Post by Deidreven on Mar 13, 2014 18:07:51 GMT -5
So just reached 90 on my monk and thought I'd pass on a few observations for the last few levels. I think enough has been written on basic leveling that will get you to the mid 80s. This is about the time healing spheres will no longer heal you up completely, and a little more strategy needs to come in to play.
Short Version:
Cata zones - only about half of Mt. Hyjal, skipped the rest
mid 80s-88 - Argent Tournament Dailies and grinding 6+ Dark Zealots at a time at Deathspeaker's Watch using Spinning Crane Kick
88 - kill cattepillars in Jade Forest using Touch of Death
89 - quested in Jade Forest, Valley of the Four Winds, and Krasarang Wilds using Touch of Death, Paralysis, and Healing Spheres.
Long Version:
You'll find the monk's damage to not be great from the mid 80s on. I quested through about half of Mt. Hyjal. Vashj'ir made me too nervous because healing spheres and water don't work well together. That was all the Cata zones I did. There was just too little xp for the risk imo. Especially when I found a way to get xp fairly quickly in Icecrown.
So here is what I did for the most part.
Did nearly all of Northrend. Did as much as I could in Icecrown and Storm Peaks (skipped the quests that many people skip because of bugs or too difficult)
From mid 80s to 88 I mostly did dailies and grinding in Icecrown.
I did find a great spot to grind if you are willing to do that. At Deathspeaker's Watch (65/22 if you have coordinates)which is right near the Argent Tournament you will find Dark Zealot's which only have 10k hp vs. 12k hp for nearly all other lvl 80 mobs in Icecrown. I could gather 6+ mobs at once, use Spinning Crane Kick and mow down a bunch with little danger of dying. The one thing about this strategy that made me nervous though was thinking of a horde rogue stealthing into my Spinning Crane Kick and marking me for pvp. I watched around as much as possible, but it made me nervous. It was just too tempting though. I would get 1500ish xp per kill. Doing 6+ at a time, I was getting around 10,000 xp for very little effort and very little time. It added up quick, and nothing would give me nearly that amount of xp that quickly. So this got me to 88.
At 88 I decided to head to Jade Forest and grind the caterpillars there that had 79k hp. It would take about 1 1/2 minutes to kill one, which happens to be the same time as Touch of Death. So basically I would sit around for a 1 1/2 minutes waiting for ToD to come up. Zero chance of dying, and you get 15k+ xp or so per kill.
At 89 is where things surprised me. Your health pops up to 116k, and ToD is now an amazing skill. I was able to quest a lot in Jade Forest, Valley of the Four Winds, and Krasarang Wilds. With the combination of ToD, Healing Spheres, and paralysis, I could kill nearly anything. I fought mobs with over 400k hp. Obviously it took a while, but with quests giving 110k xp, it was worth it. I was careful to only do 1 mob at a time, but as long as it was one on one, I was fine vs. pretty much anything. This made 89 go by relatively quickly. From the quests I did, there was never anything that was immune to paralysis.
Please ask if you have any questions. I was surprised to find the monk probably being the best end game class there is for irons.
Short Version:
Cata zones - only about half of Mt. Hyjal, skipped the rest
mid 80s-88 - Argent Tournament Dailies and grinding 6+ Dark Zealots at a time at Deathspeaker's Watch using Spinning Crane Kick
88 - kill cattepillars in Jade Forest using Touch of Death
89 - quested in Jade Forest, Valley of the Four Winds, and Krasarang Wilds using Touch of Death, Paralysis, and Healing Spheres.
Long Version:
You'll find the monk's damage to not be great from the mid 80s on. I quested through about half of Mt. Hyjal. Vashj'ir made me too nervous because healing spheres and water don't work well together. That was all the Cata zones I did. There was just too little xp for the risk imo. Especially when I found a way to get xp fairly quickly in Icecrown.
So here is what I did for the most part.
Did nearly all of Northrend. Did as much as I could in Icecrown and Storm Peaks (skipped the quests that many people skip because of bugs or too difficult)
From mid 80s to 88 I mostly did dailies and grinding in Icecrown.
I did find a great spot to grind if you are willing to do that. At Deathspeaker's Watch (65/22 if you have coordinates)which is right near the Argent Tournament you will find Dark Zealot's which only have 10k hp vs. 12k hp for nearly all other lvl 80 mobs in Icecrown. I could gather 6+ mobs at once, use Spinning Crane Kick and mow down a bunch with little danger of dying. The one thing about this strategy that made me nervous though was thinking of a horde rogue stealthing into my Spinning Crane Kick and marking me for pvp. I watched around as much as possible, but it made me nervous. It was just too tempting though. I would get 1500ish xp per kill. Doing 6+ at a time, I was getting around 10,000 xp for very little effort and very little time. It added up quick, and nothing would give me nearly that amount of xp that quickly. So this got me to 88.
At 88 I decided to head to Jade Forest and grind the caterpillars there that had 79k hp. It would take about 1 1/2 minutes to kill one, which happens to be the same time as Touch of Death. So basically I would sit around for a 1 1/2 minutes waiting for ToD to come up. Zero chance of dying, and you get 15k+ xp or so per kill.
At 89 is where things surprised me. Your health pops up to 116k, and ToD is now an amazing skill. I was able to quest a lot in Jade Forest, Valley of the Four Winds, and Krasarang Wilds. With the combination of ToD, Healing Spheres, and paralysis, I could kill nearly anything. I fought mobs with over 400k hp. Obviously it took a while, but with quests giving 110k xp, it was worth it. I was careful to only do 1 mob at a time, but as long as it was one on one, I was fine vs. pretty much anything. This made 89 go by relatively quickly. From the quests I did, there was never anything that was immune to paralysis.
Please ask if you have any questions. I was surprised to find the monk probably being the best end game class there is for irons.