Monk TR build

Subject: Monk TR build Tue Oct 18, 2011 1:34 pm

Posting this here, in case forums ever go down again Razz

Hydro wrote:: Intro:

The Metaru build is a maximum strength, amazing dps, and amazing survivability build. Even with the upcoming changes to Touch of Death this build has been barely affected. With how hard and fast this build hits the TOD nerf simply brings this build in line with other melee and does nothing to hurt its viability. This build still has amazing dps, great hit points, great immunities, and still will be one of the top DPS and one of the best raid boss tanks in the game. I will update this post eventually after update 7 hits until then it is still 100% viable and nothing has changed.

I have main tanked every raid in the game with this character with ease and he has become so well known on my server I get requests to bring him to tank raids or run epics over my maximum geared barbarian.

This is going to be a guide for new and old player alike but just as a word of caution this is a very gear, tome (+2) and build stat (32/34) dependent build. It can still be done by a new or old player but it will require some dedication and time. Also any max DPS monk build is going to require a reincarnation so you have the past life monk feat available to you. Having 2d12 fists with an extra +1 to damage is too huge to pass up.

One final note this is a button mashing build; you will constantly be going rotating through 6 different strikes and abilities. If having to constantly be rotating 4 button combos, with Touch of Death and Stunning Blow doesn’t sound like fun then this is not the right build for you.

Race:

Warforged (WF)
+2 con, 4 Toughness enhancements, amazing immunities, arcane and divine healing, +3 Power Attack (PA) enhancements

Alignment:

Lawful Neutral or Lawful Good
The only reason to go Lawful good is if you don’t want to have to worry about UMD checks when using Vorpal of pure good Kama’s or you want to be able to use the named Delera's wraps for leveling. All other hand wraps besides the Delera's wraps do not have any alignment requirements to use pure good nor do they give you a negative level if you are using anarchic wraps as Lawful alignment. Lawful neutral is definitely the better choice, you will take less damage from mobs using unholy weapons and you can use taint of evil items with no penalty. It really is personal preference though and with the new alignment change it is not hard to swap at a later time.

Stats:

32 Point Build
STR: 18
DEX: 16
CON: 16
INT: 8
WIS: 6
CHA: 6

34 Point Build
STR: 18
DEX: 16
CON: 17
INT: 8
WIS: 6
CHA: 6

Stat Analysis:

Strength
18 + 5 level ups +6 item +2 tome +4 Fire Stance +3 exceptional =
38 Standing STR
+ 2 Rage Spell + 2 Yugloth Pots + 2 Madstone =
44 Self Buffed STR
+ 2 Madstone Proc =
46 Situational STR (Now who said monks weren’t a DPS class )

Dexterity
You need a 17 DEX to get Greater Two Weapon Fighting (GTWF), and being able to get to an 18 DEX allows you to take Wind Stance 4 (solo purposes only). Be ready to eat at least a +1 DEX tome early on so the Two Weapon Fighting (TWF) feats can be taken as early as possible.

Constitution
17 + 6 item +2 tome +2 WF CON +1 exceptional =
28 CON - 564 hp (basic gear)
+ 20 Rage Spell + 40 Yugloth Pots + 4 Madstone =
36 CON - 664 hp (basic gear)
+ 40 Double Madstone or Earth Stance 4
40 CON - 704 hp or both 44 CON - 744 hp

Intelligence
Monks get enough skill points so an 8 base INT is all you really need. I do recommend picking up a +2 INT tome at level 7 for extra skill points if you can but it is not required.

Wisdom
This build does not rely on WIS for anything besides Will saves and even with a 6 starting WIS you will still have a Will save that beats most fighters and barbarians. You’re Will save will be more than enough for any content in the game especially with all your immunities. I cannot stress this enough a 6 base WIS is fine for this build and there is no reason to start with it any higher if it requires taking points from STR or CON.

Charisma
Dump stat, only remotely useful for your Shining Star finisher DC. Eat a +2 tome if you want and call it a day.

