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With the power of qi, they can both heal and inflict wounds. Their bare hands are stronger than weapons.
In-Game Description, Etrian Odyssey III
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Monk Class. Close combat Medics

The Monk is the primary healing class of Etrian Odyssey III. Their healing depends on a high TEC stat. Their otherwise balanced stat spread allows them to engage sufficiently in other roles. They wear Medium Armor and can use Clubs, but are most proficient in Unarmed combat once they've specialized in Fist Mastery.

Monks resemble Medics from previous games with focused healing skills that are more streamlined, but also take after War Magus with some potent offensive skills.

Profile[]

There are two different skill trees for Monks — you can build them like a healer much like the Medics of the previous games, or you can specialize them towards their Fist skills. They have well-rounded stats to let them function on the frontline, and have plenty of TP to maintain their healing duties.

  • Strengths: Unparalleled healing strength with their Class Skill. Going bare-handed saves expenditures on weaponry.
  • Weaknesses: Middle-of-the-road non-healing stats hampers their physical damage output and they might not heal on time.

Stat Progression[]

Does not include any stat bonuses from skills, equipment, Books, or Retirement.

Main article: Monk/Stats
Level HP TP STR TEC VIT AGI LUC
1 34 32 8 10 6 7 6
35 170 171 30 38 25 30 20
70 310 315 52 67 45 54 34
99 397 404 66 84 57 69 42

Skill Tree[]

Skill Description Type Prerequisite Extra
Form Qi A monk skill that adds HP recovery to other healing skills. Class None
Waking Chakra Increases your rate of recovery from status ailments. Passive None
Fist Mastery Prerequisite for martial arts skills that raises bare-hand damage dealt. Mastery None
Kikouken Fist: A strike attack sending your qi against one enemy. May paralyze. Fist Fist Mastery Lv1
Breakfire Fist Fist: A strike and fire attack that hits enemies at random. Fist Fist Mastery Lv3
Waking Chakra Lv3
Lv3, 6, 10 increase max hits.
Counter Fist: Counter an enemy's physical attack with a strike attack. Counter Fist Mastery Lv8 Does not trigger if attack is dodged or blocked.
Retaliate Fist: Counter an enemy's elemental attack with a strike attack.
Darkness Fist Fist: Sacrifice HP to strike all enemies. May inflict curse. Fist Fist Mastery Lv10
Breakfire Fist Lv3
Ascetic Reward Once per battle, all allies will recover HP upon your death. Passive None
Blood Return Regain TP if any ally is defeated. Passive None
Ascetic Deeds Recover HP each time you use a skill in battle. Passive Ascetic Reward Lv3
Blood Return Lv3
Healing Healing qi will recover one ally's HP. Healing None
Refresh Heal status effects on allies. Range increases with skill level. Healing Healing Lv2 Lv4 affects row. Lv7 affects whole party.
Unbind Heals bound allies. Range increases with skill level.
Resurrect Revive one ally with healing qi. Healing Unbind Lv2
Refresh Lv2
Line Heal Recover one row of allies' HP using healing qi. Healing Healing Lv4
Party Heal Healing qi will recover all allies' HP. Healing Line Heal Lv5
Full Heal Healing qi will recover all HP for one ally. Healing Healing Lv5 Max Lv5
Fire Walk Decreases damage from trap floors for a certain number of steps. Search None Max Lv5

Skill Breakdown[]

The healing skill tree of the Monk encompasses the standard healing spells, between single-target to full-party heals, all of which can be augmented by their class skill, Form Qi. There's also Full Heal which is generally too expensive compared to a Party Heal that's backed by max level Form Qi. Monks also have the ability to cure ailments and binds through Refresh and Unbind; generally the best breakpoints for investment are at level 4 for line range and level 7 for full party cure.

Despite your best efforts, enemy attacks can prove too much, and someone collapses in defeat. It's game over if this happens to the whole party, so you need to correct this as soon as possible. Nectar items are used for this, or you can have a Monk Resurrect the fatality, to full revival when mastered. The Monk also has a few passives that trigger when they or their allies die: Blood Return supplies TP for a subsequent Resurrect (balanced for net gain at high level), and Ascetic Reward heals the rest of the party by a small amount if the Monk dies. If you take care to prevent your party members from ever dying, none of these skills have any use, but there is no penalty for being overkilled, so you can mitigate highly damaging single-target enemy attacks by reviving after each one. They cap off with Ascetic Deeds, which heals the Monk whenever they use a skill, saving time they don't have to spend healing themselves.

