Level 90 in MoP Classic in No Time: Monkey Runs
When Mists of Pandaria Classic dropped – our team was hyped and ready to roll. We weren’t about to slow roll to 90. We set out with one goal: get to max level fast, like really fast. In this post I’ll share how we power-leveled to 90 using the famous “monkey runs” method. This is a casual, first-hand look at what we did, how fast it felt and a few tips we picked up along the way (with plenty of “like” thrown in because I’m a gamer and that’s just how I talk). Grab a brew (maybe a Stormstout brew?) and let’s get started!
The Road to 90: Why We Chose Monkey Runs
Leveling from 85 to 90 in MoP Classic feels like a marathon, especially if you follow the old questing route. We knew from the get go that questing would be crowded and slow (think hundreds of players fighting for the same mobs). We needed a method that was like, way faster and more efficient. That’s when we discovered monkey runs – an instanced grind that many pros were talking about.
Monkey runs in a nutshell involve repeatedly clearing a specific part of the Stormstout Brewery dungeon (up to the first boss area where all the mischievous monkeys are) and then resetting the instance. By focusing on this high density mob area you can get millions of XP per hour without competing against other players. We heard people were hitting 90 in a matter of hours using this trick so of course we had to try it. It sounded crazy – like skipping the line at the DMV and instantly getting your license kind of crazy – but we were determined to make it work.
By choosing monkey runs we effectively traded storylines and exploration for pure speed leveling adrenaline. I won’t lie: part of me felt a little FOMO about skipping the lore but the prospect of getting to 90 in a fraction of the time was too good to pass up. Plus we planned to go back and enjoy the story later at our own pace. For now the race was on!
Setting Up: Gearing and Preparation for Monkey Runs
Before we charged into monkey mayhem our team did a bit of homework and prep. We treated this like a mini raid night – gotta be prepared, you know? Here’s how we set up for success:
- Gear Check & Enchants: We made sure our characters were as geared as possible from Cataclysm endgame. Any piece of gear that could give us more damage or survivability we grabbed it. One teammate even farmed a few last minute epics so our tank wouldn’t get squished. We weren’t decked in full BiS or anything but we were like decently geared to handle big pulls.
- Consumables & Buffs: Our bags were stocked with flasks, food buffs, scrolls you name it. Flask of Winter’s Bite (Agility) for the DPS, Skewered Eel for that 90 Agility food buff and Scrolls of Fortitude for extra stamina – we buffed up like we were about to face a raid boss. The mentality was: every bit of stats might help us kill the monkey packs faster which means more XP per run.
- Heirlooms & XP Bonuses: A couple of us had heirloom pieces that still worked up to 85 and though they stop giving bonus XP at 85 in Classic we kept them for the decent stats. We also activated any guild perks and checked if any XP boost events were active (you never know sometimes Blizzard has those “Joyous Journeys” style buffs). No stone unturned – we wanted to squeeze out as much XP as possible.
- Plan for Downtime: We knew going in that there’s an instance lockout limit if you reset too many times quickly. Rather than twiddle our thumbs we prepared a plan for those in-between moments. Some of us had battle pets ready to do quick pet battles for extra XP and we even plotted a quick daily quest or two nearby that we could knock out if needed. Keeping the momentum was key even during breaks.
- Voice Comms & Roles: This might sound obvious but we all hopped on voice chat and discussed our game plan. Who’s pulling the mobs? (Mostly our tank). Who’s focusing on big targets? Who’s ready to stun or interrupt if things gets messy? We assigned roles so that once we were in the dungeon everyone knew their job. It was like choreography but with angry monkeys. This saved us a ton of time and deaths once the runs began.
By the time we finished setting up we felt buffed, caffeinated and confident. It was actually pretty fun prepping together – that calm before the storm feeling. Little did we know the real chaos was about to begin when we set foot in Stormstout Brewery.
