SWK LTK Monk Speed Farming Variation

Last updated on Jan 08, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 6 comments
Build Variations Updated for Season 30, Patch 2.7.7 Main Build Solo Greater Rift Progression Nephalem Rift Farming
1.

Speed Farming

The Sunwuko LTK Monk deals with regular Rift farming decently all the way through the highest Torments, making it a viable build for the task. 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
Left Mouse Button Lashing Tail Kick Icon Lashing Tail Kick Sweeping Armada Sweeping Armada Right Mouse Button Dashing Strike Icon Dashing Strike Quicksilver Quicksilver 1 Epiphany Icon Epiphany Insight Insight 2 Sweeping Wind Icon Sweeping Wind Inner Storm Inner Storm 3 Mystic Ally Icon Mystic Ally Air Ally Air Ally 4 Mantra of Healing Icon Mantra of Healing Circular Breathing Circular Breathing
Passive Skills
2.

Adapting Rotation

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

Similarly to all Sunwuko builds, this LTK variant begins runs by activating Sweeping Wind Sweeping Wind, which should be kept up throughout the rift. Use your superior mobility from the Dashing Strike Dashing Strike reset by In-geom In-geom to seek out enemies, destroying them in one fell swoop with the convenient AoE of Lashing Tail Kick Lashing Tail Kick Sweeping Armada Sweeping Armada . Your Spirit needs will be taken care of by the combined passive regeneration of Epiphany Epiphany Insight Insight, Mantra of Healing Mantra of Healing Circular Breathing Circular Breathing and Chant of Resonance Chant of Resonance, plus the active pop of Air Ally Air Ally; you will make up the loss of toughness from losing Desert Shroud Desert Shroud via Goldwrap Goldwrap.

3.

Adapting Skills

The recommended skill alterations from the GR progression build are:

  • Epiphany Epiphany is an omnipresent self-buff in all versions of the build. You can consider Insight Insight over Desert Shroud Desert Shroud if you trust your upkeep of Goldwrap Goldwrap mitigation.
  • You can shift away from survivability into more utility on Dashing Strike Dashing Strike depending on your confidence in handling the build. This is usually done by replacing Blinding Speed Blinding Speed with either Quicksilver Quicksilver for the additional charge during T16 rifts (where elites are more abundant for In-geom In-geom procs), or Way of the Falling Star Way of the Falling Star (for the greater distance covered during bounties).
  • Since you will be dropping the excessive clone damage from Rabid Strike Rabid Strike plus Bindings of the Lesser Gods Bindings of the Lesser Gods combo in T16 farming, you should also swap Cyclone Strike Cyclone Strike for a passive Spirit regeneration source from Mantra of Healing Mantra of Healing Circular Breathing Circular Breathing.
  • Since toughness will be mostly taken care of by Goldwrap Goldwrap, you can consider dropping the Monk progression staplel Harmony Harmony for Chant of Resonance Chant of Resonance; coupled with Circular Breathing Circular Breathing, it will provide a solid source of Spirit regeneration for your farming convenience.
4.

Adapting Gear

You will still be taking advantage of the full 6-piece set bonuses of Sunwuko set while wearing 5 of the available pieces, and using a Ring of Royal Grandeur Ring of Royal Grandeur to complete the full bonus, since reliance on the Rabid Strike Rabid Strike clone and Cpt. Crimson damage scaling is absolute overkill for T16 rift farming however, you will be shifting several pieces around:

Lastly, it is advisable to wear Ring of Royal Grandeur Ring of Royal Grandeur as an equipped item, since this allows you to have the damage multiplier of Squirt's Necklace Squirt's Necklace in the Cube despite the neck slot occupation of Sunwuko's Shines Sunwuko's Shines. Pair this ring either with Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac to ensure your cooldown availability (in Rifts or Bounties where In-geom In-geom procs prove unreliable), or a Physical damage Stone of Jordan Stone of Jordan for a constant Elemental and Elite damage boost.

Note that both Zodiac and SoJ are recommended for solo farming, since your Follower can wear Avarice Band 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 their place.

Since you will be dropping the whole Rabid Strike Rabid StrikeBindings of the Lesser Gods Bindings of the Lesser Gods interaction in T16s, consider wearing Warzechian Armguards Warzechian Armguards instead; they will bring an environment destruction-based speed buff that is easily provided by the AoE of this build. The former favorites, the elite spawning Nemesis Bracers Nemesis Bracers, are still very valuable, but they can now be equipped on the follower while still getting their bonus via the Emanate mechanics. You should still equip them in groups, where you cannot have a follower with you. The Nemesis Bracers Nemesis Bracers value comes from the additional loot — not to mention progression — coming from the extra elite spawns. They let you finish standard rifts that much faster, and acquire the coveted GR keys in greater amounts.

