Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls

[Soulflame]

That was basically my build as well.

[Pennilenko]

We were in Torment 3 and took it down to Torment 2. It's just too hard to survive 3 atm.

I tossed my mage in with you guys last night.  Been trying a crowd control/freeze mage and it seems well but does no damage.

Try something like this build out if you want cold with some crowd control, the CC is passive though in for form of chills and cold based slow.

Pennilenko's current favorite wizard build

I can solo T3 with this, however I have to be careful with some elite affix combos. Also one thing to note when looking at the dps, the tooltip doesn't account for flat percentage based armor boosts to specific skills, so the DPS is probably closer to 220k

[MrHat]

We were in Torment 3 and took it down to Torment 2. It's just too hard to survive 3 atm.

I tossed my mage in with you guys last night.  Been trying a crowd control/freeze mage and it seems well but does no damage.

Try something like this build out if you want cold with some crowd control, the CC is passive though in for form of chills and cold based slow.

Pennilenko's current favorite wizard build

I can solo T3 with this, however I have to be careful with some elite affix combos. Also one thing to note when looking at the dps, the tooltip doesn't account for flat percentage based armor boosts to specific skills, so the DPS is probably closer to 220k

You've got more than twice the amount of damage my dude does.

[Ingmar]

Going to go against the grain as I just jumped in again (hard setting).

Fuck that shit, the game is still as stupid as ever.

I don't mind hard, but to hell with random combos. This is why TL2 in all its average-ness is more fun than this crap game. I still play D2 with it's inferior graphics and it still shits over the revision.

I definitely won't be touching the xpac

I almost never say shit like this but man - if you can't manage this on hard, how do you function in video games at all? Hard is certainly not worthy of the name. The game starts to require paying attention on master.

[schild]

Going to go against the grain as I just jumped in again (hard setting).

Fuck that shit, the game is still as stupid as ever.

I don't mind hard, but to hell with random combos. This is why TL2 in all its average-ness is more fun than this crap game. I still play D2 with it's inferior graphics and it still shits over the revision.

I definitely won't be touching the xpac

I almost never say shit like this but man - if you can't manage this on hard, how do you function in video games at all? Hard is certainly not worthy of the name. The game starts to require paying attention on master.

I didn't see that post, but lol.

[luckton]

Starting brand new at lvl 1 on Hard, or with a character that already has some yellows on Hard?

[Soulflame]

The only frustrating mod right now is waller.  Sometimes I get stuck in the walls, often they block my ranged attacks, etc.

I'm rather amused by how not scary mortar is.  The shots pretty much go anywhere but near you now.

Pretty much all the mods require paying some attention, and making sure you don't stand in fire.

[Soulflame]

Starting brand new at lvl 1 on Hard, or with a character that already has some yellows on Hard?

I don't think there's any good reason to level a new character if you already have one of that class.

[Ingmar]

Also, IME you can start from 1 on expert without much danger, but the monsters will die pretty slow until you get some drops, so probably starting on hard at level 1 and then cranking it up when it becomes a total joke is the right move. Shouldn't really take very long, maybe 10-15 levels.

[Paelos]

Worst combination so far for me is Molten, Freezing, Jailer, Poison. If my zerk is down I have no way out of getting jam-jobbed in small hallways.

[Rasix]

Going to go against the grain as I just jumped in again (hard setting).

Fuck that shit, the game is still as stupid as ever.

I don't mind hard, but to hell with random combos. This is why TL2 in all its average-ness is more fun than this crap game. I still play D2 with it's inferior graphics and it still shits over the revision.

I definitely won't be touching the xpac

I almost never say shit like this but man - if you can't manage this on hard, how do you function in video games at all? Hard is certainly not worthy of the name. The game starts to require paying attention on master.

He plays a lot of GW2.  

Yah, I moved from normal to hard and it's pretty much just the same (hey, I had no idea what was up with the difficulty changes).   Epics just don't die in one disintegrate channel.   The wizard would have been fine going back on hard, even if her gear wasn't up to par.  I should probably move up because I still haven't gotten close to dying, and I tend to face tank more than I should.

It was funny, however, my witchdoctor took forever to kill anything with his old gear.  But then, I looked at his old gear.  Mismatched stats all over the place.  So much strength (WHY).   I played for a few minutes and the few drops he got were so much better than what he previously had.   Then again, my witchdoctor seems to be more affected by spec changes than the wizard.  

[Ironwood]

What the hell ?  My Monk just flat out sucks balls.  All my other 60's just needed a wee jig here or there, but this fucker can't hit, can't hurt and dies so quick.

