by FoxBat

Overview

The Monk is Hellfire's new official character class. He also seems to be the least-liked of all character classes. Many try to rely on his decent melee capabilities and become frustrated with certain enemies. In order to overcome these enemies, he must be played as a hybrid class who relies equally on melee and magic. With some clever strategies, he is a fun, versatile, and powerful character even in higher difficulty levels, and certainly the match for any Rogue or Warrior.

Basics

Stats

The effects of all points are calculated the same as a rogue. Thus he gains +2 mana and health per level up. Str and Dex are equal factors in determining damage.

Dex is the most important for good to-hit, ac, and damage. Mag is almost as important to implement strategies that compensate for the monk's weaknesses. Str is necessary for wearing heavy armor, as well as granting some damage. Vit is the least important, and no level up points should be assigned until everything else is maxed.

Weapon Swing Speed and Damage

(n is unknown, but seems to range between 0 and 15, and increases with clvl)

Staves and unarmed combat are the specialty of the monk. The monk swings his staff faster than a warrior can swing his sword, and his bare-handed fighting is as quick as a warrior with haste. While equipped with a staff, he can use a sweep attack, which will damage not only the enemy in front of him, but also to the two sides adjacent to his front. In addition to shields, monks can also block with staves, one-handed swords and clubs, and while unarmed.

The monk is weak with other weapons. His swing speeds are close to the sorcerer, and his damage is 2/3rds of the rogue's. Bow use is virtually impossible, and axes, swords, and clubs are very difficult to use.

Armour Class

Monk with no armor, light armor, or unique mail: Dex/5 + clvl*2 + armor

Monk with mail or unique plate: Dex/5 + clvl/2 + armor

Monk with plate: Dex/5 + armor

Compared to most characters, the monk does NOT get a penalty for wearing heavy armor. However, he does gain a bonus for wearing lighter armors. This bonus is usually significant only in normal difficulty, but there are a few unique armors that benefit from this bonus in nightmare and hell.

Skill

The monk's skill is search. Using this skill will highlight all items on the ground. On the map items will appear as blue boxes. The duration is short, but casting search many times consecutively will greatly lengthen the duration. As search is a spell you can read books of it, but in the 5th page it will still appear as the search skill instead of the spell. Gaining unseen "spell levels" by reading books does not increase the duration of search.

Getting Started

The Monk will come equipped with a short staff, 2 healing potions, and 100 gold. It's best to spend the gold on some cheap armor. Use your staff to gain levels, and put all points into Dex. Keep your eyes out for staves that do more damage and staves that have healing spells on them. Once you are about level 5, you may notice that your feet are doing more damage than your staff. Feet are swift and often more damaging, but staves come with a swing attack. Alternate as needed. Also, if AC is a problem, you may want to fight with only a shield. This will cause a loss in damage, but the quick attack and AC can make up for this.

Once you are in the catacombs, your to-hit should be decent enough, and you can put some points into Mag. If you find a war staff, don't hesitate to put the 5 points into Str. Firebolt, Lightning, Fire Wall, and Lightning Wall will serve you well early on, but keep your eyes open for fireball, chain lightning, and other good offensive spells as you progress to the caves.

Often lighter armors will be better than the mail you find here.

Equipment

Once you have finished normal difficulty, you will need to search for better equipment to handle Nightmare and especially Hell. What does the monk need to wear to increase his effectiveness? An examination of the important naked maximum stats will reveal this.

Str 150: Certainly enough for any armor, so there is little need for more of this.

Mag 80: 140 is needed for perfect magical to-hit in nightmare, 160 in hell, so boosting this is a must.

Dex 150: This is good enough to block anything, although sometimes it will not grant enough to-hit.

AC 130: Certainly not enough to avoid being hit by anything in Hell difficulty.

To-Hit 125: Not enough to hit anything in hell/hell

Mana 183: OK for many spells, but it's a bit small for frequent stone curses, and somewhat lacking for manashield.

Life 201: This isn't much, but it is manageable. Often it is better to use Mana Shield, because it's usually better to boost mana instead of health.

