Monk 101 Class Basics
This guide covers Monk basics up to the Omens of War expansion.
Monks are a popular and top tier melee DPS class from Classic all the way to Omens of War. Not only do they have strong DPS, they scale well with buffs, are top tier pullers, and have high survivability with Feign Death and Mend.
Base Stats
Stats are more meaningful in early EQ because they don’t max out right away. Once you begin to get Luclin/PoP raid gear they are generally maxed by default from gear and/or buffs.
Strength – Increases your Attack and encumbrance limit
Dexterity – Increases proc chance/accuracy
Stamina – Increases HP
Agility – Increases Avoidance AC (not super effective until Heroic, but isn’t useless either)
Generally, for DPS you want to prioritize Strength and Dexterity. Mix in AC and HP as needed. Monks can be pretty tanky in group content if geared. Once “Attack” becomes a mod, you’ll also want to get to the attack cap from gear, which is 250.
Don’t forget a haste item!
Monk Damage Table/Epic Ratios
If you are poor and are not wearing any weapons, Monks have a so-so damage table with no weapons equipped. It scales based on your H2H skill (level). They also get a really good weapon ratio from the Monk 1.0 Epic (The Epic goes in the glove slot, but boosts your unequipped H2H ratio).
The Monk 1.0 Epic is best possible ratio until you run into the most exceptional Velious and Luclin Raid weapons.
Versus MotM (Mitigation of the Mighty) lower damage weapons tend to parse better. For example, Gharn’s Rock of Smashing 16/19 (Vulak drop) doesn’t have quite as good of a ratio as 60 Epic Fists 23/26, but Gharns Rock of Smashing has both a damage bonus and a much lower delay. also has great stats and a proc where the Epic Fist requires your weapon slot to be empty (so you’ll get no stats).
I haven’t gone into great parsing detail and this is a 101 basic guide. It is just something to keep in mind. It comes down to personal preference at a certain point. I’d prefer to use Gharn’s Rock for the stats and that it is just cooler/more fun in general.
Skill Priority
Feign Death – Maxes out at 200 skill. Max this out ASAP. Higher the skill level the lower the chance to fail.
Mend – Allows you to recover HP 25% HP every 6 minutes. AA’s can cause it to critical heal for 50% HP. It can fail and can even do damage to you at lower skill levels. It maxes at 200, although from what I can remember it doesn’t fail once it’s at skill 100+. I recommend using Guild Master points to help level this up quickly.
Kick DPS Skills – Kick/Round Kick/Flying Kick. These share a timer.
Punch DPS skills – Dragon Punch (Human) or Tail Rake (Iksar) /Tiger Claw/Eagle Strike. These share a timer.
**Once you get Technique of the Master Wu (PoP AA) it will use some of these simultaneously and max them out for you. You can click one punch ability and one kick ability, Technique of the Master Wu will proc off both. You can setup a macro like this to fire off one of each type:
AA Recommendations
Usually you want to get Offensive or Utility AA’s first. Run Speed is also important. Get them in whatever order works best for your setup. Some of the best AA sorted by type are:
Offensive
Combat Fury (SoL+) – Increases chance to critical strike
Ambidexterity (SoL+) – Increases dual wield success rate
Burst of Power (PoP+) – Increases Double Attack (all Weapons) and Flurry (2H Only) chance
Planar Power (PoP+) – Increases Max Stats
Technique of the Master Wu (PoP+) – Increase chance for extra attacks of your special skills
Weapon Affinity (GoD+) – Substiantially increases proc pate
Kick Mastery (GoD+) – Increases Kick skills damage
Punch Mastery (GoD+) – Increases Punch skills damage (ie Tiger Strike etc, not normal melee hits)
Strikethrough (GoD+) – Increased chance to Strikethrough (less ripostes)
Resonant Kicks (OoW) – Adds damage proc to Kick skills
Resonant Strikes (OoW) – Adds damage proc to Punch skills (ie Tiger Strike etc, not normal melee hits)
Veteran’s Wrath (OoW+) – Increases critical hit damage
Defensive
Combat Stability (SoL+) – Increased Mitigation AC
Combat Agility (SoL+) – Increased Avoidance AC
Natural Durability (SoL+) – Increased HP %
Physical Enhancement (SoL+) – Increased Mitigation/Avoidance AC
Utility
Improved Mend (SoL+) – Increases chance to Critical Mend
Purify Body (SoL+) – Clears all debuffs
Rapid Feign (SoL+) – Lowers Feign Death reuse timer
Innate Run Speed (SoL+) – Base Run Speed Increase
Stonewall (GoD+) – Lowers chance for Feign Death to break when hit by a spell
Imitate Death (OoW+) – Guaranteed to lose all aggro instantly when used
Stunning Round Kick (OoW+) – Causes your Round Kick to stun the target for 1.5 seconds
Heroic Stats
These become the most important stat you can get once they are available starting in Plane of Time. By this time your base stats will already be maxed out from gear. For DPS, priority should be: Heroic Dexterity -> Agility/Strength -> Stamina
Heroic Dexterity – Combat Effects/Accuracy — Combat Effects (proc rate. 1 HDex = increased proc rate 3%, up to 100%. Accuracy is also good as it increases your chance to hit.
