User:Kenki

= Races = While many people believe that race doesn't matter, I disagree. Race matters, not a lot, but it's enough to make you carefully select some of your equipments. If you are the min-max type, go for Elvaan since they probably the best suited. If you are the funny type, then Tarutaru 'back flip' Asuran Fists will make you smile all day long. If you like super large HP pool, then go Galka. There isn't anything special about Mithra and Hume with the exception that Mithra's Dragon Kick can be quite good to look at. Elvaan
 * Highest Str and Mnd among the races. This put these long-necks people are on top of the list for race selection of almost any damage dealer. The difference in Str compare to the lowest race (Tarutaru) can go up to 11 Str difference at lv75. Mnd is also a strong stat for Elvaan and Mnd is very useful for Chi Blast. The low Dex of the race can be a problem sometimes but accuracy bonus from food and equipments can easily cover the weakness.

Galka
 * Highest HP. Period. A Galka Monk can go all the way to 2,000 alone. Galka also have a good rating for Str so it's the 2nd best choice for Monk. It has almost no weakness for the Monk job. Some would say, Galka is built to be Monk for life and I'll probably agree with them. Let those Dhalmel men (or women) be Wars and Sams; let the big sturdy guys punch stuff with their giant fists.

Tarutaru
 * The only thing special about these little shrimps is that their Asuran Fists look very very good. Low HP, Str and Mnd put Tarutaru at the lowest spot on for Monk. This doesn't mean that a Tarutaru Monk can't deal serious damage. If you ever meet those green little things called Mandragora, Tarutaru monks are just like those. They are squishy at low levels but once they turn black at high levels, they can seriously kill you if you are careless.

Mithra
 * Nothing really special about these cats. High Dex is a plus most for most of the Monk levels. At lv75, Mithra has +10 Dex over an Elvaan. This is a good bonus but it's not a significant amount. Agi is not an important stat for Monk at all. It might matter a bit when in comes to tanking but overall it's not special.

Hume
 * Average. No weaknesses and no strength at all.

= Support job =


 * There are about 5 major support jobs a Monk should look into. Only two of them actually matter if you are only interested in the experience party aspect of Monk. I recommend you to get them all to lv37 though. The minor ones are very situational, it's good to have them and give them a try but don't bet your Gil on them cause you'll be walking home with only a pair of socks. In general, Monk is quite strong on its own even without the bonuses from its support jobs. It's probably the only job that do serious damage even when it has nothing equipped, no ability to use or support job equipped. This is why Monks are so favored in Salvage where everyone are naked.

Major Support Jobs
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 * Warrior
 * This is your bread-and-butter support job for experience points party. If you are about to walk out of your Mog House to join a party without a clue about what support job to use: pick Warrior. Provoke is very useful if you are tanking at low levels. A Mnk/War can be a very good tank with adequate support from the back line. Berserk is the job ability that you sub warrior for. It gives a massive boost to attack, making Monk a very deadly weapon in the party. At later levels, Double Attack trait will further increase the Monk's ability to deal damage. A well-equipped Mnk/War is a force to be feared regardless of what kind of monster your party decided to fight. They are so strong that even some of the best tanks will have to be on their toes just to keep the Monk from getting themselves killed because they deal so much damage.
 * This is your bread-and-butter support job for experience points party. If you are about to walk out of your Mog House to join a party without a clue about what support job to use: pick Warrior. Provoke is very useful if you are tanking at low levels. A Mnk/War can be a very good tank with adequate support from the back line. Berserk is the job ability that you sub warrior for. It gives a massive boost to attack, making Monk a very deadly weapon in the party. At later levels, Double Attack trait will further increase the Monk's ability to deal damage. A well-equipped Mnk/War is a force to be feared regardless of what kind of monster your party decided to fight. They are so strong that even some of the best tanks will have to be on their toes just to keep the Monk from getting themselves killed because they deal so much damage.


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 * Ninja
 * This is your bread-and-butter support job once you reach lv75 (at lv74 you can still play with /War). It offers nothing to Monk in terms of dealing damage, either in traits or job abilities. It's a pure survival support job. At lv75, pure tanking is no longer possible, so everyone has to be able to defend themselves if they cause the monster to attack them. Utsusemi: Ichi and Utsusemi: Ni when used by a Monk with high haste will allow them to tank most of the lower level NM that requires a small party. Ninja support job is also your prime choice outside of experience point parties unless you are sure you can survive with Warrior sub. Mnk/Nin is the ideal tank/damage dealer (DD) in small parties. So, make some time to level this amazing support job after you reach lv50 on Monk.


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 * Dancer
 * This is your solo support job. Monk attack fast and hard, Drain Samba and Drain Samba II will heal the Monk faster than Regen and Regen II. Monk's naturally high Vit also allows you to cure yourself better with Curing Waltz. If you find yourself without a party, you can just use Mnk/Dnc and punch away those pesky easy prey mobs. The Monk's killing speed on decent challenge and weaker monsters is unmatched. This is also a possible support job for experience party when using /War is not an option and using /Nin is too weak of an option. It gives Accuracy Bonus trait so it's better than /Nin in terms of dealing damage, yet it also provide some small protection. Personally, I'd still use /War over /Dnc even though it can be difficult to use in some party.
 * This is your solo support job. Monk attack fast and hard, Drain Samba and Drain Samba II will heal the Monk faster than Regen and Regen II. Monk's naturally high Vit also allows you to cure yourself better with Curing Waltz. If you find yourself without a party, you can just use Mnk/Dnc and punch away those pesky easy prey mobs. The Monk's killing speed on decent challenge and weaker monsters is unmatched. This is also a possible support job for experience party when using /War is not an option and using /Nin is too weak of an option. It gives Accuracy Bonus trait so it's better than /Nin in terms of dealing damage, yet it also provide some small protection. Personally, I'd still use /War over /Dnc even though it can be difficult to use in some party.


