Monk: Guide to Playing the Job

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Job Overview
With their bodies that double as deadly weapons, monks attack enemies with explosive strength. As one of the six standard jobs, Monk can be chosen by players at the very start of the game. Monk is designed as a Hand-to-Hand weapon specialist, and is capable of wreaking havok with fast and furious punches. Preserving Final Fantasy tradition, Monk retains many classic abilities including Martial Arts, Chakra, Max HP Boost, and Counter. Complete with a full set of powerful weapon skills, Monks are a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
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Strengths

 * Attacks are extremely fast and consistent, and only get faster as level increases.
 * Monk ranks amongst the most powerful damage dealers in the game.
 * Access to the most powerful Hand-to-Hand weapon skills.
 * A Monk's Blunt type of damage is strong versus undead.
 * Chi Blast, when enhanced by alot of +MND gear and many Boosts before use, can cause amazing damage versus any monster. This attack is also a basis of many HNM strategies.

Weaknesses

 * Must compete with many other melee players for party slots.
 * Equipment selection is very expensive at mid-levels and high levels.
 * Completely unable to participate in the Distortion skillchain until level 60.
 * Very gear dependent job class.
 * Has difficulties to be efficient agains high defense monsters.
 * Has little access to armor that provides good defense.

Race Selection
Well - the choice of race is easy - take what is the most fun to you. Elvaan have good strength and mind, but bad accuracy. Mithra are good in accuracy but lack in strenth. Galka are not good in mind, but good in strength. Hume have no real weakness but no real strenth either. All can, and has to be, filled out by the gear you use - an Elvaan will use more accuracy gear, a Mithra more strength gear. Even Tarutaru can be made to good monks using the right gear. Take your pick, play whats most fun to you.

How to play
The monks role in a party is to deal damage. Since the armor of the monk is not even decent, the monk has to watch out not to gain too much hate, called "walking the line of hate". Do not be mislead by the enormous amount of hitpoints a monk has - if a monk has hate he takes a lot of damage very fast, and is almost impossible to keep cured - one dead monk is more often than not the result. If needed turn away from the monster, to not anger it more.

A monk is usually not a puller for the party, since he has vitually no ranged attacks. With Chi-Blast and pebbles a monk can pull if absolutely necessary, but it should rather be left to another job.

Often the monk will be asked to be the so called "first provoke", which means when the monster comes into the camp the monk provokes first. The tank and the thief will line up behind the monster, and the thief applies a combination of sneak attack and trick attack, transfering the hate of this critical attack to the tank. This already should turn the monster towards the tank, but this is also the point of time where the tank uses provoke, to ensure the monsters hate is on him. The monk should not be moving around during this time, just keep attacking. If you move around the setup will not work, and then you are in for some trouble.

Equipment
The gear listed in for the seperate slots is party and damage dealing gear only. If you really need Chi-blast gear, which means *MND whereever you can get it, there might be a section for it later. Soloing gear might include other setups too, but will not be listed here. I made the equipment part from my own experiences and what i am getting on input from other monks. Feel free to add stuff i missed. --Gisselle 10:26, 4 August 2006 (EDT)

Otherwise there is another guide to the monk gear, Monk: Guide to Weapons and Armor

Weapon
First off, one general notion on hand-to-hand weapons. Basically you have the choice on a high damage, high delay weapon or a low damage, low delay weapon. Now - high delay is relative, a high delay weapon will have around 100 delay, a low delay weapon close to 0. But - the final delay of the attack is calculated by adding base delay and weapon delay. At the beginning a monk has a 400 base delay on his attacks with hand-to-hand. So in the start the difference would be 500 delay versus 400 delay - still a big difference, but not that awesome than 100 to 0 any more. In addition to that it should be noted, that a monk can easily encounter the problem of fighting high defense enemies, which leads to hits for zero damage when you use a low damage weapon. So generally low delay, low damage weapons should be avoided at all costs. They might be cheap, but even 1 gil is too expensive for them.
 * 01 Cesti get the +1 version if you can, if not no worries, you'll not use them long
 * 05 Bronze Knuckles same comment as on Cesti
 * 10 Legionnaire's Knuckles skip the lvl 9 ones, and go straight for these, keep them untill 15
 * 15 Republic Knuckles these will seem quite expensive at the time you have to get them, but they are worth it. Get them, they last you a long time.
 * 32 Impact Knuckles skip all in between, your Republics are just fine. Impacts are an upgade you should not miss though.
 * 38 Mythril Knuckles go for the +1 version if you can get hold of it
 * 48 Patas again, +1 is nicer, but still a good damage upgrade
 * 50 Cross Counters well, well, well - the famous cross counters. Undoubtedly one of the best monk weapons in the game, but very expensive. At the time of writing they go on Ramuh for 5 million gil, i have seen them even higher. As one of the best weapons in the game they are kind of worth it, but there are no worries if you do not get them. I would say, if you are rich get them, otherwise just leave them on the side, you are not gimped without them, espcially because...
 * 50 Tactician Magician's Hooks are a suitable upgrade on lvl 50.
 * 52 Tactician Magician's Hooks +1 and +2 versions are lvl 52, the +2 version is not cheap - but a lasting upgrade, which is worth it.
 * 58 Spartan Cesti very good weapon, there is a discussion if you should get these or stick to the TM-Hooks+2, so i say try it out yourself and get them if you did not get the TM-Hooks +2.
 * 69 Avengers a rare/ex drop from the Bomb Queen - good weapon but not worth the trouble in my opinion
 * 73 Destroyers a rare/ex weapon from KSNM30 - get them, they are only surpassed by a fully upgraded relic weapon. There is no excuse for not having them