Level 20 Final Stats in Fire Stance:

38 STR: 18 + 5 level + 2 Tome + 6 item + 3 exceptional + 4 Fire Stance
22 DEX: 16 + 2 Tome + 4 Item
28 Con 17 + 2 Tome + 6 Item + 1 Exceptional + 2 Enhancements
10 INT 8 +2 Tome
12 WIS 6 + 2 Tome + 6 Item - 2 Fire Stance
8 CHA 6 + 2 Tome

Feats:

1: Power Attack (PA)
1: (Monk) Two Weapon Fighting
2: (Monk) Dodge
3: (TR Build) Past Life: Disciple of the Fist, (No TR) Toughness
3: (Path) Path of Inevitable Dominion
6: Stunning Blow
6: (Monk) Toughness
9: Improved Two Weapon Fighting
12: Improved Critical Bludgeoning Weapons
15: Greater Two Weapon Fighting
18: Toughness

Feat Analysis:

Power Attack:
+5 to damage -5 to hit base and +8/-8 with max WF Power Attack enhancements. The large penalty to hit does hurt but the increase in damage more than makes up for it. You will need to get some gear to be able to use Power Attack in epics but since this build uses fire stance and since ship buffs have been introduced the gear requirement is much lower then what it was. I also recommend saving WF PA enhancements for level 20.

Two Weapon Fighting Chain
Maxxed out allows you to have an 80% chance to proc an offhand attack. Obviously a huge DPS increase for any character. Monks are also the only class that receives full STR bonus in their off hand.

Dodge
Requirement for Ninja Spy PRE, useless otherwise.

Past Life: Disciple of the Fist
This is the main reason to do a TR on a monk. This feat increases the dice size of you fists from 2d10 to 2d12 at level 20 and it increases your fist dice progression while leveling. That is a nice damage increase and I feel it is required for any monk going for maximum DPS. Also on a related note the passive feat that you get at level one for TR'ing also give you a base +1 increase to your damage which goes nicely with your extra fist damage.

Path of Inevitable Dominion
Your turn to the dark side. This is the sole choice that allows your monk access to Touch of Death and the Ninja Spy PRE. For leveling purposes I usually will recommend leveling to level 9 as Light Path then switching to Dark path when Touch of Death is available to you. It is an absolute blast running through the leveling quests being able to one shot beholders, golems, elemental, orange names, undead and of course the trash.

Stunning Blow
Monks and Stuns go hand in hand. When a mob is stunned you generate a large amount of extra ki each time you hit them. The more ki you have the more Strikes and Touches of Death you can use. Monks also have the luxury of loosing very little when using Weighted +10 wraps since there is a better selection of weighted wraps versus any other type of weighted weapon. At end game any time you are fighting stunnable mobs you should be wearing weighted +10 wraps with the exception of Vorpals in Amrath or Elite IQ. This is especially true in epics, being able to help stun mobs that got missed by the mass hold or the ones that have high SR is a very valuable asset to your party.

(Note on Stunning Fist: Stunning Fist is not a viable option for this build. He would have to give up way to much DPS and way too many hit points to try to come close to the 38 DC Stunning Blow this build will have)

Toughness x2
40 (20 each) more hit points at level 20 and it unlocks Warforged Toughness enhancements, just wish I could take more then 2 (3 for non TR).

Improved Critical Bludgeoning Weapons
Makes your fists crit on a 19-20/x2 vs. a 20/x2. Required feat for any DPS character, it's great for Raid Bosses and when a mob is not stunned.

Skill Points:

Level 1:
4 in Concentration, 1 in Tumble, 3 in Jump, 4 in Balance
Levels 2-20 No +2 INT Tome
+ Concentration, + Jump, + Balance
8-20 With +2 INT Tome
+ Concentration, + Jump, + Balance + Spot

Skill Analysis:

Concentration
Affects the amount of ki you can hold on to before you start losing ki and it affects the amount of ki you start and instance with. Ki is your stored energy that allows you to use your elemental strikes, touch of death and all of your other cool monk abilities. I recommend using a Concentration item when you hit level 9 so you can store more ki for TOD's.

