First Life Monk

[Zeronic]

Hi all,

While I am busy on the x amount of life on Arti I would love to finally make a monk. Except 1 thing, I suck at them.
At least thats what I think. I saw a load of builds on this forum about monk build X try that etc etc.
What I would love is a 32 point monk, light path, that makes things easy for me. You see, the point I have with monk is that it can do a lot.
People tell me to compare it to a caster, yet I don't feel that way. On my arti I know what to do (BB on trash, kite around using repeater.
On bosses, choose correct dr, know the angels, rune arm charge etc etc).
A friend of mine told me I should just use light combo in battle if needed and just use stunning a lot. Using some combo buffs before or during battle.
Anyone got a build? And some (early) gear recommendations / early tactics?

[peng]

Do you want a pure monk? Mostly pure? Heavy multiclass?
Unarmed? Ranged? Kamas? Shortswords? Quarterstaff?
Running heroics? Epics? Elites?

[Rhysem]

Hi all,

While I am busy on the x amount of life on Arti I would love to finally make a monk. Except 1 thing, I suck at them.
At least thats what I think. I saw a load of builds on this forum about monk build X try that etc etc.
What I would love is a 32 point monk, light path, that makes things easy for me. You see, the point I have with monk is that it can do a lot.
People tell me to compare it to a caster, yet I don't feel that way. On my arti I know what to do (BB on trash, kite around using repeater.
On bosses, choose correct dr, know the angels, rune arm charge etc etc).
A friend of mine told me I should just use light combo in battle if needed and just use stunning a lot. Using some combo buffs before or during battle.
Anyone got a build? And some (early) gear recommendations / early tactics?

Monks are gimp.

If you're determined; 20 monk

16 str, 16 dex, 14 con, 14 wis. You can shuffle points some, but not much.

Core Feats: TWF line x3, IC: Blunt, PA, Stunning Fist, Fists of Light. Maybe WF blunt, dodge. You could get the cleaves, I guess, or not as you like.

Skills: Concentration and as you please. Balance? Heal? Cross-class UMD on a 1st lifer probably useless.

Talents: Heavy Shintao to T5 and the capstone, enough Ninja Spy for shadow fade, rest as you like.

Gear: work to vampiric stonedust wraps, ivy wraps for added self-heal and stunning. DPS mode.. there's not a lot good so um something I guess. Mabar wraps are good for undead, but mabar isn't up.


Most other things people say won't actually play as a monk. It might have a monk splash. It might have heavy monk. But it won't play like a monk, it won't be unarmed, it won't be focused on combos or stunning fist, etc.

Things that come to mind; Warlock 6 / Pal 2 / Monk 12 -- enlightened spirit bursts, improved evasion, abundant step. You'd need to sink into cha there, but you could dump wis and maybe dex. Haven't tried it but I'd think it'd work, mostly because I suspect with warlock 6 you could carry any build, a lot like bard 4-6 and swashbuckler. You could almost do it with commoner, not that we have that class available in game.


If you want to feel fast and ninja like, I'd go for the swashbuckler path instead. rogue 2 for traps (or not), fighter 3 for defensive stance, bard 15 for swashbuckler and spells. Use sword and buckler (ideally the cove shield -- guardbreaking is broken) and pick up a tiefling assassin's blade, SWF x3, IC:P, Precision, maybe the two shield masteries, and go to town. Way better dps, way more versitile, way more reliable instakill, vastly better buffs, higher AC and good PRR, etc.

Alternately you can do some good stuff with quarterstaffs and rogue/thief acrobat. You might splash 2-4 monk for some talents in henshin, but I think it'd probably be better to do a dex/int setup with a mana splash (wiz, art?) and spend those APs in harper with the plan of KTA.

[Zeronic]

Do you want a pure monk? Mostly pure? Heavy multiclass?
Unarmed? Ranged? Kamas? Shortswords? Quarterstaff?
Running heroics? Epics? Elites?

