Always be at the mob's flank. The end.
Ok, but seriously. Pugilist is a melee DPS class. You punch things. It's fun. But you may be wondering, well how do I effectively punch things?
Have no fear, Laude is here to help! It's actually a pretty simple 1-2-3 combo system for the most part! You get different abilities to weave in once you get a higher level, but every ability you get is useful. ^_^
I am the first person to admit I am by no means an expert at writing guides or formatting them to look pretty. I am also not claiming to be 100% correct in anything mentioned below about Pugilist and Monk, so if you see something is wrong or should be changed, say something! I am a human being, and I derp just like anyone else. ![Smiley :)](http://dimensionaldeath.com/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
This guide will go over the Pugilist class as well as the advanced job, Monk. They are pretty much one and the same as far as how they work, but Monk gets more abilities as you unlock them through your job quests.
Here's a list of all of the abilities for Pugilist and Monk
http://xivdb.com/?search/!filters/IlNLSUxMUzpBU0FfTU9OSzpBQ0FfSU5HQU1FXzEiThat's a lot! Whew!
1. StancesHere's a basic rundown of the stances so far from my experience, and the abilities that give the stances:
Raptor
-Bootshine, Arm of the Destroyer, Dragon Kick
Coeurl
-True Strike, Twin Snakes, One Ilm Punch
Opo-opo (Gives 100% Crit Chance to Bootshine if attacking mob from behind, a 1 second silence effect to Arm of the Destroyer, and reduces the target's blunt resistance and INT by 10% for Dragon Kick)
-Snap Punch, Demolish, Rockbreaker
As far as anyone knows yet, only Opo-opo really does anything special - it gives Bootshine a 100% critical chance if you attack the mob from behind, and gives Arm of the Destroy a 1 second silence effect. Otherwise, the forms are just the "buffs" that let you use another ability. I'll update this when further information is found out.
And there are of course also other "stances" monk use as a buff, but you can only have one up at a time, and these are your "Fist' forms. You can stance dance without consequence, so feel free to switch it up mid-battle for any given situation.
![Cheesy :D](http://dimensionaldeath.com/Smileys/default/cheesy.gif)
Fists of Earth(Level 22): Decreases all damage taken by 10%. Useful for soloing and preparing for unavoidable big damage on bosses in dungeons/raids.
Fists of Wind(Level 34): Increases your run speed. Not as much as sprint, but it's useful for when you need to increase your movement speed without blowing your TP. I can see this being used to assist in running out of massive boss AoE or something similar in a pinch.
Fists of Fire(Level 40 job quest completed): You don't get this until level 40, but once you do, this is your DPS stance. It increases your damage by 5%, so most of the time you're going to be using this one.
2. Rotation for Soloing While Leveling UpOk, so, when you're flying solo, you're going to just be attacking the mob face to face. No biggy, nothing special.
Before level 18, you just want to spam Bootshine > True Strike > Snap Punch > Repeat. That's all you can really do. So start whacking away!
At level 18, though, you get Twin Snakes, which gives a buff that increases your damage by by 10%.
And once you complete your level 15 and 30 class quest, you get Touch of Death and Demolish, respectively. These are your Damage Over Time abilities, otherwise known as DoTs. Instead of doing a large amount of direct damage, these abilities give the mob a debuff that "ticks" away their health slowly overtime, for a certain amount of time. Touch of Death lasts 20 seconds, and Demolish lasts 10 seconds.
Once you have those, your rotation is as follows:
Touch of Death > Bootshine > Twin Snakes > Demolish
Bootshine > True Strike > Snap Punch
Reapply Touch of Death as necessary. It doesn't interrupt your combo buffs, so use it whenever.
You always want to have the 10% damage buff from Twin Snakes up, as more damage is always a good thing. ^_^
Now, you may have noticed at level 10, you get an ability called Haymaker. You can only use this ability if you EVADE/DODGE an attack. It has no stance attached to it at all, so you can use it whenever it's up. Just make sure to use it quick, because when you dodge/evade, you basically get a "buff" that allows you to use it within a certain amount of time. It adds the added effect of "Slow" to the enemy.
It's best to use Haymaker after you've done Twin Snakes because of the 10% damage increase. Using Haymaker will NOT interrupt your comboing/stance buffs, so there's no point in wasting it if you've dodged an attack!
3. Rotation for Partying while Leveling UpNow, when you're in a party, it's a bit different. Positioning is SUPER important in party play! NEVER, EVER stand in front of a mob when you're in a party with a proper tank! The tank is the one who is face to face with the mob. It's your job to attack the mob from the flank and rear to deal maximum damage!
Start off on the flank. If you don't know what that means, basically on the side of the mob, doesn't matter which side.
Touch of Death >Bootshine > Twin Snakes > Demolish
Move to the Rear of the Mob
Bootshine > True Strike
Move to the mob's Flank
Snap Punch
Reapply Touch of Death as necessary. It doesn't interrupt your combo stances, so feel free to use it whenever it's about to wear off. Also follow up Bootshine with Twin Snakes whenever your Twin Snakes damage buff is about to wear off.
That's your basic single-target rotation in a nutshell. Learn it, live it, love it. Don't be a lazy bum and just attack from wherever you feel like it - doing the best you can is important to help the party along in the dungeon. After all, it's YOUR job to make sure the mob dies, so you should be doing the maxiumum amount of damage you can!
