Build Guide
CREDIT TO QUIN69 FOR THE BUILD
This build Is mostly just a personal reference. It is slightly more in-depth if you wish to read through it for a better understanding of how the build works.
NO CRIT CHANCE ITEMS ALLOWED! THIS PARTICULAR BUILD IS BUILT AROUND BROKEN PROMISES!
SHEET DPS IS IRRELEVANT! IT DOESN'T ACCOUNT FOR ALMOST ALL OF THIS BUILDS DAMAGE, DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO IT!
- Use spirit generator to apply your Exploding palm (Uliana's 2 set).
- Use Seven Sided Strike whenever it comes off cooldown, if you can time this with BP you should, but don't worry about it too much, you pretty much want to use it off CD either way. (Pops your Exploding palms, and spreads it. Also good for defense since you can't be targeted or take damage).
- Use Epiphany on cooldown (Great defensive cooldown, and good up-time thanks to all of our CDR).
- Use Mantra whenever you can afford to do so (Which is basically all the time).
- Use Dashing Strike to keep up the 40% dodge buff (that means dashing inside of the packs of mobs to dodge damaging affixes [like molten and sledge smash] and keeping your dodge buff as active as possible).
- Dash around for mobility, and speed through the rift.
- Enjoy the large Exploding Palm explosions
You should swap out Bane of the Stricken for Bane of the Powerful if you aren't pushing for Greater Rifts. It's all around more useful for lower difficulty farming.
I recommend that you equip a defensive gem instead of Gogok of Swiftness until it is ranked 25. (Esoteric Alteration, and Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard are good ones) Since the only reason you use the gem is for the rank 25 ability for cooldown reduction.
Emeralds in your weapons, and Armor (diamonds in the armor if you're a hardcore character). Diamond in the Helm. Legendary gems in your Jewelry. All of your jewelry should have sockets!
- The Flow of Eternity is impossible to replace if you hope to be doing any sort of high level greater rift. The cooldown reduction on your Seven Sided Strike is one of the most important aspects of this build. If you don't have one, throw in a Furnace. It's the best you'll get for a straight up damage buff. If you want to farm Death's Breaths, an In-Geom in the cube is pretty good.
- Broken Promises is required and irreplaceable. If you do not have a Broken Promises, you can do this type of build, but the stat priorities change. You will then also need crit hit chance, where right now you don't want any!
- Spirit Guardsare optional. They are a good defensive boost which you will need at higher greater rifts. Leoric's Crown, and Madstone are othergood options here.
- Beacon of Ytar: Hands down best passive for Monks ATM. Irreplaceable. CDR = Damage + Survivability!
- Harmony: 2nd best passive for monks. You want to stack secondary resists on your gear. You don't want, or need, gear that rolls Resist All if you canhelp it. (Remember that gear that rolls All Resist can't roll a secondary resist, which is what you want to stack!)
- The Guardian's Path: Very good for survivability. Combines well with your mantra active. You could replace this for something like sixth sense, for more straight up damage reduction.
- Near Death Experience: Another possible passive you can swap. Resolve and Unity can be good here if you want some more damage. Once you get to the really high greater rift levels, you might prefer to keep Near Death Experience on. It's a personal preference, sometimes I get hit by something stupid that I should have avoided, and it will save my life. So I don't waste valuable time with a death.
- Way of the Hundred Fists: Assimilation; My preferred spirit generator. It applies EP to a lot of targets, and gives a nice little damage buff when you hit large packs. I've seen some builds that are now using Crippling Strike: Breaking wave, or concussion, and Deadly Reach. I haven't personally tested them, but feel free to try them out.
- Seven Sided Strike: Sustained Attack; Our bread and butter ability (besides EP). Pops your exploding palms on each hit. Does the damage of it's full 14 attacks on every attack. Makes us invulnerable, all with a very short cooldown thanks to our CDR, and Flow of Eternity. Do not even think of getting rid of this ability!
- Dashing Strike: Blinding Speed; Our mobility, and a defensive ability all in one. Thanks to the Blinding Speed rune. You want to use this at least every 4 seconds to keep up your 40% dodge buff it gives you. Need to get somewhere? Use it. Are you fighting and your 40% dodge buff fell off? Use it. Too good to replace.
- Exploding Palm: Impending Doom; The most important part of this build along with Seven Sided Strike. Does massive damage when it explodes. The beauty of this set? It now explodes every time a strike from Seven Sided Strike hits a mob with this applied. Where as before, it would only explode when a monster with Exploding Palm on it, died. Now you don't have to kill a mob to get the damage from EP, you just have to hit it with SSS! Spreads itself to mobs thanks to your Gungdo Gear, SSS, and Uliana's 6 set. Impending Doom does the most flat damage, so thats why we use it. Also, gains benefits from the cold damage we roll onto our gear, and the EP damage we roll.Epiphany: Desert Strike; An amazing ability for any monk. Great straight defensive cooldown, while giving us spirit regen, and good mobility. Very high up-time thanks to the amount of CDR we will have. Use this whenever it's up.
