Group 2 Merits (monk)

My brother recently quit the game so I now have a monk character that I have no idea how to play. It's fully merited except for group 1 and 2 merits. Does anyone have some insight for me as to what to choose and why?

MNK group 2 generally sucks, I went 5 Penance and 5 Invigorate, Penance being surprisingly useful. Formless Strikes is too situational to be worth it, and typically requires maxing it for any use at all. Mantra was handy for DRK zergs, though I doubt anybody zergs much these days.

As always it depends on what you want to do. But having said that, Penance is useful in small group situations when people are meleeing. Was really nice in assault/salvage but people don't do those too much anymore and in abyssea pties it's not really useful so. . .
Invigorate is again very nice for small group activities; gives your chakra a lot more power and keeps you going for a little after you have used it.
Formless Strikes is worth putting 1 merit into just to have it. Its very nice against anything that is resistant to blunt or melee damage. But its not worth more than 1.
Mantra, I dunno I never unlocked it. It could be nice for drks zerging but I don't really see too much use for it personally.
I went 5/5 penance, 4/5 invigorate and 1 formless strikes.

This but swap penance and invig. I solo more than anything, so I enjoy the regen. Formless won't get too much use, but great to have when you need it. Penance, 4/5 or 5/5, either way, user preference. Keep in mind if you have 2 mnks, lv 4 and lv 5 is all that's needed to keep it on the mob full time

Yea, this or what Tiger said. I'm 4/5 penance and invig, trying to decide on which to max. I usually solo and tank a lot so I'm leaning towards invig. Up to how you play.

As group 1 hasn't been touched on:

5/5 Counter. Offense+defense in the same merit, very much worth it.

And then one of:

5/5 Kick Attacks
5/5 Chakra
3/5 Chakra + 2/5 Kick attacks

Reduce Chakra timer for more solo play/self-sufficiency (especially combined with Invigorate), but only used occasionally, or Kick Attacks for a small damage gain that's always on.

Dodge and Focus merits aren't worth touching.

Yeah, I have to agree with what they've all been saying. The biggest use for formless strikes is against mobs that cast Invincible, it lets you keep dealing damage for that minute or so, so 1 merit in it is all that you need. And then Invigorate and Penance, 4/5 on one, and 5/5 on the other, just your own personal preference. I find Invigorate much more useful, but like Tiger, I solo a lot, so it's maybe not as essential if you do more group fights/endgame.

My only problem with Chakra merits is it's only sometimes useful instead of something you're always benefiting from (as if you go w/ full kick attacks, mob dies faster, you take less dmg in the fight since it has less time to attack you) because if you don't use need chakra the exact second that timer is up, then the merits do nothing for you.

For Group 1 merits, I'd 5/5 kick attacks first, to boost your overall damage. Then I'd pick another category that suits your playstyle, though I chose 5/5 counter and I think most monks do. Counter is just too useful for monk, a job that can solo well, and can act as a tank.


The Group 2 merit recommendations already stated are pretty standard.

Group 2, Penance 5/5, Formless Strike 1/5, Invigorate 4/5. (Or switch Invigorate and Penance around, whichever you like, like the others said.)

Group 1, I picked counter and kick attacks.

Think those are standard for mnks though.

Mantra... if anyone can find a use for this... Do mnk even get invited to zergs? ... please tell me :|

Actually I originally did mantra for zergs, but apparently it overwrites one of the drk abilities used in the zerg. I can't recall what ability off hand because I never play drk, but it's something very useful in the zerg. So really none of them are going to want mantra.

I'll be removing the merit in it soon.

Does mantra overwrite the HP boost status associated with Drain II? That's the only thing I can think of off the top of my head.

*edited for clarification

Yes, as well as body boost, giant drank, etc

I went with:

5/5 Kick Attacks
5/5 Counter
-----------------
5/5 Penance
4/5 Invigorate
1/5 Formless Strikes

Also keep in mind with Full Tantra max "kick attack" gear without too much sacrifice will be very nice. especially for Footwork builds. Kick Attack 5/5 Counter 5/5

I went 5/5 Invigorate, 4/5 penance and 1/5 FS.

Also went for 5/5 Counter and 5/5 Kick attacks.

Penance should be 5/5 for sure. It's now very useful for triggering "!!" (easier to WS between tp moves).
Invigorate is imo useless. 10 tic regen is very low healing when you have 2500-3000 HP. If you solo you probably /dnc and there will be waltz III at 90lv so this 400 hp over 2 min is really nothing. It could have been much better if it would actually stack with Regen spell but its overwritten by it.
Formless 1/5 I agree but seeing how useless are both Mantra and Invigorate it can be taken serious now.
Mantra is useless with cruor buffs now but it may have some use in future if some mob will dispel cruor buffs like bukhis, on the other hand mantra is probably easily dispeled by the same move so idk.
Going with pure math more useful tho still useless would be formless strike.

