Rating
+1

TempestStorm Monk (2.6.1 Monkey King's Garb Sunwuko Build)

Seasonal
Solo
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Skills

  • Blinding Flash Faith in the Light
  • Tempest Rush Electric Field
  • Sweeping Wind Inner Storm
  • Epiphany Desert Shroud
  • Mystic Ally Air Ally
  • Mantra of Retribution Retaliation
  • Beacon of Ytar
  • Momentum
  • Relentless Assault
  • Chant of Resonance

Items

More Details
  • Legendary Gems

    • Taeguk
    • Bane of the Stricken
    • Pain Enhancer

Kanai's Cube

  • Balance
  • Cesar's Memento
  • Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac

Full 6 piece set for the Monkey King's Garb aka the Sunwuko set, with a Diamond in the Helm for better cooldown or a Topaz for reduced Spirit costs, all Emeralds in the Torso and all Emeralds for offense or all Diamonds for defense in the Legs. Increased Lightning or Cold damage percentage on Amulet and Bracers is highest priority and either resource cost reduction or cooldown reduction percentages as secondary priorities.


Sunwuko's Shines is required for the build at base, though swapping the Ring of Royal Grandeur into the Cube would allow use of a Hellfire Amulet or Ess of Johan, both having their offensive uses or a defensive bonus with the Hellfire Amulet. Rings are Convection of Elements for full damage potential on all used skills, and Unity for defense, though Wyrdward could be used to proc Stun effects off all the Lightning damage and thus proc the effects of the Relentless Assault passive and Cesar's Memento in the Cube.


For Legendary Gems, Bane of the Stricken stacks up increased damage percentage against enemies and boosts damage to boss targets and Rift Guardians, Taeguk stacks up a fast, high damage potential on top of it as long as Tempest Rush is channeled up to 10 stacks, adding up to 20% Armor as well at 10 stacks, and Pain Enhancer deals Physical Bleed damage over 3 seconds for every successful crit along with 3% attack speed for all Bleeding enemies within 20 yards, near constantly active thanks to Balance in the Cube granting 100% critical chance against 3 or fewer enemies hit by Tempest Rush. Alternatives could involve use of Wreath of Lightning for more Lightning damage in and around melee range along with a movement speed boost when procced, or Gogok of Swiftness for an overall attack speed boost, dodge chance, and additional cooldown reduction.


For Bracers, Nemesis Bracers increase utility when speedrunning Rifts, though a maxed Cesar's Memento could be worn directly as well.


Belt options are Kyoshiro's Soul for permanently maxed stacks of Sweeping Wind, central to the build's damage potential and the belt has an additional damage affix for Sweeping Wind itself which otherwise gets no damage boost from any set bonus. Thundergod's Vigor is another option however as it has its own unique Lightning damage percentage affix, as well as shocking any nearby enemy for up to 130% Lightning damage when blocking, dodging or being struck, pairing well with the effects of Mantra of Retribution, and with the guaranteed 100% critical hit chance from Balance in the Cube it can still have the build maintain Sweeping Wind stacks for the most part. Witching Hour is a last overall damage option.


The Crudest Boots are a shoe-in for the build, doubling the Mystic Allies for two independently attacking allies that grant doubled Spirit generation as well.


For Weapon choices, Vengeful Wind is an absolute requirement for the build's damage potential of a full 10 stacks of Sweeping Wind. The build's wide, overlapping damage radius benefits and even highlights the effects of Fulminator, the 555% max damage bonus proccing near constantly within the 20 yard damage radius and able to affect multiple enemies at once, even hitting other enemies multiple times from a single procced source and benefits from the Lightning rotation of Convection of Elements. Sky Splitter has a higher damage range and can proc off of any attack, not just Lightning damage, but only hits one target per proc and only a single time. Rimeheart and Azurewrath are viable with an alteration to the build's skill and equipment structure, or by having a high Freeze chance on the weapon itself.


