Raiment Shenlong Generator Monk Skills and Runes
Table of Contents
General Information
Below, we explain how to choose and use your skills when playing Raiment Shenlong Generator Monk in Diablo 3. Updated for patch 2.6.1 and Season 13.
The other pages of our Raiment Shenlong Generator Monk guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.
Active Skills |
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Passive Skills |
1. Rotation
The build tackles the enemy head on, using the powers of the Shenlong set to
turn the generator skill of choice — usually Crippling Wave —
into a primary damage dealer. Note that you will alternate between two generators
depending on monster density;
Way of the Hundred Fists
Assimilation to apply
the
Assimilation debuff on large packs (10+ monsters), and
Crippling Wave for general damage.
Breath of Heaven
Infused with Light
helps with stacking Spirit and gets the Shenlong's multiplier to a higher value
faster.
Dashing Strike should also be used offensively at least once every
6 seconds, as the skill grants you the generator damage buff from the Raiment
set, and the
Radiance rune grants you increased attack speed —
speeding up Spirit generation.
2. Skills, Runes and Passives
Crippling Wave is the primary damage dealer of the build; a solid,
AoE-oriented generator with the boilerplate 12 Spirit per hit. Preferred with
the fire rune
Mangle, this generator wins over the competition with its
wide, sweeping motions and consistency in delivering the DPS. To increase its
output, you will be juggling a second generator into the build —
Way of the Hundred Fists
Assimilation. When applied on a large stack of
enemies (10+) it result in a sizable, 5 second buff for your
Crippling Wave onslaught. Note that this will not require you to switch
elemental damage on gear, which should remain focused on Fire bonuses.
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 key situations where you expect a
lot of burst coming your way, i.e. Molten explosions, Grotesque deaths, etc. If
you trust your awareness enough not to need a panic button, a very viable
alternative for this slot can be found in the monster-grouping tool
Cyclone Strike
Implosion.
With a generously low cooldown allowing for very high uptime,
Breath of Heaven adds great utility to the build. The base healing effect
is eclipsed by the Spirit generation utility of the
Infused with Light
rune, which more than doubles the resource regeneration potential of your primary
attack. In short, this will translate into a lightning-fast reserve fill, and
quicker Shenlong amplification.
Uncommon among the protective skills because of its spender nature,
Mantra of Salvation passively increases all resistances by 20%, and adds
35% dodge chance through the
Agility rune. Its active component further
increases resistances for a brief duration, and its Spirit cost can be quickly
accounted for through
Crippling Wave and
Infused with Light
regeneration — do not hesitate to pop it when needed.
Mobility is arguably one of the greatest assets when pushing the Leaderboards,
and Monks are blessed with the most fluid movement tool of all —
Dashing Strike. A charge-based skill on a low cooldown by default, its
role is flipped into a spender via the Raiment set 4-piece bonus. Notice the
Raiment 6-piece bonus, making
Dashing Strike and Spirit generators trade
buffs — increasing damage of one when the other is used. It is up to you
to choose which skill will be augmented and which will simply act as the buff;
and while a variation of a Raiment build can focus on
Dashing Strike as
the damage dealer, this spec focuses on generators instead. As such, you need to
cast
Dashing Strike at least once every 6 seconds to maintain the Raiment
6-piece bonus; ideally, once every 4 seconds in a good engagement to maintain
the Attack Speed bonuses of the
Radiance rune.
This concludes the overview of the Active Skills, now let us look through the Passives.
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.
Two attack speed oriented passives provide the bulk of your passives
selection. Seize the Initiative provides you with a temporary attack speed
increase when engaging enemies over 75% health, resulting in faster Spirit
generation for more
Crippling Wave damage. As you get more comfortable
with the build, you will learn to draw the attention of additional enemies or
freshly spawned boss adds to effectively extend the benefits from Seize the
Initiative.
Alacrity is another offensive fit for the build, adding a
15% separate attack speed multiplier to your Spirit Generators and directly
translating into better damage through the faster buildup of resource for
Shenlong.
You have some room for adjustment in your final passive slot. The offense
option is Exalted Soul, directly increasing your damage by expanding your
resource pool with 50 Spirit. Its Spirit regeneration aspect is just an added
bonus. The defensive alternative for the slot is
The Guardian's Path —
a top tier defensive passive when dual-wielding, offering a substantial 35% dodge
chance increase. Working alongside the dodge bonuses from
Blinding Speed
and
Agility, it will be the optimal passive choice for physical attacks
protection in high density maps.
About the Author
This build is presented to you by Deadset, one of the very few professional Diablo 3 players. Deadset regularly publishes video guides on Youtube and streams on Twitch, where you can see how this and other builds play out in practice.



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