Mons Letalis

Today was near spires and had a zone message

"A thin wind wails through the canyons."

I was alone in the zone and wondered if it is a key to some event or mob?

Fell (70 Necro)

I was in the zone looking for the inspired Spire Spirit. I thought it was on top of the spire in the 'top room' - couldn't figure out how to get there. Am I looking in the wrong place? Are the spirits on top of the spire or somewhere else? Any info appreciated! thanks

sorry for the double post

Edited, Wed Feb 9 20:24:43 2005

At lvl 56 I have been farming Rockhopper hides here. Using my druidic powers to charm a lt blue rockhopper and haste it, I can kill about 10 or so Lt and DK blues for very little mana in no time. My spot is near the Grey zone in point. Lots of hides and some quest runes -little plats from the ShiNars too. The exp is ok if I close my eyes and imagin AAXP is real xp.

Ok went to Mons Letalis for the first time today.
Took my 51 Ranger & 53 Necro for a little exploration.
The Shik Nak were Indifferent to both, my Ranger killed one & went to apprehensive.
The Shik Nak hatchlings however are ready to attack.
The Rockhoppers were Indifferent to both and the
Stonegrabbers were ready to attack to both.
The Spire sprites were ready to attack to my necro.
To my Ranger track, most things in the zone were dark blue & a few pale blue, a couple of the spire sprites were green, the Lord was up & was dark blue.
Noticed that some Rockhoppers will rarely drop 2 pelts of varied quality & better quality pelts were definately harder to come by.
The entrance area to The Grey, is a nice place to hunt, there is even a spawn spot for a Mature Rockhopper nearby (loc 1269/275), the respawn time on them is 12 minutes btw and it spawns different level mobs (ie some pale blue & some dark blue to my necro). I hunted there for a while havent seen a named one pop there yet though.
Hope this helps.
Mortality Rate, 53 Necro, Sisterhood of Thorns
Morganai Pixiebane, 51 Ranger
Druzzil Ro

I wanted to point out that the loot table on Mons has indeed been changed for the worse since the time I wrote the post below. I went there recently with some friends and noticed a dramatic difference in the superb/flawless drop ratio.

That pretty much kills about the only redeeming quality of this zone, so my advice is to stay away from this zone.

Crywulf

This is a hunting guide on what and where to fight in Mons Letalis, an obscure little place that most players have never hunted in and probably never will. It is not only dangerous because of its rough terrain but also because of tough, undercon’d mobs that are highly mobile and social. So why should you hunt in Mons? Three reasons: (1) it is never crowded; (2) the xp is actually decent; (3) you can get rich in the process. For a solid group of, say, 4 mid-40 players, it would be tough to beat the xp and plats that Mons gives. I will discuss the loot in more detail as I go, but first things first – you need to find a safe spot to pull to. Location is everything in Mons, because there are so many aggressive, wandering mobs.

I have scouted out most of Mons and I can recommend only two spots to pull to. One is a plateau on the southwest edge of the map. The other is a plateau near the entrance to the Grey, near the Spire Lord’s Spire. Most players I have seen fight near the entrance to Marus. This is NOT recommended. The terrain there is very rough and you will not see the approaching adds. Some people fight in the entrance cave. This also is a bad idea because you will often find yourself getting attacked from the top of the cave although you cannot see or attack the mob. In contrast, the two spots I mentioned have great visibility and boast relatively flat terrain. This makes pulling easier, casting easier, and predicting adds easier. The only problem with the SW plateau is that it is far from the zone. Running is not really an option. The problem with the plateau by the Spire is that although it’s close to the Grey zone, you will find yourself suffocating upon zoning because the Grey is airless. You may literally find yourself between a rock and a hard place – get killed by the lingering mob in Mons or die by suffocation in the Grey. For this reason, it may be a good idea to find yourself an Enduring Breath item.

Now the mobs. Shiknars start out indifferent to everyone, provided you have not screwed up the Shiknar faction. The shiknars in Paludal are not on this faction, but the ones in Fungus Grove are. I recommend NOT taking this faction hit. The majority of wandering mobs in Mons are shiknars, and you will quickly find yourself swarmed and outnumbered. Shiknar hatchlings, however, are not on faction but are KOS to everyone. Kill these without reservation. From my own experience, adult shiknars never help the hatchlings.

