Need a great solo monk build: the more detail the better

[Graceanna]

I am coming back to the game after a very long time and I need a really good solo build for a monk. I'm not picky about anything, whatever is best, I will do. I'm a VIP member with only the base game at the moment, but will upgrade whatever I need to as time goes on. I'm fairly clueless about what feats work and which don't, so the more detail the better. I am experimenting on other characters, but for my monk I just want it all laid out for me, nice and simple, by those who know the game better.

Thanks so much for your help!

[Toro12]

I am coming back to the game after a very long time and I need a really good solo build for a monk. I'm not picky about anything, whatever is best, I will do. I'm a VIP member with only the base game at the moment, but will upgrade whatever I need to as time goes on. I'm fairly clueless about what feats work and which don't, so the more detail the better. I am experimenting on other characters, but for my monk I just want it all laid out for me, nice and simple, by those who know the game better.

Thanks so much for your help!

Human
14's in str , con , wis to start
If you have access to a dex tome (+2or better ) go with 15 starting dex. If not go 16 dex and save up 10-15k to get a +1.
Any points you have left put in str or wis I'd suggest str

Feats
power attack, two weapon fighting , improved TWF, greater TWF , stunning fist , one of the selection of feats to be eligible to take shintao PrE, toughness.
That leaves you with a couple to play with have fun.

Action points
Human healing amp 1,2&3
Monk healing amp 1;2&3
Shianto 1,2&3 (I suggest waiting on getting 1 till you need it to qualify for 2)
Racial toughness 1or 2
Wind stance to grand master , and fire up to what you want so you can switch to for extra healing amp from jid'z'teka bracers.

Gear
Vampiric stonedust handwraps, jid'z'teka bracers , dragontouched robe with 10% &20% healing amp
------

How to play:
Vampiric wraps and fist of light , stun , punch till its dead.

It is a war of attrition and you will win every time. So long as you can punch you will always heal and come out on top. Shrines? What are they?

[Soulfurnace]

Personally, I don't see fists of light+vampric wraps as effective... not in any half-decent content. (Even on heroic)
It's why I always splash 1 arti on my monks - good and all as the capstone is, 1 arti (and maybe 1 something else?) gives me a ton - esp in regards to self-healing at both epics and heroics.

[Toro12]

Personally, I don't see fists of light+vampric wraps as effective... not in any half-decent content. (Even on heroic)
It's why I always splash 1 arti on my monks - good and all as the capstone is, 1 arti (and maybe 1 something else?) gives me a ton - esp in regards to self-healing at both epics and heroics.

3 health per Strike from lesser vampiric wraps and 3-6 from FoL on a grand master wind monk is crazy fast healing. Swap to fire with haste for 4 and 4-6 from FoL. in a pinch your healing ki finisher hits for 100+. Heck CSW pots hit for 80-100. For my monk main it's 1/5 of her health.

I haven't run EE but EH is easily punch healed in my experience.

[Soulfurnace]

3 health per Strike from lesser vampiric wraps and 3-6 from FoL on a grand master wind monk is crazy fast healing. Swap to fire with haste for 4 and 4-6 from FoL. in a pinch your healing ki finisher hits for 100+. Heck CSW pots hit for 80-100. For my monk main it's 1/5 of her health.

I haven't run EE but EH is easily punch healed in my experience.

Ehard... is a joke, period.
Still, 300+% heal amp seems a tad high for so little return.
1.3 human
1.3 monk
1.3 item
1.2 item
1.25 Jidz
Gives 330% heal amp - for only 100 when you need it? 3 gear slots for that?
Maybe you got the heal amp another way, but even so, that's harsh.
Compared to heal scrolls, giving ~362 at that heal amp. And, of course, cocoon - unlimited cocoon. Magical training and all that.
*Note. You can also go dark monk if ditching the idea of fists of light (any monk can have heal amp and vamprism... until enhancement pass), giving you 25% incorp - that plus dodge, displacement and prr should leave you pretty **** invincible for eHard.

[Daine]

I solo fine switching up between Air, Earth and Ocean as required, though I find I'm in Ocean the most, it's the most "monkish" for me:

Stunning Fist
DC = 10 + half character levels + Wis mod + other modifiers

Quivering Palm
DC = 10 + monk level/2 + wisdom mod

Dismissing Strike
DC = 10 + Wisdom Modifier + your Monk level

Tomb of Jade
DC = 10 + Wisdom Modifier + your monk level

and then:

Grandmaster of Oceans
Ultimate Ocean Stance: The eternal ocean focuses on redirection and the supernatural. Ultimate Ocean Stance grants +4 Wisdom, a +4% dodge bonus to Armor Class, +5 to all Saving Throws, and your passive ki generation when centered is increased by 1, at a cost of -2 Strength.

Balance is of course the most important part of building a monk, but don't discount WIS and it's associated effects on your abilities. Whatever stances you choose, plan in advance and remember that for GM you need an 18 stat for them.

Oh, and read the "The Book of Syncletica", https://sites.google.com/site/bookofsyn/ it's the must read for any DDO monk!

[Graceanna]

Oh, and read the "The Book of Syncletica", https://sites.google.com/site/bookofsyn/ it's the must read for any DDO monk!

I have that open and am reading it. Thank you. I'm trying to use the character planner to plan it all out, just having issues due to the fact that I'm clueless. I have noticed most seem to prefer light for solo, but others prefer dark. I don't mind cross-classing if it's most effective, but I'm having a hard time finding any builds for monk that aren't seriously outdated or dead links.

My D&D knowledge is minimal, to be honest. I played D&D 3.5 for awhile, but it's been several years and I've forgotten everything. But I'm trying to learn fast.