Tumble
The one point in tumble unlocks the ability to roll. You can put more points into it if you like and have the ability to do but flips but with the recent nerf to tumble and slowing effects I can’t recommend putting more then 1 point in it.

Jump
Makes you jump higher, caps at 40 skill. (You can stop putting points in this around 14 if you want to put them elsewhere. You should still have a 40 jump with little to no buffs but it is not really important.)

Balance
Helps you get up when you get knocked down. Great for any character and as a monk you will have a very high skill.

Spot
Allows you to see stealthed enemies, pair this skill up with a Spot item like Tharnes goggles and you should be able to see almost any stealthed enemy at 20.

Level 20 Enhancements:

Enhancement: Monk Serenity
Enhancement: Static Charge
Enhancement: Way of the Patient Tortoise 1-3
Enhancement: Touch of Death
Enhancement: Fists of Iron
Enhancement: Porous Soul
Enhancement: All-Consuming Flame
Enhancement: Monk Improved Recovery 1
Enhancement: Monk Ninja Spy 1-2
Enhancement: Winter's Touch
Enhancement: Adept of Rock
Enhancement: Grandmaster of Mountains
Enhancement: Master of Stone
Enhancement: Adept of Flame
Enhancement: Grandmaster of the Sun
Enhancement: Master of Bonfire
Enhancement: Racial Toughness 1-4
Enhancement: Monk Jump 1-2
Enhancement: Monk Tumble 1-2
Enhancement: Warforged Brute Fighting 1
Enhancement: Warforged Constitution 1-2
Enhancement: Warforged Healer's Friend 1
Enhancement: Warforged Power Attack 1-3
Enhancement: Warforged Tactics 1

Why Fire and Earth Stances:

Why Fire Stance
Fire stance is the new STR DPS Monk stance since Update 5. With Wind Stance now only giving a 10% double strike proc chances the base DPS increase between the two of them are much lower. For this build though the DPS difference between Fire and Air stance is null. If you are running an epic the extra +2 to hit (and damage) from fire stance will make the difference between hitting on a 2 or 3 vs. missing. Almost any character in the game will miss at least 10-15% of the time in epics if not way more so the extra +2 to hit more than makes up for the loss of 10% double strike procs. If you are running a regular dungeon the extra benefits of fire stance make it more than worthwhile. Also fire stance gives a dramatic increase in ki generation which means you can keep up with constant strikes and TOD's.

With the right gear Fire stance gets the following benefits over Wind stance:
+ 20 hp
+ 1 Fortitude Save
+ 25% Healing Amp that stacks with all other sources (Jidz-Tet'ka Bracer's)
+ 2 Stunning Blow Dc's
+ 2 Overrun Saves
+ 2 to hit
+ 2 to damage
+ Extra Ki Generation
+ 15 more hp from tortoise path (over Crane path with Wind stance)

Why Earth Stance
The Elemental Strikes provided by Earth stances are the highest DPS strikes in the game. Instead of adding a base elemental damage to your strike they add to the base physical damage of the attack itself with additional acid damage on a critical hit. This means that earth strikes damage get multiplied from X2 to X4 on a crit, in addition to the extra acid damage.

Earth Stance itself is very useful for tanking when you will be reconstructed since not only is it an extra 40 hit points from the +4 CON bonus it also increases your fist damage to 2d14 with the Jidz-Tet'ka bracer's and the monk past life feat.

Combos and Strikes (crash course)

Here is a sample of one of my Monk's many bars. I will be using this to illustrate how basic earth combo’s work, how to use shining star, and what normal strike progression should be.

