I've been slowly working my way through Inferno, and I think I've come up with a respectable build. I'm focusing on a hybrid dodge/life regen build.
Skills
- Primary: Fists of Thunder with Lightning Flash - the dodge is subject to diminishing returns, but it's still an extra ~8% while I'm attacking. That's not bad at all.
- Secondary: Lashing Tail Kick with Hand of Ytar - this is mostly to keep Sweeping Wind from falling off. It also helps attract attention from enemies standing in damage spots.
- Skill 1: Serenity with Instant Karma - mostly my panic button. But with Instant Karma, when I'm in the middle of a giant group, this helps thin the crowd.
- Skill 2: Dashing Strike with Blinding Speed - This helps get me out of damage spots, and gives me a dodge boost while I'm at it.
- Skill 3: Sweeping Wind with Cyclone - nothing like a group of guys trying to beat on you, and dying in the process. At max stacks, it provides a very respectable 45% AoE, with a chance to spawn tornados that do 20%. That's nothing to laugh at.
- Skill 4: Mantra of Evasion with Hard Target - my armor isn't very high, so the 20% boost is very helpful. When I get my armor high enough, I'll be switching the rune to Backlash, for the AoE fire damage.
- Passive 1: One With Everything - Pretty self explanatory. Focus on a single resistance.
- Passive 2: Seize the Initiative - Adds Dexterity to Armor. Monks are all about the Dexterity. With this single passive, Dexterity provides Dodge, Damage, and Armor.
- Passive 3: The Guardian's Path - Adds 15% dodge with dual-wielding. Since this is a dodge build, this is pure gold.
Equipment modifiers
Required, in order of importance:
Life on Hit is the saving grace of this build. It's what keeps you going in the middle of a giant group. If both weapons have 400+, then Fists or Daggers will give you over 1000 life per second just for beating on something. Slightly less for slower weaponry. Enough life on hit means you can basically ignore anything a boss throws at you (as long is it doesn't kill you in one hit), as the life regeneration will just heal you back to where you were before he even attacked.
Life Regeneration is the secondary concern. Life on hit heals burst damage. Life regeneration heals damage areas, keeps you up while you run over them to get to (or away from) something. Also, it's easy enough to replace the Mantra of Healing entirely with all of two or three pieces of equipment, allowing you to focus on dodging.
A single resistance; it doesn't matter which one. If you find a piece of equipment that has your chosen resistance and resist all, that's gravy. You can get 90+ resist from one piece of equipment. This will mitigate damage to a very large degree, which is absolutely required for Inferno, even for dodging. You are going to get hit. Make it hurt as little as possible.
Dexterity is your all-around do everything stat. More is better, as always. Don't skimp on the above for this, though. You'll do more damage, yes, but you'll also have more trouble surviving the pain being thrown your way.
Vitality is the last required modifier. This one is last because you don't need a whole lot; enough to survive the biggest hits, but anything that doesn't one-shot you will die. This is why I currently have a grand total of 14,000 life.
Nice to have, but not essential:
Attack Speed is a no-brainer. Faster attacks mean more hits, which means more life. The damage boost is a side bonus.
Strength adds to armor, which is always good. Don't look for it, though, as that's all the bonus it give you.
Intelligence will boost your resistances, and that's never a bad thing. Your chosen resistance is better, though, as it takes 10 Intelligence to match a single point of resistance.
Higher Critical Chance synergizes very well with Sweeping Wind. If you can get this without sacrificing any required stats, get it. It will crank your DPS into overdrive.
Higher Critical Damage is just a damage boost.
Melee/Ranged damage reduction is gravy on top of your armor and resistances. I haven't tested whether this gets dumped on top of existing armor or not, leading into a straight damage reduction, but like I said earlier, less damage taken is a good thing.
Control Effect Reduction will unfreeze and un-jail you that much faster. Freeze is the critical one. Not being able to attack means you can't bring your life on hit to bear. This is not optimal.
