Monk gear questions

[Evelyn]

Hey all, just finished getting MNK to 75, and I'm having some questions about gear choices. A lot of this gear is due to carryover from WAR (which is pretty well equipped). I'm not currently in an end-game shell, although I did get some decent gear choices before I left my last one. Basically just looking for ideas and holes that I can't see. Especially concerned about Scorp Harness, with the only viable, reasonably acquired replacement I know of being pahluwan, but any pointers are welcome.

Weapon: Destroyers
Ammo: Smart Grenade
Head: Walahra Turban
Neck: Chiv Chain
Ear1: Brutal Earring
Ear2: Merman's Earring
Body: Scorp Harness
Hands: O Kote
ring1: Rajas Ring
ring2: Ulthalam's Ring
Back: Forager's Mantle
Waist: Brown Belt
Legs: Byakko's Haidate
Feet: Wu Long shoes

Merits will be 8 H2H, 5 Counter, 5 Kick Attacks, 5 Formless Strikes, 4 Invigorate, 1 Penance. Obviously none of significance right now. (well crit rate from WAR)

There are a couple obvious upgrades to me (PCC, Dune boots) but the rest, not so much. I'm also concerned about getting a WS build going, so far its sub temple gloves in for boost and ws. Obviously need to get wu long shoes and walahra turban out, but I don't quite know for what. Also concerned about the other pieces.

Also, I'm wondering what effect O Kote would have in the WS, and if I should use those for WS instead of temple gloves like I am right now. Choices like this are easy on war, but not so for me on mnk since most of the time I've spent either level synced or in campaign, which doesn't help gear choices all that much.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Mr.T]

Weapon: Destroyers
Ammo: Tiphia Sting
Head: Walahra Turban
Neck: PCC (but you mentioned this)
Ear1: Brutal Earring
Ear2: Merman's Earring
Body: Scorp Harness
Hands: O Kote
ring1: Acc Ring
ring2: Ulthalam's Ring
Back: Forager's Mantle
Waist: Brown Belt
Legs: Byakko's Haidate
Feet: Dune Boots

Bolded parts are what I would change first in your set. Further upgrades would be usukane feet and head, togi and of course a black belt.

Also on the merit part: I really don't see much use for 5/5 formless strikes, I'd rather put them in penance or something...

Edit: For asuran fists I switch in af gloves for boost and switch back to okote for ws.

[Acturus]

Bolded parts are what I would change first in your set. Further upgrades would be usukane feet and head, togi and of course a black belt.

CoP/ToAU Ring combo is fine, unless you're trading the CoP Ring for a Snipers+1/Toreador.

[JetEnduro]

I'd work on getting a Blood ring to replace Rajas.
For Asuran I just swap in Life Belt, O.hat and hit my boost macro is
/equip Hands "Temple Gloves"
/ja "Boost" <me>
/wait 1
/equip Hands "O.kotes"
Don't mention any feet gear for WS as I use Usukane.
But in your situation, try getting denali gamashes or even the Windy campaign feet for asuran.

[Neosutra]

CoP/ToAU Ring combo is fine, unless you're trading the CoP Ring for a Snipers+1/Toreador.

Not really.

I have 2 TP and 2 WS builds. One is attack based (for when focus is up) or fighting lower lvl or low evasion mobs, One is acc based (focus down and/or high evasion mobs). Only use Rajas to TP in if you are fighting things where your acc is capped during focus and/or lower lvl things where your acc is capped regardless.

For the OPs builds:
Get Togi (Sit in sky or farm the hell out of it, missing 20 attack in your TP set blows). Osode works as well, though you might get a finger waving from a few people, it is still the 2nd best mnk body besides Togi (not counting usukane).
Work on BB (farm , beg, KS99, camp, get this).
Boost in af gloves, WS in okotes.
Shura head(Or Ohat)/legs for WS. Denali feet for WS (until usukane)
Life belt for AF.
Gorget for ws > all for AF.

