Diablo 3 Monk Guide and Inferno Builds

This page is a Diablo 3 Monk guide and also includes various Diablo 3 Monk builds (including Monk Inferno Builds). If you are looking to start a Monk or stuck on a particular difficulty then this Diablo 3 Monk guide will prove to be an invaluable resource.

Learn more about the Monk, the Monk's resource (Spirit), the must have skills and which gear to purchase in this comprehensive Diablo 3 Monk guide.

The Monk is an agile melee fighter that relies on powerful combo attacks, mantras and mobility to battle the enemies of Hell.

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Images on this page are sourced from the official Diablo 3 website and used for review, commentary and educational purposes.

The Monk is a melee fighter in Diablo 3 and has some similarities to the Paladin and Assassin in Diablo 2. The Monk uses melee attacks and careful precision combo attacks combined with Mantras to dispatch the enemies of hell. Unique equipment for Monks includes Daibos, Fist Weapons and Spirit Stones.

The Monks key features include spiritual power, combo attacks to devastate enemies, Mantras to strengthen your resolve and mobility to dart in and out of combat.

Monk Overview - Official Diablo 3 Website

• A durable melee fighter capable of absorbing significant damage.
• Fast and agile.
• A great party player due to Mantra buffs.
• Great area of effect damage potential.

• Lack of build diversity (reliant on too many skills).
• Not as effective solo as other classes.
• Reliant on powerful defensive gear.

Monk's rely on their spiritual power (Spirit) to use their abilities in Diablo 3. Spirit is slow regenerating but can be efficiently generated with attacks and combos. By spending large amounts of Spirit the Monk can call upon powerful attacks and defensive abilities.

The Monk has many skills and abilities at his disposal to increase his Spirit regeneration or reduce the costs on his more powerful skills. Incorporating these into your Monk build will allow you to achieve spiritual balance.

When building your Monk in Diablo 3 there are a number of important item stats that you will need to maximise in order to survive:

• Dexterity: Dexterity is the main focus of a Monk's build. Not only does it increase your damage output it also increases your dodge chance which greatly improves your survivability. As such every piece of equipment you wear should have some Dexterity.
• Vitality: Even though Monks rely on dodging attacks you still need a hefty amount of Vitality to build up your health pool. Vitality should form the basis of your defensive stats as it is generally cheap and easy to attain.
• % Life: This stat can drastically increase your health pool and can easily be added to helms by using an Amethyst in a socket. It can also easily be obtained on shoulders and belts without sacrificing other stats.
• Resistances: Resistances are another important aspect of your survivability and is best obtained through gaining the all resistance stat on your equipment. Building sufficient amounts of this stat will allow you to tank hits from Arcane, Plague, Molten and other elemental attacks.
• Life-Steal & Life On Hit: By building life-steal and life on hit you can recover damage that you take (thus increasing your survivability). As life-steal gets heavy penalties in Hell and Inferno life on hit is often considered to be stronger.
• Attack Speed: Attack speed works great when combined with life on hit. By obtaining a decent amount you can also achieve the fast and agile style of the Monk.
• Critical Chance: Depending on your build some critical chance can go a long way at improving your battle prowess. The Monk has many skill runes available that rely on critical hits to be most effective, if you find yourself using one of them regularly in your build considering getting some critical chance.

The Diablo 3 Monk skills listed below are considered to be the strongest skills available to the Monk and will generally appear in your Monk builds more often than other skills.

