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ReplyJust returned after a few years absence. Trying out a monk.
Couple quick questions,
1.What is the recommended spell training? I'm assuming 1 every 2 levels?
Currently I am trying out an elf monk.
Basic training path
2x cm, 3x dodge, 2x brawling, 2x pt, .4x spell or so. utility skills mixed in.
2. What is recommended CM's?
3. What is the recommended UAC attack progression. I noticed how jabs can set up for punches, punches for kicks and so on. Aside from the various round times, is there any people prefer?
Cheers,
<1.What is the recommended spell training? I'm assuming 1 every 2 levels?>
Anywhere from .5x-1x in spells, depending on what you want, available TPs, and the rest of your training. Most seem to be focusing on the Minor Mental list until they have 1214 or 1220 before getting Minor Spirit spells.
<2. What is recommended CM's?>
My monk is currently doing just fine with Punch, Grapple, and Evade masteries along with a rank in Ki Focus. I'm sure others that have used the others more will chime in with their recommendations.
<3. What is the recommended UAC attack progression. I noticed how jabs can set up for punches, punches for kicks and so on. Aside from the various round times, is there any people prefer?>
JAB, PUNCH, GRAPPLE, and KICK is the progression. JAB has the highest chance to get a tier-up opportunity and the lowest crits, it (along with PUNCH) also has the lowest RT (3 seconds). KICK has the lowest chance to get a tier up opportunity, the best crits and the highest RT (5 seconds). PUNCH provides better crits then JAB with a lower chance of tiering up. GRAPPLE has better crits then either JAB or PUNCH, but not quite as good as KICK.... it also has an RT of 4 seconds and SEEMS to have a better chance of knocking down your opponent then the other three (I can't back up that last bit with numbers, but I always seem to have better success getting critters prone with GRAPPLE then the other three).
Here's an example attack to reference in the brief guide below it (you can ignore the flaring handwraps, didn't have one without them readily available):
>jab tro
You attempt to jab a hill troll!
You have good positioning against a hill troll.
UAF: 131 vs UDF: 114 = 1.149 * MM: 123 + d100: 30 = 171
... and hit for 14 points of damage!
Flurry of jabs to the ribs leaves the hill troll winded!
Strike leaves foe vulnerable to a followup grapple attack!
Your suede handwraps flare with a burst of flame!
... 20 points of damage!
Nasty burns to right arm. Gonna need lots of butter.
The hill troll moans in pain as the flames singe her skin!
... 60 points of damage!
Intestines rupture from intense heat; a hill troll dies a slow, painful death.
The hill troll screams one last time and dies.
The deep blue glow leaves a hill troll.
Roundtime: 3 sec.
For best success with UAC, your first couple attacks should be JABs, until the messaging suggests a specific attack (Strike leaves foe vulnerable to a followup grapple attack!). Your next attack should be the one suggested, in this case GRAPPLE.
Once you successfully execute the suggested attack, your "positioning" will go from decent to good (in the example, the positioning was already good so it would have gone to excellent had the troll lived for me to attack it again). Your positioning is important because the better your positioning the better the crits all four types of attack will deliver and the more damage they'll do. ALWAYS use the suggested attack when you see it (you might even want to highlight the words jab, punch, grapple, and kick) since tiering up quickly is the fastest way to end a fight. Once I've tiered up from "decent" to "good", I usually switch to PUNCH or GRAPPLE until I can tier up to "excellent" positioning and switch to KICK... though, to be honest, most of the time whatever I'm fighting is dead before I even tier up all the way.
If something's fairly easy for you, you might want to lead off with PUNCH or GRAPPLE rather then JAB to save yourself some time. However, I'd always use the above progression for anything that offers a challenge.
Starchitin
A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.
Anywhere from .5x-1x in spells, depending on what you want, available TPs, and the rest of your training. Most seem to be focusing on the Minor Mental list until they have 1214 or 1220 before getting Minor Spirit spells.
<2. What is recommended CM's?>
My monk is currently doing just fine with Punch, Grapple, and Evade masteries along with a rank in Ki Focus. I'm sure others that have used the others more will chime in with their recommendations.
<3. What is the recommended UAC attack progression. I noticed how jabs can set up for punches, punches for kicks and so on. Aside from the various round times, is there any people prefer?>
JAB, PUNCH, GRAPPLE, and KICK is the progression. JAB has the highest chance to get a tier-up opportunity and the lowest crits, it (along with PUNCH) also has the lowest RT (3 seconds). KICK has the lowest chance to get a tier up opportunity, the best crits and the highest RT (5 seconds). PUNCH provides better crits then JAB with a lower chance of tiering up. GRAPPLE has better crits then either JAB or PUNCH, but not quite as good as KICK.... it also has an RT of 4 seconds and SEEMS to have a better chance of knocking down your opponent then the other three (I can't back up that last bit with numbers, but I always seem to have better success getting critters prone with GRAPPLE then the other three).
