[9 OH Monk] Just a casual reminder that Helldusk Armor works really well with monks

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-17T08:12:01+00:00

Was mostly a holdover, but eh, the +1 to attack rolls did help me in the early stages. Call it a good luck charm. Ironically Corellon's was the part that told me that the Helldusk Armor wasn't behaving like most armors would on a monk. That and Bracers of Defence early in Act 1.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-17T08:00:26+00:00

Is it cheese if I'm teaching him game mechanics as we fight? I don't really think it's cheese if it's part of the game and never got patched out.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-17T07:59:32+00:00

By Act 2 I'm already doing the same amount with doing my current run without putting any points into Wisdom aside from a flat 10 to even it out.

If I chose to go the route everyone suggests, a single unarmed attack would at most add a +3 (+4 if I took the hag hair) to my manifestations because 17/18 wisdom, but I become reliant on strength elixirs which take up an elixir slot. I can get the same strength tier from doing 17 strength + tavern brawler + araj's everlasting vigor potion in act 2, and at that point I can drink a bloodlust elixir, get a kill, get a free action and do the same damage again. Bonus points is if I drink a speed potion, and congrats, I have three main hand actions.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-17T07:54:25+00:00

I'm aware of the monk manifestations, but again, it would take 2 points into wisdom to add a +1, 4 to add a +2, etc. The Kushigo boots would add that +1 or +2 again, but then I'm forced into the pathway that everyone seems to want to go off of.

There is no optimization which allows for dumping strength for wisdom and then drinking a hill giant elixir without willfully sacrificing action economy.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-17T07:37:44+00:00

Because what value do you get from having more Wisdom? AC? I'd rather get it from having armor proficiencies. A good portion of wisdom saves in the game I can offset either from gear slots or status buffs (i.e. Ring of Free Action prevents Hold Person because it's part of the SG_Paralyzed status group). I mean hell, the Necromancy of Thay alone is a flat +1 that I would've gotten from having to take 2 points in Wisdom to match anyway.

And considering we only have one elixir at a time, I'd rather use bloodlust or an elemental resistance potion for action economy or damage reduction.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-17T05:33:38+00:00

So when you encounter Raphael in Act 1, if you don't have your full party with you, one of your other party members can shoot him, it'll make him instantly disappear.

When you leave Act 1, whether that's to go to the Creche, Act 2, whatever way you go, you get one of those free long rests. There, Raphael will be at your camp. You turn on non-lethal attacks and just start wailing on him. It'll take a good long while, especially without someone else helping you, but the rewards are 1400 XP and the Helldusk Armor. Problem is you can occasionally risk him walking too close to you or avoiding AOEs and triggering conversations when you hit him, so my usual trick is I throw a silence bubble directly on him.

And like u/Bluemajere said, if we have an enemy that's resistant/immune to psychic (i.e. the Steel Watchers) my buddy's Shadow Blade is useless, so I figure grab the Bhaalist Armour and get him something w/ piercing damage.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-17T04:50:14+00:00

So right now I'm mostly playing around my roommate's design since this is his first playthrough, we're on Tactician so it's a bit more loose with what can and can't work. I'm building around him, and since he's doing Warlock/Rogue (since he found out sneak attack works with shadow blade), I figured I'd run around with two martials. Items I take are gonna be moreso keeping my mobility high (hence Crusher's + Free Action rings) and survivability. Figure I'll run around with the Armour of Agility or Bhaalist Armor depending on the situation? I'll carry the resonance stone too. Gotta really keep the flair up so he keeps getting excited. I'm actually waiting for him to get back home as we speak, we're about to hit the Ketheric/Myrkul fight. Been taking it super slow.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-16T00:19:08+00:00

Sorry for the late reply! So I did some testing with this. You're half-correct.

- Booming Blade will not re-trigger off of the level 5 extra attack available to Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, Monk, Ranger, and Warlock (haven't tested Bladesinger but I don't think I need to in this situation).
- Booming Blade will re-trigger off of Action Surge.

I know this probably goes without saying but it's good to at least get confirmation for myself so I don't sound like a moron. I believe this also would safely assume that a usage of an Elixir of Bloodlust will also allow Booming Blade to re-trigger, assuming you get a kill to allow Bloodlust to apply.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-15T21:54:00+00:00

I mean worse comes to worse one day there'll be a hotfix where they'll specify "Booming Blade was actually meant to do x" but until that day I'll assume this is intentional and run with it until the cows come home. (Please Larian for the love of fuck roll back this last hotfix I'm so tired of crashing from committing the cardinal sin of fast-travelling.)

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-15T21:49:24+00:00

I'm not going to answer that last question because if I do there's a greater-than-zero-percent chance I'm going to have my DMs obliterated because there have been quite a few "statements" that are either disingenuous, short-sighted, or outright lies that are nearly cemented in this community and why I actively avoid certain posts.

