My class layout with information on why it's amazing

[Ellay]

I changed up my layout a bit and am very very happy with it. I can clear all of act 3 inferno in a respectable time and my dps is Insane.
With the upcoming patch 1.0.4 grouping is going to be even better with the reduction of monster hp scaling in a party and overall damage buffs, with the current method if it's smooth sailing - the patch will make it something on an entirely new level. So let's get to the breakdown shall we?!

1x Barbarian / 3x Monks - now I've thought about this long and hard thinking maybe 2 of each would be better but ultimately this is the bread and butter right here. There is so much synergy that we will get into.

GEAR:
My gear isn't ridiculously amazing, but it also isn't terrible. I'd say middle of the road for all intents and purposes.

Barbarian -Unbuffed sitting there dps is 55k - with group buffs running my DPS is 92k not including the additional DPS increases on the monsters (will get into that in a bit. Additionally I'd like to point out my gear has a lot of areas it can be improved in. Void's Barbarian sits at 100k dps unbuffed.
Monk 1 35k dps unbuffed - fully buffed around 50k
Monk 2 41.6k dps unbuffed - fully buffed around 55k
Monk 3 30k dps unbuffed - fully buffed around 40k

Now I like my damage but adding a barbarian into the mix adding so much survivability in the form of resists so let's get into what each character offers the group!

Synergy buffs for group!
Barbarian

Warcry - Impunity +50% to all resists and +20% to armor.
Ignore Pain - Mob Rule : 65% damage reduction for entire group for 5 seconds, I round robin this with 2 of the monks that use Serenity to use in bad situations.


Monk1

Resolve: -25% damage reduction from monster
Mantra of Conviction: 24% increased damager to monsters within 20 yards. When you activate it, it increases it to 48% for 3 seconds. Pretty much spam it over and over. ( this is huge, you take whatever your paperdoll says and add 48% more damage.
Serenity: 1 sec group invulnerability. Breaks CC and helps me dodge bad things happening - I.E I sit and tank through the frozen crystals and activate it right when they are about to explode.


Monk2

Crippling Wave - Concussion: causes enemies to do 20% less damage
Mantra of Evasion: Currently using Divine Protection, on top of the 15% base dodge when you spam it every 3 seconds it bumps your dodge to +30%. Divine Protection is similar to Pain Suppression from a Priest in WoW so it helps save lives, if you drop below 25% hp it puts a bubble on you for 3 seconds that reduces all damage by 80%.
Cyclone Strike - Implosion: Not really a group buff but it pulls any monster in a 34 yard radius to you. Basically a large chunk of the screen and you just blow all the monsters up at once since I am aoe'ing with 4 characters. It's nice :)


Monk3

Crippling Wave - Breaking Wave : Increases damage to affected target by 10% ( does not show on paperdoll, so add 10% :)
Mantra of Healing - Time of Need : Besides the heal per second buff, gives +20% to all resists.
Guiding Light : This skill was initially confusing but it works with many skills that you wouldn't ordinarily think work. Basically Mantra of Healing procs this, Since during battle I am somewhat spamming my mantra ability this is always up, so +16% damage for the entire group ( this one shows up on the paperdoll so you know it works)
Serenity : just like monk1, 1 second group invuln.


On top of that all Monks have Breath of Heaven which is round robin for on demand heals when I need it, each time it is used it gives a 15% damage buff to that single character for 45 seconds. So without thinking about it - healing the group gives a damage bonus on top of it.


To break it all down now. This is what it looks like for group synergy

24%(48%) Damage + 16% Damage + 10% Damage (this does not include self buffs)
50% resists + 20% resists
20% Armor can add another 20% if you want to
-25% damage reduction on monsters + -20%
-20% Attack speed on monsters
300 Heal per second (1100 HPS for 3 seconds)
15% Dodge (30% for 3 seconds)


I am able to tank just about anything. The main heals from the Barbarian come from lifesteal, and the Monks use the passive Transcendence which heals 62 hp per spirit spent. It works out nicely if you have good spirit regen and spamming Mantra's actually heals you in the process. The only trouble is some bad affix combo's but they can be downed with practice. Adding the barbarian added a lot of DPS and resists needed to burn them down in a short amount of time.