Balance in the Cube for increased Tempest Rush damage and granting 100% critical hit chance against 3 or fewer enemies, Cesar's Memento to proc additional damage for 6 seconds after hitting an enemy with a Blind, Stun or Freeze effect, and Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac for cooldown reduction. If wearing Cesar's Memento directly, use of a supportive choice like Mantle of Channeling for damage and defense or Hexing Pants of Mr. Yan for improved Spirit generation and damage on the move are viable options.

Paragon Priorities

Core

Maximum Resource
Movement Speed
Primary Stat
Vitality

Offense

Cooldown Reduction
Attack Speed
Critical Hit Damage
Critical Hit Chance

Defense

Life Regeneration
Resist All
Armor
Life

Utility

Life on Hit
Resource Cost Reduction
Area Damage
Gold Find

Paragon of 1000 and above is required for moving past GR 75 range, Maximum Spirit and Movement Speed for damage utility, then Dexterity for overall damage and Armor and finally Vitality for Life total.


Cooldown Reduction for use of Epiphany and Mystic Ally as often as possible, Attack Speed for more hits of Tempest Rush per second, and Critical Hit Damage and Chance to round out damage potential.


Life Regeneration for healing, Resist All and Armor for defense and finally Life total.


Life on Hit for further healing, Resource Cost Reduction for extended Tempest Rush use, and Area Damage to round out damage potential. Gold Find isn't applicable to the build.

Build Guide

This build has been tested in patch 2.6.1 on PS4.


The build works on maximizing the damage potential of Tempest Rush, highlighting its lower Spirit costs and higher mobility while expanding its damage radius and piling on additional damage sources, for all basic purposes a "glass cannon" Monk that focuses entirely on shredding through mobs and elites alike without pause.


Tempest Rush with Electric Field grants a wide radius, constant heavy damage potential, making the initial blows Lightning elemental and granting a 20 yard radius Lightning damage aura hitting for 135% weapon damage per second. For all increase purposes, the damage aura itself is also recognized as Tempest Rush damage and thus receives the full 600% boost from Balance, the 800% boost from Cesar's Memento, and the maximum 10,000% 6 piece set bonus from Monkey King's Garb at 10 stacks of Sweeping Wind. This means the Monk has a rapid hitting main attack as well as a wide supplementary damage radius that not only increases the damage to directly targeted enemies, but can heavily damage and even outright kill additional lesser enemies around the Monk simultaneously.

Sweeping Wind with Inner Storm is the main keystone skill for the build's damage potential, the rune granting 8 Spirit per second when at 3 or more stacks for utility, but paired with Vengeful Wind granting a full 10 stacks it grants the full potential of the 6 piece set bonus. The direct attacks of the Tempest Rush overlap directly with Sweeping Wind's radius, and thanks to the set's 4 piece bonus, allows at least once per attack period generation of an exploding decoy of the Monk against enemies hit by Sweeping Wind, hitting for 1000% weapon damage per stack of Sweeping Wind for yet another 10,000% damage source atop the other two.


The 800% boost from Cesar's Memento is procced on demand via Blinding Flash, and with the Faith in the Light rune it grants another flat 29% damage increase to all enemies hit by the Blind effect as well. Paired with the Relentless Assault passive granting another 20% damage by the same parameters as Cesar's Memento, this allows an instantaneous damage increase against elites or boss enemies, and with Tempest Rush constantly expending Spirit to proc Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac in the Cube, the cooldown period between uses is incredibly short. In the instance of falling short on Spirit too often, the Replenishing Light rune would restore 10 Spirit for every enemy Blinded, working as more of a top off with the other skills. Laws of Seph could be Cubed if Cesar's Memento is worn to grant 165 Spirit when using Blinding Flash and making any of the other runes viable, but it can tend to be overkill.


