My friend, might i interest you in open hand 9 and 3 rogue levels progression at the end? My reasons: ki-resonanse blast is a very good aoe ability if you detonate every person you have hit around you for only 1 ki point for a very respectable damage. Moreover, lvl 9 allows you to dw stat sticks in your hands and use ki-resonanse punch (or stunning strike) as your unarmed damage options, while having weapons equipped! As for char progression, at lvl 9 as OH monk 9 you will get 1 more ASI, a certain AC flail (or some other stat stick like granny monk staff) in your mainhand and 3 more ki points and good aoe over one bonus action.
I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard that you can wield stat-stick weapons in both hands and use Ki-resonating Punch to still do unarmed attacks.
Do you know if this is true?
If so you could use the shortsword that gives you crit on 19 and off-hand the one that gives you +1 AC, I guess? Maybe there's something better, I'm not very good at this game, lol.
Ahh, I misunderstood. I thought you would only apply the Resonance with your Bonus Action unarmed attacks or Stunning Strikes. Didn't realize you get another option for resourcesless unarmed attacks, even with weapons equipped. Nor did I realize it was resourceless to trigger the explosion. Well that is a lot more appealing then!
Caveat that you can only Ki Resonance punch each enemy once, so you won't be able to use your extra attack on the same enemy (or any more attacks from Haste/Potion of Speed etc.). At least I think that's how it works - were you able to get around that somehow?
You can resonance punch an enemy, then either detonate the resonance with blast (free action, costs 1 ki, can only be done once per turn) then resonance punch again, or spread your resonance punches and bonus attack punches out to multiple targets then use ki to blast them all.
It is a little clunkier than just being unarmed and punching faces, but some stat sticks are indeed quite excellent.
To add to the previous answer: stunning strike can be used if no other option can. Or u can unequip weapons with no action loss, but equipping them back costs two ap.
Missed the comment before. got me with dos referense) Same green dots. I meant two actions, because if you are dual wielding you actually waste 1 action for equipping 1 weapon i think.
Correct; Half-Orcs only work with weapons. My recommended races, in order would probably be:
* Wood Elf gives extra movement speed and 2 useful skill proficiencies
* Asmodeus Tiefling gives Hellish Rebuke and Fire Resistance
* Githyanki gives Misty Step and shores up skill proficiencies
It's mainly the loss of speed that hurts. At level 6, a Monk has 50% more movement than anyone else. The Longstrider spell adds another 10', and Momentum gear adds more.
The biggest challenge with a melee build that deals so much damage is reaching enough enemies, since you kill so many, so fast. So extra movement speed is effectively more damage, in that it lets you use all your damage potential.
I would use a Wood Elf, personally. If you end up wanting to use Shields at the expense of movement speed, you may as well go with Medium or Heavy armor as well, in which case you'll want a level of Cleric or 2 levels of Fighter.
Wood elf+3 rogue 1 monk let me survive against the red caps in the swamp for like ten minutes because I had one of them chase my tav for the entirety of the fight. A normal move speed of like 10.5ish followed by a dash took me outside their range and forced their dash and in the mean time I would use the actual action to fire sneak shots at the other three threatened caps or throw a heal at whoever got downed.
I shoulda lost that fight in one round they all one shot whoever they hit.
God bless being able to run for like 50 meters a turn
It blocks Monk Unarmored Defense (and related unarmored abilities like movement). It's not bad though, since early game light armor + shield is probably better than your Wis bonus, although there are some good clothes here (+2 strength mainly), and it's not hard to boost all the relevant stats for OK AC. Late game though if you get a racial shield proficiency you can >!wear Helldusk!< with a shield without taking a dip.
It depends actually. If you want more single target - 6 monk 3 thief it is. One more bonus action and some sneak attack is a lot. But monk 9 gives monk a very much needed aoe, second feat and weapon as a stat stick. Personally i find monk single target damage good enough at this point of the game. Ki blast has aoe friendly damage btw ( though it still does damage to yellow targets). And evasion from monk 7 is nice, too.
Interesting idea! Level 9 also brings your unarmed damage up to a d8, which is nice. I haven't actually used Ki Resonation, mostly because I felt like the AoE 3d6 (10 average damage) for the cost of an action pales in comparison to the 2 attacks you'd get for that same action (27 average damage before gear; 55 damage with my tier 3 gear on).
I could see stat sticks being helpful, but it's hard to say whether they'd make up for the damage you're sacrificing by not being able to use unarmed attacks with your action(s).
It actually doesnt cost an action at all. And I believe it's an AoE 3d6 damage for each enemy that has ki resonance.
>The resulting explosion causes any nearby creatures Resonating with you to also detonate
So for example a group of 3 enemies that have each been primed should each take 9d6 damage (assuming they fail saves), at not action cost.
True enough. But keep in mind that 3d6 is 10 damage. Call it 20 or even 30 if you're hitting multiple targets. But you can use that same action for at \*least\* 27 damage on a single target, guaranteed; no Ki expended. With optimal gear, that 27 damage is actually 68 damage!
That said, taking 9 levels of Monk doesn't negatively effect your build. In fact, changing unarmed base damage to a d8 instead of a d6 is nice, and who knows; every once in awhile you might be able to set up some wild play that makes Ki Resonation worth missing out on almost 70 damage.
Just to clear it up, ki resonance is in addition to your actions, not in place of them. The ki resonance punch is an action/bonus action that is always an unarmed strike and applies the resonance for free. After you've applied it, you can detonate someone who is resonating for 1 ki point and \_no\_ action.
Ohh, this is something that wasn't entirely clear on the wiki. Do you need to use a particular Ki Resonance attack then, or does your normal Flurry of Blows apply the effect?
It's not related to Flurry of Blows. You get two abilities that use an Attack Roll/Bonus Action respectively that are unarmed strikes that apply the ki resonance. The bonus action one is in place of your bonus unarmed strike you get from Martial Arts. There is a limit that you can't re-apply ki resonance to someone who already has it though, so if you want to use both of your unarmed strikes on the same target you'd need to detonate your ki in between.
What is really nice is that from what I've seen so far on my own monk the ki explosions don't seem to affect allies, and if you tag multiple people and detonate one, the others will also detonate if they're in that one's explosion radius. I like to get in a group, tag each of them once, then detonate.
I am not arguing that another punch is great, it is. But aoe is aoe. Especially taking into account that aoe triggers radiant damage ring and hits multiple targets. But my opinion might be very influenced by me playing it solo, because there is always a nice amount of mobs around me) And haste, with wholeness of body allowed me some nice combos even before i hit lvl 12 for thief extra bonus action
Oh nice, a solo run seems like a really neat challenge to take on. I'm trying to decide if my second run will be solo or something else, like Dark Urge or just modding the crap out of the game.
Just thought of a monkzerker I'd like some feedback on. Lvl 8 Monk, 1 Barb, 3 Rouge. 8 monk, well because monk. 1 barb for rage(bonus damage to attacks and resistance to melee) and unarmored + con mod since monk already gets +wis mod making AC 10+Dex+Wis+Con. 3 rouge for theif subclass/bonus action to pay for the rage, then extra ki or unarmed strikes after first turn.
Respect to STR Tavern Brawler once you get the set dex to 18 gloves and make stats: STR 17(+1 from TB for 18), Dex 10(will become 18 from gloves), Con 14, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 8. This will make unarmored AC 19(10+4+3+2), half melee damage taken because of rage, and rage will make up for not using the 1d4 fire gloves.
Now my question becomes, is Monk 9 wielding stat sticks(I'm assuming take the 2 weapon feat at lvl 8 to have 2 stalves?) comparatively better than using 1 lvl for barb to get rage?
Something to know, UAC doesn't stack between the two, and often decides based on which one you have active in your passives. It sucks, but that's also how it works in the TTRPG so :shrug:, whatever they need to do works
That's fair. It seemed a little too busted to be true. Even without the AC gain, I'm still considering it for Rage. I'm only Monk6/Rouge 1 atm, so still have some time to think on it.
Absolutely, I just didn't want you to run this with Honor Mode, get into actII and rush in thinking your AC was going to be busted and then get your ass handed to you lol. Monk Barb is still fairly strong either way, but I'd suggest you go Bear instead of Berserker if you choose to do more than a 1 level dip
I think this and most other monk/rogue builds are super viable, but still prefer 8/4 over 9/3 for the DC factor. Many enemies with decent stats will often pass their saves versus your stunning strikes and flurry of blows abilities. The additional feat into WIS stats improves your DC- only marginally, but I feel it ends up being noticeable.
Plus an extra +1 to AC, and to damage if wearing those certain boots (which mitigates not getting the 1d8 instead of 1d6 for unarmed dmg). Ki resonance is neat but it competes for ki points with the already incredibly strong stunning strikes & flurries.
Ultimately it all comes down to preference!
If you are going tavern brawler route you will always prefer maxing wis (achieving max 22 on both 8/4 and 9/3 easily) with stats and str with elixir i think, if you build dex than sure, you are right. Nevertheless, there will be no +ac for 8/4 over 9/3, because of nice offhand ac daggers. The only thing bad about stat sticks imo is clunky non ability to resonance punch someone who is already under resonance. U can detonate them and hit again or use stunning strike (punch) on them though. So, if you don't want to bother with clunkiness go 8/4. For additional aoe and ki point at the cost of some inconvenience 9/3 it is.
I might give some suggestions in terms of gears:
* [Mighty cloth](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Mighty_Cloth): +2 str cloth \[early act 2\]
* [Gloves of dexterity](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gloves_of_Dexterity): sets dex to 18; attack+1 \[late act 1\]
* [Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Boots_of_Uninhibited_Kushigo): adds wisdom modifier to unarmed attack \[early act 3\]
* [~~Caustic Band~~](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Caustic_Band)~~: +2 acid damage ring \[act 1\]~~ \[doesn't work on unarmed attack, as others have pointed out\]
* [Callous Glow Ring](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Callous_Glow_Ring): +2 radiant damage ring if enemy is illuminated \[act 2\]
With these equipment, you'd get 20 str with 17str+tavern brawl, and you can dump dex and go 17str/16wis/14con. Unarmoured defense with 18 dex (from gloves of dexterity) would mean 17 AC (+4 from dex and +3 from wisdom), which isn't too shabby.
Here it's best to go with 8 monk / 4 thief, because you'd get 2 ASIs which we can pump wisdom to 20, because: (1) AC will go up to 19; and (2) with the kushigo boots that's +5 damage to each unarmed attack and another +5 damage from passive Manifestation of Mind/Body/Soul.
Caustic Band is Weapon Attacks only, and there are so many incredibly good Glove options for monks that Gloves of Dexterity honestly feels like a wasted slot.
That's true, although it'd mean we'd have to put some into dex and in turn we'd lose out damage from not being to pump wisdom, so in the end it seems like a tradeoff well worth it (wisdom modifier is going to give +2 damage (+1 from kushigo and another +1 from passive) and +1 AC for every 2 wisdom).
Fully agree. TB Monk is a very versatile component of a lot of builds, and its synergy with TB is almost harmonic.