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 * White Mage
 * This is your Chi Blast combo. If you find yourself in a Linkshell that requires the Monk to do Chi Blast then this will be your best option. A Monk using Chi Blast is not going be able to stand in the main alliance that is fighting whatever NM they are fighting when there are more than 18 people. The Monk only need a window of roughly 15sec to stay in the alliance to deal damage with Chi Blast. This means most of the time, you will be standing alone and boosting. It's lonely but it's nice when you throw out a 1.5k Chi Blast. It is a good subjob for some HNM situations, where you can not melee to gain TP. It's also a viable solo sub job when you don't have /Dnc. Oh yes, Teleports are very very good when you need to go somewhere. It's worth every exp to get to at least lv36.


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 * Thief
 * Back in the olden days, this used to be an option in experience points party. Now, it's mostly for farming. I highly recommend getting this support job to at least lv15 or 25 just to make some money. Monk is an expensive job and without a way to make a decent income, you'll perform very poor in parties. You can level Thf/Mnk as soon as your Mnk reaches lv30. H2H is actually a good weapon for Thf from lv1-33.
 * Back in the olden days, this used to be an option in experience points party. Now, it's mostly for farming. I highly recommend getting this support job to at least lv15 or 25 just to make some money. Monk is an expensive job and without a way to make a decent income, you'll perform very poor in parties. You can level Thf/Mnk as soon as your Mnk reaches lv30. H2H is actually a good weapon for Thf from lv1-33.

Minor Support Jobs

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 * Samurai
 * I have seen 2 Monks with Sam sub in an exp PT. Frankly, they didn't impress me. Store TP and Meditate are both nice to have, especially with Footwork. However, this combination can't beat /War in terms of pure damage. Hasso and Seigan are both useless with Mnk (unless the Mnk was using a staff) and Footwork doesn't really increase the damage of the Mnk (but rather reduces it). However, I have never used Mnk/Sam in a PT and can't really compare myself with others. It may or may not worth a try if you seriously think this combo might work with Footwork.
 * I have seen 2 Monks with Sam sub in an exp PT. Frankly, they didn't impress me. Store TP and Meditate are both nice to have, especially with Footwork. However, this combination can't beat /War in terms of pure damage. Hasso and Seigan are both useless with Mnk (unless the Mnk was using a staff) and Footwork doesn't really increase the damage of the Mnk (but rather reduces it). However, I have never used Mnk/Sam in a PT and can't really compare myself with others. It may or may not worth a try if you seriously think this combo might work with Footwork.


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 * Dark Knight
 * This is your support job for Zerking stuff. Dynamis Lord and Kirin are a few examples that you can use this combo when your LS is allowing you to melee them. Though a Mnk/War will probably do just fine. You will want to have this sub once you have maxed out all H2H merits and in a LS that allows you to melee as Mnk/Drk. Sometimes, you can see Mnk/Drk in exp PT. I have yet to met one that actually commands my respect for the combo in exp PT. They pull too much unnecessary hate with Souleater and called their 1000+ Dmg WS great. This almost doubles the normal Mnk's WS (roughly 500-600 on average). However, you can only use it once every 6min and a Mnk can perform 5-8 WS during that time.


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 * Paladin
 * Auto Refresh and Defense Bonus are the important part of this support job. May or may not be useful when you tank. If a Mnk finds himself in a tanking position where he can't dodge, drain HP or use utsusemi properly then this might be a viable option. Stacking a Mnk with -damage taken equipments and you can make a decent tank out of it. However, without Provoke, tanking would be a problem. Unless the Mnk is allow to melee.
 * Auto Refresh and Defense Bonus are the important part of this support job. May or may not be useful when you tank. If a Mnk finds himself in a tanking position where he can't dodge, drain HP or use utsusemi properly then this might be a viable option. Stacking a Mnk with -damage taken equipments and you can make a decent tank out of it. However, without Provoke, tanking would be a problem. Unless the Mnk is allow to melee.


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 * Dragoon
 * Wyvern Earring for 5% Haste is a fairly good deal with this combo. Mnks without Black Belt can cap their haste with this. Jumps are nice since you get to attack twice when you Jump. It could rival /War once you get pass lv70 with access to High Jump. However, you're most likely going to have to use /Nin by the time it really reach its full potential - lv75 where you get the 2 final Haste equipments. You can give it a try at lv30 though; remember to get both the earring and the back equipment. If you are 'poor' then don't bother cause the earring costs a lot.


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 * Black Mage
 * Ice Spikes tanking... yeah might have some uses inside PvP but don't use this combo when you are in an exp PT. The best use for it in that PT would be to Warp home and change it to something else.
 * Ice Spikes tanking... yeah might have some uses inside PvP but don't use this combo when you are in an exp PT. The best use for it in that PT would be to Warp home and change it to something else.


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 * Ranger
 * This is a viable support job at lv20-30 just for the Accuracy Bonus. This is because other jobs don't offer you anything worthwhile to deal damage during these levels. After lv30, you should change to /War as soon as possible. Wide Scan is nice when you need to hunt a particular NM.


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 * Bard
 * I used /Brd at lv10 for the Paeon regen while soloing (I'd go with /Dnc now though). Really has no other uses, move along.
 * I used /Brd at lv10 for the Paeon regen while soloing (I'd go with /Dnc now though). Really has no other uses, move along.


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 * Corsair
 * No sensible Monk would sub this job. However, if you are an insensible person but try to act as a sensible person anyway then you can give it a try. The Corsair's Roll and Hunter's Roll are worth using at low levels even though their impact is very little. As I said before, other jobs don't offer anything good for Mnk during the lv1-29 period, so even these extra bits of boost can be an improvement.


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 * Beastmaster
 * Strictly a solo and wide scan sub. If you have Bst at higher level than your Mnk then you can charm pets at a decent rate. I heard of a Mnk/Bst solo route but I'd go with /Dnc and kill a lot of EPs for quicker exp.
 * Strictly a solo and wide scan sub. If you have Bst at higher level than your Mnk then you can charm pets at a decent rate. I heard of a Mnk/Bst solo route but I'd go with /Dnc and kill a lot of EPs for quicker exp.


