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.... [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[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.