Monk Tanking guide to Lvl 30

[Tenrai]

Re: a monk is NOT a tank

Originally posted by LoneWarriorNY
how could you even put up a discussion about the "guide to a monk tanking before level 30"...every monk ive ever seen try to tank has failed miserably...i mean com on the game is designed that way specifically...wars and pld's are tanks...mnks and theives are melee fighters (not as good as the advanced ones though) blm and rdm are nukers, and whm are healers...that's it

just cause you picked mnk and ignorantly want to tank now, doesnt mean a mnk is a tank...it's not

One other thing, MNK's and THF's are two of the best damage dealers in the game.

In higher lvls, a monk can deliver consistent amounts of excellent dmg, at hi speeds, the dmg adds up fast too, and monks can get a hell of a lotta hate when he goes all out, (mnk/wars mainly). I cant count the times I stole hate from the paladin, spamming Raging Fists like its goin outta style, puttin out at least 400-500 dmg on IT mobs, with average DEF of course. At lvl 51 a monk/warrior can hit 5 times in a row, thats when they learn a passive trait called Kick Attacks to stack with a warriors Double Attack.

Thiefs, even though their standard dmg is very weak, can make up for that with fuidama. A lvl 55 thf/nin learns Triple Attack, which can trigger off both swings, adding up to 6 hits in a row. At lvl 60 they learn a WS called Dancing Edge. If that is used with fuidama, they can do at least 1000 dmg at the minimum.

These 2 jobs are way up there with adv melee jobs, I seen these 2 job leave the adv melee in the dust, never to be seen again.

RDM's CAN be healers (RDM/WHM's) just as long as they are accompanied by another RDM/WHM or a BRD/WHM, maybe even a BLM/WHM, itll just be lesser nuking, and more healing.

I dont think u can make such judgements as of yet, I see youre only lvl 22, which means that you really havent seen a whole lot. Still a long way for you to go bro, keep on followin that yellow brick road.

[Aneyeisuponyou]

I've grouped with a mnk tank from lower 60's -current. He tanks cause I have thf sub, we own bones in Gustav 5k+ hr + slacking and messing around. Monk can't tank like pld, but pld can't hit like monk. Keep the fights short enough aka open a can of whoop a$$. And keep on truckin.

[laicram]

Hello. I don't think LWNY read the guide or the thread very thoroughly. Early on, Mnk can tank well enough with right gear and food.

A point I don't think I emphasized enough, is versatility=fast exp. If you want to fly through your lvls, carry gear for both Tanker and Damage Dealer. You can fit either role in an instant - and keep the exp rolling. That's gonna go in the guide somewhere...

As a War main, I noticed that Mnk/War has a much easier time "switching roles on the fly" than a War. Optimally, War has to bring the right subjob for his role (/Mnk to tank or /Thf to DD, etc), while Mnk/War never needs to change his sub.

BTW, I'll be hopping back to Mnk til 41 for Ballista. Mnk40 gear in Ballista is buff =O

[Brocino]

ha, about monks in balista... i was running thru jugnerwhen a conflict was happening and decided to follow monk around and see wut i have instore for me (he was 75/37 mnk/war). well, i really didnt get a great viewsince a mob of windurstians came and gang-banged him it was kinda uneventful i also looked at the SS's for ballista on the official POL site and in every pic, the only person dead isthe galkan monk -_- im wondering if i shud even participate, lol

--sorry thats a bit offtopic but have any monks here noticed that they are weak in this event? to stay with the topic, can the monks tank well against player-controled units?

[laicram]

Originally posted by Brocino
ha, about monks in balista... i was running thru jugnerwhen a conflict was happening and decided to follow monk around and see wut i have instore for me (he was 75/37 mnk/war). well, i really didnt get a great viewsince a mob of windurstians came and gang-banged him it was kinda uneventful i also looked at the SS's for ballista on the official POL site and in every pic, the only person dead isthe galkan monk -_- im wondering if i shud even participate, lol

--sorry thats a bit offtopic but have any monks here noticed that they are weak in this event? to stay with the topic, can the monks tank well against player-controled units?

Lol =)

Player vs Player is a totally different animal. You can't "tank" in a traditional sense. 1-on-1 showdowns would be fun and macho, but teamwork is what rules the day.

I think a Mnk's role in Ballista would be "mage interruptor" and "blink remover". I would go for speed and accuracy equip instead of damage.

For deception, I would use fish kabobs for defense - because if I'm deep within the enemy PT, I'm gonna get focus-fired on. Dodge and high Guard skill comes in handy.

