Wanted to get some opinions from other monks about changes to the cookie cutter builds that you may be planning on using in 1.0.7.
I used TR for quite sometime, but when I got into the 80's for paragon levels, I switched to a dual-wield TR hybrid build to farm at mp3 with some relative speed. I was planning on dropping TR all together and going for mp6 or higher farming with the cookie cutter SW build, with swapping out Blinding Flash for Wave of Light or Exploding Palm - not sure which yet.
Mathematics and I are not good friends, but I have to assume that with the significant buff to exp gain at higher mp levels, farming at mp6 or higher, even though it adds some time to the overall run, would be far better than TR through mp1 or 2.
So curious about what others are planning on doing. Only seeing new TR gear checking threads in here lately and wondered if anyone was planning on changing things up at all.
Now I find it sometimes too much of a hassle to keep the elites close to each other (especially with echoing fury; damn I love and hate that weapon so much).
Right with ya. I know its a great skill - but I find it more and more difficult to keep a pack together to get the benefit of EP.
I also too have an Echoing Fury that is rather nice and I hate to give it up
I plan on experimenting with a unique Lashing Tail Kick - Hand of Ytar or Scorpion's sting build.
I've gathered quite a few items in preparation for this change to the skill:
Flying Dragon with 6 LS 191 CD and -5 LTK
Mara's with 200 Dex, 40 CD, double resists and -5LTK
SoJ with 26% bonus to E, -5 LTK
and I may or may not use my crit Skull Grasp with -4 LTK, but I suspect I'll be hard pressed to abandon my Nat's ring.
I'd like to combine TR for mobility with LTK and some spirit regeneration passives and see just how well it works.
The weapon changes put me at around 90k dps (which is lower than I would have liked, but hopefully the speedy LTK spam will make up for it) and 950 res all for some good defensive and offensive combos. I'm looking forward to testing it tonight.
Well, I've tried out my new build, and I have to say, it's quite fun.
I am able to stun elites/bosses about 75% of the time with lashing tail kick - scorpion sting (I sadly found hand of ytar lackluster in solo play, but it could be fun for groups) and I measured my new DPS on azmodan mp10 last night and measured about 850k dps average over several attempts. Not the best, but respectable.
It's quite fun to be playing around with a new build, though I found that even with the buffs, FoT and cyclone are still probably in the lead because of the insane proc rate for Cyclone and LoH. If they improved the proc rates of other skills, we would have more competition between what we can use.
The LTK spam can truly become a devastating force when my flying dragon procs though... which happens more often than one would think.
Sadly, I have to switch to some different gear for mp10 play though, pulling the dps down to 700k, but buffing resistances and hp to 1000 AR and 40k HP with 6 LS and 500 LoH. This set up makes me near un-killable though, even on mp10, so its hard to complain too much.
Since deciding that my Monk was going to be my new main months ago, I've come to appreciate a lot of their active skills. Early on in getting him to Level 60, I found a TON of luck with Exploding Palm - Flesh is Weak, and I'd love to find a way to bring it back into my build.
Currently, my Spirit Generation hangs on combining the amazing proc rate Way of the Hundred Fists - Fists of Fury gets with Breath of Heaven - Infused with Light. Hundred Fists does decent damage on its own, and Fists of Fury specifically, when buffed with Infused, can make my Spirit restore to full almost instantly when I dual wield. With 1.0.7 buffing Wave of Light considerably, he can use all self-found gear to handle MP1 fairly easily. But as I said, I have been trying to think of a cool way to bring Exploding Palm back into my build somewhere.
As for changing things up, I could see myself trying to switch out Wave of Light - Wall of Light with Exploding Palm - Flesh is Weak. If I can get my armor up high enough, I could even switch Seven-Sided Strike - Pandemonium for Exploding Palm. I like Pandemonium for the potential to get a 7 second stun, that can really change up the fight, but even with Beacon of Ytar, the cooldown is still around 24 seconds, and when used in large groups, it's FAR less effective AND leaves me hanging if not enough bad guys get stunned. Act Bosses, though, it works great, but farming, not as good.
But yeah, so far, really liking the new patch a lot, had a great time with it this morning and even though Wall of Light is big for me, I'd definitely consider switching some stuff up with the patch changes, :-)
Mathematics and I are not good friends, but I have to assume that with the significant buff to exp gain at higher mp levels, farming at mp6 or higher, even though it adds some time to the overall run, would be far better than TR through mp1 or 2.
As far as I can tell, from the numbers, your assumption is incorrect. Monster HP increases much more than bonus xp, so there is little doubt TR mp1 is your best bet - and by a good margin too. However, you can now combine keys, plans, essences, and a bit more general magic find with less loss to xp than what you had before the patch.
Still, tempest rush would be the obvious choice for xp, due to it's speed, and probably for legendaries per hour too, since number of monsters killed in X time matter more than the quality of each (magic find when killing each). Logically.
