Prior to the launch of Stormblood, after we had more or less complete information on all the various changes and additions to FFXIV‘s jobs, I was of two minds on Monk. On the one hand, I wasn’t a huge fan of the overall changes, especially how many of Monk’s abilities were losing Potency to accommodate the new Chakra system. On the other hand, though, I’d been in love with the new Artifact Armor since seeing it on Alahra in the Stormblood Benchmark program, and because of that, I knew it was going to be a priority once the basics like Ninja and the new jobs were out of the way.

As it turns out, though, I got really distracted by other jobs. Before I finally settled in to work on Monk for the long haul, I had gotten Paladin, Scholar, Dark Knight, and Bard to level 70. Having finally gotten Monk to 70, I’m in some ways a bit saddened by that, as I’m having quite a bit of fun on it, and I’ve barely played any of those other jobs except for Bard. I had assumed Samurai would end up being Alahra’s Striking class, but it never really clicked for me at the level cap, and now that I have Monk there, too, it’s really highlighted everything I don’t enjoy about the other Striking job.

Of course, my enthusiasm is probably due in part to the recent changes to Monk in 4.2, which makes Monk so much less frustrating to play in dungeons and in boss fights with long phase shifts and things of that sort. I think the change to Perfect Balance in particular was long overdue, and I think that would have made me enjoy the job much more all by itself. The other changes are just icing on the cake at that point! Because of all the fun I’ve had, I think I’ll be promoting Monk to Alahra’s secondary DPS class again, much as it was at the end of Heavensward. In terms of gameplay, I think it’s possible I might even like it more than Ninja, but my loyalty to her “true” job will probably always mean that it will be her main.

But I’ve rambled on about that long enough! Here’s what I did with the new Monk AF!

Glamour Components (Required Level: MNK 70)
Weapon: Antiquated Sudarshana Chakras
Head: Elegant Rimless Glasses (Coral Pink)
Body: Antiquated Pacifist’s Vest
Hands: (none)
Legs: Coeurl Beach Tanga
Feet: Saurian Boots of Striking (Jet Black)

While the full Pacifist’s set looks pretty good, most of it didn’t particularly suit Alahra’s style outside of the Vest (which, admittedly, is the case for most full sets). Figuring everything else out was mostly straightforward. I’ve been back on a kick for the Elegant Rimless Glasses, so those were pretty much an auto-include here, dyed Coral Pink to approximate the chestwrap and sash on the Vest. Since I decided to stick with the Artifact weapon instead of swapping to some version of the Sphairai, I also didn’t have to figure anything out for the Hands slot, since the Chakras are one of those weapons that co-opt it.

The two trickier parts were the choices for the Legs and Feet slots. Initially, I wanted to use the Coeurl Beach Pareo, which would sort of round out the coeurlskin half skirt on the Vest. Sadly, though, the print on the Pareo is of a different shade than that on the Vest, and I couldn’t find a solid dye to approximate it. So, instead of going with the Pareo, I used the Tanga, which doesn’t really match either, but at a glance it usually tends to make for a better match since it’s a lot less prominent. I also considered using something like the Skallic Bottoms of Striking or the Lady’s Knickers (White), but overall I felt they didn’t quite mesh with everything else.

When I finally got around to the boots, I had a lot of trouble. Since I was going with the Tanga, I knew I needed tall boots, but I couldn’t really find any that really fit the look. The Expeditioner’s Thighboots seemed off due to their shape, and the Tigerskin Thighboots of Striking couldn’t be dyed a good color to go with everything else (they’re almost perfect in their default color, but the red on them is off just enough to be bothersome). I settled on the Saurian boots because the gold plates at the knee at least tied in with the gold on the bracers for the Chakras, and the white thread on the back worked well with the hints of white on the Vest. They aren’t really ideal, though, and hopefully at some point we’ll get a new pair of boots that prove to be a better fit.

Overall, I’m enough of a fan of the Pacifist’s Vest that I’ll probably be taking Monk through whatever Eureka grind we get in 4.25 to acquire the dyeable version (assuming, of course, that’s where the dyeable AF will come from) sometime after I do the same for Ninja. While it’s always tough to know how things will work with dye in advance, I have a feeling the Vest is going to look great in Pure White. Hopefully we don’t have to wait too much longer for Eureka!