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00:00:00 – 00:28:48
The video is an in-depth guide for creating an optimized Monk build in Baldur's Gate 3, focusing on leveraging the Monk class's strengths without relying heavily on specific items or exploits. Despite being one of the least popular classes, Monks are powerful due to abilities like "Stunning Strike" and "Flurry of Blows," which allow for high damage output and enemy control with minimal resource use. Key attributes for Monks include strength, dexterity, constitution, and wisdom, necessitating careful stat allocation to balance their multi-attribute dependency.
Several races complement the Monk build, with Githyanki providing mobility through "Misty Step," and other races like Drow and Wood Elf offering additional combat advantages. The video also details strategies for managing the Monk's low Armor Class (AC), including using items like bracers of defense and rings of protection, as well as leveraging movement and bonus actions such as "Patient Defense" and "Step of the Wind."
The "Way of the Open Hand" subclass is recommended for its crowd control and damage abilities, such as "Flurry of Blows Topple." Important milestones include gaining extra attacks at Monk level five, magical attacks at level six, and useful feats like "Tavern Brawler" and "Alert." The guide also suggests multiclassing into Rogue at level nine to gain additional skills, expertise, and an extra bonus action, greatly increasing damage output.
The video emphasizes the importance of optimizing equipment and abilities to maximize damage per round, which can average around 150-200. Despite the limited party utility, the Monk's stunning and knockdown capabilities are highlighted as significant assets in combat. The guide concludes by encouraging viewers to subscribe for more content on effective game strategies.
00:00:00
In this segment of the video, the creator presents a guide for creating a powerful Monk build in Baldur’s Gate 3, aiming to maximize the Monk class’s potential without relying on specific items or exploits. The guide highlights that Monks gain significant power as they level up, and interestingly, despite being one of the least picked classes according to recent stats, they are considered extremely strong thanks to their abilities like Stunning Strike, which offers high damage and disables enemies with minimal resource expenditure. The character Lelle, a Githyanki, is used as an example because of the race’s beneficial features such as Misty Step, enhancing the Monk’s mobility. Other suitable races mentioned include Drow for invisibility and enlarge spells, and Wood Elf for additional movement speed. The segment also addresses the controversial use of strength elixirs early in the game, noting that while beneficial, the build is designed to be effective without relying on such items.
00:03:00
In this segment of the video, the discussion focuses on building an effective stat spread for a monk character, highlighting the challenges due to the multi-attribute dependency of monks. Key attributes include strength for dealing damage, dexterity for armor class and initiative, constitution for hit points, and wisdom for unarmored defense and class abilities scaling. The speaker outlines a specific stat allocation, starting with 17 strength, 12 dexterity, 14 constitution, and 14 wisdom, addressing the necessity of making sacrifices due to the high demands on multiple attributes. They also mention an alternative build using a strength elixir, which allows for different stat allocation for dexterity and constitution. The importance of balancing these stats to achieve a strong character is emphasized throughout the segment.
00:06:00
In this segment, the video discusses the importance of a balanced stat spread for monks, emphasizing key attributes like intelligence, wisdom, and dexterity. It suggests alternative setups, such as reversing stats, to optimize performance, though some methods aren’t always reliable due to potential in-game failures. The video highlights the monk class’s strength, particularly the “Flurry of Blows” ability, which allows monks to attack twice with a bonus action, making them highly effective in combat even at level one. Unlike other classes, monks can make three attacks per round early on and benefit from adding their attribute bonuses to these attacks. The segment also mentions monks’ “unarmored defense” that boosts their armor class by adding their wisdom to it, and briefly alludes to future discussions on itemization and using monk weapons before transitioning to unarmed combat later in the game.
00:09:00
In this part of the video, the discussion focuses on optimizing a Monk character in a game, specifically addressing their low Armor Class (AC) and ways to mitigate it. Highlighted strategies include acquiring items like bracers of defense, rings of protection, and cloaks of protection, as well as considering the use of elixirs. At level two, the Monk gains increased movement speed when not wearing armor, which is crucial for their hit-and-run tactics. The Monk’s game plan involves targeting high-priority enemies, dealing significant damage, and then retreating quickly to avoid attacks, leveraging their speed to compensate for low AC and hit points. Additionally, bonus actions like patient defense and step of the wind enhance their combat effectiveness by granting attackers disadvantage or significantly boosting movement speed, with step of the wind being particularly useful for urgent retreats. Disengage is another useful action to avoid opportunity attacks, but often it’s preferable to move farther and accept an initial attack to prevent further enemy engagement. Each level also adds a key point, increasing the Monk’s combat abilities. At level three, the choice of subclass becomes a critical decision.
