Monk help
 

Only fiddled with a monk some on live when there was an abundance of weaps cheap.

Im currently 13th. Currently been using fists with mesh gloves. Max hit 12

questions:

are fists limited by a damage cap like weaps are? and will this go away at level 20(or at least increase) I havent seen an increase in max hit for 2 levels now.

Seems like I always see people selling and WTB EBM....is this the best currently?

Will fists ever get equal to or better than the best weapon? if not how much of a difference will there be? Enough to worry about acquiring an EBM?

thanks

At 30 your fists are ~ to EBM. At 35 they are very clearly superior. I quit using EBM at 30 for weight reasons.

everyone i see 40+ uses fists.

Here is when you'll see an increase in damage as monk. Once you're level 30, there's really no accessible weapons in the game better than your bare fist ratio (EBM is ratio 3.5, fists are 3.4)

1: 4/36
5: 5/36
10: 6/36
15: 7/36
20: 8/36
28: +1 Primary Damage Bonus
25: 9/36
30: 10/34
31: +2 Primary Damage Bonus
34: +3 Primary Damage Bonus
35: 11/33
37: +4 Primary Damage Bonus
40: 12/32
43: +6 Primary Damage Bonus
45: 13/31
46: +7 Primary Damage Bonus
49: +8 Primary Damage Bonus
50: 14/30

thanks, that was the info i was looking for

^This. Save it somewhere and use it as a guide.

Also note that your AC is significantly impacted if you're using overweight weapons which push your stones above 15, so in some cases it might be better to forego a slightly better 1hb in favor of your fists (i.e. cracked staffs which weigh a crapton but are better than fists until 10). Also keeps your H2H skills up.

Side note: Kunark made twink monks OP. Double Knuckle Dusters (14/28 ea) made fists obsolete until late 50s, and Tranquil staffs continued to do so. I remember using those in my 30s and was able to be incredibly reckless since mend was fairly consistent in that range and I hit incredibly hard.

Then Monks got their AC nerf later on, and I could barely solo blues (with epic and ok gear) after Luclin because I didn't raid... ;)

I was 'bout to reference monklybusiness myself. That guide page is useful, and some of the guides in the forums "guides and tactics" section are useful to monks.

Seems like the only question to be answered yet is - YES, get EBM's if you can get 'em before 25 or so. May want to farm bear pelts, bone chips, or spiderling silk to make it happen.

And as you can see from Reiker's post, damage/delay changes on the 5 levels.

I got my EBM for 200p, but I see people going as high as 600p. Don't let anybody gouge you! :P