I'm considering running a few lives playing a Shintao monk and want to know what gear or gear sets are considered important/essential while leveling. I don't hang around long at the end game and there's already plenty of information for kitting yourself out for end game play. But there's little information on the forums for what gear is good while doing heroics as well as low to mid epic levels. Any advice from the experts is appreciated.
Shintao Monks - essential gear for leveling
- Thread starter DDO Noob
- Start date
Monk related item enchantments has a list of useful stuff. some highlights:
Assuming you take the stunning fist feat, items that boost your stun DC (stunning, dazing, and combat mastery) are nice.
Your stable ki is based on your concentration, so the more the better.
You become uncentered if you reach medium encumbrance, so make sure to equip strength items even if not str based.
Monks get evasion, so you gain a lot of benefit from having a high reflex save.
- Pendant of the Red Abishai (ml 5) is the lowest level item with enhanced ki, which is very (ahem) key
- Jidz Tet'ka (ml 5) is nice, even if only as a swap. Particularly, it gives +10 insight jump in wind stance and +50 insight heal amp in fire.
- Perfect Pinnacle (ml 10) has reinforced fists (an extra half damage die unarmed), has deadly and stunning bonuses, and like the jidz-tetka, has different benefits in each stance (best is probably air which gives you 3d6 elec dmg and a bleed dot on hit)
- Moonrise Bracers (ml 15) has reinforced fists, enh ki, +16 concentration, and when you use your 3x light heal finisher, you gain 5 melee power and hamp for 10 sec
Assuming you take the stunning fist feat, items that boost your stun DC (stunning, dazing, and combat mastery) are nice.
Your stable ki is based on your concentration, so the more the better.
You become uncentered if you reach medium encumbrance, so make sure to equip strength items even if not str based.
Monks get evasion, so you gain a lot of benefit from having a high reflex save.
Thanks for this. Very helpful information.
saekee
long live ROGUE
Just to add to Peng’s great post—you really want that enhanced ki necklace from Chrono. Also, Perfect Pinnacle in fire stance procs blindness a LOT so consider it with sneak damage boosts.
Before armor in named item sets, folks would make sure to wear the frozen tunic out of the Cannith challenges. They made the snowpeaks freezing ice gem, effectively negating any reason to get the tunic—except that Minor freezing ice (on lowest tier tunic) should proc along with freezing ice. That is double CC on fists which have a more rapid attack speed.
I have some Crocadile Maws wraps out of Saltmarsh with a snowpeaks gem (an event item, so not really fair to suggest). From 10 you will be using Barovians—then ideally switch to the Adamantine Knuckles for teens (they have an expanded crit profile).
Before armor in named item sets, folks would make sure to wear the frozen tunic out of the Cannith challenges. They made the snowpeaks freezing ice gem, effectively negating any reason to get the tunic—except that Minor freezing ice (on lowest tier tunic) should proc along with freezing ice. That is double CC on fists which have a more rapid attack speed.
I have some Crocadile Maws wraps out of Saltmarsh with a snowpeaks gem (an event item, so not really fair to suggest). From 10 you will be using Barovians—then ideally switch to the Adamantine Knuckles for teens (they have an expanded crit profile).
Fisto Mk I
Well-known member
Fire provide Blind and Water - Trip option, very nice for CC. 8)
That's fair, but unless the proc chance is pretty high (wiki seems to think it's 5%), I feel more dps is better cc
.I feel fortunate as I already have Perfect Pinnacle, Crocodile Maws, Jidz, and Adamantine Knuckles. I didn't realise that Perfect Pinnacle was so good.
Pendant of the Red Abishai seems like a must have item given its low level requirements as I know ki generation in early to mid heroics is a real struggle. Do you automatically choose Fire Stance for the first half of heroics to deal with the ki generation problems? Also, do you know if the Pendant drops regularly in Chronoscope?
I'm intrigued by the CC capability of the Frozen Tunic. Would you choose the Frozen Tunic for its CC ability over the cloth armor sets from Ravenloft and later Sharn which offer the artifact doublestrike bonus on completed sets? My understanding is that it is important to get doublestrike as high as possible for Shintao monks, but if the frozen CC procs regularly, it may outweigh the artifact doublestrike bonus.
saekee
long live ROGUE
yeah set bonuses ftw now, especially since it is the red names that give trouble anyway. If you have the snowpeaks ruby you are covered anyway—the DC is only good for lower heroics