20 Monk: Shintao (reaper-optimized)

[Symbiont]

There have been a numerous amount of statements regarding the disadvantages of melee in high-skull reaper; after exponential mob and difficulty scaling, the base hits taken from generic mobs are colossal enough to absolutely annihilate a traditionalist character. Having to stand toe-to-toe with these mobs, while penetrating a plethora of damage-mitigating factors (AC, DR, etc) to physically inflict damage, is overwhelming. The sheer amount of reaper-related (and champion) abilities are numerous enough to vaporize anyone at a second's notice; the slightest deviation of attention, the slightest inconsistency in your optimization, the unluckiest (and most common) pulls of enemies all frequently result in your becoming of a soul stone. With the meta supposedly favoring those in the back-lines, and the stereotype for melee nearly desolate because of this; how could a melee possibly not only survive - but effectively perform - versus adversaries of this caliber? The solution is as effective as it is momentous: overpower your opponents with a build that is as devastatingly destructive as it is invulnerable.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...l1U/edit#gid=0

General Overview:

• HP (in Reaper): 2,500+
• Sustainable Dire Charge DC: 115
• Sustainable Jade/Shintao DC: 112
• Sustainable Stunning Fist DC: 108
• Physical Resistance Rating (PRR): 241; 70.67% damage mitigation
• Magical Resistance Rating (MRR): 50; 33.33% damage mitigation (monk cap)
• Dodge: 49%
• Incorporeal Miss Chance: 25%
• Armor Class: 226 (81% defense chance at level)
• +30% Passive Movement Speed and Abundant Steps
• Fortitude Save: 110
• Reflex Save: 110
• Will Save: 87
• Standing Doublestrike: 66.91%
• Fully-buffed Doublestrike: 103.91%
• Melee Power: 326
• Healing Amplification: 191

In this spreadsheet, every single item, everything taken during level progression, the DCs of every ability, and every aspect of performance is listed and elaborated upon in meticulous detail; this class, with the allocation of abilities and enhancements showcased in the file above, incorporates a maelstrom of abilities to debilitate and dismember anything unfortunate enough to stand in your hitbox, with an arsenal of primary and emergency CC (crowd-control) utilities to ensure that whatever you are attacking is too overcome to fight back. This build specializes in raw damage, with a truly scary amount of helpless amplification - while honing its ability to bring mobs to a helpless state. Numerous videos of the monk's performance in reaper are shown, and any questions/concerns are welcome!

[Tilomere]

The solution is as effective as it is momentous: overpower your opponents with a build that is as devastatingly destructive as it is invulnerable.

General Overview:

• HP (in Reaper): 2,500+
• Sustainable Dire Charge DC: 115
• Sustainable Jade/Shintao DC: 112
• Sustainable Stunning Fist DC: 108
• Physical Resistance Rating (PRR): 241; 70.67% damage mitigation
• Magical Resistance Rating (MRR): 50; 33.33% damage mitigation (monk cap)
• Dodge: 49%
• Incorporeal Miss Chance: 25%
• Armor Class: 226 (81% defense chance at level)
• +30% Passive Movement Speed and Abundant Steps
• Fortitude Save: 110
• Reflex Save: 110
• Will Save: 87
• Standing Doublestrike: 66.91%
• Fully-buffed Doublestrike: 103.91%
• Melee Power: 326
• Healing Amplification: 191

Does it have all of that at once?

What does this allow you to solo without the use of a hireling or consumables?

[Symbiont]

Does it have all of that at once?

What does this allow you to solo without the use of a hireling or consumables?

Yep, the screenshot of stats is in ocean; you can get all of this at once except the "fully-buffed doublestrike", which is in wind. Soloing mid-skulls is actually relatively easy; Dire Charge + Whirlwind absolutely disintegrates mobs, with the boss dps to shred most red-names extremely quickly. The only major problem is recovering from damage taken, but lengthy pauses for multiple cocoons between fights is more than sufficient. You can solo old baba's hut too (as aasimar, if you run back to the shrine every 15 minutes)

[blerkington]

Well done. It's a great write-up and a nice service to the community for people interested in running harder content on a melee.

I'd also like to extend a big LOL to SSG and their pretence of concern with class balance and maintaining challenge overall in the game. Keep up the good work guys!

