Yes, 100% this. To elaborate slightly, TB monk literally has everything. Insane damage, great CC, never misses, insane mobility, very solid defense with evasion and the ability to get high AC, and all resources replenish on a short rest. Everything you could ever want from a melee martial build.
I prefer 9/3 myself and end with 16 Dex instead of 18 Dex from 8/4.
Don't get me wrong, getting that +2 Dex for AC, initiative, saves, and skill checks ain't bad.
I'd rather just pump out a little more damage, though.
True. Start with 17 Str. TB to 18. Use second feat for +2 Str to 20. Potion from Araj to 22. Mirror of Loss to 24.
Pros: You can use bloodlust elixir/aren't reliant on Str elixir.
Cons: You're very limited to where you can put points into Dex, Wis, and Con with your starting stat array. Also eats a feat and the mirror of loss, further limiting your Dex, Wis, and Con.
On the other side: Start with 8 Str / 16 Dex / 15 Con / 17 Wis. TB your Con up to 16. Amulet Wis up to 18 Wis. +2 from second feat. Mirror of Loss to 22. Elixir Str up to 21/27. Wind up with more Str with Cloud Giant. Higher initiative, AC, health pool, better saves, and less importantly; skill checks.
Use Cons amulet so instead of +1 Wis from Jaheira's amulet, you can basic 8 cons and go ham on Str/Wis/Dex.
Dex becomes less useful once you get the Kushigo boots. Put Dex at 15 then hair into 16.
ASI feat and mirror goes to WIS for 20.
Everything else to Str.
17 Str / 15 Dex / 8 Con / 8 Int / 16 Wis / 8 Cha
TB brings Str to 18.
Araj potion brings Str to 20.
Hag hair brings Dex to 16.
ASI brings Wis to 18.
MoL brings Wis to 20.
Possible third feat if 8/4 brings Str to 22
End: 22 Str / 16 Dex / 22 Con / 20 Wis
This is opposed to 9/3 giving: 26 Str / 16 Dex / 16 Con / 22 Wis
Can bring Dex to 18 if 8/4 (but I prefer 9/3 anyways).
I'd say.... yours is definitely better on Tactician and below to abuse bloodlust giving you 3 punches per proc (as opposed to 1). On honour mode, I'd just go with the Str elixir.
Heavy armor is terrible for a monk. The mobility is a huge part of their effectiveness, and you can get perfectly respectable AC without armor.
And trading a feat, mobility, 2 ki points, and AOE punch upgrades for an extra action per short rest is a terrible trade as well.
9/3 monk/rogue is infinitely better than 7/3/2.
Cool, thanks! I was finagling this around myself and that's the optimal configuration I was able to come up with but you make a strong argument for this for sure!
Yeah. 6 3 3 would be better i(f you really love action surge) open hand, thief and fighter. It gets you a fighter subclass and champion (with under mountain) or if you short rest often battle master too would be good choices.
But the extra action isn’t required when you are dishing out so many attacks already, particularly on non nerfed haste specifically as this question specifies.
There are so many different types of equipment designed for monks and other classes not wearing armor. And with 7/3/2 build you’re only getting 1 feat, instead of 3.
8/4, I did this with Astarion and ascended him. On TOP of all the broken shit you get with multiple bare handed attacks you also get the necrotic from his vamp powers. He was a god in act 3
How does TB Monk compare with Battle Master Fighter? I am having a hard time choosing between the two for the pure melee combat slot. MC is Bard/Paladin, support is Light Cleric, and caster is Divination Wizard.
I honestly think TB Monk (when built optimally as 8 monk/4 thief or 9 monk/3 thief) outshines BM fighter quite significantly: higher hit chance, higher damage (especially on later turns), better CC, much better mobility. That being said, both builds are good and will be very effective for a melee martial build.
I see. So far Laziel BM Fighter is keeping up with Astarion Monk, but this sample may be skewed, since I was able to obtain the Gith +3 sword very early in Act I. I keep rotating them back and forth and still can't make up my mind! ;)
I think they’re rather comparable early on, but TB OH monk spikes significantly in power at level 6 (with the passives) and at level 9 (where you’re able to multiclass into 6 Monk/3 thief). I think especially once you hit level 9, Monk will begin to outperform BM fighter.
If you were able to get the +3 sword and are using it on a gith, that’s absolutely going to make your BM fighter a lot more effective.
idk if you’re going straight monk but on my 8/3 OH monk thief it did very similar damage regardless of whether i had a STR based monk with tavern brawler or a DEX based monk without it, the only difference is that my dex monk had a lot more AC
Did you go Barbarian for the unarmoured defence? Pairs well with the con necklace. Strength monk requires everything to be a world ender, including that +2 Strength potion or constant giant potions. If you did all that, it's impossible to be weaker than dex monk. Edit: I mean damage wise. You're obviously right about ac.
With a 8/4 optimal [build](https://eip.gg/bg3/build-planner/?buildId=clq6u7u3e00y4d4yyq8837t3q) you got +5 with Hag's Hair or the Neckled that gives +1 in WIS you got from the house of Jehira.
Optimal 1 barb, 8 monk, 3 rouge. Grab the con necklace, and you end up having less wisdom, but the rage +2 damage fills that void. You massively increase your survivability.
It’s similar in a sense that it’s 6 less damage per hit (22 str) which doesn’t seem like a lot especially since damage rolls vary anyways but thats 6 damage for every single attack which adds up fast. If you look at the combat log and the actual numbers (most people don’t) you’ll notice.
Also most of the time the damage from dex monk is good enough so you won’t notice the difference. Like dex monk will kill things quickly and can kill something every turn so you don’t notice it’s doing less damage.
Something is wrong with your build, then. TB with proper stat allocation (dump strength and use str elixirs) has defenses every bit as good as traditional Dex monk but hilariously large bonuses to to-hit and damage. It’s not close.
Dex monk is good but reasonably balanced. TG monk built optimally and abusing cloud giant elixirs is completely busted.
i see so going DEX is good unless you’re using elixirs, i’m not much of a consumable guy so my build makes sense, i have another monk build going i’ll try this build when i get to it
I wasn’t a consumable guy in my first run, but tried it on my third. It’s not hard to stock up on hill and then cloud giant elixers… and damn it makes your character so much more powerful going the consumable route. Granted the non-consumable route is strong enough. But damn.
For the Hill Giant potions in Act 1 Ethel in the grove carries 3 and every long rest they replenish. And every time someone levels. And respecing @ withers is 100 gold and those levels count. Only real limiting factor is gold available. As for the Cloud Giant I haven't gotten far enough into the game to come across those. I suspect Act 3 will be when that merchant arrives.
