One part tank/survivalist one part healer and one part debuffer. With multiple escape mechanisms and even some death protection. This is the perfect character to keepa HC group alive and well... hopefully.
Made for group fighting, he's not extremely powerful on his own, but he has lots of ways to survive, slow/blind/weaken enemies, and heal.
Buffs:
Mantra of evasion + divine protection. 15% dodge is always good, runed to add a shield if anyone gets close to death. Giving HC characters a chance to flee or heal.
Attacks:
Fists of thunder is your main generator. This keeps your dodge at + 16%, your other generator is crippling wave for aoe and debuffing.
Heals:
Breath of heaven is an ovious choice, runed for extra healing to keep everyone topped off.
Escapes:
Dashing strike with an additional chance to dodge after word. For escaping or charging into a pack.
Blinding flash for when you get surrounded and need a reprieve, runed for longer blind duration.
Passives:
Near Death Experience is a no brainer for any HC monk. Sieze the initiative and One with everything keep you protected against both physical and magical attacks. Just stack any one resistance to gain them all.
Solo play alterations:
If you are doing more solo play trade Sieze for Guardians path for more dodge. Then swap mantra of evasions rune for backlash. This gives you tons of fire aoe whenever you dodge. Which will be alot. 30% base + 16 while attacking + 20 while charging. 66% not including gear or base stats.
I was expecting more changes to the demon hunter. They got a couple of buffs, and the pathing fixes are definately nice. I guess I will have to see some videos when the patch goes live, they seem a bit lackluster from what I've seen so far.
I found this in the database:
A1_LeahReining_Encounter_Name : The End of the Horadrim Event
A1_LeahReining_Taunt_Text : You may already be too late...
A1_LeahReining_Join_Instruction : is about to witness
Rein is probably code like the rest of the pony/horse codes they seems to have put in to cover spoilers.
My guess is that this is Leah Turning at the end of act 1.
A1_C6_SpiderCave_01_Main Caverns of Araneae
Looks like Araneae the Spider Queen might be the boss of Act 1, or another mini boss.
Also
A3_AdriaBetrayal_Encounter_Name : Triumph Event
A3_AdriaBetrayal_Taunt_Text : Fetlock is dead. Celebrate your victory!
Appears Adria will betray us after we kill Fetlock(Azmodan, Lord of Sin).
I'm copying my post from the New Artwork thread, since I'd like to start a discussion on the subject and it has its place here, as opposed to over there.
Some fans seem to think that Leah could end up hosting Diablo. It's hard to tell since we
know so little about the story and about the way the Prime Evils came back to Sanctuary, but it's definitely a possibility. Please read the whole thing before shutting me down.
Think of it this way : they've retconned the Dark Wanderer/D1 Warrior to give him a name and a background, so he's definitely an important character. In the Beta, Leah says that she's always been told her father was a great warrior who was lost when Tristram was overrun by demons. This is probably a cover-up, considering you don't want to tell a child her father was Diablo's host (more on this later). However, when we listen to the lore in Adria's (whom we know to be Leah's mother) journal, we hear about a man named Aidan/Aiden. Adria talks about this man, and about how she did everything she could to console him. She then goes on to say that no matter where the man's journey takes him, Hell will surely follow in his wake.
I believe this Aidan/Aiden is indeed the Dark Wanderer, and that he is also Leah's father. This means that Leah would have been conceived by a man who was hosting Diablo. I'm not a Prime Evil myself, but you know, if I was stuck on the plane of Hell and I wanted to come back to Sanctuary, wouldn't it be nice if I had a young, healthy and somehow battle-trained body waiting for me? As far as I'm concerned, some of Diablo's essence might have always been in Leah. Perhaps Deckard Cain knows, and that's why he insisted to raise her himself, so he could keep an eye on her? We know Deckard Cain spent the 20 years between Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 researching prophecies on the return of the Prime Evils. If I was raising a girl with some of Diablo's essence in her and I was the last member of the Horadrim order, I think I'd like to keep her close, you know, just in case she could be a gateway to a Prime Evil.
