Nicdanger, nice build. One suggestion - for those of us spirit-starved, like me, how about incorporating EP/Strong Spirit? Helps to reduce spirit use in fights and at the same time replenish it.
edit: 5 mins after the post, a Laws of Seph dropped for me!
Hi Nicdanger, thanks for sharing this type of build. I am currently using this type and it works for me. Having of tota 33.4% CDR (still working on to make it more) i am also lucky of gearing items on my monk that helps CDR and LTK damage. Even DPS and Toughness where sacrificed its still good to fin Mobs or Elite packs as compared to my previous build. Any suggestion from you on my gearing. Thanks
First of all, nice Inna's Reach! You really need to get crit on your neck, even tho you're short on CDR I'd reroll that since it didn't roll well. Try to get CDR on your shoulders, life regen into crit on your puzzle ring, vit into crit damage on your leo ring, holy dmg into lightning dmg or AR on your bracers, % life into vit on your chest, and since you got that awesome diabo with enough CDR and CR you might be able to ditch Air Ally for something else!
Nicdanger, nice build. One suggestion - for those of us spirit-starved, like me, how about incorporating EP/Strong Spirit? Helps to reduce spirit use in fights and at the same time replenish it.
edit: 5 mins after the post, a Laws of Seph dropped for me!
Its probably worth trying, generally tho when things die I get full spirit thanks to health globes and reapers wraps (get those if you dont have them already)! Gratz on the helm, I had thoughts about using blinding flash over air ally with that helm but decided that proc on Gyana is just too amazing to give up, but it should provide more spirit with its shorter cooldown. My suggestion would be to try dumping cost reduction for more damage and see how your spirit holds up, try to keep that balance where you get all the damage you can while almost running out of spirit, but not.
I've been running this build since it first popped up on the news page. I like it! Having to watch your cool downs all the time but not having to make any choices in what spell to cast makes it more interesting but not stressful to play. The design philosophy is solid.
5 points for innovation. This build may work really good for T3 or T4. But on T5 and T6 things change much. Also a lot of things depend on mobs setup on rift. You need solid hp pool because very often you wont be able to kill pack within epiphany and mobs hit really hard e.g. charging angels hit 400k+. I also wonder why you didnt mention % damage to elites which is currenly best stat. I run t5/6 with soj, unity and 2p blackthorne. Usually other people in group use them too to melt crazy hp elites down fast. If i had 300 or 400 k life i would be dead in no time. Recommended hp pool for t5+ is 700k.
Nice post and build. Something that I will try once I collect the gear for sure.
So here's my take on monk damage. We are definately on the bottom of the totem pole and the most gear dependent class when it comes to damage output. The stats (i.e. fire/lightning monk/cdr etc.) will come along based on your playstyle. I run T6 just fine with my current stats. The only thing I change up are my passives and a couple of skills. I don't faceroll through T6 elites but I can do it at a decent pace worth farming in rifts or bounties if I'm bored. I'm able to take any elite affixes damage and have plenty of time to react to it. I don't ever get instagibbed. Like I said, everything is based gear, on how you play, and what works FOR you.
I have 400k health, 9500 armor, 69% dodge rate (bash on dodge all you want but its still part of our class, so use it), 1075 AR,
75% Lighting damage, 43% CC, 42% AS, 497 CD, LoH 6k-ish with paragon, and 0 life regen.
Skills: deadly reach(scattered blows), sweeping wind(cyclone), serenity(ascension), ltk(scorpion sting), dashing strike(way of the falling star), and mantra of evasion(hard target).
Passives: One with everything, seize the initiative, sixth sense, and the guardians path(you can sub tgp for near death experience).
Mind taking a look at my Monk and giving me some pointers?
I've been trying to run a fire based version of your build. I can solo TII easily but in TIII I tend to die a lot.
I gave up dashing strike to be able to run serenity/inner sanctuary rotation, while still having mantra of healing.
I'm working on getting top level dex gems for my chest and legs so I will get a boost when I do. I plan on turning the life per hit on my neck into crit hit damage when I get the $. I'm still running a level 60 chest, but I need it for the fire cost reduction.
