need advice for unarmed TR

[tekkentroop]

Hi, my next TR life on my caster will be a 18/2 fvs monk, and I want to go wis-based with unarmed combat, full twf (but no IC, still pondering about PA or not) and stunning fist. I dont have any experience with unarmed combat style and no monk gear except some bta stuff (stonedust handwraps, jidz-tetka, garments of equilibrium).

-What gear should I farm before TRing, especially wraps/monk gear? Im not sure Id get raid gear like alchemicals or tharaak wraps, but any named stuff from quests should be possible.

-And how do I actually play unarmed (never played monkish style before, I know what stances do but nothing about ki strikes/finishers, note only 2 monk levels)

[Uska]

Some dr breaking hand wraps wouldnt be bad, and maybe a ToD ring for damage boosting those stone dust handwraps are handy and I would say yes to Power attack I use to CE but have found I am liking PA more

As to stances most people like windstance but I prefer Fire and Earth for KI generation, and damage level but then I play pure monks. since you will be what monk 2? you wont have some of the choices the rest of us do such as fists of light or touch of death so just use your wraps and fist others who play monk splashes hopefully will be able to help you more with advice but the least monk levels I ever take is 9 and usually I go the full 20

[Lonnbeimnech]

If you have a free character slot on any server, roll up a monk, play a quest or 2. It is different enough to other melee types that it would be worth familiarizing yourself with it a little bit first.

As for the finishers, say you wanted to use breath of the fire dragon, you use the fire attack 3 times in a row, that charges your finisher. You finish button will change to show breath of the fire dragon, hit that button.

But really don't worry about it, most of them are not useful, and the semi useful ones you wont get with a 2 splash. Just spam stunning fist.

As far as gear, normally I say get vampiric stonedust handwraps, but on a fvs self healing shouldn't be a problem. So just look for some nice general purpose dps wraps. Something like shock of laceration for low levels. Banisher, smiter, and a good set of stunning wraps for mid and up. For endgame (are you staying capped for long?) grave wraps are nice, but if you can get the seal of dun robar with stunning +10 then you can wear any nice dps wraps you come across.

Also the level 12 or higher frozen tunic from house c challanges is really nice, stalker ring is nice too.

[Dielzen]

If you're going to be an offensive caster who melees some, then Water stance is +2 Wis

Also, don't feel the "need" to go 18/2 for a TR life. I went 17/3 and don't regret it. Not only does it prevent the "omg, heal us!" tells for various things while you're 18+, but the Fists of Light is just that good.

[tekkentroop]

So the elemental only finishers arent worth bothering? I suspected it already... I was planning to use mainly water (for casting/stunning/evasion) and fire (for dps and self-healing with jidz-tetka) stances and of course stunning fist. Frozen tunic is procs often enough for monks? Thats good since I have a lvl 12 one and a lvl 14 (16-2) one already from wiz lives. I guess on a caster/stunner cursespewing wraps can be interesting, too.

Im not planning to stay in this life for too long, but I might use it to level GMoF and the divine destinies. Alchemical byeshk air handwraps (lvl 16, stunning +10) seem interesting, but I actually never ran LoB even tough my toons should be capable... were not a raiding guild so id have to find pugs. This also makes getting ToD rings difficult even though Im a quite experienced healer or shadow tanker in there. On the other hand, I like playing my other fvs so I can see myself doing up to 3 fvs lives on the caster, plus maybe cleric lives which could also go the clonk way.

[fool101]

If you WERE looking for raid loot I would suggest enlightened vestments from VoD. Those are awesome from levels 15-20 (for xoriat, devils, elementals mostly). It provides a pretty nice DPS boost, especially if you aren't able to find much DR breaking equipment, which would be a difficult investment anyway for a single life. Plus it frees you up to use any wraps you choose, ex - holy wraps in devil/demon quests

[tekkentroop]

From lvl 14 onward melee dps will get less important since ill get access to blade barrier and destruction, melee is mainly for early levels, stunning, debuffing, and saving spellpoints.

[Carpone]

I play a WIS-based unarmed Helf 18 FvS/2 Monk now. Go Fighter dilettante until 12 when you get Blade Barrier, then swap to Rogue dilettante and ride the BB zerg train to 20. You aren't going to melee much until epic levels.

Your biggest challenge as a healer and unarmed melee is figuring out where you are going to slot Devotion. Radiance/Impulse are taken care of with Holy Symbol of Lolth. You'll need something like a Devotion hat (random loot gen, Epic Mask of Comedy, Epic Chainmail Coif, etc).

Other gear: I suggest Seal of Avithoul (+2 insightful WIS) and Shintao (Holy Bursted). Spider-spun Caparison (+8 WIS) is a no-brainer chest item.

[tekkentroop]

this is a TR build, last life will probably be wiz, so im not too worried about epic level gear. Unfortunately, I dont have half-elf so its going to be human. Ill probably craft some cheap devotion on a ring, maybe later get an eveningstar challenge cloak for potency.