*I'm just starting out as a Monk, what weapon should I use? ::A lot of people will tell you to get Cesti's, but they are wrong. Cesti's suck, I'm sorry, they do. They have very low attack power, and their speed ain't too great. Though people will give you a hard time about it, I seriously would recommend using low-level staves in the beginning.
Removed a lot of very old information. Perhaps someday I'll fix this, but there's just too much really good data out there on monks and it seems silly for me to do so now.
Changed: 4c3
::Why staves? Well, you can get some general purpose low-level staves that have some rocking attack powers. My personal fav for my monk was the Ash Pole. You get 11 damage and can use from lvl 5 on. It slows your attacks down a bit, but for MNK levels less than about 11 you will cream your opposition in very few hits. Additionally, you get a lot of great TP attacks right off the bat (whereas you dont with low-level hand-to-hand weapons). Bottom-line, low-level Cesti's really suck in comparison to low-level staves... no matter what any other FAQ or person online tells you.
If you're really interested what this page used to say, check the older revisions.
Changed: 6,92c5
::Of course, once you get to a certain level where the hand-to-hand weapons start performing better and the staffs start adding magic abilities, you'll probably want to switch to the hand-to-hand weapons again. I like the Legionnaire's Knuckles or Freesword's Baghnakhs personally for early teen levels. Don't worry about not having combat levels for them after spending your time with the staves, just fight a few baddies and your hand-to-hand levels will sky rocket back up. Plus you should have a very high evasion to boot!
::Even though you may take flack for it- trust me, it's worth it!
*I'm more of a thinking player rather than brute-force, should I play as a Mage instead? ::You know what, having played as a mage and a monk, I have to be honest with you when I say that the Monk is the thinking-man's character. Why? Well, the Monks have such high HP and deal out so much damage that they become sort of automatic drones in battle requiring very little babysitting. This usually leaves the Monks in a group able to sit back, watching everyone's stats, and barking out orders to others. You will often time see Monks in leadership roles in groups simply because they are one of the few characters that has time to think in a hectic battle.
*People tell me Monks don't need MND levels, is this true? ::NO IT ISN'T TRUE! Monks use MND for their counters, parries, and evasions. If you get something that boosts your MND abilities, you will notice improvement in these three areas.
*Is boost stackable? ::Yup, sure is. Of course, when the boosts time wears off, doesn't matter how much you stacked ;-)
*People say I shouldn't use boost in battle, is that true? ::No, it isn't true. For heaven's sake please use boost in battle. Boost is essentially a free skill in that you can do it every 15 seconds. Even though the battles in FFXI feel real-time, they aren't. They are more automatic, time-based. Just because you are boosting doesn't mean your character wont attack. It may mean you wont see the animation for the attack, but watch the text that scrolls by and you'll see the attack anyway.
::As far as I can tell, the attacks are actually determined on the server level. I'm sure this is done to better coordinate what's happenning in a group regardless of network latency. You can see evidence in this by watching the enemy's HP while attacking- you'll see that the damage is removed at the beginning of your attack animation rather than the end or during individual blows. And really, from a technical standpoint, this seems very logical.
::You can also see evidence for this in those rare occassions where you are killed as your system is loading the next area (you have zoned, and thought you were safe, but really some mob has killed you and your local machine doesn't know yet).
::The result of this would be that nothing like boost (which is not an attack but a power up) would affect your attack consistency. Regardless of whether the attacks are server level or not, you can watch the battle text going by (or review it afterwards) and verify that boosting during battle does not cause you to miss attacks. So, again, this is another Monk myth ;-)
*What should I sub with my monk? ::Well, that's really up to you, isn't it?
::The simple rule of thumb with subbing is that you want to compliment your main job. So, if your main job is a warrior-type a sub-job that is also a warrior-type will compliment it nicely. Sure you can combine a mage-type job with your monk, and doing so may even make you a great solo player (MNK and WHM works nicely for that) but you'll be able to specialize more (and be arguably more valuable to a group) if your jobs compliment eachother.
