36-pt Monk Build: Suggestions?

[Mordirith]

Hey guys,

Long time lurker, first time poster. I've been, albeit due to having no time, slowly TR'ing one of my characters to try create a Completionist Fighter. But first, the steps required to get there!

Currently, he's a half-orc Monk modeled after The Metaru 2.0 build. When I originally set the character up, this particular build held it's own throughout all the content around when I was playing (pre-eGH, Eveningstar had just knocked on the door) without too much of an issue. Now, however, I'm finding it difficult to progress in solo questing.

My intention is to blitz through my third and final Monk reincarnation to move onto bigger, better things (or Paladin. Snore).

With the upcoming enhancement pass, I know this might not be the smartest endeavor, but I'm hoping with all my free time I could bust through this monk life before that happens.

<snip>

Through my own continued research and dabbling, I've come up with three possible solutions to my request.

1. Fire + Earth Half-orc (Dark) Monk
The first and most obvious choice is to TR back into the same monk archetype to keep it simple and not stress too much over improving my outlook on character design.

2. Air + Earth Half-Elf (Dark / Light ) Monk
By switching up the race and stances, I could potentially have a field day with Frozen Tunic and certain proc-wraps. That said, the reliance on item procs makes me a little nervous.
Dark Monk would allow me certain luxuries like Shadow Fade and Touch of Death to provide more selfish killing, but Light Monk is appealing for it's team synergy.

3. Water + Earth Half-Elf (Dark / Light ) Monk
This would allow me to create a more synergistic monk for teamplay, however stun CCs aside, would the DPS would be a little lacking in comparison to the other two choices? Even if I went Dark Monk, I'd still primarily be better suited for CC, which makes me more inclined to select Light if I go this path.

If I were to go for a TR speed run to polish off the final monk level before progressing elsewhere, I would expect "High Dumb DPS" to be easier, considering I have most of the gear for my next batch of lives now (Paladin x3 / Barbarian x3 / Ranger x1 / Bard x1 / Druid x1 )

[ArcaneArcher52689]

Will you be doing any epic content at all?


Either way,
I think dark monk dps may be a bit higher, but i like light monk better

two stuns moves, 30% healing amp, access to light monk strikes, access to a self ressurect, higher unarmed base damage, 15 PRR in earth stance, access to dark monk-shadow fade, access to dark monk bonus helpless damage (cause with 2 stuns, why not?).

And if you're aiming for epics, it plays well with vorpal strikes.

I'd aim for wind/earth human 16/15/15/8/17/9

[Smarte111]

If you want pure dps I would say the the new dark monk and drow, with the new enhancements, that makes short swords, damage and +hit come from dex, you can make a pure dex wis build with a focus on dex. And the Drows enhancements are made for the dark monk, with the + damage and hit on short swords, and the pulses to twf. But due to the removal of the toughness enhancement and the drows -2 con they would be rather squishy, but I think it would out dps a light monk by a country mill.

[red_cardinal]

I had a Half-orc druid/monk also 36pt with no good gear. Yesterday I made him a pure monk.
Now at level 18 I took Henshyn mystic line and some racial things. I took activated Ninja Spy
tree so I get shortsword proficiency.

STR: 12
DEX: 15
CON: 16
INT: 6
WIS: 18 - all level ups here
CHA: 6

I took twf line, power attack, cleave, toughness.

I went WIS-based so I can proc special attacks. It seems kinda nice so far... QP is great - erases mobs from existence because SUNDER items add to QP DCs. +3 to QP DCs and another +3 from Half-orc racial tree. This will work nice.

Void strike procs here and there. This is kinda nice.

With Monk Ed and twisted haste boost this will be nice. It's also optional to use momentum swing and qstaff and benefit from Qstaff enhancements and halforc racials.

Time will tell...

[Mordirith]

So I made it a Half-Elf Dark Monk, prior to the enhancement pass and got to level 17.

Now the enhancement change has occurred, it's like driving a truck with no wheels. :rolleyes:
For whatever reason, I find the Half-Elf racial tree to be really unfriendly to Monk now, perhaps it's just my experience with it thus far.

I have a free Lesser Reincarnation (whooo!) so I could fix it up a bit but I'm a little bit unsure what to do with it. If I had the ability to race change, I'd jump back to Half-Orc or pick up Drow / Human for some of their perks, over Half-Elf.

Nergh. It's quite upsetting :)

[elg582]

So I made it a Half-Elf Dark Monk, prior to the enhancement pass and got to level 17.

Now the enhancement change has occurred, it's like driving a truck with no wheels. :rolleyes:
For whatever reason, I find the Half-Elf racial tree to be really unfriendly to Monk now, perhaps it's just my experience with it thus far.

I have a free Lesser Reincarnation (whooo!) so I could fix it up a bit but I'm a little bit unsure what to do with it. If I had the ability to race change, I'd jump back to Half-Orc or pick up Drow / Human for some of their perks, over Half-Elf.

Nergh. It's quite upsetting :)

Well, on my helf air/earth dark monk, i took rogue dilly and most of the improved dilly enhancements, along with human damage boost, 36 points in ninja (all of the tier 5 abilities rock), and just enough in shintao for +10% offhand and silver fists. The rogue dilly enhancement ability lets you lose aggro, and I picked up ki shout if I need to gain aggro.

Another nice move to pick up is the water strike that makes enemies vulnerable to sneak attacks, so all your SA dice and crippling strike work more often.

[Mordirith]

What kind of weapons are you using for that setup, Elg?

I have ... practically everything I'd need for level 16 onwards, except a decent pair of Kama :P I'd try find some, but given that I won't be using Monk again any time soon, it's no rush.