Monk Guide by ForeverMaster

Forever's Monk Guide

By ForeverMaster

Version:Beta 1.0

91%

of this guide is complete.

To-Do List: Add defense/ability icons.

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The Monk -- arguably the most important hero in all of DD1. He is used in almost every game and for very good reasons.

His auras are essential after the classic campaign on lower difficulties. The 3-aura, green-blue-yellow stack: Ensnare, Electric, and Strength Drain, forms the foundation of nearly ALL defense builds from mid-game to endgame. Offensively, the power of Hero Boost is too good for a Monk's team to ignore for any boss fight, and he still outputs a lot of damage in solo play.

Do not be intimidated by the "Master" skill level the game suggests you need in order to be successful as a Monk. This page here is a guide, a piece-by-piece breakdown for this sacred hero.

Weapons

The Monk's weapon of choice provides both a melee attack (left-click) and a ranged attack (right-click). His weapons are typically polearms which have a long reach to strike packs of enemies up close and allow him to fire multiple projectiles in a spread for ranged combat. The melee damage of Monk weapons scale with his Hero Damage better than any weapon on any other hero. Ranged damage scales far worse, but can be worthwhile to upgrade instead for certain weapons.

Noteworthy Monk Weapons

Monk Wrench (Melee)

• Melee attacks gain large amounts of damage per upgrade level.

Obsidian Sparus (Melee)

• Often rolls with high stat bonuses.

Emerald Halberd (Melee)

• Poison elemental damage. Both melee and ranged attacks gain large amounts of damage per upgrade, though melee is preferred for this weapon.

Ace of Spades (Ranged)

• Fires up to ten (10) playing cards at once which pierce through enemies and terrain.
• Boosts the wielder's movement speed by 10%.

Mischief Maker (Ranged)

• Shoots a blue fireball that leaves behind rapid-damaging fire where it lands or reaches the end of its range.
• Boosts the wielder's movement speed by 10%.

Spear of the New Kingdom (Ranged)

• Throws a spear unaffected by gravity. Pierces through all enemies.
• Those hit take additional poison damage overtime over the course of four (4) seconds.
• Boosts the wielder's movement speed by 10%.

Chicken Baller (Ranged)

• Projectiles ricochet off of terrain and explode. Enemies hit directly are knocked back.
• Pairs incredibly well with a Genie pet to collect mana.

Candy Cane (Ranged)

• Throws snowballs which deal splash damage on impact.
• Boosts the wielder's movement speed by 10%.

Honey Spear (Ranged)

• Throws a high-damage honey glob that can slow down enemies.

Tower Breakdown

The Monk creates auras for defenses, spherical regions that apply effects to all heroes or enemies inside. Instead of a normal health bar, auras have a lifespan which decays as they exist and affect combatants. An aura's lifespan expires faster the more applicable heroes/enemies are inside it at once.

A fundamental 'aura stack' (Ensnare-Electric-Strength Drain) costs 140 mana and 13 defense units in total.

Ensnare Aura (30 Mana, 3 Defense Units)

The green member of the stack, the Ensnare Aura slows down enemies that are not immune to poison. They move slower, attack slower, and some of their other actions are also slowed. Bosses, Djinn and Harbingers are unaffected.

This aura buys more time for all of your defenses to kill the likes of Kobolds, Dark Elf Warriors and Spiders before they do severe damage to you or your defenses. Beware of Ensnares overlapping enemy spawns; those that do will cause melee-only attackers to stay invincible for longer which will exhaust it and other overlapping auras faster, Strength Drains especially.

Electric Aura (50 Mana, 5 DU)

The blue Electric Aura is the only aura that does direct damage to enemies. All foes not immune to lightning have their health drained at a constant rate. This aura does not stun or interrupt the actions of its victims in anyway.

Though part of the 'essential' aura stack, Electric Auras under physical defenses can be omitted if the DU is needed for other 360°-range towers (Lightning Towers for example).

Healing Aura (40 Mana, 4 DU)

This pink Healing Aura gradually restores the health of heroes inside; it does not repair towers. It has a bigger radius than all other auras. It is also the only defense in the game that can be summoned directly on top of Eternia Crystals.

Ideally place at least one Healing Aura if there is a boss fight on the map.

Strength Drain Aura (60 Mana, 5 DU)

The yellow Strength Drain Aura reduces the attack power of enemies inside it, bosses included, and disables their elemental affinities. The latter fact is what allows the Ensnare and Electric Auras of a stack to slow and damage every common enemy that enters them. Elemental enemies regain their affinities after exiting the Strength Drain.

