Monk vs SK

Looking to level up one of these toons. I'm using my uncle's account since he's got all these vet awards lol. I'm brand new to the game and i like playing tank classes. These two, lore wise, have drawn my attention. For leveling I'll be questing and hitting all the dungeons I can. I like soloing and from what I understand, there are companions you can level with.

So my question, which of these two will quest/molo dungeons better? Which of these two is more "eq2 newb tank" friendly?

Lastly, for what I'm doing, which companion would suit me best?

All classes are over powered for adventuring up to maybe the previous expansion. You could solo the game up to that point with any class.

That said, of the two you mention, SK would be best due to aoe spells which will allow you to clear dungeons incredibly fast.

Add an Inquisitor Merc and you'll fly through the game.

Nice, thanks for the reply!

I have an SK level 100 and love it. There are some new (within the last couple of years) threat problems with SK in comparison with Pally, but if you ever decide you want to be in a heavily grouping guild at level 100, or even raid, you can betray to Pally if needed. Try to decide whether to betray before you master all your skills from level 90+ though, or regrets will be larger. With any tank, consider woodworker or alchemist for a craft. The totems/potions/consumables can get expensive at high levels, and are mostly unavailable on the broker for lower levels.Food at max level is also expensive, so Provisioner is another good choice. Welcome to Norrath!

As long as you don't feel like ever becoming a main tank past heroics...SK are great for soloing and killing quickly.

They are horrible tanks once you get above current heroics. Very squishy, hard to heal, hard to hold agro, just in a bad spot.

If your dreams are to eventually main tank or even raid tank one day. Monk is good choice for a good raid OT toon. Otherwise roll a guard. Nothing beats a guard when it comes to sheer tanking ability. (I have the following at 100 and have tanked off and on with them throughout the years) SK, Pally, Monk, Bruiser, and Guard. I have not ever played a zerker until this week. I rolled one on IoR to play with.

As for mercs. Any healer merc will do. Get the disco merc from zek soon as you can fly. Does a great job.

Except OP asked:

He specifically asked for a Molo tank. Not Heroic. Not Raid. Also, Guardian is the hardest tank in game to learn, seriously that's just mean.

(To answer about companion/mercenary: OP will not have access to Zek being a brand new player. Best merc in this case is to pop a healer crate and hope not to get the Aviak.)

I'm sorry every SK you met was bad, But please dont spread misinformation

Awesome, thanks for the replies everyone. Been leveling an SK, Paladin, Monk and bruiser side by side trying to decide between them lol. I started with the Monk and SK, then my altoholism kicked in and I made a bruiser and Paladin. I really like them all tbh. I figured I would just go complete dungeon to dungeon until I felt like I prefered one over the other. I'm at lvl30 with them all, around 70aa's with them all and enjoying each one a lot for different reasons. Going to take me forever unless I decide.

Yeah, my goal is to eventually raid tank and I enjoy that role very much. OT or MT doesn't matter to me. However if SK's are bottom of the barrel in the arena, i might just leave my SK behind atm. I hate spending time on a class to find out I'm gimped or not wanted. I'm really enjoying the Paladin and monk, bruiser too, but to a lesser extent. The guardian or Berzerker don't interests me at all. I normally choose classes I like based on lore first, then evaluate the play styles of the classes I chose.

With school really ramping up, I'm feeling pressed to just choose one of them to focus on and learn since I don't have much time to play atm.

well if u feel like wanting to MT one day .. I'd say go monk or paladin

monk does more dps ... and has lots of temps. he is good.

know less pallies but they are known to be great to hold agro

And is kind of how they feel to me now. The Monk feels just fast which I like. The paladin just feels sturdy which I like also. I like the Monk playsytle a bit more so far, but the Paladin plate armor is nice looking too lol. I'm very finicky with my toons. It just takes me awhile to get attached to them. I'm sure eventually something will pull me towards one or the other, but so far, it's fun.

I've been leveling my High Elf Paladin with that Dwarf troubador and my Iksar monk I haven't settled on a merc I like yet. I prefer a female merc since my Iksar is male, but I haven't found a female yet. I only saw the two in Neriak, but don't really want a dark elf with me. I'll find one eventually. I need to travel to another city to find one. I've only been to Neriak on my Iksar so far. Not looking for the most effective combo yet, but just one to have fun with until things get harder.

