How to start a 55 Monk for poor folk

Here is how to get your monk started if you are broke and want to make a 55 farmer.

Take a set of armor - ANY ARMOR WILL DO - Armor rating does NOT matter (but tatoos are always prefered). It helps if your head peice is +1 to smiting, but this does not matter too much.

Major Runes ALWAYS cost 100g. Buy 1 of each monk attribute and 1 more of any atribute you like (except vigor) and put them on each of your 5 armor peices.
With 5 major runes (all monk runes - no vigor) you get your base health down to 230 AND you boost all your monk atts by 2.

Go on the Cities of Ascelon quest for the -50 offhand, and voila you have 180 health.

Get 3 encrusted loadstones (I could be wrong on the collector item) and pick up a Firey Flame Spitter south of Serenity Temple.
Go to Lions Arch and say "WTB Axe Grip of Enchanting 10-17%" and get someone to sell you, say a 15% one for 1-2K.

Optional: Next collect some Charr Carvings and go outside of Nolani and pick up the collectors fire wand for +5 energy, it will be useful in the future and is always nice when you're in a pinch for energy.

You now have a monk with:
"Halves Spell Recharge (chance: 10%)"
"Enchantments last 15% longer"
180 Health
+2 Devine Favor, Healing, Protection
+3 Smiting

You will need the "core 55 skillset" to be effective, even from the beginning.

It is highly advised that you get the following skills:
Balthazar's Spirit, Essence Bond, Mending, Devine Boon (to offset your high health), Blessed Aura, Protective Spirit, Blessed Signet, Healing Breeze,

You will need to cap Shield of Judgement in Mineral Springs.

Once you have all of that done, you will have spent approximatly 2-3K and have a pretty nice farming setup for the money.

Probably the easiest thing to do at this point is farm minotaurs at Elona for some cash and get used to the monk farming build. You won't need to worry about interrupts or knockdowns here.

With what you have, this build should work nicely for the minotaurs:
Healing Breeze
Protective Spirit
Shield of Judgement
Blessed Signet
Devine Boon
Mending
Balthazar's Spirit
Blessed Aura

You will have 0 energy regen, but every time you take damage you will gain 1 energy and when you use Blessed Signet you will gain 12 energy.

Throw up all of your enchantments (the last 4 in the list) and use Blessed Signet until you have full energy.

Get close (but not within agro) to some minotaurs and throw up Protective Spirit and Healing Breeze. Agro about 4 or 5 at first to get the hang of things.
Once they are all attacking you, use Shield of Judgement and watch them take damage and get knocked down.

Make sure Healing Breeze and Protective Spirit are up at all times. SoJ should be on you as often as possible, if you are being attacked.

Use Blessed Signet religiously if energy seems to be a problem.
At any point if you are in a pinch for energy, switch to the Nolani wand for a +5 energy boost.

If you are losing health too fast, cast Protective Spirit or Healing Breeze for a nice Devine favor/boon boost.

After you get the hang of minotaurs, move on to Griffons and Hydras.

Once you have enough money saved up, buy Droknar's Tatoos and Superior Monk Runes!

Questions and comments welcomed

GJ, 180 hp is a little high though, I'd recommand dying for DP thus less health )

Dying would be good of course, but in a mission dying is not an option.

If you want to move on to griffons/minotaurs then dying would probably be necessary.

When I first started farming with my monk I had 4 superior runes and no -50 offhand, (180 health) and I was still able to farm 2-3 hydras For high health, Devine Boon really helps to keep you alive.

Or you could just make a w/mo. Lol

The game has too many Wammos as it is, and only a small percentage of them actually know how to play.

Aside from that, I made this thread in response to people asking how they are to pay for the runes for a 55 monk. This, to me, means they already have a monk but not the money to afford the runes.
It would be a lot faster to start farming TODAY and saving up then it would be to get a wammo to the desert with all the needed skills and armor.

This is a guide for people who have a monk and want to start making money TODAY not next week, and for those who want to do so with thier monk.

If you have an improvement that pertains to the monk class, by all means please post it

If you'r going to say "Or you could just make a w/mo. Lol" please do not

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55 Monks generally do NOT kill things with thier wand, nor do they kill things with the axe I mentioned
There is no wand in the game that gives +% to enchantments, and virtually all of the skills you use are enchantments:
Healing Breeze, Shield of Judgement, and Protective Spirit to name a few.

Don't even think about using a staff with this setup - you need the -50 health item in this case, and it will make things a lot easier even with superior runes.

Having said that, it is a good idea to have a wand handy just incase SoJ kills all but 1 monster - you can wand him to death in the end, but for casting you want the axe.

At 15 smiting SoJ lasts about 20 seconds (IIRC) and if you have a 20% enchant mod with 35% bonus from Blessed Aura, you have a 55% bonus which means SoJ will last for about 31 seconds instead.
That extra time will make a huge difference in soloing monsters. Also helps with energy management.

The axe has an added advantage stated above: 10% chance for spells to recharge twice as quick. If you get this 10% on a SoJ you'll have SoJ recharged before it's even done!! (On a side note, this is why I prefer the flame spitter over the HoD sword)

Finally, I wanted to add that while the 15% enchant pommel is fine for the time being, try to shoot for a 20% after you have your superior runes with tatoo armor.

Axe grips of enchants are cheaper than sword ones, i use a FDS with 19% enchant it the mod costed me 9k i got it at an ok price.... thats why people use axes also get an axe with lower req. to attack better also.. there is a quest that give you the -50 health focus weapon at asceolon quest.. forgot what it is, also its either you use sup. runes or ur not a 55 monk if your gonna do it do it right

heres some tips and build to follow on my website will help you finds skills and weapons and offhands to use for your 55 http://killjoy.bhxhost.com/killjoy/

Whats this Fiery Flame Spitter, I can't seem to find it

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