Skill Tree B as of BlizzCon 2009.
Contents
Tier One
Crippling Wave
- Combo skill. Light attacks that apply a series of increasingly debilitating debuffs.
- Rank: 1
- First hit: Deals 50% of weapon damage. Enemy movement speed reduced 50% for 2 seconds.
- Second hit: Deals 50% weapon damage. Enemy damage reduced 25% and they take 25% more damage from attacks.
- Third hit: Deals 60% weapon damage. Debuffs refreshed on all targets.
- Rank: 2
- First hit: Deals 60% of weapon damage. Enemy movement speed reduced 60% for 2 seconds.
- Second hit: Deals 60% weapon damage. Enemy damage reduced 30% and take 30% more damage from attack.
- Third hit: Deals 75% weapon damage. Debuffs refreshed on all targets.
An interesting sort of combo attack, since it’s about defensive bonuses. The damage is lower than any other Monk attacks, lower even than just plain attack (which I never used once during my Blizzcon play time). Like Inner Sanctuary, this one was never needed at Blizzcon. There’s no big end boss anywhere, and the only dangers came from large mobs. This skill could be useful against those, but they were generally easier to just destroy with many fast hits than to weaken first.
This one seems like it would be very useful against big bosses, since it makes them susceptible to damage, while making them deal less to you. Throwing in stage 2 or 3 of this in the midst of other more useful combo attacks could be helpful, now and then, since the curse-like debuff can hit multiple enemies in close proximity.
Tier 2
Exploding Palm
- Combo Skill. A quick succession of attacks ending with the deadly Exploding Palm.
- Rank: 1/5
- First hit: 35% of weapon damage.
- Second hit: 50% of weapon damage.
- Third hit: Target bleeds for 60 damage over 7 seconds. Moving causes 200% more bleeding damage. If target dies it explodes dealing 60-100% of its maximum life in damage to all enemies nearby.
- Rank: 2/5
- First hit: 40% of weapon damage.
- Second hit: 60% of weapon damage.
- Third hit: Target bleeds for 70 damage over 7 seconds. Moving causes 200% more bleeding damage. If target dies it explodes dealing 60-100% of its maximum life in damage to all enemies nearby.
- Rank: 3/5
- First hit: 45% of weapon damage.
- Second hit: 70% of weapon damage.
- Third hit: Target bleeds for 80 damage over 7 seconds. Moving causes 200% more bleeding damage. If target dies it explodes dealing 60-100% of its maximum life in damage to all enemies nearby.
This was probably the coolest spell most people saw at Blizzcon, just for the massive blood explosions it created. It was magnificently overpowered, working like an early D2C version of Corpse Explosion. Triggering the third stage of this one, then beating that monster down with 100 Fists, was almost certain to clear any room, killing every monster anywhere near melee range.
It will have to be nerfed in the final game, and probably moved down the skill tree as well, since this is just insane for such a low level skill.
Tier One
Impenetrable Defense
- Description: Momentarily turn your weapons into an impenetrable wall that rebounds enemy ranged attacks and grants 100% dodge against weapon attacks.
- Rank: 1/1
- Mana cost: 5
This one was almost impossible to test or use in the Blizzcon build, since Fallen Shaman and some other rare mage types found in the underground dungeons were the only projectile enemies, and they only infrequently fired their spells. As best I could tell from testing it, the Monk stood still and did a staff twirling motion with his weapon (a staff, naturally) and batted back incoming projectiles. If there had been any incoming projectiles.
Tier 2
Radiant Visage
- Rank: 1/5
- Description: A flash of light sears the eyes of all enemies within 20 feet, blinding them for 2-4 seconds. If attacked they will fight back with a 40% reduced chance to hit.
- Mana cost: 15
- Rank: 2/5
- Description: A flash of light sears the eyes of all enemies within 20 feet, blinding them for 3-5 seconds. If attacked they will fight back with a 42% reduced chance to hit.
- Mana cost: 15
- Rank: 3/5
- Description: A flash of light sears the eyes of all enemies within 20 feet, blinding them for 4-6 seconds. If attacked they will fight back with a 44% reduced chance to hit.
- Mana cost: 15
A useful war cry-like attack, this one had a substantial radius, and blinded every non-boss in the area, stopping them in their tracks. I used this against every charge of Fallen Imps (performed when a Fallen Overseer got a mob of 6-12 amped up all at once). No, it wasn't really necessary, since a bunch of Imps were essentially walking health orbs/combo power-ups, but it was sometimes fun to pretend that strategy was required.
References
Full Monk Skill Tree Stats and Discussion