If my math is correct my base DPS on the Barbarian unbuffed is 55k, when adding everything together beyond what the paperdoll shows it is 145k. I use Frenzy which gives 75% attack speed at full stacks bumping the DPS now up to 254k DPS sustained! and when I really want to burn something down like an elite every 2 minutes I pop Wrath of the Berserker, which I'm not even sure what the DPS is at that point. It's just spamtastic on the screen and I see quite a few crits get to the 200k range, and it's close to 3 attacks per second.
Mind you the monks are pumping out roughly 80k DPS a piece and it's all AoE.

The most recent modification I have made is slightly droppping my DPS so I can pick up stun gloves and freeze belts, even though my attacks per second are somewhat slower than a ranged casters methods and also up close. It's a very noticeable improvement and gives me extra time to burn down monsters and prevent them from using their special affix's so often.

And that ladies and gents, is my mind dump. Maximize the multiboxing possibilities. A random group will never have a perfect layout like this, enjoy it.

[Shodokan]

Very nice man. Makes me want to get a few more copies of the game and try it. (I quit this game >_>)

Video of you doing a runthrough of act 3 or something would be awesome.

[Ellay]

Ya I need to stop being lazy and make a video :) Will make it a goal for this weekend.

[cookcpu]

Thank you for the write up. I will try to make a same group as I have not reach 60 yet.

Do you have problem with syn the 4 chars in boss fight.

[EaTCarbS]

Ya I need to stop being lazy and make a video :) Will make it a goal for this weekend.

DO EET! Always love to see vids from you.

[Homer]

Now for the ultimate challenge HARDCORE BOXING! <3

[remanz]

Ellay

it will be great if you can post your bnet profile links so we can check out the gear and specs. This group looks really beefy. I like all the synergies. What's your barb's main attack abilities, fury dump? Frenzy + ??

1.0.4 will make this way better as we want to kill trash mobs and paragon level adds MF for us. MONK dps MF gears are NOT affordable/profitable (if invest , not gonna make that money back in Months). The boxing group is good at move and kill everything on its path (cyclone strike everything in). Also invulnerable minions no longer exist. Fire chain and shieldings are nerfed.

[Ellay]

I've been hesitant to link to my profiles.. not sure why. I'll get it done soon enough :)

The patch is coming out tomorrow and the changes are even better than imagined.
I wish I would of made a video of doing some trash + a few elite kills but the past few days I've not gamed as waiting for the patch, since so many things are changing.
Monster hp is so drastically less now along with reduced damage, it's going to be a good time.

My Barbarian uses Frenzy with the stun rune, I don't use any type of Fury dump except to activate WotB, you can use sidearm instead and I may switch back but the extra cc is great on elites and my damage isn't an issue.
Typically I run around looking for elites, if too much trash is around me I'll stop, use Cyclone Strike to suck in the monsters. There actually seems to be a cap to how many can be sucked in at once, something like 10-15. In the same moment I suck in I activate Sweeping Wind on the monks and Overpower on the Barb. Then just use my main attack of Crippling Wave/ Frenzy, currently the stuff dies in 2-3 hits, with this patch it's probably going to be 1-2, or like in act 1 it instant dies. Repeat cyclone strike if still more monsters in the vicinity. I can clear out a room of 50 monsters in seconds usually without using any special cooldowns, it's just a rinse/repeat.

with the x4 increase drop rate on white trash monsters this is definitely the optimum setup for also gaining experience as well. You don't have runners or anything of that sort. On my monk that uses Cyclone strike I have 8 passive spirit regen per second (this is a lot yes) but it's very effective and allows me to have the ability to cyclone strike when I need it.

