Challenge Farmer

[Mithrenes]

One option worth considering now is the Scraps of Enlightenment from Archon's Trial. +5 Holy 3, Solar 3, Impact 3, Reinforced Fists. In terms of stopping power that probably trumps the +5 Screaming of Pure Good. it also allows you to re-slot the Spare Hand for Stunning Fist DC, though you'd have to find a place to slot deathblock again. Maybe drop the Jump on boots and grab a green there?

[Stoner81]

One option worth considering now is the Scraps of Enlightenment from Archon's Trial. +5 Holy 3, Solar 3, Impact 3, Reinforced Fists. In terms of stopping power that probably trumps the +5 Screaming of Pure Good. it also allows you to re-slot the Spare Hand for Stunning Fist DC, though you'd have to find a place to slot deathblock again. Maybe drop the Jump on boots and grab a green there?

For me personally swapping out Arkat's Cord is a no no since the Reinforced Fists works with all handwraps that are equipped, losing it would mean a drop in overall DPS. However, the wraps you mentioned do seem pretty good and has more procs than the crafted ones (2D6 extra I think) plus with them being Good and having Light damage they might work for an alternative to the Wraps of Endless Night if folks don't want to get them for some reason. The main downside to the wraps that I can see is that you would end up doubling up on abilities but that's all I can think of really.

Stoner81.

[EllisDee37]

Those do look really nice.

I think most of the mobs in Rushmore are neutral, as are animated armor in extraplanar and wolves/lions in lava caves. Does the new-style holy hurt neutrals?

[Stoner81]

"On Hit: 3 to 12 Good Damage (Good aligned creatures are immune to this effect)" is what the wiki says on the item screenshot so in theory it should do since it states that only Good aligned creatures are immune but I guess it would have to be tested to be sure.

Stoner81.

[Mithrenes]

Arkat's Cord and the Scraps of Enlightenment both have Reinforced Fists For the fights where you'd want to take off Enlightenment You could still keep Arkat's for swap. But for most uses where you'd be using stuff like Ivy or +5 Screaming of Pure Good, Enlightenment would fare better.

+5 is a wash with Crafted
Holy III > Pure Good (3d4 > 2 flat. Assuming it can hit Neutral it's better across the board)
Solar III > Screaming (again 3d4 > 1d6)
Impact is a pure gain +1[W] Damage. Keen effect (does not stack with Improved Critical: Bludgeoning).
Red Slot is a wash (found on both).
Reinforced Fists is a gain (+0.5[W] again. Bringing our total up to 4.5[W] including Monk Unarmed Strike!)

If you reach a point where you're comfortable using Enlightenment full time, you can even swap the IC:B feat out (because it's redundant) for Precision. Fort Bypass is godly against Undead and Constructs.

[EllisDee37]

Holy III > Pure Good (3d4 > 2 flat. Assuming it can hit Neutral it's better across the board)

Are you thinking of Righteousness? Pure Good is 1d6 vs non-good.

Don't forget the paragon bonus: 0.5[W]

[Mithrenes]

Are you thinking of Righteousness? Pure Good is 1d6 vs non-good.

Don't forget the paragon bonus: 0.5[W]

ah, yup. I was thinking of a different effect. Sorry bout that one.

[Stoner81]

Arkat's Cord and the Scraps of Enlightenment both have Reinforced Fists For the fights where you'd want to take off Enlightenment You could still keep Arkat's for swap. But for most uses where you'd be using stuff like Ivy or +5 Screaming of Pure Good, Enlightenment would fare better.

+5 is a wash with Crafted
Holy III > Pure Good (3d4 > 2 flat. Assuming it can hit Neutral it's better across the board)
Solar III > Screaming (again 3d4 > 1d6)
Impact is a pure gain +1[W] Damage. Keen effect (does not stack with Improved Critical: Bludgeoning).
Red Slot is a wash (found on both).
Reinforced Fists is a gain (+0.5[W] again. Bringing our total up to 4.5[W] including Monk Unarmed Strike!)

If you reach a point where you're comfortable using Enlightenment full time, you can even swap the IC:B feat out (because it's redundant) for Precision. Fort Bypass is godly against Undead and Constructs.

