Lookit Light on Jul 28, 2022 wrote:

So here I am, one again bringing back my old series of posts from years ago (again, again, maybe possibly for longer this time to entertain Hawkules) in order to talk about potential improvements for lesser-used companions. Recently I've been interested in the legends of Sun Wukong, so I thought I'd revisit an old topic of discussion in his Pirate101 counterpart Monkey King.

In his current form Monkey King is, perhaps, the single most underwhelming Story Companion we receive. He is literally never seen outside of boxes of dialogue due to the fact that his combat capabilities are completely mundane. There's sadly nothing special about him and he's completely outclassed in all regards.

But I have a vision. One where Monkey King gains the abilities he so desperately desires and gains enough power to rival even the great El Toro. For this post, I'm going to skip the how and when of any promotions and get right into what I would want to see.

There are two things that must be improved about Monkey King; his Epic Talents and Powers. I'll start with the Epic Talents. Monkey King's innate Epic Talents (a rank each in Alert and Riposte) are currently not appropriate for the time in the story he is acquired. He needs one more Epic Talent in his arsenal, from the moment he is recruited. I'm thinking a rank in First Strike is best. Also, the ability to Jump would be amazing. I'm imagining Monkey King's Jump looking like him leaping up into the air and conjuring a cloud beneath his feet to soar over obstacles.

As for his current powers, I can't speak to them. This is because, unlike every other story Companion in the game, Monkey King has no powers. And this is truly a great and terrible mistake, since one of the things that Sun Wukong is known for is his use of sorcery to achieve his goals! To remedy this, I have a few ideas for more mystical Powers that Monkey King could wield:

• Duplicate. This power would allow Monkey King to create Doppelgangers of himself to aid in fighting. Two Doppelgangers would be summoned in randomly chosen spaces closest to Monkey King himself and would act like regular minions. Their health would be equal to 2/3 Monkey King's own, and they would have the Epic Talents of First Strike 2 and Blade Storm 1. Upon Monkey King's promotion, I could envision these Doppelgangers gaining a rank of Riposte. The dumplicates would have no Powers of their own.
• Zephyr Strike. This power would essentially be an Epic Strike, but with the benefits of being Stealthed applied. This would enable Monkey King to make a powerful attack without the enemy being able to use their own Epic Talents against him. This power should probably be gained when Monkey King promotes
  
• Dragon Strike. Another version of Epic Strike, this time with the power to completely ignore an enemy's boosts to their Defense. Thematically appropriate, considering the power of Monkey King's staff in mythical tales.

As for what Monkey King's Promotion Quests would look like... That's probably a discussion for another time.

Lookit Light on Aug 4, 2022 wrote:

Eep! N-none can match the grace and charisma of El Toro the great!

There is something I forgot to mention originally about my Monkey King idea, though. Given Monkey King's known tenacity, trickiness and power of misdirection, I think that he should have innate ranks of the Elusive Epic Talent. It's an Epic Talent that increases Evasion and movement when your health is below half, and that surprisingly is not yet known by any Companions. Ranks in Elusive would be both thematically and functionally appropriate for Monkey King and a great benefit to his kind of playstyle.

I'm seeing Monkey King having a single rank of Elusive upon acquisition, gaining a second rank when he first promotes. And while we're at it, putting Elusive on the Doppelgangers I'm imagining him summoning would also be interesting.