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 * Puppetmaster
 * No idea how to use this since I don't have Pup leveled. I heard some Mnk/Pup using this combo just to get the cures from the pet. Combine this with NPC, it might be worth a try on soloing stuff you can't use /Nin or /Dnc.


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 * Blue Mage
 * I heard it could be used for ultra high Def tanking at some point. I'm not sure where though.
 * I heard it could be used for ultra high Def tanking at some point. I'm not sure where though.


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 * Scholar
 * Ah, this is the mage sub for you if you want to go with a little magic for your Mnk. Don't use it in a normal exp PT. You might use it in duo or solo though. Light Arts and Dark Arts make your magic a lot better on EP and DC. Drain and Aspir will actually worth casting on them. Your enfeebles will stick even at lv75.


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 * Summoner
 * Technically you get more Mnd on this sub than with Whm. I'd go with Whm for Reraise and Raise as well as the -na spells.
 * Technically you get more Mnd on this sub than with Whm. I'd go with Whm for Reraise and Raise as well as the -na spells.


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 * Red Mage
 * I only know of one Monk with this sub for solo. His 'reasoning' was that he could stick enfeebles (namely para, slow and blind) on monsters (DC and below) while soloing. I saw him went all the way to lv36 before giving in to the /War bread-and-butter combo cause solo exp was horrible. I'd pick /Sch and /Whm over this if you want a solo mage sub.


 * }

= Job Traits, Job Abilities, Weapon Skills and Usage = Monk has a fair bit of traits and abilities to throw around. Some are suitable for soloing while others are great in a PT. As I mentioned above, Monk is heavily balanced towards giving high normal melee damage compare to their Weapon Skill. Their traits reflect that point clearly.

Traits

 * Traits are passive abilities that will always be active. You can give them in the job traits menu but they won't update as clearly as possible

Martial Arts

 * This is what makes a Monk the most powerful Damage-over-time melee job. The Monk gets stronger and faster as he levels because of this trait. These are the levels you will get them.


 * lv01 MA I  - Delay = 400
 * lv16 MA II - Delay = 380
 * lv31 MA III - Delay = 360
 * lv46 MA IV - Delay = 340
 * lv61 MA V  - Delay = 320
 * lv75 MA VI - Delay = 300


 * Note: ''The H2H weapon of the Monk will add to these delays. For example, a weapon with a +60 Delay will increase a lv16 Mnk delay from 380 to 440 delay.

''


 * As you can see, with each reduction in delay, you will attack faster. This means you can deal more damage given the same amount of time. At first, it doesn't seem like a lot, but by the time you reach lv75, you would be attacking twice with only 300 delay (or 348-360 with weapons). If you read the Hand-to-Hand section of wiki you will notice this line:
 * "The damage of a hand-to-hand weapon is added to a character's natural hand-to-hand damage. A character's natural hand-to-hand damage is calculated by multiplying hand-to-hand skill by 0.11 and then adding 3. When calculating the Weapon Rank, however, the number used as the weapon base damage is the number displayed on the weapon plus 3, with no contribution from hand-to-hand skill."
 * This means by the time you reach lv75, your base weapon damage would be at 33 (or 35 with merit). Add in a +18DMG weapon (Destroyers, Wagh Baghnakhs, Hades Sainti...etc) and you will get a 53DMG base damage per punch. Since the Monk will attack twice per round, he would be like using 2 one-handed weapon each at 53DMG with only 174-180 delay. The Thf's famous relic weapon Mandau has 39DMG with 176 delay and the Bst's relic Guttler has 53DMG with 280 delay. So not counting the extra damage bonus from those awesome relic, a normal Monk beats both those weapon with his hands.


 * Note #2: Remember I told you that you could still use /War on lv74? This is one of the reason why (the other being the Haste equip). Mnk74 is a lot weaker than Mnk75 so you can get away with Mnk/War lv74 if there are lv75 melee in the PT

Subtle Blow

 * Think of this as a suppression to the TP gain rate of a Monster. I think this is around just so people won't talk like how Mnk is feeding TP too much to the monsters they are fighting. Monsters' TP gaining rate is faster than your average PC. For every physical hit it takes, it gains a TP proportion to the amount you gain plus a fixed amount (precise amount is your TP gain+3). A Mnk would naturally give more TP to a monster just because he's attacking faster than other people (esp compare to a 2-Hand weapon user at 480+ delay). Subtle Blow counters this effect by lowering the amount of TP the Mnk gives to the monster.


 * lv05 SB II - 5% effect
 * lv25 SB II - 10% effect
 * lv45 SB III - 15% effect
 * lv65 SB IV - 20% effect


 * The effect does not stack. By the 4th trait bonus, a Mnk will only give the monster 80% of the normal TP. I personally think this is very useful while soloing. I currently have 44% SB bonus (+14 from equipment) so I only give the monster 56% of the normal TP which less than the rate of TP I gain from attacking. It's nice to be able to use your WS to finish off a monster without allowing it to use its nasty TP attack.

Counter

 * You get this at lv10. When a monster is attacking you, you start by trying to evade the attack. If you fail to evade the attack, then one of your shadows from Utsusemi will take the damage and disappear. If you don't have those then you will take the damage or you will counter the attack. Counter ignores the attack and allows you to hit the monster in return. Amazing trait when you are soloing or tanking. You can enhance this with equipments and merit. You can also greatly increase the counter attack rate with the job ability Counterstance which will be discussed later.


 * lv10 Counter - 10% activation rate


 * You can bump this to 15% activation rate with merit. There are also other equipments that will enhance this trait.

Max HP Boost

 * Extra HP. Simple but somewhat useful. If you are a tarutaru and always find yourself with a tiny tiny pool of HP, then you will be very happy to see your HP gets higher almost everyone else in the PT with this trait.


