Dragoon or Monk

[Humorless]

Dragon Kick was invaluable in T13. It was already mentioned in the last live letter that we will have more magic mechanics on the horizon. If your group doesn't have a DRK for Delirium Blade then go with MNK. Battle Litany is great and all for offensive utility but if your group is dead there's no point in having extra crit. Sure once you have content out geared DK/Mantra will be less useful but by then you could have MNK and DRG both leveled and geared and just switch.

Just like there's no point in having a monk if you're not dying but struggling with dps checks/enrage.

[ArtesMan]

Thanks everyone for taking your time to respond to this post.

I'm in no way a bard hater or plz buff guy.

I started to play at around this patch so all the info on bards is what I got from these forums but by no means does this include my personal opinion I think they look awesome.

Thanks for explaining in detail about the dragoon and monks pros and cons.

In terms of which is better I know those posts are annoying and I have been reading guides and info but since I have no clue about end game content or what is going on I don't really see weakness as such or strengths as such.

Thanks everyone !!!

[Khalithar]

I say go drg. It's the only dps that wears plate armor and really the only dps class that hits things with a two handed weapon. Jumps are satisfying to use and it has some nifty on demand burst and good group utility. Also it's pretty fun jabbing things with the pokey stick. I leveled as Pld and I found myself with very little to do between Alexander lockouts so I started leveling drg, it's nearly level 55 and I was having a blast with it from start to finish, plus the drg lore gives you some really interesting background info about Ishgard and Estinien if that's your thing.

As a lore junkie and a total Ishgard fanboi, the lore was awesome.

[Ipkonfig]

Just like there's no point in having a monk if you're not dying but struggling with dps checks/enrage.

While raiding 1 thru 13 with statics I've been in we have not once struggled with DPS, but the magic damage in 13 was real and when we added a MNK to the mix it got so much better. Look at NM Alex Floor 4 which is 100% magic damage, and Perpetual Ray hits really hard already. Savage Floor 4 can only be worse so if you don't have a DRK, bring a MNK.

I personally will be tanking it as DRK so it opens us up for more offensive utility, but there are plenty of groups that are excluding DRKs since the majority of DRKs can't actually use it as a tank.

[Humorless]

While raiding 1 thru 13 with statics I've been in we have not once struggled with DPS, but the magic damage in 13 was real and when we added a MNK to the mix it got so much better. Look at NM Alex Floor 4 which is 100% magic damage, and Perpetual Ray hits really hard already. Savage Floor 4 can only be worse so if you don't have a DRK, bring a MNK.

I personally will be tanking it as DRK so it opens us up for more offensive utility, but there are plenty of groups that are excluding DRKs since the majority of DRKs can't actually use it as a tank.

Perpetual Ray isn't affected by Dragon Kick, the legs aren't the source of the damage. Savage potentially has more legs which would make it rather pointless. Monks are also fucking terrible at killing adds because you only have positionals. There's plenty of reason to bring DRG/NIN over MNK.

[Ipkonfig]

Perpetual Ray doesn't come till the legs are dead, it's the tank buster after the Discoid cast that gains hits every time it's used like Akh Morn. And if it's anything like Akh Morn the savage damage will be nuts by the end of the fight. And I can confirm it is effected by Delirium Blade.

My group doesn't have a MNK currently but I would have no issues taking any of the melee they all have pros and cons, and honestly if you hate your class that much... change it.

[Verius_Nox]

Get dragoon to 60 since you already have that at 34 or whatever, and level monk on the side til that hits 60, and play around with each as you go.

If you're in a static though, and they don't have a MNK or a DRK, I'd kind of suggest going MNK only for the INT down. But if they have a MNK or a DRK, then I'd say go DRG for the offensive utility.

[Shaddai]

I main both. Currently enjoying Drg more. While I love dragon kick, I feel Monks are a bit on short end when compared to my Drg. I have no problem in all 4 floor of alex, but stuff like Bismark I think i prefer to bring a drg. They share accessories so its not hard to switch. So meh I just go with the mood. The tank in my static main's all 3 tanks so its whatever. I hate that we didn't get any extra stacks of GL to make up for TK using all of it and that FC you have to charge manually. I don't care what people say it frikken sucks. I use it of course, but its not as good as people think in practice. I would also like to see that tp restore skill also give single stack of GL just to make it not be useless. Either give us more stacks or make Chakra auto charge SE. MAKE IT HAPPEN!

P.S. Fix Demolish

[ExiaQuanta]

IMO. both do pretty high dps and can be comparable sometimes. Dragoons can burst dps but monk has sustain DPS imo. MNK is probably a bit harder to play in some situations but its more "rewarding". MNK has more of a "casual" and light armor to them while dragoon gear is probably looks like a skinnier version of tank gear.

With the way the game is, I suggest you just Level all three melees up there and adapt to what your static(if you have one or gonna be in one) wants. Sometimes its good to have Dragon kick if there is to much raid wide Magic dmg going out. if there is no brd or no need for Dragon Kick, run as NIN as Vulnerability can benefit the raid DPS. Or if you see that its beneficial to go DRG cause you have a BRD/MCH than run as that. Otherwise it can simply just so you can go like
"Meh today i feel like playing NIN/MNK/DRG today". All three do pretty high DPS and are pretty fun in their own way. each bring their own utility to the group.

[Calis]

I'm curious about something.

If Battle Litany raises Critical hit rate, doesn't that mean that it raises both critical damage and critical heals? In which case, it is not only an offensive buff, but also a healing buff. (And defensive buff for something like a critical Adloquium that further mitigates damage.)

Is this correct, or does it work differently?

Also, piercing debuff extends to MCH as well, right?