Hey! Some of you might remember me, but I haven't posted in a while. I'm pretty familiar with combat in IRE games, but I heard Lusternia was a lot different when it came to monks so I thought I'd ask my question before finalizing my choice.

What are the pros and cons of the various Monk guilds? For instance, which has the biggest potential for burst damage, which is the best-afflicting, etc.

I'm thinking I want to be Krokani for the tankiness and damage, but I might be persuaded off of that if it's a dumb choice compared to (insert race here) for (insert guild here).

RP is also important, but I'm fairly sure that won't be impacted by my guild choice. Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Oh, I'm probably going Psymet, but I'd like advice on the best way to do that and be combat-viable too.

Krokani is a great monk race. Not many are krokani, oddly enough. It could be because a Lobo psymet harmony monk is tankiness incarnate, but psymet lacking contort makes it tough to be psymet and fighting.

Monks function on a momentum system, meaning that the more you hit others over time, the more powerful attacks can you pull off. Low momentum monks aren't very dangerous at all, while high momentum monks have a stupidly large affliction and damage output.

From what I know, Emo monks use poison, Mag monks use regeneration afflictions, and Shofangi... uh... use greenlocks and proning.

Is Contort really needed THAT badly to fight 1v1 or raid as a Monk?

Raid, no. But one on one, if you do not have contort, web can easily be timed to keep you at low momentum.

Illithoid Monk with Acrobatics. It has is all, tankiness, damage, speed, hard to hinder, and increased weapon stats. Being an Illithoid means that you can only be a Ninjakari or Nekotai. Out of those two, I would choose Nekotai because they are part of Glomdoring, the organization that is on top right now, and they have good RP. The Ninjakari are a very good choice too if you find chains more appealing than claws.

Also. There is a race change coming soon, so take race suggestions with a grain of salt. What might be considered a great race can become less than optimal (to put it kindly).

And yes. Acrobatics is better than psymet, hands down.

EDIT: emo monks also use lots of bleeding, very fitting, if you ask me.

I actually had that originally, but I removed it, since it seems that bleeding was an intended gimmick to Shofangi that just... won't work because the bleeding mods are very suboptimal. Seems what most Shofangi use nowadays is a slitthroat/prone/breakleg/slickness combination for greenlocking.

And Krokani IS a good race. Good strength, dex and con. So if you want to choose that for the RPs, which to me sounds like a lot of fun, go for it.

Yes. Krokani is a great monk race. Even with the added tankiness, they still have a high strength and dexterity(the first going to pvp damage, the second going to pve damage and pvp wounds).

The Nekotai(referred to as emo monks) use bleeding, and go for a greenlock to pull off their instakill(yeah, poison). Not going to go into the WTF factor that arose with Thul's damage.



Actually, a lot has been found in the last couple months. Our greenlock still works, but we are trying to move away from it(with a little success), and now have a wide range of strategies ranging from that, the old pronelock, crunching(yes, we made our instakill work), lacerations(the bleeding gimmick. Think +90 bleeding per laceration(max 4), and it won't stop until you use herb balance a few times(more than long enough to redo those lacerations)), and endurance draining(possibly the cheapest tactic known to Lusternia, and really doesn't work that well in real combat).

Even Shred? Shred seems like a really poor grapple ender.

It could go either way. 400+ bleeding can be useful, especially against people who use mana(forced clots can drain it fast). But rake for lacerations is much more effective for that, since the bleeding doesn't stop(and keeps increasing) until the lacerations are cured(max 4 again, we can do a maximum of two per form).

EDIT: Honestly, the only three grapple enders that are probably worth it are disarm(two broken limbs), kumati?(throw them out of the room, but we have bullkick for that too), and crunch(instakill)

Who needs greenlocks?

Exactly. Most of the current combatants(myself, Haiden) are moving away from them(they are unreliable anyway, to the extent that poisons can make them). Though I never did figure out that bullrage trick you spoke of, Casi

Shofangi's gimmick is breaking and crushing things. And they're pretty good at it.

Acrobatics is almost a must in my opinion. I don't really think Psymet can trump the benefits you get from Acro.

Trueheal and awesome regen are pretty nice.

I suppose, but I think Contort is amazing - and Dodging is always nice. Plus, Hyperactive is just ever so slightly OP for Monks, and they have some other nice perks like Elasticity and etc.


EDIT: Nvm things like Scissorflip during raids, Airpike for.. something (I've used it once or twice when I was a Monk!), and the escape skills that pepper the AB list.

Mmm. Each has their advantage. Acrobatics has utility, dodging, hyperactive, and a bit of DMP. Psymet also has utility, quite a bit of DMP, bloodboil(great against strategies which cause bleeding), the ability to raise stats, and some regeneration. Plus free waterwalking and sprinting over water. That's always good.

I'd say they're fairly equal. The only reason Acro is the more common choice(and I could and may well be wrong) is it requires less lessons for more benefits, contort is a wonderful tool, and hyperactive... Well. <1.5sec forms are always a good thing.

EDIT: Oh, and off-balance standing. Wonderful right there.... Well, it seems monks get the anti-monk skillset here

I think this sums it up nicely, yeah.

I really, really miss Acrobatics.

Ditto, though transmology eased the blow for both stealth and acrobatics