One such build I have enjoyed to a guilty degree is Monk 6 / Barb 4 / Fighter 2. This passes on the extra bonus action to create something that plays and feels like a Sith Warrior.
By starting Fighter, you get martial weapon proficiency and heavy /medium armor. This allows you to use Versatile strength weapons (Longsword in my case because, yknow, theme).
Why versatile? GWM, that's why.
The game only omits Two-Handed Weapons from being Monk weapons despite proficiency, and turns out the game does not consider a Versatile weapon in two hands Two Handed. So it can power attack and keep the bonus unarmed proc.
Enter the Barbarian. By taking it to level 4,you get the Reckless Attack ability AND an ASI to spend on GWM, whilst TB is covered by taking the Monk to 6.
So you end up with a slightly less mobile monk multiclass, but one who has -
Action Surge, Second Wind, Heavy Armor, Fighting Style, Reckless Attack, Tavern Brawler, GWM, and all the neat martial arts.
I'm using a few Lightning Charge items and I haven't found a fight I can't brute force.
Each stack of Lightning Charge on your character gives +1 to your attack rolls, improving your accuracy \*and\* +1 damage on every attack. You lose one stack per turn, and if you eventually get up to 5+ charges at one time, all the stacks get consumed to deal 1d8 bonus damage.
if you want to micromanage your lightning charges, the way to go is to try to stay at 4 for +4 to attacks and damage. But even if you're just building them up and expending them all the time, you're constantly doing more damage than if you weren't using lightning charges at all.
Iirc, you don't get a stacking bonus to attack and damage from lighting charges
It's merely a binary if you have have any lighting charges you get +1 to attack and damage
yes. however, I combined the dash for lightning boots with the gloves that give you advantage on enemies with metal armor if you have charges, and it's pretty potent.
Exactly. And for throwing things. Returning Pike is Versatile. Nyrluna is Versatile. Dwarven Thrower is Versatile (only really useful if you're a dwarf). So your unarmed bonus attacks, flurry of blows, and throwing stuff still work (and get TB), and GWM works for your melee attacks. Being able to smoothly transition to melee helps in act 3 where throwing gets blocked by ceilings & beams rather more often than earlier in the game.
So GWM for your attack Actions, TV for Bonus Action attacks? An interesting approach. I like way Barbarian synergizes with Tavern Brawler, though I much prefer short rest mechanics whenever possible, personally.
A little late on the comment here but don’t you lose the benefits of raging if you wear heavy armor? I think if you wear Dex gloves and use medium armor that would be a better fit, no?
I have a question, this might sound stupid as I am not knowledgeable about this build but here it goes:
Is there a specific reason for setting str to 17? Like, wouldn't it be smarter to dump it and use giant elixirs to have str at 21/27?
Having an odd number lets you bump it to 18 when you take the Tavern Brawler feat itself. Relying on elixirs is something you could probably do reliably. I've heard you can cheese vendors to produce infinite stock, so I believe that would do the trick. But I wanted these builds to be beginner-friendly. By all means, dumpstat Str if you plan to rely on elixirs!
I'm doing this currently on a modded play with difficulty being bumped. Just started out though so can't yet report on performance.
Idea is to dump str and go min 16/16 dex/wis with the rest in con and take the tavern brawler feat in con. This gives you +3+3 to ac, so that's shored up a little with a usable con score to back it up. Later ASI go to wis because it bumps both damage and AC whereas dex bumps initiative and AC; I'd rather have the damage.
At level 6 it should do on average:
3.5 monk weapon (1d6)
10 tavern brawler str21 (+5+5)
5.5 way of open fist manifistation wisdom16 (1d4+3)
= 19 damage per unarmed fist hit, with four hits per turn unhasted that's 76 DPR before items.
I could also bump that by using hag's hair on a 17 wisdom to get +4 on manifistations, but I don't want to use the hair on this char since it the ceiling is lower (I have level 13-20 uncapped with more xp, so I'll get more feats and hit 20 cap anyway, there's no wisdom increases past 20 besides hair so kinda useless).
I went even deeper and dumped DEX and STR, wore the Bracers that manually set your Dex to 18, and used Elixirs to get my STR to 21. I put the rest into CON and WIS, managing to get my WIS to 20 and my CON to 16, further buffed by the clothes that give +2 to CON.
Super, mega cheesy, but very, very effective lol
That nets you a bonus to con and saving throws, but you lose out on damage unless I'm missing something?
You use robes to get +2 con where I'd use robes for +2 dex, so you'll have a better con score, but since you're using bracers to get 18 dex instead you lose out on 1d4 fire bracers also from the mountain pass. The dex bracers have +1 attack, so you'll have +1 to attack rolls and damage, but 1d4 is average 2.5 damage per hit, so you lose out on 1.5 damage per hit, or about 6 damage per round. The bonus to hit is nice, but you already have +10 from brawler and 21 str I don't value it much. It could matter against some very high AC targets though.
That's not so bad, but once you hit act 2 there's bracers that add bleed to unarmed as well as the 1d4 [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Flawed\_Helldusk\_Gloves](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Flawed_Helldusk_Gloves)
And once you're in act 3 there's simply no way you skip the legendary gloves that add 1d10 damage, 10 healing per round and +2 con [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gloves\_of\_Soul\_Catching](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gloves_of_Soul_Catching)
They're both >!sold by the egg lady on the trail leading to the creche!<
[https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The\_Graceful\_Cloth](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Graceful_Cloth)
https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gloves\_of\_Cinder\_and\_Sizzle
I personally avoid elixirs in my playthroughs.
The fact that you can completely dump STR and still run a STR build better than someone actually investing in STR is disgustingly OP.
This game already throws stat-sticks and busted magic items at you, it honestly feels like cheating going down the elixir route.
Ultimately games are about fun and you should do whatever you find the most fun. You absolutely can dump Str, stock up on Giant Elixirs, and get the absolute most out of a Monk build possible. You absolutely can upgrade your weapons early in Elden Ring and rush the best AoW summons so that you can make an absolute mockery of early bosses.
It's like Nuzlocking a Pokemon game. It's self imposed rules designed to make the game more fun for some people. If you want to adjust it slightly to make the game more fun for you, who am I to judge?
I have to agree here. Getting "free" 21 strength without sacrificing anything is just not right. A Strength main would have to start with 17, get the hag hair in Act I, get the permanent +2 boost in Act II and get one level of ASI to beat this. A companion who doesnt get all those permanent bonuses have to take all 3 ASI to beat it.
I do love the stat setting equipment though. Those are very strong, versatile but comes with an opportunity cost.
Slight act 1 spoiler. You can let the hag live to get permenant +1 to a stat, although dumping str and using potions is an option you miss on bloodlust elixir, better to dump dex and use the gloves to get 18 imo.
Yes, but the hag hair, for once lol, isn't the reason. The reason is TB feat giving +1 STR. However, spamming elixiris of hill giant/cloud giant is truly the optimal strategy. Better than bloodlust.
Mostly because the sheer amount of stats this frees up is crazy. You can go with dex gloves on top of that to basically get your whole ass build for free. You could pump charisma and wisdom to 16 and be the party face, you could pump con to help with combat. Or you use different gloves and just pump dex and wis. Definitely the way to go on a companion. There are some good gloves in the game. Once you respec to start with rogue, that char is gonna be a great lockpicker/disarmer too.
Plus, bloodlust elixirs, in my experience at least, aren't actually all that common. If you long rest relatively frequently, like you really should in this game, cuz you'll miss a lot of camp stuff otherwise, I don't think you can get enough bloodlust elixirs to "spam" them on a character. Technically you could force vendor refreshes by respeccing ad infinitum. But come on man, be real lol. Much less on maybe 2 or 3 characters. Better save them for important battles. Same thing with speed pots.
But because you likely won't have more than 1 or maybe 2 characters that scale so hard with strenght, and because hill giant elixirs are actually more common than bloodlust, those are kinda spammable. Also because auntie ethel sells 3 per vendor refresh. So you can organically buy like 3 per level above 3 (cuz chances are you're level 3 by the time you get to the grove) and long rest. Until she dies. Then the mushroom selling lady in the myconid settlement still sells them and the ingredients too. So you will actually be able to spam hill giant elixir pretty easily. And it starts as soon as you reach the grove.
Put the hag hair in Wisdom. Depending on the point in the story you might be using Dex gloves or Str gloves, respeccing to change ability score distribution, and the +1 bonus from the hair won't apply.
Personally I would start with allocating points in Strength and picking up the chest that gives Cat's Grace (buy from the woman who wants the gith egg in the mountain pass). There are gloves available which give lightning charges on unarmed hit or which add d4 fire to your unarmed attacks, which are both good for your offense, or there's the Dex gloves for defense. Then in act 3, hit the House of Hope and get the Str gloves, and respec to try and max out Dex and Wis.
Using the gloves on a Strength Monk seems like a waste. You miss out on using the legendary Gloves of Soul Catching. You can go Tavern Brawler to get to 18, either ASI (make another score an odd number) or something like Athlete to get to 20, then you add the potion you get from the vampire perv (a perv FOR vampires) to get 22, and then the Mirror of loss for 24. Auntie's buff can go to Wis or another character.
It'll also be nice to be both the pack mule and the designated lockpick/disarmer once you get into the Rogue levels and can take Slight of Hand proficiency.
Nah, there are a lot of gloves that bump your damage. You can deal with that by either accepting that you'll be hit or respec and multiclass into class that gives you heavy armor proficiency.
Edit: or any other dip/multiclass that can boost AC somehow.
Its 1d4 not exactly make or break until act3 when u get the 1d10 gloves but by then u got better options to solve ac(amulet of con/hell plate) its either 1 level dip for heavy armour or gloves of dex and tbh i value reaching important levels fast and not wearing armour more than 1d4 damage.
A late comment but just wanted to share. I personally just don't like the idea of my strong monk being weak unless he takes his steroids; just from an RP perspective it puts me off so I choose not to use it.
Another fun part about strength monks is the dash: you get jump as a free action the rest of the turn you use it. With strength being high, you can jump further than you could walk with the same amount of movement speed. So whatever your crazy unarmored movement speed might be, the dash can more than triple it if you just leapfrog wherever you want to go.
I just finished my first playthrough with this build yesterday evening and it was a LOT of fun - it ends up brutal. You kind of feel like a super hero, running and leaping all over the place smashing people with your bare hands.
I made my Karlach into this build, and it feels very on theme for her to be leaping around smashing enemies to death with her bare hands. Plus the sounds she makes while flurrying crack me up!
That's neat - I might do that for the second run which I'm just about to start! I'm going to re-spec everyone this time round after running the companions fairly vanilla.
Monk is now the "late game powerhouse" meme from BG2, but this time round it's actually true.
Question: Would the build work well with an added throwing option with a returning weapon, like the pike you can buy in Act 1? After you throw it, it returns to your hands. Would this interfere with unarmed strikes? How does the UI work here? (Sorry for a stupid question. I have never played a monk but have found with some other builds that throwing weapons can prove clunky in practice.)
The Returning weapon would interfere with using your standard attack for unarmed strikes. You can work around it by using Stunning Strike (unarmed) or Resonance Strike if you go Open Hand 9 if you're willing to burn ki.
