Oh, that melee/ranged divide! Monk struggling Hell.

[Treesh]

I have no life on hit; I have not seen any. I have also not seen Spirit Regen since Normal, oddly.

Increasing life is a straight-forward plan, and one I always keep in mind. I actually thought 18K was pretty good, so it is interesting to know it is low . Increasing DPS over defense, however... Would you recommend dropping the shield and dual-wield, or are the benefits of the shield too good to pass on (as I am thinking) and I would be better served looking at my skills (such as Mantra of Conviction, as Treesh suggested)?

Last night, my Demon Hunter found some boots with +dex, +vit, +res all that I have passed down to my Monk; he needs a couple of levels before he can use them, but they should be good when he can

I've kept a shield on for a long time for the monk. Mainly because since it had so much dex on it that every time I'd try to put a second weapon on, I'd actually lose DPS.

If you really like how your build currently feels to you, look to upgrade some of your gear. If something feels off about the build, do some minor tweaking. You still won't enjoy hell if you don't enjoy the build you're running so if you don't mind hunting up new gear, go with that option. =)