This aura has ~50% the lifespan of Ensnare and Electric. It will wear out faster than those auras in a standard stack.

Enrage Aura (100 Mana, 5 DU)

The Monk's last aura, the red Enrage Aura, may cause select enemies not immune to fire to attack other enemies. It has the smallest radius of all auras. Enraged mobs remain hostile until they exit this aura. Unaffected enemies damaged by enraged mobs will not retaliate.

Abilities

Tower Boost (xx Mana to activate, drains mana overtime, 20-second cooldown)

Tower Boost (or Defense Boost) multiplies the damage/potency of all towers and regenerates their health, within a radius of the Monk. Those affected emit bright yellow sparkles. A Monk specialized to use this ability can beat difficult missions with lower tower stats than usual, even with 4-6 heroes present.

Hero Boost (xx Mana to activate, drains mana overtime, 22-second cooldown)

Hero Boost multiplies the damage dealt by the Monk and his surrounding allies. It also regenerates their health overtime. Purple sparkles appear on boosted heroes. This ability combined with an ally's Propeller Cat can make everyone deal six times (6x) damage or more!

Pets

Offensive pets deal the most amount of damage on a Monk. The Desert Goblin or Lover's Cupid is a generally better choice for healing players than a Fairy. Almost always equip a damage-dealing pet to your DPS Monk, especially on Nightmare or above where pet damage is increased and weapon damage is reduced.

A Genie is the best pet for a Tower Boost Monk, unless another player has a Genie of their own to provide the Monk mana.

Costumes

The Monk has three costumes that increase his health, but reduce movement speed: Cardboard Tube Samurai, Legendary Monk (Chi Master) and Super Legendary Monk. The Super Legendary "costume" grants the most amount of health AND gives a 20% damage boost, but the slowest speed.

Initiate (Female Counterpart)

The Initiate moves and casts faster, but has less health than the Monk. These traits make her the better choice for an aura builder.

Abilities

Remote Defense Boost (80 Mana, drains mana overtime, 30-second cooldown)

This is a situational variant of the Monk's Tower Boost. It buffs the potency, range and attack speed all defenses on the map that were specifically summoned by the Initiate herself and nearby heroes. In theory, Remote Defense Boost would be useful when related defenses are spread out on large maps. However, it requires their builder(s) to survive through combat. This ability also does NOT stack with buff beams or guardian pets.

Enemy Drain (60 Mana, drains mana overtime, xx-second cooldown)

The Initiate's Enemy Drain is essentially an Ensnare and Strength Drain Aura combined. It slows down, lowers attack damage and causes enemies around her to take more damage from all sources. This ability does stack with the same defenses it emulates. Enemy Drain can provide its aura-equivalent effects when said two defenses are unavailable (ex: on the Goblin Battlecruiser's deck). However, it depletes mana very quickly and exponentially.

Stat Allocation

All active heroes, those created to participate in combat, need enough health and high-to-max (90%) damage resistances to survive.

DPS Monk

Focus on getting high Hero Damage and a good Ability 2 (Hero Boost) stat to maximize your Monk's damage output. Alternatively, you can invest more into the ability to power-up your allies by a greater amount.

Aura Monk/Initiate

Prioritize the Effect Strength and Radius of your auras. Potent auras sufficiently-sized are the most versatile ones. Aura stacks covering buff beams alone can kill all but Djinn and Ogres on the first wave of most maps, on Nightmare Campaign. Do not neglect the Lifespan of your auras though. You/Your team should not have to replenish the auras constantly on large maps mid-wave.

Tower Booster

Get your specialized Monk's Tower Boost stat as high as possible (obviously). Avoid leaving your Hero Damage stat at zero or else your Genie will not collect very much mana from your attacks. Specifically, if your weapon is not inflicting 4,200+ damage per hit on Nightmare, the Genie will produce less mana from those hits.

The Genie does not need a Mana Collection Bonus greater than '29,004. After reaching this benchmark, it is more cost-effective to spend the pet's remaining upgrades on Tower Boost or other stats.

Dungeon Defenders Redux

The Monk himself sees barely any changes in Redux though he does have more options for a DPS weapon that also increases movement speed. The Initiate meanwhile -- gets an enormous buff to her Remote Defense Boost that makes her a viable secondary tower booster.

Furthermore, the addition of Void armor to increase the radius of auras by a flat percent cannot be underestimated.

