Meviin's Monk Mechanics

Getting Started

Intro to This Guide

Monks are a highly technical class that I have enjoyed in my time on Project1999. On classic, I only had a low level monk, but on P99, I got Meviin to 60. This guide compiles many things that I have picked up over my time. You may find this useful if you want to know the many subtle tricks involved in playing a monk.

Some things in this guide are exploits of poorly designed EQ mechanics (in particular, free offhand with 2HB, sneak pulling, strafe running, jumping, FDing to trigger running, and power leveling). My understanding is that Project1999 was designed to emulate classic everquest, the design flaws and all. It also emulated other exploitable design flaws of classic EQ such as multiquesting, bard swarm kiting, Chardok AoE groups, clickies like Soulfire being usable from the inventory, etc. It also emulated other design flaws like resurrection timers running out when you're on a different character, bad XP bonuses when grouped, and hell levels. I believe that the server staff is aware of all of these mechanics, but if anyone can show to me that they are not aware or that something is not allowed, I will note that in this guide.

If anything is unclear or missing from this guide, let me know in the talk page, in a forum message, or in game.

Should I Play a Monk?

Monks are an active class. If you play a monk, then when you go AFK, your group isn't getting experience. If you aren't paying attention, you can wipe your group or yourself. If you don't know the zone well, you will pull trains and spend forever on pulls. If you want to be able to play EQ while only paying half attention, don't play a monk. If you want an active play style, a monk may be the choice for you.

Monks are the go-to pullers. If you don't like pulling, don't play a monk. If you like getting to be intimately familiar with every zone you play in, then a monk may be the choice for you.

Monks can also do good DPS, but monks can't tank as well as plate classes, crowd control, or provide other pieces of utility. If you want to have group roles other than DPS and pulling, don't play a monk. If you like those roles, a monk may be the choice for you.

Monks can travel through any zone (feign death is even more reliable than sneak/hide in some cases, though it's more annoying in general), can bank anywhere, and can sell anywhere. If you like being free to travel anywhere, a monk may be the choice for you.

Monks can usually get groups, and they can solo okay, but monks can't solo as well as a druid, shaman, mage, necro, enchanter, or bard. If you primarily want to solo, a monk might not be the class for you. If you want to group a lot and solo some, then a monk might be for you.

Monks are one of the most played classes on the server (along with shamans, bards, necros, and druids). If you want to play a more unique class (eg, for a better chance at raid drops), a monk may not be the class for you.

Monks don't get a self SoW (until JBoots or SoW pots) or ports (until OT hammer). If you like being able to travel around at a moment's notice, a monk may not be the class for you. If you are okay paying for a SoW or port, then monks may be okay for you.

Starting Points and Race

Iksar are better than Humans (better AC, better regen), but Iksar level 20% slower than humans. Once you get high enough level, it's also very easy to sell and bank in Freeport even as an Iksar, so faction doesn't matter. So, the min/max choice is Iksar, but either race is fine.

A level 60 shaman can buff you to max strength even with a poor starting strength, so the min/max choice for point allocation is stamina.

Pulling

NOTE: large parts of this section are no longer accurate as of this patch.

Strafe and Jump to Outrun Mobs Without SoW

I have my keys bound so that W and S go forward and back, A and D turn left and right, and Q and E strafe left and right. You can change your keys to suit your needs, though. Also, if you engage mouse look (eg, hold right click) and then try to turn (A or D in my configuration) it should strafe you.

When you are moving forward and strafing at the same time, you will move slightly faster than you would if you were just normally moving forward. This makes it less likely that mobs will hit you when you're running away, and if you're running a long distance, it can also save you some time.

Jumping also gives you a slight speed boost (though watch your stamina -- you can't jump when you're out). You can combine jumping and strafe running as well.

If your raid pulls too many mobs and you need to kite them around, strafe running in a circle (hold right click. Move forward and strafe to one side all the time. Slowly move your mouse so that you go in a circle) can keep the mobs occupied.

Sneak Pulling

If you sneak and a mob (including merchants, bankers, and guild masters) has its back turned to you, that mob will be indifferent to you.

If you aggro a mob by throwing a shuriken, javelin, or other throwing weapon at them, it will not aggro its friends if those friends have their backs turned to you and you are sneaking.

This means that if there is a camp with 10 mobs in it but all of them have their backs turned to you, you can easily single pull that camp.

It also means that if you pull 5 mobs and then feign death, sneak, and wait for the mobs to start pathing away from you, you can single pull the one at the back.

If your group wants you to pull two mobs and you have 5 mobs pathing back in a line, you can throw a shuriken at the second mob from the back, and it will aggro the two from the back.

Clearing Aggro

For mobs below level 35, if you feign death and stand up immediately, none of them will re-aggro you. For mobs level 35 or above, those mobs will usually re-aggro you immediately.

You can clear aggro on a mob in one of six ways:

If the mob is below level 35, it will automatically clear aggro when you FD.
If a mob goes back to its spawn point, it will clear its aggro. This doesn't work on mobs that wander around the zone all the time and don't have one point that they reset to.
If a mob has its back turned to you, and you successfully sneak while FDed, you will clear aggro when you stand up.
If you /quit while FDed, mobs will forget about you when you log back in.
FD has a chance (20%?) to clear aggro on each use, so repeatedly standing and FDing can clear aggro, though it's incredibly annoying to do.
If a mob cannot see invis and you invis right after standing up (eg, a Ring of Shadows click), it should clear aggro. This is how Necros and SKs clear aggro using a Circlet of Shadow. Since monks don't get infinite charge invis items, this isn't used much in practice, and I have not personally tested this (or whether an invis while FDed from a groupmate would work).

