The Quick Lightning Monk

Modeled by my Monk, Saturnwith 307,000 unbuffed damage.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Silverwolf-1882/hero/30299440



(Fists of Thunder+Sweeping Wind Cyclones) for PvM Monk Players 1.0.7. and beyond

By: Welterweight


Most people that are proficient with the Diablo III monk will most likely know the set up of this build. This guide is to prepare other less informed players of how to make an effective Mp10 difficulty Monk with the Fists of Thunder attack and Sweeping wind build. This is basically a simple build template for any one who is on a upper-medium to high budget for gear spending.

Preferred stats needed:

Dexterity: Over 3000
Vitality: Over 1000
Armor: Over 5000
HP: 45,000+ base HP (Without Amethyst in helmet)
Damage: The more the better, preferably 300,000+
Resistances: 600 should be a minimum
Critical Hit Chance: 51.0%+
Critical Hit Damage: 450.0%+

Helm: Critical hit chance Mempo Of Twilight (175+ dex/5+cc) or Inna's Radiance (High dex/Vit/Single Resist/6% critical hit chance; also the spirit regeneration affix would be nice as well)
Body Armor:Inna's Vast Expanse (180 dex/220+ vit)
Shoulders: Vile wards (270+ dex/vitality/your single resist+all resist) or crafted shoulder of the same stats or higher
Pants: Inna's Temperance (85 dex/180+vit)
Rings: Natalya's Reflection (dex/attack speed/high crit chance (5+)) and also a Litany of the Undaunted (9% IAS/High dexterity/-7% damage from elites)
Boots: dual resist Natalya's Bloody Footprints (High dex/vitality for a higher budget)
Gloves: Rare high dex/vit/resist with 35%+ CD and 9%+ cc for a low budget. For a higher budget, get "Trifecta" stats of Critical Hit Damage (35%+)/Critical Hit Chance(9%+)/Increased Attack Speed % (8%+) along with Dexterity/Vitality (if you can)/Single resist/All resist (if you can)
Weapon Mainhand: Won Khim Lau (880+ DPS/23% lightning dmg/5% lightning skill/2.6% LS+ and open socket)
Weapon Offhand: 1.4 attacks per second is most ideal (in no particular order)
- Choice #1: Echoing fury (1150+ DPS/.25 attacks per second/open socket/At least 2.6% Lifesteal/less than 15% fear)
**Suggested to have 1.4 attacks per second for the rare weapon**
- Choice #2: Rare sword for dual lifesteal (1100+ dps sword with 55%+ CD/2.7%+ LS and open socket along with some dexterity)
- Choice #3: A Rare axe of similar stats to choice #2 (least preferred)
Belt: The Witching Hour with high dex, vit if possible but main resist at least
Bracers: Lacuni Prowlers with 75+dex/40+ single resist of your choice to stack.
Amulet: Rare; Average damage/High dexterity/vitality/single resistance/all resistance, Critical Hit Chance (9%+) and Critical Hit Damage (60%+). [Attack speed % and % bonus to life are a big plus!]
Gems: As high as possible; keep as Radiant Stars if you wish to re-sell and maximize your profits.

My preferred skills selection:

*Fists of Thunder (Thunderclap) *This will be your main attack and source of lightning damage.
*Way of the Hundred Fists (Blazing Fists) *Alternate attacks using Thunderclap and then mixing it in with Blazing fists to increase your damage, movement and attack speed by 5% for 5 seconds and can stack three times.
*Mantra of Conviction (Overawe) *Recite a Mantra that causes all enemies within 20 yards of you to take 24% additional damage. The Mantra lasts 3 minutes. For 3 seconds after activation, the effect is increased to 48% additional damage with Overawe in effect.
*Serenity (Ascension) *This will be used when you encounter Arcane Enchanted enemies, or any other clusters of mobs that you feel would be most threatening to you. It is an excellent way to use your life leech and obtain lost hit points this way.
*Sweeping Wind (Cyclone) *Basically, this will give you the ability to spawn more tornadoes as long as you are using Fists of Thunder and have lots of Critical Hit Chance (This is how mass tornadoes will spawn in order to obliterate groups)
*Breath of Heaven (Blazing Wrath) *This is a nice little bonus to adding a small amount of hit points as well as increasing your damage of your attacks by 15% for 45 seconds. Make note that this will also increase your life steal percentage with the higher damage that you do. For higher monster power levels, it is highly suggested to use dual life steal weapons of 2.6% life steal each or higher.

Passive skills selection:

*Seize the Initiative *Your armor is increased by 50% of your dexterity, absolutely a must.
*Combination Strike *Increases your damage by 8% when using combination attacks for 3 seconds, thus increasing your life leech
*One With Everything *For the added resistance bonus

Follower:

*Scoundrel *It will be of great help in the high MP levels and serve as a "Mini-CM Wizard with it's stun ability.

Skill selection:

*Crippling Shot
*Dirty Fighting
*Multishot
*Anatomy

Weapon: Buriza-Do Kyanon (open socket) - you may include an amethyst for life on hit
*At least 10% Freeze on Hit
*At least 65% chance to piece target
Rings/Amulet: High dexterity/High vitality and increased attack speed %
Token: High dexterity/High vitality

With this strategy, you'll be focusing on lightning damage when you use the Won Khim Lau weapon; your unbuffed damage will be modified with the lightning skill percentage of preferable 25% on the weapon. It is a useful weapon for a Sweeping Wind (Cyclone) Monk using Fists of Thunder (Thunderclap) abilities. The higher the attacks per second and higher critical hit chance, the more tornadoes, damage and area of effect dealt especially to greater mobs in higher levels of monster power. This guide is to motivate those who are unsure of which Monk build to choose. It's something somewhat basic and pretty straight forward, and I hope it helps anyone who is reading it. Special thanks to Jinshin85 for his feedback and editing suggestions.

This post was edited by Welterweight on May 29 2013 07:05am

thanks. this is the cookie-cutter build, right?

does WKL's lightening dmg show on screen dps?

This post was edited by ftang on May 29 2013 07:15am

Correct. This is the final edited version. You're welcome!

does WKL's lightening dmg show on screen dps?

also, what is the minimum dps for a monk to start on Mp10?

thanks.

It doesn't show on screen DPS, instead with a 25% WKL, you would do your damage shown times 1.25 = your total unbuffed DPS.

Minimum DPS for a monk in MP10, in my opinion should be 200,000 damage per second at a minimum.

thanks vm man. worth a sticky.

Thank you. Please let me know if there are any more questions regarding this guide.

Thanks man... no1 said anything to me about my build n the fact i wasn't spawning tornadoes. im running a HC monk right now.. just cant afford a good life on hit won but i changed the rune on sweeping and added way of hundred and im straight face rolling mp 1

why is ther not blinding flash/ and why to you have serenity <<< maybe for undergeared monks? and why the OWE passsive at your dps?

No problem! I'm glad this guide helps explain your question in mind.



I've always preferred Serenity. This can be switched with Blinding Flash (Faith In The Light) if you want that extra damage for three seconds. This is mostly geared to being defensive as well. The O W E isn't labelled under damage per second, but rather the highlights of what is required in this build.