7 replies to this topic

[greez]

I was quite bored with my monk recently, even playing WD a tiny bit, but just went back to see what I can change. I havent really seen many monks using Exploding Palm, which makes me wonder if its simply not worth it on higher gear/mp levels (I farm on mp5).

I replaced 7sided with EP. Im using The Flesh Is Weak rune (+12% dmg taken debuff), which makes it a decent single target damage boost (also the damage on EP itself is pretty good). Skill animation is really quick, theres no issue with weaving it in, or spreading it to a few different targets given enough spirit. The 30% of victim's health explosion is huge if combined with popping Overawe as its about to go off. With 9s timer its quite easy to time it. All in all Im really enjoying EP.
Exploding a reflect pack might hurt quite a bit cause thats a lot of damage going off - but Serenity takes care of this kind of thing.

Havent tested on Ubers yet, but given proper positioning I wonder if that kind of damage could make up for possibly switching out Blazing Wrath or something else.

Thoughts?

Edited by greez, 18 November 2012 - 04:28 AM.

[Kilo55555]

I feel that if you need to kite and can't keep SW up, then EP and/or SSS is good.

[luizdeh]

I don't think it would be of much worth against ubers, but in higher MP levels for elites it is really good and vastly underused and underrated.

[ZzEzZ]

It actually has a high proc coefficient vs. most other monk skills too ( http://www.diablofan...t/#entry1080228 ), so I'm not sure why more monks don't try it out.

Edited by ZzEzZ, 18 November 2012 - 07:17 PM.

[greez]

Kilo55555, on 18 November 2012 - 05:43 PM, said:

I feel that if you need to kite and can't keep SW up, then EP and/or SSS is good.

Dont know, I dont have to kite at all and keeping SW up is absolutely not an issue.

I thought it might be good against ubers (except for Maghda) due to corpse explosion, taking ~50% health away when the first one dies sounds pretty sweet.

And yeah, its already a blast using it at mp5, can imagine its even better on higher levels.

[thundersteele]

It's a fun skill, so it's fine to use it.

I remember trying this on some mid to high MP, but I don't feel that it makes a huge difference... SW/Cyclone is so strong on the AoE side that most stuff dies around the same time anyways. But then, I also use EF as weapon, which spread mobs out too much for EP to be efficient.

[Schmii]

In group play it's likely 12% exploding palm or 15% breath of heaven for a slot; in addition spirit likely goes to palm or conviction applying +24% to all mobs.  It's all a toss-up.  Good skill, can be fun at higher MP levels.

[greez]

Schmii, on 19 November 2012 - 05:38 PM, said:

In group play it's likely 12% exploding palm or 15% breath of heaven for a slot; in addition spirit likely goes to palm or conviction applying +24% to all mobs.  It's all a toss-up.

15% from BoH only applies to the monk, so EP wins in group in terms of providing derps (unless Guiding Light maybe, but Im not sure). And spirit-wise Im actually able to keep Mantra up as well as apply EP when needed, also timing Mantra with EP explosions isnt an issue when it comes to resource management.

Edited by greez, 19 November 2012 - 06:32 PM.