As for your optimum build:
Full usukane
BB
Charger Mantle(for when focus is up or low evasion mobs), Culc's mantle when focus is down/high evasion mobs.
Toreadors (Can swap to rajas/ulth depending on acc or attack build and mob).
Brutal/???(Many alternatives for 2nd earring).
Black Tathum.
PCC/Faith Torque/Gorget.

Also, consider getting a pair of hades sainti. They are close to destroyers on DoT when you arent capped on acc and help low man situations a bit when you are tanking and/or want some extra survivability.

[evilpaul]

Formless Strikes is useful enough that I'd suggest unlocking it, but nowhere near useful enough (or boosted enough going 5/5) that I'd suggest capping it.

Penance is much more useful for things like Salvage (and not very useful until you get 3+ levels of it) where you want to limit mob TP.

Invigorate is great for soloing/campaign/whatever.

Other people already covered gear changes.

[ringthree]

Formless Strikes is useful enough that I'd suggest unlocking it, but nowhere near useful enough (or boosted enough going 5/5) that I'd suggest capping it.

Penance is much more useful for things like Salvage (and not very useful until you get 3+ levels of it) where you want to limit mob TP.

Invigorate is great for soloing/campaign/whatever.

Other people already covered gear changes.

If you do any Salvage at all, I would suggest 5/5 Penance and 5/5 Invigorate.

I would advise against Rajas Ring and get a regular accuracy ring.

And to whore up my blog you can check my "Own the cheap" post for MNK. You are not your fucking O's Kote.: On the Cheap #1: Monk.

[pchan]

O kote during ws, after boosting with AF hands and swapping, is the best. During Asuran fists, you should load on attack under capped accuracy, and attack+accuracy in merits. I'd suggest having 2 ws gear set for both cap/uncapped acc.

[mdkuser]

Get a togi, its an amazing item well worth it. Change your rings, ulthalam+ rajas ain't great for monk, unless you eat sushi/have caped accuracy (limbus, dynamis etc). Do not use dune boots, except during footwork. Haste > everything on monk, especially when you have march+ haste spell on.

Otherwise 2 acc rings, pcc, and eat meat. Attack +100 is really nice... Remember that with meat you'll have to load acc during WS ( O. hat, acc rings). Try to get hissho hachimaki ( head, acc+8 attack+) it's the best head WS wether you're sushi or meat.

[Baelorn]

Do not use dune boots, except during footwork. Haste > everything on monk, especially when you have march+ haste spell on.

I disagree. Dune boots almost always parse higher for me(but I still carry my Fumas around for the hell of it).

For the OP: 2x Acc rings is best for MNK. You can Boost with AF gloves and swap those out for atk gloves before WS with some creative macroing.

If you find your AF damage lacking(which will probably be because of acc issues) feel free to use Howling Fist. It does damage comparable to AF and it is much easier to gear for damage.

[Neosutra]

Dune vs. Haste boots depends entirely on how much haste you have and what buffs you are getting. Neither blows the other out of the water until you start talking about usukane feet and/or getting near gear haste cap and/or marches, in which case haste > all.

[KSDI]

I've always wondered why Noritsune Kotes are not used as much by monks, yet most fulltime their usukane hands as soon as they get them without having a complete Usukane Set.

They are pretty cheap now too.

[Neosutra]

They should be integrated into a decent mnks TP build (if the mnk is like me and has different TP builds based on hit rate). I used them before I had usukane hands and loved them.

However, usu hands do offer some extra benefits (2 counter adds to DoT, 10 evasion means less time casting shadows and more time hitting). So they arent exactly a direct comparison.

[Cream Soda]

Depending on your initial dex, Rajas is fine. I wouldn't use it over my toreador's unless my acc was capped, but I sure would use it over an acc+5 ring in any case where my dex was odd before adding the Rajas.

As for dunes vs fuma, grab both. I'd personally use dunes in things such a merits and dyna where mobs die rather quickly and would use fuma on something like tanking a salvage chariot.

