Diablo® III

TEMPEST RUSH GUIDE 1.08 MONK TR BUILDS & GUIDE

This guide is in 3 sections, from the most advanced topics to the most basic topics:
Section 1: Demonic Essence & Legendary Farming
Section 2: XP Farming (updated for 1.08)
Section 3: General Guide and Credits

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Section 1, 1.07 DEMONIC ESSENCE & LEGENDARY FARMING

The 1.07 buff to Wave of Light has opened great possibilities for farming medium & high MP levels for legendary items and Demonic Essences.

POSSIBLE SETUPS
If you are low on spirit, Exalted Soul could replace Fleet Footed in any of these setups:
1) http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aQgeSc!cZd!aZYbYZ
2) http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aQgeSc!cZd!aZYbcZ
This is for lower MP levels, where thunderclap and cyclone can still deliver decent damage if needed. Some prefer BoH/Blazing Wrath instead of Serenity, but I find dying even once to be extremely inefficient. For SW, Inner Storm is also extremely effective. Some people are also having success with Cyclone Strike on lower MPs.
3) http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#akgeSc!cZd!YaYbYZ
This is for higher MP levels, where thunderclap does negligible damage.
The higher the MP level, the more you would need:
- Immunity through serenity or SSS
- Higher damage through MOC/Overawe
- More spirit generation through SW/Inner Storm and FT/Quickening, as our primary attacks do insignificant damage anyway
Thanks to jihn, Armeleon, JonoL and the Monk community for their insights about different WoL builds.

ROUTE FOR MOST ELITES / MINUTE
TR from group to group, skip trash mobs for DE farming, use Wave of Light on elites, repeat:
- Black Canyon Mines - elites
- Vault of the Assassin - DE & elites
- Road to Alcarnus (east) - elites
http://www.diablofans.com/topic/85429-inigo-run-best-legendary-mf-farming-route-multiboxing-over-600-elite-packhr/

ESTIMATED BREAKPOINTS MP 1-5
100k dps: mp 1 - 2
125k dps: mp 2 - 3
150k dps: mp 3 - 4
175k dps: mp 4 - 5
Test for yourself which mp level is best for you, as it will take more time in higher mp levels. I have found MP5 the most efficient for my 165k dps using this build:
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#akgeSc!cZd!aaYbYZ

MP 6-10 LEGENDARY FARMING
The best location is Crypt of the Ancients:
-> The Broken Blade, Talk to Alaric -> TP to Drowned Temple -> Find Crypt of the Ancients to get the checkpoint
Clear area, exit and resume game.
Allow casters time to make as many skeletons as possible by targeting the elite first.

The key to determining your optimal MP level is at which point you can one shot skeletons with your wave of light. I found MP 8 to be the most efficient for my 165k dps using this build:
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#akgeSc!cbd!YaYbYZ
Alternatively, if you want to do MP10, you could simply skip the Elites.

MP 10 COOP BUILD
Thanks to Armeleon for providing the following build, which provides the best team support for coop play:
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aVkcSf!dcb!YaaZYZ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p79yXboC9fI&feature=youtu.be

If you need to play a bit more defensively, serenity can be brought in to replace SW/Inner Storm (or even EP). Of the passives, I believe that Exalted Soul is the most important to keep the build viable. The buff to Guiding Light in 1.08 also makes it a strong candidate for coop builds.

On mid/upper MPs, an excellent coop build would switch out Exploding Palm for Wave of Light as follows:
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aekcSf!dcb!YYaZYZ

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Section 2, 1.08 XP FARMING

BEST MP TO FARM
Act 3 at mp0 is still easy for almost any Monk to break the 50 million xp per hour mark, without OWE or life steal or life on hit. And with the multiplicative nature of NV stacks for xp in 1.08, this means that longer routes on higher MPs will yield better results. Therefore, once you get the hang of the TR build, track your efficiency as you increase MP levels.

The budget to get setup in this TR build is between 25 to 50 million, depending on your current gear and budget.

