I've been gearing up my monk for a few days now trying to get him strong enough to farm act 3 inferno solo...
Here are my unbuffed stats:
16k DPS
27% crit chance 120% crit dmg
33% block chance 3706-4704 block dmg
1328 dex
1212 vit
45k life
881 all res
5296 armour
1170 LOH
This is my build:
Fists of thunder - thunderclap
sweeping wind - cyclone
blinding flash - faith in light
breath of heaven - blazing wrath
serenity - ascension
mantra of evasion - backlash
passives : one with everything, seize the initiative, resolve
It's meant for lots of DPS.
I've been struggling hard on elites, but I feel like my stats should be able to keep up.
Should I change to a defensive build to get thru a3?
Any thoughts/advice would be great thanks!
Your build is almost identical to mine, only differences are I'm running transcendence instead of resolve and hard target on the mantra. Your stats seem really solid, but your dps could be higher, maybe get a weapon around 900-1k dps it will probably boost you up to 23-24k dps and you'll fly through a3.
survivability seems to be the issue as opposed to not being able to kill fast enough.
just can't survive the molten/chains/plagues.
are there any other builds that will help me survive and dish out decent dmg?
my attack speed is only 1.2...maybe that's the problem?
i know its not a solution for everybody but if you team with a barb or even another monk with a diff mantra (healing in this case) it really makes it possible. i was trying to solo and it was really hard. ive tried the open games and found a barb who was progressing as me. we've been playing together since then and works like a charm. we are moving to act 4 tomorrow, if we find each other online.
ya i was playing with my monk friend, who is alot lower geared, but we were able to get 5 stacks relatively easily.
but when i go at it alone, i struggle hard even against white mobs.
but when we double team it it's breezy,
is this blizz's attempt at making us group?
I've been struggling hard on elites, but I feel like my stats should be able to keep up.
Should I change to a defensive build to get thru a3?
Yes, If your having trouble switch your runes out, Try using deadly reach - keen eye, sweeping wind - fire storm, and mantra of evasion - hard target. Your stats are great, your armor is too low some of these elites will just tear through you.
I'll try and hit on some points I have found to be important clearing inferno.
You already have near the most defensive build besides your mantra rune and your spirit generator with the exception that FoT has secondary benefits of knockback for normal mobs and more spirit for mantra activation. Your stats look good enough.
Two stats you didn't list but may have a large impact:
Attack speed
large effect on LoH
spirit generation for abilities>mantra use
effect on sweeping wind cyclone (could be wrong on mechanics here)
Movement Speed
since you use FoT/Thunderclap movespeed makes a big difference for being able to move out of bad stuff and to be able to stay ahead of pesky mobs molten/fire chains surrounding mobs.
Methods:
Since you are using a shield your dps is lower so fights will take longer (its not at a bad place). Its worth considering that dual wielding offers more damage and higher attack speed. Also you cannot block elemental damage, which is often the most deadly.
For hard mobs your dps time will be linked to your blind and bubble up time. For regular mobs you need to stay in combat proportional to your heal cooldown (ie. stay in combat until you need your heal to say keep you above 3/4 health, then back away till your heal comes off cooldown)
Moving back before you get surrounded, arcane exploded or w/e. Move back before the molten or fire chains mobs begin to circle and you'll be out of the elemental effects much more often. (caveat for fast moving: just try and get them stuck in narrow pathways or use zoning in and out they will move far too fast to stay ahead)
Peaceful repose rune feels like it has a very similar effect to the 1 extra second of bubble time. I have no data, but my gut says its a similar EHP effect. It doesn't allow you to just stand in bad stuff, but if you bubble to get away then at least you have some health when you re-enter combat rather than jumping back in and dieing.
Vortex + elemental damage. These tend to be one of the most frustrating combinations as it feels almost random when you get pulled into a terrible death. A solution I have found is to use a round/square piece of terrain and do circles around it. You will get pulled into the wall instead of into the bad stuff. The important part of this strategy is to keep a mental timer for when you will get pulled so you can move around the terrain before you get pulled.
Optional: Consider gearing and changing mantra for more damage. May mean more kiting between cooldowns, but you can get alot of damage in while your blind/bubble are up. You will still need all the methods and tactics to stay alive however, and will need to be more reserved in some cases.
