the Three4thsforsaken Dilemna (in General)

I have decided I would like to dedicate the vast majority of my NW in the future in the increase of either a Axbow or an Exbow for my monk. However I am unsure which would be more effective for my team.

My team (the 9th) :

1st Minion
Monk
dip in HP
rest in str dex and UC, with emphasis on UC

Monk equips, HoC, AoF?, Axbow or Exbow

2nd Minion
1/2+ AS
1/2- AMF

RoS, Corn and AoF

3rd Minion
1/2+ GA
1/2- AMF

Corn and stuff

So the set up pretty much negates any FB or CoC team which lets me have the Monk completely focused on Tank teams and clean up duty.

So the idea is to use either the biggest Axbow or Exbow possible to pour my net worth into to negate tank based teams. I want the damage dealers to be dead within the first 5 rounds or rendered useless

First of all I have to ask is this viable?

Second, If it is I need to wonder which is more effective.

Here is my pros and cons

Axbow
-Pros
Synergies with evasion in UC
will increase chances of double hitting (greatly?)
when attacking mage teams the damage will travel everywhere (attack wall, then mage since attack highest dex, since mage has lower AC does more overall damage)

-Cons
-might get stuck targeting on evasion walls? (please verify)
- complete waste of time if they manage to hit you

Exbow
Pros
-synergies with GA since lower damage closer to cap
- ignores evasion walls
- lowers damage significantly (hopefully)
- lowers later on Vampire effects

Cons
-puts Monk and other tank on damage race (will I loose?)
- does not increase Monk chance to hit (will UC be enough to hit at high lvls?)

Any advice or comments on any of these ideas above would be VERY helpful. My character is very young so information on your own monks will be very helpful.

I think I want to make either the biggest Axbow or Exbow that CB has ever seen. It'll be my secondary goal in the game.

Three4thsforsaken

IMOP, considering you are a monk team: ExBow = Good. AxBow = Not so good. You need to last longer. You will already have a good Evasion effect. So concentrate on surviving longer. ExBow will definitely help you do that. Especially if it is the biggest in the game.

I like your set up a lot. I think everything is solid and I agree with Tailon: Exbow > Axbow. As for monk's chance to hit, I'll have to say it's pretty good. With a highly boosted UC, i have trouble dodging their melee blow while I can dodge ToA augmented archer shots at the same dex with ease. The built in BTH of UC really adds up and it's one of the most boostable skill in the game.

However, you are using a 3 minion UC team with your monk being rather small (no ToA neither). Expect to miss quite a bit against evasion walls.. Unless you invest in EC.

Talion- Alright, sounds like a plan. I was just wondering if the Exbow would be sufficient to null off damage to GA standards, and with all these multipliers to damage, would my monk still survive? He only has the RoS AS for health >.<.

Ulord- Thanks, it means alot coming from you. That changes everything! If the PTH given by UC is significant, then it'll make Axbow a bit redundant. I hope that the Monk will have enough Str and dex, since he'll be pretty much neglecting HP for the most part. RoS is supposed to give the survivablity needed. Maybe I'll stick a AoI on the Monk.

So the answer is, damage reduction is greater than/ more reliable than more misses due to dex, and possible double hits (if double hits are soley dex based)

Oh yeah, but it brings the problems of Evasion tanks, however I don't believe dex drains would help anyway >.<

Any more thoughts? Thanks guys.

Ok, so with the Exbow, I have an idea for a new line up

Start training Evasion at roughly 1/5th exp on the 3rd minion, and place him 2nd in line. Then stick an AoI on the Monk.

The idea is to have just enough evasion to prevent damage from the first volley, so my massive Exbow can reduce str. So once damage is being done it should be GA maximized and I'll have a great amount of HP to run though, so the Monk can just pick them off in the end. The Monk's evasion should prevent any more loss of hp when he is the last man standing.

Any problems with that?

bump

the ToE will probably be more effective than the RoS. Just get Ranger to chime in here with his usual post, "ToE > RoS".