I quit around Omens of War and came back a year or so ago. I used to solo a lot with my monk and I'm trying to see how far I can get and what I can do alone/with mercenary at the moment. I picked up TBM and I pay for a month every now and again, so I'm 103 with about 11k AAs now and moloing whichever HAs I can scrape by in. There's a lot of great information out there, but a lot has changed in the last year or two so I never know what's still up to date when I'm reading old threads. 1: Is there any reason to use anything on the Synergy timer other than Synergy? 2: Still Tiger Claw > Eagle Strike? When the hands were unlinked all the AAs and gear benefited Tiger Claw, but now Two Finger Wasp Touch and others affect Eagle Strike and Dragon Force was unlinked so I was wondering if this was still the case. I was hoping Divine Surge of Battle would be nice but since it doesn't stack with Killing Spree it seems kind of useless. 3: Still hth >>> 1hb? My understanding was that the faster delay meant damage bonuses got more use, which made up for the ratio disparity. I keep getting this thing in TBM HAs but no hth weapons. I'm dying to upgrade my Fused Coral Claw. 4: Should I be using Drunken Monkey Style? I had read it was a waste of endurance because of stacking issues but I've seen people talking about using it recently. 5: Which of the Spires to people actually use? I've heard Second has stacking issues with Zan Fi but to use it anyway, but I'm seeing some put First in their burn rotations. 6: Is Staff Block worth anything now? If I'm reading it right it's effectiveness was basically cut in half, and combined with the Destructive Force nerf I don't know if I should even bother using 2hb when dealing with multiple mobs. 7: Which defensive abilities are most effective? Earthforce is great, but IDK if anything else is actually doing anything or if Shaded Step and Third Spire are just working off of the placebo effect. Is there anything that would actually allow me to survive long enough to kill a yellow named in a HA with just a J5 cleric merc or is this an exercise in futility?
Firstly , there's 2 other abilities on the synergy timer, "blank" step pattern, and Sting of the Wasp. Sting of the Wasp is a ranged attack, that does decent damage, and only usefull on a handful of occasions. "Pattern" disc does quite a bit of damage, I think equal to synergy, but synergy adds a debuff on the mob that makes your flying kicks hit for more. Tiger Claw > over Eagle Strike. Our gear gets mods that will get TC to over +100. For question number 3, you should be using a 2hb weapon as long as you can get one that is 23 del. If you can't find one that is that quick, you can use either h2h, or 1hb, as either will proc fists of fury for ya. I spam DMS, not sure if there's any drawback for it, and it really doesn't cost that much endurance; it modifies like 5 different abilities, so I'm sure there's not stacking conflicts with everything it does for ya, so I'd say its worth it. As for which spire you should be using? It really depends... if you have a bard and are burning first spire has been parsed at over 4k dps over second spire for single target. If there's multiples, or your swarming/AOEing you would probably be better off with second spire, as it adds flat damage to every hit, similar to Dragorn War Mask, or Blunt Force familiar. Third Spire is a defensive spire, and I never use it. As for Staff Block you should absolutely get that AA if you end up finding a decent 2h weapon, as it will allow you to block hits outright. As for activated defensive discs, Earthforce, like you said, is king. Its amazing, probably our best disc, and if you're quick with it, we can tank raid mobs for the duration of it. That's why I keep mine bound to a key that my fingers are always close to. Earthforce will mitigate 90% of incoming damage, whereas Shaded Step will allow you to not get hit at all for the entire time its going. Def worth using. The only drawback to it, is it eats up your Eye of the Storm timer, which sucks. As for other defensive discs there's Refuse Death, and Protection of the Shadewalker, and Voiddance. Voiddance takes up the same timer as Whirlwind/Earthforce, but it lasts longer than WW, but less than Earthforce. It has its uses. PotSW, I don't really use much, as it shares a timer with one of the discs I spam, think its Torrent of Fists, not sure though. Refuse Death is amazing, I use it all the time. As for killing a named in an HA.... hit Shaded Step first, then Dicho>Infusion of Thunder>Spire>Heel>Start (spamming your abilities)>Dragon's Balance>ZanFi (if you don't spam it, which you should)>D. Force, or FDForce>Five Point Palm>Crane Stance. If the mob is still up when Shaded wears off, hit refuse death, if its still up when Heel wears off, hit earthforce. If its still up when earthforce wears off, hit Speed Focus, and Blood Drinkers Coating, if you have it. Hope that helps bro, good luck.
