I've been playing a tiefling way of the Open Hand Monk for a bit now and I'm not sure I've been fighting in the right way. He is 4th level at the moment, with maxed Dex, 18 Wis and a Cloak of Protection, which makes his AC 20. Since i have this high AC and a high attacking stat, I keep rushing straight into the fray, much like a Fighter, and I keep taking hard hits and having to be healed by our bard. We have no other really melee focused characters, so I thought I should take up frontlines, but I worry I'm going to get my monk killed. What playstyle bests suits a monk? A skirmisher like a rogue or a upfront damage dealer, like a finesse based Fighter.
Try this for a few fights: move into melee, make 1 attack with your action, and then spend 1 ki point to take patient defense as a bonus action (disadvantage to hit AC 20 should prevent a lot of hits, meanwhile your party does their thing)... at 4th level you can do this for 4 rounds... most fights are over by then.
I can’t re-state this enough ... the number of monks I see charging head first without Patient Defense is ridiculous. Forget Flurry for now. Use Step of the Wind IF you are going to disengage after every run. But please please please Dodge if you’re between some baddies. You will never have the health that a regular meat shield has.
Want some stats? 4 Orcs attacking your AC 20 monk will hit you about 1.2x per round, doing 1.2*9 = 10.8 per round. How long can your Monk survive that simple assault?
Dodging? 4 Orcs will hit you 0.36 times per round and do an average of 0.36*9 = 3.24 damage. Oh, and the side benefit of dodging is advantage on things like Fireball, so yay!
So here’s what will happen: your DM will hate you and all of those Orcs will just run away from you to hit easier targets, granting you a Reaction Attack of Opp. So guess what? Now you’re getting 2 attacks per round (Action and Reaction) and you’re taking no damage. Win-Win.
This problem will only compound at later levels, but as your speed becomes godly you can Step of the Wind, move in, attack, move away without even flinching.
I think you have a lot of options you're not considering. In addition to Patient Defense already mentioned, consider:
Open Hand Technique
Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you can manipulate your enemy’s ki when you harness your own. Whenever you hit a creature with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows, you can impose one of the following effects on that target:
It must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone.
It must make a Strength saving throw. If it fails, you can push it up to 15 feet away from you.
It can’t take reactions until the end of your next turn.
Flurry of Blows
Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.
Also, your movement is probably longer than the average bad guy. You can use clever positioning and movement, along with Open Hand Techniques and other monk goodies to negate some of their attacks.
Here is an example: you and two melee bad guys are 40 feet away from your team and 30 feet away from the two ranged bad guys. You strike both of the bad guys and take away their reactions. Then, you use your movement to run away so now the bad guys are 40 feet from you. These are just average human bandits so they won't be able to get in range to attack anyone this turn. The archer guys take their shots at you. Because you're a crazy awesome monk with crazy high AC, it's unlikely both of them hit. For the sake of this thought experiment, one misses you and one critically hits you. Now you can use your reaction to deflect missiles. You roll your 1d10 and get a 5, add your dex mod (4?) and your monk level (4) to negate 13 of the damage. He crit on his long bow attack, rolled a 4 and a 5, adds the 3 dex mod to hit you for... zero damage. You've effectively tanked 4 attackers without taking any damage at all.
Too many bad guys or don't have your movement? As said above just use patient defense. They're unlikely to hit a 20 AC monk with disadvantage. You do miss out on the 2 attacks from the above example but that's ok.
All I'm saying is get creative with positioning and your abilities. You'll do just fine.
I don't know what your monk's Athletics score it, but a good way to lock down an opponent is to use your attack action to grapple them, then use your Flurry to knock them down. It takes half a person's speed to get up from prone, but while they are grappled their speed is reduced to 0, so they are stuck prone until they can break out of your grapple, which takes a full action. As long as they are prone, their attacks are at Disadvantage (so you don't need to Dodge against them), and close range attacks against them are at Advantage. This works best one on one, but it's a very effective tactic.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I don't know what your monk's Athletics score it, but a good way to lock down an opponent is to use your attack action to grapple them, then use your Flurry to knock them down. It takes half a person's speed to get up from prone, but while they are grappled their speed is reduced to 0, so they are stuck prone until they can break out of your grapple, which takes a full action. As long as they are prone, their attacks are at Disadvantage (so you don't need to Dodge against them), and close range attacks against them are at Advantage. This works best one on one, but it's a very effective tactic.
