A massive applause to this man. Monk isn't crap it just gives players very little to work with, it's a minimalist class that rewards the player for skilful decision making.
Monk is more like "gives players very little opportunities to not be crap". Sad but true. At least you can always rely on Mercy Monk to be somewhat good.
Keep in mind this is only viable with the release of Tasha's and is a pretty specific niche. I agree with this entire vid. In my opinion an archery Kensei is probably the strongest monk overall. Monk is still fairly weak on its own, without going ranged. As we can see Kensei, in the same case like Mercy, is a strong subclass that compliments the monks abilities. a I think our understanding of 5e optimization shouldn't be set in stone, as we see there is still a lot of tech to discover with Tasha's. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a half-decent 4 Elements monk. I'm sure there's some merit to being able to short rest cast spells while being a martial otherwise.
@@dominicl5862 It depends on what level you're referring to. A Kensei is strong early, but really falls off post 10 with no way to improve it. While a Astral Form monk is strong early, decent mid game and an absolute monster higher level, especially when paired with action surge. The main issue is other classes can do what the Kensei does better with the Hand Crossbow, especially Artificer.
@@theangler1922 I feel like theres too little play experience with those claims, it sounds especially white room when we start talking about other classes doing what Konk does. Kensei Monk at 10+ can still bring about unique abilities other archers can't: Being able to stack a +3 to a weapon that doesn't already have that bonus, and on demand accuracy increases in the form of focused aim. Not to mention the sheer versatility of Konk because you can switch to a double handed d8/d10 versatile weapon and start adding +2 to your ac in melee. All while not being shoe horned into crossbow expert and the hand xbow; which shows the sad nature of 5e and how we are all obsessed with PAM and XBOW expert. In regards to astral self I feel like it doesn't really do good damage because you can't power attack with it. You are using martial arts die for the entire game and get 1 Xtra die at 11 and FINALLY one more attack than normal at 17. If those abilities came in 1 progression earlier (extra die at 6 lvl and 5 attacks by 11) then ya it'd be valid. I truly believe the UA version was fine with their 4-6 attack progression but it's gimped now.
@@dominicl5862 A Artificer Monk can take the Hand Crossbow and a Shield, infuse the Hand Crossbow with repeating shot which makes it a magical +1 weapon at level 2 to overcome those early game monsters immune to non-magical damage. They also can wear Half Plate, infuse that with +1 AC and carry a shield. At level 3, they can take Battle Master. If you wanted to optimize you would take level 1 fighter, but I won't do that. Then at level 4 you take Sharpshooter. Level 5 you get the extra attack. Now as a level 5 Battlesmith you have a magical weapon of +1 that you can fire 3 times for the +30 damage of Sharpshooter. Your attacks and damage are based off INT so you're not MAD, just Int, Con and 14 Dex. You have access to Faerie Fire, Web, Absorb Elements, Shield, and other extremely useful spells. Then you can be wearing Half Plate, infused for +1 AC, carrying a shield and be at 20 AC. On top of all that, you also have a pet that is also dealing damage, applying disadvantage, you can ride it, it absorbs hits or you can just ignore it. All of this just makes you flat out superior to the Kensei build and it scales much better because later you can summon another pet, you can boost that AC much higher up to 25ish, you get haste for another attack, you can fly with an infusion, you can add 4d6 to an attack or heal someone that amount. You can summon familiars and give them spells to use, you can just flat out pass saves, you can choose just to not die at 20 for 6 attacks. It never stops scaling. Let's say I want to optimize it. Three levels in Battle Master and 17 levels in Artificer. I'm now rocking Full Plate, I'll infuse that for +2, carrying a Shield I'll infuse that for +1 and to repel anyone 15 feet who does hit me. I'll make a Ring of Protection, a Cloak of Protection and the Repeating Shot on the Crossbow unless my DM gives me a +2-3 one with magical reloading. I'll also take Winged Boots so I can fly. Without any assistance from the DM, I'm now at 25 AC all the time with access to shield. Way higher than a Kensei can achieve. I'll then cast haste on myself for an extra attack and 2 more AC. I'll attack four times, 1 normally, 1 for extra attack, 1 for haste and 1 for bonus action. That's 4d6 + 24 + 40. Then I'll add 4d6 to the attack through arcane jolt. Then I'll use all 4 Maneuvers to give them 4d8 more damage. Doesn't matter which ones, each apply a nice effect like Goading Strike. Then I'll action surge. Take 2 more attacks with the shot, then one more for haste for another 3d6 + 18 + 30 damage. For an average damage of... 170 damage. Again achievable through zero magic items from the DM. All while rocking 25 AC with +5 for Shield. Extremely good resistance to all saves. Alternatively drop the Warrior to deal more sustained damage and less Nova damage and be quite literally immortal. A Kensei monk even with a legendary +3 weapon is only doing around the 120 nova range with action surge and so much less without it and has a capped AC of 24 with Bracers, Ring, Cloak and 20 Wisdom and Dex which doesn't leave much room for feats.
