IiPunch - Monk Guide

Are there any good guidelines for sets that prioritize subtle blow for lowman/unm/htmb tanking?

Cast auspice, change nothing, good to go

You have 35 base, 25II in "standard" gearsets, Monk is automatically there. (get the best relic head you can and always use chiblast)

If you lack master and/or moonbow+1/Niqmaddu/Sherida and/or your lowman has no WHM then be more specific in the set you have so we can see options.

Chi Blast (Penance) and Shijin Spiral also keep the mob tame. MNK is the SB king.

You have 35 subtle blow inately as a master monk. +50 is cap, and +25 more is available as Subtle blow II cap

The set I use is
35 base
12/13 from Empy+2/3 hat
+3 from Schere Earring (when Impetus is up, depending on your weapon)
=50

+5 II from Sherida Earring
+5 II from Niq Ring
+15 II from Moonbow Belt+1
=25

If your missing any of these pieces or aren't mastered yet I think your best bet is adding Kendatsuba pieces depending on your gear. But this is all BiS stuff for monk so start working on them if you don't have them.

Also as Taint said: Chi Blast with Penance and Shijin Spiral once in a while will help a ton too.

ItemSet 394652

+58% crit rate with impetus up and +65% crit rate with mpaca's doublet swapped in when impetus is down feels pretty good imo. Are we sure varga isn't better than godhands? Seems to me if you get the full PDL benefit from the aftermath it should win out no?

Its better for Vsmite, but not better for Impetus down or TK/dk/howling/raging in general.

What do you guys WS in for fights like Ngai25? I've been using Nyame but that isn't great for MNK WSs.

Edit: I guess this isn't that bad.
ItemSet 362954

50 pdt, 40 pdt with impetus and Bhikku body.

mix of nyame, empy +3, and Mpaca's mostly. Because of MNK ws transferring FTP, Nyame is actually pretty ok for a lot, just due to the double attack.

Mpaca's doesn't have MDT, but it's got amazing MDB.

Nyame has higher vitality and strength than mpaca's, which is what most of our weaponskill's stat mods are. Smite, howling fist, dragon kick, and tornado kick are all either pure strength or strength and vitality. Only raging fist uses strength and dex. I'm pretty sure nyame mail, gauntlets, and sollerets are actually better than mpaca's for howling fist and the kicks, especially at 30 (r30 body has a LOT of str/vit). I'd still use Mpaca's legs over nyame's though for the PDL, and there is no alternative to Mpaca's hat that competes with the tp bonus +200, but the other 3 Nyame pieces should be on par with or better than mpaca's in most cases. Smite still goes full crit of course, but that's a given.

On a side note, I got a Bhikku Earring +2 last month with 7 dex and 7 str, 16 macc/macc and 6 sTP. I think on almost any other job I'd be using a baseline +2 in multiple sets, but on monk the only thing I found room for it in is my raging fist set. It's really sad that even a good +2 monk earring isn't very useful. Schere/Sherida is still better for tp, and the stat mods are strength and dex. It REALLY should have been strength and vitality....

Its just the curse of mnk jse, its all kicks, counter, and chakra, but yes str/vit would have been nicer. Atleast its an okay acc swap like the rest, maybe bumps you up 1 or 2 dmg tiers, idk what h2h is at now

I don't think the 12 H2H skill is enough to make it anything better than a raging fists swap unless you have like... max aug 15/15 or something. Even then you still want schere/sherida for tp so.... bleh.

S'why my main praise was the same as just about every other earring at baseline: easy 25~ acc on an accessory slot. Just not sure how needed acc swaps are these days where its not just a case of "use a madrigal" instead

On Ngai v25, should i go for midbuff or high buff ws sets?
Crit or wsd ~ /// wsd or pdl?

ty

Depends which WS and what setup and when in the fight. If you have BRD Cor geo and want to use Tornado, then you can probably try to go for high buff. Vsmite maybe only during bolster, but it can even depend what will Cor roll. If he is able to hit XI Crooked chaos and will get job bonus, then you can probably do fine in high buff even without bolster (assuming you do geo fury and some defensive Indi). If you have PUP in the fight, he will probably use Howling, so you shouldn't (because of wall), but if you do it in some other setup, you can try doing Howling in max buff setup instead of something else in mid buff.