Resist 0: Not much at all... while this can be OK for levels with monsters who throw ranged attacks but close in with melee, you need to max it against monsters that cast spells and run from you.

Dex and Str are naturally quite high, and Vit is mostly useless. Thus +all items are not very effective. AC you can play with or without, depending on the setup you choose, but you need around 250 AC in hell/hell for the +AC items to be worth the resources.

Mana and Magic will need some sort of increase to handle spellcasters. Getting to-hit to around 200 is essential for Hell/Hell. And of course, resistances are very important.

King's Staff of Speed/Haste is the monk's standard weapon, as it is the only +to-hit enchantment available on staves. The speed/haste will increase your damage over time and make it much harder for enemies to hit you. Finding such a staff is very rare in the dungeons, but Griswold will offer it to a lvl 30+ character for a hefty sum. Before this, you may want to shop at Adria for a King's spell staff. While less than ideal, it will serve you well until Griswold sells you what you need.

As for other items, there is variation depending upon your chosen setup. Usually any slots not spent on increasing AC should be used to increase magic, mana, and resistances.

Playing Styles

While he is not the jack-of-all-trades the rogue is, the Monk does have some different equipment choices that work for different situations. Some are more effective or versatile than others. You may choose a style, or carry some extra gear and swap roles as needed.

High-AC Tank Monk
Blocking and getting hit by monsters can be annoying, thus some choose the classic warrior route of extremely high armor. Due to the lack of a shield, the monk will find it difficult reaching 300 AC, but it is possible. Armor of Gloom will give the highest possible AC, 225 from armor and an addition clvl/2 bonus.

This will cost you all resistances, so it does make a good pair with Gotterdammerung for the highest possible AC. Armor of gloom is impossible to find in multiplayer, and extremely rare in single, so it is more likely that you will find some Godly full plate at Wirt.

For a helm, Godly with a +mana suffix works well, Royal Circlet being ideal. Gotterdammerung can compensate for weak armor if necessary.

If the level is all-melee, mana shield may not be necessary, as you will rarely be getting hit. Still, it's always good to wear reflect just in case.

While fairly effective against melee monsters, AC is completely useless against spell-lobbers, and they are the monk's greatest foe. However, this will quickly clear all-melee levels, and allow you to teleport into unknown rooms without risk, making quick travel for Laz runs.

Example:
Godly Plate, Royal Circlet, Kings staff of Haste, Obs/Wiz, Obs/Wiz, Drag/Wiz.

Mid-AC Monk
A more balanced approach to quickly clear melee levels while maintaining good effectiveness against spellcasters. 250ish AC is the target to aim for, which can be achieved with a Godly FPM, freeing the helm for other things. Or you can buy a Godly Helm with suffix and some Awesome armor with suffix.

Examples:
Awesome Plate of Harmony, Godly Helm of the Whale, Kings/Haste, Obs/Wiz, Obs/Wiz, Drag/Wiz.

Godly plate, Helm of Spirits, Kings/Haste, Obs/Wiz, Obs/Wiz, Drag/Wiz

Low-AC Warrior-Mage
The most versatile setup, and my personal choice. The Kings/Haste still remains, but the need for AC is gone. Most of the melee strength is preserved without AC, while his magical abilities are greatly increased, making spellcasters much easier.

In addition to 160 Magic, High mana and +spell level items are used. Remember that you can raise the permanent durability of a Thinking Cap with blacksmith oils if applied when the item is at full durability.

When playing with this setup, its most efficient to destroy what you can with offensive magic, fight the remaining melees that get to close range, and liberally employ advanced tactics against spellcasters with your large mana pool. This is a very effective setup whether you are doing XP runs or you are fighting Advocates and Blood Knights.

Although a full mini-mage is possible by wearing dreamflange and a good enchanted shield, on most levels it is more effective to have melee capacity. Melee can kill highly resistant and immune creatures much faster than magic can, and at close range as well.