Again I'm really excited for this patch, it makes multiboxing shine and especially my setup shine when other setups were a bit more attractive. With the paragon levels eventually there will be no need to have any MF at all. I can't imagine running around with 300% mf + the 5 stack NV and being able to burn down monsters without having to mf gear swap before an elite kill. It's horribly annoying right now but almost a must for the effectiveness.

I will get to making a video, promise - it's just slower these days.

[dancook]

I just started a new group to try this out :)

[Darthpeon]

That is a great setup. I have been considering dropping 1 WD and adding a monk. Any thoughts on that appreciated.


Ellay, when you get around to it can you add up your total average sustained dps for the entire team with both class skills in use.

[remanz]

I've been hesitant to link to my profiles.. not sure why. I'll get it done soon enough :)

The patch is coming out tomorrow and the changes are even better than imagined.
I wish I would of made a video of doing some trash + a few elite kills but the past few days I've not gamed as waiting for the patch, since so many things are changing.
Monster hp is so drastically less now along with reduced damage, it's going to be a good time.

My Barbarian uses Frenzy with the stun rune, I don't use any type of Fury dump except to activate WotB, you can use sidearm instead and I may switch back but the extra cc is great on elites and my damage isn't an issue.
Typically I run around looking for elites, if too much trash is around me I'll stop, use Cyclone Strike to suck in the monsters. There actually seems to be a cap to how many can be sucked in at once, something like 10-15. In the same moment I suck in I activate Sweeping Wind on the monks and Overpower on the Barb. Then just use my main attack of Crippling Wave/ Frenzy, currently the stuff dies in 2-3 hits, with this patch it's probably going to be 1-2, or like in act 1 it instant dies. Repeat cyclone strike if still more monsters in the vicinity. I can clear out a room of 50 monsters in seconds usually without using any special cooldowns, it's just a rinse/repeat.

with the x4 increase drop rate on white trash monsters this is definitely the optimum setup for also gaining experience as well. You don't have runners or anything of that sort. On my monk that uses Cyclone strike I have 8 passive spirit regen per second (this is a lot yes) but it's very effective and allows me to have the ability to cyclone strike when I need it.

Again I'm really excited for this patch, it makes multiboxing shine and especially my setup shine when other setups were a bit more attractive. With the paragon levels eventually there will be no need to have any MF at all. I can't imagine running around with 300% mf + the 5 stack NV and being able to burn down monsters without having to mf gear swap before an elite kill. It's horribly annoying right now but almost a must for the effectiveness.

I will get to making a video, promise - it's just slower these days.



Completely understood.

Now that everyone are in this legendary hunt madness (I got 2 so far). 1 thing, how do you watch drops in slaves windows. Both of my legendary drops came from trash mob drop. Constantly watching slave windows for drop is a little tiring/tedious.

[dancook]

Any chance seeing the skill setup for each char? and are you dual wielding on them all? or shield cheers

[Darthpeon]

Completely understood.

Now that everyone are in this legendary hunt madness (I got 2 so far). 1 thing, how do you watch drops in slaves windows. Both of my legendary drops came from trash mob drop. Constantly watching slave windows for drop is a little tiring/tedious.

My head has been on a swivel checking a 27 inch monitor with the 3 slaves for drops. Even at that size, it's far too small. I'm personally thinking of getting a cheap 32 inch tv for them to take the strain off my eyes.

[dancook]

I read through your posts trying to put together your builds, if you get any time to fill in the gaps Ellay it'd be appreciated.

Barb - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WQki.P!!Y.cY.Z
Monk1 - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#WSkgX!aY!a.abb
Monk2 - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#WShfX!.Y!Z.ZZb
Monk3 - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#WSQgX!.Y!c.cbb

My group is now level 31, normal completed.

