I for one am really excited about playing a Monk. The last few days while waiting for launch (May 1st) I've been looking around the web for tips and tricks for crafting yourself the perfect Monk, but alas it's yielded very little information. From what I have discovered I've settled on a stat build of: 36/36/25 (STR/INT/VIT).
Anyone else out there excited about making a Monk? If so what type? Damager, Tank, Crit? What discoveries have you uncovered about Monks?
What we've covered
I apologize a head of time for this summary being potentially horrid. I never was great at this. I hope to list all of the important things we've discussed and what answers came from them.
- As a Monk most of your Defense and HP will come from the gear you wear. Whether or not this makes VIT a viable option is essentially player preference as your base stats won't have a huge effect on your endgame character. If you prefer a more well rounded build then don't hesitate to use it. We've covered such builds as:
- (STR/INT) Monk. This could look like either 40/40/8 or 41/41. With the 41/41 build you will be getting the most damage and parry possible.
- (STR/INT/VIT) Monk. This build is my preferred one as I like my character feel a little more well rounded rather than leaving 3 stats empty. These could be 33/33/32 or 36/36/25. Both are fine options. Although the latter sacrifices a bit of HP for more Attack/Parry.
- CRIT Monk (STR/AGI/INT). After a bit of research from some very helpful people in this thread CRIT Monks seem more viable than before. Using stats such some where along the lines of 19/50/19. These Monks if done properly will have a competitive amount of Critical and Dodge making them great choices for tanking as they are able to outright dodge and enemy attack rather than parry. However there are some drawbacks. By sacrificing STR/INT you'll be doing less damage than your STR/INT brethren. The other being sheer costliness. A CRIT Monk will need to be outfitted with the right cards and a full set of AGI Runes. And remember as of now Monk outfits do not provide you with AGI. Making STR/INT the more natural build.
- Monks get a free skill reset upon job change which might cause over excited players to immediately pump points into all of those awesome looking offensive skills. This is the opposite of what a new monk should do. Your main focus after becoming a monk should first be to max out your defensive skills as these will keep you alive. i.e. Iron Skin and Steel Body. After that feel free to start plotting out your offensive skills. I recommend at the very least you max Raging blow and put a few points into Heavy Tackle and/or Crushing Blow as this will provide you with a decent amount of skills for a good combo rotation.
- Using my own personal build that I've plotted out for future use, found here, we've discussed the usefulness of more points into Intimidation over other skills such as Lightning walk and Crushing blow. Higher level Intimidation equals shorter cooldown duration which could prove vital in a raid when you need to take back tank. Though how many points are really enough. Is it worth sacrificing points in Lightning Walk and/or Crushing Blow? I find the ability to jump right in front of a mob immediately very useful and seeing as I'll will probably be using it quite frequently I want it to be maxed so I can get the most possible damage from it. Crushing Blow is a good skill, and obtains you 2 spirit spheres, but it does 4% less damage than Raging Blow.
Edited by zdhayman, 04 May 2013 - 04:44 PM.