Theory crafting the celestial monk

[Vish]

The old monk
Shining star
Finishing Move: earth, wind, fire
60 sec ottos
Funky monk attack

The Trembling Earth
Combination: Earth - Earth - Earth
10 Ki.
The attack has +2 critical multiplier, and the victim is unable to cast spells for 30 seconds.
Fortitude save negates.

The Gathering Storm
Combination: Air - Air - Air
10 Ki.
The target's ability to "land attacks" is reduced for 30 seconds. -3 on attack rolls.
Undead appear to be immune. Fortitude save negates.

The Raging Sea
Combination: Water - Water - Water
10 Ki.
The enemy's attacks are slowed for 30 seconds.
Fortitude save negates.

Breath of the Fire Dragon
Combination: Fire - Fire - Fire
10 Ki.
A cone of searing flame shoots forth, damaging targets in the area of the flames for 1d6 damage per Monk level.
A successful Reflex save (DC 10 + Monk Level + Wisdom Modifier) reduces the damage by half.
This movement, which mimics Burning Hands, is very useful when attempting to open damageable doors that require more Strength than the monk has at hand (even in Fire Stance).
Scales with 200% Melee Power

Path of Harmonious Balance Finishers
Healing Ki I
Combination: Light - Light - Light
10 Ki.
You heal all nearby allies for 1d4 plus 1d4 per monk level.
Does not harm undead foes.
Healing Ki is greatly augmented by Recovery enhancements of the player character, such as Monk Improved Recovery, is boosted by 1% per point in the Heal skill, and is magnified by any Devotion or Potency effect. Healing Ki affects any allied player, including NPCs.

Grasp the Earth Dragon
Combination: Earth - Light - Earth
10 Ki.
Nearby allies become immune to daze, stun, and sleep for 60 seconds.

Dance of Clouds
Combination: Air - Light - Air
10 Ki.
Nearby allies gain 20% concealment for 60 seconds.
While this blur-like ability is much shorter, it cannot be dispelled, as with other monk buffs. Unlike some spell buffs, a monk's buffs can blur NPCs.

Aligning the Heavens
Combination: Water - Light - Water
10 Ki.
Nearby allies gain a 25% reduction in spell point costs for 60 seconds.
This is a favorite move asked by experienced spell casters before buffing others at the start of a quest.

Walk of the Sun
Combination: Fire - Light - Fire
10 Ki.
Nearby allies gain a +2 untyped bonus to attack, saves, and skills for 60 seconds.
Remember that helpful monk buffs such as this can not be dispelled by enemy spell casters, including beholders.

Notes
This is the forgotten monk
Special ki attacks and finishers
But they're not used anymore.
Auto attack is better.
I don't know if this will get monk nerfed more, but from my experience, what is needed, is to make the ki moves do more damage. It should be like a spike in my auto attack damage, but I see no difference. And considering you have to click on these attacks, you lose time from just auto attack. So I don't think it's a nerf that is needed, but a boost to ki attacks.
Like doubling the base damage of strikes, and having it scale 200% with melee power. Because you gotta cycle them. And there has to be some reason to use ki. Otherwise you have a full bar with nothing to use it on. Because auto attack superceeds.
Ok the breakdown would be on earth.
At 4 it does 16 + acid damage on crit. With wraps at 18-20. That's only 15%. So it harly figures. But if it was doubled to 32, then x2 for melee power. Say a 30 build with +100 damage and 150mp. That would be 32+100 x4 or about 500. That's 50 above auto attack numbers. Because remember running duality is 14 d6+3 or about 100. That's way higher than even a doubled earth strike. So the only thing to offset it would be double the melee power. To spike it. At least you should Notice it.
Because the alternative is to nerf monk damage even more. But they've stripped two handed damage from duality, they've nerfed melee power, and they've removed the core w from heroics. So there ain't much left to give. Dance of flowers, and reinforced fists. And they better not mess with those. So the monk is gutted. It's reached rock bottom and the auto attack is still better than using ki strikes.
Anyways that's what I've been thinking about. What would it take for me to use ki strikes.
Then there's these,
Elemental Ki Strikes: Select one of four attacks that have secondary aftereffects: (Activation Cost: 5 Ki. Cooldown: 3 seconds)

Eagle Claw Attack: Fire Ki Melee Attack: Your attacks can shatter objects. You strike at weak points in your opponents armor or hide, dealing +2[W] damage and apply four stacks of Armor Destruction. (Each stack reduces Armor Class by 1 and Fortification by 1% for 20 seconds. This effect can stack up to 15 times.)

