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ZMonk Lightning Wizard variation

by last updated May 23, 2017 ( Patch 2.5.0 )
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Skills

  • Crippling Wave Breaking Wave
  • Blinding Flash Crippling Light
  • Cyclone Strike Implosion
  • Mantra of Healing Boon of Inspiration
  • Inner Sanctuary Intervene
  • Epiphany Soothing Mist
  • Beacon of Ytar
  • Resolve
  • Seize the Initiative
  • The Guardian's Path

Items

More Details

  • Legendary Gems

    • Gem of Efficacious Toxin
    • Gogok of Swiftness
    • Esoteric Alteration

Kanai's Cube

  • Flying Dragon
  • Spirit Guards
  • Band of the Rue Chambers

The gear above is pretty straightforward. You must get all the items listed to reach the end goal of the build. Aim for the stat priorities I provided above and here is a link to the build in diablo 3 character planner as an ideal build:


https://www.d3planner.com/658444105


Use diamonds in the torso, pants and helmet.


Below is a full description of the build and why the skills are selected and why the stats above are preferred.

Paragon Priorities

Core

Movement Speed
Maximum Resource
Vitality
Primary Stat

Offense

Cooldown Reduction
Attack Speed
Critical Hit Chance
Critical Hit Damage

Defense

Life Regeneration
Resist All
Life
Armor

Utility

Life on Hit
Resource Cost Reduction
Gold Find
Area Damage

CORE: This is a zero dps monk build so no need for any points in the primary stat. Make sure you movement speed is at the 25% max, increase maximum resource by 50%, and the reset of the core paragon points will go into vitality.


Offense: The only stats that matter here are cooldown reduction and attack speed, you can fill the others after maxing these 2 out.


Defense: Life Regen, Resistance to All, Life, then Armor


Utility: Life on Hit and Resource Cost Reduction are the most important, fill in gold find after getting these 2 maxed out.

IMPORTANT: Leave Area Damage at 0% and do not take it as a stat on any of your equipment. Remember you a zero dps monk meant for support only, you won't do enough damage as primary or in area damage to effect any of the monsters. All Area Damage does is slow down animations and add additional calculations which creates lag for everyone with no benefit.

Build Guide

ZMONK - Lightning Wizard Variation

This is my first guide so please have some understanding if I didn't fill something out correctly, I will check on it and fix.

This zero dps monk is intended to be used in a 2,3, or 4 man group with primarily ranged dps. It is especially effective when combined with one
of the lightning wizard variations. Focus on grouping with 1 or 2 wizards or if a 4 man group comes in to play you would want a zero dps barbarian along with the 2 wizards. The issue you that run in to with a standard zmonk build is that it is designed to help firebats witch doctors, zdps barbarians, even the shadow impale demon hunters as these could be considered primarily melee dps builds. The piece 4 Inna's
bonus extends 3 protective passive skills to 60 yds, so the wizards will get these most of the time and they include the following:


  1. Mantra of conviction: 16% increased damage
  2. Mantra of retribution: 101% weapon damage as Holy when blocking, dodging, or getting hit
  3. Mantra of salvation: All resistances increased by 20%
  4. Mantra of healing: 10,728 regeneration + 7% of your life per second

I have included a general outline above for stat priority, you should aim for the following though:


  1. Cooldown Reduction - over 65% is preferred
  2. Increase Attack Speed - over 50% is preferred, 55% is better
  3. Health Globe Healing Bonus - aim for 220K+
  4. Life on Hit - wherever possible and you will see it is 173K in the linked Zmonk that follows
  5. Vitality - you should get this stat many places and augment it on every piece of ancient you have
  6. Life per Second - wherever possible and it is 122K in the linked Zmonk
  7. All resistance, Armor%+, Life%+, and Dexterity will be scattered throughout
    8. your gear and are the fallback when you cannot get any of the above
    stats

This is an example of the Zmonk build using the Diablo 3 character planner, it's not perfect but pretty close to ideal. Keep that in mind as you are not likely to get all of this gear set up precisely this way. The planner is set to show Flying Dragon and Istvan bonuses stacked and active, this demonstrates the real goal of having each of your hands at an attack speed of 5/second. If you can achieve this you will have one tough Zmonk.


https://www.d3planner.com/658444105


Now the other skills that used like Epiphany, Cyclone Strike, Active Mantra, and Sanctuary typically will only have a range of 11 - 30
yards. This doesn't help the lightning wizard at all since they are rarely that close to your monk. There are a few things you can in order
mitigate this situation and include the following:

  1. Use Mantra of Healing - Boon of Inspiration rune as well as gear health globe bonuses and life on hit every where you can. In the above example
    2. this mantra should be kept up at all times and provides a shield of 96K for 3 seconds. It also heals for 3576 plus 20% of life on hit which is
    173,736 in example or 3576 + 34,747 = 38,323 which also has no range and should be spammed as much as possible.
  2. Use Cyclone Strike - Implosion rune, healing benefits are lost on the wizards so better to extend the pull radius to 34 yards which will help
    3. keep some of the trash away from them.
  3. Group the large mobs before elite/boss battles or lead the mobs to the elites and bosses, this will help them build stacks necessary to do more
    4. damage. Don't waste time on small to mid range mobs.
  4. Use the teleport provided by your Epiphany to travel between elite fights, don't worry about dashing strike. The Blinding Flash with crippling
    5. light rune will replace it and help mitigate some of the damage to you and your allies.
  5. If you are the only support present you may need to replace Spirit Guards or Strongarm Bracers with Nemesis Bracers. If you are strong enough to do without Spirit Guards then replace them, if survival is still an issue then replace the Strongarm Bracers until you can switch.
  6. If something has gone awry and the wizards aren't making enough damage for the particular elite fight and the mobs are gone, use you best
    7. judgement but you may want to move on to the next elite fight instead. Try and lead the elite to the next area with a mob in tow and you will
    get better results.
  7. I put this at the end but it really is the most important, USE HEADSETS AND COMMUNICATE. Utilize blizzard chat or discord, but when you can talk to each other and let each other know what's happening and what to do next the group play gets much easier.