So now I’m a 177/2 c2 monk, so I have all the abilities avaliable to the class at the current beta (correct me if I’m wrong).
My current stats are 173/46/8/8/130 (179 with monstrance), current gear is Karacha, +7 Suncus Maul, Riena Plate Armor/Leggings, Roxona Plate Boots, some random plate gloves, Warrior Pedant, a Rapid Bangle and a Bearkaras bracelet.
So the monk is basically a hybrid support/dps class that is decent at any solo activities (Being able to solo all dungeons up to 175 inclusive so far, it takes forever tho), but unwillingly resots to supporting when playing in large groups.
Class’ main strengths are infinite sustain with low SP consumption, huge survivability against constant DPS, and his utility.
Class’ main flaws are low DPS, lack of AOE and huge animation times, so the gameplay is very specific in PvP and is very boring in PvE.
So to the abilities which are on my bar ATM:
Cleric:
Heal
Level 5 heal heals for about 70-80% at level 177 and has two charges, so as you use it on low HP while you’re not dead yet - it heals you to 100% almost always. As it has two charges - it’s able to heal you twice. It’s a very strong spell for a C1 basic class that will stay with Monk forever, and tbh it’s pretty overpowered as it scales only with the target’s HP almost ignoring the INT scaling. By this I mean that you’ll be fine using it even with very low INT. IMO it should be lowered as Monk has way too much survivability as a combat class due to this, and it should be compensated with higher DPS or mobility.
Safety Zone
Another super strong spell that holds 10 attacks at lvl 5. As it blocks attacks, and not some flat damage - it scales with everything people/monsters throw on you. It’s basically a “STOP” button that has it’s counters, but is still amazing.
Deprotected Zone
It was useless even as a Cleric, with Monk it has a highly situational synergy with Hand Knife but that’s it.
Priest:
Sacrament
An ability that gives some damage and a second hit on autoattacks and some abilities. Additional sacrament damage is empowered by Arde/Karacha and Swordsman’s Concentration. Swordies are going to like you for this one, tho it’s pretty useless for the Monk himself later on.
Blessing
+177 Damage for your group. The damage is flat so it diminishes with time but is still noticeable at lvl 177, but I think it will be useless at lvl 200.
Aspersion.
~+40% physical defence that obviously scales with gear. Scaling options are precious in this game so IMO it’s a must have. It doesn’t only increase your own phys. def, but also increases it for your whole group.
Mass Heal
Heals 20% of max HP for your group. A 1 point wonder that scales with the target’s HP just like the usual heal. A must have IMO.
Monstrance
It creates two useless circles and gives something like 10+30% dex. In dex heavy builds the dex gain is noticable. In every build it’s a 1 point wonder and it’s never worth it to put more that one point in it even for support priest builds, let alone the Monk.
Stoneskin
Early on it’s an immortality against physical damage. Even tho it should diminish with time, even at lvl 177 it’s very useful, it also does wonders in PvP against physical DPS classes.
Revive
Basically an anti-oneshot button in PvP or a anti-death button in PvE. As soon as you revive it gives you protection for two seconds that is enough to heal up and you’re back in combat. A must have at least as a 1 point wonder, tho it scales with levels quite well.
Ressurect
A useless ability, since everyone ressurects with iCoins.
Monk:
Double Punch
Monk’s main damage source that consumes 2 stamina per use. What’s good about this ability is that it’s spammable, everything else is a problem.
-It’s very slow so your DPS is bad even on single targets.
-As a result of the slow spamming speed, it consumes DPS at the rate of stamina pill cooldown recharge, and that means that you’re never going to be out of stamina unless you forget about those pills. (It’s handy to have alot of stamina so you won’t need pills while grinding as you’ll charge from the crystals, and you will always forget about those pills on practice.)
-It has tiny AoE and range. About 2-3 times less than an autoattack. It means that in the AoE grind party you’re not a damage dealer and your solo grind will consist of killing mobs 1 by 1.
-You have to press a hotkey every time to use it. You can’t just hold the DP button, you have to press it every time. And as this game is grind heavy at high levels and bosses are huge damage sponges, I’d love to see the one who’s come up with it press “1” for 5 hours straight.
Hand Knife
A medium damage ability with a 21 seconds cooldown, which is pretty useless but has two interesting features. First one is a synergy with Deprotected Zone which would allow you to stun mobs which are usually unstunnable, and deal damage in a bigger radius. And the second feature is a damage reduction attribute that has a 80% chance to proc if maxed. The DZ feature is highly situational, and the proc should have a pricewall and it should have 100% when maxed for obvious reasons. It’s not even negotiable, this change is a must have. And oh yeah, this ability has a super tiny AoE and stuns mobs/players it hits. Don’t hope to hit a player with this tho as you need to literally stand on one’s head for it to work.
Palm Strike
A medium damage strike that can be empowered with a bleeding attribute, has a pretty big AoE and knocks targets back. It’s useful to kite and kill some super dangerious mobs or even packs of mobs, for me it’s a “starter hit” in PvP as it’s the only hit that you can hope to catch a moving target with, and after your foe is knocked down you can prolong it with a HK stun and a 1 Inch Punch Silence, etc.
Energy Blast
A strong hitting long range ability that can be charged on the go. It knocks enemies back and deals considerable damage. It’s downside is that this ability is fired at the direction the character looks/moves, and not at the mouseover location so it can’t be aimed properly. This is a downside of the keyboard centered controls in the game, which can be easily solved with completely scrapping the idea of keyboard centered controls while it’s not too late. This ability can’t be used in PvP as you will never hit anyone with it. Anyone who’s not a complete idiot. So it’s fine for AoE grinding groups, it will be the only Monk damage source there together with Palm strike.
1 Inch Punch
A seemingly overpowered ability. While HK requires ~5 attribute points to have a 80% chance to reduce armor, 1IP silences it’s target for 5 secons with only one cheap attribute point. Plus, it deals 5 times more damage due to it’s dot which damage is not listed in the tooltip. It’s an absolute must have for 1 point silence atleast, but I’ll probably max it.
Gold Finger Flick
The most useless ability the monk skillset has to offer. It theory I thought about it as a ranged semi-spammable ability. but it reality it has a huge 25 seconds CD, hits less than a Double Punch, can’t be aimed properly for the same reason being retarded keyboard centered controls, and on top if that it’s range is not “ranged” it can be described as “almost melee”. It has no attributes but “enhance” and is all-around useless.
I don’t have an Iron Skin and a Golden Bell Shield, tho it’s obvious that they’re a must for 1 point each at least.
Overall monk’s biggest issue is how much better DP should be and it’s huge animation times. It takes ages to buff up and heal, and at the same time you still need to do damage. Monk’s abilities have long cooldowns and DP is boring. It should be spammed faster that way player will have to manage his stamina instead of spamming "1"1 like mad and using stamina pills every time they’re off CD, so it will give the class at least some depth. It would be nice to see class’ abilities to synergize with something, the only synergy it currently has is HK+DZ and it’s weak, highly situational and takes time to setup.
Plus! Some day this game will probably have a decent PvP. Those animation times for everything are huge even for killing monsters. It’s impossible to hit anyone in PvP if he tries to avoid your hits. The only hit you can do it with is Palm Strike, when it’s off CD - you can’t even hit your target as a monk. Good thing the target can’t kill you either due to heals being too OP for a DPS class.
So far this class is probably the best choice for a solo player, but it is boring, lacks depth and synergies, lacks DPS and it’s PvP strategy is mostly cooldown based and defencive due to abilities’ huge animation times and HK and DP’s tiny AoE.