Looking to play a monk in Season 11? Want to know which builds will help you clear greater rifts the fastest but don’t want to have to sort through a bunch of them? Look no further than our guide on the best Diablo 3 monk builds this season!
The ranking of these builds is based on Rhykker’s tier list for season 11. As balance changes are made and more is learned about the Necromancer, the builds might go up or down a few pegs on the tier list — but ultimately, they’ll be the best monk builds this season (in the opinion of one of the community’s most respected players).
Raiment Duo-Gen Monk Build
The Raiment Duo-Gen build is the best monk build this season. It places in A-tier and comes in at the fifth best build for all classes this season, according to Rhykker. It is great for solo play and is up there for group DPS.
Keep in mind, though, that this is a fragile build — so you will need to be mobile to avoid dying and immobile to get the bonuses from your neck/ring set.
In order to complete this build, you will need the following:
- Head: Mask of the Searing Sky with a Flawless Royal Amethyst
- Shoulders: Mantle of the Upside-Down Sinners
- Neck: The Traveler’s Pledge with Bane of the Trapped
- Torso: Heart of the Crashing Wave with Flawless Royal Diamond x3
- Waist: The Witching Hour
- Hands: Fists of Thunder
- Wrists: Spirit Guards
- Legs: Scales of the Dancing Serpent with Flawless Royal Diamond x2
- Feet: Eight-Demon Boots
- Left Finger: The Compass Rose with Bane of the Stricken
- Right Finger: Convention of Elements with Simplicity’s Strength
- Main-Hand: Shenlong’s Fist of Legend with Flawless Royal Emerald
- Off-Hand: Shenlong’s Fist of Legend with Flawless Royal Emerald
You will want the following items in your Kanai’s Cube:
- Flying Dragon
- Depth Diggers
- Unity
DKTheos of DiabloFan recommends the following Paragon priorities for Raiment Duo-Gen builds:
- Dexterity>Max Spirit>Movement Speed>Vitality
- Crit Hit Damage>Crit Hit Chance>Attack Speed>Cooldown Reduction
- Resist All>Armor>Life Regen>Life
- Area Damage>Life on Hit>Resource Cost Reduction>Gold Find
This is the monk build that Rhykker suggests for Raiment Duo-Gen, but if you don’t have all the necessary pieces, DKTheos swaps out the shoulders with Lefebvre’s Soliloquy, the amulet with a Hellfire Amulet, the waist with String of Ears or Goldwrap, and recommends both Unity and Stone of Jordan over Convention of Elements.
Inna EP Monk Build
This is Rhykker’s second highest ranking monk build for this season. He places it in the B-tier — but it is ranked 6, so it’s fairly close to the Raiment Duo-Gen monk build. It utilizes the Inna set and Exploding Palm with the Impending Doom rune. Inna’s will give you some sweet buffs to both your Mystic Allies and your Mantras, allowing you to use all of them simultaneously. Your allies will be doubled because of the boots! So many allies! You’ll have more allies than the current political administration.
In order to successfully pull this build off, you will have to equip:
- Head: Inna’s Radiance with Flawless Royal Diamond
- Shoulders: Lefebvre’s Soliloquy
- Neck: The Traveler’s Pledge with Bane of the Trapped
- Torso: Inna’s Vast Expanse with Flawless Royal Diamond x3
- Waist: Inna’s Favor
- Hands: Inna’s Hold
- Wrists: Gungdo Gear
- Legs: Inna’s Temperance with Flawless Royal Diamond x2
- Feet: The Crudest Boots
- Left Finger: The Compass Rose with Pain Enhancer
- Right Finger: Convention of Elements with Bane of the Stricken
- Main-Hand: Inna’s Reach with Flawless Royal Emerald
Your Kanai’s Cube should be like this:
- The Fist of Az’Turrasq
- Bindings of the Lesser Gods
- Unity
YouTube’s Quin69 recommends the following Paragon priorites for an Inna’s EP build:
- Movement Speed>Dexterity>Max Spirit>Vitality
- Cooldown Reduction>Crit Hit Damage>Crit Hit Chance>Attack Speed
- Resist All>Armor>Life>Life Regen
- Area Damage*>Resource Cost Reduction>Life on Hit>Gold Find
Note: Some players, like Reddit’s How2Post in this thread for a returning player on the Monk subreddit, recommend removing area damage Paragon points if you’re playing support in a group.
Inna’s is high in demand for group play in the top of the leaderboards in general — and as of the writing of this monk build guide, one of the top 4-man team monk players on the leaderboards uses a similar Inna’s build with a few variations. S/he uses Leoric’s Crown instead of Inna’s Radiance, a Hellfire Amulet, an Occulus Ring with Esoteric Alteration and an Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac with Gem of the Efficacious Toxin, Illusory Boots, and dual wields the Slanderer and Little Rogue.
LTK LoN Monk Build
This is one of the two Lashing Tail Kick monk builds in this guide and it is tied with its counterpart for 10 in D-tier on Rhykker’s Diablo 3 tier list. Most players who use this build use it for soloing. It’s a solid pushing build, so if you’re looking to farm greater rifts without a group, this is a good option for you this season.
This monk build does some serious fire damage with Cindercoat and Magefist’s bonuses matching LTK’s Vulture Claw Kick rune. Not only that, but the LTK itself is amplified significantly by Scarbringer, Gyana Na Kashu, and Rivera Dancers. If you have ancient versions of these items, your ring set will give you 100% damage and give you a nice bit of damage reduction as well.
