yes, they stack
lvl20 monk has 2d10
with one of those 2d12
with both 2d14

sacrificing wind or fire stance to sit in earth stance is an epic waste.

you are not listening

Antir wrote on Sep 20^th, 2010 at 5:10am:


I hear you, just not sure you know what the fuck your talking about.

With access to only the first or 2nd tier of windstance, the bonus to double attack is 2.5% to 5%  double attack.  Fire Stance gives +1 to Ki, which builds Ki. 

As I'm only taking a max of 6 levels of monk, i'm going to fall short of ToD.  So, can you provide any numbers backing that not taking 5% double attack, or being able to fire off 1 more debuff per mob is greater then 1 die step?

I like the nuts and bolts and number crunching of the game, and I'd like to build and play optimal toons as much as the next guy.  That's why I ask those who know more then me questions.

As the others have said, the stacking of those two bonuses may sound cool on the surface... but it's not so great in practical use. You just simply lose too much by being in Earth Stance as opposed to Fire or Wind. Which, in my opinion, is why the Devs gave the Earth stance that bonus on the Bracers... they needed to boost Earth & Water's appeal a bit, since they were mostly ignored.

IMHO - being able to launch one more Ki attack per sequence is better then the die-step. Fists of Darkness alone will outstrip the die-steps benefits in a sustained fight.

Dythan wrote on Sep 20^th, 2010 at 9:12am:

Epoch wrote on Sep 20^th, 2010 at 9:28am:


It is all good you seem to be ready to listen now.

Monk damage as i have discovered is all about Ki management. Your base damage is more important if you are a strength build but is not the main thing.

Ki determines how much damage you can manage during combat because it is all about your strikes and finishing moves(if you are a strength build then finishing moves are meaningless).

Touch of Death is a Monk Dark enhancement that allows you to do an addistional 500 points of damage for 50ki. So you want to be able to build up your Ki as much as possible. Fire stance is the best for this as it gives you additional Ki when you strike.

However if you are a non-strength build then Wind stance can be just effective in doing this because of the number of strikes you have to do to damage things. Obviously small damage really fast is going build up a lot of Ki for your Touch of Death which hits everything in the game.

Fist of Darkness, Dark Path strike power, is also nice damage against non-undead and beats your thinking about base damage. Depending on how you manage your Ki and this is the fun part you can do a lot of damage. i liken it to managing a Wizards sp in terms of how it works. 

The real DPS for monks is found in good Ki management and Touch of Death which goes of on your double strikes. Yes you can hit one or more than one monster with ONE Touch of Death strike for 2+ consecutive 500damage points. I have yet to reach the higher levels but people tell me you can get it go with 4 or more of your hits at once.

You can only get Touch of Death by choosing the Dark Path and having 9 Monk levels.