Punch free Heroic Monk build?

[Ryan220]

Ive been contemplating/ dreading my Monk life and was wondering if there are builds out there that are viable for Heroic leveling that dont use fists?

The reason I dont like playing Monk is because of all the button mashing required - not to mention the confusing number of/ combination of finishers.

Im a 43 year father of two teenage kids, have a demanding wife (not in a good way either) and havent really followed a healthy lifestyle and as such my memory is terrible, my reactions are slow and my tolerance is low.

Im not very good at creating pure builds, let alone multi-classes so any ideas/ thoughts are welcome that take into account the above considerations


Id prefer not to have to use my LR20


Many thanks in advance

[Daitengu]

Dont know if it meets your needs but the Shuricannon uses yeah well Shuriken : https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...di-Shuricannon

[skorpeon]

Think there are a few of us that fit that bill. We have a bunch in our guild right now, what server are you on?

I started a pure monk and just went for Dwarf highish wisdom, con and dex. I went unarmed and have had a very easy time of it so far. I am sure like you I don't push all the bottoms at the right time but I don't see it matters too much. I find myself retuning in earth stance (slower) but I don't care as I run faster than others anyway so no real cost. Just play it and I think you will find its not as bad as you might think.

Lawful Neutral Dwarf

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Abilities Base Stats Modified Stats
(32 Point) (Level 1) (Level 28)
Strength 13 13
Dexterity 15 17
Constitution 16 17
Intelligence 8 8
Wisdom 17 29
Charisma 6 6

[GeoffWatson]

A monk/rogue Staff build is pretty good.

An unarmed monk can be easy to use. Don't bother with all the moves: Stunning fist, fists of light, healing ki (the triple light finisher) is all you need. Or Stunning fist and touch of death if you go dark side.

Geoff.

[Linvak]

I've been looking at the possibilities as of late. If youre just looking to go 20 and tr, there are some pretty simple ideas imo. Refering to epic viability its a little more limited. The qstaff route looks really fun, there are some cool enhancements out there for it. Buuuut, because 8 levels of fighter can basically center u while using anything really you're open to alot. If you're looking for simplicity, I'd pick a route you're best suited for as far as weapons and/or greensteel.

12 monk / 7 rogue / 1 fighter is the one I'm looking into most.

[TeacherSyn]

I recommend a Henshin Mystic. Simply play it pure. The staff damage is very impressive but requires to concentrate on STR for better damage. You still need a bit of DEX for reflex and AC, CON for some HP durability.

As the Mystic uses ki as would spell points are for a spellcaster, you need to train any passive ki regeneration skills you can so you'll have ki for your spell-like fire and force attacks. Spell power bonuses from equipment and other bonuses count, and the Mystic gets a modest amount as they train. Don't fall into the multiclass trap here; the Mystic gains nothing from any metamagics, and it may also make you less durable. Ki is ki, not magic.

You shouldn't play Mystics like stunning Monks. They are dervishes that can do mass damage unlike other Monks and aren't bad light tankers. Stunning Blow (as Stunning Fist can't work while armed) may take too many resources to work and is far too slow to be useful in general. You can take either philosophy but I recommend Light for self-healing. You'll get one special ability to add the opposite philosophy later so you can eventually make every finishing move in the game.

Train them with Two-Handed Weapon feats, Cleave, and other tactical feats to make that staff work it's damage well.

More on my take on the Mystic in this chapter of the Monk guide.

[HungarianRhapsody]

Dont know if it meets your needs but the Shuricannon uses yeah well Shuriken : https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...di-Shuricannon

This might be a stupid question (and kind of an insulting one as well, although I certainly don't mean for it to be), but is the Shuricannon build any good?

I had just ignored it because it uses a throwing weapon and throwing weapons are pretty terrible because of their low rate of fire. Is Shuricannon viable compared to a melee or a Monkcher?

I'm asking because there are lots of things that my DDO "common sense" tell me are terrible, but after the enhancement changes, a lot of them are quite good now (like the idea of splashing 2 evasion and 2 paladin on an offensive caster. That was a HORRIBLE idea in the past, but it's quite nice now).

[TeacherSyn]

This might be a stupid question (and kind of an insulting one as well, although I certainly don't mean for it to be), but is the Shuricannon build any good?

I had just ignored it because it uses a throwing weapon and throwing weapons are pretty terrible because of their low rate of fire. Is Shuricannon viable compared to a melee or a Monkcher?

I'm asking because there are lots of things that my DDO "common sense" tell me are terrible, but after the enhancement changes, a lot of them are quite good now (like the idea of splashing 2 evasion and 2 paladin on an offensive caster. That was a HORRIBLE idea in the past, but it's quite nice now).

The Shuricannon is EXTREMELY good. They can make many Monkchers look like crud in my opinion.

Take a look at one of my posts about my build on my Monk blog. The only current inconvenience is an Update 21 bug that caused the Sting of the Ninja ability to stop working on shuriken, which adds accumulating and deadly Ninja Poison damage. Even without that, the Shuricannon's high DEX (multiple stars thrown) and vorpaling stars makes for a very, very deadly fighter. And all that from the lowest base damage weapon in-game.

And that's on Heroic. Wait till it goes all Shiradi on you.

[rimble]

This might be a stupid question (and kind of an insulting one as well, although I certainly don't mean for it to be), but is the Shuricannon build any good?

I had just ignored it because it uses a throwing weapon and throwing weapons are pretty terrible because of their low rate of fire. Is Shuricannon viable compared to a melee or a Monkcher?

I personally find it really slow to start. Its core functionality REALLY comes from a pumped Dex, and it takes higher levels to get that from better gear and tomes. Good news is, you can whack things with Short Swords pretty effectively until you get going. Since the build includes Quick Draw, whack 'em with Shuriken, maybe take one or two out, and when they get close you can quickly switch to Short Swords. Or you can crazy kite if you want, I just found that slow.

[unbongwah]

The reason I dont like playing Monk is because of all the button mashing required - not to mention the confusing number of/ combination of finishers.

You can play a pure unarmed monk and avoid the most complicated button-mashing, like finishers etc. if you wish. But I don't see how any melee in DDO can avoid a certain amount of button-mashing without gimping itself; there are simply too many useful special atks, action boosts, etc. to just run around holding down the atk button. What melee builds have you played before (and liked)?

[Robbenklopper]

The reason I dont like playing Monk is because of all the button mashing required - not to mention the confusing number of/ combination of finishers.

Hej,

playing a Monk IS actionloaded, that´s why i like him. There are a few moves you need to do to take full advantage of all it´s potential instead of a two-button-nuker. But it´s not THAT much smashing when you have the right gear
Try this and make your gaming a bit easier: http://gaming.logitech.com/de-de/pro...l-gaming-mouse. It works for my fighter as well.

There are many mouses and i even had a 20 button mouse, but the order of buttons from the link above is the best and most essential for me.

Left Hand on Keyboard for moving and some punches. (WASD / Q+E / 1234)
Right Hand on mouse for the Specials. One of the middle buttons is the finishing-relaser. I bet you´d get any combination after a Brief training with that mouse.

Enjoy a MMO mouse on any class!

[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.