Blizzard Entertainment revealed the Monk at the Opening Ceremony yesterday as the fourth playable class in Diablo III with a brand new in-game cutscene that introduces the new desert area outside of Caldeum. Unless you haven't been following our live coverage, this is already old news, but now we present our impressions of the class after having had a chance to do some heavy playtesting with this shaved- and dotted-head warrior.
The opening trailer for the Monk features him as a male monk, while the Wizard's iconic introduction trailer had the class as female, but of course both are playable with both genders. He's bearded, shrouded in tunic-style clothing appropriate to the desert environment in which he's introduced, accented with a large bead necklace and a heavy staff over his shoulder.
The Monk encounters a shrouded figure in a sandstorm-plagued desert warning him that the city of Alcarnus is overrun with (Dark) Cultists, and we even get to see them invading the town as he tells his tale. The figure leads the Monk to Alcarnus, and introduces it as the city of his death before the gate slams shut and locked behind him and cultists spring upon him. The cultists subsequently get bashed and exploded into oblivion, which seems to be the class' characteristic attack. We see in the trailer one skill that's not currently available, a fire nova spell where the monk slams down his staff and shakes the ground.
When the monk makes it back to the shrouded figure, he reveals him in his true form to be a tail-headed demon that shoots up what first appears to be fireworks but fires back down to the earth like meteorites. The Monk breaks out a sort of Charge/Teleport hybrid skill to close the distance between him and his foe, follows it up with Way of the Hundred Fists, and dispatches the lesser super-unique with an Exploding Palm.
Introducing a Guerilla Crusader
The Monk is part of a "secretive and reclusive" order of monks living in the region of Ivgorod, though it's unclear at this point as to exactly where on in Sanctuary they reside. He is casually referred to as the "holy warrior" of the game, making him the new Paladin.
The development team stated his look originates from 13th century Eastern European monks and traditional Asian monks, with the martial arts abilities of the Assassin from Diablo II: Lord of Destruction integrated as well. He was inspired by pen-and-paper style role-playing games, and much like the other Diablo III character classes has a solid history in the genre that Blizzard is interpreting in brand new ways. In fact, they've even worked to integrate the feel of arcade fighting titles in his combat style.
Exploding Palm
Crippling Wave
Clearly a melee-heavy class, the Monk lacks the brawn of the Barbarian, but carries swift and deadly moves in guerilla-style tactics. He wields a two-handed staff by default, meaning that his defense is highly based around skills and chest armor. Like the Wizard and Witch Doctor he uses Mana to cast skills, which currently range from combo hit attacks to defensive spells. He moves quite fast, can deflect ranged attacks, and combines a variety of defensive spells with magically enhanced physical melee attacks.
Looking Back
Certainly this new class has several similarities to the Paladin and Assassin classes. In terms of lore he has the mystery of the Assassin and his secretive order, while he also originates as a zealous member of a religious yet somewhat militaristic sect.
The melee combat style of the Monk and especially the martial arts moves invokes the image of the Assassin immediately, but with a new twist. His combo skills, the new "charge up" abilities, count up to three hits but offer a lot more variety right off the bat than the martial arts moves of the Assassin. Already one of our favorites is a low-level skill called Exploding Palm, which at its third hit generates a beating heart icon above the target that indicates it will explode upon death, dealing 60~100% of its maximum life in splash damage to surrounding enemies.
When we say "explode" we mean a hyper shockwave of monster guts flying in all directions, unpleasant in description but amazing in view.
The melee and physical attack side of the Monk naturally give him a similar impression to the Paladin, if not his role as the "holy warrior." Unless he gains some ranged skills he may be even more close combat-oriented than this predecessor. In contrast, his spiritual skills currently reside on the defensive side on warding off foes and their attacks rather than possessing the healing abilities of a cleric or a sort of "Holy Bolt" spell.
Auras are an element clearly missing from the Monk, and a key property of the Paladin. It's too early to know if they'll be coming to the Monk, but one would expect Blizzard to re-imagine this skill type especially for its utility in multiplayer games as party buffs, but we could see them traditionally implemented into the Monk's arsenal or even given to the fifth unannounced character class. What is clear is that the Monk follows the development team's focus on getting into the action.
