Kensei Monk

[MasterGladius]

Is there any variation of this build that is still viable?

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...entered-Kensai

That build used a Fighter 8/Monk 6/Ranger 6 base. What I am hoping to build (but have little to no background to know what is good and what isn't) is Fighter/Monk/Rogue that uses some spread of classes so that you can splash around a few levels to get the TR of choice from any of the three. I also want some trapping skills. It would be cool to have Falchion as the preferred weapon, but I am open to quarterstaff, daggers, short swords or whatever.

My first thought is to keep the skills up by using Harper Agent for high intelligence and have Strength just high enough to take the THF line, but there's a good chance I'll shoot myself in the foot due to my ignorance.

If the build needs a 12/6/2 split to be good, that's okay, too. Having a 6/6/6 split on the base build is not a requirement. I'd just like to play a "Sword Saint" type character; deadly with their weapon and unarmored. Tanking isn't a goal, but I would like to be resilient enough to not get squished when I solo.

Any insight is appreciated. Thanks.

[LiveFast]

Is there any variation of this build that is still viable?

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...entered-Kensai

That build used a Fighter 8/Monk 6/Ranger 6 base. What I am hoping to build (but have little to no background to know what is good and what isn't) is Fighter/Monk/Rogue that uses some spread of classes so that you can splash around a few levels to get the TR of choice from any of the three. I also want some trapping skills. It would be cool to have Falchion as the preferred weapon, but I am open to quarterstaff, daggers, short swords or whatever.

My first thought is to keep the skills up by using Harper Agent for high intelligence and have Strength just high enough to take the THF line, but there's a good chance I'll shoot myself in the foot due to my ignorance.

If the build needs a 12/6/2 split to be good, that's okay, too. Having a 6/6/6 split on the base build is not a requirement. I'd just like to play a "Sword Saint" type character; deadly with their weapon and unarmored. Tanking isn't a goal, but I would like to be resilient enough to not get squished when I solo.

Any insight is appreciated. Thanks.

Minimum split would be 8rogue for improved uncanny dodge and 3monk for light philosophy to get another +50% dodge clicky in grandmaster epic destiny. DEX build is by FAR the best if you have horizon walker (DEX trance). you will have plenty of AC from DEX and WIS, high reflex and 2X 50% dodge clicky. your survivability will be very high. As for weapons you can use whatever you want since T5 kensai One with blade combined with core 1 and 2 from ninja spy will allow dex to hit and damage with any weapons. If you go THF dont forget to put some points in STR at character creation. I used longswords as TWF and it was cool but TWF is so bad while moving that i dont recommend it unless you want to be cool lol. you need 8 fighter to get all the bonus to hit/damage in kensai. with some racial APs half-orc is very interesting for all the bonus damage/power attack/helpless damage

[J1NG]

Agree with LiveFast in that you want 8 Rogue to reach Improved Uncanny Dodge (Level 8 Rogue). 6 Fighter isn't necessary, but take it for the Bonus Feats anyway and to reach One with Blade (Kensai T5 which needs 5 levels of Fighter). In theory also as LiveFast said, 3 Monk to obtain the Path of Harmonious Balance (Light Monk Strike) to let you gain access to the GMoF's Epic Moment Split the Soul for an extra 50% Dodge, 50% Incorporeal and 50% Concealment which is amazing for when you need to make a stand or wade into a group of enemies that could otherwise take you down in a few hits.

I previously was running a 8/6/6 Rogue/Fighter/Monk split using THF (Blackrazor) in GMoF (You can switch to any other weapon of your choice), but found it to be lacking, as whilst it had the dps and group damage capability, it was woefully lacking in CC capability when things went south or to help make any fight much easier. It was essentially too MAD, with needing to make THF work meaning you lost out on stat points that were put into Strength instead of something else like Dexterity (also mentioned by LiveFast) and other attribute stats. Whilst in GMoF did allow you to get into combat safely and perform tactical/strategic eliminations (Everything is Nothing), the issue was the cooldowns, this made it hard to maintain peak performance throughout a run and instead had small bursts instead that wasn't necessarily that impressive, but also most importantly, in a protracted and extended fight (Boss fight) the added defences were kind of nice, but lacking in providing extended dps which meant you were not performing as great in either in such situations (in between moments, and extended moments).