Thanks.

[Kaboom2112]

I'd also like to extend a big LOL to SSG and their pretence of concern with class balance and maintaining challenge overall in the game. Keep up the good work guys!

Thanks.

Pendulums swing.

[DrawingGuy]

A very nice setup. This does bring a question for me to feel stupid for never trying: Quick Strike, a "Melee Quarterstaff Attack", does not require a Quarterstaff? If not, going to punch myself and take it from now on.

I do have a suggestion if you are willing to kick your LGS HP to the side - change the following items:
Trinket: Echo of Ravenkind
Boots: Cannith Crafted - Dodge 15, Strength 15, Ins DEX 7
Goggles: Cannith Crafted - Concentration 22, Melee Alacrity, Ins WIS 7
Quiver: Quiver of Alacrity

Swap Slavers CON 17 with False Life 68
Swap Good augment with Deconstructor

You do give up the HP, Unconcious Range, 11 Accuracy, and 61 (41 after set bonus) HAMP... but gain:
+ Destruction on hit which builds up to 15% bypass and -15 AC (which translates to 30 Accuracy for everyone)
+ Adherent Set Bonus: 20 PRR, 20 HAMP, 10 MP
+ Allows you to drop Blinding Speed giving room for feats like Epic Reflexes for no-fail reflex, Precision for a accuracy and bypass (though is a survival hit), Vorpal Strikes for slashing bypass, Completionist, etc.
+ 3 more CON, 7 more DEX, 7 more WIS
+ Imp Deception for passive SA application
+ True Seeing that can't be dispelled


As for self healing, you can carry some swaps. Silverthread belt and/or Hands of the Dawn give you POS spell power that stack long with crit - Sadly Null uncenters you (though gives 104 more POS over Hands). Add in a LGS or GS hamp weapon, and you'll give yourself a pretty mean cocoon heal. For real efforts to counter Reaper penalties, you could also swap on a Mysterious Cloak.

For max self healing, you could temporarily uncenter yourself and use LGS main + Null offhand + Silverthread Belt + Mysterious Cloak. That would give 543 POS power and 30% crit chance along with 220 HAMP just from items. Monk and PLs add to both those numbers. Outside of Reaper it's possible to see Cocoon ticks for over 1k, and of course FOL would full heal you easily.

Personally I plan on running Aasimar for the LOHs and the 10% HP bonus. I'll be building other things a bit differently than what you have, but hoping I can be rolling with 2k+ HP in Reaper, same or higher defense stats, with QP in the 90s and DPS not far off from what you have. We'll see - still grinding those racials.

[Symbiont]

A very nice setup. This does bring a question for me to feel stupid for never trying: Quick Strike, a "Melee Quarterstaff Attack", does not require a Quarterstaff? If not, going to punch myself and take it from now on.

I do have a suggestion if you are willing to kick your LGS HP to the side - change the following items:
Trinket: Echo of Ravenkind
Boots: Cannith Crafted - Dodge 15, Strength 15, Ins DEX 7
Goggles: Cannith Crafted - Concentration 22, Melee Alacrity, Ins WIS 7
Quiver: Quiver of Alacrity

Swap Slavers CON 17 with False Life 68
Swap Good augment with Deconstructor

You do give up the HP, Unconcious Range, 11 Accuracy, and 61 (41 after set bonus) HAMP... but gain:
+ Destruction on hit which builds up to 15% bypass and -15 AC (which translates to 30 Accuracy for everyone)
+ Adherent Set Bonus: 20 PRR, 20 HAMP, 10 MP
+ Allows you to drop Blinding Speed giving room for feats like Epic Reflexes for no-fail reflex, Precision for a accuracy and bypass (though is a survival hit), Vorpal Strikes for slashing bypass, Completionist, etc.
+ 3 more CON, 7 more DEX, 7 more WIS
+ Imp Deception for passive SA application
+ True Seeing that can't be dispelled


As for self healing, you can carry some swaps. Silverthread belt and/or Hands of the Dawn give you POS spell power that stack long with crit - Sadly Null uncenters you (though gives 104 more POS over Hands). Add in a LGS or GS hamp weapon, and you'll give yourself a pretty mean cocoon heal. For real efforts to counter Reaper penalties, you could also swap on a Mysterious Cloak.