 * lv15 HP Boost I  - +30HP
 * lv35 HP Boost II - +30HP
 * lv55 HP Boost III - +60HP
 * lv70 HP Boost IV - +60HP


 * Total of +180HP added to the naturally high HP of the Mnk. Very useful from preventing the Mnk from getting one-shotted from nasty attacks. It should be noted that because of the naturally high HP of the Mnk, non-Whm healers will have trouble healing the Mnk if he gets damaged (a lot). A Rdm would need 2 cure IV just to get the my Mnk's HP from 50% to 100% since he has about 1,600 HP (average for a Hume)

Kick Attacks

 * Ah, the extra power to your Mnk's already awesome DoT ability. It's not amazing but it's very good to have. With this trait, occasionally, during your attack, you will kick once per round. Since you can only kick once per round, the kick attack is only one-half the power of Double Attack. The damage isn't great either since it's base damage equal to your unarmed hand attack (33-35DMG) unless you have equipment that increases kick attacks damage. Footwork will take advantage of this trait and makes it similar to Double Attack.


 * lv51 Kick Attack I - 5% activation rate
 * lv71 Kick Attack II - 10% activation rate


 * Effect doesn't stack but you can get another +5% (total 15%) with merit. I will discuss Kick Attacks later with Footwork usage.

Job Abilities

 * Monk has a fairly great selection of abilities. They are balanced before soloing, tanking, large fights and party. I'm not going to go too deep into duration or effects since you can just click on the link to get most of that info. I'll just put in stuff that should be used or not use.

Boost
Level 5


 * You get this ability at lv5 and they stack together if you use them multiple times. It's an awesome ability that serves two main purposes and a minor one. One, it raises your attack by 15% for one hit. As cool as the attack bonus sounds, it affects little to a Mnk's performance at higher level and abusing it at lower level causes more problems than it should. So if you keep using Boost every 15sec, you will attack slower and slower. It's much better just to use it before you perform a WS. The other primary use of Boost is to increase Chi Blast damage. You can have up to 12 stacked Boost to deliver a massive Chi Blast though you have to keep in mind that the effect will wear off in 3m15s after the 1st use.

Dodge
Level 15


 * Gives you +20 evasion, +30 with AF feet. Somewhat useful in PT since there is no point not to use this ability. Fairly useful when tanking and soloing. Personally, I just put this along with Focus cause they have the same timer to save a macro slot. The evasion bonus is nice but it's situational. Unless you tank slightly harder monsters often or soloing EM+

Focus
Level 25
 * This is one of the best ability a Monk gets access to. It gives a +20 accuracy bonus for 2m (+25acc when activate with AF head). Accuracy is one of the most important stats a Monk should focus on at any level. This ability is so great that some Monks even put extra merits into it. The downside of this is that it only lasts for 2min out of 5min. Also, if you use sushi as your primary food source then this ability is not very useful.

Chakra
Level 35


 * Another good ability to use both in PT and soloing. It heals you for about 100-150HP (2xVit) and removes Poison plus Blindness. With AF body, it will heal to about 200-300 HP (3xVit) and also removes Paralyze. With Relic hands it will heal for an extra 60% of your Vit and cures Plague. A Monk with proper equipments can pump the healing of this ability to 400HP healed and add another 400HP with 5/5 merit in Invigorate. Personally, I don't keep a set of Chakra equipments around, it has it uses when you are a soloist Mnk but the extra 250HP healed from a 5m ability isn't a lot considering you have like 1,600 HP.

Chi Blast
Level 41
 * Not very useful exp PT as it does little damage without any Boost. The damage is based on your Mnd and the number of Boost you stack together (enhanced with AF hands). You can throw a Chi Blast every 3m for about 30-50 damage in an experience points PT, a bit more if you have time to Boost and carry your AF hands. For HNM and other NMs fighting, this ability is a lot more useful. With enough +Mnd and Boost, you can deal over 1,500 damage with a single Chi Blast. The merit Penance will further enhance this ability on NMs by suppressing the TP gain of the NMs. It works a lot better when you are in small PTs and TP feeding is an issue.

Counterstance
Level 45
 * This is a double-edge sword ability and should be used very carefully. It greatly enhance your ability to Counter melee attacks directed at you (roughly 50%) while reduce your defense to 1/2 of your Vit (pretty much to 20-40 Def). This means you will take a lot more damage if you get hit, but you will manage to ignore 50% of the damage. This ability also ignores all equipments that reduces your Def (ex: Sniper's Ring). It will also make all effect that reduces your Def negligible (ex: Berserk). You can not counter a TP attack, however. This means if you get hit by a TP attack, you will take massive amount of damage (almost double the damage).


 * A popular method of using counterstance is when you are Mnk/Nin and concentrates on keeping up the shadows. When you are casting Utsusemi without any shadow up, you can counter an attack - thus prevent interruptions. Since counterstance put your counter chance to over 45%-50%, you can pretty much prevents interruptions 50% of the time.

Skills
Section under construction

How to play
The monk's role in a party is to deal damage. Since the armor available to a 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, so you don't anger it more.

A monk is usually not a puller for the party, since he has virtually no ranged attacks. With Chi-Blast and pebbles a monk can pull if absolutely necessary, but it should preferably 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, transferring the hate of this critical attack to the tank. This should turn the monster towards the tank, but this is also the point in time where the tank uses provoke, to ensure the monster's hate is on him. The monk should not be moving around during this time, he should just keep attacking. If you move around, the setup will not work, and then you are in for some trouble.

So much for the general stuff, now something more specific:

Your role in the Game by level
When passing through the levels, your role and your options change. Your role will always be in the front line of the fights, but style will differ, and so will your strengths and your weaknesses.

1-10
The time to play solo. Your subjob, if you already have the option, can be Warrior or Dragoon or Thief, it does not really matter. Just go out there, and tear stuff up. Eating some meat food helps a lot to speed things up, a cheap and good option is Meat Jerky. If you are rich, take some regen drinks with you; this lessens downtime even more. The starting zones and the areas around the 3 crags, Holla - Dem - Mea, will be your home.

