14.6 MB: Monk Uliana's Strategem Seven-Sided Strike Build...

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Monk Uliana's Strategem Seven-Sided Strike Build

(Patch 2.4)
Last updated on Jan 13, 2016 at 02:04 by Deadset
75 comments

Table of Contents
1. About the Author
2. Build
+ 3. Strategy, Skills, and Runes
4. Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives
5. Stat Priorities per Gear Slot
6. Paragon Points
7. Gems
8. Kanai's Cube
9. Follower
10. ChangeLog

Added in Patch 2.3, the Uliana's Strategem set puts one of the coolest looking Monk skills
Seven-Sided Strike
in the Greater Rifting spotlight, along with the helpful push of the class trademark,
Exploding Palm. This high
burst, AoE centric playstyle is unlocked through the set pieces listed below:
Helm:
Uliana's Spirit
Chest:
Uliana's Heart
Gloves:
Uliana's Fury
Boots:
Uliana's Destiny
Pants:
Uliana's Burden
Shoulders:
Uliana's Strength

1. About the Author

This build is presented to you by Deadset, one of the very few professional Diablo 3 players. Deadset regularly
streams on Twitch, where you can see how this and other builds play out in practice.

2. Build
Active Skills
Way of the Hundred Fists
Assimilation

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Exploding Palm
Impending Doom

Epiphany

Desert Shroud

Dashing Strike

Blinding Speed

Seven-Sided Strike

Sustained Attack

Mantra of Salvation

Agility

Passive Skills

Harmony

Beacon of Ytar

Mythic Rhythm

Near Death Experience

(battle.net link)

3. Strategy, Skills, and Runes

The strategy of this build involves engaging large groups of enemies, attracting as many straggler packs as you can
with a hit-and-run tactic enabled by the mobility of
Dashing Strike. When the monsters gather, apply an
Exploding Palm and your
Assimilation bu with a triple attack of
Way of the Hundred Fists. Then unleash
a devastating
Seven-Sided Strike, automatically spreading and detonating
Impending Doom on the bunched
up enemies with a little help from
Gungdo Gear. While Seven-Sided Strike will be your primary source of
damage and should be cast on cooldown, do not neglect to apply the EPs with a triple hit from
Way of the Hundred Fists rst, and maximize the bonus from
Annihilation by getting yourself in as big of a
ght as you can. Repeat this rotation until the trash or elite pack is dead, but always keep the AoE focus of the build
in mind and round up monster packs as you go, never stopping in place. Defense-wise, strive to maintain
Epiphany
Desert Shroud and the
Blinding Speed dodge bu as much as you can; when facing immediate
danger, pop your
Mantra of Salvation
Agility active for additional Toughness.
Seven-Sided Strike is the harbinger of devastation in the build: while not providing an essential part of your
overall DPS, it will trigger the chain of
Exploding Palm detonations through the Uliana 6-piece bonus. Despite the
lack of elemental synergy, picking the Physical rune
Sustained Attack is crucial, as it cuts down the base
30-second cooldown of the skill in half.
The true powerhouse of the build lies in the signature Monk ability
Exploding Palm. The rune of choice is the
Cold damage
Impending Doom, towering over its peers with 6305% weapon damage per detonation, activated
through the Uliana 6-piece bonus and spreading like the plague with the
Gungdo Gear unique property. While
present on your skill bar, you will not need to manually use Exploding Palm and pay the Spirit cost, as it will be
applied with your generator through the Uliana 2-piece bonus.
Way of the Hundred Fists is the generator of choice that serves multiple purposes in the build: keeping up the
damage bu of the
Assimilation) rune; maintenance of defensive procs like
Spirit Guards; set synergy with
the Uliana 2-piece bonus for the initial application of
Exploding Palm. Last but not least, it will fulll its base
function of resource generation with a standard 12 Spirit per hit.
Epiphany is the centerpiece defensive cooldown in the build. It bolsters your mobility by allowing you to stick to
your target, securing the kill. It increases your Spirit regeneration by 20 per second, ensuring your
Seven-Sided Strike and
Mantra of Salvation activations will always be available. And perhaps most important
of all, the
Desert Shroud rune strengthens your defenses with 50% damage reduction while active.
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, and its Spirit cost can be quickly accounted for through
Way of the Hundred Fists and
Epiphany regeneration do not hesitate to pop it on cooldown.
Dashing Strike is the smoothest movement tool in the game, and one of the best assets in the Monk arsenal; the
Uliana build adopts it mostly for survival needs. A charge-based skill on a low cooldown, it will allow you to skip low
populated areas and unfavorable ghts. With two charges stored by default you can cover good distances, or simply

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Blinding Speed rune.

