Fixing Anatman (Monk)

So since Monk needs to be fixed anyways in order to fully embrace it's rotation and potential... (If you don't know, you can just spam Dragonkick for most of the fight atm)

We need Phantom Rush to line up with Raid Buffs since as it is now, there's no way to do that, even for the second raid buff window (unless you want to lose an entire Perfect-Balance use). Perfect Balance 40 second cooldown, you can Phantom Rush every 2 minutes AFTER the first 40 seconds of combat... Just feels wrong to have your best action only used outside of raid buffs

What if Anatman filled your Lunar and Solar Nadi overtime? Every 10s Anatman fills a Nadi (20s for both). Out of combat it could do it instantly...
That way you can start with Phantom Rush, and you can gain Nadi even when the boss is doing their funky dance away from the raid.
And then if you wanna line up Phantom Rush with Raid Buffs, you'll have the freedom to do that~ (and probably other cool things, just like the other MDPS with their Soulsow and Kenki gains)

Phantom Rush is fine. MNK already does a boatload of damage as it currently is and cramming it into the opener or making it naturally align doesn't really change anything about the job other than it doing more damage. I've said this a ton already in other MNK threads and I'll say it again: PR not aligning/Double Solar is fine, the bigger issue is MNK not having anything to do in between bursts, at least in my opinion.

I don't care about the damage, they can nerf/buff monk in whatever ways potency-wise in order to keep the job balanced. I think it would be more fun if our best actions line up with raid-buff windows like every other class

Just remove the skill and put the Disciplined Fist refresh effect on Form Shift.

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Originally Posted by Silver-Strider

Just remove the skill and put the Disciplined Fist refresh effect on Form Shift.

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Honestly they should throw Meditate in there too and have Form Shift just do it all instead of there being 3 buttons that you only hit when the boss jumps. There's no reason Monk's downtime should be such a mess of pointless busywork.

The intention for the ability right now seems to be for keeping your current state and buffs up while you’re waiting for a battle change, such as the period of waiting between both D4S phases where you can’t attack anything; it’s a very niche use, but it does serve its purpose in that regard. I can’t think of when I would want to consistently use it in a normal rotation within an uninterrupted fight though.

Have it maintain Leaden Fist as well? If that's not good enough, perhaps have it apply Disciplined Fist and Leaden Fist in addition to maintaining them, just like Formless Fist.

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Originally Posted by MellowMink

The intention for the ability right now seems to be for keeping your current state and buffs up while you’re waiting for a battle change, such as the period of waiting between both D4S phases where you can’t attack anything; it’s a very niche use, but it does serve its purpose in that regard. I can’t think of when I would want to consistently use it in a normal rotation within an uninterrupted fight though.

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Everyone is aware of what Anatman's overly niche use is. It's near absolutely worthless when Form Shift exists. It also doesn't help when most of the transitions you'd actually want to use it for are combo'd with "down for the count" effects or other mechanics.

There is absolutely no reason for Anatman to exist in it's current incarnation with how current monk, and fight design works.

Change it to be a stance effect with no time limit. Refreshes and freezes current form, Disciplined Fist and Leaden Fist timers. Generates a chakra per server tick while not moving. Only falls off with the execution of a weaponskill/ability. Then it's at least somewhat usable during transitions without "down for the count" style effects.

Or just out right remove the thing and replace it with something actually designed for current monk.

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Originally Posted by Ramura_Sono

There is absolutely no reason for Anatman to exist in it's current incarnation with how current monk, and fight design works.

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Arguably there was no reason for it to exist in any iteration of Monk since it only existed as a (terrible) counterbalance to them hamstringing Monk's recovery in 5.0 instead of changing how Tornado Kick worked. Its one of the most conceptually rotten skills as far as design goes in the game because it was made as part of an effort to make the job weaker rather than improve it and it really is about as close to an ability being beyond salvaging as you'll get. It definitely should be replaced, especially since Monk already has so many skills for downtime.

We could make Anatman useful or merge Form Shift and Meditate, or we could just go straight to the root of the problem and rework Chakra so we don't have to deal with conundrums like these.

Either way, whatever happens to the glorified emote of a skill I don't really care that much so long as it's not turned into a "2 minute cooldown free Phantom Rush" button.

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Originally Posted by VentVanitas

We could make Anatman useful or merge Form Shift and Meditate, or we could just go straight to the root of the problem and rework Chakra so we don't have to deal with conundrums like these.

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I'd rather rework Chakra, honestly. TFC spam is not particularly interesting beyond simply hitting it as soon as possible (and knowing the Bootshine and Shadow guarantee procs), and being balanced around it really only offers further penalty for downtime that then requires a bunch of other BS to make up for.

Imagine if those 3 to all 5 of those buttons --Form Shift, Meditate, Anatman, The Forbidden Chakra, and Enlightenment-- were instead put towards a few oGCD attacks --among which the most powerful or worthwhile per seconds' CD would vary situationally and rotationally-- that could be 'rushed' (CD-skipped) through Chakra or whatever rebranded resource system. That wouldn't have nearly such a downtime issue, as we'd have a larger portion of our kit's potency that scales with time, rather than merely uptime, and it'd give us more to enjoyably press.

(Removing the need for a Form Shift button merely requires allowing for free form usage at all times and a passive that nonetheless pretty well forces us to rotate as before, such as by granting stacks for the number of different forms used within the last 3 GCDs or debuffing a particular form for the next 2 GCDs after use. Such would actually allow that capacity to have during-uptime implications, especially if we have Blitz and PB contribute to but still not consume said stacks or inflict any such debuffs, and dig deeper into Monk's core free-form identity.)

They reworked Improvisation into something way more useful... I'm surprised Anatman didn't get a similar treatment. I don't think it needs defensive bonuses like Improv, so yeah I'm on the team that thinks Anatman should just be completely redesigned, perhaps into something that helps with Monk's weird openers.

SSS also feels kinda meh for what it does... I would buff its bonus to the same speed as a sprint.

It should definitely have some additional effect over time, or at least more things to preserve; as someone pointed out, since Form Shift can be instantly cast instead to get any attack form that you want, the only unique thing this spell really adds to its already niche waiting-between-boss-phases use is keeping one particular (and already short) attack buff up longer. It needs more… things to keep up, like any riddle or sprint timers.

Giving it a niche support feature is also an option a la DNC's new Improvisation. Gain stacks for a powered up Mantra, or something along those lines. It wouldn't save the skill of course, but it would give it a more distinct purpose at least. As much as I dislike Anatman as a whole, I am the one freak that wants to see MNK play a bit more into the, well, monk side of Monk.

There are still quite a few useless additions and issues on MNK that I hope get addressed at some point in the future, preferably before 7.0.

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Originally Posted by VentVanitas

the bigger issue is MNK not having anything to do in between bursts, at least in my opinion.

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What if they gave monk a new gauge ontop of the two they already got, and it builds on auto attacks, so that riddle of wind hastened that auto attack speed. so that every 15 seconds you get to use a weak ogcd, but for riddle of wind you can use three in that 15 seconds.

that way there's something to do between the 30 and 60 seconds it takes between both bursts in your rotation. If only that it's basically monk's answer to Shoha and Shoha II