You can't grapple and flurry of blows in the same round.
I don't know what your monk's Athletics score it, but a good way to lock down an opponent is to use your attack action to grapple them, then use your Flurry to knock them down. It takes half a person's speed to get up from prone, but while they are grappled their speed is reduced to 0, so they are stuck prone until they can break out of your grapple, which takes a full action. As long as they are prone, their attacks are at Disadvantage (so you don't need to Dodge against them), and close range attacks against them are at Advantage. This works best one on one, but it's a very effective tactic.
You can't grapple and flurry of blows in the same round.
I beg to differ:
Grappling
When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can use the Attack action to make a special melee attack, a grapple. If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.
Flurry of Blows
Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I don't know what your monk's Athletics score it, but a good way to lock down an opponent is to use your attack action to grapple them, then use your Flurry to knock them down. It takes half a person's speed to get up from prone, but while they are grappled their speed is reduced to 0, so they are stuck prone until they can break out of your grapple, which takes a full action. As long as they are prone, their attacks are at Disadvantage (so you don't need to Dodge against them), and close range attacks against them are at Advantage. This works best one on one, but it's a very effective tactic.
You can't grapple and flurry of blows in the same round.
I beg to differ:
Grappling
When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can use the Attack action to make a special melee attack, a grapple. If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.
Flurry of Blows
Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.
There's your problem right there. Monks work best around the edges, imo. Run up the wall past the enemy tanks and harass the caster in the back. Knock down an enemy and let the fighter (and rogue) get advantage against them. They aren't tanks and should really try to avoid getting surrounded. I think everyone else's advice is probably good for making the best of the situation. Otherwise, maybe talk with the rest of the party to develop some other tactics that don't involve you getting swarmed. Like ask them to lay down support and battlefield control effects to help isolate enemies so you can go in and pick them off one at a time.
I don't know what your monk's Athletics score it, but a good way to lock down an opponent is to use your attack action to grapple them, then use your Flurry to knock them down. It takes half a person's speed to get up from prone, but while they are grappled their speed is reduced to 0, so they are stuck prone until they can break out of your grapple, which takes a full action. As long as they are prone, their attacks are at Disadvantage (so you don't need to Dodge against them), and close range attacks against them are at Advantage. This works best one on one, but it's a very effective tactic.
The problem is that Monk AC relies a lot on having a high DEX and high WIS. Reliable use of grappling requires a high STR and advantage on STR checks or expertise in Athletics. IOW, you need to be really lucky in rolling up your character or multi-class with Bard or Rogue to use this tactics frequently.
I don't know what your monk's Athletics score it, but a good way to lock down an opponent is to use your attack action to grapple them, then use your Flurry to knock them down. It takes half a person's speed to get up from prone, but while they are grappled their speed is reduced to 0, so they are stuck prone until they can break out of your grapple, which takes a full action. As long as they are prone, their attacks are at Disadvantage (so you don't need to Dodge against them), and close range attacks against them are at Advantage. This works best one on one, but it's a very effective tactic.
The problem is that Monk AC relies a lot on having a high DEX and high WIS. Reliable use of grappling requires a high STR and advantage on STR checks or expertise in Athletics. IOW, you need to be really lucky in rolling up your character or multi-class with Bard or Rogue to use this tactics frequently.
My monk also has high STR (even tho it isn't necessary), so this is a viable technique for me. I don't understand, how your opponent goes from grappled to prone without you also becoming prone. Can someone please explain.
