Best 1 Level Dip for Monk

[QUARE]

What is the best dip for an Aarakorca Monk? I am a Way of the Open hand.

[RulesJD]

War Cleric hands down.

Guidance + Divine Favor + Bless + Healing Word. Can't top that for a 1 level dip. Higher dips get more competitive.

Alternatively, depending on your playstyle, Fighter 1 with Dueling Fighting Style + PAM. But that's a very specific build just for damage whereas the War Cleric dip gets you more damage + a ton more utility.

[Foxhound438]

War Cleric hands down.

Guidance + Divine Favor + Bless + Healing Word. Can't top that for a 1 level dip. Higher dips get more competitive.


agreed, with the possible exception of warlock if you happen to have the 13 charisma. It does eat bonus actions every time your target dies, but the damage is a d6 instead of a d4, and you get the spell back on short rests.

If you had 2 levels to dip, I would say ranger, but 1 is 1.

Another possible alternative is rogue, it's only 1d6 on one attack per turn, but it's resource free, so it's still fine as long as you're attacking enemies with your allies next to them.

[Arcangel4774]

For a shadow monk a 2 level warlock dip is nearly necessary for devil sight

[Davemeddlehed]

If you want a little bit of magic in your monk Cleric is the best option available. If you're not concerned about magic, or don't like the Cleric/Druid spell lists I vote Rogue. 1d6 extra damage per turn for no resources, and you even gain a skill proficiency(probably Perception, or Sleight of Hand).

[djreynolds]

What is the best dip for an Aarakorca Monk? I am a Way of the Open hand.

Well you are flying, that is huge.

What do you want? Spells, damage, utility?

Rogue is nice

War cleric has great domain spells and with your higher wisdom you can prepare quite a nice little spell list.

You know druid has thorn whip.... could be cool coupled with flying or disastrous.

[Citan]

What is the best dip for an Aarakorca Monk? I am a Way of the Open hand.
Imo, Cleric, Druid and Rogue are the three best by far.
Personal favorite optimization-wise would be Cleric because of Bless (finally some good use for your concentration), Command (always useful) and Healing Words (emergency healing).

Druid is the second best because of versatile cantrips (Produce Flame / Thorn Whips), non-concentration buffs (Longstrider/Jump) and more generally variety of spells that can always be useful (ranged AOE with Ice Knife, control with Fog Cloud, emergency escape with Thunderwave...).
Also the Wild Shape can be used to great effectiveness for scouting, roleplay but also fights: simple example, shape as a rat to infiltrate enemy ranks before the fight begins, so when the fight starts and enemy focus on your party you can go out of shape and directly stun-strike the most dangerous foe.

Rogue is more limited imo, but has the merit of providing light armor for DEX-oriented Monk as well as Expertise (good for Ahtletics or Stealth). Fitting for some niche concepts.

[JakOfAllTirades]

For 1 level, the UA Revised Ranger would be worth looking at.

The Natural Explorer feature has some combat abilities useful for Monks. (or anyone else)

Advantage on Initiative rolls.
Advantage on attack rolls v. enemies who haven't yet acted in first round of combat
Ignore difficult terrain

Then there's the Favored Enemy thing. I'd go for it.

[coredump]

Better question is: Why do you want to dip? What do you hope to gain over staying straight monk?

[Foxhound438]

Better question is: Why do you want to dip? What do you hope to gain over staying straight monk?

probably anything better than the actual monk capstone, but that's me and not necessarily the OP.

[Citan]

For 1 level, the UA Revised Ranger would be worth looking at.

The Natural Explorer feature has some combat abilities useful for Monks. (or anyone else)

Advantage on Initiative rolls.
Advantage on attack rolls v. enemies who haven't yet acted in first round of combat
Ignore difficult terrain

Then there's the Favored Enemy thing. I'd go for it.
Good point, but it is UA. Not sure if authorized in OP's game...
Otherwise, I'd say it's a very strong contender to Cleric. ^^

I'd like to note that Nature Cleric keeps the right edge in case OP would want to use Stunning Strike as soon and reliably as possible though.
Shillelagh means you are using WIS for your main Attack, and Bless help you hit on every attack, so you can safely keep DEX at 16 to bump WIS to 18 (maybe even 20 depending on party composition) as fast as possible.
Cleric means you can also favor defense over offense when needed thanks to Shield of Faith. ;)

2 slots per day is the true limiting factor though, it may not "feel" enough, especially when applied to a class which every resource is short-rest...

