On this page, we explain how to choose and use your skills when playing Sunwuko Wave of Light Monk in Diablo 3. Updated for patch 2.6.9 and Season 21.

1. Rotation

The build begins runs with an activation of Sweeping Wind, whose stacking mechanic dictates the Sunwuko damage and protection bonuses. Use Dashing Strike to seek out and draw the attention of massive groups of enemies, then begin the Wave of Light assault. You will rely on Epiphany Desert Shroud for protection, reapplying it on cooldown. Resources will be managed through a combination of the passive Epiphany and Inner Storm restoration, as well as the instant refill of Air Ally when your reserve is about to deplete.

2. Skills and Runes

The primary damage dealer of the build is the Spirit-intensive Wave of Light. This hard-hitting spender is among the skills benefiting the most from the 2.6.1 reworks, receiving damage multipliers from the revamped Sunwuko set, Tzo Krin's Gaze, Pinto's Pride, Kyoshiro's Blade and the buffed Incense Torch of the Grand Temple. The preferred rune is the fire Explosive Light; while mathematically weaker than other runes, it covers a wider area and translates into the most DPS per point of Spirit spent.

Even with the Incense Torch of the Grand Temple resource cost reduction, Wave of Light spam will still take a toll on your Spirit reserves. A substantial part of your build and gearing choices will be focused on mitigating or recovering the Spirit expenditure in this setup (see this build's gear page for more information).

Sweeping Wind is an integral part of Sunwuko setups, as it reduces damage taken while active and its stacks determine the damage increase of your spender. While crucial to have on your bar, the damage value of the particular rune is irrelevant; with utility in mind, take Inner Storm for the 8 Spirit per second.

With both a passive and active component, Mystic Ally will also aid your thirst for Spirit through the Air Ally rune. The rune nets you a passive regeneration bonus of 4 per second, as well as an active refill of 100 per use. While the summon itself will serve as a distraction at best, its Spirit utility is invaluable.

Epiphany is an almost universal addition to Monk builds, since its default crowd control immunity, Spirit regeneration bonus (20/second) and mobility enhancement (dashing you to nearby targets of your choice) are joined by the massive 50% damage reduction bonus of the Desert Shroud rune for an irresistible package.

Uncommon among the protective skills because of its spender nature, Mantra of Salvation passively increases all resistances by 20%, and adds 35% dodge chance through the Agility rune. Its active component further increases resistances for a brief duration, but should be used sparingly due to the already high resource costs of the build.

To solidify their mobility options, Monks have the most responsive and fluid movement tool in the game, Dashing Strike. A charge-based skill on a low cooldown, it will take you to cursor location without fail, as long as there is no closed door between the starting point and the destination. With two charges stored by default you can skip unfavorable fights, seek out the next pack, or simply boost your survivability through the Blinding Speed rune.

This concludes the overview of the Active Skills, now let us look through the Passives.

3. Passives

A mainstay in the Monk arsenal of passives, Harmony fuels your All Resistance with 40% of the single elemental resistance per piece of gear (e.g. 100 Fire Resistance roll on the boots will add 100 to your sheet Fire Resistance and add 40 to your other resists). A well geared Monk will usually sport secondary resistances in all the gear slots that are able to roll them, adding significantly to his overall Toughness.

Cooldown reduction is in high demand for this build, as you will be trying to get back into the CC-safety of Epiphany as soon as possible. To that end, Beacon of Ytar becomes an automatic inclusion.

Seize the Initiative is one of the best damage-oriented passives at the disposal of Monks, providing you with a temporary attack speed increase when engaging enemies over 75% health, translating into faster Wave of Light output for the Sunwuko Monk. As you get more comfortable with the build, you will learn to kite into and pull additional enemies or freshly spawned boss adds to effectively extend the benefits from Seize the Initiative.

When pushing Greater Rifts in early seasonal progression, take Near Death Experience in your final slot — the cheat death passive available to Monks. On the standard 60-second cooldown, it will prevent a lethal situation and restore you to 35% Life and Spirit instead. The 2-second immunity to damage and crowd control impairing effects is a nice bonus on top. As you perfect your character and grow comfortable with losing this passive, you should alternate this slot to the valuable dodge increase of The Guardian's Path.

4. Changelog