Ammunition
Ammunition - a constant pain to a monk - he can use almost none of it. All you can do is equip something which helps you on your hand-to-hand attacks. The only actual throwing weapons are the pebble and the astralagos - with pebbles stacking only to 12 and such not very usable, and astralagos almost never beeing available since it is too expensive in the crafting process.
 * 01 Happy Egg - if you have one use it untill Tiphia Sting
 * 01 Pebble - pulling weapon...
 * 50 Optical Needle - not a big help, get it if you have some gil to throw out
 * 50 Astragalos - pulling weapon, almost never available
 * 58 Tiphia Sting - good choice, stick with it
 * 60 Bibiki Seashell - quested - good for VIT dependend weaponskills

Head
Well, take something with defense or whatever you like at the start. If you can get
 * 24 Emperor Hairpin / Empress Hairpin but not really needed
 * 30 Mercenary Captain's Headgear is a good option
 * 41 Voyager Sallet is a rare/ex drop, and not easy to come by, do not worry if you can not get it
 * 50 Crow Beret or its HQ is very useful - -7 enemity make it much easier for the tank, especially since you start dealing more damage than many tanks can handle with your new lvl 50 weapons.
 * 56 Temple Crown your AF headpiece... well, macro a gearchange for Focus, do not use it otherwise
 * 61 Carapace Helm interesting piece of gear, latent triggers when you are in yellow hitpoints. If that would work somewhat consistently, it would be great, but in my opinion not worth getting.
 * 70 Optical Hat finally something where you can say its really good. Get it, keep it. It is rare/ex and a pain to get, but you plain have to.
 * 73 Shura Zunari Kabuto a piece of so called "Gods gear", it is created from a Cursed Kabuto and a Dryadic Abjuration: Head, the later one is a rare/ex drop from Seiryu. Good piece of endgame gear.
 * 75 Genbu's Kabuto another piece of "Gods gear", drop from Genbu, rare/ex - good because you have weaponskills which depend on your VIT
 * 75 Melee Crown so called AF2 or dynamis artifact armor, a good piece of gear, drops in Dynamis - Xarcabard, rare/ex
 * 75 Walahra Turban only good for the haste on it, rare/ex

Neck

 * 7 Wing Pendant +1 AGI, better than nothing
 * 21 Spike Necklace +3 STR, +3 DEX - learn to like it, you will be using it very long probably
 * 33 Peacock Charm / Peacock Amulett +10 accuracy is the relevant stat here, but it is very expensive, and debateable if the STR on the Spike Necklace from lvl 21 is not better. Your choice if you are rich.
 * 50 Storm Gorget +6 attack and +2 DEX, definitely an option
 * 60 Chivalrous Chain +3 STR, Store TP +1, Accuracy +5 - get it, you'll probably never use something else, at least i see nothing worth it
 * 75 Faith Torque extremely hard to obtain, you need to be on CoP 8-2 or higher to get to the monster that drops it, and it is rare/ex, unbeatable in quality though.