For max self healing, you could temporarily uncenter yourself and use LGS main + Null offhand + Silverthread Belt + Mysterious Cloak. That would give 543 POS power and 30% crit chance along with 220 HAMP just from items. Monk and PLs add to both those numbers. Outside of Reaper it's possible to see Cocoon ticks for over 1k, and of course FOL would full heal you easily.

Personally I plan on running Aasimar for the LOHs and the 10% HP bonus. I'll be building other things a bit differently than what you have, but hoping I can be rolling with 2k+ HP in Reaper, same or higher defense stats, with QP in the 90s and DPS not far off from what you have. We'll see - still grinding those racials.

Interestingly enough, some of these recommendations are what I'm currently doing. This is a spreadsheet I made two months ago; I'm actually currently running an Aasimar monk with Protectior Bond. Gave up the LGS set since Protector bond would offset this to a point; traded LGS boots for Legendary Flightfoot Greaves, and replaced Tier 2/3 of unconscious health with +11 insightful/+6 quality hide. I sat down and thought about +7 Dex versus +11 Accuracy pretty hard at the time, but at level cap, I find myself grazing much more than I'd reasonably want to be - and that's the #1 thing interfering with my ability to land my CCs, not so much the DCs. I'm also running Precision over Improved Combat Expertise to reinforce this (with more fortification bypass), and the amount of hits I'm able to consistently land on red-named/trash is very noticeable. On top of this, I have an inexhaustible supply of Insightful +2 Potions, so the difference is a bit more narrow in that sense.

As an Aasimar, I'm also running 26 APs into Ninja Spy, for +30% helpless (to offset losing Half-Orc +20%), and only 1 AP in Henshin; with an additional +10 MP from Adherent set, it's a 10 MP loss for a +10% helpless gain, which is a good trade imo. Morninglord's Handwraps deal slashing damage, and I just swap to it for an ooze-beater/DR breaker when it's relevant. If I had to swap the trinket for something, I'd put Insightful Combat Mastery +6 on a separate CC trinket - as that's the one super-important DC effect I couldn't fit. For 100% maxed self healing, I have a LGS kama + shuriken swap, but swapping multiple items for heal-amp after the induced 1 second cooldown is extremely taxing and a bit irrelevant when there's a dedicated healer in the group, which is generally the case in my static.

There are quite a few interesting things that can be done without the LGS Opposition set that I might look into; I've just ultimately decided that retaining accuracy with more hide from an LGS item (and the unconscious HP) would outweigh pretty much any other gear-combination that could be set, though I could be wrong there Quick Strike is Quarterstaff exclusive - I put a note in the spreadsheet directly over the enhancements table; swap to it to proc the doublestrike, then swap back to handwraps to gain +25% for the remainder of the duration. Though after SSG lets us buy the +1 racial tome with DDO points, I'll end up going back to Half-Orc for both Brutality and No Mercy x3, since I can't get both of these maxed with only 11 racial points. This has opened my eyes to shuffling gear around without the required LGS crutch though, we'll see what happens

[DrawingGuy]

Not a bad LGS item, as that dex skill is 1 point of hide away from giving a full 6 SA damage, which translates to 38 damage with 326 MP.

One thing you can do to help with accuracy is to be applying destruction - full destruction stacks equates to 30 Accuracy for everyone in party. Eagle Claw attack is a good way to apply it. If you can't afford the skill, then there's the Deconstructor augment. There's multiple ways you can give yourself Good bypass: flipping Cannith Crafted to boots (they too can have Ins CM, but not hamp sadly) and wearing Ravenloft trinket. Crafting LGS bypass clickies. Simply just using Scraps or another duality swap with good when that bypass is needed.

Precision is a pretty strong skill for the factor of avoiding grazing hits. The way that the formula works, it essentially means you need 10% less accuracy to avoid grazing hits, which means it is more powerful against high AC targets.

