Level 40 monk needs gear advice

[Ael]

Just started p1999 a few months ago with a monk. I have about 3k saved up but not sure what to do with it: upgrade weapons? Wt reduction bags, gear, big purchase or a few small ones and keep saving etc.. I do a pretty even mixture of grouping and soloing so am mainly hoping for a nice well rounded gear lineup. I was thinking about an exeuctioners hood to get my dex up there which would help with the weapon procs, but im also a little wondering if i should just go for a 1hb upgrade since 8/20 seems pretty paltry. I love those procs though! I seem to survive tougher battles when using the big heavy stick is im soloing. If im really strict about keeping my weight down to 14, the 2 trance sticks seem to do pretty well, but i find that to be extremely difficult to do while trying to save up some money. Any advice from you monk pros out there? Heres my profile. Some graphical errors but the items are listed correctly. Thanks!

(Hopefully this link works)


https://wiki.project1999.com/Magelo_Blue:Sluggs

[Caiu]

Peacebringer is the next logical upgrade for your 2h. It's around the 40's that dual wield really starts to shine. 1 handed weapons will slowly creep up to and the exceed the dps that you've been enjoying with 2h. Only thing I can think of offhand in your budget would be two Jade Maces.

Another thing to think about is your first Tinkerer's Bag. One of these will allow you to carry fine steel and things of that nature without inhibiting your combat prowess. You will be able to sell more loot per trip to a merchant.

Also at level 40 you can carry 16.9 stone without suffering combat penalties. Unsure why you are keeping it at 14 :P

[EQBallzz]

If you are using Wu's Quivering and staying under weight..Peacebringer should be fine as it's only 1 more weight. That will probably be your best DPS. Another nice option is a Jade Mace and SoS in OH. Jade Mace is fairly cheap and I have seen SoS selling as low as 3k. That's what I used until I got a Tstaff and the combined weight is less than either 2h weapon. If you get epic the SoS works great in OH with epic as well. Like Caiu mentioned..I would put a Tink bag high on the priority list also. You might want to swap one of your Lionhide bags with a Shralok pack since Shralok can hold giant items..at least until you can get a Tink bag.

Looks like you are wearing wu's armor. You should head over to Dalnir and farm yourself a set of Crescent armor. It's no drop so you won't find it in EC. It's not as good as Black Pantherskin but it's better than wu's and it's very light like wu's. I wore that Crescent armor a long time. Went straight from that to Thurgadin/Skyshrine quest armor because I liked how light it was and I didn't want to spend the plat on a set of BPS. I think the money is better spent on weapons, tink bag and haste (SCHW is a relatively cheap and decent option until you find better or get epic).

[Ael]

Thanks a bunch for the replies. Indeed that Peacebringer is looking pretty tasty and i can afford it now as well. So im thinking go for that and then start saving up for a tink bag. It'll be fun to see those 2hb numbers go up as well :)

No actually i DID think the AC penalty kicked in above 14. Thanks for letting me know! I wont stress about the extra weight quite so much now. Lol

Will do my best to try to get a group brave enough to go to dalnir with me, or maybe a high level guildie. I did make the trip there once but our poor enchanter got wiped out right at the beginning. :( The rest of us did make it through the dungeon (one way in!) but only the gloves and the arms dropped, which are sitting in the bank. They seem like pretty disappointing pieces compared to what i have, esp in terms of AC. My current sleeves and gloves are 12 and 8 ac respectively. (Azure sleeves and treant fists) From what ive read, AC trumps stats on p99. Would this apply to monks as well?

Anyhoo, i would LOVE to get the crescent tunic and legs so ill set that as one of my next goals. Any other suggestions on farming or questing for gear id be love to hear as well. I've got an EE bag in lower guk on my list too. Ive had to do things the old fashioned way for the most part, which has been a lot of fun and can feel extremely rewarding, but ive also got some hard earned plat i want to put to good use as well.

Thanks for the tips! Keep em coming if you think of anything else :)

[Caiu]

In order of importance for a monk I'd say HP - Resists - AC/Stats when looking at an item. Dalnir would be a little rough at 40 solo.

More concrete numbers for you. Velious era is very generous with your weight limitations at the top end.
https://wiki.project1999.com/Monk#Weight_Penalty_Guide

[jolanar]

I'd save for a Peacebringer and SCHW. Both of those will last until your epic. After that save money until you have 1 large soiled bag and 2 tinkerers bags.

