Monkey knife fighter
| Monkey knife fighter | |
| Release date | 1 December 2010 (Update) |
|---|---|
| Race | Monkey |
| Members NPC? | Yes |
| Quest NPC? | Do No Evil |
| Location | Ape Atoll |
| Sells items? | No |
| Gender | Male |
| Examine | The best of the best. |
The Monkey knife fighters appear during and after the quest Do No Evil on Ape Atoll. The fighters are located in a building in the northern part of the town, due east of the building containing the Monkey Child encountered in the Monkey Madness quest. There are five fighters on the ground floor of the building, four on the first floor, and three on the second floor.
The fighters must be pickpocketed during the quest for their monkey knives, six of which are needed to arm the guards at the Monkey Camp. To pickpocket monkey knife fighters, the player must be wielding a Gorilla greegree, must knock the monkey unconscious by punching it, and then must pickpocket the unconscious fighter. Even if the pickpocketing attempt appears to succeed, a knife is not always looted, so multiple attempts will need to be made.
After bringing the knives from these monkeys to the monkeys in the desert during the quest, these monkeys can be pickpocketed for further Thieving experience and different loot. It is not necessary to complete the quest in its entirety to receive the different loot.
Knocking a monkey knife fighter unconscious will reward the player with 20 Thieving experience, and pickpocketing the unconscious monkey will reward the player with 150 Thieving experience. Failing to knock a fighter unconscious, or trying to pickpocket from one while it is still conscious, will result in the player being hit for 60 damage and being stunned for a few seconds. With good attention, few failures and a high Thieving level, players can achieve experience rates of around 150k experience per hour with a maximum of around 330k. To maximize experience, trap the eastern monkey just north of the L-shaped wall. This prevents the monkey from moving, and makes clicking on it easier. A high advantage is that it also earns around 150K gp per hour without the rune scimitars.
Training at monkey knife fighters is often preferred over training at the Lumbridge Thieves' Guild because it requires fewer clicks (three clicks for the fighters as opposed to 6-8 clicks for coshing volunteers), is easier, and provides more or less the same amount of experience per hour.
These monkeys are very close to 5 banana trees, which can provide bananas for healing if needed. Also, after the quest, the player may also get lobsters from pickpocketing the fighters, which can be used for healing. There is a food store on Ape Atoll called Solihib's Food Stall, where players can buy additional food for healing, if necessary. However, at around level 80 Thieving, provided the player is pickpocketing twice per knockout, more than enough lobsters will be looted.
If the player attempts a pickpocket when the monkey isn't knocked out, there is approximately a 1/5 chance of being sent to the jail on Ape Atoll. Three consecutive failed pickpockets will also result in jail time. It is possible to escape as usual, and if the player is still in monkey form, the monkeys on Ape Atoll will not attack.
There is no poisonous spider on the first floor (second floor US), so the player should climb the ladder to that floor if it is necessary to unequip his/her greegree.
Loot
Item Quantity Rarity GE Market Price 
Coins 1–50 Common Not sold 
Black knife 1–10 Common 76–760 Exchange:Black knife (p) Black knife (p) 1 Common Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". Exchange:Black knife (p+) Black knife (p+) 1 Uncommon Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". Exchange:Black knife (p++) Black knife (p++) 1 Rare Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". 
Lobster 1 Uncommon 223 
Mithril scimitar 1 Uncommon 496 
Adamant scimitar 1 Rare 1,489 
Rune scimitar 1 Very rare 15,254 
Dragon scimitar 1 Very rare 68,256
Pickpocketing the fighters is one of the fastest ways to get black knives in quantity without purchasing them on the Grand Exchange.
Tips
- It's only possible to pickpocket a monkey twice while it's knocked out, before it wakes up, giving a max experience per hour rate of 330k.
- An Enhanced Excalibur can be useful, be aware though, of the spiders. There is one on the ground floor. It is notable that when you equip the EE the monkeys will not attack you, so you don't have to go and find a quiet spot to spec. If they do poison you, the damage is negligible.
- Since both punching and pickpocketing require right clicks, players should switch to the single-mouse-button setting in the game's options for best speed.
- Gloves of silence have no effect on monkey knife fighters.
Trivia
- Unlike other monkeys in Ape Atoll, if you are in human form, they will not call for guards, but if talked to, the player will be knocked out and sent to Jail as usual.
- If the player is fast enough and knocks out a fighter as he/she pickpockets a second pickpocket, the monkey will still appear to be knocked out on the ground.
- If the monkey is knocked out and the talk option is selected, the chat will display a message that reads, "I can't talk to him, he's unconscious." But if a player is not wearing an amulet with which to speak to monkeys, the monkey will rotate, he will say, "Ook! Ook!", and a message will appear telling the player that a monkeyspeak amulet is required to talk to him.