Light Path Monk tactics / gear?

[Ispepxam]

Here is a question for our Monk players in the guild – or anyone who can offer sound advice…

I recently took advantage of the Stone of Experience to take my Light path Monk up to lvl 16. I know it’s a first life, but I have plans for any TR before they expire, so I thought – why not…

It’s been a while since I played Ispepaloc so it’s been fun getting back into the way of remembering the key combinations for the various finishing moves. The extra gear that came with the lvl boost has also been fun to figure out.

Anyway, here is my two-part question:-

First: being light path I wondered what finishing combos is best to use against mobs and bosses to get the best use of my limited DPS output? I’m not suggesting Ispepaloc is a wimp with the DPS, but I believe it ‘s a lot less than a dark path monk…:). I do have Quivering Palm, Void Strike and Stunning Fist (I think from memory) as well as the normal elemental (air, earth, fire, water) and light path strikes.

Second, what gear is good to aim for being a light path monk?
As I’m only lvl 16 I don’t have any Greensteel or Epics yet, but here is a quick flavour of what I do have. I already have a decent range of handwraps with stunning +10, smiting and other effects for different situations. For the extra HP and fortification I have a Minos Legens helm. I have a few robes including White Dragon Scale as well as others with deathblock and other situational clickies. I have a Blood Stone for the extra Seeker benefit and a Voice of Master for the XP boost on quest completions. I also have Jidz Tet’ka bracers for the bonus to my monk stances. Various other gear fills out my other stat requirements as needed – take a look at my DDO player profile for Ispepaloc for some extra info.

Any advice always welcome.

Cheers, Ispep – Jimmy

[Myror]

Some of the things Myroar has and does.at level 16

Green steel cloak for +45 HP, fort and prot +5
Tharaak Bracers for Toughness and Dodge +2
Dread admirals hat with Natural Armor 5 and Balance +13
Enhanced Madstone boots for the Superior Potency and Striding, swapped often for Kundarak Delving boots for their Freedom of Movement
Robe is Dragontouched with Resistance +5, Strength +6 and Heightened Awarness 4, but will swap it with another when I get to level 20 and some other gear options open up.
Various other slots with WIS +6, DEX +6 amd CON +6 items
Keep one ring slot available for slotting in either feather fall or Cold Resistance 30 or Jump +15

Regarding finishers, I use healing ki the most, the others I rarely use. Depends on if the situation looks like it requires one. Will sometimes give the SP one if everyone is standing around looking like they are about to buff. The stun prevention one is also useful but very specific to only a few quests, Dreaming Dark, TOD and maybe LOB are the only ones that need it.

Myroar is usually in Wind Stance. At this level hardly ever in Fire Stance, so Ki generation is always a problem. Currently is master of all 4 so he’s got access to all the level III elemental strikes and Void Strike III (once he gets the AP for it). I usually burn off all my Ki easily just spamming the strikes or trying to heal. Trying to see if he can be Shintao III and have Void Strike IV at level 20 but I suspect he’ll have to sacrifice too many other good things to achieve it.

There is a lot of good gear out there that I’d love to wear such as Spare Hand, Rock Boots, Frozen Tunic and Charged Gauntlets. They were great fun at level 4 but I cannot fit them and all the other things I consider neccessary, with my available items, at level 16

[Ispepxam]

Thanks for your reply Myror. Interesting that you use wind stance – I normally run in fire stance for the incoming healing benefits. Some intesting gear choices as well – time to check some of those out on Wiki to see where I need to go and farm over the next few levels.

I did try Quivering Palm for the first time last night in Gianthold and I have to say it was a lot of fun – one hit kill on mob enemies is nice, although Ki cost of 30 is a downside. I still need to figure out some nice combos that make use of my void strike and stunning fist… more research for me…

Any more input from the other monk players in guild would be welcome (Vik, Rob…?)

Cheer, Ispep – Jimmy.

[Myror]

Quivering Palm is nice when you first get it, but it doesn’t scale well as you level up to 20 or when you try harder difficulties. For instance on elite I find it hardly ever lands. Stunning Fist on the other hand I find much much more useful. With +10 Stunning handwraps and nice Wisdom, you can land stuns even in epics. +5 Exceptional Combat Mastery from a Spare Hand, if you can fit it in, makes Stunning Fist even better.

I have been using Wind Stance in the past because Myroar is a Halfling so it’s easier to get DEX higher then STR. He also used to have the FIness Feat so it helped his To Hit. Now that he’s TR’ed again, his STR and DEX are more on par with each other, either can be higher then the other depending on stance I choose. I’ve also not yet decided if I’ll take Finesse this time around, it’s less obvious if it would be a good choice for his final feat. I still favour Wind though for the double strike and the attack animation speed. All other stances feel sluggish when not hasted 🙂

The extra healing you get in Fire Stance is only from those Jidz Tet’ka bracers. When I was using them at lower levels, then I too used Fire Stance. Now that I’ve switched them out for different bracers, Fire Stance is a lot less appealing.

Once the update comes out, I will probably switch to using Earth Stance mostly, unless in a raid where more DPS and less threat is needed. I’ll be trying to see if I can find some synergy with the Earth Stance’s improved critical multiplier. In particular I’m hoping it will also boost burst damage from other effects on criticals, the ones whose dice depend on critical multiplier.

[Author]

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