On July 23 2012 10:15 Roachu wrote: Ok now I need a little direction. I have a mediocrely geared lvl 60 monk (my second character) and I'm currently trying out different things while doing butcher runs. I'm basically trying to see what makes me feel the most OP and so far the build I'm going with this. With this I get about 7k armor and 300 all res (which I know is low) but I can tank pretty much everything in act 1 except arcane sentries.
The point of the character was I wanted to see if I could make a Paladin, or at least my vision of a Paladin using sword and shield and stacking defensive buffs. I'm banking on critical hits to deal damage, I played a Demon Hunter before this and to me it seems critical hits are king in this game.
So I want some feedback from experienced Monk players, someone who can facerape act 3 and onwards. Keep in mind I'm going to use a sword and shield, also preferably a normal helm to look even more paladin-ish.
Edit: Oh and my arrangement of skills may seem weird, I've just gotten used to having Serenity on the mouse for clutch saves.
So the biggest problem I saw in your spec: go with Thunderclap. Other than the fact that Thunderclap does more dps than the one you're using, the knockback is incredibly useful for white mobs, and the teleport is incredibly useful for fleeing mobs (and might be a hindrance when aoe effects around, so you need to be careful around aoe effects). I don't think I've ever seen anyone use Inner Sanctuary, at least that I can remember. Most of us use either a Mystic Ally(Air or earth), Blind/Faith, or Dashing Strike, depending on your preference of course.
Funny you mention Inner Sanctuary because its the one I'm most unsure of. Since I wanted to stack defensive buffs the 35% damage reduction just sounded really good. So far I haven't tried the other onces you mentioned, Mystic Ally because my monk friend told me it was basically shit, though he hasn't played since he reached lvl 60 two days after release. I've found I'm using Inner Sanctuary as a "get away from me"-type skill, which seems to be the purpose of both Blinding Flash and Dashing Strike. Whats the idea behind using an Ally? Also, Blind/Faith seems to be able to do the same job as BoH/Blaze, do you think I could switch those or is the healing from BoH too important before I have super epic gear?
Edit: Oh and another thing I've been thinking about, since we have a wonderful passive which makes us super resistant, which type of elemental resistance should I stack on my items? Are any easier/cheaper to get or is it simply up to the luck of finding the same on all items?
The great thing about blind-faith, is that it boosts your dps at the moment when it is safe to do dps. If you find you run in and out of fights a lot, the effective dps boost by blind is amazing. The healing from BoH is nice, but it's more about the dps boost from blaze. Imho, serentity (heal or +1sec), blind+dmg, BoH+dmg and mantra (evasion-hard target or conviction-overaw) are pretty much required.. so there's only 2 choices left. ally maybe isn't bad, but i rather get something else for the 5th skill, (6th is main attack)
I think getting a decent amount of CC and going for SW/Cyclone is pretty much the best dps skill available. It pretty much makes all white mobs and things like horde/illusion completely melt, and having 4-5 tornadoes out spamming hits on elites/bosses is quite a bit, even disregarding the normal dps from having 3 stacks of SW.
Yep that is what I've going for since I unlocked the Cyclone rune, those tornadoes seem to rip everything apart in a very satisfying lightning manner compared to any of the other Monk-skills. I do have a certain consideration though, I got the tip to try Thunderclap. I can't see the usefulness in this skill compared to the more damaging chain-lightning rune (forgot the name). Sure in theory I can see the value of being able to teleport those odd 25 yards or whatever it is ingame the rune allows you to but so far the really dangerous situations I get into where a teleport like that would be useful I never get the time to use it because in 9 times out of 10 there aren't a trash mob to teleport to or I simply die because I have no time to react. Maybe I play my pretty little nun fundamentally wrong compared to high level monk players, but I just don't see the usefulness in that skill at all.
In short: THUNDERCLAP SUCKS, please tell me why I'm wrong.
Thunderclap needs some getting used to, when i started using it i was very uncomfortable, but now i wouldnt want to change it. You need to play with it to get a feeling for controlling the teleport aspect. I wouldnt rely on it to get out of trouble tho (like with dashing strike), run out of ground effects and prevent getting cornered.