Example:
Naj's Light Plate, Thinking Cap, Kings/Haste, Obs/Wiz, Drag/Wiz, Drag/Harmony

Perilous or "Kamikaze" Monk
A radically different and specialized setup, with occasionally great results. Instead of the Kings/Haste weapon, this Monk goes all-out for maximum possible damage with a Staff of Peril. Such a staff does double total damage against monsters, while only the staff's damage to yourself. There are two primary problems with this weapon: you will require much more to-hit to use it, and you will need life-steal to counter the damage it does to you. This also means that mana shield can't be used.

Attaining perfect to-hit is necessary, as anything less will not yield more effectiveness than a Kings/Haste staff. In Hellfire, the Ring of Engagement will reduce monster's base AC by 75%, ensuring perfect hit. However, these are extremely rare in Hellfire, perhaps impossible to find, as Gladiator's ring always seems to appear in it's place. A more probable solution will involve 2 gold items of perfection, although it is doable with 3 gold items paired with any suffix.

As for life steal, your only options are Helm of Spirits or the Undead Crown. To get decent AC, godly plate is necessary. It's possible to go without AC, but with the slow swing speed it won't be as effective. If you are in need of resistances, this leaves only 1 slot open, which can be filled by a constricting ring.

This works extremely well on levels where the monsters come to you. The Staff of Peril slices through enemies like butter, and the life steal and occasional healing will compensate for the damage from peril and constricting ring. If witches are around it will be a little more challenging, as fireball is not an option with such low magic. This isn't too poor against the slower Hellbats and Arch-Liches, which offensive spells are near-useless against anyway. Advocates and other mages will be extremely painful though, required that you stone curse each and every one, and carefully monitor your health.   Some of these items can be difficult to find. The plate can be bought, and the gold/perf can be found or bought in single player. Your best bet for finding a Helm of Spirits or Constricting Ring is Hell/Church. Staff of Peril is findable in church, but is easiest to buy from Griswold with a lvl 5 character. Note that a short-staff of peril is ideal, as the base difference is insignificant vs monsters, but makes a huge difference in the damage dealt to yourself.

Example:
Helm of Spirits, Godly Plate, Staff of Peril, Gold/Perfection, Gold/Perf, Constricting Ring.

Miscellaneous Issues

Healing vs Mana Shield
This depends somewhat on your chosen equipment. If your mana is significantly higher than your Life, mana shield is almost always better. The high damage that monsters deal in Hell difficulty is easier to handle with the damage reduction of mana shield.

Whether or not you employ mana shield, reflect should always be in use to reduce damage from melee monsters.

BlockLock
The monk's strongest asset and primary weakness is his superior blocking. If your AC is low and you face melee monsters and archers, you will spend a lot of time blocking most of the hits and not much fighting. This is a dangerous situation, as you are held immobile and the monsters will achieve a few hits, sometimes causing stunlock.. Spellcasters are even more problematic, because in Hellfire you will block magical attacks even if you have resistance. This often leads to frustrating attempts against witches and other "run away" spellcasters, as you attempt to stunlock one monster but the others fire, and after some blocking your target has escaped. Special tactics are required in order to deal with these situations.

One solution is to never pump your Dex, instead relying on Str for damage and a good enchantment for To-Hit. However this ultimately leads to long-term lower damage and AC, and you will sometimes miss that blocking ability. I recommend using the below tactics instead.

Melee
Blocking can be turned to an advantage in melee combat. Monks can do fairly well with virtually no AC if you have these things:

1. Nearly perfect to-hit
2. Enough damage to stun
3. Plenty of magic, reflect and mana shield
4. Staff of haste preferred

While playing with low-ac, some precautions must be taken. A staff of speed/haste makes a great difference in your performance. When huge mobs are chasing you, look for either a choke point or a corner. Note that the doorways in hell are 3 spaces wide and thus make sufficient choke points. Try to face only 3 enemies at a time, and ensure that those enemies are always within the hitting range. Use the shift key while attacking and let the monsters come to you. You should be able to stunlock the monsters so that they rarely ever get to swing at you.

Watch out for fast-attacking monsters, such as lava maws and storm demons. This is why a staff with speed or haste is important. Mana Shield and Reflect are important for reducing damage when you are hit, because once you begin taking damage, you will likely take much more.

