Monk Guide

See also: Monk and Guides

Rotations

Effective Monk rotations employ Greased Lightning to maximize damage through faster refresh, and Twin Snakes to maintain its damage buff. To maintain Greased Lightning, the monk must rotate between attacks using Raptor, Couerl and Opo-Opo Form in order.

Levels 1-17 (Pugilist): Bootshine -> True Strike -> Snap Punch is the basic rotation, adding Touch of Death and Haymaker, and using Internal Release and Featherfoot for tougher encounters. Note that none of these abilities change forms, so care should be taken to use these abilities without letting Greased Lightning expire. Also, both Bootshine and True Strike do extra damage from behind, and Snap Punch does extra damage from the flank, making positioning important for team fights.

Levels 18-25 (Pugilist): Bootshine -> Twin Snakes/True Strike -> Snap Punch is the basic rotation. The damage buff from Twin Snakes lasts for roughly two rotations, so alternate between it and True Strike for best output. Fists of Earth should always be up at this stage. At lv20, traits allow Greased Lighting to stack twice, giving the monk greater momentum potential, at a mild risk of TP exhaustion.

Levels 26-30 (Pugilist/Monk): Bootshine -> Twin Snakes/True Strike -> Snap Punch is still the basic rotation, but you begin to have some variety. However, the new abilities cost extra TP, making running out of TP a real possibility for the first time. Level 28 traits increases the damage buff from Twin Snakes to 10%, making it more important to maintain it.

• For longer-lived opponents, Demolish should be maintained as long as no duration is wasted, and replaces Snap Punch.
• If facing three or more opponents, Arm of the Destroyer is a better choice, and is the monk's first interrupt, inflicting 1s of Silence. It would replace Bootshine on the rotation.
• Similarly, Rockbreaker, the first Monk ability, is also a good AOE damage source, but is a cone, so positioning becomes more important. It would replace Snap Punch in the rotation.

Levels 31-40 (Monk): Bootshine -> Twin Snakes/True Strike -> Snap Punch is still the basic rotation, with even greater variety available. Additionally, Fists of Fire is now available for higher DPS, at the expense of the defense from Fists of Earth. While usage is situational when soloing, a monk should always have Fists of Fire up while in teams.

• For bosses, Demolish should be maintained along with Touch of Death. Don't forget to use Internal Release when you can make the most of it, as it received a buff from traits at lv36. The rotation therefore is Demolish/Bootshine -> Twin Snakes/True Strike -> Snap Punch
• For multiple opponents, the rotation continues to be Arm of the Destroyer -> Twin Snakes/True Strike -> Rockbreaker, though TP management becomes necessary at this point. Arm of the Destroyer should be dropped to Bootshine if TP usage needs to be reduced.
• Steel Peak and Shoulder Tackle provide the monk with good stuns, and should be used as interrupts when needed.

More to come!