Inferno Diablo with Monk and I - Strategies/Thoughts and How to Progress Endgame

[Terenas]

I'd let Simfish give you an answer as he and you are both more advanced item-wise. Also, before 1.0.3 I stacked IAS... so well, it sucks.
I trigger enrage all the time because of low damage. I think that with your dps you do not really need to be more offensive but If you go cyclone you need crit chance and that does not exist on weapons.

Btw Why elites cast so often ??? Come on, jailer frozen desecrator avenger was quite impossible to handle (I did with a 60K repair bill).

EDIT: After playing a bit in A3 and A2 I wonder why I die so much now... It is worse than before... I do not understand. I'll test some more, but it is just too expensive

[serialazy]

Thanks OP your time and experience in the post!
Great read/post and re-inforces my belief in the fun of playing monk!
Thoroughly enjoying with the limited amount of game time I have.

You have some excellent tips for inferno and many tips on AH which I absolutely agree with.
I tend to just auction anything I think sellable at the starting price (vendor sell price)
if it goes it goes. If it doesnt, oh well... =)

I think theres a big generatioin of people who compare with the rest who are out there and complain when they see all those who do so well. But instead your post is well thought out and helpful.

The durabilty of items and cost of repairs I found have really sky rocketed and thus must really invest wisely on my next pieces.

Would you consider dual wield or daibos? and now that monks can use 2h mace axe and swords?

My resistance is unbuffed 740, and survivablity is pretty good, but still with a low DPS of 13k i'm struggling to clear act 2 before the rage timers. BUT given that I'm loving the monks!


Game on monk!

-Dunc

[Simfish]

Hey Tenebris, can you tell me what's been killing you? If you find that you cannot take more than a few ticks from lasers or any of the ground AoE, or that you cannot face tank elite mobs with relatively lenient mods, then it's certainly a gear issue. At this point, the Act 3 mobs are not really hitting all that hard any more when you hit a critical mass of defensive stats. I've been trying out a few builds using Mantra of Conviction just for fun, and the pressure is most certainly less than it was when I went with my full-on defensive build pre-patch. That's a good thing, since it's going to open up a lot more options and allow for build diversity.

From what I can see, I had 300 more Vitality than you did. I would recommend at least 38K health for Act 3 or 900-1000 Vitality, further augmented by your Earth Ally. That should allow you to take a few more hits. Your Dodge is superb; it's actually better than mine, but pumping Dexterity wasn't a top priority for me (some may argue that it is the most important stat, but I had over 1000 Dexterity so I was pretty satisfied with where I was). I also had more Attack Speed, and way more Life on Hit. Maybe that's what did it? But I don't think the AS and LoH that I have is even that necessary. If you can face-tank white mobs and elite mobs without all the nasty ground stuff, then I would say you're pretty set on gear.

You may want to try Deadly Reach with Keen Eye instead of FoT, since that will greatly boost your armor in combat. Deadly Reach also gives you ranged leverage, so you can abuse elite mobs stuck next to doorways and not have to stand next to dangerous melee swings (like Swift Skull Cleavers or those mallet guys) while still putting out pressure. Don't forget to use your Shift-modifier!

For play style, you'll notice the more you play how those mobs with the nasty affixes work. For instance, a Plagued mob spawns the plagued puddles ONLY under itself, whereas Desecration spawns under you. This is important because so long as you're not standing exactly toe-to-toe with a Plagued mob, you're going to be fine, provided that you also use your space around you smartly by making it so that the mob doesn't plague up the whole room too fast. It also makes Deadly Reach good against Plagued mobs. Whereas Desecration puddles do de-spawn after a certain amount of time, so you can basically stand next to the mob, but just react quickly when the puddle forms under you (you have a second or two to do so).

Molten packs also spawn the molten stuff BEHIND them. Hence, if you are able to position a mob (this can be tricky at times) so that your back is against the wall, but all of the mobs are facing you, then you take no damage.

