The Way of the Elements (Level 1-5)

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

-- The Art of War, Sun Tzu

Let's begin your martial training as a disciple of the Way of the Elements.

Elemental Attacks

Other classes are limited in damaging their enemies based on the characteristics of the weapons they use. For instance, a Fighter with an Icy Burst longsword can deliver cold damage with the sword, and that is all.

A Monk is naturally able to add elemental damage to unarmed and weapon attacks at Level 1, using elemental attacks (also called ki attacks). This damage is in addition to damaging effects inherent in handwraps (the unarmed hand coverings of unarmed fightings) or ki weapons (Monk weapons).

This is the part that trips up many a player. To apply elemental damage, you'll need to place these elemental attacks on your toolbar, and then remember which key on your keyboard represents that attack.

A Monk's core elemental abilities represent the fundamental mystical elements of earth, wind, fire, and water:

• Earth: Deliver catastrophic damage, more health, greater defense and untyped (and, in higher training, acid) damage at the expense of Dexterity, while also generating more Threat to attract foes
• Wind: Faster attacks, greater dexterity, doublestriking, movement speed and electrical damage at the cost of Constitution
• Fire: More strength for powerful attacks, fire damage and higher ki regeneration per hit, but lower Wisdom, which affects some Monk abilities
• Water: More Wisdom for a balance of defense, attack and mystical skills, with cold damage, at the expense of Strength and less damaging attacks

You'll gain other advanced elemental attacks later in your training.

Of course, you still can use the regular attack independently of elemental attacks. Each elemental attack, however, has a cooldown of 3 seconds. This is important to remember for your next lesson.

Update 19 now automatically grants you all Monk elemental training, commensurate with your level. You'll need to add the new elemental ki strike from each feat graduation to your toolbar.

You will find your first four elemental attacks in your Feats tab of your Character sheet:

• Way of Earth>Strike of the Enduring
• Way of Air>Storm Strike
• Way of Fire>Fires of Purity
• Way of Water>Flowing Water Strike

Monk Stances

The Way feats represent each elemental power within a Monk with an additional icon, shown in each Way item, that defines a Monk stance.

Monk Stances are similar to the general stances available to all players. As with general stances, Monk Stances are toggled on and persist until you switch to another stance or toggle that stance off. You can fight without a Monk stance operating.

Unlike some general stances, Monk Stances are always available, even if you have a general stance active. However, you can only have one Monk Stance active at one time (no matter what level of training you have, as you advance to more powerful versions).

A Monk Stance may sometimes automatically untoggle, often after leveling up and selecting a stronger version of a stance. Get into the habit of routinely checking that a Monk stance is active after you train.

Monk Stances change your ability stats and provide improvements to your damage, defense and skills, at the expense of trading points of one ability for another.

For instance, Wind Stance gives you extra Dexterity but subtracts from your Constitution, lowering your hit points. Fire Stance gives you more Strength, generates more ki per hit but subtracts from Wisdom.

Monk Stances inherently give you a big advantage by boosting your ability stats as you see fit during an adventure where levels and runes may need more Wisdom or Strength to open, to pick an example. Changing stances can also increase your saves or Dodge bonuses for a boost to evasive tactics, for more attack power or defense.

Effective with Update 19, you need only add the respective Stance icon to your toolbar once (see below). As you automatically graduate into a higher training level (such as the Adept stances), the Stance icon remains the same; just select it to use the new training.

Also changed with Update 19: While the Stance icon's description will not change from its "Way" description, you will find a new buff icon in your buff bar with the Stance symbol currently in use, which will describe the current active powers granted by the stance.

Some features of each stance have changed a bit in Update 19. I will touch on any such changes in later training chapters (Adept, Master, Grandmaster).

Finishing Move Feat and Toolbar Format

You'll find one other feat you'll need to place on the same toolbar as the elemental attacks. That's the Finishing Move feat you'll punch to activate your finisher. That's shown in button 7 of Toolbar 1.