BEWARE: Many monks get cocky with using sneak to clear aggro. A successful sneak WILL NOT clear aggro if the mob is facing you. In high end raid situations, it is particularly important to be careful with this because a failure could wipe your raid. In zones like the Plane of Fear, if you aggro a train, you need to /q out after FDing. You can't assume that sneak worked.

Feign Death Breaks and Failures

If your attack is on when you Feign Death, your FD won't succeed.

If you get the "you have fallen" message, your FD has failed.

Taking area of effect damage will break your FD. This is of particular importance when dealing with raid mobs like dragons or the bee boss in the Plane of Sky. You need to run out of range before FDing.

If a mob starts casting a spell on you before you FD, and it finishes casting when you are down, your FD will break. This is NOT true for all spells. For instance, if a dispel lands on you when you are FDed, your buffs will be dispelled, but FD will not break. I haven't tested whether other non-damaging spells or whether spell resists also cause an FD break.

If your FD breaks due to taking spell damage, then all mobs that had you on their aggro list will re-aggro. However, if you FD and clear aggro before taking spell damage, only the mob that cast the spell on you will re-aggro. This isn't very useful at high levels because clearing aggro on mobs over level 35 takes time, but at low levels, it's extremely useful. It means that if you have a train of spell casters on you, you can FD and immediately stand, and only the mobs that were casting on you will re-aggro rather than everything re-aggroing. At high levels, you can either burn an invis charge, or you can get out of line of sight of the mobs and quickly FD, sneak, and stand up before the spells land.

What Throwing Weapons Should I Use?

Shurikens are the highest range purchaseable throwing weapon. I used these exclusively until I started raiding.

Once you start raiding (and even before if you have weight reduction), you'll want Forged Javelins. Forged Javelins are the highest range throwing weapon that is stackable and easily obtainable. It's easy and cheap (a couple hundred plat at most -- just follow one of the smithing guides) to get your blacksmithing skill high enough to make these yourself.

Antonian Javelins are more expensive, and only humans in Qeynos can craft them, but they have 50 more range than forged javelins, so some high end raiders use them.

Once you get a velious bracer (eg, Grand Master's Wrist Wraps, but the Kael, Skyshrine, and Plane of Growth ones have the same effect), you can summon Summoned: Shuriken of Quellious. At 100 range, they make pulling most targets pretty easy, so I use those for all non-raid targets.

Getting Help from Groupmates

When you're pulling, it takes mental energy to make sure that you are only bringing one mob. Also, if you're pulling around corners and such, it might be difficult to actually see if you got a single. As such, it can help to have a second monk FDed in position to tell you if your pull is clean or not. A rogue will also work.

Sometimes, you're splitting a bunch of mobs and your sneak isn't working, so you can't single pull them. Or, maybe, you're splitting in a twisty hallway, and by the time you stand up and throw your shuriken, they're already around the corner. In these cases, it can help to have a second monk sneaking and ready to tag the mob when they start leaving.

Sometimes, there's a non-KoS caster, and it would be a pain to split. In these cases, a shadowknight can park their pet near the mob, walk away (eg, around a corner), and have their pet attack. The mob will kill the pet then come after you. The SK can feign death, and the monk can safely single pull.

Sometimes, you could split mobs, but it would be complicated, and you have a cleric / druid / enchanter in your group. In these cases, it can be useful to get a lull on the mobs so that you can split them easily.

Using an Eye of Zomm

High end monks use an Eye of Zomm to pull some difficult targets. They are extremely useful and can make a monk much more effective, but the only practical way for a monk to summon them is using Holgresh Elder Beads (other items have the same effect, but limited charges makes it annoying to use other items when pulling). Elder beads only dropped for a short period during Velious, and they were a rare drop even then, so they cost 90-110k as of January 2017, and that price is likely to go up over time since demand will increase, supply will decline, and there will be more money in P99 over time.

If you are lucky enough to get some elder beads, you can summon an Eye of Zomm, navigate to a mob that you want to pull, and then wait for the mob to come to you.

Strafe running on the eye will let it move slightly faster than normal mob speed, so you can move mobs quite a distance on an eye if you want.

If you summon the eye and then FD, the mobs won't transfer their aggro to you after the eye dies. This means you can stand up immediately after the eye dies and nothing will be on you. This is useful for getting mobs to turn their backs to you so that you can easily sneak tag one. It is also a useful way to bring a single mob close to you (when combined with strafe running) to split it away from its friends.

I have not verified yet whether aggro transfers to you when the eye dies or when the mob aggros the eye. If aggro transfers when the mob aggros the eye, that would imply that if you FDed after the eye aggroed a mob but before the eye died, you would still be on the mob's aggro list after you stood back up. If aggro transfers when the eye dies, then FDing after the eye aggros a mob but before the eye dies would be the same as FDing before the eye gets aggro.

Beware: the eye is low level, so it will aggro things much more easily than you, and it might pull trains if you aren't careful.

Also, you can attack the eye (/target Eye or pressing F1 twice should work to target it), which is useful if you need to trigger a proc (like a Stave of Shielding or an Avatar weapon or an Overthere hammer)

Grabbing Extra Aggro

If you want to grab extra mobs that are green to you (and thus won't always social aggro), you can sit. Sitting means that a mob will social aggro even if it's green.

The only scenario when this is actually useful is when you are farming mobs much lower than yourself (and thus want a train) and when you can aggro a mob from far away (either because of weird pathing or because you used an Eye of Zomm).

Stacking Buffs

In general, when you get dispelled, the top buff slots are the ones that get dispelled. Thus, you should make sure that clickies that you can cast on yourself or low-mana buffs like see invis and resists are stacked at the top rather than high mana buffs like Aegolism or Focus.

