Guide: Monk Guide (Ragnarok Online 2: LoTS)

This is a work in progress, I'll be updating it periodically as I process all the information collected. Please credit me for any use of this information in other guides, and please post any corrections or inaccuracies you may discover.

1. Introduction

The embodiment of the righteous might of the Church of Odin, the monk class finds itself reborn in Ragnarok Online 2. While some acolytes choose to follow the path of the priest to heal the wounded, others choose to follow the path of discipline and holy vengeance that is the calling of the monk.

2. Requirements

You must be an acolyte that has reached level 25. You do NOT have to have all stat and skill points distributed when you change.

3. How to Change

• Accept the quest from the monk class changer "Twin Faye" in the Church of Odin in Prontera.
• Accept and complete any quests she gives you. These are generally just confirmations that you want to follow the path of the monk.
• Eventually she will give you a quest to speak to the main priest of the church. Talk to him to complete it and accept the quest from him.
• Go around to the back of the west side of the church. a priestess will appear and be assaulted by three enemies behind the church. Kill the three as fast as possible!
• The priestess will send you to the lead monk on the far east side of Prontera. Talk to her and she will give you a quest to defeat a wolf nearby.
• Defeat the wolf and return to the lead monk. She will ask if you are sure you want to become a monk (or something similar). Confirm and complete the quest.
• Return to the monk class changer and choose to change class. Congratulations, you are now a monk!

4. Stats

There is a bit of customization available depending on what you would like to accomplish. An important note about monks is that STR and INT have the same effect. This means as an acolyte, putting your points in INT until class change is correct. Thanks to potions, WLL at the moment is almost useless. VIT would be useful for a tank build, but not otherwise.

• STR: Each point raises damage by 2 and block by 2.
• INT: Each point raises damage by 2 and block by 2.
• AGI: Each point raises critical rate by 5 and evasion by 2.
• WLL: Each point raises Max MP by 10.
• VIT: Each point raises Max HP by 5.

Building a DPS Monk

There are two kinds of DPS monk builds obvious at this point: Pure Damage for reliably high damage, or Pure Crit for medium damage, with a high chance for extremely high damage critical hits.

Pure Damage Monk

The idea of a Pure Damage Monk is to have consistent, high damage strikes. You will know roughly what you will hit for at all times, with occassional, impressive critical strikes. In this build, you would put equal points into STR and INT, with a small portion of points to go into AGI. The exact number of points for optimal results will have to be determined once the game is released.

Pure Crit Monk

The idea of a Pure Crit Monk is pumping your AGI high enough that critical hits happen often enough to offset the lower damage. In this build, you would put majority of your stat points into AGI with a smaller (but equal) portion of points in STR and INT. The exact number of points for optimal results will have to be determined once the game is released.

Building a Tank Monk

Thanks to Stone Skin/Diamond Body/Mental Strength and their two tanking emergency cooldowns, monks would work well as a tank/off tank! Most likely, the Pure Damage build would work just as well thanks to the block points and evasion granted. This is likely to be tweaked and changed in the release version of the game.

5. Skills

Due to translation and the nature of betas, any of this information is subject to change or inaccuracies.

Summary

Quadruple Blow (Combo, generates spheres, no cd)
Drop of Grand Collapse (Combo, generates spheres, 6s cd)
Double Dragon Kick (Combo, generates spheres, no cd)
Summon Spirit Sphere (Calls 5 spheres, but with 2 min cd)
Throw Spirit Sphere (Range, more damage with spheres)
Iron Mountain Attack (Combo, more damage with spheres)
Unknown (Passive Buff)
Unknown (Unknown Debuff)
Earth Shaker (AoE)
Unknown (Short Evasion Buff for tanking)
Protective Ki (Short damage reduction buff for tanking)
Stone Skin (Permanent buff for tanking)
Lightning Walk (Move swiftly towards enemy, knocks enemy back(?))
Ki Explosion (Short damage buff)
Guillotine Fist (Tremendous strike that requires 5 spheres and has a 2 minute cd)

Specifics

Quadruple Blow

Default combo skill that the monk starts with. Each successful use generates a spirit sphere and has no cooldown.

