MMoD (31monk/4BG/5SD)

[fallenwizard]

This is my take on monk. How I view the class even after the recent edits is one of the best survivebility classes. I made some test builds with Fighter and XDD$ and Dwd, but choce to go with monk because found them to be overaly most sturdy. (Also had a char to reinc with only 3month timer)

Magenta Monk of Disaster.

Pros:
-143 ac (+5 expertise when needed, almost never)
-Epic Dodge
-71% conceal for 15mins per rest
-improved evasion
-saves 68/80/70
-Monk immunity to sleep/fear/daze/stun/confuse
-Resistant to Str and KD checks (47str/64dex)
-Con arty for poison imm/breath of beast
-Huge regen (+extra healing/round from whoneless of body)

Cons:
-low damage
-mediocore AB
-893 HP

Human Zenythri

creation/sub/60/2xD+14gear+arty
str 16/20/27/45
dex 16/20/44/62
con 8/8/8/28 (arty)
wis 12/16/16/34
int 14/14/14/32
cha 8/8/8/26

16monk/4bg/5sd/15monk

feats:

pre-epic
-dodge
-mobility
-weapon finesse
-weapon focus nunchaku
-greater weapon focus
-toughness
-expertise
-great fortitude

epic feats
-great dex 1-5
-epic dodge
-epic weapon focus

monk bonus feats
-armor skin
-epic prowess

legendary feats
-legendary weapon focus
-great dex 6-10
-great str 1

Ability points:
6 on str, 14 on dex

Craft armor pandect, Water Breathing as Survival ability.

Skills:
max:
-Tumble
-Discepline
-Craft armor
-Craft weapon
-Listen
-Parry
8 MoveSilently (SD pre req)
10 Hide (SD Pre req)
47 Concentration

AC:
10base
15armor
26dex
20dodge
20deflection
17natural
6monk
12wisdom
12tumble
2armor skin
3craft armor
=143

AB
16 BAB
10 EBAB
15 LBAB
26 ability
8 feats
20 buffs
2 craft weapon
=97

Gear:
-Robes of the Dim Mak Master (10% phys imms, ele resists, dex/wis
-Torch of Absorbtion (10% phys, parry/disc/conc/CA, str - Regen)
-Visor of Vigilance (ESF listen, Defence Awerness, cha - Regen via randomization)
-Cloak of Unjust (10% phys, 10% ele, Con, tumble - Regen via randomization)
-Steadfast Slippers (phys resists - Regen)
-Divine Intervention (5% phys imm, 10% ele imm, 10% div imm - Regen)
-Manacles of Mephistopheles (10% phys imm, 25% fire, 5% mag - Regen)
-Coil of Grabduk (exo resist)
-Universal Contumacy (25% ele imms, 10% exo imms +2 stat checks - Regen via randomization)
-Crest of Vile Darkness (Mord/Breach imm, 30% exo imms)
-Mote of regen

Total regen: 86
Total Phys imms with randomized gear 64%B/75%P/66%S, resists 25/30/30 and +20/10 soak from torch.
Total Elem imms with randomized gear filled with 20% imm augs unbuffeds:
92%A/105%C/90%E/103%F/122%S with 35/50/55/30/50 resists
Total Exo imms with randomized gear 56%M/61%D/45%P 15/25/20 resists. Imms include PreLL tag bonuses

Self buff with augged items: Freedom of Movement, Death Ward, Monstrous Regen, Regen (short duration), Endure Elements and Shunt robe from Malad puts imms way over 100%.

So with standard gear 47str/64dex checks which means immune to Marilith Blacguards/Aspirants of Eight and Superior Balor. For Superior Mari/PF swap abyss +6str check ring. Needs UUU for Elites, but dont need abyss ring for them.

Why weapon instead unarmed even that Zeny gives free feats??? Because none of the mega damage gloves have phys imms or high enchantment, so I'd have very very limited weapon selection or lose physical damage and bracer slot phys/fire/mag imms & regen.

Why nunchaku over kama that could use flurry? Because Nunchaku has better megadamage options and flurry extra attack not that important on a mediocore AB. However if had full selection of UR Kama's it wouldnt be bad pick.

So far I've played this guy in hells phleg-malad (massed all maps and apart from EQ spam in styg I wasnt using heal potions) and in abyss all runs except Shed3, only thing that makes me spam heals is abyssal antswarms, 2 or more at once and have to run like a girl. Other than that by far the most damage comes from party KB mobs and from them when getting highly inflicted.

