I just finished leveling up my first hardcore character to 60. Mine was a Monk as well http://goo.gl/eXWo1
Not sure if you want tips for Normal difficulty and early hardcore levels or for Inferno hardcore. But the few tips I can give are:
- High base dps weapon is paramount (it doesn't matter if you have maximum dexterity if your base damage is low, but the best ones are usually very overpriced - get one that has about 70-80% of the maximum weapon dmg for that lvl)
- I focused on a 1:1 balance in Dexterity and Vitality (when searching for gear on the AH and choosing one equip over another when they were similar) - if you have to choose, Vitality takes priority
- Shields are pretty good in hardcore (specially when you can't find 2 weapons with similar base dmg as you will usually only find one good deal on the AH)
- Have at least a couple Defensive actives/passives for "oh shit" moments (I used Serenity, Blinding Flash, 7SidedStrike and Beacon of Ytar/Seize the Initiative throughout most of my playthrough).
- Watch out when you go up a difficulty (the spike can kill you if you haven't upgraded anything)
- Once you hit Hell difficulty (usually on Act 2), start looking for gear with All Resist (if you have 30k health but 0 resists and 500~ armor, you will die)
Also, I'm looking for some advice and critical analysis on my own character right now.
Not sure if I'm at a good spot for hardcore Inferno or if I have to boost defensive stats a little more (I do have a couple alternative items with high +allres once I actually get to Inferno, but I will lose some dps).
If anyone with tons of experience in hardcore can take a look and provide some insight, that would be awesome
thank you for the replies. I'm not there yet. Im worried about dying when I get to the butcher. I almost died in the fields of misery by some goat shaman with the cold splosions (Screen turned red, luckily i mashed the potion and my healing skill and recovered just in time).
How do I know if I'm ready to proceed? Is there a guide that matches stats/level to game milestone (e.g. be at least level 15 with 100 AR and 1000HP to take on the butcher on normal)?
Plus I need to constantly remind myself that this is it -- dont just rush in and mash buttons. I need to get out of the softcore mentality. I mean, I might never face a random 2 elite pack confrontation with this character....
I'm not sure you should be having that much of a problem early on.
With just a little bit of vit on most slots and even crappy pieces of gear on all slots you can facetank most things on Normal.
You know you're overextending when you start seeing that red screen too much
I hear ya. It only happened once :). Im going to run thru the halls of agony and gain a few levels before facing the butcher. Im thinking of doing self found only. ...
Do people typically use shields here? Do people replay sections just to level up before moving on?
Yes and Yes.
I think a shield is a must have for a monk. Deadly Reach/Keen eye & MOE Hard target are huge Armor % buffs making that shield that much more useful.
It sound like you might need to slow down. You can never be too high a level for any fight. look for EX per kill gear and grind out a level or two before you move on. I know I personally didn't kill the Butcher until I was level 20. I would finish off the night by clearing a zone then stopping just short of the check point. Then when I log in the next day I had to clear it again to continue.
I recently started my very first HC character - ever - in any game. I was putting D3 off again until Loot 2.0 and after listening to some podcasts talk about the fun of HC, I finally decided to give it a whirl.
To be honest, the start from scratch feel has been more enjoyable thus far than the fear of dieing. However now that I'm close to 40 in NM, I'd rather not lose what progress I've made. So....here I am.
I modeled this Monk after my SC Sweeping Winds Monk thus far. However, I'm starting to wonder how many prefer to use a dual-wield spec versus sword & board.
My question is to start building from scratch once you are in Inferno - is the dps of a dual-wield character preferable for things like higher MP farming and Ubers in groups, or the defensive Monk with lower dps?
What you can do is start looking for gear that has this kind of stats:
Vitality
Allres
One random res stats (for one with everything)
Extra defensive adds like life regen, life%, armor
Because of the lack of primary stats, they will be rather cheap (20-40k / item)
Look for a nice LoH item, they come cheap if without a socket.
So you should be set with about 500k
Then stroll into some MP games and just tank it out while the others dps
Your key skill: Cyclone strike with whichever run suits you. You just pull everything to you, people love you for it.