A few things: Martial Arts die is d6 at lvl 6, deft strike is a good way to use ki to get your bonus action attack, not expecting a magic weapon is odd unless you are running a low magic campaign or your dm makes all loot random. Interesting build though.
It frees up your attunement slots. There are a bunch of magic weapons that require attunement, but with your voracious ki consuming monk feature you can choose to instead get those items. A few examples: displacer cloak, blood fury tattoo, dragonhide belt, ring/cloak of protection, bracers of defense etc. It's a small buff but not entirely without merit.
Awesome as always 👏 ☕️ I'm still working out the details for the "techo-archer". Didn't know what else to call a artillerist Artificer with catapult spell on hand. Magic stone. And a hand help cannon. 😆
This actually makes me proud of my "World's Best Archer" build that i have been wanting to play. Without going to it level by level: Arcane Archer Fighter (11)/Kensei Monk (9) "Arcane Archer Sucks!" Yes, it does. However, with the number of ASI/Feats that Fighter gets you can have Fighting Initiate and Martial Adept, to give you Two Superiority Dice and 4 Maneuvers to use it on, ON TOP of the Arcane Shots. Although I'm taking this for the Curved Shot at Lvl 7, which makes it that if you missed, well, no you didn't, you just attack another creature. Goading Attack + Enfeebling Arrow in the same shot means you literally shut down an enemy or Final Boss if they fail both saving throws. Three Attacks + an Extra shot with the Ki Point AND Sharpshooter allows you to scale in damage.
I love my kensei build. I dipped a level of war cleric, which essentially gives you the option of higher ac, adding a d4 of damage to every hit for a minute with divine favour, which stacks with kenseis shot or blessing yourself for that d4 to attack rolls. Plus you can take your wisdom modifier in extra bonus attacks essentially giving you 3 extra ki points.
Nice, resume of the Supclass 👍 -> I would add this 2nd Level Fighter for a Sweet Action Surge Nova Round Option at Level 8 (But thats just my Stil of Building and Optinal)
I think that if you are in a situation where you have advantage for all your attacks that turn you will use sharpshooter and if you miss spend these ki points on focus aim gaining an extra attack with advantage as bonus action too. If instead you have no advantage you will probably not use sharpshooter anyway and so you will gain more of gaining extra 1d4 damage per attack for free, because even if you miss a shot, without the sharpshooter boost to the damage isn't this much worth expend ki points for that shot. So when you use sharpshooter don't spend the bonus action for extra 1d4 damages, because is so much better turn a missed attack into a hit and gain an extra attack too, but if it's a turn when you won't use sharpshooter than the extra d4 of damage on your attacks is pretty good. I think the unique exception to this rule is if the opponent has a really high AC and you haven't advantage, in that case you could consider to not take the d4s extra but use anyway focus aim in case of miss to gain the extra shot with bonus action. Anyway really nice video, I hoped you will do it because I'm studying for a kensei character build these days!
Starting a campaign as an Earth Genasi Druid/Monk based on some of the advice you've given. Going Stars / Long Death. Excited to see how my build will compare to what you come up with when you get to Way of Long Death. 😊
I think the big weakness of this build is that it doesn't have darkvision (i believe, but could be wrong) I would probably go either custom lineage for darkvision, though your stats are slightly worse. I think it might be worth it. Or you can pick up 2 more levels in fighter to get Rune Knight, so you get action surge, a stone rune with 120 ft darkvision and a reaction charm effect. You also get extra damage if you ever have a free bonus action for Giant's Might as well as either the fire or cloud rune effects.