Has been fun on some runs when I can just go sit at middle of enemies and not take any damage while rest of the group fights 1-2 enemies further back. However, can also become quite boring to play him much in short time.

Edit, Paragorn edition:

For paragorn feats I'm taking:
Paragorn weapon focus
Paragorn Anchoring (+4str check)
Paragorn Stability (KD reroll)
Great str 2-3
+1 feat, propably paragorn toughness or levitation

AB goes up by 5 on levels, 2 on dex, 2 on feat, totaling 106 at lvl 80
AC goes up 2 from dex, 2 from wis totaling 147 at 80
Str goes up to 51 + 4 check feat totaling 55str check without UC ring, able to make elite pf/mari without that ring.
Rerolling failed KD will also help with goristros or if roll a 1 on elite pf/mari (not 100% sure if feat bonus will count on a rolled 1 or is it like UUU that gets ignored if you roll 1), also rerolling a 1 vs other KD effects like reflex check on fiendish slug.
The extra feat I figured is best spent on +100 hp, but levitation or -1 to layer pens is also there to be concidered, dont have enough exp yet to be forced to make the decision yet (infact only at lvl 74, so missing second great Str aswell).

Skills goes to counter pens on craft armor, listen and disc.

Using all points on hide is also option to use mass camo for conceal, but I find empty body duration be plenty.

[Torin]

Monks get also immu to disease and another poison immu.

Starting with 8 con? Ouch, thats hard.

As for damage: Why not drop toughness, expertise, great fortitude to get the 3 dual feats and dual Nunchakos.

[CataclysmicDeath]

8 CON isn't actually that bad for a Monk. Just like a Staffmaster you rely on your conceal to help you survive if you are a Dex Monk, on a Str Monk you have Crit Immune also.

My Monk started with 8 CON also iirc and it's one of only 2 toons I have at 5 x Demi.

It's also my strongest toon as far as surviveability goes.

As for going Weapon over unarmed cause of the lack of phys Immunes it is worth remembering that Dualing Weaps on a Monk looses the Torch slot and when u add a torch to the equation with Monk Gear setups you can easily cover everything. My own Fist Monk actually wears the Ely Phys Immune Robes and the Abyss Dev Crit unarmed Torch and covers the rest of the requirements on gear setup. Not needing Mind Immune or Fear Immune on gear eases the gear requirements quite a bit also.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not trying to make an argument for Fist over Weapon at all, I'm simply pointing out a few things I think are worth taking into consideration, I love Monks in all their forms, both unarmed and armed.

Cata

[BigStick]

Why get enough STR for OC/DC and not take them?

[fallenwizard]

Oct 1, 2011 20:25:52 GMT CataclysmicDeath said:

8 CON isn't actually that bad for a Monk. Just like a Staffmaster you rely on your conceal to help you survive if you are a Dex Monk, on a Str Monk you have Crit Immune also.

My Monk started with 8 CON also iirc and it's one of only 2 toons I have at 5 x Demi.

It's also my strongest toon as far as surviveability goes.

As for going Weapon over unarmed cause of the lack of phys Immunes it is worth remembering that Dualing Weaps on a Monk looses the Torch slot and when u add a torch to the equation with Monk Gear setups you can easily cover everything. My own Fist Monk actually wears the Ely Phys Immune Robes and the Abyss Dev Crit unarmed Torch and covers the rest of the requirements on gear setup. Not needing Mind Immune or Fear Immune on gear eases the gear requirements quite a bit also.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not trying to make an argument for Fist over Weapon at all, I'm simply pointing out a few things I think are worth taking into consideration, I love Monks in all their forms, both unarmed and armed.

Cata

I'm armed with torch. this gives me additional defence slot vs fist monk which uses bracer slot for "weapon". When using any megadamage one I gain 10% phys imm vs fist ones (actually 12-15% due randomization) but for unrand gear 10% phys's 25% fire and 5% mag, from that slot. Yes it does mean less physical damage for not having monk d20 base damage. Choice I made.

Torin, monk poison immunity does NOT protect vs endgame poison insta kills that is what Con arty is for. Sure 893 hp is a bit lowish, but toughness there makes up for 2 con and being high demi also adds some HP.

As for dualweilding, dropping toughnes and expertise hurts quite a bit my situational defences (HP vs high burst enemies like antswarms and expertise against some uncursed elite with 125-128AB). Great fort is kinda extra feat which I could have droppd for imp crit, but choce not to, since 66 fort is kinda on weak side IMO for an abyss tank who wants to be able to actually withstand all effects even from higher paragorns. Alrdy with 68fort/70will I "HAVE TO" swap weird imm item for Elite Fiendish Aboleths that has DC 79 Weird, yes DC 79. Ofcourse Weird is highest possibly DC, but there are other effects on Elite's that goes up to 70 hence I find 66 kinda low.

