Comprehensive Monk Guide
About the Guide
This guide is brought to you by members of the GS community from discussions via various forums, Discord chats and direct player input on gswiki. It is ALWAYS open for contributions from the community.
Last Upate: 2/9/2018
Race and Stat Considerations
| Race | Strength | Constitution | Dexterity | Agility | Discipline | Aura | Logic | Intuition | Wisdom | Influence | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aelotoi | -5 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | -5 | +20 |
| Burghal gnome | -15 | 10 | 10 | 10 | -5 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0 | -5 | +25 |
| Dark elf | 0 | -5 | 10 | 5 | -10 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 5 | -5 | +15 |
| Dwarf | 10 | 15 | 0 | -5 | 10 | -10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -10 | +15 |
| Elf | 0 | 0 | 5 | 15 | -15 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | +20 |
| Erithian | -5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | +25 |
| Forest gnome | -10 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | -5 | +25 |
| Giantman | 15 | 10 | -5 | -5 | 0 | -5 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | +10 |
| Half elf | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | +15 |
| Half krolvin | 10 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -10 | 0 | -5 | -5 | +5 |
| Halfling | -15 | 10 | 15 | 10 | -5 | -5 | 5 | 10 | 0 | -5 | +20 |
| Human | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | +15 |
| Sylvankind | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 | -5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +15 |
What the UAF
Most monks are going to make use of Unarmed Combat (UAC). There are two factors that determine success with a UAC attack, Unarmed Factor (UAF) and Multiplier Modifier (MM). A monk's stats, specifically Strength and Agility, only have an impact on UAF. The UAF formula makes use of truncated STR bonus / 2 and truncated AGI bonus / 2. With that in mind the races provide the following total UAF increase, in descending order:
| Race | STR Mod | AGI Mod | UAF Mod |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half-Krolvin | +10 | +5 | +7 |
| Elf | 0 | +15 | +7 |
| Giantman | +15 | -5 | +5 |
| Half-Elf | 0 | +10 | +5 |
| Dwarf | +10 | -5 | +3 |
| Aelotoi | -5 | +10 | +3 |
| Human | +5 | 0 | +2 |
| Dark Elf | 0 | +5 | +2 |
| Sylvan | 0 | +5 | +2 |
| Forest Gnome | -10 | +10 | 0 |
| Erithian | -5 | 0 | -2 |
| Halfling | -15 | +10 | -2 |
| Burghal Gnome | -14 | +10 | -2 |
AgiDex
While a majority of monks make use of UAC, others have found a build utilizing Two-Handed Weapons or Polearms quite viable. For those builds one important factor is AgiDex, or the sum of the bonuses of a character's Dexterity and Agility. This combined total helps reduce the Roundtime of a physical attack by a specified amount:
| Agility + Dexterity |
Roundtime reduction |
|---|---|
| 8 - 22 | 1 |
| 23 - 37 | 2 |
| 38 - 52 | 3 |
| 53 - 67 | 4 |
| 68 - 82 | 5 |
| 83 - 97 | 6 |
| 98 - 112 | 7 |
| 113+ | 8 |
| Roundtime reductions above 5 are not achievable without enhancive items. | |
Pairing that table with the stat table above we can break it down to see each races theoretical maximum AgiDex, before enhancives:
| 5 RT Reduction | 4 RT Reduction | 3 RT Reduction |
|---|---|---|
| Halfling | Aelotoi | Erithian |
| Burghal gnome | Dark elf | Human |
| Elf | Forest gnome | Dwarf |
| Half-elf | Giantman | |
| Sylvankind | ||
| Half-Krolvin |
This is important because weapons have a minimum RT, and a base RT. By taking the base RT and subtracting the AgiDex bonus we can find the unencumbered swing RT.
Strength
Strength bonus adds directly to melee AS. Any weapon using monk is going to want a decent Strength stat and will want to pair that with a decent AgiDex possibility. The table below shows the Strength stats of races compared to their AgiDex capability:
| 5 RT Reduction | STR Mod | 4 RT Reduction | STR Mod | 3 RT Reduction | STR Mod | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halfling | -15 | Aelotoi | -5 | Erithian | -5 | ||
| Burghal gnome | -15 | Dark elf | 0 | Human | 5 | ||
| Elf | 0 | Forest gnome | -10 | Dwarf | 10 | ||
| Half-elf | 0 | Giantman | 15 | ||||
| Sylvankind | 0 | ||||||
| Half-krolvin | 10 |