Maybe even use Gloomstalker Ranger, if you invest 3 Levels into another Class. Gets Archery, Hunters Mark, Darkvision and a bonus to Wisdom on Initiative and an Extra Attack in the first round of Combat.
@@jumpstick9446 no darkvision isn't really a big weakness. Goggles of Night are a cheap magic item in the uncommon rating of item frequency. Uncommons are usually easy to obtain. And it's a non-attunement item.
Have a Tabaxi monk lvl 2 in my current campaign where I already planned to go for a build that is extremely similar to this. I am however thinking about going 3 levels in fighter for archery fighting style, actionsurge & battlemaster archetype for the accuracy, pushing & tripping options. I rolled my stats & got a 19 dex so I still feel pretty good about picking sharpshooter at lvl 4... if my character can survive for that long that is :DDD
Cool idea, didn't know about that tasha's optional rule, I definitely agree that it makes Kensei more viable. My main concern for this build is same as for basically every Monk build, and that's Ki economy. At lvl 5 you have 5 ki points per short rest to spend. Assuming you are using one of the abovementioned offensive features every round to boost your dmg output that gives you 5 rounds of stuff to do (assuming you are using only using Ki to boost dmg). Assuming you only have 1-2 combats per short rest and your DM lets you rest quite a bit that's not an issue. But if you have 3 fights before you can short/long rest it's fairly reasonable to assume you won't be having any leftover Ki for 3rd fight. This doesn't even take into account that you basically need to forsake all other monk features, because they all use Ki, making gameplay fairly dull outside of combat and, heck, even in combat.
I've been playing this build and ngl you don't need the other features for most situations But you are right about the third combat per rest being a struggle. Though on third combat I spend my time by doing things like mark, disarm and then go melee and Inc my ac to be more of a tank / shove them As for your other concern I have invested into tool profs with my mountain dwarf so that's how I make ooc fun and I skill proffed into perception, insight etc
I have an l3 kensei monk with athletics, acrobatics, and animal handling; so I'm looking at using this to make a kickass horse archer. Situational use case, but could be fun on the road.
Good build. I agree, kensei and especially sharpen the blade are very under rated. Personally I would probably have prioritized battle master 3 over monk 18 and taken piercer at some point
Very cool build! But there is one big problem: fighting in caves or at night since Human have no darkvision So you eigher need goggles or... Take 3 level in gloomstalker. Not only you get darkvision but also an extra first round attack, higher initiative and potentially become invisible to other creatures much sooner (you can also grab archery here - not going fighter)
I've had a similar idea for a build but I prefer a 3 lvl Gloomstalker dip. Darkvision, archery fighting style, Hunter's Mark, Zephyr Strike, Goodberry, Favored Foe, extra attack +d8 damage on first round, Wisdom bump to initiative and auto advantage in darkness is so much better than what fighter gives you.
I'd do a 2 level dip into Ranger rather than 1 into Fighter, with Tasha's your looking at at least a D4 per round, or using Hunters Mark for 1D6 on EACH attack, up to 3 at higher levels.
I haven't done a Kensei archery build but I did do a melee Kensei with 2 levels of Fighter and by level 20 I could get his AC at the high 20s under the right circumstances.
So, correct me if I'm interpreting this rule wrong, but Kensei shot doesn't give a bonus action attack. It purely increases your action attacks by a d4. If you use a Ki point on your action attacks you can make an attack as a bonus action via "Ki Fueled Attack" making Deft strike a far more powerful option as it effectively is giving you a sharpshooter BA attack
@@woutvanostaden1299 just any combat that you don't think will be too difficult and which you are not likely to get a short rest after. When I run games usually the first combat of the day is fairly easy to warm the players up. The group probably wont rest after it. Spending resources during a fight like that is a mistake, save them for the real challenges.
