Agreed, top tier armor but didn’t want to recommend it because it’s elite and there is only one so you have competition with any other melee combatant. But yes this armor is late game S tier
I was absolutely surprised when I respecced Laezel to a palm monk for the first time. New to anything d&d related. But wow by far instantly became my strongest character for act 3
U could use helldusk armor which u can get in act 1 super early. It gives its heavy armor AC of 19 but acts as no armor at the same time so u can get all the unarmored buffs and movents
One thing that I may do, very early, is buy the Ring of Flinging from Aaron in the Druid Grove, then go to the goblin camp and buy the Returning Pike (1d10 + 1 (2~11) + Strength modifier) from Grat the Trader, which you can do at level 2 or 3. That way you have a ranged and melee attack very early that uses strength, yes you have to give up a shield, but it's only for a short time. Also for guidance, you can get the Silver Pendant from just outside the Druid Grove, in the Harper Outpost. So very early in the game.
That’s true, you can keep this as a throw build all game too if you want because tavern brawler only makes throwing items better. Yea I laughed when I said “guidance is always great” and then realized it was level 11 😂
There used to be a monl/fighter build for Newverwinter Nights that started out with Monk then added 4 levels of fighter for specialization on unarmed strikes and bonus attacks then when back to monk until max level... was OP
nice build i will try that out starting my first tactical run i wanted to try monk but i hate being squishy i love being a tank so this build is perfect
if you're only going 1 level of fighter for proficiencies, surely it makes more sense to take 1 level of war cleric instead. That way you also get the 3 war cleric bonus attacks per short rest vs the fighters extra action per short rest. You'll get the war cleric bonus attacks right from level 1 which is really useful, and you'll also gain access to sanctuary! and healing word from level 1. I think there's an argument for 1 level of war cleric being flat out better than 2 levels of fighter with action surge...
I think cleric would be a great substitution since the spells like Bless & heal will be very useful to the party and you don't need the CON saves from fighter. Fighter does get a passive +1 AC from the fighting style, but for times when AC matters the cleric dip means being able to put a +2 AC shield of faith on yourself. Also I'm thinking that for a monk multiclass, War Cleric doesn't works as well as it does with other martial multiclass builds because monks already have a great built-in Bonus Action attack that adds their ability modifier to damage. Same idea but Tempest Cleric might be a good option for the retaliation damage reaction instead.
Seems like a solid build. (You probably didn't want to mention this because the armor might be contested or wanted by teammates....). But by the time you hit character level 11 and start Druid levels it's worth considering speccing out of Fighter. Druid gives you the shield proficiency, plus Medium Armor and there are a few Heavy Armors that don't require proficiency by then. That would let you get another level into Thief for a feat like Alert, or pick up a 3rd level in Spores for 2nd level spells etc...
I wonder if respecing the attributes at lvl 11, if taking druid Levels, dumping Strength and putting this into Wisdom and taking Shillelagh as Cantrip with the Staffs this build is using, would give an additional benefit. This would power up the monk skills that are based on wisdom stats and add the wisdom mod on hit and damage for this weapons. I have to try this build :)
quick question, wouldnt ditching rogue and just using those points on fighter, be better? you get an extra feat(so 20 base str), action surge, and you can either go battle master, for battle maneuvers, or champion for easier crits. which, because you will be hitting alot, will happen more times.
It’s definitely a valid option, you are trading cunning actions and the extra bonus action for action surge and a feat. Both options are valuable but personally I like the idea of being able to flurry of blows 2 times multiple times per battle if you really need the damage.
Monks are great builds. Prefer weapon melee chars because you can’t dip with a monk. Dip has so many advantages. Sleep, blind and paralyze pistons are super powerful
I still think that TB should allow the monk to use Dex score. It makes sense from an RP perspective, as martial artists use their training and accuracy to improve attacks, not brute force. If Larian adds that, Monk would be better and far less MAD. Making armored monk builds just seems like your ditching RP for a min/max.
I tend to agree with you about the rp for monk, Right now I think monk without TB sits in such a weird spot, not enough survivability to be on the front lines, not enough stealth/too ki reliant to be dipping in and out of combat consistently. One of the subclasses fixes stealth but personally I would like to see open hand have something building on patient defense like additional parry benefits or resistances to make it feel like a technical combat expert deflecting blows and striking back not just a damage dump.