I don't know what your ASI/Feat choice for 4th level was, but you might want to talk to your DM about changing it to Mobile. Then you can use hit and run tactics without spending so much ki on Step of the Wind. (The other benefits of Mobile are also excellent for Monks.)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Behind every successful Warlock, there's an angry mob.
I don't know what your ASI/Feat choice for 4th level was, but you might want to talk to your DM about changing it to Mobile. Then you can use hit and run tactics without spending so much ki on Step of the Wind. (The other benefits of Mobile are also excellent for Monks.)
I am aware of this and will grab that Feat next time I get the chance.
Unfortunately, for roleplaying/backstory reasons, I had to pick a different Feat at Level 4.
I've been playing a tiefling way of the Open Hand Monk for a bit now and I'm not sure I've been fighting in the right way. He is 4th level at the moment, with maxed Dex, 18 Wis and a Cloak of Protection, which makes his AC 20. Since i have this high AC and a high attacking stat, I keep rushing straight into the fray, much like a Fighter, and I keep taking hard hits and having to be healed by our bard. We have no other really melee focused characters, so I thought I should take up frontlines, but I worry I'm going to get my monk killed. What playstyle bests suits a monk? A skirmisher like a rogue or a upfront damage dealer, like a finesse based Fighter.
Defense is the core of a tank type character. If the rest of your party is more striker or controller oriented, then you should focus on defense. 20 AC is marginal for tanking effectively without some other method of reducing damage (rage, shield etc). Your ability to do this is patient defense and that is what you should spend most of your ki on. If you have a 13 intelligence or charisma consider a multiclass into Wizard or Sorcerer for the shield spell, absorb elements and protection from evil and good spells. War Wizard 2 makes a particularly good dip for Monk. You won't have a lot of slots, but combined with patient defense it should be enough and you have the +2 to Ac as a spam reaction option. If you don't have the intelligence or dexterity you can also consider Arcana Cleric which will get you the booming blade cantrip and shield of faith.
Try to use patient defense more often, especially early in fights. At 4th level if you are running a standard 6 combats a day you should be able to have PD up about half of the rounds of combat if not using anything else. Also don't be afraid of giving up attacking and using the dodge action if the situation warrants it.
Only use flurry of blows if you are really close to killing something, won't kill it with 1 attack and can steal an action by using FOB. As you move up in levels you will get to where you have enough ki to occasionally use it for offense like stunning strike or focused aim, but at 4th level it should mostly be used for patient defense IMO.
IMO those are options to effectively melee with a Monk.
I don't know what your monk's Athletics score it, but a good way to lock down an opponent is to use your attack action to grapple them, then use your Flurry to knock them down. It takes half a person's speed to get up from prone, but while they are grappled their speed is reduced to 0, so they are stuck prone until they can break out of your grapple, which takes a full action. As long as they are prone, their attacks are at Disadvantage (so you don't need to Dodge against them), and close range attacks against them are at Advantage. This works best one on one, but it's a very effective tactic.
The problem is that Monk AC relies a lot on having a high DEX and high WIS. Reliable use of grappling requires a high STR and advantage on STR checks or expertise in Athletics. IOW, you need to be really lucky in rolling up your character or multi-class with Bard or Rogue to use this tactics frequently.
My monk also has high STR (even tho it isn't necessary), so this is a viable technique for me. I don't understand, how your opponent goes from grappled to prone without you also becoming prone. Can someone please explain.
I did not see this, if you have a high strength and 13 constitution a Barbarian 1-level dip will give you rage.
As far as grappled-prone: You can't do it with FOB, however if you have an opponent grappled and you use the shove action to shove him prone he is now both prone and grappled. Some DMs do not allow that, but RAW it works.
As far as the fiction, you probably have him in an arm or wrist hold with your foot extended onto his throat immobilizing him and pinning him to the ground while ou stand over him.
I don't know what your monk's Athletics score it, but a good way to lock down an opponent is to use your attack action to grapple them, then use your Flurry to knock them down. It takes half a person's speed to get up from prone, but while they are grappled their speed is reduced to 0, so they are stuck prone until they can break out of your grapple, which takes a full action. As long as they are prone, their attacks are at Disadvantage (so you don't need to Dodge against them), and close range attacks against them are at Advantage. This works best one on one, but it's a very effective tactic.