- Mantra of Salvation: Agility; Our best straight up defense Mantra. Gives a good amount of All Resist for everyone, and the active doubles it. You want to use the active whenever it's buff falls off. It's great for defense, and you can afford to spam it because it's almost the only thing we use that costs spirit.
- Helm: Dex > Socket > EP Damage > Vit
- Shoulders: Dex > CDR > Vit
- Torso: Dex > x3 Sockets > Vit > 11% Elite reduction
- Legs: Dex > x2 Sockets > Vit > LPS
- Gloves: Dex > CDR > CHD > Vit
- Rings: Dex > Socket > CDR > CHD
- Waist: Dex > Vit > 15% Life > LPS
- Wrist: Dex > 20% Cold damage > Vit > LPS
- Boots: Dex > EP Damage > Vit > LPS
- Amulet: Dex > Socket > ChD > 20% Cold damage
- Weapon: Dex > Socket > CDR > Vit > % Weapon Dmg
Remember, you want Secondary Resists on all gear where it's possible!
There are a few items that can be replaced, if you don't have them. Or if they have really bad rolls.
Uliana's and Gungdo are required. If you have five pieces of Uliana's, but not the sixth, throw on a RoRG to get the six set until you can replace it. It would be worth it. Even if you had Focus and Restraint.
Amulet:
If you can't get a decent Hellfire amulet, shoot for one that makes you invulnerable to certain types of damage. Mara's Kaleidoscope for poison, Countess Julia's for Arcane, Talisman of Aranoch for cold, The Star of Azkaranth for fire, and the Xephirian Amulet for lightning
damage. I find Fire (molten, desecrator, fire chains, mortar) to be the most useful, personally. Any amulet that has, as close as possible, the same stats as listed above will work. But these are some to aim for.
Waist:
You really do want Binding of the Lost, but the String of Ears is also good for Defensive stats if you can't get your hands on one. They have
the same stat priority. Basically any belt that you can roll for Vit, and %life will work, but the Binding of the Lost will help the most. It's a very good belt for this build, even if it doesn't roll the best.
Weapons:
Lion's Claw is required for the build. Period. But you can do without The Fist of Az'Turrasq if you absolutely can't get one. As soon as you get one though, it's better than whatever you have on instead of it, no matter what it is. Your EP damage is basically all of your damage, and this is a huge buff to it. Even if you have to sacrifice weapon damage to use it. A good replacement is In-Geom. It has a nice legendary affix for running low difficulty, high elite pack content. Like lower torment greater rifts. Make sure your weapons have sockets! See the stat priority above.
Rings:
You can also go without the Focus and Restraint (same situation as The Fist of Az'Turrasq). If you don't have them, they're Ideal so get them
ASAP. Any rings with good rolls (see stat priority) will replace them until that point. Remember, the rings are a 100% straight damage boost, so even if they have bad rolls, as long as they have sockets they will be better than any other rings you have equipped. As long as you have both to make the set.
- Health: 600K+
- Armor: 16K+
- Resist All: 1200+
- Critical Hit Chance: 5%
- Critical Hit Damage: 450%+
- Cooldown Reduction: 55%+
- Lion's Claw
- Broken Promises
- 5 pc's of Uliana's set with a Ring of Royal Grandeur or Full Uliana's set
- Flow of Eternity
- Gungdo Gear
Make sure you get the 6 piece set of Uliana's. Get your three weapons as fast as possible. Do not expect to do any high tier greater rifting without Lion's Claw, Flow of eternity, and Fist of Az'Turrasq. Focus and Restraint are 100% damage buffs. The set of them will replace any and all rings you had on before. Make sure they have sockets, first and foremost. The same goes for Your weapons, Chest (3 sockets), and Pants (2 sockets). Gungdo Gear is a must for this build. It's pretty easy to get, with bloodshards, or even the cube legendary upgrade ability. You want this item as much as you want the weapons, and set pieces. Don't change any of the skills, except the mantra and maybe the spirit generator. I've seen an influx of Crippling Wave: Breaking Wave builds. Don't change the passives, except for, maybe, Near Death Experience. Do not remove Near Death Experience if you are a Hardcore character.
After that, it's all upgrades. Don't forget the stat priority! And don't get crit hit chance!
Thanks for reading! Any questions, comments, or concerns? Feel free to leave a comment below and I will respond as soon as I'm able. Have fun with season 4!
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