The Monk Temple

Ok since all the other DDs have their own thread, here's one for the coolest Job (and class) in the game at the moment.
Pick up your gloves, wear your bandanas and feel free discuss everything about "The way of the 100 Fists!"

Best skills, best gear, best rotations and every cool thing you find about Pugilists and Monks!

Have fun!

I am on the server with you and I concur that Monk is indeed the coolest class. Why use a weapon when you have your fist?

I played PGL up until lvl 20 during open beta and I love the class. Started leveling Archer and Lancer as well but will prob make PGL/Monk my main class.

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Originally Posted by Yagoua

I am on the server with you and I concur that Monk is indeed the coolest class. Why use a weapon when you have your fist?

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The same reason that no war ever is fought with fists... but I'll let you continue RPing :D

I like monk too it's a cool job. It will great if someone can post some tips on how to play it well :)

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Originally Posted by Dawning-Blue

I like monk too it's a cool job. I will great if someone can post some tips on how to play it well :)

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I too would like some tips really, if anyone has some to share. It's one of the classes/jobs I'm interested in, but I really feel I know next to nothing about it. It could be that that knowledge will come in time though, or that I may know more than I think I know. c_c

Supposing I could ask a few questions to get this rolling: Crit rate obviously is good for pgl (and likely mnk dur), but is getting gear with determination also good? Will that help overall damage? I'm really not completely sure on that particular 'stat' for anything, to be honest. :C

Edit, due to the obnoxious limit...:

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Originally Posted by Gingigod

Am i the only pug on Coeurl U_U , feel lonely...

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I am on Coeurl, unless something bad happens again. XD;

Also, THANK YOU EVERYONE! Lots of helpful information for me. I know some of it, but there were details that I greatly lacked, especially with the determination 'stat'(forget who posted info on atm, but <3). I mostly lacked a bit on the longer fights. Often the trash mobs wouldn't last too terribly long, and I could barely get a second 'combo' in. Generally speaking, I'd stay on the flank (didn't have anything to do from behind) when in a party, and moved mostly to dodge any cone/AoE.

Now I'm excited to play pgl more, and pretty much still have another week before I can do it. :C

In response to Dawning-Blue and Kimille. Editing this to post the rotation instead of leaving it as a question due to the post limit.

I'll post how I worked my rotation during beta (Phases 3 & 4). Not sure how helpful it'll be, but it may give ya'll ideas or something. This is with the knowledge I have of playing up to Level 35 due to the cap in Phase 3.

This is how I personally went about it. After opening up with Touch of Death to get the DoT going, I would continue with:

Bootshine -> Twin Snakes (for the damage buff) -> Demolish (second DoT and begin stacking Greased Lightning) -> Bootshine -> True Strike -> Snap Punch -> Bootshine -> Twin Snakes (buff runs out usually right before using it again) -> Snap Punch (both DoTs are still going) -> Bootshine -> True Strike -> Demolish (get the DoT going again) -> Bootshine -> Twin Snakes -> Snap Punch -> Bootshine -> True Strike -> Snap Punch -> Bootshine -> Twin Snakes -> Demolish -> Touch of Death (both DoTs renewed) -> repeat

This is how my typical rotation would go without interruption (though there are always distractions). Interlaced with buff applications such as Featherfoot & Internal Realase as well as Haymaker for its slow, should it be available.

Basically, start with getting both DoTs on the enemy, applying your buffs, and activating the other buff from Twin Snakes. Go through two 'rounds' of Snap Punch before applying Demolish DoT again. Go through Demolish twice before applying Touch of Death DoT again. Use Twin Snakes every other 'round' to keep the buff up. I treat it as a Touch of Death DoT lasting two Demolish DoTs and one Demolish DoT lasting two Twin Snakes damage buffs.

Of course, keep your positioning in mind. Try to be behind enemies as often as possible. If this helps at all, then I'm glad.


[May make this a separate post once able. The limit's a pain.]

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Originally Posted by Tonitrui

DoTs right now, until proven otherwise do not fit in our rotation.

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I very much disagree. It'd be unwise to underestimate our DoTs. Now, as far as I know, the way DoTs work in this game is that the damage ticks every three seconds, yes? In that case:

Touch of Death lasts for 30 seconds with a potency of 25 after the initial 20 potency attack. That means it ticks 10 times during the time it's on. Giving Touch of Death an overall potency of 270.

