D&D 5E 4-Element monks are the only monk archetype that excels against flying enemies

[Seramus]

Even if I was a 4E Monk, I would politely ask the wizard to cast Fly on me then go Stunning Strike the creature.

 

[Flamestrike]

Misty step is easy to get. At least two races (Gith and Eladrin, and High elves with a feat) get it, as do a lot of classes (I like vengeance paladins, and full casters, and nearly all of them get it).

Flight is possible via Tiefling and Aaracroka.

In fact my one and only Monk was a refluffed Aaracroka (fluffed to be a human). Not only do they have flight, but also the perfect stat array for monks. He had an ancient death curse (short lifespan) and had mastered the Fist of the Dragon technique (slashing damage claws). He wielded a Jian (shortsword) and looked exactly like Jet li.

So I could be doing this from 1st level:

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Even if I was a 4E Monk, I would politely ask the wizard to cast Fly on me then go Stunning Strike the creature.

All your ideas make a lot of assumptions about the game. I don't think any of those are guaranteed.

Flying races, buying magic items, and crafting them are very DM dependent. None of them exist in my world (though steel a magic item might). Some worlds don't even have magic items.

Asking the wizard to cast fly on you assumes 1) there is a wizard (or similar spellcaster), 2) the character has access to the fly spells, 3) he isn't concentrating on another spell, 4) he wants to cast fly, 5) he want to cast it on you (as opposed to some other character).

 

[jgsugden]

Monks in General: Levels 1 to 4: You hve access to a light crossbow and have a good dex bonus, usually. You may be better than a strength based fighter at ranged attacks.

Once you hit level 5 you need to switch to a short bow for your multi-attack, generally, but you're still doing 2d6+8 damage if you raised your dex at 4 and started at 16. A sneak attacking rogue is doing d8+3d6+4 - about 4 more on average. If you factor in how much damage is lost to overkill (damage dealt that exceeds hps of a monster), your two attacks at lower damage may inflict more effective damage during a combat. You'll fall behind a bit after this point, but you're also entering a point where you're likely to ind a magic item that will allow you to overcome your deficit, such as winged boots.

Even without an item to counteract, once you hit level 9, you will be able to effectively fly in some situations. Run up a wall, leap out, attack your foe with your unarmed strike as you fall past them and land without damage. This does not help you much in a truly open outside battle area, but you're not in that situation a lot in most campaigns.

Sun Soul: Built in 30' ranged attack.

Kensei: You get to be a pretty good archer.

Shadow: Your teleportation from your 6th level ability can often get you to aerial enemies.

Racial abilities: As mentioned, some races that make good monks, such as the aarakocra and variant humans, can give you options that make you better at ranged combat situations from level 1.

General approaches: If you find yourself in a campaign setting where you're constantly at war with flying creatures, you can do a little multi-classing, add a feat, or find some magic items that will assist with your plight.

I've played 3 5E monks. It was rare for me to not be able to get to a foe with them. In truth, my speed often allowed me to get to a foe when a barbarian, fighter, ranger or paladin focused on melee abilities had to wait one or two rounds to get to their targets.

 

[FarBeyondC]

If by "excels against flying enemies", you mean excel against creatures who fly by nonmagical means (because knocking a creature flying by magical means prone doesn't make them fall out of the sky) and can't hover, aren't immune to being knocked prone, and are unable to effectively fight outside of extended melee range (forcing them to be within the laughably small 30 ft range of these two abilities), then sure.

Otherwise, I'd take Kensei Shot / Deft Strike or Radiant Sun Bolt (which you can do a Flurry of Blows like effect with for up to 4 attacks from level 5 on - 2 as an action and 2 as a bonus action) or even Searing Sunburst (even if the damage is trash, it's a 150 ft range 20 ft radius damaging thing I can do at will) over Fist of Unbroken Air / Water Whip all day every day- at least for dealing with flying creatures.

 

[FarBeyondC]

All your ideas make a lot of assumptions about the game. I don't think any of those are guaranteed.

Flying races, buying magic items, and crafting them are very DM dependent. None of them exist in my world (though steel a magic item might). Some worlds don't even have magic items.

Asking the wizard to cast fly on you assumes 1) there is a wizard (or similar spellcaster), 2) the character has access to the fly spells, 3) he isn't concentrating on another spell, 4) he wants to cast fly, 5) he want to cast it on you (as opposed to some other character).

Do you know what's also not guaranteed? The ability to play as a monk, much less a Four Elements monk; I feel as though it's more common that you'll find games where monk is banned than games where you can't buy or craft magic items or find a caster able or willing to cast fly on you for what sounds like a good purpose (Proning a probably annoying flying creature the melee guys can't otherwise get to? Sure, I'd cast fly for that. It's a lot cheaper resource wise than say, Hold Monster.)