Really my hard decision comes with DCs. It doesn't matter how much Reaper kicks your DPS in the teeth if you can instakill, so giving up 10 DEX for 10 WIS is a no brainer to me - level ups into WIS is simply better once you have effective DCs. Also that means that I would take Insightful WIS over Insightful Combat Mastery in a second if you're not fitting Ins WIS elsewhere. That essentially translates to +3 to all your tactics including Quivering palm, which needs it the most. I should be able to have my QP in the 90s while only losing a tiny amount of DPS (we're talking double digit tops off a 4 digit number).

Another thing to debate is Completionist feat vs Sneak of Shadows vs Precision. SoS feat is indeed a strong burst, but only lasts 3 minutes per rest. Completionist gives +2 to all skills and abilities, which is +1 damage and +3 to hide (which is +1 SA) permanently, along with +1 to DCs (+2 if that is enough Int on KtA), +3 UMD, +1 to all saves, 30 HP, etc. To me, Completionist wins over SoS. SoS vs Precision is a bit tougher. I like CE as the 20 PRR and 20+ AC bonuses is strong, but the accuracy struggle is real for Reaper bosses. But being able to plip a button for 100+ SA damage on said bosses is also strong, especially considering you still get SA on grazing. What are your thoughts?

I also find going hard into helpless damage interesting. I'm still a little peeved they kept Ninja Spy's No Mercy at 2 AP a pop. I find that a bit tough to chew, though you do get more SA die along the way. Also Henshin was giving more than just 30 MP from the 3 cores -- Quick Draw halves the time it takes from using an Action Boost to being able to attack, 6 PRR, 20 HP, a Ki Strike... and more points into Henshin could mean 3 more dodge cap or 25% neg absorption from Vistani. But I may play around with that to see how I like it.

Side Note - The concept of weapon swapping for a 10s buff is ambitious, especially considering the 1s nerf they put on swapping. While the 25% ds buff is strong, not sure if it is practical.

[adrian69]

There have been a numerous amount of statements regarding the disadvantages of melee in high-skull reaper; after exponential mob and difficulty scaling, the base hits taken from generic mobs are colossal enough to absolutely annihilate a traditionalist character. Having to stand toe-to-toe with these mobs, while penetrating a plethora of damage-mitigating factors (AC, DR, etc) to physically inflict damage, is overwhelming. The sheer amount of reaper-related (and champion) abilities are numerous enough to vaporize anyone at a second's notice; the slightest deviation of attention, the slightest inconsistency in your optimization, the unluckiest (and most common) pulls of enemies all frequently result in your becoming of a soul stone. With the meta supposedly favoring those in the back-lines, and the stereotype for melee nearly desolate because of this; how could a melee possibly not only survive - but effectively perform - versus adversaries of this caliber? The solution is as effective as it is momentous: overpower your opponents with a build that is as devastatingly destructive as it is invulnerable.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...l1U/edit#gid=0

General Overview:

• HP (in Reaper): 2,500+
• Sustainable Dire Charge DC: 115
• Sustainable Jade/Shintao DC: 112
• Sustainable Stunning Fist DC: 108
• Physical Resistance Rating (PRR): 241; 70.67% damage mitigation
• Magical Resistance Rating (MRR): 50; 33.33% damage mitigation (monk cap)
• Dodge: 49%
• Incorporeal Miss Chance: 25%
• Armor Class: 226 (81% defense chance at level)
• +30% Passive Movement Speed and Abundant Steps
• Fortitude Save: 110
• Reflex Save: 110
• Will Save: 87
• Standing Doublestrike: 66.91%
• Fully-buffed Doublestrike: 103.91%
• Melee Power: 326
• Healing Amplification: 191

In this spreadsheet, every single item, everything taken during level progression, the DCs of every ability, and every aspect of performance is listed and elaborated upon in meticulous detail; this class, with the allocation of abilities and enhancements showcased in the file above, incorporates a maelstrom of abilities to debilitate and dismember anything unfortunate enough to stand in your hitbox, with an arsenal of primary and emergency CC (crowd-control) utilities to ensure that whatever you are attacking is too overcome to fight back. This build specializes in raw damage, with a truly scary amount of helpless amplification - while honing its ability to bring mobs to a helpless state. Numerous videos of the monk's performance in reaper are shown, and any questions/concerns are welcome!

The only thing the recent monk nerf did was reduced Henshin melee power, killed the bug, and lowered the di on the Duality, right? Am I missing anything? This build wasn't affected much, right?

