Hello! Here we talk about Monk: Raiment of a Thousand Storms builds. Let’s start it off by posting the “standard” build of the set.

Monk sets: Raiment of the Thousand Standard Build

Raiment of a Thousand Storms (STANDARD)
Items   Skill & Rune
Head Mask of the Searing Sky Crippling Wave Mangle
Shoulder Lefebvre’s Soliloquy Cyclone Strike Implosion / Wall of Wind
Chest Heart of the Crashing Wave Dashing Strike Blinding Speed / Radiance
Wrist Spirit Guards Breath of Heaven Infused with Light
Hands Fists of Thunder Epiphany Desert Shroud
Legs Scales of the Dancing Serpent Mantra of Salvation Agility
Boots Eightdemon Boots Passives
Belt Witching Hour Alacrity Harmony
Neck Traveler’s Pledge Seize the Initiative Beacon of Ytar
Ring Compass Rose Kanai’s Cube
Ring Unity Flying Dragon
Main Shenlong’s Fist of Legend Depth Diggers
Off Shenlong’s Relentless Assault Ring of Royal Grandeur
Legendary Gems
Simplicity’s Strength
Bane of the Trapped
Bane of the Powerful (Esoteric Alteration)

Raiment: commonly asked build variants & options

Passives

Seize the Initiative and Alacrity are non-negotiable. Huge jumps in ASPD are very beneficial to the build, not just for damage, but Spirit regen too.

Harmony should be part of any end-game Monk build. Its effect is simply too powerful! The only downside is having a harder time getting gear. Sixth Sense is a janky replacement for those who are trying out the set / newer at it.

Beacon of Ytar does a lot for the build. It reduces the cooldown on Epiphany (making it a defensive passive), and Breath of Heaven for more stable Shenlong up-time (making it an offensive passive too). It also has a small bonus of sometimes reducing Dashing Strike CD.

It’s very hard to justify changing any of these. Beacon of Ytar is the loosest slot – you can likely change this for multiplayer specs… Unity would be my bet here.

Guardian’s Path is the next best defensive passive if you’re in the market for that.

Mantra?

Mantra of SalvationAgility gives the largest defensive boost of any mantra. You can also use Perseverance, they both have their ups and downs.

Mantra of RetributionTransgression gives the ‘most benefits’ of any offensive mantra. ASPD not only ups our damage, it gives more Life per Hit, and more Spirit!!!

Mantra of ConvictionOverawe is likely best for multiplayer scenarios. I would probably never consider this in solo play, as Transgression easily beats it in total value.

Dashing & Cyclone Strike

Dashing Strike is between Blinding Speed for defense, Radiance for offense and WotFS for speeds. This is nothing new to you, I’m sure. Radiance is just more noticeable on Raiment since we benefit from ASPD a lot.

Cyclone Strike only really has 2 rune options. Wall of Wind provides a much needed CC for added defense and control, while Implosion’s range is the more “offensive” choice to build density and lessen movement. What to use is entirely up to you.

Belts?

The first two are easy to understand… more CRIT and AS from Witching Hour is always good. String of Ears is not a bad choice for more stable runs (farming high GR for EXP). Vigilante Belt is actually quite good, helping you out on both fronts by reducing Epiphany and BoH CD.

Legendary Gems?

Simplicity’s Strength is godlike in this build. Do not ever drop this.

Trapped and Powerful are the usual DPS gems, the only other option is Bane of the Stricken which should only be used in extremely high GR levels. I can’t tell you when to switch, but a good idea is when RG’s take more than 2.5 minutes. Stricken likely takes the place of Powerful when the time comes.


(The following discussion might not ever be useful to many of us, but I find that it’s something worth mulling about)

Now when you’re in need of both Stricken and Esoteric… that’s a challenge.

Esoteric Alteration is a great gem to have in standby. It’s a gem for “consistency”. Let’s say you’re speedfarming, right? or gaining EXP by doing somewhat high GR’s. Esoteric allows you to counter a lot of Rift Guardian RNG at the cost of Bane of the Powerful. Remember that GR CLOSING (completion) grants a chunk of EXP.

Using Esoteric prevents many of the “bricked” scenarios and (by my calculations) should be used to farm EXP in rifts around 8~ levels under your max.

I know it doesn’t make that much sense to REDUCE dps to “speedfarm GR’s”, but there is a sweetspot wherein Esoteric shines. It’s hard to explain but it’s there…


 

Raiment of a Thousand Storms Rerolls & Stat Priority

Putting these in clicky boxes due to the chunky nature…

Raiment Rerolls & Stat Priority
Raiment Rerolls & Stat Priority
Head DEX VIT CHC LpH Any
Shldr DEX VIT AD CDR RES Any
Chest DEX VIT Elite% RES Lol
Hands DEX VIT CHC CHD AD Any
Legs DEX CW% VIT RES Any
Boots DEX VIT RES MS% Armor Any
Belt DEX CW% VIT RES Any
Wrist Fire% DEX VIT CHC LpH Any
Neck Fire% CHD CHC DEX Any
Ring DEX CHC CHD AD CDR Any
Ring DEX CHC CHD AD CDR Any
Main DEX LpH AD Any
Off DEX LpH AD Any
Specials?
W.Hour DEX CW% CHD AS VIT Any
Raiment of a Thousand Storms Reroll Notes?