This concludes the overview of the Active Skills, now let us look through the Passives.
Beacon of Ytar is a solid foundation for high skill uptime, providing a 20% chunk to your Cooldown Reduction.
Further reducing the
Seven-Sided Strike downtime is only half the reason to take this passive, as it also cuts
down the sizable 60-second cooldown of
Epiphany and directly improves your defenses.
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 signicantly to his overall Toughness.
To counteract some of the damage spikes the build is exposed to, we will be taking
Near Death Experience
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
eects is a nice bonus on top.
Mythic Rhythm remains one of the strongest damage passives you can take as a Uliana Monk, as it oers a 40%
multiplicative damage bonus for your next damaging Spirit spender after a triple attack from a generator, mirroring
the mechanics of the set.

3.1. On Mythic Rhythm and Snapshotting

High end GR clears with Uliana's set are using a snapshot of the passive
Mythic Rhythm. In Diablo terms,
snapshotting is taking a certain bu dependent value and using it for an extended period of time, well beyond the
intended bu duration. In this particular build, Uliana monks are snapshotting temporary bued damage values
from
Mythic Rhythm (
Assimilation and Power pylons have been changed into dynamic bus and can no
longer be snapshotted) into a damage increase for the entire rift. This is how it is done:
Find a big pack of enemies and attack 3 times with your generator,
Way of the Hundred Fists, getting as
many
Assimilation stacks as you can. This will also apply the
Mythic Rhythm bu, as the
Exploding Palm created by the Uliana 2-piece bonus counts as a spender for the purposes of the passive.
Unfortunately this will create numerous
Exploding Palms, and you will have no way of telling which
particular target has
Mythic Rhythm on it.
Attack 3 times again on the same targets. This will once again create the
Mythic Rhythm bu, but since
Exploding Palm has already been spread from the rst round and there are no new targets, the
Mythic Rhythm bu is retained on yourself.
Move away from the current pack of
Exploding Palmed monsters you used to create a bu for yourself.
Their Exploding Palms cannot be overwritten. Find a new large pack of monsters and apply a supercharged
Exploding Palm on a new, single monster. Do not do this by a 3-generator attack, but manually using the
Exploding Paml skill on your bar.
Use
Seven-Sided Strike to detonate and spread the supercharged
Exploding Palm. Destroy most of the
monster pack, leaving a few living targets with the supercharged
Exploding Palms and drag them to the
next big group of monsters, strictly using
Seven-Sided Strike to detonate and generate
Exploding Palms,
and not using the Uliana 2-piece method (3 successive generator attacks) until the end of the rift.
Note that this tactic may be perceived as exploitative by the development team and might not survive future
patches.

4. Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives

The build incorporates the complete Uliana's Strategem set, taking all six available pieces and opening up the

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jewelry for the Endless Walk set and its damage multiplication bonuses. Rolls-wise, this Exploding Palm-centric
playstyle takes good advantage of Cooldown Reduction, Skill and Life Regeneration axes. Cooldown Reduction is
taken as the fourth primary on the
Uliana's Fury, alongside Dexterity, Crit Chance and Crit Damage. Life
Regeneration, Dexterity and Vitality plus secondary Physical Resistance are the desired stats on
Uliana's Heart.
High Toughness and CDR rolls will be helpful on
Uliana's Strength. Note that both
Uliana's Heart and
Uliana's Strength are able to roll
Seven-Sided Strike %, but it is not advisable to seek these stats out, as the
skill is mostly a tool to spread and detonate
Exploding Palm, and the primary roll is best spent on something
else.
Uliana's Burden is dedicated to Toughness, with high Dexterity, Vitality and Physical Resistance rolls ideally
accompanied by Life Regeneration. While both
Uliana's Spirit and
Uliana's Destiny can roll
Exploding Palm % bonus, it is preferable to seek skill damage on the boots and to leave the huge mainstat
potential of the helm for a hefty Vitality roll.

