Cloud Nine Monks Guide

Cloud Nine Monks Guide by SAIN

Welcome to Monkery 101. I am professor Pancake. Today I shall be teaching about monks, what they are good at, their weaknesses, and their applications in PvE and PvP.

Table of Contents:
1. Intro to Monks
2. Monk Equipment
3. Monk Skills
4. Which race?
5. PvP?

I am Pancake! King of Breakfast! Ruler of all things syrupy! Oh, and Im also a Monk in Cloud Nine.

Part 1. Introduction to the Monk

Monks themselves are a rather wonderful class. You have above average defense and damage, as well as rather high health and CP. The only thing lacking is your MP. As a monk, you are capable of filling in several roles in a party, be it Main Tank, Backup Tank, or Damage Dealer. Your main weapons are blunt instruments, which you use to bludgeon unsuspecting monsters and people into a thick, pulpy red sludge. Or you can toss away the blunt weapons and pound their face in with your fists. Either way works fine. Just remember, as a monk, you are adaptable. It is possible to make it through almost any situation alive. As long as you can manage to adapt.
I am Pancake! King of Breakfast! Ruler of all things syrupy! Oh, and Im also a Monk in Cloud Nine.

Part 2. Monk Equipment

Monks have two weapons available to them. The pair of Knuckles or the One Hand Blunt and Shield. Both weapons are fine in their own right, but are very different.

Knuckles are powerful, capable of bringing monsters to their knees within moments. Your relentless barrage of blows will strike true and send even the most hardened of foes crumpling to the ground. Just, watch out when they attack. Knuckles provide you with no extra defensive abilities. Best be on your toes!

Good knuckles to look out for would be ones that increase Strength, for more attack power, Hit rating, so you miss less often, and Power hit or Critical, depending on your preference. Coldheart and Wild seem to fit this best, but if Glory or Blessing becomes available, consider grabbing those instead.

On the opposite of the knuckles, the One Hand Blunt and Shield provide a much more defensive game. The blunt does not deal as much damage as the knuckles do, but the added protection of the shield allows you to fight longer, and can make or break a fight.

As with knuckles, good blunts should increase strength, hit rating and either power strike or critical. Shields have as much defense as possible.

As for armor, Blessing and Glory are best, but they arent always available. Justice armor might be a better choice, since the vital boost they give means you will have higher HP and be able to last longer during your battles.

Part 3. Monk Skills.

Monk skills are a very mixed bag. Some offer devastating hits, capable of bringing even the strongest monsters down to size very quickly. Others will damage enemies over time through strikes to pressure points or special joint locks. Others will knock the enemy silly and render them incapable of fighting back for a short period. Some will even allow you to draw a monsters attention onto yourself. Great for if a friend is in trouble and need a chance to compose themselves.

But, monks are not all just about smashing skulls. They bring many support skills to the table as well. They are capable of increasing HP and MP regen of their allies, as well as increase their vitality, allowing them to fight longer. The most stoic of monks will gain the ability to increase all of their allies stats for a time as well.

Level Breakdown:

Level 1: Elastic Fist.
Elastic fist is the basic monk skill. It is a simple concentrated strike that deals a little more than a normal attack. This will be your main attack until you learn Fist Thrust or Abundant Energy. After level 15 or so, this skill becomes obsolete.

Level 5: Knuckle Mastery, Blunt Mastery.
Your first passive skill. These skills increase the amount of damage you deal with their respective weapon. Very useful. I recommend keeping your favorite weapon as high as possible.

Level 10: Meditate, Fist Thrust (Arcane), Abundant Energy(Occult), Charge(Instinct).

Ah, level 10. The first time we start getting really useful skills.

Meditate is a ten minute buff that will increase your party members HP and MP regeneration by a certain amount. This is still a little fuzzy though and needs confirmation.

Fist Thrust is a wonderful attack. It is, in essence, a more powerful elastic fist. I would recommend keeping this at a moderate level, as its quick cooldown and good damage can save you in a pinch.

Abundant Energy is the first DoT attack monks will get. It strikes first for moderate damage, then deals smaller amounts every three or so seconds for fifteen seconds. Good for wearing down enemies with lots of defense, as the dot damage is not reduced by defense.

Charge is your first stun skill. When it is used, you rush towards your opponent, faster than the eye can blink and strike them with a powerful blow that leaves them seeing stars. During this time, the enemy cannot do anything. A wonderful skill all around.

Level 15. Deathblow (Arcane), Warn (Occult)

Deathblow is a knuckle only skill. It has a one second cast time before you flip backwards, skid for a moment and then fling yourself foot first towards your opponent, dealing heavy damage. This is your most powerful move so far.

Warn is a projectile attack with a good range of 18 meters. When used, you will throw a wave of energy towards your opponent, damaging them. This attack also causes monsters to turn and attack you. And the chance of this is very high. If you want to use this attack, be sure to tell the tank first.

Level 20 Regenerating Heart (Still fuzzy on name), Joint Lock(Arcane), First Strike(Occult), Healing Heart(Instinct).

Ahh, now the good skills are rolling in.

I cant quite remember the name of the first skill, but I shall call it regeneration for now till I remember. This skill increases your HP regen rate. Good if you like to rest a lot instead of using potions.

Joint lock is similar to Abundant Energy. However, it does not deal immediate damage like Abundant Energy. instead, Joint Lock encases your enemy in a spherical red cage that continuously does damage to the person within it.

First Strike, ah, another skill to use if someone is in trouble. You strike the enemy with a mighty blow, causing great amounts of damage and directing their attention onto you.

Healing Heart, ahh, the skill that makes Monks so wonderful. Healing heart immediately heals around 456 HP, then every three seconds for ten seconds after that, restores around 250 HP. This skill is wonderful and will help cut down on potion costs. Too bad it has a cool time of 30 seconds.

Part 4. What race should I use?

Race comes down to more of a matter of preference.

Seneka do well as Monks, due to the strength and defense race skills they get. Seneka also have an MP restoring race skill, which is very useful to monks.

Playing as a Seneka will offer a rather balanced experience.

Koshare: To be added.

Matsaka: To be added.

Part 5. Pvp?

Monks are rather balanced at PvP. Though, they seem to do better in 1v1 rather than group PvP.

Warriors:

Warriors pose a bit of a threat to Monks. They have high defense that can mitigate the monks attacks, as well as having a decent amount of attack power.

However, in my experiences of fighting warriors, Monks usually win.

Hunters:

Hunters fight at range, and good hunters do everything in their power to play keep away with you. They will run and fire on you before sprinting away before you can catch up.

Using charge to quickly catch up with them is your best bet. Hunters have low CP and HP and fall soon after you get within melee range.

Rouges:

Rouges present a problem to monks. They have low CP and HP like hunters, but have a chain stun they can use to keep the monk on the defensive. Couple this with their fast attack speed and decent attack power, and you have one heck of a fight on your hands.

Cleric: To be added.

Mage: To be added.

Monk: To be added.

This concludes Monkery 101 for now.

Please, feel free to discuss monks now. You may offer advice, other things I may have missed, or things you think I have wrong. If your points are good, I will include them in the guide and credit them to you.

After all, this isnt my guide, this is the monks guide. To be written and corrected by monks for monks.

. 3. Now, discuss!