New first life monk

[Bacab]

I recently came back to the game...took about a 6 month break.

Anyway, I am playing a first life monk.

I do plan on TRing this guy. But first I want to get some gear on him...AKA he will hang out at level 20 (or higher maybe) for about 3months while I slog through 20 completions on the "main raids".

My question is...what is a better past life for a Handwrap user...Monk or Fighter?

Should I go 20 Monk? Increased dmg PL.

Should I go 12 FTR/8 Monk? Better tactical DCs and better to-hit from the PL.

I am open to just going first life as a pure monk and then doing that 12/8 build then TRing again.

What you guys think?

[Bacab]

Oh yeah, I plan on TRing a couple times...optimally 3 MNK and 3FTR...maybe even get a PLD life or two in there.

What do you recommend? I can make an argument going either way (for the past lives).

DCs to Stunning Fist and Trip and Improved Trip (when on 12FTR/8MNK) seem great.

Bonus dmg from MNK PL seems great for that 12FTR/8MNK build.

What build is best at hanging out at level 20+ for the next 3 months while I do raids and gather up gear?

[MrChipinator]

With the recent changes for 'to-hit' I believe that a Monk past life is superior. Having the +X to damage is noticeably at every level, once you have three of those lives done, it's akin to having a permanent +3 damage buff on, and it is awesome. I do not intend to downplay the Fighter past life, as +1 DC and +1 to-hit is nice, but even on a WF Strength-based Monk, I had almost 50 DC at cap, and for all intents and purposes was plenty for almost all content.

With what you've given me to work with, sounds like you plan on getting some serious TR'age done before you settle down, and I would recommend getting Paladin done soon, as it can be a pain to be stuck at if you do not have gear/patience to play one. An exceptionally well qualified for soloing/survival is the 12 paladin / 8 monk, which I think jives with you fairly well.

tl;dr Monk/Paladin first, better benefits considering recent changes; pure monk at 20 is almost always awesome at cap.

[AidanRyuko]

if you are startng with monk lives then get monk past life. the passive bonus from monk is +1 to damage rolls and fighters give +1 to attack(accuracy), but the active feat from monks is much better, as it gives +2 concentration and one die step higher unarmed damage then normal.

what build you should use is really up to your preference, but if you don't know anything about monks yet I suggest you try a pure or 18/2 monk build first. this way you learn what is important to make a monk work regarding enhancements and gear. If you don't understand how a monk works then making a kensai build might bite you in the bum

[K_0tiC]

monk x 3 dont bother with the fighter or pally between gear 30%, 10% ship and 20 human/helf 20monk you should see 60~80 csw 550+ sf pots 15% more is ok but personally i dont see it as 12mil exp worth of ok.

Fighter pl doesnt add to sf only stunning blow/trip some like to use it but im thinking sure for trival content it will work but I don't see space for it on a pure 20monk either way.
You get 7 normal 3monks (1, 2 and 6)
Toughness, sf, twf x3, IC blunt, PA, PL monk, imp sunder, dodge (ninja spy2 or a light monk pre req)

Pure these days should be going wisdom to hit vorpal fists then whatevers left str. For a double tr with all +3s you can get away with 16/14/16/8/16/8 (possibly one of the 8's is a 9 too lazy to check) this means 4 level ups out of 6 to wisdom getting you to 23 base with 3tome for vorpal fists leaving two level ups for str/dex whatever you want to reach stance wise etc. Much cheaper then trying to start on 18wisdom. Leaves you with openings for tier 4 fire, earth, water stances and tier 3 air without a 4 tome or 1 more level up to dex.

Something I've mentally toyed with but dont want to trash my monk yet 18/2fighter 2 feats for cleave, great cleave and get overwhelming crit instead of vorpal strikes.

[Anthios888]

Either one of the builds you mentioned is a personal favorite of mine. If you're just beginning, I might lean toward pure monk, because of their free defensive thingies like damage reduction, adamantine fists, etc. That's kind of a nice buffer when you're coming back from a break. Quivering palm is also sick sick sick. Make sure you can hit 23 wisdom (with tome and level-ups) for vorpal strikes. I know I've always been prejudiced toward wisdom, but this feat is really good!

I would also advise that you really don't need the 5 past lives to exceed. 36 points is cool, and I like stun DCs, but there are a lot more ways to get hit and damage these days than to TR. That said, I love to TR from time to time, so I understand the desire to build up the little bonuses. But just because a lot of folks have it and like to talk about how uber we are, it's a small thing in the scope of things.

Again -- welcome back!

[StrixAluco]

I've played a pure monk who is now on her second 12/8 fighter/monk life, and I personally prefer the pure one but to each their own. 12/8 is a strong split, fun and viable and perfect for fighter PL though like AidanRyuko I would advice you to try out a pure monk first to get a feeling for it, the active PL for coming fighter lives (which got plenty of feats to slot it) and some good gear.

