SWK Tempest Rush Monk Speed Farming Variation

Last updated on Jan 08, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 33 comments
Build Variations Updated for Season 30, Patch 2.7.7 Main Build Solo Greater Rift Progression Nephalem Rift Farming
1.

Normal Rift Speed Farming Variation

The Tempest Rush Monk can deal quite well with Normal Rift farming all the way through the highest Torment difficulties. The build variation suffers from minor inconveniences compared to top tier speed farming builds (i.e. conflicting bracers, competing weapon slots), but otherwise handles the task with ease. 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 Tempest Rush Icon Tempest Rush Electric Field Electric Field Right Mouse Button Dashing Strike Icon Dashing Strike Way of the Falling Star Way of the Falling Star 1 Mantra of Conviction Icon Mantra of Conviction Annihilation Annihilation 2 Sweeping Wind Icon Sweeping Wind Inner Storm Inner Storm 3 Cyclone Strike Icon Cyclone Strike Wall of Wind Wall of Wind 4 Epiphany Icon Epiphany Insight Insight
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.

In the speed farming Tempest Rush build, you will be applying the necessary CC for Cesar's Memento Cesar's Memento through the automated Cyclone Strike Cyclone Strike pulls from Won Khim Lau Won Khim Lau by selecting the Wall of Wind Wall of Wind rune. This allows you to drop Blinding Flash Blinding Flash from the progression version of the build, and use the mobility staple Dashing Strike Dashing Strike. The build remains largely the same, but you will no longer have to keep track of stacks, since you replace the Flurry Flurry rune with the fire-and-forget of Electric Field Electric Field, which allows you to focus on re-applying self-buffs like Mantra of Conviction Mantra of Conviction Annihilation Annihilation and Epiphany Epiphany Insight Insight.

3.

Adapting Skills

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.

4.

Adapting Gear

You will still be taking advantage of the full 6-piece set bonuses of Sunwuko, incorporating the same split as you would in progression — but instead of the Cpt. Crimson set, you will be including the Sage's Journey set for Death's Breath farming. Take Sage's Ribbon Sage's Ribbon and Sage's Passage Sage's Passage, and then complete both the SWK and Sage set bonuses with a Ring of Royal Grandeur Ring of Royal Grandeur in the Cube.

Both the cooldown-over-time resets of Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac and the timed damage increase of Convention of Elements Convention of Elements greatly diminish in usefulness during Normal Rift farming. That progression-oriented jewelry will be better replaced by a split between a Lightning damage Stone of Jordan Stone of Jordan (for the permanent damage increase) and an Avarice Band Avarice Band (for the synergy with Goldwrap Goldwrap and Boon of the Hoarder Boon of the Hoarder).

The trio of Tempest Rush Tempest Rush-oriented legendary items will remain in their place, as they are too valuable to pass up even during farming: Vengeful Wind Vengeful Wind for the massive increase to the SWK 6-piece bonus, Won Khim Lau Won Khim Lau for the damage multiplication and Cyclone Strike Cyclone Strike convenience, and Cesar's Memento Cesar's Memento for the substantial damage buffs.

Slot Pieces Stat Priority
Head
  1. Dexterity
  2. Socket
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Tempest Rush Damage %
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Shoulders
  1. Dexterity
  2. Resource Cost Reduction
  3. Area Damage
  4. All Resistance (guaranteed)
  5. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
  6. Health Globe Healing Bonus (Secondary Stat)
Torso
  1. Dexterity
  2. 3 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Reduced damage from Elites
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat))
  6. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Wrists
  1. Dexterity
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Lightning 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
  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. Tempest Rush 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. Lightning 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. RCR and/or CDR
Ring #2
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. RCR and/or CDR
Weapon #1
  1. High Weapon Damage
  2. Dexterity
  3. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  4. Damage %
  5. Area Damage
  6. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
Weapon #2
  1. High Weapon Damage
  2. Dexterity
  3. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  4. Damage %
  5. Area Damage
  6. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)

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 Taeguk 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 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 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:

  • Helm: Fragment 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 Lightning 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

While you will lose a damage multiplier by dropping Balance Balance from the weapon slot in the Cube, you will make up the loss with the valuable cooldown-resetting powers of In-geom In-geom.

Our default recommendation for the armor Cube slot is Goldwrap Goldwrap, since its synergy with Boon of the Hoarder Boon of the Hoarder and Avarice Band 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 Ring of Royal Grandeur in the jewelry slot.

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 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.

8.

Legendary Potion

The best potion for Tempest Rush Monks is the Bottomless Potion of Kulle-Aid Bottomless Potion of Kulle-Aid, as it allows you to break through Waller affixes — an elite affix common enough to be a major pain in a build that is highly dependent on mobility.

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: Added Season 25 Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 21 Jul. 2021: Added Ethereal weapon recommendation for Season 24.
  • 01 Apr. 2021: Added follower recommendation.
  • 16 Nov. 2020: Added S22 Cube recommendation.
  • 01 Jul. 2020: No changes required for Season 21.
  • 14 Apr. 2020: Fixed elemental damage recommendation and typos.
  • 12 Mar. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 20.
  • 21 Nov. 2019: Significantly expanded the overall information in the guide, Sage setup changed to reflect new items. Updated for Season 19.
  • 23 Aug. 2019: Reviewed for Season 18.
  • 16 May 2019: Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
  • 23 Mar. 2018: Added the guide.
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