Weapons, Damage and Special Attacks
Revised for Update 33
As you move past level 3, it is not enough to use elemental strikes or regular attacks. A Monk has an ever-growing arsenal of abilities and items to stop enemies in their tracks to make an enemy’s defeat a virtual certainty.
At the same time, good gear does inherently make for a good Monk. You'll need to use the right weapon at the right time.
Handwraps, Kamas and Shruikens, Oh My
You have surely found handwraps as part of your loot. These are the common hand wear of unarmed fighters. Handwraps are treated as being on both hands, so you can’t have another weapon in use in the off-hand slot (including another pair of handwraps).
Before Update 33, handwraps augmented your unarmed attacks, but were not coded as weapons.
With Update 33, all handwraps became a type of Exotic weapon, wieldable only by Monks and any other class that can gain Handwrap Proficiency. This new proficiency is also granted by the Monk-aligned Epic Destiny, Grandmaster of Flowers, with this update, allowing non-Monks to wield.
A special feat granted to all Monks, Unarmed Strike, determines how much damage you generate while unarmed. As you progress in skill, your unarmed damage increases. Handwraps now augment this damage considerably and directly than fighting without anything in your hands.
Unlike other melee fighters, a Monk gets the full STR bonus on off-hand attacks when fighting unarmed--unless you chose the Weapon Finesse feat, where your DEX modifier aids in both damage and to-hit.
Handwraps are often enchanted with additional elemental or other damage effects. One advantage of handwraps over conventional weapons is that they take practically no damage from oozes and rust monsters as opposed to non-Everbright weapons short of a Muckbane club. (On Update 33's initial release, handwraps as weapons took considerable damage from oozes. Update 33 Patch 1 restored their relative indestructibility.)
In fact, go ahead and dive in that pile of oozes or rust monsters. Your bludgeoning attacks won’t break them up as with bladed weapons (unless you’re wearing items that deliver non-bludgeoning damage, such the Brawling Gloves). Consider it also an easy way to get some additional ki. Your Warforged friends and other allies, who don't want to find themselves or their weapons or armor melted from ooze slime or rust, will also appreciate it.
If you are an experienced DDO player, you likely know that you can stack damage by wearing one weapon and applying additional damage from a special attack. Same is true for Monks by using ki attacks in combination with handwraps.
Unarmed attacks give bludgeoning damage. That’s a problem against enemies that are resistant to mere beat-downs, such as zombies. So to offset this, you need handwraps (or other weaponry or ability) that bypasses their damage reduction (DR). Or, you need something that ignores their DR and tries to off them outright (such as Holy/Good, Light/Radiance items, Banishing, or Disruption).
Luckily, there are many non-Monk players that pawn off handwraps in the Stormreach market. This is an ideal place to find low-level handwraps.
You may also find a good deal at the Auction House or Shard Exchange vendors through the area. You'll find Handwraps under Weapons>Exotic>Handwrap.
Cannith Crafting, especially since Update 32's revision of the system, is an excellent to create customized handwraps (or many other items) for special needs. The only downside to Cannith Crafting is that it requires you to gather many, many types of collectibles (special ingredients scattered through all quests) and, rather than sell undesired loot you find, to break down loot into Cannith Essences needed to craft new items. It may also take some time for you grow sufficient levels to craft anything very useful, but continual training will reap some reward.
Look for handwraps with these prefixes and suffixes to help you as you go to Level 6. :
- Holy, Pure Good or Righteousness: Most effective on evil, undead and extraplanar creatures like demons. Craftable.
- Stunning: Increases your chance to stun an enemy.
- Bane: Any foe that matches this suffix gets extra damage. Craftable.
- Seeker: Confirm more critical hit damage and multiply its effect. (Use Seeker handwraps when in a pinch. Try to find items that add Seeker from other items so you can add prefix/suffix damage back to your handwraps.) Craftable.
- Any handwraps or weapons with Bursting elemental damage. Some craftable.
