Work in progress
Equipment
Rings and earrings generally are the same for DD. Pre-hyper set you'll likely have Intruder Earring/Cassie Earring and some combination of Ephramad Ring/Regal Ring/Rajas Ring/Victory Rings/Toreador Rings, etc. Post-hyper your earrings don't change, and your rings become Bomb Queen Ring/Phalanx Rings/Unyielding Ring, etc so you can live longer.
Hands can be Ochiudo's Kote, Pallas, AF... before hyper, but post-hyper you want Pallas or Protecting Bangles to live longer.
Legs are the same as body, pick anything lv99 that has every stat on it. Refer to the sync page to make sure you're getting everything maxed under 60 sync.
Head is Zeal Cap+1(augmented) pre-hyper, and then keep Zeal on or equip a Lv99 head piece like Nyame for better defense.
Neck has options, Chivalrous Chain is an easy choice, and augmentable. Sanctity Necklace is good too.
Belt is Brown Belt(augmented).
Recap of Augmentables:
High Priority, as there aren't any great alternatives and/or could offer the biggest bonuses:
Fuma Kyahan, Zeal Cap +1, Brown Belt.
Lower Priority:
Ochiudo's Kote, Pallas' Bracelets, Chivalrous Chain, Phalanx Rings, Toreador Rings, Victory Rings, Black Adargas +1
Augmentables that carry over to other hako jobs:
Fuma Kyahan (SAM), Zeal Cap+1 (SAM, maybe DRG), Ochiudo's Kote (SAM), Pallas' Bracelets (SAM, DRG, potentially WAR and DRK), Chivalrous Chain (SAM DRG DRK, potentially WAR), Phalanx Rings (All jobs), Toreador/Victory Rings (All DD jobs)
Bonuses
Mog Garden Cheer effect: Blue Wyvern (STR/DEX4 ACC/RACC4) or Great Adamantoise (VIT8)
Mog house effect: Bonfire (Resist Paralyze)
Gameplay(3v3)
Abilities
There's nothing too complicated about MNK, but it has found more subtlety after some recent updates. Boost and Chi Blast are completely reworked, dealing 250~450 damage when used together. Boost alone is unusable due to it's huge auto attack delay. The only good time to use Boost>Chi Blast is to finish off an opponent, but the more certain you are that it'll kill, the better. Using Boost>Chi on a target and having them live with a sliver of health, and then being stuck staring at them unable to attack can be the difference between a game-winning and a game-losing play.
Focus and Dodge stay up for 30 seconds now, but give much higher bonuses. Dodge is similar to Sentinel. A skillchain ending in Sidewinder can be avoided using Dodge.
Chakra heals a large amount now, 300~500 HP.
Petra information is critical when using Hundred Fists. Always check your opponent before using. Ideally you'll have your own sprint up as well. If they can sprint away and you can't follow, you might blow your 2 hour for nothing. If you are the target of Hundred Fists and you can't escape, you can counter(lol) with your Counterstance, one of its only decent uses.
Combat
Monk is generally the targeted job in a 3v3. Only in the case of MNK + DRK front line would MNK be off the hook. In every other instance, MNK's hyper is considered to be less dangerous than the other DD and therefore becomes the target.
With no third eye, Monk needs to stay on the move to stay alive. A stationary MNK is going to be immediately Transfixion'd and Holy'd right back to their home point to reconsider their life choices. Your healer is going to try and flash for you, but don't depend on that, be prepared to sprint away after the first WS hits you.
If the setup is RNG MNK, sprinting away probably won't do anything, so instead be ready to use Dodge after that first WS, and hopefully the RNG will miss.
Keeping the above in mind, MNK can't only focus on surviving, but also has to close any SC starting in Penta Thrust for Transfixion (WAR MNK, SAM MNK, or DRG MNK games) Be aware that a flash will be coming your way to stop you from closing. RNG MNK and DRK MNK games don't have good access to Transfixion. MNK should open SC for RNG and close for DRK.
Since you're the target and could die in an instant, don't die with TP. Skillchains are great, but if you're about to die and your partner doesn't have TP yet, use what you've got before you go down.
Strategy as the targeted job
You'll likely be dead very early in the game. Silver lining, you can quarry up some revenge. There are few things to consider when returning from camp after death, especially that first death. Things get a bit complicated here, but I'll try to cover the general concepts.
Communication is really important. Even in our games with teammates that have played together for more than a decade, we fail to pass on important information regularly. So what info is important at this early point in the game? And what do we do as the game goes on?
