Monk equipment questions...

Lots of questions here, all Monk equipment related, so I'll just get started:

1. Are the +15 energy, -1 regen, +30 health off hand items worth using despite the -1 regen? If not, what is?

2. If using an off hand item is good, what should you use in you main hand? A Rod? Or a sword/axe etc. that has some +hp, +enchantment, etc. upgrades on it?

3. Is the +10 vs physical on the censors armor worth it? Or would going with the tattoos and + energy work out better for a healing/protect monk?

4. Um, ok so thats only 3, any other general item/armor suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.

1)personally I would rather have a +12 off hand item, but anything lower than that go for the +15 -1

2)depends - do you plan on being a healing monk? if so (and you dont plan on using any offensive spells at all) then use whatever item gives the best bonuses, if you will use anything then try to find a rod

3)this depends on you - but I use the +10 vs physical for my leggs and vest since that is where you get hit more often, then fill in the rest of the armor with power upgrades

1. Each pip of energy gives you 1 energy per 3 seconds. Therefore, if you traded in +15 energy for -1 energy regen, you'd have an advantage for the first 45 seconds of a battle, but you'd be at a disadvantage after that. In addition, you'd have more downtime.

2. A wand is good. Personally, I don't really care whether I'm using a staff or a wand and a focus. I just add the stats on the wand and the focus together, compare them to a staff, and use whichever is better.

3. In PvE, I find that by the endgame, I'm so rarely hit by physical damage that it's not worth giving up energy. Right now, I'm using a combo of tattoos and the Wanderer's set and it's working out very well for me. It's not that hard or expensive to switch, so I'd try out one or the other. If you find that you're dying from physical, use Censor's. If you're dying from elemental, use Wanderer's. If you don't die much, but you run out of mana often, use tattoos.

Every one of these question is a personal "taste" kind of thing. It really is, since they designed the game to balance out the good with the bad well enough where no one armor / item / runes / THING in the game is that much better without some sort of negative.

Take your off hand item. Yes +15 energy is great. Unless you are trying to maintain one or more enchants, then it becomes dicey. Also, once you use up your energy and approach zero, you are now waiting for energy regen, which may become an issue as you continue to try to cast spells (try it, you WILL notice the difference). So it's a trade off, and if you do the math, you will see that a +15 energy over the course of 45 seconds or so is equal to +1 regen.

As to armor, the same applies. Sure +10 to physical does not sound like much... and it isn't, it's about a 16% defensive adjustment. But armor was not done to make one uber... or to gimp one either. Sure you can get tatooes on your chest and get more energy, but it is not that much more, and offsets that damage redux.

Now, if you are looking for ideas... I personally prefer staves. Since a staff can have up to 2 inherent abilities PLUS 2 more added on for heads and wrappings, you can get a nice staff with all you need. I like they way they look too.

For armor, I perfer to have a judges / censors chest armor with the wanderers skirt (they look cute on females ) and tatoo my arms and legs, since the odds of getting hit on the chest are 37.5% (highest of any part), I try to make sure that the get the least amount of damage % chance per hit done and still have decent energy.


Jana

Yeah, it's actually a personal taste, but I would never go for any items that has -1 energy regen because that equals 1 enchantment upkeep. And I would also go Max 1 hander with atleast 10 energy with 20% chance casting speed.

I have tro agree with the other posters on it being more personal taste.

I got the plus 15 minus 1 enrg focus--but switched back due to the minus regen hurting me way more. I run with the necro henchman and use balth plus lifebonds combo. I find that once I start to battle in PVE my energy stayts up quite a bitmore. If I had the minus regen--that is one less enchantment I can run.

In PVP--it might be different...I don't know. I would think being able to run 4 enchantments rather than 3--depending on build would bemore important. If your build is not based around enchantments--than I guess it is a toss up.

As far as a staff or wand. Being a monk primary--I am currently using a wand/focus item combo. I have not found a staff that suits my liking as of yet.