Here's an example attack to reference in the brief guide below it (you can ignore the flaring handwraps, didn't have one without them readily available):
>jab tro
You attempt to jab a hill troll!
You have good positioning against a hill troll.
UAF: 131 vs UDF: 114 = 1.149 * MM: 123 + d100: 30 = 171
... and hit for 14 points of damage!
Flurry of jabs to the ribs leaves the hill troll winded!
Strike leaves foe vulnerable to a followup grapple attack!
Your suede handwraps flare with a burst of flame!
... 20 points of damage!
Nasty burns to right arm. Gonna need lots of butter.
The hill troll moans in pain as the flames singe her skin!
... 60 points of damage!
Intestines rupture from intense heat; a hill troll dies a slow, painful death.
The hill troll screams one last time and dies.
The deep blue glow leaves a hill troll.
Roundtime: 3 sec.
For best success with UAC, your first couple attacks should be JABs, until the messaging suggests a specific attack (Strike leaves foe vulnerable to a followup grapple attack!). Your next attack should be the one suggested, in this case GRAPPLE.
Once you successfully execute the suggested attack, your "positioning" will go from decent to good (in the example, the positioning was already good so it would have gone to excellent had the troll lived for me to attack it again). Your positioning is important because the better your positioning the better the crits all four types of attack will deliver and the more damage they'll do. ALWAYS use the suggested attack when you see it (you might even want to highlight the words jab, punch, grapple, and kick) since tiering up quickly is the fastest way to end a fight. Once I've tiered up from "decent" to "good", I usually switch to PUNCH or GRAPPLE until I can tier up to "excellent" positioning and switch to KICK... though, to be honest, most of the time whatever I'm fighting is dead before I even tier up all the way.
If something's fairly easy for you, you might want to lead off with PUNCH or GRAPPLE rather then JAB to save yourself some time. However, I'd always use the above progression for anything that offers a challenge.
Starchitin
A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.
1. Design is 40 spells at cap. Training minor mental first and fast seems to be the way to go. 1x or close to it until you have 1220 at or about level 20. Then decide if you want to keep piling on spells or boost physical and get some tertiary skills. You'll want to be keeping pace with harness, both to have the mana for spelling up and to get enough to use 1207 on every critter.
2. If you don't have a list of must-have CMans, then leave it at 1x until you have 1220. You should have a martial stance. Krynch is far and away my favorite of them, you need 2 ranks to get good results with it, but the 3rd is poor value for the CMan points. There's nothing that will do the job feint does, except feint. You'll need all 5 ranks or a weapon or to leave turtled casters alone. Punchmastery etc. provide highly significant additional power to your attack. I'd put the first 24 into 2 ranks each of krynch and punchmastery and then think about what would help your style the most.
3. Everything sets up for everything, but jabs set up tiers faster. I like punch, because dead is dead, and handing out a possible death crit every 3 or 4 seconds beats handing out a possible death crit every 5 or 6 seconds. The best opening knockdown is 1207, and punch leg is as fast as grapple random and better at making sure what goes down stays down. (You'll need to be about level 15 if you train to aim early, level 20 with balanced training or level 25 if you pile on the spells, before aiming works well) Flares are very useful because attacks at decent are feeble, so your best chance of splatting a critter inside a couple of swings is a flare. (krynch if you have the chance to roll).
2. If you don't have a list of must-have CMans, then leave it at 1x until you have 1220. You should have a martial stance. Krynch is far and away my favorite of them, you need 2 ranks to get good results with it, but the 3rd is poor value for the CMan points. There's nothing that will do the job feint does, except feint. You'll need all 5 ranks or a weapon or to leave turtled casters alone. Punchmastery etc. provide highly significant additional power to your attack. I'd put the first 24 into 2 ranks each of krynch and punchmastery and then think about what would help your style the most.
3. Everything sets up for everything, but jabs set up tiers faster. I like punch, because dead is dead, and handing out a possible death crit every 3 or 4 seconds beats handing out a possible death crit every 5 or 6 seconds. The best opening knockdown is 1207, and punch leg is as fast as grapple random and better at making sure what goes down stays down. (You'll need to be about level 15 if you train to aim early, level 20 with balanced training or level 25 if you pile on the spells, before aiming works well) Flares are very useful because attacks at decent are feeble, so your best chance of splatting a critter inside a couple of swings is a flare. (krynch if you have the chance to roll).
>1x or close to it until you have 1220 at or about level 20.<
How? I'm noticing points are tight with my new monk doing the following:
I honestly don't know how I could fit anything else in there, and that above usually requires a fudge of a rank in something every level. Seriously considering dropping the dodge down to 2x to see how that works out.
