Challenge Farmer

[Stoner81]

Stoner it looks like you are burning a LOT of feats just to get Whirlwind attack. With the nerf to handwraps damage I think we can look at builds that only take monk to level 12 and splash more. Rogue is superb for traps but how about adding even just one wizard level? You then get Whirwind attack light for 1 AP out of EK (eldritch strike). Wizard gives some nice utility spells like Shield and maybe jump, free feat (probably quicken) and you could even burn another 1 AP in archmage and get Invisibility SLA (has its uses!).

1. Invis clicky on cloak from Tempest Spine / scrolls.

2. AP's are tight as they are to get everything.

3. Jump pots are dirt cheap

4. Dropping even more levels of Monk means losing spell resistance from Diamond Soul, a bit from Slow Fall and -1 BAB which then messes with feat order (I think).

5. Shield comes in wand form and the build will have full UMD.

Two ranger instead of rogue could get us TWF and Rapid shot; add quickdraw from Henshin if you go that route and you have, along with Shuriken expertise, a fairly solid ranged attack. Use wizard for knock scrolls.

Ranged is pointless for the build aside from hitting levers or drawing aggro if running a tough quest or something like that. At which point there are loads of ones to choose from or can craft them via Cannith Crafting. Knock Scrolls are pretty much useless (as are the wands) since I tested them (well wands anyway)

Other options are going Longswords for WSS in which case there will be a superior crit profile at a cost of a chunk of feats or vistani daggers for similar reasons. I haven't fully thought out the ideal split but right now I have a parked WSS toon at level 10 (not for challenges, just stealth fun) and she is quite fun and capable.

As I understand it to get Longswords as a Ki Weapon involves burning 2 feats (longsword proficiency and Whirling Steel Strike) just to get a better crit profile which doesn't seem worth the effort to me.

I am still levelling up my collectible runner at the moment but as soon as she is done then I will TR my challenge farmer in to the above build and see how it goes. Part of me wants to start a new thread since this is now miles away from the original idea Ellis had but I also kinda don't want to do that since I already did it with my version of Epic Challenge Farmer.

Stoner81.

[Saekee]

The long swords are much more than crit profile. It is also base damage including all the +W bonuses creeping in the game and enhancements. Even at only level 10 the longsword base damage is 1d8x1.5 vs 1d6 wraps. Wraps have faster attack speed going for them and stunning fist.
A better crit profile also activates things like force damage of lighting the candle and Crane ki boost

I am not sold on longswords, just saying they are better than I expected. Daggers have a poor crit profile but with Vistani their base damage goes WAY up (extra damage and an extra +W) along with 100% offhand and easy +20% doublestrike. You could easily test it on any build with favor and a feat swap (IC piercing)

[Stoner81]

Yeah I like Stunning Fist to much it's crazy good now due to the crafting pass which meant being able to get Stunning and Insightful Stunning on one item (trinket).

Stoner81.

[Djjinni]

Yeah I like Stunning Fist to much it's crazy good now due to the crafting pass which meant being able to get Stunning and Insightful Stunning on one item (trinket).

Stoner81.

Stuns get good value against most mobs, especially for saving kobolds. Definitely with you on this!

A few extra points of damage won't do that. (Big improvement on original build with Falconry here)


Bringing this up again but.. the build idea was never based around max damage and even so, a bursty damage profile suits better than sustained (this is why I favor Whirlwind as it can delete mobs in one press)


You could make a few small tweaks to push more per hit damage, but would it actually improve the builds performance in the challenges it's designed for?

[Stoner81]

The current build with cleaves has exactly that going for it... AOE DPS. Monks by default are single target monsters and there are big clumps of mobs in challenges a lot of the time so having an AOE ability or two is a big big plus. The fact that WWA is a 360 degree attack makes it better for pulling aggro and hit one button.

Monks also have numerous abilities for dealing with mob types (Jade Strike, Tomb of Jade, Stunning Fist and Dismissing Strike to name a few) so not having top tier DPS is perfectly fine. Add to this that challenges are rated as normal and the improvements to count handrwaps as actual weapons etc (ignore the monk nerfs), the crafting pass etc then DPS has just gone up and up. Add in Slavers sets, Ravenloft or Sharn stuff and it probably gets even better but that is certainly going to far I think in terms of grind (plus no idea how any of those systems work lol).

I am itching to get cracking on this build, just 6 more levels to go for my collectible runner.

Stoner81.

[Stoner81]

Well my collectible farmer is all done now so I can get started on this again. I am half tempted to wait for Otto's to come back so I can stone straight to 16 since my play time is limited these days. I can't even LR due to holding levels

Oh well

I will probably make a new thread for it since it's so far away from ED37's original build it's not even close.

Stoner81.