
Level 20 Lawful Good Dwarf Female
(20 Monk) 
Hit Points: 379
Spell Points: 0 
BAB: 15\15\20\25\25
Fortitude: 17
Reflex: 15
Will: 18

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             14                    21
Dexterity            15                    17
Constitution         17                    21
Intelligence          8                    10
Wisdom               16                    23
Charisma              6                     6

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

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               2                    21
Bluff                -2                    -2
Concentration         7                    42
Diplomacy            -2                    -2
Disable Device       n/a                    n/a
Haggle               -2                    -2
Heal                  3                     6
Hide                  2                     3
Intimidate            0                     9
Jump                  6                    28
Listen                3                     6
Move Silently         2                     4
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                   n/a
Repair               -1                     0
Search               -1                     2
Spot                  3                     6
Swim                  2                     5
Tumble                n/a                   n/a
Use Magic Device     n/a                   n/a

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


Level 2 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Stunning Fist
Enhancement: Dwarven Spell Defense I
Enhancement: Dwarven Tactics I
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortoise I
Enhancement: Void Strike I
Enhancement: Improved Concentration I
Enhancement: Monk Wisdom I


Level 3 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Path) Path of Harmonious Balance: Fists of Light
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack
Enhancement: Dwarven Constitution I
Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery I


Level 4 (Monk)
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I


Level 5 (Monk)


Level 6 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Cleave
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Improved Sunder
Enhancement: Dwarven Spell Defense II
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortoise II
Enhancement: Shintao Monk I
Enhancement: Adept of Rock


Level 7 (Monk)
Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery II


Level 8 (Monk)
Enhancement: Void Strike II
Enhancement: Adept of Rain


Level 9 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II


Level 10 (Monk)
Enhancement: Dwarven Constitution II


Level 11 (Monk)
Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery III


Level 12 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons
Enhancement: Shintao Monk II
Enhancement: Master of Stone


Level 13 (Monk)
Enhancement: Master of the Sea


Level 14 (Monk)
Enhancement: Monk Wisdom II


Level 15 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Enhancement: Racial Toughness III


Level 16 (Monk)
Enhancement: Racial Toughness IV


Level 17 (Monk)


Level 18 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Enhancement: Void Strike III
Enhancement: Void Strike IV


Level 19 (Monk)
Enhancement: Grandmaster of Mountains


Level 20 (Monk)
Enhancement: Monk Serenity
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortoise III
Enhancement: Shintao Monk III

[Habreno]

HP's are going to be a big problem for tanking anything. What are they with normal gear?

[thx.janus]

I assume that its possible to reach ~750 HP with this build and strong gear. Let me try a breakdown:

Con:

17 base
02 tome
02 enhancements
04 stance
06 item
02 ship
02 rage spell
02 yugo pot
01 exceptional on ToD ring
----
38


020 Base
160 Monk
044 2 x toughness
020 Toughness item
010 Argonessen
040 Racial Toughness
030 GFL
045 GS HP
020 Yugo Hidden Effect
280 Con
-----
669 Total

I didn't calculate Madstones, because you can't wear them when tanking Horoth.

I'm sorry, but 669 is not enough, probably not even for normal ToD. Sully might be a bit difficult, because you'll get cursed a lot. And the Demon in eDeeps will eat you in seconds, because you are lawful. But beside those 3, your build should work fine. It's a little bit of a downside that you have no other stance at higher tiers in situations where you don't want the 70% hate from earth stance.

Btw, this build can reach the same numbers, but has some more additional options beside Void IV (which it doesnt have).

[edgarallanpoe]

Hp are in the 660's yes...but are you guys taking into account the 20% DR? The stacking 10/Epic DR and improved evasion?

Those HP are extremely deceiving.

FWIW I have a very similar build but with slightly less HP. 600 to be exact. I have been more than adequate in tanking in several situations. I ran an eChrono and while I was not the primary tank I wound up getting aggro and successfully tanking until the primary got back into the fray and took it back over. I *could* have tanked that but as I have said in other threads, there are much better builds to tank. I have also tanked both hard and elite MA and hard LoB. Again...not as the main but as a backup and was completely successful. Keep in mind that I am not talking about tanking for a few seconds...I am talking about extended periods of time. I have been the main tank in many normal runs, again with complete success. I will admit that hard, elite and epic are very different than normal but it *can* be done. The question is why would you try when there are better builds to do this?

That being said, the build above makes for a spectacular backup and an adequate main tank.

[Cloista]

The DR% is the same as a Towr Shield user with Shield Mastery (and is 5% lower if that guy has improves shield mastery).

It also doesn't protect against spell damage.

Horoth's disintegrate would chew this guy up, it's the same problem I'm facing on my Monk tank and I'm considering a TR to a 12 Monk/ 8 Fighter to gain the HPs from Stalwart Defender (though with the planned Enhancement changes, if Warforged do get Stalwart Defender as a Racial Prestige I will stay pure).

[edgarallanpoe]

The DR% is the same as a Towr Shield user with Shield Mastery (and is 5% lower if that guy has improves shield mastery).

It also doesn't protect against spell damage.

Horoth's disintegrate would chew this guy up, it's the same problem I'm facing on my Monk tank and I'm considering a TR to a 12 Monk/ 8 Fighter to gain the HPs from Stalwart Defender (though with the planned Enhancement changes, if Warforged do get Stalwart Defender as a Racial Prestige I will stay pure).

I agree. But the above build *is* capable of tanking certain raids and or quests. It is situational, I agree, which is why I stated that there are far better builds than this for tanking.

[Blank_Zero]

The DR% is the same as a Towr Shield user with Shield Mastery (and is 5% lower if that guy has improves shield mastery).

