Multiboxing Crusaders

[Ellay]

mumble mumble, jumped the gun on wrong info, edited.

[Devile]

Working on my no generator ZDPS monk to resume the Crusaders project but with mixed party. I'll report later how it goes.

[Kicksome]

Working on my no generator ZDPS monk to resume the Crusaders project but with mixed party. I'll report later how it goes.

I couldn't wait for your report, so I swapped out my main guy to a monk. So 1x Monk and 3x Crusaders

I known almost nothing about Monks, but I tried to use a cold spec. My Monk is using almost all str drops reforged.

Any feedback would be awesome.

Key items for the monk: (I think)
1) Frostburn - chill effects will freeze the target 42% chance. Although I read it only procs off of ele cold weapons, so I found a weapon and reforged to cold damage.

2) Azurewrath - chance to freeze target

3) Strongarm Bracers - 30% more damage on knockback


Here is the spec: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...fj!bhUV!YYacZb
Here is the monk: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/K.../hero/30050343

So I basically spam cyclone strike every 3 or 4 seconds
Spam crippling wave

Strongarm keeps up 30% more damage to mobs, since I always have cyclone strike up.
Unity passive gives 20% more damage to group
Inner Sanc gives the group 55% damage reduction for 6 seconds out of ~15 seconds
Inner Sanc causes mobs inside to take 30% more damage for 6 seconds out of ~15 seconds
Blinding Flash 30% chance for elites to miss for 3 seconds out of ~11 seconds and heals group

In addition, Mobs appear to freeze quite a bit. I was able to just take my monk in T6 4 player and go into a pack of whites and spam my keys, and I never got close to getting killed.

I tried T6 and it was actually pretty easy with the monk and Crusaders. I did die a couple times in the rift because I stood in the fire, but stuff went down VERY VERY fast. Killing stuff was not a problem, even the rift guardian went down pretty quick.

Any suggestions on the monk build? My crusaders are all running Fate of the Fell, 50% reduction shield, Akarats Champ gear. So they basically stand pull stuff in and AOE.

[Ellay]

Did you notice you took out targets faster with the monk than using 4x Crusaders? I'm assuming with that gear you were able to do T6 prior.

[Devile]

I haven't updated my build yet since the one I used in the past is not very efficient compared to the "no generator" current builds. Keep in mind a few things:

• The Unity passive only benefits the monk's damage, not the party. That goes for several monk skills/passive so keep that in mind. Only some skills can benefit the party.
• U are missing prolly the most important monk skill and the reason why it's used in most/all T6 efficient parties: Exploding Palm. Everything dies extremely fast with it, including elites. Paired with a Fist of Az'Turrasq is just brutal.
• U need to stack as much Physical Damage and Elite Damage as u can. That boosts the Exploding Palm explosion.
• Epiphany is an amazing skill. Not only it makes your monk Immune to all CC but the Soothing Mist rune heals your party for 20k+ for EVERY skill u cast during the Epiphany (15 secs). Not to mention that paired with Guiding Light passive, it gives a party buff up to 30% damage.
• I rather go with Mantra of Conviction for additional damage and mobility.
• If u have high CDR, u will be able to spam all those buffs/debuffs without the need of a generator since Epiphany gives 20 spirit regen per sec.

Monks suck right now. Everyone calls them followers because the only use for the class is support, nothing more. It's pointless to have any damage on them. Just use their party buffs/debuffs and stack as much toughness on them so they can support your party. The only damage u should care about in a monk right now is Elite Damage and Physical Damage. No DPS, no DEX. Roll the items on your barb so u stack STR everywhere. Stack a single resistance so u benefit from One with Everything passive. That way u will have high armor and high resistances.

With high CDR, those heals will keep everyone alive and with buffed DPS.

[Ishar]

• The Unity passive only benefits the monk's damage, not the party. That goes for several monk skills/passive so keep that in mind. Only some skills can benefit the party.

• Epiphany is an amazing skill. Not only it makes your monk Immune to all CC but the Soothing Mist rune heals your party for 20k+ for EVERY skill u cast during the Epiphany (15 secs). Not to mention that paired with Guiding Light passive, it gives a party buff up to 30% damage.

Are you sure about Unity? The description reads each ally gets 5% attack speed; though this would not perhaps apply to Mantra of Conviction since it doesn't hit allies.

I wasn't using Epiphany; but I could see switching it out for one of the generators. I'm confused though, because the generators in the traditionalish build add dps [breaking wave and then knockback through strongarm bracers]. The other 4 skills seem pretty static; so it'd be picking between one of the generators [as the no generator moniker seems to imply] for Epiphany. I'd be worried about Epiphany causing the monk to dash out of the stack though; since I sometimes drop Fissures that aren't immediately on top of my group [since not everything is sucked in all the time; its not every fight, but it happens]

Care to post a build?

[Devile]

This is the description for Unity:

Each ally affected by your Mantras increases your damage by 5%, up to a maximum of 20%, and has 5% increased damage.

As for Epiphany, sure, u can run into those issues, but the idea is to change your playstyle accordingly. U shouldn't be casting Fissures far from the group, instead Cyclone Strike and get those mobs close to u. Keep in mind I haven't fully tested this. I plan everything in my head first, then move to Excel for builds, get the items and then test. So it will take me a couple days since I mostly play on weekends.

As for a build/guide about no generator ZDPS, u can check this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EfjJ8lqai0

His profile is here:

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/K.../hero/42777107

U dont need Dashing Strike, so u can use a generator with long range like Deadly Reach, not because u need spirit, but to avoid teleporting around.

[Ishar]

The and seems to imply otherwise:

Each ally affected by your Mantras [increases your damage by 5%, up to a maximum of 20%], and has 5% increased damage.

e.g. each ally does A and has B.

Interesting; I suppose you could also use something like seven sided strike and just save it for special occasions to avoid teleporting around.

You could also move something like EP onto primary [and not broadcast left click to the monk, mind you] and add something like breath of heaven - zephyr for the movement speed boost. [add it to your force-move key]. Since the goal is CDR over all; you could get a pretty decent uptime on zephyr. with this helm you could get 100% up time with a single monk; in theory. There are of course, other options. Pretty tempting.

[Ellay]

The problem with adding a monk is that it makes your team melee ranged. With just pure crusaders I can range it up all day 40 yards away.

Let me know if the damage difference is noticable though. I have a monk I can swap in ... I'll probably test this soon enough I imagine.

[Kicksome]

As for unity - here is the before and after on one of my crusaders:
It actually looks like it gives the monk 20%, but the crusaders around 5% boost. So not 20% per crusader.

http://screencast.com/t/FRELegg1jBg0
http://screencast.com/t/qEr7OZLbkd


As for my crusaders, they are all melee, they use fate of the fell with Heavens Fury, so I want them all in a big clump.
Here is a link to the 3 crusaders:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/K.../hero/44419268
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/K.../hero/44419269
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/S.../hero/44419270

I haven't tried T6 with 4 crusaders recently since I've gotten a few more upgrades.