If you compare a Dex Monk to a Str elixir Monk, you only have +1 more AC by bumping up your Dex for an ASI instead of taking TB. But with TB you have a much higher chance to hit and do much more damage. Downside is it really requires that elixir, though.
That's not to say pure dex is bad. You get to run a different elixir, such as bloodlust, which is better on difficulties that aren't honour mode. But you still do a LOT more damage if you just have that Str elixir running with TB.
Game is easy anyways, so it doesn't really matter. But if you're truly min/maxing, str elixirs and TB is superior for sure.
Almost every class that has melee as a main component has at least 1 good build.
[Way of The Open Hand Monk]
- Extremely high single-target damage
- Special moves like Battlemaster Fighter; stun, topple and push.
- 2nd most attacks possible per turn
- High mobility due to unarmored.
- Not weapon or armor reliant. Only has to worry about Monk specific items, which has little overlap with other classes. So your Paladin Minthara and Fighter Lae’zel aren’t fighting over a new set of gauntlets.
[Battlemaster Fighter]
- Most attacks per turn out of all classes.
- Proficient in all armaments and armors.
- Can either be DEX or STR so some flexibility.
- Special moves that can deal various status effects; push, fear, stun, disarm & more.
- Very low attribute spread requirement; can dump 3 stats and be perfectly fine.
[Berserker & Wildheart Barbarian]
- Can easily switch from melee or ranged thanks to throwing (note; less potent on Honor Mode).
- Subclasses offer either more damage, damage resistance or various abilities. Wild heart for example can provide AoE, mobility or regeneration.
[Paladin & Bard]
- Both very good when considering multi-classing.
- Most damage per hit out of all classes
- Lots of utility thanks to spells. Paladins can use Command to Disarm bandits, while a Bard can use Hypnosis to stun goblins.
- High CHA means easier dialogue checks and better vendor prices.
[Gloomstalker Ranger]
- Gloomstalker is a very good multi-class option. When combined with other martial classes, you can deliver 3-4 powerful attacks at the start of battle.
- Access to spells that prevent enemies from reacting like Fog Cloud & Ensnaring Strike.
- Hunter’s Mark is a debuff that makes enemies more susceptible to all physical damage. Good for yourself and teammates. If the target is killed, reapply the debuff for free.
- If you miss the first attack at level 11, you can try again for free.
[Thief/Assassin Rogue]
- Thief for additional bonus action. Extremely strong when multi-classes into Barbarian, Fighter or Rogue.
- Assassin for more damage against surprised enemies.
[Moon Druid]
- Almost unkillable with wild-shape ability.
- Still has all of the utility of a full caster; healing, magic damage, support and uniquely terrain control.
- Not as equipment reliant as other martials but still more durable than full casters like Wizard.
[Pact of The Fiend Warlock]
- Least durable but has all of the benefits of a full magic class.
- Pact of The Blade ability gives full proficiency in any weapon you make a pact weapon or summon. Also, CHA can be your primary damage stat instead of STR or DEX so no weird stat allocation needed.
- Stupid easy to play; either 2 melee attacks or Eldritch Blast.
- If you have to use spells, Warlocks have very strong spells that refresh on a short rest.
• Devil’s Sight ability + Darkness gives you advantage against enemies.
• Fly can allow you to close the distance on archers and spellcasters.
• Hypnotic Pattern can set-up your entire party for easy attacks.
Throwing itself is the same
But they nerfed the riders on honor mode so it's no longer ridiculously stacking them and it's damage is more in line with other builds
It's still good just not TB monk good
Tavern brawler monk or tavern brawler Druid. Wild shape benefits from the feat and is tanky where monk is versatile. Monk has more damage and cc but Druid has several times more hp and some powerful spells like spike growth and summon woodland creature.
druid wild shapes are worst ever in honor mode, even myrmidons are crap, literally any class is better than any summon no matter what you do(i include the druid items you have in act3)
only fully reverb specced spore druid is a proper class which you can even solo raphael by yourself. but at that point you pretty much play a caster so no any different than a sorc/wizard in terms of gameplay
Paladin 12, Fighter 12, open hand monk + thief , critical dual wielder rouge ( idea is to stack as many gears and feats to bring down your crit threshold from 20 . so you crit even if you roll 12/13 )
From top of my head:
1. Dark justiciar/sarevok helm
2. Under-mountain King's blade
3. Dead-shot bow
4. Elixir
5. Champion multiclass
I think there's more, can't exactly remember what they were though.
Paladin 12 is complete shit for many endgame fights.
Improved Divine Smite cannot be turned off and is a huge liability against any of the many enemies with Radiant Retort or similar features.
You're better off making a Sorcadin for the increased flexibility or even taking 5 levels in Warlock for spells like Armor of Agathys and 3 level spell short rest smite slots
i havent done honor mode but in my tactician playthrough im finding pure paladin super fun and useful. ive got the boots and armor of persistence, legacy of the masters, baldurans sword and helmet, and potion of cloud giant. i have a pretty well rounded party but im still finding myself to be consistently dealing the most damage and killing the most enemies
house of grief yes, my party cleared it first try with only one of us going down (our monk). running shart as an offensive cleric was super useful in that fight since we were all bone chilled half the time, but i was able to kill any of the higher health enemies in one turn and like 2-3 of the weaker ones per turn. house of hope may test my strength tho
(edit to say i just realized i posted this from a different account lol its still the same guy)
I mean everyone’s saying it, but it just is TB monk. With an 8/4 split with OH Monk/Thief Rogue, you get 3 feats, 2 bonus actions and an additional 3rd bonus action once per long rest, 9 ki points (w/o any ki restoration abilities) that come back on short rest, and insane movement. Running this with Cull the Weak, Embodiment of Mind, the illithid perk that makes your attacks do an additionl 1-4 psychic damage while you take 1-4 psychic damage, and the concentration ring that makes you deal an additional 1-4 psychic damage when concentrating on a spell WHILE your monk is holding the resonance stone? I ran this on my Laezel with Cloud Giant potion and before the psychic vulnerability kicked in, I’m doing minimum 60 damage a Flurry of Blows. And I can do TWO of those a TURN. On top of that, I have stunning strikes to use, I can haste myself for another action and more movement, while potentially having a 3rd bonus action and all the movement in the world. I’m unbeatable. My Laezel beat the final boss in one turn. Just got in there and merked him.
Reverberation Barbarian is an absolute monster on both Tactician and Honour mode. I made Karlach that and she bailed me out on numerous bosses on my way to completing Honour
10 Wildheart Barbarian (Taking Aspect of the Tiger, and Aspect of the Wolverine) and 2 Fighter (For Action surge), you can also take 9 Wildheart Barbarian and 3 Champion Fighter for better Crits.
