Starting a iksar monk

[Wickedbane]

Hi guys,

Was thinking about starting a iksar monk and only lvling on kunark.

Any suggestions on starting weapons? Only got about 500p ATM.
Suggestions on stats?
Which noob area to start at FoB, LOIO, Swamp or warslik?
Any quests to pick up?
Good areas to explore at lvls 10-20+
Any areas I should stear clear of because of faction hits?

Any advice would be awesome.

[Phantasm]

What I did as an iksar monk:
Field of Bone -> Kurn's Tower(ASAP) -> Lake of Ill Omen -> The Overthere -> City of Mist/Dreadlands -> Karnor's Castle/Howling Stones/Old Sebilis.

I advise STA as your starting stat allocation. You can monk at any price range, get +hp items, haste, and decent weapons and youll be set. They dont have to be amazing, get something like a Wu's Quivering Staff (2hb).

Not many quests i went out of my way to do but they provide you with lore l, starting funds and experience so nothing wrong with doing them.

I dont recommend going to Droga/Nurga as they just cast too damn much. Same goes for Kaesora, though not as many.

[Ravager]

Here's how to spend 500p on your monk (including what you should pay):

Wu's Quivering Staff 75p
Jaded Golden Bracelet x2 60p
Golden Fire Wedding Ring x2 220p
Robe of Living Fungus 100p
Essence of Dol 25p (for low weight 1hb skillups)

You can get to 50 no problem with only that gear and by then you'd fill out your other slots and probably get some upgrades besides. Iksar monk is easy mode.

As far as faction worries, don't worry about it. Everyone hates Iksars, so you've got a ton of exp options. Sneak for bank and vendoring, Gypsies are your friends.

[Wickedbane]

Thanks for the great info.

As I lvl should I really worry about the weight limit?

[RDawg816]

It only matters if you're getting hit.... :p

[Ravager]

I've leveled a few monks, even untwinked I didn't worry about the weight limit too much as far as gear goes. The DPS of Wu's staff more than makes up for its 10 weight, plus with Iksar regen/ac bonus it won't hinder you too much. Just try to keep it under 30 and as you level it'll get easier and easier. All other slots are pretty easy to keep light and as soon as you can afford a tink bag, you're golden. By 40's you should have no problem keeping under the weight limit, and that's when it will start to matter more.

Mostly, the thing that will get you with weight is coin. It's good to know where all of the gem vendors are so that you can lighten your load but not need to destroy your money.

[mev]

See the guide in my signature for general monk advice.

The advice in this thread so far is good
- Stamina in character select,
- FoB -> Kurn's -> WW or LoIO -> FM or OT -> CoM,
- Ravager's list of items to buy (I did Wu's Trance Sticks instead of Essence of Dol, but to each their own)

Some stuff to add:
- I always kept under the weight limit, but I never parsed how much of an effect it had. I suspect that, as you're leveling, being at 30 weight and being at 80 weight might have the same effect on your AC, though.
- You can tailor cured silk armor for yourself by the time you're done with Field of Bone. The spiders in the pit drop a bunch of silk, so between that and random drops that you can sell to level up your brewing, you should be able to level up to tailor cured silk.
- You'll want to get magic boots and gloves (eg, Wu's boots and gloves) before you do City of Mist or you won't be able to kick things. Dalnir has some stuff that drops, but it's also a pain.

[Wickedbane]

For haste what would be better SCHWs or FBSS?

The haste percent is about the same. What would I give up by getting either or?

[Phantasm]

Lots of great gloves out there! Not too many options for belts though

[mev]

SCHW is cheaper, so that's a very reasonable thing to start with.

When you get your epic, epic gets your gloves slot, so you'll probably want to switch to an FBSS or Sky Belt, or something then.

[Ravager]

If you can afford it, FBSS will be better for you. Now that Stonebrunt is out, you could quest the 15% belt in that zone at level 30 for free, but I guess the heretic heads are rare drops and the belt is a rare reward, so saving plat for the belt might be more expedient. The gloves are cheaper, but for as fast as you're gonna level and as good as monk weapons are anyway, you'll get to your 40's and 50's where better haste is easier to get fast enough where you may as well just spend the plat on a tink bag. If you get in a guild that does sky, you can get rotting 21% haste belt for free at level 46.