- Any handwraps or ki weapons with metal-studded properties (Flametouched Iron, Cold Iron, Byeshk, Adamantine or Silver) for specific enemies. Loot-generated handwraps can be reworked by Cannith Crafting while still retaining their metallic quality.
- The Scorching Wraps, one of two handwraps that have the Spiked property. (This helps unarmed damage only but cannot give Ninja Spies the ability to inject Ninja Poison by unarmed combat.)
- Any handwraps with Red, Orange or Purple Augment slots. These can receive augment gems that will help greatly with damage or DR bypassing.
Wielding most Anarchic or handwraps with Chaotic damage may give you a negative level as a Monk, always a Lawful character, with one exception.
The high-level unique handwraps called the Unstable Handwraps have an Anarchic property but doesn't drain you by design. You'll find them in the "Reign of Madness" quest chain as an end-reward.
One workaround, especially at lower levels, is to obtain or use Cannith Crafting to generate an Aligned weapon or handwraps that break any alignment-based DR without penalties.
You'll need handwraps with Ghost Touch and/or Holy/Good properties, at the least. Update 19 introduced Ghostbane, which is both Ghost Touch and Undead Bane in one suffix. While these weapons are rarer to find since that update, there is a Ruby of Ghostbane, a red augment that can be made during the Night Revels event typically held at the end of the year. You can add this or other qualified rubies to your handwraps or other weapons that Monks can wield.
By Level 6, visiting the Catacombs and Delera’s Tomb will net you a chance for, respectively:
- Eternal Rest: Ghost Touch, silver-laced handwraps that undead do not like. Update 17 improved these by going to +2 enhancement damage and a Red augment slot: perfect a Good augment gem (L12) to form "Harry Beaters".
- Devotion: Holy, flametouched iron-laced handwraps with Devotion spell power that amplifies the potency of your Healing Ki. Perfect for The Chronoscope. Like the Eternal Rest handwraps, Update 17 revised these to add a Red augment slot--if you can find an Alchemical Silver gem, these also make for useful "Harry Beaters" for "The Shroud."
- The downside: Both new handwraps now bind to your character on equip.
Kamas help against bludgeon-resistant enemies. Their downside is that you eventually won’t swing them quite as fast as you can your fists. Still, these weapons can add, for instance, adamantine and metalline damage reductions you won’t find (easily) on handwraps to help you against golems and zombies.
You will need either Adamantine or metalline handwraps or other Adamantine ki weapon for best damage against iron golems (such as in "Haywire Foundry") since your unarmed attacks alone can't bypass this metal until Level 16.
Maruts are different.They're constructs but also Lawful Outsiders. You need, ideally, Anarchic Handwraps of Construct Bane or Banishing handwraps to hurt these guys. Watch out for their stun attack. If you're a Light Monk (see Philosophy for more), you can use the Grasp the Earth Dragon finishing move--the only anti-stun option for players.
Shruikens (throwing stars) are helpful when you have an enemy on a high perch or a lever that requires something to be thrown at it. They don’t give off a lot of damage unless your character is specially designed, but they are far more effective than thrown attacks from most other classes.
While shruikens are ki weapons, you do not generate ki when using them (or any other ranged weapon or attack).
You will want returning shruikens; the others will disappear like arrows.
The star's critical range is changed only by abilities that work on weapons. So you can't use Mountain Stance to improve on critical hits with anything other than unarmed fighting. The Ninja Spy enhancement tree, with Update 33, does aid in critical threat and range for any weapon you can wield while centered, including shuriken, but not handwraps or quarterstaves.
There are only a few unique returning shruikens in the game, so keep in mind that crafting returning stars work as of Update 11.
- Shadow Star (Seal of Shan-To-Kar)
- Snowstar (Cult of the Six): a nice +4 Icy Burst star with a wider critical range.
- The Morning Star (Friends in Low Places): A powerful weapon against the undead and the only named star with a Red augment slot. Comes in Heroic and Epic versions.
- Dawnbringer: The most powerful named star in game comes in Heroic and Epic versions. Tears through devils like carving melted butter.
