JAB has the lowest RT and grants the highest chance of getting a tier-up opportunity, but it also has the lowest DF and is much less likely to disable then the other three. Good for an opening shot to get a tier-up, but is unlikely to kill anything.

PUNCH has a higher DF then JAB and is more likely to cause disabling effects, but less powerful then GRAPPLE or KICK. Also has the second highest chance of granting a tier-up opportunity. PUNCH and GRAPPLE have the same RT, between that of JAB and KICK

GRAPPLE has an RT between those of JAB and KICK, provides a slightly lower chance of tier-up then PUNCH, and is more likely then the other three to disable your foe when successful. Its DF is slightly lowerer then PUNCH.

KICK has the highest RT and DF of the four. A fully tiered-up KICK will usually either kill or remove a limb unless the critter is higher level then you, but has the lowest chance of providing a chance to raise your tier.

More info can be found here: https://gswiki.play.net/Unarmed_combat_system

Starchitin

A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.

To clarify a bit: Ambushers don't need jab at all, since ambush produces a tier up automatically. I went with punch mastery because of the lesser RT compared to kick. Against foes at and around my own level, 2 attacks usually kills. For my ambushing rogue, it also helps that I have Shadow Mastery, Vanish and Asp. Monks, on the other hand, are usually attacking from the open, and hence end up using jab as their first attack, in order to tier up.

One other thing - KICK has the same death crit to the abdomen as PUNCH does to the head. This is particularly useful for short ambushers. They can go for the abdomen from hiding with a KICK at the cost of one second over PUNCH.

Correct.

Your starting position is 'decent' (it will say when you make the attack, that you have 'decent positioning'). If at any point one of your attacks sets you up for something better, it will tell you WHICH type of attack that creature is now vulnerable to.

If you do that kind of attack, you will be in 'good positioning'. If you do a different kind of attack, you will still be in 'decent' positioning.
Generally speaking, you are better off doing the better type of attack--even if it is of a less damaging type--because there are more advantageous critical results opened to you the higher you go.

If you are already in 'good' position against a target, and again get the 'opponent left open for <AttackX>', and you do that attack, then you will be getting the benefit of 'excellent positioning'.
This is the best that you can get.

.

I highly recommend:
https://gswiki.play.net/Flimbo%27s_Monk_Guide

>So, new to this UAC here. By Tier Up do you mean when it says something to the effect of , leaving your opponent open for a kick or whatnot? Also , when it says that, is it best to then do as it says for maximum damage or is it just preference? -Kreeva

Generally speaking, the premise is that you want to tier up to excellent positioning as quickly as possible so you've got the maximum opportunity for damage output. In practice you might find you spend a lot of time at good positioning and only sometimes tier up to excellent before something is dead. But you want to get out of decent to properly take advantage of more powerful grapples, punches, and kicks.

If you're an open UACer (not ambushing from hiding), the way to do that is to start with a jab (which has the greatest chance for tier up opportunities), see what you're prompted with (Strike leaves foe vulnerable to a followup punch attack!) and then use that attack next. If you land it, you'll be at the next tier, and have a higher ceiling on your crit rank for a given attack. It doesn't mean that next attack of that type is going to be particularly powerful in and of itself, just that landing an attack of that type will put you in a higher positioning tier.

If you're ambushing, you get an automatic tier up from a UCS attack from hiding, so choosing to just punch, for example, and ignore tier-up cues is more common.

The UCS article on the wiki is useful, if you're new to the system and want to read about how it works: https://gswiki.play.net/Unarmed_combat_system

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Walsor Gryhm says, "Hmm, a most impressive weapon of note. I'll give you 16 silver coins for it."
You think to yourself, "This deal is getting worse all the time."