MNK advice

[noblemountain]

coming back to the job i abandoned a while ago and not sure if anything has changed. i don't have great gear, but am looking to improve (salvage twice a week). just some pointers as it's been a long while since mnk has been outta the MH.

destroyers/bibiki seashell
w.turban/chiv. chain/ethereal/brutal
shura togi/melee gloves/raja's/woodsman
amemet+1/brown belt/shura haidate+1/dune boots

i have 5/8 merits in h2h atm...finishing those up as we speak. i just feel like i'm not at full potential...thought about getting fuma's, but without BB/byakko's haidate am i going to see a difference really?

[Keria]

smart grenade might be decent upgrade for ammo slot, better than tiphia sting for salvage and soloing probably.

idk a whole lot about melee shit, but i would get fuma for utsusemi no matter what the better option is for tp between fuma and dune. it's probably fuma though since you have like 13% haste just from brown belt and turban, fuma would bump that up to a respectable 16% for only ~200k. of course byakko's haidate would be the most obvious upgrade though.

[Vodou]

coming back to the job i abandoned a while ago and not sure if anything has changed. i don't have great gear, but am looking to improve (salvage twice a week). just some pointers as it's been a long while since mnk has been outta the MH.

destroyers/bibiki seashell
w.turban/chiv. chain/ethereal/brutal
shura togi/melee gloves/raja's/woodsman
amemet+1/brown belt/shura haidate+1/dune boots

i have 5/8 merits in h2h atm...finishing those up as we speak. i just feel like i'm not at full potential...thought about getting fuma's, but without BB/byakko's haidate am i going to see a difference really?

This is a real quickie. If I missed some its cause I only rushed through. You have some pretty nice pieces already and except for Bibiki, there are no glaring 'holes'. Basically, there are many upgrade items which improve your haste and accuracy without the full usu set. This will make it possible for you to perhaps use meat over sushi in many camps, while maintaining your accuracy.

The most complex one is Feet: For feet, Usu feet will be your best choice once you get them. For now, I would say it depends on your accuracy rate. If its lowish but you have kick merits, then you'd be better off adding o-hat and using dunes, especially if you aren't getting hasted in parties. However, if you get byakkos, add merits, get hasted, then the fumas will work better for you. If you have no kick attack merits, it means fumas a bit more as well.

Tiphia > smart grenade since 2acc > 2 att.

Rajas nope. Get another accuracy ring with +5 or complete the quests and get Ulthalam's.

Hollow > ethereal especially with lower accuracy. Its not critical, but I see it that way.

Get life belt for WS, use Brown belt for TP. Also, regardless of the foot issue, get o-hat for WS over turban. (Get anything over turban for ws. Pahluwan is really nice too if you have lots of Leujaom points.) Usu head will be the best once you get it for TP.

You didn't mention them, but I wanted not to assume: make sure you have and use as much of the af1 that relates to job abilities. Especially temple crown and temple gloves (before WS.)

I would add that while foragers are a nice but expensive upgrade to the back, you will want to look at camping for o-kotes or b-kotes and completing the black belt if possible. Not everyone has access to folks that will help or already has a 75 job, but these pieces are do-able if you have the drive and access to some help. Of course you could farm or craft perhaps and get o-kotes especially if you dont have the resources for b-kotes. Melee is still better when you solo or are for certain going to tank, but the others work better on WS or until you pull hate.

Usu is the best overall 5 pieces you can wear on mnk (in the respective slots), although some of the pieces are not really your best choice UNTIL you have the set completed. (Basically byakkos>usu, shura >usu, b-kotes>usu until you get full set.)

happy hunting and welcome back to the mnk world

[noblemountain]

This is a real quickie. If I missed some its cause I only rushed through. You have some pretty nice pieces already and except for Bibiki, there are no glaring 'holes'. Basically, there are many upgrade items which improve your haste and accuracy without the full usu set. This will make it possible for you to perhaps use meat over sushi in many camps, while maintaining your accuracy.

The most complex one is Feet: For feet, Usu feet will be your best choice once you get them. For now, I would say it depends on your accuracy rate. If its lowish but you have kick merits, then you'd be better off adding o-hat and using dunes, especially if you aren't getting hasted in parties. However, if you get byakkos, add merits, get hasted, then the fumas will work better for you. If you have no kick attack merits, it means fumas a bit more as well.