1. Where is the rook? (& Should I rush back to my team?)
The first skirmish always takes place at the herald. If the rook is east, at the "hole" rook, or has recently moved there - you have a golden opportunity to quarry without danger. You can sneak over to that rook and quarry up unbothered. Similarly with the "in front of hole"(anamae) rook. As a long time WHM veteran, I can tell you that the thing I desperately want you to do as targeted MNK is quarry a body boost.
If the rook is "middle"(sakumae), "hera", "fences"(saku), or "river", this generally isn't possible. However, if the opposing team is letting their MNK die (I commonly do this as WHM), and/or your team is ready/able to kill him, they can communicate this to you and you can delay a little and attempt a few petra quarries on your way back. This way, when you return, their MNK falls and you are standing there with full HP and 2 ON in a 3v2 situation. This strategy is very common in 2v2 games. Keep in mind that with your Chi Blast ready, plus a timely Holy and a WS from your DD partner, you can burst very well and force this kind of situation even if the other team is trying to keep their MNK alive. The drawback here is that if you fail to kill, you won't be able to sprint for that fight(as you're carrying petra now). Worth it in my opinion.
Flipping things around, from the other teams perspective. If your team won the initial exchange and you are the MNK that is still standing, most teams will just do what they can to finish you off right there. But if they aren't, the opposing team may be attempting a strategy like the above. So, where is the rook? Is the MNK you just killed getting free time quarrying items!? Then your team needs to move as a group towards the far rook and start the next fight ASAP.
If the rook is nearby, then maybe their MNK is quarrying petra? To counter this strategy, you can immediately attempt to quarry petra and score as soon as you've won the initial exchange. This forces your opponents' hands - they will have to kill you now, rather than later when their MNK arrives with some petra. Trying to stall you can work, but uses up their valuable time and runs the risk of messing up and letting you score 1 or 2p. In a perfect world where both the healer and scoring DD are scoring 5 petra every Gate Breach on both teams, the winning team is the one that has a few points scored by their targeted DD. Something to think about.
To bring things full circle, the dead-and-returning MNK should be told what the situation is (eg, "rook moved to river, their mnk2on" or more simply "river mo2") so they can make an informed decision. That example is a prime time for you to rush back to your team. Stopping that MNK from scoring is imperative, and in the process of attempting that score, the opposing team will likely expend too many resources (WHM will likely be curing a non-fighting target, their DD may use precious TP on Leg Sweep) - so if we can prevent their score and waste those resources, we're in a really good spot. As a bonus, they likely will be distracted during that time and you can get some nice quarries in while you rook guard/kill that MNK.
2. Fighting near a rook (& The Magical World of Quarry Interruption)
You should have hyper the entire game, so as a team we want to make the most of that. Combat centered on the rook benefits you the most. For the rest of the game, your job is not easy by any means: continue the fight against their MNK while attempting skillchains and avoiding skillchains coming your way, all while trying to quarry up items at the rook. We can't sacrifice one or the other here, we must continue dealing damage, and if we don't take advantage of hyper with items, we'll lose to the opposing MNK that most certainly will be doing both.
This wouldn't be so tough if quarries couldn't be interrupted. If you attempt a quarry and you take damage, are hit with a spell, provoked(even if it misses), etc .. during the digging animation, your quarry is cancelled, you get nothing, and the timer is reset. This is the last thing you want, on any job.
It's difficult. Especially for a job that doesn't have access to any kind of easy avoidance, like Seigan+Third Eye or Super Jump. This is where you have to quarry under pressure, one of the most difficult and rewarding ballista skills you can master. Knowledge of all jobs plays into this skill. Knowing delays, job abilities, watching opponents carefully, using space... all these things help you weave quarries into your gameplay. Being calm and waiting for your opportunity to quarry is better than spamming it on cooldown only to have it lost to random hits (this applies to everyone, but is much more important when you're under fire).
To add to the already congested list of things you want to keep in mind, you should keep your eye on your opponents and try interrupting their quarries as well. MNK doesn't have too many tools to do it with, since you probably want to use your provoke on the healer[MNK subs SAM as of 2022~ so we don't even have that], but it's good to keep in mind. There's nothing sneaky going on here; everyone knows what everyone else wants to do. When you see the opponent MNK disengage, they're going for a quarry. It's a long animation, and you can likely punch them out of it if you're watching.
3. Ballista Band
The Ballista Band key item gives you the option to pick up or toss the first petra you dig up. The prompt window takes considerably more time than a regular quarry, so your petra quarries will be interrupted much easier than normal. If you for sure don't want any petras and want to use sprint all game to avoid damage, consider using this. The end of games can get scrappy and everyone can be madly digging for 1 petra to win the game, including the targeted job, so I'd recommend against using this long term. Do not use this for scoring DD or healer jobs.
WIP
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