I'd be really tempted to go for 3-4 levels in fighter for, action surge, Battlemaster manoeuvres and maybe the ASI. Past level 6 Kensei Monk scales so slowly. You could always pick up Precision strike for when you would miss. You could also Quick toss a Dart when you run out of Ki and want a bonus action sharpshooter attack. Menacing attack is also nice on an archer. Edit: If it was a lvl 20 build I would be tempted to go to monk 14 for Diamond soul and then take battlemaster fighter 3 and Gloomstalker ranger 3. Still have the ASI's to get Dex to 20 and Sharpshooter. Nova round would be 7 very accurate attacks.
You can't switch from a monk to something else and back apparently. You would have to start as a different class, then go monk, or "max" monk then go into the other class.
Ah, the sad part about this build, while viable it can be done so much better by almost any other class. Like Artificer for example can use a Hand Crossbow and a Shield, infuse it with repeating shot, which makes it magical and +1 so can overcome that non-magical immunity at level 2 and never need ammo. Then if they were battlesmith, they get the double attack to fire 3 times just like Monk for no Ki points and they can use their INT for attack and damage so they aren't MAD. Then they are an artificer so comes with things like Shield, Absorb Elements, Faerie Fire, Web, Haste ect. On top of that they also get a pet to tank for them and impose disadvantage and add more damage and can later summon another pet for even more damage while also adding up to 4d6 damage to a shot or weirdly enough healing someone when they shoot. If you're small you can also ride both pets. The Kensei doesn't really scale well, but on the plus side most campaigns are over by level 10 so that likely wont be a major issue.
This is missing the point pretty hard. He literally says here that you pay attention to what sort of foes you're dealing with and ask if they're armored or carrying shields so you can guess if their AC is higher or lower. It doesn't matter what your DM is rolling behind, it matters if you can guess a monster's AC, which you will probably be able to do anyway after enough members of the party attack and either hit or miss.
@D&D Daily also, if you don't mind my asking Why not take cbe? So that way you can save on ki normally and if you want to spend it you get 4 attacks while only decreasing your threshold by 2 on average (I'm talking about lv12/13 if you take that lv in fighter) And at that point ur martial arts die is a 1d8 for the hand crossbow
@@alexlea8398 Agreed. Ive played a lot of variant humans and its the "vanilla" choice in dnd. Id probly consider a dex or wis buffing race in its place
How about a melee build then? Radiant soul Aasimar with a 3 lvl rune knight dip or a bugbear with a echo knight dip, of course rest in kensei. Edit: add a whip and slasher to either if you'd like.
I played this build for ToA. It died unceremoniously to a beholder, but up to that point dominated combat and was the reason we survived up to said beholder.
When gunk wields Long Bow, it still works.
A massive applause to this man. Monk isn't crap it just gives players very little to work with, it's a minimalist class that rewards the player for skilful decision making.
Monk is more like "gives players very little opportunities to not be crap". Sad but true. At least you can always rely on Mercy Monk to be somewhat good.
Keep in mind this is only viable with the release of Tasha's and is a pretty specific niche. I agree with this entire vid. In my opinion an archery Kensei is probably the strongest monk overall. Monk is still fairly weak on its own, without going ranged. As we can see Kensei, in the same case like Mercy, is a strong subclass that compliments the monks abilities. a
I think our understanding of 5e optimization shouldn't be set in stone, as we see there is still a lot of tech to discover with Tasha's.
I wouldn't be surprised if there's a half-decent 4 Elements monk. I'm sure there's some merit to being able to short rest cast spells while being a martial otherwise.
@@dominicl5862 It depends on what level you're referring to. A Kensei is strong early, but really falls off post 10 with no way to improve it. While a Astral Form monk is strong early, decent mid game and an absolute monster higher level, especially when paired with action surge. The main issue is other classes can do what the Kensei does better with the Hand Crossbow, especially Artificer.