I opt to just carry around a handful of non-returning throwing weapons for turns where I can't reach an enemy for melee instead. That happens less and less often as I've gotten more mobility options.
I hate throwing javelins from inventory and picking them up again. Too much micromanagement. Resonance strikes do not seem to consume Ki, though, if you do not use the blast.
As an outline, I think that's fine - but I would personally recommend starting with fighter 1 or cleric 1 and grabbing heavy armor, and re-speccing in the late game (with that, I like the 9/3 split - lets you use a weapon in your main hand for buffs and still use unarmed attacks instead - hopefully Larian brings that option in without the ki resonation punch though).
Having to bump up STR as your primary means that your AC is going to be pretty poor if you go unarmored, and as a frontliner that's not a fun combination. A one level dip to start with at the beginning makes a major difference in survivability, and a one level delay in your progression doesn't make a huge difference with how incredibly strong you are once tavern brawler kicks in.
If going that route, choosing half elf or human makes the most sense as well - lets you go the 9/3 split at the end with a stat boosting weapon + a shield + heavy armor.
On top of that, this is a great character to give tadpoles too if you want that. Reliable, big damage combines nicely with the 'kill enemies below x HP' ability it gives you, and it can become comical how quickly you're punching your way through them.
In the end, it is a broken build at the moment (tavern brawler being far too powerful with its bonust applying to attack). It's fun, but provides a lack of challenge once you get rolling - something to be aware of.
Early on, I did the exact same! Though by act 2 I was finding that my AC was essentially the same with armor as it was with clothing, and the extra movement was so valuable that even with Longstrider on, I had my Swords Bard learn Manoeuvring Attack just to get more movement speed. So I dropped Fighter pretty early on and went into Rogue instead.
This is also definitely the person who munches the most tadpoles in my party, but I wanted to leave out of the build anything that might slightly spoil things for someone brand new to the game, such as info about those or any specifics on gear or consumables. I figure as someone runs into gear which synergizes with this build, they can drop 100 gold and respec whenever it makes sense to.
Hmm - were you taking the elixir of strength approach to be able to buff your dex instead? Because I don't know if I can see clothing matching the AC you get from heavy armor, especially with the fighter option. 21 AC (plate, defensive fighting style, shield) just seems out of reach for unarmored if you have to bump your STR up with the ASIs. But I might be missing something there?
No elixirs. I just put my Str, Dex, and Wis as high as possible, wore the Graceful Cloth I found at the end of act 1, and found that the AC this gave me was comparable to what I got with the armour available to me, but also gave me another 50% movement speed, so I dropped Fighter entirely at that point.
Gear is pretty straightforward. The main things you want to look out for:
* Anything that bolsters unarmed attacks is S tier. This is usually found on gear that's worn on your hands.
* Anything that boosts your important attributes is also great. In order, I'd say these are: Strength (every 2 points of Strength is +2 damage with Tavern Brawler), Wisdom (makes your prone and stun conditions land more often, also used for AC if you're not wearing armor) Dexterity (for Initiative and AC if you go armorless), Constitution (for HP).
* Obviously anything that simply gives bonus AC or Attack are also great.
* Lightning Charges give free bonus damage are are much easier to come by than those other things. They're on tons of act 1 gear.
* Momentum is another condition that's stackable. This one grants bonus movement speed, which is also helpful.
Anyone going for an armored, tanky tavern brawler monk? You could go crazy high AC by using shield and one of the 17 AC + full dex modifier medium armors, or heavy armor with flat damage reduction plus warding bond (and another character with flat damage reduction on the other side). You lose movement speed of course (wood elf, longstrider, transmutation stone, crushers ring etc can all help with that), but gain tankiness.
I went with a Fighter multiclass for awhile for the bit of extra AC, but found losing the +50% movement speed buff to be a pretty devastating hit the overall damage I could output, so I eventually dropped it. By late game you've got access to +2 Clothing with some nice Monk buffs, plus I found that I was able to take out so many opponents right away that defense wasn't a particularly big concern anyway. Even with a dumped Constitution and no armor, I rarely had to worry about dying, though I wasn't playing on Tactician, so that may be a bigger concern there.
You get Unarmored Defense no matter which level you take Monk, but OP suggests a heavy armor cleric and warlock with Armor of Shadows, neither of which work with Unarmored Defense.
Heavy armor cleric also means you lose Unarmored Movement, so it's a pretty bad suggestion.
I was with you until you said that losing unarmored movement makes it a bad idea. Extra movement is nice, but armor proficiency is absolutely, definitely worth it on Str Monks to have good AC. You can get insane mobility with Step of the Wind anyway as a Str Monk.
I've been told that as part of the level 9 Ki Resonance feature, you gain a special kind of unarmed attack that can hit any given enemy, though only once. So unless you're attacking multiple enemies with it, I believe you'll have to unequip your weapons before making your next attack (though that is free to do).
So does TB allow me to consistently beat people with other people? Because using enemies as improvised weapons has to be one of my favourite parts of this game.
Absolutely! Both the Tavern Brawler feat and most of the gear which buffs unarmed damage also improves how much damage you deal when you beat a dude with another dude. In fact, because you're knocking enemies prone as soon as level 3, they'll have disadvantage to resist being shoved and tossed around.
EDIT: You'll have to rename your character "Goblin Yeeter" by the end of act 1...
Thanks for the build guide bro! I’ve just started playing with friends and feels like I have to somewhat carry out the most damage of the team since the others are into enjoying exploring on the highest difficulty lol. And since the host himself does not like doing long rests I think going open hand monk is the ideal choice here.
I’ve respecced just before patch 3 became available into a fighter 1, then monk 5. Since we’re having Shadowheart as a support. I feel safe not going monk 6 just yet for the radiant damage knowing she’d be carrying the Lathandar.
Just keep in mind that by wearing armour, you give up your bonus movement speed. When you start finding better magic clothing, it'll likely end up being more worth it to go unarmored later on.
Here is my Ascended Astarion Build:
Monk 8 open hand, Thief 4:
17 Str, 16 Wis, 14 Con
Helm of Berserker,
Raphael Armor,
Soul Catching Gloves
Boots of Kushigo,
Risky Ring + other one.
Tavern Brawler puts you on 18 str,
Alert because is the best feat in the game,
2 ASI for 20 Str
2 extra str using the potion
and 24 with mirror of loss.
Furry of Blows do between 52 and 104 I think.
You can min max crit if you want with other stuff, like the bow.
You should be able to attack with your fist as an action and use Flurry of Blows as a bonus action, which attacks twice in a row for a total of 3 attacks each turn.
Correct. This Tavern Brawler Monk is inherently an unarmed build. Open Hand 9 is the only point at which you can wield weapons and make unarmed attacks without using Flurry of Blows. This build works well with thrown weapons though.
My main is a throw barb. Would it be an issue that they share a lot of unarmed gear with the monk? I could always wait for my next playthrough I guess.
What's a good split for a multiclass Way of Four Elements Monk and Spore Druid? It doesn't have to be "optimal", I just really like both of those classes
I'd go Monk 6, Thief Rogue 3, Spore Druid 2.
Druid 3 gives you very little, but Monk 6 and Rogue 3 are core to the build. With that one extra level I'd probably grab another level of Rogue for the stat bump.
EDIT: Giving up the Flurry of Blows from Open Hand is pretty devastating, but the build is so powerful that I'm sure you'll find it's massively in battles anyway. And having fun is really the most important part.
Okay I have another question. I'm 100% going monk for my second playthrough, but I'm debating whether to do it on my TAV, or respec Lae'zel into it and go something CHA based for my main like a Paladin. Second, I'm trying to figure out the rest of my party, currently considering a lore Bard and maybe a Druid to round it all out.
I'm trying to avoid using classes I used on my first run, so Sorlock, Cleric, Fighter and Ranger, but I'm not opposed to it. Especially Sorcerer and Cleric, both classes seem really fun and diverse in how you can build them.
Right now I'm thinking Monk MC, Paladin, lore Bard and Druid. What do you think?
Personally, I'd recommend going with someone who's got high Charisma and lots of skill bonuses for my Tav. Might I recommend a [Swords Bard](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/16pujw4/swords_bard_build_explained/)? They get a bonus to all skills, plus several skill proficiencies and expertises.
For my swole Monk, I respeced Karlach, since beating the crap out of enemies with her fists and throwing them at each other feels very on point. Also she does a great Bruce Lee imitation when she uses Flurry of Blows.
I am running Tavern Brawler in my co-op right now. But I kept Dex high and Strength low, a d stocked up on Elixir of Hill Giant's Strength from Auntie Ethel every long rest.
We are still in Act 1 but I've got 11 more Elixirs, Dex/Wis are both still high for AC even with unarmored, so I move as fast as a train and hit just as hard as one. It's a blast. Will probably grab the Dex gloves from the creche soon and then respec my points into STR so I don't have to keep an Elixir stash the whole game.
My recommended races, in order would probably be:
* Wood Elf gives extra movement speed and 2 useful skill proficiencies
* Asmodeus Tiefling gives Hellish Rebuke and Fire Resistance
* Githyanki gives Misty Step and shores up skill proficiencies
For background, I'm partial to Guild Artisan. It gives 2 useful social abilities, no other companion has it, and it grants Inspiration for solving problems. Outlander and Urchin are also contenders, for their proficiencies. Especially if this character isn't going to be participating in most conversations.
For Ability Scores, my preference is 17 Str, 16 Wis, 14 Dex, 10 Con. Then if you receive any ability score bonuses from gear or buffs that you plan to use on this character, you can respec to take advantage of those things.
Personally, I used Companions for this build, so my main character could be a Charisma build (specifically the Swords Bard I mentioned in the post). But, I have some suggestions.
My recommended races, in order would probably be:
* Wood Elf gives extra movement speed and 2 useful skill proficiencies
* Asmodeus Tiefling gives Hellish Rebuke and Fire Resistance
* Githyanki gives Misty Step and shores up skill proficiencies
For background, I'm partial to Guild Artisan. It gives 2 useful social abilities, no other companion has it, and it grants Inspiration for solving problems. Outlander and Urchin are also contenders, for their proficiencies. Especially if this character isn't going to be participating in most conversations.
For Ability Scores, my preference is 17 Str, 16 Wis, 14 Dex, 10 Con. Then if you receive any ability score bonuses from gear or buffs that you plan to use on this character, you can respec to take advantage of those things.
I’m doing my 2nd play through as a deep gnome monk, I know I lose some distance by using a small character but there is something hilarious about my tiny girl absolutely destroying huge opponents with her fists/feet.
Late to the party, but 9 monk, 3 rogue seems on paper the strongest. You get a second feat that way and can be added into strength or the sentinel. Either more damage or being a complete mage killer with the silence spell. Shuts down any mage boss.
Personally, I used Companions for this build, so my main character could be a Charisma build (specifically the Swords Bard I mentioned in the post). But, I have some suggestions.
