LoD LTK Monk Skills and Runes

Last updated on Jan 08, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 15 comments

On this page, we explain how to choose and use your skills when playing LoD LTK Monk in Diablo 3. Updated for Patch 2.7.7 and Season 30.

Active Skills
Left Mouse Button Lashing Tail Kick Icon Lashing Tail Kick Vulture Claw Kick Vulture Claw Kick Right Mouse Button Mystic Ally Icon Mystic Ally Air Ally Air Ally 1 Cyclone Strike Icon Cyclone Strike Implosion Implosion 2 Dashing Strike Icon Dashing Strike Radiance Radiance 3 Epiphany Icon Epiphany Desert Shroud Desert Shroud 4 Mantra of Salvation Icon Mantra of Salvation Agility Agility
Passive Skills
1.

Rotation

The LoD Lashing Tail Kick (LTK) Monk revels in close combat, seeking fights constantly with Dashing Strike Dashing Strike; once you are in an engagement, group enemies up with Cyclone Strike Cyclone Strike (also proccing Bindings of the Lesser Gods Bindings of the Lesser Gods) and begin your Lashing Tail Kick Lashing Tail Kick assault, mimicked by your Rabid Strike Rabid Strike clone for incredible damage output. Your protection will come from a combination of the Lefebvre's Soliloquy Lefebvre's Soliloquy damage reduction (triggered by Cyclone Strike Cyclone Strike every 5 seconds), the massive bulwark of Epiphany Epiphany Desert Shroud Desert Shroud, and popping the active of Mantra of Salvation Mantra of Salvation Agility Agility whenever you anticipate a burst of damage. When your Spirit runs low, you will use Mystic Ally Mystic Ally Air Ally Air Ally for an instant refill.

2.

Skills and Runes

The primary damage dealer of the build is Lashing Tail Kick Lashing Tail Kick, amplified by the Legacy of Nightmares bonuses, Rivera Dancers Rivera Dancers and the Patch 2.4.2 rework Scarbringer Scarbringer. Due to its highest damage potential with the 3-second DoT factored in, Vulture Claw Kick Vulture Claw Kick is the recommended rune.

With its medium Spirit cost and scarcity of legendary-based resource cost reduction, you will have to devote a significant amount of your skills to the maintenance of Lashing Tail Kick Lashing Tail Kick spam.

To clump up enemies for the convenience of your Wave of Light Wave of Light destruction, as well as to trigger the bonuses of Bindings of the Lesser Gods Bindings of the Lesser Gods (whose bonus applies to the Rabid Strike Rabid Strike-spawned Ally), you will be using Cyclone Strike Cyclone Strike with one of the longest range pulls in the game — the 34-yard Implosion Implosion rune.

With both a passive and active component, Mystic Ally Mystic Ally will also aid your thirst for Spirit through the Air Ally Air Ally rune. Doubling the number of summons with The Crudest Boots The Crudest Boots, you increase the passive regeneration bonus to 8 per second, and the active bonus to 200 per use. Unlike their Rabid Strike Rabid Strike sibling, these summons will serve as a distraction at best in battle, but their Spirit utility is invaluable.

Epiphany Epiphany rounds out the list of threefold value skills in this utility-packed build. It bolsters your mobility by allowing you to stick to your target, securing the kill. It increases your Spirit regeneration by 20 per second, ensuring your Lashing Tail Kick Lashing Tail Kick spam remains uninterrupted. Last but not least, it strengthens your defenses with powerful 50% damage reduction from the Desert Shroud Desert Shroud rune while active. It will benefit immensely from Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac, which allows for zero downtime of this crucial self-buff.

Uncommon among the protective skills because of its spender nature, Mantra of Salvation Mantra of Salvation passively increases all resistances by 20%, and adds 35% dodge chance through the Agility Agility rune. Its active component further increases resistances for a brief duration, but should be used sparingly due to the already high resource costs of the build.

To solidify their mobility options, Monks have the most responsive and fluid movement tool in the game, Dashing Strike Dashing Strike. A charge-based skill on a low cooldown, it will take you to cursor location without fail, as long as there is no closed door between the starting point and the destination. With two charges stored by default you can skip unfavorable fights, seek out the next pack, or simply boost your survivability through the Blinding Speed Blinding Speed rune.

3.

Passives

Beacon of Ytar Beacon of Ytar is a solid foundation for high skill uptime, providing a 20% chunk to your Cooldown Reduction. The sizable 60-second cooldown of Epiphany Epiphany alone is important enough to demand a high CDR goal.

A mainstay in the Monk arsenal of passives, Harmony Harmony fuels your All Resistance with 40% of the single elemental resistance per piece of gear (e.g. 100 Fire Resistance roll on the boots will add 100 to your sheet Fire Resistance and add 40 to your other resists). A well geared Monk will usually sport secondary resistances in all the gear slots that are able to roll them, adding significantly to his overall Toughness (see this build's gear page for more information).

Seize the Initiative Seize the Initiative is one of the best damage-oriented passives at the disposal of Monks, providing you with a temporary attack speed increase when engaging enemies over 75% health, translating into faster Lashing Tail Kick Lashing Tail Kick output for the LoD LTK Monk. As you get more comfortable with the build, you will learn to kite into and pull additional enemies or freshly spawned boss adds to effectively extend the benefits from Seize the Initiative Seize the Initiative.

Your last passive slot is a little more flexible. A general recommendation to improve your damage output is Determination Determination, which takes advantage of the monster-drawing powers of the build to provide up to 20% additive damage increase. Alternatively, you could slot the Monk's cheat death passive — Near Death Experience Near Death Experience — as failsafe. On the standard 60-second cooldown, it will prevent a lethal situation and restore you to 35% Life and Spirit instead. The 2-second immunity to damage and crowd control impairing effects is another bonus on top.

4.

Changelog

  • 08 Jan. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 30.
  • 13 Sep. 2023: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 29.
  • 22 Feb. 2023: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 28.
  • 26 Aug. 2022: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 27.
  • 14 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
  • 08 Dec. 2021: Guide revised and added Season 25 Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 21 Jul. 2021: No changes required for Season 24.
  • 01 Apr. 2021: No changes required for Season 23.
  • 16 Nov. 2020: Reviewed for Season 22. No changes required.
  • 01 Jul. 2020: No changes required for Season 21.
  • 12 Mar. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 20.
  • 21 Nov. 2019: Reviewed for Season 19.
  • 23 Aug. 2019: Reviewed for Season 18.
  • 16 May 2019: Guide added.
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