How effective are Monks

[Lazerface]

Depends on how you wield the weapon, but this all depends on a lot of stuff that almost no FF takes into account. Persona uses physical damage types, and so does ff11. It also depends on weapon weight of course. Heavy piercing weapons should have armor piercing capabilities, while something like a dagger probably shouldn't.

Never forget about guns. They can do the most penetrating damage. Especially if they're mid caliber weapons that are of armor piercing nature and have steel cores like the 7.62x54 usually used in the Mosin Nagant. And then you HMG calibers like the .50 cal, 14mm, and 20mm. But after that it'd be an anti tank rifle or a freaking cannon.