It also doesn't protect against spell damage.

Horoth's disintegrate would chew this guy up, it's the same problem I'm facing on my Monk tank and I'm considering a TR to a 12 Monk/ 8 Fighter to gain the HPs from Stalwart Defender (though with the planned Enhancement changes, if Warforged do get Stalwart Defender as a Racial Prestige I will stay pure).

Disintegrate hits for 500 on a failed save. That would leave him at ~150 HP with DoTs on him.

Hamstringing Horoth would make his DPS fall. On a well built monk, you'll have massive Heal Amp (HA 3 is a prereq for Shintao 3 and eClaw Set is almost mandatory) so it wouldn't be hard to keep him up with scrolls on that off chance he rolls a 1.

Tell me again why he would get chewed up?

[redspecter23]

I think you have to have a goal in mind for any toon. You mention you want to be able to tank endgame content so make that your focus. A good tank needs 3 things. HP, threat and heal amp. AC is a nice bonus in content where it can matter. Focus on those 3 things the best you can and everything else just comes together. You've put an emphasis on HP. Threat and Amp are heavily gear dependent on a monk so I'll assume you can cover that if you want to. Epic Brawn's Spirit, Fabricator Bracers and/or DT threat/amp outfit and Epic Gloves of the Claw in some mix should be more than enough.

That being said, I've gone a different route with a similar build. I decided to go with Warforged, dropped power attack and improved sunder in favor of even more toughness and also pick up brute fighting. I put all level ups into con for even more hp, but I'm really just waiting to see if WF monk 20/Stalwart III is viable when the expansion hits. Of course Dwarf could take the same path if it works. In a tanking role, I decided I'd rather have HP than more damage from power attack as it's more about the threat and a big bag o' HP than the actual damage dealt. That's what the guys swinging on the back are for.

I will mention that I think dark monk is definitely the way to go for a tanking role. Shadow Fade is just far more valuable on defense than anything a light monk can provide.

[Masadique]

Pure monks do not make great tanks. Splash in 6ish levels of fighter for SD and you will be fine. For eChrono you need saves, HP, and hate.

Saves get tricky when you start dropping monk levels, but I will leave that up to you. Haste boosts from fighter mean you get aggro that much faster, and do not have to wait as long for melee to jump on.

I do not understand why you would go light monk, but that is up to you completely.

In my opinion:
Monks are the ideal tank for eChrono, if you can get your HP high enough to survive some 1's.
Anyone can tank ToD/VoD/HoX.
High HP is best for MA on anything above normal.
A shield bashing intim is the greatest for LoB on hard or above.

Yes you can build someone who can tank them all, but I don't think a pure monk is that build.

[goodspeed]

dark for sure. Though most usually go light for the easier time of getting into tod groups to try and find the rings.

But light could work just with a tougher time of it. U'd definitely need the gear and lots of it. Im thinking maybe a neg energy % absorption as well. Course with tanking ud want the icy or maybe the dragon touched though id want to stack as much ac as possible.

Which ud also need a ki item to use while in earth stance to keep the dmg going along with the hate.

Claw set is of course needed with mayhaps a 3 peice chrono though I think the rock cape would fit better and free up some slots. I think the stelward tod set adds threat as well. You could also take horc for brute fighting until you get your gear but then ud be giving up some more hp which as established ur running at around the line there.

[smithj_2020]

Looks good plenty of HPs, specially for a monk tank, with the right Gear and DR. You can easily obtain a high 80s AC on monks with proper gear (keep in mind not alot of super hard epic items either...toughest is prolly grims bracelet, icy raimnents.) So could easily tank most quests on norm and hard..

Wont be an Epic LoB tank me thinks but thats a very specific heavily geared tank me thinks.

I would just say drop the void strike enhancement line, for me i dropped it on my monk builds, its to expensive for such a low working enhancement line, I put it towards more wisdom enhance and healing amp for my monk and SF to have a better DC.


Also you could drop Monk Improved Recovery III- since as a tank you should be trying to obtain Epic Gloves of Claw - 30% healing amp: that would give you:
1.3, 1.2, 1.2(leviks or ToD ring), 1.1 (ship) = 221% healing amp which is super nice.

[edgarallanpoe]

Also you could drop Monk Improved Recovery III- since as a tank you should be trying to obtain Epic Gloves of Claw - 30% healing amp: that would give you:
1.3, 1.2, 1.2(leviks or ToD ring), 1.1 (ship) = 221% healing amp which is super nice.

No...he can't. IR III is a pre for Shin II&III and the other way is actually more expensive.

[smithj_2020]

No...he can't. IR III is a pre for Shin II&III and the other way is actually more expensive.

Oh well there's my light monk inxp

[Habreno]

About Healing Amplification.

Enhancements will stack with gear. 30% Enhancements from Monk stack with 30% enhancements from Human. These will stack with EClaw Bracers 30%. Yes, that's confusing, as like values aren't supposed to stack. They're considered different sources, so they do.

[Rhysem]

Unrelated to the rest, that many points in jump is a waste.

[redspecter23]

Unrelated to the rest, that many points in jump is a waste.

Then the question is, where do you put the points on a monk? He's already got balance and concentration maxed. He could go with UMD, but that won't be much of a factor until he gets all the gear later to get it high enough on a pure monk. Spot? Not a horrible idea, but I'd still take jump over spot. Intimidate? A possibility, but without full ranks it would be difficult to get it to a high enough total. If he were splashing 2 fighter levels for instance, then intimidate would be a no brainer if he had the points available to keep it maxed each level.

I've found jump to be extremely useful on my monk as I tend to solo alot, but in a group situation or endgame there are other options which could make jump a very poor choice.