SSS is just going to be sick with that zero cooldown Daibo.
Stack enough spirit regen gear and you'll be close to being able to perma-SSS
That's basically what I have been saying in that other thread. I have already theory crafted a SSS build. Probably going to post it in a bit actually.
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Seven Sided Strike Monk build (Reaper of Souls)
With the introduction of the Clouds and Moon Legendary, I thought I would theory craft a build based around Seven Sided Strike. With no cooldown on the move, the only thing you have to worry about is keeping your Spirit up so you can use it without running out. By a combination of skills and items you can accomplish this. Because SSS essentially removes the Monk himself from the battle, its already a very powerful defensive skill in that Monk is invulnerable during the entire duration of SSS. If you can do SSS infinitely then you can't be killed meaning you can skip out on defensive skills even some attributes however it is still wise to have as much mitigation as you can have while still having enough DPS to clear higher difficulties.
Primary attributes that you need:
+ Critical Hit chance
+ Critical Hit damage bonus
+ Crushing Blow chance
+ Resource Cost reduction
+ Dexterity
+ % Damage bonus to Seven Sided Strike
+ % Holy damage
+ Spirit Regeneration
+ Maximum Spirit (hard to get on gear)
Pretty basic stuff here, Resource Cost reduction is very important in this build compared to other builds as the main limiter for this build is the high resource cost of SSS. If the Resource cost of SSS is reduced to below 30 then with the build even if you are at 0 Spirit you can just auto attack a couple of times and get enough Spirit to do SSS again. A lot of gear pieces can roll +% damage bonus to SSS which is great if you get it. +% Holy damage is only required if you are using the Fulminating Onslaught SSS rune.
Secondary attributes (mostly defensive stats so you can survive in higher difficulties:
+Stack a single secondary resistance on your secondary affix for a gear (like Poison/Lightning/Fire resistance) so you can use OWE passive
+Vitality
+All Resistance
+Life %
+Movement speed
+Life per Spirit spent (if you are getting this then the secondary affix on your gear must have the appropriate Health Globe bonuses otherwise this doesn't scale well at all)
Avoid attributes:
*Increased attack speed (does not scale well for this build and is not really needed)
*Reduced cooldown (there are no skills on this build that require a CD reduction if you are using the Legendary Daibo for SSS)
*Damage increase to your Spirit Generator/auto attack (you won't be attacking with your Spirit generator much so this is a wasted affix that can be used for something else)
*%Elemental damage anything except Holy (only Holy works on SSS with the Fulminating Onslaught rune)
Active Skills:
Seven Sided Strike - The core damage dealer of this build, the one move that this whole build is based around. With the 0 cooldown Legendary Clouds and Moon you can spam this ability as long as you have the spirit for it. The skill itself does a lot of damage in an area although its a bit randomized if you have a bunch of enemies around. While this skill is active, the Monk cannot be damaged at all which is what makes this build powerful if you are able to spam the move.
Rune options:
Sudden Assault : Solid rune to have for the raw damage.
Seven Sided Strike : The increased number of hits is great for when you have more Crushing Blow. Even without Crushing Blow this is a solid rune to choose as it would increase the time you would be in SSS animation which means more time that you can't get hit.
Pandemonium : This is mostly for tough bosses/ubers as the stun is pretty useful. Not that great for farming but still useful.
Fulminating Onslaught : I would use this rune if I have some Holy damage +% stacked up on Bracers/Gloves/Rings/Amulets.
The rune that reduces cooldown is absolutely useless for this build.
Mantra Options:
Mantra of Conviction - Overawe : This is the most damaging Mantra that the Monk has but you will be giving up the Spirit regenerating Mantra for it. Use it when you have enough Spirit gen to be in SSS mode for most of the fight.
Mantra of Conviction - Annihilation : I would use this when I am in need of Crushing Blow as CB is pretty powerful in RoS.
Mantra of Healing - Circular Breathing : Gives you 3 Spirit per second which is essential for the build.
