I am going to start off by saying, I have been playing a monk for the past little bit and I really do enjoy it. However, I am noticing a couple problems with the latest bit of the expansion. I might be a bit critical or some may disagree, however - I could really use some suggestions and possibly some help. I understand that monks are very gear dependent but if some pro monk tanks could guide me in the right direction that would be a great help. I have been doing research, I have been looking up raiding guilds copying spec's. Some situations I really excel at fight fights and other area's I seem to just drop like a fly. For example Nexus / Pickclaw / HighKeep / Protector's Temple / Halls / Mut Labs are good examples of things that work really well. Stasis Chamber - First Boss in Drop like a fly. Most recent example of just doesn't make sense. Also - if anyone could help by directing me with maybe pieces of gear to look at or stats that should be buffered. I don't know. I feel like every other tank in this game has an easy peezy time tanking. Right now my gear is basically mitigation / block gear at the Arcane level.
Let's start off with a link to your EQ2U character profile. next make sure no one in your group is using Precious Rhenium Wristband. make sure your group is not killing you in addition to the mobs. the next step for gear I think would be more HP then Block, then Mit as you can get it. make sure you are at 100% reuse, then work on DPS... it will be the hardest to get up. also getting Strikethrough around 80% and Accuracy around 20% will help with DPS and hate. AA/Prestige - the AA i am using and gear i have on at the time of this post is for soloing, and i would not suggest using it for grouping. I have an AA Spec for ToV Tanking that i would suggest you look at. it is not perfect... its a work in progress, but all good AA specs should be. get the AA to work for your needs. For Tanking anything challenging for you will need to make sure you go all Left Side Prestige. it can help heal a lot the healers miss and also gives us our Bob and Weave Back. Lastly would be the Timing of Temps. Monks have a very low Passive Surviveability in comparison to plate tanks, so we have to still cycle our temps 100% of the time on named that the healer(s) can not just heal everything through. I plan on making a new Monk Changes thread one of these days to talk about the monks lack of Passive Survivability.
your biggest problem is just copying raid kitted players aa you have to take into account the items they are wearing and what stats they are getting from that. they might not need mit , block reuse etc from aa as they are getting all that from there equipment +they know when they go to raid they will have certain class's in there group so they will get certain buffs. in most groups you wont have all these buffs
The one that transforms and summons spider and beetle adds? When shes in spider form she reflects (I think), or has a really nasty damage proc, when you hit her. That could be your problem there, cause if you smack her a few times quickly you'll go splat. If you're surviving fine in every other zone it's not your gear, it's probably just a fail effect from the scripts.
Silzin - Thank you for your quick response. Here is my monk. http://u.eq2wire.com/soe/character_detail/2168961450322 Before anyone goes and flames it to pieces - I was taking advise from many, monks that said to gear and gem this way. Also I was copying the gear layouts of several monk tanks at the time. I came to the forms in need of maybe some correction or redirection or advise. AE Auto - for AOE pulls. Lower dps scale due to the fact of aggro and attack speed. I have no excuse for Reuse being so slow. - feel free to flame that. However as I mentioned here - I never really seemed to have problems with aggro - unless the characters where pulling well over 1.5mil dps. With a Bard / Enchanter - I never see any aggro problems. I am having a large issue with the fact of... The first boss in Chamber - will instant kill me with her Curse of poison. That is with outward calm running. All of my skills are at the very least expert level. I will agree with you - monks have a terrible survivability ratio
looking over your character, some feedback and places you can get more out of things. I would recommend using the Purple Mitigation adorn in your BP, its like 14% Mit... it helps. Also if you do not need the AoE auto then using the Block in the Shoulders also helps, it's another 14% Block. I also would not reforge out of Block or Mit, it gives very low returns and there are much better places to reforge out of. 100% reuse is all you need. AA, Brawler Tree - Monkey Dodge and Deflecting Pincers gives to contested avoidance and will give no benefit for survivability. I would recommend 10/10/2 in Sta line, then Mantis Leap. placing 1/10/10 in Str line helps. If you have extra AA in the upper half of the tree placing 1 more point in Crane Sweep and then getting Crane Flock.. it's a nice DPS boost, even if you do not need the AoE auto, the 100 DPS is nice when you need. Monk Tree - I normally do not need the 5 % Hate transfer with Tranquil