Upper Guk

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Antonica (back)

Upper Guk is a great dungeon from levels 15-35 or so. The loot isn't the greatest, although Ghoulbane and the ancient croc are two highly prized spawns in the zone. The main problems with this zone are the frequency of trains (which is why it's best to hunt away from the main paths of traffic) as well as the distance from a good bind location. For evil races, this isn't too much of a problem, as grobb is a very short walk away.

The spawn time in Guk is about 16.5 minutes, and everything spawns according to this clock. All spawns are standard Everquest spawns, except the Ancient Crocodile, which has a very odd spawning pattern which I'll discuss in a separate section. The key to hunting in upper Guk is either staying on the move so you don't get backspawned, or finding a good safe spot to pull to and pull monsters to there. Hopefully a safe room out of the way of trains. Pulling singles is very useful, as is staggering spawns here, but with a 16 minute spawn time, you can easily get experience without doing too much far away pulling.

Probably the best groups for Upper Guk are mostly tank groups that can just chew through the frogs. A cleric helps, and a bard is really nice to have. Plus you need some way to stop runners. Casters aren't nearly as important due to the lack of dangerous casting frogs.

Level of Monsters: 4-25+
Types of Monsters: Frogloks of all types, including Tads, Guards, Sentries at the front end, then to more advanced frogloks, including Warrior, Shaman, and Knight types, named (weakest to strongest) Tuk, Gaz, Ton, Vis, Shin, Nok, and Tsu, Tonta Knight; Swamp Alligators, Saltwater Crocodiles, Heart Spiders, Large Heart Spider, Fungus Drone, Fungus Breeder, Fungus Soldier, Fungus Ancient, Fungus Mutant, Skeletal Monk
Notable NPCs: a froglok gaz squire, a froglok idealist, a froglok realist, a froglok necromancer, a froglok scryer, a froglok summoner, a froglok nokta shaman, a froglok shin knight, the froglok shin lord, Tempus, a giant heart spider, an ancient croc
Unique Items: Bracelet of Woven Grass, Brazier of Elemental Summoning, Chitin Shell Armor, Chitin Shell Shield, Collar of Undead Protection, Elf-Hide Gloves, Fungus Spores, Gatorscale Leggings, Gatorscale Sleeves, Ghoulbane, Glowing Mask, Moss Mask, Pouch of Ghoul Ash, Reed Ring, Runed Bone Fork, Shimmering Orb, Silver-Plated Bracer, Soiled Boots, Troll-Hide Belt, Vial of Egg Whites, Guk Bracket Mildew, Degenerated Guk Weed
Adjacent Zones: Innothule Swamp, Lower Guk
Name in /who: guktop
Zone Spawn Timer: 16:30
Succor/Evacuate: -36, 7 (Zone line to Innothule)

Map

Upperguk.jpg

Upper Guk

Alternate Map

Upperguk3.jpg

Upper Guk (Entrance)

  • 11. a froglok necromancer - One of the low level mobs here, the froglok necromancer drops the Pouch of Ghoul Ashes, which has See Invis clickie.
  • 12. a froglok idealist - Another low level spawn, the idealist drops a Vial of Egg Whites (common), and a Moss Mask (rare). Both these items give enduring breath. The tonta knight also spawns here.
  • 13. a froglok realist - I guess this guy is supposed to be diametrically opposed to the idealist. His rare drop is the Reed Ring, and I've gotten conflicting reports as to whether his common is the pouch of ghoul ashes or if the necromancer drops that.
  • 14. a froglok gaz squire - One of the few low level mobs here worth hunting. He's about a 20% rare spawn, and drops the Collar of Undead Protection (common), and the Runed Bone Fork (rare). He's about level 17.

Dangers

The primary danger in Upper Guk is the sheer number of monsters located within close proximity to each other. It is not uncommon for some rooms to have 5 or more static mobs with several more pathing in and out on patrol routes. There are also a large number of shamans mixed in with the melee classes so expect to deal with heals, nukes and annoying DOT's. Some of the camps are deep within the dungeon and so if something goes wrong (and it almost always does eventually) the zone line is a long way away.

Monsters

Frogloks in Guk have a very specific naming convention which can easily help you determine levels/difficulty. There are basically three types of frogloks besides the named ones: warriors, shamans, and knights.

