Tree of Savior Forum

How to build my Monk? (NEW PLAYER)

I am BRAND NEW to the game, just hit level 70 on my Monk. I’m not sure exactly what direction to take this class? I’ve seen countless people in forums and threads say, “Monk can’t be a good dps or a tank, you basically have to be a physical dmg healer”. Is that really the only role Monk can fill? I’d love to be a Tank Monk or DPS Monk, I just don’t know enough about the game or builds to put something together. Any guidance or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you :slight_smile:

I don’t understand anything about cleric classes, but I made a research and got some link-builds:

Monk/Chaplain/Zealot

Monk/Inquisitor/Zealot

Monk is kind of weird. I’ve been looking for information on it and it’s very EH. So having a professional weigh in would be lovely. People deem it weak because, quite frankly, the damage does appear to be medium at best.

But they seem like they trade pure DPS for the ability to have many viable class combinations AND its own skill rotation so they don’t need outside attack skills to pad their rotation. On top of that, a lot of their damage is non-conditional, not requiring the enemy to be debuffed to get bonus damage from skills (ie: unlike how Shadowmancers need to have blind on enemies to receive 30% more max dmg, etc). So we could say their balancing power is tied up in pure flexibility. They’re also a special kind of evil in PvP settings.

That leaves you with lotsa options:
Zealot - warp, damage buffs, KB+KD immunity, very offense based self-buffs
Chaplain - tbh compared to the others I don’t see the appeal outside of Cappella…
Paladin - damage reduction junk + regen + AoE ratio booster I guess
Oracle - D E A T H • S E N T E N C E and other useful buffs
Priest - YEET the death away and team buffing
Dievdirbys - SP and CD reduction for all, more weight, 20% dmg vs plants too
Plague Doctor - Healing Factor, offensive/positioning oriented buffs, immunity to debuffs
Krivis - crit team buff circle, self duration increasing, Divine Stigma damage increases
Kabbalist - cloth spd+blocking buff lmao, heal, damage boost, Max HP boosting shenanigans

Basically if it’s got buffs or heals, it works.

I have tested many monk build and if u prefer dmg wise build i would recommend to go for monk - chaplain - Inquisitor

For CM purposes inquisitor Wheel will do very good job in shredding the mobs
For Bossing - Chaplain visible talent + Paralictus (knockback and knockdown immune) can kill CM boss in 10 Sec due to Visible talent effect plus with monk one inch pucnh can silence boss for 5 sec ( silenced boss will stand still) with 4 overheat u can silence boss for 20sec long these 3 skills are great for bossing . Furthermore if u add inquisitor wheel and God finger flick the dmg from godsmash goes off the roof

make sure to use inquisitor judgment on boss that not demon :sunglasses:

this is my monk build for pve purposes:
https://tos.guru/itos/simulator?tinyurl=yydj8uyh

have fun and hope this might help u know how monk work :haha:

To answer your question, Monk is not typically used as a DPS/Tank/Healer option due to the state of how Monk is right now. Right now, Monk is more of a complement/utility class that provides filler DPS and Crowd-Control with Knockdowns and Silence, which is more of a PvP niche. In terms of what direction to take your Monk, the only option is a DPS Monk as Clerics, let alone Monks, do not have the Tanking capability. With that said, what kind of Monk do you want to be? Builds differ quite a bit depending on playstyle.

In terms of DPS, Monks can choose their classes based on what direction they want to take their Monk, either going for a Skill-based Monk (spamming skills to deal damage), an Auto-Attack Monk (prioritizing using buffed auto-attacks as DPS) or a hybrid of both (prioritizing spamming skills and using auto-attacks as filler).

For a Skill-based Monk, it is a requirement to take a 2nd class that has strong skills to carry Monk’s DPS so Monks can use those skills as priority and Monk skills as filler (I strongly recommend Inquisitor but any decently strong class will do). After that, choose a 3rd class that gives more skills to spam, buffs, fire-and-forget skills or simply utility/support skills if you feel your 2nd class has enough skills to spam. Many classes can fill this 3rd class role.

For an Auto-Attack based Monk, it is a requirement to take Chaplain as 2nd class. Chaplain is the only class with strong Auto-Attack buffs to complement Monk’s Auto-Attacks. Otherwise, Monk’s Auto-Attack DPS isn’t even worth talking about. After that, choose a 3rd class that complements your skill set for Auto-Attacking, or choose a 3rd class for utility/support skills.

For a Hybrid Monk, simply take Monk + Chaplain + a class with skills that have high damage burst (such as Inquisitor and Exorcist) or fire-and-forget skills (such as Zealot and Druid) so you can use skills while being able to spam Auto-Attacks as much as you can before such skills go off cooldown. Basically a mix of the two types of Monk above.

DPS-wise, Skill-based Monks output the most DPS, followed by Hybrid Monks and lastly Auto-Attack Monks. Other classes simply offer more DPS, offers similar DPS but have utility/support skills to make up for the lack of DPS, or have both more DPS and have utility/support skills, while Monk’s skill set is weak in comparison. Auto-Attack Monks are the weakest out of the bunch as while the Auto-Attack playstyle requires the least amount of SP (merely to activate buffs and use a few skills once in a while), the resulting DPS from stacking buffs does not even come close to the amount of damage one can deal as a Skill-based Monk. Hybrid Monks just lie somewhere in the middle of the two. The DPS gap between Skill-based Monks and Hybrid Monks are quite close, but Auto-Attack Monks are just too far behind in terms of DPS.

Depending on the playstyle you like, your build changes a bit. If you want quick answers though,

Strongest Skill-based Monk build in theory is Monk-Inquisitor-Zealot.
Strongest Auto-Attack Monk build in theory is up for debate, either Monk-Chaplain-Miko or Monk-Chaplain-Priest.
Strongest Hybrid Monk build in theory is Monk-Inquisitor-Chaplain.

If you dont want to take Double Punch you can also combine Monk with Druid as only double punch is incompatible.

my exp testing build listed in 4kruzeth comments
1 monk inqui zealot = the damage is really good but it lack survivability (difficult to survive in CM with average gear)… quite a risky build due to how zealot fanatism work
2-Monk chaplain miko = the AA dmg is abit lacking and it chaplain cappella take time to set up and miko only offer clap and RNG crit buff … no aoe skill make cm run take time to finish

3 i havent try druid monk yet - look like i miss it but i have tried druid chaplain miko build it seem AA from druid human mode and chaplain binotia not that good it seem

Yeah, hence my wording that those are the strongest builds of each category theoretically. Such builds comes with their respective downsides, leading to Monks not just using the best theoretical builds. Just wanted to list down the peaks of each Monk type since OP was looking for DPS Monks. It’s a good thing since it gives Monks choices to pursue other options aside from “Best Damage Top DPS Builds”.

I can elaborate on the downsides of each Monk builds, but I think its better to just test things right now while the reset event is still going on. Just take those theory class combinations as reference and play around from there. Nothing beats trying just trying the classes combinations out in practice.

i agree… better test it yourself … which build suit your playstyle … u might discover new build which have good synergy with monk class

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