40+ Monk Equip Help

[Abrok]

So I was trying to help another Monk in the Starting Zone who was asking about gear when I realized I could use a little help myself.

Donatelo - 41 MNK

When I first started playing I was mostly soloing so I was always worried about my weight and would take AGI in slots where I couldn't get STR/HP easily (reason for my gloves/mantle). I've slowly gained levels, made some cash, and care less and less about my weight.

Question 1: Should I prioritize buying a better haste item (current: 17%) or continue to upgrade other slots? (purchasable equip, see bottom)

Question 2: Should I switch back to 2HB at my level? (again, lots of soloing) I've heard mixed results and just recently made the switch from IFS to AC/SoS at lvl 40. I realize it's nice to have both, but I don't have a Tink Bag yet and my funds were tight for a little while so I decided to stick with one set of weps for the time being.

I have about 4k liquid at the moment, ~5k in items, and a Shrunken Earring in my backpack (if I need to sell for a substantial upgrade). I know there's lots of nice no drop items out there but I play very casually and may not be able to acquire certain things like shiverback, an epic, or even crescent any time in the near future.

[drktmplr12]

You should care about weight. At higher levels the penalty becomes much larger. For example, looting a hill giant at level 51 reduces my AC by 80 or so. This is me starting at ~16 stones.

Side note, you should be able to get your Robe of the Lost Circle soon, which will add some nice melee stats. Can get the solB piece in royals group at your level, which is a popular camp. The raster of guk piece is a bit tougher because no one camps that area and he is pretty rare. Will have to bring a friend or wait till ~50 to be capable of soloing reliably.

Question 1:

When you calculate haste, the value for delay is always rounded. If you are using a SoS for instance, with delay of 28. Your resultant delay after the hangman's noose is 28 / 1.17 = 23.93 => 24. Switch to an FBSS and it becomes 28 / 1.21 = 23.14 => 23. There's a ~4% improvement. Switch to Dragonborn and it drops to 28/1.26 = 22.2 => 22. There's ~9%, exactly what you would expect.

Whether this is more important than other items? Hard to say... the difference between 150 STR and 225 STR is pretty large as you probably notice when a shaman buffs you. Recall that STR affects your accuracy and how often you hit for max. Generally you can sit at around 170 STR and shaman buffs will top you off while druid buffs get you really close. What will you sacrifice to get to 170 STR?

Question 2:

I prefer dual wield over 2hb, especially a slow item like IFS. High dmg/delay items can be plagued by bad RNG. Not to say that it doesn't happen with dual wield, but the downside of missing is much less pronounced. That being said, i can't afford a nice 2hb and currently sporting a jade mace/KD.

It's hard to beat AC/SoS combo in most cases. Only if you have your epic,access to wu's fist of mastery or bo staff does the story really change.

People will probably argue that I am wrong.. and that's fine.

[Abrok]

Thanks for the detailed response, I appreciate it.

[Mirana]

You gear is extremely good for only being level 41, I'm not sure you need our help [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If it was me personally, I would Sell the kobold hide boots and use wolf fur slippers instead. This will drop your weight by 2 pounds (so effectively a ~10 AC upgrade).

After that, I would use your current funds to buy a tinker bag. Not only will this allow you to actually loot fine steel weapons and stuff, but it also allows you to carry additional potions and other utility items. For instance, a wu's quivering staff to swap out when soloing a mob with a nasty DS, or an Overthere Hammer for when you get level 50 (weighs >3 lbs).

[Abrok]

Thanks for the reply!

Ya, I'm a little annoyed with the boot situation. I took a break from P99 at the end of 2011 (after 2 of my friends quit) back when Wu was still able to be made. I was running around EC and somebody was offering 1k for Wu feet so I thought it was some super rich guy wanting get out of EC so I took his offer (they originally cost me like 50p). I didn't do the research to find out that the options for magic feet are either abysmal or expensive.

A tinker bag is very high on my list of things to get next. Though, at the moment, I'm desperately wanting Gauntlets of Potence. The other day a SHAM buffed me while soloing and I turned into a freak of nature with all that STR. I know they're heavy, and I realize 15 STR won't push me to god level, but it's such a large increase for the cost and STR is like crack man, I NEED it. After that, the bag will be next as every purchasable upgrade is either marginal, extremely expensive, or both.

[easy_lee]

Yo Donatelo, it's Nokitatsu. First, just so ya'll know, this guy is a beast. We were in Dalnir for like 8 hours the other day getting crescent, and neither of us died even once. The casters barely got skills off against us. Killed them like clockwork, about 16 mobs every 12 minutes the whole time, mending and, rarely, bandaging in between. Not too bad for fighting light-blue to blue wizards and shamans.

I too started back around 2011 and have taken a few breaks. I've taken Nokitatsu very slowly and switched up weapons a lot. I'll share with you what I've learned over time.