Not required:
Thorns are not really needed. Yeah, you'll damage those that hit you, but between Sweeping Wind and your third hit, you'll already be doing much more to those in front of you.
Other resistances are entirely useless. They will provide no benefit whatsoever, unless it goes higher than your chosen. In which case, why are you diluting your equipment choices to that extent? You might as well focus exclusively on Resist All, then.
Playstyle
First up, this build will not let you stand there and take Arcane Sentries and Desecrators without moving. I don't think there's any build that will let you do that. So, get used to moving. Not to kite, but to pull away from damage spots, arcane sentries, that sort of thing. Move is your watchword. Moving is life.
You can stand and take it from enemies that have Reflect Damage, Fast, Vampiric, anything that doesn't drop a damage spot. Even Molten is fine, as long as they don't move. Just remember, they explode when you kill them.
Dashing Strike dashes you to the other side of the enemy that you are on. It can also dash you out of a tight spot. Use this to avoid boss attacks. Butcher winds up his big swing? Dash behind him, and keep going. This takes split-second timing, however, as I've found some enemies will wind up, and if you dash before they begin the attack animation, they'll turn to hit you. You may have better luck dashing away from your enemies. The dodge bonus from the rune only functions when you hit something. It will not work just dashing from one point to another. Also keep in mind that damage spots tend to interrupt the dash, so don't take it as a get out of jail free card.
When fighting bosses, champions, anything with over 100,000 health, turn on Sweeping Wind. You'll regain your Spirit, and be doing extra damage. If you need to run away, use Lashing Tail Kick on an enemy to keep it from falling off.
Don't worry about your life dropping; it's going to happen. It's when you're standing in a plague patch, or other damage area that you need to worry. Remember our watchword? Move. Why are you trying to imitate a Barbarian? Monks are about speed, grace, and balance. Flow around the battlefield. Let them come to you, away from their Arcane Sentries and Plague patches. A live monk is a happy monk.
Anything that can't kill you in one hit will die. You won't be able to stand there and take it from Arcane or Plague champion groups, but normal monsters provide no difficulty.
You are going to die from time to time. It happens. Don't get frustrated. Learn from it, and experiment. Vortex sucks you onto an Arcane Sentry? Hopefully Serenity is available. If not, take your lumps and try again.
Last tip: Have fun. If you're not enjoying having to run around to avoid Arcane sentries or Desecration patches, this build is not for you.
I've updated this for Inferno, where armor and resistances are a must-have. Some of the skills/passives listed here are not really necessary in earlier difficulty levels.
I like Monk tanking, and here's what I use
Skills:
Primary Skill
- Crippling Wave for its AOE slow effect, with the
Concussion rune to reduce enemy damage by 20% for 3 seconds when hit
Active Skills
Cyclone Strike: Since there isn't really aggro or threat in the game, this is my main skill to keep enemies off my allies. It has no cooldown, and I use the Eye of the Storm rune that reduces the Spirit cost to 30 so I can cast it pretty frequently.
In addition to letting me control mobs by pulling them around, it also is the best way to groups up enemies, which makes ally AOE much more effective.
Binding Flash: Blinds all enemies around, and is awesome when used shortly after Cyclone Strike. Cyclone everyone around to you, give them half a second to re-orient themselves, and then hit Blinding Flash to stun the majority of the pack.
I used to use it with the rune that causes a second blind 6 seconds later, however since starting Inferno I switched to the Searing Light rune, which increases the chance elites will miss to 60%. Regular mobs are not really an issue for me right now, but the champions/elites are.
Mantra of Healing: It heals me both me and my allies passively when on, and casting it provides a nice amount of regen for a short time for either me or my allies, so it is my main heal ability.
I use it with the Time of Need rune which increases my resistance to all damage types by 20%
Serenity: This makes you invulnerable to all damage and control-impairing abilities for 3 seconds. I use it with the Ascension rune which increases the invulnerability time to 4 seconds. It can also be used when you are under the effect of a control-impairing ability, such as being Frozen, to break the effect.
