I have successfully made myself "nerf-proof," to borrow a phrase from the EVE boards, and got all my alts to 60. With the patch close at hand I have been avoiding any AH purchases. Much to my chagrin, this week also delivered me two legendaries which I had to sell at a hefty discount due to the "new legendaries omg omg omg,"
Oddly enough I have had no problems gearing up my alts through drops, sporadic as they are, in about a week. Having said that, act3 has eluded my non-AH-endowed alts thus far, although that has more to do with my leveling other alts than really being stuck.
I am looking forward to the patch with probably too much anticipation. I hope to see some familiar faces online when it does drop.
Much to my surprise the bargain-monk actually held up in act2 with a bit of care. I made it as far as the oasis before running into some elite serpents I was unable to crack.
I'm using this little ditty at present. Frankly, I can't imagine not using thunderclap as a primary due to just how much dps and utility it has. It:
-Has amazing single target dps
-Has a decent aoe cone
-Has knockback to stop wind-up attacks that would kill me
-Teleports me to my target, allowing me to escape surround, juke projectiles, and even avoid frozen/arcane with good timing
But essentially the build is "cookie cutter cyclone," as far as I understand monk builds. Pop blind and breath upon engage (with full spirit preferably) and immediately activate sweeping wind to start spewing tornados everywhere. Utilize active conviction aura to make the burn process go faster (spirit permitting, sometimes I have to kite instead) and blow serenity when and if it's necessary to keep my flimsy butt alive. I was destroying most act1 elite packs within a few seconds (those with arcane, molten, fire chains, etc. took 2-3 cooldown rotations depending on how much I had to kite) and that is with 15k paper dps.
I imagine with even moderately well-apportioned gear, instead of the magic-find getup I have now, act2-3 would be almost trivial. Once the cyclones really get going, the damage is insane. It's a bit like being a tornado barb, except you don't need LoH, and your big cooldowns are 10-20 seconds instead of 90. And yeah, that's before you factor in the absolutely jaw-dropping savings of the OWE passive. Unfortunately though, if you really want to get barb-like resists you will have to invest in AR + Secondary resist of choice gear. I don't think OWE is OP, it's just extremely appealing when you don't want to spend a lot and your target AR level is around 500 or so.
I plan to give seven-sided-strike a go tonight. I've been told rotating it with serenity and blind makes for a fairly amusing "almost always invulnerable," play-style.
The monk class is everything I wanted it to be. Short cooldowns, decent dps, great survivability, and most of all CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP to start. 200k I sunk into my monk at 60, which put him at ~25k hp, ~400 AR, ~13k dps, and ~180 MF unbuffed. I feel that i'm going to have to don a flame-proof suit before finishing the post, but after clearing act1 up to Leoric I already had more than an inventory full of rares and two legendaries (1 set, 1 unique).
Basically the monk paid for herself in less than an hour, with zero deaths and several terrible affix combinations to boot. I doubt she has the stats to make much (if any) headway into act2, but for farming act1 I can't imagine any class doing it better on the cheap.
Addendum: I have two hand-me downs from my barb, an old ring and weapon. I think that brings her total value up another few 100k, but still definitely around, if not under the 1m mark.
Just made it into nightmare and the monk feels sleeper-overpowered. I might attribute this to having some nice leveling weapons, but we'll see how it pans out going further along. Just the sheer number of immunity, disorient, displacement, etc. effects are lots of fun.
Also, the main D3 forum here is a cesspit. I've got to stop responding to the idiots in those threads.
I've decided to give the monk class a spin this weekend. Despite my relative lack of enthusiasm for the 1-20 jaunt I made with her weeks ago, I feel as though that class represents my last best hope for living like a bum.
yay for working... school starts soon. As much as I enjoy how quiet it is here over the summer, sometimes I miss the noise.
I know what you mean. I'm turned off by the traffic around here when the semester begins, but having lots of people around my office is far more exciting than being alone with my books all afternoon.
I've decided to give the monk class a spin this weekend. Despite my relative lack of enthusiasm for the 1-20 jaunt I made with her weeks ago, I feel as though that class represents my last best hope for living like a bum.
Although i'm still frustrated by the insanely priced weapons I need for a tornado build, in the mean time I've concocted some pretty amusing act1-2 blitz builds, centered around melting everything with even my hap-hazard gear. I can't seem to make a sprint build work out terribly well, missing the LoH, but this wonky zerking build has managed my fastest clear times to date:
Using the same gear which gets me 30k dps in standard tank build, I can reach just over 71k (swapping my shield for an off-hand) dps - at full rage, with overpower proc'd. Most trash goes down in a single hit, packs of trash in a single revenge (sidearm procs taking down a wave of adds is very amusing), and the dps is even high enough to save wotb for frozen/nightmarish and others where I actually need it rather than utilizing it almost every pack just to get them down in a hurry. Butcher, Azmodan, and other bosses are (of course) trivially easy and melt before they have a chance to move much. DPS with wotb up is in excess of 150k.