Pure, or mostly pure, I always pick pure for first life. I would need to go for handwraps since stunning fist only works bare handed/ with handwraps.

Monks are gimp.

If you're determined; 20 monk

16 str, 16 dex, 14 con, 14 wis. You can shuffle points some, but not much.

Core Feats: TWF line x3, IC: Blunt, PA, Stunning Fist, Fists of Light. Maybe WF blunt, dodge. You could get the cleaves, I guess, or not as you like.

Skills: Concentration and as you please. Balance? Heal? Cross-class UMD on a 1st lifer probably useless.

Talents: Heavy Shintao to T5 and the capstone, enough Ninja Spy for shadow fade, rest as you like.

Gear: work to vampiric stonedust wraps, ivy wraps for added self-heal and stunning. DPS mode.. there's not a lot good so um something I guess. Mabar wraps are good for undead, but mabar isn't up.


Most other things people say won't actually play as a monk. It might have a monk splash. It might have heavy monk. But it won't play like a monk, it won't be unarmed, it won't be focused on combos or stunning fist, etc.

Things that come to mind; Warlock 6 / Pal 2 / Monk 12 -- enlightened spirit bursts, improved evasion, abundant step. You'd need to sink into cha there, but you could dump wis and maybe dex. Haven't tried it but I'd think it'd work, mostly because I suspect with warlock 6 you could carry any build, a lot like bard 4-6 and swashbuckler. You could almost do it with commoner, not that we have that class available in game.


If you want to feel fast and ninja like, I'd go for the swashbuckler path instead. rogue 2 for traps (or not), fighter 3 for defensive stance, bard 15 for swashbuckler and spells. Use sword and buckler (ideally the cove shield -- guardbreaking is broken) and pick up a tiefling assassin's blade, SWF x3, IC:P, Precision, maybe the two shield masteries, and go to town. Way better dps, way more versitile, way more reliable instakill, vastly better buffs, higher AC and good PRR, etc.

Alternately you can do some good stuff with quarterstaffs and rogue/thief acrobat. You might splash 2-4 monk for some talents in henshin, but I think it'd probably be better to do a dex/int setup with a mana splash (wiz, art?) and spend those APs in harper with the plan of KTA.

Not gonna multiclass for a first life. I first want to learn to monk. What I do afterwards melee wise I will see. What would my to dump stat be? STR? Or WIS for stunning fist? And what about epic destinies? I figure the grandmaster of flowers is a perfect fit. But still some elaboration would be nice Race? I could pick human but Monk already has a load of feats to choose from.

[peng]

Even though they are slightly underpowered at the moment and subject to quite a few bugs, I still like unarmed monks, and they are still viable.

One of a monk's best advantages is stunning fist. You'll probably want that to work most of the time, so maxing wisdom is probably your best bet.

I'd go with human, half elf, dwarf, or bladeforged. Bladeforged, warforged, dwarves, and (with a lot of ap spent) half elves have enhancements that boost tactics dc. Bladeforged can self heal with recon sla. Warforged would be harder to heal on a first life, so I'd avoid that. Half elves and humans get heal amp and damage boost. Humans get a feat.

For stats I'd start with 14-16 in wis and str, 14 in con, and enough dex to hit 17 with tomes for the two weapon fighting feats. Then put all level ups into wis.

Feat must haves: twf x3, stunning fist, imp crit, power attack. Nice feats to have: fists of light (you can go dark, but light is easier) cleaves, dodge, deflect arrows, whirlwind attack (requires combat expertise, dodge, mobility, spring attack, and 13 int with tomes). If you don't go for whirlwind attack and have some feats left over, you might want to grab weapon focus blunt or 10k stars, shuriken expertise, and some ranged feats for a ranged option.

