The Building Blocks to Success: Your Guide to Diablo 3 Monk Builds

Are you new to Diablo 3?

Sure, the game has been out for a few years on PC and PS4, but it saw recent revitalization when it re-released on the Nintendo Switch. The console, while popular, lacked dark and mature titles and Diablo 3 quickly filled in the gap.

One of the best parts of Diablo 3 is its open-customization. You can take the same class and build it in different ways, guaranteeing a different experience with each play.

This is especially great if you played the first two games and want to keep using a monk. You’ll need these optimal builds if you want to survive in the harder difficulties, like Hardcore Mode.

For this guide, we’ll dive into several Diablo 3 Monk builds. Read on to learn more about how to level up a monk, which gear to hunt, and some good builds to optimize your abilities:

Leveling Up a Monk

Diablo 3’s Monk class offers a flurry of fists and kicks to dish out lots of damage. This class is one that packs a punch, especially if you’re already experienced with the game. But for newcomers, the class is often challenging to gear up.

Picking up new equipment here and there, you need to ensure that you get ones that have the highest Dexterity rating. Do this while you’re grinding your way to level 70, where the real fun begins. Always remember that you’re a melee character, so it’s important to pay attention to your Vitality rating too.

Some players get discouraged with the leveling process, but there are ways to mitigate this. For one, consider putting a Ruby into your Helm. This helps you get more experience for every monster you kill.

Rubies are great additions to your arsenal since it also boosts your weapon damage when socketed. As you gain more levels, the main rule is to use an area-of-effect damage build. Push yourself as much as you can, finding the right difficulty level to get enough experience and loot boosts.

Once you find one that works for you, your extra efforts will be worthwhile. Make sure that the level doesn’t bog you down so much that you could clear a lower difficulty in a faster, more efficient way.

Choosing the Right Monk Follower

Like previous games, you can have an NPC join you as a follower. There’s no confirmation followers will still be in the controversial Diablo Immortal, releasing soon for mobile devices, but at least Diablo 3 offers some interesting options for this mechanic.

In a general sense, always pick the Follower that gets the benefits from your hero’s primary stats. With that in mind, you can pick the Scoundrel if you’re playing the Monk. With this selection, you always have the option of gifting your old gear to him when you find better gear for yourself.

This choice can change if you’re going to play Hardcore mode. Think about using the Templar in this situation, even if it isn’t easy for you to gear him up. The survival skills that he can dish out can be extremely useful in preventing your character’s permanent death.

Gearing Up a Monk for Torment

You need to prioritize some stats for the equipment you get when hunting for your first level 70 gear. It doesn’t matter whether it’s from the Gambler or by sheer monster kills. The general rule for leveling still applies. Increase Dexterity as much as you can with all your pieces of equipment.

Always remember that your Dexterity rating determines the greatest damage boost you can get. You can try following this recommended monk build since it’s one of our best for the current Diablo 3 meta. It’s good for hand-to-hand combat with great crowd control skills.

Beyond dexterity, always remember that your armor slots can suit different stat priorities. For example, your Gloves, Amulets, and Rings are great for elemental damage or crit. If you can, craft a Reaper’s Wraps for your Bracers.

As for your head, get an item that gives better critical damage power. Chest and leg items should have three and two sockets. Standard Weapons should give high damage and dexterity rating alongside crit damage.

Prioritize getting a socket on your weapon and get your best Emerald gem in it. As soon as you’re done, check your critical hit chance and critical hit damage stats. Make the right adjustments to ensure that they’re within a 1:10 ratio with each other.

Best Monk Gems

With monks demanding precise timing, it’s great that Blizzard’s servers are more robust than when Diablo 3 first got released back in 2012. But when you’re still grinding to level 70, you need to get the best Ruby into your weapon. This helps you get the best damage output and can serve you until you hit the end-game.

Once you’re at level 70, you should replace your weapon gem with an emerald. If you’re lucky enough to get headgear with an extra socket, you can use a ruby to boost the experience you gain. Unlocking the mystic makes it easier for you since you can reroll a useless gear stat into a socket if you don’t have one.

Do you want pure damage? If so, you can never go wrong stacking your best emeralds into each of your other available slots. After all, it boosts your dexterity skill rating, making you a more effective monk in combat.

If you find yourself dying a lot, try switching an emerald or two out for diamonds or amethysts. Your gem choice depends on your specific character’s build and circumstances. The need for flexibility is a common monk theme. These gem choices can help a lot.

Best End-Game Monk Equipment

Grinding for other gear can be a tortuous path, but try completing as many Act 1 bounty sessions as you can. This will help you get the Ring of Royal Grandeur. This ring will let you get the special bonuses from armor sets even if you have one less piece of gear equipped.

Another great item is the Stone of Jordan due to its overall usefulness. But for monks, they’re less dependent on sets to become effective in combat. That means you have a lot of options when it comes to the equipment to aim for.

Look for a few pieces of Aughild’s armor as well as a good Magefist for your Gloves slot. The rest can be anything you want, as long as you can balance your build with the items you’re lucky enough to get.

How to Spend Paragon Points on Monks

The Paragon system launched back in Patch 1.0.4, but it received a major update when Patch 2.0.1 came out. In its most basic sense, once you reach the level cap, you can now start working towards your Paragon Levels. This benefited all characters, but monks got a lot of boosts with this mechanic.

