The Heart of the Mountain, Epic Lord of Blades Capable Pure Monk Tank

[KyrzaBladedancer]

NOTE: This build is entirely theortical, while I would love to build and play it, I have neither the time nor the will to build and gear another character out of the dozen I still want to make.

I often read how a Pure monk can not tank ELoB, so I set out a goal to get enough HP in order to be able to tank ELoB while still having all the goodies that a 20 monk gets. I have personal experience Tanking ELoB without Intim so I know that it is more difficult and takes longer, but I believe this build would be a very good contender with the Shield Users.

Also this is NOT in ANY way a first or even a second life Character. Tomes are a Must, and attempting to gear while built like this will be more difficult on you.


The Heart of the Mountain
(Feat/Enhancement List Below if you don't like the code box)

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.11.02
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 20 Lawful Good Dwarf Male
(20 Monk) 
Hit Points: 454
Spell Points: 0 
BAB: 15\15\20\25\25
Fortitude: 21
Reflex: 15
Will: 16

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(36 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             16                    19
Dexterity            14                    17
Constitution         19                    29
Intelligence          9                    12
Wisdom               14                    18
Charisma              6                     6

Tomes Used
+1 Tome of Strength used at level 3
+1 Tome of Dexterity used at level 3
+1 Tome of Constitution used at level 3
+1 Tome of Intelligence used at level 3
+1 Tome of Wisdom used at level 3
+3 Tome of Strength used at level 11
+3 Tome of Dexterity used at level 11
+3 Tome of Constitution used at level 11
+3 Tome of Intelligence used at level 11
+3 Tome of Wisdom used at level 11

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               6                    34
Bluff                -2                    -2
Concentration         8                    46
Diplomacy            -2                    -2
Disable Device       n/a                    n/a
Haggle               -2                    -2
Heal                  2                     4
Hide                  2                     7
Intimidate           -2                    -2
Jump                  3                     6
Listen                2                     4
Move Silently         2                     3
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                   n/a
Repair               -1                     1
Search               -1                     3
Spot                  2                     8
Swim                  3                     4
Tumble                n/a                  28
Use Magic Device      0                     9

Level 1 (Monk)
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Fighter
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Monk
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Power Attack
Feat: (Selected) Toughness


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


Level 3 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Past Life: Disciple of the Fist
Feat: (Monk Path) Path of Inevitable Dominion: Fists of Darkness


Level 4 (Monk)


Level 5 (Monk)


Level 6 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Dodge
Feat: (Selected) Two Weapon Fighting


Level 7 (Monk)


Level 8 (Monk)


Level 9 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness


Level 10 (Monk)


Level 11 (Monk)


Level 12 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting


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) Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons


Level 19 (Monk)


Level 20 (Monk)
Enhancement: Monk Serenity
Enhancement: Dwarven Constitution I
Enhancement: Dwarven Constitution II
Enhancement: Static Charge
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortoise I
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortoise II
Enhancement: Touch of Death
Enhancement: Fists of Iron
Enhancement: Porous Soul
Enhancement: All-Consuming Flame
Enhancement: Monk Ninja Spy I
Enhancement: Monk Ninja Spy II
Enhancement: Void Strike I
Enhancement: Void Strike II
Enhancement: Void Strike III
Enhancement: Void Strike IV
Enhancement: Winter's Touch
Enhancement: Adept of Wind
Enhancement: Master of Thunder
Enhancement: Adept of Rock
Enhancement: Grandmaster of Mountains
Enhancement: Master of Stone
Enhancement: Adept of Flame
Enhancement: Master of Bonfires
Enhancement: Adept of Rain
Enhancement: Master of the Sea
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness III
Enhancement: Racial Toughness IV
Enhancement: Improved Jump I
Enhancement: Improved Jump II
Enhancement: Improved Tumble I
Enhancement: Improved Tumble II
Enhancement: Monk Wisdom I

Str 16 Base+ 3 Profane+ 6 item+ 2 Tome+ 1 Exc+ 2 Ship+ 2 Rage+ 2 Madstone= 34
Dex 14 Base+ 6 Item+ 2 Ship+ 3 Tome +1 Exc- 2 Stance= 24
Con 19 Base+ 5 Level+ 7 Item+ 3 Exc+ 4 Tome+ 2Enhancement+ 2 Ship+ 4 Stance+ 2 Rage+ 2 Alchemical= 50
Int 9 Base+ 3 Tome= 12
Wis 14 Base+ 6 item+3 Exc+ 1 Enhancement+ 2 Ship+ 2 Capstone+ 2 Tome= 30
Cha 6 Base+ 7 Item +2 Tome= 15

HP Breakdown
160 Monk
20 Heroic Durability
10 Draconic Vitality
30 GFL
45 GS
44 Toughness feat
50 Enhancement
20 Toughness item
400 Con
========
779
40 Yugo
========
819
40 Single Madstone (Double is Unlikely)
========
859
10% Positive Energy Infusion (TOven's cookie or Arti)
========
944/945 (944.9 not sure if it rounds up or down)

Stunning Fist DC
10 Base
10 Level
10 Stunners
10 Wisdom
1 PL
5 Spare Hand
========
46 Not great, but not bad either

Feats
1: Power Attack, Monk: Toughness
2: Monk: Stunning Fist
3: Monk PL Feat (or Toughness) Monk: Dark Path
6: TWF Monk: Dodge
9: Toughness
12: ITWF
15: GTWF
18: IC Bludgeon


