Monk 4Uliana/6Inna's SSS questions

[Knutsanity 15]

Hey, have a few questions about my buddies Monk. It's a neat combo of sets, but it needs the 2 handed Inna weapon unfortunately. So it only gets the 1 SSS weapon modifier. Still its damage is better than his WOL LoN that isn't optimised yet, even when optimised it looks to me it just needs the SSS cooldown under 5 seconds to take advantage of the set rings to be optimised itself. But yeah I've never seen the build  or a breakdown of it. So I have some questions about it that I couldn't find answers for on the Uliana's build, due to it being an exploding palm build, not SSS. 

1. What is the SSS elemental dmg? I'm assuming it's physical, but it doesn't specify, so I'm also thinking it could be holy. Whatever it is I'm also assuming the cooldown rune keeps it the same but wouldn't mind confirmation on that. 
2. Has anyone around here toyed with that build before? It's good for doing 90 so far, in co op with my wizard, both only seem capable of 87 or so solo, co op makes enemies harder to kill, but having extra distractions out there helps focus purely on spamming offence in co op. 
3. Does the Obsidian ring of the zodiac work with SSS? Or would you need another spender in the skill set to cooldown the SSS?

 

[Knutsanity 15]

Also curious what people think of the monks in general. Seemingly the hardest of all the classes IMO. Both with toughness and DMG. Especially for HC. The best DMG builds mostly have shotty toughness, and toughness is generally hard to come by without using dodging, a bad thing to rely on on HC. That once in a blue moon you get hit a few times in a row against powerful enemies would have to be never, and it isn't. No biggy on Normal but on HC you're dead. There are little tweeks you can make to the builds, but the highest DMG already struggle to keep up with the best of the other classes and you can't afford to take away from them. I look at the monk leaderboards and it appears they must go all offence and somehow never get hit. 

[eXisFOHDR 4]

1.) SSS damage is physical unless specifically change by a rune. the cooldown rune does not change the damage type.

2.) I have played around with an I6U4 build before,  I call it "Ulinna's".  the damage numbers that pop up are very impressive, but it is burst damage every 3-4 seconds with proper cooldown. If using just SSS as your damage, I found the holy rune to be better, but your use of SSS will be between 6-8 seconds. 

3.) SSS does proc the obsidian ring;However, you only get 1 second of cooldown per activation of SSS. (not per hit). I would recommend not using the obsidian ring at all, instead focus on CDR and use the flow of eternity in the cube.

 

By the sounds of it, your buddy is trying to use focus and restraint.  I find freeing up the ring slots for other rings to be more beneficial. like a CoE, unity (for solo), and a stone of Jordan.  CoE average out at 200%/5=40% and stone of Jordan will provide 20% elemental in addition to 30% damage to elites.  unity in the cube while your follower is wearing a unity and the talisman that makes it to where they can not die will provide you with 50% damage mitigation at all times.  of course in order to run I6U4, you have to use Ring of Royal, so you have to choose between the Stone of Jordan or the unity.   unity for solo, stone of Jordan for group.

 

the I6U4 build  does lack damage mitigation and typically only has 60% from spirit guards plus maybe the unity ring.  other than that it relies on the innas bonuses to increase resist all and %Life.  it is very squishy and I would strongly suggest using a different build in Hardcore.

 

 

[eXisFOHDR 4]

Dodge chance on HC is still very useful.  You should have enough defense to survive without it and the dodge is just bonus vs mobs like ghosts.  the Biggest key to a monk surviving is to simply not get hit. Dodge can achieve this, but not on command.  the biggest tool the Monk has to avoid damage is the Dash skill.  You must be quick and precise with your dashes to avoid damage as mush as possible. another thing to take into considerartion is skills that can freeze.  if the mob is frozedn, they can't attack. if using a generator on a monk build try using crippling wave with the cold rune. it goes out 17 yards in a complete circle and freezes mobs for 2 seconds.  Of course mobs have the ability to build immunity to CC effects, so over time the freeze stops working.

Edited August 13, 2019 by eXisFOHDR
typos

[Knutsanity 15]

 

On 8/13/2019 at 4:22 PM, eXisFOHDR said:

Dodge chance on HC is still very useful.  You should have enough defense to survive without it and the dodge is just bonus vs mobs like ghosts.  the Biggest key to a monk surviving is to simply not get hit. Dodge can achieve this, but not on command.  the biggest tool the Monk has to avoid damage is the Dash skill.  You must be quick and precise with your dashes to avoid damage as mush as possible. another thing to take into considerartion is skills that can freeze.  if the mob is frozedn, they can't attack. if using a generator on a monk build try using crippling wave with the cold rune. it goes out 17 yards in a complete circle and freezes mobs for 2 seconds.  Of course mobs have the ability to build immunity to CC effects, so over time the freeze stops working.

Thanks for your help ? LoN Tempest rush Flurry is now easily the best build between me or my buddy. just as well in damage, if not better when timed well, and way better defensively. Aquilla cuiras, epiphany, cold gloves, obsidian, cooldown, resource reduction, spirit generation. All possible to make ideal, constant aquilla Cuiras/epiphany. TR is almost an elusive skill in itself. 

[Knutsanity 15]

Also thinking of switching to new leg gem to incorporate CoE. Correct me if im wrong. Always looked at it as additional 200% damage, so from 100% to 300%, X3 dmg. And 1/4 of the time not 1/5th. So X3 dmg a 1/4 of the time. With spamming offence 1.75X dmg. But with timing and burst offence potentially much more. 

Also I've been rethinking dodge too kind of. Not reliable enough on hardcore, but technically still way better over all, if I'm smart enough to be a complete sissy while my death perk is activated. Which, with optimised dodge would be much less often. 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2019 by Knutsanity

[Knutsanity 15]

What I've been loving about the tempest rush flurry LoN is a bunch of stuff. Channelling leg gem and gear, cold gear. The lessened need for crit chance. 30% is cool, leaving room for more stats. Then you should hit 3 guys with crits on your flurry blast, whether hitting 3 or less or a whole wack. Pretty well always hitting 3 or less without blast. Can time blind right before blast. Can freeze with gear whenever not using blind. Goes with stricken in a way. Can feel out how long to save up flurry blast depending on enemy health. Is a skill that allows free movement. Can dual wield with enough resource tinkering, or go with a shield for real tankiness.  Especially for a monk. Epiphany, Aquilla Cuirass, shield, esoteric, LoN. 

Agree about dashing strike and learning which damage to avoid, same can go for getting used too epiphanie's teleport and using that. That is where me and my buddy could do better, especially me. I've spent so much of my game time creating tanks with the other classes, that I have almost lacked the practice or care and built bad habits. 

Honestly better than WoL LoN and the OP build. At least, as far as I could do with them. 

So now I weight LoN vs new leg gem. So basically CoE + 3rd ring skill, vs 3rd leg gem. Need taeguk with channelling builds, need esoteric with non intelligence class, need stricken.