As for WS, like everyone else said, boost in AF, WS on kote.

An onther thing you may want to do is pike up a pair of nkote. They also work very well on mnk. When acc is uncapped I would suggest Nkote while focus is down and Okote while focus is up. Considering focus is 15% hit rate when combined with temple crown, if your acc isn't high enough to hit effectively with okote on when you're getting 30 free acc, then you probably shouldn't be eating meat on that mob in the first place.

Also, pick up a minuet earring. For a meat build while you have minuet active, it'l beat out merman's.


Edit:

I've always wondered why Noritsune Kotes are not used as much by monks, yet most fulltime their usukane hands as soon as they get them without having a complete Usukane Set.

They are pretty cheap now too.

I completed my usu hands 3 days after I purchased Nkote, lol.

[ryskar]

Depending on your initial dex, Rajas is fine. I wouldn't use it over my toreador's unless my acc was capped, but I sure would use it over an acc+5 ring in any case where my dex was odd before adding the Rajas.

This pretty much sums up the ring situation. Works especially nice if the only other dex you have comes from haidate (like me).

[drwaffles]

I've always wondered why Noritsune Kotes are not used as much by monks, yet most fulltime their usukane hands as soon as they get them without having a complete Usukane Set.

They are pretty cheap now too.

I was going to ask this in "What's better?" a couple of days ago as well. Shouldn't 10 accuracy beat 20/22 attack in 90% of situations on MNK for both TP and WS?

[Cream Soda]

I was going to ask this in "What's better?" a couple of days ago as well. Shouldn't 10 accuracy beat 20/22 attack in 90% of situations on MNK for both TP and WS?

It does, depending on your base acc. As I said in my earlier post, my personal general rule of thumb is Nkote while focus is down and Bkote while focus is up.

To make Nkote/Usu gloves work, you'd essentially need them to go along with a pair of O/Bkote. For example, my base acc on lv 82 colibri with Usu gloves is 85%. While focus is up, my acc would be 5% hitrate of overkill. If you had ONLY one of the 2 pairs, 20/22 attack would be better fulltime than 10 acc that you're only getting benefit from 3/5 of the time, imo.

[Gtype954]

Not really.

I have 2 TP and 2 WS builds. One is attack based (for when focus is up) or fighting lower lvl or low evasion mobs, One is acc based (focus down and/or high evasion mobs). Only use Rajas to TP in if you are fighting things where your acc is capped during focus and/or lower lvl things where your acc is capped regardless.

For the OPs builds:
Get Togi (Sit in sky or farm the hell out of it, missing 20 attack in your TP set blows). Osode works as well, though you might get a finger waving from a few people, it is still the 2nd best mnk body besides Togi (not counting usukane).
Work on BB (farm , beg, KS99, camp, get this).
Boost in af gloves, WS in okotes.
Shura head(Or Ohat)/legs for WS. Denali feet for WS (until usukane)
Life belt for AF.
Gorget for ws > all for AF.

As for your optimum build:
Full usukane
BB
Charger Mantle(for when focus is up or low evasion mobs), Culc's mantle when focus is down/high evasion mobs.
Toreadors (Can swap to rajas/ulth depending on acc or attack build and mob).
Brutal/???(Many alternatives for 2nd earring).
Black Tathum.
PCC/Faith Torque/Gorget.

Also, consider getting a pair of hades sainti. They are close to destroyers on DoT when you arent capped on acc and help low man situations a bit when you are tanking and/or want some extra survivability.

ACC is extremely Over-rated on mnk depending on what you do.
If you do Dynamis and You Merit On Mamook Lurkers and you do einherjar Bosses on Mnk then you would want very high acc build and usukane set.
But if you Colibre Merit with 8/8 h2h merits, you do Nyzul isle, and you do salvage, you need to eat meat and drop the usu hands and body and replace it with Togi +1 and B-kotes. I eat Meats in Nyzul and Salvage and Do consistant 1500 DMG asuran fists. Let me show you a Dream Set-up on mnk during the different situations.


