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Sunwuko Tempest Rush Monk Guide

Last Updated: January 10th 2024

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Introduction

Sunwuko Solo Push
View all variants

Welcome to the Monkey King's Garb Sunwuko Tempest Rush Monk, a brother to the Patterns of Justice Tempest Rush Monk that can devastate enemies in an equal if not more impressive fashion. With the introduction of the Patterns of Justice Set and Won Khim Lau in Season 19, Monkey King's Garb have been buffed with Vengeful Wind now granting 10 additional Sweeping Wind stacks instead of 7.

Meanwhile Patterns of Justice is the set designed around Tempest Rush, Monkey King's Garb (Sunwuko) is performing better overall in push due to a stronger (6) Bonus damage multiplier. However, whenever a season theme offers more Kanai's Cube flexibility such as Season 20 or Season 22, Sunwuko falls behind due to its need for Vengeful Wind and its incapacity to equip Shenlong's Spirit for a massive damage boost.

Anyways a combination of smooth gameplay and devastating damage make this build a very fun and competitive one to go with. Let's go over this monster and push it into the top of the Sunwuko leaderboard!

Spin To Win ✔
Powerful Solo Push ✔
Strong All-Around Build ✔
Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master ✔

❌ Needs Optimized Gear
❌ Weaker In Low Density
❌ Can Be Tough To Survive
❌ Trees and Wormholes Make You Cry

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • Sunwuko (2) Bonus gives us 50% damage reduction while Sweeping Wind is active.
  • Sunwuko (6) Bonus increases the damage of Tempest Rush by 1,500% per stack of Sweeping Wind that you have.
  • Captain Crimson's Trimmings (2) Bonus gives 20% Cooldown Reduction and Resource Cost Reduction.
  • Captain Crimson's Trimmings (3) Bonus increases our damage by our Cooldown Reduction percentage and decreases our damage taken by our Resource Cost Reduction percentage.
  • Vengeful Wind lets our Sweeping Wind stack up to 13 times giving us a tremendous damage boost from the Sunwuko (6) Bonus.
  • Won Khim Lau gives 600% damage and causes Tempest Rush to cast Cyclone Strike.
  • Cesar's Memento increases Tempest Rush damage to enemies that are blinded, stunned or frozen by 800%.
  • Balance gives 600% damage to Tempest Rush and 100% Critical Hit Chance if it hits 3 or less enemies (awesome for killing the Rift Guardian).
  • Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac lets us reset all our cooldowns.
  • Mantle of Channeling provides 25% damage and damage reduction.
  • Ring of Royal Grandeur completes our Sunwuko and Captain Crimson Set Bonuses.

Season 30 Soul Shards

Soul Shards are powerful socketable items that initially dropped during Season 25 but they are returning for Season 30! There are 4 available for Weapons based on the Lesser Evils, with another 3 for Helmets based on the Prime Evils. They drop at Rank 0 and be upgraded three times with the brand new Hellforge Embers to unlock additional powers, or be used in the Kanai's Cube as Augments. Here's how they progress:

  • Rank 0: Soul Shards begin with a unique static Legendary Power. Creates a Rank 50 Augment.
  • Rank 1: Gives all powers from the normal gems. Creates a Rank 75 Augment.
  • Rank 2: Grants one additional powerful stat. Creates a Rank 100 Augment.
  • Rank 3: Unlocks 1 of 3 bonus Legendary Powers unique to that Soul Shard. Creates a Rank 125 Augment.

Warning: Leoric's Crown and Broken Crown do not work with Soul Shards!

Read our Soul Shards Guide written by Chewingnom for full details on how they work. What you should prioritize on them for Solo Pushing is the following:

  1. The Correct Soul Shard & Rank 3 Power
    The best shards for Solo Pushing are:
    • Helmets: We want to use Sliver of Terror for the massive damage buff from our abilities on cooldown. For the Rank 3 power take the Ring of Fire to unleash a devastating AoE blast for big leaderboard pushes!
    • Weapons: We want to use Essence of Anguish for the Movement Speed and Cooldown Reduction. For the Rank 3 power take the explosion to help us clear out large densities during the Rift. Hint: Make sure to get a Poison Damage Range on your follower's Weapon so it can stack the buff automatically..
  2. The Rank 2 Stat
    The stats that come from the second upgrade are not equal. Here's what we're looking for on them:
    • Helmets: We want either Main Stat for damage or Melee/Ranged Damage Reduction to survive. Avoid Armor and All Resistance as their stat ranges are far too low compared to the others options.
    • Weapons: We want Cold Damage to boost our character's power the furthest. Avoid Attack Speed and Critical Hit Chance as their stat ranges are too low compared to the others.
  3. The Stat Ranges on the Rank 1 and 2 Powers
    This is just icing on the cake because the ranges will not make or break your build. Still, look for the Soul Shards with the best stat ranges, especially on the offensive stats.