::The standard combo is WAR/MNK or MNK/WAR. WAR adds more strength and defense to MNK and can really boost your stats. If you go WAR/MNK, you make a pretty good tank. MNK/WAR will make you a pretty good secondary tank. With MNK/WAR, you do get provoke, but you don't get as high defense as you would the other way around. That being said, I really like MNK/WAR for levels 30 and below. You can tank if you really have to, but you more often than not will just be support tank which means you take less damage and yet deal out a lot more ;-)
::Quite a few people sub MNK with THF, which I suppose would work well enough. You couldn't tank, but you still deal a lot of damage and you have the ability to steal. I personally didn't like that combination much, but I'll admit I wasn't too fond of THF by itself, so my opinion is obviously tainted.
::At higher levels and advanced jobs, you probably want to switch your monk to a sub. Basically, your advanced jobs work much better as main jobs with the possible exception of samurai (there is a great debate as to whether SAM is really worth it as a main job, I'll leave it up to you to decide).
::There are some people which claim that MNK/BLM is a great combo. You can't tank, but you get some spells which can be used like Provoke with damage. I see the argument, and I even tried it myself for a bit, but I think the boosts to attack and defense and plain old Provoke is a better option. (But that's just my opinion).
*All the monks I've played with suck, they do no damage and they are just mana drains. What gives? ::A common problem with Monks is that they often fall into neglect because their armor and weapons are so costly as you increase levels (granted, this is true for all jobs, it's just with something like a Mage you are always wanting that next big spell so it's always in the back of your mind that you need to upgrade). Monks who don't keep their weapons/armor up can still be great solo machines, but they aren't living up to their full potential.
::Hands down Monks have the greatest benefit from weapon/armor upgrades. Often, weapon upgrades multiply the existing damage done rather than just add to it (which is the way most other jobs work). So even a small upgrade from one level to the next will see massive improvements. The problem is, this becomes costly (still not as costly as those spells though ;-)
::If you play with a Monk who is not dealing out the damage they should be, politely suggest that an upgrade in weaponry to their current level will vastly improve what they can do. They may be irked at first, but if they take the advice they will sure be thanking you later.
*I've heard monks can out-damage equally levelled DRGs, PLDs, and SAMs, is this true? ::You know, I really don't know ;-)
::Certainly, there seems to be [evidence] that this is the case. And it's been my experience that monks with proper equipment can be ruthless in groups. But, ultimately, I don't know. I would say they are right up there ;-)
*What's this I hear about solo skill chains? ::It's true! Monks used to be able to do skill chains solo (meaning that they could really get a lot more exp if they knew what they were doing or got lucky). You could even do it at low levels (trust me, I did).
::However, Squeenix decided this was a "bug" and not a "feature" and a recent ["update"] got rid of it. Dirty bastards. You can still do solo skill chains as a Samurai (until that's deemed a bug too) but us Monks can't anymore.
*I have higher HP than the rest of my group, should I be a MNK Tank? ::The kneejerk reaction is "no". Typically, the person with the highest defense should be the primary tank and MNK/WAR combos (with 'voke) make decent secondary tanks and damage-dealers.
::That being said, if your MNK has the highest defense, and the highest HP, or has a fairly high defense and high HP then they often make better choices as tanks (provided they can 'voke with a sub). For example, I recently played in a group with a PLD at my level. Often PLDs will be the primary tank, however this PLD didn't have a sheild and had armor that was way low. Her HP was like 309 with an 98 def. Meanwhile, my HP was 564 with a 108 def. Naturally, in that situaion, I was the best choice for primary tank.
::So the bottom line is you need to use your better judgement when deciding who should tank in any group. Don't fall into the kneejerk reaction of saying "only WAR or PLD tank, MNKs just deal damage" because, sometimes, that isn't the best way to play. Admittedly, if the WAR or PLD are the same level as the MNK and have up-to-date armor, then naturally they'd make better tanks. Just be sure to evaluate each party accordingly.
*I'm a Galka MNK/WAR, shouldn't I automatically be the tank? ::No, you shouldn't. Just because you have higher HP than the rest of your team does not mean you'll be the best tank. If someone else has higher def, then they will undoubtedly make a better tank. This is the opposite end of the spectrum to the above kneejerk reaction, that is if your HP is really high you should automatically be the tank.
::I'll give you another example like the above one that just happenned to me last night (and prompted me to write this). I was in a PT with a WAR/MNK who had 375 HP and a def of 160. My stats (at the time) were 715 HP and a def of 120. They had me be the tank because my HP was nearly twice what the WAR's was.