An effective way to optimize your monk builds in Diablo 3 using Paragon points is to invest in movement speed in the core category. That way, you can get to the farming spots in a fast and efficient manner. Invest in Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit damage for the Offense category while maintaining the 1:10 ratio.

Investing in the Resist All category is great for defense. It’s up to you when to make the shift of investment towards the Life category. In most cases, you can make the leap once you have enough to survive encounters.

For Utility, Area Damage is a great investment for improved raw power damage output. If you’re having issues surviving, you can switch to Life On Hit instead. Always remember that you can reset your Paragon points whenever you want.

Paragon point resets are more important for Monks than any other class. This will ensure that you remain an effective combatant regardless of your situation. Keep this in mind and you’ll be fine.

Good Monk Builds for Diablo 3: Season 16 

The current season for Diablo 3 began last January 18, accompanied by their latest patch. With that, a lot of new monk builds emerged to fit the current meta. Whether you play using the Switch, PS4 or the XBox One, you can rely on these Diablo 3 Monk builds for Season 16 to get the most out of your experience.

1. Solo Monk Speed Build for Farming

This build is a great way for you to start farming equipment without a party. If you’re someone who likes to solo play, this build is fast without compromising your combat abilities.

Active Skills

Here are the active skills you need for this build:

• Wave of Light – Explosive Light Rune
• Dashing Strike – Way of the Falling Star Rune
• Mantra of Salvation – Wind Through the Reeds Rune
• Cyclone Strike – Eye of the Storm Rune
• Mystic Ally – Air Ally Rune
• Epiphany – Desert Shroud Rune

All these skills combined will let you close in on an enemy fast. Wave of Light combined with Explosive Light will allow you to deal a lot of area of effect damage until you crush your enemies. Epiphany with the Desert Shroud rune will help you get more mobility while reducing damage taken.

Passive Skills

Here are the passive skills for this build:

• Beacon of Ytar
• Seize the Initiative
• Fleet Footed
• Momentum

This combination helps you deliver more damage while increasing your movement speed. The cooldown reduction will allow you to keep dealing damage and maintain mobility through dash skills.

Items

Here are the items you need:

• Inna’s Armor Set (Head, Torso, Hands, Waist, Legs)
• Lefebvre’s Soliloquy (Shoulders)
• The Traveler’s Pledge (Amulet)
• Pinto’s Pride (Wrists)
• The Crudest Boots (Feet)
• Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac and The Compass Rose (Rings)
• In-geom (Weapon)
• Rabid Strike (Offhand)

Along with this, you need to get the following Legendary Gems: Bane of the Trapped, Zei’s Stone of Vengeance, and the Boon Hoarder.

Paragon Priorities

For your Paragon levels, you can use this distribution:

• Core – Movement Speed, Primary Stat, Vitality, Maximum Resource
• Offense – Cooldown Reduction, Critical Hit Percentage, Critical Hit DPS, and Attack Speed
• Defense – Resist All, Armor, Life, Life Regeneration
• Utility – Area Damage, Resource Cost Reduction, Life On Hit, Gold Find

2. Full Support Tank Monk

This build is a good group build. If you’re adventuring with your friends all the time, this is the build to give you the most out of the Monk’s support capabilities.

Active Skills

Here are the active skills you need:

• Crippling Wave – Tsunami Rune
• Cyclone Strike – Implosion Rune
• Serenity – Ascension Rune
• Inner Sanctuary – Forbidden Palace Rune
• Mantra of Salvation – Agility Rune
• Epiphany – Soothing Mist Rune

Epiphany with Soothing Mist is one of the best ways to keep your allies alive. It allows you to heal yourself and your allies while in battle.

Passive Skills

Here are your passive skills:

• Beacon of Ytar
• Harmony
• The Guardian’s Path
• Resolve

Resolve is a good debuff against high-damaging monsters. With its 20% damage reduction, deadly attacks become more bearable.

Items

Here are the items you need:

• Inna’s Armor Set (Head, Torso, Hands, Waist, Legs)
• Countess Julia’s Cameo (Amulet)
• Spirit Guards (Wrists)
• Oculus Ring (Ring)
• The Slanderer (Weapon)
• Little Rogue (Offhand)

For your Legendary Gems, you can count on Bane of the Trapped, Esoteric Alteration, and Gogok of Swiftness.

Paragon Priorities

For your Paragon levels, you can use this distribution:

• Core – Primary Stat, max Vitality, total Movement Speed, Max Resource
• Offense – Attack Speed, Cooldown Reduction, Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage
• Defense – Life, then Armor, Resist All, and Life Regeneration
• Utility – Area Damage, Resource Cost Reduction, Life on Hit, Gold Find

This enables you to hit hard and fast while maintaining survivability.  The latter will enable you to continue supporting your group even in difficult situations.

Learn Good Diablo 3 Monk Builds Today!

There are a lot of other builds out there depending on your play style. No matter how unorthodox you are, there is a build out there for you. All you need to do most of the time is to experiment or search for other Diablo 3 Monk builds guide online.

Either way, the most important thing is to enjoy yourself. Often, the fun you get from building characters and leveling them are its own rewards. Don’t hesitate to try out something new.

Why stop here? We have other guides for great games you should check out.

Do you need to know the best Red Dead Redemption 2 weapons for quick draws, for example? Read this guide and learn more today.