Demolish lasts for 18 seconds with a potency of 40. It doesn't have an initial hit, but it keeps the Greased Lightning stacks up. During the time it's up, it has an overall potency of 240.

The only skill we have available to us that comes close to the damage these two dish out is Mercy Stroke (200 potency); which is a Marauder skill that requires the enemy to be below 20% health.

There's also Snap Punch that can have a potency of 180, but only if performed behind a target.

If fitting those two skills into your rotation is what you're worried about, then that's really just the challenge of mastering this class/job. It may be odd at first, but it's not too difficult once you get the hang of it.

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Originally Posted by Perthaneus-Magnum

I am disappointed that NO ONE has listed FRACTURE (another available DoT) from MRD to their rotation. I keep all three up when going through my combos.

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Forgive me. Wasn't paying enough attention as I was looking through the skills.

So we also have Fracture available to us from Marauder. Lasts for 18 seconds (since we lack the trait) with a potency of 20. Initial potency of 100, as well. Making an overall potency of 220.

With all three ticking at the same time, over the course of one Touch of Death, two Demolishes, and two Fractures (simultaneously, of course), the three DoTs will have put out a combined total of 1190 potency. We would be having that additional damage stacked on top of the damage being dished out by our main skills. I like this very much.

Of course, it goes without saying that these values don't really matter on trash mobs since they'll be dead before the DoTs utilize their full potential. If anything, work in just a single Demolish whilst fighting trash mobs and save both Touch of Death & Fracture for tougher foes.

Played quite a few classes in the beta and by far, pugilist/monk is the most fluid and striking, and of course the most fun to play :)

I LOVE Monk, most fun class in the whole roster imo.

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Originally Posted by Dawning-Blue

I like monk too it's a cool job. It will great if someone can post some tips on how to play it well :)

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Use flanking and back attacking correctly with weaponskills and keep your buffs up, you'll be golden! It was so sad to see PGLs in beta phases standing still and spamming 1-2-3 with no knowledge of the skill tooltips...

Mr. Happy has an awesome channel on ARR and I love this video here because it has some tips on monks.

http://youtu.be/Sfr508Dy6w8

Monk starts at 06:36

He has plenty of other videos to fulfill your monk and other needs.
http://youtu.be/Sfr508Dy6w8

Everybody's Kung-Fu Fighting~!

sing it wit meh! ;D

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Originally Posted by Kimille

I too would like some tips really, if anyone has some to share. It's one of the classes/jobs I'm interested in, but I really feel I know next to nothing about it. It could be that that knowledge will come in time though, or that I may know more than I think I know. c_c

Supposing I could ask a few questions to get this rolling: Crit rate obviously is good for pgl (and likely mnk dur), but is getting gear with determination also good? Will that help overall damage? I'm really not completely sure on that particular 'stat' for anything, to be honest. :C

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Determination increases damage at half the rate of STR (2DET:1STR). You always want more STR.

Considering the poor returns on skill speed, stacking crit/DET will probably be the way to go at launch - this is, of course, after you've met the baseline for ACC which is pretty easy to figure out.

Can't wait to start playing my PGL again :)

All the winners choose Monk.

It is known.

My rotation was: Touch of Death(always keep it up) -> Bootshine ->Twin Snakes -> Snap Punch -> Bootshine -> True Strike -> Snap Punch. Rinse and repeat when twin snakes buff goes down. I feel this was pretty much how I would use the skills given at lvl 19

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Originally Posted by Zessiru

My rotation was: Touch of Death(always keep it up) -> Bootshine ->Twin Snakes -> Snap Punch -> Bootshine -> True Strike -> Snap Punch. Rinse and repeat when twin snakes buff goes down. I feel this was pretty much how I would use the skills given at lvl 19

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^ this.

Up to level 35 it was essentially the same, but add in Demolish in place of first snap punch. Touch of death > Bootshine > twin snakes > demolish > bootshine > true strike > snap punch...repeat

PGL/MNK for the win ^^, just got one question is Mercy Stroke worth getting from MRD class? or with the mnks skills/rotations will it not fit in?

All the coolest people are Monks :3!

Anyone know what the Monk requirements will be? Is it still 30 Pugilist 15 lancer?

Also for rotation; I throw the archer crit buff (straigh shot?) in there.

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Originally Posted by Foguelo

Anyone know what the Monk requirements will be? Is it still 30 Pugilist 15 lancer?