If you're soloing any mob that matters, you shouldn't be /dnc (as /nin is a better sub for this), so waltz III isn't really a factor here. For penance/invig, it's still a matter of personal preference. With Chakra, you just have to warn you mages when you're going to use. (I usually say "ok Chakra is up, next time I hit yellow, don't waste your mp) and w/ cruor buffs, i can net over 1k/chakra w/ invig, which is between 1/3 and 1/2 of my HP.

Aside, the old rules of penance still apply if you have 2 mnks. one 5/5, one 4/5 = full time. If only 1 mnk, as with invigorate, 20 extra seconds of activation time isn't going to make a big difference.

Again, matter of personal preference.

Mantra was always worthless and formeless is so situational (and the fact that 2-5 combined won't give even half the increase as tier 1) in a situation where you would want to use it makes it difficult to warrant meriting further than lv 1

1. What you solo in those days that chakra make any noticable difference? you have potions in abyssea that are a lot more potent.
2. Chakra should be saved for emergency when you got hit by some move that puts you at 10% HP and your healer is casting something and cant heal you on time. Saving mages MP when they have 20mp/tic and rarly go below 90% seriously? Another good use for Chakra is erasing a lot debuffs.
3. Invigorate suck balls. Its overwritten by regen spell and WHM getting Regen IV this update. Its completly useless in party and completly marginal while soloing. It has a use in Salvage when its very helpful healing on start when mp is limited and you can split on 1st floor but in abyssea its completly useless.
4. Penance is only good in G2 merits and should be maxed. Saying 80hp regen heal every 5 min is equal to 20 sec of mobs -25% tp gain is just stupid. Not to mention this sucks balls regen not even usually proc because you can have full hp while its "working". Unless you will say to your healer to not heal you so you can regen lol.

Again, I guess you missed the point where lv 4 penance + lv 5 penance = full time penance. Most of the things I do mnk style, I have another mnk w/ me, so can be kept up full time. anything > penance when it's already up full time. Additionally, not all mobs even require penance. While it's great on a lot of mobs sure, some have much less shitty tp moves than other and shouldn't even be considered a threat.

20 secs is gonna save you what? 0-1 tp move, tops? Assuming you don't have 2 mnks to begin with.

As for solo, I'm soloing things from time to time, nothing specific comes to mind but when I have free time I make use of it so I may go farm myself some pop items for example.

Sure, invig has been devalued, I'll give you that, but really, in the end, as I said before, it's a matter of personal preference, and I personally don't find myself in any situations where I say "Boy, I sure do wish I had put 1 more merit into invig because that would have saved the death I just experienced"

Also, unless soloing, chakra should never be used to simply remove a debuff. That's what -na spells are for.

What about Krabkatoa xD

But chakra can remove debuffs that na spells can't!

Edit: Damn you lulz

ppl fight that?

mebbe :(

I still want my acubens!!!

Saying Chakra shouldnt be used for erasing debuffs because thats what na spells are for and defending shitty healing regen instead of getting real regen or cure is pretty selfconflict. Also inhibiting mobs TP gain is not only about lowering the threat but making biggers gaps between tp moves to have a chance to trigger !! with WSs. Having 2nd mnk with me is not argument. He can be killed, got hit by amnesia or w/e. Its like saying I dont need Paralyze potency equip on RDM because I have RDM mule that always with me with maxed paralyze II and equip for it.

lol'd. ^^ I assume u meant H2H/STR/Etc. And for Group 1

Kick attack rate for faster tp gain and counter rate for improved tanking.

for group 2, penance to support your linkshell for fights like turul, the *** is a wonder in abyssea to help your ls trigger !!s easier.

Invigorate is always a good choice for the avid Monk soloer, because if your /NIN you need a way to restore HP (assuming outside of abyssea or no regen atma). If however you never find yourself needing a regen in addition to your chakra, Mantra is good for improving your LS' DRK zergs, as well as increasing the HP of your party members for a bit during a fight with heavy AoE damage (Again, Turul comes to mind)

Nah, you're still stuck on the fact that having 5/5 penance is also situational.

Again, it's why I said it's based on a personal preference. Maybe you find yourself in a situation where 5/5 penance is beneficial, but I certainly do not on a regular enough basis to warrant meriting it to 5, especially, again, since any time it's warranted using to begin with, I generally have a second mnk who does have 5/5, so it can be maintained full time.