I'm a melee junkie and prefer hardy classes/races that can solo a lot because, as a full time college student, my time is often limited. I'm probably a bit lazy, as well. It's just so much easier to just run up and hit stuff and use whatever attacks are at my disposal, rather than kiting things around as a caster.

[Soulfurnace]

This is not D&D - I'm just gonna say that now.
I prefer dark for 25% incorp, as that's an amazing survivability increase - and I have ways to heal myself. (Cleric dilettante, UMD, etc)

Also, casters don't kite - they nuke. :P

[Graceanna]

This is not D&D - I'm just gonna say that now.
I prefer dark for 25% incorp, as that's an amazing survivability increase - and I have ways to heal myself. (Cleric dilettante, UMD, etc)

Also, casters don't kite - they nuke. :P

It's not D&D, no, but it's a lot closer to D&D than other games. I played WoW for several years and this is so much closer to "real" D&D.

I was just saying I prefer the lazy ways of melee. I've often played clerics, paladins, and fighters simply because I just want to run into the mix and do my thing and not worry too much about my survival.

[Toro12]

Ehard... is a joke, period.
Still, 300+% heal amp seems a tad high for so little return.
1.3 human
1.3 monk
1.3 item
1.2 item
1.25 Jidz
Gives 330% heal amp - for only 100 when you need it? 3 gear slots for that?
Maybe you got the heal amp another way, but even so, that's harsh.
Compared to heal scrolls, giving ~362 at that heal amp. And, of course, cocoon - unlimited cocoon. Magical training and all that.
*Note. You can also go dark monk if ditching the idea of fists of light (any monk can have heal amp and vamprism... until enhancement pass), giving you 25% incorp - that plus dodge, displacement and prr should leave you pretty **** invincible for eHard.

Neversaid there weren't other ways to go with it.
Just that you are under rating heal amp with vamps. sure scoll healing is all fine and dandy if you want to give up some monk stuff like dr10 and regening ki. But amp with fol and windstance attack speed and double strike is crazy good healing on the super cheap. 3 pieces of gear seems like a fair trade off for the massive amounts of survivability it affords. And you might as well consider it 2 gear pieces as just about any melee is going to be wearing pdk gloves.
How many gear pieces do you need to swap to 100% scroll heal when splashed arti or rogue? Much less drop your wraps to pull the scroll?
Going half elf with cleric dilly seems the better choice IMO. Sure you give up some nice arcane scroll buffs but seems better than dropping capstone.

[Veles]

Wisdom dark water is the way to go, either human 18/2rog or helf with cleric dilly.
Cocoon + slot devotion somewhere, max dodge+perma shadowfade.
10+5 exceptional stun on gear, wisdom level ups, gmof.
At least 20 amp from human, 20, 30 on gear, scroll mastery with 18/2. Forget Jidz bracers, noone uses fire.
Perma blur item and as many displace clickies as you can.
Also godly stun and EIN, cc from gmof and cocoon will save you, not paltry hjealing from light monk.
For epic hard, dreadnought with blitz.

[ArcaneArcher52689]

leveled a couple monks,
and i've always found that it's bet to start light path and switch to dark path around ~9/10 when you can get touch of death.

Here's my general template (would be helpful to be 32pt)
human pure monk
stats
str 14
dex15
con14
int 8
wis 15 all level ups here
cha 8
Note, this needs a +2 dex tome by lvl 9 and a +3 wis tome by lvl 20

feats
1: toughness, twf(human bonus), stunning fist(monk bonus)
2: power attack(bonus)
3: cleave, Fists of Light(path feat)
6: great cleave, dodge(bonus)
9: improved twf (needs that +2 tome)
12: improved critical: blunt
15: greater twf
18: Your choice, i recommend improved sunder
21: vorpal strikes (needs that +3 tome)
24: improved martial arts

The beauty of this set up is that after level 6, you have all the prerequisites for both shintao path and ninja spy.
I normally stay light path from 3-9, dark path 9-18, and go back to shintao at 18.

The main reason is to go dark at lvl 9 is touch of death. The ability can deal anywhere from 250-1500 damage at lvl 9, and you just can't beat that kind of dps for boss fights. And at 18, you get kukan do, which is essentially a ranged stunning fist.

Whatever you do, enjoy playing a monk!

[Sebastrd]

For my monk life I went warforged 18 monk/1 rogue/1 ranger, shintao. This was a while ago, but it was good enough to tank raid bosses and had full trap skills. Now I might go arty instead of rogue, but that's a pay class.

[Soulfurnace]

For my monk life I went warforged 18 monk/1 rogue/1 ranger, shintao. This was a while ago, but it was good enough to tank raid bosses and had full trap skills. Now I might go arty instead of rogue, but that's a pay class.

Just out of curiosity, what does
1) Warforged and 2) Ranger offer to the build?

[CoasterHops]

Just out of curiosity, what does
1) Warforged and 2) Ranger offer to the build?

Playing a WF monk, makes you a better monk on your next life....

In all seriousness I have leveled 3 Lives as a WF monk on Khyber - Not always pure, cpl were 12mnk/7fighter/1rog, I enjoy it and it takes a certain kind of masochism to continue doing it. Sure being a human would be a lot easier but I think playing a life or two as a WF monk will actually make you a better monk player further down the line.

[Sebastrd]

Just out of curiosity, what does
1) Warforged and 2) Ranger offer to the build?

WF gave immunity to neg levels, poison (at the time), and drowning. It made healing curse irrelevant, which was desirable for tanking end game raid bosses, and let me wear DoD for said tanking.

Ranger gave a favored enemy and sprint boost, which was simply a better deal than a level splash in any other class, or another level of rogue or monk.

I'm fairly certain it was just a ripoff of Mr. Cow's build from Diary of a TR: Melee.

[dredre9987]

Gear layout for EE monks nowadays?