Bruiser or Monk please offer your opinion

[Gladdi]

<DIV>Ok Guys Abyssmal Tidings here lvl 27 Shadowknight has seen the light and decided to switch to a brawler... got my brawler to lvl 16 and now I am forced to chose bruiser or brawler... and for the most part i cannot make up my mind. The way I see it it boils down to this.. I tried looking through the forums but the search function always tells me try again later and after 4 or 5 pages deep of both monk and bruiser boards i cant reallyh find a good comparison of the two?   please feel free to post your opinions as im all ears and Truly Thank you in advance for all the help</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Bruiser +'s</DIV> <DIV>   More DPS</DIV> <DIV>   Dont have to goto Qeynos with all the treehuggers and over sappy  text</DIV> <DIV>   Kooler Theme</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Monk +'s</DIV> <DIV>    Invis</DIV> <DIV>    Targetable mend</DIV> <DIV>    Tiger Form</DIV> <DIV>    Better Tanking???</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>well so heres my questions</DIV> <DIV>how much more dmg does bruiser do than monk? 10% more? 20% more? 40% more?</DIV> <DIV>How much better at tanking is a monk than a bruiser?</DIV> <DIV>who is a more eficient soloer? monk or bruiser?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[jejord]

<DIV>lvl 34 bruiser here, most of what you heard is true, monks seem to be better at def thus they tank a little better. From my experience we out dps them by quite a bit. I'm sure they will flame me for this, but its just what i've seen, now it could be that i've played with slack monks....not sure. At my lvl i've found no problem getting grps as a pure dps machine, plus keeping healers and thin skin casters safe with taking bcak agro! I didnt like being a bruiser all that much in the lower lvls, but now I would not be aything else!</DIV>

[Southe]

<DIV>pre 30 bruiser so so... post 30 bruiser so hot...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Krace</DIV> <DIV>Iksar bruiser</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Unrest.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[jejord]

<DIV>agree, it seems we really come in to our own at lvl 30+ I love it now! </DIV>

[industrock]

<DIV>When fighting from behind, bruisers put out a little bit more DPS than a monk.  30% seems like a good estimate to me.  Monks make up for this lack of DPS with riposte and "block and attack" type skills.  Now, where can they use these?  When tanking or course.  Both monks and bruisers use AGI for defensive evasion, and STR for offensive force.  Monks use AGI better than  bruisers do, whereas bruisers use STR better than monks.  Such as guardians, for example.  Even if you and the guardian have the exact same STA, he will have more HP than you.  He gets more HP per STA than other classes.  Such is the same for monks.  They get more evasion/riposte abilities per AGI, and bruisers get more damage per STR.  When fighting a mob from the front, the monk will riposte many times more than a bruiser, making up for lack of damage, where a bruiser is better from behind, with special abilities that can be used when behind or flanking the target.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Believe me, i am not saying that bruisers cannot tank, as i have done so many times.  You just have to know what you are doing, and what skills to use.  A lot of the time, when tanking, it is better to have AGI and AC.  Say you have a Light Armor piece with 100AC, and +2AGI and a VeryLight Armor piece with 60AC, 8AGI.  The VLA piece would be better for tanking because of the increased evasion skills that AGI gives brawlers.  The 40AC will not make much of a difference at all in damage mitigation.  You might get hit for 5 less or 10 less per hit by using the 100AC one.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Staggering Stance, Overtaking blows, Battle Fury, and even toughness.  all awesome skills that nearly make a brawler untouchable.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I prefer to play a bruiser due to the sheer brute force they can do, as opposed to the riposting and graceful abilities of the monk.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The only thing i hate about bruiser is the lvl 40 and 50 fun spells.  Monks can be tigers, Bruisers look like a lump of [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot].</DIV>

[benisbor]

<DIV>It really isn't important. Both classes are completely equal. While the monk is a tiny bit better (and I mean tiny bit) at tanking, bruisers do more damage. Monks get a quasi-invis (though it isn't all that good) and a targetable mend, but Bruisers get fear (which any half-[expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] Bruiser will tell you is one of the most useful abilities we will ever get). Bruisers are given a lot more aggressive abilities, Monks a lot more defensive abilities. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>But really, it makes no difference. You would barely be able to notice the difference between me tanking and a Monk. You'd need a serious number cruncher to even be able to calculate a tangible discrepency.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Besides minor, trivial differences, the classes are identical. They use the same weapons, wear the same armor. In general, I try to use the term Brawler when I talk now, because the two are so similar.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Go with the flavor you like.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>P.S. Bruisers are better. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Dalcor</DIV> <DIV>50 Bruiser, Crushbone</DIV><p>Message Edited by benisbored on <span class=date_text>01-02-2005</span> <span class=time_text>08:41 PM</span>