4 x Monk - Exploding Palm

I've cleared GR35 now. Here are my monks:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Y.../hero/57378826
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Y.../hero/57378705
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Y.../hero/57378817
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Y.../hero/57378699

As you can see I haven't been very lucky with weapons yet. I have good ancient ones that is for sure, but I have had 4 torches drop that have all rolled really poorly and I've had two furnaces drop below 3400 dps. From the tests I did the low roll furnaces didn't out dps my high ancients.

I really like the law of seph setup. I stack about 54% CDR on all the characters which allows me to round robin Blinding Flash Self Reflection every 1.78 seconds. This keeps the RG and other bosses permanently blind. Nothing like fighting statues. EP for the quick clears. Once I get half decent torches I will swap to a Wave of Light Build (either fire or lightning depending on the situation).

Currently I am using Hellfire Rings and Cain set for the massive 95% xp buff. Once I hit over paragon 400 I may change that. I can't really swap to leroics or rubies in the helm or I will lose spirit and the cdr I need to blindlock bosses.

I use 3 guys with dps skills and the fourth uses Cyclone Strike to bring things in range of LTK. I also use a Nemesis Bracer on the LTK character in order to summon more elite/rare packs in GR's.

So far so good, My guys are a little bit squishy still atm, but I am working on fixing that by leveling up the new gems.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yelgis

I've cleared GR35 now. Here are my monks:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Y.../hero/57378826
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Y.../hero/57378705
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Y.../hero/57378817
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Y.../hero/57378699

As you can see I haven't been very lucky with weapons yet. I have good ancient ones that is for sure, but I have had 4 torches drop that have all rolled really poorly and I've had two furnaces drop below 3400 dps. From the tests I did the low roll furnaces didn't out dps my high ancients.

I really like the law of seph setup. I stack about 54% CDR on all the characters which allows me to round robin Blinding Flash Self Reflection every 1.78 seconds. This keeps the RG and other bosses permanently blind. Nothing like fighting statues. EP for the quick clears. Once I get half decent torches I will swap to a Wave of Light Build (either fire or lightning depending on the situation).

Currently I am using Hellfire Rings and Cain set for the massive 95% xp buff. Once I hit over paragon 400 I may change that. I can't really swap to leroics or rubies in the helm or I will lose spirit and the cdr I need to blindlock bosses.

I use 3 guys with dps skills and the fourth uses Cyclone Strike to bring things in range of LTK. I also use a Nemesis Bracer on the LTK character in order to summon more elite/rare packs in GR's.

So far so good, My guys are a little bit squishy still atm, but I am working on fixing that by leveling up the new gems.

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Why 54% cdr when it lasts 6 seconds and with 3 being used that turns out being 18 seconds with 3 seconds of overlap?

Gratz on GR35. I see 2 monks using Mantra of Salvation with different runes. Last time I checked, those dont stack. Or did Blizzard change something? And why LTK and not Fire WoL? Spirit issues even with Cindercoat?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yelgis

I've cleared GR35 now. Here are my monks:

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I see you use Epiphany. Any problems with character synchronization?

I used to have sync issues with Epiphany, but now I'm getting used to it. I changed my build for Fire WoL for T3 and Epiphany and I rarely have issues with it. I think is a matter of aiming carefully to avoid the teleports from single chars instead of the whole group. Can be tricky but is not that hard after u get used to it. Trying to keep the mouse centered helps avoiding those teleports.

Nice Yelgis!

I was able to do GR30 so far with time left. I can blow through the rifts but the boss takes too long at this point.

I am going for the inna's 2 piece + 1 rorg for the 3 piece bonus only. That way I can keep up Sweeping wind 100% of the time, and stack that gem that increases your damage by .5% - and keep that up all the time.

I just need 1 more inna's piece.

At this point, I'm just trying to make the best of the gear I have - I still need a lot of work on CDR etc...