[EQBallzz]

You should be able to solo Dalnir pretty soon. It's been a while but I did solo in there to get my Crescent Armor and the Monk Shackle quest pieces but forget the exact level I was. I'm pretty sure I was around 40 or low 40's. It wasn't easy because of all the casters and harm touches (avoid the coerced SKs if possible) but it can be done if you are careful. I think most of the mobs that drop the armor are high 20's/low 30's. Bring lots of bandages and have your BW/mend skills up. ;) It is a bit more of a pain as a human since you can't bind in Cab so the run back is a bit more daunting.

I wouldn't even bother with an EE bag. It's great for other classes but that bag itself weighs 3 so before you even put anything in the bag it's weighing you down. IMO don't use any bag that weighs over 1. Lionhide/Shralok bags are only .4 and Tink bag/Large Soiled bag only weigh 1. Stick to the light bags or it's counterproductive.

Another trick that I was late in adopting but wish I had done sooner was stop carrying around coin. I used to carry 60p or so for ports or whatever but even with that it adds unnecessary weight. Buy a stack (or half a stack) of Opals and use those to pay people for ports. 2 Opals = roughly 35p and weighs almost nothing. This allows you to hold onto more incidental plat/gold when playing since you are starting at 0 coins. Just make sure to hit the bank regularly to unload it. Always delete silver/copper if you are pulling/getting hit.

As for stat importance I would actually put resists over HP. If you plan to do any soloing or pulling for groups that will be the absolute most important thing..especially MR. Your avoidance will help with melee attacks but spells will shred you and getting rooted on a pull is not fun. Try to get into Droga to camp an Earring of Essence. Great monk item (30 HP + 10MR). Droga is also great XP until about 46. I also traded in my AC/HP rings for 14MR Jacinth rings and don't regret it. I don't have the most elite gear but feel free to click the name in my sig to see my gear for possible ideas.

TLDR version: Keep your weight under penalty. Get resists up ASAP. Get good weapons and haste. Get that epic.

[Varren]

I would actually recommend an imbued fighters staff instead of the peacebringer. Pb will get you a tad more dps, but ifs will give you higher ripostes if youre tanking and weighs a lot less.

Also, good job getting treant fists. Dont see many of those around.

[EQBallzz]

I had an IFS before Tstaff and I hated it. It's just too damn slow IMO (especially if you don't have good worn haste). I had much better results using a JM/SoS than IFS but I know some like the IFS.

[Trazic]

IFS weighs less than half of peacebringer, you take less riposte damage while soloing/tanking, and you take less DS damage as well. I can't see picking peacebringer unless you REALLY hate that +1 second delay.

[Spyder73]

The number one thing you need to buy is haste. I think FBSS is probably the cheapest option. This should be priority #1 without question. After that get a Peacebringer and that will last you until Epic. When you get epic sell the PB and buy a SoS.

Do not worry about your weight when leveling up, its essentially 100% meaningless because AC is broken on P99 anyways. The money you can get from selling/looting far out weights the AC penalty.

Tinker bags are great, but they are a luxury item that should wait until you are level 60. Completing your epic will not be free, very likely you can farm the KC pipe on your own if you group in hands while leveling, but chances are you will have to buy the Chardok pipe. I am not sure what the status of Chardok is these days with the Proxy nerf, but typically monks need to buy this items for 2-5k. So if you want to do your epic realize you will need some funds. Even the Headbands and Belts are a pain in the ass to complete, im pretty sure I bought my purple headband for like 2k and then did the Qeynos side myself. So don't just blow all your money, keep in mind the cost of the Epic.

But I cannot stress haste enough, this will increase your DPS more than anything else. At 46 join a guild that runs Plane of Sky and get the free no-drop haste belt and you can sell the FBSS off for funds. Peace bringer and FBSS should be your immediate focus.

[Caiu]

Misses on something that high of a delay really screw you. I avoid high delay like the plague unless i'm soloing something with a DS and it's worked out so far. Also he has a swiftclaw sash so haste isn't as huge a priority as you seem to be stressing, wutang. Your weight is meaningless pre-50 thing hasn't been true for awhile either.

[Trazic]

As a person who recently leveled a monk alt from 1-43, let me tell you that you take a shit ton of damage from DS in basically every zone that is worth going to. If you can do the same dps with a higher delay weapon, you should.

[EQBallzz]

I think the DS argument is sound but it applies to all 2h weapons. The PB should be fine for taking decreased dmg from DS as well. Sure, the slow as molasses IFS will be better for DS but at what cost?