1: Stunning Blow
2: Touch of Death
3: Earth Strike 3
4: Earth Strike 4
5: Fists of Iron (attack with X3 crit)
6: Finishing Moves
7: Earth Strike 2
8: Wind Strike 1
9: Fire Strike 1

Triple Earth Combo
3, 4, 5, 6
This attack cycles through my best three earth strikes which opens the Earth finisher which gives me an extra X2 to my crit multiplier. This Finisher allows a monk to crit for over 200+ base damage with an 80% chance to get an offhand attack for another 200+! This attack should be used on all mobs that are not crit immune, this is the combo that you will be weaving in between Touch of Death and Stunning Blow.

Shining Star
7, 8, 9, 6
This is the level 20 monk finisher that some do not even know about. It allows a monk to dance enemies. Its DC is based off your CHA bonus instead of WIS score which is why you see some monks wearing CHA items. It is very useful in quests since it is a will save and most mobs even in epics have low will saves. It is a good strike for emergencies and is loads of fun.

Standard Mob Cycle
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 3, 4, 5, 6
Open with Stunning Blow, Hit them with Touch of Death and begin your earth combo. Continue cycling through your earth combos until Touch of Death comes off timer or if you need to refresh Stunning Blow.

Standard Boss Cycle
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 3, 4, 5, 6

Pull out Stunning Blow and you are set, depending on the mobs weaknesses or if he cannot be critically hit you can always add in other strikes and remove using your combos completely.

You will basically have multiple bars for multiple situation the earth bar above is just my most used one. I have another bar for undead that has all my fire strikes added to it and another with the negative energy strike and all my earth strikes. Make yourself 3-4 bars and play around with different set ups until you find the one that is the most comfortable.

Ninja Spy PRE:

The Ninja Spy PRE that was introduced in update 5 is amazing for this build. Ninja Spy 2 gives an incredible 3d6 Sneak Attack Damage to any attack that we don’t have agro or if the mob is stunned (see what I mean about stuns and Monk's).

It also allows use of the Shadow Fade ability that is not only an invisibility clickie it also gives your character a 25% incorporeality bonus. This bonus stacks with Displacement which means mobs without true sight have over a 60% chance of missing you every swing. This bonus also stacks with Cloudkill Concealment so even raid bosses have over a 30% chance to miss you. This equals a huge drop in incoming damage from every mob in the game, the difference between DQ2 Epic with Shadow Fade and without is insane. The Queen usually misses at least 1 in 3 swings, which for a Lawful Monk is a lot of reduced damage. This ability makes WF Dark Monks the best Hate Tanks currently in the game.

Why Let the WF Monk Tank:

So some people might wonder why anyone would want a WF monk to main tank there raid. The reasons below are why I feel Monk's make the best Hate tanks currently.

700+ HP (more then enough for any raid boss, even Horoth can be tanking easily with 700 hp and all my other bonuses)
DR 10/epic (DR 10 for all non Epic Raid bosses, the DR works on most epic mobs also just not Epic Raid bosses)
Improved Evasion (0 to Half damage from spells with reflex saves)
Shadow Fade (dark monk ability that stacks with cloudkill and gives all raid bosses over a 30% chance to miss you)
WF Immunities (no level drain, no exhaustion etc.)
129.69% Healing amp (My monk with his Epic Jidz bracers, Healing amp DT and airship buff sits at 129.69% healing amp)
Able to reconstructed and healed (Double the people that can keep you alive in a raid)
Aggro Management with Touch of Death (a 500 point strike generates a large amount of hate and one to two Touch of Deaths should generate enough aggro that no one should be able to pull the boss of you, this in turns means you can call DPS in earlier and complete the raid faster)

Handwrap Choices:

Since monk's do not have access to Greensteel it makes weapons a little trickier. Remeber the Risia Games are a monks best friend, and you should plan on Icy Bursting almost all your wraps.

For most quests you are going to want the best Weighted +10 wraps you can find to help increase you stunning blow DC and for the random stun proc. You are going to want the best weighted wraps you can get with icy burst for this, generally I like Force Burst of Weighted 10, +5 of Weighted 10 and +3 Vicous of Weighted 10. Usually if the mob can be stunned you should be using your weighted wraps. For mobs that cant be stunned see below.