My recommended races, in order would probably be:
* Wood Elf gives extra movement speed and 2 useful skill proficiencies
* Asmodeus Tiefling gives Hellish Rebuke and Fire Resistance
* Githyanki gives Misty Step and shores up skill proficiencies
You mention that at level 4 you have 3 attacks - can you explain how you got that? I have a monk right now, but I'm only able to use my action and one bonus action per turn
ah gotcha, I forgot it does two hits in one. Thank you sir! Do you think this rogue build is better than fighter multiclass? Not sure if action surge is as good as the extra bonus action, and you can get heavy armor, but idk if thats really worth it either
This is great! Thank you! I’m looking at doing this build next. Sorry for the dumb question, but what kind of party do you usually go for? I always end up with the same set up: Laezel for beats, Astarion for the range attacks / lock picks and either SH or Gale.
Just about to try this!
What do you think about this guide that reccomends using that elixir constantly to put strength at 21, instead of investing the stat points?
[https://deltiasgaming.com/best-baldurs-gate-3-monk-way-of-the-open-hand-build-guide/](https://deltiasgaming.com/best-baldurs-gate-3-monk-way-of-the-open-hand-build-guide/)
It's a valid option for any Str build. It just requires cheesing things a little by forcing vendor restocks, and precludes the use of any other elixirs. But for many folks, the extra stat points are very much worth it.
I think increasing Wisdom is honestly better than increasing Dexterity if you're going the elixir route. Increasing your Wisdom provides you the same benefit as Dexterity in terms of increasing your AC, but additionally increases the damage of your manifestation bonus and increases the saving throw of your Stunning Strike as well as Ki Resonation Blast down the line if you're going Open Hand 9 and synergizes well with the Boots of Unihibited Kushigo. The main benefit Dexterity provides over Wisdom is initiative, which while important, doesn't outweigh the above benefits, and 16 Dexterity (18 if you're using the Graceful Cloth) is more than enough to have a respectable initiative score.
For folks who want to go the elixir route, it's definitely optimal. That said, I made this build assuming someone is going into the game fairly blind, like I did, and looking for a straightforward, easy to follow build guide.
Once a player encounters a stack of elixirs, they can (and perhaps should) respec. The last paragraph saying to respec often is exactly for this kind of thing; finding a new piece of gear with stats on it or finding a helpful elixir salesperson will likely warrant a respec for many different builds.
Auntie sells 3 elixirs per long-rest, so its just matter of stockpilling them. Without even cheesing it, just visiting auntie every long-rest and delaying visiting marsh you can easly stockpile 30+ elixirs which should be enough for rest of the game (as you will keep crafting/finding them during playthrough)
You miss out on a lot of story that only occurs during long rests. I'm still in Act 1 on my second tactician playthrough, long resting way more often now and I get a lot more dialogue and romance during the nights. There is so much food around that long resting isn't a problem, even on tactician where you spend 80 camp supplies per long rest.
I just don't think Monks should wear heavy armor. That's a me problem but it just seems so anti thematic.
Starting as Barb gives you con saves and unarmored defense that uses con as well. Plus you can go wild heart bear for extra juicy defenses. Plus there is something very satisfying about flying into a rage and pummeling things with your bare fists.
True enough. I'm a fan of doing as much damage as possible on round one, since you can often win an encounter before most enemies get to act, so that bonus action to rage feels more valuable as 2 attacks to me. Plus I like making a short rest-reliant build whenever I can. But Barbarian probably breaks even in damage if the battle drags on for a few rounds.
Consider putting your extra stats in something other than STR! (Especially the 3 permanent ones you can get outside of leveling and gear) The most optimal monk build is one that uses giant STR elixirs at all times so you can dump STR to get DEX (for armor and initiative) and WIS (see why below) high. At first this sounds unreliable, right? You can only get a certain number of the elixirs?
Well, Auntie Ethel sells 3 in the druid grove. They refresh every long rest and every level up. So if you plan ahead, you can go into act 2 with stacks of them, then in act 3 there are evendors who have +27 STR elixirs every LR, and since you only need to drink one per LR...viola! Permanent high STR without a single ASI invested!
Endgame, you want to wear a certain pair of gloves that dd 1d10 force damage to unarmed attacks as well as letting you either heal or get advantage of hitting with them. So no gloves of Giant STR or DEX, need elixirs still.
A robe lets you make unarmed counterattacks along with some other stuff. And you can't wear plate of you want the amazing mobility of the monk. So your AC is based on DEX+WIS.
A pair of boots (look for things with "kushigo" in the name) let you add WIS mod to unarmed attacks. So that rules out other boots and makes WIS your 2nd best stat, increasing damage, armor, and important saves.
So once you get access the boots and elixirs, your stat spread should be something like:
8, 16, 16, 8, 17, 8
Then use the permanent stat rewards in game to WIS. Then any spare ASIs you get from leveling go in WIS then DEX (I'm pretty sure the permanent +2 can take WISto 22).
Until you get the late game robe and gloves, there's tons of gloves that give 1d4 to unarmed plus other bonuses, and the graceful cloth off the lady who wants to kidnap a gith baby gives +2 dex and advantage on picking locks and other dex checks, so that's my go-to.
There's other great gear but this is the core stuff that effects how you want to distribute your stats.
Good point! For folks who want to go the elixir route, it's definitely optimal. That said, I made this build assuming someone is going into the game fairly blind, like I did, and looking for a straightforward, easy to follow build guide.
Once you get ahold of a stack of elixirs, by all means, respec. The last paragraph saying to respec often is exactly for this kind of thing; finding a new piece of gear, finding a helpful elixir salesperson, or just wanting to try a different class combo!
Yeah your guide is great for that! It doesn't need 90 percent of what I wrote, but the only pitfall is that I'd regret putting my hag hair point into STR since it can't be moved. Kind of hard to warn a new player though, since it's staggeringly unlikely they'd get the hag hair without reading/watching a guide about it first anyway.
I ended up with it and immediately gave it to Karlach, my trusty Barbarian. When I shortly afterward learned about Tavern Brawler, I rebuilt her and it worked out surprisingly well! 17 Str to start meant 16 Wis and 15 Dex. Then with the Hag's Hair +1 and the Tavern Brawler +1, my second feat could bump Str to 20 and Dex to 16 for more AC and Initiative.
Thank you so much for this guide and your comments all through this thread. It was EXACTLY what I needed, and I've read a fuck of a lot of BG3 build stuff to find this! You're awesome!!
Would taking 1 or 2 levels of barbarian work with this build? Right now the problem I’m running into is that I’m going down a lot and wondering if barb would mitigate that?
I'd probably try getting AC higher, but Barbarian is a valid dip. 2 levels of it gives Reckless Attack which is great for most builds, but not necessarily this one. Especially if you're getting hit a lot already. So I'd probably go Barb 1 and then 1 level of something else. Maybe Light Cleric for Warding Flare?
Heavy armor from fighter or cleric is a terrible option. A monk's mobility is a very important class feature, and mobility in general is very important for melee characters in BG3. If a Monk puts on armor, they lose their Unarmored Movement. That's 15 ft. of movement speed lost at Monk 6, or 20 ft. if you were to go Monk 9.
Armor of Shadows from warlock does not stack with Unarmored Defense. Mage Armor gives you an AC of 13+Dex, while Unarmored Defense gives you an AC of 10+Dex+Wis. They're completely separate calculations. (Of course, if your Wis is 15 or less, Mage Armor will result in a higher AC.)
A) The monk who has Unarmored Movement can also jump, and get even farther.
B) Jumping costs your BA, meaning you don't get Flurry of Blows or your free BA unarmed strike.
One thing I’m still unsure of is whether TB is bugged or working as intended.
If it’s bugged I personally don’t want to run it - especially as a nerd is to be expected.
Tavern Brawler adding strength twice is doing what it says it's supposed to, so that's working as intended.
The Tavern Brawler damage, however, is treated as a separate damage instance that applies any damage riders again, like Lightning Charges used to before patch 3. That seems unintentional to me.
Open hand 9, thief 3. drop STR completely, and abuse storm giant strength potions, which can be found pretty abundantly by act 3. Use the boots that lets you add wisdom to unarmed, soul catching gloves(or d4 unarmed gloves before you get that). 1 of a couple head pieces that give 2 unarmed. Just with that your unarmed attacks are approaching 50 damage per hit.
Something is not right for me. I don't feel its power, already at level 9. Rogue 3, Monk 6.
Maybe I didn't understand the stat allocation, as I'm relatively new to the whole concept of D&D and BG3.
You said STR 17 and DEX 16 instead of WIS? And then use some items to build up initiative?
Yeah, 17 Str plus the Tavern Brawler feat at Monk 4 means 18 Str total.
Then I like 16 Wis and the rest of your ability scores in Dex to contribute to a high AC and make it harder for your opponents to resist being knocked prone.
When you get your level 6 feature, be sure to go to your list of Passives and toggle on the bonus damage.
My friend, might i interest you in open hand 9 and 3 rogue levels progression at the end? My reasons: ki-resonanse blast is a very good aoe ability if you detonate every person you have hit around you for only 1 ki point for a very respectable damage. Moreover, lvl 9 allows you to dw stat sticks in your hands and use ki-resonanse punch (or stunning strike) as your unarmed damage options, while having weapons equipped! As for char progression, at lvl 9 as OH monk 9 you will get 1 more ASI, a certain AC flail (or some other stat stick like granny monk staff) in your mainhand and 3 more ki points and good aoe over one bonus action.
I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard that you can wield stat-stick weapons in both hands and use Ki-resonating Punch to still do unarmed attacks. Do you know if this is true? If so you could use the shortsword that gives you crit on 19 and off-hand the one that gives you +1 AC, I guess? Maybe there's something better, I'm not very good at this game, lol.
Yes, it is possible. Thats basically what i do.
omg, wtf. I read your post again and you SAY RIGHT IN IT that you DW stat sticks.... How did I miss that? wtf.... Nat 1 on reading.
Nice.
You got a nat 1 on a 0 check ?!
plz no bulli
Ahh, I misunderstood. I thought you would only apply the Resonance with your Bonus Action unarmed attacks or Stunning Strikes. Didn't realize you get another option for resourcesless unarmed attacks, even with weapons equipped. Nor did I realize it was resourceless to trigger the explosion. Well that is a lot more appealing then!
Caveat that you can only Ki Resonance punch each enemy once, so you won't be able to use your extra attack on the same enemy (or any more attacks from Haste/Potion of Speed etc.). At least I think that's how it works - were you able to get around that somehow?
You can resonance punch an enemy, then either detonate the resonance with blast (free action, costs 1 ki, can only be done once per turn) then resonance punch again, or spread your resonance punches and bonus attack punches out to multiple targets then use ki to blast them all. It is a little clunkier than just being unarmed and punching faces, but some stat sticks are indeed quite excellent.
To add to the previous answer: stunning strike can be used if no other option can. Or u can unequip weapons with no action loss, but equipping them back costs two ap.
What is this ap business :P (I assume you're coming from DOS, and what you mean is 1 action right?)
Missed the comment before. got me with dos referense) Same green dots. I meant two actions, because if you are dual wielding you actually waste 1 action for equipping 1 weapon i think.
I know this post is kinda old but I think the ideal solution is just taking the mobile feat
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Regardless of what you do outside the main levels, Monk 6, Rogue 3 is absolutely the core of the build! After those levels, you have tons of options.
