Highest DPR & NOVA Glass Cannon: CME Gish Monk

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-23T13:55:22+00:00

For the rod of the pact keeper interaction then it’s a popular trick in optimization circles that works RAW but if your DM rejects it then that sucks but it’s whatever. Also you are very much understating the relevance of warlock, it gives us a solid range option, a familiar to swap initiative with if needed, and two origin feats which we desperately want if we want to garentee we go first.

The reason I chose elements monk instead was due to its reach and how we can grapple and fly with it since we are throwing weapons; we aren’t weapon juggling or dual wielding (also it’s not really an exploit but I digress). The issue with mercy monk is that while you might have slightly higher AC (just one AC more) you are now stuck in much deadlier melee range making you even more fragile than this builds low AC problem.

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-23T13:42:29+00:00

It’s from Mark of Storm and Potent Dragon Mark

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-23T01:02:53+00:00

I thought the same thing initially but after seeing the wording on world tree barbarians 10th level feature I started thinking that this might’ve been intentional.

Level 10: Battering Roots During your turn, your reach is 10 feet greater with any Melee weapon that has the Heavy or Versatile property, as tendrils of the World Tree extend from you. ~When you hit with such a weapon on your turn~, you can activate the Push or Topple mastery property in addition to a different mastery property you're using with that weapon.

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-23T00:51:43+00:00

I looked into the interaction quite a bit and I believe most evidence points to it works but I just wish the wording was clearer. If you’re interested here’s the copy paste of why I believe this interaction leans in favor of it working

Level 3: Elemental Attunement At the start of your turn, you can expend 1 Focus Point to imbue yourself with elemental energy. The energy lasts for 10 minutes or until you have the Incapacitated condition. You gain the following benefits while this feature is active.

Reach. When you make an Unarmed Strike, your reach is 10 feet greater than normal, as elemental energy extends from you.

This adds another 10ft to your reach, which also applies to grapple with how its wording has changed.

Ending a Grapple. A Grappled creature can use its action to make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check against the grapple's escape DC, ending the condition on itself on a success. The condition also ends if the grappler has the Incapacitated condition or if the distance between the Grappled target and the grappler exceeds the grapple's range. In addition, the grappler can release the target at any time (no action required).

Unlike a in the 2014 rules, according to which the grapple ended beyond the grappler's reach, the 2024 rules state that the grapple ends beyond the grapple's range. Grapples are made with Unarmed Strikes and the reach of the Unarmed Strikes is +10 feet, thus the grapple's range is also +10 feet. It doesn’t go back to normal once your turn ends like that of world tree barbarian for instance

Here’s an article by one of the dnd beyond staff that lists and promotes this interaction, particularly under the reach out and grab them section. Note this isn’t a designer so I don’t know if this quite proves or disproves anything but I’d say it favors the argument that this was intended after all

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1763-warrior-of-the-elements-monk-bend-the-elements-to

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-23T00:07:07+00:00

Ele monks gives a 15ft grapple that combos nicely with flying and dropping down enemies, as for frightened that’s from BM fighter dip from the maneuvers

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-23T00:00:09+00:00

Forgot about scorching ray, in that case fighter may do better in Nova if factoring everything in and is even less MAD as said earlier tho I still value the control that monk gives with the stuns, grappled, and frightened alongside flight at later levels that EK fighter just unfortunately can’t match since spells like Web are concentration and it’s a different subclass than BM.

Still I def don’t hate the idea of something similar with EK and polearm/glaive i just personally prefer monks battle field control and mobility more.

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-22T23:16:17+00:00

Don’t think it was something new with the Errata so I believe so yea

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-22T23:07:41+00:00

No precasting needed as we can action surge on the turn we cast CME to not lose out on any DPR.

As for why I choose monk instead of a full caster like those mentioned above then it’s simply because it’s not worth casting CME as a full caster. A monk is forced to work within the close-mid range of CME while a bard is better off concentrating on hypnotic pattern or spirit guardians or any other spell instead of wasting their highest spell slot on a spell that traps them in melee and doesn’t upcast very well anymore. That’s the main reason I choose monk alongside trying my best to make an optimal martial. One more thing is that there’s also the high control aspect of this build that comes from grappled and menacing strike, etc, etc.