@@theangler1922 I feel like theres too little play experience with those claims, it sounds especially white room when we start talking about other classes doing what Konk does. Kensei Monk at 10+ can still bring about unique abilities other archers can't: Being able to stack a +3 to a weapon that doesn't already have that bonus, and on demand accuracy increases in the form of focused aim. Not to mention the sheer versatility of Konk because you can switch to a double handed d8/d10 versatile weapon and start adding +2 to your ac in melee. All while not being shoe horned into crossbow expert and the hand xbow; which shows the sad nature of 5e and how we are all obsessed with PAM and XBOW expert.
In regards to astral self I feel like it doesn't really do good damage because you can't power attack with it. You are using martial arts die for the entire game and get 1 Xtra die at 11 and FINALLY one more attack than normal at 17. If those abilities came in 1 progression earlier (extra die at 6 lvl and 5 attacks by 11) then ya it'd be valid. I truly believe the UA version was fine with their 4-6 attack progression but it's gimped now.
@@dominicl5862 A Artificer Monk can take the Hand Crossbow and a Shield, infuse the Hand Crossbow with repeating shot which makes it a magical +1 weapon at level 2 to overcome those early game monsters immune to non-magical damage. They also can wear Half Plate, infuse that with +1 AC and carry a shield. At level 3, they can take Battle Master. If you wanted to optimize you would take level 1 fighter, but I won't do that. Then at level 4 you take Sharpshooter. Level 5 you get the extra attack.
Now as a level 5 Battlesmith you have a magical weapon of +1 that you can fire 3 times for the +30 damage of Sharpshooter. Your attacks and damage are based off INT so you're not MAD, just Int, Con and 14 Dex. You have access to Faerie Fire, Web, Absorb Elements, Shield, and other extremely useful spells. Then you can be wearing Half Plate, infused for +1 AC, carrying a shield and be at 20 AC. On top of all that, you also have a pet that is also dealing damage, applying disadvantage, you can ride it, it absorbs hits or you can just ignore it. All of this just makes you flat out superior to the Kensei build and it scales much better because later you can summon another pet, you can boost that AC much higher up to 25ish, you get haste for another attack, you can fly with an infusion, you can add 4d6 to an attack or heal someone that amount. You can summon familiars and give them spells to use, you can just flat out pass saves, you can choose just to not die at 20 for 6 attacks. It never stops scaling.
Let's say I want to optimize it. Three levels in Battle Master and 17 levels in Artificer.
I'm now rocking Full Plate, I'll infuse that for +2, carrying a Shield I'll infuse that for +1 and to repel anyone 15 feet who does hit me. I'll make a Ring of Protection, a Cloak of Protection and the Repeating Shot on the Crossbow unless my DM gives me a +2-3 one with magical reloading. I'll also take Winged Boots so I can fly.
Without any assistance from the DM, I'm now at 25 AC all the time with access to shield. Way higher than a Kensei can achieve. I'll then cast haste on myself for an extra attack and 2 more AC.
I'll attack four times, 1 normally, 1 for extra attack, 1 for haste and 1 for bonus action. That's 4d6 + 24 + 40. Then I'll add 4d6 to the attack through arcane jolt. Then I'll use all 4 Maneuvers to give them 4d8 more damage. Doesn't matter which ones, each apply a nice effect like Goading Strike. Then I'll action surge. Take 2 more attacks with the shot, then one more for haste for another 3d6 + 18 + 30 damage. For an average damage of... 170 damage. Again achievable through zero magic items from the DM. All while rocking 25 AC with +5 for Shield. Extremely good resistance to all saves. Alternatively drop the Warrior to deal more sustained damage and less Nova damage and be quite literally immortal. A Kensei monk even with a legendary +3 weapon is only doing around the 120 nova range with action surge and so much less without it and has a capped AC of 24 with Bracers, Ring, Cloak and 20 Wisdom and Dex which doesn't leave much room for feats.
A few things: Martial Arts die is d6 at lvl 6, deft strike is a good way to use ki to get your bonus action attack, not expecting a magic weapon is odd unless you are running a low magic campaign or your dm makes all loot random. Interesting build though.
It frees up your attunement slots. There are a bunch of magic weapons that require attunement, but with your voracious ki consuming monk feature you can choose to instead get those items. A few examples: displacer cloak, blood fury tattoo, dragonhide belt, ring/cloak of protection, bracers of defense etc. It's a small buff but not entirely without merit.
