Getting Back Into Gaming

Posted by on Oct 17, 2015 in Commentary, PS4 |

Pardon the long absence. I went on a business trip and was not able to play much.

When I got back the first order of business was to fix my Diablo characters. Patch 2.3 hit while I was away so I took the time to find out what the latest builds where and set my characters to where I wanted them to be. I’ve managed to get three of them up to par, namely my witch doctor, demon hunter and monk. Fine-tuning what can be re-rolled is next. Of the three, I like the demon hunter the best. She just clears entire packs of monsters with Multishot.

I’m also playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It took a while to find my groove with it. I was forcing a pure stealth playthrough when it wasn’t necessary. I’m content with getting no combat alerts. If the trophies are not too crazy I might consider going for the platinum.

Finally, I started a new Bloodborne playthrough. I’m not sure if I’ll get around to finishing it. I just wanted to see if I still had it. I stopped when I killed the blood-starved beast.

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Diablo III Reaper of Souls: Monk Unity Build

Diablo III Reaper of Souls: Monk Unity Build

Posted by on Apr 3, 2014 in Guides |

Welcome to my first (and hopefully not the last) guide for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. The build I’m going to introduce here focuses on Unity, one of the new passive skills in RoS.

The core skills of this build are:

  • Unity
  • Mystic Ally: Fire Ally
  • Mantra of Conviction: Collateral Damage

Why Unity?

All of the new monk passives buff your DPS. Among them, Unity is the most straightforward. It works as long as you have a group with you. I find Momentum to be too gimmicky and Mythic Rhythm too conditional.

How does Unity work?

Screenshot004

As you can see, it buffs your DPS by 5% per ally while also raising their damage by the same amount.

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Diablo 3: Monk Inferno Farming Guide [Act 1 & Act 2]

Posted by on Jul 22, 2012 in Guides |

Long overdue, I know, but here it is anyway.

Stats:

  • Health: at least 20000
  • DPS: 18000 for Act 1, 22000 for Act 2
  • Resistance: 450 for Act 1, 750 for Act 2
  • Armor: at least 7000
  • Critical Hit Chance: at least 25%

Note that these are numbers intended for farming so they’re naturally higher than progression stats. If you need to use the Enchantress to get the armor up to that value, it’s okay to do so. Other than that the rest of the figures should be unbuffed. Here’s the build:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aigjXh!XYU!YcYcba

The build uses critical hits for both offense and survivability through spirit generation. The Cyclone rune dishes out additional DPS and will make short work of anything you fight. Quickening grants more spirit which then allows you to spam healing through the mantra. At 450 resist you should be able to swap Mantra of Evasion with Mantra of Conviction. Similar to my previous guide I recommend using the Overawe rune with it.

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Diablo 3: Monk Build [Inferno Acts 1 and 2]

Posted by on Jun 20, 2012 in Guides |

I only had about three hours to play earlier but here’s the build I used to finish Act 2 on Inferno after patch 1.0.3 was applied:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#ajgYXk!YXU!abYcYa

I’ll post screenshots of my stats later but in terms of numbers I was at 800+ resist, 5000+ armor, 13000+ DPS and 22000+ hit points.

Build Info:

  • This is all about burst damage. The idea is to take out targets as fast as you can using the Overawe and Faith in the Light buffs.

  • For those looking for it, the spirit dump skill in the build is Mantra of Conviction. Why? Overawe.

  • Both Air Ally and Infused with Light are intended to grant extra spirit.

  • Sweeping Wind is a better choice DPS-wise, but I found myself kiting more than I was standing still so using Mystic Ally was the better option.

Questions? Suggestions? Hit the comments.

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Diablo 3: Monk Guide [Nightmare and Hell]

Posted by on May 30, 2012 in Guides |

Nightmare

Nightmare is where things become interesting. The mobs are tougher and stronger. You won’t be able to just go in and attack all the time. On the upside they also drop better loot. Stacking vitality (VIT) along with DEX will help counter the higher incoming damage. Don’t feel too bad about losing a few points of DPS in exchange for extra health. Getting hit points (HP) up to 30,000 should be more than enough to get through this level.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aigZXh!YXd!abaYba

The build is now even more defense-oriented than the last one. Monks have naturally high dodge so using Mantra of Evasion will take full advantage of that. Raising armor through Seize the Initiative will provide damage mitigation during the times dodge fails.

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