Monk is the Final Fantasy 14 DPS job known for its quick cooldowns, long fisticuff combos, and burst windows of huge damage in the game’s wide range of PvE content. Since Patch 6.1, the PvP version of the class has received a significant overhaul, creating a version of the class that streamlines the Monk experience down to its basic elements, whilst also adding some unique tools that can be used to support your team in their objectives.

Related: Final Fantasy 14: Crystalline Conflict PvP Guide

Monk is a fairly easy job to play in PvP, with some useful versatility that shouldn’t go overlooked, but can be difficult to take to high level play. If you’re looking to master the martial arts and land a victory in Crystalline Conflict or Frontline using Monk, we’ve broken down the most important tools for you to use.

PvP Job Actions

The Monk’s job actions in PvP offer an accessible and solid damage dealing kit, with a lineup of actions that take the job’s best PvE abilities and a focus on consistent damage output with quick cool downs.

Using the PvP toolset, good Monks will be able to quickly run in and out of encounters and quickly progress to a combination of attacks that do massive damage with a powerful rotation finisher and a strong limit break ability.

Rotations

The core of Monk’s rotation in PvP is essentially a significantly simplified version of its PvE rotation - a seven-button combo where key buffs offered by using weaponskills in the right order will optimise the potency of attacks that come later in the combo.

The basic flow of Monk’s PvP ‘Phantom Rush Combo’ which will cycle through each weaponskill, progressing in this order:

• Bootshine > True Strike > Snap Punch > Dragon Kick > Twin Snakes > Demolish > Phantom Rush

Unlike Monk’s PvE Rotation, you don’t need to worry about the upkeep of the Leaden Fist buff or Chakra, but you do need to consider the value of its two PvP exclusive buffs, Fire Resonance and Wind Resonance.

Fire Resonance, granted by the ability Rising Phoenix, adds 50 percent extra damage to your next attack, which can be woven between any of the weaponskills in the basic combo. It makes sense, of course, to suggest using Rising Phoenix before Phantom Rush to give your most powerful attack some extra bite.

In addition, Wind Resonance is granted by Thunderclap, which as well as moving the player as an excellent gap closer or gap creator will also reduce your weaponskill recast time by 10 percent and grant a barrier that will protect you or another party member from the equivalent of 6,000 damage.

With a particularly long rotation, you can be considered slightly more vulnerable in PvP until you reach your combo climax with Phantom Rush - the 10,000 potency damage dealer that you’ll need to use at the right moments on weakened enemies for a chance at a kill.

• Outside of the rotation, Monk can also use the skill Earth’s Reply as an effective AoE damage and heal at the same time. This is to be employed in dangerous situations, usually in combination with Thunderclap for a quick exit. This can be activated by first engaging Riddle of Earth which will then transform into Earth’s Reply.
• In addition, the skills Six-Sided Star and Enlightenment can both be employed between the weapon skills of the primary combo in specific situations.
  • Enlightenment deals damage in a straight line, so this is good when a group of enemies is approaching the objective in proximity to each other to weaken all of them at once. When paired with Phoenix Rush, this can be particularly effective, as it’s the strongest oGCD ability for PvP Monk. It also provides a significant buff of its own.
  • Six-Sided Star is a standard single target attack with an additional stun effect that can be useful to weave into your combo before dishing out your most punishing attacks.

With all the above information in mind, a more complete rotation might involve taking the combo all the way to the step before Phantom Rush, using Thunderclap to take advantage of the shield, Six-Sided Star to stun the enemy, Rising Phoenix for the damage buff, Phantom Rush for a (buffed) 15,000 potency, and then Rising Phoenix again and Enlightenment for a buffed 12,000 potency:

• Bootshine > True Strike > Snap Punch > Dragon Kick > Twin Snakes > Demolish > Thunderclap > Six-Sided Star > Rising Phoenix > Phantom Rush > Rising Phoenix > Enlightenment

From this point, you can continue stringing additional attacks from Enlightenment with uses of Thunderclap if the enemy is somehow not already dead. If you perform the above rotation with the right timing, you’re doing a lot of damage in a short amount of time.

Limit Break

In addition to managing their rotation, Monks must also be aware of when to apply their Limit Break skill, Meteodrive, a powerful 12,000 potency attack which also breaks the Guard effect and renders the target unable to move briefly.

Paired with Enlightenment for its knockback and buff, Meteodrive is useful for launching yourself right into a weakened player that risks your team’s objective progress due to its high potency and movement disabling debuff, which will prevent them from interfering with your progress (such as moving the Crystal forwards in Crystalline Conflict) and allowing your teammates to assist with or finish the kill.

Due to the stun effect, in Crystalline Conflict, it can also be worth timing your limit break to hit someone before the ‘turbulence’ effect occurs so that they get knocked into the air.

Common Actions

In addition to their job-specific skillset, Monk has access to the range of Common Actions provided to all classes in PvP modes. These can be particularly useful for getting your character back on their feet after a near-death encounter.

General Strategy

As a melee DPS class, Monks need to ensure they’re constantly keeping an eye on their health and using their mobility skills (see: Thunderclap) to avoid immediate danger. In most PvP modes, Monk will have the opportunity to provide damage support for those playing as Tanks or more powerful DPS classes, whilst also being able to protect them using the barrier provided by Thunderclap and the stun from Six-Sided Star.

You’ll have three charges of Thunderclap as standard, and the third and sixth skills in your combo Snap Punch and Demolish will each extend the cooldown decreasing effect of Wind Resonance by an additional five seconds. Use Thunderclap liberally, but ensure you always have one reserved to escape from dangerous situations.

In Crystalline Conflict and Frontline, you’ll want to stick close to your team and then occasionally use thunderclap to target stragglers on the Enemy team. You can also use Six-Sided Star often to stun powerful players. To eliminate other players (which is certainly not always the main goal) you’ll need to cycle through your main damage-dealing rotation and activate keep the buffs provided by Enlightenment and Rising Phoenix active together before using Phantom Rush (and Meteodrive, if it's available).

With Monk, you’ll find it easy to take out DPS classes with 50 percent or lower health using just the last few moves of your combo, but be aware than in the leadup to the final stages of your rotation, you’re not doing huge amounts of damage, so only target enemies who are already weakened or ensure you have backup in the form of your teammates.

After Thunderclapping out of danger, you can use a Standard-Issue Elixir or Recuperate to restore yourself (or Purify to remove a status), wait for Thunderclap to charge again and use it on a teammate that is about to engage enemies (moving you towards them and giving them a barrier) or towards an enemy who is separated from the group (giving you the barrier) to get you quickly back into the fight.

As a last-ditch defensive effort, you can also couple Earth’s Reply with Guard, which might buy you some time to group up with other teammates who can help you.

As with most DPS classes in PvP, the priority is to be agile and use your skills with no interruptions to keep consistent damage output. With Six-Sided Star, Enlightenment, Thunderclap, and Meteodrive, Monk also offers ample opportunities to creatively disrupt the enemy team and support your own team’s progress towards the objective.

Next: Final Fantasy 14: Complete Guide