Starting a new campaign in January and I am going to play a monk. We will be starting at L1 but according to the DM the large majority of the limited campaign will be played between L3-L6 or 7. Warrior of Elements looks like a blast but I am considering Mercy because we may not have a dedicated healer in the group. Hoping for some feedback from those who have played either of these subclasses at the table.

Seems like the main benefit of the Elements is the 10' extra reach/10' shove feature (choosing the elemental damage is nice too). So striking from a 15' distance and then moving out of range of the enemy afterwards is a core strategy? I know you can also grapple with Elemental Strikes but it ends when your attack ends, correct? The ability to potentially move the target up to 10' is really cool as well. I am not planning on necessarily taking any feats that enhance my grappling (Tavern Brawler or Grappler) but it is still a very useful tool.

With Mercy the healing and the ability to add damage to your unarmed strikes is nice. Also the 3rd level feature Implements of Mercy is way better than gaining Elementalism from the Elements subclass. Ditto for the 6th level features IMO–Physician's Touch is far better than Elemental Burst. But do you find that you end up burning the majority of your Focus Points on healing?

If you have played either of these sublclasses help me visualize how to best use them at the table. The mid/high level features are not a concern as the plan is to end at L6 or 7.

Quote from Theswick_Farwander >>

Starting a new campaign in January and I am going to play a monk. We will be starting at L1 but according to the DM the large majority of the limited campaign will be played between L3-L6 or 7. Warrior of Elements looks like a blast but I am considering Mercy because we may not have a dedicated healer in the group. Hoping for some feedback from those who have played either of these subclasses at the table.

Seems like the main benefit of the Elements is the 10' extra reach/10' shove feature (choosing the elemental damage is nice too). So striking from a 15' distance and then moving out of range of the enemy afterwards is a core strategy? I know you can also grapple with Elemental Strikes but it ends when your attack ends, correct? The ability to potentially move the target up to 10' is really cool as well. I am not planning on necessarily taking any feats that enhance my grappling (Tavern Brawler or Grappler) but it is still a very useful tool.

With Mercy the healing and the ability to add damage to your unarmed strikes is nice. Also the 3rd level feature Implements of Mercy is way better than gaining Elementalism from the Elements subclass. Ditto for the 6th level features IMO–Physician's Touch is far better than Elemental Burst. But do you find that you end up burning the majority of your Focus Points on healing?

If you have played either of these sublclasses help me visualize how to best use them at the table. The mid/high level features are not a concern as the plan is to end at L6 or 7.

 I’m bias towards Mercy monk, as I’m currently playing one. I chose it for the same reason because we are a party without a cleric. Even our Druid doesn’t heal. Mercy benefits helped with healing as a backup. Depending how you are using your FP though in combat, since pool is low, even with uncanny, would come into play.

But like I said, I’m bias 

I've been playing the Warrior of the Elements Monk, myself, from levels 3-4. I did lean into the Tavern Brawler and Grappler options on the character.

I do believe that the "Hold a grapple at 15' reach" is an intended gameplay option for the subclass. From the preview article Warrior of the Elements Monk: Bend the Elements to Your Will:

Reach Out and Grab 'Em

If you're looking to spice things up, the new Grappler feat combines exceptionally well with the Warrior of the Elements' extended reach and the 2024 Monk's ability to grapple using Dexterity. With the Grappler feat, you can attempt to grapple a creature you hit as part of the same Attack action you use to make an Unarmed Strike.

Seeing as being Grappled reduces a creature's Speed to 0, you can easily hold them out of reach and wail on them with your elemental strikes, which you'll now get Advantage on thanks to Grappler.

On top of being a mechanically powerful ability, this adds to the power fantasy of wielding the elements against your foes. You can flavor your grapples to be temporary ice chunks that hold your foes in place or swirls of air that catch your enemies and prevent them from moving.

I've definitely found both the ability to move foes 5' away on a hit from Tavern Brawler,  and the ability to "move the target up to 10 feet toward or away from you," from Elemental Strikes. ("Up" is a direction away from you, DM and ceiling heights permitting.)  Admittedly, I did not start taking advantage of the benefits of Grappling until I took the Grappler Feat, which removed the opportunity cost  for one grapple attempt per round.

This probably gets TLDR for some and I get it. I have bolded some key details and/or areas where I am looking for feedback for those of you who are willing to read and consider. I appreciate everyone who takes the time to do so.

There are a couple more choices for this goliath monk character I am chewing on and thought it best to discuss them here rather than create new threads. The DM is allowing us to choose whatever Origin feat we wish rather than it being tied to a Background (we will not be using the new Background system as it is). I understand the benefits of Tavern Brawler for a monk but I am going to choose Magic Initiate because I like the versatility and not every choice I make is to absolutely max out the power of the character. If it were you, which of the following Magic Initiate options would you choose, or give me your preferred alternate if neither:

Cleric: Guidance and Light (no darkvision for goliath) cantrips and Shield of Faith spell or Wizard: Light and Minor Illusion cantrips and Find Familiar spell

For the cleric choice obviously the +2 to AC for 10 minutes that Shield of Faith can provide is big for an unarmored monk. It is only once per day but if strategically implemented it will be great. Don't love that it is concentration because with a bad Concentration roll it could go away in the first round of combat without a way to recast it. If anything tips it toward cleric though it would be the Guidance cantrip. For the wizard choice Find Familiar is really nice because of its versatility and because it only needs to be recast if the familiar reaches 0 HP or if you want to change its form. Rules question: since Find Familiar can be cast as a ritual spell, could it be cast more than once per day by a monk who knows it via the Magic Initiate feat but otherwise has no spell slots?

The other choice is the goliath's Giant Ancestry. I don't care about the damage-dealing ones. Hill's Topple is pretty cool and is a consideration. Cloud's Jaunt and Stone's Endurance can get a bit redundant with the monk abilities Step of the Wind and Deflect Attacks. My question about the redundancy of Cloud's Jaunt and Stone's Endurance is are they worth doubling down on? I have had Misty Step for a few characters in past campaigns and it is great for things like getting out of a grapple (though that is fairly easy for a goliath) or manacles, getting across a 30' pit, getting 30' up without climbing, bampfing 30' into the shadows instead of running, etc. So Cloud's Jaunt would be situational but not worthless. And the Deflect Attacks ability works against Bludegeoning, Piercing, or Slashing while Stone's Endurance covers damage of any type. So like Cloud's Jaunt it would be situational but not useless. Thoughts?

In D&D 2024, to cast a spell as a Ritual, the primary requirement is that you have the spell Prepared. Magic Initiate explicitly states that the first-level spells are always Prepared.

As a result, I would say that it's rules-legal for the Monk with the Magic Initiate (Wizard) Ritually casting their always-Prepared Find Familiar any time that they have seventy minutes and 10 gp worth of incense to burn.