Fists of Iron: Earth Ki Melee Attack: You have imbued your attacks with extra force. Performs a melee attack with +3[W] damage, +1 critical threat range, and +1 Critical Damage Multiplier.

Knock on the Sky: Air Ki Melee Attack: You strike your opponent, deflecting their momentum. Performs a melee attack with +1[W] damage, and your enemy deals 4% less physical damage for 30 seconds. This effect can stack up to 5 times.

Unbalancing Strike: Water Ki Melee Attack: You have learned several joint strikes. You can attack these weak points of your opponent, dealing +3[w] and throwing them off balance for a short period of time. This reduces their armor class by 2, applies a -10 penalty to their Balance skill, and renders them vulnerable to sneak attacks. A successful Reflex save negates this effect (DC 10 + Half Monk Level + Wisdom modifier + Trip modifiers). The target receives periodic saves to attempt to break free of this effect.

These ki attacks are actually worthy strikes. Well at least a couple of them are. Boss debuffs mostly. But I've had two in the past, on the henshin, and I think on the old Shintao, but I've just been using one, earth strike, to test dps with. And as far as I can tell its not worth the time it takes. Auto attack is 450, and even with +3w and crit mult I don't see the spike. I even tested it on the dummy and it wasn't greater. So I don't know what to say. All monks special ki attacks are not really worth it. So there's not much in being a finisher.
But that's all I could conclude. To double the base damage and increase the multiplier. Only way to get spike over base damage. Now see the problem is duality being a weighted die. They really screwed up when they weighted the ravenloft weapons. But I guess they can't go back now.
Idk, maybe this measures differently in heroics. Now that it's nerfed and monk are doing 1d6 for wraps on, maybe the ki attacks might be a trade. Maybe Tilo can test this. Haha. But I'm problably not going to. Of course a 30 maxxed build may not be the measuring stick, but I think we tried to tell them that. But they built it. They made the loot and made all the past lives stack. Now they've walked it back to a skeleton of its former self.
But like I said, we are too close to reaper cap. Ppl are playing r8 now for dailys. So reaper has played out, and they are trying to reign it in. Reaper nerf.

[Vish]

Secret sauce
Inner Focus: Active Ability: (Cooldown 3 mins) Instantly restore 25-125 Ki.

Wholeness of Spirit: Active Ability: (Cooldown 5 minutes) Casts a Heal spell on you, cures all ability damage, negative levels and other adverse conditions affecting you. Cost 30ki.

Jade Strike: Ki Melee Attack: On critical hits, a target will be locked in a tomb of jade on a failed Will save (DC = 10 + Wisdom modifier + your monk level). Extraplanar creatures, Aberrations, and Undead must succeed at two consecutive Will saves to avoid their fate. (Activation Cost: 10 Ki. Cooldown: 15 seconds)

