Monk Needs a Rework — Not Another Small Buff

I think Monk is in a pretty strange spot right now.

I don't think the problem with Monk is simply that he's weak. He clearly isn't useless, and when his ability gets good value, he can still completely change an interaction.

The bigger issue is that he doesn't seem to have a clean role anymore for a 5-Elixir Champion.

He has good HP, solid damage, a three-hit combo, knockback on the final hit, projectile reflection, and damage reduction during his ability. That's a lot of things packed into one card.

The problem is that, at 5 Elixir, all of those things have to add up to enough value to justify the cost.

And I don't think they currently do.

The Champion ability change made this more noticeable

The recent Champion/Hero ability rework changed abilities from cooldowns to a single use per deployment, with Boss Bandit being the exception.

Supercell explained that cooldowns were creating complexity without enough meaningful gameplay, and said they would compensate weaker Champions affected by the change while continuing to monitor them.

That change matters a lot for Monk.

Before, Monk had the possibility of getting his ability again during the same deployment.

Now, you get one opportunity.

That is especially important for a card like Monk because his ability isn't just another source of damage. A huge part of its value is knowing when to activate it and what you are trying to reflect or protect against.

After this change, Supercell started giving compensation buffs to several Champions.

Archer Queen received a 3% damage increase.

Mighty Miner received a 6% increase to his base damage, which was enough to change his Skeleton interaction so that he can kill them in two hits instead of three.

Little Prince has received multiple buffs over the recent seasons, including a significant increase to his Charge Damage and improvements to his ability interactions.

Goblinstein also received a substantial adjustment, with his Doctor damage increased from 92 to 135, while his ability DPS was reduced from 214 to 188 in order to redistribute his power.

The strange part is that Monk hasn't received the same kind of compensation.

And that's why I think it's worth looking at his design again rather than just waiting for another minor stat adjustment.

How Monk got here

When Monk was released, he cost 4 Elixir.

In December 2022, Supercell increased him from 4 to 5 Elixir, explicitly saying that Monk was the strongest Champion at the time. They intentionally left his ability at 1 Elixir rather than increasing its cost.

That made sense for that version of Monk.

But that was a completely different game.

Since then, Monk has gone through several changes.

His attack speed was increased from 0.9s to 0.8s in February 2023 after his usage dropped significantly.

His HP was increased in 2024.

Then in July 2025, Supercell increased his HP again from 2150 to 2214, while reducing the damage reduction from his ability from 80% to 65%. The reasoning was that the ability was being used too much as a stalling tool instead of primarily for projectile reflection.

And now the ability itself is single-use.

So I don't think it makes sense to look at today's Monk and say:

“He's 5 Elixir because he used to be the strongest Champion in 2022.”

That was true then.

I'm not convinced it's still the right balance philosophy now.

My proposed Monk rework

I don't want to simply revert Monk to the old 4-Elixir version.

I'd rather redistribute his power.

Proposed changes

Elixir Cost:

5 → 4

Hitpoints:

−3%

Hit Speed:

0.8s → 1.0s

Pensive Protection Damage Reduction:

65% → 60%

Normal Attack Damage:

Increase it to establish a useful small-troop breakpoint.

My proposed target is 323 damage at Level 16.

Third Hit:

Change the current multiplier to approximately ×2.

That would make the three hits:

323 + 323 + 646 = 1292 damage

for the complete combo.

The idea is not to turn Monk into a DPS monster.

It's to make his ordinary attacks more reliable while taking some of the burst away from the third hit.

Why 323?

This is not a random number.

At Level 16, 323 damage gives Monk a very useful breakpoint:

Goblins die in one normal hit.

That's a real gameplay change, not just a bigger number on a stat page.

I also like using Knight as a reference point here because 323 is around the same single-hit damage range.

But I don't want Monk to simply become “Knight with an ability.”

The comparison is only meant to establish a baseline for single-hit damage.

The important difference is that Monk would have a 1.0s hit speed.

So the goal is:

similar damage per hit, but noticeably lower attack frequency.

That keeps the breakpoint without giving him ridiculous sustained DPS.

Why nerf the third hit?

Because the third hit already does more than just damage.

It also gives Monk his strongest positional utility.

When that hit happens, you're getting:

damage,

knockback,

disruption,

potential retargeting,

and a change in the enemy's position.

So putting a huge damage multiplier on the same hit concentrates too much of Monk's power into one moment.

Reducing the multiplier to around ×2 would keep the identity of the combo without making the final hit do almost all of the work.

I'd much rather see Monk become more consistent across his normal attacks instead of having his value heavily concentrated in the third hit.

