Pros and Cons of playing a Monk

[Negorath]

What are the pros and cons of playing as a Monk?

My original intention was to create a small FAQ for the newcomers to sort out some of the more general questions they might have, but I gave that up after getting a lof of hate posts, but I hope what information that is posted here can be of help to people in the end.
Anyways, feel free to post what you think are the pros and cons of playing this job

Negorath.

[lun4tic]

Monks are the kings of soloing. They max evade and h2h skills quickly, and have guard to back it up. They also have counter, which can turn the tide of a fight.

When in a fight, they can use evade and concentrate to raise the dodge and hit rate. Its cool down is longer then its duration, but that doesn't matter much. If you can keep up with the armor and weapons you can deal out a good amount of damage. Only monks can wear white/purple/brown belts. White only gives +1 str, but purple gives +2 def, +3 str and +4% haste I think it was. They also have passive skills which increase their attack speed, and weapons with naturally low attack speeds. That makes them speedy hitters, hitting twice as well.

At level 35 they get chakra, an emergency heal move. At 41 they get the energy blast, which I guess is for fun. I'm only level 30 so I don't have any experience with those, but they do seem like excellent party members.

Another thing I ecspessially like is the selection of h2h weapons. I currently have claws, and plan to switch to katars.

[SpiritPhoenix]

I on the other hand am still pretty new, but my inital impressions are good. I like the amount of damage and speed my char has, but I do think there are some down sides.

Like other melee classes in some other games monks can hit hard, but are limited to the types of armor we can wear.

Also, monks are rather low on hit points and do not get any kind of Provoke/Taunt so it is hard to tank.

Third, is the lack of unique weaponry the class has. I personally would've liked to have seen more available. Things like unique polearms or staffs, and some kind of ranged weapon. One weapon that I feel is really missing is nunchucks. (sp?) Monks should have them.

[Negorath]

Great info

[shinox]

-

[Zeth]

Also, monks are rather low on hit points

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't Monks have the highest hp pool out of every job in the game?

[LeFaye]

^
| Yes they do.

[Pilsbane]

A definate HUGE disadvantage is monks aren't "needed" in a group for really anything. Sure, they can be a great addition, but the damage they do could be replaced by one of the other damage classes. This makes it much harder for a monk to find a group. And a monk without having a warrior subjob would have an even harder time trying to find a group in a place like Quifim.

Maybe life gets better for Monks after level 30, that I can't speak on. But, from 15-30 they have probably the hardest time finding a group out of all the jobs.

[Silenthavoc]

Yeah, Im a 27mnk/13war and I havent found a group in 3 days. Playing around with a 2nd character lately messing with AH buying low, selling high, hehe.

I dont mind it being hard to find agroup for a certain level period, but if its like this all the time, my plans of going all the way with Monk are going to have to change.

:sweat:

[sactothrash]

I've been soloing alot lately with my monk. At lvl 21 I can kill 2-3 even matches or 4-5 decent challenges before my HP is low enough to have to rest. Although I rest more often so I don't get too low on HP

Im leveling redmage right now to sub for some healing to help cut down on the downtime.

[lun4tic]

In Qufim I found parties easily as a monk. I could do everything a warrior could, was stronger, had more health, could counter, and chained with anything.

I found it easier to find a PT by actively searching and making friends. If you /befriend people they'll remember you too and that could sway their descision to choose you are another guy.

Now that I'm Drg I get invites left and right.

[Crug]

i know how it is in qufim trust me =)

while i do not get invites left and right i always manage to get in to a pt being known by people in the area is a good thing.

well unless you tick off a loudmouth. but im not going to get in to that

[Anom]

I think I said this in another thread, but I'll just say it again..

I've been in several parties where the other melees are a level or two higher than me, yet I deal more damage than all of em. Kinda gives you a bit of a power trip.

...plus the fact that I hit more often, and the 2 hour ability owns all.

[imac2much]

Originally posted by lun4tic
Monks are the kings of soloing. They max evade and h2h skills quickly, and have guard to back it up. They also have counter, which can turn the tide of a fight.

When in a fight, they can use evade and concentrate to raise the dodge and hit rate. Its cool down is longer then its duration, but that doesn't matter much. If you can keep up with the armor and weapons you can deal out a good amount of damage. Only monks can wear white/purple/brown belts. White only gives +1 str, but purple gives +2 def, +3 str and +4% haste I think it was. They also have passive skills which increase their attack speed, and weapons with naturally low attack speeds. That makes them speedy hitters, hitting twice as well.

At level 35 they get chakra, an emergency heal move. At 41 they get the energy blast, which I guess is for fun. I'm only level 30 so I don't have any experience with those, but they do seem like excellent party members.

This is all good info, but I disagree with the initial idea. Monks are not good soloers by any means past level 15 or so. Sure, at low levels they can solo well, but there are actually classes even at low levels that solo better. The reason for this is simple: MNK has good attack, good hp, and can last long in battle thanks to guard, Dodge, things like that. However, due to their horrible armor, they will probably use nearly all their HP for a Decent Challenge past level 30, or maybe an Even match. Then they will have to wait several MINUTES for their HP to fill back up. This is not efficient soloing at any means... the only real viable soloer at later levels is BST (and according to some high level LS members, RDM and PLD can solo better than others, but still not very effectively). If you think you will reduce downtime with MNK/WHM, that still won't work very well since you get horrible MP from a mage sub.

As for the original question, at mid-higher levels MNK functions very similarly to other damage dealing melees (SAM, DRG, DRK). One key difference is that MNKs have some GREAT WS's, especially for renkeis. For example, MNK's get One Inch Punch rather early (before 30 I believe), and it is the only WS around that level that can form Transfixion and Gravitation renkeis, both of which are rather powerful. Second, MNK's get Rangeki (Raging Fists) rather early at lvl 41. This is probably the most powerful WS at this level, as it is a five-fold attack, and can be subbed into WS's just as combo used to (so it's basically a buffed up combo). Ending a fusion renkei with Rangeki deals great damage for a skillchain at job level 41 =)

[sactothrash]

I'm a level 22 monk right now and I can solo, but extremly slow. I can kill 2-3 decent challenge gobs before my HP gets dangerously low. I subbed RDM (for the hell of it since I had leveled RDM up to lvl 11 already). I had 22mp so I could only cast like 2 cures for about 30 each, but that lowered my downtime A LOT. I'm currently leveling WHM for that same reason.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that solo'ing like this is anywhere CLOSE to being as efficient as leveling in a party but it IS good for when you either are feeling anti-social, want to farm for items, or don't have a ton of time to hunt for a group.