IiPunch - Monk Guide

Bhikku +1 feet (10% modifier) are weaker than Shukuyu Sune-Ate (15% modifier) for Footwork, and I have neither. It's between farming Itza scales or Suzakus for feet, and I've been in no hurry to grab them (yet). They are very good macro piece, though.

Has anyone tested if Footwork decays over time? At activation, I'm able to put out some impressive TK numbers (for Monk at least) initially soon after activation, but towards the end of TK spam, it's horribly bad (like lower than what Footwork is supposed to give). Makes me wonder if the attack bonus decays over the duration to a very low amount. It only lasts for one minute, so it's barely useful, but at least it will give you good spikes for kicking. I use Nodowa+2, Anchorite+3, and Segomo's for the extra kick damage during TK(DK). Though Nodowa might lose to Fotia, not sure. Augments will make the difference next month.

Als, FWIW, Footwork should see a really good increase with empyrean+2/3, perhaps +20% attack modifier max with empy+3. A duration increase would be helpful, too. The real issue I see is Anchorite Gaiters +3 becoming completely obsolete when Bhikku+3 comes out, since they would have to increase the base kick damage on them in some way. Or they could include [kick attacks] + [kick attacks attack+] on them

I'm not gonna do any intensive testing because I feel it's not needed.

Footwork with just 18/20 gifts:
Kicks were doing slightly more than hits. Hits around 880, kicks around 960

Footwork with 18/20 gifts, back and nq nodowa:
I did 2 kicks. First for 1111 and second for 1118

Footwork with 18/20 gifts, back, nq nodowa and Shukuyu:
Did few kicks for 1487, 1483, 1450 and one crit for 2002

We can clearly see that during Footwork, both MH and Kick Attack damage accessories and feet add to damage.

Now I want to know something else tbh

My highest regular hit was 912. How the hell I am able to hit for that much? According to bg highest ratio should be 3.875 for h2h.
My weapon has 147 damage. That puts fSTR cap at 24.

912 / 3.875 = ~235
235 - 147 - 24 = 64

Would that mean, that despite not being shown in combat skills menu, h2h skill from weapon is taken into calculation for base h2h damage?

That has always been known to be the case.

I'm returning player after 6 years break, so I missed the whole ilvl mechanic. Thx for confirmation :)

I get some pretty insane numbers with relic+3 legs (for rate), af+3 feet, neck, and back. I also have spharai so I activate the AM to take advantage of it. The worst part is that it's really only amazingly practical for Footwork, and then you can probably swap back to HQ kendatsuba for TP. It's kind of like how Bhikku Cyclas +1 is BIS for when Impetus is up.

I don't use gs, so it's kind of hard to simulate having 3 different TP sets for Impetus up/normal TP/footwork up. So I just alternate sets depending on what I'm fighting and leave it at that.

It is kind of hard to put a lot of emphasis into kicks, though, since, as Capuchin pointed out, you're not really ever going to get a good spread on kicks vs punches ever. So it's a balancing act at best. The damage increase from above with Shukuyu looks pretty nice tho. Too bad Spharai hidden effect won't ever proc on kick attacks. It would be pretty cool to see 6k damage melee kicks occasionally.

Footwork is worth using? Anyone have a tornado kick set?

This is what I'm using.

ItemSet 360946

I didn't plug anything into a spreadsheet, it was purely eyeball and what I had available. So it could certainly use improvements. Fotia neck probably is better. My Hesychast is only +2, but I have a 6% wsd vest. Highest I've hit on Gin and Kin was 47k with a decent spread of buffs, so it has potential.

Looks like I can make a set like that, minus the Herc. Which augs do you have there?
Bit unsure Ishvara is gonna beat other options though. Did you test it on the spreadsheet?

My herc vest is weak, str+10 wsd+6. I didn't use spreadsheet, so Sherida might win. I think I had Odnowa+1 in there for a few bosses because my acc was low and the VIT was cool. It definitely can be worked, though.

edit: cape augs are vit+30 acc/att+20/wsd+10, since it triples as my Howling Fist/Chakra cape as well, though STR would work for TK also.

Fotia isnt better. Even with worst scenario for nodowa (1000TP, all hits beside first miss and no godhands and moonshade) both fotia and nodowa are around ~4% increase. With Godhands, moonshade, all hits connected - fotia is only 1.6% increase. All that before augments too and nodowa will probably get +20 STR at least I bet.

That further pushed my theory of using Godhands for Footwork and Veret for Impetus. Question is what to use for both down, Godhands and Raging/Howling or Veret and VS. Possibly Spharai with Final Heaven if they add some nice unique augment for Spharai or maybe Su5? That would be really interesting XD

Thanks Buuukki.
Don't have a VIT WSD cape but I gues the STR one should be good enough, after all Tornado Kick is STR/VIT modded.

