PoJ Tempest Rush Monk Skills and Runes

Active Skills
Blinding Flash Faith in the Light Tempest Rush Flurry 1 Sweeping Wind No rune chosen 2 Epiphany Desert Shroud 3 Mantra of Salvation Agility 4 Serenity Ascension
Passive Skills
Beacon of Ytar Harmony Seize the Initiative The Guardian's Path

The build begins runs with an activation of Sweeping Wind, in order to gain the utility and damage bonuses from the Patterns of Justice set. As the vortex swells around you, you will be Tempest Rushing constantly into enemies, watching the build up of the Flurry rune and trying to release a fully stacked (or close to) strike during the Cold Convention of Elements cycle. When the time comes to unleash the built-up Flurry, apply Blinding Flash on nearby enemies (ideally elites), which both cancels the channeling and explodes your built-up damage, and also nets you the damage bonuses of the worn Cesar's Memento; you will also gain a considerable damage buff from the Faith in the Light rune. When it comes to survivability, you will be using Epiphany on cooldown, with liberal pops of the Mantra of Salvation Agility active and strategic use of the Serenity Ascension invulnerability. Your Spirit management comes from the massive regeneration bonus of the Patterns of Justice 4-piece bonus while Tempest Rushing.

Your main damage dealer, naturally, comes from the focus of the set — Tempest Rush, a channeled attack that weaves and whirls the Monk through the enemy (ignoring collision) and allows you to dive in and out of combat as you please. The best rune for Greater Rift progression is Flurry due to its damage stacking mechanic, which builds up to a stacking maximum of 100 and is easily timed with Convention of Elements elemental rotations, resulting in massive, controlled bursts during the Cold cycle. Remember to be precise when releasing the stacks (as simple as popping Blinding Flash or stopping to channel), so as not to waste your burst with the relatively small detonation range.

Sweeping Wind is a centerpiece and a mandatory part of a Patterns of Justice build; rune selection is not necessary, since you will be gaining the benefits of all five — and while the extra damage of Blade Storm and Cyclone and the extra range of Fire Storm are nice, the utility of the free Inner Storm (extra Spirit regen) and Master of Wind (freeze the enemy once every 3 seconds — easy proc for Cesar's Memento) is what truly shines in terms of benefits. The active Sweeping Wind is also a prerequisite to deal good damage with Tempest Rush due to the 6-piece PoJ bonus, so never neglect to keep this skill active.

Since Master of Wind will only trigger once every 3 seconds, you will have to introduce another hard CC to the build — not to mention the benefits of hard CCs and immunities trading turns to prolong a potential Squirt's Necklace damage bonus, if you choose to run this build in a group. Blinding Flash brings a 20-yard Blind for 3 seconds, along with an additional damage multiplier from the Faith in the Light rune. Playstyle-wise, make sure to pop Blinding Flash as a cancel for the channeling of a stacked Flurry.

Serenity is one of the most potent defensive skills in the Monk arsenal, allowing you a brief window of invulnerability on a reasonable 16 second base cooldown. Note that the downtime begins after the active effect expires, preventing permanent uptime exploitation. Thus, take the longer lasting Ascension rune and use this skill in rotation with Blinding Flash and the Master of Wind freeze. If you do not like the playstyle Serenity introduces, you have a viable alternative in the face of Cyclone Strike Soothing Breeze, which will be triggered passively by Won Khim Lau and will assist with the life sustain of the build.

Mantra of Salvation offers a general increase to all resistances (yours, and allies' in your vicinity) by 20%, as well as an active component that increases resistances by another 20% for a short, 3-second burst. Coupled with the Agility rune and its dodge chance boost, it makes for the best defensive Mantra for the class. Due to the massive Spirit regeneration bonuses of this build, you are able to use the active bonuses of this mantra quite liberally.

Epiphany is an almost universal addition to Monk builds, since its default crowd control immunity, Spirit regeneration bonus (20/second) and mobility enhancement (dashing you to nearby targets of your choice) are joined by the massive 50% damage reduction bonus of the Desert Shroud rune for an irresistible package.

Near Death Experience is never a bad choice when pushing high end Greater Rifts — 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 are a nice bonus on top.

A mainstay in the Monk arsenal of passives, 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. Complement the strong defensive foundation of this passive with The Guardian's Path, which provides 35% extra dodge chance in this dual-wielding build.

Your final passive slot is a little more flexible, with multiple good options vying for the spot. One option is to go for extra damage, either through Relentless Assault or Determination; they both provide an equal damage buff, but are obtained through different factors. Relentless Assault gets an immediate trigger through the CC mechanics of the build, but suffers from the diminishing returns of reapplied crowd control. Determination, on the other hand, is density-dependent, but will remains consistent in the right circumstances. Another strong option is to go purely for defense, and reduce all non-Physical damage via Sixth Sense.