Dynamis Xarcabard,Einherjar,Mamook Merit camp,Besieged,sky,sea. (acc/haste/TP Build)

Head: Usukane Somen
Body: Usukane Haramaki
Back: Cuch Mantle
Rings: Divisor ring and T-Ring.
Feet: Usukane Sune-ati
Hands: Usukane Kote
Ammo: Black Tathlum
Neck: Ancient Torque
Weapon: Destroyers,Hades Sainti +1, Shenlongs, Spahari, Glanzfaust. (in order of difficulty, but all 4 weapons are fine)
Earring: Hollow Earring, Brutal Earring. Otherwise, Ethereal if you got that Earring instead.
Pants: Usukane Pants to complete set.
Belt: Blk Belt.
Food: Marinara Pizza or Sushi+1
----------------------

Nyzul Isle, Colibre Camp, Salvage,Campaign,Assault, KRT Merit camp. (attack build)

Head: Walarah Turban
Neck: Faith Torque
Ammo: Blk Tathlum
body: Togi +1
Weapon: Spahari or Destroyers.
Earring: Fenrir Earring OR Storm Loop, Brutal.
Rings: Uthalams (2nd best ring in game in nyzul, salvage, assault), rajas ring OR Divisor.
Feet: Usukane Feet
Hands: B-Kotes.
Pants: Byakko Haidates.
Belt: Blk Belt.
Back: Cerb Mantle +1 or Foragers Mantle.
Food Marinara Pizza or Meat.

WS: Dragon Kick
Feet: Dune Boots (Footwork)
Hands: AF Hands to Boost, Allky Braclets.
Ammo: Bibiki Seashell or STR ammo.
Pants: Hachiryu Haidate, Shura Haidate till you get hachiryu.
Belt: Blk Belt.
Back: Cuch or Cerb Mantle +1.
Body: Kirin Osode.
Head: Genbu Kabuto.
Neck: Sea Gorget (I think Breeze)
Weapon: Any h2h Weapon.
Earring: Bushomimi or Triump earring x2.
Rings: Flame Ring,Rajas Ring.
Dragon Kick food, Rabbit Pie

WS: Asuran Fists
Feet: Usukane Feet
Hands:AF hands for boost then Usukane Hands.
Head: Hisso hachimaki (however its spelled)
Neck: Sea Gorget or Ancient Torque.
Weapon: Whatever you got on.
Ammo: Blk Tathlum
Belt: Life Belt
Rings: T-ring, Divisor Ring.
Earrings: Hollow/Ethereal, Brutal.
Back: cuch Mantle.
Body: Usukane Harimaki. Togi+1 as a second choice if dont got usukane.
Pants: Shura Pants.
Asuran Food:Marinara Pizza.

Chi-Blast Build

Weapon: Kirin's Pole.
Ammo: Blk Tathlum or Smart Grenade Unless your RSE ammo has MND on it.
Head: Temple Crown +1
Neck: Faith Torque or Morgana Choker or Promise Badge.
Earring: Mamook Earring and Communion Earring.
rings: 2 Aqua Rings.
Hands: AF Hands to Boost 11x, Then Devotee Mitts+1.
Body: Kirin's Osode.
Belt: Sothic rope.
Back: Melee Cape.
Legs: Temple Hose +1
Feet: Suzaku Sune-ati.
ChiBlast food: Goblin Mushpot

Chakra Build

Ammo: Bibiki Seashell.
Head:Genbu's Kabuto
Neck:Fort Torque.
Earring: um, can't remember name lol.
Rings: 2 Soil Rings.
Hands: Melee Gloves
Body: Temple Cyclas.
Belt: Warwolf Belt+1 or in campaign battles the campaign belt with 10 VIT.
Back: Melee Cape or on Darksday: Shadow Mantle.
Pants: Kensei Sitabaki.
Feet: Power Sandals
Food: --

Tank/PHYSICAL reduction/Kiting/Soloing/Survival Gear.


