Lethal Decoy

Lethal Decoy is a Spirit Spending Monk skill unlocked at Level 7. The Monk summons a holy image of himself with a magnetic personality.

Background

Lethal Combatant runestone effect.

The Monk expends spirit energy to summon a holy decoy of himself, which attracts monsters and deals damage.

Runestone Effects

The following is a very quick list. See the Lethal Decoy 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

Lethal Decoy Spirit Spender (Level 7)

[e] Cost: 75 Spirit Create an illusion of pure holy energy that attracts enemies to itself and explodes after 1 seconds for 379% weapon damage as Holy.

Simulacrum

[e] If you die while the decoy is alive, you are resurrected at the decoy's location with 100% Life. The decoy no longer attracts enemies and the duration is increased to 26 seconds.

Explosive Decoy

[e] Increases damage of the explosion to 94-172 Holy damage.

Spirit Link

[e] When the decoy explodes it also heals all allies within 25 yards for 3726-4471 Life.

Many Monks

[e] Spawn 3 decoys. Each decoy deals 31-56 Holy damage when it explodes.

Lethal Combatant

[e] Summons a stronger decoy for 13 seconds. The decoy can move and attack enemies for 85-149 damage per swing.

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

Skill Design

This skill first appeared at BlizzCon 2010. The Monk creates an exact duplicate of him or her, that looks like a shiny golden statue. Monsters are drawn to it and will attack the decoy, though it does not take apparent damage or react to attacks or hits.

One-shot kill on Leoric.

Only one of the runestone effects has yet been seen, Lethal Combatant, which looks like the same sort of statue, but with dark gray exterior.

Beta Changes

The Monk's skills underwent numerous tweaks and changes during the Diablo III Beta. Lethal Decoy increased greatly in damage, while the duration (the time the decoy lasted between cast and explosion) was lowered. This had the effect of changing the skill from a decoy to an attack that had very high potential damage. As you can see in the image to the right, it was capable of dealing over 2000 damage and killing the Skeleton King in a single shot; this from a Clvl 13, well-equipped Monk.

Synergies

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

Development

Lethal Decoy was first revealed at BlizzCon 2010. Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, and Lethal Decoy became a level 7 skill.

Media

Lethal Decoy can be seen in numerous gameplay videos from the Diablo III beta. The golden shining statue appearance of the skill has prompted numerous, "And the Academy Award goes to..." jokes from fans.

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Lethal Decoy specific gallery contents

References

• 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

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer bloodandbone

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer reanimation

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer curses