[titanshub]

For me weight wasn't a huge issue until 50+.

That being said you always need to keep an eye on the weight of the items you are equipping starting at level 1. However, most of the time my monk weighed 30lbs while fighting. At 50+ you may find it easier to reduce weight than to add item AC to get an edge.

I'll add that AC is only useful if you are getting hit and cant just FD out of it.

[mefdinkins]

Having a larger HP pool also increases how much mend heals for and allows you to bandage to hella high HP total.

[Wickedbane]

I got some decent armor and weapons and managed to get to lvl 23 so far. Should I save for haste or weight reduction bags?

[mev]

From a min/max perspective: haste, then weapons, then weight reduction and armor. That's assuming you already have a Wu's Quivering Staff and two Trance Sticks (or something better) -- otherwise, those should be your first purchases.

From a peace of mind perspective, being a monk is SO MUCH nicer and easier once you get a bunch of weight reduction. I have two tinks, a large soiled bag, and 4 lionhide bags, and I'm thinking about upgrading some of my lionhide bags to tinks and some of my tinks to dragon bags. I remember the days when I worried about what I looted and what I carried. Those days are largely gone, and it's wonderful.

So, both options are valid.

[Troxx]

At 57 my monk has never carried more than 3 bags: tiny 10 slot 100% from solb and 2 shralok packs. Turn your coin into gems, delete your copper/silver and don't pick up things that aren't worth the weight. One day I'll pick up some better bags but so far it hasn't been an issue.

I'm anal about staying at or below weight - it makes a big difference.

To buy in order as a starting monk:

-WQS
-5/55 rings
-magic boots
-cheap light weight armor (cured silk)
-save for haste

Once the basics are covered explore different weapons (AC/SOS/IFS/PB) , start acquiring resist jewelry.

Don't waste your money on anything else until this point. Save your pennies for the fungi you'll eventually be able to afford.

Monks can get a lot of stuff done with little investment thanks to AC bonus, avoidance, fd, bind wound, and mend.

[Vdub]

I went with strength as my main starting stats. I know a lot of people say that's dumb because you can easily max it with raid gear but I know I will never have uber raid gear. I wanted the extra damage but I guarantee you will never notice the difference either way.

[Lowako]

I went with strength as my main starting stats. I know a lot of people say that's dumb because you can easily max it with raid gear but I know I will never have uber raid gear. I wanted the extra damage but I guarantee you will never notice the difference either way.

You need 120 STR to cap with level 60 shaman buffs. Thats the big reason why most people don't put starting stats into STR. You can hit 120 STR very easily.

[Vdub]

You need 120 STR to cap with level 60 shaman buffs. Thats the big reason why most people don't put starting stats into STR. You can hit 120 STR very easily.

I fully understand that, I just don't really plan to raid so it was kinda whatever for me.

[Troxx]

I put full points into strength as well - no regrets. An extra 15-20 stamina even at 60 is not a big difference. Min/max? Of course ... but you spend an awful lot of time on this box not being 60, not having str/focus stack, and not having full raid gear.

[Wickedbane]

For most of the time I have been fighting warrior mobs such as skeletons from kurns tower and the explores in lake of ill omen. Do any of our combat skills interrupt casters?

[Vdub]

For most of the time I have been fighting warrior mobs such as skeletons from kurns tower and the explores in lake of ill omen. Do any of our combat skills interrupt casters?

We don't, but with fast weapons or epic fists later on you have a decent chance to interrupt with push.

[Wickedbane]

So best to switch to 1h when fighting a caster?

[Cwall 146.0]

20 points into stamina at level 60 is 80 hit points

that's pretty good

[Jimjam]

So best to switch to 1h when fighting a caster?

yeah, and if you are in a group make sure everyone is pushing from the same side to maximise distance pushed.

Note casters can't dodge attacks that are behind them, so you will land about 1/9th more hits if you can push them from the rear.