Ear
Basically the ear slot is easy - always go with the best +attack / -evasion earring you can get at your level, and you should be pretty much set. Only in the end a monk strays from that path. If no name for an high quality (HQ) earring is given, you can safely assume it is just (name) +1.
 * 10 Hope Earring better than nothing
 * 16 Bone Earring first of the +attack - evasion earrings - get the HQ
 * 21 Beetle Earring +att/-eva - get the HQ
 * 24 Reraise Earring just that you know that this exists - use it for missions and quests
 * 45 Tortoise Earring +att/-eva - get the ... HQ, yes, right
 * 55 Spike Earring +att/-eva get the ... no not this time, this already is the name of the HQ, normal quality is the Fang Earring
 * 55 Waetoto's Earring Tarutaru only, +2 Str +1 Vit, from ENM Automaton Assault
 * 61 Minuet Earring +1 Str, +1 Dex, get this, especially when often in party with a bard, latent kicks in when Minuet is on you
 * 63 Merman's Earring this is the HQ of the Coral Earring, +att/-eva, and give -2% magic damage taken, sweet
 * 67 Triumph Earring +2 Str and resistances, a definite winner, good even in endgame
 * 75 Brutal Earring store TP+1, enhances double attack - it is rare/ex and you need to be on CoP mission 8-1 or higher to get it, you can purchase it for Ancient Beastcoin, which are a Limbus drop

Hands
Note: You can also use several +STR braceletts which are not listed here, benefits are good especially for weaponskills. Especially in the endgame this is a good option, otherwise stick with the level 32 item.
 * 1 Bronze Mittens defense
 * 8 Tekko defense
 * 10 Legionnaire's Mittens attack +3 - very good
 * 15 Republic Mittens HQ upgrade of the lvl 10 ones - you should upgrade
 * 25 Federation Tekko +3 accuracy, good upgrade of your gear
 * 27 Custom F Gloves / Custom M Gloves Hume only, if you are hume this is a good idea
 * 27 Wonder Mitts Tarutaru only, yes, use them.
 * 30 Gigas Bracelets +3 strength, for all who do not have fitting racial gear
 * 34 Ochiudo's Kote Expensive, the first big outch for a monk, there is no way around them, +20 attack is not an option, it is a must, farm for them.
 * 54 Temple Gloves Part of your artifact armor, use a gear change macro and use them for Boost
 * 73 Bandomusha Kote rare/ex drop from Xolotl, +22 attack, nice upgrade
 * 73 Melee Gloves artifact armor tier 2, drops in Dynamis - Jeuno, use it if you can get your hands on it

Rings
Basically, 2 things should / can be covered with rings: accuracy and strength. Depending on the situation a monk should adjust his gear. When you hit for like 95% of the time, you can try and go for more damage and less accuracy, equiping strength gear instead of accuracy gear. Mostly you will need accuracy though, untill end game parties. Ah, and by the way, whats good on one finger is better on two, just to mention it.
 * 01 use the ring of your home town.
 * 14 Courage Ring +2 strength, and fire resistance - do not be cheap and use the +1 version, you'll fight lots of crabs and they have high defense. You do not want to hit for zero damage.
 * 30 Rajas Ring The so called "CoP-Ring" - you can pick this ring as one of 3 choices after finishing the CoP storyline - so forget the notion that you can have that ring on lvl 30 if monk is your first job.
 * 34 Venerer Ring +3 accuracy
 * 36 Jaeger Ring rare/ex, +4 accuracy
 * 36 Puissance Ring your +3 strength ring, which you really should get
 * 40 Sniper's Ring +5 accuracy - do not ask "Do i really need them?" - just get them. For the rich ones reading this: there is a +1 version of this. - or get some
 * 40 Woodsman Ring which does not make a difference in terms of price in gil

Back
It takes a long time untill anything really worth it comes for the back slot for monk. You'll see why when you look at the gear.
 * 4 Rabit Mantle some defense, well ...
 * 12 Traveler's Mantle +3 evasion - useful, take it
 * 18 Dhalmel Mantle again some defense....
 * 24 Nomad's Mantle 1 AGI and 3 eva, 2 AGI on the HQ, at least somewhat useful
 * 36 Ram Mantle defense...
 * 37 Cavalier's Mantle gives 2 VIT, some def...
 * 47 Jaguar Mantle finally something useful, it gives +3 attack, at least a start. Get it.
 * 55 Royal Army Mantle 2 STR and 2 MND, better than Jaguar so get it
 * 60 Behemoth Mantle it is a good piece of equip, but since the synthesis to make it requires behemoth leather, its very expensive
 * 61 Amemet Mantle THE damage dealer back piece, finally. get it, and get the HQ if you can in any way afford it, it will not get much better than this
 * 71 Forager's Mantle slightly better than the Amnemet Mantle +1, one more STR. Expensive usually, so.... your choice.