00:12:00
In this part of the video, the focus is on the Monk class in Dungeons and Dragons, specifically the Way of the Open Hand subclass, noted for its control and damage capabilities. Key abilities discussed include Flurry of Blows topple, which knocks enemies prone and prevents reactions like counter spells through staggering. At Monk level four, gaining the Tavern Brawler feat is recommended, doubling the strength modifier to attack and damage roles, and increasing hit probabilities. The importance of positioning due to the Monk’s low hit points and the utility of the slow fall ability in combat is also highlighted.
00:15:00
In this segment of the video, the speaker discusses optimizing a character’s hit chance and damage in combat, particularly within a specific role-playing game. They explain that by doubling the hit modifier from strength, the character can break typical constraints and achieve high hit rates and damage output. At monk level five, the character gains extra attacks and can attack four times per round. The use of the Gith Yankee’s Misty Step ability is mentioned, though it sacrifices some attacks. The speaker highlights the importance of the Flurry of Blows and stunning strike abilities, the latter of which can incapacitate enemies with a high success rate due to its dependence on strength or dexterity. At monk level six, the character’s attacks become magical, overcoming resistances to non-magical damage, and the character gains increased speed for better mobility.
00:18:00
In this part of the video, the focus is on optimizing a monk character build in Dungeons & Dragons. Key points include:
1. Adding a D4 plus wisdom modifier to every attack, resulting in significant additional damage each round.
2. The “Wholeness of Body” feature allows recharging of Ki points and gaining an extra bonus action, potentially enabling six attacks per round.
3. Monks can switch between damage types as needed based on enemy weaknesses.
4. Obtaining evasion at monk level seven, which is less beneficial due to lower dexterity but still useful for avoiding damage.
5. The “Stillness of Mind” feature removes “Charmed” and “Frightened” effects, critical in preventing monks from being easily incapacitated.
6. At monk level eight, the “Alert” feat is recommended to boost initiative, ensuring the monk can act first in combat to maximize their high damage potential.
00:21:00
In this part of the video, the speaker discusses the value of the “Alert” feat for monks, particularly in Honor mode, due to its importance for characters focused on burst damage. They then suggest multiclassing into Rogue at level 9, despite Rogues’ sneak attack being unable to apply to monks’ unarmed strikes. The key benefits of multiclassing into Rogue include gaining expertise in skills such as Stealth and Athletics, which enhance combat options. Furthermore, choosing the thief subclass at level 3 Rogue provides an extra bonus action, greatly increasing the number of attacks a monk can make in a single round, potentially up to 10 or more attacks. This combination of enhanced skills and additional attacks makes it a potent choice for maximizing damage output.
00:24:00
In this segment of the video, the speaker discusses the advantages of using strikes to bypass enemy legendary resistances and effectively stun powerful bosses, ensuring their defeat due to the monk’s mobility. They emphasize maxing out strength for the Tavern Brawler feat when leveling up in Rogue and consider items that enhance unarmed strike damage and armor class, like the Gloves of Cinder and Sizzle and the Cloak of Protection. Additionally, they recommend specific equipment like the Cat’s Grace armor for its dexterity bonus and the Bone Spike boots for their utility in combat. The segment concludes with advice on conducting a combat turn, highlighting the use of “Flurry of Blows” to defeat enemies efficiently.
00:27:00
In this part of the video, the speaker explains the effectiveness of monks in dealing damage and controlling enemies in the game. Monks can execute multiple attacks, each enhanced by various bonuses, resulting in an average of 150-200 damage per round. They are capable of stunning enemies, costing four of their nine key points, which can be recharged with a short rest. Despite monks lacking significant party utility beyond their stunning strikes and knockdowns, these abilities are highly valuable. The speaker concludes by encouraging viewers to engage with the content and subscribe for more related videos.