11-20
It is time to move on to your first party. The first levels of frontline fighters all have similar gear, it starts to change with the attribute rings on lvl 14. Still the armor a monk has these levels is pretty weak, unless you take gear for defense and tanking with you. A monk can tank in Valkurm Dunes, which is the traditional first testing ground for exp in a party. Set your homepoint in Selbina or at the Outpost; the spell Raise is lvl 25, so you have to be lucky to get one in the dunes. Just homepoint and get back to fighting as fast as possible. You subjob should be Warrior in these levels, because you will be backup tanking a lot; which means that if the tank loses HP too fast, you have to Provoke the monster off of him. If the tank dies, more often than not, all die. Let him do his job, but do not let him die. The role of puller is not yours, if someone asks.

21-25
Usually Parties head out to Qufim Island for exp now - and after the first worms they move to crabs and more crabs, and maybe some pugs. Crabs have high defense, not the best enemy for a monk. You will notice that. Do not forget your attack food, you do not want to hit for zero. You are still the back up tank here, but normally your tank should be able to handle himself decently by now.

25-31
The Jungles in the Elshimo Lowlands and Elshimo Uplands will be your battleground, probably. Your ability to tank lessens; now you mostly only do it for emergencies. If your gear is good, this is the point where you need to have learned to walk the line of hate, meaning that you deal damage in a way that you do not draw hate off of the tank. At level 30, a thief will have Trick Attack, and it will, most likely, be your job to turn the mob away from the tank so that the hate from the SATA attack can be planted on the tank again. Stand opposite of the tank, behind the mob, to do this. The other version is that you tank the first moments of the fight, until the thief executes the SATA on the tank. Do not move around; provoke the incoming mob and stand still, so that the tank and the thief can line up.

32-60
Once you get started in these levels, nothing much changes. You are no longer a tank, you can be partner for SATA, but your ability to tank is not really worth mentioning. You are dealing damage, and doing your skillchains. Do not underestimate weaponskills like Backhand Blow. If you are asked to use them for a skillchain just go for it. The damage is okay, and your main damage is dealt over time by each single punch. Eat meat if you have no accuracy problems, but change to sushi if the mobs evades you too much for your taste. If you have no other means of making gil (like a craft or a higher job), you will spend a lot of your time farming during these levels, especially 32-40, as there is a lot of expensive gear.

60-73
The levels where party leaders actually start to look for monks. You gain the weapon skill Howling Fist, it does decent damage and lets you open the distortion skillchain. Your ability to turn the monster reliably makes you the friend of all thieves of these levels (at least from 60 to 65). Then, your options are even bigger with Dragon Kick which lets you participate in light skillchains. Have a thief subjob ready to be able to close a light skillchain with SATA + Dragonkick. You have to walk the line of hate at these levels. If you go all out most tanks will not be able to hold hate. Your role in these levels now includes hate control if you sub THF. Otherwise, go on as usual.

74-75
The final levels. Now is the time for all that endgame content like dynamis, limbus and HNM. I would not recommend starting earlier with it, since these last steps really make a difference. On HNMs you are... well, not very useful. You will either be in a party taking care of adds, or you will be boosting a long time, be invited into the alliance, do your Chi Blast, and dropped out of alliance again. Otherwise, you still will be beating on stuff, and never before were you as good at it. In exp-parties you will have to sub NIN most of the time. I can not add much more at this point.

Equipment
The gear listed in for the separate slots is party and damage dealing gear only. 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) A comment on +VIT and +STR: A monks weaponskills are modified by these 2 stats in most cases, and they do make a difference. Sadly or luckily, our most famous WS, Asuran Fists is modified by both only by 10%. Since a missed hit on this WS hurts more than 10%, most monks do not swap out accuracy gear for stat gear for the WS. In other levels, try it out and find out what you like more, WS are modified by VIT by up to 50%. --Gisselle 17:23, 19 June 2007 (CDT)

btw: HQ = High Quality result at crafted gear.

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. A note on Grips: Even though hand-to-hand weapons are equipped like a 2 handed weapon, they count not as 2 handed weapons and as such a grip can NOT be equipped with hand-to-hand weapons.
 * 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 until 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.
 * 30 Boreas Cesti r/e drop from Kirata - the time you will need to get these, you can get a party, level 2 levels, and use the 32 ones. Kirata is one of these usual 2 hour lottery spawns, and the cesti are NOT a 100% drop. So considering the hours you'll spend camping these and compare it to the time you will use them .... In my book that results in a definitely not worth it.
 * 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
 * 39 Vampiric Claws are not for party usage, but they can be pretty useful for farming. They are the only Hand-to-hand weapon with HP drain. Not the easiest to obtain though, since they are rare/ex and drop from Tres Duendes in Phomiuna Aqueducts, which is a lvl 40 cap area. As far as i know you need more than one party to kill that NM.
 * 40 Tourney Patas Rare, good damage, +3 Vit, cheap on most servers.
 * 42 Beat Cesti AF weapon, very bad choice.
 * 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, especially because...
 * 50 Retaliators Rare/Ex version dropped from Western Shadow
 * 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.
 * 60 Black Adargas +1 very good weapon, should upgrade to these if you can find them AND you don't already have TM Hooks +2.
 * 69 Avengers a rare/ex drop from the Bomb Queen - good weapon but not worth the trouble in my opinion
 * 71 Shenlong's Baghnakhs a drop from the ZNM Pandemonium Warden - they might outdo Destroyers, are the best weapon on their lvl, but if they are worth the trouble i can not tell. 21 base dmg and +10 Acc are very nice for sure.
 * 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
 * 73 Indra Katars dropped from Steam Cleaner

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 astragalos - with pebbles stacking only to 12 and, as such, not very useful; Astragalos are almost never available since it is too expensive in the crafting process.
 * 01 Happy Egg - if you have one use it until Tiphia Sting
 * 01 Orphic Egg - if you have one and party with a bard or corsair use it until 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
 * 54 Smart Grenade - Hidden Effect: +4 attack. A good choice to hold you over until Tiphia Sting or if you don't have the cash to drop on it.
 * 58 Tiphia Sting - good choice, stick with it
 * 60 Bibiki Seashell - quested - good for Chakra, good for VIT dependent weaponskills - disputable if you macro it for these or rather stick with the Tiphia Sting for more accuracy
 * 70 Fenrir's Stone - Reward from defeating Fenrir valuable at nighttime only if you need to sub Ninja and tank. If you are helping on Fenrir and have nothing better to get go for it. Otherwise...
 * 70 Black Tathlum Upgrade from Tiphia Sting, drops from Guivre in the past version, not from Kuftal Tunnel. Very difficult to obtain.