My fight with Izual was quite amusing 95% of the time I was frozen:)

Sunday 26th, 8:21pm - Now level 51 starting hell:) roll on 60... Don't want to have to upgrade my gear until 60 - still got some level 17 stuff

[farmouss]

Hi All,

I'm new to multiboxing and very interested in it so I bought 3 more D3 licenses to try this out.
Currently leveling 3 monks, my barb being already lvl60.
Have a few questions on this group :
- Which one are you controlling as the main?
- Ellay, your build would be very much appreciated as well as your bonus on your stuff for each class :)
- What's your iSBoxer configuration (frame rate per windows).


Thanks all
Farmouss

[dancook]

I already had two level 60 barbarians, but I found it nice to level a third with the group - and personally the barb is my main.

If it helps, my framerate is 60/30 at full graphics settings on all.

[farmouss]

I already had two level 60 barbarians, but I found it nice to level a third with the group - and personally the barb is my main.

If it helps, my framerate is 60/30 at full graphics settings on all.

Thanks for the quick reply Dancook.
I've read on IsBoxer forums that it was preferable to have same framerate on 4 windows to help sync characters, but I'm not sure it really helps. Do you use multiple graphic cards? What's your configuration?

I'll actually leveling 4 monks since my barb is lvl 60 but maybe it would have been better to put a new barb in this group instead of a 4th monk :(

Have you found out what was the best build?

cheers,

[dancook]

I'm not having an issue with syncing beyond the norm, so not sure about that. I have a single 7970 graphics card, 2600 sandybridge, 512gb ssd, 16gb ram.

Well I've added Air Allies - they seem to be good for initiating fights, soak up some of the initial abilities like the bulls charge in A1 and also distract the enemies if I don't want to stop and fight the odd one. Air allies also have a 2% chance to boost spirit by 100- not sure how useful this is being.

Using innerstorm on sweeping wind -hoping the spirit gain would help .. but I'm not 100% sure really. My guy with the cyclone strike usually runs quite low on spirit.

Lvl 53, A2 hell....

[farmouss]

Thanks again for the answer Dancook.

Can I ask you another question regarding your IsBoxer configuration?
I'm trying to find out how to best configure it, I was thinking of reducing the additionnal instances resolutions, are you running them as the same resolution as the main screen? Have you been able to make the same window layout than Lax in his "More crappy loots" video?

cheers,

[dancook]

I have my window config the same as I have for WOW - main 24inch screen full with one, then the others split on a 21inch screen. With D3 there is a hole, as there is no 5th client.

they are all configured with the same resolution, and isboxer shrinks them. I believe you need the same resolution for the mouse to broadcast correctly.

However this thread isn't suitable for generic D3 setup, it's about Warrior + 3 Barb by Ellay:)

lvl 59 ! act 4 hell..

[farmouss]

you're right, let's get back to the quad group :)
Congratulations for leveling, I guess that you're 60 by now.
Let us know your final build when you think it's optimal and the stuff as well :D I was actually wondering if you use shields or not (on each)

cheers

[dancook]

Thanks I'm level 60 now, just started A1 inferno - happy to find enough stash in my chest to get me started without having to visit the AH.

I'm using shields on all, I don't know if it's needed.. will reassess as I get more gear. But since you're going to be stood still tanking the hits, it might be worth it. It'll also give you breathing time to recover if your group gets split. I don't know for sure.

I've gone with this for now

Barb - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WQkigP!Ybg!YZcYbZ
M1 - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#WSkgXj!aYf!YYabbb
M2 - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#WShfXj!bYf!ZYZZbb
M3 - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#WSQgXj!bYf!cYcbbb

[farmouss]

That's very cool, thanks for sharing this.
Now, I'm wondering, how do you configure your keybindings as Barbarian skills are not all usefull at the same time as some of the monks, for example WOTB, I guess that it's being activated not always when you want it?
Would you be okay to share your in-game keybindings?

cheers

EDIT : I guess the question would be : can you activate a skill on 3 characters only? Ellay said that he was round robin Breath of Heaven on the monks, but how do you do it without activating a skill on the barb? :)

[Ellay]

I apologize for the delay and keeping everyone in suspense, been busy in RL.