The only serious downside is shielding, which is really nothing new for barbs in general, that can pushing my reliance on revenge heals. I haven't taken it for a spin in act3, but with only 6k armor I doubt it would be effective (outside of a pop-wrath-and-go cooldown progression method, which I find terribly tedious).
It's probably not even a great template, but if anyone has a tanky barb they are bored with, give something like this a try. It certainly offers a serious change of pace without all the gear required to get tornado builds to work. I'm still trying to come up with a way to drop revenge and remain somewhat sustainable. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
DH really are the most squishy it seems like. I got mine to 56 but then sort of got side tracked and left him there. If you're quick with your abilities though and kiting they can be really good.
Gameplay with mouse twitching = me sick... =(
I know what you mean, although I didn't find myself sick so much as a little slow to keep up with kiting after a while. I'm not quite sure if my coordination is up to where it needs to be for a glass cannon.
Anyhow, I made good headway into nightmare with my DH, but afterward I noticed my AH slots were conspicuously empty so I went back to the barb to try and fill them up with some mediocre act2 finds. Unfortunately nothing of even minor AH value was found this day (quite possibly the least fruitful act2 run I have had on this character).
Tanky-revenge-build-of-no-LoH is beginning to wear on me though. Slow and steady wins the race, but my goodness can it become dull to win all those races. I might get a little crazy next week and hock the lot of my gear to try one of those bargain ~1m gold tornado gambits. The worst that could happen is being stuck in act1-2 again.
Tried a neato glass cannon-ish build on my barb which was quite exciting, although on the borderline of viability for act2 farming since I lack LS/LoH. Having 60-70k dps without wotb running felt exhilarating. Didn't find much to sell for once, but I only did half a run. Extensive AH browsing between e-mails and other work related things left me wondering just how many people had jumped on the barb band wagon this weekend.
Having put time into the rest of my alts up to this point, I felt the DH could use a spin. Made it through most of normal mode without a hitch (not even sure I got hit more than half a dozen times), so I think he will get some more love soon. The thought of playing a true glass cannon seems a fitting alternate to my tanky barb.
Welcome back to life sir and I hope you will stay in shape!
Having a stroke doesn't necessarily attribute to being out of shape or unhealthy. They are factors but not certainties
Well, in my case there is some permanent damage, but my doctors have assured me that I will be "within 80-90% of normal" in a few months time. So long as I can still read, write, and walk the trails around my cabin I'll be in my usual fit-for-an-old-guy shape.
Damn, that's where you were? Glad you're back! I've always wondered when a user disappears if they died or not.
Sometimes I wonder if they died or not and hope they didn't, othertimes it's the other way around. -.-
(Not saying anything against Proletaria, he's cool. <3 )
That's one shitty thing about the internet. That is also why in this day and age you should have a will, that includes the sites/games you frequent, with account & password. And a message for your loved one (parent, spouse, child, best friend) to send to everyone you used to associate with.
That's a great idea.
On a slightly less sombre note, I had a little break on the wizard, but soon found myself back on the barb. Having a decent run of luck in my act2, I hope to find buy him a few nice things if I find time to shop.
Despite actually having the gold to upgrade a few slots now, I find that i'm too addicted to bargain hunting to make a purchase without a week's research.
Yeah, every slot has crit that can have it except bracers, on ring, and amulet. Price is a little too high to get crit and crit dmg on the latter and for some reason I just never got a good deal on bracers.
I would loose a pretty hefty chunk of dps going down to a 600 weapon, unless it had crit dmg in high amounts to accompany the LoH.
Do you use frenzy? You could probably just frenzy/loh kill everything.
I do use frenzy, but I don't have any LoH. The most I could get at the moment would be a hundred or so on rings/amulet and i'd loose dps since that's currently where I get most of my crit.
Also, I meant the socket has a 70% crit dmg gem in it, not that it has both. Although I wish it was.
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Oddly enough I have had no problems gearing up my alts through drops, sporadic as they are, in about a week. Having said that, act3 has eluded my non-AH-endowed alts thus far, although that has more to do with my leveling other alts than really being stuck.
I am looking forward to the patch with probably too much anticipation. I hope to see some familiar faces online when it does drop.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aSXgYk!YUX!acbYca
I'm using this little ditty at present. Frankly, I can't imagine not using thunderclap as a primary due to just how much dps and utility it has. It:
-Has amazing single target dps
-Has a decent aoe cone
-Has knockback to stop wind-up attacks that would kill me
-Teleports me to my target, allowing me to escape surround, juke projectiles, and even avoid frozen/arcane with good timing
But essentially the build is "cookie cutter cyclone," as far as I understand monk builds. Pop blind and breath upon engage (with full spirit preferably) and immediately activate sweeping wind to start spewing tornados everywhere. Utilize active conviction aura to make the burn process go faster (spirit permitting, sometimes I have to kite instead) and blow serenity when and if it's necessary to keep my flimsy butt alive. I was destroying most act1 elite packs within a few seconds (those with arcane, molten, fire chains, etc. took 2-3 cooldown rotations depending on how much I had to kite) and that is with 15k paper dps.