To complete this bad boy of a build, you will need:
- Head: Gyana Na Kashu with Flawless Royal Topaz
- Shoulders: Lefebvre’s Soliloquy
- Neck: Hellfire Amulet with Bane of the Trapped
- Torso: Cindercoat with Flawless Royal Diamond x3
- Waist: The Witching Hour
- Hands: Magefist
- Wrists: Strongarm Bracers
- Legs: Skelon’s Deceit with Flawless Royal Diamond x2
- Feet: Rivera Dancers
- Left Finger: Litany of the Undaunted with Bane of the Stricken
- Right Finger: The Wailing Host with Gogok of Swiftness
- Main-Hand: Scarbringer with Flawless Royal Emerald
- Off-Hand: Crystal Fist with Flawless Royal Emerald
Make your Kanai’s Cube do that wild thing it does with these sons of guns:
- Flying Dragon
- The Laws of Seph
- Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac
Your Paragon points should be arranged in this order for this monk build, as per IcyVeins’ suggestions:
- Movement Speed>Dexterity>Max Spirit>Vitality
- Cooldown Reduction>Crit Hit Damage>Crit Hit Chance>Attack Speed
- Resist All>Armor>Life>Life Regen
- Resource Cost Reduction>Area Damage>Life on Hit>Gold Find
Sunwuko LTK
If the LoN LTK monk build wasn’t your flavor, check out this variation. Rhykker places this in D-Tier, and it’s tied with the LoN LTK and a few other builds for the tenth best this season.
You’ll find some survivability in this monk build in the bonuses allotted by the Sunwuko set. Your Sweeping Wind will halve the damage you take while spawning decoys to take damage for you — and on top of that, it synergizes wonderfully with your Scarbringer, Rivera Dancers, and Gyana Na Kashu to ensure that your LTKs do insane amounts of damage. You’ll also keep your spirit up by utilizing your Blinding Flash with the effect of the Laws of Seph from your Cube.
This monk build requires:
- Head: Gyana Na Kashu with Flawless Royal Diamond
- Shoulders: Sunwuko’s Balance
- Neck: Sunwuko’s Shines with Bane of the Trapped
- Torso: Sunwuko’s Soul with Flawless Royal Diamond x3
- Waist: The Witching Hour
- Hands: Sunwuko’s Paws
- Wrists: Spirit Guards
- Legs: Sunwuko’s Leggings with Flawless Royal Diamond x3
- Feet: Rivera Dancers
- Left Finger: Convention of Elements with Bane of the Stricken
- Right Finger: Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac with Gogok of Swiftness
- Main-Hand: Scarbringer with Flawless Royal Emerald
- Off-Hand: Crystal Fist with Flawless Royal Emerald
Set your Kanai’s Cube up like so:
- Flying Dragon
- The Laws of Seph
- Ring of Royal Grandeur
For this monk build, your Paragon priorities are, according to DiabloFan’s IveGottenSoLucky:
- Movement Speed>Max Spirit>Dexterity>Vitality
- Cooldown Reduction>Crit Hit Chance>Crit Hit Damage>Attack Speed
- Resist All>Life>Armor>Life Regen
- Area Damage>Resource Cost Reduction>Life on Hit>Gold Find
Inna/Uliana Monk Build
Lastly for this season, Rhykker places this monk build in his F-tier builds that don’t have a numerical ranking. Like the builds in D-tier, it’s still one of the best builds in the game — but if you’re looking for pure GR clearing potential, you will want to use Raiment’s or the other Inna’s build.
Rhykker recommends this mostly if you’re a Seven Sided Strike fan or are still building up your full Inna’s set for the build above. Seven Sided Strike is amplified by the 4-set bonus you get from the three Uliana’s pieces, plus Ring of Royal Grandeur as well as Lion’s Claw’s additional seven strikes. Uliana’s also gives you a nice extra Exploding Palm every third spirit gen attack. Your Exploding Palm will do even more damage thanks to the full 6-set bonuses you get from the 4-armor pieces and Two-Handed Inna’s weapon plus Ring of Royal Grandeur.
This monk build needs the following pieces:
- Head: Inna’s Radiance with Flawless Royal Diamond
- Shoulders: Uliana’s Strength
- Neck: The Traveler’s Pledge with Bane of the Trapped
- Torso: Inna’s Vast Expanse with Flawless Royal Diamond x3
- Waist: Inna’s Favor
- Hands: Uliana’s Fury
- Wrists: Spirit Guards
- Legs: Inna’s Temperance with Flawless Royal Diamond x2
- Feet: Uliana’s Destiny
- Left Finger: Convention of Elements with Esoteric Alteration
- Right Finger: The Compass Rose with Bane of the Stricken
- Main-Hand: Inna’s Reach with Flawless Royal Emerald
Your Kanai’s Cube should have the following items:
- Lion’s Claw
- The Crudest Boots
- Ring of Royal Grandeur
According to DiabloFan poster IveGottenSoLucky, the stat priorities for a similar Inna’s/Uliana’s build are:
- Movement Speed>Max Spirit>Vitality>Dexterity
- Cooldown Reduction>Attack Speed>Crit Hit Chance>Crit Hit Damage
- Resist All>Life>Armor>Life Regen
- Resource Cost Reduction>Life on Hit>Gold Find>Area Damage
—
What build will you be running this season? Let us know in the comments! And be sure to check out the rest of our Diablo 3 guides for Rise of the Necromancer to get the most out of this season:
- Diablo 3 Necromancer Build Guide
- Diablo 3 Necromancer Power Leveling Guide
- Complete List of Diablo 3 Pets and Their Locations
Published: Jul 24, 2017 07:23 am