Sunwuko Wave of Light Monk BiS Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Quick Reference
    • 2.1. Skill Setup
  • 3. Builds
    • 3.1. Gear Setup
    • 3.2. Legendary Gems
    • 3.3. Kanai's Cube
  • 4. Role in the Current Meta
  • 5. Reading Further
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Skills and Runes
  • 1. Rotation
  • 2. Skills, Runes and Passives
  • 3. ChangeLog
• ×Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points
  • 1. Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives
  • 2. Paragon Points
  • 3. Gems
  • 4. Kanai's Cube
  • 5. Follower
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Speed Farming Variation
  • 1. Speed Farming
  • 2. Adapting Skills
  • 3. Adapting Gear
  • 4. Adapting Gemming
  • 5. Adapting Kanai's Cube
  • 6. ChangeLog

General Information

Below, we detail the items and gems that you should use for your Sunwuko Wave of Light Monk in Diablo 3 and why. We also list your paragon points and Kanai's Cube items. Updated for patch 2.6.1 and Season 15.

The other pages of our Sunwuko Wave of Light Monk guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

1. Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives

The build includes five of the six available pieces of the Monkey King's Garb (a.k.a. Sunwuko) set, complete with a cubed Ring of Royal Grandeur to attain the full set bonuses. Rolls-wise, this Wave of Light-centric setup makes good use of Resource Cost Reduction and skill damage bonuses. RCR is desired on Sunwuko's Balance alongside high Toughness stats; double Crit stats plus high Dexterity and RCR are optimal on Sunwuko's Paws. Sunwuko's Soul and Sunwuko's Leggings are pure Toughness slots. The ideal roll of Sunwuko's Shines includes double Crit stats and Fire elemental damage, alongside the guaranteed socket.

When it comes to jewelry, you should take into account the necessity to wear Sunwuko's Shines, which denies you the option for the Endless Walk set. With the revisions in Patch 2.6.1 (increased damage reduction from Spirit Guards and the removal of the stack consumption mechanics of the Sunwuko set), you are heavily incentivized to transition the spec into a Focus and Restraint setup, greatly increasing your damage potential at the cost of minimizing the range and necessitating a generator attack.

In place of Sunwuko's Crown, you will be taking Tzo Krin's Gaze — the Spirit Stone that turns Wave of Light into a ranged skill. With the 2.4 revision it becomes mandatory for Wave of Light builds, as it increases Wave of Light damage by up to 150% as a free fifth affix.

The best-in-slot belt for the build when pushing Greater Rifts is the glass cannon favorite, The Witching Hour. What this belt lacks in unique properties, it makes up in unique rolls: it is the only item in the slot that can roll Attack Speed and Critical Damage. Both stats are immensely beneficial to your damage output, so seek as close to the maximum 7 IAS and 50 Crit Damage as you can.

Added in Patch 2.4, Pinto's Pride is a Wave of Light-specific bracer that doubles as a damage amplifier and a tool for crowd control, slowing enemies by the impressive 80% when struck with a pillar. Helping you keep foes at bay, Pinto's Pride also gives you a vital, effortless proc for Bane of the Trapped.

The Crudest Boots make a natural fit for the resource demands of the build, doubling your Mystic Ally summons and thus increasing the effectiveness of Air Ally to 8 Spirit per Second and 200 Spirit per activation. Notice that Wave of Light is a possible skill damage roll on the boots, so strive to get it as a fourth primary alongside toughness stats, and shift movement speed bonuses entirely to Paragon points.

Kyoshiro's Blade is a crucial piece of a Wave of Light setup by bringing another 150% damage multiplier to the skill, and spiking your damage even further when fighting 3 or fewer enemies — indispensable versus Champions and Rift Guardians. Your other weapon will vary according to content: in Greater Rift progression, you will do well to include Vengeful Wind in order to expand the burst potential coming from the Sunwuko set.