Mantra of conviction: Dishearten - makes it easier for the others as the mobs wont scatter af fast (can go with overawe if it suits you better)
Sweeping wind: Inner storm - for that spirit you will need
Breath of heavens; Infused with light - your damage will be low so the extra 15% wont help, the extra spirit however...
Serenity: tranquility: to save a teammate from certain death
Passives:
One with everything : mandatory
Chant of resonance: for that regen
Transcendence: some sustain for yourself
By al means, this is a poor man's monk, but it is effective at what it does (group play / tank role) and is pretty easy to play when just gearing up. Depending on your gear you can do anywhere from act1 inferno to act3
It definitely helps. I'm starting to feel like going the tank route might be a better solution until I have some really, really, REALLY nice gear to switch over to pure DPS. I'm also going to go a slightly tailored self-found route with the Hardcore character, so it will most likely take some time before I'm anywhere near being able to DPS as I do with my SC Monk.
Just to clarify - I'm assuming all the spirit regen/gain is for Cyclone Strike? I use SC when I'm running with a CM Wiz, but I've never really had too much issue with spirit.
Vitality
Allres
One random res stats (for one with everything)
Extra defensive adds like life regen, life%, armor Because of the lack of primary stats, they will be rather cheap (20-40k / item)
Not really, depends on slot. Shields, Belts and Pants can be quite expensive even without primary stats. Because other classes usually also want high EHP in these slots.
Look for a nice LoH item, they come cheap if without a socket.
So you should be set with about 500k
Shenlong's set for Monks is pretty good. Decent attackspeed, LoH and Crit Dmg. And the proc deals 20-30k~ damage, which is pretty nice for low MPs (and a low DPS).
Then stroll into some MP games and just tank it out while the others dps
That's one bad idea. That PK practice has been coming back in the past few weeks. Public games are more dangerous than ever. I almost lost a character last week (tp'ed to a waypoint instead of the PK'ing guy).
Also I wouldn't really use Dishearten. The slow is "meh" for white mobs (the fast ones don't even get slowed), and it has 0 effects on Elite mobs. Overawe would boost his party dps by roughly 24% more.
Not faulty at all. The stats you mentioned are indeed useful and Cyclone Strike is amazing for coop games. I just felt like pointing out some stuff based on my own experience.
Like Tsunami (Crippling Wave) - it is better to slow enemies than Dishearten (60% slow vs 30%). Guiding Light (passive) is an amazing way of boosting your party's DPS (improving the utility of Breath of Heaven).
About the PK stuff: Start your own games
Good advice indeed.
But still watch out if someone joins and starts running around trying to agro multiple elites or hundreds of dangerous white mobs (like Charging Beasts on Fields of Misery or Deceivers on Act 2), specially when they're on higher lvls than you and with mostly defensive/regen gear/skills.
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Any tips for either HC in general or the Monk in HC?
I just got thru the skeleton king -- that was the first encounter that could have killed me. Im finding the Fields of Misery dangerous.
Do people typically use shields here? Do people replay sections just to level up before moving on?
Not sure if you want tips for Normal difficulty and early hardcore levels or for Inferno hardcore. But the few tips I can give are:
- High base dps weapon is paramount (it doesn't matter if you have maximum dexterity if your base damage is low, but the best ones are usually very overpriced - get one that has about 70-80% of the maximum weapon dmg for that lvl)
- I focused on a 1:1 balance in Dexterity and Vitality (when searching for gear on the AH and choosing one equip over another when they were similar) - if you have to choose, Vitality takes priority
- Shields are pretty good in hardcore (specially when you can't find 2 weapons with similar base dmg as you will usually only find one good deal on the AH)
- Have at least a couple Defensive actives/passives for "oh shit" moments (I used Serenity, Blinding Flash, 7SidedStrike and Beacon of Ytar/Seize the Initiative throughout most of my playthrough).
- Watch out when you go up a difficulty (the spike can kill you if you haven't upgraded anything)
- Once you hit Hell difficulty (usually on Act 2), start looking for gear with All Resist (if you have 30k health but 0 resists and 500~ armor, you will die)
Not sure if I'm at a good spot for hardcore Inferno or if I have to boost defensive stats a little more (I do have a couple alternative items with high +allres once I actually get to Inferno, but I will lose some dps).