Raiment: Reroll notes – commonly asked questions on rerolls.

How to Reroll Shenlong!?!?! Is a commonly asked question and is too chunky for this tab. I’ll put it in the next tab since it’s quite a common problem for many.

Since this is a Monk build – always keep Harmony in mind. Hint: Physical Resist is good.

Belts reroll of course depends if you’re going Witching Hour or something else like String of Ears. Crippling Wave% is the most important thing here, and you should never drop it. But you’re probably more confused on Witching Hour, right? Hmm..

(W. Hour : DEX CW% CHD AS VIT RES) – If you’re going W.Hour you may as well go ham. Removing AS for a defensive stat isn’t bad, too. Bah… it really depends.

Legs DEX VIT CW% and a secondary resist is what you’re looking for here.

Boots should have movespeed since you don’t use skill% there. Avoid Armor and regen, please. Movespeed gives us extra DEX via paragons.

RINGS!? Unity!? Compass Rose!?

Unity: SOCKET DEX CHC ELITE% CHD
Compass Rose: SOCKET DEX CHC CHD + 1 bonus stat
> Bonus Stat: depends on your greed.
> AS, AD, CDR for offense.
> RES, VIT for defense.

GL with Compass Rose, friend 🙂

DEX in smaller slots like rings can be forsaken in ultra high paragons and augments. You can take any other stat to help you out, if needed…

What stats to reroll on Shenlong's Spirit

To not take LpH on these fists, I know it’s valid. But you gotta know what the hell you’re doing before not rolling LpH on your ancient Shenlong.

Life per Hit is a godlike stat on these fists. Raiment cannot sustain itself by natural means, especially when you’re always in high-risk situations. You absolutely need the LpH rolls on Shenlong. Have it on at least ONE of them, both is preferable.

How come some guys don’t use LpH? Well, it’s simple. More damage. DMG%, CDR, Area Damage, rerolling base damage… there’s many reasons not to take LpH – but these guys know exactly what they’re sacrificing to accommodate this.

Area Damage? Hmm… this was popular back when WotHF was used but honestly it’s still not bad now. Having a total of near 100 AD is good for Raiment, try shooting for that. It’s not a bad stat to have, and beats out DMG% in most scenarios.

Why do I see CDR? For Epiphany and Breath of Heaven.

DMG%? Base Damage Rerolled? Usually you won’t see DMG% on Shenlong but it’s not bad. This falls into “generic weapon rerolling” advice, which I hope you already know about.

TLDR: Confused? Go for Life per Hit and Area Damage on both.

Reroll theorycrafting...

Having an extra emerald in weapon means +130 more CHD than the usual builds. Given how strapped Shenlong is for different stats, you can actually “remove” some CHD in places where they’re “mandatory”…

Removing CHD in ring? Area Damage 20, so we can put DMG% in our fist hmm..

Removing CHD in amulet? gives us the “at least 1 Life per hit” roll.. and it’s huge too. Since 2x LPH on fists can be “overkill”.

Removing CHD in Glove? Opens up LpH or AD…

It’s something to think about. I feel that with a stronger base weapon, the loss of 50 CHD on gloves or rings is much better than having a weaker Shenlong in the end. Calculations DO show a gain – but you need the EXACT stats and gear combination…

Whereas LPH / AD on fists will “ALWAYS WORK OUT WELL”.

I’m not sure yet what the final format will be for the Set guides going forward.
But the above is definitely a good start.
Please chime in if you have any ideas.

That’s it (for now!) – Hopefully our Raiment Build Guide helped you out. We plan to expand on the new set guides once we decide on a good format, with information relevant to many different types of players. Of course, these guides will always be focused on the “end-game”.

Need anything else? Check our D3 Guide Directory! For other Monk guides, see below.

Like us on Facebook for more updates! Check out Patreon on how you can help this site!

2 COMMENTS

  1. I just put together the six-piece Raiment set this evening, and I’m having a tough time figuring out how to set the character up so I can progress through the rest of the challenges. I got totally spanked at GR28, so I’m obviously doing something wrong. I’ve been looking at a lot of guides about how to set my character up, and I think it helps, but I’m obviously doing something else wrong because I just don’t do the damage others do, and I can’t move up in GR levels the way they do.

  2. i just started to play monk this season, and since headrig’s gift is this set i worked with that.
    i was going in a slightly different direction actually, not going for the same weapons
    basically, i want to use rimeheart with a freeze monk. using melee hits to trigger rimeheart and dashing strike as dmg output.
    I use this set at 6 piece bonus + inna’s first bonus,
    i do not know how dodge works, but right now i can get up to 78ish%, with all around 2k elemental/physical resistance.
    i don’t know yet how it would work in higher rifts ofc since i just started this week, but it seems to have potential.
    i’m a EU player, the character’s name is MutantMonk, i’ll stay in this direction anyway for this season.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here