Hello fellow monks. Since seasons started I have been building my sunwuko dps monk. It currently has the full sunwuko, inna's and auchild set: http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Willemh-2886/hero/47313605
I feel however the standard sunwuko build isn't really viable in 4-player group play (sweeping wind/mantra spam). My friends have asked me to incorporate cyclone strike in my build. So I've switched sweeping wind for cyclone strike. However the amount of damage I do compared to them (maurader dh, firebird wizzard and raekor charge barb) seems so low that my dps build feels a bit pointless and I might aswell drop my sunwuko and go full tank/stun/buff monk.
Do you guys believe in a 4-man party a dps monk can compete with firebird/maurader/raekor? Is a dps monk in any way viable in high level greater rifts (36+) in a group and what build would you suggest? Or is going full tank the only option with cyclone strike?
I think the key item you're missing is Flying Dragon. It procs so incredibly often and the insane attack speed not only buffs your DPS but also all other procs (Gogok, Sunwoku based on the fact that you generate/spend more spirit) such that it more than doubles your DPS.
I'm not gonna compare to M6DH/Firebird wizard because people might get butthurt and defend with some "but I can finish T6 in 2 minutes" crap arguments. I can only say that I personally switched to monk and won't go back to my other classes any time soon. I have a very well-geared Furnace/Firebird wizard, a very well-geared M6 DH, and so on. But a build similar to yours (I'm using Harmony instead of Sixth Sense, Sweeping Wind instead of Ally and Breath of Heaven instead of Cyclone Strike) is just awesome for T6 and sub-GR30 runs. I ran with Jamoose on his Raekor barb for even more additional speed (Chilanik's Chain + Forced March) as movement speed, as that was all that was limiting us. He reportedly told me that my DPS was much higher than his (also indicated by the fact that when we split, I cleared my path much quicker). We added a well-geared M6 DH for some rifts but didn't feel any significant speed improvement. On T6 and all GRs up to ~28 every elite pack would drop dead almost instantly and we were essentially just rushing through the rifts like on crack.
For GR35+ it might be a different story: you need high CDR and a more defensive spec, but you also want a lightning immunity amulet and a Leoric's Crown and obviously you can only take either of these. There are different ways to balance gear, gems, and skills to find the right balance between DPS and survivability. Almost all GR40+ monks in groups go for close to 80% CDR and perma immortality with Serenity, which obviously means you don't have a lot of DPS anymore. There are only a few solo monks above GR35+ and it's too early to tell which builds really generally work best and which of those achievements were only based on luck. I think everyone is still figuring out the best way to go; Druin just did a math rundown of the Sunwoku gear/gem/spec combinations, you might wanna check it out: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/14057676848
But honestly - the DPS monk IS viable in 4-player groups. I'm gonna go so far as to say that for most groups a monk is the #1 pick, and the zDPS days are over; even if you offer full support you always want to provide at least some basic DPS (the monk who cleared GR47 in a 4 player group on US was using a Rimeheart I think which has quite a bit of DPS given that monks have high APS and proc rate).
I love monks at the moment and (for now) officially retired my wizard after (unsuccessfully) farming the damn Wand of Woh for 500+ hours/600+ paragon levels/160k+ shards. Bye wiz, hi monk. At least for now. The Sunwoku set is just awesome.
Well, you say that for GR35+ it might be a different story. The problem is GR35+ is the only thing that matters. T6 is completely insignificant, we faceroll throughit with our eyes closed after just 5 days of this season, even splitfarming T6 bounties,why would you want to optimise your build for that?. We came just 3 minutes short in GR38 yesterday, and thats 5 days after seasons have been released. I was forced to go inner sanctum+40% hp mystic ally+harmony to survive(which completely ruined my dps build up to a level where I could aswell be doing 0 dps, doing around 5x less then our firebird wizzard/maurader dh) and I just cant see a full dps oriented sunwuku monk survive in there, and I cant think of a setup that would offer enough survivability for GR40+ while still being able to provide dps thats significant enough compared to the output of firebird/maurader, or even charge barb. On the subject of that GR47 monk using rimeheart, I just checked his profile and he's using bjorn+sledgefist with 140k sheet damage. No way he's doing any damage. So to restate my question. Is the endgame build for monks in group play 0dps, or can you guys imagine a dps build to be viable in the endgame. Because thats where I want to spend my resources (which are limited because of seasons).
As someone already mentioned, I would try to get my hands on a decent rolled flying dragon staff. The speed bonus in there is insane.
Also (and this is not for everyone) but I personally, when I'm rolling Sunwokos atleast, rather go for holy runed SW. The damage is higher then the mystic ally (Especially after the buff) and the regen is double of what the ally gives you. Seeing you are rolling with Innas, the SW would be more or less free and would have 100% uptime.