Strengths & Weaknesses
From my play-testing experience, the Monk seems indeed to be a weaker class than both the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor. The Witch Doctor has pets and skills like Zombie Dogs, Corpse Spiders, and Horrify to fend off monsters while he can regroup and thus has the advantage of deflecting damage as a ranged class; still, these also offer the opportunity to go melee on a more one-on-one basis. The Barbarian is clearly the tank of the game, while the Monk is a weaker fighter that has to take closer watch of his hit points and balancing his contact with the more hard-hitting foes.
Skills like Seven-Sided Strike is where the Monk really excels, landing several hits before the monsters can react. He's all about fast attacks and reducing the defensive properties of enemies, and is effectively used to pick off monsters when you quickly dive in, land a few severe blows, and exit before getting surrounded.
Attributes
At the BlizzCon demo, our Monk started out at Character Level 12 (clvl 12) and these statistics:
Strength: 50
Dexterity: 73
Vitality: 38
Willpower: 55
Just as before, statistics are automatically assigned as one levels up.
Speaking of attributes, the development added some elements to the character attributes screen, including two drop down boxes for much more complex stats than one gets just by hovering over the four basic attributes.
Skills
The Monk has three unnamed skill trees and in the BlizzCon Demo we've seen just eight of his abilities including one passive skill.
Combo skills are a big feature of this class. They are a clear shout back to the Assassin's Martial Arts abilities with three build-up hits, except they don't require a finishing move for taken to a new level. We get more variety in the effects each combo skill has for each of its hits. Interestingly, these are spread across two skill trees rather than being kept in one, leaving us to speculate more on the relationship between skills of the same tree.
We've seen three of these combo skills so far, and they do have a lot of variety. Take Way of the Hundred Fists for example:
First Hit: A short-ranged dashing attack that deals 100% weapon damage.
Second Hit: Attacks rapidly 6 times for 8% weapon damage.
Third Hit: Attack all enemies near the Monk for 80% weapon damage.
As you can see, not only does it vary the weapon damage, it also varies the attack style, and even adds a sort of Zeal-like effect.
Beside these combo skills, the Monk has has some standard offensive skills, plus three defensive spells that were available. One deflects ranged attacks, another actually blinds nearby enemies, and the third creates a small area around the Monk in which foes cannot enter.
Skills in Detail
Skill Tree A
A Force Without Thought (Passive) Counterattack enemies without interrupting the normal flow of your attacks. When you dodge you automatically counterattack the attacker for 30% normal weapon damage.
Mana Cost: 0 (Passive)
Seven-Sided Strike Dash at your enemies, striking 6 times in succession for 50% of weapon damage.
Mana Cost: 30
Way of the Hundred Fists (Combo Skill)
Fast series of attacks that strikes enemies in front of you.
First Hit: A short-ranged dashing attack that deals 100% weapon damage.
Second Hit: Attacks rapidly 6 times for 8% weapon damage.
Third Hit: Attack all enemies near the Monk for 80% weapon damage.
Inner Sanctuary
Creates a protected region on the ground for 6 seconds that cannot be passed by enemies.
Mana Cost: 24
Skill Tree B
Crippling Wave (Combo Skill) Light attacks that apply a series of increasingly debilitating debuffs.
First Hit: 50% Weapon Damage. Target's movement speed reduced 50% for 2 seconds.
Second Hit: 50% Weapon Damage. Enemy's damage reduced 25% and take 25% more damage from attacks.
Third Hit: 60% Weapon Damage. Debuffs refreshed on all targets.
Third Hit: Target bleeds 80 damage over 7 seconds. If it dies, it explodes and deals 60~100% of its maximum health [in splash damage].
Skill Tree C
Impenetrable Defense Momentarily turn weapons into an impenetrable wall that rebounds enemy ranged attacks, grants 100% [chance to] dodge versus melee attacks.
Mana Cost: 5
Radiant Visage A flash of light sears the eyes of all enemies within 20 feet, blinding them so they cannot see for 2~5 seconds. If attacked, they fight back with 42% reduced chance to hit.
Mana Cost: 15
Rank: 2
What do you think about the Monk? Comment in the forums!
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