Tree of Savior Forum

The Spiritual Monk Guide (PVE- Solo/Party) *Let me fail for you all*

[Disclaimer ]

The following guide is more of a testing/theoretical guide than a practical one. The reason for venturing this way is that I have reset potion to go crazy and I want optimize the utility/tank ability of the Monk relying in SPR rather than CON/DEX. Based on the mechanics, and gear we currently have, I will probably end gimping myself. HOWEVER, I want try my best to make it work and cry a river when I fail (I can always reset my skills/attributes)

[Overview]

  1. This build FOCUS on priest utilities and STR/SPR.

  2. The usefulness or lack of this build will be dependent on future buffs/nerf, changes after level 280, etc.

  3. I am NOT a level 280 Monk. I will be running this build for testing and I am willing to spend $$ to reset skills and attributes to put the theory into practice.

  4. This Is NOT an optimal build for leveling! At level 280 this build will probably suck massively.

  5. I am a scientist in real life, and while this build seems like it will fail, I have the curiosity and the time to test it so why not.

I want to say thanks to @wenoweon and @Menech. They don’t know who I am but I been reading their comments/ideas/guides/tips in the cleric forum and they are very knowledgeable.

If you haven’t read Menech guide, please do so Proper PVE Monk Guide

[Stats Distribution]

Everything on STR and splash of SPR For now, I would allocate the points that other people in other Monk builds spend in DEX and CON toward SPR.

ARE YOU MAD DUDE!!??? WHERE IS MY DEX AND CON!?!?!?!

DEX is the most overrated attribute

  • For PVE, you don’t need any point in DEX. Level appropriate gloves should give you ENOUGH accuracy to hit everything at your level and even above your level (to a certain degree). You can always use gems to fill the gaps.

  • While Increasing DEX also increase evasion/dodge which in turn increases sustainability, our Monk have enough utilities for survival.

  • DEX vs STR as DPS modifier - Please read: [STR vs DEX Debate] (https://www.reddit.com/r/treeofsavior/comments/4hfddf/this_should_answer_almost_all_of_your_questions/) discussion by Reilet
    tl;dr… It is likely STR is the way to go

  • It just doesn’t fit the Spiritual Monk dude

CON vs SPR as a survival tool

  • In our current meta, CON is eesential but I will skip it in order to maximize SPR

  • My hopes are to find a middle ground between HP which plate end game gear provides and magic defense provided by SPR and other means.

Why SPR Monk?

  • Synergy/Scalability: Stoneskin, Aspersion, Mass Heal and other skills.

  • Sustainability: Magic Defense, status ailments resistance. Unfortunately, the current mechanics of magic defense provides minimal benefits.

  • In TOS Monk’s don’t meditate, and SPR helps them overcome evil by balancing their chakra and inner self.

  • I am bored…

[Skill Build ]

Cleric:

Nothing too different from others people builds.

Priest:

Here is where I depart from most Monk’s build and my reasoning behind it.

  • [Aspersion] – Underrated and yet one of the best priest buff in game. This buff scales well at endgame. At 15/15 an increase of 48% physical defense is nothing to sneeze at. Don’t forget that we will gear with plate which should make this buff even more powerful.

  • [Blessing] – Don’t spend a dime on it. This skill is a godsend for leveling early on but becomes quite useless later on. It is still a useful buff for the party, but that wouldn’t be your role. Also, Monk’s DPS depends on double punch which doesn’t synergize well with blessing or sacrament.

  • [Monstrance] – Nice boost of dexterity but putting more than 1 point is a total waste.

  • [Revive] – One of the most powerful priest buffs. The utility of this skill alone makes C3 Priest worth it. Maxing it provides 50% HP recovery, 10 seconds invincibility (more than enough to get out of AoE / recover from a possible wipe).

  • [Resurrection] – I put 4 points on this skill because I rather max revive/mass heal/ stoneskin

  • [Mass Heal] – Powerful heal that scales extremely well end game. Cooldown feels a bit long (30secs) but 28% of maximum HP heal is quite the thing. As an extra, it scales with SPR (not dramatically) but I take it :smiley:

  • [Sacrament] – Same as blessing, 0 pts.

  • [Stone Skin] – Another underrated skill. Quite powerful by itself (maxed) it also scales very good with SPR.

Fun low level experiment Stoneskin vs Evasion done by a youtuber :


Evasion seems more reliable than Stoneskin regardless of spending points in SPR, BUT remember that Stoneskin benefit the party

–Summary–

Your support role is to provide revive, mass heals, aspersion and stoneskin. By not having blessing/sacrament, it should give you more breathing room to DPS instead of solely buffing.

Monk:

I pretty much follow Menech skills distribution with the exception of Palm Strike and Golden Bell shield. I might work on this section later :smiley:

You have to invest into CON. Cleric base HP at 280 is 7700. Plate mastery at 50 gives another 1805. Monks have a TINY range on Double Punch which is their main source of DPS. Which means you have to stand not next to but INSIDE a pack of mobs/boss to DPS.