[Kodwraith]

The only thing the recent monk nerf did was reduced Henshin melee power, killed the bug, and lowered the di on the Duality, right? Am I missing anything? This build wasn't affected much, right?

Correct. I run something similar but with a lot less gear and the changes were not that noticeable. I kill things marginally less quickly but it's pretty marginal. Of course, If I'm standing next to Astrican, everything is already dead before I get there.

The other change, was it also dumped a bunch of melee power in GMoF (+50 vs +15 (iirc) previously), so if for some reason you were running in GMoF previously, you saw a huge boost. For some quests where it's hard to maintain a blitz, GMoF might be more competitive now. You'd get less crit profile, but better saves, and melee power equivalent to a 2/3rds charged blitz. The GMoF AoE trip might make it worthwhile.

[Opensezame]

There have been a numerous amount of statements regarding the disadvantages of melee in high-skull reaper; after exponential mob and difficulty scaling, the base hits taken from generic mobs are colossal enough to absolutely annihilate a traditionalist character. Having to stand toe-to-toe with these mobs, while penetrating a plethora of damage-mitigating factors (AC, DR, etc) to physically inflict damage, is overwhelming. The sheer amount of reaper-related (and champion) abilities are numerous enough to vaporize anyone at a second's notice; the slightest deviation of attention, the slightest inconsistency in your optimization, the unluckiest (and most common) pulls of enemies all frequently result in your becoming of a soul stone. With the meta supposedly favoring those in the back-lines, and the stereotype for melee nearly desolate because of this; how could a melee possibly not only survive - but effectively perform - versus adversaries of this caliber? The solution is as effective as it is momentous: overpower your opponents with a build that is as devastatingly destructive as it is invulnerable.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...l1U/edit#gid=0

General Overview:

• HP (in Reaper): 2,500+
• Sustainable Dire Charge DC: 115
• Sustainable Jade/Shintao DC: 112
• Sustainable Stunning Fist DC: 108
• Physical Resistance Rating (PRR): 241; 70.67% damage mitigation
• Magical Resistance Rating (MRR): 50; 33.33% damage mitigation (monk cap)
• Dodge: 49%
• Incorporeal Miss Chance: 25%
• Armor Class: 226 (81% defense chance at level)
• +30% Passive Movement Speed and Abundant Steps
• Fortitude Save: 110
• Reflex Save: 110
• Will Save: 87
• Standing Doublestrike: 66.91%
• Fully-buffed Doublestrike: 103.91%
• Melee Power: 326
• Healing Amplification: 191

In this spreadsheet, every single item, everything taken during level progression, the DCs of every ability, and every aspect of performance is listed and elaborated upon in meticulous detail; this class, with the allocation of abilities and enhancements showcased in the file above, incorporates a maelstrom of abilities to debilitate and dismember anything unfortunate enough to stand in your hitbox, with an arsenal of primary and emergency CC (crowd-control) utilities to ensure that whatever you are attacking is too overcome to fight back. This build specializes in raw damage, with a truly scary amount of helpless amplification - while honing its ability to bring mobs to a helpless state. Numerous videos of the monk's performance in reaper are shown, and any questions/concerns are welcome!

Have you created a falconry version of this build yet?

[DrawingGuy]

Falconry is indeed the way to go for Monks now - especially for a DC build like I am. Unfortunately much of what you need is deep in the tree, forcing heavy investment. Though with the nerf to Henshin, and Ninja Spy not gaining too much advantage beyond a 12 AP dip (especially as No Mercy is overlapped anyways), this can be afforded.

As a pure Monk handwrap user, you want the 41 AP spend in Shintao. To get the DC advantage along with the WIS to attack/damage, you need a minimum of 21 into Falconry. This means 62 AP is locked, with 18 to play with.

This 18 is where decisions get tough:

I find two Ki Strikes to be very important. Knock on the Sky is 10% damage reduction, and Unbalancing Strike gives you Sneak Attack damage when you have aggro. Both are very important if you are the Monk tank as they are components of survival and DPS. Investing 11-12 AP into Ninja Spy will net me that along with dodge cap bonus for more survival and Shadow Veil for 15% more incorporeal (or 25% if you don't have a Ghostly item on). However, beyond survival boosts, Ninja Spy lost its second main reason for investment: we no longer need the DEX to hit/damage. With half the reason gone, I find myself leaning towards dumping Ninja Spy and debating between Unbalancing for SA damage and Knock for 10% damage reduction. If you run Ethereal, Unbalancing is clearly better, but Falconry provides some more reasons to go Astral Plane.

