leveling up a monk, questions on DPS etc.

[Kael Grace]

<p>Thanks in advance for helping someone new to this class.</p><p>So, I've just rolled a monk for the first time  (I've played a swash and pally to 70) and I'm interested in AA strategies etc to maximize group and raid dps (for a non-dps class) while also retaining the ability to solo effectively when ROK arrives.   In a week, I've gotten to level 24 with 21 aa.    I've got all the aa now in the str line, but it seems that I am missing out on lots of potential dps and that str is not a viable end-game choice.   My questions as I level my monk up 70 are these:</p><p> 1.   for swashs and pallys both, it's pretty clear what aa builds will maximize dps.    is there general agreement on this question for monks?    Wis and Int?    How much does the end ability on Wis do in burst dps?  How much dps does a monk gain from the melee crit buff in int?</p><p>2.   I'm guessing that monks have lots of trouble timing CAs to avoid interrupting autoattacks.    With all the haste and quick DWs, it must be tough.   On my swash, I only use some of the CAs, and I time them carefully so my soulfire gladius auto attack won't ever be missed.    Is this truly a problem for monks?   what types of weapons are best for the endgame?   Long delays?   Two handers with long delays?</p><p>3.    for my swash, additional crit adornments or buffs, and dps buffs create much higher dps.    Are these also wise for monk?    Should you get the str buff ring(s)  (I can't recall if they stack)?    Should you get the crit % buffs or are all monk weapons pretty narrow damage ranges.   If i get crit buffs and a two-hander with a wide damage range, will that really make a difference???</p><p> Thanks very much for responses.    </p>

[EQ2Luv]

For 1) - the max DPS AA build, I think there are two viable choices.  One is wis/int and the other is 4/4/8 agi/wis/int.  Crane flock will give you strong burst damage on group mobs.  If you use it with a good 2 hander and 4 mobs in an encounter you should gain around 1800+ dps depending on what kind of buffs you have (and whether the mobs are clumped adequately) while it is active.  How much it increases your zonewide dps by will depend on the rate of pulls and how often the mobs are clumped up.  I really like the 4/4/8 agi/wis/int build too for the reduced reuse timers.  The 12% reuse speed translates to a little more dps on long single target (named) fights than crane flock unless you don't have the power to keep spamming your CA.  Primarily, though, I like to have the shorter reuse on our defensive skills like tsunami, heal, outward calm and superior riposte (yea it sucks but so does the rest of the monk tree.)  Assuming you go body in the monk tree, agi line gets you down to 2 minute recast on tsunami and less than a minute reuse of outward calm (which you, the OP, will get in t6).  When devastation fist changes go live you will get the benefit of faster reuse of devastation fist--although how often that will be beneficial in raids with its crazy power cost and stifle is debatable.  I suspect this choice will be more competitive if/when they start adding +CA damage gear. If you raid with a bruiser, then that would be another reason to favor agi.  Overall I'm still on the fence between these two builds. If RoK has a lot of +crit gear in it, I may even try passing on int for agi/wis and faster reuse crane flocks ;D2) Weapon timing is a problem for monks.  It is possible to time your CA between your attacks usually, but lag and the fact that no human is perfect will inevitably lead to some missed autoattacks.  Some people use the baton flurry from agi line to make it easier to time their CA with their weapons (more room for error, and if the delay is a multiple of your cast+reuse then you can in theory chain spam without losing much.)  In theory long delay weapons would be good for monks. The problem is that they do not really exist.  There is only one good long delay 1-hander that i know of - grim brimstone hammer with 3.5 delay.  Since there is no other 3.5 delay dualwield, this won't be an ideal choice as your weapons will be out of sync with each other. Once the dualwield changes go live, I would suggest either timing your CA between a pair of 1.6 or 1.8 delay weapons or getting baton flurry and spamming CA with 2.5 delay weapons.  For the latter, assuming you have a bard with casting speed haste, two CA should fit almost perfectly in between your autoattacks except during periods where you have more than the usual 108ish% monk haste (from external buffs like blades, agitate procs).  2 handers are not competitive with dualwields. I do, however, switch to my 2-hander when there are groups of 3+ mobs and I do crane flock because the AE attack only hits with the primary weapon.  3) Crit buffs are good, and dps buffs are spectacular.  A lot of monk dps comes from autoattack, and dps buffs will boost this the most.  There are some monk weapons with large damage ranges, but not as many as I would like.  In particular the SoD reward has a depressing damage range. The min:max ratio is 1:3.  Even so, I don't think the damage range on a 2 hander would make up for the lower base damage rating.  Unless its a godly avatar-dropped kind of two-hander that I am unfamiliar with. 

