Monk: Way of the Four Elements

[KalkiKrosah]

Was trying out this monk subclass and compared to the other two, its a clear loser of the three choices. The ki cost of all the abilities are absurd. It's like the quantity limitation of a warlock's spell slots but without the power bonus of always up casting them. The monk abilities are too costly and the ki allowance they give you is too low. This class's energy economy needs some rebalancing because the fun parts of the subclass are severely limited by the usage cost.

[SickFish]

But you can make an icecube. I mainly took it for the ability to regen half you level in Ki. But even then I'd probably be better off with one of the other two. It is the only one that gets AoE's. Throwing a group of enemies has saved my ass a few times.

[Orion Invictus]

There's a mod for this, but you're right.

[Wiegs]

But you get a 30 damage ranged shove button

[Sentient_Toaster]

Monks in 5E have always been a bit of a mess, between being quite MAD in a system that's relatively stingy with ASIs and the pressure to burn ki on Stunning Strike... and Four Elements monks are widely regarded as one of the worst subclasses for a not-great class.

Like, 1 ki to be able to force a save vs. a one-round stun, which can be used on multiple attacks in one turn -- this can burn through legendary saves quite quickly, say. Likewise, Flurry of Blows is a good option to burn through ki. Simple solutions like "give the Monk a lot more ki" don't change that just by itself; things need to be reworked.

The folks at RPGBot, for instance --

As a quick fix to Way of the Four Elements, I recommend three changes:

Each 3rd-level discipline except Elemental Attunement also gives the Monk a cantrip with the same element. So Fangs of the Fire Snake might grant Produce Flame, while Shape of the Flowing River might grant Shape Water. This gives the Monk inexpensive ways to use magic without immediately burning through their Ki.

The Monk learns an additional discipline at levels 3, 8, and 14. This gives them a total of 7 at 17th level rather than 4, allowing some more versatility and allowing the Monk to justify something that isn’t blue.

Use the Ki-Fueled Attack Optional Class Feature so that the Monk isn’t forced to take a turn off to stop being a monk so that they can be bad at spellcasting.

( https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/monk/subclasses/ )