What does a Monk bring to a raid?

[TheFishyOne]

'ey guys.

Used to play EQ on live, but am VERY new to Classic EQ, and was just curious if Monks in Classic bring anything to a raid other than DPS. If not, why would you take a Monk over, say, a Rogue?

Just wanted to know, because I have a level 5 Iksar Monk and want to know if it's worth it to try to (eventually) get him raid ready (i.e. Does he have anything unique to bring to the table?).

[Kairun]

Pulling and last resort tanking lol

[Noselacri]

Pulling and pretty good DPS. You shouldn't need to use a monk for tanking on a raid, but they can off-tank trash and such if necessary. Then in Velious they become good rampage tanks and such. You'll always want at least one monk on any raid, preferably two or even three if something happens to the others. More than that is just sub-optimal DPS, but then you can't exactly bring 20 rogues.

[Schortt]

Most of this has been said, but I'll throw in my two cents.

From a min/maxing your raid composition standpoint - monks can satisfy pulling/OT roles that rogues can't, but there's a limited number of such roles, and they can also be satisfied in many cases by other classes (SK/Nec/etc for pulls, SK/Pal/War/etc for OTs).

For DPS contribution, epic rogues are going to contribute more raw DPS than all but the best geared monks. However, monks do have more survivability (Fast cooldown defensive discs, Mend, Larger HP pool, better defensive skills and AC) and better aggro management than rogues (FD/FD+Sneak are much more reliable and give a much larger reduction in aggro than Evade). DPS that live to the end of a fight almost always contribute more than DPS who die early on, especially in Velious where fights last much longer. A monk is more likely to survive catching a round or two of aggro than a rogue and also is less likely to get unwanted aggro in the first place. A monk will also survive longer against unhealed AE's than a rogue and has a method to avoid pulling low HP aggro (FD).

Of course, in a perfect engagement where there's no issues with a tank dropping aggro, dying, or keeping DPS healed from AE damage, a rogue is going to be a better choice. Min/max theorycrafting typically assumes perfect engagements, so there's your answer. Additionally, a rogue requires less XP and plat to get to the raiding game and contribute at a high level. Get a Ragebringer and some resist gear and you're pretty much good to go.

So, if you're interested in having a more active role in raids that might include pulling, offtanking, or even MTing in a pinch, go monk. Whether or not you get to do these things with a raiding guild is dependent on your abilities and the abilities of the other people who are fulfilling these roles already. If you just want to chill and do DPS, rogue is probably a better choice. Both classes end up having to do CR sometimes so I think that's a wash.