Question #1:
Haste is nice, but if you already have 17%, then you aren't gaining much by upgrading to an FBSS. 4% more haste is not quite 4% more dps, since it doesn't affect kick, and there are likely better places to spend the 8k+ plat. Tinker Bag is a great investment.

I personally wouldn't prioritize strength to the exclusion of other stats, since our first job as monks is to be able to pull effectively (meaning stay alive). My gear before crescent was very heavy on the survival end, which left my character a little lopsided. Right now, I'm wearing a balanced set, with items like fire platinum wedding rings and targishin's bone mask for survival and the crescent set + fbss for damage. This seems to be optimal for me, though I'm working on improving my saves as my next big priority. After seeing what the casters in dalnir did to us when they did manage to cast, I'm sure you can see why. Will likely buy Crown of the Froglok Kings next, after tinker bag, to that end.

So, short answer is that STR, AC, HP, Saves, and Haste are all important, and I wouldn't personally prioritize one to the exclusion of others (though if I did, it would be saves, since a dead monk does no damage). Dex and Sta are good stats, too, but are not as influential in my experience. If you find yourself soloing most of the time, then AC, STR, and Haste are what will reduce your downtime the most. But, at our level, solo is likely inefficient (duo, particularly with a shaman, is probably still best xp).

Question #2:
First off, one of the most reliable sources of monk weapon damage is this chart: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwLk...JtaGVsanM/edit

I agree with the others that dual-wield vs. 2hb is often a tricky subject. It switches around depending on level. At 1-20, dual wield shines due to damage cap. A monk using IFS from 20-30 is nuts because there's still a damage cap that prevents it from doing truly good dps. At our level, the caps are gone so we can use whatever we think is best.

As you noticed, dual wield works well for interrupting casters. That said, it's a poorer option vs. melee types who are facing us. We proc more of their ripostes, and when they proc our riposte, our riposte does less damage. This is actually quite significant. For this reason, 2hb is typically the way to go for solo past 30.

A lot of monks will recommend a pair of Tsticks (wu's trance stick) for interrupting casters. While the delay is nice, I've found the stun almost never procs when you want it to, and haste doesn't increase the proc chance (it's procs/minute, so only dex increases). Even worse, the kinds of mobs you really want to stun, casters, will resist it frequently.

There is some debate as to whether 1h/fast weapons benefit as much from haste. I've heard they don't, but can't confirm.

Dual wield is less subject to bad RNG. On the flipside, a good 2h will blow the mob sky-high on a good role.

Mainhand damage bonus is important to keep in mind. It's higher for 2h weapons, and apparently scales somewhat with weapon delay. If it weren't for that, dual wield would outdps 2h consistently, which isn't the case. Offhand attacks don't get this bonus, and offhand attacks proc less often the lower level dual wield is. It seems to be generally agreed that dual wield chance is about 78% at 60, and lower the further you are from cap.

Finally, straight dps. I recently upgraded to IFS from JM+KD and can confirm that the damage is better. However, dual wield will become more appealing the higher level I go, particularly since I'll be spending less time in front of my targets as I group more in the 45+.

As for your current combo, there's a good reason it's so expensive. I suspect its damage is superior to IFS, even before 50. Assuming dual wield chance is over 61% at 45, your combo's damage would be superior according to the chart I linked. At 60, I hear the best dps available is Epic Fist MH / SoS offhand, so definitely hold onto that staff. My only concern is that AC will turn into an aggro stick once you hit 50, but we have FD for a reason =)

[drktmplr12]

Originally Posted by easy_lee [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

There is some debate as to whether 1h/fast weapons benefit as much from haste. I've heard they don't, but can't confirm.

Math-wise, since both delays are being divided by the same value (1.21 in the case of fbss, 1.36 for a CoF), there is no difference. It gets more complicated when you consider dmg bonus, str, attack rate, AC of target, etc. Once these factors are considered the approximation breaks down pretty quickly.

[Kayso]

An Exe Hood + IFS + SotDB - Adamantite Club - TBB = ~9K net cost? You'll do more DPS. Noticeably.

Save the SoS for later and the proc. You're also about the level where PB starts to out perform IFS. Slightly, but that's more cost.

If the math is classic-ish on this server, the scenario above is a net increase in DPS.

Yes, people make good points about max hits from Str, bad RNG generator hurting 2HB, your position on the mob, caster interrupts, etc. Those are all true and all considerations. The thing is, these change based on the mob type and rather you're grouped or solo. In my opinion, you go with what consistently wins out in the long parse fight.

As for AC, I'm convinced anecdotally that encumbrance that drops your AC down 50 on your inventory sheet doesn't affect your actual AC value as much as is shown. I'm told this seems true to a lot of monks, but also seems to get more classic as you increase in levels.

Right now, my plan is to pretend that I'm 60 as I level 60 and just try to keep my weight under 25 as I go. It seems to work fine so far.