Tiphia > smart grenade since 2acc > 2 att.

Rajas nope. Get another accuracy ring with +5 or complete the quests and get Ulthalam's.

Hollow > ethereal especially with lower accuracy. Its not critical, but I see it that way.

Get life belt for WS, use Brown belt for TP. Also, regardless of the foot issue, get o-hat for WS over turban. (Get anything over turban for ws. Pahluwan is really nice too if you have lots of Leujaom points.) Usu head will be the best once you get it for TP.

You didn't mention them, but I wanted not to assume: make sure you have and use as much of the af1 that relates to job abilities. Especially temple crown and temple gloves (before WS.)

I would add that while foragers are a nice but expensive upgrade to the back, you will want to look at camping for o-kotes or b-kotes and completing the black belt if possible. Not everyone has access to folks that will help or already has a 75 job, but these pieces are do-able if you have the drive and access to some help. Of course you could farm or craft perhaps and get o-kotes especially if you dont have the resources for b-kotes. Melee is still better when you solo or are for certain going to tank, but the others work better on WS or until you pull hate.

Usu is the best overall 5 pieces you can wear on mnk (in the respective slots), although some of the pieces are not really your best choice UNTIL you have the set completed. (Basically byakkos>usu, shura >usu, b-kotes>usu until you get full set.)

happy hunting and welcome back to the mnk world

i didn't mention my ws build so that's my own fault...i have been using shura head/life belt/acc rings for asuran. almost done w/ ToAU, so that will be there asap...but ethereal is there 'cause i'm pld main and that's what i got.

i've only got 2/5 kick attacks atm, i had some rough acc today on mamool w/ meat...so i'm going to do some swapping around and keep w/ sushi for the moment.

really appreciate the input guys...i'm working on getting some friends together for byakko as i'm not in an endgame LS atm. i just recently came back from a 6 month hiatus and am still trying to get back into the swing of things...so i'm in a LS w/ some close friends who do limbus/salvage together. black belt probably isn't an honest-to-myself option for now until i'm back in an endgame ls unless i buy the beard.

[Vodou]

i didn't mention my ws build so that's my own fault...i have been using shura head/life belt/acc rings for asuran. almost done w/ ToAU, so that will be there asap...but ethereal is there 'cause i'm pld main and that's what i got.

i've only got 2/5 kick attacks atm, i had some rough acc today on mamool w/ meat...so i'm going to do some swapping around and keep w/ sushi for the moment.

really appreciate the input guys...i'm working on getting some friends together for byakko as i'm not in an endgame LS atm. i just recently came back from a 6 month hiatus and am still trying to get back into the swing of things...so i'm in a LS w/ some close friends who do limbus/salvage together. black belt probably isn't an honest-to-myself option for now until i'm back in an endgame ls unless i buy the beard.

Having pld makes the etheral choice a better one for you clearly.

Since you are low on kick merits and use sushi, fumas will be better I think.

Also, the usu hat >< turban issue will be turban if you have very high accuracy again unless/ until you get a full usu set. Again, if not clear, this is a reply to most camps and most mobs. Evasive endgame stuff or the much more evasive xp mobs could certainly have other answers.

[noblemountain]

Having pld makes the etheral choice a better one for you clearly.

Since you are low on kick merits and use sushi, fumas will be better I think.

Also, the usu hat >< turban issue will be turban if you have very high accuracy again unless/ until you get a full usu set. Again, if not clear, this is a reply to most camps and most mobs. Evasive endgame stuff or the much more evasive xp mobs could certainly have other answers.

yeah, i should've addressed that as well. monk is only really going to be for salvage and merits...anything big i'll be on pld. really appreciate the advice, gonna go buy my fuma's in the morning. lol

[Moridam]

sounds like all the major stuff has been covered well enough. only thing i'll add is if you're trying to gear to be able to use meat in more places, you may want to consider a set of noritsune kote as well. i don't use them full-time, but they're nice to have on more evasive stuff while focus is down.

[KoD]

I didn't see anyone mention this: Faith Tourqe Is great Piece of gear give's a decent Acc/Att Bonus aswell Increase your HtH base Dmg, Think with Destoryers = 53Dmg With HtH Merits ^^!

