Rogue vs Monk 55+
 

Hi all,

So with the announcement of the P99 Green (YES!) I am wanting to get back into p99. Asking for advice on which character Blue needs more right now and which one you guys feel is more useful/fun. I currently have both a Rogue (56) and a Monk (55). Both have their epics but only the Rogue is geared at the moment. I am kind of leaning towards monk seeing as how they can solo and I will be coming back alone sadly, but I know that rogues are much easier to get back into as far as their group role. Anyways, does the server lack one or the other? and if not, which do you think would be the better choice?

Thanks!

Wizard!

I don’t think the server lacks either class but it definitely does not lack monks.

There are enough of everything, but rogues are always useful to have more.

Honestly, I think a monk will find more use out of being geared than an epic rogue.

I've been in plenty of groups where I've been tanking with 2 or 3 rogues DPSing. When I have to briefly go afk and suggest someone covers tanking I can guarantee the rogues will just sit there doing nothing until I get back and everyone will be okay with that (even though rogues take hits far better than an equivalently geared ranger, which are often in a tank role).

As a consequence of this, rogues can be rather neglectful of their armour as the truth is they will rarely take hits.

A monk on the other hand is likely to be pressured into tanking, or might take a few rounds of melee from splitting a couple of NPCs, so is worthwhile being geared to a standard that will half decently mitigate XP mobs.

Will agree with the Monk for the versatility factor alone. High melee DPS, tanking while the main assist is on AFK, splitting/pulling solo mobs, and the ability to solo rules. And the triple attack patch is arriving soonish for Monks.

But Only wondering, Jimjam. What camps are you expecting a Rogue to tank willingly? And over a Ranger? Well played Rangers are far better than any comparable Rogue for tanking.

I'm sorry man but this is 100% not true. My rogue is squishy as hell! Rangers way out tank a rogue! My rogue tanks maybe on par with a bard but probably still worse.
If I take 4X combat rounds I'm in trouble or the healer is oom.

Honestly OP I'm biased because I love rogues but Id say if you're leaning monk play that. Your rogue will be waiting when you are ready. Its not as if he's going anywhere!

It is a little surprising to hear you feel rangers so easily out tank your rogue.

Honestly, I'm not really expecting a rogue to take the tank role over a ranger; Rangers have great tools for controlling mobs, which rogues don't. Rogues do great dos with backstabbing. The meta dictates rangera gear and buff to tank adequately and keep their defence skills up. From what I understand these are not such priorities to a rogue?

My point is rogues aren't expected to step up as tank while maintank is AFK or has to unexpectedly leave. As such you're not exactly obliged to gear up much beyond epic+offhand.

Anyone can tank a slowed mob:p tanked king camp improv many times with my rogue.

The server doesn’t lack either class.

If it were me I’d focus my efforts in terms of chasing gear on the monk, and here’s why:

I might be atrociously wrong on this assumption (correct me if I’m wrong) but rogues are surprisingly not gear dependent. If you have your epic and a high quality offhand you’re going to operate at 95-99% capacity. Good weapons and haste are all that is required. Bonus points for worn attack items (rare/expensive) and **enough** hp/resists to survive any aoes or accidental aggro. In a raid situation you’re going to have at a minimum an extra 1700-1800 hp over your base unbuffed stats so “good enough” isn’t a very high bar for most content in this game.

Monk, on the other hand, benefits hugely from gear. Ac/resists/hp are clutch for pulling/tanking and raw hp also increases the potency of skills like mend. A well geared monk brings tons of extra to the table compared to a monk with crap gear but the same weapons/haste. I’m not sure that the same can be said for a well geared rogue vs a rogue with crap gear but the same weapons/haste.

Rogues are the kings of dps currently. Monks are pretty solid for now but stand to dramatically shift around the balance with the final patch. 55+ get new/improved damage tables (better than any melee tables currently) with a final best in game base damage tables at 60. 60 also sees primary hand triple attack. Flying kick gets improved including a much higher minimum kick value. 2h dmg bonus revamp makes items like TStaff and IFS powerhouse weapons. The raid 2hand weapons for monk stand to be incredibly strong, possibly better than BiS endgame raid 1handers (new tables + triple attack + dmg bonus increase). From dmg bonus alone you can conservatively estimate >10% gain from dmg bonus alone (possibly more) plus another 5% from triple attack if using 2hander. I’m not sure how much better the 55/60 dmg tables will be over the current ones.

However good and OP monks are currently (quite tanky + pulling + fd + solid dps) ... they will get even better. I’m very interested to see just how good the dps output will be and to what degree they threaten rogue level dps.

I love playing my monk but the last patch is neato enough I have the monk parked/paused at 59. I want to experience plowing through 60 with an improved TStaff. Whenever I hit 60 on a character I find that I generally end up playing them less.