Monk: Open Hand vs Four Element.

[Ashuran]

Hello everyone. Is the open hand style just so much powerful compared to the four element. I tried the four element style at lvl 6 and while the moves and spells looks so cool it just seems lackluster in terms of damage and Ki efficiency.

I just reverted back to open hand and I just melt enemies with lots of ki to spare. Does four element gets much better at lvl 9 because I saw it is when they get their spells buffed up by wisdom. At lvl 6 open hand seems to have all their kits since body manifestation basically adds wisdom modifier to their damage while four element will get their counterpart for this at lvl 9.

[F.U.D.F.]

Open hand is the monk. Anything else is a religious hypocrite who can make fireballs pew pew.

[★REM★]

I play Open Hands, i'm enjoying it. But i believe majority of monks out there are playing shadow monks

[Runic Tunic]

Open Hand is pretty much the strongest subclasss for Monk, followed by Shadow. Even in the PnP version of DnD 5e, Four Elements subclass is considered one of the weakest and despite Larian trying to improve they still kinda fall short.

If you want more damage, go Open Hand. If you want a good amount of utility or are multiclassing, Open Hand or Shadow are probably the best option. That being said, multiclassing into tempest cleric might make Four Elements more fun.

[Orion Invictus]

Originally posted by costco mf bimbo:

Open hand is the monk. Anything else is a religious hypocrite who can make fireballs pew pew.

Can Open Hand create shockwaves and cool ♥♥♥♥ like that? Because if not, consider me a "religious hypocrite".

[>//The_FALCON]

shadowmonk + thief

literally untouchable. teleport in, punch them in the ♥♥♥♥, teleport out, repeat

[Wiegs]

I switched to 4 elements for some versatility and because it looks cool, but open hand is more efficient at punching stuff really hard in the face

[ChaosKhan]

Originally posted by Ashuran:

Hello everyone. Is the open hand style just so much powerful compared to the four element. I tried the four element style at lvl 6 and while the moves and spells looks so cool it just seems lackluster in terms of damage and Ki efficiency.

I just reverted back to open hand and I just melt enemies with lots of ki to spare. Does four element gets much better at lvl 9 because I saw it is when they get their spells buffed up by wisdom. At lvl 6 open hand seems to have all their kits since body manifestation basically adds wisdom modifier to their damage while four element will get their counterpart for this at lvl 9.

Four Elements is nothing more than a Kung-Fu Warlock. Since warrior classes reign supreme in the current BG3 balancing, Open Hand is stronger and more reliable, but it shouldn't matter that much. Play what you like.

[hannibal_pjv]

Opend hand= damage
Shadow = movement/sneak
Elements = utility

So it depends…

[Ashuran]

Originally posted by Wiegs:

I switched to 4 elements for some versatility and because it looks cool, but open hand is more efficient at punching stuff really hard in the face

Yes the spells are very cool looking. I might try again at lvl 9 when they get the improved elemental casting. Maybe this will bump the spec up to be worth it but for now I switched back open hand. I think they should just make all monk spells just 1 ki cost. The ki cost just does not make too much sense unless they do so much more damage compared to flurry of blows. Right now they do even less damage than my flurry of blows at twice the ki cost. haha

[Quillithe]

Getting some AOE attacks seems really nice.

It's probably a lot better if you don't have an actual offensive caster. If you are taking Gale or Wyll it's a bit worse since they do what you got from the class but better.