I'd say neither if referring to the damage sim sets.

You'll want more meva/DT for v25s. DPS isn't the issue staying alive is. Its discussed on this same forum page.

Might be true for Vsmite. For Howling/Tornado sim should still show a mix of empy+3, Mpaca and Nyame, so should cover defensive stats quite well too.

If you fear af+3 feet for Tornado, Bhikku +3 feet are awesome compromise between survivability and damage.

What is the current bees knees for engage set?

Are there any useful niche subjobs for solo-ing or lowman content where just killing fast enough may not cut it?

I think I heard some mention of PLD somewhere, but I'm understanding that DPS will take a hit with anything unlike WAR or DRG, etc, which is fine.

Generally I'll have trusts and friends, but there are some rare occasions where I won't have either, and sometimes penance, chakra and so on won't cut it.

not really niche these days but /run offers great magical defense as well as a few methods to spike hate if you needed to function as a tank for whatever reason.

Beyond that just the usual /nin, /dnc, sometimes /rdm with a phalanx kit is enough to floor dmg on fodder so its got some value there

This has likely been asked few times so apologies up front.

Could someone please provide recommendations for soloing CP? I have a COR alt i'll bring along for rolls.

Skillchain recommendations?

Thanks!

Just spam VS, it's going to be slow (compared to SAM WAR DRK) regardless.

I'd experiment with how many WS/SC it takes to kill your target of choice and then go from there.

3-step: Shijin -> Victory Smite -> Victory Smite
4-step: Raging -> Asuran -> Howling (Tornado, Raging) -> Victory Smite
5-step: Raging -> Asuran -> Howling (Tornado, Raging) -> Victory Smite -> Victory Smite
Radiance with GH: Shijin -> Raging -> Asuran -> Howling -> Victory Smite

Try to figure out the SC with the fewest steps required to kill a mob and go with that one. I think Corsair/Samurai will probably yield the best CP/hr.

If you're fighting bones you will absolutely rip through them with these SC since they're mostly fire/light

Asuran>Raging>VS>VS is a good one. T3 light then T4 light.

KRT skele need ranged attack pull really.

Shijin > Asuran > VS > Shijin > VS is another decent 5 step, although I prefer the Raging one more.

I find that 5-Stepping can get sketchy sometimes with MNK’s high delay even when haste capped. So I generally lean on 4-steps.

Also, I wanted to grant some input on Rolls, I recommend DRK/SAM rolls for CP because getting Attack Up/Capped helps your kill speed out tons. You’ll naturally gain CP boosts with Gifts so kill speed is king imo. Obviously this immediately changes to COR/SAM rolls once you do EP because not having COR roll for EP is just madness lol.

As for Targets, Apex Efts and Poxhounds worked well for me.

Any jobs that can make decent use of subbing monk?

I've heard DNC can use Karambit as DNC/MNK for some interesting results with tornado kicks with the climatic flourish, not sure how potent that even is, but yeah was just interested.

It's mainly just for that, like war/mnk with TK/RF under mighty strikes, beyond that, just for fun with counterstance i guess

Even the solo 4 steps are sketchy with haste cap. MNK seems heavily reliant on TA procs during melee. Martial Arts blows because the lower delay also lowers TP per attack round. Needs more Kick Attack + gear or something....


SAM roll all day for consistency. I always thought MNK was supposed to be a fast TP gainer. SAM and DRG blow it out of the water...

Any tips on monk gear progression?

I'm currently using Kaja Knuckles + Mummu +2 / Hiza +2 sets from ambu. I think I was going to try working on Bhikku pieces from the guide like the chest, and perhaps godhands, though not sure how long it'll take me to do those and if I should work on a pulse weapon for Karambit for now.

I can also get kendetsu gear from AH since I'm su3 atm, though I'm not very rich so can probably one +1 piece. Anyhow, would appreciate rips thanks.

kende's a solid overall set and doubles as a strong meva set, mpaca's is the more defensive option with its high def/mdb/pdt that can be used without needing to augment it, head in particular is BiS for many dmg varies WS due to TP bonus.

Bhikku is very worth getting also, legs are your best TP piece and body just makes your best impetus body even better

weapon will depend on how quickly you get godhands, if its gonna be quick you dont necessarily need to invest into karamabit but if you lack a rema karambits are a very solid alternative