This isn't always true. Eg, if you dispel yourself, I have heard that it might use a random slot, but I haven't tested this. Also, your real buff order isn't necessarily reflected in the UI -- the server order might be slightly different if two buffs land on you at close to the same time, for instance, and to figure out what the server's buff order is, you need to either camp and come back in or you need to zone.

I think that there are 4 slot dispels, but most mobs will only dispel one or two slots. That means that if you have two instant click items, you can avoid getting dispelled most of the time (unless two casters dispel you at the same time or one mob procs a two slot dispel twice).

By the time you care about stacking buff slots to avoid dispels, you probably have your epic, so that takes care of one. The epic DOES NOT stack with Shrunken Goblin Skull Earring (Grim Aura) or the Velious boots (Firefist), but those can be useful to have anyways so that you don't need to keep clicking on your epic to hold your top slot while your guild is buffing you.

Some options for self-only instant clickies for slot two include: Coldain Ring #8-10 (long-ish quest, but good item anyways) and Robe of the Whistling Fist (yes, that means re-doing the annoying part of your epic).

Some options for clickies that are non-self-only (meaning they're great as trash buffs but you can't just spam them when facing a mob like a Glimmer Drake that procs dispels a lot): Bracer of the Hidden, Crown of Hatred.

Some options for clickies that have a long cast time (meaning they're great as trash buffs but you can't spam them in combat at all): Plane of Mischief flowers (the first couple aren't too bad to get), Velious pants (stamina).

In any case, make sure that you actively communicate with your group or your guild about when you want junk buffs versus when you want expensive buffs. I usually tell people not to buff me at all unless I send someone a tell explicitly asking for specific buffs.

Soloing

Using Feign Death to Make Mobs Run

Some mobs run when they get low health (below 20%, I think). Some mobs just don't run -- this includes skeletons, beetles, and some others.

However, other mobs will normally run, but they won't run if they've been fighting you and they think they're about to kill you or if they have friends around (any mobs that they would social aggro with that are in a short range). In these two situations, you can trigger a mob to run if it is already low health by feigning death and standing up again.

The mob will start running away when you are FDed because the social check and the check of whether you, the player, are low health don't apply when you are FDed. And, if a mob starts running when you are FDed, it will continue running even after you attack it.

When doing this, you can't FD and stand up immediately because mobs take a fraction of a second to start running. But if you wait too long, the mob might regain its health. So, FD for a short amount of time.

This can help when you're soloing because it means you take less damage since the mob is running rather than attacking you. It can also make you kill faster because you're hitting the mob's back.

Jousting

When you attack, it starts a timer for the next attack. If you have an

Imbued Fighters Staff

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: PRIMARY
Skill: 2H Blunt Atk Delay: 40
DMG: 38
WT: 4.0 Size: LARGE
Class: MNK
Race: ALL

(delay 40) and no haste, that means you'll attack once every 4 seconds. If you attack and then start running around, kiting the mob (jumping and strafing to avoid hits, probably) for 4 seconds, you won't take damage except when your 2HB timer is up.

In practice, you won't need to do this often, but it can be useful in a close fight if you have a slow 2HB. Also, I hear that it's used more in PVP.

Free Offhand with 2HBs

I like to think of it as the secret to Talon Southpaw's third fist.

Your offhand is on a completely separate timer than your main hand. That means that if you hit with your

Imbued Fighters Staff

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: PRIMARY
Skill: 2H Blunt Atk Delay: 40
DMG: 38
WT: 4.0 Size: LARGE
Class: MNK
Race: ALL

, then unequip it, you can get in an off hand attack before re-equipping your 2HB. With your

Celestial Fists

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO DROP
Slot: HANDS
AC: 15
STR: +20 DEX: +10 STA: +10 AGI: +10 HP: +100
SV FIRE: +10 SV DISEASE: +10 SV COLD: +10 SV MAGIC: +10 SV POISON: +10
Required level of 46.
Effect: Celestial Tranquility (Must Equip, Casting Time: Instant) at Level 50
WT: 0.1 Size: SMALL
Class: MNK
Race: HUM IKS

(delay 16), you should be able to get in two off hand attacks between each 2HB.

This can improve your DPS, but it means clicking a couple times every few seconds, so it's probably not worth it.

How Does the Monk Weight Limit Work?

Monks get an AC penalty for going over certain weight. The weights are listed on the Monk wiki page and should be accurate.

How this works precisely isn't well known -- eg, how much of it is mitigation vs avoidance and how severe the penalty is. Many people say that at low levels, they didn't worry about their weight limit, but that at high levels, they always stick under it. Personally, I always tried to stay below the limit.

Dealing with Coin Weight

If you're soloing for a while and want to loot things, how do you avoid getting overweight from gold without returning to the bank all the time? One way to deal with coin weight is to use gems. Gems (eg, peridots) have similar buy and sell prices. That means that if you have 100 gold, you can buy a peridot and sell it back to a merchant and you'll get back about 9pp. If merchants near you don't have any gems, jewelry often works fairly well too.

Carrying gems also works as a currency when you're out and about. For instance, you probably don't want to carry around an extra 50pp (1.25 weight) in case you need to buy a port or a rez, but carrying 5 peridots is only 0.1 weight. I usually carry a full stack of peridots for this purpose.

How Can I Bandage Above 50% / 70%?

At level 50 or below, bind wounds can bandage up to 50% of your health. At level 51+, when you get 201 bind wound skill, you can bandage up to 70%.

This health percent works on anyone you bandage. So, at level 51, you can bandage others to 70% too.