Mystic Ally with the Air Ally rune grants passive supplementary Spirit generation at 4 Spirit per second, as well as an instant restoration of 100 Spirit when activating the skill. The summoned Ally hits for 130% Physical damage, but also has its own Sweeping Wind effect for another 45% damage per tick, and thanks to the Crudest Boots, two Allies are summoned for 8 Spirit per Second and 200 Spirit when activated. This allows the Monk additional damage support as well as Spirit generation utility at all times.


Epiphany with Desert Shroud is pure utility. The rune grants a 50% damage reduction effect, stacking with the 50% damage reduction from the 2 piece set bonus for high defensive value, while granting an additional 20 Spirit per second generation effect when active. The skill's teleport ability doesn't proc when using Tempest Rush directly against enemies within the 20 yard Electric Field radius, but against distantly targeted enemies the teleportation effect does occur, making it work as a mobility skill as well similar to Dashing Strike.


Mantra of Retribution works for another source of damage stacking, the Retaliation rune granting another 101% damage increase to the passive effect for 202% damage as Fire when hit by, dodging or blocking an enemy, with another 101% boost for 3 seconds when active for 303% damage total. This allows the Monk to dive headlong into mobs and actually use their swarming numbers to its advantage, proccing near constantly with just tanking or dodging enemy hits and adding backlash damage on top of the Electric Field radius.


The passives heavily supplement the damage focus, Beacon of Ytar adding a flat 20% cooldown reduction for more frequent use of Blinding Flash, Epiphany and Mystic Ally, Relentless Assault of course stacking with the effects of Cesar's Memento another 20%, Momentum adding another 20% increase for 6 seconds when moving every 25 yards, easy since Tempest Rush is constantly in motion, and Chant of Resonance cutting Mantra of Retribution activation cost by 50% as well as granting another 4 Spirit per second. Momentum could however be swapped with Harmony for better elemental resistances, or Guardian's Path for a 35% dodge chance effect for better defensive utility and proc potential for Mantra of Retribution.


The build's basic configuration as listed works to get the most out of the 200% damage boost from Convection of Elements, Sweeping Wind being Holy, Tempest Rush being Lightning, Mantra of Retribution as Fire and Mystic Ally as Physical. The damage of the 4 piece bonus exploding decoy takes from the build's highest elemental damage bonus for its damage type, so with a boost to Lightning it would be Lightning damage as shown in the equipment stat list, but its also viable to have Cold elemental damage bonuses instead. As the 4 piece bonus procs as a separate skill effect, it would not only gain damage from the Cold affixes themselves, but take the full 200% damage increase from Convection of Elements, letting the Monk get use out of all 5 of its elemental types.


There are some skill variations, though it means sacrificing some of the overall Convection of Elements damage potential. While Mantra of Retribution works for more damage, in higher Rifts there may be instances where Mantra of Healing with the Sustenance rune would be a better survivability option. Also for Sweeping Wind, if using Lightning damage percentage bonuses, would benefit from the 100% critical hit chance effect from Balance in the Cube against 3 or less enemies to use the Cyclone rune, making the skill deal Lightning damage and generating 95% damage cyclones constantly in the 20 yard damage radius around the Monk, boosted from said affixes and Convection of Elements, as well as the unique damage affix from Kyoshiro's Soul if using it as a Belt option and would overlap and grant even more proc chances for Fulminator's damage effects.


If using the Cold damage percentage affixes to affect the 4 piece bonus decoy and/or wearing a maxed Cesar's Memento directly, it would open up the use of Frostburn in the Cube to grant it more damage and a high Freeze chance, making the Rimeheart a very viable weapon option especially if the weapon itself had a high Freeze chance attached. It would also be yet another means to proc Cesar's Memento and Relentless Assault for their damage bonuses beyond the use of Blinding Flash. Azurewrath would be a last viable option with the Cold damage and Freeze chance affixes guaranteed, though its Holy damage aura only affects Demons and Undead.