Blog - The Healthy Gamer

June 19, 2012 By Jack Jones 6 Comments

Diablo 3 Patch 1.0.3 Implications for the Monk

Some HUGE changes for Diablo 3 in patch 1.0.3! This post highlights the key issues effecting the Monk class. [Read more…]

June 19, 2012 By Jack Jones 4 Comments

Army Infantryman’s Life | Expert Infantry Badge

Some video of the two week’s annual training with the Army National Guard. We’re an Infantry platoon, and spent most of the two weeks conducting EIB training and testing. I’m happy to say I earned my EIB 😀

June 18, 2012 By Jack Jones 18 Comments

Diablo 3 Inferno Massive Crits Build

I’m back from my National Guard duty and ready to rock with more content 🙂 Played around with stacking crit last night. It’s definitely one of the most fun builds I’ve played so far. Seeing crits pop up every other hit is really satisfying.

Theory-crafting

The idea is to stack your crit chance and +crit damage as high as you possibly can. This leads to a tremendous boost in DPS thus allowing you to forego some of the more defensive stats like life on hit because you’re able to kill mobs faster. +Crit is very synergistic with monk skills and gives you a wide variety of build options to choose from. Today we’ll just explore one of these build options.

Important Gear Slots

Weapon

Look for a weapon with a socket and + critical hit damage, dexterity, +attack speed, and lifesteal are all great stats as well but finding a weapon with all of those can get quite expensive. Socket the weapon with a high quality emerald for more +critical hit damage. Lifesteal can actually be useful with this build because you’ll start hitting crits for 60k+. A 60k crit will equal 324 life back to you(60k x 2.7% x 20%).

Shield

Why do you want a shield? Because shields have the highest +crit chance modifier in the game. My shield currently has +10% to crit. Look for +crit chance, dexterity, vitality, and all resist on your shield.

Gloves

Look for gloves with + crit chance, + crit damage, and optionally + attack speed. The best glove you could find would be +crit chance, + crit damage, + attack speed, +dex, + vitality, +all resist. But that’s probably a 30 mil glove so finding one with crit chance and crit damage will suffice.

Helm

Get a helm with +crit chance and a socket. Dexterity, vitality, all resist are secondary stats to look for on the helm. Gem it with a purple gem for the extra life.

Amulet

Ideally you’d want + attack speed, + critical hit chance, and + life on hit. But again, that’s REALLY expensive. I settled for a 104 dex, +190 life on hit, +11% life, +7.5% crit hit amulet. Still cost me a pretty penny but didn’t break the bank. Stats in order of importance on amulet: + crit hit chance, + attack speed, + life on hit, dex.

Rings

Like the amulet if you can get rings with crit hit chance, attack speed, and life on hit you’ll be golden. Mine only have crit chance and dexterity, but still work just fine.

Other slots

The above slots are the really important pieces for this build because those are the items that can have the +crit modifier on them. The rest of your slots can’t, so just stack them up with as much dex, resist, and vitality as you can.

My stats

25,887 unbuffed DPS, 1558 dex, 39k hp, 42% crit hit chance, 203% crit hit damage, 43% dodge unbuffed, 52% dodge with mantra of evasion, 59% with fists of lightning 16% buff, and 65% for three seconds after hitting mantra of evasion.

Armor mitigation is 71.67%, resists are at 50.94% resist all.

Build

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aiYgXh!XUW!Zccaba

Fists of thunder is great for generating spirit and the +dodge rune is useful for keeping you alive. Sweeping wind with the cyclone rune does INCREDIBLE DPS with 42% crit. You’ll have 4-6 lightning tornados up at one time, each zapping enemies for 20% of your overall DPS. IMO producing much more DPS than just taking bladestorm. Blinding flash and blaze of heaven both work to increase your DPS nicely and help keep you alive. Sixth sense works really great here for increasing your dodge even more.