I love the presentation here. Awesome
Thank you! Cheers!
Awesome as always 👏
☕️
I'm still working out the details for the "techo-archer".
Didn't know what else to call a artillerist Artificer with catapult spell on hand.
Magic stone. And a hand help cannon. 😆
This actually makes me proud of my "World's Best Archer" build that i have been wanting to play.
Without going to it level by level:
Arcane Archer Fighter (11)/Kensei Monk (9)
"Arcane Archer Sucks!" Yes, it does. However, with the number of ASI/Feats that Fighter gets you can have Fighting Initiate and Martial Adept, to give you Two Superiority Dice and 4 Maneuvers to use it on, ON TOP of the Arcane Shots.
Although I'm taking this for the Curved Shot at Lvl 7, which makes it that if you missed, well, no you didn't, you just attack another creature.
Goading Attack + Enfeebling Arrow in the same shot means you literally shut down an enemy or Final Boss if they fail both saving throws.
Three Attacks + an Extra shot with the Ki Point AND Sharpshooter allows you to scale in damage.
I love my kensei build. I dipped a level of war cleric, which essentially gives you the option of higher ac, adding a d4 of damage to every hit for a minute with divine favour, which stacks with kenseis shot or blessing yourself for that d4 to attack rolls. Plus you can take your wisdom modifier in extra bonus attacks essentially giving you 3 extra ki points.
or throw a bless spell on yourself - +1d4 to hit
Nice, resume of the Supclass 👍
-> I would add this 2nd Level Fighter for a Sweet Action Surge Nova Round Option at Level 8 (But thats just my Stil of Building and Optinal)
I think that if you are in a situation where you have advantage for all your attacks that turn you will use sharpshooter and if you miss spend these ki points on focus aim gaining an extra attack with advantage as bonus action too.
If instead you have no advantage you will probably not use sharpshooter anyway and so you will gain more of gaining extra 1d4 damage per attack for free, because even if you miss a shot, without the sharpshooter boost to the damage isn't this much worth expend ki points for that shot.
So when you use sharpshooter don't spend the bonus action for extra 1d4 damages, because is so much better turn a missed attack into a hit and gain an extra attack too, but if it's a turn when you won't use sharpshooter than the extra d4 of damage on your attacks is pretty good.
I think the unique exception to this rule is if the opponent has a really high AC and you haven't advantage, in that case you could consider to not take the d4s extra but use anyway focus aim in case of miss to gain the extra shot with bonus action.
Anyway really nice video, I hoped you will do it because I'm studying for a kensei character build these days!
Starting a campaign as an Earth Genasi Druid/Monk based on some of the advice you've given. Going Stars / Long Death. Excited to see how my build will compare to what you come up with when you get to Way of Long Death. 😊
It's my favorite monk build, the Sharpshooter Kensai. Adding bracers of archery makes this build incredible.
I had to slow your videos down to half speed! Then, I felt like I got it 👍🏽
I think the big weakness of this build is that it doesn't have darkvision (i believe, but could be wrong) I would probably go either custom lineage for darkvision, though your stats are slightly worse. I think it might be worth it. Or you can pick up 2 more levels in fighter to get Rune Knight, so you get action surge, a stone rune with 120 ft darkvision and a reaction charm effect. You also get extra damage if you ever have a free bonus action for Giant's Might as well as either the fire or cloud rune effects.
Maybe even use Gloomstalker Ranger, if you invest 3 Levels into another Class. Gets Archery, Hunters Mark, Darkvision and a bonus to Wisdom on Initiative and an Extra Attack in the first round of Combat.
@@jumpstick9446 no darkvision isn't really a big weakness. Goggles of Night are a cheap magic item in the uncommon rating of item frequency. Uncommons are usually easy to obtain. And it's a non-attunement item.