[Maryk]

<p>Just rolled a new monk myself...level 29 getting ready to hit 30.</p><p>Based on almost everyone's recco I started down the STR/STA lines.  I just respec'd yesterday to go down the AGI/INT lines initially.  I think I like it better.  I picked up some imbued batons and so far haven't died.  My next test is a blue double up who owned me before.  I'll let you know.  </p>

[EQ2Luv]

<cite>Marykim wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Just rolled a new monk myself...level 29 getting ready to hit 30.</p><p>Based on almost everyone's recco I started down the STR/STA lines.  I just respec'd yesterday to go down the AGI/INT lines initially.  I think I like it better.  I picked up some imbued batons and so far haven't died.  My next test is a blue double up who owned me before.  I'll let you know.  </p></blockquote>I'd be surprised if anything performed better than str pre-70.  Stamina on the other hand I think is useless.  Might want to try str/int or str/agi too <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Kael Grace]

<p>Thanks very much for the advice.  Extremely helpful.   I certainly welcome further advice.  On the DW v. 2nd q:</p><p>I wonder if the DW changes in GU38 are going to help or hurt matters for monks.   I imagine that many more weapons will be available with long delays when used DW.   On the other hand, I don't know how the 1.33x delay will work b/c i haven't been on test.</p><p>Also, I've seen a two hd staff drop in Unrest a few times -- Bo of Blood Something -- that seemed to have a big damage spread, exceeding 5x.   I am certainly inclined to agree with the point above about DW out damaging a 2hander, but I wonder if that particular staff might be an exception.    thanks again.</p>

[x0rtrun]

You mean Bo of Flowing Blood: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Bo_of_Flowing_Blood" target="_blank">http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Bo_of_Flowing_Blood</a> <img src="http://members.shaw.ca/jasonznack/eq2/flowingblood.jpg" border="0" alt="" /> I just got it, but I can't use it yet. Looks pretty decent though. And with a 2.2 delay, it should make good use of our haste. In EQ1 I primarily used 2hb weapons, but they really made sure it wasn't an option for eq2 for some reason. They figure that DW should always be better because you had to obtain twice as many weapons. :p kinda dumb. I'd rather that DW and 2hb each had their own niche to fill. (see here for my love of 2hb: <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=380044" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=380044</a> ) As for AAs, you'd do well to take others advice. I'm personally going down the sta line and think it's ok. Next I'm going to go into the int line I think.

[Ramius613]

<p>One thing to mention, with the next update (3<img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />, the Dual wield changes will be going into effect.  This means that both weapons will be delayed by 1.33 (ie a 3 sec delay weap will become a 4, etc). </p><p>As far as dps goes there are a couple of key points that I have learned over the years of playing my monk.  </p><p>First, as was said earlier, for raid dps you can either go 4-4-8 agi/wis/int, or the wis & int lines.  </p><p>Second, until you get to 70 and/or get weapons that have a Damage rating of >55-7, you are better off going with a 4-4-8 Str & int build, the double attack is better until you're able to get better weapons.  Not to mention that you will be able to hit mobs better as you get to the end of a tier, as your weapons will be the same level as you (ie at lvl 51 you would still be using a t5 weapon if it was mastercrafted), and you can save some $ on buying weapons.</p><p>On the timing of CAs, use /weapon to check your actual delay.  Idealy you want a weapon delay of > 1s, and maybe .8s if you have the agi line.  This way it won't cancel your autoattack as much.  And you may want to pause a bit between each CA.  To practice the timing between CAs, setup a chat window with just you to hits, and watch the numbers pop up as you swing and cast.  I've found that my damage is split about 50/50 between autoatk & CAs.</p><p>Finally, dps buffs are always good, so go with the adornments there.  Also items that increase your skills are very good also, as it ensures that you will hit the mob more often (VERY useful in raids with higher lvl mobs).  The STR rings don't stack, so I would suggest a STA or AGI as a counterpart.  Adorning weapons you can go 2 ways, procs or skills.  Like I said +s to Crush/pierce/slashing are good.  And if you have a regular group that has someone that increases proc chance, the proc dmg adorments are nice.  The plus to damage per swing is kind of messed up, but I think it is on test to be fixed atm.  Crit% items are also good to get as well.  </p>

[Maryk]

<cite>EQ2Luv wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Marykim wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Just rolled a new monk myself...level 29 getting ready to hit 30.</p><p>Based on almost everyone's recco I started down the STR/STA lines.  I just respec'd yesterday to go down the AGI/INT lines initially.  I think I like it better.  I picked up some imbued batons and so far haven't died.  My next test is a blue double up who owned me before.  I'll let you know.  </p></blockquote>I'd be surprised if anything performed better than str pre-70.  Stamina on the other hand I think is useless.  Might want to try str/int or str/agi too <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" /></blockquote>OK thanks.  Somehow I got it in my thick head that I need all the AGI I can get.  I notice that when my AGI is increased my avoidance increases also.  Seems to me...a noobie monk...that being able to avoid being hit is what its all about.  My Avoidance right now is 55%...I'm going to see how that goes and then respec later if I'm not happy with it.

[mattmandude]

Nah, monk avoidance is kind of broken and so IMO agility is pretty overrated compared to getting STR.I'd also suggest like an above poster mentioned, to go STR/INT until you reach 70, so that your DPS will be nice without having to upgrade weapons, and you get the nice solo-ability  with the Int line.And then once you reach 70, invest in some nice fabled dual wields, and then worry about how to respec <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />