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I read a comment and I really liked a suggestion it made that it would be cooler if the spells weren't just clones of existing spells, but similar to the "Fangs of the Fire Snake" where this ability fits in with the extra unarmed attack bonus action. I feel like more unique "element" spells/actions that synergizes with the overall ways monks work would be really cool!
Is 4 elements the worst class in the game? No, but it makes you work harder, and it’s really only 3 elements because earth isn’t in the game. I really hope they update the subclass in an update or the next edition.
Open hand monk with scrolls are very bad because you need int/wis to sucess against enemys saving trowns. also you cant stun efectively for the same reason. The video is not very well done. With 4 elements you can use scrolls and can steal ( wis/des) and you should use gears like a mage ( to rise saving trown difficulty) and should use weapons and off-hand to get some kind of bonus. In party composition 4 elements will be the agility dps and caster. I suggest a composition with a paladin/warrior, cleric, monk and a beast master/archer
@@borali26 There's a lot wrong about this post. 1: You can get to 22 dex (theoretical max is 23 and you won't get another + to damage and hit) without any ASI so both Open Hand Monk and Four elements can get there, rest you can pump into Wis hitting you max 22/20 dex/wis. You can also swap this around to 20/22 dex/wis if you so choose. 2: There's nothing except Wis that increases your stun DC (Not even Rhapsody). 3: "Mage gear" does not increase your DC for Four elements Disciplines as those are not considered spells (Counterspell does not work on them for example and you can use them in rage), but it does increase DC on scrolls. Also as a monk your scrolls DC scale with your Wis. So effectively Open Hand Monk would be better at being four Elements monk than Four elements monk with scrolls. It kinda is the weakest subclass in the game, but don't get me wrong it's fun :D
@@MrKomiczekyou can get Dex to 24 but only when you confront the final boss and only if you helped I believe the small trifling girl. I think it’a her after you do you big speech
People are way too obsessed with going tavern brawler on monk. It's kind of frustrating that ever monk class build you find online just says "Go TB lol' because that's really lazy. WOTFE is more of a range focused subclass than the other two so suggesting that people just forgo that aspect of the subclass and go TB regardless is kind of silly imo. I think one way this subclass could be very fun and interesting is to have a build centered around cold damage and the mourning frost staff found in act 1. It being a staff means its a monk weapon, and it gives you the ability to cast ray of frost without expending spell slots, that coupled with the innate cold damage the staff does on hit means you could drop decent damage in melee or range. Additionally in act 3 you could get the snow-dusted monastery gloves which make your unarmed attacks also deal cold damage, which would also scale with the stave, and give your flurry of blows more damage. Before act 3 you could use the winters clutches gloves, to build up encrusted with frost and make enemies frozen, which then makes them vulnerable to bludgeoning, thunder and force damage, which again synergises with other spells you can cast, such as shatter from the sentient amulet. There is so much you can and could have done with a WOTFE monk, but no instead I guess just go tavern brawler.
@@nzephier definitely is worthwhile! currently going through a tactician run and loving my shadow monk multiclass with assassin! the unlimited teleports on top of guaranteed advantage on attacks and free stealths' in obscured areas definitely changes the pace and feel of the class from the typical "pop a hill giant pot and going tb" meta.
I agree. Imo, TB's so unbalanced, it's class-defining in a negative way. Like you said, it rewards lazy building. (Especially with elixir builds. A monk with a steroid dependency? Doesn't feel right. 😂) Then there's also that quirk where every other stat caps at 23, and str caps at 24. Meaning without exploits, you can get base +14 to attack and damage rolls by early Act 3. That's WILD for a class attacking up to 8 times per turn. It makes me wonder if monks got playtested enough. It's a shame TB makes other monk builds less viable. I'm as guilty as anyone lmao, I love my TB Durge who's stronger than a hill giant, but monks really suffer from this balance issue.
Made a D.Urge strength barbarian/4 elements multiclass. Lorewise: barbarian felt right with the D.urge, and became more monk-like to control those urges Gameplay: 4 elements ki spells work WHILE RAGING. Fun factor: you play a barbarian that can beat one enemy to death with the corpse of another, while your hands are on fire
They work while silence, and to my knowledge cannot be counterspelled either. And people complain about the ki point costs... but tossing out 9 or 10 fireballs at level 12 is not exactly nothing. And they don't run out of ki as fast as accused, specially in BG3 with the few things that can get you extra ki including a long rest ability that they get by default, and a couple of moves have been lowered from 2 ki to 1... and fangs of the firesnake has been lowered further, and works with flurry of blows and such if you use it in melee and not just use it's ranged version which is short range and really the poorer option unless you ahve reason not to get into melee.
@@Dubbel12 Act 3 you get infinite camp supplies from the inn in Baldur's Gate though. Every night you can just buy 40 camp supplies, and if you have Volo in your camp, you can buy another 40 from him, so you basically just never run out.
@user-ri1sx9rm7f wrong. Their ki comes back at short rest so they can cast much more. A mechanic usually forgotten or handwoven away with. "We don't really use short rests." or "we don't get in that many fights a day for that to matter!" The wizard even with arcane recovery is only going to get 3 more from it. Sure they can upcast but then they have to deal with possibly not using those spell slots effectively.
@tlemgr A level 12 4Ele Monk gets 45 Ki points per long rest. 13 (start) + 13 (short rest 1) + 13 (short rest 2) + 6 (Harmony of Fire and Water). That's 11 Fireballs per long rest with a bonus action attack after each one. Granted, the Wizard can also cast 11 Fireballs if they use all of their spell slots and Arcane Recovery on Fireballing.
4 Elements Monk is probably the strongest Monk subclass when it first becomes available. The Fire Snake adding a good chunk of bonus damage to the follow up attacks is extraordinarily good at that point in the game, it just doesnt scale nearly as well as the other subclasses do.
If you actually micromanage your movement a bit toput yourself into melee range, fist of the fire snake also does more damage, triggers off all of your melee attacks. And can be used with other things like Flurry of blows if you wish. So you wish you can get 4 attacks, most people make the mistake that because it defaults to it's ranged version that must be the only way that it can be used and only get the much more limited fire damage. I'm playing one and I'm not worrying about Ki much at all. specially when I can get more. The nicest thign they did is lower the water whip and fist of unbroken air costs down to 1 from 2. And stopped Fangs of the Fire Snake from potentially taking multiple ki to fully use. Otherwise it's much stronger than it's really getting credit for. As for scaling... it doesn't scale as well. but it starts much higher than most other subclasses with it's damage as well. with several of it's specialty abilities doing 3d10 or even 4d10 to start off with and then going up by 1 die later on.
I agree with this. Alot of the build guides only account for endgame. None account for how the classes feel while levelling and not just rerolling at l12.
@@ProperCh this has been a major problem for all of 5e. Most builds and rankings never bother with the leveling up and actual play. Just an imaginary perfect scenario at end game. Though a couple tried to pretend they were more reasonable by going to the top level of tier 2. They still didn't understand the classes well.
4 Elements monk is great with warlock, hex damage procs multiple times with flames of the fire snake. That with tavern brawler makes a really cool Zuko-esque heavy armor monk build(I took a level of fighter for it)
Could alternatively go a 1 level dip into cleric instead too. Ik the life cleric get heavy armor prof not sure what else but they also use wisdom for their spells and it’ll give you more spells to use(although not many lvl 1 ones.)
@@e.s.r5809 You don’t have to split much if you don’t invest much in warlock. the build I ran was mostly monk with some warlock just for hex and armor of agathys! so you don’t have to split and can run lower cha!
@@robulrich6355 Sanctuary is gloriously busted. I love that if you play Dark Urge, the temple Bhaalists with Sanctuary give you WAY more lip than the ones without. 😂 That is exactly how it feels to use Sanctuary in combat.
Once you've done fangs of the fire snake. it lasts for the whole turn and does damage. if you are in melee don't bother using it again. just use your physical attacks or even your flurry of blows and you'll do the fire damage on top of it. That is unless they changed something in this more recent patch. And it doesn't waste as much of your ki. Though monks have a lot more ki than they are often accused of having because of short rests and ki also scales as a resource far higher than other classes resources (with the exception of full casters with spell slots)
Wait a second, if Fangs of the Fire Snake counts as an unarmed strike, does that mean you can boost it with Astarians Vampire Ascendent passive, Gloves of Soul Catching, and Boots of Kushigo? Also, you could chug Elixer of Cloud Giant Strength to boost your dmg considerably as well. If so, that would mean the 4 Elements Monk has the hardest hitting Action based punch, even harder than Way of Open Hands.
You can also use Araj's potion and the Mirror of Loss to get base 24 str early in Act 3, reducing the need for elixirs. 😁 You could be right, FE might actually have the highest single punch damage. I think OH would still have higher pure build DPR, though. Fangs of the Fire Snake is unarmed + 1d10, then 1d4 to the next blow, at the cost of a Ki point. OH Manifestations are free always-active 1d4+wis, and Ki Resonance is unarmed + 3d6 AoE. Tavern Brawler OH is kind of broken.
You know what? That upfronted TLDW earned a subscription from me. I like a brief to the point answer as well as an explanation and such after. Good work.
When you mentioned Githyanki getting Greatsword proficiency, but them not qualifying for monk weapons, theres a mod for Kensei Monk subclass I found that does let you use a greatsword as a monk weapon as a Gith. I decided to make Ganondorf with it. Its crazy Stunning Striking with a Greatsword.
Eh I’ve found that with the right magic items, 4 elements monk and barbarian is your best friend, since rage and tavern brawler is really consistent for the monk’s unarmed build. Fangs of the fire snake is your best friend though for increasing strike damage.
4 elements monk needs a way to regain ki during combat. For example, Breaking concentration of an enemy gives you ki. The higher tier spell equals more ki gained.
I really wish that mourning frost worked with monks and there were more ice stuff, mourning frosts passive should just be any ice damage source not just spells
I made your build but used the pyro hat with fire 🔥 once I burn I get a extra turn. And I’m using Quarter staff with fire bolt and fire ball. So I’m getting four turns per rotation super fun open with fire snake, unarmed smash, fireball, and weapon reaction.
I'm gonna try out Karlach as a 4 elements monk for my second playthrough. I like the idea of her throwing fire around since she's already basically on fire. I'd like to avoid Tavern Brawler this time as it just felt so overpowered (my last Karlach was a Frenzy Barb throw build); I also fooled around with an Open Fist Tavern Brawler in the endgame. Ironically, Tavern Brawler would fit her personality and backstory quite well I think. I hated that raging meant I couldn't use her Zariel Tiefling smites so a weapon using monk seems like it could be neat. I just wish I had longsword proficiency; I might take an eventual fighter dip for the weapon proficiencies as much as anything. Phalar Aluve for the win.
You have to give up and skip tavern brawler with element monk. You have to do odd things. Go heavy on Wisdom and Dex, then con, then char. level 1, storm sorc (for monk flying), then go into elemental monk + sparkle hands, plus electric staff from wakeens rest + water staff, plus duel wield for 2 staffs , blast pendant, plus electrical feet, plus electrical immunity ring, et et et et et... then give yourself a few levels in tempest cleric... it's a tricky build. Still working on it.
If you multiclass fighter you won’t benefit from the Defense fighting style unless you wear armor, which can be viable, it’s just different than how you’d imagine a monk to play.
like you said, the primary limitation is the ki points and there are just too few ways to interact with them. IMO all 3 monk subclasses would benefit from a class passive that allowed them to regain ki points if specific conditions are met. something along the lines getting Ki points back for killing blows on Shadow, critical strikes on OH or inflicting a status on 4E would go a long way to bring decision making to each subclass in order to optimize for Ki point usages. For the 4E subclass specifically I really liked how you called out the Fangs of the Fire Snake as I think the residual fire damage on the next strike could really diversify the 4E monk outside of their Ki-as-Spellslots interactions. Having your melee strikes imbued with more elemental damage subsequent to using a ki point skill could create a sort of monk gish playstyle and draw some of the emphasis away from spending Ki points every turn. BG3 has already done a ton to make the class better, so hopefully changes like this matriculate back to WOTC for the OneDND rewrite.
Dunno. I never seemed to run out of KI on my play-through (Open Hand). You do get the medallion pretty early on that'll give you back +2 outside of combat (upgraded in early Act III) plus there are built-in mechanics that'll let you regain some KI. All in all, I'd say Monk is so powerful it really doesn't need more help. :)
I kind of used this class as a hybrid class that used spells only really when needed but still ran around and hit things. Sort of a battlemage type thing. Seemed to do fine on tactician especially since I didn't want to use Gale or anyone else using these spells.
I just started using a Four Elements monk and that's how I'm treating it. Focusing on single target beatdown but if there are a buttload of enemies, use the AoE abilities maybe once in conjunction with another caster like a Sorcerer or Druid
The gear that adds wisdom modifier to your unarmed attacks combined with tavern brawler does a lot of damage (even more with tavern brawler + wisdom modifier gear to unarmed + wild shaped owl bear )
the fix would have been to subract 1 from all the abilities. so the 1 ki abilities are basically weak cantrips. ki is a huge problem with monks. Rogue bonus actions don't cost Ki.
What they shouldve done is given way of the elements monk a free bonus action level 1 spell to use from a short list. Like shocking grasp or burning hands or create water.