Your dex seems very low. Grabbing gear with more of it will solve both your armor issue and (partially) your damage issue.
You CAN do a3 with low damage, but you'll be playing an extended RNG game against certain affix combinations, and the odds are usually not in your favor.
survivability seems to be the issue as opposed to not being able to kill fast enough.
just can't survive the molten/chains/plagues.
are there any other builds that will help me survive and dish out decent dmg?
my attack speed is only 1.2...maybe that's the problem?
I would say that the attack speed is your main problem. With high enough attack speed and good enough LoH you can stand in Bad Stuff TM and keep on dishing out damage as long as you have something to hit. I'd also suggest changing Mantra of Evasion to either Mantra of Healing with Time of Need rune (my favorite one whie I was still progressing) or to Matra of Conviction with Overawe (current favorite). I got 950 all res, 5,8k armor with enchantress (4,8k without) and 1k LoH/ 2.6% Life Steal while dualwielding, and my attack speed with both weapons is 2.04. I solo farm act III elite runs without skipping anything besides the Tremor thingies with invulnerable minions and without dying to anything but my own stupidity or to changing into mf gear too soon.
Oh, and with that attack speed, Fists of Thunder with Thunderclap is the way to go. Any other spirit builder is just too slow for you. Deadly Reach with Keen Eye is good one for more kiting oriented buid with worse gear than yours. If you want to try that one out, replace Fists of Thunder with it instead of Blind. Mystic Ally with Earth Ally is also a very strong skill while progressing. I used that instead of Blind back in the day.
IAS and Dex are your 2 main issues. You can get away with dropping a good amount of Vit for Dex. 45k IMO is too much. I'm at 28k and don't have an issue with it.
Here are my unbuffed stats:
16k DPS
27% crit chance 120% crit dmg
33% block chance 3706-4704 block dmg
1328 dex
1212 vit
45k life
881 all res
5296 armour
1170 LOH
This is my build:
Fists of thunder - thunderclap
sweeping wind - cyclone
blinding flash - faith in light
breath of heaven - blazing wrath
serenity - ascension
mantra of evasion - backlash
passives : one with everything, seize the initiative, resolve
It's meant for lots of DPS.
I've been struggling hard on elites, but I feel like my stats should be able to keep up.
Should I change to a defensive build to get thru a3?
Any thoughts/advice would be great thanks!
just can't survive the molten/chains/plagues.
are there any other builds that will help me survive and dish out decent dmg?
my attack speed is only 1.2...maybe that's the problem?
but when i go at it alone, i struggle hard even against white mobs.
but when we double team it it's breezy,
is this blizz's attempt at making us group?
Yes, If your having trouble switch your runes out, Try using deadly reach - keen eye, sweeping wind - fire storm, and mantra of evasion - hard target. Your stats are great, your armor is too low some of these elites will just tear through you.
I'll try and hit on some points I have found to be important clearing inferno.
You already have near the most defensive build besides your mantra rune and your spirit generator with the exception that FoT has secondary benefits of knockback for normal mobs and more spirit for mantra activation. Your stats look good enough.
Two stats you didn't list but may have a large impact:
Attack speed
You CAN do a3 with low damage, but you'll be playing an extended RNG game against certain affix combinations, and the odds are usually not in your favor.
I would say that the attack speed is your main problem. With high enough attack speed and good enough LoH you can stand in Bad Stuff TM and keep on dishing out damage as long as you have something to hit. I'd also suggest changing Mantra of Evasion to either Mantra of Healing with Time of Need rune (my favorite one whie I was still progressing) or to Matra of Conviction with Overawe (current favorite). I got 950 all res, 5,8k armor with enchantress (4,8k without) and 1k LoH/ 2.6% Life Steal while dualwielding, and my attack speed with both weapons is 2.04. I solo farm act III elite runs without skipping anything besides the Tremor thingies with invulnerable minions and without dying to anything but my own stupidity or to changing into mf gear too soon.
Oh, and with that attack speed, Fists of Thunder with Thunderclap is the way to go. Any other spirit builder is just too slow for you. Deadly Reach with Keen Eye is good one for more kiting oriented buid with worse gear than yours. If you want to try that one out, replace Fists of Thunder with it instead of Blind. Mystic Ally with Earth Ally is also a very strong skill while progressing. I used that instead of Blind back in the day.