If one bandage heals you 5% and you are at 49%, then you will go up to 54% -- you won't be capped at 50%. The limit of 50%/70% is your max health before taking into account the health you get from the bandage, not after.

When you equip a health or stamina item, it increases your max HP without increasing your current HP. That means that you can artificially lower your current health percent when bandaging. For instance, I might be at 51% health, but then I equip some extra health items and I go down to 48% health, so I can get one extra bandage in.

Dealing with Faction

If you sneak and a mob's back is turned to you, that mob will be indifferent to you. This is useful for turning in some quest items, for purchasing items from merchants that are KoS or dubious, and generally for getting through areas where you have bad faction.

If you are an Iksar and you want good faction in Freeport (even though you don't need it once you have feign death), you can get a wolf form in East Freeport and turn in gold 2 pieces at a time to a bard. This will repair your faction in most of North Freeport, which means you can bank and sell without fear.

If you care about good merchant faction, you can turn in brandy in South Qeynos (just use Sneak -- there aren't any guards that wander at the turn in location).

If you care about East / West freeport, you can kill a bunch of orcs for monk faction and turn in orc belts for guard faction and corrupt merchant faction. Note that this will harm your North Freeport faction, but that's easy to raise with the bard quest.

You don't need to faction up for your epic. You can get the Freeport sash by killing a level 30 GM in the monk guild. You can do the Qeynos Headband turn ins on a level 1 human monk alt and just trade the headband. If you want to get good faction in Qeynos, you can kill a bunch of gnolls (and turn in the teeth in Halas for Halas faction).

Skills

Bind Wound is vital when soloing, when power leveling, and when duoing with a shaman (you heal them so they can cannibalize). At level 1-50, you can bind wound up to 50%. At level 51, when you get 201 skill, you can bind wound to 70%. You can also bind wound in combat (target self, bind wound, stand, target mob, turn on attack), but it's annoying to do properly (especially once you get a Robe of the Whistling Fists or Celestial Fists since clickies interrupt bandaging), so I don't bother. Keep it maxed.

Mend is amazing for emergencies. When you're in a stable group or a stable duo, you should use Mend to save your healer mana. You can also use mend when you're fighting a very strong mob because it effectively lets you fight it with over 100% HP. Keep it maxed.

Hand to Hand: When you get your epic, you will use hand to hand. Before then, it isn't as good as easily purchasable 1HB weapons, so you'll only use it on corpse runs. I used it when leveling to keep the skill maxed.

1HB: Good general purpose. Keep it maxed.

2HB: Even if your 1HB / H2H are better DPS than your 2HB, you will still use your 2HB weapon when fighting a mob with a damage shield. Also, 2HB is useful because it maximizes the damage that you do with your riposte and it minimizes the damage that your opponent will do with their riposte. When fighting mobs that enrage (enrage means automatic riposte of all attacks), 2HB is useful because you won't accidentally hit the mob a bunch of times and hurt yourself a lot. Keep it maxed.

Offense / Defense / Dodge / Double Attack / Dual Wield / Block / Riposte: All great skills. They will max out on their own as long as you put a point in them.

Kick / Round Kick / Tiger Claw / Eagle Strike / Dragon Punch / Tail Rake / Flying Kick: In general, always use the highest level of these skills (Flying Kick once you get it).

Caveat 1: Tiger Claw, Eagle Strike, and Dragon Punch / Tail Rake use your hands, whereas the others use your feet. That means that if you are fighting a magic mob (like a willowisp or many higher level mobs) and you don't have magic boots but do have magic gloves, you should use Dragon Punch / Tail Rake instead of Flying Kick.

Caveat 2: when power leveling low level friends, you often want to do small amounts of damage. In these cases, having the full spectrum of abilities is useful. For this reason, I kept every one of these skills maxed.

Throwing: Dealing damage on the throw is nice if you want to keep aggro, but it doesn't really matter that much, so this skill doesn't matter much. It will go up on its own.

Feign Death + Sneak: Both essential to Monking. Keep them maxed.

Intimidation: This has a chance to fear. Fear can be useful when soloing in outdoor zones at mid levels. You can keep this maxed by using it on a mob that isn't in range -- it still has a chance to skill up even if you aren't actually close enough to use it on a mob. I never use this in group situations.

Disarm: it can be nice to disarm a mob with a weapon to reduce its damage or to make it stop proccing, though disarm doesn't work immediately enough to rely on. It can be fun to disarm your friends in duels. Also, disarm generates aggro, which is useful when you want to keep aggro for power leveling purposes, for general grouping purposes, or when you want to get a faction hit on a mob without the chance of stealing a kill.

Safe Fall: You won't appreciate how useful this is until you switch to a character that doesn't have it. You don't necessarily need to keep it maxed, but it's certainly handy.

Swimming: This isn't needed every day, but it is useful. In some zones (eg, Kedge, Sebilis), it is very useful. You can max it more easily by walking through shallow water than by swimming. You don't necessarily need to keep it maxed, but you should probably max it by late game.

Sense Heading: Very important. Remember to put a point in it when you start. Bind this to a movement key so that every time you turn left (for instance) you know which way you're heading. If you also bind that movement key to a /location hotkey, then you can get a lot of use out of an app like ZlizEqMap. This should be maxed by the time you're level 10.

Disciplines

Stonestance: useful when soloing. Reduces melee damage by a lot, and it has a very low cooldown.

Whirlwind: useful in emergencies. You riposte all melee attacks from the front.

Voicedance: useful in emergencies. You ignore all melee attacks from all directions.

Inner Flame: useful for going full burn on raid mobs. You deal more damage.

The other disciplines aren't useful.

