Monk Best Builds

Monk is one of the advanced Jobs that can be accessed in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins. Read on to find out more about this Job, its best builds, and which Equipment Effects to go after to maximize Jack's potential!

Monk Guides
How to Use Monk	Monk Best Builds

HP and MP Recovery Build

While Monk provides ample abilities that allow players to recover their HP, thus limiting their use of Potions and saving them up for greater circumstances that require them, it is fairly limited in the amount of MP that it can recover.

This build is more gear oriented in the sense that it covers for this general gap by making use of MP Recovery Rate with Normal Attack buffs from Equipment Effects – more armor or weapon pieces with this buff is ideal, with effect upgrades from the Smithy acting as a means to keep Equipment Effects effective beyond the granted level of the equipment.

Best Abilities Loadout

Combo Ability Setup

No.	Ability	Button Commands
1	Focus	(Hold) (Hold)
2	Glide Kick	> >
3	Aerial Hook (Pugilist Ability)	> > > >

Command Ability Setup

Best Commands
Venom	Reinforce	Zanshin

• Venom: Unlocked in the Duelist Job Tree. Inflicts Poison against enemies with every landed attack – this effect accumulates until the enemy is inflicted with the Poison Status Ailment, draining their HP gradually.
• Reinforce: Unlocked in the Swordsman Job Tree, this ability reduces the time it takes to charge certain abilities, as well makes it harder for enemies to cause players to stagger.
• Zanshin: Unlocked in the Samurai Job Tree, this ability reduces the amount of MP used with combo abilities.

Passive and Effect Priorities

Best Passives and Effects
Focus Mastery	Buff Duration +7.3%	Damage Dealt at Max Break +4.0%

• Strike Cancel: Useful ability unlocked in the Monk Job Tree. Enhances abilities assigned to the 2nd Combo Ability Link. This ability enables earlier dodging, but is only applicable if players are making use of Knuckle-type weapons. When using Lancer Weapons, you can make use of Lancer Cancel instead.
• Buff Duration +7.3%: Drastically increases the amount of time players will stay buffed. Two are unlockable in the Monk Job Tree.
• Damage Dealt at Max Break +4.0%: Enhances a player's ability to cause damage against enemies when their Break Gauge is filled.

Recommended Equipment Effects

The primary focus of this build is both MP and HP Recovery. Due to MP recovery not being covered by abilities in the Monk Job Tree, players will have to supplement this heavily with MP Recovery Rate with Normal Attack buffs from Equipment.

Make heavy use of the Smithy to upgrade this buff, and try to make use of armor pieces to provide your character with multiple copies of this buff to get as much MP Recovery as you can when attacking enemies normally.

Brawler Build

This build can best be described as taking all the offensive tools of the Monk Job and applying it a fierce and aggressive playstyle. HP recovery here is still a priority to keep you in the fight more, but by and large the build is dedicated only to those who love to string combos together.

Best Abilities Loadout

Combo Ability Setup

No.	Ability	Button Commands
1	Focus	(Hold) (Hold)
2	Steel Peak	> >
3	Punch Rush	> > > >
4	Glide Kick	> > > > > >

Command Ability Setup

Best Commands
Chakra	Reinforce	Zanshin

• Chakra: Cures and then raises the player's resistance to status ailments. Useful for this build due to the focus on fighting enemies rather than being cautious about their own forms of attacks, which may make players more vulnerable to intercepting hits more than normal.
• Reinforce: Decreases the chance for a player to get staggered when being attacked by enemies, allowing them to counterattack with ease. Also decreases the charge time of any charged attacks (in this case, Focus). Unlocked in the Swordsman Job Tree.
• Zanshin: Unlocked in the Samurai Job Tree, this Command Ability reduces the amount of MP spent when using Combo Abilities. Out of all Command Abilities on this list, ths is the most important as it allows you to use more Combos with less MP.

Passive and Effect Priorities

Best Passives and Effects
Focus Mastery	Action Ability MP Cost -7.3%	Damage Dealt at Max Break +2.2%

• Focus Mastery: Extremely good ability to have when making heavy use of the Focus ability, as it makes it so that players are "buffed" by three levels when the ability becomes fully charged.
• Action Ability MP Cost -7.3%: Reduces the MP cost of action abilities, in this case Focus, which leaves players with more MP to spend on other useful abilities like combo (combat) abilities.
• Damage Dealt at Max Break +2.2%: Increases a player's damage output when Break Gauge is at its maximum value.

Recommended Equipment Effects

Best Job Synergies and Pairings

Knight

Knight	Available Weapon(s)	Shield?
	Greatsword Sword	Can use shields
Basic Info	The Knight is an advanced job. Knights use their ability Blessing of Light to unleash a shockwave of light that damages enemies whenever a successful guard is completed.

For a Job that has a good mix of offense and defense, the Knight is a good secondary to play with, offering great defense against an enemy's magical attacks. Knights also are good for crowd control, capable of inflicting good staggers against groups of enemies with wide swings when using a Greatsword.

You can swap this Job out for the Warrior instead if you wish, particularly if you wish to use a good Greatsword and want to take the benefits that the Warrior offers that Monk does not.

Knight Guide: How to Use Knight

White Mage

White Mage	Available Weapon(s)	Shield?
	Mace	Can use shields
Basic Info	The White Mage is a specialization of the Mage job class suited for support. White Mages have the ability to cast white magic which allows them to heal and revive fallen allies.

The White Mage is another good pairing for the Monk, particularly in instances where getting too close to an enemy becomes a problem for the close-ranged fighting style of the Monk.

With White Mage, or any other magic-based Job, you can exploit enemy weaknesses at a safe distance, weakening enemies enough to allow you to come close with fast hits.

Monk Job Info

General Info

Monk Info
Monk
Info	The Monk is a combination of the Pugilist and the Lancer. A specialized hand-to-hand combatant; the Monk has the ability to recover HP and refill their break gauge at the cost of MP.
Job Action	Focus: Hold Ability to recover HP and refill your break gauge at the cost of MP. In addition, sustaining this ability long enough will also grant you a temporary increase in the amount of break damage dealt to enemies.
Level	Advanced
Usable Weapon	Knuckles Mace Lance
Shield?	Cannot use Shields

Monk Guide: How to Use Monk

Stranger of Paradise Related Guides

Best Builds for Each Job

All Builds

Basic Jobs
Swordsman	Swordfighter	Duelist
Ronin	Pugilist	Mage
Marauder	Lancer
Advanced Jobs
Samurai	Monk	Knight
Dragoon	Warrior	Berserker
White Mage	Black Mage	Thief
Red Mage
Expert Jobs
Liberator	Cyclic Warrior	Breaker
Tyrant	Sage	Paladin
Ninja	Assassin	Dark Knight
Void Knight

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