Very nice build! More love for the Monk 😊
Excited to see what synergy you can find in the sun sol monk. I have had trouble trying to make it better
Have a Tabaxi monk lvl 2 in my current campaign where I already planned to go for a build that is extremely similar to this. I am however thinking about going 3 levels in fighter for archery fighting style, actionsurge & battlemaster archetype for the accuracy, pushing & tripping options. I rolled my stats & got a 19 dex so I still feel pretty good about picking sharpshooter at lvl 4... if my character can survive for that long that is :DDD
Cool idea, didn't know about that tasha's optional rule, I definitely agree that it makes Kensei more viable. My main concern for this build is same as for basically every Monk build, and that's Ki economy. At lvl 5 you have 5 ki points per short rest to spend. Assuming you are using one of the abovementioned offensive features every round to boost your dmg output that gives you 5 rounds of stuff to do (assuming you are using only using Ki to boost dmg). Assuming you only have 1-2 combats per short rest and your DM lets you rest quite a bit that's not an issue. But if you have 3 fights before you can short/long rest it's fairly reasonable to assume you won't be having any leftover Ki for 3rd fight. This doesn't even take into account that you basically need to forsake all other monk features, because they all use Ki, making gameplay fairly dull outside of combat and, heck, even in combat.
I've been playing this build and ngl you don't need the other features for most situations
But you are right about the third combat per rest being a struggle.
Though on third combat I spend my time by doing things like mark, disarm and then go melee and Inc my ac to be more of a tank / shove them
As for your other concern I have invested into tool profs with my mountain dwarf so that's how I make ooc fun and I skill proffed into perception, insight etc
@@1fireupThe Very cool, kensei dwarf sounds awesome. Reminds me of samurai goblin i once played. Love taking the race out of sterotype
i love the kensei, i like the wandering swordsman concept, but also the ranged version works great
I have an l3 kensei monk with athletics, acrobatics, and animal handling; so I'm looking at using this to make a kickass horse archer. Situational use case, but could be fun on the road.
Good build. I agree, kensei and especially sharpen the blade are very under rated. Personally I would probably have prioritized battle master 3 over monk 18 and taken piercer at some point
I opened the video for the L5R Mantis Clan art.
I used this build Haregnon or Rabbit folk for mobility and hop with dagger and made her a Nomad-martial artist from the steppes.
Very cool build! But there is one big problem: fighting in caves or at night since Human have no darkvision
So you eigher need goggles or...
Take 3 level in gloomstalker. Not only you get darkvision but also an extra first round attack, higher initiative and potentially become invisible to other creatures much sooner (you can also grab archery here - not going fighter)
Sounds great, make sure you have some daggers or something in case you find yourself in tight quarters.
I've had a similar idea for a build but I prefer a 3 lvl Gloomstalker dip. Darkvision, archery fighting style, Hunter's Mark, Zephyr Strike, Goodberry, Favored Foe, extra attack +d8 damage on first round, Wisdom bump to initiative and auto advantage in darkness is so much better than what fighter gives you.
I'd do a 2 level dip into Ranger rather than 1 into Fighter, with Tasha's your looking at at least a D4 per round, or using Hunters Mark for 1D6 on EACH attack, up to 3 at higher levels.
You have great breakdowns
Can’t believe so many comments poking holes in your build, haters gonna hate I guess. I’d play this build and love it, keep up the good videos man
I haven't done a Kensei archery build but I did do a melee Kensei with 2 levels of Fighter and by level 20 I could get his AC at the high 20s under the right circumstances.
So, correct me if I'm interpreting this rule wrong, but Kensei shot doesn't give a bonus action attack. It purely increases your action attacks by a d4. If you use a Ki point on your action attacks you can make an attack as a bonus action via "Ki Fueled Attack" making Deft strike a far more powerful option as it effectively is giving you a sharpshooter BA attack
Correct, just shortcutting the wording.
And the deft strike damage scales with martial arts die unlike kensei shot.
@@woutvanostaden1299 I think Kensei shot becomes a nice thing to do when you are conserving Ki, like in easy battles or when a battle is wrapping up.
@@benry007 So against minions mobs?
@@woutvanostaden1299 just any combat that you don't think will be too difficult and which you are not likely to get a short rest after. When I run games usually the first combat of the day is fairly easy to warm the players up. The group probably wont rest after it. Spending resources during a fight like that is a mistake, save them for the real challenges.
Wood Elf is my pick for race in my Kensei build.