Swapping IC:B is a bad idea I think since there are a number of wraps used for different circumstances (namely bosses) plus the healing ones if things go pear shaped (I use these a lot actually they are so good). Assuming that Holy III does work then it looks like they are better by a fair bit and are lower level until you slot an augment. Wraps of Endless Night are instakill for Undead and as for Constructs I think it's just the animated armours? I might see about farming the wraps in question and see how they fair compared to the others.

Stoner81.

[EllisDee37]

I don't think I'd drop Improved Critical regardless, but if Holy III damages neutrals it's hard to not switch to those over the screaming of pure good crafted versions. Consider the pinnacle of crafted goodness, the Devashta beaters:

+5 Holy of Greater Evil Outsider Bane (+9 weapon with +5d6 proc damage per swing and +0.5[W])
Scraps of Enlightenment (+5 weapon with +6d4 proc damage per swing and +1[W])
+5 Screaming of Pure Good (+5 weapon with +2d6 proc damage per swing and +0.5[W])

Level 16 monk starts with 3[W], reinforced fists add another +0.5, and base damage is 1d8 thanks to shintao tier 5. That means:

4.0[1d8] +9 = 18 + 9 = 27 base damage for +5 holy of greater bane
4.5[1d8] +5 = 20 + 5 = 25 base damage for scraps of enlightenment
4.0[1d8] +5 = 18 + 5 = 23 base damage for +5 screaming of pure good

5d6 = 17.5 proc damage for +5 holy of greater bane
6d4 = 15 proc damage for scraps of enlightenment (not counting augment, which could add another +1d6)
2d6 = 7 proc damage for +5 screaming of pure good (not counting augment)

That makes scraps of enlightenment pretty close to a tie with the best possible crafted bane weapons, and clearly better than the trash beaters.

EDIT: If you're wondering why 0.5 only adds 2 damage, my calculator does what I assume the game does, which is round down. For the d8 roll, if you roll a 1, and have 4.5[W], that means it does 4.5 base damage. Since we can't do fractional damage, I assume that rounds down to 4. Thus:

1: 4
2: 9
3: 13
4: 18
5: 22
6: 27
7: 31
8: 36

4+9+13+18+22+27+31+36 = 160 / 8 = 20 damage per roll

Any error in this assumption can only favor scraps of enlightenment even further.

[EllisDee37]

Now that you've convinced me to farm up Scraps of Enlightenment, what's the best use for the augment?

Yugoloths are immune to acid, which I didn't care about with the crafted version because I switched to the evil outsider bane weapons for them. If we're only using Scraps, it should be the best all-around damage. What do you think that would be?

Maybe cold? That way it would do extra damage to fire giants and that eveningstar arena one where everything is a fire mob?

Or maybe, since regardless what element we pick there will certainly be mobs who resist it, would it be better to go with a +78 devotion augment? That adds another +15 implement bonus, for a total of +93 devotion compared to +48 as written. That sounds good to me.

EDIT: I think I like devotion for the augment, since it would let us switch the trinket to Blindness Ward of Good Luck +2. The mephits definitely blind us in Extraplanar, so Blindness Ward would be a nice improvement.

[EllisDee37]

Swapping IC:B is a bad idea I think since there are a number of wraps used for different circumstances (namely bosses) plus the healing ones if things go pear shaped (I use these a lot actually they are so good). Assuming that Holy III does work then it looks like they are better by a fair bit and are lower level until you slot an augment. Wraps of Endless Night are instakill for Undead and as for Constructs I think it's just the animated armours? I might see about farming the wraps in question and see how they fair compared to the others.

Well, the healing wraps could be switched to +3 Impact of Vampirism.

Since Scraps of Enlightenment are competitive with greater bane boss beaters, I could see dropping all the boss beaters and only keeping specialized weapons for undead (mabar/disrupters) and constructs (smiters). Those targets are fortified anyway, so improved critical is largely irrelevant for them.

Dropping Improved Crit for Precision would be nice if there are fortified bosses, but more importantly for elementals. I do hate having to dps down elementals when dismissing strike is on cooldown.

[Snarglefrump]

It basically comes down to the procs, since +0.5[W] is worth 4.5 damage

How does 0.5[W] work out to 4.5 damage with handwraps? I thought that for unarmed combat with a monk W = 1d6. I'm coming back to the game from a long hiatus, so I am likely missing something.