AoE Rotation
Honestly, before you get Monk unlocked and get Rockbreaker, in my honest opinion, Arm of the Destroyer, while it may look cool, is not very useful at all for damage alone. You'll want to use it in Opo-opo form for the silence effect when necessary. It costs 130 TP, so it's a huge drain. It DOES start off combos, though. But I honestly think it's kind of a waste of TP for so little damage. You're better off just focusing on a single target until you get Rockbreaker when you unlock Monk, as far as AoE damage goes.
If you REALLY want to use it, it's like this:
Start at the flank of whichever mob you're focusing on in the pack
Touch of Death > Arm of the Destroyer > Twin Snakes > Demolish
Move to the Rear of the mob
Bootshine > True Strike
Move to the mob's Flank
Snap Punch
Reapply Touch of Death as necessary. It doesn't interrupt your combo stances, so feel free to use it whenever it's about to wear off.
But when you unlock Monk, it goes like this:
Pick focus target, start at the mob's Flank
Touch of Death > Bootshine > Twin Snakes > Rockbreaker
Move to the focus mob's Flank
Bootshine > True Strike > Rockbreaker
Reapply Touch of Death as necessary.
Rockbreaker is pretty damn powerful. It has a potency of 130, compared to Arm of the Destroyer's 50. AND it costs less TP! Probably because it's at the end of a combo, but still. It's worth the TP when you're fighting trash packs. Just make sure the tank has aggro on all the mobs first, else you might find yourself eating dirt.
Howling Fist is independent and doesn't rely on a stance. You will want to weave it in for AoE damage whenever it's up. It's AoE in a straight line in front of you for 10 yards.Level 50 boss rotation:Now you're level 50, and you're with the big boys! The single target rotation is mainly the same, but now you have Dragon Kick! (assuming you've done your level 50 job quest of course, which you should.)
Dragon Kick has a potency of 100, 150 when at the enemy's flank, and lower's the enemy's blunt resistance as well as lowers their INT by 10%. You literally kick the smarts right out of 'em. XD
Single Target:
You can stand wherever for the opening here
Touch of Death > Bootshine
Flank the mob and use Twin Strikes > Demolish > Dragon Kick
Get behind the mob and use True Strike
Flank the mob and use Snap Punch
Get behind the mob and use Bootshine
By now your Twin Snakes buff is wearing off, so flank and use it again, then follow up with Snap Punch.
Weave in Touch of Death whenever it's about to wear off, use Twin Snakes after Bootshine/Dragon Kick whenever your damage buff is about to wear off, and finish off with Demolish whenever that is about to wear off from the mob as well. From here it becomes less of a simple rotation to more of a "when is my shit wearing off, ok now I use this" but ALWAYS make sure you're in the correct position. Sometimes it can't be helped if the mob is spinning in place, as some bosses like to randomly target another party member and do an ability. But try your best to keep up your positioning and don't let your Greased Lightning stacks drop.
One Ilm Punch is only for when you want to remove a beneficial buff from your target! Don't use it otherwise.4. CooldownsFeatherfoot increases your evasion. Useful for soloing, and any "OH SHIT THE TANK DIED AND NOW I'M TANKING" moments in party play. It's super useful evading attacks and spamming Haymaker.
![Tongue :P](http://dimensionaldeath.com/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
Second Wind is a self-heal. Use when you feel it's necessary and can save your CNJ/WHM/SCH some MP. It's a 2 minute cooldown, so use it sparingly.
Internal Release increases your Critical Chance by 20%. 1 minute cooldown. Use it whenever it's up, because Critical hits are delicious.
Steel Peak is a stun you can use every 60 seconds. Once you hit level 44 and get the passive Mythril Peak, it becomes a 40 second cooldown. This is your stun ability - use it to interrupt any big damage coming your way.
Perfect Balance: 3 minute cooldown. You can use any attack ability regardless of your form! I haven't personally tried this out yet, but I imagine you'll want to use it when you have maxed greased lightning stacks, and your Twin Snakes damage buff.
Single target: Flank the mob and spam Snap Punch for 10 seconds.
AoE: Rockbreaker spam for 10 seconds. Glorious, glorious Rockbreaker spam!
5. StatsStrength. ALL THE STRENGTH! It increases melee physical damage, so this is your main stat as a PGL/MNK. ^_^
Dexterity is for Archer's. Ignore it.
Vitality increases your Maximum HP. I wouldn't worry about it too much, as you get plenty of Vitality from gear.
Intelligence increases magic damage potency. Ignore it, you're melee.
Mind increases healing magic potency. Not sure if it affects Second Wind, but I would honestly ignore it. Mainly for healers.
Piety increases your maximum MP. Ignore it, PGL/MNK uses TP onry!
6. ConclusionI am definitely NOT the best at writing guides, but basically monks are fast attackers, not heavy damage dealers. We deal out damage quickly and effectively, so while our numbers aren't huge compared to Dragoon, we dish it out faster.
![Smiley :)](http://dimensionaldeath.com/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
If you don't want to read my guide here (I don't blame you honestly, I'm not the best at guides or describing things) feel free to watch this Monk vs Dragoon video I found on Youtube. It basically shows you the abilities and how to use them effectively.