Easier or cheaper build Caster monk or other ? How to set up

In general, monk is just a really bad class until you have gear to make the lack of defense less noticable.

For casting mage is just 20 stats better with blue abilities.
Whilst melee monk is just harder to play than any of the 3 previous classes due to really expensive dex robes. I personally dont have any faith in ee robes, tried it a little bit but just seemed to be slower than just using a dex robe.
The final level 71-77 slog is particularly difficult

So in short they're both bad to solo by comparison to barb/rogue/mage.
I've quit solo'ing thanks to monk on at least 2 occasions. Eventually decided to just build up fg spamming barb climbs until i had good enough gear that solo'ing the monk was a lot more doable.

Dang ok lol ill build up fg then thanks

Im soloing Monk on HC and i use ee staffs, ee robes and dex charms
I think melee monk is going to be way cheaper in SC cuz padded robes and staves are cheap compared to casting gear.

i thought staffs where based off str?

i thought staffs where based off str?
//edit doh

Can see ratios here

https://ladderslasher.d2jsp.org/index.php?g=3

Daggers/staffs are both dex.
Swords/clubs are both strength
Axes do not care. 50 str 100 dex or 75 of each or 100 str 50 dex are pretty much the same. Amusing the 75/75 is fractionally worse as only even amounts will add damage. Going from 50 to 51 str or dex does not increase damage but 51 to 52 will. So odd to even= more damage.

what do you think about solo monk caster? worth trying out or probably not? 143ee 55 dagger vs 149ee 55 ice
meh guess im asking a rhetorical question the mana pool will be horrible

not as bad as you'd expect. melee 1-30 whilst statting intel, gives you tonnes of mana to heal self
30+ start casting.

In short, mage is generally the best feeder class if you have the gear with 80 useful stats (60 int, 20 vit), whilst monk has 60 for casting, so will always be 20 stats worse. Also the skills will be worse as well.
Generally the recommendation for using monk cast over monk melee is your caster charm should have at least 30 more ee, so if your dagger is 140ee, a 170ee caster charm is likely to be similar
Strangely ninja is probably slightly better to offcast than monk as casting comes into its own at level 55+, so ninja has to reach 2 levels more than monk and doesnt have blue doublestrike which is the best melee solo ability in the game.



You "could" cast 1-30, but there really is no reason to as you deal less damage casting, will have mana issues and using int + max mana gear to circumvent this costs an absolute fortune.

This post was edited by Bigheaded on Oct 26 2023 05:10pm

What are the other mods on the Dagger & Ice Charm?
Do you have a level 55 Heal type charm (Focus or Regular preferably) with Enhanced Effect (include other mods please)

Since you are solo'ing, you are most likely better off going Melee + Heal ... Double Strike + Salvation (the norm). Depending on the Mods on your Ice and say Heal charm you are using, you may have to decide which one goes on Main Slot vs ACC slot ... as an example... if the Ice charm has like +X Int and say Reduced Physical Damage ... it maybe better in your Main slot ... your choice.

Your stat placement is dependent mostly on Melee in this case, however, you can still benefit with a Base of 30 Intelligence going Melee / Heal build rather than either Cast or Melee dominant.

What is your MQ armor? +Int or +Dex? ... I am an oddball, but for a Monk / Ninja = Melee / Heal build, I would use an Int Padded Robe over Dexterity (level 55 preferably) so that I can heal better ... I would also put in a couple or few ability points into Retribution after I obtained 40% (6 ability points) to Salvation and at least 48% (3 ability points) to Double Strike by character level 40.

Oh, Bigheadeds advice is on par also... up to you... you could test the waters for yourself though.