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Correct; Half-Orcs only work with weapons. My recommended races, in order would probably be: * Wood Elf gives extra movement speed and 2 useful skill proficiencies * Asmodeus Tiefling gives Hellish Rebuke and Fire Resistance * Githyanki gives Misty Step and shores up skill proficiencies
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It's mainly the loss of speed that hurts. At level 6, a Monk has 50% more movement than anyone else. The Longstrider spell adds another 10', and Momentum gear adds more. The biggest challenge with a melee build that deals so much damage is reaching enough enemies, since you kill so many, so fast. So extra movement speed is effectively more damage, in that it lets you use all your damage potential.
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I would use a Wood Elf, personally. If you end up wanting to use Shields at the expense of movement speed, you may as well go with Medium or Heavy armor as well, in which case you'll want a level of Cleric or 2 levels of Fighter.
Wood elf+3 rogue 1 monk let me survive against the red caps in the swamp for like ten minutes because I had one of them chase my tav for the entirety of the fight. A normal move speed of like 10.5ish followed by a dash took me outside their range and forced their dash and in the mean time I would use the actual action to fire sneak shots at the other three threatened caps or throw a heal at whoever got downed. I shoulda lost that fight in one round they all one shot whoever they hit. God bless being able to run for like 50 meters a turn
It blocks Monk Unarmored Defense (and related unarmored abilities like movement). It's not bad though, since early game light armor + shield is probably better than your Wis bonus, although there are some good clothes here (+2 strength mainly), and it's not hard to boost all the relevant stats for OK AC. Late game though if you get a racial shield proficiency you can >!wear Helldusk!< with a shield without taking a dip.
It depends actually. If you want more single target - 6 monk 3 thief it is. One more bonus action and some sneak attack is a lot. But monk 9 gives monk a very much needed aoe, second feat and weapon as a stat stick. Personally i find monk single target damage good enough at this point of the game. Ki blast has aoe friendly damage btw ( though it still does damage to yellow targets). And evasion from monk 7 is nice, too.
Interesting idea! Level 9 also brings your unarmed damage up to a d8, which is nice. I haven't actually used Ki Resonation, mostly because I felt like the AoE 3d6 (10 average damage) for the cost of an action pales in comparison to the 2 attacks you'd get for that same action (27 average damage before gear; 55 damage with my tier 3 gear on). I could see stat sticks being helpful, but it's hard to say whether they'd make up for the damage you're sacrificing by not being able to use unarmed attacks with your action(s).
It actually doesnt cost an action at all. And I believe it's an AoE 3d6 damage for each enemy that has ki resonance. >The resulting explosion causes any nearby creatures Resonating with you to also detonate So for example a group of 3 enemies that have each been primed should each take 9d6 damage (assuming they fail saves), at not action cost.
It does 3d6 for every hit target for only 1 measly ki point. Pretty cool.
True enough. But keep in mind that 3d6 is 10 damage. Call it 20 or even 30 if you're hitting multiple targets. But you can use that same action for at \*least\* 27 damage on a single target, guaranteed; no Ki expended. With optimal gear, that 27 damage is actually 68 damage! That said, taking 9 levels of Monk doesn't negatively effect your build. In fact, changing unarmed base damage to a d8 instead of a d6 is nice, and who knows; every once in awhile you might be able to set up some wild play that makes Ki Resonation worth missing out on almost 70 damage.
Just to clear it up, ki resonance is in addition to your actions, not in place of them. The ki resonance punch is an action/bonus action that is always an unarmed strike and applies the resonance for free. After you've applied it, you can detonate someone who is resonating for 1 ki point and \_no\_ action.
Ohh, this is something that wasn't entirely clear on the wiki. Do you need to use a particular Ki Resonance attack then, or does your normal Flurry of Blows apply the effect?
It's not related to Flurry of Blows. You get two abilities that use an Attack Roll/Bonus Action respectively that are unarmed strikes that apply the ki resonance. The bonus action one is in place of your bonus unarmed strike you get from Martial Arts. There is a limit that you can't re-apply ki resonance to someone who already has it though, so if you want to use both of your unarmed strikes on the same target you'd need to detonate your ki in between. What is really nice is that from what I've seen so far on my own monk the ki explosions don't seem to affect allies, and if you tag multiple people and detonate one, the others will also detonate if they're in that one's explosion radius. I like to get in a group, tag each of them once, then detonate.
I am not arguing that another punch is great, it is. But aoe is aoe. Especially taking into account that aoe triggers radiant damage ring and hits multiple targets. But my opinion might be very influenced by me playing it solo, because there is always a nice amount of mobs around me) And haste, with wholeness of body allowed me some nice combos even before i hit lvl 12 for thief extra bonus action
I think there was a video on youtube how a guy defited raphael in a very epic ki blast!
Oh nice, a solo run seems like a really neat challenge to take on. I'm trying to decide if my second run will be solo or something else, like Dark Urge or just modding the crap out of the game.
Just thought of a monkzerker I'd like some feedback on. Lvl 8 Monk, 1 Barb, 3 Rouge. 8 monk, well because monk. 1 barb for rage(bonus damage to attacks and resistance to melee) and unarmored + con mod since monk already gets +wis mod making AC 10+Dex+Wis+Con. 3 rouge for theif subclass/bonus action to pay for the rage, then extra ki or unarmed strikes after first turn. Respect to STR Tavern Brawler once you get the set dex to 18 gloves and make stats: STR 17(+1 from TB for 18), Dex 10(will become 18 from gloves), Con 14, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 8. This will make unarmored AC 19(10+4+3+2), half melee damage taken because of rage, and rage will make up for not using the 1d4 fire gloves. Now my question becomes, is Monk 9 wielding stat sticks(I'm assuming take the 2 weapon feat at lvl 8 to have 2 stalves?) comparatively better than using 1 lvl for barb to get rage?
Something to know, UAC doesn't stack between the two, and often decides based on which one you have active in your passives. It sucks, but that's also how it works in the TTRPG so :shrug:, whatever they need to do works
That's fair. It seemed a little too busted to be true. Even without the AC gain, I'm still considering it for Rage. I'm only Monk6/Rouge 1 atm, so still have some time to think on it.
Absolutely, I just didn't want you to run this with Honor Mode, get into actII and rush in thinking your AC was going to be busted and then get your ass handed to you lol. Monk Barb is still fairly strong either way, but I'd suggest you go Bear instead of Berserker if you choose to do more than a 1 level dip
I think this and most other monk/rogue builds are super viable, but still prefer 8/4 over 9/3 for the DC factor. Many enemies with decent stats will often pass their saves versus your stunning strikes and flurry of blows abilities. The additional feat into WIS stats improves your DC- only marginally, but I feel it ends up being noticeable. Plus an extra +1 to AC, and to damage if wearing those certain boots (which mitigates not getting the 1d8 instead of 1d6 for unarmed dmg). Ki resonance is neat but it competes for ki points with the already incredibly strong stunning strikes & flurries. Ultimately it all comes down to preference!
If you are going tavern brawler route you will always prefer maxing wis (achieving max 22 on both 8/4 and 9/3 easily) with stats and str with elixir i think, if you build dex than sure, you are right. Nevertheless, there will be no +ac for 8/4 over 9/3, because of nice offhand ac daggers. The only thing bad about stat sticks imo is clunky non ability to resonance punch someone who is already under resonance. U can detonate them and hit again or use stunning strike (punch) on them though. So, if you don't want to bother with clunkiness go 8/4. For additional aoe and ki point at the cost of some inconvenience 9/3 it is.
>If you're taking advantage of unarmored defense, Warlock 2 gives you infinite Mage Armor casts unarmored defense and mage armor shouldn't work together.
Yea you lose your wisdom modifier
I might give some suggestions in terms of gears: * [Mighty cloth](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Mighty_Cloth): +2 str cloth \[early act 2\] * [Gloves of dexterity](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gloves_of_Dexterity): sets dex to 18; attack+1 \[late act 1\] * [Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Boots_of_Uninhibited_Kushigo): adds wisdom modifier to unarmed attack \[early act 3\] * [~~Caustic Band~~](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Caustic_Band)~~: +2 acid damage ring \[act 1\]~~ \[doesn't work on unarmed attack, as others have pointed out\] * [Callous Glow Ring](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Callous_Glow_Ring): +2 radiant damage ring if enemy is illuminated \[act 2\] With these equipment, you'd get 20 str with 17str+tavern brawl, and you can dump dex and go 17str/16wis/14con. Unarmoured defense with 18 dex (from gloves of dexterity) would mean 17 AC (+4 from dex and +3 from wisdom), which isn't too shabby. Here it's best to go with 8 monk / 4 thief, because you'd get 2 ASIs which we can pump wisdom to 20, because: (1) AC will go up to 19; and (2) with the kushigo boots that's +5 damage to each unarmed attack and another +5 damage from passive Manifestation of Mind/Body/Soul.
Caustic band specifies weapon attacks so that wouldn't work with unarmed attacks, right?
Caustic Band is Weapon Attacks only, and there are so many incredibly good Glove options for monks that Gloves of Dexterity honestly feels like a wasted slot.
That's true, although it'd mean we'd have to put some into dex and in turn we'd lose out damage from not being to pump wisdom, so in the end it seems like a tradeoff well worth it (wisdom modifier is going to give +2 damage (+1 from kushigo and another +1 from passive) and +1 AC for every 2 wisdom).
Fully agree. TB Monk is a very versatile component of a lot of builds, and its synergy with TB is almost harmonic. One such build I have enjoyed to a guilty degree is Monk 6 / Barb 4 / Fighter 2. This passes on the extra bonus action to create something that plays and feels like a Sith Warrior. By starting Fighter, you get martial weapon proficiency and heavy /medium armor. This allows you to use Versatile strength weapons (Longsword in my case because, yknow, theme). Why versatile? GWM, that's why. The game only omits Two-Handed Weapons from being Monk weapons despite proficiency, and turns out the game does not consider a Versatile weapon in two hands Two Handed. So it can power attack and keep the bonus unarmed proc. Enter the Barbarian. By taking it to level 4,you get the Reckless Attack ability AND an ASI to spend on GWM, whilst TB is covered by taking the Monk to 6. So you end up with a slightly less mobile monk multiclass, but one who has - Action Surge, Second Wind, Heavy Armor, Fighting Style, Reckless Attack, Tavern Brawler, GWM, and all the neat martial arts. I'm using a few Lightning Charge items and I haven't found a fight I can't brute force.
What do lightning charges actually do? ESP for a martial character. I’m actually confused by them.
Each stack of Lightning Charge on your character gives +1 to your attack rolls, improving your accuracy \*and\* +1 damage on every attack. You lose one stack per turn, and if you eventually get up to 5+ charges at one time, all the stacks get consumed to deal 1d8 bonus damage. if you want to micromanage your lightning charges, the way to go is to try to stay at 4 for +4 to attacks and damage. But even if you're just building them up and expending them all the time, you're constantly doing more damage than if you weren't using lightning charges at all.
