Monks?

That depends on your race as well and whether you're good/evil aligned. Horse is a good option as has already been said if you're getting spanked, but believe it or not weapon mastery is a huge deal. It's a pain because you're only hitting once per round but I find it was easiest to master while fighting scarecrows and such until they hit about 75% and then move on to other things that don't hit very hard till it's mastered. Dragon is a good choice if you're trying to disarm a no disarm weapon, but ultimately if you're being pounded on it's probably best to focus on what you're wearing and other tactics that you're using.

With the introduction of second parry to offensive stances, I personally would never PK in defensive.

If I'm getting beaten up like that it's

A) Flee and try again when I have the upper hand

Find better gear

C) Try a different stance

Monks should be thought of as THE MOST luck oriented class in the game. You can fight the same person 10 times and it might go differently each time. You are really waiting for the right things to line up. The chakera lag, the disarm working, the air thrash working.

2 out of 3 of those might fire off and cause the person to run, while if the 3rd had landed, it was an instant kill. 2 out of 3 is enough to get them on the run and you can still get the kill, but if only 1 of them went off, you might have to re-engage at another point.

It's very different from a lot of other classes that are so static in a fight that getting your head wrapped around the way a monk functions can be difficult.

Defensive to me is NOT a PKing empowerment, it's a survival empowerment. So unless you play with the tactics of a scared schoolgirl like f0xx, I think you should always PK in offensive.

The thing about the "monk item" is I've tried about 20 times to get it and have gotten the "other thing" every time.

gotta love RNG

My general rule of thumb is horse vs zerkers, blademasters, shamans, drow DKs, and certain warriors based on race/mastery choice, buddha vs evil clerics, Drunken vs rangers/necros, Dragon vs Invokers/DKs with good malforms/Warriors depending on weapon, and I'm generally alright with crane or tiger for battlemages and good clerics. Fighting other monks is largely dependent on their stance, and for that reason is very hard to call in advance. Entering the wrong stance can, and most likely will, kill you. Approach with extreme caution. If you feel like you're being hunted by another monk, try drunken stance for it's alcohol benefits. May be enough to keep you in good health for when their stance drops. I'm not sure what the best stance is to use against a thief or ninja, but I'd feel safe in crane.

It may not be the best list, but it kept me alive at least, which is no small feat. To mirror what's been said: Dragon is great, for what it is. Don't use it for what it isn't, though. I personally don't like the idea of being enlarged against most classes, but it's a small enough payoff for being able to disarm that charged staff, cursed axe, or other extremely painful weapon.

If you're struggling with PK as a monk, try playing almost like a ninja. Or rather, fight a few rounds, flee, analyze what your enemy's tactics are, come back and try again with that knowledge. Takes a painstakingly long time, and you may lose your quarry, but the experience you'll gain in learning to anticipate moves based on class, character, and skill.

Also, max your weapons. It makes a huge difference.

With the introduction of second parry to offensive stances, I personally would never PK in defensive.

I'm going to agree with you here. The only times I went defensive with Achskel were when I was getting my standard back vs 2+ laggers. Unless you're fighting a very new player you won't get a kill in defensive. Now, if getting a kill isn't your main objective, staying ALIVE vs big bad mega decked fire giant with the Solar Mace is your main objective, by all means go defensive. Also, if you're worried about a ninja studying you, then you have a better chance of avoiding that assassination attempt in defensive.

If you can get your hit/dam up (I wouldn't even worry about saves with a monk, if they are having time to cast you shouldn't be in the fight) then rock tiger. It's a underestimated stance. Twin Tigers fire off much more than Phantom Dragon, and you hit like a truck. I watched Zoichan fight a Blademaster...Yushirio?(sp) Halfling WM. It looked like he was in monkey. Don't underestimate the power of super monkey kung fu kick and 6-8 attacks per round either.

tiger. It's a underestimated stance. Twin Tigers fire off much more than Phantom Dragon' date=' and you hit like a truck.[/quote']

I could not agree more. The only most underused stance in PK is Buddha.

That's because it's almost never the best option.

I found quite a few times that Buddha was obviously and successfully my best option.

For surviving. But not the best option for getting the edge/killing/defeating opponents. As was the OP's original context.

don't neglect dirt/disarm. Seems a much more viable tactic as a monk who gets "free" lag.

I found quite a few times that Buddha was obviously and successfully my best option.

As in you successfully pk'd someone in Buddha? I find that hard to believe considering our current pbase. Most everyone can run and you have no way to stop them in Buddha.

As in you successfully pk'd someone in Buddha? I find that hard to believe considering our current pbase. Most everyone can run and you have no way to stop them in Buddha.

No. But pking someone isn't always the goal. I generally used it for recovering standards, and when I needed to do so when underdressed or against multiple Savants, (I was a Warmaster) it was the obvious and successful choice. I've also fought for quite some time in Buddha, just effing around. Maybe it's from my love of shamans, but I love wasting time and making them use consumables. A monk in Buddha is just an *** to try to kill for many Savant classes and it worked for draining consumables. At least that is what I was led to believe with the complaining I received in the form of, "I really hate that stance... You can't kill me and I can't kill you...."

When killing them I definitely favored offensive stances. :3

Anyone got any tips on training buddha stance?

Anyone got any tips on training buddha stance?

1. Make sure you're wearing lots of mal saves.

2. Go into Buddha Stance.

3. Start taunting random shaman.

Works like a charm. I think it's the one time I drove Despiser nuts. Yes, yes?

EDIT: On monk vs. blademaster, dirt and/or throw a level 3 chii bolt in his face, disarm, sac, rinse, repeat.

I used defensive when I was vastly out-equipped and needed to simply survive with Scholin, like Twinblades said, for retrieving a standard. Buddha specifically, seeing as I was always fighting Savants (until we bit off more than we could chew and took on the world). I had little application for defensive stances outside of that except in very specific scenarios - such as against a necromancer that I knew I could chase down easily.

Totenkopf's Syndi Vampire (Dirge of the night? Was it Philantees?) accounted for like 10+ of my deaths and whilst I never managed to even get close to killing him, I did a -lot- better once I stopped pussying around in defensive stances and opted for a few different options. Tiger, surprisingly, worked best because of the regularity of the twin tiger chakera in comparison to dragon stance, but the fights were often too quick for me to be able to give it some more prolonged work and I can't say that I'd always recommend tiger VS a decked vampire.

I did kill hitandrun's Demon DK Masokant though entirely in horse stance.

P.S A little hint - chii bolt level 3 has more random lag (1-3 rounds) but strips protectives - chii bolt level 2 is just under 3 rounds - enough to chii bolt, disarm and then air thrash if they've input a command or two like 'where' or something (if I remember rightly, I know it's consistently longer than level 3). That's where you have to make a call - if you need to strip prot shield and the like for chakeras then level 3 is the one you want, but level 2 is far superior against melee types. More lag, quicker to charge, uses less mana than charging a level 3. I used that as my guarantee many a time, timing it and a disarm just before they'd put a dirt kick in meaning they'd be lagged for aaages without a weapon and setting me up for an air thrash.

Dey

I'd advise staying away from monks outside of the novelty factor...blms are much more powerful...and if you do go for it, listen to the advice that says ignore defensive except in very rare circumstances...

The ability to run is far, far less useful than the ability to stop them from running in winning PK. With the defensive bonus to offensive stances now, even more reason to leave defensive alone.

arena wight is nice for training buddha.

arena wight is nice for training buddha.

IT'S A TRAP!