Notes
You know, I try to be a good monk
But I keep finding things I didn't know. Like jade strike being a second tomb of jade. Ya it's on a crit, which is like 15%, but it cycles pretty fast so has decent uptime. Much better than tomb. But I was getting lucky with this and amazed I didn't use it earlier. It's just that I've been going through all my special attacks, and testing stuff out.
I still haven't used shining star. The routine is qp and stunning fist, with auto attack. The special moves just take too much time to click on, and auto attack is good damage. And I'm still not using the finishers either. It's like forgotten monk stuff. I guess it's because they don't do much. Buffs that don't really matter. But if you know them you can throw them out there.
It's because the game is too fast. You get four attacks per cycle and those happen super fast. The ki moves would be appropriate for like 50% less reaction time. Where auto attack wouldn't be the bulk of dps, what with slower animation. Ya only thing I see is a speed issue. If game was slower, monks might have a different cycle. As it is, the only thing you can cycle strikes on are bosses, because they have mass hp and take some fighting. At least that's only time I go into cycling mountain attacks, is on bosses. Because your gonna be there for like 2 min. I usually see boss fights take about the timer of a 2 min period. So I get one killer instinct off and get a host of boosts. I find that haste is higher dps than mp boost. But I use them both in tandem and keep them constantly cycled on bosses. I have enough, ten of each, and I've never ran out. I also got sprint to trigger prowess, but just use it for runs.
So inner focus is a ki boost at the start of the quest. To get you're ki up to about 50%. After that auto attack keeps it full. But this is nice ability from gmof I use.
Wholeness of spirit is a lifesaver. The only real weakness of this build is negative levels. And when I'm running content it's either spelled or I have a pot. Oh ya, new int necklace has deathward clicky x3. So there's that too. I forget it, it's a swap item I use for search. But neg levels suck, and this button is insta heal. I find it super useful when I get surprised by neg levels. Always there to save me.
But other than that, just running reaper. New raid is already dead. There's just one piece of loot that might be useful, but I'd lose other greater benefits. So it's not really a chaser. So I'm just running raid every three days. And on ln. Haven't seen any LH advertised. Need a pretty good team to be tough enough to get around Rez timers. Not for pugging. And clerics are a must now. The last three raids have done the job and brought them back. So I'd say it's official that's clerics have returned. They are essential to raids and high reaper. See a lot more regular clerics now. That's a good thing.
Running night revels. Been through about 30 keys. Got the ml20 cloak, a green reaper cloak, a festive wisdom and some ghost bane and neg level. Will get more augments. Stock up for the year. But it's easy to farm keys solo, and runn ingredients in groups. Been a time filler for when I've got wait time, like nothing going on and I don't feel like leading. I run r5 memoirs and grim, and other r5. I feel I can duo r3, so a full group at r5 is doable for a pug. If you have a healer and cc you can go higher. But healers are more welcome than cc. Since I bring cc. But good cc makes it all go smooth.
Almost 53 reaper, almost 75 guild.
Am seriously considering rolling back to heroics. I feel theres room to grow on this build, but I've got my timing down. Anything else at this point is flavor. Eventually to become the rainbow monk. Another month? Gem is at 97. So short work there. But Reknown is good at cap. And I'm not doing much saga work. Mostly I get in a slavers and a couple wpm every couple days. And raids when they're up.?*
I do good dps. Idk, but against kor kaza, I was seeing 880 boosted. So that's not too far off the old 1k mark. But I don't know, is kor kaza I have full damage against? It wasn't any purple, but I was watching the numbers tonite and I saw avg into mid 800s. But realize that's just peak. That's what I was looking for anyway. Dint notice the regular avg? Around 500? Idk is there extra damage on kor kaza on ln? Maybe I'm not used to seeing my regular damage, what always running reaper. I always try to measure in devil assault, but really I need a 30 tester. Kinda wpm now. I run that daily.
Oh and I want to say something about ethereal. I took astral this life because basically I don't run a sneak build. I am often front fighting and tanking bosses. So I don't get sneak opportunity. So even tho it may be more damage, it's situational. You have to be tactical and always flank. And often you can't have aggro. So the break comes from astral and the doublestrike. I'm at 67, so I'm breaking odds of three attacks. It doesn't even out over sneak if you got it, but it evens out on front fighting. So it's more dps overall for my fighting style. So I'm telling ya astral is the way to go.
Other than that, build is rocking.

Oh ya, an afterthought
Mudra ryoto is the ultimate path to enlightenment

[Vish]

The art of mudra ryoto
The path of both hands
The left, and the right
As taught by master Kilgore
At the monestary of Avalon

This is the most secret art, the path of both hands
The stunning fist, and the quivering palm
This is how you achieve the rainbow body
It is brought upon by duality, the moral compass

Know killing
Know lies
Know stealing
Know taboos
Know intoxicants

Know good
Know evil
Know duality
Know unity
Know peace

Duality, this tension of opposites
Is the reflection of ego
As seen as self
And other
And it is the left hand, or evil
For it represents false reality
For the last year
Since this artifact has been acquired
It has shown other than that taught
The esoteric
It has brought greater understanding
Ten fingers
Two fists
Showing the angel, the devil
Beyond perfection
There is a higher order yet
Beset to the forests
There to meditate
A vision quest
Wherein the wisest appears
But the sacrifice is great
Duality, in shreds
Ancestry erased
And the curse of no self
Borne only by the wizened one
That becomes
A code of duality
That speaks of unity
The ashes of duality
In the perfection of the eye

[Vish]

The foundation begins with sitting
In order to yoke the mind and body
Requires stillness
Silence
Observe the breath
Let thinking subside
Using inner focus
Achieved is peace
And from there
The empty body
With the meditation complete
Trance begins
Mindfulness is controlling the trance
Whether it be the quivering palm
Or the stunning fist
From here great energy is exerted
The center is not the head
It is the heart
Becoming expert with ki
Flows the four seasons
Awakens the dragon of space
Allows unsurpassed movement
Flying through the air
Using deadly instinct
touch is wondrous
Trance is complete

It is beyond even this
The third eye blazing with light
The air filled with a blue hue
Every movement becomes a miracle
The dance of the cosmic fires
Sprouting 1000 limbs
The bringer of comfort
The bringer of death
There is only the dance
In the emptiness body
Here, whatever spoken
Is the truth
Here, very thoughts
Change the universe
A gesture
Is movement throughout eternity
All this
In ten fingers
Two fists
One eye

