Best fighting style for Longsword kensei monk?

[Skyblaze]

I have plans to make a monk/battlemaster in the future and I got to wondering what fighting style would be over all better for the character.

Great Weapon fighting - reroll 1s and 2s on 1d10
Dueling - Add +2 per hit with the longsword
Defense - flat +1 AC Whoops, that requires armor.

If I had to guess what folks would say +1 AC would be the longest viable with GWF coming in second.

[darknite]

I'd do Duelist since you're guaranteed the +2 damage. Depends on your preference.

[stoutstien]

I have plans to make a monk/battlemaster in the future and I got to wondering what fighting style would be over all better for the character.

Great Weapon fighting - reroll 1s and 2s on 1d10
Dueling - Add +2 per hit with the longsword
Defense - flat +1 AC Whoops, that requires armor.

If I had to guess what folks would say +1 AC would be the longest viable with GWF coming in second.

Id ask if you can use defense anyways. It's not out of line power wise and unless it's an AL game I'd hope most DM would be on board.

Because of your sub class feature you may only be making a single weapon attack.

If not, archery. Your bound to have at least one ranged kensei weapon.

[bid]

I have plans to make a monk/battlemaster in the future and I got to wondering what fighting style would be over all better for the character.

dueling - 1d8+2 = 6.5 + Dex
mariner - 1d10 = 5.5 + Dex
archery
gwf - 1d10+4/5 = 6.3 + Dex

Since you are Dex-based, you don't need an archery boost. But yeah, mariner has a good value if you push Dex/Wis high enough... and your DM allows UA.

GWF is just bad with anything below 1d12.

[Lunali]

Just to point out, duelist is effectively only +1 damage unless you get 17+ levels in monk. Still better than gwf though, unless you make liberal use of deft strike, though that's usually one of the worst ways to burn ki. Mariner is ridiculously good if your DM will allow it, otherwise you might also want to consider archery since one of kensei's greatest strengths is that it lets you be effective at long range.

[strangebloke]

Just to point out, duelist is effectively only +1 damage unless you get 17+ levels in monk. Still better than gwf though, unless you make liberal use of deft strike, though that's usually one of the worst ways to burn ki. Mariner is ridiculously good if your DM will allow it, otherwise you might also want to consider archery since one of kensei's greatest strengths is that it lets you be effective at long range.

Deft strike is too maligned.

It's 1d10 that always hits. For comparison, flurry of blows grants only one sub par attack which if it hits typically only deals 1d8+5. The game assumes a 65% hit rate so the expected damage of flurry is 6.5 versus 5.5 for deft strike. It's perfectly reasonable to use deft strike against a hard-to-hit foe, or if you crit, or if you want to pump your damage as high as possible, or if you're fighting at range.

But not worth taking gwf for, on that we agree.

Take Mariner if you can. Kensei have great AC and patient defense makes that high AC super worth it.

Next best option is archery. Archery is just so good that even if you don't use it much it'll be worth it when you do. At high levels you can give yourself a +3 bow and sharpshooter becomes worth considering.

1 to 2 damage a turn isn't a big deal.

[CTurbo]

1. Mariner
2. Archery
3. Dueling