Drop of Grand Collapse

A somewhat stronger combo skill that generates a spirit sphere, but the skill has a six second cooldown.

Double Dragon Kick

An impressive double flying kick combo. Each successful use generates 2 spirit spheres, but the skill has a six second cooldown.

Summon Spirit Sphere

At level 5, calls 5 spheres automatically, but has a 120 second cooldown. This would be most useful for a quick max damage Iron Mountain Attack, Throw Spirit Sphere, or Guillotine Fist.

Throw Spirit Sphere

A ranged attack where the monk hurls a ball of spirital energy at an enemy, augmented by spirit spheres. This skill will consume any available spirit spheres, with each sphere adding 20% damage. There is an untranslated modifier on this as well (60%). This skill has a 12 second cooldown.

Iron Mountain Attack

A vicious open palm and elbow combo strike, infused with spiritual energy. This skill will consume any available spirit spheres, with each sphere adding 65% damage. This skill has a 6 second cooldown.

Unknown (Passive Buff)

Untranslated, unknown. Likely a passive buff that raises damage in some way.

Unknown (Passive Debuff)

Untranslated, unknown.

Earth Shaker

At level 1, is an aoe with no cooldown that does roughly the amount of damage of a single auto attack strike to all enemies within range. Likely a respectable AoE in very large mobs at level 5. Nice big lightning animation too!

Unknown (Short Evasion Buff)

A skill which makes the monk preternaturally swift and difficult to strike. At level 5, it increases evasion by 30% for 10 seconds. This is mainly useful as an emergency skill while tanking. This skill has a 120 second cooldown.

Protective Ki

A skill which wreathes the monk in a divine shield. At level 5, it reduces all damage taken by 50% for 10 seconds. This is mainly useful as an emergency skill while tanking. This skill has a 300 second cooldown.

Stone Skin (Diamond Body, Mental Strength)

The monk focuses their resolve into strengthening their resistance, increasing their ability to take damage at the cost of weakening their ability to deal it. Damage is reduced while defense and evasion are both increased. This ability has no cooldown and lasts until cancelled by the monk.

Lightning Walk

The monk launches forward in a burst of speed, instantly appearing next to and dealing a small amount of damage to the target. Currently, this skill seems bugged as the enemy will appear further away from the monk. At level 5, this skill has a 40 second cooldown.

Ki Explosion

A burst of power is released from the monk, providing a 30 second damage buff that, at level 5, increases damage by 30%. This has a cooldown of 90 seconds and so can be up for 1 minute of every 3 minutes.

Guillotine Fist

The monk focuses all their power into one massive, destructive strike. With a Pure Damage Build at level 50, it strikes for ~2200 normally and is capable of a critical strike (highest I had was ~5300). Unfortunately, it can only be used once every two minutes, so it will have to be tactically used in PvP. On the plus side, it does not consume all of the monk's MP.

6. Other Notes

Full Combo Sample Rotation: Drop of Grand Collapse, Double Dragon Kick, Quadruple Blow, Quadruple Blow, Iron Mountain Attack
If the time per cast is long enough, optimal rotation is Double Dragon Kick, Drop of Grand Collapse, Double Dragon Kick, Iron Mountain Attack

Thanks man, I'm excited to see what will the monk look and play like. The equal raising of STR and INT appeals to me but it's needed to forget about evasion then if STR and INT is chosen which I don't like. Maybe I'll go with pure AGI when it's released here. With long cooldowns, skills isn't spammable now, so I bet all melee characters last for long now exposed to the enemy.

Well, most stats will be coming from gear, these are just suggestions for you to aim for. In reality, your gear is likely to have you with a chunk of AGI even if you are aiming for full STR/INT.

Don't forget the open beta for the English version opens on 1/3/2013!

English RO2 Website

I'm not convinced by the usefulness of agi on a Monk in RO2. Most of your points are going to be in Str/Int anyway for the damage and parry. So if you're DPS or Tank, you'll be pumping Str and Int regardless. Might aswell pop any leftover points into VIT for some extra HP.

RO2 is a bit of a disappointment in terms of possible builds and effective stats. That was one of the things I enjoyed about RO1 the most.