Their Fist skills, scaling off their Fist Mastery, let them do better damage without any weapons equipped. While the barehanded damage is pretty poor at the start, its true potential blossoms in the late game, where barehanded Monks strike about as hard as other weapons. The skill to go for is Breakfire Fist, a multi-hit Bash/Fire skill that is best for boss fights. Darkness Fist has a steep HP cost despite being able to hit all enemies, and the Counter skills are situational.

Worth noting is how the game processes Fist Mastery; normally you won't be able to use your Fist skills if you wield a weapon. However, if your Monk wields a weapon in their topmost equipment slots but leaves the second equipment slot empty, the game permits you to use the Fist skills while enjoying the benefit of the weapon's ATK boost and its Forges where applicable. You run the risk of some fragility as you give up an equipment slot in the process, though, and this choice is generally made in the early- to midgame.

Subclassing[]

Subclass for Monk[]

Not many other classes can heal, so a dedicated healing Monk should look for supportive and defensive skills from subclasses. A couple specific choices improve their fists.

  • Prince/ss: One of the most popular choices for the healing Monk. No only do you get staple buffs like Attack Order and Defend Order, you can protect the Monk from ailments with Prevent Order. Protect Order synergizes wonderfully with Form Qi, giving you incredible healing-over-time for a lower cost than Line Heal.
  • Gladiator: For the offensive Monk. Berserker Vow and Charge are physical DPS staples, and if you're using the "barehanded" glitch that allows a Monk to wield a weapon while opening up physical skills, you have a lot of coverage between the Monk's own skills and the Crushing Blow, Arm Breaker and Freezing Blow skills. White Flame also keeps ailments off the Monk so they can cure the rest of the party.
  • Ninja: Evasion and attention diversions keep a Monk very safe and helps protect the party, reducing the need for healing. Kagerou wastes an enemy's attack and gets refunded by Blood Return. Though much more costly, Bunshin adds an extra Ascetic Reward and Nikudan on top of that. Your Monk isn't actually dying when his/her copy is killed; the enemy only took down a fake. With high investment in Blood Return, Monks can do this endlessly.
  • Zodiac: For the elemental offensive Monk. Focus on Singularity and Etheric Charge to get as much bonus damage on striking weaknesses - Breakfire Fist gets a lot of bonus damage this way. You can also use the Monk's high TEC to put out other elemental attacks from the Zodiac's own skill tree.
  • Hoplite: Gain a shield to increase the Monk's durability. For turns where you don't need to heal, you can opt to defend the party with any of the Shield skills.
  • Shogun: Dip a point into Katana Mastery to get access to very powerful weapons to use with the "barehanded" glitch. If you've built for the Monk's Counter skills, invest in Daifuhensha to get an attack/defense/draw rate boost to increase your chances of triggering a counter. Otherwise, Endure is still a good skill to save your healer from death, Unified Spirit prevents head binds from landing, and you can still support with Fore Honor or Rear Dignity.

Monk as Subclass[]

Taking a Monk subclass generally is for when you want an off-healer to keep the party in shape, since you will lose out on Form Qi that augments most of your healing. Refresh, Unbind and Resurrect are good things to have when you're short on healing and curing supplies. Alternatively, everyone with Blood Return recovers TP when an ally dies.

  • Prince/ss: The inverse to Monk/Prince, the Prince/Monk trades the healing potency for better TP sustainability and access to heavy armor. While it's nice to prevent ailments with Prevent Order, always have a level 4 or 7 Refresh and Unbind when things get dicey.
  • Gladiator: Compared to a Monk/Gladiator, the Gladiator/Monk has a class skill that innately improves their physical damage and a better STR stat. This lets you use the Fist skills to greater effect. The higher HP and VIT stats mean that you can get away with an empty equipment slot for the "barehanded" glitch.
  • Ninja: The best evasion tanker, Blood Return allows a Ninja to spam Bunshin for negligible cost, absorbing anything evasion can't handle, and both Ascetic Reward and Deeds gives them innate healing to recoup the HP lost for Bunshin. The Ninja's above-average TEC makes them okay off-healers, their own Class Skill makes healing incredibly cheap, and their high AGI lets them come to their allies' aid before an enemy can kill them.
  • Wildling: Their high TEC makes them competent healers, allowing them to keep the party and their animal companions fighting-fit. This comes at a steep skill point cost that competes with their innate skill set, except for Refresh that lets them forcibly awaken the Sleeping Lions to get them to attack on command.
  • Yggdroid: No weapons? No problem! The Yggdroid's incredible Strength lets them unleash better Breakfire Fists than regular Monks can, and Ascetic Deeds offsets Overheat's HP drain. You can even summon a Red Bot to chase the fists. They don't have very good TEC so avoid investing in any of the healing spells.

Gallery[]


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