[Vish]

To the season turns
Life and death constantly cycling
So things only exist temporally
Likewise the struggle between light and dark
Between good and evil
Constantly persists
Evil is never extinguished
It rises, exists, and dissipates
Good too, acts in accordance
To keep balance in all things
That is the nature of unity
Expressed in duality

So death comes many times
As does life
This is the perpetual cycle
To come and come again
Seeking perfection
So too does time cycle
And standing outside of time
The void is perceived
And as time follows direction
From this point of view
It exists all at once
And not at all
Here as a death is known
A new life comes to be
Sometime this is out of order
So it has been that
The death of Strahd
Brought forth a greater threat
As the demiplane of shadow is vanquished
Reapers appear
One replacing another
Out of time

So it is the challenge of good to confront this
And it too rises to meet
As well as the neutral
For when evil displaces the universe
The pendulum swings
Ten planes of dread replaced by one
Pervasive in all time and space
If a step is taken
As balance is the measure
This is neither too much or too little
But as keepers of the balance
It is duty that propels the tide
As evil persists
So does good
It is an eternal struggle
Like that of perpetual reincarnation
Yet there is a way out of this cycle
To exist beyond duality
And that is the ultimate quest

[Nubom70]

Won't have to worry about this anymore. Every monk on my grouping list is now a barbarian or a ranger, since they have actual DPS in heroics.

[Vish]

That reapers appeared
Before strahds final curtain
Only speaks to how strong an event
Artifacts of great power recovered
Duality as a new code of the wise
But utterly useless against this new terror
To know good is taught
The old ways, the jaded strike
To defeat the new the ancient is needed
The stunning fist, the quivering palm
Bear no measure here
So although it is of the new path
Returning to roots is the solution

Ten levels to the plane
Ten levels of fear and death
This is knowing evil
Bringing about unity to transcend
Because of the old
The new
Because of duality
Unity
Pointing beyond
But powerless in the present
This is why not all was lost
The tomb of jade is the tool
To turn the tide
In this raging storm

Ten level of difficulty to overcome
Ten depths to explore
To find the source of this wellspring
To vanquish the flames of evil
The eternal quest
To find peace in war
ten fingers are the code
Ten ways of knowing
Yet only four reapers revealed
Using meditation
The way becomes clear
Poetry in motion
One lives without fear

This is the foe
Transcending the mundane
To the realm of death itself
To boldly challenge
Being constantly reborn
Ever taking the fight for unity
The fight for peace
Using duality
Drunk with the divine
Knowing all paths
Choosing that two
To fight one
Is the most sacred mission

[Vish]

Intermission
Notes
Been burning timers. Raided this weekend. Turned the trifecta. Got in a r1 baba, a LH Strahd, and a LH time. Got pretty lucky. Pulled a cloak of Strahd, and pulled the new mask. The cloak is silent avenger, so it fits me. Lose the ghostly, but I can gmof that with piercing clarity. Grandmaster is so useful. So that's what I did and now I'm sporting 3 raid items. The mask I thought about keeping, but I have the spectacles and I don't plan on running any ranged dex builds to 30, so I put it up for grabs. A few ppl were interested, but it's my conduct that I give it to somebody who can use it. Like right now, not next life. So I said roll for it then everybody wanted it. So I said f that and gave it to the shuri rogue. Who I know kinda and I think he could actually use it. Ya I shoulda kept it, but I hate ranged, and couldn't see it taking up a tr spot. Idk still got a hammer that I'm prob never gonna use. Oh well, I like giving stuff away. That's means stuff will be given to me. I'm looking for the wisdom trinket. And I've got a request in for the devs to make some accuracy doublestrike goggles. I mean if they gonna make this stuff so it's not worth the swap, you gotta let em know what's missing. So I asked. They better.
The other note. Got one gem to 100k. Slotted a wisdom for LH raids. Brings wisdom to 98. 101 reaper. Now I got another gem at 75k I will start to finish.

Won't have to worry about this anymore. Every monk on my grouping list is now a barbarian or a ranger, since they have actual DPS in heroics.