Power Leveling Others

If you clear aggro (either by being FDed when the mob dies or by FDing and standing up in any of the conditions that clear aggro as described in the pulling section), then the damage you did to a mob doesn't count for you anymore. For instance, if a mob has 100 hp, you can do 80 damage, your friend can do 11 damage, you can FD and clear aggro and then do 9 damage, and and your friend will get the XP from the mob.

BEWARE: in the scenario above, if you do 80, your friend does 11, you clear aggro, and then you do 12 damage (even though the mob only had 9 HP), I think that you still get the XP. Overkill counts to your damage total. If you want to be safe, you can just not do any more damage after clearing aggro.

As such, it's easy to power level friends who are much lower level than you because you can do most of the damage to any mob as long as they can do a little bit of damage, and they'll get the XP. It's easier to power level melees than casters because casters need mana to deal damage.

Also, bind wound is very helpful for keeping your friends high health when power leveling them.

Low level skills like round kick, tiger claw, etc, are useful for dealing low amounts of damage when you want to get a mob as low as possible to make it easy on the person being PLed. Also, disarm is useful to hold aggro on mobs without dealing damage.

Power leveling is much easier on mobs below level 35 because FD always mem blurs those mobs which means you can get the mob most of the way down, then you can stand up to bind wounds, hold aggro with disarm, or do small amounts of damage. On mobs above level 35, the most reliable way is to get the mob most of the way down, then FD, and don't stand up until the person being PLed finishes the mob off.

Leveling Locations

I did the following as an Iksar:

1-12ish: Field of Bone
12ish-20: grouping in Kurn's Tower. I preserved my Burynai faction for roleplay reasons, but I still did the skeletons in the lower levels (avoiding the Thick Boned Skeleton, which is on Burynai faction).
20-24: soloing in Kurn's. There are enough blue and high green greater scalebones and lesser icebones / charbones to keep you busy. I would usually go to the top of the zone and clear the ones there, then work my way down to the lower tunnels, then zone out, zone back in, and repeat.
24-30: Warslik's Woods. You can solo, but groping is better.
30-40: Frontier Mountains. You can solo, but grouping is better.
40-45ish: City of Mist groups.
45ish-51ish: SolB (Nagafen's Lair) Kobold groups.
51-55: SolB Bugs and Bats (you can solo again because you can bind wound to 70%). Also, groups for LDCs or Efreeti are great.
55-60, you can solo LDCs or City of Mist second floor, but they are difficult to solo without a fungi or other good gear.

In general, there are plenty of options:

1-40, there are a bunch of different spots, so choose your favorite.
40-50, you can do Lower Guk, SolB, City of Mist, Dreadlands, or a few other zones.
50-60, you can do Karnor's Castle, Howling Stones, Sebilis (though it can be hard to find a group below 55), Kael, Velketor's Labyrinth, or a few other less popular spots.

Gearing

What Bags Should I Use?

Medicine Bag

WT: 0.4 Weight Reduction: 0%
Capacity: 8 Size Capacity: LARGE

s are great when you start out. They only weigh 0.4, they have 8 large slots, and they cost about the same as a backpack.

Lionhide Backpack

WT: 0.4 Weight Reduction: 35%
Capacity: 8 Size Capacity: LARGE

s (0.4 weight, large items, 8 slots, 35% weight reduction) and

Shralok Pack

PENDING LORE
WT: 0.4 Weight Reduction: 25%
Capacity: 8 Size Capacity: GIANT

s (0.4 weight, giant items, 8 slots, 25% weight reduction) will be your next bag upgrades. You probably want at least one Shralok for giant items, but Lionhide is better in general.

Bag of the Tinkerers

WT: 1.0 Weight Reduction: 100%
Capacity: 10 Size Capacity: GIANT

(1 weight, giant items, 10 slots, 100% weight reduction) and

Large Soiled Bag

LORE ITEM
WT: 1.0 Weight Reduction: 100%
Capacity: 10 Size Capacity: SMALL

(1 weight, small items, 10 slots, 100% weight reduction) are both great. The soiled bag is lore, so you can only get one, but you can get multiple Tinkerer's bags if you can afford them.

Tiny Coin Purse

LORE ITEM
WT: 0.1 Weight Reduction: 20%
Capacity: 2 Size Capacity: SMALL

s are affordable and reduce your coin weight.

Wenglawks Manly Purse

LORE ITEM NO DROP
WT: 0.1 Weight Reduction: 70%
Capacity: 8 Size Capacity: GIANT

is 0.1 weight, giant items, 8 slots, 70% weight reduction, but you need to do a quest.

Kavruul`s Mystic Pouch

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
WT: 0.4 Weight Reduction: 100%
Capacity: 10 Size Capacity: GIANT

and

Treasure Hunter`s Satchel

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
WT: 0.4 Weight Reduction: 100%
Capacity: 10 Size Capacity: GIANT

("dragon bags") (0.4 weight, giant items, 10 slots, 100% weight reduction) are amazing, but they're expensive.

What Equipment Should I Use?

From 1-50, my equipment was

Wu's Quivering Staff

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: PRIMARY
Skill: 2H Blunt Atk Delay: 28
DMG: 23
WT: 9.0 Size: LARGE
Class: MNK
Race: ALL

, 2

Master Wu's Trance Stick

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: PRIMARY SECONDARY
Skill: 1H Blunt Atk Delay: 18
DMG: 7
Effect: Smite (Combat, Casting Time: Instant) at Level 35
WT: 1.0 Size: MEDIUM
Class: MNK
Race: ALL

s (I only used them to keep up my 1HB), a couple

Medicine Bag

WT: 0.4 Weight Reduction: 0%
Capacity: 8 Size Capacity: LARGE

s for bandages and shurikens, cured silk armor that I tailored myself, and random drops (eg, Crescent Armor from Dalnir,

Ring of the Stonechanters

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: FINGER
AC: 4
STR: +3 WIS: +3
WT: 0.0 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

from Droga,

Forest Loop

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: EAR
AC: 2
DEX: +3 WIS: +3 AGI: +3
WT: 0.1 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

s,

Targishin's Bone Mask

LORE ITEM
Slot: FACE
AC: 12
WT: 0.0 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

). At these levels, don't worry about your gear unless you're a twink. Just get levels, and gear will come eventually as you get money.