Ninja Spies become the nastiest star-throwers by Level 20 training in their craft. By then, any throwing star they hold gains the Vorpal effect, in addition to any Ninja Poison damage-over-time effects used by the character.
Like shuriken, using a bow does not generate ki. Unlike shuriken, which is a proficiency given to all Monks, a Monk that chooses to use a bow must train in a critical feat to make the bow a centered weapon: Zen Archery.
But your challenges don't stop there. The Zen Archery feat only gives longbow and shortbow weapon proficiency, generating your attack bonus from WIS if it is higher than DEX (the traditional damage modifier for bows), and keeps you centered in using one. The feat does not give you an effective means to generate sufficient damage with a bow. Damage from a bow normally requires STR. More so, you typically need a feat to add your STR modifier to generate damage: Bow Strength, a feat automatically given to the natural bow wielder, the Ranger.
To get Bow Strength on a Monk requires a prohibitive number of additional feats, not including other ranged feats to increase speed and critical damage.
While the Half-Elf could use the Ranger Dilettante to gain "Lesser Bow Strength" to help here, it is not as effective as one other option: Be an Elf. Their racial enhancements include Aerenal Grace, which allows DEX to serve as the damage modifer in lieu of STR.
With Update 33, the first two Ninja Spy core enhancements provide DEX-to-hit and DEX-to-damage for any centered weapon (except handwraps and staves), including bows. This change can save you a few action points, but you may still choose to be an elf to gain longbow proficency.
The elven DEX-to-damage option is the heart of the Zen Archer and Bowmaster (an all-Monk Arcane Archer).
Bow users will need to consider additonal ranged feats, quivers to hold arrows, and a melee option when bow damage won't be as effective.
When using a throwing star, don't ignore your empty off-hand.
You can gain extra effects or even damage on your main-hand weapon by wielding a weapon in your off-hand slot while you throw.
Effects such as Seeker and Deception will apply, as well as some area-of-effect abilities from the off-hand weapon, such as Fiery Detonation and Freezing Gale.
See the build chapter on the Shiradi Shuricannon, one of the most dangerous throwing builds in the game.
Quarterstaves make for a very viable Monk weapons and are the standard weapon of the Henshin Mystic.
Monks likely fight better with them than any other class except, perhaps, a Fighter or Acrobat Rogue. There are many useful staves from low to high levels, from the silver-based Staff of Nat Gann to Rahl's Might, the Dreamspitter and the Great Stick of Beatdown, the Stout Oak Walking Stick.
Just remember that quarterstaves are bludgeoning weapons as are unarmed attacks. Non-Mystics will fight less effectively with a quarterstaff than when unarmed. However, you'll also find a few named ones with some other DR-bypassing.
Quarterstaves gain twice the damage bonus when Power Attack is used, being a two handed weapon. They also gain better attack rolls than unarmed attacks or single-handed weapons.
It's probable you'll find one or two useful in your early training, especially when you encounter tougher enemies. Look for the Pillar of Light, a Pure Good quarterstaff that will work well in "Delera's Tomb" and its legions of undead.
Also note that most quarterstaves are wood, making them less resilient than other weapons and in frequent need of repair after one battle. If you're fond of any one weapon, you may seriously want to attune and bind them to eliminate the likelihood that they will become permanently damaged (and requiring more and more frequent repair).
If possible, seek out steel, magesteel, adamantine and other non-wood quarterstaves and craft them to what you require for greater durability.
With Update 33, the Henshin Mystic enhancements dispensed with spell power bonuses to increase damage, turning instead to melee power bonuses to cause incredibly powerful attacks.
Shortswords aren't normally ki weapons unless you take Ninja Training, the first core enhancement in the Ninja Spy tree.
It's an inexpensive option for any Shintao or Mystic to gain shortsword proficiency as these are piercing weapons, making a good complement to your bludgeoning damage with quarterstaves and while unarmed, and with slashing damage from kamas.
Henshin Mystics aside, a Monk will generally fight fastest when unarmed, as much as 12% faster than with any other weapon, even other ki weapons. It's their natural way of combat. Doublestrike and other proficiencies do change the damage output of other ki weapons, although not necessarily the speed of their attacks.