About the scarcity of monks. I don't know about heroics, but at cap I am seeing fewer monks. And fewer yet Shintao. Still monks running around but rare to see grandmasters. Mostly are still running in dreadnaught. But that is fine with me. That Strahd raid I did with Chinese, I was only monk in group. Still a lot of warlocks roam.
But that was one of the points being made. That monks lost their ancestry in heroics, losing the 2.5w. That was something that was part of the lore and it is gone now. Why? Because wisdom monks. The change to a one stat wonder caused nerfs in other place to make up for it. It truly doesn't, but that a developers creed. What was a cap problem was dealt with in a heroic fashion. It doesn't make up for what was lost what was gained. So a major nerf. I'm pretty sure I won't be running heroic monks anymore other than to just level to 30. But my time is just about done here anyways, and I'm thinking of going back to finishing my racials.
People always have a tendency to gravitate towards the easiest path. And now monk no longer fits that bill. What was good dps before is now anemic. The gutting of monks is now complete. From a years meta where every melee splashed monk to monk fading from view. Monks at cap are still decent, but no longer the breadwinner. Why I'm trying to tell something of that story. To put things into perspective, at least for myself.

[Vish]

Being born celestial
The fight terrestrial
Between a devil and an angel
Taking the path of light
Special abilities provided
To live thru the night
Choosing mother over father
Healing is a gift
Providing aide
Is the shift
Carrying the dark and the bright
The vow of hands and sight
To advance the cause
For the grace of laws
Two foes locked in struggle
From above and below

An outsiders duel
Will make a fool
Of the pinnacle as master
A body of alabaster
Anything less
Doesn't pass the test
To overcome this fear
Leaving behind all that is dear
There are ways to combat the reap
One ancient and deep
The other a touch of grace
Only by celestial race

Gathering ki
Fists glow fully
A group effect
Requiring only a good heart
Against this aura
None to withstand
It takes three turns
These healing hands
Bolstered by constitution
This inner restitution
As time heals all wounds
A gift from the moon

Like ki
The other is free
So strong it never fails
Quenching all that ails
At range or at touch
The wisest gain much
Never idle
Always returning
Laying on is beyond
Even the deepest levels of reap

So this is the quest
To always be best
Take the heritage of the beast
And the angels of the feast
Healing hands are the cure
To the reaper lure
What is hard
Becomes easy
Two paths are they chosen
To overcome dark times
Gifts of untold beauty
The order as duty

[Vish]

Deep meditation
Leads to trance
Crossing the void
A space Dragon appears
A great teacher
With ancient ancestry
Speaks

Once upon a time
Being wise
Was a crime
Now death unfurled
Comes to haunt the land
Taking a stand
New path of the hand

Know killing is the trance
With it a new dance
Wisdom now supreme
Fighting as a dream
Best in a team
Open palm is the kindest
Old ways do remind us

New insight will be gained
If 100 attained
Being the wisest of the wise
Reveals heavenly skies
All into one
Rewards will be won
Great deeds done

To remind you of this quest
A spirit guide behest
A companion of the fowl
A great white owl
Seen or unseen
Insights to keen
Wisdom supreme

Returning from the material prime
Wisdom is the new digm
Journeys ahead
a day of the dead
Spreading the word
For the wise to be heard
On the wings of a bird

[Nubom70]

About the scarcity of monks. I don't know about heroics, That monks lost their ancestry in heroics, losing the 2.5w. That was something that was part of the lore and it is gone now. Why? Because wisdom monks. The change to a one stat wonder caused nerfs in other place to make up for it. It truly doesn't, but that a developers creed. What was a cap problem was dealt with in a heroic fashion. It doesn't make up for what was lost what was gained. So a major nerf. I'm pretty sure I won't be running heroic monks anymore other than to just level to 30. But my time is just about done here anyways, and I'm thinking of going back to finishing my racials..

WIS monks weren't the problem. I did more damage being a STR monk, it's a far easier stat to boost. The problem is that SSG has the planning insight of Amtrak. They literally couldn't figure out that by changing one set of epic wraps, their entire problem would be gone. > ONE meta build, using 8 feats, an off-ED, and a twist, was doing "slightly too much damage" <. That's it, and they burned down the entire class removing it's core class ability. In heroics. Derp.

[Vish]

Putting the head on orien

This has been the art of mudra ryoto
The stunning fist
The quivering palm
Beyond the four winds
This is the supreme way

I would give thanks to the ancestors
And to the spirit that soars
Beyond all space and time
Walking the bardo
Nothing obscures the path

Now what has been revealed
Is but a glimpse
Travelling the void
The wisdom of dragons
All is seen

Stepping out of one time stream
And into another
Join me on this journey
The wormhole opens
The master smiles

There is room
For the good
The true,
And the beautiful
All are welcome

Disciples you will be
Starting a new tree
Out of the ashes
Life continues
No fear is the mission

I have only done one thing this life
To find the godhead
And share it with others
Join me, in this new temple
The heart of wisdom

[Vish]

Heart of wisdom
Notes
Took an extra day to get Updater patched
Always during off peak hours, and usually a day later
Upped download to 256