Downside is obviously the 100 spirit every 30 seconds the the ally can give. Try it out ^,^
Higher Grifts are notfor melee class at least as of now, and only auto-fire immortal pet builds succeeded at the moment; not even Jade WH who used to rule before patch 2.1
Drop dashing strike for Inner Sanctum, drop SW for Cyclone strike. Gasp drop dashing strike? It's not an easy call and the escape utility is something you'll miss, but in a group state you need someone to function as control/tank. This doesn't mean you need to build Zdps, this is about balance. Breath of wind is more than enough to keep your spirit up and yes there will be time you are spirit capped, you'll also need to rotate in a few CSs in there, which also spawn clones and dumps spirit. Its a really small interrupt in damage and the added benefit is the way to go.
SWK can be group viable, you simply need to make concessions.
Of course there is. Sunwoku build dishes out a good amount of damage. Now, if you're talking about competing in the leaderboards for 4 man group then no. That's 3 DH, 1 support monk/ support WD category.
I feel however the standard sunwuko build isn't really viable in 4-player group play (sweeping wind/mantra spam). My friends have asked me to incorporate cyclone strike in my build. So I've switched sweeping wind for cyclone strike. However the amount of damage I do compared to them (maurader dh, firebird wizzard and raekor charge barb) seems so low that my dps build feels a bit pointless and I might aswell drop my sunwuko and go full tank/stun/buff monk.
Do you guys believe in a 4-man party a dps monk can compete with firebird/maurader/raekor? Is a dps monk in any way viable in high level greater rifts (36+) in a group and what build would you suggest? Or is going full tank the only option with cyclone strike?
I'm not gonna compare to M6DH/Firebird wizard because people might get butthurt and defend with some "but I can finish T6 in 2 minutes" crap arguments. I can only say that I personally switched to monk and won't go back to my other classes any time soon. I have a very well-geared Furnace/Firebird wizard, a very well-geared M6 DH, and so on. But a build similar to yours (I'm using Harmony instead of Sixth Sense, Sweeping Wind instead of Ally and Breath of Heaven instead of Cyclone Strike) is just awesome for T6 and sub-GR30 runs. I ran with Jamoose on his Raekor barb for even more additional speed (Chilanik's Chain + Forced March) as movement speed, as that was all that was limiting us. He reportedly told me that my DPS was much higher than his (also indicated by the fact that when we split, I cleared my path much quicker). We added a well-geared M6 DH for some rifts but didn't feel any significant speed improvement. On T6 and all GRs up to ~28 every elite pack would drop dead almost instantly and we were essentially just rushing through the rifts like on crack.
For GR35+ it might be a different story: you need high CDR and a more defensive spec, but you also want a lightning immunity amulet and a Leoric's Crown and obviously you can only take either of these. There are different ways to balance gear, gems, and skills to find the right balance between DPS and survivability. Almost all GR40+ monks in groups go for close to 80% CDR and perma immortality with Serenity, which obviously means you don't have a lot of DPS anymore. There are only a few solo monks above GR35+ and it's too early to tell which builds really generally work best and which of those achievements were only based on luck. I think everyone is still figuring out the best way to go; Druin just did a math rundown of the Sunwoku gear/gem/spec combinations, you might wanna check it out: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/14057676848
But honestly - the DPS monk IS viable in 4-player groups. I'm gonna go so far as to say that for most groups a monk is the #1 pick, and the zDPS days are over; even if you offer full support you always want to provide at least some basic DPS (the monk who cleared GR47 in a 4 player group on US was using a Rimeheart I think which has quite a bit of DPS given that monks have high APS and proc rate).
I love monks at the moment and (for now) officially retired my wizard after (unsuccessfully) farming the damn Wand of Woh for 500+ hours/600+ paragon levels/160k+ shards. Bye wiz, hi monk. At least for now. The Sunwoku set is just awesome.
WD Season 8 https://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/finiar-1655/Kildare/84509816
Monk season 7 http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/finiar-1655/MojoJoJo/42225505
DH season 6 http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/finiar-1655/DeadShot/75655606
Angry Chicken http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/finiar-1655/WhoDoVooDoo/68187610
What? Me worry?
WD Season 8 https://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/finiar-1655/Kildare/84509816
Monk season 7 http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/finiar-1655/MojoJoJo/42225505
DH season 6 http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/finiar-1655/DeadShot/75655606
Angry Chicken http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/finiar-1655/WhoDoVooDoo/68187610
What? Me worry?
Also (and this is not for everyone) but I personally, when I'm rolling Sunwokos atleast, rather go for holy runed SW. The damage is higher then the mystic ally (Especially after the buff) and the regen is double of what the ally gives you. Seeing you are rolling with Innas, the SW would be more or less free and would have 100% uptime.
Downside is obviously the 100 spirit every 30 seconds the the ally can give. Try it out ^,^
DPS and survival are as important for Grift.
SWK can be group viable, you simply need to make concessions.