Slot	Pieces	Stat Priority
Head	Tzo Krin's Gaze	Dexterity Critical Hit Chance Socket Vitality
Shoulders	Sunwuko's Balance	Dexterity Vitality Resource Cost Reduction Area Damage All Resistance (guaranteed)
Torso	Sunwuko's Soul	Dexterity 3 Sockets Vitality Reduced damage from Elites Secondary Resistance (Physical preferred)
Wrists	Pinto's Pride	Dexterity Critical Hit Chance Fire Damage Vitality
Hands	Sunwuko's Paws	Dexterity Critical Hit Damage Critical Hit Chance Resource Cost Reduction Area Damage
Waist	The Witching Hour	Dexterity Critical Hit Damage (if The Witching Hour) Attack Speed (if The Witching Hour) Vitality Secondary Resistance (Physical preferred)
Legs	Sunwuko's Leggings	Dexterity Vitality 2 Sockets Secondary Resistance (Physical preferred) Armor
Feet	The Crudest Boots	Dexterity Wave of Light Damage Vitality Secondary Resistance (Physical preferred) Armor
Amulet	Sunwuko's Shines	Socket (guaranteed) Critical Hit Damage Critical Hit Chance Fire Damage
Ring #1	Focus	Socket Critical Hit Damage Critical Hit Chance Damage Range Dexterity
Ring #2	Restraint	Socket Critical Hit Damage Critical Hit Chance Damage Range Dexterity
Weapon #1	Kyoshiro's Blade	High Damage Range Dexterity Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift) Resource Cost Reduction Area Damage
Weapon #2	Vengeful Wind	High Damage Range Dexterity Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift) Resource Cost Reduction Area Damage

2. Paragon Points

Slot	Paragon Points
Core	Movement Speed up to 25% cap Dexterity Maximum Spirit (up to personal preference) Vitality
Offense	Cooldown Reduction Critical Hit Damage Critical Hit Chance Attack Speed
Defense	All Resistance Armor Life % Life Regeneration
Utility	Resource Cost Reduction Area Damage Life on Hit Gold Find

3. Gems

Bane of the Trapped is a potent source of additional damage, as it is its own multiplier in your total damage calculation. This gem will be easily procced by the slowing property of Pinto's Pride bracers.

Zei's Stone of Vengeance is another independent multiplier, whose range-dependent amplification can be easily maxed out by the long reach of Tzo Krin's Gaze Wave of Lights. The level 25 property will add some minor control and safety to the build, as well as another proc for Bane of the Trapped. An alternative for this slot, if you choose a more defensive and close range playstyle (at the cost of some of your damage potential) is to slot Esoteric Alteration here.

Introduced in Season 4, Bane of the Stricken occupies the third and final jewelry socket in GRs. Building up your damage multiplicatively in prolonged fights and with a level 25 bonus specifically targeting Rift Guardians, this gem is designed to assist AoE heavy builds in their struggle against single target, high HP enemies. The Wave of Light Monk does better than most builds in single target situations but still benefits decently from the gem — a testament to its quality.

Slot	Gems
Jewelry	Bane of the Trapped Bane of the Stricken Zei's Stone of Vengeance Esoteric Alteration (alt)
Helm	Flawless Royal Topaz
Torso and Pants	Flawless Royal Emerald (Damage) Flawless Royal Diamond (Toughness)
Weapon	Flawless Royal Emerald

4. Kanai's Cube

For Greater Rift progression, the weapon slot will be taken by the Incense Torch of the Grand Temple, as its resource cost reduction bonuses soften the restrictive price of Wave of Light.

Strengthened in Patch 2.6.1, the extracted power of Spirit Guards is a big part of the reason Wave of Light builds are able to transition into fully offensive jewelry. At the cost of regularly attacking with a Spirit generator, this legendary power will more than halve your incoming damage.

In the jewelry slot you will use the Ring of Royal Grandeur, a cache legendary ring from Act I bounties. Running the full 6-piece Sunwuko set bonus and Tzo Krin's Gaze while dodging the undesirable guaranteed stats on the Grandeur by cubing its power is a tremendous boost to the build.

5. Follower

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.

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.

6. ChangeLog

• 12 Nov. 2017: Revised gem recommendations to reflect the proper playstyle of the build.
• 28 Oct. 2017: Changed rings, weapon #2, and waist for Patch 2.6.1.

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries