Monk Master II Choices: Which one did you choose and why?

[Jessyme]

Monk Master II Choices

Hello everyone.

I am curious to find out what Master II choices folks have chosen.  We have lived with the spell changes and patch updates for a bit now, so which ones did you pick and why?  I found a post done a while back on this, but there were few responses.  I have included descriptions of all the spells in the hopes that that will trigger memories.  Thank you in advance for your input  :smileywink:

I put my thoughts on each one in parenthesis after the description.  These are based on Quijana’s experience as a monk. She tends to be the main tank, and she is level 40, almost 41.

Level 24

Sparking Cobra- Point blank area of effect (PBAoE) melee damage.   

(Not worth taking.  Long refresh, and affects out of encounter creatures causing adds if not careful.  Very situational use.)

Hand Clap- Group taunt that interrupts all enemies in encounter.

(Great choice for monks who tank.)

Wisdom Of Zephyl - Group haste buff.

(Great choice in general.  The Master II of Wisdom of Zephyl is better then the Adept I version of its Level 37 replacement, Quiet Purity.  So excellent chance it will not be replaced until level 51’s Calm Tranquility. The choice with the longest shelf life. I took this one in the /respec.)

Grappling Bear -   A melee attack that deals moderate damage and decreases the target's defense if it hits.  

(Not a bad choice, though the damage is on the low end.)

Level 34

Silent Threat – Single target taunt. 

(Good choice for monks who tank.  I took this one.)

Everburning Flame  - Self haste buff that costs health. 

(Good choice for DPS monks)

Martial Discipline - Grants the monk a chance to shield an ally from melee attacks, by allowing the target a chance to use the monk's avoidance check after their own avoidance check. This also increases the monk's deflection skill. 

(My group’s enchanter adores this spell.  Very useful if you regularly group with fragile mage-types who get agro.  Gives them a chance to dodge until you can get agro back.  Would still take one of the first two as my Master II choice though.)

Darting Sparrow- Launches a flurry of attacks.  

(Not a bad choice, though long refresh.  Usually Silent Threat or Everburning Flame will be more useful though.)

Level 44

Will Of The Wind- Dispels hostile mental, noxious and elemental effects on the monk. This ability can be used while stifled or stunned. 

(Not very useful. I rarely use this line of spells.  Might be a good choice for a monk who solos though.)

Dragon Advance- Every attack the monk makes has a chance to increase hate with the attacked target.  

(Very useful for monks who tank as it helps them keep agro.  Also, not replaced until level 59 by Infuriating Tranquility, so it has longevity.  Planning to take this one.)

Shocking Hand - For a short duration, the monk's fists become energized with static, unleashing magic damage with every successful melee hit for up to 8 attacks. 

(A very nice skill that is used all the time. Decent refresh rate.) 

Icy Talon - A flying kick attack that freezes the opponent on a successful hit.

(Very useful as kicks tend to have faster refreshes, and freezing an opponent is always a good thing.)


Level 54

Agitate Spirit- Taunt that interrupts and increases the hate of all enemies in an encounter towards the monk. 

(Excellent choice for monks who tank.  Planning to take this one.)

Calm Tranquility - Increases the attack speed of the group.

(This is generally a nice one to have, especially for DPS monks.)

Swooping Crane - A powerful kick attack that deals crushing damage and knocks the target down on a successful hit.  

(I personally love attacks that knock an opponent down.  I am not high enough to use this yet, so would depend on how long of a refresh it has.)

Inner Calm – Buff that increases the monk's strength and wisdom.  

(Would depend on how much it increased these stats, but still think I would go with one of the first two.)

[Harpax]

Level 24

Wisdom Of Zephyl - Took this one because of how long its useable for.  I still use this at lvl 53.

Level 34

Everburning Flame - Took this one as the M2 version is more of a haste buff then the upgrade, Everburing Fire, at Adept 1

Level 44

Dragon Advance - Great buff IMO.  Don't know what the lvl 59 version is for threat increase per proc at adept1, but this spell is a sure way to keep agro on a mob.

Level 54

Not sure onthis.  I'm thinking Agitate Spirt since I tank a lot and group mobs are the hardest for me personally to keep agro on. ([expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] warlocks).

 

 

[Balmore]

My setup is just like Harpax's. Agitate Spirit for 54.I'm planning to /respec at 60 -- so I can go all out damage setup. Instead of this tank build.

[Uth]

At 54 i took Inner Calm, the WIS buff of 104 is quite nice for resistances and if you raid, more resistances are what you need, so thats why i took Inner Calm.

The STR upgrade is also nice, more power is nice, as we monks need alot during a combat.

[Jessyme]

Thank you for sharing your choices. 

It is great to know that Wisdom of Zephyl is such a wonderful choice- through level 53 is very impressive. 

And I have been curious about Dragon Advance's actual utility, and it sounds like it is indeed the choice to take for a tanking monk.  Good to have it confirmed. 

104 Wisdom (and strength too?)  Wow!  Might actually have to give Inner Calm a second look as that is quite a bonus.  And great point about raiding and the need for power. 

I tend to have the difficulty holding group mobs issue too (hence my other question in the forums), so Agititate Spirit will probably be my route since I normally am the main tank. 

Really appreciate the feeback :smileyvery-happy:

Quijana

 

[BigPig The Destroy]

thanks for the info on what to pick been having troble making my mind up

[Lareal]

Maybe I'm one of the few, but I took Will of the wind. I use it a lot, both solo and group. On group stuns it's nice to use as MT to be able to self-cure and grab/maintain aggro to keep the group alive till the stun is over. I use it to self cure in raids when I don't want to joust. I use it on duels constantly. At master II it cures more than will of the sky adept I, so I still use it at 60 till I WotS adept III. I think it's pretty useful, you just need to get used to using it.

[Nefari]

The STR bump on Inner Calm is in the 60's.  I want to say 67, but can't check for sure atm. I also took Will of the Wind at 44...I think it's 76 levels of effects dispelled.  I use it regularly on epic mobs spells, and I have not found a place where the higher lvl one would be more beneficial.  As Lareal said, it is also a KILLER in duels against any caster.  I haven't bothered to get the Ad3 of Will of the Sky either, guess I will someday. Agitate Spirit is a good choice, but I was lucky enough to get a Master 1 of this before the expansion, and the difference was not great enough to warrant blowing a M2 choice on it.  I took Inner Calm for the same reason the above poster stated (resists)...probably not a popular choice, but it works for me. Nefalu Bald Monk of Halcyon Affinity

[Neimhidh]

Wisdom of Z

Everburning Flame

Dragon Advance

Agitate Spirit

These master 2's are just soo much better than the adept versions, they just blow the other master 2's away.

@ level 55 I still use each one of these master 2's.

Message Edited by Neimhidh on 11-16-2005 11:05 AM

[SpiritofWolfE]

-- At 24 I took Wisdom of Zephyl and it's still better than the Quiet Purity upgrade.  A very nice self/group buff which remains effective for MANY levels.

-- At 34 I took Everburning Flame and with its 30% haste buff it is quite worthwhile.

-- At 44 (my next choice) I would most likely take Shocking Hand since I use this constantly -- especially now that the buff can be "loaded and ready to use" so that the timer is already up prior to starting a fight.  Essentially you can do "back to back" Shocking buffs for 16 attacks, and that is very nice.  Also, the refresh is fast enough to make this a very nice Master II to have in your repertoire.

-- At 54, either Calm Tranquility to replace Wisdom of Zephyl (although Adept III should make this upgrade very good) OR Inner Calm.

Inner Calm with its Master II level STR + WIS buff seems very attractive to me, since, as the Devs said and I agree, RESISTS are more important now.  Extra Strength gives us higher DPS and that extra Wisdom buff really increases our resistances across the board making this Master II level buff seem like an excellent choice.

-- I look forward to each of these Master II choices since they offer Monks various areas to improve their characters.  There hardly seem to be any "bad" choices yet there are many GOOD choices you can make.

 

Message Edited by SpiritofWolfEQ2 on 11-16-2005 11:17 AM

[courtneysfost]

---

Balmore wrote:


I'm planning to /respec at 60 -- so I can go all out damage setup. Instead of this tank build.

---

That's an excellent idea!  :smileyvery-happy:

~Sylus, the monk looking to be reborn at 60...

[Kaleyen]

Level 24: Wisdom Of Zephyl- I like to consider myself a DPS class, and since the revamp awhile back, a DPS tank is what I call myself.  So of course I love the haste. Level 34: Martial Discipline- I group a lot with a Warlock who is an agro Queen!  So it's very useful for me to use.  I did at first pick Everburning Flame because it was a 30% haste buff?  But then respec'd myself after I was high enough to get Everburning Fire (Plan on getting Adept 3 cause my guildie can make it for me) so the difference between Everburning Flame Master II and Everburning Fire Adept 3 is minimal compared to keep my cute lil Warlock around and kicking. Level 44: Dragon Advance- Like I mentioned above, have a cute lil Warlock who holds agro like a pro.  This helps a lot, and I do end up tanking in groups more then I would like to.  So decided to take this over Icy Talon, of course I picked with the same respec I did with the above.

[Wiou]

Level 24

i chose mine back in the day were the choices were every 10 levels and not master II's

Level 34

 

Everburning Flame  - Self haste buff that costs health. 

^ I took everburning flame. Was a waste.. its no better than the app1. If I were to rechoose it'd be darting sparrow

Level 44

Icy Talon - A flying kick attack that freezes the opponent on a successful hit

^ I chose icy talon because the others really arent that great, i dont have trouble keeping aggro and i dont use shocking hands as often as my attacks. this was a gimme for me


Level 54

dont know yet

[stfields]

24:  Wisdom of Zephyl

34: Everburning Flame - best you get till 60.

44: Shocking Hand - not the best choice if you ask me.  When I respec, I might go with DA if its better than Storm Stance Adept3.

54: Inner Calm - the STR/WIS is hard to beat.  I might respec to agitate spirit, but in raid situations, monks usually need a hate transfer on them, so Inner Calm looks better in the aspect.

 

[Jobeson]

everburning flame has a better haste / hp ratio than my adept 3 lvl 60 version so... 6 % haste or lot more hp per tik The master 2 cure is only one or two levels below the adept 3 t6 cure so I saved a rare on it maby ill get master someday of t6 cure.  The master 2 wis/str buff is great  300+ to resists i forget exactly but thats nice.  I already had master 1 ae taunt or that woulda been my choice though.

[x0rtrun]

24: WoZ - Can't beat the haste 34: EF - Can't beat the haste 44: Shocking hands - I like the dps/extra agro generation on group encounters 54: I'll probably go with inner calm on this one.

[Edyil]

I took damage.

 

44 - Icy Talon - Crazy damage for the rest of the 40's.  I believe the upper max is 500ish which is a huge hit for a lil monk.

 

54 - Swooping Crane - I love this CA.  I have saved myself (and probably my group) more than a couple dozen times with this sure-thing-stun.  I have never once had this miss or be resisted on non-epics.  The 600d isnt bad either.

 

[x0rtrun]

At 44 shocking hands has better overall damage than icy talon. It's 8 guarenteed hits for 60-80 damage or so. And icy talon can miss, where as shocking hands procs on every successful hit. It's also got the agro generation aspect on it's side if you couple it with our AoE attack. It also seems to have some interesting characteristics when coupled with our flurry attack line... :smileywink:

[JudyJudy]

Wisdom of Zephyl - Still use at 52

 

Everburning Flame - Still use at 52

 

Dragon Advance - Still use at 52

 

Inner Calm - I will chose this CA once I reach level 54.

 

In my opinion, I believe that choosing Inner Calm at level 54 is a good choice seeing as though the legendary jewelry seems to be STR/AGI/STA specific which leaves us a bit gimped on the wisdom - I could be wrong though, I'm currently upgrading my jewelry now so my thoughts on this may change, but the theory still stands.

 

100+ point wisdom buff at Master II?  Can you give me a hell yeah? :smileywink:

[Bladewind]

Level 44

Dragon Advance- Every attack the monk makes has a chance to increase hate with the attacked target.  