I is SAD.

[Soulflame]

I had almost the same experience with a level 4x monk.  Played a bit, almost died repeatedly, exited out of that character.

[Fabricated]

When solo I use Crippling Wave + the Rune that lowers enemy damage, the blinding flash, the dodge aura, and the passive that lowers enemy damage by another 20% when you hit them. Takes forever but I don't die.

[Ingmar]

My monk is doing fine thus far, but he's only level 24 so I am not sure it is indicative of anything really. The teleporty dash attack thing gets a lot of use when there's arcane or other don't stand in me effects around.

[Fabricated]

I use seven-sided strike as a way to become temporarily invincible...which works better than the actual skills that make you temporarily invincible.

[Merusk]

My monk is doing fine thus far, but he's only level 24 so I am not sure it is indicative of anything really. The teleporty dash attack thing gets a lot of use when there's arcane or other don't stand in me effects around.

Yeah same experience and similar level Monk. Though I can't find the profile page to link in.  I've got a lot of lifesteal IIRC and use Crippling, Cyclone, Lashing tail (legendary which makes it shoot fireballs) sweeping wind and healing mantra going

[DeathInABottle]

Experience for all characters is 150% of normal from now until Mar. 24.  Grind!

[Reg]

Oh cool. I wondered where that buff came from.  I guess they want everyone at max level so the temptation to buy the expansion right away is harder to resist.

[Sjofn]

This is my I-have-no-idea-what-I-am-doing-so-I-will-just-spec-to-use-the-damage-bonus-shit-on-my-gear 40-something monk who facerolled her way through act 3 on master, so apparently I have idiot savanted into something not terrible. Had I felt like I was going to die at some point, I probably would've swapped my mantra to the heal one, but ... well. She was fine!

I hear exploding palm is hilariously OP (since it explodes for 50% of the monster's health instead of scaling with your weapon damage) so maybe try that if you feel like your damage is butt?

[Hawkbit]

My 60/6 WD tonight's first drop was a legendary ring that was a straight upgrade with a bonus 30% xp.  With the 50% increase, it puts me at 210% xp right now.  In 2 hours play went to 60/12, almost 13.  Silly fast xp.

[Ironwood]

This is my I-have-no-idea-what-I-am-doing-so-I-will-just-spec-to-use-the-damage-bonus-shit-on-my-gear 40-something monk who facerolled her way through act 3 on master, so apparently I have idiot savanted into something not terrible. Had I felt like I was going to die at some point, I probably would've swapped my mantra to the heal one, but ... well. She was fine!

I hear exploding palm is hilariously OP (since it explodes for 50% of the monster's health instead of scaling with your weapon damage) so maybe try that if you feel like your damage is butt?

I'd read about exploding palm and I tried it out, but it wasn't doing it for me.  No, something else is wildly wrong with my gear or build.  This guy was totally rocking the hardcore party before and isn't now.  All my other 60's are easily smashing Torment, but this guy is like the last limp dick at an orgy.

[Ironwood]

Also, I totally redid my Female Barb.  She's now a whirlwinding, never ending Rage generating machine of death.

It's fun.

Frenzy, whirlwind, overpower, No pain, berserk and the health shout.

It really, really, really works.

[Xanthippe]

My 60 wiz build - quite fun, illusions/slow bubble/ice orb:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#cWgkST!dZW!cZYZZY

My 60 barb build: (stolen from Paelos, works great, never stop, I run through stuff fast)
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#ahRckP!dWY!cYYZcZ

My monk? I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I dialed it back to Expert level and I'm still dying. Maybe I need to dial it back to hard? I got hit by 2 wallers in the first graveyard. Here's my monk:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Xanthippe-1829/hero/10345789

I made a mistake on gearing by ignoring crit chance/crit damage on my wiz. Pennilenko's wiz does twice the damage mine does with about the same amount of int, because he didn't.

[Ironwood]

Is this a common theme among high level monks then ?

[Typhon]

I don't know what I'm doing right, but I find the my monk the most un-killable character I have.  Maybe my gear is better than I think it is (I don't think so).

Veldon

1) Make sure Sweeping Wind is up
1) Dashing Strike to mob (or to get away from CC, you don't have to click on a mob to use this ability)
3) Beat them to death with Way of the Hundred Fists
4) Spam Mantra of Healing as the shield breaks if you are taking damage
5) If near death or locked down, use Serenity
6) To do big damage, or avoid damage and cc, use Seven Sided Strike

I actually spec'd out of One with Everything simply because I wasn't taking that much damage.  I can play torment, but it's very slow because I don't have great items and I don't kill fast.  But I'm rarely concerned about dying.  I usually play Master or Expert so that things die quickly and I get more items rolls (trying to get better items versus level up paragon)... which now that I typed that seems dumb because if I wanted to maximize item drop I'd play on an even easier setting.

