Well, decided to make a monk on the PTS and true to my word, I allready have my viperfangs (not yet being 19), the wooden set and non mentionable jewellery. Plus a lot of soulshots to help me out in the lower 20'ies.
Now comes the big question though. Is it wise to just put on some heavy armour (starting with bronze which would help me level my ws as well) or am I better of going for the light armour way from the beginning?
Conventional wisdom says to start off in heavy. There's some question as to when to stop wearing heavy. Some say 40, others 52, some say wear it for good. A lot depends on your play style and preferences.
I've worn light from the beginning because I'm often in groups and rarely taking damage. Even at 54, my tyrant wears plated leather because there's no better armor for dealing out damage. But plated leather is the exception due to its incredibly advantageous bonuses.
If paagrio meant for you to wear heavy armor you would have heavy mastery, but you don't.... You lose what evasion you have with heavy armor, and for a monk it's all about being missed when hit.
Paagrio is wise and all but he is not the one teaching me the secret techniques of the monk. He is the one however to make me question things on my own. So if ignoring my teachers because heavy armour is a better way to go.......
I will be soloing 99% of the time (this is the PTS after all). The question is, is having the improved evasion with light is worth the loss of pdef (even with light armour masteries, the difference between light and armour will be huge)?
The question is, is having the improved evasion with light is worth the loss of pdef (even with light armour masteries, the difference between light and armour will be huge)?
Does the skill "Agile Movement" (Increases Accuracy and Speed while wearing light armor) that Monks get at 20 not have a noticeable effect? Getting that as a passive makes it sound like Tyrants would really want light armor, unless it doesn't do anything significant.
Is it just that accuracy isn't needed as they are using blunts and run speed isn't that important?
The thing is, if you're grinding away, you'll probably be fighting mobs that are, at most, 5-10 levels above you. Accuracy is no problem given the blunts bonus. With guidance and light armor I can hit mobs 20 levels above me. That's absurd. You don't need that kind of accuracy in normal cases. As for run speed, its a small boost. Nice, but for your average hunting not terribly important. The main bonus for light armor is the evasion. But the common wisdom says pdef >> evasion at low levels, and from my experience, I'm inclined to agree. Until you get the puma totem (40+), lvl 40+ evasion buffs, and dex tats/armor bonuses, you're not going to be evading much with that 26 dex of yours.
Issue always comes down to this heavy armor means you take less damage each time you get hit but you get hit about every time! So figure it out for yourself how often do you get hit in light and see how fast the damage builds up then compare it to the heavy now I don't have a tyrant but I do have a dagger and archer evasion has always been their main defensive attribute not p defense
Monks should use heavy and tyrants light. Orcs agile movement gives crap all agility bonus and they only have 26 base dex, evasion is not a monks strong point...tyrants however...
I must say that I want to benefit from the special monk skills (I hate walking slow). But buying myself some heavy outfit has some merrits as well besides the obvious better pdef (I intend to transfer my gear to a ws who is to make me Dss one day until he reaches lvl 20).
In the end I think I will let my skillselection decide what to do. If it says that I need to wear light armor then light armor it will be and **** the torpedoes!
Brig heavy with the p def and hp bonus is superior on a monk then manti set. Even without brig helm the massive of p def owns the crap out of 5 run speed and a couple of agility.
Brig heavy with the p def and hp bonus is superior on a monk then manti set. Even without brig helm the massive of p def owns the crap out of 5 run speed and a couple of agility.
Now this being the PTS, I doubt I will encounter a brig helmet or manti gloves/boots. But yes my path is not yet clear.
Thats my point..... If your tyrants going with light armor, then use it for your monk too right from the start.
Why? That doesn't make any sense to me. It's not like he's going to earn experience or have better skills because he uses light armor from the beginning. Light armor is a handicap for a Monk who is fighting solo.
Seriously, your little monk would be better off with NG Bronze than that DG Puma you are sporting.
With heavy armor say your hit 5 times each hit doing 50 damage thats 250 total damage taken.
Now take light armor with your light masterys the same 5 attempts but only 3 out of the 5 times connect each hit does 75 damage. That comes to a damage total of 225 taken.
The Orc Monk/Tyrant has light armor mastery. Why would anyone not use the armor of his masterys?
With heavy armor say your hit 5 times each hit doing 50 damage thats 250 total damage taken.
Now take light armor with your light masterys the same 5 attempts but only 3 out of the 5 times connect each hit does 75 damage. That comes to a damage total of 225 taken.
The Orc Monk/Tyrant has light armor mastery. Why would anyone not use the armor of his masterys?
Probably because the evasion rate isn't 3/5 it's more like 1/10.
10 * 50 = 500 Damage taken
9 * 75 = 675 Damage taken <------TAKES MORE DAMAGE!
Seriously, sub-40 evasion is crappy. And this was on a Light elf Scout! When Brigandine Armor is better for a class with the best DEX stat/bonus & Class....using heavy is a gimme for a low Dex orc monk.
Even if your using a top level D weapon and spamming shots...Heavy armor will still be better pre-2nd class change.
I hardly ever avoided on my tyrant untill about lvl 52. I would reccomend using heavy armour from 1-52 as a tyrant tbh, then switch to light because the bonus will outweigh the negatives.
Also if a tyrant is anything like my gladiator (who has 4 more dex) then your evasion fully buffed even in light armour wont be that great.