Slot Pieces Stat Priority
Head
  1. Dexterity
  2. Socket
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Wave of Light Damage %
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Shoulders
  1. Dexterity
  2. Cooldown Reduction
  3. Area Damage
  4. Resource Cost Reduction
  5. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
  6. Health Globe Healing Bonus (Secondary Stat)
Torso
  1. Dexterity
  2. 3 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Life %
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat))
  6. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Wrists
  1. Dexterity
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Physical Damage %
  4. Life per Hit or Vitality
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
Hands
  1. Dexterity
  2. Dexterity (replaced by Area Damage at High Paragons)
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Critical Hit Damage
  5. Resource Cost Reduction (or CDR)
  6. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  7. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Waist
  1. Dexterity
  2. Vitality
  3. Armor
  4. Life %
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
Legs
  1. Dexterity
  2. 2 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Armor
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
Feet
  1. Dexterity
  2. Wave of Light Damage %
  3. Vitality
  4. Armor
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Health Globe Healing Bonus (Secondary Stat)
Amulet
  1. Socket (guaranteed)
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Physical Damage %
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Ring #1
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Average Damage or Resource Cost Reduction
Ring #2
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Average Damage or Resource Cost Reduction
Weapon #1
  1. High Weapon Damage
  2. Dexterity
  3. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  4. Resource Cost Reduction
  5. Area Damage or Cooldown Reduction
  6. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat if LpH not present)
Weapon #2
  1. High Weapon Damage
  2. Dexterity
  3. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  4. Resource Cost Reduction
  5. Area Damage or Cooldown Reduction
  6. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat if LpH not present)

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.

4.1.

Altar of Rites

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).

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.

5.

Adapting Gems

Bane of the Trapped Bane of the Trapped and Bane of the Powerful Bane of the Powerful will 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 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 Avarice Band Avarice Band. It will also render you practically invulnerable through a worn Goldwrap Goldwrap.

5.1.

Season 30 Soul Shards

In Season 30, your helm and weapon sockets will be taken over by the supremely powerful Soul Shards. For this variant, we recommend the following:

  • HelmFragment of Destruction with "When you apply Mark of Destruction to an enemy, you increase your Movement Speed by 5% for 7 seconds. Max 10 Stacks" as its Rank 3 power. For optimization benefits, aim for Dexterity or Melee/Ranged Damage Reduction on its Rank 2 roll.
  • WeaponStain of Sin with "You gain an additional Rift Progress Orb when you kill an elite pack" as its Rank 3 power. For optimization benefits, aim for Physical Skills % Increase or Weapon Damage Increase on its Rank 2 roll.
Slot Gems
Jewelry
Helm
Torso and Pants
Weapon

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

6.

Adapting Kanai's Cube

During speedruns, In-geom In-geom shines over your other options by cutting 10 seconds off all your cooldowns after killing an elite, essentially nullifying resource and mobility concerns for a generous 15-second period — usually enough to keep the procs going.

You should wear your stronger rolled item between Rivera Dancers Rivera Dancers and The Crudest Boots The Crudest Boots, and extract the weaker one in this slot.

Tucked away in the jewelry slot of the Cube, Squirt's Necklace Squirt's Necklace will add another huge damage multiplier to the build. You will counteract its "increased damage taken" downside with the Goldwrap Goldwrap toughness boost.

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.

7.

Follower

The recommended follower for this build during standard rift farming for keys is the Enchantress due to her cooldown reduction buff from Prophetic Harmony Prophetic Harmony, as well as the Focused Mind Focused Mind attack speed buff.

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.

8.

Legendary Potion

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

9.

Changelog

  • 08 Jan. 2024: Revised guide for the permanent addition of the Altar of Rites, and added Season-specific Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 13 Sep. 2023: Added Season 29 Paragon Cap and Gearing recommendations.
  • 22 Feb. 2023: Added Season 28 Altar of Rites recommendations.
  • 26 Aug. 2022: Added Season 27 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
  • 14 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
  • 08 Dec. 2021: Guide revised and added Season 25 Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 21 Jul. 2021: Added Ethereal weapon recommendation for Season 24.
  • 01 Apr. 2021: Minor gear adjustments and added a follower recommendation.
  • 16 Nov. 2020: Added S22 Cube recommendation.
  • 01 Jul. 2020: No changes required for Season 21.
  • 12 Mar. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 20.
  • 21 Nov. 2019: Overhaul of speed farming build to include the Sage's set for farming. Updated for Season 19.
  • 23 Aug. 2019: Reviewed for Season 18.
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