Also as stated earlier, using torch offhand for defence, which in my case means average 14% phys imm, spell lvl 6 immunity, +12 regen, 20% elect immunity, +14 str, +20/10 soak and bunch of awesome skills. Going dualweild would severaly hurt my defence and also -2ab on a char that alrdy is missing 50% of time in abyss (atleast on enemies that I focus on)

Edit: As for OC/DC, I'm not supposed to be hitting stuff that can be critted and if they can the crits are very rare anyways. I have AB to deal damage to hold enemies regen but thats about it. This char is about keeping them off the killers. As per build name MMoD is improved version of BBoD that can use res/rem fear/clarity/StF/pt2 and do some damage aswell. To get oc/dc I'd have to drop expertise/toughness/great fort and 2x great ability feats which'd either drop my ac/ab or str kd resistancy. I choce 5 extra defence feats over 5 offence feats.

[Shroomery_]

Is this possible with an open/secret/ur subrace? If so could you work something out for me please and thank you, fallenwizard

[fallenwizard]

First of all. Problem with all the buils I post on forums are that they require bur races, preferably 2xD status and access to endgame gear setups to work 100%, missing any will gimp them and propably make other builds on forum work far better.

How ever this is what going with open subby with this would do:

Using 31monk/4bg/5SD wouldnt affect much the feats much, Zenythri doesnt give feats, but it does give stats. Losing out on stats on the other hand means a lot: lower ac, ab and check resistancy.

So losing Zeny stats means -4str, -4dex, -4wis, that translates into 41str/58dex/30wis, losing another 4 on everything from not being 2xD translates into 37str/54dex/26wis for total -8AC, -4on all saves, -8 on str checks and it no longer fills his role in the group.

So as open subby I'd propably just lower str down, in order to keep dex and wis higher, to ensure AC stayes reasonable. Dropping starting str by 1 for +2wis, then the level up 6 str into dex and ac is at 139, putting str to 30 - which means it is regular dex tank.
Total changes when compared 2xD MMoD and open subby immo lvl 60 would be something in lines of:

AB drops by 1, AC drops by 4, fort save drops by 4, reflex by 1, will by 3, Str drops by 15.
as well as lesser tweaks such as less HP, small phys imm drop.

Overall I wouldnt recommend that build. Just doing the build with Zenythri without demi bonuses hurts some, yet alone doing it with open race. It just wont be even remotely close as tanky because you have to watch out every str check and requires UUU to tank many spawns, which totaly removes the purpose of the build.

[fallenwizard]

Added paragorn feats/skills but didnt modify them into original build numbers, just added them at the end of it.

[BigStick]

AB goes up by 5 on levels, 2 on dex, 2 on feat, totaling 106 at lvl 80
AC goes up 2 from dex, 2 from wis totaling 147 at 80
Str goes up to 51 + 4 check feat totaling 55str check without UC ring, able to make elite pf/mari without that ring.

Unless I've read something incorrectly with the Paragon changes, you only get 2 of each stat point, not 4. This would add only 1 to your AB due to +2 DEX, 2 to your AC due to +2 DEX & +2 WIS, and 4 STR (with the 2 Great STR feats) for a total of 49 STR.

You may want to use the additional feat for another STR to round it off to 50.

[fallenwizard]

You gain +2 stat on levls and another +2 from +16items, so it is +4 overall stats if can access +16s (like asmo helm). Although in my case +16str/dex on solar mote and +16wisdom will be on vestige cloak.

I dont do much to round the str to 50 (or 52 with +16) because str is there for checks, when balancing it for those, having odd number + roll 1 (d20) is the minimum you can do. Say having 43 str + 1 = 44 = enough for normal pf.

51 + 4(feat) + 1roll = 56 = elite pf/mari or if lack +16 str, 49 + 2 (UC ring) + 4 (feat) + 1roll = 56.

Rounding up means +1damage, physical damage that is, which isnt worth a feat. Ofcourse, it'll also increase my chances very slightly vs Goristro KD, but a singl goristro wont be able to kill me even if I fail every single roll, which sounds unlikely with 51 str + 4(feat) +6 (abyss str ring) + 1 = 62 = enough for Greater Goristro. This means vs sup I've 10% and vs elite 20% chance to fail, with that rounded up str 5% and 15% - How many of players have ever even seen a superior/elite goristro?