Looking at the available options throughout the class and destiny options and working towards their strengths whilst eliminating as meany weakness' as possible, I ended up using the following:

1. 8/6/6 Rogue/Fighter/Monk Dex Based TWF
2. 8 for the Trapping skills and Improved Uncanny Dodge and Sneak Attacks
3. 6 Fighter to reach One with Blade to remain Centered with weapon.
4. 6 Monk to reach Adept of Elemental Forms (Less Feats to reach Grandmaster of Forms)
5. In the Kensai Tree, took Light Blades (To be Centered with Daggers and other Light Blades like Rapier), Action Boost Haste, Dodge improvements, the Improved Destruction effect on all strikes, and the automatical Critical hit attack (Deadly Strike)
6. In Ninja Spy, took enough to gain Core 3 to go Invis as needed; Shadow Veil which helps with entering combat as a side combatant rather than main tank combatant and Dodge improvements.
7. Main in GMoF (Do not take the Epic Strike, it serves no decent purpose)
8. Secondary in Shadowdancer to gain Shadowstrike (Melee). This is a small AOE cleave that also has +3 Crit Range.
9. Stay in Water Stance (Ultimate, for 8 Dodge Cap and 12 Dodge and Save bonus)
10. Use the Legendary Goldcursed Dagger to CC on Crit (Which you can do easily with the increased Threat Range from the attacks) and offhand with either Flow, Piercer of Hearts to rapidly and constantly lock enemies down through disrupting their animations, or with Bitter Edge (Longsword, gain Whirling Steel Strike in GMoF option if this is chosen) through icing enemies (Although Flow is better as it is also on Crit, which this build does often and has two strikes; Deadly Strike from Kensai and Shadowstrike in Shadowdancer that very likely triggers these effects to lock enemies down).
11. By using TWF with the weapons above, you can either lock individual enemies down, or using Split the Soul, granting you Strikethrough capability, you can also lock down (and potentially insta-kill) many enemies rapidly safely.

Optional:
12. By being in Water Stance and using Legendary (or normal) Perfect Pinnacle, and slotting Endless Night Ruby into weapons, you can knockdown enemies every time you roll a vorpal (20) as well as level drain them. This helps with reducing their saves temporarily to help the CC effects on weapons to trigger more easily. This is superior to gaining the GMoF T5 ability that only dazes enemies and breaks their daze after the next hit, which is terrible CC and adds not a lot to dps really.
13. Shintao for Offhand strike chance boosts and Ki Shout if you can fit it in (to help grab aggro in case the real tank is down)
14. Henshin Mystic to reach more Dodge cap if needed as well as passive Ki regeneration boost and access to a Ki strike if you didn't grab one in Ninja Spy (Knock on the Sky is useful to help reduce damage output of bosses by up to 20%).
15. Horizon Walker enhancements if you have access to it to boost your dps as well as increase DC for EiN temporarily.
16. Standing Dodge should be aimed for around 45% or higher (no more than 50%) in this setup. But should reach the Dodge cap of 45 easily; 25% Base, 8% Ultimate Water Stance, 2% Guild, 3% Ninja Spy, 6% Kensai Enhancements + a Filigree or two that grants Dodge Cap bonus for 45%+.
17. If you use the right setup, you could also have standing 25% Concealment (no use from certain Reaper difficulties, but useful elsewhere), 15% from Enhanced Ghostly Incorporeal or 25% from Shadow Veil (Ninja Spy), but note that Shadow Veil sets your Incorporeal to 25% and thus doesn't stack with Split the Soul, so if you use Split the Soul, during or before that time for 1 minute (if you can), don't use Shadow Veil and instead just let Split stack on top of Enhanced Ghostly. This potentially grants you 95% Dodge, 65% Incorporeal and 75% (or even 100% if you have Displacement running at the time) Concealment. This makes it very hard to be taken down. Allowing you to go all out and attack only; very useful for when the group got snared by a lag moment and you're the last one standing.

J1NG

[MasterGladius]

These insights are inspiring. I was afraid the concept would be completely, irredeemably broken.

I hope being MAD won't be as much of an issue since I bought a +8 Supreme Abilities Tome.

I like THF because every attack essentially becomes AOE, which is helpful in a swarm. Unless I have a lot of cleave attacks, having a 2H weapon seems almost essential. Of course, I've only played through to 20 once (presently 23 Paladin/Fatesinger) working on my first life. I haven't had a chance to play a dual wielder or single weapon build yet. I just know that as a paladin, I get tired of doors I can't see, chests I can't open, and, more often than not, I die due to traps. Splashing some Rogue seemed like the best way to avoid that. It hadn't occurred to me that the best way to run this build would be primarily Rogue.