Going even deeper into Falconry provides several advantages. First is that Deadly Instinct (your DC move) is limited use, so you really want that at 2 or 3. No Mercy is a large DPS increase for trash killing, especially on a class that is quite good at CC. The cores, while nothing to write home about, are still great AP spends as they give +3 MP, PRR, and MRR for only 1 AP. Bird attacks are needed for Deadly Instinct maintenance, and have the potential to be additional CC. In short, you can quite easily spend your extra points in it.

There are, of course, still other spends I like:

- Aasimar cores and T5 bond -- 4+ AP depending on amount of racial PLs
- Vistani offers a cheap 25% neg resist along with PRR and MRR. Undead Favored Enemy stacks with Animal Favored Enemy for +4 to both. A little more can net you Haste Boost, Deflect Arrows, and Double Strike (including one of the few ways to increase offhand Doublestrike) -- 3-11 AP
- Henshin first core for 3 MP and PRR is still a good deal for 1AP, and Animal Stance is also worth the 2 AP -- 1-3 AP


Personally, this is how I plan on spending my AP:

41 Shintao
31 Falconry
4 Aasimar
3 Vistani
1 Henshin


The other debate that I mentioned is Ethereal or Astral Scion. Ethereal is by far the biggest DPS increase, but by going Astral you are not only boosting your Quivering Palm that needs every boost it can get, but your Falconry moves as well as assassination sources are harder to fit and rarer. Two more Helpless CCs is respectable, though albeit currently clunky due to bird attack delay. Really I think this will boil down to personal choice/situation: Is CC generally handled by casters in your party anyways? Ethereal will serve you better. Do you tend to just auto-attack anyways? Ethereal serves you better. You find yourself as the main form of CC in the party? That extra CC as well as more reliable QP can be more important, making Astral more worthwhile.

I currently don't have static parties, and often solo/pug, so I'll probably be taking Astral. Also not needing to invest in Hide is nice, though I'll just be wanting to fit Assassinate in its place if I can. We'll see if that lasts, or if the near double damage advantage of Ethereal over Astral (the math varies hugely depending on gear) calls me too hard. But I do like QP spam a lot, and it's fun when it is basically no-fail... wah

[unbongwah]

41 Shintao
31 Falconry
4 Aasimar
3 Vistani
1 Henshin

I haven't unlocked Falconry yet, but I was thinking 41 Shintao / 28 Falconry / 11 Ninja. Racial APs can go towards whatever. Shadow Veil is too good to pass up IMO and you also pick up Melee Power Boost along the way. Deadly Instinct + No Mercy + Expose Weakness + Coordinated Strike is 28 APs; if the latter proves less than useful due to the long CD, you can always shift that AP into Henshin.

[DrawingGuy]

In short, I can boil the decision of that 11 AP down to this:

Ignoring Ninja Spy, the 11 AP gains:
+ 1 WIS
+ 6 MP
+ 9 PRR
+ 6 MRR
+ 25% Neg Absorb
+ Ascendant Bond for either 10 MP + Vuln stacking + Fear Immunity or 10% HP + 3 saves + 10 PRR + 10 MRR
+ Divine Purpose or 40 Heal amp (or some mix thereof)

Getting Ninja Spy, you gain:
+ Short Sword useage
+ Extra shuri throw chance based on DEX
+ 1d6 SA
+ Shadow Veil for 15% more Incorporeal (or 25% if you don't slot ghostly)
+ Ki Strike (which I discuss earlier)
+ 2 dodge cap + 2 concentration + 2 Reflex or 20 MP action boost

For those that are not Aasimar, I'd certainly go the Ninja Spy route. For those that are Aasimar and have enough past lives for the cores but not enough for a cheap Ascendant Bond, again Ninja Spy. For those that are Aasimar, but not enough past lives for cores, I'd invest in the cores. A zero racial PL toon could do my split and either drop 3 AP off Falconry if the WIS isn't needed to be made even, or off Vistani. Or for players that do have all the past lives, which is the premise of this thread and is what the OP has, which again I favor my split. But, again, that can be seen as opinion. I've always been an advocate of Shadow Veil and the 11/12 Ninja Spy spend - I've been locked onto it for years, and wouldn't consider anyone wrong to continue to do so.