::Well, when he was a tank, the enemies were doing 10-15 points damage to him. When I was a tank, I was usually taking 50-80 points of damage. If you do the math, you'll see that I'm much more of a mana drain to keep me alive and my 715 HP didn't last very long.
::So I will restate what I stated above: Use your better judgement and evaluate each party accordingly. Sometimes you should be the tank, other times you could make a great secondary tank... Still other times you shouldn't tank at all. It all depends on who you are playing with.
*So if the MNK/WAR isn't a tank, what is it? ::It's actually a very flexible class combo. It can be a tank if needed, but, when properly equipped, it's better suited to be a damage dealer.
::Okay, so it's attack may not be as high as RNG or NIN, but it's attack rate is generally much higher and it's accuracy is better... especially when you have some boosts stacked and you're using focus. This means that, over time, a MNK/WAR will typically do more consistent damage than the other high attack classes.
::To give an example, last night I was playing in a group with a RNG/NIN (which has staggering attack and is a pretty damned cool combo ;-) The RNG/NIN was typically hitting the enemies for 40-50 points of damage per strike. Meanwhile, I was hitting for 20-30 points per strike. However, my attacks rarely missed with my focus ability running, and I could typically hit two or three times to the RNG/NIN's one. This meant that I was doing anywhere from 40 to 90 points of damage during the same time it was taking the RNG/NIN to do 40 to 50. Taking a look at the rate, consistency, and accuracy, it's hard to argue that MNK's aren't damage dealers.
::Now, I'm not belittling the RNG/NIN combo, mind you. I personally think it freakin' rocks (especially once you factor in the ranged attacks and skills, which, I didn't above). It certainly has the advtantage when pulling is concerned (their range of attacks and wide scan skill really kicks ass ;-) making it very hard to pull if you're a MNK/WAR in an area with lots of RNG/NINs?. I'm just saying that MNK's are damage dealers too.
*I'm a MNK in the 20s or 30s, and I'm having a hard time finding a party. Is this just a mallady of MNKs to always be alone? ::I personally never have had a hard time finding a party (finding a good party, now that's another story ;-) as a MNK. If you are not getting the invites you want, then chances are you're doing something wrong. So let's take a look quickly at what problems a MNK faces in getting invites:
***Okay, first things first, MNKs and WARs tend to have a harder time getting parties at levels past 20 simply because there are so many of them. Let's face it, the meelee classes are a dime a dozen. That's not saying you shouldn't play as them, and it's not making light of them, it's just the truth. However, the turn-around rates for parties are generally pretty high, so this isn't as big of an issue. All that this means is that you wont get as many invites as PLD, RNG, or DRK (which is fine by me, they get way too many invites and people fighting over them ;-) but you will still get more than enough invites to handle your needs.
***The next big problem is, if you've pissed off enough people no one will want to play with you. If you really aren't getting the invites, check your attitude and check the area to see how many people you may have pissed off ;-)
***Perhaps the biggest reason MNKs or WARs (or anyone, really) don't get the invites is because they don't keep their subjobs up. If you're a 32 MNK with a 4 WAR subjob, that subjob ain't doing you much good (and the party leaders will probably know that). 9 times out of 10 this is the reason the parties I'm in reject someone. I know that levelling your sub is hard and oft times unglamorous, but do it anyway.
***Another big reason is armor and equipment. MNK armor and equipment is expensive and complicated. Understanding what the best combinations of things are is a real nightmare. I think this is worse for MNKs than others in the game because you have so much flexability it's really easy to screw yourself up and get a combination that's ultimately useless. It's also hard for MNKs because sometimes higher level does not mean better (for example, even though they are merely level 15, [Republic Knuckles] are the best MNK weapons into your 30s). If your equipment isn't up to snuff, you wont be much of a damage dealer (or a tank, if necessary) and you will be passed over quite often (or asked to leave when it's discovered you don't do much damage ;-)
Bear in mind that what this page used to have on it was from early 2004, and has mostly been obsoleted by a lot of updates and patches to the game.
Removed a lot of very old information. Perhaps someday I'll fix this, but there's just too much really good data out there on monks and it seems silly for me to do so now.
If you're really interested what this page used to say, check the older revisions.
Bear in mind that what this page used to have on it was from early 2004, and has mostly been obsoleted by a lot of updates and patches to the game.