The_Smiggster

My main for the past year and a half has been an illusionist, but I started playing the game with a monk. In all honesty I can't parse at all with a monk, and I'm just now letting my auto attack in between all of my CAs ( I learned about that when i finally got in a raiding guild, since I didn't read anything on monks before and just duo'ed up ).
I'm wondering if casting order is as important on a monk as an illusionist, and what I should do to maximize my DPS. I miss my monk very much, and would like to play them again, and maybe on off-raid nights, go with my monk instead of my illusionist. :D

Thank you for your time.

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vcjester

One thing about dps with a melee is that there is no single thing that does it, it's a combination of everything!

First thing I'd do is get a parsing program. Are your CA's landing? Are your auto attacks hitting? Thats the first thing I'd wonder about a noob monk...

Where a caster just sits back and wiggles his fingers, melee classes are constantly moving around during fights to get optimum positioning...behind the mob, within range for auto attack etc.

I'm not sure if there is any perfect casting order, since many of our CA's are just straight up damage, but there are a few that you'll want to get off as early as possible.

Our proc skill, cast it on the pull so you don't waste precious beat down time. Debuff, dot, then your big hitters on slow recast next to get their timer winding down...then just hit the rest as they pop up.

Masters over Adept 3 for certain!! The quality of the skill is taken into effect during the damage calulation process and even though a Master only shows a little increase in damage, it makes a huge difference vs Raid mobs. Same goes for weapon quality.

Then start doing some gear research, check the other monks in town..see what they're wearing. Figure out what stats you need the most help in and then find the best gear you can to fill them out. Never toss a good piece of gear because you might find a use for it later and never assume that gear is better then your slick quested piece just because it says legendary or fabled.

DPS just doesn't happen, you really have to have a deep understanding of the game mechanics to squeeze the most out of your character. Everything from Crit potions, gear, aa's, buffs etc. counts. We'd spend hours upon hours of time after raids going through parses and discussing new tactics for dps and mob strategy over Team Speak.

Lastly, if you can...group with better players and talk to them...they're a wealth of information!!

I know a lot of people don't like Gungo, but hey...I think he's an ok guy....sometimes I wonder after reading what he says on here though LOL

Grouped with him while he was playing his bruiser (I see him on other characters way more then I see him on his bruiser) saw what he was capable of and went wow!! Talked to him for a little bit in private, took what he had to say and went out with some new dps goals. I doubled my dps in a few weeks, and tripled it in a few months after some gear upgrades....

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Ranx

For casting order, its not as much about a specific casting order as it is to make sure you always have a CA up that you can use. Any time you let 2 AAs hit without using a CA in between is lost DPS.

If 2 AAs hit without using a CA in between because no CAs were up, youre using a sub-optimal casting order. (assuming youre only casting 1 CA in between AAs)

I arranged my CAs on my hotbar by delay. Doing this makes it easier to choose which CA you use. Use the shorter CAs whenever theyre up, basically rotating them in with your longer CAs.

If you download a hotbar mod from eq2interface.com that shows each abilities reuse timer, this helps as well.

damager

Casting order is very much about the order and is important just like any other class. Read what they do.

Some hints your not gonna get a combo hit off just hittin by refresh rate, god forbid you use your debuffs last, your DOT at the end of the fight not a good idea, all your stuns/stifles in a row would suck when solo or PvP, Have one that reduces recovery speed ? might wanna use that before you run outa CA's, Got one with a fast refresh might wanna get it off at the beginning so its back up before you hit your last CA, etc etc.

Jinj

If a mob is going to live more than a few seconds, I prebuff the proc, range the stam debuff on inc pull (from AA line), then CA debuff (inc master strike), then the shorten reuse timer (from AA), both DoTs, HO combo, then just roll my head around on the keyboard for the other CA.

I have a few fabled bits now, a few TSO tier 2, Mythical, legendary jewellery and without a dirge in group top out around 4k DPS, usually though its 3.5k.

[Sorry I am at work, so don't remember CA names]