Spirit Generators:
Fists of Thunder - Quickening : The best spirit generator for the Monk returning a whopping 18 Spirit per hit. It also comes with a very useful teleport now. You don't really need this move for anything other than Spirit regen, this is not your damage dealer
Sweeping Wind - Inner Storm : While the starting cost is high, once you have it up and can to max stacks it gives you 4 spirit per second.
Mystic Ally - Air Ally : On active it gives you 75 spirit instantly. On passive it gives 4 spirit per second. If you are low on Spirit you can turn on the active and can probably get off two more SSS with reduced cost reduction.
Breath of Heaven - Infused with Light : Spirit regeneration is going to be a key component of this build and you need a lot of spirit regen as the base cost of SSS is 50 spirit! This rune gives you 4 additional Spirit regen per second which is very nice.
I didn't opt to go for a pseudo "Nirvana" build with this because it might get nerfed in the future although that is still an option for this build.
Passives:
Exalted Soul : Essential for this build. Both the increased max Spirit and Spirit regen is needed for this build. Now gives you 2 Spirit per second.
Chant of Resonance : Another source of Spirit Regeneration, this one gives you 2 additional.
Guardian's Path : Because you will be using a 2H and you would be needing a lot of Spirit Generation, this is another great passive to have for Spirit generation.
One with Everything or Seize the Initiative : You are going to be going all in on offense and Spirit regen so in that off chance that you are caught without SSS you can get blown up pretty easily. Getting one of these passives is pretty good, I would go with Seize the Initiative personally but if you have a lot of secondary Resistances stacked up OWE can be great too.
Fleet Footed : I would get this when you are at a point where you can get SSS off for the maximum duration of a fight and you don't have to worry about getting one shotted or killed easily. This will help you farm faster and get to mobs faster. Get this instead of OWE/Seize the Initiative when you can clear mobs with great efficiency.
Just from your skills, if you have max stacks of Sweeping Wind and Mantra of Healing up you would have around 20 spirit PER SECOND! Getting off one auto attack would mean you would have built enough Spirit for one Seven Sided Strike. Of course this build will be stacking some resource cost reduction as well which would mean you would have many chances to perform SSS in a big battle and if you are low you would only need 2-3 hits to get to enough Spirit to get off SSS again.
Items
Weapon:
Legendary Daibo "The Clouds and the Moon"
THE MOST essential component of your build in terms of itemization. Without this item this build would not even work as you would need to waste precious affixes on Cooldown reduction rather than offensive stats to boost up the damage of your SSS. This removes the cooldown of your SSS completely meaning the only limiting factor to you spamming SSS against mobs is your Spirit quantity.
You generally want a Clouds and the Moon that comes with a high damage roll, high Dexterity, either crit damage or crushing blow and a socket for additional Crit Hit damage socket.
Gloves:
Gloves of Worhip will most likely be nerfed but until they aren't, these are BiS Gloves for this build. The Spirit regeneration is a great boost for this build and with the Empowered Shrine buff you can pretty much be in SSS forever under the effect.
On the gloves you need as many offensive stats as possible so we are looking at Crit chance, Crit damage, Crushing Blow, Dexterity. Some of these affixes are only available on the Gloves so you should prioritize crits over stuff like Resource Cost reduction and additional damage for SSS. If you are using Fulminating Onslaught rune then getting a Holy damage +% affix would be pretty damn nice too.
Bracers:
Similar concept to the Gloves, you need to stack offensive stats here mostly (Crit chance, Crit Damage, Crushing Blow, Dexterity, Resource Cost reduction, Holy damage). Anything you are lacking in other areas you can try to fill up here.
For Legendaries you can pick up the Legendary that gives you 20% resource on picking up Health Globe. Other than that there aren't many Legendary Bracers that synergize well with the build, pick any Bracer that has great rolls and a Legendary affix that you like.
Helm:
For this type of Monk the only thing you really want a Socket for is Life %. If you can survive long enough to keep getting SSSs off then you don't need more survivability and you can even roll the Socket into something like Crit chance. Reduce cooldown Diamond on Helm is obviously useless, Gold is not really required and the EXP bonus isn't that high on high levels. You could socket a Magic find gem if you really want more items but other than that either go Life % gem or don't go socket at all.