There are a few reasons for thunderclap; first, you *need* some mobility spell for ranged and goblins, without thunderclap, it means either sacrifice a skill slot for dashing strike (maybe tempest) or be gimped. Second, with SW-cyclones it is probably the most dps, the three hit combo is actually 5 hits and the AE aspect procs them aswelll. finally, the small knockback is very usefull to reduce incoming dmg from melee mobs.
On July 24 2012 11:55 Roachu wrote: Sure in theory I can see the value of being able to teleport those odd 25 yards or whatever it is ingame the rune allows you to but so far the really dangerous situations I get into where a teleport like that would be useful I never get the time to use it because in 9 times out of 10 there aren't a trash mob to teleport to or I simply die because I have no time to react.
In short: THUNDERCLAP SUCKS, please tell me why I'm wrong.
Better applied DPS because you don't have to spend any time chasing mobs that may try and kite you.
Better target firing because once you're locked onto a target you just need to hold down the attack button.
Better survivability since you can teleport out of tight situations. As a monk you want to be surrounded by trash mobs most of the time since this is also where most of your healing is going to come from. Because of this you should always have somewhere to teleport to. The fact that you can't use it correctly doesn't make a bad ability.
Sure in theory I can see the value of being able to teleport those odd 25 yards or whatever it is ingame the rune allows you to but so far the really dangerous situations I get into where a teleport like that would be useful I never get the time to use it because in 9 times out of 10 there aren't a trash mob to teleport to or I simply die because I have no time to react.
In short: THUNDERCLAP SUCKS, please tell me why I'm wrong.
I actually use a mixture of both thunderclap and keen eye, sometimes even both lol, right click and left. I used to favour keen eye more when i had not so good armour, resists, vitality, LOH or defence in general and need to kite around more rathern than tanking everything as keen eye had more range and gave armour boost, i used keen eye for ghom for kiting as an example. But thunderclap is better for dps, spirit regen, knockback and the mobility with teleport used properly. But I like both.
Llolol, I'm ridiculously geared and still got stuck on a mob pack: Pretty retarded.
Edit: I finally managed to kill it after 15 or so tries. I got a nice string of crits, was never feared, and when the main guy teleported it was in range for me to teleport straight to him. Basically the perfect string of events happened for me and I barely killed it.
I cleared inferno using deadly reach, but then saw the light of thunderclap after the ias nerf. Any boost to aps and loh = win. I like the teleport to keep my cyclone stacks up By punching a mob or pot real fast when kiting a particularly nasty pack that needs CDs since in MF gear all my stats took a hit :-/
I was drunk as a sailor yesterday (and by all rights hungover today) while playing and I kept getting killed by teleporting into arcane sentries and other nasty things. I've also been having some really annoying lag issues the past two days since I started to get things going in act 2, hopefully the server shutdown was to fix those things. I know the skills is good and its pretty apparent it actually requires a bit of thought and execution, unlike most things in this game. Funny though how some caps could spark so many replies, I'll keep that in mind
Edit: Only one of you decided to offend me in your replies, TL is so nice to stupid people
On July 24 2012 21:09 Roachu wrote: I was drunk as a sailor yesterday (and by all rights hungover today) while playing and I kept getting killed by teleporting into arcane sentries and other nasty things. I've also been having some really annoying lag issues the past two days since I started to get things going in act 2, hopefully the server shutdown was to fix those things. I know the skills is good and its pretty apparent it actually requires a bit of thought and execution, unlike most things in this game. Funny though how some caps could spark so many replies, I'll keep that in mind
Edit: Only one of you decided to offend me in your replies, TL is so nice to stupid people
Yeah....you have to be careful about teleporting in, but teleporting out is very straightforward and has saved my butt hundreds of times. Also incredibly useful for keep SW/Cyclone up. If you get lucky you can keep it up for minutes at a time in most dungeons. Also, keeping you in melee distance of enemies is basically a must for effective LoH usage. Once you get used to noone ever being able to kite you....you will never go back. Also, goblins are free kills with teleport. In short.....damage, LoH, spirit generation, utility, it is the best.
