PoJ Tempest Rush Monk Speed Farming Variation

The Patterns of Justice Tempest Rush Monk can deal quite well with Normal Rift farming all the way through the highest Torment difficulties. We have solo speed GR rankings and solo speed T16 rankings if you want to know more about which builds are best for speed farming.

Within the limited scope of regular difficulties, the necessary damage and toughness to triumph over the enemy is significantly smaller. Thus, your best course of action is to improve utility and speed.

Active Skills
Tempest Rush Electric Field Dashing Strike Way of the Falling Star 1 Mantra of Conviction Annihilation 2 Sweeping Wind No rune chosen 3 Breath of Heaven Zephyr 4 Epiphany Ascendance
Passive Skills
Beacon of Ytar Seize the Initiative Fleet Footed Near Death Experience

When you are speed farming regular rifts, parts of your playstyle will adapt to the lowered challenge and focus more on speed and utility.

In the speed farming Tempest Rush build, you will be applying the necessary CC for Cesar's Memento through the Ascendance rune of Epiphany, which pairs nicely with this movement-heavy build. This allows you to drop Blinding Flash from the progression version of the build, and use the mobility staple Dashing Strike. The build remains largely the same, but you will no longer have to keep track of stacks, since you replace the Flurry rune with the fire-and-forget of Electric Field, which allows you to focus on re-applying self-buffs like Mantra of Conviction Annihilation, Breath of Heaven Zephyr and Epiphany Ascendance.

Parts of the skill and passive selection will overlap with the base Greater Rift progression build, but others will have to change according to the task at hand. Ability to cross over great distances faster and more efficiently take precedence.

• Changing the Tempest Rush rune from the stacking mechanics of Flurry (too slow for the purposes of speedfarm) for the increased AoE of the Electric Field rune.
• Replacing Blinding Flash for the Monk's teleportation skill, Dashing Strike. Coupled with the speed buffing Way of the Falling Star rune, this ability is an indispensable tool for overall mobility.
• The lost hard CC from Blinding Flash (necessary to trigger Cesar's Memento) is made up for by taking the Ascendance rune of Epiphany, which is easily triggered with the constant movement of the build.
• Replacing the unnecessarily defensive Mantra of Salvation with the extra movespeed of Mantra of Conviction Annihilation.
• Swapping out the timing-sensitive protection of Serenity for the movement speed buff of Breath of Heaven Zephyr.
• In your passives, you can replace defensive choices like Harmony and The Guardian's Path with the fail-safe Near Death Experience and the extra movement speed form Fleet Footed.

You will still be taking advantage of the full 6-piece set bonuses of Patterns of Justice, incorporating the same split as you would in progression with 5 PoJ pieces and 2 Cpt. Crimson pieces, plus a Ring of Royal Grandeur in the Cube to complete their bonuses.

The timed damage increase of Convention of Elements greatly diminishes in usefulness during Normal Rift farming, and is best replaced either by a:

• 1) Rechel's Ring of Larceny for the Fear-induced movement speed proc (you have to wear and not cube the ring, since you have no Fear-based skills and it has a guaranteed secondary Fear % roll);
• 2) or simply a Lightning damage Stone of Jordan for a constant Elite and Elemental damage boost.

Note that Rechel's/SoJ are recommended for solo farming, since your Follower can wear Avarice Band and "Emanate" its valuable pickup radius effect to you as if you wore it yourself. When group farming, equip the Avarice yourself in Rechel's/SoJ's place. Your other ring should be Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac for the Cooldown Reduction, and your amulet should be either Squirt's Necklace (solo), or The Flavor of Time (groups).

A trio of Tempest Rush-oriented legendary items will remain in their place, as they are too valuable to pass up even during farming: Vengeful Wind for the movement speed increase via the PoJ 2-piece bonus, Won Khim Lau for the damage multiplication and Cyclone Strike convenience, and Cesar's Memento for the substantial damage buff against crowd controlled enemies.

To help you with farming the gear you need for your builds, we have two very useful guides that you can access by clicking the links below: a Salvage Guide to help you quickly check whether or not you can safely salvage a piece of gear and a Legendary Farming Guide to help you efficiently farm legendaries and set items.

The former Season 28 theme, the Altar of Rites, has been revised and re-added to Diablo 3 as a permanent character progression mechanic. — For virtually all builds and players of all skill levels — from casual to advanced — we recommend progressing through the Altar tree using the path outlined below. The suggested path is geared towards maximum quality of life first, then amplifying damage, and then mopping up the tree with defensive and edge case utility nodes.

Note that while they require reaching them with a Seal, Legendary Potion Powers are not part of the Seal cost system; Potions unlock with a separate resource called Primordial Ashes, obtained from salvaging Legendary or Set items of Primal (red bordered) quality. Upgrade them as soon as possible, and in the order shown below (courtesy of Caleko's Altar of Rites planner).

You can read more on the Altar of Rites, Seals and Legendary Potion Powers in our dedicated Altar of Rites Mechanics guide.

