Starting HC Hell with monk - please disucuss my build

**nintes** · 04-07-2012, 06:57

Hi guys.

Ive been playing as monk in HC and just finished nightmare at level 50. Im looking forward to hell and am wondering how this build compares to other HC monk. I havent really found too many discussions on a monk, so this was built in almost complete isolation.

Its a very defensive build because im a total noob and need all the help I can get.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...Tgh!XUV!ZbZZaa

I have crippling wave as the main damage-dealer because i really like it. It's AoE damage is very good for champions, and the 20% damage reduction is also nice.

Dashing strike is a lifesaver. It has got me out of trouble so many times. Not sure about the rune though. Im running with quicksilver only because I shudder at the thought of going to use it and not having enough spirit. Luckily, my build is not to spirit heavy so I could probably get away with another rune.

Breath of heaven is pretty self-explanatory.

Ive gone with several-sided strike because I have quite a lot of life on hit, and more hits means more life. When I get to 60 i think ill switch that out for Fulminating onslaught.

Serenity is a brilliant "oh crap" button, and I find the extra healing option to be incredibly useful.

Mantra of evasion/hard target is really, really good, but here is where i especially want some advice. I have stacked quite a lot of resistances due to my passive, and I have quite a lot of health regen. At lvl 53, should i switch out mantra of evasion/hard target for mantra of healing/time of need. I already have the enchantress and her 20% armour boost, and because I have so many cooldowns i spend quite a bit of time running away. But im not sure. If you have an opinion, please let me know.

Seize the initiative is a brilliant passive, in my opinion essential for just about any monk. It may become less useful as your dex gets lower compared to your armour, but at the moment it gives me way to much armour to consider getting rid of.

One with everything is very good, but I had to do a lot of AH to get the right gear. I stacked fire res, and I have about 180 all res at level 50 because of it. If i got rid of it, i would be left with 180 fire res and about 40 everything else.

Beacon of ytar is the passive im most considering changing. It is very, very useful when you see how many cooldowns my build has, but it is not as essential as the other two.

For my gear, i have about 14,000 health, 180 res all, nearly 200 life per second, about 80 life on hit with a 1.2 as weapon, 2.10% life steal, somewhere in the region of 1500 dps (it may be slightly more or less, but its around there), and about 61% mitigation when mantra of evasion is active.

If you could be bothered to read that, well done.

If you have any suggestions for improving this, please, I would be very, very happy to know.

If you want to give my ego an enormous boost then steal it, and I would be happy as well.

**Kornkills** · 04-07-2012, 12:23

Your build is decent. I would recommend transcendense passive over becon of ytar. That way if you mantra spam you have essentially a third heal. If you can, try out the breathe of heaven rune that has the 15% damage increase buff, very useful way to get some offensive from a defensive skill. Concussion rune does not reduce damage from elite special attacks, but it's still not a terrible rune, just somthing to consider as there is a rune that gives it a wider area of effect. As for seize the initiative, it seems to be the popular third passive as of lately for level 60 monks. Also, for seven sided strike, try out the first rune for a teleport, it has saved my past monks numerous times.

As for your stats, the only thing i remember from playing through hell was I sure didnt have resist. But i waited until 58 to even enter hell, then hit 60 before trying a2. But that was me being frightened of the unkown.

There has been an ongoing hc monk dicussion since around the time of release here: http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...onk-Discussion

Also, the regular monk forums have some good advice as well, its where I got the build I preferred on my past 2x60 monks for inferno. I lovely high damage high offensive builds. (of course, i've only made it to magdah in inferno, still working on my 5th monk)
http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/f...y.php?148-Monk

**nintes** · 04-07-2012, 12:37

So does concussion not reduce damage from mortar, molten, arcane and other such things? If it doesnt ill switch it out for the increase range rune.

Im not sure about how I feel about transcendence and spamming the mantra. While it would give me an extra panic button, im not really sure if i need the extra healing with breath of life and serenity. I dont have any passive spirit recovery, and I spend a lot of time running away waiting for cooldowns. If im out of spirit the only way i can get any back is to use serenity, get some hits in and then run away again. If i find a good gear piece with spirit regen on it then it sounds a lot more viable.

If I want to level up, what is the most efficient place for level farming? Ive done the legacy of cain quest in hell, so if there is a good place before that for level farming then that would be really good.

Thanks for your links.

Also, does anyone have an opinion on mantra of evasion/hard target vs mantra of healing/time of need? Im a bit torn.

**nintes** · 04-07-2012, 12:47

Just saw a cool idea about using tempest rush instead of dashing strike. If i do that, it adds more weight to mantra of healings case, but im still not sure. Advice please

**Kornkills** · 04-07-2012, 13:09

the wretched queen quest in hell might be okay, but also running AZ in night mare might be decent too.

the best way to test out new things would be to go to somewhere you feel comfortable with your current build/equipment, and try out different skills.

i personally havent used mantra of healing since they nerfed the absorb. that extra 20% resist is not worth losing dodge or increase damage or whatever.

the thing about transcendence is, if you replace beacon of ytar with it, while doing your normal attack sequence, you will be at full spirit most of the time because all you have is a 30 second cooldown attack. sitting at full spirit is ineffective, thus why i loved mantra of conviction and overawe. that was my main spirit dump, to have enemies take 48% more damage and each time i use getting healed for 20% life or whatever basically. playing like that allowed me to tank most things in a1 inferno just fine, of course there are some combos you do have to kite.. run till you can serenity, blast blast blast, seven sided, and run again. even if you get hit a bit, you should be able to regen a decent about of spirit.

also try out deadly reach if kiting is really needed, as it can be an effectient way to stay out of melee range of mobs and regen some spirit.

and yes, resolve and the concussive strike rune do not reduce special attack damage, only a mobs primary melee or ranged attack.

edit: tempest rush is a viable "get out of group of mobs" ability. i used it over dashing strike in the past.

**nintes** · 04-07-2012, 13:30

i think i will use deadly reach for that 40% armour increase.

I like to play defensive so mantra of conviction is not really an option. I am also prepared to lose out the dodge chance for the added healing. I suppose the real question I have is "Is it better to increase resistance by 20% or armour by 20% if you have stacked resistance reasonably heavily". The more I think about it, the more im leaning towards mantra of healing, but if it turns out that 20% more res is complete crap when compared to 20% more armour then I wont do it.

Also, how valuable is passive spirit regen? Is it worth sacrificing a small amount of dex/vit/res etc. in order to get some?

**Kornkills** · 04-07-2012, 15:40

well, 20% more resist when you have 180 = + 36 all resist, plus whatever amount of life per second the aura gives.

20% armor from evasion mantra is probably about 5-9% damage reduce + a high amount of dodge.

overall with your current resist, it may be better to use evasion. 36 all resist isnt that much, and you already have 200 life per second.

ultimately, it is a tough call to figure out what gear/spec to use. the way i like to play is minimal kiting.

really the only thing you can do is go back a bit in content and practice

also this is the basics of the build i liked the most http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...Xgk!YUT!aaabaa

some times i would switch to deadly reach with the 18% dmg buff.

**nintes** · 05-07-2012, 00:03

So it seems its playstyle based. Ill try both and post which one i prefer. Thanks for your help

**diablomasterOO** · 11-07-2012, 10:13

Enjoy you playing man hope you can find rare items along the way. See you in hell!!!!

**nintes** · 11-07-2012, 10:25

Ill see you as well! Or at least I would have, had I not died when i got walled in with no spirit in the middle of a plagued and electrified area. I was rushing away and the wall popped up in front of me, no spirit left :(. Still, without that pressure HC would be no fun!

Hope you have better luck