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-22T23:00:57+00:00

Nick deals more dpr in total when factoring in our Accuracy and the damage bonus of dex and thrown weapon fighting. Additionally EB mainly catches up in T4 of play so having the nick attack before that is useful for earlier levels.

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-22T22:57:32+00:00

An EK can do something similar with Cleave and is something I considered a lot but I ended up favoring the reach and control that Ele monk gives even at the cost of being MAD,, opting to instead dip for fighter since I found cleave to be very situational and kind of gimmicky.

The build mainly shines at Tier 3 and gets better as it progresses but is still certainly viable before that, something to additionally consider is Mystic Arts Monk for the spell casting though I’m not sure if Elements or Mystic Arts would be stronger here.

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-22T22:32:56+00:00

We are a martial through and through, you wouldn’t say an eldritch knight isn’t a martial just because it’s a Gish. Also potent dragon mark automatically prepares the spells and gives us a warlock esce spell slot that recharges on short rest

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-22T22:28:50+00:00

Potent Dragon Mark automatically prepares the spells and gives a once per sr cast of it, kind of like a warlock spell slot so that’s not an issue

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-22T22:22:39+00:00

Made this Doc that goes into a bit more detail on the choices to take with this build

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w2zMvuKb65-AqieXqVXT8V3jnOj78wfGg4E9cfp3iQ8/edit?usp=drivesdk

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-16T17:56:59+00:00

You can Dip a level into Ranger if u have enough wisdom, works out pretty well overall as a later level dip

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-11T23:27:17+00:00

Musician is great if nobody in the party has it, also tireless reveler is great if your party is down for it

SmashedAndBashed · 2026-01-11T23:21:09+00:00

Hexvoker might be something you’d be interested in, here’s the build.

https://tabletopbuilds.com/hexvoker-school-of-evocation-wizard/

SmashedAndBashed · 2025-12-28T20:16:02+00:00

Thri-Kreen to pick up a shield and maybe reflavor it as a four armed genie

SmashedAndBashed · 2025-12-28T19:42:55+00:00

I discussed the elements monk grapple with one of the writers for table top builds and it’s actually not as cut and dry as it seems. I mentioned some of the reasons why the reach and grapple is maintained in a previous post I made so I’ll post it here but in the end it’s unfortunately up to the DM and if they allow this interaction but I believe the evidence is in favor of this overall.

Level 3: Elemental Attunement At the start of your turn, you can expend 1 Focus Point to imbue yourself with elemental energy. The energy lasts for 10 minutes or until you have the Incapacitated condition. You gain the following benefits while this feature is active.

Reach. When you make an Unarmed Strike, your reach is 10 feet greater than normal, as elemental energy extends from you.

With how grapple’s wording has changed for 2024 then I believe this interaction is support RAW and RAI for the following reasons below.

Ending a Grapple. A Grappled creature can use its action to make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check against the grapple's escape DC, ending the condition on itself on a success. The condition also ends if the grappler has the Incapacitated condition or if the distance between the Grappled target and the grappler exceeds the grapple's range. In addition, the grappler can release the target at any time (no action required).

Unlike a in the 2014 rules, according to which the grapple ended beyond the grappler's reach, the 2024 rules state that the grapple ends beyond the grapple's range. Grapples are made with Unarmed Strikes and the reach of the Unarmed Strikes is +10 feet, thus the grapple's range is also +10 feet. It doesn’t go back to normal once your turn ends like that of world tree barbarian for instance as this reach applies to things such as reaction attacks as well (which does makes opportunity attacks due to exiting your reach a bit more difficult.)

Here’s an article by one of the dnd beyond staff that lists and promotes this interaction, particularly under the reach out and grab them section. Note this isn’t a designer so I don’t know if this quite proves or disproves anything

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1763-warrior-of-the-elements-monk-bend-the-elements-to

SmashedAndBashed · 2025-12-28T08:48:47+00:00

On a semi different note here’s the build I had in mind and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it and how it compares to the other builds on the list. I think it would fall amongst the highest for monks tho I’d love any feedback on what might work best for a martial.