The 1 AP for a cleave/aoe blind/aoe 50% fort drop is indeed on a poor timer, though still nice as one of the opening moves. I'd definitely keep it on a 31 AP spend, but in a Ninja Spy spend, that goes against another tier of MP boost or dodge cap or Henshin core... though I'd probably drop one point off Deadly Instinct before I'd drop Coordinated Strike. I wouldn't go down to 1 point on DI as you can definitely get screwed by RNG with resets on a 30s timer, but should be pretty safe on a 1m timer. Though I will note that either the tool tip is wrong, or the move currently has lower than what it should DC, as it currently does not show Assassination bonuses in the tool tip DC. Haven't tested for real world DC though.

[Paisheng]

I haven't unlocked Falconry yet, but I was thinking 41 Shintao / 28 Falconry / 11 Ninja. Racial APs can go towards whatever. Shadow Veil is too good to pass up IMO and you also pick up Melee Power Boost along the way. Deadly Instinct + No Mercy + Expose Weakness + Coordinated Strike is 28 APs; if the latter proves less than useful due to the long CD, you can always shift that AP into Henshin.

I am enjoying this thread and picking up some good pointers on the different builds -- so thanks to all contributing.

However with the falconry tree, while there is still excellent viability doing a dex monk and utilizing much of the ninja tree, I think the strongest build for handwraps now lies in a wisdom based monk along with the falcronry tree. Here we achieve more DPS while clearly being able to max dcs for all the CC and QP -- especially with Deadly Instincts which not only boosts dc but can greatly increase damage.

Yes the investment in Falcronry is huge, as it should be I believe. I think the devs did right by making attainment more difficult than the dex monk.

Some notes from my experience in the tree.

Levels 1-4 are weaker as I invest 20 into wisdom with Aasimar and 15 dex and rest in Constitution. So I am a "weak" strength monk for these 4 levels. This is not too much of a problem (I can solo r4 through these levels) with my maxed out monk toon. I still prefer to get the haste boost out of vistani at level 2 and find this better dps than going to early with Falconry. I could get wisdom damage by level 3 but found not as effective as the haste. This all pays off then at level 5.

Level 5 and forward I build pretty much exclusively in falconry with the exception at 6 I will put 4 points to Aasimar to attain Ascendant Bond.

At level 12 I surprised myself by not switching over to Shintao tree and getting tier 5 enhancements. I found the tier 5 falconry a worthwhile trade off and quite fun. You get a 5xdmg that also heals you well with good heal amp, 10 melee power, a reliable instant death (yes on a slow timer) and of course maintain the tier 4 deadly instincts, coordinated strikes etc. I do not use the tier 2 and 3 bird strikes as these are too clunky and slow, and coordinated strikes is sufficient to reset Deadly Instincts if used properly at the beginning of most fights.

Finally at level 18 will I switch to a Shintao monk -- still maintaining my deadly instincts in falconry and haste in vistani.

At level 20 I can reclaim the 8 points in vistani as the LD destiny provides haste boost. I tried once to pull points for ninja core 3 incorporeality but felt I was losing some of the power and flavor of coordinated strikes, etc. in the falconry tree. So while I tr'd and did not do too many quests yet in Epics with falconry I am nonetheless leaning to dropping it altogether and investing 42 Shintao 4 in Aasimar (possibly 6 for the extra heal amp) and 31 in falconry -- leaving me a few points (3) to randomly play with such as henshin or aasimar like noted for the extra heal amp).

Overall I am pleased that falconry gives some new flavor to monks and making them one of the best hand wrap builds and especially for making Quivering Palm much more viable in high reaper with the Deadly Instincts boost (with a high wisdom -- say around 86 or so -- one is talking about a +20 to the dc. No longer one has to invest points into intel and intel gear to achieve probably 1/2 that bonus on the know the angles enhancment. So approximating a +10 better dc than what was achievable before.

