GREAT BUILD! I like the two mantras too, so you can alternate between offense and defense. It's probably more elegant to have one mantra, but having these two gives you the flexibility to stay alive and maximize damage..
One concern is the Cyclone may not work as well for defense as it sounds, because it only has 35% chance per enemy to make them flee. So you may attract more mobs than you can handle in Inferno.
Very true, and it's impossible to say until this stuff is tested in-game, but almost any other skill can fit into that slot. In Cyclone Strike alone, you could try Wall of Wind for survivability, or just reduce the spirit cost so you can spam the skill more times and hope the enemies die (heh).
Actually none of the skills I picked are absolutely essential, except that I think three generators is a perfect number to take advantage of Combination Strike. For example, Crippling Wave has better damage per attack and a good debuff compared to Deadly Reach, which is only in there for the damage buff.
One of the mantras could be replaced with another spirit spender. One could use different passives to boost survivability differently than Exalted Soul + Transcendence, such as Seize the Initiative + Near Death Experience. You could add Dashing Strike for movement, and remove Thunderclap.
My main idea is only that focusing on using a Monk's most powerful possible spirit generator combos nonstop might offer better DPS than using one or two generator abilities to gain spirit, and then rely on spirit spenders for big damage. It also leaves the other three skill slots exclusively for utility/healing/support if one so desires, which possibly might not be as many as a single-generator build has, but nevertheless this build interests me because the potential for both DPS and healing seems very high.
...because of the Monk's crazy attack speed, and for other reasons I'll get into.
Here is one example of a build based on using three spirit generators as the main attacking ability, rather than a spirit spender like Wave of Light, Tail Kick or Exploding Palm.
The generators are used in this order: Thunderclap -> 100 Fists -> Foresight [for the buff], then reverse the 2nd and 3rd so that Windforce Flurry is the final hit.
This gives an extremely fast attack (most of you will have seen the video of that one guy who has over 2.5 attacks/second) that does 110 + 110 + 250 damage per combo. It requires you to use a weaker combination in order to get the Foresight buff, but once you do you have now buffed your damage by over 40% (18 from Foresight, 24 from Combination Strike passive). Now add Overawe to that equation.
The beauty of this particular combo is that it gives you movement, damage, CC, and will generate spirit very fast because of the Monk's attack speed. That is where the other two passives come in.
Since the main attack will be generating spirit, using Exalted Soul this Monk should easily be sitting at full spirit most of the time. Hence I've included two mantras in this build rather than a second spirit spender, because I believe mantras are some of the best abilities in the game. You can pop Overawe for a damage burst and then switch back to Healing if you're in danger.
MoH plus the Transcendence passive gives this Monk huge healing potential. Simply by switching between mantras you will heal yourself for 62x50 = 3000 + health before taking into account the actual healing from the mantra.
The spirit spender I've picked is Cyclone Strike for a couple of reasons. It has a high spirit cost that will also serve as a heal because of Transcendence. With Sunburst, it is a perfect panic button skill if you're being mobbed. It essentially allows you to spam 4-5 in a row at full spirit while surrounded by a mob, while healing yourself, and forcing the survivors to flee -- all at the same time.
Of course this build has weaknesses as well, but it's obviously flexible. And keep in mind a lot of the integral skills, like Combination Strike, are too high-levelled to be available before Hell difficulty.
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Wow using Star Pact with the new source's mechanic is smart. That's got to be the best damage option for that setup?
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Very true, and it's impossible to say until this stuff is tested in-game, but almost any other skill can fit into that slot. In Cyclone Strike alone, you could try Wall of Wind for survivability, or just reduce the spirit cost so you can spam the skill more times and hope the enemies die (heh).
Actually none of the skills I picked are absolutely essential, except that I think three generators is a perfect number to take advantage of Combination Strike. For example, Crippling Wave has better damage per attack and a good debuff compared to Deadly Reach, which is only in there for the damage buff.
One of the mantras could be replaced with another spirit spender. One could use different passives to boost survivability differently than Exalted Soul + Transcendence, such as Seize the Initiative + Near Death Experience. You could add Dashing Strike for movement, and remove Thunderclap.
My main idea is only that focusing on using a Monk's most powerful possible spirit generator combos nonstop might offer better DPS than using one or two generator abilities to gain spirit, and then rely on spirit spenders for big damage. It also leaves the other three skill slots exclusively for utility/healing/support if one so desires, which possibly might not be as many as a single-generator build has, but nevertheless this build interests me because the potential for both DPS and healing seems very high.
2
Here is one example of a build based on using three spirit generators as the main attacking ability, rather than a spirit spender like Wave of Light, Tail Kick or Exploding Palm.
http://us.battle.net...afQk!bYg!ccabba
The generators are used in this order: Thunderclap -> 100 Fists -> Foresight [for the buff], then reverse the 2nd and 3rd so that Windforce Flurry is the final hit.
This gives an extremely fast attack (most of you will have seen the video of that one guy who has over 2.5 attacks/second) that does 110 + 110 + 250 damage per combo. It requires you to use a weaker combination in order to get the Foresight buff, but once you do you have now buffed your damage by over 40% (18 from Foresight, 24 from Combination Strike passive). Now add Overawe to that equation.
The beauty of this particular combo is that it gives you movement, damage, CC, and will generate spirit very fast because of the Monk's attack speed. That is where the other two passives come in.
Since the main attack will be generating spirit, using Exalted Soul this Monk should easily be sitting at full spirit most of the time. Hence I've included two mantras in this build rather than a second spirit spender, because I believe mantras are some of the best abilities in the game. You can pop Overawe for a damage burst and then switch back to Healing if you're in danger.
MoH plus the Transcendence passive gives this Monk huge healing potential. Simply by switching between mantras you will heal yourself for 62x50 = 3000 + health before taking into account the actual healing from the mantra.
The spirit spender I've picked is Cyclone Strike for a couple of reasons. It has a high spirit cost that will also serve as a heal because of Transcendence. With Sunburst, it is a perfect panic button skill if you're being mobbed. It essentially allows you to spam 4-5 in a row at full spirit while surrounded by a mob, while healing yourself, and forcing the survivors to flee -- all at the same time.
Of course this build has weaknesses as well, but it's obviously flexible. And keep in mind a lot of the integral skills, like Combination Strike, are too high-levelled to be available before Hell difficulty.