I have some rings in the bank that would boost my damage but lower toughness by 15% to 20%. I find I die a lot more often when trying to run those.
5 points for innovation. This build may work really good for T3 or T4. But on T5 and T6 things change much. Also a lot of things depend on mobs setup on rift. You need solid hp pool because very often you wont be able to kill pack within epiphany and mobs hit really hard e.g. charging angels hit 400k+. I also wonder why you didnt mention % damage to elites which is currenly best stat. I run t5/6 with soj, unity and 2p blackthorne. Usually other people in group use them too to melt crazy hp elites down fast. If i had 300 or 400 k life i would be dead in no time. Recommended hp pool for t5+ is 700k.
% damage to elites is great, but I decided to only list what was necessary to make the build actually function. I'm using Aughild's instead of Blackthornes, eventually it will be better. There's absolutely no way a Monk needs 700k hp for anything on SC.
Mind taking a look at my Monk and giving me some pointers?
I've been trying to run a fire based version of your build. I can solo TII easily but in TIII I tend to die a lot.
I gave up dashing strike to be able to run serenity/inner sanctuary rotation, while still having mantra of healing.
I'm working on getting top level dex gems for my chest and legs so I will get a boost when I do. I plan on turning the life per hit on my neck into crit hit damage when I get the $. I'm still running a level 60 chest, but I need it for the fire cost reduction.
I have some rings in the bank that would boost my damage but lower toughness by 15% to 20%. I find I die a lot more often when trying to run those.
Between the Cindercloak and The Minds Eye you probably don't need Air Ally, if that works I'd replace it with dashing strike (or maybe that Fire Ally, looks neat, have no idea if its worth it). Since you don't have Crit on your helm its important you have it everywhere else you can. You're rings, neck, and gloves should be devoted to damage. Crit, Crit Dmg, % Fire, % Elites, CDR, CR. Avoid attack speed if possible unless you think your spirit can support it. I've been using Mantra of Healing and Unity over Serenity and Transcendence lately, with just you and your follower its 10% damage.
5 points for innovation. This build may work really good for T3 or T4. But on T5 and T6 things change much. Also a lot of things depend on mobs setup on rift. You need solid hp pool because very often you wont be able to kill pack within epiphany and mobs hit really hard e.g. charging angels hit 400k+. I also wonder why you didnt mention % damage to elites which is currenly best stat. I run t5/6 with soj, unity and 2p blackthorne. Usually other people in group use them too to melt crazy hp elites down fast. If i had 300 or 400 k life i would be dead in no time. Recommended hp pool for t5+ is 700k.
% damage to elites is great, but I decided to only list what was necessary to make the build actually function. I'm using Aughild's instead of Blackthornes, eventually it will be better. There's absolutely no way a Monk needs 700k hp for anything on SC.
You didnt understand me, other people with Unity ring will kill you
Also in group you will have double and triple packs pulled together many times, and Immunity and Sanctuary wont save you. Immunity too short, Sanctuary nice but covers too small area and mobs tend to run, charge around (swamp, cementary etc). And solid hp pool is something you can rely on. On the otherhand you could swap inner fire for desert shroud and stay alive while rest of the group kills stunned pack. On T5 damage is great, on T6 it is insane, especially with 2 or 3 packs pulled
About damage output your LTK crits are terribly low. 10-12kk? I kick for 20kk+ and 50kk+ in group. Think about it.
I think I still need air ally. I run out of spirit often, even with him. I don't have any attack speed, just two 1.2 speed weapons. If I didn't the fire ally would be fun to run. Maybe I should jump to a two hander, run Guardian's Path, then drop the air ally for the fire ally?
I dropped mantra of healing in favor of Mantra of Evasion Backlash, and dropped Serenity in favor of Dashing Strike Blinding Speed. I know dodge isn't so great because it doesn't reduce all damage sources, but because I run fire I can lower the cost of my mantra greatly by running it, and do good damage with it as well.
Dashing Strike helped my survivability much more than Serenity did. I can also use it to grab health globes which heals and give me spirit. It works pretty good.
edit: 5 mins after the post, a Laws of Seph dropped for me!