Bane of the Trapped and Taeguk both still bring excellent damage multiplication value to the build in speed farming.

In normal rifts, the third gem slot should be taken by Boon of the Hoarder. This high utility gem feeds you practically infinite gold and gives you a massive short-term speed boost while picking it up, automated by a worn Avarice Band. It will also render you practically invulnerable through a worn Goldwrap.

For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.

You will maintain Balance in the weapon slot of the Cube for its valuable damage multiplication bonuses.

Our default recommendation for the armor Cube slot is Goldwrap, since its synergy with Boon of the Hoarder and Avarice Band will render you practically invincible during regular Rifts.

Lastly, in order to maintain the valuable 6-piece bonus of Sunwuko and 3-piece bonus of the Sage set, you will need to cube a Ring of Royal Grandeur in the jewelry slot. Note that if you opt for a Sage-less variant of the farming build, you can slot either Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac or Avarice Band here.

The Kanai's Cube can be used for much more than simply extracting Legendary powers from items. Please refer to our Kanai's Cube guide for more information.

The recommended follower for this build during standard rift farming for keys is the Enchantress due to her numerous utility bonuses, allowing you to smooth out your speed runs even further.

For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our Follower Guide, which contains detailed advice for choosing the skills and the gear of your follower.

Your recommended potion is Bottomless Potion of the Tower, whose Armor-increasing properties complement the naturally high All Resistances stat of Monks (due to Harmony) for optimal survivability.

This Season revives the Pandemonium Kill Streak buff from Season 19. Each stack grants a bonus to movement speed and damage, capping at +50% movement speed and +100% damage at 1000 kills. Hitting specific kill thresholds unleashes powerful effects. Read more in our dedicated Season of the Eternal Conflict Mechanics Guide!

While speedfarming sees limited use from this theme, Greater Rift pushing benefits significantly. Effects like Geysers (150), Meteors (400), and Angels (500) can clear elites and Rift Guardians instantly. Players may reset streaks after 150 kills to repeatedly trigger Geysers or push for 500+ kills near boss fights, often using Nemesis Bracers to spawn extra enemies.

Because the most potent effects (Geysers, Meteors, Angels) can obliterate Rift Guardians instantly up to GR150, players can retool builds for efficiency and comfort. Here’s how:

Since you can rely on killstreak procs to clear the Rift Guardian, Bane of the Stricken can be safely omitted in favor of:

• Another generic damage-scaling legendary gem ( Bane of the Trapped for builds with any form of crowd control and/or melee range, Zei's Stone of Vengeance for far ranged builds, Taeguk for channeling builds, Simplicity's Strength for primary attack-focused builds, Enforcer for pet-oriented builds, etc.)
• A survivability-oriented legendary gem ( Esoteric Alteration, Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard), or additional utility ( Gogok of Swiftness for CDR-reliant builds, Pain Enhancer for attack speed-heavy builds, or Wreath of Lightning for extra movement speed).

Adjust your equipment to items that favor durability, health sustain, and ease of movement. Consider adjusting non-essential skills for the build to ones that pull, reposition, or otherwise displace enemies to facilitate large pulls of enemy packs. In more concrete terms, this means:

• For class-specific items, Monks should consider Lefebvre's Soliloquy; this is a powerful damage reduction item that incentivizes you to use the enemy-pulling skill Cyclone Strike. Alternatively, Spirit Guards offer a similar defensive bonus for using resource-generating primary skills. Both options synergize well with the killstreak theme by improving survivability while grouping enemies.
• For additional options that balance between defense and offense, other helpful cross-class jewelry includes Unity (combined with the same ring on the follower plus a follower immortality token), and the Endless Walk set ( The Traveler's Pledge and The Compass Rose).
• Situational items that can bolster your defenses include Stone Gauntlets, the drawbacks of which are negated via CC-immunity effects like Epiphany, Ice Climbers, or the Altar of Rites CC-immunity node. Aquila Cuirass is also a strong choice for low Spirit-spending builds. A final niche consideration is Crystal Fist, which provides considerable Damage Reduction after using Dashing Strike.
• Utility items like Nemesis Bracers are essential as more elites mean more killstreak maintenance and faster progression. When soloing, they should be equipped by your follower; in groups, at least one party member should commit to wearing them. Edge cases will see the inclusion of Warzechian Armguards or Krelm's Buff Belt (more speed for easier scouting and pulls), Strongarm Bracers (extra damage vs. displaced enemies), and Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac to lower the downtime of Epiphany. To facilitate large pulls, consider using a Follower equipped with The Ess of Johan, a proc-based analogue to an enemy-pulling skill (albeit outside your control).
• Skill-wise, make sure to include at least one movement ability like Dashing Strike and an enemy-pulling tool like Cyclone Strike Implosion. Take a look if you can include passives like Beacon of Ytar for cooldown reduction or Near Death Experience as a cheat-death mechanic to play more aggressively. Epiphany Desert Shroud is vital for toughness during massive pulls.