Weapon: Earth/Terra Staff
Ammo: Bibiki Seashell or Fenrir Stone.
Head: Genbu Kabuto or Arhats+1
Neck: Fortitude Torque.
Earring: Cassie Earring if you have MP Merits or Osode on. +Any earring.
Ring: 1.Defending ring AND 2.Shadow Ring OR 3.Jelly Ring. If against a Magic Mob, Use 4.bloodbead Ring OR 5.Bomb Queen if not a fire mob
Hands: Usukane Hands or Denali Hands.
Body: Arhats Gi +1 or Kirin Osode.
Back: Shadow Mantle or Boxers Mantle.
Belt: Blk Belt.
Pants: Temple Hose +1 or Byakko Haidate if /nin. Not really anything for this leg slot.
Feet: Hermes Sandals/Heralds Gaiters.
Food examples:Rabbit Pie,Ambrosia,Taco etc.

Counter Build.

Weapon: 1.Spahari, 2.Cross-Counters
Ammo: Blk Tathlum.
Head: Temple Crown for focus, then Rasetsu JinPachi +1
Neck: Ancient Torque
Earring: 1.Avengers Earring OR if in red HP Kampfer Earring, 2.Counter Earring.
Hands: In campaign battle 1. Danzo Tekko, OR 2.Usukane Kote
Belt: 50% HP 1. Mustle Belt+1 2. Blk Belt.
Body: Rasetsu Samue +1 OR usukane Harimaki for Acc counter.
Back: Cuch Mantle.
Legs: Temple Hose +1
Feet: Melee Gaiters for counterstance then Rasetsu Sune-ati.
Rings: HP <75% 1.Kampfer ring, 2. Salvage: Omicron ring. not meeting those requirements: Divisor ring/T-Ting/Mar's Ring.



-----------------------------
Weapons Skills and Monk.

Howling fists is very obsolete these days. Footwork with Dune boots Dragon Kick will almost always deal massive dmg now over 150 TP. I Would stick with Asuran at 100TP DragonKicks at 200TP+ (Amesia or whatever made you get to 200TP)


-NQ Behemoth, Dark Ixion, Fafnir, You would want to sub /thf and just dragonkick them for over 2000-2500. Most HNMS you would go /thf to and boost 11x SATA and Dragonkick. Or Full swing ZNM staff.

-Merit Party Mobs/Salvage and Salvage bosses/einherjar/Nyzul
Use Asuran Fists 100TP, unless you have 200+TP then always use Dragon Kick. /nin at these events. Only Use Dune Boots for macro in WS after you get Usukane Feet.

-HNMs that Fly or SKY gods if you do NOT have merits OR full usukane set.
Use chi-blast, It can go as high as 2000+ dmg. Mobs Like Jormy/Tiamat/JOL Would be the only Mobs I would chi-blast in the game since the wyrms fly.

-With Full usukane set and merits, You can outparse a Chiblast mnk by meleeing and can actually hit sky gods these days including kirin./WAR.
For stuff like dynamis Lord and Bahamut V2. /DRK.

-Skilling Up: Use the Physical Reduction Set and Guard Skill Gear.(minus the Staff Unless you are skilling that up lol) /DNC Recommended.


Macro in gear.

Focus: Temple Crown
Dodge: Temple Gaiters.
Counterstance: Melee Gaiters.
Asuran Fists: Acc gear., Sea Gorget.
Dragon Kick: STR and VIT, Sea gorget
Howling fists: STR VIT, Sea gorget
Chi-Blast: MND Gear.
Chakra: VIT Build.
Counter: Counter Gear and ACC gear.

Subjobs: THF,DRK,DNC,WAR,NIN,WHM.


