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Classes

Monk

Barehand martial artist — highest native avoidance, the pull class of choice.

Monks are the martial-arts melee. They wear patchwork armor (no weight penalty), strike with fists or one of a small set of approved weapons (bo staff, iron knuckles, short spears), and live by the avoidance stat — the highest Defense-skill cap and the highest natural dodge in the game.

Role

The Monk is the primary puller in dungeon groups from level 20 onward. Monks use feign-death, mend, and safe-fall to split camps that would be suicide for other classes. In raid content, Monks are top-tier melee DPS and emergency pullers.

Key abilities

  • Feign Death — skill that drops you to the ground, pretending to die. Splits pulls, resets aggro, saves your life.
  • Mend — skill that restores a percentage of HP once per rest. Monks solo longer because of this.
  • Safe Fall — passive, reduces fall damage.
  • Flying Kick / Dragon Punch / Eagle Strike / Tiger Claw — specific strike skills with procs.
  • Disciplines — Fists of Wu (burst DPS), Thunderkick (emergency damage), Whirlwind (AE defense).

Primary weapon paths

Monks use bare fists, shurikens (thrown), or specific melee weapons: bo staff (2h), knuckles/iron knuckles (1h), and short spears. The Monk epic 1.0 is the Celestial Fists (clicky summon of fist-strike damage, not a weapon per se).

Group fit

Every dungeon group wants a Monk puller. The Monk's FD-split pulls are the foundation of modern EQ dungeon play — without them, many camps don't work. Melee DPS contribution is secondary but excellent.

Solo

Good. Monks solo via FD-split-and-melee: pull a single off a pack with FD, tank it, FD if things go bad, Mend if low, repeat. Iksar Monks solo better than Human Monks due to racial regen.

Leveling path summary

  • 1–15: Freeport / Cabilis (Iksar) monk training.
  • 15–30: Najena, Sol A, Mistmoore. Learn FD-split pulling in controlled zones.
  • 30–45: Sol B, Lower Guk, Upper Guk, Kedge Keep.
  • 45–60: Seb, Karnor's, Chardok. Your FD pulls make or break the group.
  • 60–65: PoP melee groups. Plane of Valor and Plane of Fire prize Monk DPS.

Play note

The Iksar Monk is the canonical top Monk — regen, AC bonus, and Cabilis starting city alignment make the leveling curve smoother than Human Monks. Human Monks are faster runners (no Iksar faction penalty across Norrath) but take more damage in early dungeons.

Patron deity

  • Quellious — primary; tranquility, meditation, discipline.

See Class-Deity Alignment Map.

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