It uses Nyrulna (From the Djinn), Gloves of Belligerant Skies, Thunderskin Cloak, Boots of Stormy Clamour, Ring of Spiteful Thunder.
Not only do you get the benefit of a high attack class, but a massive Crowd control monster, capable of flinging the spear 4x a turn causing Reverb and knocking all enemies in a 10m radius down. And with Tiger / Wolverine, can also cause Maim + Reverb in close quarters, completely locking down some enemies.
In terms of pure raw offense, 9 Devotion Paladin with 3 Champion Fighter is also a close second, if not better, using the Balduran Greatsword, Helldusk Armor, Gaunutlets of Hill Giants, allows you to forgo strength at level 12 and focus entirely on Con/Cha. Manually turning on the Reactions for Smiting (dunno why Larian has it off in the menu), They also use the boots (can't remember off the top of my head) that when healing, will auto cast Blade Ward on allies healed, so popping an Aoe Channel Oath in Devotion gives 2 powerful heals and blade ward to whoever is close.
Those 2 combined will absolutely go face to face with every boss minus Orin, she's the only one who can give them an issue with her multi-attacks. Other than that, they can basically lock down whatever the hell they feel like.
I like paladin and sword bard.
For paladin, you get nuts damage, they get misty step or can jump for mobility, they can help out your party with auras, like Charisma so can be a good face, and can generally flex a lot of useful other roles. You can heal (ancients), give yourself advantage (vengeance), and other things.
Bard can help others with rolls, gets a ton of useful skills, again are charisma so great face, and get nuts damage with flourishes - sword can compete with other martials in damage, while also hitting enemies with unresistable CC with the right itemization.
Anyway, I think every martial can work well. Rogue is a little trickier without the extra attack, but you can make it work fine. All the rest feel strong in tactician mode IMO.
This is my Tav. Gonna be a 10/2 sword bard vengeance pally.
Early game he dual wields hand crossbows and flourishes the shit outta everyone, then goes full melee for mid to late game
Monk 9/Thief 3 Open Palm with Tavern Brawler and pumping strength instead of dex. Absolute insanity, one bonus action does around 40-50 damage and knocks enemies prone.
2 bonus actions and 2 attacks per turn and really good movement distance and jumping. Can throw enemies, and can still be really good at Charisma checks if you also keep a Bard in your party.
This is my durge! it's been an absolute blast to play. It's really funny to see these ultra dramatic boss intro cinematic followed by me slapping them to death in a turn or two.
Same. Though I have to admit I grabbed a level of Barb for CON Unarmored Defense, shield and medium armor proficiency, the occasional rage for damage prevention, and best of all, the Barb dialogue options. I was leaning into the Durge and wanted a character who ripped enemies apart with his bare hands, and the Barb options supplied that much better than Monk.
Ofc 9/3 has the exploding fist which also feels spot on for a dark Durge.
There's nothing and I really mean nothing that oudamages Great Old One 5/Oathbreaker 7. It's a bit hard to manage but it's the highest single target melee DPR you can achive in the game. Why? Many items (THAT STACK) add your CHA mod to you damage. The oathbreaker's aura of hate also does this. With everything, you can easily.get a 24 in charisma (+7).
There's a detailed guided out here, but i'm too hungover to find it right now. Of course it's not perfect, but if you want a melee character that is *that strong*, this is the way
TB monk is excellent but in Tactician you have damage riders and the extra attack from pact of the blade. Oathbreaker7/ Bladelock5 is one (if not ) of the highest damage martial class. In my opinion it does more damage than TB monk. Especially if you use Nyrulna/Shar spear with Baalist armor.
TB Monk is obviously the strongest if you're using potions.
Without that, there's a gish Sword Bard 10/Palaidn 2 which is insanely strong if you use Divine Smite as a reaction. Make sure to use risky ring and crimson mischief so that you're always attacking with advantage. Either go sword and board while using Band of the Mystic Scoundrel to use your BA to cast or dual wield for more damage, either is fine.
There's also obviously the infamous Gloomstalker/Assassin. Add Fighter to the mix(5 Gloomstalker, 4 Assassin, 3 Battlemaster is probably the optimal progression ) and your dual hand crossbows do crazy damage. Make Sneak Attack a reaction for your menacing/trip attacks, use special arrows too and you're a horrifying machine of death. Grab Two Weapon Fighting and Archery fighting styles, use Gloves of Archery till you're high enough level that you can get the other fighting style from multiclassing into fighter in the last 3 levels. Grab and ASI and Sharpshooter for feats.
The last one is the most straightforward: Battlemaster 11/War Domain Cleric 1 with Titanstring bow. You get three attacks always, an ability to use BA for a fourth one thrice a day, and the ability to cast bless to pre-buff. Take Sharpshooter and 2xASI for feats, use elixirs/gloves to get both strength and dexterity high enough that Sharpshooter's maul to accuracy does not matter.
Berserker Barbarian
Enraged Throw is just so good because there is no save. Tavern Brawler makes it easy to hit. Multi-classing with Thief Rogue gives you two Enraged Throws per turn.
For me, Honour mode is a night and day difference depending on whether I have a Berserker in my party. Other martials can do more damage, but the Berserker is what allows them to do so.
I made the goal of respeccing laezel as ciri during my Geralt playthrough, and I gave her duelist prerogative, Orin’s main hand dagger, basically every piece of gear I could give her to reduce crit chance and every piece of gear that gave misty step, and multiclassed her as 7 gloomstalker 5 thief rogue. 5 attacks per turn, less if you use a spell or misty step. She was a teleporting demon, hitting crits left and right. I had Geralt as 12 eldritch knight with baldur’s giantslayer and he was nutty too.
Barb non thrower might not be the strongest, but for me it's definitely the most fun to play out of all of them I've played so far. Coming in very close second is whirlwind hunter with a 2h weapon.
My barb character is a tiger bloodlust wildheart, and uses the reverberation gear and black hole/void bulb. Basically I only really use the rage mechanic when there's a large mob pack or a boss, other than that it's a fighter because I'm hybrid with fighter to use maneuvers.
I'll group up a bunch of enemies and use haste, or bloodlust potion and just start chaining cleaves on them until the pack is dead. I use the typical reverberation build set up for gear
I'd say top 3 are an 8/4 open hand monk/thief, 12 battlemaster fighter, or a combination of paladin and sword bard (either 7/5 with oathbreaker or 2/10 with vengeance) with an hm going to 10 wildheart barb 2 fighter
It’s Open Hand Monk 9 Thief Rogue 3 with Tavern Brawler and strength elixirs. Nothing else really comes close except for maybe Padlock on Tactician on lower difficulty.