Belt

 * 1 White Belt +1 STR - in my opinion stick to it to lvl 18
 * 1 Blood Stone +5 hp
 * 1 Pellet Belt dispenses pellets, for pulling, might be an option, personally i would not recomend it. I had one, i tossed it after not using it for ages.
 * 15 Warrior's Belt some VIT, some HP
 * 18 Purple Belt +3 STR and 4% haste, beeing monk has advantages. It can be quested, but not at lvl 18. buy it (but do the quest later). The quest involves a drop from the NM ram in Konstat Highlands and of the NM ram in La Theine Plateau
 * 40 Brown Belt reward form the follow up quest of the purple belt, and even better than the purple belt. buy it. (but do the quest later). The quest involves a drop from Deadly Dodo, Morbolger and Nue
 * 70 Black Belt reward from the follow up quest of brown belt. A monks dream. You can not buy it. Its very hard to get, since you need drops from Fafnir, Adamantoise and Behemoth. Dream of it and get it some day.

Legs
Legs - yes a monk shows his or her legs most of the career So you see, since the 70+ leg gear pieces are not exactly trivial to get, you are stuck with subligar for a real long time. Show your legs, monk, and i hope for you that you did not pick Elvaan as race. ;-)
 * 1 Bronze Subligar defense
 * 8 Sitabaki defense
 * 11 Brass Subligar defense, and better get used to that subligar look
 * 16 Bone Subligar defense, and more subligar look... (if you are elvaan you start to regret playing monk about now ;-) )
 * 18 Cotton Sitabaki defende, and no subligars - but do not rejoice to much ...
 * 23 Battle Slops an item rumored to exist.... never seen it, never on the auction house, forget it
 * 25 Republic Subligar +5 attack, +1 VIT - there is nothing better than these for a long long time - i hope you are already used to that subligar look, because...
 * 53 Master's Sitabaki are the first other option, and only an option in the HQ version
 * 60 Temple Hose is your artifact armor, do not use it, it is not worth it
 * 72 Melee Hose your dynamis artifact armor for the legs, and rejoice, this is the point where you are finally no longer needed to wear subligar - if you can get this piece, which is not that easy...
 * 72 Pahluwan Seraweels rare/ex from Assault
 * 73 Shura Haidate is "Gods Gear" which comes from a Cursed Haidate and a Dryadic Abjuration: Legs, later one drops from Byakko
 * 75 Bahamut's Hose umm... yes, well ... rare/ex - from Bahamut fight AFTER you finished the Chains of Promothia missions
 * 75 Byakko's Haidate +15 DEX and +5% Haste is great, as the name says a rare/ex drop from Byakko and you'll like to leave it to a Thief probably

Feet
There are heated discussions about the feet slot for monk. Basically there are 2 builds, one for haste, and one for kick attacks. Some people like the haste more, some the kick attacks. The build i will do here is the kick attacks build - if you want a haste build go for whatever you can use and has the moste haste. Or if you know how that build goes add it here. Whatever, here we go.
 * 1 Bronze Leggings some defense
 * 8 Kyahan a bit more defense
 * 11 Brass Leggings guess.... - right, some defense again
 * 13 Light Soleas nice, +3 eva and some defense
 * 20 Royal Footman's Clogs +1 Agi
 * 21 Beetle Leggings yay, beetle gear - HQ has +1 eva, so try to get that
 * 25 Federation Kyahan now here we go, our first good feet gear. Get it, do not waste your and your parties time with anything less
 * 51 Kung Fu Shoes you'll think: "Why these, they do not have any bonus?" but here it goes: They have a hidden stat, they enhance your kick attacks, the passive ability you got at lvl 50. More / harder kicks - sounds good.
 * 52 Temple Gaiters AF feet, macro them for Dodge but leave them aside otherwise
 * 66 Wulong Shoes the upgraded version of the Kung Fu Shoes - nice but not a must
 * 70 Dune Boots rare/ex, but the best you can get to enhance your kick attacks on your feet slot. The NM dropping it is a cactuar, spamming 1000 Needles, so you'll need some help, full party 75s or more if lvls are lower. Once you got them they are all you'll ever need.
 * 71 Melee Gaiters AF2 from dynamis - oh well... use it for solo? put it on your mannequin?
 * 72 Rasetsu Sune-Ate well, they are ok - if you do not go for the kick attack stuff endgame, these are a good choice - and if kick attack boots are the best is debatable endgame...
 * 73 Shura Sune-Ate the Dryadic Abjuration: Feet gear. Not worth the effort.