Watch my stream at twitch.tv/sillyislily to see updates as they happen
--- IMPORTANT NOTES ---
DO NOT RUNEFORGE YOUR BRASS DOME - It will remove all the armour and replace it with ward and this will destroy your flat damage
Your Undying Hate only has to be in tribute to Amanamu, the numbers don't matter
Make sure you have 10 of each colour support gem when you instill Gem Enthusiast. You can slap on some skills that you don't plan to use to fill gaps
--- CRIT CHANCE ---
You want to keep your Whirling Assault and Thorns crit chances at 100% at all times
There is no value in overcapping, so take and drop crit nodes on the tree as and when you need them
Crit from your weapon only applies to Whirling Assault
Crit from Briarpatch, Thornhide and Heart of the Well only applies to your Thorns
Helmet, amulet and Dreadfist all provide global crit chance
Dreadfist and Weapon crit chance is flat so makes a much bigger difference than you'd expect
--- ARMOUR BREAK ---
Armour Break is a bit awkward to solve on monk - I've chosen to go the route of Warding Runes of Disintigration
More Ward = More Armour Broken
Helmet is our best source of Ward. The better the base, the more ward, Imperial Greathelm being our best option
Quality increases ward, as does a Sovereign Alloy and Greater Ward Rune
You can also get flat ward as a prefix on rings and increased global ward on amulets with the Runic Alloy
If you are still struggling to maintain Scavenged Plating stacks after optimising your ward, consider running 2 runes
Resonating Shield or Armour Breaker on a weapon swap are also strong options if you don't like the rune
--- RUNES ---
PoB doesn't properly support Runic Meridians yet, so I've just added extra runes to all the items in the Uber Endgame setup
If in doubt, use Greater Runes of Tithing in your armour
Other good options by slot:
- Helmet: Greater Ward Rune
- Body Armour: Rune of Foundations and Greater/Perfect Iron Rune are must have in Brass Dome. For Runic Meridians Emergent Instinct is really strong
- Boots: Legacy of Briarpatch and/or Farrul's Rune of the Chase
Weapon:
- At least ONE Warding Rune of Disintigration is mandatory
- Saqawal's Rune of the Sky and Fenumus' Rune of Agony both function as similarly strong more damage multipliers
- Soul Core of Azcapa can give you extra spirit if you need it
--- CHOICE REWARDS ---
- Valley of the Titans - Personal preference, I take Increased Charm Charges Gained - Can be changed
- Venom Vial - Stun Threshold - Can't be changed
- Tattoos - 3x Attributes - Can't be changed
- Abandoned Prison - 30% Increased Mana Recovery From Flasks - Can be changed
- Shark Fin - 15% of Armour Also Applies... - Can't be changed
- Seven Pillars - Anything goes, I prefer Movement Speed - Can be changed
--- FAQ ---
Q: Is this League Start viable?
A: Probably. You can play thorns from level 16 on any class on league start for about 5 exalts. This guide isn't tailored to that though, I'll update it if I decide to league start this build in a future league
Q: Is this HC viable?
A: NO - Forced movement from Whirling Assault will cause random deaths. Not all the time, but enough to RIP an HC character
Q: Is this SSF viable?
A: As a second character if you already have a Brass Dome. The other uniques are all super common and the rare gear is all easy crafts
Q: Why not x skill?
A: There are other good options, I just like Whirling Assault most of what I tested
Rapid Assault and Spearfield have comparable single target damage and removes a button from the build, but the clear is much worse
Shattering Palm has comparable clear and looks really cool, almost feeling like Flicker Strike with enough investment, but the single target DPS is much worse
Maces are probably really good with Hoghunt or Quecholli solving crit, I just find the skills too clunky and button heavy
Talismans have some very cool options and will be the subject of my next build guide, crit is just much more expensive to solve
Q: Why not Prized Pain?
A: I've already made that build, it's best served on a Ritualist -
https://youtu.be/bZ2DpDu-6jk
--- MISC ---
Any mistakes in this guide credit to Menoske -
https://discord.com/channels/1392851908951150752/1504146410139025541/1509267838689612011