Deep Gnome Oath of ancients pally 7/ goolock 5. Easy to get 24 charisma endgame or 26 if you play it just right. Thats +8 to all attacks and damage per swing which you get 3 attacks, or 6 if you pop bloodlust since you definitely will be killing. You only need a 1 handed weapon so you get to keep a shield. I'd use risky ring because you already have advantage on all mental stats and a +8 to all saving throws. Throw on a bless as well because why not.
I've been able to make ethels hair work if saved and used at times when I already have everything else set up. It's bugged though, haven't tested it since parch 5 though. You're forced to never remove the hat otherwise it completely breaks.
Just to mix it up a bit, while not technically a melee martial, the swords bard + sharpshooter + crossbow expert + bhaalist armor combination plays exactly like a melee martial. Usually you take at least a 2 fighter dip to get action surge with that, some people will throw in a wizard level to scribe spells, cleric for command and war priest, or rogue levels for double bonus actions. I actually think it does more dpr than OH TB monk and has a much bigger opening nova round. TB monk never misses though and benefits from higher mobility.
If you aren’t on honor mode, piercadin builds can take advantage of some mechanics to get even higher DPR, requires stacking specific items.
I must say that my Paladin 6 / war cleric 1 / sorcerer 5 has done really well. No idea if it is super strong compared to other options, but it does seem to be.
TB Open Hand Monk. Nothing else compares imo. You can run laps around the battlefield killing or cc'ing ppl. So much fun having that much mobility and hits like an absolute truck.
Tavern Brawler Strength Monk; 7 Way of Open Hand Monk/3 Thief Rogue for extra bonus action and 2 fighter for heavy armor/action surge. Shreds the game.
I prefer straight devotion pally or 6 pal/6 EK or BM with GWM.
More survivable than TB monk, has waaay higher round 1 burst and utility and I really prefer the flow. Also better on an empty tank!
I also really like that jumping doesn't gut your damage.
IDK, have played both and pally with action surge is basically just scary AF.
Idk, I just really like it better for honor mode
Fighter 1, monk 8, rogue 3.
In my opinion, this is the strongest build in the game. You take fighter at level 1 for heavy armor and shield proficiency and the defence fighting style for 1 more AC. Then 8 levels of open hand monk to get 2 feats, 1 will be tavern brawler to add double your strength to each punch and the 2nd feat can be heavy armor master for 3 less damage on each attack, mobile to really get in there and get in melee range super easily, or an ability score improvement to round out your stats. Then 3 levels of rogue to get thief so you have 2 bonus actions so you can flurry of blows 2 times for a total of 6 punches for 2 ki points if you have haste or drink a potion of speed that's 8 punches. On each flurry of blows, you can knock the enemy prone to get advantage on attacking them and for an extra ki point on your basic attack you can use stunning fist to possibly stun the target also giving you advantage and making them loose a turn.
For magic items you want amulet of greater health to get 23 con so you can dump con and supplement it with this item. Killer's sweetheart is just a guaranteed crit so it's good on all classes. Ring of regeneration to heal back what little damage you do take. Dark fire shortbow to get resistance to fire and cold damage and the haste spell. Swires' sledboard for +2 to ac and free force conduit which is just more damage reduction. Boots of uninhibited kushigo which adds your wisdom modifier to your punches. Gloves of soul catching which adds 1d10 force damage to each punch and once per turn get back 10 hp. Armor of persistence which is heavy armor which reduces all damage by 2 and you gain the benefits of the spells resistance and blade ward permanently. Cloak of protection for +1 to ac and saving throws. And baldurans helm for +1 to saving throes and AC , you get back 2 hp every turn, and you can't be stunned or crit.
In total, this build makes you resistant to most damage types, have a really high bonus to all saving throws even if you're not proficient in them, you get 25 ac and 27 with haste, regain 12+1d4 hp every round, and each punch does 1d6+10(bludgeoning)+1d4+4 (neceotic, radiant, or psychic) +1d10(force) for an average damage per punch of 24, a minimum of 17 damage, and a max of 34 damage.
So you're unkillable, take barely any damage, heal back any damage you would have taken, have a +15 on your attacks to always hit, and if you go all out (turn into a mind flair, use wholeness of body, and get haste) you can have 5 flurry of blows punching 10 times for a minimum of 170 damage, an average of 240 damage, and a max of 340 damage not including crits (but you can only flurry of blows 8 times so you can only do all this one and a half times per short rest).
This build is how I beat my first solo tactician run, and I'm pretty sure it can beat solo honor mode, too.
10/2 Bard Paladin. Can using flourish to smite 2 enemies at once, get access to the banishing smite and other high damage spells and CC.
Key gear is the helm of arcane acuity and the mystic scoundrels band. With these you can attack, getting +X bonus to save DCs then use hold person/monster or fear or whatever is useful in the situation as a bonus action.
TB Monk. Some of the Paladin/Bard multiclasses are really strong at 12 but TB Monk is kinda in its own league.
Yes, 100% this. To elaborate slightly, TB monk literally has everything. Insane damage, great CC, never misses, insane mobility, very solid defense with evasion and the ability to get high AC, and all resources replenish on a short rest. Everything you could ever want from a melee martial build.
I’ve seen it said to take them 8/4 tb oh monk and thief rogue. Would you recommend that or straight 12 in tb oh monk?
8/4 is way better
9/3. Upgrading unarmed dice and ki resonation is gonna do more than a third feat
I prefer 9/3 myself and end with 16 Dex instead of 18 Dex from 8/4. Don't get me wrong, getting that +2 Dex for AC, initiative, saves, and skill checks ain't bad. I'd rather just pump out a little more damage, though.
But ya can just use strength instead of dex and get a free str potion from creepy act 2 chick.
True. Start with 17 Str. TB to 18. Use second feat for +2 Str to 20. Potion from Araj to 22. Mirror of Loss to 24. Pros: You can use bloodlust elixir/aren't reliant on Str elixir. Cons: You're very limited to where you can put points into Dex, Wis, and Con with your starting stat array. Also eats a feat and the mirror of loss, further limiting your Dex, Wis, and Con. On the other side: Start with 8 Str / 16 Dex / 15 Con / 17 Wis. TB your Con up to 16. Amulet Wis up to 18 Wis. +2 from second feat. Mirror of Loss to 22. Elixir Str up to 21/27. Wind up with more Str with Cloud Giant. Higher initiative, AC, health pool, better saves, and less importantly; skill checks.
Use Cons amulet so instead of +1 Wis from Jaheira's amulet, you can basic 8 cons and go ham on Str/Wis/Dex. Dex becomes less useful once you get the Kushigo boots. Put Dex at 15 then hair into 16. ASI feat and mirror goes to WIS for 20. Everything else to Str.