Heroic Agility – Avoidance/Strikethrough – Increases Avoidance AC and raises Strikethrough chance. Strikethrough is strong when not directly behind a mob.
Heroic Strength – You’ll get improvements to your max hit. 10 Heroic Strength = 1 max damage. It also provides a damage shield at the ratio of 1 Hstr to 1 Damage Shield.
Heroic Stamina – Mitigation/Stun Resist – This decreases your damage taken by mobs. This is important to mitigate damage and to resist stuns.
Discipline Priority
Monks have a bunch of disciplines that don’t stack, and some really good ones that do. This guide only covers high priority ones.
Timers with the same “number” share a cooldown. Numbers in () is the level required to use the skill. For example, Fearless (40) requires player level 40.
Offensive Discs
Thunderkick (52) – Kunark
Increase damage and hit chance of Flying Kick. 10 minute cooldown. 1 minute Duration. Timer 4
Innerflame (56) – Kunark
Increase damage by 50%. Increase minimum damage by 400%. 22 minute cooldown. 30 sec duration. Timer 3
Speed Focus (63) – PoP
Hundred Hands Effect (lowers weapon delay). 22 minute cooldown. 30 sec duration. Timer 11
Rapid Kick (70) – OoW
Lowers skill timer of Flying Kick greatly. 15 minute cooldown. 30 sec duration. Timer 6
Defensive Discs
Fearless (40) – Classic
Immune to Fear for 1 minute. 30 min cooldown. Timer 5
Stonestance (51) – Kunark
Increase Melee Mitigation by 90% . 4 min cooldown. Lasts 2 ticks. Timer 2
Whirlwind (53) – Kunark
Always riposte . 40 min cooldown. Lasts 2 ticks. Timer 2
Voiddance (54) – Kunark
Always avoid melee. 40 min cooldown. Lasts 2 ticks. Timer 2
Earthwalk (65) – LDoN
Increase Melee Mitigation by 90% and grants stun immunity. 4 min cooldown. Lasts 2 ticks. Timer 2
Dreamwalk (66) – OoW
Increase run speed by 125% and resist all spells. 20 min cooldown. Lasts 3 ticks. Timer 5
**this replaces level 61 LDoN disc Planeswalk, which doesn’t have the spell immunity portion so is not as good.**
Utility Discs
“Phantom” Line. These spells are a single target pacify. All share a timer:
Phantom Zephyr (35) – GoD – Up to Level 50 NPC
Phantom Wind (50) – GoD – Up to Level 58 NPC
Phantom Echo (57) – PoP – Up to Level 61 NPC
Phantom Call (64) – PoP – Up to Level 65 NPC
Phantom Shadow (65) – GoD – Up to Level 65 NPC
Ancient Phantom Chaos (65) – GoD – Up to Level 65 NPC
Phantom Cry (69) – OoW – Up to Level 70 NPC
Bonus Tips
– Get Monk Epics ASAP. Both 1.0 and 2.0 are very strong
– Monks get dual wield at level 1
– 2-handers are generally not as good as 1-handers, especially vs MoTM.
– Load up on Cloudy Potions (invisibility).
– Get weight reduction bags ASAP. Monks take an AC penalty starting at 14 weight at level 1. This limit scales to 28 weight at level 70.
– Get Ninja Stars items for pulling. Ton Po’s Mystical Pouch from Rallos Zek in PoTime is one of the best monk pulling items in the game.
– Make use of the bandolier.
– Grab an Avatar proc weapon from Sleeper’s Tomb if you raid
– Get an instant cast clicky to mitigate mobs/bosses that cast dispel.
– Buy a store mount if you get increased stats from it.
– Keep Heal, Haste, and Spirit of Wolf potions handy.
– MoTM has less of a damage penalty on lower damage spells/attacks, which is great for monks as their attacks tend to be lower damage and but more frequent.
– Monk weapons are plentiful and strong in all expansions, especially if you raid.
– Monks scale well from buffs such as Shaman Avatar line, Bard Overhaste, Beastlord Ferocity, and Ranger attack buffs.
