[Sakome]

I'm really missing the ability to do damage (was doing paladin). So I'm considering of being a monk or dark knight. I don't want to spend millions like rangers and have anything to involve ninja (war/nin, nin/war tank wise). Blackmage isn't in me either, I just don't like playing as a caster.

Monks seem unique and rare but underestimated. Their damage is up to dark knight I hear. Dark knight is fairly common but great damage, and has magic to make things interesting. I'm not sure which one would be better to try, any opinions? (BTW how skillchain friendly are monks and dark knights?)

[strangelove]

go mnk, mnk's are just cool.
i always rather a mnk over a drk any day.

mnk's are great for SC also.

fusion's, gravitation's, fragmentation's the lot, only earth and ice have no h2h WS.

[mongoose]

true, drks aren't up to par with mnks on scs...until lvl 3 sc, then you absolutely need a drk to do them because both of them require a greatsword or a scythe to finish

be whichever one you want

[Sakome]

Monks aren't able to do level 3 skillchains? Is that what your saying Mongoose? Also do monks and dark knights suffer the agony of having to wait for hours to get groups?

[Onorgul]

Monks are more than capable of a level 3 skillchain. We do a LIGHT SC, whereas Dark Knights do a DARK SC.

Both classes are frequently played poorly. Monk gets underestimated all the time (I think this probably starts when real partying begins in Valkurm and an unsubbed Monk against a crab is about as helpful as a melee Black Mage) whereas every n00b seems to run head-long towards getting Dark Knight because it's just "so cool."

In the end, everything I know and have seen implies that Monk and Dark Knight are fairly on par for damage. If you want the added help of Drain, go with Dark Knight and your solo'ing might be a little easier. I personally prefer Monk because the class abilities more than make up for it (in my mind).

I can't speak for Dark Knights, but Monks frequently have to spend some time waiting on Asura. Experienced players grab us up, but the trouble is that for every experienced player there are 20 newbies.

[Sakome]

Well I suppose any damager except for rangers and blackmages will have to wait a long time to get groups. Guess I'd just have to stick with it. Does anyone know what hand to hand, gsword and scythe is strong and weak against?

[Onorgul]

I can't speak for Great Swords and Scythes, but H2H weapons are incredible against skeletons. My experience in levelling my Staff suggest it is simiarly powerful against skellies.

[zafron]

mongoose was refering to the fact that DRKs are incredibly versatile SC wise end-game because they can finish both lv3 light and lv3 dark using an A class weapon(GS and scythe respectively).

But from my limited experience i can tell you this

100 fists >>>>>>>>>>>> Blood weapon

[Onorgul]

Hundred Fists is better than just about anything. I took my LS to fight the Windurst dragon (had to retro-fit my equipment) and personally solo'd the beast. I sent them off to kill the Ahriman while I thumped away. Took about 170 damage total and the healer (a Red Mage) managed to cast Cure once on me. Monks are insanely powerful with Hundred Fists activated.

As for the debate about skillchains, it just means that you change who is involved in the SC. The way people talk about such things, you'd think that a party consisted solely of the person who finishes the skillchain, which is silly.

[zafron]

Onorgul :
As for the debate about skillchains, it just means that you change who is involved in the SC. The way people talk about such things, you'd think that a party consisted solely of the person who finishes the skillchain, which is silly.

Not silly at all. The person who finishes the skill chain is the most important person simply because you atain lv3 chains by using a WS with a lv2 property after either a lv2 chain or another WS with a lv2 property.

which means there are countless different ways to start the chain but very few ways to finish it by comparison, since only 225 and 250 WSs have lv2 properties.

This is why there is alot more emphasis on the finisher.

Edited cause i screwed up and left something out.

[capncrackfiend]

I level Monk and Dark together, and they seem pretty close in terms of damage. Sometimes Monk does more, sometimes Dark does more.
Monk does very good reliable damage, rarely having a total-miss round, whereas Darks can miss quite frenquently (Often times only hitting just a few times per fight)

Darks however have spells, which is one of the reasons I picked it up. I love Monk, but honestly it's a bit boring. All you have to do is do a renkei every now and then, or activate a Job Ability or two.

Monk is an excellent class, and continues to get much much better as you level up.

[b00sdr1v0rz]

i am liking drks a lot more at this point but monks are great too...drks i like cause they can pull more effectively and if a fight might go on too long they have more abilities...souleater, last resort, even magic burst. but monks are great and really come into their own later

[Sakome]

Is it possible to have more than one magic burst go off at the same time? Like a blackmage and a dark knight could magic burst off of the same skillchain?

[Mythago]

Yes it is very possible. I did it all the time when I leveled dark knight. THough I will admit I now level many other jobs because I find them more interesting but it is fun to MB off the same SC or off your own SCs.

Black mage casts BLizzard!
Magic Burst! 100 damage!
Dark Knight casts Blizzard!
Magic burst! 5 damage!

Personally I suggest only truely bursting with Drain and Aspir on Darkness SCs. You can drain QUITE a bit if you do that.

[Sani]

both monk and drk have the ability to end those level 3 renkais but drk can do it better, only with /THF. Thats why people always say you have to get thf sub post 65, because TA+SA+SE+LS+Cross reaper or Spinning rush does insane amounts of damage, and makes the renkai do as much damage if not more (pretty much put the thf out of business on hate control and skillchain ender). Monks, to the best of my knowledge, can't do this.

... when I say insane, I mean insane.

[Sakome]

For you monks out there, would you say its boring? A dark knight has magic at least to make things more interesting. While monks are a pure melee.

[Onorgul]

Both jobs (arguably all jobs) are about finesse. Any job gets dull because you eventually figure out exactly how to play and just sit there doing your thing with the occasional SC timing to think about. Also, every Dark Knight I've played with primarily used his Drain and Aspir spells because their attack magic is pathetic compared to a Black Mage or Red Mage (or even a White Mage subbed Black). Having Stone and Water might seem like it would shake things up, but it really just gives you a cool animation from time to time as you'll never be a real nuker.

[-Wraith-]

Spells give drks something to do in between their next swing. If they are grouped with a pally they can do pretty much whatever they want without fear of aggro. Swing(Magic)Swing(Magic)Swing, A dark can always be doing something. Fun, but sometimes ineffeciant because of limited MP.

[zafron]

For xp groups the biggest advantage i have gotten from the mp pool is my pulling capabilities. In absence of a RNG, DRK pulling is the next best thing. Ask any PLD and they will tell you they hate it when people pull with provoke because it establishes an unfavorable enmity balance at the beginning of the fight.

I can pull with poison and not have to worry about running out of ranged amo, not having to sacrifice inventory space for ranged weapons and amo, and not have to worry about the PLD giving me the evil eye for pulling with provoke.

Outside xp groups DRKs are one of the best farmers out there as a result of Drain and Aspir. You can just about eliminate downtime without sacrificing the THF sub. Not alot of classes can do that.

[Onorgul]

The downtime reduction is awesome. It has tempted me to level Dark Knight just for farming, but I have too many other things to do before I get to that and my Monk farms just fine.

Never had a Dark Knight as a puller. Often used as a the second tank for a fuidama, though, especially a Galka DRK. I personally prefer a thief or warrior with a boomerang or something to pull. When I was levelling Samurai, I used my bow which had the added advantage of almost never hitting and thereby avoiding causing much hate accumulation.

Both classes rock, it just comes down to which you feel better suits your style and personality.