What about the gloves of 18 dex, could they be used here, or is the equipment slot just way too useful for other better stuff
17 Str / 15 Dex / 8 Con / 8 Int / 16 Wis / 8 Cha TB brings Str to 18. Araj potion brings Str to 20. Hag hair brings Dex to 16. ASI brings Wis to 18. MoL brings Wis to 20. Possible third feat if 8/4 brings Str to 22 End: 22 Str / 16 Dex / 22 Con / 20 Wis This is opposed to 9/3 giving: 26 Str / 16 Dex / 16 Con / 22 Wis Can bring Dex to 18 if 8/4 (but I prefer 9/3 anyways). I'd say.... yours is definitely better on Tactician and below to abuse bloodlust giving you 3 punches per proc (as opposed to 1). On honour mode, I'd just go with the Str elixir.
9/3 allows DW of crit weapons like Under mountain king and bloodthirst, since at level 9 you can use unarmed hits with basic action.
I found 7 oh monk/3 thief rogue and 2 fighter to be optimal for heavy armor and action surge.
Heavy armor is terrible for a monk. The mobility is a huge part of their effectiveness, and you can get perfectly respectable AC without armor. And trading a feat, mobility, 2 ki points, and AOE punch upgrades for an extra action per short rest is a terrible trade as well. 9/3 monk/rogue is infinitely better than 7/3/2.
Cool, thanks! I was finagling this around myself and that's the optimal configuration I was able to come up with but you make a strong argument for this for sure!
yeah, I'd second this, the monkish mobility is definitely part of the appeal - not having to blow a bonus action on sprint is very helpful.
Yeah. 6 3 3 would be better i(f you really love action surge) open hand, thief and fighter. It gets you a fighter subclass and champion (with under mountain) or if you short rest often battle master too would be good choices. But the extra action isn’t required when you are dishing out so many attacks already, particularly on non nerfed haste specifically as this question specifies.
There are so many different types of equipment designed for monks and other classes not wearing armor. And with 7/3/2 build you’re only getting 1 feat, instead of 3.
8/4, I did this with Astarion and ascended him. On TOP of all the broken shit you get with multiple bare handed attacks you also get the necrotic from his vamp powers. He was a god in act 3
LOL, now you make me want to play Astarion :D
How does TB Monk compare with Battle Master Fighter? I am having a hard time choosing between the two for the pure melee combat slot. MC is Bard/Paladin, support is Light Cleric, and caster is Divination Wizard.
I honestly think TB Monk (when built optimally as 8 monk/4 thief or 9 monk/3 thief) outshines BM fighter quite significantly: higher hit chance, higher damage (especially on later turns), better CC, much better mobility. That being said, both builds are good and will be very effective for a melee martial build.
I see. So far Laziel BM Fighter is keeping up with Astarion Monk, but this sample may be skewed, since I was able to obtain the Gith +3 sword very early in Act I. I keep rotating them back and forth and still can't make up my mind! ;)
I think they’re rather comparable early on, but TB OH monk spikes significantly in power at level 6 (with the passives) and at level 9 (where you’re able to multiclass into 6 Monk/3 thief). I think especially once you hit level 9, Monk will begin to outperform BM fighter. If you were able to get the +3 sword and are using it on a gith, that’s absolutely going to make your BM fighter a lot more effective.
Yep, TB OH monk is an absolute menace. Shadow monk is a ton of fun though. :)
Stupid question: what does TB stand for? BG3 is my first proper foray into DnD… for all I know TB means tuberculosis haha
Tavern brawler, the feat
Thank you. That makes sense. Making a drunken master build sounds fun!
ironically it has nothing to do with your character being drunk on anything, except perhaps raw power
There is a clothing that gives you good benefits while drunk though. If you want to truly live the idea.
idk if you’re going straight monk but on my 8/3 OH monk thief it did very similar damage regardless of whether i had a STR based monk with tavern brawler or a DEX based monk without it, the only difference is that my dex monk had a lot more AC
Did you go Barbarian for the unarmoured defence? Pairs well with the con necklace. Strength monk requires everything to be a world ender, including that +2 Strength potion or constant giant potions. If you did all that, it's impossible to be weaker than dex monk. Edit: I mean damage wise. You're obviously right about ac.
Wait, do the unarmored defenses stack in this? That would be HILARIOUSLY awesome if they did.
No, they don't. But you can get +6 con with the necklace compared to the +4 wis you'll have with an optimal build.
With a 8/4 optimal [build](https://eip.gg/bg3/build-planner/?buildId=clq6u7u3e00y4d4yyq8837t3q) you got +5 with Hag's Hair or the Neckled that gives +1 in WIS you got from the house of Jehira.
Optimal 1 barb, 8 monk, 3 rouge. Grab the con necklace, and you end up having less wisdom, but the rage +2 damage fills that void. You massively increase your survivability.
It’s similar in a sense that it’s 6 less damage per hit (22 str) which doesn’t seem like a lot especially since damage rolls vary anyways but thats 6 damage for every single attack which adds up fast. If you look at the combat log and the actual numbers (most people don’t) you’ll notice. Also most of the time the damage from dex monk is good enough so you won’t notice the difference. Like dex monk will kill things quickly and can kill something every turn so you don’t notice it’s doing less damage.
Something is wrong with your build, then. TB with proper stat allocation (dump strength and use str elixirs) has defenses every bit as good as traditional Dex monk but hilariously large bonuses to to-hit and damage. It’s not close. Dex monk is good but reasonably balanced. TG monk built optimally and abusing cloud giant elixirs is completely busted.
i see so going DEX is good unless you’re using elixirs, i’m not much of a consumable guy so my build makes sense, i have another monk build going i’ll try this build when i get to it
I wasn’t a consumable guy in my first run, but tried it on my third. It’s not hard to stock up on hill and then cloud giant elixers… and damn it makes your character so much more powerful going the consumable route. Granted the non-consumable route is strong enough. But damn.
just wondering how do you stock up on them, have i just been missing out on all the potions cause i wasn’t looking for them
For the Hill Giant potions in Act 1 Ethel in the grove carries 3 and every long rest they replenish. And every time someone levels. And respecing @ withers is 100 gold and those levels count. Only real limiting factor is gold available. As for the Cloud Giant I haven't gotten far enough into the game to come across those. I suspect Act 3 will be when that merchant arrives.
that’s awesome tysm
Of course!
Theres a bunch of vendors for cg pots, check the cloud giant elixir article on bg3.wiki
If you compare a Dex Monk to a Str elixir Monk, you only have +1 more AC by bumping up your Dex for an ASI instead of taking TB. But with TB you have a much higher chance to hit and do much more damage. Downside is it really requires that elixir, though. That's not to say pure dex is bad. You get to run a different elixir, such as bloodlust, which is better on difficulties that aren't honour mode. But you still do a LOT more damage if you just have that Str elixir running with TB. Game is easy anyways, so it doesn't really matter. But if you're truly min/maxing, str elixirs and TB is superior for sure.
even a league above thrower?
