Aug 1st Monk Skills Info - Page 2

[:1]I really wan't to know if the Monk can block with his staves.

It will make a big difference in the choice between 2handed weapons duel wielding and the traditional sword/shield setup (not that a monk will use swords necessarily.

It's interesting in noting the development of the Mantras, with that trait info, it now looks like you will "cast" a Mantra (spirit cost there) and it will last for a certain amount of time and then go, with a cool down time following.

It makes sense because the runes can now affect it in noticeable ways compared to an always on.

You can have: reduced spirit cost, increase duration, increased power, increased range, focused mantra (where it can only affect a small number), repeat signal (where a mantra with short radius will now appear from all party members instead of just you), inverse (where a mantra doing +dmg to party, now does -dmg to enemies)

Quit a few possibilities there.|||I guess it's fair to assume that you have to lose something by not using a shield, or giving up the extra weapon/larger weapon wouldn't make sense. Personally, I dislike the idea of a monk using a shield at all. I would prefer it if your choices are (1)dual wield/hands for more speed and offense, (2)Staves for longer reach and more defense. My issue with shields for a monk is that then it lumps dual wield and two handed staves into the same category. Basically, the two most obvious "looks" for a monk (fighting unarmed or with two weapons, and fighting with staves) both fill the same role: offense. To be a defensive monk, you have to use a shield which to me is not a "monk-like". I don't know if I'm explaining myself clearly, but I would rather the offensive and defensive choices not include shields.

Mantras+runes will definitely be where you can vary monk builds. The combinations seem complex in terms of how the mantras will work together (can they stack? can you "avoid" cooldowns by using similar mantras and alternating them? can you have a mantra for ever situation?). Whether they will be suitably complex enough to satisfy monk players will come down to what exactly they all are, and how much the random element of attuning a rune comes into play (if that even makes it to release).|||Right now I think the only difference between duel wielding/two handers vs shields is that shields give you more survivability.

I remember that Blizz are trying to make duel wield and two handers the same in DPS and in affixes/suffixes by having the two handers have twice as many affixes/suffixes as compared to one one handed weapons.

So no block with the staves, but maybe we can hope for something within the passive skills(as they come up with something to match the duel wielding passive.).|||Quote:








I guess it's fair to assume that you have to lose something by not using a shield, or giving up the extra weapon/larger weapon wouldn't make sense. Personally, I dislike the idea of a monk using a shield at all. I would prefer it if your choices are (1)dual wield/hands for more speed and offense, (2)Staves for longer reach and more defense. My issue with shields for a monk is that then it lumps dual wield and two handed staves into the same category. Basically, the two most obvious "looks" for a monk (fighting unarmed or with two weapons, and fighting with staves) both fill the same role: offense. To be a defensive monk, you have to use a shield which to me is not a "monk-like". I don't know if I'm explaining myself clearly, but I would rather the offensive and defensive choices not include shields.

Mantras+runes will definitely be where you can vary monk builds. The combinations seem complex in terms of how the mantras will work together (can they stack? can you "avoid" cooldowns by using similar mantras and alternating them? can you have a mantra for ever situation?). Whether they will be suitably complex enough to satisfy monk players will come down to what exactly they all are, and how much the random element of attuning a rune comes into play (if that even makes it to release).






I like shields and am glad to have that option for both the Barb and the Monk.|||Both the barb and the monk are lacking passives to boost two-handers, I'm sure it'll be address by the time we actually get the beta (whether the lack of passive is intentional or just because it hasn't been added yet.)

Being able to block with a staff would be pretty cool but it takes away from the decision of having to give up offensive power for defensive power (2h or 2 1h vs. 1h + shield) so I don't see that one being added in anytime soon... Unless of course a staff is equivalent in dps to a single 1h and has space for some extra affixes and suffixes to basically equate to being a 1h + shield combo in a single weapon.|||I think that all of the near-death health buff abilities will make the Monk an excellent early HC character.|||I've never played HC past act 1 so I don't really think in those terms but yeah, that talent is almost a shoe in for those wanting to play HC at first without playing through SC once (assuming they remove that requirement like they did in D2)|||Quote:








... Unless of course a staff is equivalent in dps to a single 1h and has space for some extra affixes and suffixes to basically equate to being a 1h + shield combo in a single weapon.




That's kinda what I would like to see... I think it would be an interesting D3 variant to have a 2-handed weapon that, instead of equaling two weapons, equals a weapon and a shield. A religious monk with a staff seems like a good match to introduce that type of weaponry, but I'm sure I'll make due with whatever we're given.|||you can always split the difference Torr, have a block affix on staves. Or ideally, give it to your black smith and have him imbue a block affix.

What i think we will see is that skills will work better with some weapons and not others, due to weapon stats like range and speed and skill stats like invulnerability.

That is, for his sweeping wind skill, a stave would be better as it has longer range, hitting more enemies. For Dashing strike assuming the speed is a function of weapon speed, 2 1h weapons would be better because it would make it faster or sword/sheild combo.

Skills like SSS negate the effectiveness of blocking because invulnerable or couldn't block during the attack anyway.|||Depending on how defensive the monk's abilities actually end up being we may not even need a shield to block with. I'd really like to know the effects of the different mantras as well as how effective breath of heaven is or if they changed it from what the tooltip said back in the '10 demo.