You can't grapple and flurry of blows in the same round.
I beg to differ:
Grappling
When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can use the Attackactionto make a special melee attack, a grapple. If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.
Flurry of Blows
Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.
Flurry of Blows are attack but it is not the "attack action" it is a Bonus action. RAW you can not trade one of those FOB attacks for a grapple.
You can grapple as yyour action and then make 2 FOB attacks though.
so vcan not use flurry of blows at 4th level if you use
Patient defense will be a lifesaver for you, because while the monk can hit, they're not going tank hits - they don't have the hit die / HP for it. The dodge action - as advised - is also fantastic for the monk.
For general survivability at early levels when you're low on Ki points, since you're already at max dex and high wis, consider taking Mobility as your 8th level Feat / ASI. I would even say for monks given the choice it makes early levels easier - specifically for point 3 of the feat:
When you make a melee attack against a creature, you don't provoke opportunity attacks from that creature for the rest of the turn, whether you hit or not.
What this means is - you can run up, attack someone, and run away without spending one of the few ki points you have on patient defense, without provoking opportunity attacks. Even better is - let's say there's two enemies clustered together. Attack first guy, bonus attack second guy, and regardless of whether you hit or not, you can immediately use your remaining movement to get some distance.
The monk is a bit weird to get used to, but don't play a monk like a fighter / barbarian / paladin. You can hit hard, and move fast, so focus on tactics which let you hit harder and move faster - without getting hit.
EDIT: as for the grapple stuff, I dunno man. Athletics is a tough sell on a MAD class like the monk - you need dex and wis for AC and ki, and you need con to not die if someone breathes at you wrong. Unless you have fantastic rolls, you're not going to have great strength.
Grappling with monks is doable, but to be good at it you want to go for something like Way of Astral Self where you can use WIS instead of STR for grappling, paired with something like Skill Expert to give yourself expertise on Athletics.
EDIT 2: And again for grappling and general movement - the monk is *fast* and can close the gap in a way frontline melee classes just can't. So kind of approach the combat tactically - as a fast melee striker you're well placed to hit enemy casters and rogues - classes who are likely to have low STR so you can grapple, or just attack and break concentration.
A monk is just not a tank; The HP just isn't there. He is a skirmisher. He is supposed to hit and run. If you want to stand in with the big boys, you have to have high AC and CON, and good rolls on your HP dies. I like mobile because I do not have to use SoW to disengage. Honestly, your best use is to stun or knockdown, then get out of the way so that the big fighter, barb, or pally can step in and beat the crap out of the prone or stunned enemy.
I've been playing a tiefling way of the Open Hand Monk for a bit now and I'm not sure I've been fighting in the right way. He is 4th level at the moment, with maxed Dex, 18 Wis and a Cloak of Protection, which makes his AC 20. Since i have this high AC and a high attacking stat, I keep rushing straight into the fray, much like a Fighter, and I keep taking hard hits and having to be healed by our bard. We have no other really melee focused characters, so I thought I should take up frontlines, but I worry I'm going to get my monk killed. What playstyle bests suits a monk? A skirmisher like a rogue or a upfront damage dealer, like a finesse based Fighter.
I can’t re-state this enough ... the number of monks I see charging head first without Patient Defense is ridiculous. Forget Flurry for now. Use Step of the Wind IF you are going to disengage after every run. But please please please Dodge if you’re between some baddies. You will never have the health that a regular meat shield has.
Want some stats? 4 Orcs attacking your AC 20 monk will hit you about 1.2x per round, doing 1.2*9 = 10.8 per round. How long can your Monk survive that simple assault?
Dodging? 4 Orcs will hit you 0.36 times per round and do an average of 0.36*9 = 3.24 damage. Oh, and the side benefit of dodging is advantage on things like Fireball, so yay!