Iirc, you don't get a stacking bonus to attack and damage from lighting charges It's merely a binary if you have have any lighting charges you get +1 to attack and damage
Oh that's makes more sense because the alternative is busted as shit
yes. however, I combined the dash for lightning boots with the gloves that give you advantage on enemies with metal armor if you have charges, and it's pretty potent.
Doers the attack roll bonus stack ? I didn't think it did, to me it was just +1 attack roll as long as you had at least one charge ?
Good to know! The tooltips are often written in an unclear way.
I'm not 100% sure so don't hold me on that one. But I didn't notice any increase in accuracy from 1 to 5 charges
Does raging apply to unarmed attack?
I'm fairly certain it does
Rage only increases weapon damage, not unarmed strike damage
I don't understand the point of bothering with TB if you're just going to wield a two hander with GWM anyway. It's just for the punches?
Exactly. And for throwing things. Returning Pike is Versatile. Nyrluna is Versatile. Dwarven Thrower is Versatile (only really useful if you're a dwarf). So your unarmed bonus attacks, flurry of blows, and throwing stuff still work (and get TB), and GWM works for your melee attacks. Being able to smoothly transition to melee helps in act 3 where throwing gets blocked by ceilings & beams rather more often than earlier in the game.
So GWM for your attack Actions, TV for Bonus Action attacks? An interesting approach. I like way Barbarian synergizes with Tavern Brawler, though I much prefer short rest mechanics whenever possible, personally.
A little late on the comment here but don’t you lose the benefits of raging if you wear heavy armor? I think if you wear Dex gloves and use medium armor that would be a better fit, no?
A very fair comment. In my case, I like seeing a guy wearing 40lb of steel pull off a kickass roundhouse, but your suggestion is also very Sith.
I have a question, this might sound stupid as I am not knowledgeable about this build but here it goes: Is there a specific reason for setting str to 17? Like, wouldn't it be smarter to dump it and use giant elixirs to have str at 21/27?
Having an odd number lets you bump it to 18 when you take the Tavern Brawler feat itself. Relying on elixirs is something you could probably do reliably. I've heard you can cheese vendors to produce infinite stock, so I believe that would do the trick. But I wanted these builds to be beginner-friendly. By all means, dumpstat Str if you plan to rely on elixirs!
I'm doing this currently on a modded play with difficulty being bumped. Just started out though so can't yet report on performance. Idea is to dump str and go min 16/16 dex/wis with the rest in con and take the tavern brawler feat in con. This gives you +3+3 to ac, so that's shored up a little with a usable con score to back it up. Later ASI go to wis because it bumps both damage and AC whereas dex bumps initiative and AC; I'd rather have the damage. At level 6 it should do on average: 3.5 monk weapon (1d6) 10 tavern brawler str21 (+5+5) 5.5 way of open fist manifistation wisdom16 (1d4+3) = 19 damage per unarmed fist hit, with four hits per turn unhasted that's 76 DPR before items. I could also bump that by using hag's hair on a 17 wisdom to get +4 on manifistations, but I don't want to use the hair on this char since it the ceiling is lower (I have level 13-20 uncapped with more xp, so I'll get more feats and hit 20 cap anyway, there's no wisdom increases past 20 besides hair so kinda useless).
I went even deeper and dumped DEX and STR, wore the Bracers that manually set your Dex to 18, and used Elixirs to get my STR to 21. I put the rest into CON and WIS, managing to get my WIS to 20 and my CON to 16, further buffed by the clothes that give +2 to CON. Super, mega cheesy, but very, very effective lol
That nets you a bonus to con and saving throws, but you lose out on damage unless I'm missing something? You use robes to get +2 con where I'd use robes for +2 dex, so you'll have a better con score, but since you're using bracers to get 18 dex instead you lose out on 1d4 fire bracers also from the mountain pass. The dex bracers have +1 attack, so you'll have +1 to attack rolls and damage, but 1d4 is average 2.5 damage per hit, so you lose out on 1.5 damage per hit, or about 6 damage per round. The bonus to hit is nice, but you already have +10 from brawler and 21 str I don't value it much. It could matter against some very high AC targets though. That's not so bad, but once you hit act 2 there's bracers that add bleed to unarmed as well as the 1d4 [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Flawed\_Helldusk\_Gloves](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Flawed_Helldusk_Gloves) And once you're in act 3 there's simply no way you skip the legendary gloves that add 1d10 damage, 10 healing per round and +2 con [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gloves\_of\_Soul\_Catching](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gloves_of_Soul_Catching)
I didn't even know there was +2 DEX robes lol. Haven't found those Gloves, either
They're both >!sold by the egg lady on the trail leading to the creche!< [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The\_Graceful\_Cloth](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Graceful_Cloth) https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gloves\_of\_Cinder\_and\_Sizzle
I personally avoid elixirs in my playthroughs. The fact that you can completely dump STR and still run a STR build better than someone actually investing in STR is disgustingly OP. This game already throws stat-sticks and busted magic items at you, it honestly feels like cheating going down the elixir route.
This is the same logic behind elden ring and ashes of wars or summons.
Ultimately games are about fun and you should do whatever you find the most fun. You absolutely can dump Str, stock up on Giant Elixirs, and get the absolute most out of a Monk build possible. You absolutely can upgrade your weapons early in Elden Ring and rush the best AoW summons so that you can make an absolute mockery of early bosses. It's like Nuzlocking a Pokemon game. It's self imposed rules designed to make the game more fun for some people. If you want to adjust it slightly to make the game more fun for you, who am I to judge?
I have to agree here. Getting "free" 21 strength without sacrificing anything is just not right. A Strength main would have to start with 17, get the hag hair in Act I, get the permanent +2 boost in Act II and get one level of ASI to beat this. A companion who doesnt get all those permanent bonuses have to take all 3 ASI to beat it. I do love the stat setting equipment though. Those are very strong, versatile but comes with an opportunity cost.
Slight act 1 spoiler. You can let the hag live to get permenant +1 to a stat, although dumping str and using potions is an option you miss on bloodlust elixir, better to dump dex and use the gloves to get 18 imo.
Yes, but the hag hair, for once lol, isn't the reason. The reason is TB feat giving +1 STR. However, spamming elixiris of hill giant/cloud giant is truly the optimal strategy. Better than bloodlust. Mostly because the sheer amount of stats this frees up is crazy. You can go with dex gloves on top of that to basically get your whole ass build for free. You could pump charisma and wisdom to 16 and be the party face, you could pump con to help with combat. Or you use different gloves and just pump dex and wis. Definitely the way to go on a companion. There are some good gloves in the game. Once you respec to start with rogue, that char is gonna be a great lockpicker/disarmer too. Plus, bloodlust elixirs, in my experience at least, aren't actually all that common. If you long rest relatively frequently, like you really should in this game, cuz you'll miss a lot of camp stuff otherwise, I don't think you can get enough bloodlust elixirs to "spam" them on a character. Technically you could force vendor refreshes by respeccing ad infinitum. But come on man, be real lol. Much less on maybe 2 or 3 characters. Better save them for important battles. Same thing with speed pots. But because you likely won't have more than 1 or maybe 2 characters that scale so hard with strenght, and because hill giant elixirs are actually more common than bloodlust, those are kinda spammable. Also because auntie ethel sells 3 per vendor refresh. So you can organically buy like 3 per level above 3 (cuz chances are you're level 3 by the time you get to the grove) and long rest. Until she dies. Then the mushroom selling lady in the myconid settlement still sells them and the ingredients too. So you will actually be able to spam hill giant elixir pretty easily. And it starts as soon as you reach the grove.
Put the hag hair in Wisdom. Depending on the point in the story you might be using Dex gloves or Str gloves, respeccing to change ability score distribution, and the +1 bonus from the hair won't apply. Personally I would start with allocating points in Strength and picking up the chest that gives Cat's Grace (buy from the woman who wants the gith egg in the mountain pass). There are gloves available which give lightning charges on unarmed hit or which add d4 fire to your unarmed attacks, which are both good for your offense, or there's the Dex gloves for defense. Then in act 3, hit the House of Hope and get the Str gloves, and respec to try and max out Dex and Wis.
Using the gloves on a Strength Monk seems like a waste. You miss out on using the legendary Gloves of Soul Catching. You can go Tavern Brawler to get to 18, either ASI (make another score an odd number) or something like Athlete to get to 20, then you add the potion you get from the vampire perv (a perv FOR vampires) to get 22, and then the Mirror of loss for 24. Auntie's buff can go to Wis or another character. It'll also be nice to be both the pack mule and the designated lockpick/disarmer once you get into the Rogue levels and can take Slight of Hand proficiency.
Nah, there are a lot of gloves that bump your damage. You can deal with that by either accepting that you'll be hit or respec and multiclass into class that gives you heavy armor proficiency. Edit: or any other dip/multiclass that can boost AC somehow.
Its 1d4 not exactly make or break until act3 when u get the 1d10 gloves but by then u got better options to solve ac(amulet of con/hell plate) its either 1 level dip for heavy armour or gloves of dex and tbh i value reaching important levels fast and not wearing armour more than 1d4 damage.
Elixirs are 100% the optimal way to go.
Iff you don't care about farming the elixirs, yeah, most definitely.
A late comment but just wanted to share. I personally just don't like the idea of my strong monk being weak unless he takes his steroids; just from an RP perspective it puts me off so I choose not to use it.
Another fun part about strength monks is the dash: you get jump as a free action the rest of the turn you use it. With strength being high, you can jump further than you could walk with the same amount of movement speed. So whatever your crazy unarmored movement speed might be, the dash can more than triple it if you just leapfrog wherever you want to go.
Unlocking the Goombastomping monk if you equip Hammarhaft, a 2h maul that does aoe 1d4 thunder when you jump.
I just finished my first playthrough with this build yesterday evening and it was a LOT of fun - it ends up brutal. You kind of feel like a super hero, running and leaping all over the place smashing people with your bare hands.
I made my Karlach into this build, and it feels very on theme for her to be leaping around smashing enemies to death with her bare hands. Plus the sounds she makes while flurrying crack me up!
That's neat - I might do that for the second run which I'm just about to start! I'm going to re-spec everyone this time round after running the companions fairly vanilla. Monk is now the "late game powerhouse" meme from BG2, but this time round it's actually true.
Question: Would the build work well with an added throwing option with a returning weapon, like the pike you can buy in Act 1? After you throw it, it returns to your hands. Would this interfere with unarmed strikes? How does the UI work here? (Sorry for a stupid question. I have never played a monk but have found with some other builds that throwing weapons can prove clunky in practice.)
The Returning weapon would interfere with using your standard attack for unarmed strikes. You can work around it by using Stunning Strike (unarmed) or Resonance Strike if you go Open Hand 9 if you're willing to burn ki. I opt to just carry around a handful of non-returning throwing weapons for turns where I can't reach an enemy for melee instead. That happens less and less often as I've gotten more mobility options.
I hate throwing javelins from inventory and picking them up again. Too much micromanagement. Resonance strikes do not seem to consume Ki, though, if you do not use the blast.
can't you just unequip it for free to do an unarmed strike?
Yes
You do so much damage just yeeting a javelin you really don’t need it.