After that, your top priority is more DPS. Some form of haste is important.

Belt of Tranquility

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO DROP
Slot: WAIST
AC: 4
STR: +5 DEX: +5
SV COLD: +5
Haste: +21%
WT: 0.1 Size: SMALL
Class: MNK
Race: ALL

rot in Sky all the time, but if you don't want to raid, you can use

Silver Chitin Hand Wraps

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: HANDS
AC: 5
SV FIRE: +3 SV DISEASE: +3 SV COLD: +3 SV MAGIC: +3 SV POISON: +3
Haste: +22%
WT: 1.0 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

or

Flowing Black Silk Sash

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: WAIST
Haste: +21%
WT: 0.1 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

. You can upgrade your 1HBs to

Jade Mace

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: PRIMARY SECONDARY
Skill: 1H Blunt Atk Delay: 18
DMG: 9
WT: 2.1 Size: MEDIUM
Class: ALL except NEC WIZ MAG ENC
Race: ALL

/

Stave of Shielding

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: PRIMARY SECONDARY
Skill: 1H Blunt Atk Delay: 28
DMG: 17
Effect: Major Shielding (Combat, Casting Time: Instant) at Level 50
WT: 3.2 Size: MEDIUM
Class: PAL SHD MNK
Race: ALL

,

Adamantite Club

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: PRIMARY SECONDARY
Skill: 1H Blunt Atk Delay: 25
DMG: 15
Effect: Stunning Blow (Combat, Casting Time: Instant) at Level 50
WT: 3.0 Size: MEDIUM
Class: MNK
Race: ALL

/

Stave of Shielding

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: PRIMARY SECONDARY
Skill: 1H Blunt Atk Delay: 28
DMG: 17
Effect: Major Shielding (Combat, Casting Time: Instant) at Level 50
WT: 3.2 Size: MEDIUM
Class: PAL SHD MNK
Race: ALL

, or 2x

Stave of Shielding

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: PRIMARY SECONDARY
Skill: 1H Blunt Atk Delay: 28
DMG: 17
Effect: Major Shielding (Combat, Casting Time: Instant) at Level 50
WT: 3.2 Size: MEDIUM
Class: PAL SHD MNK
Race: ALL

. Once you get your

Celestial Fists

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO DROP
Slot: HANDS
AC: 15
STR: +20 DEX: +10 STA: +10 AGI: +10 HP: +100
SV FIRE: +10 SV DISEASE: +10 SV COLD: +10 SV MAGIC: +10 SV POISON: +10
Required level of 46.
Effect: Celestial Tranquility (Must Equip, Casting Time: Instant) at Level 50
WT: 0.1 Size: SMALL
Class: MNK
Race: HUM IKS

, you'll use Epic / Stave of Shielding. You should upgrade your 2HB to an

Imbued Fighters Staff

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: PRIMARY
Skill: 2H Blunt Atk Delay: 40
DMG: 38
WT: 4.0 Size: LARGE
Class: MNK
Race: ALL

. Some people recommend a

Peacebringer

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: PRIMARY
Skill: 2H Blunt Atk Delay: 30
DMG: 28
WT: 10.0 Size: LARGE
Class: MNK
Race: ALL

instead, but PBs are heavier than IFSs, and PBs are faster with pretty much equal damage (and in a 2HB, slower is better because of your riposte, your opponent's riposte, and your opponent's damage shield).

After that, here is some mid tier gear to work towards. You might want a regular set of gear as well as a resist set of gear for raids or situations where you might get ice cometed. I am listing mid tier gear because for low levels, cured silk is good enough, and for top tier gear, you can probably figure out what you're working towards.

Ears:

Orc Fang Earring

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: EAR
AC: 3
STR: +3 HP: +15
WT: 0.3 Size: MEDIUM
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

,

Sarnak Earring of Station

MAGIC ITEM NO DROP
Slot: EAR
AC: 5
STR: +5
WT: 0.0 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

,

Earring of Essence

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: EAR
HP: +30
SV MAGIC: +10
WT: 0.1 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

,

Blue Diamond Electrum Earring

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: EAR
MANA: +15
SV FIRE: +6 SV DISEASE: +11 SV COLD: +6 SV MAGIC: +4 SV POISON: +11
WT: 0.1 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

Head:

Circlet of Tallon

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO DROP
Slot: HEAD
AC: 18
SV COLD: +9 SV MAGIC: +9 SV POISON: +9
WT: 0.6 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

,

Circlet of Vallon

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: HEAD
AC: 18
SV FIRE: +9 SV DISEASE: +9 SV MAGIC: +9
WT: 0.6 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

,

Crown of the Froglok Kings

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: HEAD
AC: 12
SV FIRE: +20 SV COLD: +20
WT: 0.5 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

Face:

Targishin's Bone Mask

LORE ITEM
Slot: FACE
AC: 12
WT: 0.0 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

,

Golden Diamond Mask

Slot: FACE
SV FIRE: +10 SV DISEASE: +5 SV COLD: +10 SV MAGIC: +3 SV POISON: +5
WT: 0.1 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

