The Monk Temple

[Bolde]

I would like to ask you to tell me / us how your rotation looks like as I am interested in how to use Fracture and Touch of Death.

At the moment I am not using Fracture very often. Touch of Death random, if I notice that its running out.

[Vektrat]

Maximizing the monk rotation at the moment is a hell of an issue, so there is some aspects I'm ignoring for now (for example, I use perfect balance to boost to GL3 fast, but I suppose there's better combos to get more out of it, like probably spamming snap punch).

I'll summarise what I always try to do, I almost always end #1 dmg by large differences according to ffxiv-app, even though not accurate, it gives an overall idea and a good approximation.

I start boss fights maximizing GL3

(side) Perfect balance -> Snap punch -> Snap punch -> buff up -> Demolish + Fracture + Touch of Death -> Dragon kick ...

[Vektrat]

From this point on, Fracture and Demolish are synched into the rotation, so whenver they expire I reapply them. It is important to wait until they fade from the boss, otherwise clipping DoTs will fail depending on the buffs you had when you applied them, and this can screw your GL3 buff with the current lag and skill fails.

I also try to reapply Touch of Death whenever it expires, fitting it inbetween skills, not in any particular position of the rotation.

Other than that I keep Dragonkick debuff up, and the twin snakes buff up. I believe trying to memorize a rotation as a monk is not a good idea, most fights are disrupted by adds / jumping bosses, etc anyway, so I believe the key is to know what must be up at what time, and when to do what.

Summarising:

• Apply Demolish and Fracture together
• Keep touch of death up, apply when possible
• Keep GL3, DK and TS buffs up
• If possible, apply DoTs with buffs (TS+Blood for Blood+Internal release)

[Guevara]

Can someone share his cross-hotbar settings please? I am going mad trying to figure how to best set them. Thanks.

[Kalamari]

I start boss fights maximizing GL3 (two options, still trying to find which is best)

(side) Dragon kick -> Twin Snakes -> Perfect Balance -> Snap punch -> buff up -> Demolish + Fracture + Touch of Death
or
(side) Perfect balance -> Snap punch -> Snap punch -> buff up -> Demolish + Fracture + Touch of Death -> Dragon kick ...

Don't forget that Dragon Kick will only apply it's blunt resistance debuff if you are in opo-opo form, or in Perfect Balance. It's also important to note that while Perfect Balance is up, it completely prevents stances for the whole duration of it.. In the first rotation this would lead to 2GL dots without DK debuff, and in the second scenario to 3GL dots without DK debuff, the Dragon Kick at the end would not apply it's debuff (Perfect Balance would prevent Demolish from switching to opo form, while expiring after Touch of Death).

Been breaking my head as well over a good Perfect Balance rotation, for now settled with this:

Perfect Balance -> 3x Snap -> Dragon Kick -> Twin Snakes -> Perfect Balance expires, stances possible again -> Bootshine -> True Strike -> Blood for Blood + Internal Release -> Demolish -> Fracture -> Touch of Death

Focusing first on getting up GL to speed up GCDs, then apply fully buffed dots by the 10th GCD. Sometimes latency will prevent the first Twin Snakes from hitting, in that case I just replace True Strike with Twin Snakes later.

[Jahaudant]

I asked this in another thread but this one is clearly far more active so I'll also propose it here:

While the DOT skills are higher total potency, have you considered that you are wasting a GCD that could otherwise be used to start your next cycle, leading to higher potency/crits/gl/etc.

I'm no MNK expert but I'd like to hear people's thoughts on the DOT skills with this in mind.

[Powercow]

I asked this in another thread but this one is clearly far more active so I'll also propose it here:

While the DOT skills are higher total potency, have you considered that you are wasting a GCD that could otherwise be used to start your next cycle, leading to higher potency/crits/gl/etc.

I'm no MNK expert but I'd like to hear people's thoughts on the DOT skills with this in mind.

There's no combo skills that are as powerful as even the weakest of our DoTs. Even Bootshine with the 100% crit bonus isn't as strong as Fracture. Building up to 3 GL isn't that hard, and having it slightly sooner isn't worth the lost long-term DPS. Maintaining GL is very possible and very easy while maintaining your DoTs.

So no, there's no wasted GCDs for your DoTs.

[Jahaudant]

Ah, the DOTs are literally stronger than any skill in any given combo? Makes sense.

[Powercow]

Ah, the DOTs are literally stronger than any skill in any given combo? Makes sense.

Right. Bootshine is effectively 195 potency with the combo bonus. 214 with the Dragon Kick bonus, which the DoT effects do not benefit from. Fracture, the weakest DoT, is essentially 230 potency ([100 * 1.1] + [20 * 6]), and this number only goes up as you get more crit. Given a decent 10% base crit chance, it's 241.5 effective potency. Fists of Fire, Greased Lightning and Blood For Blood effect both equally, and Internal Release benefits everything that's not Bootshine equally.

The only downside of keeping DoTs up (and weaving in Impulse Drives when possible) is a potential TP issue in longer fights that have no breaks in them, which is something that is an exceptionally rare occurrence. And even then, all you'll do is stop weaving in IDs if you get low.

[Vektrat]

I asked this in another thread but this one is clearly far more active so I'll also propose it here:

While the DOT skills are higher total potency, have you considered that you are wasting a GCD that could otherwise be used to start your next cycle, leading to higher potency/crits/gl/etc.

I'm no MNK expert but I'd like to hear people's thoughts on the DOT skills with this in mind.

DoTs have many advantages over instant skill, any DoT close to dmg to a regular skill will always be far superior.

• DoTs can crit
• DoTs are guaranteed dmg once in
• DoTs will continue doing damage even if you are busy killing adds / the boss moves / you are incapacitated
• DoTs do damage while you are doing other skills
• ...