Strategy

Start off each fight by using flash and getting some big hits in right off the bat. Make sure to keep sweeping wind up as much as possible. Think of blaze of heaven not so much as a heal, but as a 15% damage buff that has a heal as a bonus, so start each fight off with blaze of heaven just for the buff even if you’re at full HP. The drawback of this crit build is that it can be a bit of a glass cannon so manage your cooldowns and run away immediately if your HP starts to drop. Use extra spirit on Mantra of Evasion to keep your dodge as high as possible.

Find more monk builds on this page. Monk level 30-45 guide here. Monk level 45-60 guide here.

June 15, 2012 By Jack Jones 5 Comments

New content coming again starting June 17th

Just wanted to write this quick post and update everyone. For those that didn’t know, I was gone on Army National Guard annual training. I’m back now and after a short break to relax will be uploading new videos everyday starting on the 17th. I appreciate everyone being patient! And if there’s specific vids you’d like to see post them here in the comments and I’ll do my best to accommodate.

June 1, 2012 By Jack Jones 1 Comment

4 Easy quick tips to getting a six pack this summer

1) Add a quick cardio session to the end of your workout

Going along with tip #2 this is another great way to burn some extra calories without adding too much mental anguish. A quick 10 minutes of HIIT(high intensity interval training) can burn 150 cals and it’s a real easy thing to incorporate into your workouts. You’re already at the gym. You’re already sweaty. You might as well do a little extra to reach your goals faster.

Some great quick cardio workouts:

HIIT like I said. Sprint for 30 seconds, walk for 30 seconds, repeat for 10 minutes
Walk at a 10-15 incline on a treadmill at 3-4 speed for 10 minutes.
Use an elliptical with a high level of resistance for 10 minutes.
Bike with a high level of resistance for 10 minutes.
Jog at a fairly high pace for 10 minutes. You’re only on for 10 minutes, so suck it up!

Over the period of a 90 day cut this can help you shed an extra 2-3% bodyfat. That’s the difference between lean and ripped out of your mind.

2) Chug a liter of water upon waking up in the morning

Staying hydrated is KEY to fat loss, and you’re never more dehydrated than you are upon waking. So if you can immediately hydrate you’ll kick your body’s metabolism into optimal gear that much faster and get a extra hour or so of optimal metabolic function going for you.

There’s a ton more benefits to chugging water in the morning as well. It helps you wake up. Helps flush out your digestive system. And overall just helps you start your day on a great note.

Along the same lines, it’s a no brainer, but keep drinking water throughout the day. A well hydrated person will lose noticeably more bodyfat than a chronically dehydrated individual.

If you’re not peein every half hour you’re not drinking enough water 🙂

The kleen kanteen is an AWESOME water bottle. I’ve had mine for YEARS and it’s seriously my most prized possession. I take it with me everywhere I go(ask my friends). It’s stainless steel. Holds a liter of water. You don’t get that nasty plastic taste and most of all you avoid all the BPAs. Click here to check them out on Amazon. These things are DURABLE too. And in a pinch they make for great weapons. Stainless steel, filled with a liter of water… might as well be a baseball bat 😉

3) Replace one carb heavy meal with a spinach salad, vegetable stir-fry, or other form of low density carbs

Abs are built in the kitchen, not the gym.

By replacing just ONE dense carb source(pasta, breads, etc) from a meal each day you can cut out as much as 300 calories and dramatically lower your intake of carbohydrates. This will greatly speed your cut and help you reach your goal of a six pack quicker. Over the period of 90 days following this one tip and changing nothing else about your diet you could see as much as 8.4lbs lost.

4) Take an early morning walk!

Not only will taking an early morning walk help you to your goal of a six pack, it will also start your days off on the right foot. 😉

If you took a 20 minute brisk stroll in the morning five days a week that can equal 500-700 calories burned per week. Over a 90 day period that’s 8400 extra calories or 2.8lbs. Over a year’s time that’s 11.2 pounds you’ve either taken off or kept from being put on your frame. All from a brisk morning walk.

I like morning walks because let’s be honest. It’s tough to wake up in the mornings knowing that you’re about to do some grueling workout or run five miles. Both of which are GREAT, but do what you can. It’s better to walk in the mornings then say you’re going to run and but never actually follow through. And a brisk walk is a great starting step to transitioning over to a morning run or morning workout.