Err, I don't want to sound like any kind of Ballista authority. I won't even play it until I've got all my "ducks in a row" =/ I imagine ballista random PT's are just chaos.

This thread is about Mnk tanking. Let's try not to stray too much off topic? =P

[Arkadya]

Originally posted by LoneWarriorNY
how the hell was I trolling? you're the one who trolls just responding on other topics "you're all wrong" ...and failing to give any reason why...explain how i was trolling, or accept the fact you're just ignorant and like to debate things with nothing to back your side up

MONKS ARE NOT TANKS...and you're saying you did it before lvl 16...whippidy doo...problem is nobody stays below 16 very long, and long term is the real question....and in the long run, a monk is not a tank...period...nobody argues that.

I out-tanked every warrior and ninja pre-38 (pre-38 because post 38 I've never partied without my static which has a pld in it)I ever ran across. And I wasn't even moderately equipped to do so. Holding aggro is more imortant than taking miniscule amounts of damage. As long as you mitigate "enough" you can tank. Monks are perfectly viable, and even admirable tanks 1-30 (where most of your tanks are braindead warriors wielding swords because that's their starting equipment/ they plan on going paladin). There's theory out there that with counterstance and enough +counter gear a monk can tank 70+, but I wouldn't know about that.

[Lunarsoul]

Retard .. who says mnk/wars can't tank should be shot ><


Anyways I never wanted to be a Tank in fact when I started to find myself the better tanker with out planning for it I was annoyed.. My LS was all Like dude calm down you should be tanking .. I Never planned to be a Tank and I certainly didn't equip with that in mind .. I equiped looking for the best stuff I could find for my lv .. focusing on dex and str .. So how did I end up TANKING? well I spend twice the time farming/helping friends/ doing quests etc.. as most tanks at my lv so I am always better equipped .. I am never gimped I can hold complete control over the gob etc.. at any given time by spamming abitlities and prov .. and the gobs have a hard time hitting me or hitting me with any decent power ..

In fact my party last night was me and 2 more mnk's a war a wht and a blm .. I tanked and my homie that was not as P.I.M.Ped as me cause he was trying to catch up to my lv for a month pulled .. It was a blast having 6 hits in a row scrolling the screen ..

The war couldn't hold aggro against the damage the blm was putting out .. But i could cause my strike's and dex gave me the damage advantage and my prov and abilities put my hate over the edge ..

[Brennon]

put this in the "for whatever its worth" category. . .

i found that i could tank quite effectively, both in the ability to hold hate, and ability to take damage until 25-30ish range. (and i often ended up doing so) after that, the war/pld's took over, and i havn't tanked since. . .

[Shirow]

Dang, this guide makes me want to jump back in so much, but school is holding me down. Anyways, Laicram, for a lvl 23MNK, what's the best setup you can recommend to that person? Food excluded. Although me and him aren't friends, he's a MNK, and well when I started playing this game, I was a MNK as well, and loved every bit of the Monks, so I thought I'd help him out, even though he may not listen to me.

[laicram]

Main - Cougar Bag
Head - Beetle or Monk's Headgear
Neck - Spike
Ear - Beetle +1 (2x)
Hand - Beetle
Ring - Stamina
Ring - Bomb or Sandoria Ring
Waist - Warrior's Belt +1
Leg - Legionaire Sub
Foot - Beetle

Food: Fish Mith =P

Even without food, this setup can beat most standard tanks. I had done it as a Mithra. Remind your frontline, they are free to use Berserk while you are tanking.

If you use the def food (most likely, no one else will), your seizing of the tank role will be undeniable.

[Navia]

my 2gil on mnk tanks:

When I leveled my WHM from the 40's to mid 50s the tank was an elvaan mnk/war and I enjoyed it.
Mnk take more damage with counterstance up, but the hp pool is so large I could rest for mp letting regen keep them standing awhile then stand up and throw a big cure.
Provoke and raging fists spam keeps the monster glued to them easily.

I don't think fish kabob is the way to go personally, my mnk tank went all out atk/str/berserk/meatmithkabob and did nice damage without being a 1-hit wonder tank.
Mnk tank really shines if you stick with goblins(suicide bomb), anticans(jamming wave is a pain for nin or pld tanks, no need to silena the mnk) or something other than crab/beetle.

Mnk with good gears like ochiudo kote, avenger earring, cross counters, constantly in a state of counterstancing and spammning raging fists is in my book.

