Note: Monks are actually tanks in RO2!
Unlike RO1, Monks are actually (the best?) tanks in RO2. While they can be used to deal DPS, people will usually expect them to be the tank.
General note on the primary stat of a class
In RO2 one can separate "INT based" and "STR based" classes: depending on which one you are, either INT or STR will give you Parry and (Magical) Attack Damage. Mages and Acolytes are INT based: getting no benefit from STR at all. Monks are STR based, receiving no benefit from INT at all. Or do they?
As an Acolyte, you will have to level INT to get anything done, but the Monk is a STR based class. To enable you to raise INT as an Acolyte anyway, the Monk has the Spiritual Cadence skill (you will have this skill automatically) which will basically convert your INT into STR.
Stats
While levelling your Acolyte, put all your points in INT. As soon as you change to Monk, put all your points in STR. I'm not an end game Monk expert, but I reckon something among the lines of 40 STR, 40 INT and 8 VIT would work.
When I played Monk on the betas, Spiritual Cadence would give you the Attack Damage and Parry bonus for every point of INT. It is however not listed in the skill sim on ro2base.com. If it turns out it doesn't, then a build like 46 STR, 33 INT and 8 VIT would be better.
Job Change
When you reach level 25, you can become an Monk in Prontera. The job change quest will be given to you wherever you are as soon as you hit the level requirement, so you will not need any guides or whatsoever for this.
When you change from Acolyte to Monk, you will lose all skill points in the Acolyte tree and you will NOT be able to level these skill again.
Monk skills
As a Monk you get access to the skill Steel Body, which will raise your HP by 35%, Defense by 200% and Threat generation by 300% but in return lowers your damage by 10%. Unless you are explicitly NOT tanking a dungeon, you should always have this running in my opinion.
As for the rest of your skills: I recommend investing in your bread-and-butter offensive skills and Iron Skin, a passive that increases your Defense by 50%, which you will need now that you are no longer able to heal yourself.
Recommended lvl 25 Monk skills: http://ro2base.com/b...1.1.1/0.0.0.0.0
Asura Strike
A little different from RO1, but still a nice amount of damage. In RO2 the Monk's main combo is the double Asura: Fury > Throw Sphere (increases damage taken from the Monk) > Asura > Summon Spheres (resets all cooldowns!) > Asura.
Cards
Like RO1, don't worry too much about cards at the beginning: just stick whatever good INT / STR cards you can find in your slots.
Profession
If you're playing with friends, split professions between you. If you're solo, I recommend alchemist.
Edited by NLJarin, 13 April 2013 - 04:37 PM.