Not skipping on any of the six available set pieces to obtain the full Uliana set bonus allows you to split between
oense and defense in the jewelry slots. One of the 2.4 reworks, the Endless Walk set
The Compass Rose ring
and
The Traveler's Pledge amulet adds a unique mechanic that slowly increases your damage by up to a
100% if you remain stationary, and drains it away and increases your damage reduction while moving. This dynamic
ts the Uliana playstyle, which alternates dashing between ghts with periods of stationary
Seven-Sided Strike
spam (the movement from the SSS animation does not lower the Endless Walk damage bonus).
Your other ring slot will be taken by the pure damage boost of
Convention of Elements, whose rotation of
elemental bonuses you will need to learn and time to maximize the benets of the short-lived Cold proc.
With the dependence on
Exploding Palm to deliver the bulk of the damage, it is no wonder that
Gungdo Gear
is the suggested bracer for the build. With an eect both simple and devastating, this piece applies
Exploding Palm to enemies caught within the radius of a detonated
Exploding Palm, spreading like wildre
through the Uliana 6-piece bonus. Aim for the expected Cold elemental damage, Crit Chance, Dexterity and Vitality.
Created with
Seven-Sided Strike in mind,
Binding of the Lost is a damage reduction powerhouse that scales
with the power of
Lion's Claw, optimally providing you with 49% DR. With a generous 7-second uptime and the
Cooldown Reduction focus of the build, you will easily overlap its eect. Note that the unique power of this belt
ranges between 3-3.5 damage reduction, with a 7% loss between the minimum and maximum so try to perfect
your roll for optimal performance.
The Fist of Az'Turrasq is your rst mandatory weapon; this legendary st increases the on-death explosion
damage of
Exploding Palm by up to a 300%; as a true multiplier to the base damage of the skill, it essentially
doubles the output of your primary source of damage. Getting a roll with or close to the maximum 300% of the
unique bonus is your foremost concern; other optimal stats include Cooldown Reduction, Vitality and high base
damage range.
Lion's Claw is a Season 4 exclusive item that is tailored after the build. Turning
Seven-Sided Strike into a
fourteen-sided strike without extending casting time, this st weapon serves as another true damage multiplier by
allowing you twice as many
Exploding Palm detonations from Uliana's 6-piece bonus. The preferred stats for
Lion's Claw are similar to your other weapon Cooldown Reduction, Vitality and a good base damage roll.

