07/24/06 Version Update

[Dryhus]

Merit Point Job Traits
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Invigorate - Adds a Regen effect when using Chakra.
Penance - Adds an effect to Chi Blast that inhibits an enemy's TP accumulation.

Merit Point Job Abilities
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Mantra - Increases the max HP of party members within area of effect.
Formless Strikes - While in effect, melee attacks will not be considered physical damage. No effect on weapon skills.





Invigorate, Penance, and Mantra are nice toys.

Formless Strikes just made MNKs animals on arcana, elementals, and most importantly HNMs. No DEF reduction counting twice for 2 punches. Chi Blast the mob to inflict damage and stunt mob TP gain...then punch away.

[Amovorite]

I wonder.... if Formless Strikes makes punches no longer counted as physical while in effect.... will that negate their nullification on a Pld using Invincible?

Man... they gave Monks some damn good stuff!

[Dryhus]

I wonder.... if Formless Strikes makes punches no longer counted as physical while in effect.... will that negate their nullification on a Pld using Invincible?

Yes. Invincible only blocks physical damage.

[Icemage]

I could see Formless Strikes being a detriment in HNM situations, since non-physical attacks are probably considered magical by default (and will probably boost NM Magic Resistance in a hurry). Against non-NM enemies it's great though.

Penance and Mantra both look very powerful and useful at 75.

I don't see any point to Invigorate unless you solo a lot.


Icemage

[Amovorite]

I very much would need Invigorate. Even though I have maxed -enmity merits, I still end up taking hate from the tank. Given the damage I can take, and the HP that I have (Galka), this would lighten the stress on the healers a good bit. Wish I could reduce enmity more.... 4 points, and you'd think I could cut loose more often.....

And Formless Strikes are going to piss off Paladins in Ballista.

Also, I think Formless Strikes will make punches just non elemental like Chi Blast, but I don't think it'll be considered magical, so it should be fine on HNMs. Hmm.... thinking about its application in KRT parties... I wonder if it'll affect the damage it deals to skeletons... if it loses its physical trait.... would the h2h bonus still remain?

[Dryhus]

In XP I'm always using Chakra and wishing it gave me Regen. I use -enmity gear and really watch my damage, time my WSes to finish the mob, etc. But I'm still always getting pounded on, given how much damage I do. Chakra+Regen will be nice and should help the healers breathe a little.

I'm a little worried that the magical resistence buff to NMs should have been worded "Non-physical damage resistence" buff. Chi Blast and Spirits Within are both non-elemental (and I wouldn't consider either one to be magical either) but they both raise NM resistence. It seems that anything that ignores the physical defense of a mob, which is the real strong point of HNMs, was affected. Formless Strikes would fit into this category, unfortunately.

That also is a positive in other instances. I believe blunt bonus for H2H on bones is, what, 12.5%? Formless Strikes would ignore DEF, so you'd be hitting bones (or anything else) significantly harder. Just like you have the same Chi Blast potential on Wild Rabbits in Ronfaure as you do on Kirin, I imagine you have the same DoT potential on endgame XP mobs as you would on lv1 mobs. Sick.

[Amovorite]

Ah yes... it's possible that NM/HNMs would build up a resistance to Formless Strikes, but I don't think that'd be a massive problem, since it's only an ability and would last a short time I'm sure. I figured SE would have made mention of the damage resistance in relation to Formless Strikes if it were the case though.

Need to figure out if TP interference for Chi Blast is related to the damage it does...

[Aeolus]

Certainly some sweet stuff here for mnks. Seems Ive chosen wisely going mnk Too bad Im no where near 75~T_T

[Lmnop]

I think the balancing factor for Invigorate will be whether or not it stacks with Regen. If you can get both effects simultaneously, then it'll be grand.

Something I've been thinking about with this magic resist thing... S-E hasn't actually stated that this is a blanket resistance. Lemme try to clarify. If 16 blms nuke the shit out of a mob, will it have high "Magic resist" or will it have high "elemental magic resist?" Mayhaps the magic resistances are accounted for on a per-item basis, so the ninja using elemental nukes to hold hate won't interfere with the blms and smns (a fear of mine that'll make ninjas want to use their nukes even less).

...On the offchance that it's on a per-basis, then Formless Strikes will be fine but, I'm never right when I want to be.

[Dryhus]

From alla... >_>

Me and a pld friend of mine just went in Ballista and tried Formless Strikes...

FACTS:

1) I was able to damage him over invincible, but many of my attacks did a lot less damage

2) My regular attacks did around 50 to him, while the "resisted" attacks did 5 or 6

3) He DID gain tp from my attacks, it is safe to assume the mobs will gain tp too

4) My Asuran Fists did 0 dmg, and I gained 0 tp from it.

5) Some of my attacks only did 5-6 to him. It is safe to assume that with each increase, the amounts of attacks "resisted" (not the best word but it's the only one that came to mind) will get lower

6) I didn't have much time so I was unable to test if defense affects it. If you have more tests with it, please feel free to update this thread.

Just got in-game. First look at the merits...

Formless Strikes: 10 min recast. Each merit increases effectiveness by 5%. Duration: 3 minutes.

Mantra: 10 min recast. Each merit increases effectiveness by 4%.

Invigorate: Adds Regen effect for 24 seconds per merit.

Penance: Adds TP inhibition to Chi Blast; Effect lasts 20 seconds per merit.

Off to try out Formless Strikes... but right now, there seems to be a non-existant double-besieged going on in Kujata. @_@

Edit
Well, it's not ignoring defense. Damage drops from 70-100 to 20-50 on EP Lesser Colibri, and from 30-60 on invading Mamool down to single digits. Next to test; gotta find a ghost or a slime, or something...

It's been said before, but I thought I'd voice my opinion. I think the above quote is wrong. I think Formless Strikes DOES ignore defense. I just think that the players doing the testing aren't doing experimenting to make sure they are maximizing their damage. A single unboosted Chi Blast in your TP-gain gear wouldn't be too rough either.

MNKs are extremely damaging when using H2H because we have high STR and ATK, the two player stats that most greatly affect physical damage per punch. However, because Formless Strikes involve non-physical damage, it shouldn't be surprising that our high STR and ATK holds no influence. Someone needs to use their Chi Blast build with formless strikes and perhaps experiment to see which stats affect FS's non-physical damage if it doesn't share MND with Chi Blast.

[Lmnop]

I hope that the first poster realizes that it even says in the text that WSs are unaffected. Hence, Invincible Paladin will take 0 dmg Asuran Fists. I think people need to be fighting elementals with FS to truely see if it's effective or not.

Your idea of MND affecting it would be cool.

It could well be "normal damage * .6" or something for FS, but each merit bringing it closer to normal attack damage and thus, not worthwhile if you have enough attack to overcome defense which would just be ignored with FS.

[Dryhus]

It could well be "normal damage * .6" or something for FS, but each merit bringing it closer to normal attack damage and thus, not worthwhile if you have enough attack to overcome defense which would just be ignored with FS.

When you say "normal damage", what do you mean? How much damage you would do to a mob if the hits were normal physical damage hits without FS? Because that means you'd actually decrease your damage on HNMs and Invincibled PLDs as your merited the JA.

I think just as Boost applies a factor to Chi Blast damage, I think the merit level will apply a factor to Formless Strikes damage. I still think it's affected by some stats other than STR and ATK. Maybe not Magic Attack, because Moldavite Earring and Elemental Staves do nothing for Chi Blast (other than MND stats on the Dark, Light, and Water staves).

[Minaku]

From what I've heard, it seems Formless Strikes does 1/2 the damage you would normally hit for on mobs with no special resistance. I pt'd with another monk who used it in our merit party, and sure enough he was doing exactly 1/2 as much damage as normal hits. Unless this turns out to be useful on HNMs (which it probably won't since the hits still give tp and Penance looks to be more like plague than stopping tp altogether), I doubt I'll upgrade it if I get it at all.