I imagine with even moderately well-apportioned gear, instead of the magic-find getup I have now, act2-3 would be almost trivial. Once the cyclones really get going, the damage is insane. It's a bit like being a tornado barb, except you don't need LoH, and your big cooldowns are 10-20 seconds instead of 90. And yeah, that's before you factor in the absolutely jaw-dropping savings of the OWE passive. Unfortunately though, if you really want to get barb-like resists you will have to invest in AR + Secondary resist of choice gear. I don't think OWE is OP, it's just extremely appealing when you don't want to spend a lot and your target AR level is around 500 or so.
I plan to give seven-sided-strike a go tonight. I've been told rotating it with serenity and blind makes for a fairly amusing "almost always invulnerable," play-style.
Basically the monk paid for herself in less than an hour, with zero deaths and several terrible affix combinations to boot. I doubt she has the stats to make much (if any) headway into act2, but for farming act1 I can't imagine any class doing it better on the cheap.
Addendum: I have two hand-me downs from my barb, an old ring and weapon. I think that brings her total value up another few 100k, but still definitely around, if not under the 1m mark.
Also, the main D3 forum here is a cesspit. I've got to stop responding to the idiots in those threads.
I know what you mean. I'm turned off by the traffic around here when the semester begins, but having lots of people around my office is far more exciting than being alone with my books all afternoon.
http://us.battle.net...VikP!ZYc!aZcacZ
Using the same gear which gets me 30k dps in standard tank build, I can reach just over 71k (swapping my shield for an off-hand) dps - at full rage, with overpower proc'd. Most trash goes down in a single hit, packs of trash in a single revenge (sidearm procs taking down a wave of adds is very amusing), and the dps is even high enough to save wotb for frozen/nightmarish and others where I actually need it rather than utilizing it almost every pack just to get them down in a hurry. Butcher, Azmodan, and other bosses are (of course) trivially easy and melt before they have a chance to move much. DPS with wotb up is in excess of 150k.
The only serious downside is shielding, which is really nothing new for barbs in general, that can pushing my reliance on revenge heals. I haven't taken it for a spin in act3, but with only 6k armor I doubt it would be effective (outside of a pop-wrath-and-go cooldown progression method, which I find terribly tedious).
It's probably not even a great template, but if anyone has a tanky barb they are bored with, give something like this a try. It certainly offers a serious change of pace without all the gear required to get tornado builds to work. I'm still trying to come up with a way to drop revenge and remain somewhat sustainable. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
I know what you mean, although I didn't find myself sick so much as a little slow to keep up with kiting after a while. I'm not quite sure if my coordination is up to where it needs to be for a glass cannon.
Anyhow, I made good headway into nightmare with my DH, but afterward I noticed my AH slots were conspicuously empty so I went back to the barb to try and fill them up with some mediocre act2 finds. Unfortunately nothing of even minor AH value was found this day (quite possibly the least fruitful act2 run I have had on this character).
Tanky-revenge-build-of-no-LoH is beginning to wear on me though. Slow and steady wins the race, but my goodness can it become dull to win all those races. I might get a little crazy next week and hock the lot of my gear to try one of those bargain ~1m gold tornado gambits. The worst that could happen is being stuck in act1-2 again.
Tried a neato glass cannon-ish build on my barb which was quite exciting, although on the borderline of viability for act2 farming since I lack LS/LoH. Having 60-70k dps without wotb running felt exhilarating. Didn't find much to sell for once, but I only did half a run. Extensive AH browsing between e-mails and other work related things left me wondering just how many people had jumped on the barb band wagon this weekend.
Having put time into the rest of my alts up to this point, I felt the DH could use a spin. Made it through most of normal mode without a hitch (not even sure I got hit more than half a dozen times), so I think he will get some more love soon. The thought of playing a true glass cannon seems a fitting alternate to my tanky barb.
Well, in my case there is some permanent damage, but my doctors have assured me that I will be "within 80-90% of normal" in a few months time. So long as I can still read, write, and walk the trails around my cabin I'll be in my usual fit-for-an-old-guy shape.
That's a great idea.
On a slightly less sombre note, I had a little break on the wizard, but soon found myself back on the barb. Having a decent run of luck in my act2, I hope to find buy him a few nice things if I find time to shop.
Despite actually having the gold to upgrade a few slots now, I find that i'm too addicted to bargain hunting to make a purchase without a week's research.
I would loose a pretty hefty chunk of dps going down to a 600 weapon, unless it had crit dmg in high amounts to accompany the LoH.
I do use frenzy, but I don't have any LoH.
Also, I meant the socket has a 70% crit dmg gem in it, not that it has both. Although I wish it was.