Quick question - can a Monk tank OK for a premade trio?

[Therion-AB]

<p>Hello everyone! Desperate for help from you EQ2 vets.</p><p>I'm a day one player returning after a LONG timeout, really want to roll the right way this time to avoid future problems.</p><p>I will play with my family mostly (until we can raid) we are 3 players, we're looking for a trio that can have a shot doing instances on our own as we will be doing a lot of old content that should be empty by now.</p><p>Couple questions:</p><p>1) Would a monk-templar-illusionist trio work out well? - or we should just scrap the monk for a plate tank? As we already have a cleric and a chanter, we're worried that we would be way too defensive with a guard/pally (we're starting together on Kelethin) and we wanted someone able to tank/dps - the monk player is a former EQ1 monk lover (we are aware that FD pull splits are long gone, right?).</p><p>2) Should we work on tradeskills or they are a waste of time and we should just level and farm shards later on? What's the best tradeskill (or set of tradeskills) to help out a monk?</p><p><strong>Thanks a lot for any answer!</strong></p>

[Barx]

<p>Tradeskills are relatively easy to level up if you have some time to spend on them. You would likely want an alchemist for the fighter expert spells and/or a sage for the templar/illy expert spells. I find crafting rewarding, and if you're smart at it, it can be a decent source of money, even some at the lower-end.</p><p>As it is right now, brawlers (monks and bruisers) are not widely demanded as tanks. If you play it well you can tank, but do be aware that many do not loot to brawlers when looking for an instance main tank. The flavor of the month tank wise is Shadowknights, you can't throw a rock these days without hitting one. Of course, here I am mostly talking T8 near the level cap of 80, the lower instances are a different story (and are usually considered easy compared to what they originally were).</p>

[BChizzle]

<p>Monk illy templar would be ok, but I would suggest if you have the option do monk, coercer, inquistior instead you will mow stuff down.</p>

[Therion-AB]

<p>Thanks Lord Ebon will look up those tradeskills now.</p><p><cite>BChizzle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Monk illy templar would be ok, but I would suggest if you have the option do monk, coercer, inquistior instead you will mow stuff down.</p></blockquote><p>Back in my day we couldn't group with evil, now we can be that mixed?</p><p>If so I believe we could betray later on for inqui+coercer as needed right?</p>

[Barx]

<p><cite>Therion-AB wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Thanks Lord Ebon will look up those tradeskills now.</p><p><cite>BChizzle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Monk illy templar would be ok, but I would suggest if you have the option do monk, coercer, inquistior instead you will mow stuff down.</p></blockquote><p>Back in my day we couldn't group with evil, now we can be that mixed?</p><p>If so I believe we could betray later on for inqui+coercer as needed right?</p></blockquote><p>Unless you are on a PVP server, alignment means basically nothing when it comes to grouping. So yes, you can group good with evil on PVE, and you can always betray later if you want to.</p><p>The exception is the newbie islands... those are split by good and evil with no way to cross between. But you can skip them entirely if you like.</p>

[Therion-AB]

<p>Fantastic thanks Lord Ebon.</p><p><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Rolling tonight monk-illi-temp to perhaps betray to monk-coe-inq later on as needed.</p><p>Last question, still on tradeskills so for the monk (or today EQ2 even) trades for making weapons/armors are useless in comparison to the regular pve progression?</p>

[BChizzle]

<p><cite>Therion-AB wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Fantastic thanks Lord Ebon.</p><p><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Rolling tonight monk-illi-temp to perhaps betray to monk-coe-inq later on as needed.</p><p>Last question, still on tradeskills so for the monk (or today EQ2 even) trades for making weapons/armors are useless in comparison to the regular pve progression?</p></blockquote><p>monk illy temp are fine too the only reason why I suggested inq coercer is because their dps mod buffs would make your monk kick butt.</p>

[Blu]

