Monk Stuck Aiming UAC/General Monk

[Fortybox]

You shut your mouth!

There's this dude named Dreaven (pronounced like DREE-VEN) that gives free spell-ups.

[Tgo01]

There's this dude named Dreaven (pronounced like DREE-VEN) that gives free spell-ups.

Sounds like a loser.

[drauz]

Sounds like a loser.

I saw that guy post here a few days ago, I agree.

[Fortybox]

Sounds like a loser.

:o

[khorpulent]

Forget all those martial stances, it's all about flurry of blows!

I know everyone hates on flurry, but I actually use it and kind of like it. My monk is only 28, though, and I have greater fire gloves, so I've had good luck just jabbing stuff (especially trolls, of course) and killing shit with flares. I'm sure it will become less useful as time progresses.

Honestly, I don't really understand the logic of getting perfect self before kick/punch mastery. Perfect self by itself is cool, but it seems like a waste to dump all those points into surge/burst early on.

[Stumplicker]

Forget all those martial stances, it's all about flurry of blows!

I know everyone hates on flurry, but I actually use it and kind of like it. My monk is only 28, though, and I have greater fire gloves, so I've had good luck just jabbing stuff (especially trolls, of course) and killing shit with flares. I'm sure it will become less useful as time progresses.

Here's an exerpt from the guide. Flurry is good, but Krynch beats it out. Not significantly enough to not use it if you like it, but here it is:

Q. Why Krynch Stance over Flurry? (Question submitted by Zaj)
A. Early on in levels, before you're really mstriking, they're probably fairly close in value. However, they were both designed before UAC Mstrike was available. Now that it is, you'll be using it. When you mstrike with UAC, either open or focused, you will get a free jab on the critter if the critter has not been jabbed yet. If you're jabbing everything with flurry, you're giving up something that you would otherwise be getting for free, with no RT or stamina cost. Beyond that, Krynch stance just works. You don't have to type anything special for it to work. Yes, with flurry all you're typing is "jab", but it's still an additional thing to remember. Between those two things, it gives Krynch stance the edge on what would probably otherwise be a close race.

Honestly, I don't really understand the logic of getting perfect self before kick/punch mastery. Perfect self by itself is cool, but it seems like a waste to dump all those points into surge/burst early on.

And on perfect self, also for Sentral's benefit:

Perfect self is hands down the most effective combat maneuver in the game point for point. There is absolutely no other CMAN that can come close to the benefit of a passive +10 to all of your stats. It affects everything you do. For just the short list of what that +10 stats gives you:

+5 to all of your TDs
Additional DS
Additional maneuver defense
Additional exp absorb
Additional mind capacity
Additional UAF
Additional CS for those crazies that like casting before you get 1219.
Additional everything the game has to offer. It's +10/5 everything. At no upkeep.

3 ranks of surge and burst are cheap. 12 points each. Even if you don't use them, and I don't often, but a lot of people do enjoy using surge.

Get perfect self first. Hands down. No question. Nothing can even come close to comparing.

At level 25, when you correctly have your stats set for cap, you look at your statline and you're like "aw man, look at all those 60s. Weak". At level 31, you look at your statline and you're like "Hahahaha. All 80s and 90s at level 31. I am invincible".

[Gompers]

I'm currently at 19, with stats set for cap. Very very painful at the moment.

[khorpulent]

Sure, it's nice to see all those bonuses when you look at your INFO, but mechanically the benefits aren't all that impressive compared to other options monks have early on.

For 54 points, you end up with +5 TD, DS, UAF, health, stamina, 1 extra exp per pulse, 20 extra exp in your pool and some other tangential benefits. You could get about the same from 401/101 and a pure potion and a couple of cheap enhancives. And I guess you also get the bonuses from Surge and Burst, if you can remember to keep them up. But I can't imagine using those much if typing JAB sounds like a lot of work to you.

On the other hand, if you went straight up to rank 3 in Punch and Kick mastery, you'd be investing 48 points to gain +15 to MM with a +15% tier-up bonus to your attacks. Since the MM has a much bigger effect on the endroll than your UAF, you'll see considerably greater benefits to UAC from Kick/Punch Mastery than you will from Perfect Self. Plus, you'll still have 6 CM points left over for Mobility or Evade Mastery.