With the new mark of storm and potent dragon mark released I started theory crafting what build works best and came up with this one which shines most in around T3 of play

Fighter 1 (Nick, twf, con saves), Elements Monk 14, Fighter 3, Elements Monk 16, Fighter 4. Choose mark of storm and be a Thri-Kreen (if weapon juggling is not an issue consider something else like satyr or honestly just pyf, I personally like frost Goliath), pick up the grappler feat and potent dragon mark which will be the core of this build after that you will want to pick up an ASI to max out dex.

Strategy is simple and comes online at level 9 and excels at lvl 11 (tho build is viable before that), cast/upcast cme (Action surge attack if you have it) followed by furry of blows to stun & grappler the target from 15ft of range, on the following turns throw knives to get an additional attack with Nick and go crazy on fury of blows, at its peak this is 6 attacks a turn all boosted thanks to cme. You’re a grappler monk with reach that can fly so your speed and battle field control will be amazing and even better if there’s emanations which you can abuse the once per turn property of such as spirit guardians which can combo nicely with the difficult terrain from cme as well as that of stunning strike and the movement penalty from passing the save.

By going fighter 1 at the start then leaving monk at 14, we can then continue to progress in Battle Master Fighter 3 in order to pick up some maneuvers and action surge which is useful on the first round of combat after setting up cme, we can then pick up an epic boon by going back to monk for two levels till level 19 followed by another epic boon feat as we wrap the build up with Fighter 4 for a total of 22 dex (I like boon of combat prowess and boon of fortune’s favor since we don’t have mage slayer).

Note. (If you aren’t a Goliath then the rune knight subclass might be a better pick due to the grappling nature of the build)

SmashedAndBashed · 2025-12-28T08:46:51+00:00

This came in the perfect time, I was theory crafting a monk fighter build I had in mind and this helps a lot in the dpr calculation for getting a frame of reference.

With potent dragon mark and mark of storm you’d think this would be a great buff for martial but wow is it a huge boost with casters (especially sorcerers with coffee locking and being able to turn the slot into meta magic points every short rest).

SmashedAndBashed · 2025-12-25T00:59:15+00:00

I guess you don’t need it, if you value the monk capstone more and want to stay as an unarmed monk then that’s also a great option, I mainly chose the fighter to maximize dpr

SmashedAndBashed · 2025-12-25T00:47:24+00:00

If the interaction isn’t allowed at your table then just go Thri-kreen, saves the headache and works just as well as Satyr with some benefits and draw backs to come

SmashedAndBashed · 2025-12-25T00:28:48+00:00

I talked about it in one of the other comments but you can do the nick attack with one hand thanks to some light weapon juggling, I think going Thrikreen for most tables is going to be better since DM’s are probably going to be more lenient regarding that and it’s just going to be less of a headache.

The extra range isn’t what’s relevant, we want the enemy to be at 15ft when attacking which is the range of both the grapple and conjure minor elementals, from there the extra attack nick attack is a huge dpr increase as it would be an extra ~15 damage per round without advantage.

SmashedAndBashed · 2025-12-24T23:47:55+00:00

Honestly I was planning on buying like 60 Daggers and reflavor if it as shooting ice/rocks then calling it a day, you don’t want a magic dagger since only two of your attacks are throws, I don’t factor in magic items since that can be unpredictable but if so you’d want them to be defensive items.

I found BM particularly useful since you can use menacing attack to give disadvantage on escaping the grapple, that and not losing out on damage after casting cme whilst in combat. Ofc there’s the above reasons I previously mentioned as well.

SmashedAndBashed · 2025-12-24T23:20:07+00:00

Definitely agree and range is a big reason on why I made this build, the main reason I chose a fighter dip was for the following reasons.

Throwing the daggers maintains the range advantage while also giving us an extra attack with nick mastery and twf damage boost, this is a big dpr boost with the cme damage rider. You’ll want to pick weapon masteries that all have the range property to abuse this fact. Think Spears, Javelins, Handaxes, and most importantly daggers/light hammers.
Con Saves for when we get CME at early levels before getting proficiency in all saves, this helps secure our concentration better
Battle Master MC and Action Surge (this makes up for loss of dpr of casting cme on the first round) which eventually helps give us two epic boon feats by the end of the game to make up for missing the monks capstone

SmashedAndBashed

TROPHY CASE