(Very useful for monks who tank as it helps them keep agro.  Also, not replaced until level 59 by Infuriating Tranquility, so it has longevity.  Took this one.)  By rotating targets in an encounter and hitting each a few times, you can easily maintain firm control when you have this ability upgraded.  This also makes it much easier to grab back any lost aggro as you can hit your lunging mongoose to drop a full extra taunt's worth of threat onto any peels in addition to using your taunts as they cycle.

The replacement is Storm Stance at lv 56.  The adept 1 Storm Stance only does about 20 or so more threat per proc, so this is still a choice that will give you much longevity as you can continue using it until you burn a vanadium/pearl or loot a master version of Storm Stance.  Infuriating Tranquility is the highest of our standard single target taunts.

Level 54

Agitate Spirit- Taunt that interrupts and increases the hate of all enemies in an encounter towards the monk. 

(Excellent choice for monks who tank.  Took this one.) Dropping 800 threat on every mob in the encounter to open the the fight is a fantastic way to eastablish control.

With both of these choices for master 2s and the single target taunt at adept 3, I have found it is relatively easy to maintain aggro on multitarget encounters and have successfully held aggro on as much as 4 seperate multi-target encounters in emergency situations thanks to the high amount of threat generated by these skills.

[Bladewind]

---

JudyJudy wrote:

Wisdom of Zephyl - Still use at 52

 

Everburning Flame - Still use at 52

 

Dragon Advance - Still use at 52

 

Inner Calm - I will chose this CA once I reach level 54.

 

In my opinion, I believe that choosing Inner Calm at level 54 is a good choice seeing as though the legendary jewelry seems to be STR/AGI/STA specific which leaves us a bit gimped on the wisdom - I could be wrong though, I'm currently upgrading my jewelry now so my thoughts on this may change, but the theory still stands.

 

100+ point wisdom buff at Master II?  Can you give me a hell yeah? :smileywink:

---

You can cycle out rings when buffing.  I have a wisdom ring that I keep in my inventory and only slide on for a moment to apply buffs.  This way, I have my two imbued vanadium rings (str and sta) that remain equipped normally, a beryllium imbued (agi), and a nacre imbued (wis).  The beryllium and nacre go on for about 30 seconds every half hour

I figure I'll adept III inner calm since there are so many other ways to enhance wisdom through equipment, while there are no other ways past upgrading our three taunt skills to improve threat generation.  I still think inner calm is a good choice, but upgrading the AE taunt just made more sense for my playstyle.

[x0rtrun]

I recently dinged 54 and grabed a screenshot of the choices, as well as the spell they replace. I wish I'd done this for the other choices as well. Oh well, maybe if and when I decide to respec again. The swooping crane numbers are with ~200 str. I chose inner calm because the str increases my all around dmg and 100 wis is a nice boost to resists.

[Jessyme]

Thank you all for the wonderful responses to this question :smileyvery-happy:  The advice is much appreciated. 

 

To do a quick sum up, the consensus for most useful Master II choices over the long term seem to be: 

 

Level 24:  Wisdom Of Zephyl - Group haste buff of 13%. 

 

Level 34:  Everburning Flame  - Self haste buff that costs health. 

 

Level 44:  Dragon Advance- Every attack the monk makes has a chance to increase hate with the attacked target.  

 

All of these were still being used well into the 50's. 

 

The surprising one (at least for me) was Level 54's Inner Calm:  +69 Strength, +104 Wisdom

(Thank you Jarrgoon for taking the time to get this info and for posting the pictures with the actual descriptions.) 

 

I figured Agitate Spirit or Calm Tranquility would be the clear winners; yet many favor Inner Calm, and it seems to be the most popular choice.   Extra damage, increased power pool, higher resists, and the fact that casting buffs increases aggro (thanks so much for that tip!), and Inner Calm is sweeping the Level 54 choices.  

 

It was also interesting to see some of the reasoning some monks chose more unusual choices, such as Lareal's Will of the Wind or Kaleyen and Martial Discipline (I totally sympathize with you on that one *grin*)

 

Thank you all for the marvelous feedback!

Quijana

 

 

Message Edited by Jessyme on 11-21-2005 03:09 PM