Stonegrabbers are KOS to everyone. They attack on a medium line of sight. They have lots of hitpoints and are somewhat resistant to magic but they do not hit hard. Like the stonegrabbers in other zones, they hate casters. You will find yourself resorting to root often. They drop little of anything valuable except for the very rare Fist of Rock that sells for 1 to 2k at the bazaar. Interestingly named stonegrabbers are quest mobs for various quests that originate from Sanctus Seru. You can fear-kite these quite easily. Just watch out for rockhoppers which will readily help stonegrabbers.

Rockhoppers are indifferent and come in adult and mature varieties, along with interestingly named ones that are quest mobs. Mature ones are much harder than adults. They have tons of hitpoints, run fast, are hasted, and double hit for 170+. Do not underestimate them. They have low MR, however, so fear-kiting should work well. Just be careful of stonegrabber and rockhopper adds. Shiknars hate rockhoppers so one will often jump in and help you. This is a mixed blessing because if the shiknar lands the death blow, you will not get the xp or the loot. Resist the urge to kill the shiknar. Remember that bad Shiknar faction will make it nearly impossible for you to hunt in Mons. All rockhoppers drop various quality pelts in abundance, including high, flawless, and superb. They are in high demand by tailors to make 10-slot bags and acrylia reinforced armor. On my server, they sell for 20pp, 200pp, and 300pp respectively at the bazaar.

Lesser and greater spire spirits often wander out of the Spire Lord cave and travel along a predetermined path. They are necromancers without pets. They will try to fear you, DoT you, slow you, and hit you with DD. They ALWAYS try to gate when they get low on hitpoints. Bash them or nuke them to prevent them from gating, or you might end up being introduced to their friends. By the way, the Spire Lord cons blue to high 40s, but don’t be fooled. He is a major undercon and his flurry attacks will eat you alive in no time. All spirits drop the essence of darkness which does not sell very well at the bazaar, at least on my server.

Thought leeches do not wander. They live in a cave to the south with the Corrupted Hive Mistress. They have a large agro range and will attack you on a long line of sight. They are very resistant – nearly immune - to magic. Taken alone, they are somewhat easy to kill, but their large agro range means you will almost always get more than one. Beware that mezz usually does nothing other than make them angry at the enchanter. If you hunt in their cave, do NOT kill the enslaved shiknars. They are on the Shiknar faction. The Hive Mistress, however, is not. Killing the Mistress or thought leeches will improve your Sanctus faction. Thought leeches drop some items, including quest items, but generally little of value.

Best of luck to you all. My friends and I went from 46 to 52 here and I made over 10k plats in the process. Mons is a dangerous but good place for mid-40s, especially for evil races who do not wish to hunt in Karnor’s because of the Overthere faction.

Crywulf

Edited, Wed Dec 18 18:48:02 2002

Sometime in early Oct/02 they nerfed the rockhopper and stonegrabber spawn rate BADLY. They turned a decent hunting zone into nothing but a rockfield of those stupid blue grasshoppers...thanks alot Verant..bloody idiots.

Has anyone found a good spot to fear kite Rockhoppers here?

the stuff around the Marus Seru zone is hardcore! At least the matures are. Took my 44 mage 4 earth pet and all my mojo to kill, loot was nada. A few folks wandered into the zone (shaman, druid and warrior). Took almost all our juice to kill each one, not very efficiant at all. Way too many hitpoints on this stuff

The level range is not 30-50, if a 30 stepped in here and started fighting it would last 5 seconds, maybe little less. I say range is more like 50 to 60.

Rocky zone, lots of canyons. Recommend Levitate and Wolf form. Did not find anything that would aggro once I was in Wolf form. Out of wolf form, the rock guys aggro.

Big spire in zone with Lesser Spire spirits and Greater Spire Spirits (Both blue at level 51). Entrance of spire is at bottom, with a spiral stairway going up. Spire Lord (high blue) at the top.

Also there is an underground area within this zone, a hive with Thought leaches (looks cool). At named mob called, I believe, "The Great Horror" whipped up on my team (49 Druid, 56 Druid, 51 SK, and 55 mage). HARMONY caused the thing to aggro. Killed me (SK) and the mage. He has fairly high AC and quite a few hit points. He was 49th level and hitting me in the 150+ range.

Hope this helps someone!

Mervic Grimheart
51 SK, Innoruuk <Clan Impact>

You can get EXP at lvl 55 here. Its awesome.