Monkey Runs in Action: Stormstout Brewery Mayhem
Entering Stormstout Brewery for the first monkey run I was excited and a bit anxious. This dungeon is normally a fun little romp with drunken monkeys and rolling ale barrels but we were about to turn it into an XP factory. As soon as we zoned in it was go-time – we weren’t even planning to clear the whole dungeon just the juicy parts. Here’s how a typical run went for our team:
- Quick Bypass at the Start: Right off the bat there are a couple of tough ale-guys at the entrance (the Hozen bouncers who normally guard the door). Instead of wasting time fighting them our rogue friend distracted one and sapped the other while the rest of us just zoomed by. It was like some Metal Gear Solid stealth move – blink and you miss us. If they did spot us occasionally our hunter would throw a quick trap or our mage would Poly – but overall we got past them with minimal fuss.
- Big Monkey Pull: This is where the monkey business truly began. In the big room before Ook-Ook (the first boss) there are packs of hozen monkeys chillin’ around, tossing ale and goofing off. We had our tank charge in and literally gather every monkey in the room into one big angry pile. Imagine 30+ monkeys all hooting and racing towards us – it was absolute chaos on the screen (my FPS dropped a bit from all the spell effects!). Our team unleashed hell: AoE spells, whirlwinds, blizzards, you name it we cast it. The key here was to burn them down fast while avoiding the barrel mechanics. Those cheeky monkeys try to jump into barrels and roll around; if they die inside a barrel the XP gain is lower so we made sure to fight away from the clutter of barrels. It was like, we became experts at “death by a thousand AoEs” in seconds.
- Surviving the Onslaught: During that huge pull our health bars yo-yoed a few times. Thank goodness for our healer who was spamming area heals and cooldowns. Our tank rotated defensive abilities to not get flattened by 40 monkey punches. We also learned to use things like stuns or smoke bombs to mitigate damage when our tank’s evasion (yes, tanks can “evasion” too in a sense) was running out. At one point I heard him yell, “Popping Shield Wall – keep burning, keep burning!” It was so intense. We had a couple of close calls where someone’s health was at 5% but no full wipes. After a few runs we got this phase down to a science: it went from frantic screaming to a confident, almost relaxed routine (well, as relaxed as one can be when literally swimming in monkeys).
- Ignore (or Nuke) the Boss: Normally you’d fight Ook-Ook, the big bad monkey boss who shows up once you’ve cleared enough of his smaller friends. But for pure XP farming, fighting him isn’t really worth the time if you’re doing speed runs. As soon as we killed the last few monkeys we saw Ook-Ook yell his catchphrase and start to spawn which was our cue to get out. In most runs we just high-tailed it out of the instance at that point – no interest in a protracted boss fight. Occasionally if we happened to pull him or felt cheeky we’d throw a few barrels at him (the dungeon has a mechanic where you can roll brewery barrels into the boss for bonus damage) and burst him down quickly. He does give a chunky XP reward, like a few hundred thousand XP, so if we could kill him in under a minute we did it. Otherwise reset and go next.
- Reset and Repeat: As soon as we zoned out (hearthstoned or used the instance portal to exit) we’d reset the dungeon and jump back in for the next run. We tried to keep each run super short – a couple minutes in and out. In practice with loot, re-buffing and occasional mishaps each run was around 5-6 minutes for us. That’s insanely fast compared to any questing circuit. Every run we saw noticeable chunks of our XP bars flying up. It was addictive like seeing a slot machine pay out over and over.
Monkey Run
Level 85–90 fast
10 million XP hourly
All loot and gold
Gold
Any amount
100% secure
Face-to-Face trade
Mogu Runs Boost
85–90 Powerlevel Fast
10 Million XP/Hour
Dungeon Loot
After the first few runs we hit our stride. Each run was smooth: we knew exactly which corner to hit, which pack to pull first and how to position mobs so they didn’t go bananas out of control (pun intended!). Honestly once we mastered it it felt almost chill despite the carnage. We’d be laughing on voice chat saying things like “Here comes the zoo!” and joking about how the floor was littered with bananas and broken barrels by the time we were done.
Chaotic Pulls and Little Victories
Not every run was smooth and honestly our first attempt was pure chaos. We overpulled, the healer’s mana dropped faster than we could AoE and half the group nearly wiped when monkeys jumped into barrels and became untouchable for a few seconds. There were moments where I was literally feigning death to dodge a beating while the rest cleaned up the mess. But every near-wipe taught us something new – whether it was better cooldown timing, trapping strays with Hunter abilities or just calling out big pulls so nobody was caught off guard.
