Monk Soloing

[medievalerror]

So I decided to roll a monk. I managed to buy him a full suit of Wu's, Iksar Scaled Gloves, Sarnak Hide Mask and Cane of Tranquility x2. I hear an awful lot of folks say that monks solo really well. I am wondering, is it Feign Death in combination with their DPS that allows them this? Any suggestions/tips for soloing as a monk? (I play an Iksar, BTW).

[muttonchops]

1. Get a pair of Jboots or SoW pots. Jboots + Instill Doubt = decent soloing.
2. Get a wt. reduction bag and fill it w/ bandages before heading out to solo.
3. AC>stats
4. Sneak + FD to lose aggro
*5. If possible, duo with a Shaman. It will decrease downtime by a lot and you can split loot with them gating out to sell and you holding camp.

[eqravenprince]

Feign Death is the primary reason Monks are decent soloers. It allows single pulling, not dieing a bad situation, and going places some classes cannot go. Mend is nice and it certainly helps, I save it for when I drop below 20% health and think I can still win the fight.

Tips for soloing (assuming Feign Death, Sneak, and Mend are over 100)

1. Learn how to split pull - feign death + sneak. Assuming you pulled two mobs, pull back feign death and sneak. When one mob walks back, stand up and attack the other one with a Shuriken. Having a ranged weapon like Shuriken helps with avoiding extra damage.

2. Save mend for when you need it to overcome a tough fight.

3. My favorite tip - mobs go into what I can bloodlust when you drop below 20% health where they will not flee even if they are below 20% health. However, if you feign death, they will start fleeing if they are below 20% health and will not keep attacking you when you stand back up. I win a LOT of close fights by waiting until mob gets below 20% health and feign death, they flee, and I kill. This can be a risky thing especially if FD fails, but rarely does it fail, and when it does, I still survive the next round of hits until FD refreshes.

4. AC is king, and HP is queen. I wouldn't worry about the other stats.

5. Get some summoned bags from a magician or shaman, you can save them for the next day if you duel someone before logging. They will be on your corpse the next day.

6. Get Wu's Quivering Staff for maybe 500pp - it will be better than 2 Cane of the Tranquil from level 20-60.

[Estu]

6. Get Wu's Quivering Staff for maybe 500pp - it will be better than 2 Cane of the Tranquil from level 20-60.

What about two trance sticks?

[Raavak]

I think Wu's Quivering Staff is the best you can use up until 50 when T-staff takes over. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Phased]

Trance sticks are decent once they proc starting at level 35. But Jade Mace/Knuckle Dusters will be better if you have the cash.

Wu's quivering once you hit 20 is the most bang for your buck until your damage bonus starts increasing.

[eqravenprince]

Trance sticks are decent once they proc starting at level 35. But Jade Mace/Knuckle Dusters will be better if you have the cash.

Wu's quivering once you hit 20 is the most bang for your buck until your damage bonus starts increasing.

Wu's Quivering Staff is higher dps than Jade Mace and Knuckle Dusters from levels 20-60, at least according to 2 dps calculators I've checked. I haven't actually logged it in game to verify though.

Edit.. But I do agree Jade Mace and Knuckle Dusters are great 1hb weapons and can be bought for around 5k for both I think.

[eqravenprince]

I think Wu's Quivering Staff is the best you can use up until 50 when T-staff takes over. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Tstaff is the best weapon as far as I know. If you can afford one at level 20, it is definitely better than Wu's Quivering Staff.

[travatron]

Sure, but you're talking 50K+ or 300-400 plat.

[eqravenprince]

Sure, but you're talking 50K+ or 300-400 plat.

I realize that... Raavak's post made it sound like Wu's Quivering Staff was better until 50 when Tstaff was better. There is no point where Wu's is better than a Tstaff is all I was trying to say.

[Raavak]

Yah, I was thinking maybe only the tstaff is better once it starts proc'ing. I didn't know.

[touchtonedialing]

I think Wu's Quivering Staff is the best you can use up until 50 when T-staff takes over. Correct me if I'm wrong.

RFS, IFS, Peacebringer are all higher dps but you cant beat the bang for your buck you get from the quivering staff.