I'm not particularly interested in this subclass (yet?) but on your channel I know exactly that it's more than worth to check out the initial summary anyway *so, here, have your like and comment* :) (I've been subbed for a while already)
What really makes me scratch my head is why there are elemental disciplines that are just already existing cantrips, but still cost one ki. Why in God's name would you EVER want to use 1 ki to cast shocking graph as a MONK? It's laughably bad and it makes no sense that monk has to spend resources on something other classes get to do for free, in order to do LESS damage than the attack action would have. What were they thinking??? Even the 5e four elements monk didnt do this!
Before even watching the video, its got such minimal spell ability, it has minimal utility compared to open hand. Scrolls essentially make it worthless compared to open hand.
Great video. I would just recommend getting Eldritch Blast somehow while leveling up as a 4 elements monk then maybe respec out of it at level 12 or whatever when you get more Ki points and better equipment. That way you can use EB to clean up easier mobs while saving your Ki points for the boss fights. You can even do it without multiclassing by using the Magic Initiate: Warlock feat although it is better with two levels in warlock. The only drawback is that it arguably takes at least a 14 in Charisma to be reliably effective, hence the need to respec at some point most likely.
Holy shit did I hear correctly? Did you just reference Jade empire that game was awesome and you're the only person I've ever heard mention that game. Like just for that
you're immediately talking about high level end game rather than the struggle at lower levels. they get better when you get tavern brawler with the STR potion but before that, they struggle. they aren't meant to spam spells, they're not wizards. any spell outside fire snake is extremely situational and shouldn't be used often, again, they are not wizards.
i use water whip and fist of broken air regularly. They are very useful if you are willing to invest in wisdom a bit, perhaps with your first ASI and boost up your DC's, which has the side effect of boosting up the viability and usefulness of Stunning Fist as well.
Four Elements Monk would be alot better if they had monk exclusive spells. Currently all you get with 4 elements monk is a roleplay class. Its spells are the exact same as if u a wizard or sorc and its double attack doesnt have synergy as a spellcaster (except ofc fangs of the fire snake but in terms of dmg its peanuts).
I tried Four Elements for a bit on my Monk-run ... but quickly switched (back) to Open Hand. The latter is just too OP to not use it. And despite the oriental sounding names, Four Elements' magic isn't anything new or spectacular. From what I could tell, almost all spells are just re-named versions of ones you can get with other classes. Open Hand on the other hand (har, har) feels sufficiently unique to make it a great experience, even if you're on your Nth run (my Monk-run was my fifth play-through). There are a few drawbacks, like having to rely on other companions for anything CHA-related. Especially in Honour-mode where vendor-prices for the nicer gear can be a bit crazy. The other drawback is that, ideally, you would need to have three or even four attributes in the +3 or +4 range for the perfect build - and that just isn't an option. My solution was to go hard on WIS and DEX, go "decent" on CON and dump everything else, including STR (even though I went with Tavern Brawler). I needed to rely on daily STR-elixirs to make my build work, but since there's always a vendor available who re-stocks those every day, this isn't really a problem. Heck, I'm currently on my 6th run with a Warlock - a class that bores me to tears - and I'm seriously considering to abandon that run (just started Act III) or to re-specc the guy into a Monk.
The biggest issue with 4E Monk is that it should be treated as an Expert Class subclass. You have to be very selective amd judicious with your resources. As an avid 5E, i build a WIS based monk and take 1 Level of Druid for She-Lay-Lay and the Jump Spell or Temepst Cleric...the scaling damage for cantrips reduces the stress of Ki point resource management
Tavern Brawler: I would drop str as a dump stat and wear gloves of Hill Giant strength instead; Dex to 20 and increase using mirror of loss to 22 without mods
No point because you can’t get those until the end of the game. Most people aren’t going into the house of hope until they’re near the end, and even if you go there as soon as you get to baldur’s gate, you’ve still gotta wait until act 3.
If you are going high dex first... lean into fangs of the fire snake and a couple other abilities that don't rely on DC's as much. if you are going to do water whip and other DC abilities. Perhaps go up to at least 18 wisdom first and boost your dex up in other ways until higher levels.
Its not just KI points, it how expensive everything is, for little return. Cantrips are free are they scale passively, with only character levels. Monk cantrips cost 1 ki, scale only once, and it wastes a 4ele feature. This is incredibly stupid. Either increase ki spell damage overall, or reduce all ki cost by 1 and fix ki cantrips.