Also, some people seem to believe that the 3 Prime Evils fused into a single one, based on the concept art of Diablo and on speculation. I consider it a bit far-fetched, but with a little goodwill, I sure can see some Mephisto and some Baal in this Diablo artwork, especially the limbs. In the mined data about the final boss fight, Diablo has a title associated with his name data : "The Prime Evil". Not "The Lord of Terror". "THE Prime Evil".
Where does this come in with my theory? We know Baal, Mephisto and Diablo are brothers, Diablo being the youngest. If I'm right about Leah being an excellent potential host and Diablo found a way to enter Sanctuary through her, maybe Baal and Mephisto used this opportunity to enter Sanctuary too, even if they had to fuse their essence onto Diablo's. Hence, this could explain why we have a demon who :
contains aspects of both Baal and Mephisto
seems to be based on a feminine body
has a primarily Diablo-like appearance
Case made.
Bonus points for me : we don't know who/what the "Fallen Star" is, but it hit the Cathedral. You know, the Cathedral where Leah was? I don't think this was an accident. We know for a fact that we'll be seeing more angels than just Tyrael in Diablo III. If the Angiris Council (arch-angels) found out that for 20 years, Diablo has had a potential host peacefully growing up on Sanctuary, I'm not so sure they'd be cool with that. The star could be Imperius trying to kill Leah before Diablo can use her. It could be Tyrael coming to warn the mortals of the imminent danger. I'm leaning more towards Tyrael. The star crater in the Beta has blue/white glowing edges, and Imperius seems associated with red/orange fire in concept art.
TL/DR :
Leah could be Diablo's host
The 3 Prime evil could have fused
The star is probably an angel
Diablo 3 is gonna be awesome.
A lot of this is exactly what I was thinking. I hadn't thought about the three merging though. If it were Tyrael coming why didn't he show himself, or maybe that's right after the Leoric quest and why the beta stops there. They stated that the beta ends when it does to avoid a major plot point.
Though there are countless story speculations/-summaries over the net, I really like this one. I myself have left the lore speculations for others, because of the headache it was giving me :).
But still I'd like to add that it seems that Adria is captured (and possibly possessed) in act 2 and then she betrayes us in act 3 (Adria--Azmodan).
I'm too tired to dig out the datamined lines I'm referring now, but I'll edit my post tomorrow.
apologies to OP for lending your thread
Please do add this when you get a chance. I am still digging through datamined info, some of it is pretty vague. And that's what the thread is for.
Also the street art in Germany makes Diablo look very feminine.
I am 90% sure Leah will be the new Diablo. Whether it truly will be Diablo's daughter and a new lord of Terror, or Diablo finding a way to use her body.
I am categorizing facts we know that will directly effect the story of Diablo 3. Hopefully having the information in one place will make it easier to theorize. If anyone can add anything please do.
D1/D2:
Diablo was defeated and his soul-stone destroyed. Same goes for Mephisto, and assumed for Baal. All three SHOULD be in the black abyss.
The canon hero from D1, the warrior, is referred to as the Dark Wanderer after his possession by Diablo's soul-stone.
Adria is the witch from D1.
D3 beta:
The Dark Wanderer's name is Aiden. He is one of Leoric's sons.
Leah is Adria's daughter, Deckard adopted her at a young age. She refers to Deckard as uncle.
It is implied in the beta that Leah is Aiden's daughter. Adria "consoles him as best she can" after he takes in the soul-stone. This would imply that Leah is conceived after Aiden's possession. This means Leah is both the grand-daughter of Leoric and the last of the royal line, and that she is potentially Diablo's direct offspring.
According to Blizzard Belial, the lord of lies is the boss of act 2.
The color of the meteor impact is blue/teal. Not red like you would expect.
The meteor landed in the cathedral and awoke Leroic. Only people who managed to escape were Leah and Deckard. According to videos she was outside watching it.
Deckard is trapped inside, and one of the first quests is to rescue him.
Leah is the ONLY one near the impact site that was totally unharmed.
Datamined Information:
I was unable to determine the act 1 boss? Anyone? From what I hear Leoric is the halfway mark. But no reliable source on that.