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

And I think this distinction is important. You didn't go into 4-Elements to be more effective at range than a spellcaster, you go into it to have the melee effectiveness and tankiness of a monk while having options in ranged and flying situations. Fullcasters are great but they don't have the natural tanky ability of a monk. Kensei is okay but a bow fighter may be better for pure damage (based on the number of attacks you get, I don't know for sure, though) and battlemaster would be more effective using a bow.

Pretty much this. 4e Monks should not be compared with full-casters or range-focused martials.
They are a melee-focused half-caster like a paladin.

Do you know what's also not guaranteed? The ability to play as a monk, much less a Four Elements monk; I feel as though it's more common that you'll find games where monk is banned than games where you can't buy or craft magic items or find a caster able or willing to cast fly on you for what sounds like a good purpose (Proning a probably annoying flying creature the melee guys can't otherwise get to? Sure, I'd cast fly for that. It's a lot cheaper resource wise than say, Hold Monster.)

From my own experience, I've not yet seen a game where the monk class was completely banned, but I have seen games where buying and crafting magic items was not an option.

 

[jgsugden]

...I feel as though it's more common that you'll find games where monk is banned than games where you can't buy or craft magic items or find a caster able or willing to cast fly on you for what sounds like a good purpose (Proning a probably annoying flying creature the melee guys can't otherwise get to? Sure, I'd cast fly for that. It's a lot cheaper resource wise than say, Hold Monster.)

I have never seen a game in which the monk class was banned. I've played for over 40 years with hundreds of DMs.

 

[Asisreo]

If by "excels against flying enemies", you mean excel against creatures who fly by nonmagical means (because knocking a creature flying by magical means prone doesn't make them fall out of the sky) and can't hover, aren't immune to being knocked prone, and are unable to effectively fight outside of extended melee range (forcing them to be within the laughably small 30 ft range of these two abilities), then sure.

Otherwise, I'd take Kensei Shot / Deft Strike or Radiant Sun Bolt (which you can do a Flurry of Blows like effect with for up to 4 attacks from level 5 on - 2 as an action and 2 as a bonus action) or even Searing Sunburst (even if the damage is trash, it's a 150 ft range 20 ft radius damaging thing I can do at will) over Fist of Unbroken Air / Water Whip all day every day- at least for dealing with flying creatures.

I don't think you're picking up what I'm putting down. None of these options actually do as good for your monk as proning and bringing a flying creature within range. Sun Soul doesn't get Sunburst until level 11 and it's pretty bad per-ki cost. Kensei is just being a monk with good range, that's fine but it doesn't exactly counter my point.

Knocking a creature out that's using a spell is possible with a 4-Element monk. It's called Clench of the North Wind and it automatically breaks concentration at range.

I'm curious, have you looked in the monster manual to check how many creatures fit that description? All dragons eventually get with 20ft of a character. A wyvern gets within 5 ft. Pegasus and Perytons as well. All flying beasts. Animated weapons. Etc. Check them out. Even if they have flyby, the monk can ready an action for when they get close.

 

[Asisreo]

Monks in General: Levels 1 to 4: You hve access to a light crossbow and have a good dex bonus, usually. You may be better than a strength based fighter at ranged attacks.

Once you hit level 5 you need to switch to a short bow for your multi-attack, generally, but you're still doing 2d6+8 damage if you raised your dex at 4 and started at 16. A sneak attacking rogue is doing d8+3d6+4 - about 4 more on average. If you factor in how much damage is lost to overkill (damage dealt that exceeds hps of a monster), your two attacks at lower damage may inflict more effective damage during a combat. You'll fall behind a bit after this point, but you're also entering a point where you're likely to ind a magic item that will allow you to overcome your deficit, such as winged boots.

Even without an item to counteract, once you hit level 9, you will be able to effectively fly in some situations. Run up a wall, leap out, attack your foe with your unarmed strike as you fall past them and land without damage. This does not help you much in a truly open outside battle area, but you're not in that situation a lot in most campaigns.

Sun Soul: Built in 30' ranged attack.

Kensei: You get to be a pretty good archer.

Shadow: Your teleportation from your 6th level ability can often get you to aerial enemies.

Racial abilities: As mentioned, some races that make good monks, such as the aarakocra and variant humans, can give you options that make you better at ranged combat situations from level 1.

General approaches: If you find yourself in a campaign setting where you're constantly at war with flying creatures, you can do a little multi-classing, add a feat, or find some magic items that will assist with your plight.

I've played 3 5E monks. It was rare for me to not be able to get to a foe with them. In truth, my speed often allowed me to get to a foe when a barbarian, fighter, ranger or paladin focused on melee abilities had to wait one or two rounds to get to their targets.

It isn't all about flying enemies. Of course, 4-E monks are the strongest subclass to bring your opponents into melee as opposed to relying on ranged, but there's also large AoE capabilities from a distance which lets you put up high damage against grouped characters as opposed to the single-target nature of a regular monk.

Like, I'm not so worried about the damage at range, as much as I am about the fact that your ranged capabilities will always be worse than your melee capabilities as a monk by design. You don't want to just reach your enemy, you want to bring them down.