Also for rotation; I throw the archer crit buff (straigh shot?) in there.

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Monks are limited to Lancer and Marauder skills. Can't use Straight shot while Monk.

I think I'll play my Monk most of the time fighting from the flank as using rear combos often led to tank losing hate to monk's massive crits when buffs and debuffs were all active. be sure to have marauder's dot and lancer's invigorate on your rotations as well. While Darklight is still good, Melded Gryphonskin gear gonna be best in my opinion for raids.

I wanted to start a thread earlier...but couldn't due to level restrictions. Here is what I have so far.

MONK SKILL ORDERS

OPO OPO-
1.Dragon Kick- 150 (BLUNTNESS)
2.Bootshine- 130 (CRIT)
3.Arm of the Destroyer- 50 AOE(Silence)

RAPTOR-
4.True Strike- 150 (Greater Chance to Crit)
5.Twin Snake - 140 (Increases Damage done, 10%)
6.One Ilm Punc - 80 (Clears 1 beneficial effect)

COEURL-
7.Snap Punch- 180
8.Rockbreaker- 130 AOE
9.Demolish- 40 (DOT 10)

OTHER-
Touch of Death- 20 (DOT 25)
Steel Peak- 150 (Stun 4)
Shoulder Tackle- 100 (Charge, Stun 2)
Howling Fist- 170 AOE (Straight Line)


Single Target Rotation-

1 > 5 > 7 > 1 > 4 > 7 > 2 > 5 > 7 > 1 > 4 > 7 > 2 > 5 > 7 (REPEAT 1 > 4 > 7 > 2 > 5 > 7 )

We start with Dragon Kick due to the higher damage, and the fact that Bootshine does not get the crit on first hit. after that, it is a fairly standard rotation.

AoE Rotation-

3 > 5 > 8 > 3 > 4 > 8 > HOWLING FIST-ARU (Repeat 3 > 5 > 8 > 3 > 4 > 8)

DoTs right now, until proven otherwise do not fit in our rotation.
The damage they provide is not worth the loss of the global.
Until we can find the amount of skill speed needed to make it worthwhile, ignore it. Better used in PvP.

This last portion goes out to all those simcrafters. How low should our globals be to fit the 2 dots into our rotation. Demolish I can see fitting in fairly early, but Touch of Death is not part of our standard rotation and requires us to stop our regular damage bonuses(IE Twin Snakes) in order to use it.

This is of course a lvl 50 rotation.

EDIT:

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Originally Posted by Perthaneus-Magnum

I am disappointed that NO ONE has listed FRACTURE (another available DoT) from MRD to their rotation. I keep all three up when going through my combos.

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In all honesty, I can't see the dot damage being worth if from what we have outside of Demolish. Atleast Demolish allows us to keep our rotation going. Twin Snakes falls off right before recast with no skill speed. Where are we going to make up a global, or 2 to re apply touch and fracture.

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Originally Posted by VanWulfen

A tip lot of people don't know is you use your Perfect Balance to give yourself three stacks of greased lighting by using snap punch since you ignore the restrictions of needing different forms, along with the fact snap punch does 180 potency from the side. To note, you don't gain any stances and it cancels out any form you're in. Before your Perfect Balance ends, you'll want to finish it with Twin Snakes for the damage buff.

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I haven't made it to 50 to test it, but does Perfect Balance give you stance bonuses?

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Originally Posted by roflcaust

On the topic of DoTs in a PGL/MNK's rotation:

DoTs seem only worth the trade-off over pure DPS-based rotations if you're the mob you happen to be fighting is a dungeon/raid/FATE/Guildleves boss. Dungeon trash mobs; individual solo fights (Levequests); individual solo mobs FATEs, and the vast majority of enemies simply will not benefit of from the maximum DoT throughput DPS potential given that it has to be distributed in a 30-second time frame.

Ultimately, as it currently stands, DoTs seem rather situational but certainly not useless. Trying to fit them into your rotation for every fight seems rather counterproductive however.

Balance and flexibility will be key to top DPS meters; not purely, static and rigorous rotations.

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A fixed rotation for single target is fine. Changing what you do based on fight happenings(IE DOT's, or using stuns) is what makes the difference between good and great

I am disappointed that NO ONE has listed FRACTURE (another available DoT) from MRD to their rotation. I keep all three up when going through my combos.