Merits Get as Least 1 formless strikes, It can rip thru blunt strong mobs, if can count towards shadow lords Melee resistance form, It can rip thru invincible, it can make you solo sewer syrup, It can do lots of things, but you only need this merited once as you won't be using it everyday.
Get 4/5 invigorate and 5/5 Penance.
-If you are a galka with a very high HP build, Getting 5/5 Mantra might not be too bad but I would not recommend it, its only to show off 3k HP and no use for it.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Thats My Equipment guide. As you can see, Acc gear Is not the End all be all, like some MNKS like to always say. I do alot of Nyzul,Salvage, Merit on MNK, But I have Mage jobs for the harder events like HNMs, Einherjar,Dynamis, So I perfer an Attack Build Over all acc build any day.
I prefer stuff with acc and attk like Divisor ring Over T-Ring, Mar's ring Over T-Ring. Hachiryu Haramaki Over Usukane Haramaki. ( peice vs peice, not talking about with set) Spahari Over glanzfaust and shenlongs. (Cause it has 20+ attack lol.
Those are obviously Dream peices I do not have any PW AV Gear Just showing How I like acc and attk gear over all acc gear.

My food of choice is not sushi or meat... as you guessed it, Its pizza. It gices acc and attk and I like to have both. In Merit Parties, My attk/acc MNK outparses an all acc ring/usukane mnk. (The Only usukane Peice I like WITHOUT the set that I can wear fulltime is the Feet and sometimes Head.)

Peace.

[Cream Soda]

"But if you Colibre Merit with 8/8 h2h merits, you do Nyzul isle, and you do salvage, you need to eat meat and drop the usu hands and body and replace it with Togi +1 and B-kotes. "

I'll come back and look at the rest of your post and edit my response in, but that is more than half wrong. As a hume M with 8/8 h2h merits, my current build has the exact same accuracy as full usu (Head hands feet. Togi+1 instead of body -5 acc, Byakko's instead of usu legs +5 acc) and with 2 toreador's, black tathlum, active minuet earring, I have 85% hitrate on lv 82 G.Colibri. Going to full usu from here would keep me at 85% acc, but add 3% haste to my build.

The only time you can afford to swap out usu body and hands is if you have madrigal, which you shouldn't need at colibri or are eating sushi, which you also shouldn't need. Now, looking at focus swapping out usu head, bkote and usu body for togi+1 would put me at 91.5% acc on the lv 82 G colibri and 95% on the lv 81 G colibri. This i would probably do, but remember, focus will be down longer than it is up, so you're still benefiting more from the full usu, even at bird camp.


Edit:

Head: Usukane Somen
Body: Usukane Haramaki
Back: Cuch Mantle
Rings: Divisor ring and T-Ring.
Feet: Usukane Sune-ati
Hands: Usukane Kote
Ammo: Black Tathlum
Neck: Ancient Torque
Weapon: Destroyers,Hades Sainti +1, Shenlongs, Spahari, Glanzfaust. (in order of difficulty, but all 4 weapons are fine)
Earring: Hollow Earring, Brutal Earring. Otherwise, Ethereal if you got that Earring instead.
Pants: Usukane Pants to complete set.
Belt: Blk Belt.
Food: Marinara Pizza or Sushi+1

You'd use Anc torque for 3-4 acc over 7 attack depending on inital dex, but wouldn't use diabolos' or active minuet earring for 3 acc over 5 attack of ethereal?

Nyzul Isle, Colibre Camp, Salvage,Campaign,Assault, KRT Merit camp. (attack build)

Head: Walarah Turban
Neck: Faith Torque
Ammo: Blk Tathlum
body: Togi +1
Weapon: Spahari or Destroyers.
Earring: Fenrir Earring OR Storm Loop, Brutal.
Rings: Uthalams (2nd best ring in game in nyzul, salvage, assault), rajas ring OR Divisor.
Feet: Usukane Feet
Hands: B-Kotes.
Pants: Byakko Haidates.
Belt: Blk Belt.
Back: Cerb Mantle +1 or Foragers Mantle.
Food Marinara Pizza or Meat.

Already disputed this for colibri, but lets look at nyzul, assault, ect
Any situation where you're not going to need a heavy acc build, Faith baghs + stones will outperform destroyers + tathlum. As for salvage and nyzul, drop back from turban to usu head and replace ring 2 with imperial ring for capped haste.