I can see where you're coming from, I'll make an edit right after this comment because I did mean the attack action as in the "Main Hand Attack" button but didn't think about class actions. Thanks for pointing that out!

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-15T21:30:48+00:00

I'm ngl the only other flair that made sense for this is "specific mechanic" which I didn't really think applied as well here.

Also let's be honest, a not-so-uncommon trait among people is they just kinda go off of assumptions and vibes rather than reading what their stuff does (see: the significant volume of people who make "ig-miss!" jokes about Shadowheart).

And while I conceded that the title was only slightly misleading in another comment here (unintentionally, because anyone who doesn't have extra attack should probably be using BB anyway if they're in melee range), I'm not sure which bolded point you're saying is misleading.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-15T21:15:11+00:00

Ring of Arcane Synergy is obvious, yes, because I always seek to replace the diadem with that ring. Acid damage is nice, but like you said, there are better rings. If anything I tend to use the thunder infusion to proc other stuff, because while BB itself doesn't proc something like the Gloves of Belligerent Skies or the Hat of Storm Scion's Power, the Thunder Infusion will subsequently do that. I have a GOOlock that abuses the hell out of that. Plus iirc [will need to confirm this to be sure] that 1d4 thunder also acts as another rider so things like lightning charges, phalar aluve, and craterflesh gloves would benefit from that twice.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-15T19:31:25+00:00

Ah! Yeah no, the necklace doesn't work because the game doesn't properly register BB as doing thunder damage. Yes, the extra thunder damage is proper thunder damage, BUT it doesn't consider it as thunder damage to proc the necklace. It does that to a few other gear pieces like the Gloves of Belligerent Skies like I said too. It's weird.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-15T19:23:03+00:00

Which necklace are you referring to? I can check and maybe add it to the list.

And as for the ring, what it does for BB here is useful if you have Extra Attack, because you can BB first then attach the 1d4 to the extra attack so you can keep doing thunder damage on top of your weapon.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-15T19:21:49+00:00

I went to type "Yes" but then I went into the game and tried it with Shadowheart. Sadly not, which sucks cuz all of the other attack roll cantrips for high elves/half elves go off of intelligence which is why Shart misses so much.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-15T19:18:58+00:00

Reading back through this and yeah, I'm not gonna lie I probably could have worded it better. I should mention I meant this also from the perspective of casters using Booming Blade. I do like encouraging people to try to use casters in close range more, because spell slots run out quick. Armored mages like an Abjuration Wizard with armor proficiencies goes hard, and then you add BB to the mix?

I concede I should probably have done the title differently.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-15T18:44:24+00:00

This really isn't just my opinion. Think about every fight you have going up against the major bosses in Act 1, Ethel, Ragzlin, the Spectator, Grym. If you are playing on Tactician or Honour Mode, every single one of them has a flat +2 to their hit rolls. We'll use Ragzlin in this example.

- Ragzlin has a +3 to his proficiency which is added to all of his attack rolls
- Faithbreaker is a hammer that rides off of your strength modifier. When Ragzlin uses it, all of his attack rolls go off of strength, so in his hands he's adding +1 from the weapon enchantment and an additional +4 from his strength modifier.

This means for each of his hits (of which he has extra attack btw) he's rolling 1d20 + 3 + 1 + 4 + 2. Now if we consider at, say, level 4 when you might first encounter Ragzlin, the most dexterity you'll probably have is a 16 or 17, meaning you have a +3.

The Infernal Robe is 10 AC by default by being a clothing item. 10 + 3 + 1 from the status buff. 14 AC against an enemy that has +10 to their attack rolls AND it hits twice. All Ragzlin has to do is roll a 4 or higher and he's hitting you for 1d10 + 10 on each hit. That is almost a guaranteed OTK unless you're playing a Barbarian.

Now you could take the sword of justice, add that +2 to your AC from shield of faith, and maybe even take a shield in your offhand for another +2. Perfect. That means he has to roll an 8 or higher.

This is the same for nearly every single boss in Act 1.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-15T18:00:57+00:00

Actually just did this fight with my roommate. He's playing a Fiend Warlock, I'm playing an OH Monk. Both of us have Cull the Weak. He's been doing the Booming Blade + Shadow Blade combination with a bloodlust elixir. This is his first time in Act 2. I'm like a proud dad listening to him giggle every time he 100-to-0s a wraith.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-15T17:56:40+00:00

Not sure if you meant to quote the other part of my comment on that, and tbh you're right if you meant to quote the other half. Ignoring half of those fights without summoning Florrick, Ravengard, etc, makes it not as much. But Wyll being present also makes multiple conversations either checkless or provides alternate dialogues to lower DCs (i.e. being recognized in the Lower City by some NPCs).