Head
Well, take something with defense or whatever you like at the start. If you can get
 * 24 Emperor Hairpin / Empress Hairpin are good 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 enmity 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.
 * 65 Wivre Mask / Wivre Mask +1 NQ "STR +2 VIT +2 Evasion +10", HQ "STR +3 VIT +3 Evasion +11"
 * 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.
 * 71 Hissho Hachimaki the best piece to use for Asuran Fists until you can get Usukane set. Drops from Wulgaru a tier 2 ZNM.
 * 72 Pahluwan Qalansuwa comes from Assault, nice accuracy / attack mix
 * 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 - Again good for Chakra, or defense; you might want to use it for weaponskills which depend on your VIT (debatable)
 * 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
 * 75 Usukane Somen Very good piece obtained from Salvage. Alone its a good piece less haste but more accuracy and STR, this piece is much better with the whole set though.

Neck
Short comment on Neck pieces, since my choices sparked some discussions. In your leveling career you probably end up eating accuracy food, sushi. If you do not connect you do no damage, so meat has fallen into disuse. Sushi's boost is very strong, so you do not need every piece of +acc gear, like the peacock charm. When you get into endgame, however, you can merit HTH, and that together with good accuracy gear gives you a good connecting rate. So then the accuracy gear comes back into the game.
 * 3 Pile Chain +3hp, +1Acc, R/E from a chest in Sarutabatura, nice if you have, do not care if you don't
 * 7 Wing Pendant +1 AGI, better than nothing
 * 21 Spike Necklace +3 STR, +3 DEX - learn to like it, you will probably be using it very long.
 * 33 Peacock Charm / Peacock Amulet 10 accuracy is the relevant stat here, but it is very expensive, and debatable if the STR on the Spike Necklace from lvl 21 is not better in times of accuracy food. Still this one is probably better. Your choice if you are rich.
 * 50 Storm Gorget +6 attack and +2 DEX, definitely an option
 * 59 Spectacles +7 acc were good once, but since you can get the Chivalrous Chain... A cheaper alternative to the PCC endgame though.
 * 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. Some people say that the lvl 33 Peacock Charm is still better, but that is debatable, PCC is probably better if you have capped HTH merits.
 * 74 Ancient Torque +9 acc and +4 DEX for a total of 11 acc for MNK. And you thought people with PCC were rich!
 * 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
 * 50 Storm Loop att +5 assault att +10 (rare appraisal from ??? Earring in Lebros Cavern assault Excavation Duty)
 * 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
 * 65 Diabolos's Earring The usefulness of this item is questionable, more for +acc junkies. A reward from the Diabolos Prime avatar fight. +3 accuracy in areas without dark weather.
 * 67 Triumph Earring +2 Str and resistances, good even in endgame but...very debatable if the lvl 63 +att earrings are not better, and triumphs are very expensive
 * 72 Hollow Earring +2 DEX +3 Acc - from Apocalypse Nigh well we did not stockpile on Dex so far, why should we now? As one of the choices for the AN earrings, i would prefere Ethereal, but it is up to personal preference and other gear setup. The notorious meat eater with very good Acc setup might want the +3Acc, another setup probably does not care.
 * 72 Ethereal Earring +15hp, +5Att +5Eva, 3%dmg taken to mp - very nice, just one Att less than Merman's but no minus Eva, instead a +Eva. And the to mp conversion (which does not reduce damage taken) gives you a little boost when doing stuff like skilling guard with RDM sub. Apocalypse Nigh choice i prefere.
 * 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

Body

 * 01 Bronze Harness your first piece for some defense...
 * 08 Kenpogi more defense, +1 even has a point of Dex
 * 10 Legionnaire's Harness for more defense and fire resistance, which is good for Valkurm Dunes Parties
 * 13 Power Gi +1 str, nice - Note i would stick with this up to 21
 * 15 Republic Harness if you upgrade from Power Gi, do it right. This is the HQ
 * 16 Bone Harness defense, careful with the HQ, it has - fire resistance
 * 21 Beetle Harness defense, a good upgrade, go for it, +1 is even better, the - ice resistance does not matter
 * 25 Federation Gi this is the HQ, your armor upgrade for the jungles.
 * 30 Mercenary Captain's Doublet some dex, some agi, some defense
 * 40 Jujitsu Gi +4 accuracy, buy it, camp it, whatever. It is expensive though, and it will hurt your finances unless you are rich. It is 500k on Ramuh at the time of writing.
 * 50 Aikido Gi nice piece of gear for capped stuff. Comes for the Brygid quests. +4 Vit, +2 Agi
 * 50 Raven Jupon good if you have hate problems, which you will have with a NIN tank and no SaTa for example
 * 57 Scorpion Harness +10 accuracy and +10 eva - you should get it, even though it hurts your gil balance.
 * 58 Temple Cyclas your AF body piece. Use it as gear change in your chakra macro, if you can really not afford a Scorpion Harness you can use this, even though i personally will call you lazy.
 * 67 Arakan Samue Agi+4, Att+5, Eva+10, Subtle Blow +3 - new ToAU gear, even monk only, ISNM drop
 * 72 Pahluwan Khazagand gear from Assault, i do not have it myself yet, so i can not really comment on it. Stats look good though.
 * 73 Shura Togi gear coming from a Dryadic Abjuration: Body and a Cursed Togi. The Abjuration drops from Kirin only. Acc+10 Att+20 are pretty awesome, so it is worth the effort.
 * 74 Melee Cyclas AF2 from Dynamis, it has its uses.
 * 75 Kirin's Osode probably the best piece of gear you can wear as monk as body piece, except for the Shura Togi and Hachiryu Haramaki. +10 all stats is hard to beat. Kirin drop again, can be bought, very expensive.
 * 75 Usukane Haramaki A very strong body piece obtained from Salvage. Useful for TPing in and also useful if you become the target's hate with evasion+12, as with all Usukane it is better with the full set.
 * Hachiryu Haramaki +20 Acc and +20 Att .... AND 5% critical hit rate... Wow. A really good piece of gear, i would say go out there and get it but... it drops of Pandemonium Warden, and as far as i know at the moment, it is a very hard fight to win.