On July 24 2012 18:27 seiferoth10 wrote: Llolol, I'm ridiculously geared and still got stuck on a mob pack: Pretty retarded.
Edit: I finally managed to kill it after 15 or so tries. I got a nice string of crits, was never feared, and when the main guy teleported it was in range for me to teleport straight to him. Basically the perfect string of events happened for me and I barely killed it.
Clif Notes: Sweeping Winds damage is based on the damage of the active weapon when you cast it (clarification of this statement is in the video around 2:28). Cyclones base their damage off the Sweeping Winds it originated from (and the corresponding active weapon). Cyclone proc: 80%. Cyclones attacks every 0.5s regardless of weapon speed. Cyclones do 120% weapon damage (of the active weapon) through the duration of their life.
Extrapolation: Pop all your dps buffs, then Sweeping Winds. Now SW will be based on the dps of your active weapon with all your dps buffs up, and will never change even when your dps buffs fall off (unless you recast). Slow weapons with a higher damage range are better for SW/Cyclone. Slow main hand, fast off hand means that your main hand is your active weapon for longer than your OH every cycle (cycle = MH hit --> OH hit), increasing your chances of determining SW/Cyclone dps.
Clif Notes: Sweeping Winds damage is based on the damage of the active weapon when you cast it (clarification of this statement is in the video around 2:28). Cyclones base their damage off the Sweeping Winds it originated from (and the corresponding active weapon). Cyclone proc: 80%. Cyclones attacks every 0.5s regardless of weapon speed. Cyclones do 120% weapon damage (of the active weapon) through the duration of their life.
Extrapolation: Pop all your dps buffs, then Sweeping Winds. Now SW will be based on the dps of your active weapon with all your dps buffs up, and will never change even when your dps buffs fall off (unless you recast). Slow weapons with a higher damage range are better for SW/Cyclone. Slow main hand, fast off hand means that your main hand is your active weapon for longer than your OH every cycle (cycle = MH hit --> OH hit), increasing your chances of determining SW/Cyclone dps.
So start off sweeping winds with a 2-hander equipped and DPS buff's up, then swap out for your 1-handers and cast sweeping winds in between mobs to maintain the DPS.
Clif Notes: Sweeping Winds damage is based on the damage of the active weapon when you cast it (clarification of this statement is in the video around 2:28). Cyclones base their damage off the Sweeping Winds it originated from (and the corresponding active weapon). Cyclone proc: 80%. Cyclones attacks every 0.5s regardless of weapon speed. Cyclones do 120% weapon damage (of the active weapon) through the duration of their life.
Extrapolation: Pop all your dps buffs, then Sweeping Winds. Now SW will be based on the dps of your active weapon with all your dps buffs up, and will never change even when your dps buffs fall off (unless you recast). Slow weapons with a higher damage range are better for SW/Cyclone. Slow main hand, fast off hand means that your main hand is your active weapon for longer than your OH every cycle (cycle = MH hit --> OH hit), increasing your chances of determining SW/Cyclone dps.
So start off sweeping winds with a 2-hander equipped and DPS buff's up, then swap out for your 1-handers and cast sweeping winds in between mobs to maintain the DPS.
no, if you recast SW it will reset. I sometimes recast SW after i use blind, when im full spirit and i've got a 'weak' SW up. The weapon swapping is possible i think, but i don't think it is easy to find a 2h that will give better dmg than your usual setup.
Any suggestions on which resistances to get? It seems that it would be best if every piece had +all and + one specific resist if using One with Everything, but if something goes a bit askew, it could reduce the value of your whole set.
On July 26 2012 03:34 Jerubaal wrote: Any suggestions on which resistances to get? It seems that it would be best if every piece had +all and + one specific resist if using One with Everything, but if something goes a bit askew, it could reduce the value of your whole set.
get different resist on each piece (given physical, fire, and arcane is more important than poison and cold), save one skill slot.