For leveling purposed I reccomend the Delera or Thernal Named (no minimum level bound to account) wraps or if you can make a set of nice lowbie wraps with the icy burst kits that would be ideal. I have a ML 6 pair of +1 Shocking Burst, Icy Burst of Bleed handwraps that makes leveling oh so easy.

For end game really nice Greater Banes are going to be your best bet but they tend to be extememly hard to find. What I reccomend is that you make a set of Alignment based handwraps to use if you dont have a nice greater bane for that mob.

For Example My Monk uses the Following Handwraps:

+5 Axiomatic Burst, Icy Burst of Bleed - Chaotic Monsters, works great on almost anything but Devil's, these were my main wraps for almost all of Von 6 Epic until I got me a nice set of Greater Dragon Banes.

+5 Anarchaic Burst, Icy Burst of Bleed - Lawfull Monsters, great on devils, great in the Inspired Quarters, lots of Lawfull mobs in end game and could be great for Epic Sorjek (depending on his DR).

+5 Holy, Icy Burst of Bleed - Evil Monsters, great wraps if you dont know whether the mob is Lawfull or Chaotic, works on 90% of end game mobs, remember though you want Holy and not Holy Burst since, Holy Burst damage will not stack with the damage from you Tower Ring Enchant.

+5 True Law, Icy Burst of Bleed - Nuetral Mobs, Memphits, Elementals, Animals, Bugs lots and lots of neutral mobs at end game and True Law tears them up.

The most important greater banes you should look for first will be: Greater Undead Bane, Greater Elemental Bane, and Greater Construct Bane. The Construct bane is for portals as well as constructs while the others are self explanitory. Anarchiac Burst of Greater Evil/Lawfull Outsider bane is great for devils and I personally was overjoyed when I bought a pair off the AH.

Breaking Boss Damage Reduction:

Getting handwraps that can break DR can be a big challenge for monks and for most wont be possible until long after they hit 20 and have a Tower of Despair ring and Mettaline handwraps. The only other option besides waiting for Tower rings (or an extremely lucky AH or reward) is to farm the "Devout Handwraps". The Devout Handwraps are +2 Mettaline of Pure Good wraps that drop from the Bonus Chest in the Shadow Crypt Quest. These are amazing handwraps for their level (ML and I personally still use them on Devils even at level 20, they are very hard to farm as you will need an opener for the quest and the dungeon itself is one giant puzzle.

Remeber if you cant break boss DR you should be using the best Greater Evil/Lawfull/Chaotic Outsider set of wraps you can find and be doing everything you can to get that Tower ring faster. The crafting trophys are bound to account so getting 9 of them should be easy (if you have other characters) and remeber you can enchant any unwanted junk ring just for the Holy Burst effect to bypass DR.

I feel the Devout handwraps are completly worth the effort, it took me 23 runs myself to get them but in the end it was all worth while. I reccomend the following to help farm those wraps:

Do the quest chain on an alt so you can open the quest when you want to farm it, word of warning though at least one of the quests in the series reques at least 4 people. I used gold seal hirelings but hopefull you have friends or guildies that can help. Oh and dont complete the final quest on your opener unless you want to have to run the pre quests all over again.

The quest is the best XP in the game so it shouldnt be that hard to get a group together for it, personally when I was running it I would tell the other players that its 20K + XP a run, that I would take care of all the puzzle and all I ask that they would just give me the wraps when they drop. I was running the quest after I ran out of XP and after ransacking the last chest so I did not let any competition in for the wraps.

Here is the link to the map I used to navigate the quest, you are going to need 4 of each color gear to get the bonus chest every time. I reccomend printing this out or setting it up on a second monitor when you are doing the farming:

http://www.themacguild.com/forums/showthread.php?t=533

First couple runs might be confusing but once you get the hang of the map you can do them in 20 minute runs.