Fighter passive PL does add to your stunning fist DC. But apart from stunning fist and improved sunder DCs what reason is there to go for fighter PLs on a pure light monk?

With the U14 changes to precision, what is the pros and cons of precision versus power attack nowadays?

[Bacab]

Great advice!

BTW I did not know that the Fighter PL +1 DC did NOT effect stunning fist. I am guessing it does not help other MNK-type DCs huh?

[StrixAluco]

BTW I did not know that the Fighter PL +1 DC did NOT effect stunning fist. I am guessing it does not help other MNK-type DCs huh?

That might be because most people seems to agree that fighter PL +1 tactical DC DOES effect stunning fist (my search skill is bad so you might get a better confirmation trying yourself, but http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=4597419, http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=4648425 #61, http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=393491 and http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=4622497 mentions it for example)

As for the other monk-type DCs I think that I recall reading that they are unaffected by fighter PL, but you better do the search yourself. All I'm perfectly sure of is that I found the answer on the forums

[taurean430]

I have a first lifer I've been working on in a way that you describe. I absolutely love the 12fighter/8monk template. But I found myself needing more defense options on Sawyn for her first life. I changed the format to something that seems to work rather well for a first life build.

I went 12 monk/8 fighter instead. This allowed me to still pick up Kensai 1 while having Ninja Spy1. She has two stun attempts per cycle, shadow fade, touch of death. This allowed me to keep up with the bigger dogs better. Went Helf to allow cleric dilly. I'm having a lot of fun with her actually. But I will be going back to the 12fighter/8monk template for kensai 2.

Planning on doing another life with her as the 12 monk/8fighter variant for the past life die step. Right now I am still gathering gear for her to make TR'ing easier. Very fun to play.

[taurean430]

That might be because most people seems to agree that fighter PL +1 tactical DC DOES effect stunning fist (my search skill is bad so you might get a better confirmation trying yourself, but http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=4597419, http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=4648425 #61, http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=393491 and http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=4622497 mentions it for example)

As for the other monk-type DCs I think that I recall reading that they are unaffected by fighter PL, but you better do the search yourself. All I'm perfectly sure of is that I found the answer on the forums

My main did 3 fighter lives back when epics were much harder to shore up for them. Fighter PL +1dc absolutely does work on stunning fist, stunning blow, and trip. Other combat feats I cannot say from experience, though my guildie tells me it works well with improved trip as well.

[Munkenmo]

An exceptionally well qualified for soloing/survival is the 12 paladin / 8 monk, which I think jives with you fairly well.

This build misses out on touch of death by one level, and the 8th level of monk really only adds .5[w]

11/9 is a stronger leveling split

improved evasion and touch of death, pick up the paladin hotd pre, for healing amp and ghost touch.

easiest leveling order would probably be 9monk, then 11 paladin


Personally if I were to start over and only pick up a 36pt build, I'd go for 2 arti lives, then finish monk, as I'm addicted to umd.
For a more balanced monk though, I think 1 fighter / 1 monk life is more than sufficient.

[voodoogroves]

I've got a Fighter 12 / Monk 7 (and Wizard 1, which I may LR out but was super useful on the first life) that was a blast to level and fun to play. Like Antios said, you don't need lots of past lives to be relevant. I had originally planned to run him through multiple fighter lives for the tactics DCs but that doesn't seem to be as necessary as the ED's alone will boost your tactics by loads.

Mine is Warforged, BTW, though anything would work mostly. I built him kinda with the idea of running the Epic Blademark's Docent (Trip 15) w/ a variety of wraps to stun and trip everything in sight - which is pretty much achievable with epic destinies and some non-brain-dead gearing. He's in mostly easy to get epic gear or new Eveningstar gear and his stun/trip DCs hang in the high 50s generally. When I get bored I swap from Kensai to Stalwart, sometimes I feel like the PRR is more helpful.

I've not decided if I'll LR to Monk 8, or Ranger 1 (SPRINT BOOST) - Monk 8 is the safer choice, providing measurable benefit. Sprint Boost just gets me there faster (and with Legendary Dread giving more action boosts, I'm tempted).


Destiny-wise this is also an easy build to have at cap and not struggle with as much for completeness. Looking at what I want to twist in, it's the extra action boosts and tactics DCs from Legendary Dreadnaught ... and maybe the Magister reflex/dodge boost. Other than that, park in GMOF (more tactics boosts) and we're kinda done (and still fun to play).

[dpadan17]

I would simply go 3 monk past lives and if you want to a paly past life for extra hjeal amp. Although you won't need it really. As for monk lives? Go pure or go home. That is my opinion. Capstone is very nice!!

Good luck with the gear. Tod is your friend to start with in dps.

Oh and farm motes for mabar wraps ( lvl 20 version not lvl 24).

And alchemicals are a MUST!!!! Air/air or air/water is the Uberness.