A tip lot of people don't know is you use your Perfect Balance to give yourself three stacks of greased lighting by using snap punch since you ignore the restrictions of needing different forms, along with the fact snap punch does 180 potency from the side. To note, you don't gain any stances and it cancels out any form you're in. Before your Perfect Balance ends, you'll want to finish it with Twin Snakes for the damage buff.

What do y'all recommend for stat allocation? Mostly STR or mostly DEX? Or another type of combination?

DEX is completely useless for MNK. DEX is for ranged attack damage, and currently only useful really for BRD.

Being that MNK is a physical damage dealer, your priority will always be a higher base Damage stat on weapon and a higher STR value.

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Originally Posted by Alrai

What do y'all recommend for stat allocation? Mostly STR or mostly DEX? Or another type of combination?

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STR for sure but as of phase 4, DEX also affects parry/evasion like it did prior to 2.0, so it's not completely irrelevant.

On the topic of DoTs in a PGL/MNK's rotation:

DoTs seem only worth the trade-off over pure DPS-based rotations if the mob you happen to be fighting is a dungeon/raid/FATE/Guildleves boss. Dungeon trash mobs; individual mobs (Levequests); individual solo mobs FATEs, and the vast majority of enemies simply will not benefit from the maximum DoT throughput DPS potential given that the damage must be inflicted within a 30-second time frame.

Ultimately, as it currently stands, DoTs seem rather situational but certainly not useless. Trying to fit them into your rotation for every fight seems rather counterproductive however.

Balance and flexibility will be key to top DPS meters; not purely, static and rigorous rotations.

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Originally Posted by Perthaneus-Magnum

STR for sure but as of phase 4, DEX also affects parry/evasion like it did prior to 2.0, so it's not completely irrelevant.

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You're going to put all 30 points into STR. Putting points into DEX isn't going to benefit you in no way.

I don't have that much experience with alternatives, but I felt the best burst rotation for a boss fight (ie best way to utilize Internal Release) was once I got Impulse Drive from Lancer:

Fully Stack Greased Lightning -> Bootshine -> Flank -> Twin Snake -> Internal Release while moving to Rear -> True Strike -> Impulse Drive -> Impulse Drive -> Impulse Drive (I forget the exact count) -> back to regular rotation as Internal Release ends and/or to save Greased Lightning stacks.

This is as a 20/15 MNK/LNC and I am sure there will end up being other alternatives, but I thought it was effective and looked awesome when I would multi-crit those Impulse Drives.

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Originally Posted by Perthaneus-Magnum

STR for sure but as of phase 4, DEX also affects parry/evasion like it did prior to 2.0, so it's not completely irrelevant.

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DEX has no effect on evasion. MNK hardly ever parries at all. DEX is a complete waste on MNK.

Monk was my first 75 in XI, my first 50 in XIV, and it's definitely going to be my career job in ARR.

My only problem is that I don't understand the difference of "flanking" and enemy and "attacking from behind" and enemy. To flank is to attack from behind the enemy, so is there a difference? Or is this a sorta weird translation?

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Originally Posted by Sleverin

Monk was my first 75 in XI, my first 50 in XIV, and it's definitely going to be my career job in ARR.

My only problem is that I don't understand the difference of "flanking" and enemy and "attacking from behind" and enemy. To flank is to attack from behind the enemy, so is there a difference? Or is this a sorta weird translation?

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Flank is from the side. So you need to stand at the left/right of the mob.

pugilist checking in, looking forward to that monk :3 i hope they add other fist styles, opo-opo, raptor and coeurl are cool and all but I hope they add some other specialization like drunken fist or way of the dragon( or bahamut haha). Their story has endless potential!! And also I want to be able to challenge each style's martial-arts master. Like in a fight to the death, back to back! also bring back the classic moves, hundred fists, spinning fist, far fist and earth slash, etc! Or make a super dramatic final heaven limit break....

Going to love the Pugilist class and even more for the Monk

I myself was a Mage in FFXI,but after running Pugilist to lvl 38 in phase 3, Monk is the only way to go. FOR NOW. It so.much fun,versatlie keeps you on your feet. By far the best.

In pretty much every FF game I've played, Monk was my favorite class; Similarly, all the Monk-like characters were usually my favorite too, particularly Sabin (be awesome if a few more of his Blitzes made their way into FFXIV sometime in the future...). So, I'd say it's no real surprise that I picked Pugilist as my main class for my main character. :3

Am i the only pug on Coeurl U_U , feel lonely...