Chest:

Ice Burrower Skin

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO DROP
Slot: CHEST
AC: 24
STR: +6 DEX: +8 STA: +12 AGI: +3 HP: +23
SV COLD: +15 SV POISON: +7
WT: 1.2 Size: MEDIUM
Class: MNK
Race: HUM BAR TRL OGR IKS

,

Fungus Covered Scale Tunic

LORE ITEM
Slot: CHEST
AC: 21
STR: +2 DEX: -10 INT: +2 AGI: -10
Effect: Fungal Regrowth (Worn)
WT: 2.0 Size: SMALL
Class: WAR CLR PAL RNG SHD DRU MNK BRD ROG SHM
Race: ALL

,

Robe of the Whistling Fists

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO DROP
Slot: CHEST
AC: 15
HP: +50
SV MAGIC: +10
Effect: Jonthan's Whistling Warsong (Must Equip, Casting Time: Instant) at Level 30
WT: 0.5 Size: MEDIUM
Class: MNK
Race: HUM IKS

Neck:

Choker of Majdd

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: NECK
AC: 4
INT: +5
Effect: See Invisible (Worn)
WT: 0.1 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

(if you care about see invis),

Golden Blue Diamond Pendant

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: NECK
MANA: +20
SV FIRE: +11 SV DISEASE: +6 SV COLD: +11 SV MAGIC: +4 SV POISON: +6
WT: 0.1 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

, one of the +6 talismans in Western Wastes,

White Gold Necklace

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: NECK
CHA: +5
SV FIRE: +7 SV COLD: +7 SV MAGIC: +7
WT: 0.3 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

Arms:

Azure Sleeves

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: ARMS
AC: 12
WT: 0.6 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

Back:

Spider Fur Cloak

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: BACK
AC: 10
STR: +4 STA: +4
SV COLD: +6
WT: 0.0 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

,

Dire Wolf-Hide Cloak

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: BACK
AC: 8
STR: +6 STA: +6 HP: +35
WT: 0.5 Size: MEDIUM
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

,

Kunzar Cloak

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: BACK
AC: 7
WIS: +2 INT: +2
SV FIRE: +10
WT: 0.1 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL except HUM ERU HEF

Belt:

Flowing Black Silk Sash

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: WAIST
Haste: +21%
WT: 0.1 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

,

Belt of Tranquility

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO DROP
Slot: WAIST
AC: 4
STR: +5 DEX: +5
SV COLD: +5
Haste: +21%
WT: 0.1 Size: SMALL
Class: MNK
Race: ALL

Shoulders:

Wurm Scale Coat

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: SHOULDERS
AC: 8
SV FIRE: +20 SV MAGIC: +10
WT: 0.0 Size: MEDIUM
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

Wrists:

Shackle of Steel

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO DROP
Slot: WRIST
AC: 9
STR: +5 STA: +5
SV MAGIC: +5
WT: 0.1 Size: SMALL
Class: MNK
Race: HUM IKS

,

Rijoely's Bracelet

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO DROP
Slot: WRIST
AC: 20
STR: +3 AGI: +3
SV MAGIC: +7
WT: 0.1 Size: TINY
Class: WAR MNK
Race: ALL

,

Tijoely's Bracelet

LORE ITEM NO DROP
Slot: WRIST
AC: 20
STR: +3 DEX: +3
SV MAGIC: +7
WT: 0.5 Size: SMALL
Class: WAR MNK
Race: ALL

,

Velium Blue Diamond Bracelet

Slot: WRIST
MANA: +30
SV FIRE: +9 SV DISEASE: +9 SV COLD: +11 SV MAGIC: +9 SV POISON: +9
WT: 0.1 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

Gloves:

Celestial Fists

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO DROP
Slot: HANDS
AC: 15
STR: +20 DEX: +10 STA: +10 AGI: +10 HP: +100
SV FIRE: +10 SV DISEASE: +10 SV COLD: +10 SV MAGIC: +10 SV POISON: +10
Required level of 46.
Effect: Celestial Tranquility (Must Equip, Casting Time: Instant) at Level 50
WT: 0.1 Size: SMALL
Class: MNK
Race: HUM IKS

Legs:

Oiled Greaves

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: LEGS
AC: 15
STR: +7 HP: +20 MANA: +5
WT: 1.5 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

Boots:

Wolf Fur Slippers

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: FEET
AC: 2
AGI: +7 MANA: +20
WT: 0.5 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

,

Barbed Dragonscale Boots

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: FEET
AC: 19
STA: +9 HP: +30
WT: 2.5 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL except NEC WIZ MAG ENC
Race: ALL

Fingers:

Platinum Fire Wedding Ring

Slot: FINGER
AC: 5
HP: +55
WT: 0.1 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

,

Velium Fire Wedding Ring

Slot: FINGER
AC: 6
HP: +65
WT: 0.1 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

,

Velium Diamond Wedding Ring

Slot: FINGER
SV FIRE: +8 SV DISEASE: +8 SV COLD: +8 SV MAGIC: +8 SV POISON: +8
WT: 0.1 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

Range:

Stone of Morid

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: RANGE
STA: -5
SV FIRE: +30 SV COLD: +30
WT: 7.0 Size: TINY
Class: WAR SHD MNK SHM NEC
Race: IKS

,

Idol of the Thorned

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: RANGE
AC: 10
STR: +7 STA: +10
WT: 4.0 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

Also, while the above is individual pieces of armor, there are also armor sets that are good. In some slots, you probably want an item from one of the below sets because there isn't anything great and easily accessible outside of the sets (eg, pants, boots).