Vision, but i also normally have it on a tank, so if you are only grouping it's a good AA. With the Points in Hostility later you should not need all of the points in Dragon's Rage, you can get more dps out of Combined Strengths. Getting Combination to work every time is all about getting a good order to your CA's and group them right. Shadows Tree - you are capped on Reuse, so you do not need the points in Enhance: Reuse. Battle Hardening is not a bad AA, but you probably do not need it, taking Swinging Strike would probably give you better returns. placing 1 point in Focused Followup gives a nice extra Hit on 5 Rings. If you need the added hate on Peel the AA is nice, but you probably do not need it. Tranquil Forewarning is probably not needed, since Taunts are so little of the overall hate gain we get. Heroic Tree - I would suggest finding the AA from other places to pick up Combat Mastery, it's a nice temp for you and your Scout dps will love it. if you can time it for your bard they will also love it. If you get into times that you need more Stoneskins, Enhance: Inner Focus AA is nice added tool. Universal Focus Is a nice AA, but for most all heroic content you should not need it. Dragon Tree - all looks nice, and at this point AA is tight, but Ancient Advance is one of the best AA i have found... 10 here is nice. our Green Taunt becomes one of the best AoE's we get. It's harder hitting than other of the 2 non Dragonfire AoE's and the fastest reuse also. it's only green, but it's nice. Prestige Tree - all looks fine, If you get move 1 point into Field Commanders, it's a nice group DD Proc, all 3 points and it can do 10-15k per person (I think). In addition, I would recommend making a 2nd AA Spec that is 100% the same AA with Prestige Double Conversion in it. you should be able to use the Double Conversion on most group fights, but Swap into your Left Side for hard fights.
Silzin covered pretty much everything. Big key is Mit gear, its king this expansion and really from Monk perspective, also need to time everything perfect from blockers, mit buffs, etc. If we have nothing up, we tend to be a little squisher this expansion, but just requires a little more focus and timing and you will never know you are. Even though temps and blockers are something we are so dependent on this expansion, its still fun and we can still tank anything effectively, just not EZMode like it was last expansion. Draconic shout is nice for when everything else is down as well, gives an extra 25% health, comes in handy for big hits. Once you get potent gear and gem it out, you will see some nice increases in your stats esepcially your mit, but definitely would get the mit and block purples on your chest and shoulders. Also first named in Stasis is a bad fight to use for example, , that fight is a pain and the stoneskins on adds is just dumb when they are close to named.
I may not be a monk but looking over what Silzin has said, he is right on a number of places. Especially that for Chest/Shoulders you really need a Mitigation and Block Adorn, all Plate Tanks I know use them and I would suggest them to all Brawlers too. If you can afford the loss of CB/Potency I would recommend you use White Astral Adornments of Blocking (Superiror) on your Primary/Secondary/Ranges. These offer ~.9% Uncontested Block per adornment at least for me. Six of them nets you ~5.4% before diminished returns and also each one has a measly 30HP on it, hopefully SOE changes that to STA as they have with Endurance Adornments and Purple Health Adornments. Definitely take Combat Mastery, if you have a Bard and they have the Akeryn Novelty Card heck or even the Draconic Effigy (Effigy will need a good tank though as the scout may rip aggro) popping CM during their RO will ensure the 100 Weapon Damage Bonus the card gives them hits for max, this will boost their Victorious Concerto and greatly improve group DPS. Dragon AA, if you can spare AA for anything pick up the HP increase and the Mit Increase while in defense. 10-1-1-10 would work if you can afford the 22 points, you don't need Draconic Shout though it is nice, same as the HP on Taunts ability, it's nice but not a necessity.
So people are recommending Monks go all Migration Armor these days or so not worry about maxing Block? Man how times have changed
Actually it depends on what you go for. Both Silzin and Myself are advising a mixture for Heroic Content I think. I know our Monk in Reckoning uses Block Gear and uses his temps to avoid one-shots.
Since i find it easer for my healers to give me Mit, i try and get Block gear over Mit. some of the raid gear boxes do not have the choice so i take what i can and i have not had the time to get all Potent Gear. Bur i would go for Block over Mit given the option. I am getting around 60-62% Uncontested Block without temps, and i may be able to get a few more % if i tried.
Healer's don't give you mit, unless you are referring to the substantial 750 from foundations of armament rune...
^^ That right there is your problem Van, you're effectively taking double damage 100% of the time after you use 4 CA's. I wish I would have caught that earlier in group.