Barb - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Tuivian-1495/hero/24948353
Monk 1 - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Tuivtwo-1885/hero/17608353
Monk 2 - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Tuivthree-1218/hero/17608360
Monk 3 - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Tuivfour-1862/hero/17608348

I am pretty sure the abilities are the correct layout in the link. I was messing around with a few things to try them out but ultimately the main build I talked about in the original post is the core.
I haven't taken out Diablo in act 4, it is on my to do list, I just haven't touched act 4 because it's not as good for farming as act 3 is. Can't image it would be difficult.

I'm not sure if I talked about the general gameplay of it but I'll give a run down..
I have the mantras and warcry on the same key and refresh that every 30 seconds, right after hitting that I use battlerage / mystic ally ( earth ally) to conserve on how many keys are hotkeyed and mystic ally is a very low cost spirit spender. With Transcendence, each ability heals you in the process anyways. I am working on dropping this passive for Fleet Footed eventually which will give me a very nice speed boost to increase overall farming. Note my gear for the monks is focused on spirit regen of at least 4 per character and 8+ for the monk with cyclone strike. With that amount of spirit regen, spirit really isn't an issue so feel free to use your abilities without being conservative.

Fighting non elites, I run into a clump - usually skip stragglers. Use Cyclone Strike for the pull to you, use Sweeping Wind on the monks and Overpower for 10% more crit on the Barb. I also have another hotkey for Overpower that I will hit during the fight if it is somewhat longer to refresh it. But the only ability you really hit other than that while engaged is the Mantra for increased dps /survivability / heals. It's a nice all in one ability :)
If you get into a bind with desecrator or frozen, you can use serenity and spam those heals on round robin!
For elites I have another special key just for Wrath of the Berserker... seriously just pop that thing on a boss with your monks in tow and all the buffs going. It just Shreds them. I am to the point now where I usually run into another elite pack before the ability is off cooldown so I only use it on packs that have affix's I dislike. Overall it's the same style of fighting but you just use that extra ability for Elites.
The barb has I think 6% life leech which is enough to keep topped off and I eventually want to get the monks to that point with life leech or life on hit, it's hard to balance when Spirit regen is a huge factor to my build, making it easy and on weapons it seems to be a pretty cheap attribute. With the new patch out, there is a ton of items now that have this affix so gearing up should be even easier.
Also with the extended search options, drilling down and getting resists + affix on armor is much easier too. My resists are decent unbuffed but buffed are awesome. Being able to completely clear the game I am not sure if I need more resists and am thinking more DPS might be the way to go.


That's my mind dump for today, will think of more later :)

[dancook]

Thanks Ellay, interesting stuff. Now I have some more res, I will play with some DW!

[Ellay]

How do you like the combo so far dancook?

[dancook]

How do you like the combo so far dancook?

Awesome :) my Witch Doctors have now been sidelined to this group.

I got some of those set weapons your monks have with nice crit damage gems and I'm flying through content. The only small issue is that my warrior sits on about 500 res buffed and I'm using Andariel's Visage (was cheap, but the fire damage taken hurts.. maybe it'll get better with more res).

I've just done the Covetous Shen quest in A2, my damage out put is pretty awesome with this group after making some cheap upgrades based on your char links.

[Ellay]

Awesome :) my Witch Doctors have now been sidelined to this group.

I got some of those set weapons your monks have with nice crit damage gems and I'm flying through content. The only small issue is that my warrior sits on about 500 res buffed and I'm using Andariel's Visage (was cheap, but the fire damage taken hurts.. maybe it'll get better with more res).

I've just done the Covetous Shen quest in A2, my damage out put is pretty awesome with this group after making some cheap upgrades based on your char links.