Wu's is cheap.
Crescent Armor (from Dalnir) is surprisingly good considering how low you can be to get it.
Black Pantherskin is the best all around armor set that is purchasable.
Netted Kelp is good, but people rarely sell it.
The pieces from Plane of Sky are great, but they can take a while to get.
The Shiverback-Hide armor is good.
The pieces from most of the Velious armor quests (Thurg, Kael, Skyshrine) are good as well (especially since they have good clickies, like one that summons shurikens).

What Situational Items and Clickies Should I Use?

Worker Sledgemallet

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO DROP
Slot: PRIMARY
Skill: 2H Blunt Atk Delay: 50
DMG: 6
Effect: Overthere (Combat, Casting Time: Instant) at Level 50
WT: 3.2 Size: GIANT
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

(The Overthere Hammer), which procs a port to OT, costs 2k to buy a charm charge (charming the skeleton gives you amiable faction so you don't need to farm faction yourself, which would take forever).

Ring of Shadows

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: FINGER
Charges: 3
DEX: +2
Effect: Gather Shadows (Any Slot, Casting Time: Instant)
WT: 0.1 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

are an instant click invis, and they are cheap to recharge. The rings cost about 200pp each.

Journeyman's Boots

MAGIC ITEM NODROP
Slot: FEET
AC: 1
Effect: JourneymanBoots (Any Slot, Casting Time: Instant)
WT: 2.5 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

are instant click movement speed buff. It's a little slower than SoW, but it's very handy. JBoots cost about $6k-$7k to buy an MQ, or the truly dedicated can camp one. Don't bother getting

Traveler's Boots

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO DROP
Slot: FEET
AC: 1
Effect: TravelerBoots (Any Slot, Casting Time: 1.5)
WT: 2.5 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

-- they only cost $5k, but they're the same speed as JBoots and have a cast time, which means you're better off just buying SoW potions instead of them (justification: https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2351770#post2351770).

Journeyman's Walking Stick

MAGIC ITEM
Slot: PRIMARY SECONDARY
Skill: 1H Blunt Atk Delay: 24
DMG: 9
STR: +4 WIS: +4 INT: +4
Effect: Tashani (Combat, Casting Time: Instant) at Level 35
WT: 1.6 Size: MEDIUM
Class: WAR CLR PAL RNG SHD DRU
MNK BRD ROG SHM
Race: ALL

(Tash Stick) has a Tash proc. It can be useful if you need to debuff something's magic resist and you don't have an enchanter handy.

Wooly Spider Silk Net

MAGIC ITEM
Charges: 3
Effect: Ensnaring Roots (Any Slot, Casting Time: 1.5 seconds)
WT: 0.1 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

lets you root things.

Pegasus Feather Cloak

MAGIC ITEM NO DROP
Slot: SHOULDERS
AC: 6
DEX: +7
Effect: Levitate (Any Slot, Casting Time: 6.0)
WT: 5.0 Size: MEDIUM
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

lets you levitate yourself.

Bracer of the Hidden

MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM
Slot: WRIST
AC: 6
Effect: See Invisible (Must Equip, Casting Time: Instant) at Level 10
WT: 2.0 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

lets you see invis yourself or anyone else. It's instant click, which makes it useful for buffing someone else to get aggro (eg, if they're pulling and get death touched or need to feign death, but you still want the mobs to come).

Holgresh Elder Beads

LORE ITEM
Slot: NECK
SV FIRE: +1 SV COLD: +1 SV MAGIC: +2
Effect: Eye of Zomm (Any Slot, Casting Time: 4.0)
WT: 0.2 Size: SMALL
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

let you create an Eye of Zomm. This is useful for pulling casters because you can go around a corner, use the eye to get aggro, and then FD before the mobs cast on you.

Epic

The monk epic is easy, though it requires some patience.

You'll need to do the Qeynos headband quest (you can do the turn ins on an alt if you're an Iksar and you don't want to kill 1600 Gnolls), kill Thena Lonnes in Freeport for the sash, camp Targin the Rock in SolB, camp Raster of Guk in LGuk, camp A Drolvarg Pawbuster in Karnor's Castle for one pipe, buy a multiquest of the Chardok pipe, and do 4 fights. You should get a group for Targin and the Pawbuster, but the other parts of the robe quests are soloable in your low 50s.

The first three fights are easy (should be doable with one good group or two okay groups) and the last fight isn't too bad (should be doable with one very good group, two moderate groups, or three okay groups). None of the fights are contested -- Eejag is triggerable from a common mob, and the other three mobs respawn every 2 hours.

Both the Robe of the Whistling Fists as well as the Celestial Fists have a clicky haste (and other good stuff) effect. It would be annoying to have to think about clicking those all the time, so you may want to bind your clicky hotkey to the same as your kick hotkey so that you can do both with one keypress.

Meviin's Monk Mechanics

Contents

Getting Started

Intro to This Guide

Should I Play a Monk?

Starting Points and Race

Pulling

Strafe and Jump to Outrun Mobs Without SoW

Sneak Pulling

Clearing Aggro

Feign Death Breaks and Failures

What Throwing Weapons Should I Use?

Getting Help from Groupmates

Using an Eye of Zomm

Grabbing Extra Aggro

Stacking Buffs

Soloing

Using Feign Death to Make Mobs Run

Jousting

Free Offhand with 2HBs

How Does the Monk Weight Limit Work?

Dealing with Coin Weight

How Can I Bandage Above 50% / 70%?

Dealing with Faction

Skills

Disciplines

Power Leveling Others

Leveling Locations

Gearing

What Bags Should I Use?

What Equipment Should I Use?

What Situational Items and Clickies Should I Use?

Epic

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