A lot of skills, not a lot of skill points. Most of them look useful, so it’s a question of which gets what. Note that this character is also Cleric 2/Dievdirbys 2. Also, my understanding of how some skills work may be off.
This is going to be wordy, so bear with me.
Double Punch: Okay damage, but costing Stamina makes it situational, and I’m going to use Carve Attack instead when I can get away with it. It doesn’t get tremendously better on paper, so is it worth getting past 1 or 5?
AoE: Palm Strike is a bit cheaper and a bit stronger, but Hand Knife doesn’t displace enemies as badly. Seems a waste to invest heavily in both, so which is the way to go? Palm Strike’s bleed is independent of its level, so it’d seem like it’d work to leave it at a low level and defer to Hand Knife; heftier mobs that survive the Knife can get finished off with Strike and/or its bleed. On the other hand, if Palm Strike’s bleed is especially strong – it’s Attack-dependant, and I’m STR-focused – and can reliably take out enemies by itself, then the knockback weakness isn’t a problem, and it gets extra points while Hand Knife stays low, probably at 1.
One Inch Punch: Decent hit, but the reported value here is the bleed, laying on sustained damage while you do other things. Single target damage is situational, though, so is this worth taking to 5/10?
Energy Blast: The most impressive Monk skill, but my goal is effectiveness, so the question is what role it serves. Assuming I keep One Inch, is Blast a viable follow-up on bosses? My AoE purposes seem covered unless I’m on cooldown or there’s an emergency.
Iron Skin/Golden Bell Shield: Safety Zone and World Tree Carving, which is a sustained AoE Silence, seem to render these more or less useless unless one of them guards against knockdown, since I have a ton of skills with cast times.
That’s all I can think of for now. I know this isn’t a popular class, and information is scarce, but I appreciate whatever you guys have got.