Are there a huge difference between the two? Which is better? Let's say 60 Life on Spirit Spent or 500 Life on Hit?
I apologize due to the lack of my experience with the Monk class. However, I am very interested in the theorycraft of Life Per Spirit / Life On Hit / Spirit per second / % Life per Damage viable after achiving X DPS in inferno mode.
Best Answer
It depends on your style specifically as others have stated. You also left out another life gaining option.
The 3rd option is by far the best through the first 3 difficulties and evens out in Inferno due to the reduction but then scales back up once you have end game gear (dps > 100K).
They each have their own requirement for being practical:
That said... they are all useful. Option 1 will probably give more survival if you are "Tanking" a group, but if your current items lead you to a kite & hit strategy, it is possible that Options 2 or 3 would be better for you. Option 4 also works well with a kiting strategy and is better with higher damage reduction to life ratio.
Obviously, there is nothing wrong with having a moderate amount of each of these, but you also need to increase their effects by increasing your EHP. Increased EHP and lower HP results in heals being much more effective.
Also... If you like the Life on Spirit Spent option, another strong modifier to consider is Spirit Regen / Second.
A combination of Sweeping Winds (+3 spirit per second at full stacks) and the Passive that will increase your Mantra's duration and give you +2 spirit per second and 1-2 items with 1-2 spirit per second can allow you to get close to 10 spirit regen per second, without attacking.
This allows for increased value from Life on Spirit Spent.
Again, life gain without EHP is virtually useless... Stack up you ALL RESISTS > 1,000 if possible and watch how much easier inferno gets... heaven forbid you do that before your barbarian friend WARCRIES... +20% resists rune please!