Enhancements:
Shintao is a good place to put most of your ap. In particular, grab deft strikes x3 and iron skin x3 as soon as you decide to live in earth stance. The banishing and smite line can be ok in heroics with high wis, but will very rarely work in epics. From t5: violence begets violence and empty hand mastery are pretty much must haves. The rest are nice if you can get them.
As rhysem said, put enough into ninja to get shadow fade. Keep shadow fade up at all times in combat. You can put some points in Harper for melee power and know the angles if you want, but know the angles will not boost unarmed damage, it only boosts your tactics dc.

Grab a character planner and try a build out before you invest too heavily on live.

If you can, get somone to craft you some stun wraps (up to +8 stunning is craftable). Otherwise, get stonedust wraps asap.

[Zeronic]

Right now I have this. Uses +2 tomes on everything since I can easily get those on my other toon to start of with.
I picked improved recovery 1 only since I never had problems with healing anyways, even though I cannot self heal in this life.
Instead, I went for Ninja spy's No Mercy which should stack with sense weakness twist of Fate. If not, I can keep it till I reach that
twist and then swap it out for more healing amp or something else
Opinions?

Ibreakboxes
Monk 20
Lawful Neutral Human


Stats
. . . . . . . .32pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ---- . . --------
Strength. . . . 14. . . .+2. . . .4: WIS
Dexterity . . . 15. . . .+2. . . .8: WIS
Constitution. . 14. . . .+2. . . 12: WIS
Intelligence. . 10. . . .+2. . . 16: WIS
Wisdom. . . . . 16. . . .+2. . . 20: WIS
Charisma. . . . .8. . . .+2. . . 24: WIS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: WIS

Skills
. . . . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Concent . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Balance . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Jump. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Tumble. . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Swim. . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .2 .14
Heal. . . 2. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. . .11
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .20. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6


Feats

.1. . . . : Stunning Fist
.1 Human. : Power Attack
.1 Monk . : Two Weapon Fighting
.2 Monk . : Dodge
.3. . . . : Cleave
.3 Monk . : Path of Harmonious Balance
.6. . . . : Weapon Focus: Bludgeoning
.6 Monk . : Deflect Arrows
.9. . . . : Improved Two Weapon Fighting
12. . . . : Improved Critical: Bludgeoning
15. . . . : Greater Two Weapon Fighting
18. . . . : Great Cleave
21 Epic . : Improved Martial Arts
24 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic . : Vorpal Strikes
28 Destiny: Tactician


Enhancements (80 AP)

Human (8 AP)

• Damage Boost, Wisdom
  
  1. Action Surge: Wisdom III, Improved Recovery

Shintao (42 AP)

• Bastion of Purity, Protection from Tainted Creatures, Iron Hand, Argent First
  
  1. Difficulty at the Beginning, Deft Strikes III
  2. Restoring the Balance, Iron Skin III
  3. The Receptive Earth, Wisdom
  4. Lifting the Veil, Instinctive Defense III, Wisdom
  5. Rise of the Phoenix, Violence Begets Violence, Meditation of War, Empty Hand Mastery

Ninja Spy (22 AP)

• Basic Ninja Training, Advanced Ninja Training, Shadow Veil
  
  1. Sneak Attack Training, Acrobatic III
  2. Subtlety III, Sneak Attack Training, Agility III
  3. Sneak Attack Training, Wisdom
  4. No Mercy I

Harper Agent (8 AP)

• Agent of Good I
  
  1. Harper Enchantment, Traveler's Toughness II
  2. Versatile Adept III

Destiny (24 AP)

Grandmaster of Flowers

1. Dance of Flowers III, Wisdom
2. Hail of Blows, Wisdom
3. Perfection of Body III, Wisdom
4. Standing with Stone III, Wisdom
5. Dexterity
6. Everything is Nothing, Wisdom

Twists of Fate (22 fate points)

1. Legendary Tactics (Tier 1 Dreadnought)
2. Sense Weakness (Tier 4 Fury)
3. Lithe (Tier 2 Shadowdancer)

[Zeronic]

*bump* Any more feedback on this? Without an actual characters its kinda hard to run the number. Even more so when I have no idea what BIS would be.