[Arelai]

War cleric is a bad dip for monk. you can already bonus action attack with unarmed strike strikes, so the feature becomes useless almost immediately. Divine favor requires concentration-which you're likely to lose if you're in melee trying to make the most of it. Shield of faith is the better lvl 1 cleric concentration spell.

Light cleric is best. You can give disadvantage to hit you up to your wisdom mod times(as a reaction, so it only competes with deflect missle-but if it's a missle attack just use it instead and have 2 features that let you not get hit for free). You get a free extra cantrip. And it gives you a little aoe damage early with burning hands that stays decent until level 5 or so when it starts lacking.

Or you can faerie fire to have advantage for maybe a whole combat.

[djreynolds]

the errata and sage advice say unarmed strikes are considered melee weapon attacks, so it does work

But I like your idea about light cleric, warding flare is awesome and is good for melee... saves on having to use patient defense. Good pick. 5 times a long rest.... not bad and can be used for your buddy also

[Cl0001]

For 1 level, the UA Revised Ranger would be worth looking at.

The Natural Explorer feature has some combat abilities useful for Monks. (or anyone else)

Advantage on Initiative rolls.
Advantage on attack rolls v. enemies who haven't yet acted in first round of combat
Ignore difficult terrain

Then there's the Favored Enemy thing. I'd go for it.

I'd argue that the UA ranger is the best 1 level dip in the game for that reason, it basically takes rogue abilities, improves them and gives them to you earlier

[Foxhound438]

War cleric is a bad dip for monk. you can already bonus action attack with unarmed strike strikes, so the feature becomes useless almost immediately. Divine favor requires concentration-which you're likely to lose if you're in melee trying to make the most of it. Shield of faith is the better lvl 1 cleric concentration spell.

Light cleric is best. You can give disadvantage to hit you up to your wisdom mod times(as a reaction, so it only competes with deflect missle-but if it's a missle attack just use it instead and have 2 features that let you not get hit for free). You get a free extra cantrip. And it gives you a little aoe damage early with burning hands that stays decent until level 5 or so when it starts lacking.

Or you can faerie fire to have advantage for maybe a whole combat.

War cleric still lets you make a BA attack with a bow. It's a narrow application, but it isn't entirely useless when you can sit back for a bit and still do solid amounts of damage. War cleric gives proficiency in longbow as well, so it does add this as a decent option.

[Asmotherion]

Well, you can afford to loose 1 ASI for one more level. The real good dips are 2 level dips minimum (actually 2-3 is a dip... anything more than that is regular multiclass IMO).

Warlock 2 is my favorite, giving you Eldritch+Agonising Blast for an amazing ranged option, as well as one more Invocation to get Devil's Sight for your Shadow Monk. You also get access to Hex for more damage, Hellish Rebuke and Armor of Agathys optionally for versality and minor damage sources. All Patrons are good here, though the fay one pales a bit, compared to the other two.

Fighter 2 gives an action surge, wich can be usefull, as well as a nice fighting style for your Monk Weapons.

Rogue 2 gives you Cunning Action that saves you from spending Ki points on things he does at-will.

Druid (Moon) 2 for a couple of shapeshifts, and casting using one of your main ability scores.

Paladin 2 for Divine Smites

I wouldn't be qualified to talk about Cleric, as I've never played a Cleric, but since so many people suggest it, it might be worth it. Cleric Spells I have used (Via Warlock Pact of the Tome/Bard/Magic Initiate etc) are quite usefull I can say that much.

[Citan]

Well, you can afford to loose 1 ASI for one more level. The real good dips are 2 level dips minimum (actually 2-3 is a dip... anything more than that is regular multiclass IMO).

Warlock 2 is my favorite, giving you Eldritch+Agonising Blast for an amazing ranged option, as well as one more Invocation to get Devil's Sight for your Shadow Monk. You also get access to Hex for more damage, Hellish Rebuke and Armor of Agathys optionally for versality and minor damage sources. All Patrons are good here, though the fay one pales a bit, compared to the other two.

Fighter 2 gives an action surge, wich can be usefull, as well as a nice fighting style for your Monk Weapons.

Rogue 2 gives you Cunning Action that saves you from spending Ki points on things he does at-will.

Druid (Moon) 2 for a couple of shapeshifts, and casting using one of your main ability scores.

