Martial Arts?

[Brad]

<DIV>Now level 4 heading for being a monk. Doing 1 to 2 damage without a weapon, including when I use wild swing. I hope I am doing something wrong? Do I wait til level 10 for martial arts? Help please .... super newb here</DIV>

[aganaster]

<DIV>haha, use a weapon till lvl 10 right now your no martial artist, u can barely use a sword with any skill. so just wait till 10 anmd then watch your dmg go up :smileywink:</DIV>

[Maligno]

<DIV>Hi Brador,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>You can use all fighter class equiptment until you reach level 9 and choose the brawler sub-class. I would suggest purchasing an elm bo staff. Staves are usuable by monks at high levels. The skill points you accumulate from using the staff will be carried over to brawler.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[DJBe]

<DIV>I tend to agree, that you shouldn´t be a pure martial artist. There are 2 simple reasons: 1. Fists count as one-handed weapons (means you´re wasting "something" when you have two hands, don´t you? :smileywink<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> and have a very long delay (something a bit over 2 seconds) and 2. you never won´t get any stat rasing buffs which can be often found on weapons.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This leads to the conclusion, that you should always use weapons, but at least you still would be a good fighter if your weapon is broken. And don´t be afraid, the weapon variety for brawlers is great, ranging from knuckles to one-handed staffs, hammers and the above mentioned 2-hand bo. For me the bo is the coolest weapon to use cause the wielding style is almost movie like. And if you really want to be "fist-fighter", there are something like bandages which count as dual wield weapons but are´nt rendered on your char. So you would use weapons (your full potential) and look like an martial artist.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>And finally, with level 4, you´re a fighter, that´s it, you´re not a brawler. Use weapons ´til you ding to Level 10, where you become a true brawler.</DIV>

[bezltri]

<DIV>After reading this thread I made a fighter and first thing I picked up was a 2 hander bo staff.  It ownz and looks really cool.  I hit level 9 tonight and passed my trial to become a brawler.  I am thinking of just working the the 2h blunt unless something really neat drops in my lap.  Anyone have any thoughts on this?  Should i specialize is something dual weildable?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thx in advance for any advice.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Lalr]

<DIV>Once you become a brawler you get a new skill called "Fists". Then you can use your fists as weapons.</DIV>

[Jolcon Zand]

I saw a 2h blunt on a Cheech and Chong movie once!

[Gravenwo]

<DIV>At 10 i started using a 2 handed bo stick... should i be using no weapons to get that skill up or...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Graven soon to be monk</DIV>

[bli]

<DIV>I'm so annoyed at the decision to move monks away from using Fists into the realm of weapon toters.  This decision is simply reinforced by the removal of the class based weight restriction, and it takes the flavor completely out of the class.  Make fists better, or make Handwraps, or instead of questing for weapons have monks quest for new attacks!  have monk attacks drop off high level mobs, but for heavens sake don't make monks into modified warriors/paladins/whatever.  Gah.  Gaaaaaaaaaaah.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>/annoy</DIV>

[Maligno]

<DIV>Hi,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Once you hit brawler  you can try purchasing burlap wraps (fist skill, crush damage) or quarter staves (dual wield). There is also a cestus out there that does piercing damage. The debate is still on as to which weapon system provides the most damage over time (dps) fist, staff, piercing.  If I am in a group I tend to equip the weapon with the fastests speed rating, this allows me to recover faster from an action, which means I can react to HO faster, and more importantly have more opportunity to  taunt.</DIV> <DIV>It is to your advantage to have an array of weaponry to build up your skills who knows that one uber class defining monk weapon is piercing skill. Please consider purchasing ranged weaponry (usable by brawler), stars, throwing hammer etc. Some mobs are flying and cannot reached by handheld weapons. This is also most useful if the casters or the ranged PC in your group are a little to fragile when pulling.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Good luck.</DIV><p>Message Edited by MalignoSD on <span class=date_text>11-12-2004</span> <span class=time_text>10:33 AM</span>

[matthewstud]

<DIV>:smileywink:I concur that monks should fight well with fists, but Bruce Lee would use weapons too...     I'd like to see some magic brass knuckles or something that might happen.   or Nunchucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   WOOT!!   hehe</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>that would be one handed blunt w/ exotic weapon profic....  errrrr whoops wrong game...    :smileywink:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Ciao!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Muk]

<DIV>There are handwraps. I stopped using the bo staff and am going pure fist weapons. I am using 2 burlap handwraps, nothing special, but good for my lvl i guess. I'm a lvl 12 brawler.</DIV>

[Damel]

<DIV>From what I can tell, your attack skill in this game takes into account the damage of the item as well as the speed of the item.   Example a staff that did 15-35 dmg at 1.7 speed had a higher attack than a flail that did 30-70 damage at 3.7 speed.  So you should be able to check your plain fists, dual wield, or single wield items and see what attack comes out highest to see what is best for you at any given time.  I have my lvl 20 monk bo staff, a pair of batons, and fists.  The attack skill between them all varies just by a little bit, but my dual batons right now do the most damage and have the highest attack.  (Using mace of twilight and bone escrima).  The math I did by hand also confirmed the results I got by the attack value number, and did several tests against identical mobs in antonica at given levels.  Depending on the items I had and the level I was things were better than others.  I noticed when I hit lvl 20 that my attack number value didnt upgrade with my items (which changed at 20) automatically, i had to un-equip them and re-equip them to get it to update.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I purchased burlap wraps and tried dual wielding them in my teens as a brawler but did more damage with straight fists at the time.   I think as you get into higher levels you can find drops that give you better damage with actual items than your fists, but your fists are not bad at all.  Plus your stance changes at level 20 from a boxing brawler style stance to a martial arts looking stance.   In any case.  all of the animations look cool, but i personally like the dual batons, so I am happy that they are currently putting out the most damage for me.   </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In any case, properly equipped, you can't really go wrong in any weapon type you want to take.  The right types of items in each category will put out very similar damage types.   I have yet to see a good "fist wrap" though... I've only seen the generic vendor ones.   </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>-----------------</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Unrelated - did my first armor quest today, the gloves are really nice, but those cleric mobs are retaded.  invisible unless you are right next to them and in an ocean of agro green mobs.   </DIV><p>Message Edited by Damelon on <span class=date_text>11-15-2004</span> <span class=time_text>11:47 PM</span>

[bli]

<DIV>Great post Damelon, I didn't know that about the Attack factoring speed in.  I'll have to check it out!</DIV>