Edit/Update: I got a big 2h weapon and a nice amulet last night, and was trying it out just a couple mins ago (12:53PM EST) since the server was back online.  As such, I changed stuff around a bit.  Long story short, the build above assumes you have two fast 1-handed weapons (I prefer fist weapons for thematic reasons).

I'm trying the big 2hander with skills that amplify weapon damage more (left mouse: crippling wave, right mouse: Wave of Light).  Spirit was never a problem with the build above, but is a serious problem with this build.  That said, this build does an enormous amount of damage.

[MrHat]

I don't know what I'm doing right, but I find the my monk the most un-killable character I have.  Maybe my gear is better than I think it is (I don't think so).

Veldon

1) Make sure Sweeping Wind is up
1) Dashing Strike to mob (or to get away from CC, you don't have to click on a mob to use this ability)
3) Beat them to death with Way of the Hundred Fists
4) Spam Mantra of Healing as the shield breaks if you are taking damage
5) If near death or locked down, use Serenity
6) To do big damage, or avoid damage and cc, use Seven Sided Strike

I actually spec'd out of One with Everything simply because I wasn't taking that much damage.  I can play torment, but it's very slow because I don't have great items and I don't kill fast.  But I'm rarely concerned about dying.  I usually play Master or Expert so that things die quickly and I get more items rolls (trying to get better items versus level up paragon)... which now that I typed that seems dumb because if I wanted to maximize item drop I'd play on an even easier setting.

I'm currently leveling up a monk (my last class to 60), and that is pretty much the exact same build I use (less the serenity since stuff is easy lower level).

[Quinton]

Dusted off my 38 Monk last night (to take a break from Wizard that had just hit 51) and got to 40 on a similar build to Typhon and Sjofn, restarting the storyline quests from the beginning on Master.  Just crafting a few times significantly upgraded my horrible gear to slightly less horrible, but still died more than I liked.  I think lack of Serenity to deal with oh-shit moments may be an issue.

[Ingmar]

Sjofn and I trucked right on through from 43ish to 51ish on a barbarian/monk duo on Torment 1 last night, with only a couple double elite pulls causing a problem. Survivability was really not a problem unless we got into a 'there is literally nowhere to stand' situation. I think we were both using fairly tanky specs and a lot of point-blank area damage skills.

[Merusk]

Is this a common theme among high level monks then ?

I dunno, ground my monk up to 31 last night in short order and was actually MORE deadly because I got some sweet drops.  I only  died once, and that was because I pulled 4 blues that were Plagued/ Arcane and a yellow  Waller/ Plague/ Poison snuck in there without me realizing it.  When I rezzed at my body I was able to wipe the floor with them because I wasn't saving cooldowns after realizing what I was up against.

Meanwhile I can't figure my wizard out at all and Torment 1 is owning my 60/10 ass despite me having been able to solo Inferno 3 prior to the patch.

My 60/6 WD tonight's first drop was a legendary ring that was a straight upgrade with a bonus 30% xp.  With the 50% increase, it puts me at 210% xp right now.  In 2 hours play went to 60/12, almost 13.  Silly fast xp.

Yeah the 30% appears to be a new modifier to several stats.  I got a +30% crit (damage I think, not chance) drop..  OWN FACE.

[Sjofn]

Thunderfury is a fun weapon until you accidentally pull a second group of elites with it. That was kinda brutal. Especially when it happens in a crypt and there's seriously nowhere at all to stand.  On the upside, Cyclone + barbarian partner = lol

[Ingmar]

I see you people with level 20+ characters playing on Normal, you are wasting your time. You get more xp, gold and better loot on the harder difficulties and I promise you you can handle hard/expert just fine.

[Reg]

What he said. I jumped up to Master level tonight and I feel like a fool for wasting my time on the lower levels. I was playing with a group and there were actually mobs of elites where I had to run away and heal. I got two blacksmith plans, a legendary weapon and I must have upgraded every single piece of equipment I own.

[Quinton]

Yar, finally hit lv60 with a character (Wizard).  Think I'll aim to get Monk to 60 before the expansion too.  Definitely need to play in parties more often.  Way more fun than solo.

[Furiously]

I'm a bit confuzzled on the normal/expert/torrential or whatever thing. This is seperate from normal/hell/nightmare right? Where do I select which mode of the normal/hell/nightmare I am in?