I noticed I already have a set, but it's very old.
Body-wise I have Hizamaru Haramaki +2, not sure why. Maybe because I estimated WSD to be not particularly precious for a 3 hit WS, whereas Haramaki has higher than usual STR and VIT (and acc and att).
Knowing me it was definitely the best option I had when I created the set.

Rest of the set is identical, except head (using Perf Lilitu, no Hachiya+3... yet!)

Yeah I similarly struggled with optimizing WSD vs just all out VIT, but most of Monk's Relic/AF has very high VIT compared to other gear, so the differences are probably minimal. Other pieces with multi-attack don't have nearly the useful amount of VIT, and I feel like gambling with Oseem for a WS that is only used on occasion with a certain JA up was not worth the trouble. I can't imagine trying to get VIT+10-15/TA/wsd+3-4 on body.

I will say that between all of the weaponskills I've used, TK is one of the most consistent when you have the right circumstances (TP, acc, kick gear, footwork, and I imagine footwork modified macro feet). Most of the WS are 20k+ across the board when it's up, with spikes higher than I've seen with RF/FH/VS.

Why VIT, when it's 40% STR AND VIT mod, while STR also giving you att and fstr. what you want is STR on cape and STR augments on Herc.

I understand that, but STR/WSD is also for Raging Fists, but I wasn't even talking about that. I was talking about:



Also Raging Fists is probably main WS for Godhands and both require same cape and same augments on Herc.

I was talking about for the 3-hit WS Tornado Kick. My Herc Body is STR+WSD, but If I were to make one, i'd make one with VIT because of Final heaven and Howling Fist(the VIT is higher than the STR mod, hence, the VIT argument). Keep in mind, all of Monk's WS are equally unimpressive, and I'm not really going to make a separate herc body/cape for every single mediocre ws. I just made several capes and rolled with what I have. I don't have Godhands yet, I'm using Spharai, so my RF has sucked incredibly. Final Heaven is 80% modifier for VIT, so it makes more sense to prioritize that over STR, since I have to use it for AM anyways. Really thats my primary reason for the VIT discussion.

I might change my STR/DA cape to WSD just because I rarely use it, and I could use it for RF when I make Godhands, though.

If we talk about capes. It actually makes me wonder, what cape for TP and what cape for VS.

I mean for Footwork I will probably want sTP piece for TP, but otherwise DA? So probably overall DA is better even with so much TA and QA going on already? I'm not sure.

Now for VS, crit rate or DA?

I forget which I use for VS, I think DA. But I wouldn't be surprised if Crit+10 worked better on a 4(5) hit WS. I used a needle to change to DA just because I thought that the multi-hit was more universally useful than Crit.

I hate the idea of having a cape for Footwork and a cape for standard TPing. I hate the idea of wearing specific gear for when a JA is up/down, and I think that just complicates things even further, though GS can automate this. But normal players can't so what's the point of going in this direction from SE's perspective?

I keep a few needles handy and switch augments periodically for all of my DPS jobs, since as more gear options come out, older ones either become obsolete or change slightly. I use double attack/dex/counter cape, but I wouldn't be shocked if STP was better in a standard TP setup. Kendatsuba+1 offers no STP, so in hybrid sets, it's probably much more favorable than DA.

now that I think about it, I might experiment with Critical hit Rate+10% cape in my hybrid set with Kendatsuba, since the crit rate is already absurdly high, and I can throw on an additional 10% PDT to cap myself out.

In an old test I did on the spreadsheet, and other people came up with the same results back then, I had STR+30/acc/att/WSD+10 beat my STR+30/acc/att/DA+10 cape, for Victory Smite.
Everybody was surprised.
Keep in mind I tested with Godhands, not Verethragna.
Also, since then a lot of additional gear came out, so the results might be different nowadays, I got no clue.
I don't remember if I tested the Crit Hit +10 or not.

For TP I use DEX/Acc/Att/DA, I can see STP being better at certain threshold and/or during Footwork, but I'm personally not hardcore enough for MNK, yet.

I think I will do STP (Im VERY limited on capes, so I can't do many of them too. Still need like 20+ for other jobs), because like Buukki mentioned hybrid set offers a lot of multihit, but no STP. Footwork also takes advantage of STP, but not DA. I also want to try TPing with AF+3 feet and relic+3 legs.

I guess cape for VS is tough choice. In theory you can cap crit rate without cape with Impetus up, but it's hard especially if you don't want to use suicide ring and you still need a lot of luck with Impetus. That's why I would rather use Epona's ring with crit rate on cape, than suicide ring with DA on cape.