On July 26 2012 03:34 Jerubaal wrote: Any suggestions on which resistances to get? It seems that it would be best if every piece had +all and + one specific resist if using One with Everything, but if something goes a bit askew, it could reduce the value of your whole set.
get different resist on each piece (given physical, fire, and arcane is more important than poison and cold), save one skill slot.
I'd be curious to see your setup for that.
Imho, it is difficult enough with OwE to get resist high and get good dps. There isn't a good passive for dps, so it has to come from gear. Can get double resist on legs, belt, chest and shoulders fairly easy. But for boots (movement), bracers (CC), gloves (CC/CD/AS), helm (CC/socket) and jewelry it becomes quite difficult (=expensive) to get their 'offensive stat' and double resist and dex and vit. Probably poison/cold/lightning is cheapest, note that certain legendaries will have a specific resist. If you want to play without OwE at times, i'd stack physical but need deep pockets for that it seems.
On July 26 2012 03:34 Jerubaal wrote: Any suggestions on which resistances to get? It seems that it would be best if every piece had +all and + one specific resist if using One with Everything, but if something goes a bit askew, it could reduce the value of your whole set.
get different resist on each piece (given physical, fire, and arcane is more important than poison and cold), save one skill slot.
Uhh, 5 different resists on 5 different pieces = all resist on one piece. Why in the world would you want 5 different on 5 pieces?
Anyway, just stick with the specific resist on the first good piece of gear you find. I went with poison because Andariel's Visage has poison on it. Another legendary driven choice is arcane because Seven Sins are the only shoulders that can roll above 200 dex.
On July 26 2012 03:34 Jerubaal wrote: Any suggestions on which resistances to get? It seems that it would be best if every piece had +all and + one specific resist if using One with Everything, but if something goes a bit askew, it could reduce the value of your whole set.
get different resist on each piece (given physical, fire, and arcane is more important than poison and cold), save one skill slot.
Uhh, 5 different resists on 5 different pieces = all resist on one piece. Why in the world would you want 5 different on 5 pieces?
Anyway, just stick with the specific resist on the first good piece of gear you find. I went with poison because Andariel's Visage has poison on it. Another legendary driven choice is arcane because Seven Sins are the only shoulders that can roll above 200 dex.
because you don't need to use a passive for OWE if you're not stacking one resist+AR
On July 26 2012 03:34 Jerubaal wrote: Any suggestions on which resistances to get? It seems that it would be best if every piece had +all and + one specific resist if using One with Everything, but if something goes a bit askew, it could reduce the value of your whole set.
get different resist on each piece (given physical, fire, and arcane is more important than poison and cold), save one skill slot.
Uhh, 5 different resists on 5 different pieces = all resist on one piece. Why in the world would you want 5 different on 5 pieces?
Anyway, just stick with the specific resist on the first good piece of gear you find. I went with poison because Andariel's Visage has poison on it. Another legendary driven choice is arcane because Seven Sins are the only shoulders that can roll above 200 dex.
because you don't need to use a passive for OWE if you're not stacking one resist+AR
...but then you're never going to get high resist.
On July 26 2012 03:34 Jerubaal wrote: Any suggestions on which resistances to get? It seems that it would be best if every piece had +all and + one specific resist if using One with Everything, but if something goes a bit askew, it could reduce the value of your whole set.
get different resist on each piece (given physical, fire, and arcane is more important than poison and cold), save one skill slot.
Uhh, 5 different resists on 5 different pieces = all resist on one piece. Why in the world would you want 5 different on 5 pieces?
Anyway, just stick with the specific resist on the first good piece of gear you find. I went with poison because Andariel's Visage has poison on it. Another legendary driven choice is arcane because Seven Sins are the only shoulders that can roll above 200 dex.
because you don't need to use a passive for OWE if you're not stacking one resist+AR
Ummm, then you end up with around 300 - 400 AR instead of 600 - 700.
it isn't a build designed for lesser geared monks. with enough DPS, monks can easily drop elite packs within a 4s serenity with a MoC+overawe/blind combo. having sub 600 resists is irrelevant at that point
edit: especially because of that patch that made inferno damage a joke
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/VhIF8.jpg)