This ability is used offensively as well as defensively, such as applying it and running in to attack and build spirit against a particularly brutal combination of shiny champions that my group is kiting (like Arcane Fire Chain Desecrators... there's no way I'm standing still around those guys!)
Inner Sanctuary: I started using this skill because of V1rtua1An0ma1y's answer, and am liking it quite a bit. It's great for blocking off doorways or narrow pathways to keep mobs away from my dps, or for pushing everyone away from me when I'm surrounded and cannot move.
I use it with the Circle of Protection rune, which makes anyone standing in it take 35% less damage, so I frequently drop it right before using Cyclone Strike to pull everyone to me. Just don't drop it after the Cyclone Strike, or you will fear/knockback everything and lose control of them.
I don't use Breath of Heaven anymore because I found it too hard to hit allies with, and typically am OK on HP providing I have Spirit.
Passive Skills
Transcendence: Awesome passive that heals anytime you spend spirit, so basically whenever you use any skill
Seize the Initiative: Increases armor by your Dexterity. This is great since it lets you still stack dexterity to improve your skill effectiveness, and maintain a high armor value.
One With Everything: I used to use Chant of Resonance or The Guardians Path, but now that I've hit Inferno I realize my lack of Resistances is a serious problem. So now I just stack one resistance, and use One With Everything to make all my other resists equal to that one.
Gear/Stats:
For stats, I tend to focus on Armor/Resistances, Spirit Regen, Attack Speed, and Life-on-Hit, Dexterity, and Vitality
Armor/Resistances are a must for any Inferno tank. You can get away with slacking on these stats at earlier difficulty levels, but once you start Inferno you'll want these as high as possible.
Spirit Regen is not something you really want to stack, however I always make sure I have at least some spirit regen. That way, even if I encounter a nasty pack of champions and need to kite, I'll still get enough spirit to use Serenity whenever its up to hold mobs still a few seconds for dps to take them out, and gain a bit more spirit hitting them.
Attack Speed because the faster I hit, the more spirit I have, and I need spirit to keep me and my party alive.
Life-on-Hit because with all the AOE hits I do, it's a nice way to keep my own life up. This goes very well with attack speed too, since the faster you hit, the more life you gain
Dexterity because its the Monk's main dps stat, and it has the added benefit of adding to my armor when used with Seize the Initiative
Vitality because a tank needs health, however don't take vitality over Armor/Resistances unless its a major difference. Heals don't scale, so a bigger HP pool just means you'll need to heal more. It's far better to not get hit so hard in the first place than to have a massive hp pool that your heals can't keep full.
The only stat I go out of my way to avoid is Knockback. I want mobs grouped up and on me, not all over the place harassing my dps.
Note about Shields vs Duel-Wielding
I've always used duel-wielding because I find the faster spirit regen from the faster attack speed to be better for me than a little extra armor and block chance. I've tried using a Shield a few times, however I find I survive better with the extra attack speed, which effects my spirit gain and life-on-hit. I'd still consider trying a shield again if I find a really awesome shield, however I haven't found one yet and have so far have tanked most of the game duel-wielding (am in Act II Inferno now)
I've actually asked another question on here about the effectiveness of Shields vs duel-wielding at later difficulty levels, and am quite interested in getting answers :)
Playstyle:
My idea of tanking is to control the mobs, and not just be a damage soak. Since there doesn't seem to be any aggro or threat, being able to control the mobs is more important to me than just being able to take hits (although of course, I need to be alive to control the mobs :))
Typical mob pulls go like this:
Run in and Cyclone Strike everything to me.
Sometimes I use multiple Cyclone Strikes to be sure I have everyone. Since enemies pause for a second after a CS to re-orient themselves, they don't do much damage while I pull them around.
Wait a few seconds until HP starts dropping, then Blinding Flash to stun everything. Typically I'll heal back to full hp while they're blind, and can build my spirit back up.
