Seven-Sided Strike

Seven Sided Strike is a Monk Tier 7 skill unlocked at level 26. The Monk uses holy magic to attack multiple enemies at once.

This is one of the Monk's signature skills.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]
Seven-Sided Strike Active, 5 ranks
Used by:	Monk
Skill Description:
Dash at your enemies, striking several times in succession for 50% of your weapon damage.
Skill Details:
Type:	Direct Damage
Quantity:	50% weapon damage
Effect:	Multi Targets
School:	Physical/Holy (?)
Spirit cost:	Unknown
Cast time:	Instant
Duration:	None
Cooldown:	1.5 sec
Synergies:	None
Requires:	N/A
Prereq of:	N/A

The Monk transcends, calling the holy Light to gain supernatural speed, hitting multiple foes in the timespace of a second.

Skill Design

A very fun skill. Much like a finishing move in a fighter. Jay Wilson described it as "Human Chain Lightning."

The Monk teleports to his target, Dragon Flight style, and commences to strike multiple times. As best I could tell, the Monk was invulnerable, or perhaps intangible, during this attack. He's not visible except as flashing series of human shapes, all shining gold and two-dimensional. You can see a screenshot in this article, or see it featured in the Blizzcon B-roll gameplay footage. The evolution of the skill was described in detail during the Monk design panel as well.

The hits always seemed to land, and did considerable damage in total. If this one was cast on an empty space, the monk would do three flashing hits before stopping. He’d also stop short of 6 if the target died along the way. If there were multiple targets in the area, he seemed to select targets randomly, hitting each of them some number of times out of his total of 6.

Skill Rank Table

• Rank 1: 6 strikes. X spirit.
• Rank 2: 7 strikes. X spirit.
• Rank 3: 8 strikes. X spirit. (A)
• Rank 4: 9 strikes. X spirit. (A)
• Rank 5: 10 strikes. X spirit. (A)

(A) = Assumed

Synergies

Seven Sided Strike in action.

Various Monk traits augment this skill. (Since most Monk skills depend on base weapon damage and probably attack speed, traits which enhance those, and not the skill specifically, are also listed here.)

• Precision: Increase melee damage for each point in dexterity.
• Intimidation: Increases damage done and reduces vendor costs.
• Cruelty: Increases chance of critical strikes.
• Weak Spot: Increases critical strike damage.
• Rapid Strikes: Increases attack speed.
• Frenzied Attacks: Increases chance of critical strikes as well as their damage.

Note: The current trait list is very out-of-date and will no doubt be overhauled before game release.

Skill Rune Effects

• None known.

Development

Seven Sided Strike was first shown at BlizzCon 2009 as one of the originals when the Monk was unveiled. Flux was able to try it in the gameplay demo:[1]

This one was best used on single or double targets, ideally a boss that needed finishing off, especially a teleporter or another elusive one, since all the hits would go to it in rapid succession, and hit it no matter how it squirmed.

Previous Versions

See the Monk skill archive for more details on previous versions of Seven Sided Strike and other Monk skills.

Media

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

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Seven Sided Strike specific gallery contents

• 

  Male Monk using Seven Sided Strike.

References

• BlizzCon 2009 Full Monk Skill Tree Stats and Discussion