Monk — Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age eGuide

Potential Core Nodes

3035 HP	—
Swiftness	—
Battle Lore x16	—
Potion Lore 1	—
Potion Lore 2	—
Phoenix Lore	—
Adrenaline	Doubles Physical damage dealt while in Critical status
Brawler	Increases attack when unarmed. Scales with Strength and Level
Focus	Increases Physical damage dealt by 1.5x when HP is full
Headsman	Recover MP when dealing fatal damage to a Foe in the amount of Foe level divided by 4.
Inquisitor	Restores MP when dealing Physical damage. (See Damage to MP chart)
Last Stand	Halves Physical damage recieved when in Critical status
Martyr	Restores MP upon being damaged. (See Damage to MP chart)
Spellbound	Beneficial statuses last 50% longer
Poles 1	Oaken Pole
Poles 2	Cypress Pole, Battle Bamboo
Poles 3	Musk Stick, Iron Pole
Poles 4	Six-fluted Pole, Gokuu Pole
Poles 5	Zephyr Pole, Ivory Pole
Poles 6	Sweep, Eight-fluted Pole
Whale Whisker	Whale Whisker
Kanya	Kanya
Light Armor 1	Leather Cap, Leather Clothing
Light Armor 2	Headgear, Chromed Leathers, Headguard, Leather Breastplate
Light Armor 3	Leather Headgear, Bronze Chestplate, Horned Hat, Ringmail
Light Armor 4	Balaclava, Windbreaker, Soldier’s Cap, Heavy Coat
Light Armor 5	Green Beret, Survival Vest, Red Cap, Brigandine
Light Armor 6	Headband, Jujitsu Gi, Pirate Hat, Viking Coat
Light Armor 7	Goggle Mask, Metal Jerkin, Adamant Hat, Adamant Vest
Light Armor 8	Officer’s Hat, Barrel Coat, Chakra Band, Power Vest
Light Armor 9	Thief’s Cap, Ninja Gear, Gigas Hat, Gigas Chestplate
Light Armor 10	Chaperon, Minerva Bustier
Light Armor 11	Crown of Laurels, Rubber Suit
Light Armor 12	Renewing Morion, Mirage Vest
Light Armor 13	Dueling Mask, Brave Suit
Achilles	Causes a foe to gain vulnerability to a random status. Most enemies are immune.
Bonecrusher	Reduces one Foe’s HP to 0. Deals between 0% to 99% damage to the user, and KOs the user if it misses.
Expose	Lowers the Defense stat of one Foe to 90% of current. Nothing is immune. Highly recommended.
First Aid	Restores HP to an ally in Critical condition. Not recommended.
Libra	Puts Libra status on the user. Shows Foe's HP, statuses, and level as well as reveals traps. Generally very useful.
Numerology	Deals damage to enemies, doubles with each successive hit when used repeatedly. Deals area damage as well.
Revive	Fullly restores HP of one KO’d character, consumes all of user’s HP.
Shades of Black	Randomly casts a Black Magick without consuming MP or needing to have the license

missable Nodes

Phoenix Lore (50)	Locked	Quickening	—
White Magick 9	Locked	Quickening	Bravery, Curaja
Swiftness (50)	Locked	Esper	—
Swiftness (80)	Locked	Esper	—
Potion Lore 3	Locked	Esper	—
White Magick 4	Locked	Esper	Cura, Raise
White Magick 10	Locked	Esper	Dispelga, Arise
White Magick 11	Locked	Esper	Holy, Esunaga
White Magick 12	Locked	Esper	Protectga, Shellga
White Magick 13	Locked	Esper	Renew
Sight Unseeing	Locked	Esper	Requires user to be Blind to take effect. Takes a Foe to extremely low HP. Many enemies are immune.
Souleater	Locked	Esper	Deals damage to one Foe, costs 20% of user’s Max HP.
Traveler	Locked	Esper	Does area damage based on how many steps taken since the last use of Traveler (if any). Rolls over at 1000 steps. Not recommended.
Wither	Locked	Esper	Lowers the Strength stat of one Foe to 50% of current. Recommended.

Sign	Role	Weapon	Armor
Virgo	Melee/Healing	Poles	Light

Wielding Poles and wearing Light Armor, Monks are masters of close-range combat. They are the only Job to feature all sixteen Battle Lores, but only have one Swiftness. Once you are able to unlock some abilities, the Monk opens up in an amazing way and can be transformed into a powerful healer. The Monk Job also brings Wither to the table to go with Expose, and a pair of Swiftness Licenses are available as well (even though these Licenses are blocked by Ultima from the start). The Monk is a full-time Job, and is a pillar of any team.

Monk has a lot in common with Knight in that they are powerful, slow Jobs that can use Espers to open up valuable healing powers. It’s useful to combine Monk with a Job that either overlaps on Locks, like Machinist, or that doesn’t require many Espers, like Foebreaker. A Job with some Magick Lores and Channelings is very useful, as is a Job which doesn’t require them to use Espers for Swiftnesses. Bushi and Shikari both fit well in this way, though you may find them having applications elsewhere. Monk is a powerful Job on its own, and it’s workable to simply pick up a Job that was left in the lurch elsewhere.

Due to their huge pile of Health Point Augments and their MP-hungry healing, you may actually lean toward more magick-heavy team members for the Monk Job. If you happen to pair them with a Heavy Armor class, Strength becomes basically irrelevant. In this case, you can consider someone like Penelo for this combination. Without the huge buffs from Heavy Armor, someone like Vaan or Ashe has a great mix of stats that fits perfectly with the Monk Job.