I’ve been playing Necromancer constantly for years now. It was just this season I figured I should actually try to play any other class. So I’m trying to figure out Monk.
I’m currently exploring the Uliana build. I’m a total Monk noob so I’m still experimenting with various runes for different skills etc. A lot of Uliana guides suggest using Shenlong’s Spirit for weapons. I finally got both pieces but I can’t really figure out how to use them in gameplay.
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I run out of spirit constantly. I do have Epihany on numlock but I still run out of spirit instantly. I only use my primary briefly, just long enough to apply exploding palm. I don’t generate enough spirit to keep it up.
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Beacuse of the above I rarely manage to actually get the set bonus from Shenlong. It happens randomly maybe four, five times during a rift when I luck out and accidently manage to hit maximum spirit.
I simply don’t understand how to use the Shenlong set. From what I understand, the ultimate use would be to let the set bonus kick in once - then manage your spirit to be somewhere between zero and max to keep up the set bonus. But never actually hit zero. I’m at zero and a little above all the freaking time. I’m doing something completely wrong and can’t figure out what.
I’m far from a monk noob and I can’t recall a single Uliana build that utilizes Shenlong’s. Shenlong’s are used in generator builds like Raiment and Inna and in the current season with the new Patterns of Justice set due to the additional cube slot. The typical weapons for Uliana is Fist of Az’Turasq and Lion’s Claw and cube The Flow of Eternity.
As far as the Shenlong set goes, you generally use it in generator build like Raiment 6 or Inna 6 Raiment 2. Those builds buff your generator damage and use both halves of the Shenlong bonus to buff generators. The 2nd half of Shenlong buffs everything, not just generators so that is why it’s used with the Pattern set. Shenlong shuts off passive spirit generation while active (like Epiphany) so you need to actively generate spirit once the drain kicks in. In addition, the first bonus of Shenlong is calculated off of your current spirit pool, so you want to try to stay as close to maximum as possible, but you need REALLY high attack speed to counter the drain.
Best use for them is not to use them. They are a major PITA. The only time you might even consider them is if you are trying to maximize your top end GR potential. If that’s not the case, go with QoL.
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With the latest patch it is indeed most powerful to (correctly) use shenlong on uliana build. I managed to get a 125 down with it. Without shenlong i just reached a 123 but maybe this is connected to my amount of noobness on uliana gameplay.
The correct use with uliana build is:
Have Fist of Az in Cube (season you can add lion claw)
watch your freaking coe cycle: Monk has 5 elements, not 3 as necro.
go get as many enemys on one point, do not use sss before you have enough density
get spirit maxed when cold arrives (or the element before)
do sss on cold and shen buff and watch monsters exploding
as long as you are not using sss it does not matter if you have spirit or not. shenlong has 2 dmg buffs: One is only for generators: its a little buff for each spirit point you have. The other is a general dmg buff: It appears when you reach max spirit and then any passively generated spirit vanishes and you additionally drain 65 spirit per sec.
If you play generator you can hit monsters so fast (FD and STI and alacrity + maxed aps) that you generate more spirit with your generator (actively) than you lose by the drain of the set. That way it is possible to hold the second buff as long as you are fighting. But you do not play gen, you play uliana, so you will end up losing all spirit but that does not matter as long as the buff is up and running when you use your sss.
I guess this response is more related to Uliana than Shenlong. But I think I might have messed up my build a little. I realized I’m an absolute glass cannon. Enemies (and we’re talking rift level 80!) more or less one hit me. My strategy so far has been to jump into a crowd - cyclone strike - primary skill to apply exploding palm - sss. Mobs usally don’t have time to attack before I explode them. But, if some mob manage to throw even the tiniest little punch I’m dead.
Rift guardians are usually a nightmare. Some are easier to avoid attacks from, others simply kill me five, six times before I kill them. My primary doesn’t do any real damage. I just use it to apply exploding palm. And sss do absolutely terrifying damage to groups, but can be quite tedious to spam on a single rift guardian.
Point being, I really can’t afford to use my primary more than absolutely neccessary to apply exploding palm. Or I’m dead. Sticking around three, four seconds to throw some extra generating punches is total suicide. I feel like a snowflake with a hand grenade. I can do a lot of damage, but touch me and I’m dead.
I briefly considered abandoning Uliana just because of that. But the whole explosion thing is too amusing and rewarding to watch. It’s a fun playing style. So I want to learn how to play instead.
TL;DR:
With my build setup there’s no way I can stick around long enough to throw generating punches until Shenlong kicks in before I do sss. I guess I should start rerolling stats and build toughness so I can use the set properly.
That’s the thing. You can use the set “properly” and have a blast with it without Shenlong. As Atomfurz said above, he eeked out a couple GRs with Shenlong than without, and that’s at the top end.
My advice to you would be to not use Shenlongs if it is causing you problems. Go with the previous seasons build recommendations, and put some defensive or other offensive options in the cube. You will have a lot more fun.
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i just got these as primals, and it wont let me equip them?
You can only equip one red star (curiosity of lorath nahr) crafted primal per character. I assume you are trying to equip two set pieces that were both upgraded this way.
Shenlong’s has always been a timed roller coaster ride, more now than ever, it is yet another over-complicated thing to constantly watch like CoE’s mess, …?
It’s fine if you happen to have photogenic instant memory to finger access and reflexes to match I guess.