Of course, the faster unarmed speed does not restrict you from using any other ki weaponry. Do not forget that a Monk is fundamentally an unarmed fighter when you need options.
Damage
Every weapon in the game has several statistics:
- Damage roll: Damage based on the weapon's roll number, such as "1d6," which simulates one six-sided die. The number that appears is the amount of damage dealt.
- Damage type: Weapons have at least one damage type. Types determine how it causes damage (piercing, slashing or bludgeoning) but also defines what materials or effects it can damage most effectively.
- For instance, an Iron Golem is made up of Adamantine. If your weapon doesn't at least include Adamantine (or the special property of "Metalline"), your weapon can't damage that golem.
- Weapon damage is also defined by a creature's alignment. A weapon with a Good property will hurt enemies with Evil alignment (that's most of the foes in the game).
- Critical threat range: This defines what die roll is needed to score a critical hit to dish out 2 times or more damage.
While fighting unarmed, a Monk's body is the weapon itself, so there's a difference in how damage is calculated. Handwraps aren't weapons in and of themselves; they augment what a Monk's unarmed attacks may do.
Since 2011, weapon damage uses a generic constant called "W".
For a Monk, your unarmed attacks start off dealing 1d6 damage at Level 1. That's "[W]" from here on.
By Level 4, your unarmed attacks do 1.5[W] damage, thanks to your Unarmed Strike feat you naturally gain as a Monk. That's short for 1.5 times the (1d6) damage you did at Level 1. By Level 20 as a Monk, without any other effects or items, your unarmed damage will be 3.5[W].
Many feats and abilities and enhancements may alter the damage number, often through items. The "Reinforced Fists" property (found on the Garments of Equilibrium) increase your unarmed number by 0.5. So, at Level 12 while wearing this outfit, your damage increases from 2.5[W] to 3.0[W]. With Update 33, handwraps behave as weapons and so also increase your base weapon damage.
Like other melee classes, Monks need to tend to more damage from their attacks by increasing Strength. Its modifier is used for attack rolls unless you use Weapon Finesse, where your Dexterity score is used. That's not a good idea for unarmed fighters.
Ninja Spies gain a special DEX-to-damage and attack training through their core enhancements--which work only with any weapon you can use while centered that is not handwraps or quarterstaves.
You'd still need STR to determine the amount of damage. Most players avoid this feat because it siphons attack power in favor of to-hit, especially if you don't increase STR.
Henshin Mystics and their use of quarterstaffs also use the conventional weapon damage calculations. Reinforced Fists don't apply to conventional, non-handwrap weapons.
Shuriken, bow, shortsword and kama users will see weapon damage increase as that W modifier increases.
For more on how to damage more effectively, see Damage Reduction Bypassing.
Special Attacks
Special ki attacks are incredible to behold and impress many in a party. They’ll also save your life and those in your party. These attacks are critical to managing attacks on the battlefield as you move from Level 1 to Level 9 and beyond.
Stunning Fist
The hallmark ability of an unarmed Monk is to stun enemies much more often (perhaps more successfully as well) than their melee counterparts. Unlike Stunning Blow, a feat available to other melees that works while wielding a weapon, Stunning Fist has a faster cool-down (6 seconds versus 15).
Stunning Fist’s success is based not on Strength, but on the Monk’s Wisdom modifier. Specifically, the difficulty check is
10 + (1/2 character level) + WIS modifier + any Stunning bonuses from items.
Stunning Fist is augmented by items with Stunning, Dazed and Combat Expertise prefixes and suffixes. Handwraps of Stunning 6 and higher or better are good to keep handy. Stunning is the very first attack you should throw at ordinary living enemies when fighting unarmed. You can't stun the undead or constructs. Items, feats, enhancements and Epic abilities that increase your Tactical DCs (for feats often used by Fighters and other melee classes) also count for your Stunning DCs.
You may have read ahead and added Stunning Fist to your feats at character creation or in your first few levels. If not, do add it as soon as you can. Place it in the toolbar with other elemental attacks.