Great to hear. I think soon I have the courage to make some small films showing the power of it :)
The barbs resists on mine are about 400-500~ unbuffed, maybe slightly less. It seems to be good enough though and I don't really have trouble in Act 3 at all. I think what helps is all the defensive buffs the group offers. You can dodge pretty much anything so the mantra of evasion when used is giving the entire group 30% extra dodge is quite the buff.

[MiRai]

I think soon I have the courage to make some small films showing the power of it :)
Courage? WTF is this "courage" crap? Where is the Ellay that would toss out PvP videos left and right.

WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET SOME VIDEOS OF ELLAY KICKING ASS AT DIABLO III?

[Ellay]

Courage? WTF is this "courage" crap? Where is the Ellay that would toss out PvP videos left and right.

WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET SOME VIDEOS OF ELLAY KICKING ASS AT DIABLO III?

Ya you're right, courage is probably the wrong word. I'd go with lazy - I got me some motivation!

[128z]

Ellay
sorry for offtop, but I'm just happy to see you again Ellay ;)

[Ellay]

Ellay
sorry for offtop, but I'm just happy to see you again Ellay ;)

It's all good :) Thanks for the feedback. Glad to be back, even though it's part time!

[Ellay]

http://youtu.be/eNtkNATsPKc
Ok so it's not much, but I wanted to give you "something" . I literally just loaded up the game, pressed play and this was what happened in 90 seconds. No editing, just game, it's not fast forwarded. The setup is pretty beefy and you get to face tank :)
I'll make a better one but this gives you the visual of what I am talking about and the synergy. The monks AoE and the barb single target DPS's. You can see when I pop wrath of the berserker, just goes to town.

[MiRai]

No sound? No sexy voice narrative? This is madness!

[cookcpu]

Nice video. Thank you for sharing.

[farmouss]

Man, this group is awesome and GG for the wrists BTW, very good choice.
I've finished gearing up my Barb, currently leveling the monks, 58 but the gear is waiting for them already :)
Can't wait to get to inferno and try this out !!

cheers

[farmouss]

I finally made it to the level 60 on all characters.
It's pretty awesome, haven't had time to try ACT2+ but it's not because of the group, just too busy.
ACT1 is just a joke, I can stay in the explosion and lava of elites with life not going under 90%, DPS is just insane as you said, and I just realized that I've put Mantra of Retribution instead of Mantra of conviction which will be a huge DPS increase as well.

Thanks very much again for your help, you've made my 4 licences and second screen buy worth it !! :)

cheers

[Ellay]

Glad to hear it is working well. I swapped the bracers for the run speed. I think eventually I'll get inna's pants for the monks when I have the gold. Also because my gear is slightly above average, I was able to swap out the rune on Mantra of Evasion for the 5% run speed, so now my entire group is at a solid 29% run speed. It's nice to clear quickly.

[tundra622]

Gahh! now i dont know if i want to level demon hunters or monks first to 60 =(

[Jayunit]

I had better luck running 4 barbs through act 3 than I did with monks (inferno), I even added one monk and ran with 3 barbs and the resists were nice but didn't feel as optimal. The amount of gold you have to spend to get to act 3 with barbs versus the cost for monk is insane sadly :(. They were fun but 4 WD's is still face roll on the keyboard :P my barbs are parked for now!

[farmouss]

Hey guys,
Some news from my group, Diablo down first try no wipe and I clearly don't have a stuff as good as Ellay has.
Honestly, 3 monks 1 Barb is overpowered, I'd be happy to see how WD are doing since 1.0.4?

[cookcpu]

I am leveling 1 barb and 3 monks. The problem is always the mouse not syn with all chars. Whenever elite or boss fight, all of them will go different direction unless I park all of them at one corner and fight it out.

So far, I think this combo is fun to play especially with healing. Do you guy do round robin on healing? (note. I can only know how to do simple key mapping as long as there is someone posted in the forum)