[Snarglefrump]

Dropping Improved Crit for Precision would be nice if there are fortified bosses, but more importantly for elementals. I do hate having to dps down elementals when dismissing strike is on cooldown.

I'm surprised banishing weapons haven't been mentioned on this thread yet. They're useful against elementals as well as everything in Extraplanar Mining (including the maralith) except the enchanted armors and maybe the dragon (untested). Hot swapping Enlighted Vestments will add +5 damage/attack on average if you prefer not to use a banishing weapon.

[Mithrenes]

Holy III (all numbered Holy actually) work on Neutral creatures. Just tested it in Epic 3BC. My Holy Throwing Axe (crafted) didn't do Holy to the Elementals, but a Holy IV club did.

[EllisDee37]

How does 0.5[W] work out to 4.5 damage with handwraps? I thought that for unarmed combat with a monk W = 1d6. I'm coming back to the game from a long hiatus, so I am likely missing something.

It doesn't; my calculator has 0.5[W] being worth 2 damage. That original statement was incorrect, later edited.

[EllisDee37]

I'm surprised banishing weapons haven't been mentioned on this thread yet. They're useful against elementals as well as everything in Extraplanar Mining (including the maralith) except the enchanted armors and maybe the dragon (untested). Hot swapping Enlighted Vestments will add +5 damage/attack on average if you prefer not to use a banishing weapon.

That's a good call. I'll keep an eye out for them in the ah.

The main reason they've been overlooked is that the build has what approaches a no-fail instakill attack for all non-redname extraplanar enemies: Dismissing Strike.

[Stoner81]

Level 16 monk starts with 3[W], reinforced fists add another +0.5, and base damage is 1d8 thanks to shintao tier 5. That means:

4.0[1d8] +9 = 18 + 9 = 27 base damage for +5 holy of greater bane
4.5[1d8] +5 = 20 + 5 = 25 base damage for scraps of enlightenment
4.0[1d8] +5 = 18 + 5 = 23 base damage for +5 screaming of pure good

Wow that really is very very close!

Well, the healing wraps could be switched to +3 Impact of Vampirism.

Since Scraps of Enlightenment are competitive with greater bane boss beaters, I could see dropping all the boss beaters and only keeping specialized weapons for undead (mabar/disrupters) and constructs (smiters). Those targets are fortified anyway, so improved critical is largely irrelevant for them.

Dropping Improved Crit for Precision would be nice if there are fortified bosses, but more importantly for elementals. I do hate having to dps down elementals when dismissing strike is on cooldown.

If that is the case then I think the only "boss beater" left would be the wraps for the Archon in the Kobold Island challenges. Are there any Constructs at all in any of the challenges the only ones I can even remotely think of are the Animated Armours and I'm not even sure if they are classed as a Construct.

EDIT - Just checked and they are a Construct according to the wiki

Now that you've convinced me to farm up Scraps of Enlightenment, what's the best use for the augment?

Yugoloths are immune to acid, which I didn't care about with the crafted version because I switched to the evil outsider bane weapons for them. If we're only using Scraps, it should be the best all-around damage. What do you think that would be?

Maybe cold? That way it would do extra damage to fire giants and that eveningstar arena one where everything is a fire mob?

Or maybe, since regardless what element we pick there will certainly be mobs who resist it, would it be better to go with a +78 devotion augment? That adds another +15 implement bonus, for a total of +93 devotion compared to +48 as written. That sounds good to me.

EDIT: I think I like devotion for the augment, since it would let us switch the trinket to Blindness Ward of Good Luck +2. The mephits definitely blind us in Extraplanar, so Blindness Ward would be a nice improvement.

Kinetic Ruby Eye or a Star Ruby maybe? The problem is that I think those types of augments currently do not work with unarmed combat. Having said that though Devotion would be a good shout though that does mess me up a little since I use the Madstone Boots for it but the Rage proc drives me mad (no pun intended). If we add Devotion though that does affect the DPS calcs somewhat since we are losing 1D6 from the current Acid augment.