Sounds like I have to make another cape. Good lord.

MNK gets off pretty easy as capes go, it's really just two main requirements (a DEX/Acc-based TP cape and a STR-based WS cape). Between those two, you have your most common needs and even for more niche WS you've got something that will be in the top 3 choices for the slot.

For most typical endgameish situations with reasonable buffs:

Victory Smite cape is ideally STR+30/Crit Rate+10%. That still spreadsheets best for me in the vast majority of situations. However, STR/DA is generally pretty close - potentially, it wouldn't totally shock me if it even won in some situations. STR/DA tends to be a little more useful for other more niche MNK WS too, so if you really want to use a lot of different H2H WS but minimize cape use, I could see just going for STR+30/DA+10.

TP cape and Shijin Spiral are DEX/Acc&Atk/DA+10%. Most people are probably gonna want to go with Acc for the Dye slot (Acc+30 total) for TP purposes. However, if you really wanna maximize Shijin for whatever reason, going with DEX+30 is viable as well.

I personally don't have capes for other MNK WS, but ideal choices would be:
Tornado Kick: STR+30/WSD (with STR/DA and STR/Crit behind that)
Dragon Kick: STR+30/WSD (STR/DA and STR/Crit behind that)
Howling Fist: VIT+30/WSD (with STR+30/WSD next, STR+30/DA behind that)
Final Heaven: VIT/WSD (STR/WSD should be next best, and STR/DA and STR/whatever else)
Ascetic's Fury: probably STR+30/Crit? Maybe STR/WSD wins out, though I'd guess most MNK will just use their V.Smite cape for this and call it a day

Footwork still takes advantage of DA, footwork isn't kicks only anymore. DA still works the same with and without footwork active.

You probably meant that the kicks themselves don't use DA, but just to be sure, you can still DA with footwork active.

Tornado Kick is STR/WSD, not STR/DA, even if you could somehow WS exactly at 1000TP without any tp bonus, first hit of Tornado Kick is 2.25 FTP and 10% of that is 0.225, while 10%DA is on avg equal to 0.2 http://fTP. In reality it's lower tho because a) QA and TA have priority, making DA proc only, when QA and TA don't b) you should use at least moonshade for Tornado and that makes first hit even more potent and c) multihit hits has 100 less accuracy, than main hit, which means, they can often miss on harder content.

Howling Fist is VIT/WSD, not STR/WSD. Howling is 50%VIT 20%STR. Even assuming STR from cape would boost fSTR, it would still be less effective, than VIT.

And Ascetic's Fury is definitely not STR/WSD. WSD only works for first hit and Ascetic's first hit is only 1.2 fTP (assuming Fotia belt and gorget)

Edited my above post to reflect this. Agreed with your corrections.

That being said, for TK it's not a huge difference when dropping down to the 2nd place option. For a MNK trying to limit capes, it's another case of consolidating capes with STR/DA being in the top couple of options even if something else is moderately better.


Whoops, I just spaced on that and was thinking Howling was 50%VIT/50%STR. You're totally right. That being said, making a VIT/WSD cape for a non-Spharai MNK is kind of an annoying proposition when, again, STR/WSD is not far behind and you can avoid having to make a whole additional cape. YMMV depending on how hardcore you want to push for absolutely BiS Howling Fist / 1hit h2h MNK WS sets.

Yeah sorry, that is what I meant.

I mean if you want to make one WS cape, I would rather do STR/WSD, than STR/DA.

STR/WSD is bis for Raging, Tornado, Dragon and is better than STR/DA for Howling, Final Heaven and VS (yes, it is actually better than DA for VS. It's the same scenario as for 1000TP Tornado Kick and I also initially forgot about it). STR/DA is only better for Ascetic's Fury.

The highest roll will be 3.675 for a non crit. The 3.875 is the point at which attack no longer has any affect since that puts your floor at 3.5 before the random multiplier between 1 and 1.05.

147 base damage, 24 fSTR, 75 from base skill + weapon H2H skill, plus 3 puts you at 249. 249 * 3.675 = 915

In regards to having only two capes for MNK, I'd do STR with WSD and STR with crit. Crit is your best TP cape with impetus up and cyclas anyways, covers smite, and isn't the worst when Impetus is down either. STR wsd handles everything else besides shijin and close enough for FH.

That's interesting. What if I'm not limited to 2? Would str/crit be better than dex/stp for Impetus down? Or maybe dex/crit? Loosing that 20+ acc from 30 dex seems to be pretty bad for me, I'm not in an LS where Idris precision, Honor march and madrigals are the standard. Usually I get no accuracy buffs at all (maybe just very recently some honor march)