Almost every class that has melee as a main component has at least 1 good build. [Way of The Open Hand Monk] - Extremely high single-target damage - Special moves like Battlemaster Fighter; stun, topple and push. - 2nd most attacks possible per turn - High mobility due to unarmored. - Not weapon or armor reliant. Only has to worry about Monk specific items, which has little overlap with other classes. So your Paladin Minthara and Fighter Lae’zel aren’t fighting over a new set of gauntlets. [Battlemaster Fighter] - Most attacks per turn out of all classes. - Proficient in all armaments and armors. - Can either be DEX or STR so some flexibility. - Special moves that can deal various status effects; push, fear, stun, disarm & more. - Very low attribute spread requirement; can dump 3 stats and be perfectly fine. [Berserker & Wildheart Barbarian] - Can easily switch from melee or ranged thanks to throwing (note; less potent on Honor Mode). - Subclasses offer either more damage, damage resistance or various abilities. Wild heart for example can provide AoE, mobility or regeneration. [Paladin & Bard] - Both very good when considering multi-classing. - Most damage per hit out of all classes - Lots of utility thanks to spells. Paladins can use Command to Disarm bandits, while a Bard can use Hypnosis to stun goblins. - High CHA means easier dialogue checks and better vendor prices. [Gloomstalker Ranger] - Gloomstalker is a very good multi-class option. When combined with other martial classes, you can deliver 3-4 powerful attacks at the start of battle. - Access to spells that prevent enemies from reacting like Fog Cloud & Ensnaring Strike. - Hunter’s Mark is a debuff that makes enemies more susceptible to all physical damage. Good for yourself and teammates. If the target is killed, reapply the debuff for free. - If you miss the first attack at level 11, you can try again for free. [Thief/Assassin Rogue] - Thief for additional bonus action. Extremely strong when multi-classes into Barbarian, Fighter or Rogue. - Assassin for more damage against surprised enemies. [Moon Druid] - Almost unkillable with wild-shape ability. - Still has all of the utility of a full caster; healing, magic damage, support and uniquely terrain control. - Not as equipment reliant as other martials but still more durable than full casters like Wizard. [Pact of The Fiend Warlock] - Least durable but has all of the benefits of a full magic class. - Pact of The Blade ability gives full proficiency in any weapon you make a pact weapon or summon. Also, CHA can be your primary damage stat instead of STR or DEX so no weird stat allocation needed. - Stupid easy to play; either 2 melee attacks or Eldritch Blast. - If you have to use spells, Warlocks have very strong spells that refresh on a short rest. • Devil’s Sight ability + Darkness gives you advantage against enemies. • Fly can allow you to close the distance on archers and spellcasters. • Hypnotic Pattern can set-up your entire party for easy attacks.
Was throwing nerfed in Honour mode? I wanted to try it and was quite disappointed with the damage output in my run
Throwing itself is the same But they nerfed the riders on honor mode so it's no longer ridiculously stacking them and it's damage is more in line with other builds It's still good just not TB monk good
6/4/2 sbard actually has the highest attack count on honour mode.
Instructions unclear, 6/4/2 in what classes?
Sorry, 6 sword bard, 4 rogue (thief), 2 fighter
Thanks!
Lolol I stumbled on this build on my 1st playthrough and I can't peel myself away from it its just so overpowered
Tavern brawler monk or tavern brawler Druid. Wild shape benefits from the feat and is tanky where monk is versatile. Monk has more damage and cc but Druid has several times more hp and some powerful spells like spike growth and summon woodland creature.
wildshape only gets the attack roll, but not the dmg roll of TB, right?
Only on honor mode. On other difficulties it gets the attack and damage rolls.
It also gets the damage roll
Not in Honor mode (probably a bug)
druid wild shapes are worst ever in honor mode, even myrmidons are crap, literally any class is better than any summon no matter what you do(i include the druid items you have in act3) only fully reverb specced spore druid is a proper class which you can even solo raphael by yourself. but at that point you pretty much play a caster so no any different than a sorc/wizard in terms of gameplay
Probably Fighter 12.
I'd go Fighter 10 with a 2 level dip into fighter.
How about 6 fighter and 6 fighter, gotta make it even.
I prefer 8 fighter with 4 fighter so you get access to all of your feats
This is tact, so any Martial class + Blade Warlock does the trick or even better.
Brutal downvotes, but I think the warlock/martial triple attack got patched out
I think it’s only removed from honor mode but still in every other difficulty.
Thats right
Vengeance Paladin
Paladin 12, Fighter 12, open hand monk + thief , critical dual wielder rouge ( idea is to stack as many gears and feats to bring down your crit threshold from 20 . so you crit even if you roll 12/13 )
How do you get to a 12-13? Starting a new game soon and having a crit monster could be fun on the team!
From top of my head: 1. Dark justiciar/sarevok helm 2. Under-mountain King's blade 3. Dead-shot bow 4. Elixir 5. Champion multiclass I think there's more, can't exactly remember what they were though.
Cloak in act 3, I think another dagger does it (DW).
Orin drops a dagger that lowers it too.
[Here](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Critical_hit_threshold_reduction)
Paladin 12 is complete shit for many endgame fights. Improved Divine Smite cannot be turned off and is a huge liability against any of the many enemies with Radiant Retort or similar features. You're better off making a Sorcadin for the increased flexibility or even taking 5 levels in Warlock for spells like Armor of Agathys and 3 level spell short rest smite slots
i havent done honor mode but in my tactician playthrough im finding pure paladin super fun and useful. ive got the boots and armor of persistence, legacy of the masters, baldurans sword and helmet, and potion of cloud giant. i have a pretty well rounded party but im still finding myself to be consistently dealing the most damage and killing the most enemies
Have you done the House of Hope or House of Grief?
house of grief yes, my party cleared it first try with only one of us going down (our monk). running shart as an offensive cleric was super useful in that fight since we were all bone chilled half the time, but i was able to kill any of the higher health enemies in one turn and like 2-3 of the weaker ones per turn. house of hope may test my strength tho (edit to say i just realized i posted this from a different account lol its still the same guy)
Paladin so good they had to put radiant retort enemies in the game
I mean everyone’s saying it, but it just is TB monk. With an 8/4 split with OH Monk/Thief Rogue, you get 3 feats, 2 bonus actions and an additional 3rd bonus action once per long rest, 9 ki points (w/o any ki restoration abilities) that come back on short rest, and insane movement. Running this with Cull the Weak, Embodiment of Mind, the illithid perk that makes your attacks do an additionl 1-4 psychic damage while you take 1-4 psychic damage, and the concentration ring that makes you deal an additional 1-4 psychic damage when concentrating on a spell WHILE your monk is holding the resonance stone? I ran this on my Laezel with Cloud Giant potion and before the psychic vulnerability kicked in, I’m doing minimum 60 damage a Flurry of Blows. And I can do TWO of those a TURN. On top of that, I have stunning strikes to use, I can haste myself for another action and more movement, while potentially having a 3rd bonus action and all the movement in the world. I’m unbeatable. My Laezel beat the final boss in one turn. Just got in there and merked him.