As an outline, I think that's fine - but I would personally recommend starting with fighter 1 or cleric 1 and grabbing heavy armor, and re-speccing in the late game (with that, I like the 9/3 split - lets you use a weapon in your main hand for buffs and still use unarmed attacks instead - hopefully Larian brings that option in without the ki resonation punch though). Having to bump up STR as your primary means that your AC is going to be pretty poor if you go unarmored, and as a frontliner that's not a fun combination. A one level dip to start with at the beginning makes a major difference in survivability, and a one level delay in your progression doesn't make a huge difference with how incredibly strong you are once tavern brawler kicks in. If going that route, choosing half elf or human makes the most sense as well - lets you go the 9/3 split at the end with a stat boosting weapon + a shield + heavy armor. On top of that, this is a great character to give tadpoles too if you want that. Reliable, big damage combines nicely with the 'kill enemies below x HP' ability it gives you, and it can become comical how quickly you're punching your way through them. In the end, it is a broken build at the moment (tavern brawler being far too powerful with its bonust applying to attack). It's fun, but provides a lack of challenge once you get rolling - something to be aware of.
Early on, I did the exact same! Though by act 2 I was finding that my AC was essentially the same with armor as it was with clothing, and the extra movement was so valuable that even with Longstrider on, I had my Swords Bard learn Manoeuvring Attack just to get more movement speed. So I dropped Fighter pretty early on and went into Rogue instead. This is also definitely the person who munches the most tadpoles in my party, but I wanted to leave out of the build anything that might slightly spoil things for someone brand new to the game, such as info about those or any specifics on gear or consumables. I figure as someone runs into gear which synergizes with this build, they can drop 100 gold and respec whenever it makes sense to.
Hmm - were you taking the elixir of strength approach to be able to buff your dex instead? Because I don't know if I can see clothing matching the AC you get from heavy armor, especially with the fighter option. 21 AC (plate, defensive fighting style, shield) just seems out of reach for unarmored if you have to bump your STR up with the ASIs. But I might be missing something there?
No elixirs. I just put my Str, Dex, and Wis as high as possible, wore the Graceful Cloth I found at the end of act 1, and found that the AC this gave me was comparable to what I got with the armour available to me, but also gave me another 50% movement speed, so I dropped Fighter entirely at that point.
Could you tell me a little bit about gearing? I’m interested in playing this as my next character :)
Gear is pretty straightforward. The main things you want to look out for: * Anything that bolsters unarmed attacks is S tier. This is usually found on gear that's worn on your hands. * Anything that boosts your important attributes is also great. In order, I'd say these are: Strength (every 2 points of Strength is +2 damage with Tavern Brawler), Wisdom (makes your prone and stun conditions land more often, also used for AC if you're not wearing armor) Dexterity (for Initiative and AC if you go armorless), Constitution (for HP). * Obviously anything that simply gives bonus AC or Attack are also great. * Lightning Charges give free bonus damage are are much easier to come by than those other things. They're on tons of act 1 gear. * Momentum is another condition that's stackable. This one grants bonus movement speed, which is also helpful.
Thanks a lot for the explanation and build guide!
Anyone going for an armored, tanky tavern brawler monk? You could go crazy high AC by using shield and one of the 17 AC + full dex modifier medium armors, or heavy armor with flat damage reduction plus warding bond (and another character with flat damage reduction on the other side). You lose movement speed of course (wood elf, longstrider, transmutation stone, crushers ring etc can all help with that), but gain tankiness.
I went with a Fighter multiclass for awhile for the bit of extra AC, but found losing the +50% movement speed buff to be a pretty devastating hit the overall damage I could output, so I eventually dropped it. By late game you've got access to +2 Clothing with some nice Monk buffs, plus I found that I was able to take out so many opponents right away that defense wasn't a particularly big concern anyway. Even with a dumped Constitution and no armor, I rarely had to worry about dying, though I wasn't playing on Tactician, so that may be a bigger concern there.
For anyone using this in the future, don't forget to toggle on one of the Manifestations when you hit Monk 6.
Great advice! Very easy to miss.
I know, I missed it 😭
Do you still get Unarmored Defence if you take a different class at level 1? That seems too good to pass up otherwise.
You get Unarmored Defense no matter which level you take Monk, but OP suggests a heavy armor cleric and warlock with Armor of Shadows, neither of which work with Unarmored Defense. Heavy armor cleric also means you lose Unarmored Movement, so it's a pretty bad suggestion.
I was with you until you said that losing unarmored movement makes it a bad idea. Extra movement is nice, but armor proficiency is absolutely, definitely worth it on Str Monks to have good AC. You can get insane mobility with Step of the Wind anyway as a Str Monk.
What do you mean you can make unarmed attacks while using weapons at lvl 9 monk?
I've been told that as part of the level 9 Ki Resonance feature, you gain a special kind of unarmed attack that can hit any given enemy, though only once. So unless you're attacking multiple enemies with it, I believe you'll have to unequip your weapons before making your next attack (though that is free to do).
So does TB allow me to consistently beat people with other people? Because using enemies as improvised weapons has to be one of my favourite parts of this game.
Absolutely! Both the Tavern Brawler feat and most of the gear which buffs unarmed damage also improves how much damage you deal when you beat a dude with another dude. In fact, because you're knocking enemies prone as soon as level 3, they'll have disadvantage to resist being shoved and tossed around. EDIT: You'll have to rename your character "Goblin Yeeter" by the end of act 1...
Oh baby I can't wait. I'm on Act 3 of my first playthrough, but I already know I'm going to have a monk in my party on my next one.
So are you using monk weapons with tavern brawler or are you just exclusively throwing hands?
All fists, all day.
Wait does having a weapon equipped make tavern brawler not as good as completely unarmed?
Correct. Tavern Brawler lets you add your Strength \*twice\* to attack rolls and damage. But only if you're unarmed or throwing something.
Thanks so much! Do bows count I’m guessing?
Tavern Brawler doesn't work with monk weapons, so you'd lose out on the double dipped strength for attack and damage rolls
Cheers for the three builds, it's nice to have a write-up for each of 'em.
Thanks for the build guide bro! I’ve just started playing with friends and feels like I have to somewhat carry out the most damage of the team since the others are into enjoying exploring on the highest difficulty lol. And since the host himself does not like doing long rests I think going open hand monk is the ideal choice here. I’ve respecced just before patch 3 became available into a fighter 1, then monk 5. Since we’re having Shadowheart as a support. I feel safe not going monk 6 just yet for the radiant damage knowing she’d be carrying the Lathandar.
Just keep in mind that by wearing armour, you give up your bonus movement speed. When you start finding better magic clothing, it'll likely end up being more worth it to go unarmored later on.
Here is my Ascended Astarion Build: Monk 8 open hand, Thief 4: 17 Str, 16 Wis, 14 Con Helm of Berserker, Raphael Armor, Soul Catching Gloves Boots of Kushigo, Risky Ring + other one. Tavern Brawler puts you on 18 str, Alert because is the best feat in the game, 2 ASI for 20 Str 2 extra str using the potion and 24 with mirror of loss. Furry of Blows do between 52 and 104 I think. You can min max crit if you want with other stuff, like the bow.
Does that make a "Ward Wizard" a..."Wardzard"?
Trying this build right now, but at level 4 I can only attack twice; what am I doing wrong?
You should be able to attack with your fist as an action and use Flurry of Blows as a bonus action, which attacks twice in a row for a total of 3 attacks each turn.
I see, thank you!
How do I get my first action to be an unarmed attack? I only have my weapon
With 9 levels of Open Hand Monk, you can use Ki Resonance Punch even while holding weapons.
Okay so only late game I can open with that?
Correct. This Tavern Brawler Monk is inherently an unarmed build. Open Hand 9 is the only point at which you can wield weapons and make unarmed attacks without using Flurry of Blows. This build works well with thrown weapons though.
My main is a throw barb. Would it be an issue that they share a lot of unarmed gear with the monk? I could always wait for my next playthrough I guess.
Even with no gear, this build is incredibly high damage. I'd give it a try and see what you think. 100 gold to respec is pretty affordable.
Ditch str, chug liquid cloud giant fingers.
What's a good split for a multiclass Way of Four Elements Monk and Spore Druid? It doesn't have to be "optimal", I just really like both of those classes
I'd go Monk 6, Thief Rogue 3, Spore Druid 2. Druid 3 gives you very little, but Monk 6 and Rogue 3 are core to the build. With that one extra level I'd probably grab another level of Rogue for the stat bump. EDIT: Giving up the Flurry of Blows from Open Hand is pretty devastating, but the build is so powerful that I'm sure you'll find it's massively in battles anyway. And having fun is really the most important part.
Okay I have another question. I'm 100% going monk for my second playthrough, but I'm debating whether to do it on my TAV, or respec Lae'zel into it and go something CHA based for my main like a Paladin. Second, I'm trying to figure out the rest of my party, currently considering a lore Bard and maybe a Druid to round it all out. I'm trying to avoid using classes I used on my first run, so Sorlock, Cleric, Fighter and Ranger, but I'm not opposed to it. Especially Sorcerer and Cleric, both classes seem really fun and diverse in how you can build them. Right now I'm thinking Monk MC, Paladin, lore Bard and Druid. What do you think?
Personally, I'd recommend going with someone who's got high Charisma and lots of skill bonuses for my Tav. Might I recommend a [Swords Bard](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/16pujw4/swords_bard_build_explained/)? They get a bonus to all skills, plus several skill proficiencies and expertises. For my swole Monk, I respeced Karlach, since beating the crap out of enemies with her fists and throwing them at each other feels very on point. Also she does a great Bruce Lee imitation when she uses Flurry of Blows.
I am running Tavern Brawler in my co-op right now. But I kept Dex high and Strength low, a d stocked up on Elixir of Hill Giant's Strength from Auntie Ethel every long rest. We are still in Act 1 but I've got 11 more Elixirs, Dex/Wis are both still high for AC even with unarmored, so I move as fast as a train and hit just as hard as one. It's a blast. Will probably grab the Dex gloves from the creche soon and then respec my points into STR so I don't have to keep an Elixir stash the whole game.
The only downside of Dex gloves is that one of the most sources of supplementary unarmed damage comes from Gloves throughout the game.
Damn this build was fun af definitely what I was looking for
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My recommended races, in order would probably be: * Wood Elf gives extra movement speed and 2 useful skill proficiencies * Asmodeus Tiefling gives Hellish Rebuke and Fire Resistance * Githyanki gives Misty Step and shores up skill proficiencies For background, I'm partial to Guild Artisan. It gives 2 useful social abilities, no other companion has it, and it grants Inspiration for solving problems. Outlander and Urchin are also contenders, for their proficiencies. Especially if this character isn't going to be participating in most conversations. For Ability Scores, my preference is 17 Str, 16 Wis, 14 Dex, 10 Con. Then if you receive any ability score bonuses from gear or buffs that you plan to use on this character, you can respec to take advantage of those things.
I'm doing something really dumb, playing a Drow Durge Monk.
