Curious about Monk DPS

[Jscagg]

I don't post in the forums that much, but if I start, some of you may come to realize that I have the attention span of a rabid squirrel on crack, and switch classes frequently. That being said, despite posting about SMN/SCH a few days ago, I now have a Monk question!

I read that in another thread that you can do about 70% of a Monks total DPS just by following simple rotations, and not worrying about positionals and such. I'm curious how true this actually is. I'm looking to level up another DPS class, DRG has gotten rather stale for me since I've played one since the game launched.

I don't care about endgame stuff, I only really do my DF dailies, and play with my small FC of friends. We don't do any hard endgame content, so I'm not all to concerned with maxing out numbers, I just want to be viable for the little things that we get ourselves into. Which is mostly DF just DF stuff, and randomness.

I like the Monk class, but I don't like all the positionals and such, so I'm just curious if this can be a semi-viable DPS class, even if you don't hit all your positionals, and you don't have your rotations down to 100% maximum effect. So all this being said, how does Monk perform if you can't master the high skill ceiling?

[Claymore022]

Well for starters, monk doesn't have a very high skill ceiling. If you do the basic rotation and use abilities off CD you'll have pretty decent dps. This will be even more true now that players won't need to worry about missing auto attacks, which is where the majority of monk's go wrong. That being said, you definitely still need to do the positionals. It's extremely important for single target fights. But since you'll be doing a ton of aoe in dungeons, positionals won't matter nearly as much. In fact when there's enough enemies you're better off worrying about the positioning of your rockbreaker over anything else. So in short, don't stress too much over positionals during trash pulls and focus as much as you can on them during boss fights. If you ever decide to take it into a raid you'll need to come back for more advice since what I said only applies to dungeons.


Doing good monk dps in a dungeon is simple as long as you remember these few things. Always use rockbreaker at 2 or more mobs but be mindful of your tp. Make sure demolish is always up on at least one enemy unless there's like 5+. And always always always keep twin snakes up You'll need to learn an opener for bosses to go quickly

[Krindor]

70% is the DPS you can do by only doing the regular rotation and positionals of DK > TS > Snap > Boot > True > Snap. Don't need to manage any dots or oGCDs. If you're popping oGCDs and using Demo and ToD even at non optimal conditions is going to put you at something like 90%.

[RyuDragnier]

70% is the DPS you can do by only doing the regular rotation and positionals of DK > TS > Snap > Boot > True > Snap. Don't need to manage any dots or oGCDs. If you're popping oGCDs and using Demo and ToD even at non optimal conditions is going to put you at something like 90%.

And yet people call MNK hard...it's pretty silly.

[Krindor]

And yet people call MNK hard...it's pretty silly.

The skill ceiling is high but to deal decent DPS is easy. Pushing the last 5% is quite hard and requires a lot more as you need to use Fracture which requires a lot more than just looking at its dot timer. But yeah overall MNK is one of the easier jobs to do good on and the FFlogs statistics supports this.

EDIT: For those wondering the 70% was a rough estimation done by me a while ago on reddit. This comes from counting average pps of a normal rotation with oGCDs and dots included and then count another one with only Snap, DK, TS, Boot, True. Just using the few moves mentioned it's about 70.4% of what someone using a full rotation would do. Skipping positionals brings this down to 55%. So all in all, with the same up time a VERY bad player should be dealing 52.8% of what a skilled player would, there's also additional stuff that can be added on and go over the 100% line that wasn't added in the calculations.

[SublimeIbanez]

The skill ceiling is high but to deal decent DPS is easy. Pushing the last 5% is quite hard and requires a lot more as you need to use Fracture which requires a lot more than just looking at its dot timer. But yeah overall MNK is one of the easier jobs to do good on and the FFlogs statistics supports this.

This is the important part. I would say it's more along the lines of the last 10% depending on the boss though. Ensuring to keep your DK up on the enemy while not reapplying your buffs or dots too early, and predicting when you'll need to use fracture while ensuring you never lose GL3, or burning Tornado kick in the optimal areas when Perfect Balance is up.

[Morzy]

And yet people call MNK hard...it's pretty silly.

People really really REALLY do not like positions. You either like them or you don't.

[Rongway]

People really really REALLY do not like positions. You either like them or you don't.

These people are doing it wrong. It's barely a half step difference between flank and rear. People who really really REALLY do not like positionals are really really REALLY overmoving to literal +90º/-90º flank and 180º rear.

[Jscagg]

I always heard mix things about the monk skill ceiling, one person says its high and hard, another says its not bad. I always just ran with high, that way I could expect the worst, in a way. Hearing all of this, perhaps I'll give it another go, and see if I can't get the positioning down and such, it seems like a very fun class to play. Thank you all for the help!

[Slirith]

I always heard mix things about the monk skill ceiling, one person says its high and hard, another says its not bad. I always just ran with high, that way I could expect the worst, in a way. Hearing all of this, perhaps I'll give it another go, and see if I can't get the positioning down and such, it seems like a very fun class to play. Thank you all for the help!

A easy way to get used to the positionals is to put like 123 as rear and f1f2f3 for flank until you get fully used to them to mix up.