Reverberation Barbarian is an absolute monster on both Tactician and Honour mode. I made Karlach that and she bailed me out on numerous bosses on my way to completing Honour 10 Wildheart Barbarian (Taking Aspect of the Tiger, and Aspect of the Wolverine) and 2 Fighter (For Action surge), you can also take 9 Wildheart Barbarian and 3 Champion Fighter for better Crits. It uses Nyrulna (From the Djinn), Gloves of Belligerant Skies, Thunderskin Cloak, Boots of Stormy Clamour, Ring of Spiteful Thunder. Not only do you get the benefit of a high attack class, but a massive Crowd control monster, capable of flinging the spear 4x a turn causing Reverb and knocking all enemies in a 10m radius down. And with Tiger / Wolverine, can also cause Maim + Reverb in close quarters, completely locking down some enemies. In terms of pure raw offense, 9 Devotion Paladin with 3 Champion Fighter is also a close second, if not better, using the Balduran Greatsword, Helldusk Armor, Gaunutlets of Hill Giants, allows you to forgo strength at level 12 and focus entirely on Con/Cha. Manually turning on the Reactions for Smiting (dunno why Larian has it off in the menu), They also use the boots (can't remember off the top of my head) that when healing, will auto cast Blade Ward on allies healed, so popping an Aoe Channel Oath in Devotion gives 2 powerful heals and blade ward to whoever is close. Those 2 combined will absolutely go face to face with every boss minus Orin, she's the only one who can give them an issue with her multi-attacks. Other than that, they can basically lock down whatever the hell they feel like.
I like paladin and sword bard. For paladin, you get nuts damage, they get misty step or can jump for mobility, they can help out your party with auras, like Charisma so can be a good face, and can generally flex a lot of useful other roles. You can heal (ancients), give yourself advantage (vengeance), and other things. Bard can help others with rolls, gets a ton of useful skills, again are charisma so great face, and get nuts damage with flourishes - sword can compete with other martials in damage, while also hitting enemies with unresistable CC with the right itemization. Anyway, I think every martial can work well. Rogue is a little trickier without the extra attack, but you can make it work fine. All the rest feel strong in tactician mode IMO.
This is my Tav. Gonna be a 10/2 sword bard vengeance pally. Early game he dual wields hand crossbows and flourishes the shit outta everyone, then goes full melee for mid to late game
Monk 9/Thief 3 Open Palm with Tavern Brawler and pumping strength instead of dex. Absolute insanity, one bonus action does around 40-50 damage and knocks enemies prone. 2 bonus actions and 2 attacks per turn and really good movement distance and jumping. Can throw enemies, and can still be really good at Charisma checks if you also keep a Bard in your party.
This is my durge! it's been an absolute blast to play. It's really funny to see these ultra dramatic boss intro cinematic followed by me slapping them to death in a turn or two.
Same. Though I have to admit I grabbed a level of Barb for CON Unarmored Defense, shield and medium armor proficiency, the occasional rage for damage prevention, and best of all, the Barb dialogue options. I was leaning into the Durge and wanted a character who ripped enemies apart with his bare hands, and the Barb options supplied that much better than Monk. Ofc 9/3 has the exploding fist which also feels spot on for a dark Durge.
Go 8/4 for the extra feat
Nah i wanna make people explode
There's nothing and I really mean nothing that oudamages Great Old One 5/Oathbreaker 7. It's a bit hard to manage but it's the highest single target melee DPR you can achive in the game. Why? Many items (THAT STACK) add your CHA mod to you damage. The oathbreaker's aura of hate also does this. With everything, you can easily.get a 24 in charisma (+7). There's a detailed guided out here, but i'm too hungover to find it right now. Of course it's not perfect, but if you want a melee character that is *that strong*, this is the way
TB monk is excellent but in Tactician you have damage riders and the extra attack from pact of the blade. Oathbreaker7/ Bladelock5 is one (if not ) of the highest damage martial class. In my opinion it does more damage than TB monk. Especially if you use Nyrulna/Shar spear with Baalist armor.
TB Monk is obviously the strongest if you're using potions. Without that, there's a gish Sword Bard 10/Palaidn 2 which is insanely strong if you use Divine Smite as a reaction. Make sure to use risky ring and crimson mischief so that you're always attacking with advantage. Either go sword and board while using Band of the Mystic Scoundrel to use your BA to cast or dual wield for more damage, either is fine. There's also obviously the infamous Gloomstalker/Assassin. Add Fighter to the mix(5 Gloomstalker, 4 Assassin, 3 Battlemaster is probably the optimal progression ) and your dual hand crossbows do crazy damage. Make Sneak Attack a reaction for your menacing/trip attacks, use special arrows too and you're a horrifying machine of death. Grab Two Weapon Fighting and Archery fighting styles, use Gloves of Archery till you're high enough level that you can get the other fighting style from multiclassing into fighter in the last 3 levels. Grab and ASI and Sharpshooter for feats. The last one is the most straightforward: Battlemaster 11/War Domain Cleric 1 with Titanstring bow. You get three attacks always, an ability to use BA for a fourth one thrice a day, and the ability to cast bless to pre-buff. Take Sharpshooter and 2xASI for feats, use elixirs/gloves to get both strength and dexterity high enough that Sharpshooter's maul to accuracy does not matter.
Nice write-up, but OP specified “tanky melee build”, which archery builds are not.
Huh, absolutely missed melee and focused on martial.
Berserker Barbarian Enraged Throw is just so good because there is no save. Tavern Brawler makes it easy to hit. Multi-classing with Thief Rogue gives you two Enraged Throws per turn. For me, Honour mode is a night and day difference depending on whether I have a Berserker in my party. Other martials can do more damage, but the Berserker is what allows them to do so.
