The D3 1.0.3 nerf to IAS(increased attack speed) items have really hit some people hard, dropping their DPS by 25% or more. Items that used to have 15% IAS now only have 7, and it can be really tough(not to mention expensive) to try to achieve previous levels of attack speed. So with that in mind I tailored this build to give the player 30% more attack speed from SKILLS alone, without having to drop millions on the auction house.
Where does the IAS come from?
Way of the hundred fists – Blazing fists rune. Each time you crit your attack speed AND move speed is increased by 5%.
Dual wield – DW naturally gives the player 15% increased attack speed.
With both buffs active my attack speed goes from 1.4 to 1.78, dramatically increasing DPS.
The Build
Way of the hundred fists – Blazing fists: The IAS and movespeed are really nice, if you have move speed boots you can blaze around and kite like a champion.
Sweeping Wind – Cyclone: You still want high crit chance and high crit damage with this build. I run it with 36.5% crit chance. With the increased attack speed you’ll spawn a ridiculous number of tornadoes.
Mystic Ally, Serenity, and Breath of Heaven: Pretty standard defensive fare. Mystic ally can be swapped out for a variety of skills. I just wanted to try her and see how useful she was. It’s actually quite good for kiting around elites, and she does a good job of tanking. The +10% life is useful as well. But it’s not at all REQUIRED for this build to work, so that slot you have room to play with.
Mantra of Evasion – Backlash: Each time you dodge you’ll do 56% weapons damage(when you dual wield). Taking the dual wield passive which increases your dodge by 15%, and spamming this mantra will boost your dodge to a ridiculous level. This skill combined with sweeping wind cyclone can produce some truly amazing AOE DPS.
Passives: Resolve, one with everything, guardian’s path. Pretty self explanatory, tailor these passives to fit your item build.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#UijgXh!ZUd!ZccYbc
Item Build
Follows closely with the previous 1.0.3 crit build.
Weapons – Stat priority is: Critical hit damage > Life on hit > Life steal > Dexterity (Finding a weapon with critical hit damage AND a socket where you can add even more critical hit damage is ideal)
Armor – Try to get +crit hit chance on your gloves, rings, amulets, helmet, and bracers. Some of those pieces also offer + critical hit damage so pick that up when you can. Otherwise the standard defensive stats and dex apply, try to get dex on every item, +all resist on every item.
Screenshot of all my equipment used in this video – Please hit like to reveal
[/social-locker]
Strategy
This build doesn’t make you invincible(just almost) 😛 so kiting is still necessary. Fighting tough mobs rotate your cooldowns. Against really tough mob packs just run away until serenity is off cooldown, go in, pop serenity, do 4 seconds of damage and run away again. The great thing about WOTHF is that the 15% move speed really makes kiting MUCH easier.
Other then that it’s pretty simple, active sweeping wind at the beginning of each fight, keep your Earth Ally alive, and pop Mantra of Evasion as your spirit dump, using your defensive abilities when needed.
I want to ask for your help in sharing these videos and posts, if you find it useful please share use the sharebar to the left to share with your social media and post these to your favorite Diablo 3 forums. Let’s spread the message and help gamers game better and live better 🙂
For more d3 monk builds visit the Monk builds page here. Check out this post for my favorite 1.0.3 farming spot.