If you come across a mob with what I call a position-altering ability (Waller, Jailer, Vortex), and it also has ground AoE or lasers, your job is significantly more difficult. My best advice for those mobs is to make sure that you've cleared everything (white mobs and such) up to that point so that you have more space to abuse positioning. What I typically do for those mobs is hit them a few times with Deadly Reach to keep up my Sweeping Wind stacks, move back to the full range of your Deadly Reach, hit them a few more times, move backwards even more, etc. If you find yourself at a dead end, start kiting them to where they first spawned, and just sort of use the space in between from there to deal with the ground effects. This is a good tactic because once the mobs have spawned all of the ground AoE in between you and them, and then cast the Waller/Jailer/Vortex ability after you've moved back a few steps, you'll already be out of range of the dangerous ground stuff. I find that with Sweeping Wind, especially with Inner Storm, I get quite a bit of sustain from range while also putting out quite a bit of pressure. Rarely do mobs enrage on me.

[Simfish]

Thanks OP your time and experience in the post!
Great read/post and re-inforces my belief in the fun of playing monk!
Thoroughly enjoying with the limited amount of game time I have.

You have some excellent tips for inferno and many tips on AH which I absolutely agree with.
I tend to just auction anything I think sellable at the starting price (vendor sell price)
if it goes it goes. If it doesnt, oh well... =)

I think theres a big generatioin of people who compare with the rest who are out there and complain when they see all those who do so well. But instead your post is well thought out and helpful.

The durabilty of items and cost of repairs I found have really sky rocketed and thus must really invest wisely on my next pieces.

Would you consider dual wield or daibos? and now that monks can use 2h mace axe and swords?

My resistance is unbuffed 740, and survivablity is pretty good, but still with a low DPS of 13k i'm struggling to clear act 2 before the rage timers. BUT given that I'm loving the monks!


Game on monk!

-Dunc

Yeah I agree, I think people can be way too concerned with what others are doing, and with how much gold others are making by abusing mechanics that were never intended to be abused. I remember a thread by Dave (wish I still had the link) who went through Diablo 2 Hardcore with a naked Amazon, and it's stories like those that make the game and the journey legendary. Can't wait to see what kinds of things people will be doing in the months ahead.

I personally am a bigger fan of dual-wielding, and would dual-wield if I had the gold to spend. The 15% increased attack speed is always fun.

If you're finding that your survivability is sufficient, but you don't have the gold to spend on an extra, juicy weapon, I would just spec for a more offensive build. I've been trying out this Deadly Reach with 18% buff + Mantra of Conviction/Overawe build similar to the Inferno Diablo build that I posted, and I can turn what is normally 12K DPS into a 40K DPS burst combo with full cool downs. Pretty nice for blowing up Act 3 mobs actually. Just always adjust to the situation. If you're thinking things like, "Well these mobs aren't really hurting me now, I'm going to go for some more damage," then that's good. I've also since switched out Seize the Initiative for Combination Strike.

[Terenas]

I've also since switched out Seize the Initiative for Combination Strike.

What other generator are you using together with Deadly Reach then ? must've missed it. Ty in advance.

[Ohlmann]

What other generator are you using together with Deadly Reach then ? must've missed it. Ty in advance.

Combination strike is 8% bonus damage even with a single spirit generator, no ?

[Tenebris]

Wow I must say I'm amazed by the clarity of the advice plus the time you took to delve into my issues. A big thumbs up for this thread and to you personally Sim!

I will try DR/KE this evening and report back

[Wurmer]

Nice guide, I am far from being able to do any inferno but I enjoyed the read never the less. I am out of computer right now since my SSD went dead a couple of days ago but I'll make sure to put your tips to good use when my rig is back on line. At level 60 I am still doing A3 A4 runs. I haven't put that much time into the game yet but I will when time permits.

[raveharu]

Thank you for sharing this.

It's a relieve that you didn't post another trashy youtube video but a step by step guide in words with skill build screenshots.

I wonder if this applies to anyone else but after playing all 5 classes, I think the monk has the most interesting game play.

My monk is still in Act 4 Hell but I will try your builds once I can afford to get better armor.

[Terenas]

Combination strike is 8% bonus damage even with a single spirit generator, no ?

Well, the text says "Each different Spirit Generator ability you use increases your damage by 8% for 3 seconds." I see it as in "each different generator beyond the first", but as I never used it I do not know. By the way, any suggestion on how to beat Ghom ? The room fills with gas almost immediately and I die.