If you think you can survive end game damage with less then 10K health you are going to regret your build but only after you spent a good time leveling it and it’s to late.

SS with spirit will keep you up and blocking but it does nothing for magic damage and can only be up 50% of the time as a Monk.

I’d also suggest 3 points into Blessing and maxing the attribute. It falls away late game but does help a good bit for the first 175-200 levels.

I disagree with spending points in CON because you can compensate with HP bonuses by gearing toward those bonuses.

For example, let’s take your calculation and add a few things to point out my case.

7700 base HP + 1805 from Mastery = 9505
Now let’s take the Grynas Set as an example. The set give you 1020 HP + 430x 2 from boots and gauntlets. That’s a total of 11385 total hp. Take in consideration this set is not end game and we are not considering gems to boost HP further.

In regards to blessing, I mentioned this guide is not meant for optimal leveling. Those three points you spend in Blessing are better spend somewhere else. Regardless, thanks for your opinion!

I don’t think you understand. End-game bosses deal 10k a hit and thats a huge aoe around them aswell. At that point it will be do I come close, hit two times and die or do I just stay back and kamehame? But how often Can you kamehame? Do you get what I’m saying?

Unless you will have scout 3 in a party which is very rare by itself you will be forced into a support role which we both know you don’t want.

I might be wrong, that’s just my prediction. Not a prediction when it comes to the damage though.

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I get what you are saying, but how often that 10k aoe happens? Also, that 10k damage can be mitigated somewhat with SPR (magic defence) assuming is based on magic damage. Also, there is a point where is better to increase our physical/magical defense rather than keep increasing your HP. If that AoE happens not so often, then a possible strategy would be to cast revive to negate dying. My end game experience is lacking and my argument is mainly based on a theory. I do think, however , it is still viable.

SPR is usually weak… but can you go chaplain and get the bonus with monk moves? aspergillum multihit energy blast…?

You could, but I am focusing on MNK C3

Just watch this.

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Okey that’s brutal, but please tell me how 9k+ extra hp would make a difference there? One extra hit “maybe”? Also, if I am not mistaken, 16 level difference between the boss and the player make it so you get hit harder. Btw, what kind of damage is that, magic? Is every AoE considered magic?

Looks like magic to me, though I haven’t done it so I can’t confirm.

I don’t know how 9k extra hp would make a difference by itself, but if you combine it with barrier, and maybe pardoner’s increasing magic defence - or even both on the same character making it a very strong anti-magic buffer - maybe with that the additional hp would be enough to last some hits and do some damage in return.

Or you could spend points in SPR making your magic defense more relevant. I guess my point is there’s many ways to go aboutthe problem. What I am interested in is how viable is magic/physical defense in this game? I don’t know the formula and I have no clue. One thing I find interesting is that end game gear/sets include magic defense and their numbers are not as high as you might think. This might mean that spending points in SPR might be very beneficial, if not more when compared to CON endgame. I might be wrong, but I do want test it out :smiley:

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Awesome!! I will definitely check it out and update the guide as needed :smiley:

Not to sound like a prick but I don’t think you should be making guides on theory, make one after you make the character, and include your experiences and then gained wisdom.

I have the character, I am leveling it up. Based on your rationale, we all should go the same build based on one endgame dungeon, Earth Tower. Also, I did mention in the beginning that I am not level 280. In fact, most guides here have a lot of theory because is impossible to predict where the game is going with just one end game dungeon. Anyway, like always, thanks for your input.

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Good luck on the levelling!

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Without con ull die grinding in level 200+ map specially in storage(level262) some mobs there are range and magical and hit like a truck

Magic resist works like defense in TOS. Its a flat reduction. So if you have 100 MD a 10K magic attack will hit for 9,900. Its why stacking defense doesn’t work in this game. Its a design flaw that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.

You’ll notice the RANGED classes shoot for around 20K as they are the classes who only take those random aoe attacks. The melee in TOS have to be in close. Your just in harms way from more dangers with less chance to react.

I don’t wanna be a doomsayer. Do what you wanna do. Go forth into battle with your head high. Just don’t get upset when you start dropping to random attacks or spots of FPS lag. At that point you’ll be in the mid 100s and the levels will be slow going and a long painful period to try and level up your CON to where it’s suppose to be.

There is a whole cycle of new players reading and ignoring advise from players who have seen the end game. Then coming around and being upset that they have to reroll or their build is weak when they were warned ahead of time repeatedly.

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I understand your point and is more than valid. I am expecting to reset my attributions, that’s why I will risk it. I tried to point out that this is not optimal for leveling, maybe I should make it more clear for those new to the game. Thanks!

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The guide has been updated based on the discussion.