OVERALL SETUP
- Inna Set: low end, helm with 2+ spirit regen
- Stone of Jordan: 2+ spirit regen, bonus sweeping wind damage or tempest rush preferred
- Skorn: about 1400 dps, 300+ dex, 160+ crit damage, socket.
- 250 minimum all resist, and 325 preferred
- 25k – 30k health
- pickup radius for health globes: Skorn with Life Steal is far too costly and still won’t be enough to get through all elites without serenity
- Shoulders: Vile Ward
- Bracers: Strongarm Bracers with All Resist
- Boots: +movement speed (I recommend that you save up for the Nat boots with Nat ring for 7% cc set bonus)

SPIRIT REGEN
- switch out as many IAS items as possible for items with similar overall dps
- I do not recommend the xephirian amulet for spirit regen as amulet’s can be a massive source of dps.
- Aim for a spirit generation of 4.2 from the Stone of Jordan and Inna helm to get to 11 spirit per second with passives and templar's inspire, although less will do fine as a start.
- To search for Stone of Jordan, search for "armor -> all armor item types", then select "spirit regeneration" and "bonus vs elites"

At 100 - 125k dps:
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#akgXSc!cbd!acYbbZ

Tempest Rush crits do spawn cyclones, but they are not the key for this build to work, especially with the slow attack speed of the Skorn. The key is having enough damage (through MoC/Submission and SW/FireStorm) that you are doing damage to mobs before reaching them and after passing them as well. This will require some mouse repositioning to get more than 1 hit on each mob and stops to 1 shot mobs with high health.

MP0 is the most efficient here. All smaller mobs will melt, and you have the choice to leave behind larger enemies, or kill them if spirit is low. Don’t backtrack or bother with a few stragglers that didn’t die with your first pass.

One option for the primary attack is Deadly Reach/Foresight for the extra buff, but I found it to be a bit clumsy to keep up that buff every 30 seconds and its attack speed is quite slow on elites, so I still recommend FoT/Thunderclap.

If you can’t afford all resist gear yet, switch in OWE for either Exalted Soul or Chant of Resonance.

If you prefer higher spirit regeneration, this build will work, but it will do lower damage:
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aQTXSc!cZd!aZYbbZ

At 150 – 175k dps:
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#akgXSc!cbd!acYbbZ
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aQTXSc!cZd!aZYbbZ
These are alternatives for the MP0 or MP1 setup… switching to Mantra of Healing/Circular Breathing keeps your spirit up even using Breath of Heaven/Blazing Wrath every 45 seconds. Importantly, fleet footed can now be easily used instead of exalted soul without running low on spirit. If you do not need serenity for most elites, then switch to SSS/Sustained Attack to speed up elite kills.

ROUTE FOR BEST XP / HR
While monster density will open many new possible routes, I will keep the example from act 3:
- skycrown battlements
- * rakkis crossing
- * keep depths 2
- arreat creater 2
- tower of the damned 1
I usually add several more, as it doesn’t reduce my efficiency too much, and I already have 5 stacks of NV.

ANOTHER GOOD TR GUIDE
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/7199912895
Druin is great with numbers and has a few different build options.

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Section 3 has been moved to here http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5335593551?page=1#3

Good summary thought the TR approach to farming seem to be all over the monk boards these days. Better stock up on Inna's helms with spirit regen before they shoot through the roof.

I have one note regarding Inna's set and the mentioner reduced cost of casting SW. I would say that this is not a reason for getting Inna's as you will rarely have to recast SW with this build. On any typical map I would recast SW maybe once as one of the main benefits from this build is that you can cast SW buffed with blind and then your movement speed should help you keep it up at all times between packs. Some areas there might be longer than 3 seconds between packs but almost always there are some pots or similar that you can just run through (note that you need to hit pots with TR to refresh as hitting them with the SW itself won't do anything) to reset the timer.

Section 3, GENERAL MONK GUIDE

SUSTAINABILITY
Dying and kiting are not efficient, so damage reduction and life on hit (or life steal if you’re above approximately 100k dps) shouldn’t be excluded. Life on hit has become extremely cheap on weapons since 1.04, and I also find amulets can provide a decent amount of LoH.

LOH BUILDS
If you are having difficulty with any act, the first thing to do is try the cyclone Life on Hit build, which is extremely effective in delivering the maximum damage possible for a monk, with 1,000+ life on hit to survive almost everything. The progression of these setups is from MoE/Hard Target for maximum defense, MoE/Backlash for extra damage, and eventually improve kill speed through MoC/Overawe:
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aXgYSh!UXa!abYcca
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aXgYSh!UXa!abYccc
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aXgYSk!UXa!abYcc

SKILL OPTIONS
- No primary can come close to the life on hit effectiveness of FoT/Thunderclap.
- For those with less than 25% crit chance, the SW/Bladestorm rune will work very well.
- As a secondary skill, SSS/Fulminating Onslaught gives an extra immunity and deals a massive amount of damage.
- Importantly, Cyclone Strike, Wave of Light and Exploding Palm have also been buffed quite a bit and are solid in dealing damage instead of spamming the Mantra of Conviction.
- In terms of passives, guardian’s path works well instead of resolve for people dual-wielding.