For the other game modes, other Soul Shards can be used. Check the Variants below to see what's used there.

What about extra Soul Shards? Either salvage them for gems, or upgrade and use them in Kanai's Cube for Augments.

Global Stat Priorities

You need to stack 53 or 57% Resource Cost Reduction (RCR) depending on the setup, and about 55% Cooldown Reduction (CDR). Resource Cost Reduction is necessary to keep channeling Tempest Rush all the time, while Cooldown Reduction is needed for permanent Epiphany. Get one or two Life per Hit rolls (Weapons and Bracers) for recovery. Aim to get All Resistance on your Belt, Pants and Boots and Secondary Resistances for Harmony passive on all other pieces. Your offensive priorities are: Cold Damage > Critical Hit Chance > Critical Hit Damage ~ Damage Range > Area Damage > Tempest Rush Damage.

Assembling the Build

Item Stat Priorities

Gems

Skills

Passives

Paragon Points

Altar of Rites

Follower

Gameplay

Hardcore

Variants

Nephalem Rifts
GR Solo Speeds
GR Solo Push
T16 Keys

Concept
When it comes to Nephalem Rifts, Sunwuko is inferior in both speed and damage to PoJ Tempest Rush Monk. But it has an advantage of being able to use Sage's Journey and Cain's Destiny sets even while playing in groups.

Gameplay
In T16 we just fly from Elite to Elite using In-Geom powered Dashing Strike. Activate Sweeping Wind when you enter the rift, keep Epiphany active and tap Mantra of Healing every 2.5 seconds to protect your Squirt's Necklace buff with a shield.

Setups
If you're playing in groups, drop Captain Crimson's Trimmings and Mantle of Channeling for Goldwrap and Sage's Journey, cube Nemesis Bracers and replace Stone of Jordan with Avarice Band. On the Rift Guardian swap Sage's Journey to Cain's Destiny for 25% extra Greater Rift Keystones.

Speed GR Farming

Concept
For Solo XP farming on monk Tempest Rush is always a solid option. It provides high damage with a good amount of speed to farm GR100+ in under 3 minutes on any map. It should be mentioned that the Patterns of Justice Tempest Rush Monk is a slightly stronger version of this, if you're willing to put that together. Here we'll pick up Stone of Jordan which allows us to stack Lightning Damage while playing Flurry.

Gameplay
Use Epiphany every 15 seconds. Keep channeling Tempest Rush at all times and interrupt it briefly to release small explosions on high-HP trash and elites. Even 5-10 stack explosion should be strong enough to kill stuff in speeds. Use Dashing Strike when you need to cover a lot of empty space or jump over the wall.

SWK TR Solo Push

Concept
This variant uses Squirt's Necklace and Serenity. We stack enough CDR to get 100% uptime on Epiphany, which lets us run Stone of Jordan to get even more damage. We still deal Cold damage but stack Lightning to make use out of 25% roll on Won Khim Lau.

Gameplay
Here you need to do Squirt's Necklace setup instead of Mythic Rhythm. Simply activate Serenity at the end of Physical and release Tempest Rush right before it expires. This will guarantee you at least 2 stacks of Squirt's Necklace.

Setups
If you're lacking the necessary RCR, Blinding Flash Replenishing Light can be used to resolve your Spirit issues.

At very high Paragon levels (5,000+) you can drop The Guardian's Path or Harmony for Relentless Assault for more damage.

For extra toughness, replace Stone of Jordan with Unity (don't forget to switch back to Cold Damage rolls).

Video Guide

Mechanics

Tempest Rush Flurry

Blinding Flash

Summary

  • Put together the core items and acquire the full Sunwuko and Captain Crimson's Trimmings sets.
  • Practice building and detonating your Flurry stacks on your Cold cycle of Convention of Elements.
  • Climb the solo leaderboards by gathering monsters together and blasting them away with Area Damage.
  • Enjoy this beautiful Spin-to-Win build!

Town Is Lava!

Credits

Written by Northwar & Raxxanterax. Introduction by Chewingnom.

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