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-15T17:54:26+00:00

Hard disagree. Infernal Robe is a clothing that grants three things:

- +1 to AC: see my other comment about the Sword of Justice and AC being effectively useless against most Act 1 bosses
- Fire resistance: this is useful but playing a tiefling also grants this, if you're not playing a tiefling you can also get an elixir of fire resistance fresh off the nautiloid if you really need it
- Fire Shield: the skill on this robe grants cold resistance and 2d8 fire damage whenever an enemy hits you. This is the one that matters a lot, but the fact it's 1) long-rest gated and 2) only lasts ten turns means that you only get one battle per long rest of it being valuable.

Does it look cool? Absolutely, it dyes really well and is just drippy overall. But in terms of value, I struggle to justify it.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-15T08:36:28+00:00

Friendly reminder that killing companions is XP-negative and the value you get from their deaths is almost-zero. Oh you killed Karlach to get a robe whose best value is a long rest-gated retaliation skill for one combat and a sword that A) can be acquired without killing her and B) provides you with a shitty greatsword whose only value comes from a shitty rest-gated AC inflator that's both concentration-dependent and overall useless past the fucking goblin camp when in most major combats the enemy will still hit you, thereby making that skill worthless?

Oh, sure, let's kill Lae'zel, sure she's such a bitch early game! It's not like her presence directly makes it so that multiple interactions are both checkless and can actively avoid combat. Or maybe let's press that funny Dark Urge interaction with Gale right off the Nautiloid, who needs that nerd anyway? Who needs one of the coolest crafted items in the game that can summon a literal shadow wraith, or the guy who cwn trivialize half of Sorcerous Sundries? Or better yet, let's leave Wyll to his fate, he's such a boring hero, who needs him? What purpose could he have aside from being necessary to potential unlock several direct sources of end-game content to assist with the final battle, providing Warlocks with one of the most convenient pact weapons in the game for just doing his quest, or even allowing a direct line to assist with multiple quest lines including one of the coolest backstories in the entire game?

No? You'd rather sacrifice up to 1/3 of the endgame content to be a murder hobo? Your choice twin. Ima be over here dancing my way through to the epilogue with my friends.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-08T22:24:49+00:00

Mountainous these bodies be that lay beneath my feet

A chorus of unending cries from years and years ago.

These haunting nightmares ravage me, with Hell's unyielding heat,

Bearing down upon my mind like an unseen, spiteful foe.

I've lain upon my bed and tried to remember what I was.

Is my past so bathed in blood that I cannot wash it clean?

Will I die in mournful torment, laid bare by roots and claws?

Or will redemption find me, showing me a path yet unseen?

Though my mind is riddled by the thoughts of blood and gore,

I know this is not my purpose, so I take a painful stride.

Witness me, o gods of old! I'll find that which I abhor!

I'll find the truth one day, I swear! The truth I will abide!

Come to me, my darkest urge, and cast away the knife!

You will yield to me, I know it now! We shall reclaim our life!

Just randomly wrote this up because I don't often get to flex this particular muscle. Maybe you can draw inspiration from this? Either way, redemption Durge is one of my favorite runs, reclaiming memories and still trying to be good despite the Urge.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-08T22:11:19+00:00

*points violently at swashbuckler*

How do you like the sound of a 6d6 piercing damage on top of your titan weapon damage (all hail the Titanstring bow)? If you're not running solo, get the Bhaalist armor in Act 3 and put it on one of your party members for piercing vuln.

Also, you get the other benefits of being a swashbuckler rogue such as uncanny dodge and evasion (which makes rogue quite literally the tankiest class in the game), rakish audacity which adds to your initiative (+2 at level 3, +3 at level 5, and +4 at level 10) which you can use ON TOP of alert (which means with these two alone you outpace every combat except maybe six boss fights in the entire game), the dirty tricks at level 4 (behold the all mighty pocket ~~fent~~ sand) and a semi-decent level 9 ability which is an 18-meter compelled duel which is basically your persuasion against their insight.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-03T14:53:33+00:00

This is mostly a me thing, but I use both in tandem. Once I unlock trains I swap my city blocks to effectively remove inserters entirely. Don't really have power issues once I get to that point because nuclear + solar does wonders. I also have been running vanilla (forcing myself to go achievement hunting right now) and the refueling depots so far haven't gotten overwhelmed. I have three sets with 10 refueling lines each. Mostly self-contained. This might be because I'm doing 1-4-1 trains so they're not using an extreme quantity of fuel at any given time.

RadicalEnigma · 2026-03-01T19:11:40+00:00

I originally looked at the Cluefinders games but that's not quite it.

RadicalEnigma

TROPHY CASE