This might hint at what happens later in act 1:
A1_C6_SpiderCave_01_Main Caverns of Araneae
A1_LeahReining_Encounter_Name : The End of the Horadrim Event
A1_LeahReining_Taunt_Text : You may already be too late...
Belial, lord of lies is a boss. His codename is Saddle for some reason. There is a blizzard post somewhere saying he is the boss of act 2.
Azmodan, lord of sin is a boss. His codename is Fetlock (hair on the back of a horse's leg) for some reason. Speculatively he is the boss of act 3.
Additionally Tyreal is codenamed Bridle. What's with the horse/pony references?
Diablo is a boss. He is both referred to as the Lord of Terror, and The Prime Evil. Speculatively he is the boss of act 4.
There will be a 5th and 6th act, speculation is that they are reserved for expansions. No zones exist for them. Level cap titles go up to 100, further proof of expansions.
Act 4 includes both Heaven and Hell. Silver spire is the name of the heavenly areas.
My Speculation:
Heaven and Hell will both play a part in this, and I think the Meteor had to have come from heaven. Hence the soft blue color palette as apposed to demonic red. Or even fiery as one might expect. It seems as if it were aimed at Leah or Deckard. Possibly something else that we don't know. It seems that Leoric awakening was only a side-effect of the impact.
With the implications that Leah could literally be Diablo's daughter it would make sense that the meteor could have been an attempt to kill her.
A question for those who know a lot about the lore, if a prime evil has offspring, what does that mean for them? Theoretically could Diablo have gone to his offspring's body instead of the Black Abyss when his soul-stone was destroyed. Leah would have been just born or still in the womb at this time. Also if you look at the diablo 3 street art from Germany, Daiblo appears more feminine than before. If a prime evil is in the Black Abyss can a new entity claim their title? Can there be a new Diablo, Lord of Terror, or does it need to be the original soul/essence?
0
This is my Hardcore Party Monk build.
One part tank/survivalist one part healer and one part debuffer. With multiple escape mechanisms and even some death protection. This is the perfect character to keepa HC group alive and well... hopefully.
Made for group fighting, he's not extremely powerful on his own, but he has lots of ways to survive, slow/blind/weaken enemies, and heal.
Buffs:
Mantra of evasion + divine protection. 15% dodge is always good, runed to add a shield if anyone gets close to death. Giving HC characters a chance to flee or heal.
Attacks:
Fists of thunder is your main generator. This keeps your dodge at + 16%, your other generator is crippling wave for aoe and debuffing.
Heals:
Breath of heaven is an ovious choice, runed for extra healing to keep everyone topped off.
Escapes:
Dashing strike with an additional chance to dodge after word. For escaping or charging into a pack.
Blinding flash for when you get surrounded and need a reprieve, runed for longer blind duration.
Passives:
Near Death Experience is a no brainer for any HC monk. Sieze the initiative and One with everything keep you protected against both physical and magical attacks. Just stack any one resistance to gain them all.
Solo play alterations:
If you are doing more solo play trade Sieze for Guardians path for more dodge. Then swap mantra of evasions rune for backlash. This gives you tons of fire aoe whenever you dodge. Which will be alot. 30% base + 16 while attacking + 20 while charging. 66% not including gear or base stats.
0
0
I found this in the database:
A1_LeahReining_Encounter_Name : The End of the Horadrim Event
A1_LeahReining_Taunt_Text : You may already be too late...
A1_LeahReining_Join_Instruction : is about to witness
Rein is probably code like the rest of the pony/horse codes they seems to have put in to cover spoilers.
My guess is that this is Leah Turning at the end of act 1.
A1_C6_SpiderCave_01_Main Caverns of Araneae
Looks like Araneae the Spider Queen might be the boss of Act 1, or another mini boss.
Also
A3_AdriaBetrayal_Encounter_Name : Triumph Event
A3_AdriaBetrayal_Taunt_Text : Fetlock is dead. Celebrate your victory!
Appears Adria will betray us after we kill Fetlock(Azmodan, Lord of Sin).
