Monk (Final Fantasy XI)

Monk is a basic job in Final Fantasy XI available to players and also a common job among beastmen and being the job type for all mandragora in the game. Monks excel in hand-to-hand combat, sometimes with their bare fists, but usually by equipping various knuckles and similar hand-to-hand weapons. Monks wear light armor and have very high hit point totals.

In terms of the races of Vana'diel, the Galka and the Elvaan stand out as the preeminent monks. High strength for Elvaan make them favorable, while Galka's naturally high HP can make for some ridiculous HP totals. Combined with high vitality, Galkas make for quite strong monks. The race least suited to being monks is probably the Tarutaru due to their low HP and weaker physical characteristics.

Becoming a Monk
Monk is a basic job. This means that players can choose to level a monk without having completed any quests. A player choosing to start as a monk will receive a White Belt, the first in a series of 4 belts that can be earned in Final Fantasy XI.

Monk Abilities
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Job Abilities

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Job Traits

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Strengths

 * Monks do very good damage versus average and low defense creatures and extremely high damage versus Skeletons.
 * High HP total

Weaknesses

 * Monks do very poor damage versus a number of common XP mobs, such as the crab family.
 * Monks do not have a weapon skill that can create distortion until late in the game, which is a player preference created stigma associated with the job.
 * Monks have relatively low defense

Warrior
Until breaching level 70, almost all monks found in Vana'diel will probably be using warrior as a subjob. There are many reasons why Warrior is so highly favored, including the fact that berserk will drastically increase damage over time and it stacks with monk's boost ability for extra weapon skill damage. Provoke makes them either good at being a "SATA" partner or an off-tank if things go wrong. Double Attack provides an extra increase in damage.

Ninja
After level 70, the ninja subjob takes off in popularity, if only because of the advent of "Bones Parties" and other "TP-Burn" style parties where rather than having a tank, hate can bounce between party members freely, all of whom have blink through utsusemi.

Thief
A few monk players prefer a moderate drop in damage over time to do more so-called "spike damage." Spike damage refers to damage dealt in an an instant, usually because of sneak attack and/or trick attack. To facilitate this, the player must use thief as a subjob.