@@gymleaderrob7192 Agreed. Without a TB fix, it's possible to be powerful with monk, but clearly takes a more creative approach. One other option is to dump strength and rely on potions, which are plentiful in act 1, but that also is a negative for RP. I went this route to keep my monk otherwise well, monk-like and used Deep Gnome for saves to avoid CC, as that race blends well with the save proficiencies of monk class. Going unarmored let me quickly catch up on movement speed... but, having a lean, mean, dextrous monk that can use TB with dex would be the best.
i feel like this is a problem due to how stat points and feats are given in this game. in neverwinter nights, for example, you would get stat points every 4 levels, you were also able to pump points all the way to 18 at the start, but above all, we would get a feat every 3rd level, regardless of class, but fighters would gain extra feats every few levels. i think at the very least, we should get a feat on character creation(as a side note i also feel like humans should ditch the, lets be honest, useless proficiency bonus, and just get extra feat, as they used to as well) those changes, made character creation much more focused on min maxing, at the sacrifice of lore. the irony is, in neverwinter nights, monks were down right OP if you just went full on, because of the unique feats they would get. and even though the new monks can do alot, they also feel far weaker in comparisson.
@@marcosdheleno They CAN be weak, but I ran a Deep Gnome TB monk/thief (3 levels to get the extra action) that ditched STR to get the other stats up and took strength elixirs. That monk was crazy powerful because she got decent AC from DEX and WIS, and when she got high enough to add WIS to damage, too, it got crazy. 2 attacks and 2 Flurry of Blows each turn, all adding STR twice from TB as well as WIS. That said, I didn't like relying on elixirs to make the build work.
@@fretless05 I got around it from a RP perspective by creating a story that my character was similar to a Witcher and used elixirs and potions to augment their abilities.
If youre starting this build off from the very start on honor, would you suggest staying with fighter till like level 4? Or is there anything you would do diff with it?
Good build, but I prefer the 9 monk/3 rogue build. My Flurry of Blows does 66-104 damage, so 198-312 non-crit damage per turn (using 2 Ki points). I use elixir of Cloud Giant strength, Ethel's hair and Mirror of Loss for Wisdom. Total stats: 27/16/18/8/22/8. I get 22 AC with a no armor and pretty much melt everything before anything has a chance to attack. I did an Honor run with 3 of those and a support Lore Bard/Cleric and most of the time I didn't get to use all party members before the fight was over - including bosses.
the only problem with human is that, they are the worst race in the game. because they dont really get much, beyond shield and medium armor proficiency from the start(also polearms). so they might be good for sorcerers or wizards... until you remember that half elves get that, and more from their elven heritage. making them humans but better. they dont even look that much diferent(hell, many people didnt even realized shadowheart was a half elf).
This is true for people who enjoy min maxing stats or solo runs but not everyone. Also if you buff strength to 20 and use the +2 strength buff from Astarion you have a permanent 22 strength and can use other useful elixirs (bloodlust/ colossus etc.) There are a lot of ways to play.
I have a role play heavy monk/cleric build on my channel if you want to check it out. Doesn't deal as much damage as this build because I disavow Tavern Brawler but it is comparatively as tanky!
The Soul Catching Gloves are actually given by Hope after killing Ralphael.
Good call, I had these gloves and the vest of soul rejuvenation swapped in my head!
Armor of Persistence is what you want for this build. 20 AC, reduces all damage by 2, and gives resistance and blade ward for free.
Agreed, top tier armor but didn’t want to recommend it because it’s elite and there is only one so you have competition with any other melee combatant. But yes this armor is late game S tier
definitely trying this build next, what a cool take on how to build a monk
I was absolutely surprised when I respecced Laezel to a palm monk for the first time. New to anything d&d related. But wow by far instantly became my strongest character for act 3
I didn’t play monk until my third run through the game, huge mistake, so much damage.