0
Yeah I saw those, not sure how they will play into the story though.
Also there is concept art for the mistress of pain, giant spider demon.
It looks like there will be quite a few boss fights that are not end-of-act bosses.
0
0
A lot of this is exactly what I was thinking. I hadn't thought about the three merging though. If it were Tyrael coming why didn't he show himself, or maybe that's right after the Leoric quest and why the beta stops there. They stated that the beta ends when it does to avoid a major plot point.
0
Please do add this when you get a chance. I am still digging through datamined info, some of it is pretty vague. And that's what the thread is for.
0
I am 90% sure Leah will be the new Diablo. Whether it truly will be Diablo's daughter and a new lord of Terror, or Diablo finding a way to use her body.
0
Diablo is the last boss for D3. All the info is there if you dig through the data mining sites. So he IS back. Question is how.
0
D1/D2:
Diablo was defeated and his soul-stone destroyed. Same goes for Mephisto, and assumed for Baal. All three SHOULD be in the black abyss.
The canon hero from D1, the warrior, is referred to as the Dark Wanderer after his possession by Diablo's soul-stone.
Adria is the witch from D1.
D3 beta:
The Dark Wanderer's name is Aiden. He is one of Leoric's sons.
Leah is Adria's daughter, Deckard adopted her at a young age. She refers to Deckard as uncle.
It is implied in the beta that Leah is Aiden's daughter. Adria "consoles him as best she can" after he takes in the soul-stone. This would imply that Leah is conceived after Aiden's possession. This means Leah is both the grand-daughter of Leoric and the last of the royal line, and that she is potentially Diablo's direct offspring.
According to Blizzard Belial, the lord of lies is the boss of act 2.
The color of the meteor impact is blue/teal. Not red like you would expect.
The meteor landed in the cathedral and awoke Leroic. Only people who managed to escape were Leah and Deckard. According to videos she was outside watching it.
Deckard is trapped inside, and one of the first quests is to rescue him.
Leah is the ONLY one near the impact site that was totally unharmed.
Datamined Information:
I was unable to determine the act 1 boss? Anyone? From what I hear Leoric is the halfway mark. But no reliable source on that.
This might hint at what happens later in act 1:
A1_C6_SpiderCave_01_Main Caverns of Araneae
A1_LeahReining_Encounter_Name : The End of the Horadrim Event
A1_LeahReining_Taunt_Text : You may already be too late...
Belial, lord of lies is a boss. His codename is Saddle for some reason. There is a blizzard post somewhere saying he is the boss of act 2.
Azmodan, lord of sin is a boss. His codename is Fetlock (hair on the back of a horse's leg) for some reason. Speculatively he is the boss of act 3.
Additionally Tyreal is codenamed Bridle. What's with the horse/pony references?
Diablo is a boss. He is both referred to as the Lord of Terror, and The Prime Evil. Speculatively he is the boss of act 4.
There will be a 5th and 6th act, speculation is that they are reserved for expansions. No zones exist for them. Level cap titles go up to 100, further proof of expansions.
Act 4 includes both Heaven and Hell. Silver spire is the name of the heavenly areas.
My Speculation:
Heaven and Hell will both play a part in this, and I think the Meteor had to have come from heaven. Hence the soft blue color palette as apposed to demonic red. Or even fiery as one might expect. It seems as if it were aimed at Leah or Deckard. Possibly something else that we don't know. It seems that Leoric awakening was only a side-effect of the impact.
With the implications that Leah could literally be Diablo's daughter it would make sense that the meteor could have been an attempt to kill her.
A question for those who know a lot about the lore, if a prime evil has offspring, what does that mean for them? Theoretically could Diablo have gone to his offspring's body instead of the Black Abyss when his soul-stone was destroyed. Leah would have been just born or still in the womb at this time. Also if you look at the diablo 3 street art from Germany, Daiblo appears more feminine than before. If a prime evil is in the Black Abyss can a new entity claim their title? Can there be a new Diablo, Lord of Terror, or does it need to be the original soul/essence?