WS: Dragon Kick
Feet: Dune Boots (Footwork)
Hands: AF Hands to Boost, Allky Braclets.
Ammo: Bibiki Seashell or STR ammo.
Pants: Hachiryu Haidate, Shura Haidate till you get hachiryu.
Belt: Blk Belt.
Back: Cuch or Cerb Mantle +1.
Body: Kirin Osode.
Head: Genbu Kabuto.
Neck: Sea Gorget (I think Breeze)
Weapon: Any h2h Weapon.
Earring: Bushomimi or Triump earring x2.
Rings: Flame Ring,Rajas Ring.
Dragon Kick food, Rabbit Pie

not much to add here. Genbucket > maat's cap and I'd get some acc in there where u can squeeze it in. Black tathlum > bibiki for example. gonna do shit dmg if u can't land both hits or the potential DA procs.

WS: Asuran Fists
Feet: Usukane Feet
Hands:AF hands for boost then Usukane Hands.
Head: Hisso hachimaki (however its spelled)
Neck: Sea Gorget or Ancient Torque.
Weapon: Whatever you got on.
Ammo: Blk Tathlum
Belt: Life Belt
Rings: T-ring, Divisor Ring.
Earrings: Hollow/Ethereal, Brutal.
Back: cuch Mantle.
Body: Usukane Harimaki. Togi+1 as a second choice if dont got usukane.
Pants: Shura Pants.
Asuran Food:Marinara Pizza.

Pretty solid here, but again, what's with the etheral? Just because you get it from DM does not make it better than merman's, ect.

Chi-Blast Build

You can boost 12 times btw

Chakra Build

Ammo: Bibiki Seashell.
Head:Genbu's Kabuto
Neck:Fort Torque.
Earring: um, can't remember name lol.
Rings: 2 Soil Rings.
Hands: Melee Gloves
Body: Temple Cyclas.
Belt: Warwolf Belt+1 or in campaign battles the campaign belt with 10 VIT.
Back: Melee Cape or on Darksday: Shadow Mantle.
Pants: Kensei Sitabaki.
Feet: Power Sandals
Food: --

Cyclas +1

Counter Build.

Weapon: 1.Spahari, 2.Cross-Counters
Ammo: Blk Tathlum.
Head: Temple Crown for focus, then Rasetsu JinPachi +1
Neck: Ancient Torque
Earring: 1.Avengers Earring OR if in red HP Kampfer Earring, 2.Counter Earring.
Hands: In campaign battle 1. Danzo Tekko, OR 2.Usukane Kote
Belt: 50% HP 1. Mustle Belt+1 2. Blk Belt.
Body: Rasetsu Samue +1 OR usukane Harimaki for Acc counter.
Back: Cuch Mantle.
Legs: Temple Hose +1
Feet: Melee Gaiters for counterstance then Rasetsu Sune-ati.
Rings: HP <75% 1.Kampfer ring, 2. Salvage: Omicron ring. not meeting those requirements: Divisor ring/T-Ting/Mar's Ring.

In any situation your acc is uncapped, this build will get you kill rather quickly. Your countes CAN and WILL miss. For example, when accc uncapped, usu shoes and kitty pants should be used over tpl hose+1 and Rasetsu

Howling fists is very obsolete these days. Footwork with Dune boots Dragon Kick will almost always deal massive dmg now over 150 TP. I Would stick with Asuran at 100TP DragonKicks at 200TP+ (Amesia or whatever made you get to 200TP)

Howling fist is still very viable. Unless you're TP'ing in footwork, you're only going to get a DK like that once every 5 mins and in situations where acc may not be good enough to AF, HF/Fury is the way to go

[Evelyn]

I thank you guys for the pointers, but many of you are forgetting I'm not in end-game anymore. Things like togi, bb, and hissho hachimaki are all a far cry from what is possible for me to obtain atm. But I did get some good info out of this, thanks.