Of openers and rotations

[Teiren]

Yeah, it's easy to forget to use them, but just remember that anything is better than nothing. Just try to not use them when most of it will be wasted is all, though some waste is inevitable sometimes. Monk has a few more Abilities (off-GCD actions) than other jobs, so I understand it's annoying to try to watch them all the time. It's probably the biggest reason I don't personally play Monk, even though I enjoyed it while levelling, just like how I enjoyed levelling all the jobs.

However, the basics of Monk are actually among the simplest in the game. At Level 50+, it's literally just Dragon Kick+Twin Snakes together (both flank weaponskills) and then Bootshine+True Strike together (both rear weaponskills) and alternating those two pairs forever. Deciding the Coeurl form ability you use at the end of each one is just based on if Demolish isn't on the target (and it'll live 9+ seconds longer) or if you have 3+ enemies to hit with Rockbreaker. As for Touch of Death, that's only worth using if the target will live for at least 24 seconds, or in other words, its whole duration practically. Btw, you don't technically have a weaponskill combo system like the other melee jobs, so you can perform Touch of Death at any time.

And really, what contributes MOST to ANY Job's DPS is knowing the fight. That will only come with practice and your own personal experience that comes with that practice. The more practiced you are in a fight, the more comfortable and calm you are, which naturally helps, but also the better able you are to think about certain things like, "This target is going to go invulnerable soon, so I won't maintain buffs or DoTs." You can also reliably know where you'll be at a certain point in the fight and be better able to get back on target, make a better plan of when to use Abilities, and, if you're melee, get more positional damage bonuses.