[Saekee]

I suggest the whirlwind attack line since it is very effective unarmed. This means combat expertise instead of power attack or precision BUT combat expertise opens up Improved Combat Expertise in LD for 20 PRR. You will be in earth stance so you will have decentish PRR.

[peng]

Feats

.1. . . . : Stunning Fist
.1 Human. : Power Attack
.1 Monk . : Two Weapon Fighting
.2 Monk . : Dodge
.3. . . . : Cleave
.3 Monk . : Path of Harmonious Balance
.6. . . . : Weapon Focus: Bludgeoning
.6 Monk . : Deflect Arrows
.9. . . . : Improved Two Weapon Fighting
12. . . . : Improved Critical: Bludgeoning
15. . . . : Greater Two Weapon Fighting
18. . . . : Great Cleave
21 Epic . : Improved Martial Arts
24 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic . : Vorpal Strikes
28 Destiny: Tactician


Enhancements (80 AP)

Human (8 AP)

• Damage Boost, Wisdom
  
  1. Action Surge: Wisdom III, Improved Recovery

Shintao (42 AP)

• Bastion of Purity, Protection from Tainted Creatures, Iron Hand, Argent First
  
  1. Difficulty at the Beginning, Deft Strikes III
  2. Restoring the Balance, Iron Skin III
  3. The Receptive Earth, Wisdom
  4. Lifting the Veil, Instinctive Defense III, Wisdom
  5. Rise of the Phoenix, Violence Begets Violence, Meditation of War, Empty Hand Mastery

Ninja Spy (22 AP)

• Basic Ninja Training, Advanced Ninja Training, Shadow Veil
  
  1. Sneak Attack Training, Acrobatic III
  2. Subtlety III, Sneak Attack Training, Agility III
  3. Sneak Attack Training, Wisdom
  4. No Mercy I

Harper Agent (8 AP)

• Agent of Good I
  
  1. Harper Enchantment, Traveler's Toughness II
  2. Versatile Adept III

Destiny (24 AP)

Grandmaster of Flowers

1. Dance of Flowers III, Wisdom
2. Hail of Blows, Wisdom
3. Perfection of Body III, Wisdom
4. Standing with Stone III, Wisdom
5. Dexterity
6. Everything is Nothing, Wisdom

Twists of Fate (22 fate points)

1. Legendary Tactics (Tier 1 Dreadnought)
2. Sense Weakness (Tier 4 Fury)
3. Lithe (Tier 2 Shadowdancer)

I suggest the whirlwind attack line since it is very effective unarmed. This means combat expertise instead of power attack or precision BUT combat expertise opens up Improved Combat Expertise in LD for 20 PRR. You will be in earth stance so you will have decentish PRR.

Whirlwind attack hits 2-4 times while unarmed (I think twice + offhand/double strike chance) all around you for +4[w], with a pause afterward. Great cleave hits 1-3 times unarmed (once + offhand/double strike chance) in a big arc in front of you for +2[w], with a much shorter pause. Power attack adds +5 damage per hit, with the option of +.5[w] from legendary dreadnaught. Combat expertise adds a 10% bonus to your account, with 20 prr from dreadnaught. I'd personally go with PA and cleaves if you can only fit 1, but both are good options. You could splash a couple fighter levels and grab both.

In your shintao enhancements, you miss a few of the cores and the capstone, and take 3x instinctive defense when you only need 1 to qualify for violence begets violence.

I'd highly recommend grabbing fists of iron from one of the monk trees. It's cheap, and hits hard and often.

Legendary dreadnaught is also a very good epic destiny for monks. Both dread and gmof also have nice low level twists for monks. Another good option if you can make it that far is divine crusader.