So here’s what will happen: your DM will hate you and all of those Orcs will just run away from you to hit easier targets, granting you a Reaction Attack of Opp. So guess what? Now you’re getting 2 attacks per round (Action and Reaction) and you’re taking no damage. Win-Win.
This problem will only compound at later levels, but as your speed becomes godly you can Step of the Wind, move in, attack, move away without even flinching.
I think you have a lot of options you're not considering. In addition to Patient Defense already mentioned, consider:
Also, your movement is probably longer than the average bad guy. You can use clever positioning and movement, along with Open Hand Techniques and other monk goodies to negate some of their attacks.
Here is an example: you and two melee bad guys are 40 feet away from your team and 30 feet away from the two ranged bad guys. You strike both of the bad guys and take away their reactions. Then, you use your movement to run away so now the bad guys are 40 feet from you. These are just average human bandits so they won't be able to get in range to attack anyone this turn. The archer guys take their shots at you. Because you're a crazy awesome monk with crazy high AC, it's unlikely both of them hit. For the sake of this thought experiment, one misses you and one critically hits you. Now you can use your reaction to deflect missiles. You roll your 1d10 and get a 5, add your dex mod (4?) and your monk level (4) to negate 13 of the damage. He crit on his long bow attack, rolled a 4 and a 5, adds the 3 dex mod to hit you for... zero damage. You've effectively tanked 4 attackers without taking any damage at all.
Too many bad guys or don't have your movement? As said above just use patient defense. They're unlikely to hit a 20 AC monk with disadvantage. You do miss out on the 2 attacks from the above example but that's ok.
All I'm saying is get creative with positioning and your abilities. You'll do just fine.
I don't know what your monk's Athletics score it, but a good way to lock down an opponent is to use your attack action to grapple them, then use your Flurry to knock them down. It takes half a person's speed to get up from prone, but while they are grappled their speed is reduced to 0, so they are stuck prone until they can break out of your grapple, which takes a full action. As long as they are prone, their attacks are at Disadvantage (so you don't need to Dodge against them), and close range attacks against them are at Advantage. This works best one on one, but it's a very effective tactic.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
You can't grapple and flurry of blows in the same round.
I beg to differ:
Grappling
When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can use the Attack action to make a special melee attack, a grapple. If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.
Flurry of Blows
Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Hm. Guess you can. I stand corrected.
There's your problem right there. Monks work best around the edges, imo. Run up the wall past the enemy tanks and harass the caster in the back. Knock down an enemy and let the fighter (and rogue) get advantage against them. They aren't tanks and should really try to avoid getting surrounded. I think everyone else's advice is probably good for making the best of the situation. Otherwise, maybe talk with the rest of the party to develop some other tactics that don't involve you getting swarmed. Like ask them to lay down support and battlefield control effects to help isolate enemies so you can go in and pick them off one at a time.
The problem is that Monk AC relies a lot on having a high DEX and high WIS. Reliable use of grappling requires a high STR and advantage on STR checks or expertise in Athletics. IOW, you need to be really lucky in rolling up your character or multi-class with Bard or Rogue to use this tactics frequently.
My monk also has high STR (even tho it isn't necessary), so this is a viable technique for me. I don't understand, how your opponent goes from grappled to prone without you also becoming prone. Can someone please explain.
I don't know what your ASI/Feat choice for 4th level was, but you might want to talk to your DM about changing it to Mobile. Then you can use hit and run tactics without spending so much ki on Step of the Wind. (The other benefits of Mobile are also excellent for Monks.)
Behind every successful Warlock, there's an angry mob.
I am aware of this and will grab that Feat next time I get the chance.
Unfortunately, for roleplaying/backstory reasons, I had to pick a different Feat at Level 4.