Depending on my HP and what happens after blind ends, might need to use Mantra of Healing or Serenity to heal up, or drop Inner Sanctuary to knockback/fear mobs away and give me some space
If mobs start to lose interest in me, or if I used Inner Sanctuary and knocked everyone away, then Cyclone Strike again to gather them up. Remember, Cyclone Strike resets their swing timers, so they'll have to pause, sometimes turn around, and restart their attack. Depending on your spirit and mob attack speed, you can sometimes even chain multiple Cyclone Strikes to avoid taking much damage at all.
By now DPS has almost everything dead and it's cleanup, however if not, use heal skills or kite a few seconds until Blind is back up, then rinse and repeat :)
Serenity is usually kept for when my HP dips too low, or when I need to break some kind of crowd control. It's cheap and the cooldown isn't long, so I use it frequently anytime I feel like it.
Inner Sanctuary is used anytime the environment is suitable for blocking the path to my DPS, when I'm trapped between enemies and need a way out, or when I'm taking too much damage (since I use the Circle of Protection rune). I'll also sometimes use Inner Sanctuary right before I pull mobs to me with Cyclone Strike for the damage reduction, providing I'm not low on Spirit.
On occasion I'll also sometimes use Inner Sanctuary after a Cyclone Strike instead of before, which results in a mass fear/knockback and can buy some time, however typically I run with AOE dps and its more efficient to keep mobs grouped up if possible. If I do fear/knockback, I'm always quick to follow up with another Cyclone Strike to gather everyone up once they recover.
Champion pulls are different depending on what attributes they have.
Some combinations prevent me from holding still (Desecrater, Arcane Enchanted, Fire Chains, Plague, etc), so in those cases I'll try and just kite mobs.
If I'm unable to kite them (happens pretty frequently because of the way aggro works), then I'll just run around with the DPS, healing, blinding, or Cyclone Striking mobs off them as needed while waiting for my Serenity cooldown to come up.
Whenever Serenity is up, I'll Cyclone Strike the champions to me and pop Serenity when I get low HP, which give DPS a few seconds to do uninterrupted AOE damage before I have to run out again.
Inner Sanctuary is also a nice way to block a path or make a mob take additional time to reach a DPS player.
Other combinations of champions I can tank fairly easily (Illusionists, Wallers, Vamperic, Reflects Damage, etc), so I just treat them like normal mobs by using Cyclone Strike/Blind to control them, and healing or kiting as needed.
The important part is that my role in Champion fights is not necessarily to tank, but to instead just keep the champs from hitting my DPS so they can kill them.
Best Answer
From the standpoint of your weapon: Weapon Damage is king. Above all else, you want the highest possible amount of raw damage and DPS possible. Beyond that, you'll want to take a look at this formula to understand the value of other stats.
In short: at low levels, nothing is going to beat raw +Damage on any slot where you can get it (Rings, Neck, Offhand). As you increase in level, you'll eventually reach a point of inflection where the multiplicative scaling gained from adding +Dex is more valuable than the straight + Damage. This point of inflection will vary with other stats, and particularly with the base DPS of your weapon - your best bet is to simply keep an eye on the +Damage portion of the tooltip when comparing items.
As for stats like Crit and Attack Speed, the same basic rules apply. In general, .1 attack speed is worth 10 Dex, but this ignores the defensive benefits of Dexterity, and since attack speed bonuses are provided as percentage multipliers, you'll need to do some math. You'll need to run similar calculations with +Crit and +Crit Damage, but in general, unless you use skills or passives that rely on Crit, you can assume those stats are less valuable than the others.
Really, all of this comes back to one key point: Trust the Damage Stat on your Character Sheet. So long as you're doing the basics right (using a level appropriate, high DPS weapon), it isn't going to steer you far wrong. Beyond that, Dexterity is King, and everything else depends entirely on the magnitude of the stat that you get. An item with +Crit might be better than an item with +Attack Speed, based purely on how much of it is there.