Those little wins started to add up and pretty soon we were celebrating every “clean” run like we’d just downed a raid boss. Voice chat was full of laughs and mini-challenges with everyone pushing to shave seconds off each pull or squeeze in one extra group of monkeys. Doing the same thing repeatedly could’ve gotten boring but with friends on comms it actually felt like a speedrun competition. By the end we’d gone from absolute chaos to running monkey pulls like seasoned pros – callouts were smooth, teamwork was tight and seeing our XP bars jump felt insanely rewarding.
Any Class Can Join the Monkey Business
You might have heard that monkey runs are only for specific classes (like those sneaky rogues or super-sturdy tanks). Truth is our team was a mixed bag of classes and we made it work just fine. We didn’t have anyone with the fancy legendary daggers or a Feral Druid pulling off some broken solo strat – we just used good old teamwork. So if you’re thinking “Do I need a [insert OP class] to do this?”. Let me reassure you: no single class is mandatory for monkey runs, especially if you run as a group.
What matters more are roles and coordination than exact class picks. Here’s how our party composition played out and why any class could fill these roles with a bit of creativity:
- The Tank (Key Role): We had a prot warrior as our tank (shoutout to my buddy who main tanks our raids, he lives for this stuff). A tank is super helpful to lead the charge, gather all the monkeys, and not flop over when 40 of them are using him as a chew toy. That said you don’t have to have a traditional tank spec if you’re doing this with friends – what you need is someone durable to hold aggro. I’ve seen people use a Blood DK or Guardian Druid, even a well-geared Ret paladin with a shield could fake it. The point is have one person act as the monkey magnet and damage soak. Class is less important than survivability and threat.
- AoE Damage Dealers: The more AoE your group can pump out the better. We ran with a Mage and a Warlock as our primary AoE machines – Blizzard, Rain of Fire, you name it, everything was raining down on those poor hozen. But honestly any class with decent multi-target abilities shines here. Hunters with Multi-Shot and Explosive Trap, Warriors with Whirlwind and Cleave, Elemental Shaman with Chain Lightning and EQ – they all work. Even classes like Rogue (traditionally single-target focused) can spec into some AoE talents or just focus on picking off stragglers. It’s really about the combined firepower. We joked that our screen looked like a fireworks show every pull.
- Healer / Support: We were grateful to have a dedicated healer (we brought a Resto Shaman along, chain-healing her heart out). Could we have done it without a healer? Possibly if everyone was insanely geared and we chain-popped defensive cooldowns or used hybrid off-heals. But having one made things way safer and smoother. Again any healer class will do – Monk, Priest, Druid, doesn’t matter. They just need to be ready to triage during those intense 10-second windows where the whole room is on fire (sometimes literally, if a Brewmaster cask gets lit up!). Also support abilities like a Druid’s Typhoon knockback or a Shaman’s Capacitor Totem stun were clutch to control the crowd. It’s not about one class; it’s about using whatever tools your class has to contribute.
- Utility and CC: An often overlooked aspect is crowd control and utility. Our group made use of everything we had – warlock’s Shadowfury stun, warrior’s Intimidating Shout to fear a few mobs if things got hairy, and even the rogue’s Blind or a well-timed Sap at the start. These “oh snap!” buttons can be a lifesaver if, say, the healer gets pounced on by an angry monkey or an extra pack accidentally joins the fray. The point is every class brings something to the table. Don’t bench yourself just because you’re not the “ideal” class someone mentioned in a guide. We certainly didn’t let that stop us.
So yeah, no rogue required for us. In fact I was playing a Mage and I felt extremely valuable just spamming Arcane Explosion and Frost Nova (to freeze runners) – not something you get to do in a typical raid scenario without getting yelled at! Our melee friends were having a blast (literally) spinning and smashing groups of monkeys. It was a free-for-all on damage as long as we stayed within the safety of our healer’s range.
The takeaway: bring the player, not the class. If you have the determination and a bit of creativity any class combo can succeed at monkey runs. We even talked about trying a goofy comp next time (like all hunters with pet tanking) – who knows it might work. The monkeys won’t know what hit them and you’ll still bathe in XP. So if you’re worried you don’t have the “right” class for this don’t be. Just grab some friends and give it a go.