[Silentone]

monks solo well if you have gear, if you dont they are an ok solo class as opposed to other classes that straight out cant solo. From what I have seen you list as your gear you may be better off in a duo or trio. Just a thought.

[Flash]

How far will my current equipment get me level-wise?

Master Wu's Trance Stick x2.
Full suit of Wu's Fighting Armor.
Diamondine Earring x2.
Platinum Fire Wedding Ring x2.

[touchtonedialing]

How far will my current equipment get me level-wise?

Master Wu's Trance Stick x2.
Full suit of Wu's Fighting Armor.
Diamondine Earring x2.
Platinum Fire Wedding Ring x2.

You will only be able to get 36% into level 41.

[eqravenprince]

How far will my current equipment get me level-wise?

Master Wu's Trance Stick x2.
Full suit of Wu's Fighting Armor.
Diamondine Earring x2.
Platinum Fire Wedding Ring x2.

That's pretty good equipment. There is no reason you can't take that all the way to level 60. In the meantime, you can look for minor replacements for Wu's armor with better AC fairly cheaply and still keep the weight down.

Here are examples of replacements for Wu's fairly cheap:
Arms - Azure Sleeves 12AC vs 5AC
Head - Fine Silk Turban 10AC vs 5AC
Face - Sarnak Hide Mask 6AC vs 3AC
Wrist - Symbol of Loyalty to Vox 7AC vs 4AC
Neck - Collar of Undead Protection 5AC vs 4AC
Chest - Foreman Tunic/Syythrak Hide vest 10AC vs 9AC

That's an improvement of 20AC, which turns out to be more as you level because you get more AC than what shows.

[Flash]

That's pretty good equipment. There is no reason you can't take that all the way to level 60. In the meantime, you can look for minor replacements for Wu's armor with better AC fairly cheaply and still keep the weight down.

Here are examples of replacements for Wu's fairly cheap:
Arms - Azure Sleeves 12AC vs 5AC
Head - Fine Silk Turban 10AC vs 5AC
Face - Sarnak Hide Mask 6AC vs 3AC
Wrist - Symbol of Loyalty to Vox 7AC vs 4AC
Neck - Collar of Undead Protection 5AC vs 4AC
Chest - Foreman Tunic/Syythrak Hide vest 10AC vs 9AC

That's an improvement of 20AC, which turns out to be more as you level because you get more AC than what shows.

What about my STR/DEX/STA/AGI?

[eqravenprince]

What about my STR/DEX/STA/AGI?

Those make such minor difference, I don't even pay attention to those. Just playing around with various dps parsers, you could have 200 str/dex and it might allow you to do 1-4% more damage over 100 str/dex. But every bit of AC and HP helps your surviveability significantly more in my opinion.

[Flash]

Well, I don't plan to raid until Velious, so hopefully the Shiverback armor from plane of fear will be good enough at 60...right?

[Bruman]

Well, I don't plan to raid until Velious, so hopefully the Shiverback armor from plane of fear will be good enough at 60...right?

Get Crescent legs from Dalnir. Better than Shiverback.

The only really good piece from Shiverback is arms and feet. Chest is good for a DPS set.

Also, eqravenprince, in my experience AC hasn't done much. I've heard many many people state that it's just flat out worthless.

Here's my stance on gear:

For DPS: get +str gear. Duh. Pretty obvious.
For pulling: get +resist gear, MR being the most important. HP is also good as well.

Overall though, gear isn't that important in this game. For melee, all that really matters is your weapons and your haste item. For pulling, levels do much more than resist gear, but a good set of resist gear makes a noticeable impact. If you're solo'ing, a fungi tunic will help a lot, especially for downtime.

At the end of the day, buffs make a much, much bigger difference than anything else (again, except for melee weapons and haste item).

[Flash]

Well I hope to make Master Wu's Trance Sticks last into the 40s or 50s. I expect this weapon to kick some major butt once I hit lv35 and can proc.

[Bruman]

Well I hope to make Master Wu's Trance Sticks last into the 40s or 50s. I expect this weapon to kick some major butt once I hit lv35 and can proc.

