Punch free Heroic Monk build?

[TeacherSyn]

Thank you for the reply, but no -- I wasn't talking about evasion at all.

I was specifically asking about the two things I mentioned in my post. Taking 2 levels of rogue opens up the first 2 tiers of Thief Acrobat. Quick Strike's 25% doublestrike chance always lasts for 10 seconds. But the Quick Strike ability in the rogue tree has a cooldown of 12 seconds, whereas Henshin has 20 seconds -- so you can have doublestrike 80% of the time with a rogue splash, but only 50% of the time as a pure monk.

Even more importantly, taking 3 ranks of the tier 1 thief acrobat ability Thief Acrobatics gives a 15% attack speed boost to quarterstaves. Unlike monk's melee alacrity in Wind Stance, this attack speed increase stacks with all other forms, including Haste. It's a major DPS increase, which I'm pretty sure outclasses anything you can obtain from the final 2 levels of monk.

Additionally, the bonuses to staff damage and attack rating from Thief Acrobat's Staff Training do stack with those from Henshin.

Finally, 2 levels of rogue opens up Haste Boost, which is just awesome -- especially when combined with human's Damage Boost. But that may be getting too clicky for the OP (although still far, far less than a monk's ki strikes and finishers).

I'm just not sure whether all of this is a greater benefit than what you get from the final 2 levels of monk. It has been a very long time since I've played a pure monk, and it's a complicated class.

Thanks for clarifying and my apologies for misunderstanding. The later posts obviously discuss optimal damage by splashing, which isn't my expertise at all. I see the Mystic's doublestrike as generally sufficient without multiclass options to form an optimal doublestrike, so I'll bow out of the direct conversation.

[Ryan220]

Thank you all very much for the replies. Plenty for me to think about. I quite like the idea of a staff build or short sword build.

I guess Im not a huge fan of melee builds in general having only ran a couple of lives on my main. Most of his lives have been caster so thats just what im used to.


Regarding the controllers - I already use a Razer Naga and Nostromo, so my unmonkliness is definately due to lack of skill and not lack of tools.

[Munkenmo]

I quite like the idea of a staff build or short sword build..

Do not make a shortsword build. They're really weak compared to unarmed monks, if you want a 2wf monk, play with wraps. Whether you use finishers / ki strikes or not they'll both play the same, but unarmed will attack faster and dish out more damage.

[GeoffWatson]

The button mashing for Monks is only slightly reduced with weapons. They can still use the ki moves and finishers, with the exception of Stunning Fist.

Geoff.