Stunning Fist can only be used with unarmed fighting. If you want to stun while using another ki melee weapon, look to Stunning Blow. Henshin Mystics with sufficient STR might consider Stunning Blow since they're likely using a quarterstaff more than in fighting unarmed.
So how much Wisdom do you need over the lifetime of your Monk for Stunning attacks to work reliably?
The higher your WIS score, the more likely a stun will work. Since not all handwraps have the Stunning property, a higher WIS score means an increased chance to stun without them.
Practice and discussion among Syncletica, her students, and other teachers in the forums demonstrate that (as of Update 16) a level 23 Monk with a minimum WIS score of 36 or stronger generates a high enough difficulty check of 52 (with Stunning +10 handwraps) to stun 70% or more of any enemies encountered in Epic Elite quests.
Other players will argue that a 52 DC isn't enough. They may be right. You should strive for 55 DC or better. 60 is the likely optimal level.
Your success will vary with the Fortitude saves of various enemies at this level of play. You can increase this number with more WIS or stacking Stunning numbers, past lives, or Epic Destinies.
Combat Mastery/Insightful Combat Mastery effects also increase this DC. Weapon effects and feats can lower the saves on an enemy to make your attacks more effective, such as Improved Sunder.
The Teacher's advice: Begin at training level 1 with no less than 16 WIS and grow it for most builds.
Void Strike adds Force damage in your attacks and on a critical roll may erase an enemy from existence.
As of Update 19.0, there is only one Void Strike, a tier 5 ability for the Henshin Mystic, available at level 12.
Void Strike works on all difficulties, including raids, and is not typically stopped by Death Ward or Deathblock effects. On what would be a vorpal strike with critical confirmation, Void Strike can kill almost anything except Red Named Enemies.
Update 19.0 has effectively broken the ability for non-Henshins to use their Level 10 finishing moves as there isn't a low level simple Void Strike available.
If you want to use Curse of the Void (Dark Monk: Charming effect), or Moment of Clarity (10 second +5 to attack and skills by Light Monks), you'd have to spend 30 AP and be willing to lock your tier 5 selection in the Henshin tree to get Void Strike. Hopefully, there be a change to this in a later update.
One item to always have for your first Monk
Syncletica's Riddle also tries to give a definitive guide, but its a tedious work-in-progress.
There is one item that all Monks should work on building and using immediately that I must point out.
In the Sentinels of Stormreach story arc, you receive one or more Sigils of the Goat, Lion, and Dragon. At the conclusion of the story arc, you can receive the Torn Chitin Bracers. In and of themselves, these bracers are nothing too special if you happen to have starter equipment such as the Black Widow Bracers.
But the Torn Chitin Bracers can be upgraded--they show the "Unraveling Enchantments" property. If you travel up the long path to Visbane's Folly, a special crafting device high atop the House Deneith Tower, you can combine the three Sigils of the Goat, Lion, and Dragon with the Torn Chitin Bracers.
The restored enchantments transform these ordinary bracers into the versatile Jidz-Tet'ka.
- Armor Bonus +5
- Will Save +2
- Tet-zik, The Enlightened Change
It's the Tet-zik ability that's very interesting. The bracers augment your abilities based on the Monk stance you use at the time. You'll find yourself switching stances a bit more often with this item.
- Wind Stance: +10 insight bonus to Jump
- Fire Stance: +25% insight bonus to Healing Amplification
- Earth Stance: Unarmed damage is increased +1[W].
- Ocean Stance: On unarmed confirmed vorpal strikes, a poison is emitted that paralyzes the target (DC 17 fortitude save) and inflicts 1d6 Dexterity damage (DC 17 fortitude save, increased 50% if paralysis is successful or if the mob is already helpless). The dexterity damage and paralysis effects are saved against separately. Note that Update 19 has greatly improved the effectiveness of poison for both allies and enemies.
In Epic play, the Way of the Sun Soul set adds a special augment to abilities as well, based on your Monk stance.