The timing on this video is unsettling... I spent last night trying to research and play around with this class. Will be interesting to see what you have to say about it!
cant do alot worng with monk, i would say full monk openhand is one.. if not the of the strongest class in the game (because gear and tavern brawler) i would say only a bleedbarb/warrior with giantslayer dishes out more damage
Haven’t even watched the video yet, but here’s my two cents: Fangs of the Fire Snake and Water Whip are your bread and butter all game. Four Elements Monk in BG3 is night and day from 5e. It’s still meh, but it’s not trash.
not saying its better than the options you listed and maybe you mentioned it and I just didn't notice but soul catching gloves are really good for monks, plus 10 force damage and you can heal, or give yourself advantage on attack rolls. It's nerfed compared to real dnd but the fact that its available in the games awesome.
Continuing the truism that if a news or video asks a question in the title, the answer is no. I haven't played this subclass yet, but yeah as soon as I saw that their "spells" cost 2-3 ki points each I was instantly put off. That's a LOT of ki in my mind. That said I did try comparing it to a pure caster by comparing Ki points to Spell slots and it isn't that far off, but still feels not fun. Also casters get Cantrips. The other two Monk subclasses are so good though.
14:05 are feats that weak compared to going from 8-9 or 9-10 monk? Seems like 8-4 is better in every way ? For unarmored defense asi . You don’t need ki points every fight the game is super easy . When u need ki points you use one then do other things like casting from a scroll or throwing a bomb which also is given in much higher quantities than needed
Ki also tend to last longer than everybody claims as well. It's a resources that actually builds up really well. people act like it's only 12 Ki at 12th level but the truth is it's more like 36 at 12th level for a full day. Because you are probably going to short rest to heal up some at some point anyway. which also refreshes your ki, which is almost always either glossed over or forgotten when talking about the monk, particularly 4 elements and supposed costs. We're talking about a subclass that can throw out 9 or 10 fireballs a day if they want to, and then still do some good damage from being a martial class even without Ki points on top of that.
I did 6 levels into shadow monk 3 into gloomstalker and 3 into thief for my dark urge playthrough and I just stay inside the spell darkness and pick off enemies from there. Imo best way to play as a stealth character
I did champion 4, gloomstalker 5, and assassin 3 for my stealth archer. Playing through the game with him on lone wolf tactician. on the first turn (after hitting with a sneak attack to initiate combat) he can let off nine more attacks (extra attack, haste, action surge, bloodlust, and dread ambusher)
Open hand monk with scrolls are very bad because you need int/wis to sucess against enemys saving trowns. also you cant stun efectively for the same reason. The video is not very well done. With 4 elements you can use scrolls and can steal ( wis/des) and you should use gears like a mage ( to rise saving trown difficulty) and should use weapons and off-hand to get some kind of bonus. In party composition 4 elements will be the agility dps and caster. I suggest a composition with a paladin/warrior, cleric, monk and a beast master/archer
I feel seen for my spore druid four elements monk. It's pretty powerful early on I'll say. For sure the first on into a fight and has survivability. SO FAR! Lol
@@yhnujmik987Aren't both spears and tridents considered polearms and versatile weapons? I know Glaives(my preferred weapon) and Halberds are out of the question for Monks.
@@JataDaYokudan96 oh, for the polearm master feat? Spears and quarterstaffs yes, tridents no. When I hear polearm I tend to think of weapons with reach like glaives and halberds. There are no versatile reach melee weapons though.
elemental monk is just a bad spellcaster, the Ki points on short rest is not that much of a issue. even open hand short rests between fights altough they dish a ton of damage
Damn imma run a gold dragon fire monk and use the fireball staff from the inn in act two, put a fire enchant on it with the drakethroat glaive oooooo fun oil of combustion heheheh
So here is a really dumb question, when making a strength toon, would it be beneficial to drop strength to 8 and use the elixir of hill giant strength to increase it to 21 until long rest, and put those points somewhere else that makes sense?
if you don’t need the elixir slot for anything else like bloodlust or vigilance then yeah giant elixirs every day is pretty optimal. you can buy 3 every long rest from the hag and stock up for the whole rest of the game in act 1
ive tested hat of fire acuity on my 4 elements monk, it seems the buff doesnt count monk spells as an actual "spells" so the "spell" AC doesnt increase
The Truth is... they aren't really spells. They don't get several of the spell boosts but they also work through silence and many of them can't be counterspelled either.
Question? can a dwarf with its racial proficiency in either battle axes or warhammers use them two handed as they are versatile not two handed and still consider them monk weapons? Trying to make a dwarf slayer build lol
If you're not doing 9 monk 3 thief four elements opening with fangs and using the two bonus to spam unarmed your playing it wrong, the amount of damage die that early is insane, and for only one ki per turn
@@JaelinBezel you can do that from level 6, which is act 1 early, but the best gear for it doesn't come up that early, leaving a feeling of progression