[laicram]

Navia, just did some Mnk tanking at 42 today, and had a similar pleasant outcome. A detailed acount...

Gear
Weapon: Tourney Patas
Head: Strong Cap
Neck: Medivel Collar
Ear1: Drone
Ear2: Mercenary
Body: Earth Doublet
Back: Cavalier Mantle
Hands: Oxygos Bracelets
Ring1: Aegis Ring
Ring2: Bastokan Ring
Waist: Brown Belt
Feet: Savage Gaiters

Guard: 93
Food: Fish Mithkabob
Str+13 Vit+15 (+17 w/food)
(I could've been more overboard with Vit+ gear, but I opted for certain Str+ that had HP+ or Haste)

I wasn't insisting to tank, it just turned out that way. There were no NA tanks LFG. The PT consisted of:

Drk42/Thf21
Drg42/War21
Mnk42/War21
Whm40/Blm19
Whm41/Smn20
Blm40/Whm20

Ya, everyone was skeptical - which is annoying, but expected. I managed to keep them together all the way to Gustav Tunnel.

Once we got into the swing of things, there were no complaints. We would hit 4 chains - even with a Blm that couldn't MB off the Distrortion the DRG and DRK were making =/

Solo Raging Fists still does great damage even though I used def food. I would hit IT Lizards for 137-250 damage. (I didn't always have focus or berserk on it) Hate keeping went pretty well even with a Drk and Blm in the mix. I had the mob turn only a handful of times, and I'd get the hate right back. Raging Fists made the hate-keeping easier than ever.

So, everyone walked away happy. Ppl stressing about "not having a real tank" at 1st, was the hardest part. My original goal was to "tank or DD" to 37, but Mnk tank still has legs at 42 =P

Jumping back on the Mnk-tank saddle, I feel that tanking as a Mnk is more trouble than it's worth. Sure being "tank ready" is versatile, but I hate dealing with ppl that don't think it'll work or that it will be poor. It's like that everytime =(

[Brocino]

Well, i know its been awhile since i posted, but im back, and with a 58MNK ^^. so here's the deal. from a 50+ perspective i dont see tanking as a monk as good idea. im pretty sure someone already said that but im just confirming it. even with defender and dodge and when i take off my -evasion gear i still get hit way too often and way too hard. It's possible to take a few hits whenever u take aggro but it costs too much MP to hold the hate for a whole fight, plus we just dont have any extra moves to hold the aggro against barrages of white spells. i guess that's my opinion. i guess i could b wrong :D

[Demesne]

Re: Mnks not being good tanks

I am a MNK/WAR who recently attained lvl 30 by chaining the mandys in Yhoator Jungle. I would like to point out that until about lvl 25, when I first entered Elshimo, I strictly avoided becoming tank---->it was my loss.

There always seems to be a lack of tanks on my server in the two jungles. This is how I found myself becoming the tank by default -- it was either I tank, or no pt ... you can guess what my choice was.

Anyway, even with no real opportunity to prepare, and being too broke for food pwr ups, even with the pt's I did have WAR's in, I turned out to be the better tank for a few reasons.

#1->My HP's were just ridiculously higher than everyone else's, even if my def would have been low.

#2->My def actually was as good if not better than WAR of the same lvl as long as I kept current equipment (Thanks V!) Keep in mind this was by accident.

#3->I kept hate just fine, even when I didn't really mean to. Between Boost (which I keep on a strict 15 sec interval to stack), Focus, Dodge, and Provoking as often as possible you can bet those mandy's stayed mad at me!

#4->It seemed like anytime I might be ready to lose my hold, and didn't have a 'voke ready anyway, I had a One-Inch-Punch, or a Shoulder Tackle to unleash on the unwary victim, and regain his temper.

All of that said, even though I NEVER intended to use MNK as a tank, I got suckered into it, and I'm soooo glad I did. There is nothing even comparable to using a job rumored to be so ill-taylored for something, doing just that, and doing it well. It's an extremely satisfactory experience that I recommend to any MNK who hasn't passed it up already. Glad I didn't miss out!

BTW: this is an awesome guide, if only I'd had it earlier :D

[Brocino]

Hey, great to see the thread is still getting read. i'd like to also point out something that just came to my attention the other day, which is guarding. you'll only ever lvl your guarding if you are taking hits, so if you want high guarding you should start lvling it while you're lower in lvls. even when i skill up with my LS-m8s on VT's and IT's (to me) and i try skilling my guarding up, it's a very slow and tedious process. it scarcely ever gets skilled up.