Haste and/or Harmony can break stunlocks, as can reflect, but it is better not to get into a position where stunlock is possible. When facing a large mob, use offensive magic to reduce it down to a manageable size. With a good staff, you can spend the rest of your slots on increasing your magic and mana, which gives you more endurance and the versatility to take on spellcasting creatures.

If you are playing coop, a low-ac monk can use slot 0 and serve as a "shield" that blocks the monsters, while a bard or barbarian friend dishes out the damage. The reflect spell will tag the monsters so that you and your friend will gain good experience. Additionally, if you coop with other low-ac monks or barbarians, you can cover more enemies together than apart. 2

characters standing side by side can handle 6 enemies at once, and 4 can handle enemies from all sides at the same time. This will allow you to play the low-ac style at a an accelerated rate.

Spellcasters
Ranged attackers are the Monk's primary weakness, and magic is the key to overcoming that weakness. Offensive spells will quickly and efficiently deal with many of these. It's important to have good spell levels and about 130-160 magic for good magical to-hit. A few fireballs and chain lightnings are much more expedient than chasing down succubuses.

Resistances or Immunities may render offensive spells ineffective. In these cases a combination of tactics is required.

Telekill
Teleport next to the ranged attacker and immediately attack it, thus not allowing it to run away. This should be familiar to those who play the warrior. Keep in mind that with a staff, the monk can stun up to 3 monsters at once, so choose your teleport destination carefully. Sometimes its worth luring the attackers to move a bit so they enter a formation that you can take advantage of. If you are facing both melee and ranged, it's important to kill the ranged first. Let the melees get close to you, then teleport over them and deal with the spellcasters.

Berserk
If there are monsters around without magic immunity, this is a lifesaver. Cast berserk on ranged attackers and they will often turn on each other. As this tactic is only employed when strong magic resistance is present, the spellcaster will rarely kill each other, meaning that you still get all the experience. If there are melee monsters that are vulnerable to berserk, you can cast it on them and lure them over to the ranged attackers. They will function as a very effective golem, not only distracting but killing many of your foes.

Feet
When facing mages in normal or nightmare difficulty you may be  lacking a staff of speed/haste. In this case you should drop the staff and attack them with your feet. Feet are swift enough to stunlock mages, and often do more damage at this level. As you move into hell difficulty and get a good staff, this method will become less advantageous.

Golem
Another distraction technique that works against most spellcasting creatures. Witches can quickly reduce it to a pile of rubble, but all others will tango with your golem.. The golem can even kill hellbats and liches, while he often fails to do the same against mages. In either case he is an important distraction tactic to keep others busy so you can avoid blocklock.

Fire/Lightning wall
A valuable tactic in the Crypt. Monsters in the Nest and Crypt will not cross a magical wall if they are not immune to it. When facing large mobs of Liches or firebats, you can use this to isolate them. Cast a firewall, then lure the immunes across it, while the non-immunes stay behind. You can lure firebats across a firewall and leave the melee behind, or lure melee across a firewall and leave behind the liches. Beware arch-liches in Hell difficulty, as they are triple immune.

Stone Curse
This method is secondly only in importance to telekill. A high spell level is essential for good duration. One tactic is to stone most of the spellcasters, then telekill the remaining. Combine this with lining up 2 or 3 monsters into formation in order to save some time and mana. Against large mobs this may

not be effective, so instead you should stone curse one or a few monsters, and focus on one of the statues. While that statue isn't going anywhere, you may be blocking the other monster's spells, preventing efficient attacking. To avoid this, attack the statue, then move to a different tile adjacent to your target. This allows you to dodge the spells and continue your attack..

When facing large mixes of melee and ranged attackers, you may have to stone curse the melees so they stop bothering you, and then focus on eliminating the spellcasters. Mixed mobs are very dangerous, so its imperative to destroy the spellcasters first.

Thats all...feedback or hosting opportunities welcome...

Ice(BNR)
"Magic? Who needs magic? Me axe does the job all the time. Grrr..."

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