Overall Fuma's will out Do Dune boots! Else your use'ing Footwork*cough*
Also Black Tal. Or Tiph. Sting for your Ammo Slot!

[vegetaa]

Overall Fuma's will out Do Dune boots!

I've seen this mentionned and I've also seen the exact opposite...and when parsing myself with one and then the other, I always get very close results on merit mobs (here's my TP gear).

Is there any serious attempt at proving that Fuma Sune-ate clearly outperform Dune Boots anywhere ? I'd gladly swith to Fuma if I was sure they're better for DoT than Dune.

[Scorp]

I'd probably look to upgrade TP gear as below;

Destroyers/Smart Grendance
Walhara/P Charm/Storm Loop/Brutal
Shura Togi/Melee Gloves/Rajas/Ulthalam's
Foragers/BrownBelt/Shura/Dune

Black belt and byakko obviously better if you can.

I'd macro swap fuma for casting and maybe full time on boss fights. Dunes with full kick merits will give greater DD on shorter fights though. Obviously start to swap in Usukane gear as you can.

[Rama]

The problem with trying to quantify Fuma vs Dunes is the fact that one is a direct, significant increase to the damage of a small percentage of your attacks, and the other is a small increase to the total number attacks you are making, and in turn weaponskills. Also, the haste on fuma gets better with regard to further haste in gear, or from buffs.

This is complicated further in a merit situation where the extra haste might mean you get the killing round, or any extra advantage you have may be wiped clean when you turn to face a new mob.

When you have between 291-299 total skill, your 'naked' punches and kicks have a DMG value of 35. Dune boots +30 dmg is nearly double base dmg on your kick attacks (85.7% increase in base dmg).

Assuming 10% base, 5% merits, and not wearing kick+ pants, the 15% activation of kick attacks comes out to 6.98% of your attacks (100 attack rounds = 200 punches, 15 kicks). AFv2 pants, if truly giving 20% total kicks, push you to 9.09% of your attacks as kicks.

EDIT: Initially, I did the math wrong in this part, not accounting for +18dmg on h2h in the damage over time calculation. Wrong values have been removed.
Not 100% sure how the base dmg increase of dune boots works into the dmg equation, but the increase in base damage in your kick attacks works out to a 4.04% increase in base damage over time, for TP phase. When geared with af2 pants, this is an increase of 5.31% base dmg over time.

Assuming brown belt, walahra turban and fuma for 16% haste, fuma are a 3.57% increase in swingspeed.
With brown belt, walahra, fuma, and RDM haste, for 31%, fuma are a 4.35% increase in swingspeed.
Brown belt, walahra, fuma, haste, 11%march for 42% total, fuma are a 5.17% increase in swingspeed.
now with two marches, for 51% total, fumas are a 6.12% increase in swingspeed.

With your current gear, I personally would never wear fumas over Dune boots unless you're getting bard+rdm haste. Even then I probably want 2 marches to make the switch, or 1 march and a target with 10k+ hitpoints (salvage boss)

For a monk that has AF2 pants, I'd say the choice is for Dune boots in more situations. I've included these as they are somewhat easier to come by than Shura haidate (and chances are if you can get shura, you can get byakkos eventually, as well).

now with some gear upgrades:
Walahra, Black belt, Byakkos, Fuma vs dune:
no outside haste (22% vs 25%), fumas are a 4% increase.
RDM haste (37% vs 40%), fumas are a 5% increase.
RDM + 1 march (48% vs 51%), fumas are a 6.12% increase.
RDM + 2 marches (57% vs 60%), fumas are a 7.5% increase.


Feel free to pick me apart if you see anything glaringly wrong in this post.