Ran some trick or treat
Picked up the diadem, and the ml7 runearm
I have a feeling I'm going to do some racial artificers
Tho I don't collect rune arms
Picked up some more ghost bane gems. Those are universally good.
Been running reaper, lots of misc, and across all levels
Reaper points to 54
Been on this build 2 months now, so averaging a point a week
But god it's boring running the same stuff over and over
Even with raids. I guess that's what I'm doing, raiding
Ran a couple back to back baba r1. Got blanked the first one, but pulled the silver gauntlets in the second. Mythic1 too.
Too bad really. I won't use them. I mean it's got doublestrike23 on it, so I'd gain like 6 points. It's also got armor piercing. But I don't find that overly useful in my times. But I'd lose the insightful dex and the insightful prr. That's 24 prr. Pushes the build over 200. So I guess I was comparing this to strimtoms r10 build. I mean I run r10 too. But it's painfully slow and I prefer quicker easier runs. You can daily r10 if you have a dedicated group, but pugging it, you're lucky to do r5s. So he can specialize a little more when your just hitting held mobs. But my build is more qp centric, and more set up to run various content. Both r10 builds, prob both just as good, just mine is max dc, and I'd say his is more max dps. But his build gave me insight. I could change up gear somewhat, but I don't think I really come out ahead. I think mine has higher saves and is more defensive. His is more streamlined for not worrying about getting hit. I might change some given that constant consideration.
But I've think I've found a super monk. A celestial monk. That's what this thread has been about, my attempt to find the ultimate monk. And this life has been about building the highest wisdom, highest dc Shintao. And I'm pretty close to having it maxxed out. Missing some racials, but the total is only +4 to a stat, so the ceilings almost there. I don't feel I need anything as it is to run this build. It's generally perfect. Thats the creed, reaching perfection.
The other thing has been the talks on mudra ryoto and duality. Kinda long winded, but those kinda things happen at monasteries. There are long sitting periods followed by a talk from the teacher. I followed the usual 7 day sit. But it coincided with getting the guild to 75. And since vish is no longer a cleric of the silver flame, and I'm running wisdom builds, I changed the name of the guild to heart of wisdom.

So I'm at the crossroads. Kinda getting burned out on the 30 scene. I think it's just not active enough. Not enough ppl camping over the time zone to just run mid reaper. So lack of lfms. But I run teams, but sometimes just like to tag along. And I love this build. It's everything I've wanted in monk. I loathe to give it up. But I am getting a serious itchin for a heroic run. Thing is, this build I've done past aasimar and I think I got one monk to give. So if I come back to it, it will be for no gain tr. it will be a final build. Which it feels like a final build as it runs, but I could improve it albeit slightly. So it's just a matter of burnout. Or rather if I had a dedicated team to run with daily. I thought of opening the doors of the guild to others. And that was some of my intent, to run a raiding guild. But I don't have the computer to support it. I play on a laptop and limit my play time to two hours at a time. I've ran guilds before, some quite large, but haven't taken the mantle this life. Just not enough talkers I meet. And they are usually guilded, so it'd be like stealing people. But hey, what are friends for?
So I could go back into heroics. I've been contemplating some dwarf and wood elf builds. Maybe some gnomes. Like all kinds of weird things. Trying out some trees I haven't seen. I try to make all my lives meaningful and have them teach me something about the game. Thinking tempests, barbs, assassins and some multis. Artificer too, go actually learn to use rune arms. I don't collect them, so it'll be a challenge. Or not with rxb. But like a melee arti, you know, just to see the new attack animation. I mean it's heroic, anything I build will be a monster in r1. So it's for entertainment purposes only. They won't all be warlock, but maybe a few. I've got the gear for warlocks, so those will be fast lives, but boring. Or if I get in tune with some vets running, we can go higher reaper. Prob won't run any monks. I would, but they suck now they nerfed them. Or rather I don't want to find out. But I may run a henshin again. I always liked stick builds.
Ok that's enough treats for this all hallows eve. If I give up this build, I'll write another testimony. And some final stats.