If anyone with tons of experience in hardcore can take a look and provide some insight, that would be awesome
How do I know if I'm ready to proceed? Is there a guide that matches stats/level to game milestone (e.g. be at least level 15 with 100 AR and 1000HP to take on the butcher on normal)?
Plus I need to constantly remind myself that this is it -- dont just rush in and mash buttons. I need to get out of the softcore mentality. I mean, I might never face a random 2 elite pack confrontation with this character....
With just a little bit of vit on most slots and even crappy pieces of gear on all slots you can facetank most things on Normal.
You know you're overextending when you start seeing that red screen too much
I hear ya. It only happened once :). Im going to run thru the halls of agony and gain a few levels before facing the butcher. Im thinking of doing self found only. ...
Yes and Yes.
I think a shield is a must have for a monk. Deadly Reach/Keen eye & MOE Hard target are huge Armor % buffs making that shield that much more useful.
It sound like you might need to slow down. You can never be too high a level for any fight. look for EX per kill gear and grind out a level or two before you move on. I know I personally didn't kill the Butcher until I was level 20. I would finish off the night by clearing a zone then stopping just short of the check point. Then when I log in the next day I had to clear it again to continue.
To be honest, the start from scratch feel has been more enjoyable thus far than the fear of dieing. However now that I'm close to 40 in NM, I'd rather not lose what progress I've made. So....here I am.
I modeled this Monk after my SC Sweeping Winds Monk thus far. However, I'm starting to wonder how many prefer to use a dual-wield spec versus sword & board.
My question is to start building from scratch once you are in Inferno - is the dps of a dual-wield character preferable for things like higher MP farming and Ubers in groups, or the defensive Monk with lower dps?
Monkalicious: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/OptimusPrime-12194/hero/79139477
Vitality
Allres
One random res stats (for one with everything)
Extra defensive adds like life regen, life%, armor
Because of the lack of primary stats, they will be rather cheap (20-40k / item)
Look for a nice LoH item, they come cheap if without a socket.
So you should be set with about 500k
Then stroll into some MP games and just tank it out while the others dps
Your key skill: Cyclone strike with whichever run suits you. You just pull everything to you, people love you for it.
Build would look like this: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#afXSkg!UcY!aaYYbb
Notable choices:
Mantra of conviction: Dishearten - makes it easier for the others as the mobs wont scatter af fast (can go with overawe if it suits you better)
Sweeping wind: Inner storm - for that spirit you will need
Breath of heavens; Infused with light - your damage will be low so the extra 15% wont help, the extra spirit however...
Serenity: tranquility: to save a teammate from certain death
Passives:
One with everything : mandatory
Chant of resonance: for that regen
Transcendence: some sustain for yourself
By al means, this is a poor man's monk, but it is effective at what it does (group play / tank role) and is pretty easy to play when just gearing up. Depending on your gear you can do anywhere from act1 inferno to act3
Hope this helped
Just to clarify - I'm assuming all the spirit regen/gain is for Cyclone Strike? I use SC when I'm running with a CM Wiz, but I've never really had too much issue with spirit.
Monkalicious: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/OptimusPrime-12194/hero/79139477
Shenlong's set for Monks is pretty good. Decent attackspeed, LoH and Crit Dmg. And the proc deals 20-30k~ damage, which is pretty nice for low MPs (and a low DPS).
That's one bad idea. That PK practice has been coming back in the past few weeks. Public games are more dangerous than ever. I almost lost a character last week (tp'ed to a waypoint instead of the PK'ing guy).
Also I wouldn't really use Dishearten. The slow is "meh" for white mobs (the fast ones don't even get slowed), and it has 0 effects on Elite mobs. Overawe would boost his party dps by roughly 24% more.
About the PK stuff: Start your own games
Like Tsunami (Crippling Wave) - it is better to slow enemies than Dishearten (60% slow vs 30%). Guiding Light (passive) is an amazing way of boosting your party's DPS (improving the utility of Breath of Heaven).
Good advice indeed.
But still watch out if someone joins and starts running around trying to agro multiple elites or hundreds of dangerous white mobs (like Charging Beasts on Fields of Misery or Deceivers on Act 2), specially when they're on higher lvls than you and with mostly defensive/regen gear/skills.