Defense is the core of a tank type character. If the rest of your party is more striker or controller oriented, then you should focus on defense. 20 AC is marginal for tanking effectively without some other method of reducing damage (rage, shield etc). Your ability to do this is patient defense and that is what you should spend most of your ki on. If you have a 13 intelligence or charisma consider a multiclass into Wizard or Sorcerer for the shield spell, absorb elements and protection from evil and good spells. War Wizard 2 makes a particularly good dip for Monk. You won't have a lot of slots, but combined with patient defense it should be enough and you have the +2 to Ac as a spam reaction option. If you don't have the intelligence or dexterity you can also consider Arcana Cleric which will get you the booming blade cantrip and shield of faith.
Try to use patient defense more often, especially early in fights. At 4th level if you are running a standard 6 combats a day you should be able to have PD up about half of the rounds of combat if not using anything else. Also don't be afraid of giving up attacking and using the dodge action if the situation warrants it.
Only use flurry of blows if you are really close to killing something, won't kill it with 1 attack and can steal an action by using FOB. As you move up in levels you will get to where you have enough ki to occasionally use it for offense like stunning strike or focused aim, but at 4th level it should mostly be used for patient defense IMO.
IMO those are options to effectively melee with a Monk.
I did not see this, if you have a high strength and 13 constitution a Barbarian 1-level dip will give you rage.
As far as grappled-prone: You can't do it with FOB, however if you have an opponent grappled and you use the shove action to shove him prone he is now both prone and grappled. Some DMs do not allow that, but RAW it works.
As far as the fiction, you probably have him in an arm or wrist hold with your foot extended onto his throat immobilizing him and pinning him to the ground while ou stand over him.
Flurry of Blows are attack but it is not the "attack action" it is a Bonus action. RAW you can not trade one of those FOB attacks for a grapple.
You can grapple as yyour action and then make 2 FOB attacks though.
so vcan not use flurry of blows at 4th level if you use
OP said they were open hand. Open hand technique, at 3rd level, allows knocking prone as part of FoB but does include a save.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
thanks for the clarification!!!
my monk isn't Way of the Open Hand, so I had no idea what they were talking about until now
Patient defense will be a lifesaver for you, because while the monk can hit, they're not going tank hits - they don't have the hit die / HP for it. The dodge action - as advised - is also fantastic for the monk.
For general survivability at early levels when you're low on Ki points, since you're already at max dex and high wis, consider taking Mobility as your 8th level Feat / ASI. I would even say for monks given the choice it makes early levels easier - specifically for point 3 of the feat:
What this means is - you can run up, attack someone, and run away without spending one of the few ki points you have on patient defense, without provoking opportunity attacks. Even better is - let's say there's two enemies clustered together. Attack first guy, bonus attack second guy, and regardless of whether you hit or not, you can immediately use your remaining movement to get some distance.
The monk is a bit weird to get used to, but don't play a monk like a fighter / barbarian / paladin. You can hit hard, and move fast, so focus on tactics which let you hit harder and move faster - without getting hit.
EDIT: as for the grapple stuff, I dunno man. Athletics is a tough sell on a MAD class like the monk - you need dex and wis for AC and ki, and you need con to not die if someone breathes at you wrong. Unless you have fantastic rolls, you're not going to have great strength.
Grappling with monks is doable, but to be good at it you want to go for something like Way of Astral Self where you can use WIS instead of STR for grappling, paired with something like Skill Expert to give yourself expertise on Athletics.
EDIT 2: And again for grappling and general movement - the monk is *fast* and can close the gap in a way frontline melee classes just can't. So kind of approach the combat tactically - as a fast melee striker you're well placed to hit enemy casters and rogues - classes who are likely to have low STR so you can grapple, or just attack and break concentration.
>> #OpenDND
A monk is just not a tank; The HP just isn't there. He is a skirmisher. He is supposed to hit and run. If you want to stand in with the big boys, you have to have high AC and CON, and good rolls on your HP dies. I like mobile because I do not have to use SoW to disengage. Honestly, your best use is to stun or knockdown, then get out of the way so that the big fighter, barb, or pally can step in and beat the crap out of the prone or stunned enemy.
How is monk not a tank? Does a tank not rely on ac to be a tank?