<p>All assuming that you're dead-set on starting from Kelethin.</p><p>1) That combo could work out ok, but there's a trade-off. Since the monk lacks aoe aggro and doesn't have hate transfer in that group, the illy will have to mez instead of dps on aoe fights (not while in low levels, obviously, but later in the game). With only 3, you're already short on dps. If you went with a Pally, the illy could probably dps through most fights, having to mez only sometimes.</p><p>Assuming the monk is going to tank, it might work out better if you replaced the illy with a dirge, which has power regen to a lesser extent and also hate transfer and dps utility.</p><p>It is also typically believed that wards mesh better with brawlers, although I have met brawlers who don't like shammy healers. So you might consider a Mystic instead of a Templar for a Monk tank.</p><p>So if you're dead set on a monk (which is, tbh, one of the funnest class around), I might consider Monk, Dirge, Templar/Mystic. Then tradeskill classes of Armorer (covers Dirge, Templar/Mystic), Jeweler (jewelry for all, and Dirge spells), Alchemist (covers monk spells, and profit).</p><p>Otherwise, It'd probably say Pally, Illy, Templar. With tradeskill classes of Armorer (covers Pally, Templar), Sage (covers Illy, Templar spells), and Jeweler (for jewelry for all) or Alchemist (for pally spells, profit)</p><p>2) I would not say tradeskills are a waste. You can usually (but not always) buy rares on the broker and make the item yourself cheaper than buying it outright (that's even if the item you need is on the broker at all). Even if you had someone to make stuff for you, it would be a lot to ask someone to make 30 pieces of jewelry at once, and that tip is gonna cost you.</p><p>Best tradeskills to outfit a monk are Alchemist (fighter spells, potions, and profit), Tailoring (armor, throwing weapon), and Jeweler (jewelry for all classes).</p><p>I'd also recommend having at least one of you be a transmuter so the ton of no-trade stuff that you find doesn't go to waste as you level up. Transmuting is also very profitable at higher levels.</p><p>Edit: exchanged zerker for a pally</p>

[Blu]

<p><cite>BChizzle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Monk illy templar would be ok, but I would suggest if you have the option do monk, coercer, inquistior instead you will mow stuff down.</p></blockquote><p>I was gonna suggest these exact classes if Kelethin wasn't a requirement.</p>

[Blu]

<p><cite>Therion-AB wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><span style="font-size: 12px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;">Rolling tonight monk-illi-temp to perhaps betray to monk-coe-inq later on as needed.</span><p>Last question, still on tradeskills so for the monk (or today EQ2 even) trades for making weapons/armors are useless in comparison to the regular pve progression?</p></blockquote><p>Be aware that betrayal is a time sink. It'll be much faster to roll the evil classes as evil to start with and then all go quest in Gorowyn. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p>If you're a min/max sort of person, consider a Barb Monk, and Erudites for the casters. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /></p><p>For leveling up, Master Crafter (tradeskilled) armor is considered the best bang for the buck until you get into t8. Lower than t8, sure there's some better stuff out there than MC, but in comparison to how much time you have to spend running instances to get it, MC is better to use while leveling.</p>

[Therion-AB]

<p>Thanks a lot for your time Xerg and Bluex, we will change the setup them! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>You guys are the best.</p>

[Morrolan V]

<p>I believe that shamans of both stripes are by far the best healers for monks.  Clerics are probably the least suited to heal us.</p><p>Shamans have wards.  The wards come off the top of the damage done by a mob before it gets to the person warded.  This therefore smooths out spikes.  Spikes are a monk tank's worst enemy.  Clerics, on the other hand, have reactives and huge, slow casting direct heals.  Reactives heal a small amount each time the person being healed takes damage, but they hit AFTER the damage has already been done.  Both of these are well suited to plate tanks who take damage in smaller, more frequent doses than monks.</p><p>I also agree with Xerq about the dirge.  Dirge buffs simply cannot be beat for a monk.  All of the dirge's buff elements mesh perfectly with what we need - dps, parry, stoneskin, hate gain.  Plus, cacophony of blades is a non-normalized PER HIT damage adder, which makes it one of the (few) reasons to love our fast weapons and insane self haste.</p><p>If I were creating a trio from scratch with a monk as a tank, I would make it Monk/Defiler/Dirge.  Hands down.  If you want to all start from Kelethin, make it Monk/Mystic/Dirge.</p>

[Blu]

<p><cite>Rythalian@Crushbone wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>If I were creating a trio from scratch with a monk as a tank, I would make it Monk/Defiler/Dirge.  Hands down.  If you want to all start from Kelethin, make it Monk/Mystic/Dirge.</p></blockquote><p>This.</p>