Adding elven accuracy into the mix is great!
I'd be really tempted to go for 3-4 levels in fighter for, action surge, Battlemaster manoeuvres and maybe the ASI. Past level 6 Kensei Monk scales so slowly. You could always pick up Precision strike for when you would miss. You could also Quick toss a Dart when you run out of Ki and want a bonus action sharpshooter attack. Menacing attack is also nice on an archer.
Edit: If it was a lvl 20 build I would be tempted to go to monk 14 for Diamond soul and then take battlemaster fighter 3 and Gloomstalker ranger 3. Still have the ASI's to get Dex to 20 and Sharpshooter. Nova round would be 7 very accurate attacks.
Love Sage! ❤️
You can't switch from a monk to something else and back apparently. You would have to start as a different class, then go monk, or "max" monk then go into the other class.
What about a 3 Lvl dip into artificer to get ammo less now, and the infiltration armor?
Fun Fact: A Musket is a two handed, not heavy weapon. That means you can use it as a monk weapon. But a longbow is heavy, for some reason.
How much of a penalty is it if you take the fighting initiate feat to get the archery fighting style instead of a level dip in fighter?
the Hawkeye half Bartin
Ah, the sad part about this build, while viable it can be done so much better by almost any other class. Like Artificer for example can use a Hand Crossbow and a Shield, infuse it with repeating shot, which makes it magical and +1 so can overcome that non-magical immunity at level 2 and never need ammo. Then if they were battlesmith, they get the double attack to fire 3 times just like Monk for no Ki points and they can use their INT for attack and damage so they aren't MAD. Then they are an artificer so comes with things like Shield, Absorb Elements, Faerie Fire, Web, Haste ect. On top of that they also get a pet to tank for them and impose disadvantage and add more damage and can later summon another pet for even more damage while also adding up to 4d6 damage to a shot or weirdly enough healing someone when they shoot. If you're small you can also ride both pets. The Kensei doesn't really scale well, but on the plus side most campaigns are over by level 10 so that likely wont be a major issue.
could do archery through fighting initiate feat. also what about using a crossbow instead of a bow?
I would have a hard time not taking a second level in fighter for Action Surge, but otherwise this is a cool build idea.
Lol, but how good are these power attack feats and spells/feats like shield when the DM rolls behind a screen? 😅 That's real DnD.
This is missing the point pretty hard. He literally says here that you pay attention to what sort of foes you're dealing with and ask if they're armored or carrying shields so you can guess if their AC is higher or lower. It doesn't matter what your DM is rolling behind, it matters if you can guess a monster's AC, which you will probably be able to do anyway after enough members of the party attack and either hit or miss.
17/3 m/ranger or 6/3/11 m/ranger/thief
❤️
Hey, why is it when you add more damage your window decreases?
Great question!
It’s because you miss more damage when you miss due to your decreased accuracy.
@D&D Daily also, if you don't mind my asking
Why not take cbe? So that way you can save on ki normally and if you want to spend it you get 4 attacks while only decreasing your threshold by 2 on average (I'm talking about lv12/13 if you take that lv in fighter)
And at that point ur martial arts die is a 1d8 for the hand crossbow
Btw, it's 'y'all' not 'ya'll'. ❤️
Immedietly lose interest with any variant human build. Roll my eyes so hard I get a concussion.
Delay sharpshooter until level 4 then. Optimised builds are going to use optimal races.
@@alexlea8398 Agreed. Ive played a lot of variant humans and its the "vanilla" choice in dnd. Id probly consider a dex or wis buffing race in its place
unless variant human and sharpshooter are not changed, then you will always see these two in most optimized ranged martial builds
How about a melee build then? Radiant soul Aasimar with a 3 lvl rune knight dip or a bugbear with a echo knight dip, of course rest in kensei.
Edit: add a whip and slasher to either if you'd like.
@@Chris3s but that’s just it…. It’s not optimized….-5 to hit right off the rip. Hitting AC 17 starts to get real iffy until you’re level 13…..
I played this build for ToA. It died unceremoniously to a beholder, but up to that point dominated combat and was the reason we survived up to said beholder.