This will lead us to talking about all the new gear opportunities available as one does not have to stretch it to cover dexterity and intelligence like we once did. Breath of relief.

Cheers to the devs along with my fellow monk lovers.

[DrawingGuy]

The Ninja Spy investment is not for the DEX to attack/damage as WIS would be main stat and you would be taking the WIS options from the Falconry tree. If you look at my breakdown, you can see plenty of reason to put points into Ninja Spy beyond the DEX. However losing that reason is indeed a big part of why I forgo it in my suggested splits.

I do question the dropping of tier 2 and 3 bird attacks. Yes, they are indeed too clunky - the bird should attack at the start of your attack rather than after, and I hope they change that - but they are CC and resets. I'll need to have some playtime before I know if they're too clunky in active play (after all, that is why I don't bother with Kukan-Do), but I find it interesting you find a 1 minute timer skill as sufficient, as it could quite easily have an unlucky run that runs your charges out. Though it's true you should be generally fine. The other concern is the maintenance of Expose Weakness. If you can maintain both Expose Weakness and Deadly Instincts with just Coordinated Strikes, it definitely puts a capper on the other two until they are made less clunky.

For now, I'll reserve my suggestions to what I provided until I have some real testing under my belt.

[Quordrell]

There have been a numerous amount of statements regarding the disadvantages of melee in high-skull reaper; after exponential mob and difficulty scaling, the base hits taken from generic mobs are colossal enough to absolutely annihilate a traditionalist character. Having to stand toe-to-toe with these mobs, while penetrating a plethora of damage-mitigating factors (AC, DR, etc) to physically inflict damage, is overwhelming. The sheer amount of reaper-related (and champion) abilities are numerous enough to vaporize anyone at a second's notice; the slightest deviation of attention, the slightest inconsistency in your optimization, the unluckiest (and most common) pulls of enemies all frequently result in your becoming of a soul stone. With the meta supposedly favoring those in the back-lines, and the stereotype for melee nearly desolate because of this; how could a melee possibly not only survive - but effectively perform - versus adversaries of this caliber? The solution is as effective as it is momentous: overpower your opponents with a build that is as devastatingly destructive as it is invulnerable.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...l1U/edit#gid=0

General Overview:

• HP (in Reaper): 2,500+
• Sustainable Dire Charge DC: 115
• Sustainable Jade/Shintao DC: 112
• Sustainable Stunning Fist DC: 108
• Physical Resistance Rating (PRR): 241; 70.67% damage mitigation
• Magical Resistance Rating (MRR): 50; 33.33% damage mitigation (monk cap)
• Dodge: 49%
• Incorporeal Miss Chance: 25%
• Armor Class: 226 (81% defense chance at level)
• +30% Passive Movement Speed and Abundant Steps
• Fortitude Save: 110
• Reflex Save: 110
• Will Save: 87
• Standing Doublestrike: 66.91%
• Fully-buffed Doublestrike: 103.91%
• Melee Power: 326
• Healing Amplification: 191

In this spreadsheet, every single item, everything taken during level progression, the DCs of every ability, and every aspect of performance is listed and elaborated upon in meticulous detail; this class, with the allocation of abilities and enhancements showcased in the file above, incorporates a maelstrom of abilities to debilitate and dismember anything unfortunate enough to stand in your hitbox, with an arsenal of primary and emergency CC (crowd-control) utilities to ensure that whatever you are attacking is too overcome to fight back. This build specializes in raw damage, with a truly scary amount of helpless amplification - while honing its ability to bring mobs to a helpless state. Numerous videos of the monk's performance in reaper are shown, and any questions/concerns are welcome!

I have a question on your Molten Silver Gauntlets and the Fleetfoot necklace where did you do it and what do I need to get them to the stats that are in that google Doc? I have them both bound and attuned but do not know where to go from there. Any direction would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Arkat]

I have a question on your Molten Silver Gauntlets and the Fleetfoot necklace where did you do it and what do I need to get them to the stats that are in that google Doc? I have them both bound and attuned but do not know where to go from there. Any direction would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Sym hasn't posted since 2019.

You might be waiting for a LONG time for an answer.

Miracles are possible, though.