Why 60% damage reduction?

This part is simply the compensation for making him cheaper.

At 65% damage reduction, Monk takes 35% of incoming damage.

At 60%, he takes 40%.

That's about 14.3% more damage taken while the ability is active.

So the 4-Elixir cost would not come for free.

And I think that's important after moving the ability to a single-use system.

The ability should still be strong when used correctly, but it shouldn't turn Monk into a cheap way of stalling for an enormous amount of time.

Why 1.0s attack speed instead of 0.9s?

I actually prefer 1.0s.

If Monk is going down from 5 to 4 Elixir, I don't think he should also keep the same 0.8s attack rate.

That would give him too much raw value.

Going from 0.8s to 1.0s reduces his attack rate by 20%.

That gives the 323-damage breakpoint room to exist without making Monk overwhelmingly efficient for 4 Elixir.

It also makes the card feel more deliberate.

You are not picking Monk because he simply out-DPSes everything.

You're picking him because he brings a different kind of value.

The reason I don't think 4 Elixir is unreasonable

One thing I keep coming back to is that other Champions already provide a lot of value for their cost.

Mighty Miner has high HP, strong damage, stacking damage against the same target, and a lane-switching ability.

Skeleton King can build a huge amount of value from his ability and naturally plays as a tanky swarm-based Champion.

Little Prince combines ranged DPS with the Guardian.

Archer Queen has high ranged damage and invisibility.

Goblinstein gives you two entities working together: Doctor and Monster.

Monk's problem isn't that he has nothing.

It's almost the opposite.

He has too many different things, while costing 5 Elixir.

That makes him a weird hybrid.

He's part tank, part DPS, part control unit, part projectile counter.

And at 5 Elixir, you have to ask whether the combined value is consistently worth it.

Monk's value isn't only in the ability

I think this part gets overlooked a lot.

Monk is often described as “the Champion that reflects projectiles.”

But his normal attacks already give him a real role.

He has:

strong sustained damage,

the three-hit sequence,

knockback,

disruption,

target displacement,

retarget opportunities,

protection for ranged support,

and protection for Siege buildings.

This becomes especially interesting with Mortar.

A Monk standing in front of a Mortar isn't just absorbing damage.

His knockback can move the unit attacking the Mortar.

That can delay an attack.

It can make the unit retarget.

It can potentially buy another Mortar shot.

And it can keep enemy splash or ranged troops from instantly reaching the support behind him.

That's a very different kind of value from a Knight.

Knight is extremely good because he's efficient and straightforward.

Monk is useful because he can change how the interaction itself works.

I think that's a much more interesting identity for a Champion.

Why this matters for Mortar

This is also why I think Monk has a real niche next to Mortar.

Take a deck built around:

Evo Mortar + Monk + Cannon Cart

Monk can:

protect the Mortar,

interfere with enemy targeting,

disrupt Fisherman interactions,

absorb pressure,

protect ranged support,

create extra time for Cannon Cart to deal damage,

and turn a successful defense into a counterpush.

That's much more than simply having a cheap tank in front of your Mortar.

And this is why I don't think Monk should be balanced purely around his ability.

His value comes from the combination of his stats, attack sequence, knockback and ability.

What I think the healthier identity would be

I don't want Monk to become stronger than every other Champion.

I want his power to move.

Right now, a lot of his value is packed into being a relatively expensive hybrid with strong burst and a powerful defensive ability.

I'd rather have:

Lower cost

Lower attack frequency

Lower HP

Slightly weaker ability protection

More reliable basic attack damage

Less extreme third-hit burst

That gives him a much cleaner role:

A 4-Elixir control-oriented Champion who rewards timing, positioning and interaction knowledge.

That's a much healthier identity than simply making him a 5-Elixir card that does a little bit of everything.

And importantly, the player using Monk well should still feel a meaningful difference from the player using him poorly.

That part should stay.

Final Proposal

Monk — Control Rework

Elixir: 4

HP: −3%

Hit Speed: 1.0s

Normal Damage: 323 at Level 16

Third Hit: ×2

Pensive Protection: 60% Damage Reduction

Ability: Single-use under the current Champion system.

The point of this rework isn't to make Monk overpowered.

It's to make him worth choosing again.

A 4-Elixir Monk with lower attack speed, slightly lower HP, weaker ability protection, and a less explosive third hit should be much easier to balance than simply giving the current 5-Elixir Monk another small buff.

And the identity becomes clearer:

less raw stat-checking, more control, more consistency, and more skill expression.

That's the direction I'd like to see Supercell explore.

My idea to rework the monk as a mortar player.