So, in the example below, Toolbar 1 holds ki attacks. Toolbar 2 holds Monk Stances and other related abilities. You can adjust your toolbar however you like for your personal taste as well as your hardware. A keypad, such as those from Logitech, are ideal for Monks since you can save commonly-used finishers as macros and avoid "finger pretzel syndrome" when trying to make finishers from a conventional keyboard.

Toolbar 1 is for attacks on this Grandmaster shows level 4 strikes, but the principle's the same as for Disciples. Sneak: Button 1. I use Earth/Wind/Fire/Water in that order of strikes shown for buttons 2, 3, 4, and 5. However, you can use whatever order that you choose. The Philosophy strike (as you'll learn in Philosophy) is in button 6. My finisher is in button 7. Other commonly-used strikes can also go on this toolbar. I use button 0 for emergency potions but again, you can add yet another attack here.

Like ki elemental attacks themselves, Monks that use ranged or thrown weapons might accidentally charge up, but cannot activate finishing moves.

There's a bit of explanation needed for you to understand how your elemental attacks and other abilities you'll gain are powered, in the next section on ki energy.

Class Feats

A Monk receives many class feats for free as they level. Some will constantly upgrade as you reach a particular level. These include:

• Flurry of Blows: While centered (unarmored, unencumbered, and wielding monk weapons), you get an increase to your attack bonus, and a 2% Dodge bonus at monk levels 1, 2, and 4 for a total of 6%. The attack bonus increase starts at +1 (at level 1) and increases by +1 for every four additional monk levels. This feat is one of two that defines how Monks fight more effectively unarmed than non-Monks.
• Unarmed Strike: While centered (unarmored, unencumbered, and wielding monk weapons), your fists and feet are lethal weapons. Your unarmed damage increases based on the number of times you've been granted this feat. For Monks, your unarmed attacks start at 1d6. For you, that's known as "W" for weapon damage. By level 3, your attacks improve to 1.5 times 1d6, or 1.5 [W]. By level 8, you'll be 2[W]. Items such as the Garments of Equilibrium or other enhancements may improve this and stack with your natural progression (although not with Mountain Stance abilities).
• Finishing Moves: Gives you this class ability.
• Fast Movement: Increases your natural movement speed. This stacks with Haste and Striding items, making Monks arguably the fastest class in the game.
• Armor Class Bonus (Monk): Centered bonus at levels 2, 5, 10, 15 and 20 (3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 AC) unarmored, wielding ki weapons and not encumbered. Also, a passive Wisdom bonus equal to their Wisdom modifier is given, while unarmored and not using a shield.
• Slow Fall (Level 4): You take less damage from longer falls and fall a little slower each time you receive an upgrade to this feat. By level 20 and Perfect Slow Fall, you won't take damage from falling from any height. (Keep a Feather Fall item handy for better gliding.)
• Monk Stances: As noted with Update 19, your character will be automatically granted these improvements in elemental training as you achieve certain levels.

Between Level 1 and 6, you'll also gain these one-time feats:

• Still Mind (Level 3): Your training and meditation improve your resistance to mind-affecting attacks, granting you a +2 bonus on saving throws against enchantments.
• Purity of Body (Level 5): You are immune from most diseases.

Martial Arts Feats

At levels 1, 2 and 6, Monks have an opportunity to train specific feats. You may only train some of these feats at these specific levels, and cannot select them later using other feat slots. It may be possible to exchange some martial arts feats for another through Fred, the feat retrainer.

• Combat Expertise
• Deflect Arrows*
• Diehard
• Discipline
• Dodge
• Great Fortitude
• Improved Sunder
• Improved Trip
• Iron Will
• Lightning Reflexes
• Mobility
• Power Attack
• Precision
• Resilience
• Shuriken Expertise
• Single Weapon Fighting
• Stunning Fist
• Ten Thousand Stars*
• Toughness
• Two-Handed Fighting
• Two Weapon Fighting
• Weapon Finesse
• Whirling Steel Strike
• Zen Archery

*This feat may not be trainable after level 6.

After playing a few quests, you're bound to be ready to level up, and have earned some Action Points. Let's go into detail on the new enhancement class trees as well as considering a Philosophy.