I actually tested out the IFS against JM/SoS in SolA against clockworks with DS and my time to kill was so much faster with JM/SoS that I had significantly more health using DW than the IFS. That is sad considering you take a lot more dmg from DS using dual wield. I think on longer fights the high dmg of the IFS and reduced DS dmg would work in it's favor but on most fights (read short duration) it's just too streaky and misses totally tank your time to kill. Not to mention I wouldn't select a weapon solely based on a small subset of mobs (mobs with DS).

I agree with the haste and weapons as being top priority but I wouldn't disregard weight. If you don't blow money on armor you should be able to afford 1 Tink bag without too much effort (this is why I used Crescent Armor). You already have some haste but I might upgrade to Silver Chitin Handwraps if you can. Better haste than what you have, they are much cheaper than FBSS and have more stats plus resists (downside is they will be useless if you still have them when you get epic but you can always sell them). I think you can get them for 2-2.5k so their price is pretty low atm.

As someone who completed their epic fairly recently without MQ'ing any of it I can tell you that there is absolutely no need to MQ any part of the monk epic. As a human you can do the headband/sash quests no problem. As an Iksar I had to roll a human monk and complete them and then pass the completed sash/headband to my Iksar.

At the appropriate level just get into as many hands groups as you can (it's a perfect place to level anyway) and you will get the KC pipe eventually (maybe even get lucky with a Tstaff like I did ;). Chardok is a bit trickier because you need to form your own group but otherwise is completely doable. It's fantastic XP (rivals if not surpasses Seb IMO) and you can even get a SoS of your own in that camp. I already had a SoS but got a second one to sell and got my money back. It's a solid XP camp and isn't nearly as camped/busy as other places at that level. It took me 3 different XP sessions of a few hours or so each time before I got my pipe.

If you have a group/guild that you play with it shouldn't be tough to convince some to go XP in Chardok. Gems, spells, a few items that drop (got a Sarnak Battle Shield there as well) and great XP. Soooo...don't feed the MQ'ers!

Since it looks like you are in BHP you can start coming to Sky on Saturdays once you get a buffer into 46 and probably get that monk haste belt..we all have them so they are mostly rotting now..can also get the Gwan kill when ready.

[Troxx]

I have both IFS and Tstaff.

Those two are shockingly close in terms of melee dps output (ignoring proc). Epic/AdaClub are consistently about 5-7% better dps than Tstaff ignoring procs and without using the unequip offhand hit trick.

IFS is a very good weapon. I'd take it over a peacebringer any day after all damage caps are lifted. People tend to focus on isolated moments in time where a streak of bad luck made it seem bad. For every such instance you'll get another fight where Lady Luck is on your side and you demolish a target insanely fast.

[Victorio]

Do not worry about your weight when leveling up, its essentially 100% meaningless because AC is broken on P99 anyways.
This is such bullshit it's funny. AC is super effective on P99 ever since Velious was released.

OP should replace his gorilla hide mask (3ac 2str 3 agi 0.9 wt) with a Targishin's bone mask (12ac 0.0 wt).

[Ael]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I think I will look into either an IFS or Peacebringer and the targashin mask looks really good too. I think that will be a fun upgrade as well, more exciting than a Tink bag. I am overweight at 19 with the quivering staff but I seem to be able to take on tougher mobs with it (and survive) compared to dual wielding with the trance sticks, so I guess I'll be doing it up 2hb style for a bit longer but will be fun to see some big numbers. :)

I do notice weight starting to make a difference but only if I start getting up to 30 or 40 weight, which I often do. I really like the resists on the SCHW, but as someone noted, I do have a little bit of haste already with the swiftclaw sash. If I got the SCHW would that stack with the SS haste? If so, that would be amazing. Anyways, I've been traveling so haven't been online much but look forward to coming home and getting some upgrades! Thanks again for all ya'lls input

[Razaz]

Worn haste will not stack, the higher percentage will be applied.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Haste_Guide

[Ael]

Good to know. I guess I better start saving up for the SCHW as well then. Or maybe I'll invest in some of the cheaper MR options listed for now. Beefing up MRs make a lot of sense. When does dual wield start to get better than 1hb? Should I consider 2 jade maces instead? Would love to go to POS as soon as I'm big enough! Been killing Giants in rathe trying lately and the xp is very slow, but the money is decent. Will probably hit lower guk next and start grinding some xp. Anyways I'll be back playing next week, so feel free to gimme a holler in game. My name is sluggs.