Blindness Ward comes as a Yellow augment so is there any place we could slot that perhaps? If that is possible then how about Melee Alacrity of Good Luck +2? We could then switch stance to either Fire or Mountain though having said all of that I have no idea how Melee Alacrity behaves with all the extra speed stuff Monks get naturally so it may not even give us anything extra. As I currently understand Wind Stance gives +7.5% to attack speed where MA gives a full 10% so on paper it should work.

Holy III (all numbered Holy actually) work on Neutral creatures. Just tested it in Epic 3BC. My Holy Throwing Axe (crafted) didn't do Holy to the Elementals, but a Holy IV club did.

Overflowing with win! This should then work on Animated Armor since they are True Neutral?

Stoner81.

[Mithrenes]

Wow that really is very very close!



If that is the case then I think the only "boss beater" left would be the wraps for the Archon in the Kobold Island challenges. Are there any Constructs at all in any of the challenges the only ones I can even remotely think of are the Animated Armours and I'm not even sure if they are classed as a Construct.

EDIT - Just checked and they are a Construct according to the wiki



Kinetic Ruby Eye or a Star Ruby maybe? The problem is that I think those types of augments currently do not work with unarmed combat. Having said that though Devotion would be a good shout though that does mess me up a little since I use the Madstone Boots for it but the Rage proc drives me mad (no pun intended). If we add Devotion though that does affect the DPS calcs somewhat since we are losing 1D6 from the current Acid augment.

Blindness Ward comes as a Yellow augment so is there any place we could slot that perhaps? If that is possible then how about Melee Alacrity of Good Luck +2? We could then switch stance to either Fire or Mountain though having said all of that I have no idea how Melee Alacrity behaves with all the extra speed stuff Monks get naturally so it may not even give us anything extra. As I currently understand Wind Stance gives +7.5% to attack speed where MA gives a full 10% so on paper it should work.



Overflowing with win! This should then work on Animated Armor since they are True Neutral?

Stoner81.

Melee Alacrity is a Suffix, you'd lose Good Luck for it.

Given that elementals are True Neutral (or at least the ones I pinged weren't Evil, as my Holy Cold Iron Throwing Axe can attest), if Holy III worked on those, it should work on Animated Armors (unless, for some backwards reason, the Armors are Good alignment, which they aren't)

[EllisDee37]

Melee Alacrity doesn't stack with Wind Stance. Master of Forms (autogranted at monk level 12) grants 12.5% alacrity in wind stance. (15% at level 18.)

As for constructs, mainly it's just animated armor in extraplanar, and also in rushmore the gargoyles are typed as constructs, plus there are metal dogs. Both animated armors and the gargoyles are actually annoying (the dogs are fine), but a pair of smiters (plus the level 16 monk ability to bypass DR/adamantine) is all you need.

If that is the case then I think the only "boss beater" left would be the wraps for the Archon in the Kobold Island challenges.

Oh, right, good call there. Wouldn't want to spend a keen on those wraps. Hmmm. While DPS is pretty critical for beating down that archon, it's probably still easy enough with just a 20x2 profile. (Compared to 19-20x2.)

Kinetic Ruby Eye or a Star Ruby maybe? The problem is that I think those types of augments currently do not work with unarmed combat. Having said that though Devotion would be a good shout though that does mess me up a little since I use the Madstone Boots for it but the Rage proc drives me mad (no pun intended). If we add Devotion though that does affect the DPS calcs somewhat since we are losing 1D6 from the current Acid augment.

I view those augments as too expensive for a challenge farmer. I'd save those for a "real" alt.

[Stoner81]

Oh, right, good call there. Wouldn't want to spend a keen on those wraps. Hmmm. While DPS is pretty critical for beating down that archon, it's probably still easy enough with just a 20x2 profile. (Compared to 19-20x2.)

Gulp down a Haste pot and hit Damage Boost, the problem I have killing the **** thing is that it constantly moves which is very annoying. Generally I find the faster I dish out damage the better I do against rather than crits.

I view those augments as too expensive for a challenge farmer. I'd save those for a "real" alt.

Really? I've seen them go for very little but I guess that's dependant on the server. So lets "assume" you loot one or you buy one for not much would they be worth taking instead of Devotion? Heck I'd be tempted to just throw in the Acid augment currently in the trash beater wraps.

Stoner81.