How? I'm noticing points are tight with my new monk doing the following:
| TWC: 0.5x |
| CM: 2x |
| Brawling: 2x |
| PF: 2x |
| Dodge: 3x |
| Harness Power: 0.5x |
| Mental Lore Trans: 0.5x |
| Minor Mental: 0.5x |
I honestly don't know how I could fit anything else in there, and that above usually requires a fudge of a rank in something every level. Seriously considering dropping the dodge down to 2x to see how that works out.
>I honestly don't know how I could fit anything else in there, and that above usually requires a fudge of a rank in something every level. Seriously considering dropping the dodge down to 2x to see how that works out.
How you can do it is by not training all that stuff before level 20.
No lore. Spells or lore. Not both. Heavy lore training is for square monks that stop at 2 spells.
1x Cman. Getting 1220 early is enormously better value than getting CMans early.
1x PF. 2x PF does nothing for you at level 20 (though 2x it to max HP and then stop until you have spells in place). You aren't in range of redux until mid to late 20s as a 2x PF monk.
You should be able to push spells to 1220 at level 20 and add enough harness to use them with that (60-80 mana).
Once you have 1220, (maybe once you have 1216) you don't need the TWC and can untrain it if you want to recover points for other things.
You can save on dodge too, particularly if you are playing a high AGI race.
You will be fudging. There are genuine choices about what to train when, and points stay tight for a long time. However, early training in MnM spells is very heavily rewarded. Unless your plan is always to be spell light, it will pay you to be spell heavy till you have 1220.
How you can do it is by not training all that stuff before level 20.
No lore. Spells or lore. Not both. Heavy lore training is for square monks that stop at 2 spells.
1x Cman. Getting 1220 early is enormously better value than getting CMans early.
1x PF. 2x PF does nothing for you at level 20 (though 2x it to max HP and then stop until you have spells in place). You aren't in range of redux until mid to late 20s as a 2x PF monk.
You should be able to push spells to 1220 at level 20 and add enough harness to use them with that (60-80 mana).
Once you have 1220, (maybe once you have 1216) you don't need the TWC and can untrain it if you want to recover points for other things.
You can save on dodge too, particularly if you are playing a high AGI race.
You will be fudging. There are genuine choices about what to train when, and points stay tight for a long time. However, early training in MnM spells is very heavily rewarded. Unless your plan is always to be spell light, it will pay you to be spell heavy till you have 1220.
This is my monk's training, for comparison. He's about 10,000 from level 19, has way more points then his training requires, and isn't having difficulties against anything anywhere near his level self spelled:
(at level 18), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat..................| 90 20
Combat Maneuvers...................| 86 19
Brawling...........................| 140 40
Ambush.............................| 90 20
Physical Fitness...................| 140 40
Dodging............................| 160 60
Harness Power......................| 45 9
Mental Mana Control................| 45 9
Mental Lore - Transformation.......| 45 9
Perception.........................| 90 20
Climbing...........................| 50 10
Swimming...........................| 50 10
Spell Lists
Minor Mental.......................| 10
If I needed more points I'd drop the Ambush since I'm not taking advantage of it (yet), but I'm having to hold myself back from over-training in the things I .5x in as it is so I'm not worried about it. Heck, I picked up perception just to have somewhere to dump the extra points.
If I dropped both perception and Ambush, I likely would be able to 1x in spells... but there's honestly not much on either list I feel I have to have faster then I'm already going to get it. I do plan on switching over to Minor Spirit once I get 1214 and training up to 107 before finishing up the Mental list since I'll want 107 around the time I hit 40.
Starchitin
A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.
(at level 18), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat..................| 90 20
Combat Maneuvers...................| 86 19
Brawling...........................| 140 40
Ambush.............................| 90 20
Physical Fitness...................| 140 40
Dodging............................| 160 60
Harness Power......................| 45 9
Mental Mana Control................| 45 9
Mental Lore - Transformation.......| 45 9
Perception.........................| 90 20
Climbing...........................| 50 10
Swimming...........................| 50 10
Spell Lists
Minor Mental.......................| 10
If I needed more points I'd drop the Ambush since I'm not taking advantage of it (yet), but I'm having to hold myself back from over-training in the things I .5x in as it is so I'm not worried about it. Heck, I picked up perception just to have somewhere to dump the extra points.
If I dropped both perception and Ambush, I likely would be able to 1x in spells... but there's honestly not much on either list I feel I have to have faster then I'm already going to get it. I do plan on switching over to Minor Spirit once I get 1214 and training up to 107 before finishing up the Mental list since I'll want 107 around the time I hit 40.
Starchitin
A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.