Just have that "FD off aggro" macro ready =P

[eqravenprince]

Also, eqravenprince, in my experience AC hasn't done much. I've heard many many people state that it's just flat out worthless.


AC has diminishing returns at some point, especially in a group where you are getting AC buffs. I solo 95% of the time and I can say 100% without a doubt that AC makes a difference and +str, +mr is barely noticeable. You have to have pretty high MR to resist consistently. I simply don't fight casters, they are a pain in the ass.

I've experimented with AC a few months ago. I picked a blue con mob out and let him damage me while nakid, half my armor, and full armor. Timed how long it took to go from 50% health to under 20%. The biggest return was nakid to half, but there was still a noticeable improvement putting on the full outfit. If you have done the same and have had different results, then maybe I'll do it again just to prove my first experiment wasn't a fluke. Maybe I'll do it again and post my results here.

[Flash]

How useful would FBSS be on a Monk?

[eqravenprince]

How useful would FBSS be on a Monk?

It increases the rate you do damage. Very useful, almost as useful as the weapons you swing.

[Flash]

It increases the rate you do damage. Very useful, almost as useful as the weapons you swing.

Well I changed my equipment a little bit. Instead of Wu's cloak and sash, now I have a FBSS and a Hierophant's cloak. How am I doing now equipment-wise?

[Reptak]

In order of priority:

Haste (by far the most important - nothing has a greater impact on dps)
HP/AC/Resists (situationally interchangeagle)
Raw attack (not many items give this - gobbie earing/epic and spells)
Str (this has more of an impact on dps that people think)
Sta (especially if pulling/tanking - hardest to raise)
Dex (for proc'ing)
Agi (maginal AC return - and not the same as worn AC)


Weight penalty (the amount of AC you lose per stone over weight) gets much hasher as you level. Don't be too concerned < level 20. (loot whatever you can). The limiit goes up when you reach certain milestones (55, 60). The client on P99 is bugged, so don't believe what it says, but use it as a guideline. For example, at 60 the client doesn't show any AC loss until I hit 25 stones, this is not correct. The sever actually does the AC calculations and lowers it once you get over 22 stones. There is a general concensus that AC doesn't work as well on P99 as live, however I firmly believe this is overstated. I see a noticable difference in tanking when I am over limit.

The wu's quivering is definately the best bang for the buck at lower lvls. I would say focus on ratio only in lower levels. Take procs into consideration, but they are inconsistent. As you get higher lvl, the damage bonnus on main hand will require you to consider using a faster weapon in mainhand over ratio. Offhand is always about ratio. T-staff is pretty golden and a lot of fun, but expensive. It will be your "go to" weapon later, especially for raids. Also keep in mind the damage cap on lower levels. An IFS in the hands of a lvl 10 is a waste.

Two one-handers have a lot more push than a 2hb. Keep this in mind for casters.

I think Bruman said only good piecesmof Shiver are the arms and feet. I would also say that the hands are awesome until epic and you need the wrists too. We have crappy choices for wrists (especially Iksar) and you will need the resists.

Learn to sneak pull and body agro.

EVADE MACRO
/pause 5, /attack off
/do ability x (x being the FD ability)
/do ability y (y being the sneak ability - more effective on mobs over level 35)
/stand
/attack on

Keep in mind that the /pause, even though it is in the beginning of the line, actually happens at the end. You can throw in a disarm ability if you want to raise it. Just leave out the /attack on. I highly recommend using the half-second pause. I also think adding the sneak in will VASTLY increase the chances of full memory wipe and not just the instant agro loss from FDing. The biggest thing about this macro is while it will work when you have agro, you should actually be mashing it all through the fight BEFORE you get agro. I don't see enough monks doing this.

That's all for now. Enjoy the class. IMHO it's the most fun in EQ!

[Bruman]

AC has diminishing returns at some point, especially in a group where you are getting AC buffs. I solo 95% of the time and I can say 100% without a doubt that AC makes a difference and +str, +mr is barely noticeable. You have to have pretty high MR to resist consistently. I simply don't fight casters, they are a pain in the ass.