Obviously, I'm probably starting the build as rogue for the trapping skills and skill points boost. What would be the best way to spread out the class levels to make this work, since you both seem to be of similar mind? Are the classes spread somewhat evenly or does one or more of them need to be front loaded. I was hoping to use this build for racial TRs (and mix in pure sorc when I just want to speed run it).

[LiveFast]

These insights are inspiring. I was afraid the concept would be completely, irredeemably broken.

I hope being MAD won't be as much of an issue since I bought a +8 Supreme Abilities Tome.

I like THF because every attack essentially becomes AOE, which is helpful in a swarm. Unless I have a lot of cleave attacks, having a 2H weapon seems almost essential. Of course, I've only played through to 20 once (presently 23 Paladin/Fatesinger) working on my first life. I haven't had a chance to play a dual wielder or single weapon build yet. I just know that as a paladin, I get tired of doors I can't see, chests I can't open, and, more often than not, I die due to traps. Splashing some Rogue seemed like the best way to avoid that. It hadn't occurred to me that the best way to run this build would be primarily Rogue.

Obviously, I'm probably starting the build as rogue for the trapping skills and skill points boost. What would be the best way to spread out the class levels to make this work, since you both seem to be of similar mind? Are the classes spread somewhat evenly or does one or more of them need to be front loaded. I was hoping to use this build for racial TRs (and mix in pure sorc when I just want to speed run it).

Start with 1 rogue, do all level of monk you want, do all fighter levels and finish with rogue. If you go with THF use staves in early levels (invest in henshin and respec later). If you do DEX base you should seriously consider T3 acrobat. Shadow Dodge: +3 dex and max dodge and +20% Strikethrough is REALLY worth it. 9rogue/8fighter/3monk more dps. 8/6/6 more survivability for heroic levels.

[MasterGladius]

Minimum split would be 8rogue for improved uncanny dodge and 3monk for light philosophy to get another +50% dodge clicky in grandmaster epic destiny. DEX build is by FAR the best if you have horizon walker (DEX trance). you will have plenty of AC from DEX and WIS, high reflex and 2X 50% dodge clicky. your survivability will be very high. As for weapons you can use whatever you want since T5 kensai One with blade combined with core 1 and 2 from ninja spy will allow dex to hit and damage with any weapons. If you go THF dont forget to put some points in STR at character creation. I used longswords as TWF and it was cool but TWF is so bad while moving that i dont recommend it unless you want to be cool lol. you need 8 fighter to get all the bonus to hit/damage in kensai. with some racial APs half-orc is very interesting for all the bonus damage/power attack/helpless damage

You mentioned you don't recommend TWF because it is so bad while moving? Do you prefer THF or SWF as an alternative?

[LiveFast]

You mentioned you don't recommend TWF because it is so bad while moving? Do you prefer THF or SWF as an alternative?

Both. THF clear rooms faster while SWF paired with /3bard to use a buckler can be very solid for characters with low past lives. 12 FVS/5barb/3bard was pretty cool on a first life. shield was giving me the edge I needed to survive and not be a burden on higher difficulties.

[MasterGladius]

I think I have decided to give this a go on my next life, which is finally drawing near. My Epic questing took longer than expected (thanks to that blasted Enchanted Horseshoe).

I think I would like to go with a variant of this build that uses Quarterstaff. I'd like to be tough enough to solo (with the help of a healing hireling), but damage output is important, too. I don't know that I'll be a nuclear force, but I'd rather stay away from a build so tanky that it takes twice as long to kill stuff. Is it better to go for Cleaves or Whirlwind? What should be my skill priorities? I like being able to disable traps, find hidden doors, and open locked chests. Good jumps are also a bonus.

Keep in mind that I'll probably take the build through Epic 1-29, but it isn't meant to be an end game build. I might even use it for my racial/iconic grinds if I really like how it plays.

Also, please note any great items/sets to pick up along the way. I don't need any exhaustive gearing list, but I would like to be aware of some specifically great items.

For what it is worth, I have access to Feydark Illusionist, Harper Agent, and Vistani (probably irrelevant) universal trees. I'll pick up Inquisitive, too, if it would be helpful.

Thanks for the help.