Hey everybody, here are my ideas for the Monk class - this is a heavy post but I put many hours of thought and work into it so please consider fairly. Something to note is that my intent here is largely conceptual and I actually tried to keep numerical balance roughly where it is; separate work on that could and should follow.
Basic goals summary:
- Combine current Justice and Monkey sets, preserving the build
- Turn I6U4 into new Justice: better support and more options
- Refill Uliana: fewer but harder hits, add toughness and density-scaling, streamline Mythic Rhythm
- Streamline Raiment, add toughness, change Dash from tradeoff to situational benefit
- Flip Inna: focus on Mystic Ally, add melee AoE synergy and a Spirit-drain buff on activation
Here’s the full rundown, in sections:
- Seven-Sided Strike: Sustained Attack rune: Increases the damage of Seven-Sided Strike by 7%, stacking up to 7 times. Lasts 7 seconds.
- Flow of Eternity: The cooldown of your Seven-Sided Strike is reduced by 70-80%.
- Sledge Fist: Your Seven-Sided Strike deals 500-600% increased damage.
- Crystal Fist: Your Seven-Sided Strike gains the Teleportation and Spirit cost effects of the Sudden Assault and Pandemonium runes.
- Binding of the Lost: Your Seven-Sided Strike reduces your damage taken by 10% per hit, stacking up to 7 times. Lasts 7 seconds.
For support of a non-Uliana SSS build while still letting Uliana use it solely to trigger EP. At 0% sheet CDR, the current combo of Sustained Attack rune and extracted FoE offers an SSS cooldown of 5.6 seconds, while this extracted FoE would bring it to 6 seconds but opens rune choice. With Captain Crimson set, helm, paragon, and Gogok, this still lets players reach a comfortable sub-2-second cooldown in as few as 2 stat rolls. Binding of the Lost would stack faster and refresh instead of resetting.
- Lion Claw: Your Exploding Palm’s detonation deals 10% increased damage for each enemy currently affected by your Exploding Palm.
- Fist of Az’Turrasq: Your Exploding Palm’s detonation deals 1000-1100% increased damage.
- Uliana set:
- 2pc: Your Exploding Palm’s total damage-over-time is also dealt on detonation.
- 4pc: Your damage taken is reduced by 10% per enemy currently affected by your Exploding Palm, up to 60%.
- 6pc: Your Exploding Palm deals 9,000% increased damage. Your Seven-Sided Strike now also detonates your Exploding Palm.
Adding defense, having fewer but harder hits, and trading the current SSS mechanic for a density-scaling EP buff to bulk up this melee caster build. Fire EP rune gains support in its full DoT being added to detonation and buffed as part of it. Also of note is that Generators would no longer apply EP - this ends potential issues involving Mythic Rhythm by giving you permanent manual control. Overall I think this is an interesting and maybe needed change in direction to set up for high-level group play.
- Raiment set:
- 2pc: Your Spirit Generators have 25% faster attack speed and 400% increased damage. (unchanged)
- 4pc: Dashing Strike gains the effect of all runes, and reduces your damage taken by 60% for 5 seconds.
- 6pc: Dashing Strike increases the damage of your Spirit Generators by 6000% for 5 seconds. Dashing Strike now instantly kills enemies under 10% health.
- Shenlong set: (proc now drains 25% of your max Spirit per second instead of flat 65; otherwise unchanged)
- Flying Dragon: Your Spirit Generators have a 10% chance (currently reported as 4%) to double your attack and movement speeds and allow you to move through enemies for 5 seconds (currently reported as 5-10).
The current R6S2 is uncomfortable for what should be the ultimate straightforward melee DPS build. These changes add utility, defense, and smoother damage output. Shenlong drain is typically higher, but Band of the Rue Chambers is accessible. Dashing Strike is still important, but it gets an extra benefit, instead of an alt cost that’s arguably worse. Flying Dragon would be more reliable, and offer more mobility and an escape. Other Generator and supporting choices may also be opened up.
- Justice set:
- 2pc: Your Seven-Sided Strike triples to strike a total of 21 times.
- 4pc: Epiphany has 50% reduced cooldown.
- 6pc: Your Seven-Sided Strike deals 777% of its total damage with each hit.
- Epiphany: (now gives the Monk a golden glow instead of a shadow form)
I love the Justice build, but there’s no denying we already have a Sweeping Wind/Tempest Rush set, while Seven-Sided Strike is on a set but falls short of a modern build. The unique way this mechanic scales means that between access to FoE and the further-increased number of hits, it actually provides far more of an effective multiplier than it might seem to. SSS also effectively provides a huge amount of its own defense due to casting invulnerability, but more uptime on Epiphany would give even more, plus mobility and Spirit regen. Between this and the first section above, Inna bonuses wouldn’t be missed. Visual change for a nice finishing touch.
- Monkey King set:
- 2pc: Your damage taken is reduced by 50% while Sweeping Wind is active. (unchanged)
- 4pc: Your Lashing Tail Kick, Tempest Rush, and Wave of Light now also cast Cyclone Strike on the first target hit.
- 6pc: Your Lashing Tail Kick, Tempest Rush, and Wave of Light deal 1500% increased damage per stack of your Sweeping Wind (unchanged).
- Won Khim Lau: Tempest Rush deals 500-600% increased damage, and increases your movement speed by 50% while channeling.
- Kyoshiro’s Soul: Sweeping Wind gains the effects of all runes, activates with maximum stacks, and lasts indefinitely.
I’d like to blend the current Justice set into the Monkey King set. The automatic Cyclone Strike from WKL is moved to MKG itself, replaced with most of current PoJ’s movespeed. Making Sweeping Wind akin to Shadow set’s Shadow Power, and adding the runes from current Justice set, make Kyoshiro’s Soul more appealing for high GRs.
- Inna set:
- 2pc: Increase the passive effects of your Mystic Ally and base Mantra by 100%. (reworded but unchanged)
- 4pc: Gain the five runed Mystic Allies and four base Mantras at all times.
- 6pc: Your Mystic Ally, Sweeping Wind, and Cyclone Strike deal 950% increased damage for each Mystic Ally you have. Your Mystic Ally activation drains your Spirit to deal 50% increased damage per point.
This promotes Mystic Ally from stage crew to star of the show, with the close-range synergy of Cyclone Strike and Sweeping Wind. Inna’s Reach, Bindings of the Lesser Gods, Kyoshiro’s Soul, and Crudest Boots would all be core pieces. Likely options including Tasker and Theo, Band of the Rue Chambers, and Guardian’s Path. Mystic Ally multipliers likely would still need buffs, but this is the basic idea.
Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think!