Hands
Note: You can also use several +STR bracelets 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 34 item.
 * 1 Bronze Mittens defense
 * 8 Tekko defense
 * 10 Legionnaire's Mittens attack +3 - very good
 * 14 Battle Gloves acc +3 eva +3 - good acc gear
 * 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 ouch for a monk; there is no way around them, +20 attack is not an option, it is a must, farm for them or camp the rare/ex Ochimusha Kote.
 * 34 Horomusha Kote A nice, slightly cheaper, alternative to Ochiudo's Kote. 5 less attack but no -evasion.
 * 54 Temple Gloves Part of your artifact armor, use a gear change macro and use them for Boost.
 * 72 Pahluwan Dastanas Assault gear. Combination of accuracy, ranged attack, and ranged accuracy, depending on other setup might be an option, I would still prefer the lvl 34 kote though.
 * 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
 * 75 Usukane Gote Obtained from Salvage. This piece is only really useful for when you have hate otherwise you shouldn't wear them until you obtain the full set.

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, equipping strength gear instead of accuracy gear. Mostly you will need accuracy though. Ah, and by the way, whats good on one finger is better on two, just to mention it. Personal Note I personally use Rajas and a Sniper, a combination working well for me. I still have some STR rings, but they are pretty useless imho. Try it out - i rather hit for a point less but more often ;-)
 * 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.
 * 30 Divisor Ring listed only for completeness. latent effect: +6 accuracy +3 attack.  This ring is obtained as a ??? ring drop from level 7 Leujoam Sanctum Assault, mission Azure Experiments.  Latent is activated by having main job level divisible by 5 (30,35,40,45,50,55,60,65,70,75). As you can easily see, the usefulness of this ring is very questionable during your leveling (only every 5th level useful), but is one of the best rings available at 75. Useful for capped areas as well.
 * 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
 * 50 Ulthalam's Ring Accuracy +4 Attack +4, final ToAU reward choice, nice
 * 54 Victory Ring +4 str ring
 * 57 Toreador's Ring ENM reward, check the ENM Reward Exchange for details
 * 72 Triumph Ring +5 str ring
 * 74 Flame Ring also gives +5 str, and +2 int, but -2 mnd and no fire resistance. Still a good option if switching the ring for chi blast. There is theoretically a +6 version, the Vulcan's Ring, but it can be seen as confirmed that this ring might be implemented in the game, but is impossible to make.
 * 75 Mars's Ring Accuracy +8 Attack +8, gained after some quests and trading in a Sin of Insolence, which is a drop from Absolute Virtue, which is in sea, where you can only go with CoP almost finished. Extreme hard HNM.

Back
It takes a long time until anything really worth it comes for the back slot for monk. You'll see why when you look at the gear.
 * 4 Rabbit 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... stick to the lvl 24 piece
 * 37 Cavalier's Mantle gives 2 VIT, some def...but massive -Evasion. Good for Chakra, don't wear it otherwise.
 * 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 Amemet 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 recommend 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, being monk has advantages. It can be gained from the quest Silence of the Rams but not at lvl 18. buy it (but do the quest later). The quest involves a drop from the NM ram in Konschtat 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
 * 48 Life Belt +10 acc; Random treasure from chests in Fei'Yin, can be bought. Good choice if you have accuracy problems.
 * 60 Potent Belt Assault Reward; sacrifice 2 accuracy for 3 STR in comparison to Life Belt. Good choice if you have accuracy problems.
 * 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.
 * 71 Warwolf Belt Cheap on the AH; great little piece to add to Chakra output.

Legs
Legs - yes a monk shows his or her legs most of the career
 * 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 defense, and no subligars - but do not rejoice to much ...
 * 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; good for defensive purposes like when suddenly tanking or when being solo.
 * 60 Strike Subligar +3 on kick attacks - One of the best if you have kick boots, but prohibitively expensive. Don't sweat it if you can't/don't want to buy em.  Drops from ISNM Tough Nut to Crack.
 * 68 Cobra Subligar +5 Accuracy and -4 enmity. Excellent choice for MNK, obtained on the wings rank from the Allied notes NPC in the past for 50k (75k) AN in past Windurst. Still leaves you at wearing subligar though...
 * 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; decent but there are better, still better than nothing and better than the lower level stuff.
 * 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 Promathia missions...about in the range of the Melee Hose.
 * 75 Byakko's Haidate +15 DEX and +5% Haste is great, as the name says a rare/ex drop from Byakko. If your LS likes to give you some, you are lucky, since for example NINs have usually first bid on it. Very good choice if you can get it.
 * 75 Barbarossa's Zerehs uncommon rare/ex drop from Targeting the Captain quest, has STR+4, VIT+4, Haste+3%. The quest can only be done if you are past Mission 18 of the Aht Urhgan Missions and some additional quests.
 * 75 Usukane Hizayoroi A very strong piece both for TPing in and for WSing in. Obtained in Salvage. Good on its own but best with the set.

