MONK: dumpster bosses with bell

My first character was a ranger, and I did pretty well early. 10 deaths at start of Act 2, which felt good to me considering I was learning an entirely new game structure and combat system.

My second character was a Monk, and while I did okay, I started to struggle much more on bosses. I reached out for help in the Zizaran community, and a kind Monk player explaind some tips and *wow* it changed my game.

I was using the bell all wrong.

The key to using the bell is to hit *both* the bell and the boss. Then the boss is being hit by your damage, *and* by the reflection of your damage against the bell. Right off the bat this is an easy 2x multiplicative damage. However, this is also modified by amplications to damage, either for you, the bell, or both.

The easiest way to do this is to stagger the boss, pop the bell down on his head, and go to town with your highest damage spell in a way that hits the boss and the bell. This also allows you to add in amplifications to damage against stunned enemies, which turns this into a dps fiesta. Early on, I was using my standard quarterstaff swing amped with attack speed (since it's free, no mana cost) and increased damage. It's base is already quite high.

I went from struggling to kill the orgham manor boss with my monk, to dumpstering him in 1/3 the time and breezing through most of the bosses in Act 2.

If you have not figured out the kung-fu ways of the bell, start experimenting.

Happy Hunting, Exiles.