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
• ×Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points
  • 1. Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives
  • 2. Paragon Points
  • 3. Gems
  • 4. Kanai's Cube
  • 5. Follower
• +Speed Farming Variation
  • 1. Speed Farming
  • 2. Adapting Skills
  • 3. Adapting Gear
  • 4. Adapting Gemming
  • 5. Adapting Kanai's Cube

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 and Season 11.

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 Cooldown Reduction and skill damage bonuses. CDR is desired on Sunwuko's Balance alongside high Toughness stats; double Crit stats plus high Dexterity and Vitality 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.

With Sunwuko's Shines denying you the option for the Endless Walk set and lacking a synergistic ranged generator to make Focus and Restraint work in the setup, the Wave of Light Monk splits the remaining jewelry slots between offense and defense as best he can: Unity to halve incoming damage, and Convention of Elements to boost your damage. You need to keep Convention of Elements's elemental rotation under close scrutiny and adopt a strategy of drawing monster attention during the off cycles, followed by major Spirit spending during the Fire cycle.

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.

One of the 2.4 additions, Kyoshiro's Soul is a belt targeted at Sunwuko Monks. Building up Sweeping Wind stacks at a rate of 2 per second as long as Sweeping Wind does not damage enemies, this belt dictates a large part of the playstyle by enforcing a distance between the Sweeping Wind vortex and the enemy lines.

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 makes it easier to keep the stacks from Kyoshiro's Soul, and 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 the Crystal Fist for its massive damage reduction bonuses after using Dashing Strike.

Slot	Pieces	Stat Priority
Head	Tzo Krin's Gaze	Dexterity Critical Hit Chance Socket Vitality
Shoulders	Sunwuko's Balance	Dexterity Vitality Cooldown 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 Vitality Area Damage
Waist	Kyoshiro's Soul	Dexterity Vitality Secondary Resistance (Physical preferred) Armor
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	Convention of Elements	Socket Critical Hit Damage Critical Hit Chance Damage Range Dexterity
Ring #2	Unity	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) Cooldown Reduction Area Damage
Weapon #2	Crystal Fist	High Damage Range Dexterity Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift) Cooldown 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.

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 Zei's Stone of Vengeance Bane of the Stricken
Helm	Flawless Royal Diamond
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.

Unable to rely on generators for additional Spirit stability, the Wave of Light Monk generally leans on Cindercoat in the Cube; its unique bonus maximized to 30% from the extraction, this powerful resource management piece allows you to be trigger-happy with the fire rune Explosive Light while maintaining the Desert Shroud defensive bonus.

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.