Paladin 2 for Divine Smites

I wouldn't be qualified to talk about Cleric, as I've never played a Cleric, but since so many people suggest it, it might be worth it. Cleric Spells I have used (Via Warlock Pact of the Tome/Bard/Magic Initiate etc) are quite usefull I can say that much.
Frankly, when one is requiring advice about 2 level dips for Monk and is not looking for a specific build, my suggestion is always either...

Rogue 2 so you get light armor (if you tend to max DEX first and conserve Ki for special powers), Expertise in Athletics for Shoving and Stealth for infiltrating) and can Dash/Disengage as bonus action without consuming precious Ki.

Life Cleric 1 / Druid 1: when you have a "free" day you can consume all slots on Life Goodberries, otherwise you can sustain either Bless, Bane or Shield of Faith during the most important fight while still having a slot free for emergency Healing Words or the like. You also get ranged attack (Produce Flame / Thorn Whip / Sacred Flame), WIS-mod to Attack (Shillelagh), utility (Guidance / Spare the Dying / Mold Earth / Shape Water etc), and a bunch of utility spells you can use in days where social/adventuring will take most of the action. Finally, you get to play with Wild Shape for spying / infiltrating. ;) In the long run it brings more to the table than Moon Druid 2 because CR1 creatures will quickly fall off in damage and resilience as you progress.

Both are always available to a Monk (since DEX/WIS based) and provide imo better benefit to dip than any other (except maybe Fighter for Action Surge, but it is debatable).
For some builds, going Cleric 2 for a specific CD may be better.
All other dips can be very interesting but require other stats, so whether they are reachable and good or not heavily depend on rolled stats and race choice. ;)

I strongly disagree on Paladin though, imo it's the worst suggestion you could give ever: because Divine Smite is the only benefit of Paladin...
- armor proficiencies useless since =/= Martial Arts,
- additional weapon proficiencies useless since =/= Martial Arts,
- Fighting Style only Dueling applicable, which you can get easier with Fighter or Ranger,
- Lay on Hand is just another name for "2 more levels of Wholeness of Body" except worse,
- all spells can be obtained with Cleric, except smites which you don't care about anyways since you want to use slots on Divine Smite, and you probably can prepare only 2-3 spells at most,
- and Paladin is the only source of slots so you have only 2 slots for your entire life.

So you are spreading stats all around to reach the most MADness possible (STR/DEX/WIS/CHA) just to add 2*2d8 over a day???
That's just horrendous.

Only way a Paladin / Monk is decent to good is either by pushing a Paladin 6 / Monk 14 for maximum resilience (Heavy Armor + Shield of Faith + Aura of Protection + Diamond Soul, use Ki solely on bonus action movement or Stun Strike) or by adding a full caster into the mix to get a decent amount of slots to use.

[djreynolds]

Light cleric is best. You can give disadvantage to hit you up to your wisdom mod times(as a reaction, so it only competes with deflect missle-but if it's a missle attack just use it instead and have 2 features that let you not get hit for free). You get a free extra cantrip. And it gives you a little aoe damage early with burning hands that stays decent until level 5 or so when it starts lacking.

Or you can faerie fire to have advantage for maybe a whole combat.

I gotta say I'm liking this dip more and more

[Quoxis]

War cleric still lets you make a BA attack with a bow. It's a narrow application, but it isn't entirely useless when you can sit back for a bit and still do solid amounts of damage. War cleric gives proficiency in longbow as well, so it does add this as a decent option.

It also gives the chance to attack with a stronger weapon than your 1d4 fist on lower levels (you could even get away from the monk weapon requirements - imagine a monk wielding a glaive or a maul! You'd lose some features, but most stuff should still work, right?).
After a few levels that's getting redundant, but in case you're starting at level 1 it's more attractive.

[Asmotherion]

Frankly, when one is requiring advice about 2 level dips for Monk and is not looking for a specific build, my suggestion is always either...

Rogue 2 so you get light armor (if you tend to max DEX first and conserve Ki for special powers), Expertise in Athletics for Shoving and Stealth for infiltrating) and can Dash/Disengage as bonus action without consuming precious Ki.

Life Cleric 1 / Druid 1: when you have a "free" day you can consume all slots on Life Goodberries, otherwise you can sustain either Bless, Bane or Shield of Faith during the most important fight while still having a slot free for emergency Healing Words or the like. You also get ranged attack (Produce Flame / Thorn Whip / Sacred Flame), WIS-mod to Attack (Shillelagh), utility (Guidance / Spare the Dying / Mold Earth / Shape Water etc), and a bunch of utility spells you can use in days where social/adventuring will take most of the action. Finally, you get to play with Wild Shape for spying / infiltrating. ;) In the long run it brings more to the table than Moon Druid 2 because CR1 creatures will quickly fall off in damage and resilience as you progress.

Both are always available to a Monk (since DEX/WIS based) and provide imo better benefit to dip than any other (except maybe Fighter for Action Surge, but it is debatable).
For some builds, going Cleric 2 for a specific CD may be better.
All other dips can be very interesting but require other stats, so whether they are reachable and good or not heavily depend on rolled stats and race choice. ;)

I strongly disagree on Paladin though, imo it's the worst suggestion you could give ever: because Divine Smite is the only benefit of Paladin...
- armor proficiencies useless since =/= Martial Arts,
- additional weapon proficiencies useless since =/= Martial Arts,
- Fighting Style only Dueling applicable, which you can get easier with Fighter or Ranger,
- Lay on Hand is just another name for "2 more levels of Wholeness of Body" except worse,
- all spells can be obtained with Cleric, except smites which you don't care about anyways since you want to use slots on Divine Smite, and you probably can prepare only 2-3 spells at most,
- and Paladin is the only source of slots so you have only 2 slots for your entire life.

So you are spreading stats all around to reach the most MADness possible (STR/DEX/WIS/CHA) just to add 2*2d8 over a day???
That's just horrendous.

Only way a Paladin / Monk is decent to good is either by pushing a Paladin 6 / Monk 14 for maximum resilience (Heavy Armor + Shield of Faith + Aura of Protection + Diamond Soul, use Ki solely on bonus action movement or Stun Strike) or by adding a full caster into the mix to get a decent amount of slots to use.

Yeah, you're right... Was incredibly tired when I wrote this post and was not thinking straight... I play full casters 9/10 times, so I forgot that monks don't have the spell slots to fuel divine smite... my bad XD

[Specter]

Damage? War Cleric.
Skill prowess? Rogue.

Hard to find any that could beat these, frankly.

[hymer]

I've seen war cleric mentioned a few times now, and I, like Arelai above, don't get it. Monks can already attack with their bonus action for free. What am I missing? Okay, so you can use a longbow, and get an extra attack, but how about some other cleric type with some stuff you're likely to use?

[djreynolds]

I've seen war cleric mentioned a few times now, and I, like Arelai above, don't get it. Monks can already attack with their bonus action for free. What am I missing? Okay, so you can use a longbow, and get an extra attack, but how about some other cleric type with some stuff you're likely to use?

They can use that warding flare up 5 times a day, and faerie ain't bad

Sorry, war cleric is good for divine favor, my apologies

[hymer]

Sorry, war cleric is good for divine favor, my apologies

I see, thanks.
Wouldn't a dip in Warlock for Hex be better, then? Hex adds more damage, and can last an hour. And you can cast it once per rest instead of twice per long rest. You could likely have Hex up for most of an adventuring day, barring Concentration loss.

[Citan]

I see, thanks.
Wouldn't a dip in Warlock for Hex be better, then? Hex adds more damage, and can last an hour. And you can cast it once per rest instead of twice per long rest. You could likely have Hex up for most of an adventuring day, barring Concentration loss.
Well, it's always cost / opportunity.

Compared to a lvl 1 Cleric, lvl 1 Warlock...
- is much more difficult to multiclass into (CHA requirement)
- provides a damage buff with better duration, better effect (works with spells too) but lesser type (necrotic).
- provides a useful Patron feature (telepathy, THP, mini fear/charm)
- provides a few cantrips, but attack cantrips are useless (works against Martial Arts / low CHA).
- provides only 2-3 spells known.
- but provides 1 short rest slot, which synergizes best on a short-rest class. ;)

I'd say it is a matter of taste, slightly influenced by how often you usually manage to take short rests.
With a DM that follows guidelines, overall I would still rather go with Cleric: easier to multiclass into and provides much more versatility overall since you can change your prepared spells every long rest, and some domains provide nice features.

But a lvl 1 Fiend Warlock can still be nice on some Monk multiclass, especially if you plan on being agressive to get THP as often as possible (although Long Death Monk gets nearly the same built-in... But it works only on melee weapon attacks).

Honestly my view on this would be in a nutshell that...
Warlock > War Cleric (because you are clearly focused on damage, and Hex is still overall much better than Divine Favor)...
But any other Cleric > Warlock (easier to multiclass, versatile spells, more or less the same number of slots depending on short rests).
And imo Nature Cleric > Light Cleric > War Cleric for just a level 1 dip.
Getting Shillelagh and adding Bless on top means you can hit VERY reliably and spend your first ASI on WIS light-hearted, so that your Stunning Strike can be used reliably as soon as you get it. ;)

Of course if your focus is not on Stunning Strike but on non-WIS dependant things, then "best" Domain would become another, probably indeed Light for Warding Flare. ;)

Evaluations also change significantly once you get 2nd level CD into it. Guided Strike is probably the best CD for a Monk, then the Knowledge one because always useful .^^

[Foxhound438]

I see, thanks.
Wouldn't a dip in Warlock for Hex be better, then? Hex adds more damage, and can last an hour. And you can cast it once per rest instead of twice per long rest. You could likely have Hex up for most of an adventuring day, barring Concentration loss.

it's more the stat requirements. The only way to get the 13 charisma while still having 16 dex, 16 wis, 14 con is to go non-variant human, and that's a pretty rare pick compared to v. human or other races.

[djreynolds]

I see, thanks.
Wouldn't a dip in Warlock for Hex be better, then? Hex adds more damage, and can last an hour. And you can cast it once per rest instead of twice per long rest. You could likely have Hex up for most of an adventuring day, barring Concentration loss.

I think the nice thing is, it is 1 minute, good enough for a battle and you don't have to worry about who you are attacking and using BA to switch targets. Hunter's mark is just as good

I like 2 levels of ranger or even 3 with horde breaker, extra chance to stun someone else

[retaliation08]

1 level in barbarian for rage is a fine dip. You can tank pretty well with damage resistance and patient defense. You also gain a +2 damage to all of your many attacks per round.

Hex would give you better damage per round than rage, and warlock has more utility, but noone mentioned barbarian yet lol.

[djreynolds]

1 level in barbarian for rage is a fine dip. You can tank pretty well with damage resistance and patient defense. You also gain a +2 damage to all of your many attacks per round.

Hex would give you better damage per round than rage, and warlock has more utility, but noone mentioned barbarian yet lol.

Its a good dip, but most monks will have a low strength and the rage damage bonus requires an attack based on strength, most monks use dex

We had a strength based monk who started off as a barbarian, and basically just dumped wisdom and never stunned anyone, and just maxed out strength and kept dex and con really high

[Malifice]

What is the best dip for an Aarakorca Monk? I am a Way of the Open hand.

Any class that grants the Shillelagh cantrip is nice.

It turns your (staff/ club/ nunchucks/ tonfa/ pointy stick) into a (+ Wis to hit and damage) magical weapon that deals 1d8 damage

[retaliation08]

Any class that grants the Shillelagh cantrip is nice.

It turns your (staff/ club/ nunchucks/ tonfa/ pointy stick) into a (+ Wis to hit and damage) magical weapon that deals 1d8 damage

Yep. Nature Cleric 1, Druid 1, or Magic Initiate I think are the only ways to get Shillelagh as a Wisdom spell.

[RulesJD]

1 level in barbarian for rage is a fine dip. You can tank pretty well with damage resistance and patient defense. You also gain a +2 damage to all of your many attacks per round.

Hex would give you better damage per round than rage, and warlock has more utility, but noone mentioned barbarian yet lol.

I can back this up, with two heaaaavy caveats.

1. Barbarian requires the Monk to have 13 Str for Multiclassing. This is on an already super MAD class.

2. The only way to pull this off while remaining effective is through magic items. Getting something like an Amulet of Health to have 19 Con (thus allowing you to dumpstat it) makes it viable, but even then just barely.

3. If you can pull it off...it is ridiculously effective. Even just that 1 level for Rage half-damage is nuts on a class that is as hard to pin down as a Monk. Even if you don't use the +2 damage from Rage (because your +Dex will be higher), the durability it adds is amazing.

4. The build only truly comes online once you pick up another magic item that sets Strength at a particular value, ala Gauntlets of Ogre Power or Belt of Giant Strength. From there, the extra damage from Strength is fantastic, especially on an Open Palm Monk that can then use Flurry of Blows with something like a Greatsword to gain Advantage from tripping, etc.