  • Warriors are the standard froglok type, and are basically your standard warrior monster.
  • Shamans are shaman types of mobs. They go down quick, but they can cast spririt of the wolf and healing which is very annoying. They can also root. They are very fond of casting drowsy/walking sleep which slows down your attack rate. It's best to kill shamans before warriors. Typically 1 or 2 levels lower than their warrior counterparts.
  • Knights are just like warriors, except typically 2 or 3 levels higher, and they seem to have higher ac and strength than the standard warrior type of monsters.

Additionally, there are different clans of frogloks, which range from level 14 to level 47. In upper guk, they go up to level 31.

  • Wimps - Sentrys, guards, sentinels, neophytes and tads all range from 1-12. They drop netted and woven.
  • Tuk - These range from about 12-16, and are the weakest kind. They drop woven armor and can be found mostly in the entry area of guk.
  • Gaz - These range from 16-20, and drop mesh armor. They are a little distance from the entry, and are relatively easy to pull to the zone.
  • Ton - These range from 19-24. They are found over most of upper guk, on the bottom floor.
  • Vis - These are the shaman counterparts to Ton. There are very few seen in guk.
  • Shin - These range from 25-31, with the knights only being found near the entrance to lower guk live side. The knights are also found in lower guk. This clan is in charge of upper guk.
  • Nok - The shaman counterparts to the Shin warriors.
  • Tsu - Very rare to see one of these in upper guk, they are the shaman counterparts to the Wan knights in lower guk.

Given these level ranges, you can easily pick an area of guk to hunt in depending on your levels. Killing massive amounts of low blues is by far the best way to get experience.

Some of the other mobs in guk are Heart Spiders (poisonous, non aggro, social, around level 15), Swampwater crocs (non aggro, around level 10), and Fungus men.

In the fungus farm, there are:

  • Fungus Soldier - weak melee critter.
  • Fungus Breeder - druid type, casts stinging swarm, which is no joke if you're trying to solo it.
  • Fungus Ancient - I haven't gotten it to spawn yet, just heard them casting a few times.
  • Fungus Drones - will heal any fungus in range, so unless you can unload HARD its best to pull targets away from the room.

Benefits

Despite the above mentioned dangerousness of the zone, this has to be one of the most popular dungeons in the game, the only problem with this is that it is so far away from the majority of players, and the difficulty at getting bound nearby for any of the good races. There are several reasons for this, but the largest is that the frogloks are just plain rich. Even the lowliest froglok possesses woven armor, which is about the equivalent of banded armor for mage classes.

There is also a large amount of good equipment to be had in Upper Guk. Many of the items are on characters wish lists, and the added benefit of making some great experience while waiting for the critter who carries it to spawn is worthwhile.

Suggested Hunting

  • Levels 1-15. Probably stay near the entry zone and hunt pull the weenie frogs. Be careful on the C bridge, it can be hard to navigate, and falling off can be a major pain.
  • Levels 15-20. Either hunt in the same area and pull gaz from near the idealist room. Or hunt near the heart spiders and pull from the scryer room.
  • Levels 20-25. Hunt near the froglok warden or near the dead zone to lower guk. The danger of hunting near lower guk zone is that people will occassionally train stuff to there while running to lower guk.
  • Levels 25-30. Now you can either hunt the barracks and do the shin lord with a good group, or move to near the saltwater/ancient croc and do tons and shin warriors. The ancient croc room is nice because there is a zone right by there which is very safe since there's never anything on the other side.
  • Levels 30-35. The only place left to hunt are the shins and nok by the live side of lower guk. Ancient room is good for this, as well as right by the live zone. At 34-35 the dungeon starts greening out, and in a large group you'll probably have trouble finding blues to hunt. Time to move to lower guk.

Popular Camps

AC

"Ancient Crocodile" is a mob commonly camped for his sought-after +wis pants.

Scryer

A common strategy when holding this room is to sit in the hallway just beyond at the top of the ramp. There is only one froglok which spawns here and you are then free to pull from both the scryer room and the room below.

Lower Guk Zone Line

This is a great spot to sit if you have decent group as there are a ton of higher level frogloks in the area to pull. Though maybe not a camp in the traditional sense since there is no specific loot, I've found it to be the best exp I've gotten in upper guk so far.

Traveling To and From Upper Guk

Gukent.jpg

There is one entrance into Upper Guk from the Innothule Swamp. The entrance is guarded on the outside by two froglok guards, and on the inside has a narrow corridor guarded by at least one higher level froglok guard.

There are a few entrances to Lower Guk from deep within the zone, as indicated on the map.