So much misinformation in these posts.. I am a Tank for a top 10 progression raid guild, and I can tell you I out parse every single tank I know, and On top of that there is 0 issues holding threat against tier 1 dps with or without transfers, With or without Ascensions.. I sincerely feel like these people are talking with little to no experience.
The tag under my name proves everything you need to know.. Although I agree there are stronger options out there, I feel as if you threw away the option as a shadow-knight really quickly. If there is anything you'd like to know about specifically please feel free to private message me on here.

That sounds cool. Being new, i would know where to even begins asking questions past what I have already posted. Why do you think people portray SK's as not being very good tanks?

Every shadow-knight betrayed to a paladin at the beginning of the expansion because they were the only tanks that could hold aggro, so you dont see too many shadow-knights anymore, I only know one other shadowknight other then my self and hes a really good player as well. MRT for his guild.
My only guess is the shadow-knights they encountered genuinely have 0 idea how to play

As long as you are not ridiculously out-geared by your DPS, and SK will do just fine holding aggro. It is actually easier to hold aggro in a raid than in a 6 man group. My gear is on par with my guild's top DPSers, and I pump out DPS in the range of 50-80% of their DPS. It varies depending on what boss you are talking about. I find some bosses can be a pain in the *** to get a good parse on as a tank, but as long it's high enough to hold aggro I don't worry about it. With that kind of DPS output there is real issue holding aggro after the first 10 seconds of a fight. The only problems I have are when someone dumps huge nukes while I'm pulling and spinning a mob. When that happens I just think "tough ****" and keep going while they get their rez.

The thing you need to be aware of is that your "oh ****" buttons are severely limited compared to other tanks. You need to know when to use them on raid bosses if your raid does not way out-gear the content you are tanking.

Edit: </wave kielex>

SK always been one of the better tanks for heroic content. Not seen a well played SK in raid environment in some time however so i cannot speak for them.

SKs got a nice boost some point in KA where their stoneskin actually is pretty sweet for aggro and on a short cooldown. Aggro before then was less forgiving. Their DPS potential far exceeds any other tank due to being able to tank in offensive with less issues than other tanks. If you want a pewpew tank - SK is your go to tank imho.

Monks are probably trickier to play in heroic content due to limited aoes but make excellent raid tanks due to their defensive temps and hate management tools.

Half-arsed SKs are a dime a dozen, since everyone seems to have an SK alt to fart around with.
A well geared SK who has experience with the class can do very well in heroic/expert/raid. Not just tanking but also parsing, especially in the age of ascensions.

SKs are fantastic and anyone who says that they are bad tanks have are simply going off on concept and have never grouped with one.

I don't believe its viewed as SK being bad, And i've had the pleasure of being around some damn good ones. They just are not as good as a zerker or monk in this current state of game.. Top tier zerk monk and sk, monk/zerk take cake hands down. just provide more overall. Its not discrediting the class. Its just being realistic and pragmatic.

Monks are only even relevant in late game because there epic 2.0 reflect hits harder then divine light. It's really really really overpowered, Of course they're solid and avoid alot of hits, but that reflect is the be-all end-all

Monks have been the MTs of most of the top guilds for many expansions. The reason is the ability to avoid autoattacks completely for long periods (look back at Forge Golem as a good example, or Order and Chaos now). The new intercept is very powerful, as it is 24% damage reduction and big damage, but that is only if another tank is tanking. Otherwise, it goes to waste most of the time unless you cycle it on people for fights like Vhaz or Expert Rak Ashiir. I would think that SKs, Zerks, and Paladins make the best aggro holding tanks, and personally I love it when a crusader tanks because they never dodge a damn thing and get hit like mack trucks which gives me big intercept damage.

It is really hard to talk about DPS these days, because everyone is whatever their ascension grandmasters are. I see priests blowing up some parses because of ascension myth crits and what not. Ascensions don't give any real good tanky abilities though, just DPS and debuffs mostly. Outside of some minor long recast stuff like obsidian mind or granite protector, it's all just DPS. Then it comes down to which tanks classes lucked out of epic 2.0s and the status quo is basically the same as it was before the xpac.

If you were to focus on tanking big mobs, and you were to put all 6 tanks in the same group situation with the same gear to tank 3rd wave Terris on Summoned Ones, you would notice a big difference in suitability. Paladins and SKs would get hammered by the auto attack during hemorrhage, Bruisers would probably struggle at times too. I would think guardians and zerkers would do fine depending on specs, and monks would survive a lot better with their temp rotations if they had a troub in the group. You would probably have to stack the crusaders and maybe bruiser with templar and dirge stoneskins, maybe even a 3rd healer who knows. The rest of the tanks would probably need less to survive without constant scares.

Flame away!