DPS
The keys to higher dps are your weapon, crit chance and crit damage (about 1:10 ratio), your primary stat and attack speed, pretty much in that order. That’s why dual wielding starts to become very attractive to boost dps over the defensive stats of a sword and shield, since you can have 2 sockets for crit damage gems.

MOVEMENT SPEED
Once you are doing an act comfortably, improve clearing speed through not only increasing dps, but especially through increased movement speed. The first passive to switch into your setup would be fleet footed which adds 10% movement on top of the hard cap of 25% movement speed through gear. Other than boots, legendary items to consider for movement speed are Tyrael’s Might, Lacuni Prowlers and Inna’s Temperance. Once you have your +24% movement speed sorted out, it’s time to work in Tempest Rush in your build, so you might as well go for Inna’s Temperance as part of the TR builds.

An example of working TR into your build to cover ground faster is as follows:
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#akgXSc!ZUb!aaYbcZ

TIPS & TRICKS
- Mouse over any loot and click CTRL to see what level it is.
- Right click on an item in the “sell” screen of the auction house to “search for similar items” (does not work for legendaries).

RESOURCES:
http://theasiangamer.com/d3-damage-calculator/
http://www.d3up.com
EU Compilation of Monk Guides http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/6610281186
US Compilation of Monk Guides http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/7415793376

CREDITS:
* Armeleon: MP 10 coop build
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/7101650764
* Tianzi: 150-170 million xp per hour
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/8415141650
* Wave of Light:
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/6635484441
* Thaya: his guide helped alot of us, especially after 1.03
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/4211087360
* Anarkin: the first Monk I saw showing Tempest Rush/Tailwind + SW/Cyclone in a build.
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5105790794
* Nisse and Kaho: the pioneers in TR speed farming
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Nisse-2554/
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Kaho-1895/
* Gatsu: For all the help testing different builds in-game
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Gatsu-2303/

MY PROFILE
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/IronMan1975-2411/hero/6974337

In preparation for 1.05 monster power and increased rewards for harder difficulties, i did a few runs with the good old cookie-cutter, max dps build:
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aSgYXk!UXa!acYcba
(i had fleet footed instead of resolve, though)

After getting so used to TR, I was surprised to find that i had alot of problems surviving. Basically, the comparison is between Tempest Rush/Tailwind and Breath of Heaven/Blazing Wrath. To my surprise, I found that BoH is a terrible heal compared to the mobility (to reposition), crowd control (disrupt spells), and speed (escape) of tempest rush. Even the speed alone greatly improves survivability, as you take far less damage over molten or poison pools, whereas a 7k heal won't really help you survive more than a second if you're stuck in one place. In terms of the 15% damage buff of breath of heaven, I found that using TR/Tailwind greatly helps to keep my buffed cyclones up from one pack to the next, giving me alot more than BoH's 15% benefit, as not only were my cyclones almost always already at full stack, but i also have Blinding Flash (buff & cc) and MoC/Overawe ready to deliver heavy hits as well.

IronMan, we should cooperate in testing the various forms of this build! =)

@Gatsu, totally ;)

Results of the first run with IronMan1975:

Not a bad run after all, but quite some deaths. Will comment briefly regarding pros/cons of my build compared to IronMan's

TR+FoT is a much more solid build in party play compared to the Permanent Tempest Rush "Helicopter" build. The average time needed to kill monsters is the clear breaking point: in solo, it goes quite fast with the "Helicopter" and this provides you the globes to stay alive. In party, you need some resistances and life on hit/life steal, which means that one of the passives needs to be OwE (instead of fleet footed, which is a major loss) and in general more expensive gear.
I was in act 3 with 70k unbuffed dps (but consider some +15% damage from gear for SW) and it is definitely not enough. Before the 100k unbuffed mark I don't think the Helicopter Tempest Rush is viable for 2-players parties.