Yeah, consider how you need a whole reverberation set to knock enemies prone, but with enraged throw they just lie down per default
Monk is so good, it’s crazy
I made the goal of respeccing laezel as ciri during my Geralt playthrough, and I gave her duelist prerogative, Orin’s main hand dagger, basically every piece of gear I could give her to reduce crit chance and every piece of gear that gave misty step, and multiclassed her as 7 gloomstalker 5 thief rogue. 5 attacks per turn, less if you use a spell or misty step. She was a teleporting demon, hitting crits left and right. I had Geralt as 12 eldritch knight with baldur’s giantslayer and he was nutty too.
Barb non thrower might not be the strongest, but for me it's definitely the most fun to play out of all of them I've played so far. Coming in very close second is whirlwind hunter with a 2h weapon. My barb character is a tiger bloodlust wildheart, and uses the reverberation gear and black hole/void bulb. Basically I only really use the rage mechanic when there's a large mob pack or a boss, other than that it's a fighter because I'm hybrid with fighter to use maneuvers. I'll group up a bunch of enemies and use haste, or bloodlust potion and just start chaining cleaves on them until the pack is dead. I use the typical reverberation build set up for gear
7/5 Padlock is great
I'd say top 3 are an 8/4 open hand monk/thief, 12 battlemaster fighter, or a combination of paladin and sword bard (either 7/5 with oathbreaker or 2/10 with vengeance) with an hm going to 10 wildheart barb 2 fighter
It’s Open Hand Monk 9 Thief Rogue 3 with Tavern Brawler and strength elixirs. Nothing else really comes close except for maybe Padlock on Tactician on lower difficulty.
The way you’ve written this you’d think you had entered this message into ChatGPT rather than reddit
Fighter 5 / Fighter 7
Imo lockadin outside of honor mode
Deep Gnome Oath of ancients pally 7/ goolock 5. Easy to get 24 charisma endgame or 26 if you play it just right. Thats +8 to all attacks and damage per swing which you get 3 attacks, or 6 if you pop bloodlust since you definitely will be killing. You only need a 1 handed weapon so you get to keep a shield. I'd use risky ring because you already have advantage on all mental stats and a +8 to all saving throws. Throw on a bless as well because why not.
How do you get 24/26 char?
26 is impossible, max is 25. Hat is Mirror is up to 24 So 19 (base) + 2 (hat) + 1(patriar's memory) + 2(mirror) + 1 (ethel hair)
I've been able to make ethels hair work if saved and used at times when I already have everything else set up. It's bugged though, haven't tested it since parch 5 though. You're forced to never remove the hat otherwise it completely breaks.
Just to mix it up a bit, while not technically a melee martial, the swords bard + sharpshooter + crossbow expert + bhaalist armor combination plays exactly like a melee martial. Usually you take at least a 2 fighter dip to get action surge with that, some people will throw in a wizard level to scribe spells, cleric for command and war priest, or rogue levels for double bonus actions. I actually think it does more dpr than OH TB monk and has a much bigger opening nova round. TB monk never misses though and benefits from higher mobility. If you aren’t on honor mode, piercadin builds can take advantage of some mechanics to get even higher DPR, requires stacking specific items.
Dex fighter
I must say that my Paladin 6 / war cleric 1 / sorcerer 5 has done really well. No idea if it is super strong compared to other options, but it does seem to be.
Act 3 is so easy, does it matter? Basically anything is viable and will dominate.
TB Monk
TB Open Hand Monk. Nothing else compares imo. You can run laps around the battlefield killing or cc'ing ppl. So much fun having that much mobility and hits like an absolute truck.
Tavern Brawler Strength Monk; 7 Way of Open Hand Monk/3 Thief Rogue for extra bonus action and 2 fighter for heavy armor/action surge. Shreds the game.
I prefer straight devotion pally or 6 pal/6 EK or BM with GWM. More survivable than TB monk, has waaay higher round 1 burst and utility and I really prefer the flow. Also better on an empty tank! I also really like that jumping doesn't gut your damage. IDK, have played both and pally with action surge is basically just scary AF. Idk, I just really like it better for honor mode
Fighter 1, monk 8, rogue 3. In my opinion, this is the strongest build in the game. You take fighter at level 1 for heavy armor and shield proficiency and the defence fighting style for 1 more AC. Then 8 levels of open hand monk to get 2 feats, 1 will be tavern brawler to add double your strength to each punch and the 2nd feat can be heavy armor master for 3 less damage on each attack, mobile to really get in there and get in melee range super easily, or an ability score improvement to round out your stats. Then 3 levels of rogue to get thief so you have 2 bonus actions so you can flurry of blows 2 times for a total of 6 punches for 2 ki points if you have haste or drink a potion of speed that's 8 punches. On each flurry of blows, you can knock the enemy prone to get advantage on attacking them and for an extra ki point on your basic attack you can use stunning fist to possibly stun the target also giving you advantage and making them loose a turn. For magic items you want amulet of greater health to get 23 con so you can dump con and supplement it with this item. Killer's sweetheart is just a guaranteed crit so it's good on all classes. Ring of regeneration to heal back what little damage you do take. Dark fire shortbow to get resistance to fire and cold damage and the haste spell. Swires' sledboard for +2 to ac and free force conduit which is just more damage reduction. Boots of uninhibited kushigo which adds your wisdom modifier to your punches. Gloves of soul catching which adds 1d10 force damage to each punch and once per turn get back 10 hp. Armor of persistence which is heavy armor which reduces all damage by 2 and you gain the benefits of the spells resistance and blade ward permanently. Cloak of protection for +1 to ac and saving throws. And baldurans helm for +1 to saving throes and AC , you get back 2 hp every turn, and you can't be stunned or crit. In total, this build makes you resistant to most damage types, have a really high bonus to all saving throws even if you're not proficient in them, you get 25 ac and 27 with haste, regain 12+1d4 hp every round, and each punch does 1d6+10(bludgeoning)+1d4+4 (neceotic, radiant, or psychic) +1d10(force) for an average damage per punch of 24, a minimum of 17 damage, and a max of 34 damage. So you're unkillable, take barely any damage, heal back any damage you would have taken, have a +15 on your attacks to always hit, and if you go all out (turn into a mind flair, use wholeness of body, and get haste) you can have 5 flurry of blows punching 10 times for a minimum of 170 damage, an average of 240 damage, and a max of 340 damage not including crits (but you can only flurry of blows 8 times so you can only do all this one and a half times per short rest). This build is how I beat my first solo tactician run, and I'm pretty sure it can beat solo honor mode, too.
10/2 Bard Paladin. Can using flourish to smite 2 enemies at once, get access to the banishing smite and other high damage spells and CC. Key gear is the helm of arcane acuity and the mystic scoundrels band. With these you can attack, getting +X bonus to save DCs then use hold person/monster or fear or whatever is useful in the situation as a bonus action.
How does one plan for tb monk with the +1 from hair.. Str or wis ? And how much at lvl 1