• Fists Of Thunder: This primary skill is your go to Spirit generator and also has powerful life on hit potential. This fast attack is perfect for the Monk's agile fighting style.
• Deadly Reach: This skill gives the Monk some ranged damage output and is a great option if you lack sufficient tanking gear, this skill does need some attack speed before it gets good though.
• Blinding Flash: A great way to reduce incoming damage and is especially effective against elite enemies. Using the final rune (Faith In The Light) can be used to give you a great damage boost.
• Breath Of Heaven: While the healing amount may seem on the low side this is a must have in your Monk build. It has a decent cooldown, offers great team utility and with the Blazing Wrath rube can increase yor damage output.
• Senerity: Another must have skill at the Monk's disposal, it allows you to avoid impairing effects such as frozen with ease and can be runed to last for 4 seconds (simply amazing).
• Sweeping Wind: A great skill to increase your damage output, the Blade Storm rune is usually your best option. However, if you can achieve good critical ht chance (15-20%+) the Cyclone rune will give more damage.
• Dashing Strike: A great defensive choice that allows you to re-position yourself in battle. The Blinding Speed rune can boost up your dodge chance significantly increasing your survivability.
• Mystic Ally: One of the more unique and fun Monk skills available that always you to create a mystical ally based on an element (some Monk's call it the Avatar skill).
• Mantra of Conviction: If you are comfortable in the area you are in or simply farming an earlier act the using this Mantra will boost your damage and killing speed. The Overawe rune is particularly good for massive damage.

• Resolve: An amazing passive that reduces incoming damage by a massive amout and rewards you for dealing damage to enemies. This passive works particularly well with an area of effect damage ability.
• Transcendence: A great sustain passive that is especially effective if you have high Spirit spenders in your Monk build.
• Chant Of Resonance: If you are having trouble with Spirit generation you can pair this passive skill with a Mantra of your choosing for increased Spirit regeneration.
• Seize The Initiative: Another powerful passive available to the Monk, with this any Dexterity you gain now not only gives dodge and damage but also offers armor.
• The Guardian's Path: A must have passive if you decide to dual wield weapons, the extra dodge chance offsets the fact that you don't have a shield.

Required Level 56

This Diablo 3 Monk Inferno build is your best bet for clearing Inferno with a Monk but does require decent resistance gear and critical hit chance to work successfully, if you are new to Inferno or lacking strong gear consider the second Monk Inferno build on this page.

Your primary attack is covered by Fists of Thunder (For) which simple cannot be beaten for spirit generation and sustainability through life on hit. Your secondary is Sweeping Wind runed for Cyclone which offers incredible area of effect damage with a strong critical hit chance (try aim for 20%+, don't forget that shields can have 10%). You can also run Deadly Reach or Dashing Strike in this slot if you want more utility.

Defensive abilities are Serenity, Breath of Heaven and Blinding Flash which will make you very durable in battle. Serenity gives you incredible crowd control resilience and damage reduction while Breath of Heaven gives you extra sustain along with a nice damage boost. Your defences are rounded out with Blinding Flash which makes killing elites that much easier and Mantra of Evasion which can be swapped out for Mantra of Conviction if you don't need the extra dodge chance and want the extra damage boost.

For this Monk Inferno build your passives are Seize The Initiative for a large armor boost, Resolve to decrease incoming damage and One With Everything to boost your resistances. If you are yet to focus on resistance all and a single resist (as to maximise the effect of One With Everything) then consider swapping it out for Transcendence for increased survivability.

See This Diablo 3 Monk Inferno Build On The Diablo 3 Skill Calculator

Required Level 55

This Diablo 3 Monk Inferno build is a great option if you lack powerful defensive gear or critical strike and are looking to advance through content. It requires around 2 attacks per second to successfully pull off (but attack speed can be found or bought easier than critical).

The build uses Deadly Reach to keep you out of harms way. No longer will you be surrounded by enemies and it also makes dealing with area of effect elite packs easier (Fire Chains, Molten, Plagued). By combining this with the Sweeping Wind (Fire Storm rune) for extra radius you gain even more ranged damage potential.

Defensive skills are again covered by Serenity, Breath Of Heaven and Blinding Flash (for explanations see the above Monk Inferno build).

Passives are also very similar in this Monk Inferno build. Running Seize The Initiative and Resolve to boost your defences while Transcendence covers your sustainability. This build assumes you do not have resistance gear so does not use One With Everything but if you find it will give you a significant boost you can run it as a passive instead.

See This Diablo 3 Monk Inferno Build On The Diablo 3 Skill Calculator

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