Fists of Thunder

Fists of Thunder (known as Hands of Lightning prior to July 2011) is a Spirit Generator Monk skill unlocked at Level 1. The Monk charges his strikes with lightning in a three-stage attack.

This is one of the Monk's Combo skills. Combo skills generate Spirit.

Background

Fists of Thunder in action.

The Monk charges his strikes with lightning in a three-stage attack that ends with an area of effect blast.

Skill Effects

The following is a very quick list. See the Fists of Thunder rune effects page for a more thorough summary of rune effects, or any of the individual rune pages for numbers, screenshots, blue quotes, and much more.

Icon	Skill	Description

<skill subcat="Combo" class="Monk">Fists of Thunder</skill>

	Thunderclap	Each punch causes a shockwave that hits all enemies within 8 yards of your primary target for 105% weapon damage as Lightning damage. Also enables you to teleport a short distance during the ability's first strike.
	Chain Lightning	The third strike creates chain lightning that can jump to up to 9 other nearby targets. Each lightning strike inflicts 80% weapon damage as Lightning damage.
	Static Charge	Enemies attacked are charged with static for 10 seconds. Charged enemies take 130% weapon damage as Lightning damage when you attack other nearby enemies with Fists of Thunder.
	Rolling Thunder	Critical hits with this skill generate 7 Spirit.
	Lightning Flash	Each attack with Fists of Thunder increases your Dodge chance by 2.5%. This effect stacks up to 8 times.

Note: Information is based on a level 60 character and rank 7 runestones.

Skill Design

Welcome to electric avenue.

This skill first appeared at BlizzCon 2010, playable in the demo. It adds lightning damage to the Monk's strikes.

The attack has three phases. Each strike deals X% weapon damage as lightning damage, varying by rank and other factors, which may be valuable for later difficulty settings with enemies who are resistant to physical damage. Each strike also has a chance to interrupt the enemy being struck.

Combo skills are the cornerstone for Monks. Combos do bonus damage, grant special properties (i.e. lightning damage and interrupt attacks on Hands of Lightning), and build up the Spirit needed to cast other skills. All combos have three stages, each progressively more powerful and flashier.

Synergies

• No synergies with any of the passive skills are yet known.

Development

Fists of Thunder was first shown at BlizzCon 2010, then named Hands of Lightning. Blascid reported on using the skill at BlizzCon:[1]

In the Monks case, with her actual lightning fist skill (I do not remember the name), the first hit would be a claw sweep with lightning damage, the second one granted more lightning damage with more lightning graphics, and the third hit was a lightning blast that created a nice AOE arc. (The third move’s animation {Monk’s move and spell effect} reminded me of how Ryu and Ken’s Hadouken looked in Street Fighter 2 {Sorry, I have not played any more recent than that} if your opponent was right in front of you.)

Flux also wrote about using this skill at Blizzcon. A small excerpt:[2]

The only drawback of Hands of Lightning was the fun factor. It was a fairly plain attack. It looks pretty with the big lightning blasts, but it’s basically just a straight ahead right, left, right combo. It doesn’t hit multiple enemies, it doesn’t debuff them, it doesn’t let you dash across the screen to start hitting, etc. It’s the lowest level combo skill for a reason; it’s just a damn powerful attack to use against a single or a few enemies, and sure, killing them quickly and efficiently is fun. But if I were playing for real, I’d probably respec it to another combo when I had the chance. (Though it might be handy long term for the huge lightning damage.)

Before the July 2011 Press Event, Hands of Lightning was renamed Fists of Thunder. Skill tiers were also removed, and Fists of Thunder became a level 1 skill.

A male Monk poses while delivering the second stage hit.

Previous Versions

See Hands of Lightning for the original version of this skill.

Compilation image showing the three hits of Hands of Lightning, with the big blast on the final hit.

Media

Fists of Thunder can be seen in action on video here:

• Gameplay: July 2011
• Video: August 2011 Monk Skill Animations

You can find pictures in the Diablo III screenshot and picture gallery:

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Fists of Thunder specific gallery contents

• 

  Posing the final strike.

• 

  Monk using Hands of Lightning.

• 

  Arcing lightning damage.

• 

  The three-hit sequence.

References

• BlizzCon 2010 Hands-on Blascid
• BlizzCon 2010 Monk Hands-on Report
• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report -- IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• Silva's Monk Runestone Effects -- IncGamers 6th Sep 2011
• Monk Active Skills -- Diablo III 12th Sep 2011

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer primary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer secondary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer corpses

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Template:Skill navbox Necromancer reanimation

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer curses