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. ;-)

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 most 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 "Enhances Kick Attack damage by 25" (equivalent to weapon with DMG +25), 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 / Wulong Shoes +1 the upgraded version of the Kung Fu Shoes. NQ: Enhances Kick Attack damage by 27 (equivalent to weapon with DMG +27), HQ: Enhances Kick Attack damage by 30 (equivalent to weapon with DMG +30) Note:Wulong Shoes +1's Kick Attack damage bonus is the same as Dune Boots. - nice but not a must
 * 70 Dune Boots rare/ex, Enhances Kick Attack damage by 30 (equivalent to weapon with DMG +30) Note: Wulong Shoes +1's Kick Attack damage bonus is the same as Dune Boots. The NM dropping it is a cactuar, spamming 1000 Needles, so you'll need some help, full party 75s or more if levels 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? Look sexy walking around town? :-P
 * 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...
 * 72 Pahluwan Crackows Assault gear; great for macroing into weaponskills.
 * 72 Fuma Sune-Ate Haste gear - very questionable, but since the feet slot is not that great in choices for us, you might want to go for it.
 * 73 Shura Sune-Ate the Dryadic Abjuration: Feet gear. Not worth the effort.
 * 75 Denali Gamashes drop from Nyzul Isle Investigation floor 20.
 * 75 Usukane Sune-Ate The best feet for MNK that come from Salvage. Even with the enmity+5 you can't ignore attack and accuracy+7 with Store TP+7 even including the added Haste+2%. As with all Usukane it is best with the entire set for TPing in.

Chi Blast Gear
The real power of Chi Blast unfolds in endgame situations, where you boost to full power and blast for more than 1000 points of damage. Therefore i will only list endgame gear for this. If you want to go to full power with this job ability before that, just go for whatever +mnd you can get. Use your items which strengthen your boost, then switch to mind gear and use Chi Blast. You can safely boost continuously for 10 times without the effect wearing.
 * Weapon Kirin's Pole + 10
 * Neck Promise Badge + 5 or Faith Torque +5
 * Ear Communion Earring +2, get 2 of them for a total +4
 * Body Kirin's Osode + 10
 * Hands Devotee's Mitts for a +5, HQ has +6 Note: Do not forget to boost with the Temple Gloves on.
 * Finger Aqua Ring +5, get 2 for a total +10 Note: other +5 rings exist, and usually are more expensive.
 * Back Melee Cape +5
 * Waist Deductive Brocade Obi enchantment with +10, otherwise Twinthread Obi HQ for +3 another waist option is Al Zahbi Sash +2 mnd or Moon Sash + 3 mnd
 * Legs Temple Hose +1 +4
 * Feet Suzaku's Sune-Ate for +15
 * Head Temple Crown +1 +8

So, all in all, you can get something like +52 realistically, and more if you put real effort in it, ideally +79.

Merits
Merit points can be accumulated once you hit level 75 with a job, for more information on merits check the Merit page

HP/MP and Attributes
In the first of these 2 sections, you have the choice of getting more hp or more mp, in steps of 10 and up to 8 merits in the category all together. Well, obviously we monks do not need mp. Do we need even more hit points? Hmm, I'd say more is always better in this case, but really need would be said to much. It is for sure a low priority category, and if you plan on using a mage job as subjob a lot, or even level another job which needs mp, then you'll probably go for the mp-merits. Strictly monk speaking go for the hp.

In the attribute category you can distribute a maximum of +5 on your attributes. Strictly monk speaking, go for the strength for better punches. But if you ever tried with and without a +5 STR ring, you'll probably agree this to be a low priority category too.

Combat / Magic / Others
You can put up to 20 picks into combat skills. Obviously Hand-to-Hand should receive the maximum of 8 picks, leaving you with 12 free ones. 4 for each guarding and evasion, leaves you with 4 more free ones which you can use for... whatever. Nothing more monk specific left.

Magic skills are not really important for a monk, you can only improve your casts for subjob stuff, like ninjutsu for example. But nothing really needed here.

On the other category you should put 4 into critical hit rate. The other 4 are optional, reducing enemy critical hit rate being probably the best idea. Spell interruption rate down is also an option for reducing interrupts at Utsusemi recast.

Job Specific Merits
Group 1 Cost per upgrade: [1>2>3>4>5] Max combo: 10 Max per item: 5

Although Focus, Dodge and Chakra are nice and its nicer to have them back faster, these merits are not really worth the effort. Counter and Kick attacks are a lot more attractive, so putting 5 points in both of these is probably your best bet.
 * Focus Recast (-10 seconds per upgrade)
 * Dodge Recast (-10 seconds per upgrade)
 * Chakra Recast (-10 seconds per upgrade)
 * Counter Rate (+1% per upgrade)
 * Kick Attack Rate (+1% per upgrade)

Group 2 Cost per upgrade: [3>4>5] Max combo: 6 Max per item: 3

So, 6 upgrades in this group with 3 max at one. Having the ability to use Formless Strikes is a good idea, but upgrading it is not worth it. So 1 point in there. Invigorate is a Regen effect on your Chakra of 10hp/tick. Means 80/120/180 additional HP gained by Chakra, which sums up fast, so that seems to be a good idea, but only put 2 in here. Mantra is pretty useless imho, so tp prohibition to mobs is a good plan, especially on endgame mobs like HNMs, put the remaining 3 into Penance.


 * Mantra (+4% per upgrade)
 * Formless Strikes (+5% effect per upgrade)
 * Invigorate (+24 seconds duration per upgrade)
 * Penance (+20 seconds duration per upgrade)

Food
During the solo levels and Qufim your hit rate is usually decent, but, whats more important, you need the boost to your attack. Targets are crabs more often than not, so you want something to get past their high defense. Do not let yourself be fooled by what /check gives you, crabs do defense up moves a lot, and they reduce your strength.
 * 01-20 Meat Jerky you can get this at a vendor.
 * 21-25 Meat Mithkabob upgrade from the above

From 25 on it starts to depend on your target mob. Evasive mobs need accuracy food, high defense ones attack food. Your choices sum up to the following, alternatives are possible depending on availability on your server.

Attack:
 * Meat Mithkabob yes, this is still good up to at least 50, if not higher
 * Coeurl Sub is the best stacking attack food you can use at 75, a lot more expensive than Mithkabobs though

Accuracy: Well, there is actually only one real choice for a monk all the way
 * Sole Sushi boost all you need.
 * Bream Sushi Much cheaper than Sole with one more % of accuracy. The only downside is the lack of the +5 STR Sole offers.