Optimal Level 20 Gear Choices:

Head Slot
Minos Legion (Toughness + Heavy Fort, easiest and fastest to get)
Min 2 Shroud Helmet (Gear options if wearing epic docent or Mind Sunder Docent)
Epic Dragon Helmet

Neck Slot
Shintao Cord (Your going to want the Shintao set bonus)
Oremi's Neck (Great for generating ki, recommended neck till you get Shintao set)

Trinket
Bloodstone (+6 Seeker, easiest to acquire just expensive)
Litany of the Dead (Great Trinket, just very hard to get and makes gearing difficult)

Cloak
Epic Cloak of the Roc (Only way a monk can get +2 exceptional to STR, going to be hard to get but it is hands down the best monk cloak in the game)
Greensteel HP Cloak (You can always make a cheap Air Guard HP item until you get the Roc Cloak or make a nice cloak if you don’t plan on running epics)

Belt
Frenzied Berserker Belt (You want the Frenzied Berserker set +2 to damage)
War priest Belt (Great for epics and high AC mobs the War priest set gives +2 stacking to hit and another +2 to hit that doesn’t stack with spectral gloves or bard songs)
Epic Belt of the Mroranon (+7 STR nice belt goes good with the Litany and tomes)

Rings
Your rings are your weapons, your rings will be dedicated to raid loot from Tower of Despair. I recommend enchanting your rings with Holy Burst and Shocking Burst and you can also have a couple of spare rings you can swap in for quests with elemental resists or that are neutral. Below are the ring sets that work with unarmed combat, any ring set I do not mention below will not work with fists.

Frenzied Berserker Set (+2 to damage)
War priest Set (+2 to hit)
Shintao Set (+2 to hit and damage that stacks)
Oremi's Set (Henshin Mystic)(1d6 Fire Damage an attack)

If you want a couple of extra rings with different elements it doesn’t matter which ones you use, just please don’t take a nice melee ring that won’t work with fists.

Gloves
Spectral/Epic Spectral Gloves (great for when you don’t have a bard or have to hit undead)
Shroud HP Item (Only spot my Monk will have left to put an HP item when I craft his cloak)

Boots
Madstone Boots (+2 STR and +4 CON clikie with a hidden 10% proc to give a stacking +2 STR and +4 CON and +4 DEX, these boot's should be nailed to your feet especially since you can now drink guild remove curse pots while raged)
Kundrak Delving Boots (Freedom of Movement boots, great for if you need FOM, perfect for the white dragon in TOR)
Spiked Boots (Almost the same as the Kundrak Delving Boots but they dont bind, great for when you dont have FOM)

Bracers
Jidz-Tet'ka/Epic Jidz-Tet'ka Bracers (25% more healing in fire stance, more DPS in earth, epic version has a yellow and clear slot, best bracers you can get)
Leviks Bracers (Good if you need a place to put a +6 STR item or if you need healing amp and you are using Earth stance)

Docent
Dragontouched Docent (Recommend a healing amp docent and a threat docent)
Upgraded Mind Sunder Docent (Superior False Life and Toughness good slot consolidation and +10 more hp then regular Greater False Life)
Epic Docent (Red Scale, Docent of Grace, Bladesmark Docent any of those with toughness in the blue slot is a good choice)

Goggles
Tharnes Goggles (+5 to hit and +8 to damage on any sneak attack, amazing item and really helps your to hit in epic strongly recommended)
Mentau Goggles (Only if you have a Litany)

Links:

Dungeons & Dragons Character Planner - Version 3.5.1 Build
http://www.mediafire.com/file/w371l51ibfitwqd/Metaru.txt

MyDDO Link for Metaru
http://my.ddo.com/character/khyber/metaru/

Subject: Re: Monk TR build Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:13 pm

Thanks - great build, btw. Very Happy

Subject: Re: Monk TR build Tue Oct 18, 2011 6:50 pm

I think we need to update it a little with our own things that work.

Ie Docents you can make, also the new Wraps you can make in cannith

Subject: Re: Monk TR build Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:13 pm

Grats on your Metaru TR1, Tod! Wink

» Post your build!
» DPS FIghter build - Update 13
» clogue build
» Concept build - TR3 Kensai2/Tempest1
» Character build itch