How do you optimise a monk?

[8wGremlin]

it appears to me that there is very little in the way of optimising a monk character.
you have the various paths, the standard 3 and the 2 new SCAGs but other than that, they seem to lack feat options, magic item options and any real synergy.

Can people point out what I'm missing?
thank you.

[CaptAl]

Shadow Monks work well when mixed with Rogue. There's some debate about mixing monk and Moon druid for unarmored defense to animal forms, but that's highly DM dependent. Overall, though, they are fairly straight forward. Max Dex and Wis and punch things into submission. Mobile or Alert or Lucky are all good additions to the chassis, but that's true for almost all classes.

[SharkForce]

there are feat options, though i wouldn't necessarily consider them to be strictly "optimized".

but just as an example, mobile is great on a monk. lucky is great on anyone, including monks. magic initiate(druid) can give you the shillelagh cantrip which allows you to raise wisdom first without sacrificing attack rolls (mostly), which can increase your ability DCs first (it can also let you pick up a ranged cantrip for some decent control and damage, and of course a level 1 druid spell). if you're willing to hold on to a couple of light weapons, the dual wielder feat is good for a bonus to AC once you've maxed your dex and wis.

with magic items, it is a bit limited, but there are still some. you don't have anything for unarmed strikes (except a single item in a single adventure), but you do have options to boost your AC, saving throws, and even your proficiency bonus which improves darned near everything you care about most as a monk, not to mention a whole host of utility items that are useful for anyone.

[RickAllison]

Part of it is that optimizing is such a blanket term that it doesn't really help. Consider the humble Shadow Monk. An optimized build for a shadowy stalker might be Assassin 14/Shadow Monk 6 to get teleportation for independent assassinations, with the focus on burst damage in sneak attacks. That same build is less effective for someone who wants to use the shadows to fight in pitched combat; for that person, dipping Fighter and focusing more on Monk would be a more optimized build. On one Reddit thread, Rogue 7/Monk 7/Warlock 3 was suggested as another build for someone who wanted yet another variation on the basic formula. In summary, if you want information on optimizing a monk, we need to know more about what it is you want out the build.

Good general options, however, are Mobile, Tough (if you are so lucky to have a spare feat), Skulker for Shadow Monks, Mage Slayer if you are up against casters consistently, Observer if you have an odd number in Wisdom and need better Perception, or Athlete if you have Dexterity as odd. All are worthy choices for certain builds.

[Dralnu]

Monks are easy to optimize. Their biggest strength is Stunning Strike which costs 1 ki, so you should either go pure Monk or keep dips to a bare minimum. Next you'll need to max DEX for both offense and defense and max WIS for defense and your Stunning Strike DC. That's it; you're optimized!

Pick Open Palm or Shadow as your subclass.

Shadow is fantastic for stealth options and utility. Not only does it give you great stealth tools, Pass Without Trace lets your group come along too. Shadow Step is great both for exploration and combat, and combos with Darkness to teleport to places you normally couldn't reach. Also it blinds foes and can break line of sight of ranged enemies. One more: Silence has multiple uses, like grappling a spellcaster and then Silencing the area so it can't cast.

Open Palm isn't is more straightforward but still very powerful in combat. Your FoB now pushes / prones targets for no additional ki. That's awesome.

Voila, optimized monk.

[djreynolds]

Many player are sold on mobile and on grabbing hex, through whatever means. Otheriwse max out dex and wis, and a level of rogue for expertise in acrobatics, with a low strength this will be your only defense versus bully types.

[RickAllison]

Yeah, other than saving throws, there does not seem to be much reason to take the first level as monk. Choosing Rogue 1/Monk X gives all monk weapon proficiencies, the massive Expertise bonus (especially handy if going for a grapple Monk), and two more skills. You go into monk levels from that point and still gain most of the great perks. Frankly, the Monk 20 ability is fairly lackluster. In campaigns where the party is expected to last for hours and hours without any rest whatsoever, it might be a lifesaver, but ordinary parties can take an hour-long rest and monks get all 20 back. I would give it more credit if it just gave a flat regeneration rather than conditional, but I understand wishing to avoid any cheese (I challenge my ally to battle, roll initiative! I withdraw, I get more ki!).