[Vish]

The art of mudra ryoto
30 monk
Ln aasimar protector
Gmof, water, meditation, impCE, deffighting
Silent avenger, adherent of mists
Astral, ascendant bond
Reaper
Str 20
Dex 62
Con 59
Int 30
Wis 101
Cha 31
Hp 2384
Hamp 165
Sp 390
Pos 213
Ki /525
AC 210
Dodge 42/42
Fort 91, perfection of body
Reflex 103
Will 106
Bab 20/25
Doublestrike 67.9
Melee speed 15
Melee power 149
Sr 42
Fort 218
Prr 216
Mrr 50

41 Shintao
25 falconry
18 (5) aasimar
1 henshin

4 dread
12 dire
38 grim

Twists
3 ld haste
2 ld melee power
2 ld improved CE
1 ld extra boosts
1 ld tactics

Gear
Helm executioners mythic1 prot8
Neck Fleetfoot draconic power250
Eyes cc acc23 conc22 inswis7 festwis2
Trinket cc dodge15 doublestrike17 insstun8
Body disciple mythic2 def16
Cloak of Strahd
Bracer pack banner mythic3 goodluck2
Belt cutcord mythic1
Ring1 slavers mythic1 con17 resist14 qualwis4 reaper prr
Ring2 pinnacle true blood
Feet flightfoot cha7
Gloves crumbling mythic1 falselife40
Duality +127 +104 14.5w
Ruby good, ruby vampire slayer
Prowess 5pc oam 2pc vigilance wisdom

DCs
Stunning fist 120/142
Quivering palm 79/101
Tomb of jade 125/147
Kukan do 125/147
Dismissing strike 125/147
Frog ? Enough for r1 baba

Notes
Ok this is a quivering palm build
Palm and fist, the left and the right
It's got defense, saves, movement and dps
The chase for higher dps doesn't attest to how smooth this build is.
Monks are still in a special place
This will be my final build
After I knocked out 6 more racials
So I will probably be in heroics until the next expansion
Finis

[Nubom70]

Logged in, monks are still dead. Left. Grats SSG for not figuring out Heroic and Epic monks aren't the same thing.

[NemesisAlien]

The art of mudra ryoto
30 monk
Ln aasimar protector
Gmof, water, meditation, impCE, deffighting
Silent avenger, adherent of mists
Astral, ascendant bond
Reaper
Str 20
Dex 62
Con 59
Int 30
Wis 101
Cha 31
Hp 2384
Hamp 165
Sp 390
Pos 213
Ki /525
AC 210
Dodge 42/42
Fort 91, perfection of body
Reflex 103
Will 106
Bab 20/25
Doublestrike 67.9
Melee speed 15
Melee power 149
Sr 42
Fort 218
Prr 216
Mrr 50

41 Shintao
25 falconry
18 (5) aasimar
1 henshin

4 dread
12 dire
38 grim

Twists
3 ld haste
2 ld melee power
2 ld improved CE
1 ld extra boosts
1 ld tactics

Gear
Helm executioners mythic1 prot8
Neck Fleetfoot draconic power250
Eyes cc acc23 conc22 inswis7 festwis2
Trinket cc dodge15 doublestrike17 insstun8
Body disciple mythic2 def16
Cloak of Strahd
Bracer pack banner mythic3 goodluck2
Belt cutcord mythic1
Ring1 slavers mythic1 con17 resist14 qualwis4 reaper prr
Ring2 pinnacle true blood
Feet flightfoot cha7
Gloves crumbling mythic1 falselife40
Duality +127 +104 14.5w
Ruby good, ruby vampire slayer
Prowess 5pc oam 2pc vigilance wisdom

DCs
Stunning fist 120/142
Quivering palm 79/101
Tomb of jade 125/147
Kukan do 125/147
Dismissing strike 125/147
Frog ? Enough for r1 baba

Notes
Ok this is a quivering palm build
Palm and fist, the left and the right
It's got defense, saves, movement and dps
The chase for higher dps doesn't attest to how smooth this build is.
Monks are still in a special place
This will be my final build
After I knocked out 6 more racials
So I will probably be in heroics until the next expansion
Finis

Wis 101?! Dex 62?!? How the hell you do that?

[Nubom70]

GMoF > LD.

Higher DCs (WIS based, LD does nothing) and you can twist in Tactics.
The LD IMP CE gies 5 more PRR, at the cost of the initial feat, and can't be used with other stances. Derp.
GMoF has no-fail everything, which I'd rather have over some low extra HPs from LD.
LD has a stun break. A useless point for light monks.
Most monks I've talked to don't use perma-boosts, and sort of laugh when LD builds run out halfway though a mission.


That being said, monks are still dead. Yay, SSG for removing a core class ability to fix an EPIC ****-up.

[DrawingGuy]

GMoF > LD.

Higher DCs (WIS based, LD does nothing) and you can twist in Tactics.
The LD IMP CE gies 5 more PRR, at the cost of the initial feat, and can't be used with other stances. Derp.
GMoF has no-fail everything, which I'd rather have over some low extra HPs from LD.
LD has a stun break. A useless point for light monks.
Most monks I've talked to don't use perma-boosts, and sort of laugh when LD builds run out halfway though a mission.

