This is a guide out of necessity. I’m not happy with the current Monk guides on this forum. An I don’t like the idea of someone wasting hundreds of hours on a bad build.
Let me get the important stuff out of the way. As a lot of people seem to misunderstand Monk an the aims of the class. So I’ll outline what makes Monk good & bad. You decide if you should play it.
Advantages
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Monk is a hybrid Support/DPS class, it’s able to adeptly switch from one role to the other in the heat of battle bringing many advantages to you & your team.
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A big part of levelling up in this game is entering random instance dungeons. The groups are truly random so it’s possible to be grouped without a healer. Monk is able to fill the healer role if this happens.
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Being able to act as both a DPS or a support class means there will generally be a spot in teams for you fulfilling either role. Groups are generally happy to have a Monk around as off-heal as well.
Disadvantages
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Due to being both a Support/DPS hybrid you tend to not excel at either. That isn’t to say you can’t be an excellent support or DPS as a Monk. That’s totally possible you’ll just have to work harder.
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Monk is an investment class, it takes a long time before you truly see the potential of the Class. You’ll only start to see Monk shine at circle 6, which is midway into the current levelling process.
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The Monk I’m suggesting is somewhat of an expensive class to play. You’ll have to buy buff supplies & stamina pills to keep you rolling. It isn’t massively costly an some classes are worse. But it’s not a free ride.
With that out of the way if you’re still interested in playing Monk let’s get on with the build. There are three universally considered legitimate paths too Monk. Those are as follows.
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Cleric > Cleric > Dievdirby > Dievdirby > Monk > Monk > Monk
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Cleric > Priest > Priest > Priest > Monk > Monk > Monk
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Cleric > Cleric > Priest > Priest > Monk > Monk > Monk
My knowledge with the Monk class comes from the triple Priest path. So that’s what my guide will focus on. I’ll try to be helpful for those who want information on the other route. But understand that isn’t my area of knowledge.
Note: Avoid picking circle 1 Paladin unless you have a really, really good reason. Unless you’re trying to create a PvP Monk there’s no legitimate reason to pick up Paladin. I shouldn’t need to say this but many make this mistake.
My Build
My Choices Explained
Cleric
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Heal 5: Basic healing ability of a Cleric, very useful when combined with Mass Heal 10. This should give you enough healing ability to support almost any decent group.
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Cure 1: Basic utility to remove negative effects. You properly won’t use it much, but it’s a question of struggling to spend basic cleric points.
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Safety Zone 5: Great skill, can be used alongside Stone Skin later in the game for survivability. If you’re really ballsy you can use them in combination for Tanking as well.
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Deprotect Zone 4: I don’t personally rate this skill, but some Monks like to use it to debuff a bosses defence. I generally just use Hand Knife once I get it. Only really useful for bosses & strong mobs.
Priest
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Aspersion 1: I don’t use this much, but it increases physical defence by 20% as a party buff when used. The problem is the majority of punishing damage you’ll receive isn’t of a physical source. 1 point for utility is ok though.
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Monstrance 1: Anymore than 1 point in this skill is a waste. The Dex buff it gives is fixed an is exactly the same party wide at 1 or 15 points. Do yourself a favour an invest one. It’s decent utility alongside Stone Skin & Safety zone.
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Blessing 7: Do not invest 15 points in blessing it’s simply a waste of points. Those points are needed elsewhere. Rank 7 ensures you team will have enough blessing hits so that the buff doesn’t run out. The majority of Blessing damage comes from levelling the skill at Priest NPC not skill points.
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Resurrection 5: Possibly one of the best skills in the game. Don’t be a fool ensure you invest all 5 points into this skill. It will come in handy in dungeons & groups an others will love you for it.
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Revive 6: An incredibly skill, it will say you an your team a ton in repair bills. As it stops you dying if you ever mess up. Once you level up the skill at Priest NPC the downtime is minimal. 6 Points however is enough you don’t need the full 10.
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Mass Heal 10: Your main healing source as a priest based Monk. It’s pretty good as it’s percentage based. So even if you don’t invest in spirit an intellect it will still heal your team a ton. It can be tricky to use effectively but you’ll learn.
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Stone Skin 5: An amazing skill offering you an your team a ton of survivability. It will make you an the team block a ton. An no a shield isn’t required for this skill to work.
Monk
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Double Punch 15: This is your replacement for standard attacks. It requires you do some hidden Stamina quests & purchase cheap stamina pills from the starting town Item NPC. But it will do 5/8 times more damage than a standard attack once you’re done with it.
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Palm Strike 4: This is largely for the utility. The problem with this skill however is groups will hate you for using it. As it will knock the monsters out of a group combo. Hence only the investment of 4 points. For solo play with the bleed attribute purchased it’s decent. On bosses an large monsters it’s good as you can’t knock back.
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Hand Knife 1: This skill is terrible do not invest more than 1 point. However the sub ability you can learn by purchasing from the Monk NPC is excellent. You can use the skill to armour break with a 70% chance. Meaning the completely remove of an enemies defence. An yes it works on bosses.
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Energy Blast 10: This is hands down the Monks highest burst damage, if you want to get back at those bloody archers that have been KS’in you all game. This is what you’ll use. Seriously though your team will love you if you use this right on groups. Also Known as Kamehameha. >.>
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One Inch Punch 10: This skill is literally broken in both PvE & PvP. It deals so much damage it’s silly. The problem is hitting with it in PvP & hitting multiple enemies with it in PvE. However if you have a linker on your team. It’s GG mobs.
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Golden Bell Shield 5: It’s decent utility for keeping you an your team alive when used correctly. It’s got a long cool down an a short up time. However that’s due to the overall powerful nature of the skill.
Stat Distribution
You’ll want to be very strength heavy with this build. As that will act as a multiplier for your Monk abilities. Generally you want 40-60 Con, 80-100 Dex & the rest of your points into Strength.
The order you do this in doesn’t really matter as long as you bring them inline close to the 280 level cap. Generally I go very strength heavy at the start. An slowly bring stuff inline. Do what works for you however. At 230 I have 360+ strength 35 Con & 87 Dex.
Extra info
About me, I’m currently a level 248 Monk using this very build minus a few skill points. I have about 500 hours in the game, some from closed beta. All of the time was invested into Monk.
I have tested basically every aspect of this build. I’m not just picking things that look good from a skill list. I know how the skills work, when to use them. An what doesn’t work & why.
End for the moment, I’ll add extra information later on items an general questions. Feel free to ask if you have inquiries however.
