Thunderclap and Vulture Claw/Armada Kick

[Dozer]

Does anyone else have a really hard time changing away from these runes/skills for left/right click? The teleport on thunderclap is just too useful in absolutely all contexts (I know there is a 100 fists rune with the same functionality, but the AoE damage makes it vastly inferior to thnderclap).

And the kicks - I can find nothing with as much use as a 360 degree knock back with zero cooldown and 30 spirit cost. The other kick runes remove the full radius of the damage, and no other skill can compare with both knockback, damage, and lack of cool down.

I guess I'm frustrated that I've constantly come back to the first two runes available from level 10 to 60 (or whatever it specifically is) no matter where I am in the game, except for when I need to spec for exclusively single target damage. Is anyone else having this problem?

[hazzen]

On a lark, I switched to Scorpion Sting for the kick when I unlocked it and found it liked it just as much. Even more recently (Act IV NM/Act I Hell), I switched to Tempest Rush on the right click because I'd much rather spam my mantra with excess spirit, but still want a safety skill. The slow effect is nice, and I'm also guaranteed getting out of any corners I get beat into.

As for Thunderclap, everything else just feels slow. If I had more IAS gear, it might be a different story. Maybe some testing is in order to see if it really is better, or it just feels better.

[Athenau]

FoT/Thunderclap is the fastest spirit generator and offers the best single target dps by a fair margin.

See this thread for more info:

http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showt...eeds-Redux

I'm not really a fan of lashing tail kick. I find the monk's offensive spirit dumps to be underwhelming, with the notable exception of Mantra of Conviction/Overawe's active effect (+48% damage taken!).

[FoxBat]

I'm not really a fan of lashing tail kick. I find the monk's offensive spirit dumps to be underwhelming, with the notable exception of Mantra of Conviction/Overawe's active effect (+48% damage taken!).

Kick is a defensive dump, used to separate packs and isolate foes for a few seconds. Kick everyone away, then teleport to a target and take it out. Versus bosses you can also corner them smite-lock style, the kick keeps them in the air long enough to regen spirit through thunderclap and then kick again when they've recovered. I've taken to liking it recently because it works on 90% of elite packs, which are usually the problem in higher difficulties.

Need to test more but it also seems like thunderclap breaks jailer when you trigger the teleport. It can naturally also get you out of walls or being surrounded.

[Athenau]

Kick is a defensive dump, used to separate packs and isolate foes for a few seconds. Kick everyone away, then teleport to a target and take it out. Versus bosses you can also corner them smite-lock style, the kick keeps them in the air long enough to regen spirit through thunderclap and then kick again when they've recovered. I've taken to liking it recently because it works on 90% of elite packs, which are usually the problem in higher difficulties.

Hmm, it's been unreliable for me, especially on larger elites. But I'll give it another try. Did you take the increased KD distance rune or something else?

Need to test more but it also seems like thunderclap breaks jailer when you trigger the teleport. It can naturally also get you out of walls or being surrounded.

You move but you're still jailed at the destination, which is a bit weird. Also, the thunderclap "teleport" isn't really a teleport--it obeys pathing so if there are obstacles (walls, monsters) in your LOS you won't travel the full distance. This is one way that dashing strike is superior to thunderclap .

[FoxBat]

Hmm, it's been unreliable for me, especially on larger elites. But I'll give it another try. Did you take the increased KD distance rune or something else?

Increased distance so far. I don't like the stun rune, as it can often leave you surrounded when you want to push guys apart.

It's true that the kickback distance is often lacking on some of the big guys.... however as far as I can tell, barring shielding, they always get kicked a bit, which means it's always a short-duration stun. Again with high enough attack speed, that can be enough to pull off stunlock. Even short of that, you can easily stop tell attacks (balrog fire, berserker red hammers), or just plain mitigate damage to keep up with healing.

[Archon_Wing]

At first I ditched kick, but I feel that it may make a return. My initial reason for ditching kick was because the knockback disrupted my fellow party mates from dumping dps. However, upon entering inferno, kicking enemies away might just be what they want.