Its probably worth trying, generally tho when things die I get full spirit thanks to health globes and reapers wraps (get those if you dont have them already)! Gratz on the helm, I had thoughts about using blinding flash over air ally with that helm but decided that proc on Gyana is just too amazing to give up, but it should provide more spirit with its shorter cooldown. My suggestion would be to try dumping cost reduction for more damage and see how your spirit holds up, try to keep that balance where you get all the damage you can while almost running out of spirit, but not.
So here's my take on monk damage. We are definately on the bottom of the totem pole and the most gear dependent class when it comes to damage output. The stats (i.e. fire/lightning monk/cdr etc.) will come along based on your playstyle. I run T6 just fine with my current stats. The only thing I change up are my passives and a couple of skills. I don't faceroll through T6 elites but I can do it at a decent pace worth farming in rifts or bounties if I'm bored. I'm able to take any elite affixes damage and have plenty of time to react to it. I don't ever get instagibbed. Like I said, everything is based gear, on how you play, and what works FOR you.
My monk with my current build: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/whisperwood-1954/hero/16606718
My T6 build:
I have 400k health, 9500 armor, 69% dodge rate (bash on dodge all you want but its still part of our class, so use it), 1075 AR,
75% Lighting damage, 43% CC, 42% AS, 497 CD, LoH 6k-ish with paragon, and 0 life regen.
Skills: deadly reach(scattered blows), sweeping wind(cyclone), serenity(ascension), ltk(scorpion sting), dashing strike(way of the falling star), and mantra of evasion(hard target).
Passives: One with everything, seize the initiative, sixth sense, and the guardians path(you can sub tgp for near death experience).
Mind taking a look at my Monk and giving me some pointers?
I've been trying to run a fire based version of your build. I can solo TII easily but in TIII I tend to die a lot.
I gave up dashing strike to be able to run serenity/inner sanctuary rotation, while still having mantra of healing.
I'm working on getting top level dex gems for my chest and legs so I will get a boost when I do. I plan on turning the life per hit on my neck into crit hit damage when I get the $. I'm still running a level 60 chest, but I need it for the fire cost reduction.
I have some rings in the bank that would boost my damage but lower toughness by 15% to 20%. I find I die a lot more often when trying to run those.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/SmokinGun-1986/hero/1331932
Between the Cindercloak and The Minds Eye you probably don't need Air Ally, if that works I'd replace it with dashing strike (or maybe that Fire Ally, looks neat, have no idea if its worth it). Since you don't have Crit on your helm its important you have it everywhere else you can. You're rings, neck, and gloves should be devoted to damage. Crit, Crit Dmg, % Fire, % Elites, CDR, CR. Avoid attack speed if possible unless you think your spirit can support it. I've been using Mantra of Healing and Unity over Serenity and Transcendence lately, with just you and your follower its 10% damage.
Also in group you will have double and triple packs pulled together many times, and Immunity and Sanctuary wont save you. Immunity too short, Sanctuary nice but covers too small area and mobs tend to run, charge around (swamp, cementary etc). And solid hp pool is something you can rely on. On the otherhand you could swap inner fire for desert shroud and stay alive while rest of the group kills stunned pack. On T5 damage is great, on T6 it is insane, especially with 2 or 3 packs pulled
About damage output your LTK crits are terribly low. 10-12kk? I kick for 20kk+ and 50kk+ in group. Think about it.
Here is my gear choice perfectly suitable for T5, but lacking for T6...http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/sultangurde-2142/hero/488021
I would gladly watch your gameplay video on T5/T6 in group.
Best wishes,
sultangurde
I dropped mantra of healing in favor of Mantra of Evasion Backlash, and dropped Serenity in favor of Dashing Strike Blinding Speed. I know dodge isn't so great because it doesn't reduce all damage sources, but because I run fire I can lower the cost of my mantra greatly by running it, and do good damage with it as well.
Dashing Strike helped my survivability much more than Serenity did. I can also use it to grab health globes which heals and give me spirit. It works pretty good.