U could use helldusk armor which u can get in act 1 super early. It gives its heavy armor AC of 19 but acts as no armor at the same time so u can get all the unarmored buffs and movents
One thing that I may do, very early, is buy the Ring of Flinging from Aaron in the Druid Grove, then go to the goblin camp and buy the Returning Pike (1d10 + 1 (2~11) + Strength modifier) from Grat the Trader, which you can do at level 2 or 3. That way you have a ranged and melee attack very early that uses strength, yes you have to give up a shield, but it's only for a short time.
Also for guidance, you can get the Silver Pendant from just outside the Druid Grove, in the Harper Outpost. So very early in the game.
That’s true, you can keep this as a throw build all game too if you want because tavern brawler only makes throwing items better.
Yea I laughed when I said “guidance is always great” and then realized it was level 11 😂
There used to be a monl/fighter build for Newverwinter Nights that started out with Monk then added 4 levels of fighter for specialization on unarmed strikes and bonus attacks then when back to monk until max level... was OP
19:15 servitor of the black hands and seraphic pugilist gloves are found in act 3 and ring of fire isnt in the game anymore?????
Great video. You, sir, have earned a new subscriber!
"boots of speed are from the myconid colony" -you
Just make sure you bring an antidote 👍🏻
nice build i will try that out starting my first tactical run i wanted to try monk but i hate being squishy i love being a tank so this build is perfect
Same here, I felt like if I didn’t play like a rogue I would go down in one turn. Slap some armor on that monk and we fix the problem!
Great build, very informative! 🔥
if you're only going 1 level of fighter for proficiencies, surely it makes more sense to take 1 level of war cleric instead. That way you also get the 3 war cleric bonus attacks per short rest vs the fighters extra action per short rest. You'll get the war cleric bonus attacks right from level 1 which is really useful, and you'll also gain access to sanctuary! and healing word from level 1. I think there's an argument for 1 level of war cleric being flat out better than 2 levels of fighter with action surge...
I think cleric would be a great substitution since the spells like Bless & heal will be very useful to the party and you don't need the CON saves from fighter. Fighter does get a passive +1 AC from the fighting style, but for times when AC matters the cleric dip means being able to put a +2 AC shield of faith on yourself. Also I'm thinking that for a monk multiclass, War Cleric doesn't works as well as it does with other martial multiclass builds because monks already have a great built-in Bonus Action attack that adds their ability modifier to damage. Same idea but Tempest Cleric might be a good option for the retaliation damage reaction instead.
Seems like a solid build. (You probably didn't want to mention this because the armor might be contested or wanted by teammates....). But by the time you hit character level 11 and start Druid levels it's worth considering speccing out of Fighter. Druid gives you the shield proficiency, plus Medium Armor and there are a few Heavy Armors that don't require proficiency by then. That would let you get another level into Thief for a feat like Alert, or pick up a 3rd level in Spores for 2nd level spells etc...
That's a dang good vid for 244 subscribers.
Scratch that, now it's 245. ;)
This guys got real captain vibes
I wonder if respecing the attributes at lvl 11, if taking druid Levels, dumping Strength and putting this into Wisdom and taking Shillelagh as Cantrip with the Staffs this build is using, would give an additional benefit. This would power up the monk skills that are based on wisdom stats and add the wisdom mod on hit and damage for this weapons. I have to try this build :)
quick question, wouldnt ditching rogue and just using those points on fighter, be better? you get an extra feat(so 20 base str), action surge, and you can either go battle master, for battle maneuvers, or champion for easier crits. which, because you will be hitting alot, will happen more times.
It’s definitely a valid option, you are trading cunning actions and the extra bonus action for action surge and a feat. Both options are valuable but personally I like the idea of being able to flurry of blows 2 times multiple times per battle if you really need the damage.
Monks are great builds. Prefer weapon melee chars because you can’t dip with a monk. Dip has so many advantages. Sleep, blind and paralyze pistons are super powerful
kinda sucks about BG3 is when you get your full build, the game is almost over lol.
I still think that TB should allow the monk to use Dex score. It makes sense from an RP perspective, as martial artists use their training and accuracy to improve attacks, not brute force. If Larian adds that, Monk would be better and far less MAD. Making armored monk builds just seems like your ditching RP for a min/max.
I tend to agree with you about the rp for monk, Right now I think monk without TB sits in such a weird spot, not enough survivability to be on the front lines, not enough stealth/too ki reliant to be dipping in and out of combat consistently. One of the subclasses fixes stealth but personally I would like to see open hand have something building on patient defense like additional parry benefits or resistances to make it feel like a technical combat expert deflecting blows and striking back not just a damage dump.