Ok I will try to answer all these questions as I can. First why 54% CDR? Because skills don't actually last as long as they say. Mobs gain 10% CC resistance every second they are CC'd up to a maximum of 70% for bosses and elites like RG's, which means a 6 second Blind only lasts for a total of 1.8 seconds on a fully CC resist stacked mob. You have to get your CDR up to a point where every single character in your boxxing team can cast the skill you are CCing with faster than the duration of the effect on a fully resistant mob. For Blinding Flash Self Reflection that point is about 7.2 seconds for a full rotation (1.8 seconds per character). Also bosses have a minimum threshold of .85 seconds. If a CC duration after resist calculation would last shorter than that minimum it has no effect. That is why 1.5 second and even 2 second stuns fail to lock down bosses after a while (their CC resist makes them go below threshold). This also means the only way to stunlock bosses effectively is with CC skills 3 seconds duration or longer.


Why LTK instead of Wave? Because I can't keep wave spammed using gungdo gear even with cindercoat and laws of seph giving me spirit back every 6.8 seconds. I will switch to Wave of Light once I find decent torches but so far the game isn't treating me well in that department. LTK is spammable with Cindercoat and Vulture Claw Kick is the next best choice for single target damage next to Wave of Light.


Why 2 mantra's of salv? Because they do stack, just not the way people think. The base effect and the active effect do not stack at all, but the rune effect does. Which means I run Wind through the Reeds for 10% runspeed and the one that ups the base resist effect to 40% which means overall it is 60% all resist and 10% runspeed buff (as long as I keep spamming the activation). Also fyi the spirit/sec from circular breathing does affect all monks on the team. Some people will tell you it doesn't, but it does. Test out different mantra combinations and you can see this all in your game. Hover of the mantra buff icon while having two separate runes up on the same one and you will see all the rune effects listed there. Crusader Laws work the same way.


Epiphany doesn't really seem to desync me too often and in fact sometimes it syncs me up better. Blind while being a nice CC that still works on bosses allows the mobs to move a little bit and it is kinda random, so over long RG fights you will see the RG drift a little away from your characters. You either reposition or have Epiphany teleport you. I kinda like it. It really is for the 50% damage reduction though. Toughness is the biggest issue right now for me on my monks, which is why I also run Forbidden Palace in RR and am working on leveling the new defensive leg gems.


Kicksome, I was using Inna's as well. It is very nice and certainly a bonus that we can keep it up with SW. I swapped to using Cain's for xp to help me get my a paragon up faster (in combo with hellfire rings) and the meant I could no longer keep SW up. Which free'd up a spot on my bar for Forbidden Palace. So it is a bit of a trade off. Once I get good Torches, I plan to swap to Wave and maybe the lightning version which means I could drop my Cindercoats for Inna chest and maybe the belt (if I can get my CDR elsewhere for my blinding flash stunlock). Haven't decided yet. For now I am using Toxin gem, which actually gives me more dmg than the Taeguk gem. Once I get all my guys over 400 paragon I may swap cains back off (because I really like Illusory Boots, or may go back to Crudest for double fire Allies).


It really is a lot of trade offs with gearing options. I personally focus on the blind lock with Flash. That makes RG's a joke to fight. They are literally just big HP statues that get beat on till they die. Everything else is variable. I plan to test and tinker and try new things out as drops permit. Wave is probably going to be my end goal for a dps skill unless I get super lucky and get 4 ancient furnaces. Wave is just better for single target (Pillar) otherwise or easier to use (Explosive Light) because of its range. By swapping to Wave I can drop Cyclone strike which also makes EP spread better in my opinion. I really can't wait to get some good torches.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yelgis

Ok I will try to answer all these questions as I can. First why 54% CDR? Because skills don't actually last as long as they say. Mobs gain 10% CC resistance every second they are CC'd up to a maximum of 70% for bosses and elites like RG's, which means a 6 second Blind only lasts for a total of 1.8 seconds on a fully CC resist stacked mob. You have to get your CDR up to a point where every single character in your boxxing team can cast the skill you are CCing with faster than the duration of the effect on a fully resistant mob. For Blinding Flash Self Reflection that point is about 7.2 seconds for a full rotation (1.8 seconds per character). Also bosses have a minimum threshold of .85 seconds. If a CC duration after resist calculation would last shorter than that minimum it has no effect. That is why 1.5 second and even 2 second stuns fail to lock down bosses after a while (their CC resist makes them go below threshold). This also means the only way to stunlock bosses effectively is with CC skills 3 seconds duration or longer.


