A little help for new monks.

There is very little info around for monks so I am going to try and help new people out and should at least get folks a good place to start.

First I would like to point out that Monks are not about burst damage and they are not about big numbers. If you want that Drg and Blm are the way to go. Monks are a very powerful DPS but its often not clear what we are doing and it is often poorly played making us look bad in general. Summoner suffers from these same issues. Point is that anyone who says Mnk (or Smn) is weak doesn't have a clue… and that includes people playing the classes.

The biggest issue I see with monks is people using a set rotation. I cannot stress this enough: Monk Does Not Have A Rotation! Monks have a priority system and it changes greatly depending on the fight. This also means that using one button macros is very foolish.

For example Bootshine should be used every chance you get provided certain requirements are met… Dragon Kick debuff up, it is possible position behind the boss and you are in the right stance(Opo-opo).

Dragon kick should be used whenever the buff needs to be refreshed and the same goes for Twin snakes. They have priority over every other ability.

Demolish should be used everytime your GL stacks are full and demolish is not up already. If you are going to be forced to leave a target for 18s or more you should also put it up even without GL stacks complete because the damage will be better than Snap punch. Do not clip(overwrite)

Rockbreaker should be used when there are three or more targets and TP will not be an issue.

Arm of the Destroyer should be used when in proper stance if you need a silence. This can be used for extra aoe damage but the damage is very low and the TP cost high. You need at least 3 targets just to reach the damage of dragon kick and 6 to match TP costs. If you are in a hurry for dps on big aoe then it can be worth it… in most cases it isn't.

True strike is a good ability if you can manage to use it, and not lose any buffs. Very hard to pull off and generally not worth it.

Touch of death should be used with full stacks of GL (and BfB if you can). Do not clip (overwrite the dot)

Steel Peak on cooldown provided you don't need the stun and target immunity is not a problem (ifrit)

Howling Fist on cooldown while in a position to hit the most targets.

Fracture(Mrd) when debuff is not up, GL is up, and you are not low on TP. Do not clip.

Impulse Drive(Lnc) When all other buffs are up and TP will not be an issue. Most boss fights will last long enough for this ability to drain you of TP. If you run out of TP and lose GL this ability loses all of its benefits.

Cooldowns:

Internal Release can be used whenever. I save the first use for after 3 GL stacks and use it with Blood for Blood. After that use on cooldown. It is sometimes best to save for burst phases.

Blood for blood(Lnc) should be used exactly like Internal release except that it should never be used if you would be taking large amounts of damage (Titan)

Mantra can be used to save yourself, a tank cooldown, or a raid cooldown… often all three at once. The range on this is tiny so keep that in mind. This is a great ability for primal when the group stacks up with big incoming damage.

Invigorate(lnc) As soon as you hit 600 tp on any long fights, some find it better to use it sooner. After that use on cooldown.

Perfect balance Use it to get stacks up quick at the start of a fight, for burst, when transition causes GL stack loss, or when you make a mistake and want to get them back up quickly.

Note: Full stack of GL, Internal release > Blood for blood > howling fist > Rockbreaker spam like crazy. This is rather amusing in WP on big AoE pulls. Be careful doing this as there is a good chance you are going to end up tanking.


Stats:

There is a bit of argument over stats but a few things are certain. Weapon damage is by far the most important stat. Strength is number two on the list. There is no question of these two stats.

Many argue for Skill Speed over Det and Crit. From my experience Skill Speed is only useful at very low gear levels and with low skill level. I personally made the mistake of picking up SS DL over the the other options and now in full DL with Relic +1 have to constantly worry about TP. This is not a good place to be. It means that any time I don't have a bard that can feed me TP or a fight with a decent amount of down time I am going to lose dps. The way SS works now it is my opinion that Crit and Det are better for most fights.

Some abilities have been left out because their use is so limited or so obvious there is no point in listing them.

Tl;Dr Read it and sorry about the errors... I no can english.

Required cross class skills:

Invigorate Lancer level 22.

Blood for Blood Lancer level 34.

Fracture Marauder level 8.

Mercy Stroke Marauder level 26.

Useful cross class skills:

Bloodbath Marauder level 8. Provides a decent self heal which can help healers out.

Impulse Drive Level 8 lancer. Great damage but eats TP fast.

Other cross class skills are very limited in use.

TP management:

Use Invigorate as soon as you can. Do not wait until you are out of TP to use it. If you are still limited on TP drop Impulse Drive(if you are using it in the first place) until your TP levels are good again. If that is not enough drop fracture. If you are still running into troubles you can pass on ToD for a short time. If after all that you are still running into problems you probably have too much Skill speed or you need a bard.

If at any point your TP becomes so limited that you struggle keeping up with use on your main attacks your DPS will seriously suffer. Like everything with monk this can change from boss to boss... and even the same boss but a different run. This something that you must learn if you plan on doing anything past DF.

fracture is definitely not 'required'

this was incredibly helpful, thanks!

What SS do you recommend?

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Originally Posted by Size

What SS do you recommend?

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At this point no one is recommending SS and it changes greatly depending on fights. Ifrit/garuda/titan you could get away with stacking a ton of the stuff because there is so much time spent running around that you are unlikely to run out of TP. Personally I just take the SS that is on the gear and call it a day... never try to get any more though. In turn 1 I have to be careful with TP but then in turn 2 I can pretty much ignore it. Monk changes a lot depending on what is going on around them. This is why I think the class is so fun.

Mercy Stroke, required? Wha?

Put Impulse Drive in Required and Mercy Stroke in the Garbage.

Only time it is worth using Fracture is inside Blood for Blood.

Would like to note that rockbreaker can also be used at a range to refresh GL if you will not make it in time to snap punch. Also howling fist should be used whenever its off cooldown at all. On trash and during add phases you do want to hit the most enemies but during boss fights howling should always be used.

To anyone saying fracture is not worth it, you need to read the skill. Fracture does more DMG than any other skill a monk has (bar demolish and ToD). You are cutting your DPS by not using it. It is required. Also using Impulse Drive will run your TP so low so quick you won't even know what to do with your self. Definitely not a required skill.