Regardless, I would very much like a specific run down of the build you are using for high mp (all skills), since I'm selling off some alts to buy a monk (not tempest rush, but something tanky & durable, mp10 capable).
Explosive Palm is like a murdering machine now! I've dropped Sweeping Wind completely for Explosive Palm Flesh is Weak in my Backlash build. The additional 20% on the explosion is such a huge factor. Killing melee elites has never been so easy for me now because once one of them is killed the rest follows almost immediately.
I used TR for quite sometime, but when I got into the 80's for paragon levels, I switched to a dual-wield TR hybrid build to farm at mp3 with some relative speed. I was planning on dropping TR all together and going for mp6 or higher farming with the cookie cutter SW build, with swapping out Blinding Flash for Wave of Light or Exploding Palm - not sure which yet.
Mathematics and I are not good friends, but I have to assume that with the significant buff to exp gain at higher mp levels, farming at mp6 or higher, even though it adds some time to the overall run, would be far better than TR through mp1 or 2.
So curious about what others are planning on doing. Only seeing new TR gear checking threads in here lately and wondered if anyone was planning on changing things up at all.
Monkalicious: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/OptimusPrime-12194/hero/79139477
Right with ya. I know its a great skill - but I find it more and more difficult to keep a pack together to get the benefit of EP.
I also too have an Echoing Fury that is rather nice and I hate to give it up
Monkalicious: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/OptimusPrime-12194/hero/79139477
I've gathered quite a few items in preparation for this change to the skill:
Flying Dragon with 6 LS 191 CD and -5 LTK
Mara's with 200 Dex, 40 CD, double resists and -5LTK
SoJ with 26% bonus to E, -5 LTK
and I may or may not use my crit Skull Grasp with -4 LTK, but I suspect I'll be hard pressed to abandon my Nat's ring.
I'd like to combine TR for mobility with LTK and some spirit regeneration passives and see just how well it works.
The weapon changes put me at around 90k dps (which is lower than I would have liked, but hopefully the speedy LTK spam will make up for it) and 950 res all for some good defensive and offensive combos. I'm looking forward to testing it tonight.
I am able to stun elites/bosses about 75% of the time with lashing tail kick - scorpion sting (I sadly found hand of ytar lackluster in solo play, but it could be fun for groups) and I measured my new DPS on azmodan mp10 last night and measured about 850k dps average over several attempts. Not the best, but respectable.
It's quite fun to be playing around with a new build, though I found that even with the buffs, FoT and cyclone are still probably in the lead because of the insane proc rate for Cyclone and LoH. If they improved the proc rates of other skills, we would have more competition between what we can use.
The LTK spam can truly become a devastating force when my flying dragon procs though... which happens more often than one would think.
Sadly, I have to switch to some different gear for mp10 play though, pulling the dps down to 700k, but buffing resistances and hp to 1000 AR and 40k HP with 6 LS and 500 LoH. This set up makes me near un-killable though, even on mp10, so its hard to complain too much.
Currently, my Spirit Generation hangs on combining the amazing proc rate Way of the Hundred Fists - Fists of Fury gets with Breath of Heaven - Infused with Light. Hundred Fists does decent damage on its own, and Fists of Fury specifically, when buffed with Infused, can make my Spirit restore to full almost instantly when I dual wield. With 1.0.7 buffing Wave of Light considerably, he can use all self-found gear to handle MP1 fairly easily. But as I said, I have been trying to think of a cool way to bring Exploding Palm back into my build somewhere.
As for changing things up, I could see myself trying to switch out Wave of Light - Wall of Light with Exploding Palm - Flesh is Weak. If I can get my armor up high enough, I could even switch Seven-Sided Strike - Pandemonium for Exploding Palm. I like Pandemonium for the potential to get a 7 second stun, that can really change up the fight, but even with Beacon of Ytar, the cooldown is still around 24 seconds, and when used in large groups, it's FAR less effective AND leaves me hanging if not enough bad guys get stunned. Act Bosses, though, it works great, but farming, not as good.
But yeah, so far, really liking the new patch a lot, had a great time with it this morning and even though Wall of Light is big for me, I'd definitely consider switching some stuff up with the patch changes, :-)
As far as I can tell, from the numbers, your assumption is incorrect. Monster HP increases much more than bonus xp, so there is little doubt TR mp1 is your best bet - and by a good margin too. However, you can now combine keys, plans, essences, and a bit more general magic find with less loss to xp than what you had before the patch.
Still, tempest rush would be the obvious choice for xp, due to it's speed, and probably for legendaries per hour too, since number of monsters killed in X time matter more than the quality of each (magic find when killing each). Logically.
Regardless, I would very much like a specific run down of the build you are using for high mp (all skills), since I'm selling off some alts to buy a monk (not tempest rush, but something tanky & durable, mp10 capable).
http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/sodomir-2220/