Dealing with Downtime: Pet Battles, Quests & Chill
One thing we learned quickly is you can’t infinitely spam dungeons without a break. After a bunch of rapid resets the game will eventually say “Nope, too many instances, take a breather.” In MoP Classic that meant after doing a series of runs in quick succession we hit a point where we had to wait before doing more. Instead of seeing this as a setback we turned downtime into another opportunity (and honestly a bit of relief – our fingers needed a stretch!).
Here’s how we made the most of the in-between moments while our monkey run resets were on cooldown:
- Pet Battle XP Mini-Game: We had heard (and seen in a video) that Pet Battles in Pandaria give a lot of character XP. And guess what – it’s true and it’s awesome. Right outside Stormstout Brewery in the Valley of the Four Winds there are tons of critters and aquatic pets roaming around. During our downtime we had a couple of us pull out our leveled battle pets and start dueling wild pets. Each pet battle gave us around 80-100k XP (it scales with level but at 88-89 it was in that range). They only took 2-3 minutes each. Not only did this keep our XP bar moving it was also a nice mental break from the monkey mayhem. We were laughing that we were leveling by playing Pokémon in the middle of a WoW session. Who would’ve thought?
- Quick Daily Quests: Another thing we fit in was a couple of daily quests nearby that were easy and fast. For example Halfhill (the farming village) wasn’t far off and had some repeatable quests that didn’t require heavy combat (like harvesting veggies etc.). We’d send one or two team members to do those while the others might be doing pet battles or just taking a bio break. Splitting up tasks was efficient – by the time the dungeon lockout wore off we’d all gained a few percentage points of XP from these little chores. It felt productive without being stressful.
- Auction House & Inventory Management: Since we were near the farm hub one of our friends took a few minutes to mail off loot and check the Auction House (remote AH usage or an alt parked in town) for any good deals. This isn’t directly XP gain but it’s downtime optimization. We cleared our bags, sold all the grey junk those monkeys dropped (banana peels, empty kegs, broken swords – you’d be surprised how much vendor trash piles up from mass slaughter). A clear bag means smoother runs later and a bit of extra gold never hurts.
- Rest and Rebuff: And last but not least, downtime was human downtime too. We stretched, grabbed a drink (hydration checkpoint!), and then re-upped our buffs. Food buffs were re-eaten, flasks checked and cooldowns like Bloodlust (which has a 10 min CD) came back up. By the time we jumped back into the next reset we were refreshed and ready to go again. The key was to stay in the groove but not burn out – tiny breaks helped us maintain high energy and focus during the actual runs.
Honestly this part of the process made me realize even in a super grindy method there are ways to keep it fun and varied. One minute I’m mass-murdering monkeys with arcane magic; the next minute I’m peacefully battling a wild cricket pet named “Hopling” or something. It gave a nice balance to the session. So if you attempt long monkey run grinds I highly recommend mixing in a side activity during lockouts – whether it’s pet battles (if that’s your jam), a bit of questing or just standing up to stretch IRL. Your XP per hour stays high and your sanity thanks you.
The Final Sprint: Ding Level 90 and Afterthoughts
The last stretch of leveling with our team felt like a total blur. Every run seemed faster than the last and the excitement just kept building as we watched our XP bars skyrocket. When someone called out that we were already at 89 the energy spiked – suddenly it was all about going all in, no breaks, just pure speed. Within what felt like minutes we heard those classic “DING!” sounds one after another and just like that the whole squad hit level 90 in about 7 hours total. Honestly it was a wild mix of exhaustion, hype and straight-up disbelief. We hit max level before most players even left the first zones.
We finished up at the Stormstout Brewery entrance and took a silly screenshot, spamming emotes and laughing about the craziness we’d just endured. The whole monkey run method turned what could’ve been a grind into something actually fun – and way faster than any quest route we’d ever done. If this sounds like a lot to handle don’t worry: that’s what we do at ChaosBoost and if you ever want to level as fast as we did we’re here to help. For now we’re off to enjoy some endgame Pandaria content but those monkey run memories are going to stick with us for a long time – best leveling rush ever!