Why LTK instead of Wave? Because I can't keep wave spammed using gungdo gear even with cindercoat and laws of seph giving me spirit back every 6.8 seconds. I will switch to Wave of Light once I find decent torches but so far the game isn't treating me well in that department. LTK is spammable with Cindercoat and Vulture Claw Kick is the next best choice for single target damage next to Wave of Light.


Why 2 mantra's of salv? Because they do stack, just not the way people think. The base effect and the active effect do not stack at all, but the rune effect does. Which means I run Wind through the Reeds for 10% runspeed and the one that ups the base resist effect to 40% which means overall it is 60% all resist and 10% runspeed buff (as long as I keep spamming the activation). Also fyi the spirit/sec from circular breathing does affect all monks on the team. Some people will tell you it doesn't, but it does. Test out different mantra combinations and you can see this all in your game. Hover of the mantra buff icon while having two separate runes up on the same one and you will see all the rune effects listed there. Crusader Laws work the same way.


Epiphany doesn't really seem to desync me too often and in fact sometimes it syncs me up better. Blind while being a nice CC that still works on bosses allows the mobs to move a little bit and it is kinda random, so over long RG fights you will see the RG drift a little away from your characters. You either reposition or have Epiphany teleport you. I kinda like it. It really is for the 50% damage reduction though. Toughness is the biggest issue right now for me on my monks, which is why I also run Forbidden Palace in RR and am working on leveling the new defensive leg gems.


Kicksome, I was using Inna's as well. It is very nice and certainly a bonus that we can keep it up with SW. I swapped to using Cain's for xp to help me get my a paragon up faster (in combo with hellfire rings) and the meant I could no longer keep SW up. Which free'd up a spot on my bar for Forbidden Palace. So it is a bit of a trade off. Once I get good Torches, I plan to swap to Wave and maybe the lightning version which means I could drop my Cindercoats for Inna chest and maybe the belt (if I can get my CDR elsewhere for my blinding flash stunlock). Haven't decided yet. For now I am using Toxin gem, which actually gives me more dmg than the Taeguk gem. Once I get all my guys over 400 paragon I may swap cains back off (because I really like Illusory Boots, or may go back to Crudest for double fire Allies).


It really is a lot of trade offs with gearing options. I personally focus on the blind lock with Flash. That makes RG's a joke to fight. They are literally just big HP statues that get beat on till they die. Everything else is variable. I plan to test and tinker and try new things out as drops permit. Wave is probably going to be my end goal for a dps skill unless I get super lucky and get 4 ancient furnaces. Wave is just better for single target (Pillar) otherwise or easier to use (Explosive Light) because of its range. By swapping to Wave I can drop Cyclone strike which also makes EP spread better in my opinion. I really can't wait to get some good torches.

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Taguk is important for toughness, huge armor bonuses. So to me that makes sub 35 GRs and t6 gems Trapped/Taguk/Toxin to me.
Cindercoat + Daibo are great but i think ultimately the end goal is going to be to get that almighty ancient furnace and continue to use LTK.

Thanks for the explanation of the diamond in your helms.

@Yelgis, thx for the info. Yes, u were right. Different Mantra Runes stack. Got rid of Mantra of Retribution and went with Mantra of Salvation with a different rune. More toughness without loosing the 10% movement speed. I didn't test the effect on Unity but it should work since the buff is applied to the whole party. Also Circular Breathing gives spirit to the whole party ... had no idea about that one too.

Have you tried TR Flurry? U have pretty much all the gear needed. Sure, not for exp since u will have to get rid of Cain's, but at least to see how far can you go in GR.

Doing T4 until I can have Sunwuko's. Don't have a single full set yet. RNG is treating me pretty bad.

@Yelgis thanks for all the great info - you explained it in a way that even I could understand! Can't wait to try this out.