Much better for the IronMan's build. Balancing with resistances and LoH gives an edge and doesn't decrease speed in multiplayer.

ok, the guide has been updated with my final notes and route efficiency tests for 1.04

regarding the permanent TR build, at MP0, you can get a very cheap high dps skorn without life steal and boost xp farming speed considerably. To break 50-60 million xp per hour, you will have to select from the fastest routes only, which are:
- skycrown battlements
- * rakkis crossing
- * keep depths 2
- * arreat creater 2
- tower of the damned 1

but again, this requires an inna set, 2-4 spirit per second from gear, and most importantly, you don't stop except for elites and to 1 shot big enemies.

EDIT: i got rid of OWE and serenity lasts long enough to kill all elites.

ok, i've added a brief section in the beginning to show how anyone can get 50 million xp per hour pretty easily

Thanks for the comprehensive overview!
--> Sticky Requested

Love this! =)

As a suggestion however, try this:
Stone of Jordan with SW bonus and Fire bonus
Skill - Sweeping Wind with Fire Storm

The extra radius helps quite a bit!

If you manage to get enough spirit, you should try to use:
- Tailwind as primary
- SW Fire storm as secondary
- Blazing Wrath for the extra damage or deadly reach with damage bonus rune
- Flash with damage rune for SW
- SSS for elites with fulminating onslaught
- MoC Overwave for obvious reasons

Pretty intense requirements though: I guess 130-150k dps and as much spirit regen as you can...

I managed to get is working at 110k dps on act 1 and act 2 pre-monster-power-patch. No LoH, just pickup radius... It is a solo setup however, in party doesnt work...

1) the elemental damage from stone of jordan is simply added to your "black" damage of the skorn, so any type will work pretty much the same regardless of your skills...this is unlike the "adds x% to lightning skills" which only adds to fire or electrical.

2) using different primaries for a damage boost is a good idea...at 125k dps, i still found FoT to be best overall, but i'm upping my dps some more and going to try out your suggestions again

Oh, I always thought that the fire/holy etc damage was added only for that kind of attacks! Great news then!

(too bad however that there is no difference between a fire/arcane/lightning/holy attack or damage...)

anyway, one consideration: xp is greatly increased for each nephalem stack. So, for max efficiency, one should get 5 stacks quick and then kill tons of mobs.

from my experience about act 3, 2-3 packs are found very fast in the core of arreat and again 2-3 are found in KD 3 if going backwards.

Skycrown has a great number of mobs, but not of elites, so I think it might make sense to first reach 5 stacks quickly and then go.

One though which I don't know it if works or not:
with MP, all monsters are lvl 63, right? if that is so, the xp gained doesn't differ from act to act. Vault of the assassin in act 2 is filled with 6-7 elites every time, and drops are generally above average. Why don't you try act 2? I'd say starting from VoA, desolate lands, then path to the oasis and directly, clear those areas... don't know if it's viable or not...

skycrown has many more elites in 1.05 than it used to in 1.04...i often get 4-5 stacks there now, compared to 2-3 before.

using mp1, all acts are lvl 63 monsters, but using mp0, only acts 3 and 4 are lvl 63 monsters, so it is still more efficient for me to farm act 3 at mp0 and aim for the permanent tempest rush where you don't have to even stop to attack than to try mp1 in other acts, where monster health is 50% higher and therefore less efficient.

Does anyone know which will give the most experience Act 3 mp0 or act 1 mp1?

I think you are right about this TR whirly-monk build and needing LOTS of dps. =/ expensive build is expensive

Nice build
bought skorn+innas belt+innas chest all under 15 mil

I made my calculations and put chant of resonance instead of 35% buff to regen from dualwield.
The most interesting adjustment I made is the cyclone rune -Inner storm. It gives u 3 spirit regen per sec as long as u have 3 stacks. The trick here is that once u got those 3 stacks u can keep them forever becouse of innas set bonus and the fact that u can just recast it, while u have 3 stacks and it will remain 3 stacks. It costs 5 spirit and gives u 9 spirit in 3 sec. so u never stop it =)

I'm using this skill build for mp0 farming,

http://i47.tinypic.com/fted0m.jpg

...and over 100k dps mp3 is still easy too, just takes little bit longer and more efficient Imo. Tho I'm not using classical barb route and it takes like 30 min to finish a mp3 act3 run and I get around 20-25m xp all the time.

Change Thunderclap with Quikening btw.

If you check my monk, what is the build you suggest and on what mp can i farm the most xp? I think i dont need FF because of the max movement speed and tailwind, but maybe with your experience you can tell me...