Aura of Fire (150 Mana, xx-second cooldown)

Both the Monk and Initiate can emit a damaging aura around themselves for five seconds. This ability scales with Hero Damage. Hero Boost and Call to Arms does not affect the amount of damage dealt.

Remote Defense Boost (Reworked)

The simple, but huge change to the Initiate's version of Defense Boost is ironically: the removal of its remote gimmick. Instead of boosting defenses specific to builder heroes in the aura's range, it now no longer boost damage, but boosts the resistance, range and attack rate of ALL surrounding defenses. Their creators do not have to be present in combat!

Nothing else about this ability has changed. It still has a very long cooldown, drains mana faster than the Monk's T-Boost and does not repair defenses or stack with neither buff beams or guardian pets. Remote Defense Boost is effectively an Squire, Huntress and Monk Guardian combined: that can temporarily boost defenses to greater heights than those pets or buff beams can reach.

Noteworthy Redux Weapons

Genie's Scimitar (Ranged)

• Obtained upon clearing Town in the Cliffs as a Monk or Initiate.
• Projectiles pass through terrain and home in on enemies, bouncing between five separate targets max.
• Very effective in combination with a Genie to generate mana.

Devil's Pitchfork (Ranged)

• A chance to be obtained after completing any map/mission on Ascension, refer to (insert divine crystal chance sheet), or by completing True Boss Rush, on Ascension.
• Ranged attack throws explosive fireballs that deal dual fire and poison/lightning damage.
• The secondary damage from this weapon scales with Hero Damage.

Spear of Atlantis (Ranged)

• Obtained upon clearing Temple of Water as a Monk or Initiate.
• Ranged attack fires an explosive high-damage shot.

Stone's Throw Spear (Ranged)

• This weapon technically predates Redux, however ones obtained from Volcanic Eruption on Ascension rival the Chicken Baller in terms of stat bonuses and have gain the ability to have additional projectiles. It is a rock-solid alternative for maintaining the Monk/Initiate's abilities.

Void Spear (Melee or Ranged)

• Crafted from Void Crystals at the Void Forge.
• Very fast melee speed.
• Ranged attack pierces through enemies and explodes when it hits terrain or the edge of its range.

Other Tips/Notes

Hotkey/Hotbar Suggestions

*Modifications to the default hotkeys are italicized.

DPS Monk

6	7	8	9	0
Detonate Traps	Aura of Fire	Ensnare Aura	Strength Drain Aura	Sell Defense
1	2	3	4	5
Heal Self	Defense Boost	Hero Boost	Repair Defense	Upgrade Defense

Tower Boost Monk/Initiate

6	7	8	9	0
"Detonate Traps"	Hero Boost/ Enemy Drain	Hero Boost/ Enemy Drain	Aura of Fire	Aura of Fire
1	2	3	4	5
Heal Self	Defense Boost	Defense Boost	Repair Defense	Upgrade Defense

• On Nightmare, all auras have 30% less range. Ensnare, Strength Drain and Enrage Auras are 25% less potent, Electric Auras deal 12.5% more damage, and Healing Auras are four times more potent to account for the increased health on all heroes.
• The potency of Ensnare, Strength Drain and Enrage Auras are hard-capped -- at 15% enemy speed, 20% enemy attack strength and 93% chance to enrage respectively. It is not possible to max out Strength Drains without a Monk's Tower Boost.
  • If the potency of Electric/Healing Auras are less important, you can create a separate, range-focused builder for optimized Ensnare, Strength Drain and Enrage. Ideally, your Aura Effect Strength stat should be high enough (3,000 will suffice) for these defenses to reach their potency caps (get to ~25% for Strength Drain) when inside a fully-upgraded buff beam, on Nightmare difficulty.
• Electric and Healing are the only auras that benefit from the Monk/Initiate's Effect Speed.
• Auras have several similarities to traps:
  • Both are non-physical hero defenses; they do not have collision. Djinn are the only enemy type that can remove auras and traps directly.
  • They both have a circular area of effect.
  • An aura cannot be placed overlapping another aura of the same type. However, a Jester with less tower range than the builder Monk/Initiate can later move the auras to make them intersect.
  • Their radius can be resized with the +/- keys during placement.
• The damage/potency increases from Tower Boost and Hero Boost do not stack. In the case of two Monks boosting the same hero or defense, whoever has the stronger boost takes precedence. It is usually better for the players to take turns boosting, activating their Tower/Hero Boost whenever the other's boost goes on cooldown. Their regeneration effects do stack though.
• Though they appear to be boosted, Tower Boost and Remote Defense Boost do not actually benefit buff beams whatsoever.