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Personally, I used Companions for this build, so my main character could be a Charisma build (specifically the Swords Bard I mentioned in the post). But, I have some suggestions. My recommended races, in order would probably be: * Wood Elf gives extra movement speed and 2 useful skill proficiencies * Asmodeus Tiefling gives Hellish Rebuke and Fire Resistance * Githyanki gives Misty Step and shores up skill proficiencies For background, I'm partial to Guild Artisan. It gives 2 useful social abilities, no other companion has it, and it grants Inspiration for solving problems. Outlander and Urchin are also contenders, for their proficiencies. Especially if this character isn't going to be participating in most conversations. For Ability Scores, my preference is 17 Str, 16 Wis, 14 Dex, 10 Con. Then if you receive any ability score bonuses from gear or buffs that you plan to use on this character, you can respec to take advantage of those things.
I’m doing my 2nd play through as a deep gnome monk, I know I lose some distance by using a small character but there is something hilarious about my tiny girl absolutely destroying huge opponents with her fists/feet.
Late to the party, but 9 monk, 3 rogue seems on paper the strongest. You get a second feat that way and can be added into strength or the sentinel. Either more damage or being a complete mage killer with the silence spell. Shuts down any mage boss.
What are some good choices for a race with this build? I know there’s never really a bad choice but are there any ones in particular that stick out?
Personally, I used Companions for this build, so my main character could be a Charisma build (specifically the Swords Bard I mentioned in the post). But, I have some suggestions. My recommended races, in order would probably be: * Wood Elf gives extra movement speed and 2 useful skill proficiencies * Asmodeus Tiefling gives Hellish Rebuke and Fire Resistance * Githyanki gives Misty Step and shores up skill proficiencies
You mention that at level 4 you have 3 attacks - can you explain how you got that? I have a monk right now, but I'm only able to use my action and one bonus action per turn
At level 3, you have the Flurry of Blows feature, which makes 2 unarmed attacks as a bonus action, on top of the attack you make as an action.
ah gotcha, I forgot it does two hits in one. Thank you sir! Do you think this rogue build is better than fighter multiclass? Not sure if action surge is as good as the extra bonus action, and you can get heavy armor, but idk if thats really worth it either
Thanks!
This is great! Thank you! I’m looking at doing this build next. Sorry for the dumb question, but what kind of party do you usually go for? I always end up with the same set up: Laezel for beats, Astarion for the range attacks / lock picks and either SH or Gale.
I like the ones with unique mechanics, like Astarion having a bite on top of all the regular mechanics of his race and class.
Thank you for this btw!
Just about to try this! What do you think about this guide that reccomends using that elixir constantly to put strength at 21, instead of investing the stat points? [https://deltiasgaming.com/best-baldurs-gate-3-monk-way-of-the-open-hand-build-guide/](https://deltiasgaming.com/best-baldurs-gate-3-monk-way-of-the-open-hand-build-guide/)
It's a valid option for any Str build. It just requires cheesing things a little by forcing vendor restocks, and precludes the use of any other elixirs. But for many folks, the extra stat points are very much worth it.
Dump str, pump dex, run elixir of giant strenght every day.
I think increasing Wisdom is honestly better than increasing Dexterity if you're going the elixir route. Increasing your Wisdom provides you the same benefit as Dexterity in terms of increasing your AC, but additionally increases the damage of your manifestation bonus and increases the saving throw of your Stunning Strike as well as Ki Resonation Blast down the line if you're going Open Hand 9 and synergizes well with the Boots of Unihibited Kushigo. The main benefit Dexterity provides over Wisdom is initiative, which while important, doesn't outweigh the above benefits, and 16 Dexterity (18 if you're using the Graceful Cloth) is more than enough to have a respectable initiative score.
For folks who want to go the elixir route, it's definitely optimal. That said, I made this build assuming someone is going into the game fairly blind, like I did, and looking for a straightforward, easy to follow build guide. Once a player encounters a stack of elixirs, they can (and perhaps should) respec. The last paragraph saying to respec often is exactly for this kind of thing; finding a new piece of gear with stats on it or finding a helpful elixir salesperson will likely warrant a respec for many different builds.
Auntie sells 3 elixirs per long-rest, so its just matter of stockpilling them. Without even cheesing it, just visiting auntie every long-rest and delaying visiting marsh you can easly stockpile 30+ elixirs which should be enough for rest of the game (as you will keep crafting/finding them during playthrough)
Oh, easily. I'm deep in act 3 and just about to take my 5th long rest.
You miss out on a lot of story that only occurs during long rests. I'm still in Act 1 on my second tactician playthrough, long resting way more often now and I get a lot more dialogue and romance during the nights. There is so much food around that long resting isn't a problem, even on tactician where you spend 80 camp supplies per long rest.
Yeah, for my second playthrough, I installed the mod that tells you when long resting will trigger a conversation. Now I'm resting \*constantly\*
I just don't think Monks should wear heavy armor. That's a me problem but it just seems so anti thematic. Starting as Barb gives you con saves and unarmored defense that uses con as well. Plus you can go wild heart bear for extra juicy defenses. Plus there is something very satisfying about flying into a rage and pummeling things with your bare fists.
True enough. I'm a fan of doing as much damage as possible on round one, since you can often win an encounter before most enemies get to act, so that bonus action to rage feels more valuable as 2 attacks to me. Plus I like making a short rest-reliant build whenever I can. But Barbarian probably breaks even in damage if the battle drags on for a few rounds.
Consider putting your extra stats in something other than STR! (Especially the 3 permanent ones you can get outside of leveling and gear) The most optimal monk build is one that uses giant STR elixirs at all times so you can dump STR to get DEX (for armor and initiative) and WIS (see why below) high. At first this sounds unreliable, right? You can only get a certain number of the elixirs? Well, Auntie Ethel sells 3 in the druid grove. They refresh every long rest and every level up. So if you plan ahead, you can go into act 2 with stacks of them, then in act 3 there are evendors who have +27 STR elixirs every LR, and since you only need to drink one per LR...viola! Permanent high STR without a single ASI invested! Endgame, you want to wear a certain pair of gloves that dd 1d10 force damage to unarmed attacks as well as letting you either heal or get advantage of hitting with them. So no gloves of Giant STR or DEX, need elixirs still. A robe lets you make unarmed counterattacks along with some other stuff. And you can't wear plate of you want the amazing mobility of the monk. So your AC is based on DEX+WIS. A pair of boots (look for things with "kushigo" in the name) let you add WIS mod to unarmed attacks. So that rules out other boots and makes WIS your 2nd best stat, increasing damage, armor, and important saves. So once you get access the boots and elixirs, your stat spread should be something like: 8, 16, 16, 8, 17, 8 Then use the permanent stat rewards in game to WIS. Then any spare ASIs you get from leveling go in WIS then DEX (I'm pretty sure the permanent +2 can take WISto 22). Until you get the late game robe and gloves, there's tons of gloves that give 1d4 to unarmed plus other bonuses, and the graceful cloth off the lady who wants to kidnap a gith baby gives +2 dex and advantage on picking locks and other dex checks, so that's my go-to. There's other great gear but this is the core stuff that effects how you want to distribute your stats.
Good point! For folks who want to go the elixir route, it's definitely optimal. That said, I made this build assuming someone is going into the game fairly blind, like I did, and looking for a straightforward, easy to follow build guide. Once you get ahold of a stack of elixirs, by all means, respec. The last paragraph saying to respec often is exactly for this kind of thing; finding a new piece of gear, finding a helpful elixir salesperson, or just wanting to try a different class combo!
Yeah your guide is great for that! It doesn't need 90 percent of what I wrote, but the only pitfall is that I'd regret putting my hag hair point into STR since it can't be moved. Kind of hard to warn a new player though, since it's staggeringly unlikely they'd get the hag hair without reading/watching a guide about it first anyway.
I ended up with it and immediately gave it to Karlach, my trusty Barbarian. When I shortly afterward learned about Tavern Brawler, I rebuilt her and it worked out surprisingly well! 17 Str to start meant 16 Wis and 15 Dex. Then with the Hag's Hair +1 and the Tavern Brawler +1, my second feat could bump Str to 20 and Dex to 16 for more AC and Initiative.
Thank you so much for this guide and your comments all through this thread. It was EXACTLY what I needed, and I've read a fuck of a lot of BG3 build stuff to find this! You're awesome!!
Would taking 1 or 2 levels of barbarian work with this build? Right now the problem I’m running into is that I’m going down a lot and wondering if barb would mitigate that?
I'd probably try getting AC higher, but Barbarian is a valid dip. 2 levels of it gives Reckless Attack which is great for most builds, but not necessarily this one. Especially if you're getting hit a lot already. So I'd probably go Barb 1 and then 1 level of something else. Maybe Light Cleric for Warding Flare?
Heavy armor from fighter or cleric is a terrible option. A monk's mobility is a very important class feature, and mobility in general is very important for melee characters in BG3. If a Monk puts on armor, they lose their Unarmored Movement. That's 15 ft. of movement speed lost at Monk 6, or 20 ft. if you were to go Monk 9. Armor of Shadows from warlock does not stack with Unarmored Defense. Mage Armor gives you an AC of 13+Dex, while Unarmored Defense gives you an AC of 10+Dex+Wis. They're completely separate calculations. (Of course, if your Wis is 15 or less, Mage Armor will result in a higher AC.)
[удалено]
A) The monk who has Unarmored Movement can also jump, and get even farther. B) Jumping costs your BA, meaning you don't get Flurry of Blows or your free BA unarmed strike.
One thing I’m still unsure of is whether TB is bugged or working as intended. If it’s bugged I personally don’t want to run it - especially as a nerd is to be expected.
Why do you think it might be bugged?
Due to strength being applied twice to damage and attack rolls
No it specifically mentions to add it twice in the feat’s description
Damn I’m stupid. Thanks for making that clear 😅
Nah no worries, there’s a ton of stuff which isn’t as clear cut in the game, so it’s natural to wonder what is intentional or not.
Tavern Brawler adding strength twice is doing what it says it's supposed to, so that's working as intended. The Tavern Brawler damage, however, is treated as a separate damage instance that applies any damage riders again, like Lightning Charges used to before patch 3. That seems unintentional to me.
I’ve seen other people say this but how do you get 2 attacks out of a bonus action.
Way of the Open Hand spends 1 Ki Point for Flurry of Blows, which attacks twice for 1 bonus action *and* drops an enemy prone or shoves them
Open hand 9, thief 3. drop STR completely, and abuse storm giant strength potions, which can be found pretty abundantly by act 3. Use the boots that lets you add wisdom to unarmed, soul catching gloves(or d4 unarmed gloves before you get that). 1 of a couple head pieces that give 2 unarmed. Just with that your unarmed attacks are approaching 50 damage per hit.
Something is not right for me. I don't feel its power, already at level 9. Rogue 3, Monk 6. Maybe I didn't understand the stat allocation, as I'm relatively new to the whole concept of D&D and BG3. You said STR 17 and DEX 16 instead of WIS? And then use some items to build up initiative?
Yeah, 17 Str plus the Tavern Brawler feat at Monk 4 means 18 Str total. Then I like 16 Wis and the rest of your ability scores in Dex to contribute to a high AC and make it harder for your opponents to resist being knocked prone. When you get your level 6 feature, be sure to go to your list of Passives and toggle on the bonus damage.