D3 S28 Monk Fresh Level 70 Guide | 2.7.5

Need more Damage or Spirit?

Offense is usually categorized in Damage or, indirectly, Resource Gain.

Mantra of Retribution – and its various runes provide some great early game offensive power.

• Retaliation – Generic rune for increased brainless DPS.
• Collateral Damage – Great when paired with Cyclone Strike.
• Against All Odds – A small boost in Spirit gains.

Mantra of Conviction will replace Retribution as your go-to offensive Mantra once your power levels increase a bit. Overawe is a great rune choice, Intimidation is a great hybrid selection, too.

Mystic Ally-Air Ally: Passively regen Spirit, and gives an on demand Spirit boost.

Fist of Thunder-Quickening: Generic +Spirit rune. Always a good tool while you’re still learning to play in a more streamlined manner.

Epiphany-Insight: Is the ultimate Spirit steroid.

Beacon of Ytar: Is mainly used to reduce the cooldown of Epiphany, Mystic Ally (and even Dashing Strike) giving it quite a bit of power in terms of Spirit regeneration and Mobility.

Unity: Is pretty decent, as it counts yourself, your Mystic Ally and Templar in the mix. If you have Crudest Boots – you get the full benefit! At worst this is a +15% Dmg with 100% uptime.

Mantra of Healing-Circular Breathing: Is a more consistent Spirit gainer – and not a bad swap for the mantra recommended in the build. It’s a brainless safety boost as well.

Momentum and Determination – are pretty much “the same” passive. Both are pretty easy to trigger, but if you’re gonna get one of these, go for Momentum as it’s quite easy to trigger with Dashing Strike, and better for single target DPS. Seize the Initiative is a great passive, but increased attack speed means increased Spirit spent for us – not something we can handle right now.

Way of Hundred Fists-Assimilation: A popular tool in the Monk repertoire – the more experienced you are with Monk, the more you can abuse this. Stack up the effect before blowing up Exploding Palm or spamming WoL!

Exploding Palm-The Flesh is Weak: if you’re not having problems with Spirit and would want to increase the damage you deal instead. Better for groups, I guess? Worth throwing it out there.

More defense?

Defense is usually categorized in either Toughness or Self-healing capability.

Dashing Strike-Blinding Speed: Initiating against, or escaping from the hordes – this simple rune change gives a surprising amount of survivability. Dodge is hard to come by these days.

Mantra of Salvation-Agility: Even if I just said Dodge is rare – here it is yet again. This is the generic change of mantra most Monks use to skyrocket their toughness. Simple and effective.

Mantra of Healing-Circular Breathing: is a notable combination since it gives a brainless passive Spirit gain, and added safety.

Epiphany-Desert Shroud – Spirit regen and damage reduction rolled into one. This skill and rune combo is commonplace once you start tackling higher difficulties.

Harmony – the beefiest defense passive available. However, your gear might not be able to support this just yet. It’s worth mentioning this now, since any Monk even thinking about reaching ultra end-game will be trying to squeeze every bit of value out of Harmony.

Sixth Sense is your usual “esoteric” passive, along with Near Death Experience as your usual “free death” passive. I’d avoid these two unless absolutely necessary.

Resolve – Hmm… It’s really not a bad passive… probably better in groups. While having one “reduce enemy damage” effect is great – you may have a hard time fitting this in.

Mobility?

Dashing Strike-Way of the Falling Star is the first layer of change you’d make for speed.

Mantra of Conviction-Annihilation is a great combination of offense and mobility.
Any other change is too greedy for a fresh build, and should only be considered by more progressed Monks (See: Speedfarming General, Speedfarming for Monk, Monk Best Speedfarm)

Using Blood Shards:

Spend Blood Shards to get a 2, 4 or 6 set items. While doing so, keep an eye out for the ‘random’ legendaries to make your fresh 70 Monk life easier.

It’s hard to tell you what slot to spend shards on first – there aren’t that many GENERAL USE Monk items, as most are locked to usefulness to a certain set. Here are some good ones anyway:

Tzo Krin’s Gaze: casting WoL right where you want it. Kill enemies right before they get to you.

Lefebvre’s Soliloquy: equip this together with Cyclone Strike to increase your toughness.

Cindercoat: greatly reduces cost of Fire skills (Wave of Light-Explosive Light says hi).

Gungdo Gear: Extremely powerful – makes an amazing chain effect with Exploding Palm.

Pinto’s Pride: amplifies WoL damage and now Slows enemies. Pair it with Tzo Krin’s.

Spirit Guards: A generic toughness increase for whenever you’re using a basic attack. Easy to activate and keep up.

Kyoshiro’s Soul: not a lot of choices for Monk’s belt but this will help you enough to, at least, reach mid-game with this.

The Crudest Boots: Allows you to have not only a main chick, but a sidechick too. Used in many Monk builds – best to keep your best pair and cube the second one you get.

Goldwrap: yup! you’re gonna need this at some point in time…

Gyana Na Kashu, Rivera Dancers: Extremely powerful filler items that, when obtained, should prompt you to use LTK in the meantime.

Using Death’s Breath – Rare to legendary

Upgrade your rare yellow daibos and fist weapons in the hope of getting the items below.

Monks have a number of good weapons, but for now, upgrade to get daibos. They’re easier to acquire, since you only need one and has a much higher damage per sec.

While Monks have a number of good weapons, the most value type of weapon to upgrade from yellow to legendary is Daibo – why?

• Incense Torch of the Grand Temple – Massive early on. +WoL damage, –WoL cost!
• Flying Dragon – Can literally be used in any Monk build for some gains.
• Flow of Eternity – Well, it beats a yellow. Replace basic attack w/ 7SS-Sustained Attack.

There’s no other category of weapon that has more “game-changers” effect, hell even Balance is ok. The next best thing would be…

Fist Weapons:

• The Fist of Az’Turrasq: a must have! TRIPLES Explosive Palm damage.
• Kyoshiro’s Blade: Anything to buff up good ‘ol WoL.

There are a bunch of other decent fists that will help you in the short term, worn or cubed.

The Classics: It’s safe to say that everyone should have these. In stash, in person or in cube!

Ring of Royal Grandeur: lacking one item to complete that 4/6 set? wanna squeeze in 2 sets for your build? Well, this ring’s for you! Look out for it in Act I bounties.

Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac: If you read closely it says “Near 100% CDR”.

Reaper’s Wraps: Malthael has the plan so go get him! This is extremely good for an early Monk – cutting your downtime by a huge amount.

Accessory Sets: Focus–Restraint or Endless Walk. Equipping any one of these sets will greatly increase your power!

Convention of Elements: Equipping this in your gear or kanai’d, gives you a huge boost in your elemental damage! Learn to trigger your elemental damage in time with the CoE’s rotation for maximum value!!!

Unity: reduces your damage, if and only if you equip Templar with one, too.

Goldwrap + Avarice Band + Boon of The Hoarder: Speedfarming Trifecta. Try it out and see for yourself have good this is! Avarice Band from Act III bounties.