Dual Wield Monk

[Celidion]

How viable is it? I've always liked the Rogue Archetype, and this seems to be the closest thing in D3. I was thinking about stacking dodge: ~30% from Dexterity, 15% from Guardian's Path, 10%+ from Sixth Sense, 16% from Quickening, possibly 15%/30% from Mantra of Evasion if I don't use Conviction. This would allow me to simply focus on element damage for the most part. Has anyone tried it with any success?

[Deleted]

Dodge has diminishing returns at about 45%. I'm not quite sure what the real numbers are, but I noticed that at 40% dodge when I used my mantra of evasion I wasn't getting 15% dodge, but rather ~10%

[Ellesarr]

This would allow me to simply focus on element damage for the most part. Has anyone tried it with any success?

You can have 99% dodge and the 100th attack will oneshot you

[Ashnazg]

Its viable, if you got gear for it.

I would caution against stacking dodge though, its too unreliable, and a chain of lucky hits means you're dead anyway. The best way to play it (imo) is to stack the hell out of your damage (so heal with +damage, blind with +damage, MOC with overawe, 4s immunity, SSS, and thunderclap FOT). That way you can teleport to the mob(s), pop your blind, dps the hell out of them in 3s, then pop your immunity, dps for another 4s, then pop SSS, and hopefully your blind is close to coming back up by the time SSS fades.

Thunderclap rune on FoT actually stunlocks most white mobs, so you don't even need to use too much CC on them. Your biggest problem will be ranged.

[Celidion]

Its viable, if you got gear for it.

I would caution against stacking dodge though, its too unreliable, and a chain of lucky hits means you're dead anyway. The best way to play it (imo) is to stack the hell out of your damage (so heal with +damage, blind with +damage, MOC with overawe, 4s immunity, SSS, and thunderclap FOT). That way you can teleport to the mob(s), pop your blind, dps the hell out of them in 3s, then pop your immunity, dps for another 4s, then pop SSS, and hopefully your blind is close to coming back up by the time SSS fades.

Thunderclap rune on FoT actually stunlocks most white mobs, so you don't even need to use too much CC on them. Your biggest problem will be ranged.

So basically this? http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...gTk!UaY!acbYca

Also, wouldn't an Ally be better than the Heal since I'd get nearly insta-gibbed, but with my really high damage the ally could actually be useful?

[Afflictid]

i would take the Dexterity -> Armor talent over fleet-footed.

[Regalbeast]

This video is pretty good at demonstrating a viable monk doge, dual wield build. It seems pretty fun to me and I'm going to try it later tonight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=1RvRw6i6u-c

[Celidion]

This video is pretty good at demonstrating a viable monk doge, dual wield build. It seems pretty fun to me and I'm going to try it later tonight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=1RvRw6i6u-c

Looks interesting, but he doesn't recommend it for things you can't easily farm.

[zito]

Looks interesting, but he doesn't recommend it for things you can't easily farm.

Shield + 1h aint so great either, its probably slightly better then DW because DW is multiplicative

[Ashnazg]

So basically this? http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...gTk!UaY!acbYca

Also, wouldn't an Ally be better than the Heal since I'd get nearly insta-gibbed, but with my really high damage the ally could actually be useful?

Heal is used for +15% to damage, not for its actual healing. Ally is useful too, but my spec is mostly focused around damage buffing abilities and damage immunities (SSS, serenity), so there is nowhere to fit the ally.

[Celidion]

Heal is used for +15% to damage, not for its actual healing. Ally is useful too, but my spec is mostly focused around damage buffing abilities and damage immunities (SSS, serenity), so there is nowhere to fit the ally.

The Ally does 40% of your damage and a skill, wouldn't that be more powerful than a 15% damage increase?

[Ashnazg]

The Ally does 40% of your damage and a skill, wouldn't that be more powerful than a 15% damage increase?

You make a good point, but Ally is randomly applied damage (e.g. he attacks a target of his own choosing), whereas a 15% damage increase goes to where you want it, since its your own skills. It also applies to aoe damage (e.g. thunderclap rune).

[asharia]

A shield with 10% crit on it gives just as much dps, and gives you a ton more survivability. You'd have to have very good weapons, and the offhand would have to have dex/crit dmg increase, but even then, its not worth it.

The Ally does 40% of your damage and a skill, wouldn't that be more powerful than a 15% damage increase?

He hits for 40% weapon dmg. Not 40% of your dmg. Its not the same thing.

[Chaltione]

Just a warning about stacking dodge:

It has diminished returns when applied from multiple sources, since the effects are multiplicative, and even multiplicative with the dodge gained from dexterity.
With the numbers you gave above (~30%, 15%, 10%+, 16%, 15%/30%) you'll end up with 61,7653% / 67,5000% dodge depending on the 3 second mantra buff.

You should also be able to stack way more than 30% dodge from dexterity if you really go nuts for it. The table is longer but for every dexterity over 1000, you gain 0.01% dodge, so 1500 dexterity => 35% dodge, and would put you at 64.5% / 69.8% respectively.

And as some have stated above, you have to prepare for the worst, that is assume that you won't dodge every hit, and have enough effective health (health with applied mitigation) to survive that hit.

I personally run with dual wield and some dodge passive and active skills, and have just over 50% dodge, but also around 90% total mitigation, and I'm progressing through act 2 atm.

---------- Post added 2012-06-14 at 11:01 AM ----------

The Ally does 40% of your damage and a skill, wouldn't that be more powerful than a 15% damage increase?

Another reason to not use the mystic ally: "Stop going after that Treasure Goblin when I'm clearing this elite pack you <explitive>!"