Fists of Thunder

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

This is a combo skill, delivering three successive strikes of increasing damage and lightning effect. Combo skills are used to generate Spirit, the Monk's resource.

Contents

Background

Diablo III Active Skill [e]
Fists of Thunder
Used by:	Monk
Enabled at:	Clvl 1
Skill Description
Charge your attacks with lightning to damage your foes.
Type:	AoE Damage/Combo
Resource Use:	Generates Spirit
Skill Rune Effects
Alabaster rune:	Unknown
Crimson rune:	Unknown
Golden rune:	Unknown
Indigo rune:	Unknown
Obsidian rune:	Unknown

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

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.

Skill Rank Table

• Rank 1: Deals 100% weapon damage as lightning damage. Higher than normal chance to interrupt enemy attacks. (A)
• Rank 2: Deals 150% weapon damage as lightning damage. Higher than normal chance to interrupt enemy attacks. (A)
• Rank 3: Deals 200% weapon damage as lightning damage. Higher than normal chance to interrupt enemy attacks. (A)
• Rank 4: Deals 250% weapon damage as lightning damage. Higher than normal chance to interrupt enemy attacks. (A)
• Rank 5: Deals 300% weapon damage as lightning damage. Higher than normal chance to interrupt enemy attacks.

(A) = Assumed

Synergies

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

Skill Rune Effects

• No rune effects for Hands of Lightning are known.

A male Monk poses while delivering the third and final hit.

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.

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

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

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Hands of Lightning specific gallery contents

• 

  Posing the final strike.

• 

  Monk using Hands of Lightning.

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  Arcing lightning damage.

• 

  The three-hit sequence.

References

• BlizzCon 2010 Hands-on Blascid
• BlizzCon 2010 Monk Hands-on Report