Enhancements
Touch of Death (12 Points)
Racial Toughness IV (10)
Dwarven Con II (6)
Tortiose II (3)
Master Water (5)
Master Air (5)
Master Fire (5)
Grand Master Earth (9)
Void IV (10)
Fists of Iron (1)
Jump II (2)
Tumble II (2)
Ninja Spy II (6)
Monk Wisdom I (2)
Capstone (2)

Gear
This is his Tanking Gear, you can set up DPS gear however you want

Helm: Epic Helm of Frost w/ 1 Exc Wis
Neck: Shintao Cord
Trinket: Epic Gem of Many Facets w/ Greater False Life
Cloak: Epic Envenomed w/ Heavy Fort
Belt: Sundering Ooze Greensteel HP
Ring: Cinder's Band or Gnawed Band w/+2 Exc Con
Gloves: Epic Gloves of the Claw
Boots: Madstone Boots
Ring: Kyosho's w/ Holy burst
Bracers: Epic Scorched w/ Toughness
Chest: Dragontouched w/ 10% 20% Heal Amp 20% Threat
Goggles: Epic Raven's Sight
Wraps:Silver or Byeshk Fire/Earth/x Alchemical (slotted with +7 or Metallic edges depending on Metal type)


Single Biggest problem this and many Tanking monks face is To Hit, I tried to increase that as much as possible without sacrificing any Hate or DPS or HP Gear, you still may need to run with a Bard with max songs to have a reliable first number with Power Attack (maybe not even then)

To Hit
20 Base
12 Str
4 Raven's set
2 Shintao set
6 Wraps
3 ship
========
47
4 GH
========
51
3 Courage WC split or pure SS
2 Greatness
========
56 Not a good number, maybe once they fix Greater Banes use them and lose a little HP. However, with Destruction being fixed and many people using Imp Sunder, it should be fine.



With 20% Resistance from Earth IV, 40% Miss Chance from Cloudkill and Shadow Fade, and 10DR/Epic (does this work on ELoB?) his Tankability is not in question.

Comments Criticism and Questions welcome, Thanks for taking the time to look!

[wax_on_wax_off]

Monks break DR/Adamantine at level 16.

[KyrzaBladedancer]

Yeah thanks lol been too long since I've played a pure monk Editted

[DragonTroy]

no reason to have that 20% threat on that DT, already on your gloves of the claw. might i suggest destruction to help with your to-hit?

[maddmatt70]

Go 18 monk 2 fighter half-elf which is a really strong tanking build. 2 fighter gives 2 feats and intimidate as skill that coupled with the healing amp and social skills of a half-elf is the way to go.

[Taimasan]

no reason to have that 20% threat on that DT, already on your gloves of the claw. might i suggest destruction to help with your to-hit?

DT Destruction does not work with unarmed combat.

[KyrzaBladedancer]

Go 18 monk 2 fighter half-elf which is a really strong tanking build. 2 fighter gives 2 feats and intimidate as skill that coupled with the healing amp and social skills of a half-elf is the way to go.

Yeah the 2 fighter option is a stronger tank, I guess the real point is that most people think a pure monk can't get to the point of tanking ELoB.


and Yeah, I couldn't find anything to put on the Sovereign spot, so just choose the most tanky one

[whomhead]

Might this not be better as a human than dwarf? You'd start with 2 fewer con and 1 less from enhancements, but could make up for that with an extra toughness. You'd then gain the extra human healing amp, which is incredibly nice on your typical bag-of-meat type of tank.

[maddmatt70]

Yeah the 2 fighter option is a stronger tank, I guess the real point is that most people think a pure monk can't get to the point of tanking ELoB.


and Yeah, I couldn't find anything to put on the Sovereign spot, so just choose the most tanky one

The point has been made that you do not have to have intimidate to tank epic lob at least for a significant portion of the raid, but really why would anybody build a tank for epic lob that did not have the requisite intimidate score is beyond me.

[KyrzaBladedancer]

Might this not be better as a human than dwarf? You'd start with 2 fewer con and 1 less from enhancements, but could make up for that with an extra toughness. You'd then gain the extra human healing amp, which is incredibly nice on your typical bag-of-meat type of tank.

I thought of that, but it's a bit of an HP loss (2 Base con 1 from enhancement and 10 from toughness end up losing a little less than 30 hp) which, as it's described goal of ELoB tank, kinda hurts. You still have 188% as built and can drop something for Monk Healing Amp, for more. I find that anything more than 200% starts to be come unnecessary. When I was tanking it on my Fighter, I had 154% while I needed some mana healing, it was usually due to getting hit with 3 scrolls in the same hit, wasting 2 of them. I think that ~190% hits the sweet spot for scrolls, enough to heal a little less than 2 Attack rounds of damage with mastery IV, and enough to top off from almost any HP with a Heal Spell. I think it depends mostly on the group you run with, if you can have Positive Energy Infusion up full time, Human is better, if not Dwarf may require a little more healing, but is sturdier. Also with a 40% Miss Chance, you will tend to have extra time to get a heal off.

[Taimasan]

I think Quis could do it. But getting a group to try it with, thats a cold day in hell. He has done hard and normal runs with no effort. I need practice on blocking the debuff, and I think I would golden foregoing a LR and final lock-in tweak that I have be foregoing because..I like to be a little out of tune to keep "in-shape."