I've experimented with AC a few months ago. I picked a blue con mob out and let him damage me while nakid, half my armor, and full armor. Timed how long it took to go from 50% health to under 20%. The biggest return was nakid to half, but there was still a noticeable improvement putting on the full outfit. If you have done the same and have had different results, then maybe I'll do it again just to prove my first experiment wasn't a fluke. Maybe I'll do it again and post my results here.

Granted, I never solo. I'm always in a group, so my concerns are just what matters most when splitting / pulling. MR is king in that regards, as root / stun is what will kill you more than anything.

As for your experiment, it'd really depend on the gear itself. If any of it was hp/sta gear, then of course it'd take longer to kill you. What you need to check as a true test is how much a mob hits you for as your AC level changes.

Kinda surprised noone has done it yet hehe. Or maybe they have, and just haven't been public with the results.

[eqravenprince]

Granted, I never solo. I'm always in a group, so my concerns are just what matters most when splitting / pulling. MR is king in that regards, as root / stun is what will kill you more than anything.

As for your experiment, it'd really depend on the gear itself. If any of it was hp/sta gear, then of course it'd take longer to kill you. What you need to check as a true test is how much a mob hits you for as your AC level changes.

Kinda surprised noone has done it yet hehe. Or maybe they have, and just haven't been public with the results.

I started to do this yesterday. Went Nakid, and added up all the slash hits from a freeport guard. Then I did it with all my armor. To be honest, the first 30 hits, nakid I actually took less damage. I was quite shocked. But it's a small subset, when I have more time, I'll try to get a large set of results to confirm. So you may be right on AC. I'll eat crow, I've done it before =).

[Flash]

Yeah, people have said that AC is largely irrelevent on this server, but nobody is providing any numbers to support or refute it.

[Justinuti]

We should throw in monk solo spots in this thread as well.

Im 34 monk, and exp is flying killing HHK guards, they each drop a sword that sells for 5pp as well to the erudite merchant on the first floor. Almost unbeatable to level here 30-40 or so with how convenient the bank and merchants are. Will ride this place out as long as possible.

[medievalerror]

Could someone tell me WTF a "stone" is? I know it is in reference to your weight limit, but what exactly is it? Thanks.

[Bruman]

Could someone tell me WTF a "stone" is? I know it is in reference to your weight limit, but what exactly is it? Thanks.

It's not a reference to your weight, it is your weight. 1 stone = 1 weight. It's just another word for the same thing.

[adam9242]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_(unit)

[medievalerror]

Thanks! Sounds like I'll be working on getting weight-reducing bags and a Tstaff once I have the plat!

[Bruman]

Thanks! Sounds like I'll be working on getting weight-reducing bags and a Tstaff once I have the plat!

Evil eye bag is good for starting out monks, and a Large Soiled Bag is just perfect. If you camp in SolB you can probably get one that's rotting, or buy it for 1k. Perfect for your food, bandages, and throwing stars.

Of course after that, it's tinker's bags!

[Arillious]

Monks can solo better than any other melee class, but they do much better in groups, either as dps or tank.

[h0tr0d (shaere)]

If you need cash do gargs in oot (slow I know). I soloed lvls 21-24? there, feign the skels onto the gargs, kill damaged gargs. That was pure solo, no buffs no help just an option.

[LiQuid]

There a list of good solo spots by level? Playing off hours it's kinda hard to get in groups at times.

[easy_lee]

FD will fail a lot at the early levels, but the trick is to cancel attack before using FD. If you use FD before you turn auto attack off, it'll fail almost every time.

[easy_lee]

Monks can solo better than any other melee class, but they do much better in groups, either as dps or tank.

Except bards, aoe kiting on my bard I can take down a 12 pack of yellows/low reds at the same time.

[Huggz]

You are completely over analyzing this whole re-roll thing. When I leveled my monk in vanilla, I was practically naked for 35 levels. Wore mesh for like 30 levels, finally got a box of Abu Kar and a Tinker's, never swung a single weapon, and still kicked ass.



Man up son and figure it out!

And like everyone has said, ignore anything but your top three stats: AC/HP/DMG