@@gymleaderrob7192 Agreed. Without a TB fix, it's possible to be powerful with monk, but clearly takes a more creative approach. One other option is to dump strength and rely on potions, which are plentiful in act 1, but that also is a negative for RP. I went this route to keep my monk otherwise well, monk-like and used Deep Gnome for saves to avoid CC, as that race blends well with the save proficiencies of monk class. Going unarmored let me quickly catch up on movement speed... but, having a lean, mean, dextrous monk that can use TB with dex would be the best.
i feel like this is a problem due to how stat points and feats are given in this game.
in neverwinter nights, for example, you would get stat points every 4 levels, you were also able to pump points all the way to 18 at the start, but above all, we would get a feat every 3rd level, regardless of class, but fighters would gain extra feats every few levels.
i think at the very least, we should get a feat on character creation(as a side note i also feel like humans should ditch the, lets be honest, useless proficiency bonus, and just get extra feat, as they used to as well)
those changes, made character creation much more focused on min maxing, at the sacrifice of lore.
the irony is, in neverwinter nights, monks were down right OP if you just went full on, because of the unique feats they would get. and even though the new monks can do alot, they also feel far weaker in comparisson.
@@marcosdheleno They CAN be weak, but I ran a Deep Gnome TB monk/thief (3 levels to get the extra action) that ditched STR to get the other stats up and took strength elixirs. That monk was crazy powerful because she got decent AC from DEX and WIS, and when she got high enough to add WIS to damage, too, it got crazy. 2 attacks and 2 Flurry of Blows each turn, all adding STR twice from TB as well as WIS. That said, I didn't like relying on elixirs to make the build work.
@@fretless05 I got around it from a RP perspective by creating a story that my character was similar to a Witcher and used elixirs and potions to augment their abilities.
If youre starting this build off from the very start on honor, would you suggest staying with fighter till like level 4? Or is there anything you would do diff with it?
Where did you get the ring of fire?
It has been pointed out to me this is no longer in the game.
Good build, but I prefer the 9 monk/3 rogue build. My Flurry of Blows does 66-104 damage, so 198-312 non-crit damage per turn (using 2 Ki points). I use elixir of Cloud Giant strength, Ethel's hair and Mirror of Loss for Wisdom. Total stats: 27/16/18/8/22/8. I get 22 AC with a no armor and pretty much melt everything before anything has a chance to attack. I did an Honor run with 3 of those and a support Lore Bard/Cleric and most of the time I didn't get to use all party members before the fight was over - including bosses.
Plz do Percy Jackson
What are you saying, phase character or face character? I get the context so I'm thinking you're calling it a face character. Am I right?
Face character. A character that has high charisma and does the talking for the team.
Face character*
does it matter if i pick human race?
Race doesn’t matter for this build, I just hadn’t done a duergar build yet.
Yea you can craft elixirs for Enlarge.
the only problem with human is that, they are the worst race in the game. because they dont really get much, beyond shield and medium armor proficiency from the start(also polearms).
so they might be good for sorcerers or wizards... until you remember that half elves get that, and more from their elven heritage. making them humans but better.
they dont even look that much diferent(hell, many people didnt even realized shadowheart was a half elf).
This contradicts the shit out of the monk style all u did was throw armor on a monk build which makes no sense
You can do whatever you want in BG thats the beauty of the game. Why does it matter if hes got armor on?
Everyone who already played this game know that we don't need to increase str. Just buy elixir of giant hill str
This is true for people who enjoy min maxing stats or solo runs but not everyone.
Also if you buff strength to 20 and use the +2 strength buff from Astarion you have a permanent 22 strength and can use other useful elixirs (bloodlust/ colossus etc.) There are a lot of ways to play.
I always forget lol. I've got like 12 elixirs of hill giant strength sitting in my inventory
Nice build, kinda anti role playing though.. where have you ever heared of a monk in heavy armour l lol
I have a role play heavy monk/cleric build on my channel if you want to check it out. Doesn't deal as much damage as this build because I disavow Tavern Brawler but it is comparatively as tanky!