You are missing a lot of the boat of the power of LD. I've enumerated on many occasions why LD is vastly more powerful than GMoF (even if you're not blitzed as you still have things like +1[W], +50% helpless, +1 crit range, +1 crit multi on 19/20, 20s action boosts allowing for more Prowess uptime and perma boosting when needed, etc., etc.). It wins on DPS and survival by a vast margin easily beating out the utility gains of GMoF in 99% of situations. But I'll go ahead and make a few quick comments on your points.

- Indeed GMoF has higher DCs with a max potential of up to +6 (3 cores, 3 from WIS). Though heavy WIS investment comes at the cost of some of that utility, and even the full +6 to DCs comes at a heavy loss to DPS and survival. And to say "LD does nothing" when you have the same +6 available in a cheap 3 AP package is silly. It's true that you can twist it and always should when not in LD, but it is still coming from that tree.

- Imp CE most definitely gives you 20 PRR, not 5. Of course it is locked to CE, but this is a build that is taking that anyways. 10% AC and 20 PRR is nothing to sniff at. The only real question is if you want to give that up for Precision (I think CE > PA, but Precision has a lot to argue for in the game of insane Reaper monster AC values). Even if you do take Precision or PA, Imp CE is still worth it as it allows you to have a stronger stance option when you need the defenses over the DPS.

- The no-fail saves from GMoF are part of the utility the destiny has, but it has always peeved me that Fort and Will are stuffed into tiers 3 and 4 and are still weaker versions of T1s that you can get from Magister/Draconic. 9 out of 24 AP is a tough chew for a 5% save gain, especially if you're trying to claim that WIS.

- LDs stun break works on more than just stuns. Commanded, dance, held, and petrified are all CCs that Grasp does not protect against. 2000 Will save and no-fail Will saves will not protect against Otto's Irresitable, but LD Unstoppable can save you from that.

- If most monks you know are not using perma-boosts, then most monks you know are leaving a vast chunk of DPS on the table. I try to teach people: If you reach a shrine with unused action boosts and you had encounters where you didn't use one, you're doing it wrong. I actually like the fact that Falconry can give me movement speed boost as that is a backup boost I can use to still trigger my Prowess + 1[W] + 50% helpless. Do note that "perma-boosting" is only during combat. Using boosts outside of combat is just silly.

- Blitz is far easier to maintain than you seem to think. It can proc on every hit. It's an absolute joke to maintain on a Ranger, and Monk with their WWA isn't too far behind. There are only three situations where I don't have a perma-blitz: 1) I'm in a low density quest where casters are just insta-killing everything before I can even reach it. 2) The quest is going horribly bad or some other reason is causing gaps of several minutes between a fight (such as narration), though a new blitz is usually ready in this situation. or 3) The quest is broken and removes my blitz due to some port mechanic (*glares at Through a Mirror Darkly*).
Holding off on QP spam until you've built up your Blitz can help. Not starting your blitz on a sparse mob group that has a large gap to the next mob group is another thing that can help. Being sure to maximize the number of targets your WWA hits helps, as does not twiddling your thumbs. LD is still stronger than GMoF even without Blitz, but it should generally be a guaranteed factor of LD.

That being said, monks are still dead. Yay, SSG for removing a core class ability to fix an EPIC ****-up.

I wouldn't go as far as calling them dead, but I think I've made my opinion clear that I think removing a core class feature was the wrong step. But insulting devs will only make them deliberately not want to fix it. It was forced on with no discussion or choice, so our only hope is to show why it was a mistake beyond core concept destruction. Show how Monk compares to other classes in heroics now. Threads, videos, and things that show how balance was negatively affected by the change is what is needed.

[Tilomere]

Vish interested in collaborating on a monk build? I need a guinea pig with good monk gear. Preferably one with good evocation gear as well for soundburst leveling, or cannith crafting.

[Nubom70]

I wouldn't go as far as calling them dead, but I think I've made my opinion clear that I think removing a core class feature was the wrong step. But insulting devs will only make them deliberately not want to fix it. It was forced on with no discussion or choice, so our only hope is to show why it was a mistake beyond core concept destruction. Show how Monk compares to other classes in heroics now. Threads, videos, and things that show how balance was negatively affected by the change is what is needed.

If they can't understand math, they're not going to understand a video. They used a heroic core-class nerf, to fix an epic 29+ issue with one particular
build, with raid wraps. I have zero faith in their ability to comprehend feedback, since people have been saying this and parsing it since day one, and
they have yet to reply with any actual numbers, builds they used, or feedback of any sort.