Slot

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Pieces

Head

Uliana's Spirit

Shoulders

Uliana's Strength

Torso

Uliana's Heart

Wrists

Gungdo Gear

Hands

Uliana's Fury

Waist

Binding of the Lost

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Legs

Uliana's Burden

Feet

Uliana's Destiny

Amulet

The Traveler's Pledge

Ring #1

The Compass Rose

Ring #2

Convention of Elements

Weapon #1

The Fist of Az'Turrasq

Weapon #2

Lion's Claw

5. Stat Priorities per Gear Slot

Slot

Stat Priority

Head

1. Dexterity
2. Vitality

3. Critical Hit Chance

4. Socket

Shoulders

1. Dexterity
2. Cooldown Reduction

3. Vitality
4. All Resistance

Torso

1. Dexterity
2. 3 Sockets
3. Vitality

4. Single Elemental Resistance (Physical

prefered)
5. Life Regeneration
6. Reduced damage from Elites

Wrists

1. Cold Damage
2. Dexterity
3. Critical Hit Chance

4. Vitality
5. Life Regeneration

Hands

1. Dexterity
2. Cooldown Reduction
3. Critical Hit Damage

4. Critical Hit Chance

5. Single Elemental Resistance (Physical
prefered)

Waist

1. Dexterity
2. Vitality

3. Life %
4. Life Regeneration

Legs

1. Dexterity
2. Vitality
3. 2 Sockets

4. Life Regeneration
5. Single Elemental Resistance (Physical
prefered)

Feet

1. Dexterity
2. Exploding Palm %

3. Vitality
4. Life Regeneration

Amulet

1. Socket
2. Critical Hit Chance
3. Critical Hit Damage

4. Cold Damage
5. Single Elemental Resistance (Physical
prefered)

Rings

1. Socket
2. Cooldown Reduction

3. Critical Hit Chance

4. Critical Hit Damage

Weapons

1. Socket (preferably from

Ramaladni's Gift)
2. Weapon Damage
3. % Weapon Damage

4. Dexterity
5. Cooldown Reduction
6. Vitality

6. Paragon Points
Slot

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Paragon Points

Core

1. Movement Speed up to 25% cap

2. Dexterity
3. Vitality
4. Maximum Spirit

Oense

1. Cooldown Reduction
2. Critical Hit Chance
3. Critical Hit Damage
4. Attack Speed

Defense

1. All Resistance
2. Armor
3. Life Regeneration
4. Life %

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Utility

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1. Area Damage
2. Life on Hit
3. Resource Cost Reduction
4. Gold Find

7. Gems
Your three jewelry sockets will be taken up by the legendary gems
and
Bane of the Stricken.

Bane of the Trapped,

Gogok of Swiftness,

Bane of the Trapped is a potent source of additional damage, as it is its own multiplier in your total damage
calculation. When ghting in melee range, as a Uliana Monk naturally does, the gem will proc on its own
through the level 25 property, bringing a self-sucient increase to your DPS.
Gogok of Swiftness synergises well with the build, indirectly providing you with more damage and
survivability by increasing the essential Cooldown Reduction. While less important, the Attack Speed aspect will
assist with resource upkeep to enable care-free spam of
Mantra of Salvation.
Introduced in Season 4,
Bane of the Stricken occupies the third and nal jewelry socket. Building up your
damage multiplicatively in prolonged ghts and with a level 25 bonus specically targeting Rift Guardians, this
gem is designed to assist AoE heavy builds in their struggle against single target, high HP enemies. The Uliana
Monk is a prime example of such a build, and Bane of the Stricken is considered mandatory.

Slot

Gems

Jewelry

Bane of the Trapped

Gogok of Swiftness
Bane of the Stricken

Helm

Flawless Royal Diamond

Torso and Pants

Flawless Royal Emerald (Damage)

Flawless Royal Diamond (Toughness)

Weapon

Flawless Royal Emerald

8. Kanai's Cube
The Kanai's Cube recommendations are as follows:
for the armor slot, and
Unity for the jewelry slot.

The Flow of Eternity for the weapon slot,

Spirit Guards

Cubing
The Flow of Eternity is essential for the build, as the unique power of this daibo cuts the base
cooldown of
Seven-Sided Strike by 60%. No other weapon eect is remotely comparable, as better uptime
of that skill directly translates into damage and survivability.
Stored in the armor slot,
Spirit Guards will multiply your damage reduction by 40% for 3 seconds after
using a Spirit Generator another signicant reminder to use
Way of the Hundred Fists regularly. Stacking
with your other sources of damage mitigation, these bracers will add helpful survivability during
Seven-Sided Strike downtime. Notice that the armor cube slot is interchangeable with the
Gungdo Gear,
so pick which one you store depending on the weaker rolled item.
Functioning exactly as if you wore it, the cubed
Unity ring oers 50% damage reduction when paired with
another on the follower, plus an immortality item for him (i.e.
Enchanting Favor).

9. Follower
For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our Follower Guide, which contains detailed advice
for choosing the skills and the gear of your follower.

10. ChangeLog
13 Jan. 2016: Updated the guide to reflect its 2.4 buffs, the inclusion of the Endless
Walk set, and Cube changes.
30 Sep. 2015: Updated the guide to include more information about high Greater Rift
clears.
Need any help? Check out our General Discussion Forum!
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