An excellent Legendary Helm to get on this build is the "Pride's Fall" Legendary. The Legendary affix on this helm gives you a WHOPPING 30% resource cost reduction if you haven't been hit for 5 seconds. If you use this build right, you can keep spamming SSS and you can easily avoid getting hit for 5 seconds to enjoy the resource cost reduction bonus.
The Eye of the Storm Legendary is another good Legendary Helm that you can pick up as it can give you 3 Spirit per second along with other offensive stats.
Belt:
On belts you generally want half defensive stats and half offensive stats. The offensive stats include Dexterity and one other offensive, stuff like Resource Cost reduction or a Skill% damage boost.
A Legendary that you can try out on this build is Cord of Heuer Men if you get a Dex roll on it. The Legendary affix confuses all enemies in a specific location which would make them easy to hit with SSS.
Chest:
You pretty much want mostly defensive stats here as well with like one offensive stat depending on what the chest roll. The only good Chest piece for this build is Shi Mizu's Haori which gives you 100% crit when on low health. This could potential save you if you get low and having all your SSS hits crit is massive. Having 3 sockets is pretty huge on Chest pieces as you can fill them up with Diamonds for a ton of Resistances.
Shoulders:
As with the Belt, you generally want defensive stats and 1-2 offensive stats (generally cost reduction and Dexterity). As far as Legendaries go, there aren't many that synergizes well with this build except for the Shoulder that gives you resource back from picking up Globes.
Boots:
The best boots right now for pretty much any class are Ice Climbers. Same concept as Shoulders/Belts in terms of getting affixes, you want more defensive ones. The immunity to Frozen and other CC effects is HUGE as you do not want to be stunned and then get one shotted, you don't have a lot of defensive skills/abilities on this build so you cannot afford to get your rhythm broken. Until these get nerfed, these are the BiS boots for this build and most other builds as well.
While I haven't seen Boj Anglers in RoS, they are supposed to roll with a trifecta and if you get those with the right rolls then they would out DPS Ice Climbers easily. Its really a matter of choosing between offense and defense here.
Secondary affix should obviously have Movement speed and a secondary resist that you are stacking with OWE.
Rings and Amulets:
With your Chest, Belt, Shoulders and Boots taking care of your defensive stats like Vitality/Life%/All res, this lets you go all out with picking 4 offensive stats on Rings. Pretty much any 4 combination of the Primary affixes I mentioned previously would work for this build.
Good Amulets for this build include:
Overwhelming Desire: Can charm enemies and you do more damage to them.
Ess of Johan: Pulls in enemies like a Cyclone so they are bunched up together so they are more targets for SSS to hit.
Eye of Etlich: No peculiar Legendary affix but it can roll 5 primary stats which can be pretty huge if you can get a lucky roll on this. If you get something like Dexterity, Reduced cost reduction, Crit chance, Crit damage and Crushing blow all on one Amulet then that might be BiS for this build.
Not many Rings that can synergize with this build outside of Stone of Jordan which can give specific boosts to stats in this build, you just want the Primary stats for this build and that can be gotten on pretty much any ring. Use the Ring you are most comfortable with.
Set Piece:
It might be worth getting the Inna's set piece bonus. For the 4th bonus you can get the Ring of Royal Grandeur to substitute for one piece so you can keep the SSS Daibo. With the Set bonus you can have all Mantras active at once with some additional Spirit regeneration.
You can even invest in two pieces of Natalya's (Boots and Ring) for the 7% Crit chance bonus.
Paragon Points:
Max these in the order provided:
Core:
Dexterity
Vitality
(No need to put points in the other two as core stats have no cap)
Offensive:
Crit Hit chance
Crit Hit damage
Increased attack speed
Cooldown reduction
Defensive:
Armor
Resist All
Life
Dodge
Utility:
Maximum Resource
Movement Speed or Magic Find (choose Magic Find if you have MS capped)
Gold Pick up Radius