[Yaggi]

I've been playing MNK for quite a few years now, i capped guard skill and every merit possible. I'd like to say that without parsing, i like the results of using dune boots over fuma fulltime for TP, except while casting spells. 3% haste is great, but the dmg bonus on dune boots is even greater i think, and on top of that, if you're using footwork, having dune boots is a must. Footwork is great for HNM stuff where u don't wanna give a mob too much TP. My main focus lately on my TP gear for mnk is Subtle Blow gear, save the Dune boots. I use relic legs, relic gloves, Enkidu's harness, Melee Crown or Enkidu cap, then when you add rajas ring and black belt, you're giving a mob 1/2 the tp a normal person would while swinging. For endgame i'd say dune boots + subtle blow is the way to go, for melee pts in xping, haste/acc definitley a solid, using atk/str wherever u can fit it in. I'm open to criticism on this, nothing is concrete for me, but this is what i've been workin with on my MNK lately. I'm also a big fan of having a counter+ setup, and full counter+ merits. Especially when casting utsusemi: Ichi, having counter setup for casting that spell is amazing as it reduces the odds of gettin hit by a lot.

[Neosutra]

Usukane Sune-ate.

[vegetaa]

I've been playing MNK for quite a few years now, i capped guard skill and every merit possible. I'd like to say that without parsing, i like the results of using dune boots over fuma fulltime for TP, except while casting spells. 3% haste is great, but the dmg bonus on dune boots is even greater i think

That's all the problem : it's a pure gut feeling :/

If you're the Yaggi from Lakshmi, you know I'm pretty serious about MNK stuff as well...I'm also a big fan of Dune Boots, but I have to admit that the difference with Fuma is quite small from what I have seen when I was trying to decide which pair I should wear for TP. I tried to find my parses yesterday but couldn't :/

Rama's post above shows that the more haste you have, the more Fuma is better than Dune...I really need to test that ><

Back on OP, the best improvement you'll get are Black Belt and Byakko's Haidate. You can also get little improvements in other slots (ammo, neck, ring) at least for TP, but they're won't be as noticeable as the waist and pants upgrades.

Another very important part is merit points. Having H2H capped helps a lot, and so does Critical Hits Rate and Kick Attacks. Counter is the cherry on the cake, it's always good to have but you won't notice it much except if you solo a lot.

[Lahina]

I'm still building my ideal monk as well - a bit harder when you can't devote yourself to an HNMLS (bloody college). Anywho, some fast notes;

I've been parsing slightly better with PCC than my Chivvy, and definitely doing better in WS with it. With your Shura, it's less of a concern, but if you're looking at a kick/SB build with a lot of Relic, it will be. Likewise, Tiphia = Grenade if you're not suffering in the acc department. For WS, though, especially Asuran, the Peacock is just too delicious to pass up.

For me (no Shura or B.Hai) Relic pants and Dunes - well, Wulongs +1, same thing - consistently outparse fumas, but not by much. (I have the same amount of Haste as you do, although a little more Acc, a little less Att and Str, and maxed kick merits).

Second question: Do you solo a lot? If you do, counter merits, relic pants, Hades Sainti or Retaliators, and your Dunies will be your best friends. The slight bonus to damage they give against merit/hnm mobs turns into a very big one when you're out farming EM and lower, and it's made a couple areas that were /nin "level my NPC" spots into /thf "Farm the shite out of it" spots. I.E., I can now kill 8-9 Biddybugs in the time it used to take me to kill 4-5 (no, this isn't my most profitable farming spot, but it gets the point across)

[Jeho]

Spects are a nice alternative to Chiv Chain.

In my opinion, +2 ACC > than +3 STR.

[BlackMoomba]

Not Fuma vs Dune debate again... /sigh.

[Seedz]

Noritsune Kote are a good option for your TP build, on top of what others have said. 10 more points of acc will outdo 16~22 atk for TP, if you're aiming to eat meat. Keep Melee Gloves for solo/Chakra/Asurans though. If you use Noritsune + Tiphia + Diabolos' Earring + a second acc ring + PCC you'll be adding 22.5 accuracy to your current setup, while only sacrificing 24.5 atk, and you'll be able to get away with using meat in way more scenarios.

Oh, and Usukane Sune-ate are canned sex. Get them asap.

[raginbull]

make sure not to throw your smart grenade by mistake. i did and hugely regretted it.

[KSDI]

Smart grenade should really not be used over tiphia.


(qeue the "I hit the acc cap already at most merit camps" crowd)((really, you don't))

dunes vs fuma debate is old and nobody has ever made a definitive proof of why one is better than the other, though most good debates lean towards dunes outdoing fumas unles optimal haste conditions are present. Personally, i keep both on me... (until skirmish pephredo stops being a stingy whore and drops the 35!)