Raiment Shenlong Generator Monk Skills and Runes

Active Skills
Crippling Wave Mangle Fists of Thunder Wind Blast 1 Way of the Hundred Fists Assimilation 2 Dashing Strike Radiance 3 Epiphany Desert Shroud 4 Serenity Ascension
Passive Skills
Beacon of Ytar Alacrity Seize the Initiative Combination Strike

The build tackles the enemy head on, using the powers of the Shenlong set to turn the generator skill of choice — usually Crippling Wave — into a primary damage dealer. Note that you will alternate between three generators depending on monster density; Way of the Hundred Fists Assimilation to apply the Assimilation debuff on large packs (10+ monsters), Fists of Thunder to keep the Combination Strike buff capped, and Crippling Wave for general damage. Serenity Ascension and Epiphany Desert Shroud will trade turns in protecting you, with the former dealing with sudden bursts, and the latter — helping you against sustained damage. Dashing Strike should also be used offensively at least once every 6 seconds, as the skill grants you the generator damage buff from the Raiment set, and the Radiance rune grants you increased attack speed — speeding up Spirit generation.

Crippling Wave is the primary damage dealer of the build; a solid, AoE-oriented generator with the boilerplate 12 Spirit per hit. Preferred with the fire rune Mangle, this generator wins over the competition with its wide, sweeping motions and consistency in delivering the DPS. To increase its output, you will be juggling a second and third generator into the build — Way of the Hundred Fists Assimilation and Fists of Thunder Wind Blast. When applied on a large stack of enemies (10+), Assimilation results in a sizable, 5 second buff for your Crippling Wave onslaught. Fists of Thunder is simply there to cap the bonuses of Combination Strike, with some nice CC utility coming from the Wind Blast rune. Note that these extra generators will not require you to switch elemental damage on gear, which should remain focused on Fire bonuses (see this build's gear page for more information).

Two defensive Monk staples will trade turns with protecting your character. Serenity is one of the most potent defensive skills in the Monk arsenal, allowing you a brief window of invulnerability on a reasonable 16 second base cooldown. Note that the downtime begins after the active effect expires, preventing permanent uptime exploitation. To improve Serenity's uptime, take the longer lasting Ascension rune. Epiphany will be taken for the 50% damage reduction of Desert Shroud, and should be used whenever you expect a protracted fight.

Mobility is arguably one of the greatest assets when pushing the Leaderboards, and Monks are blessed with the most fluid movement tool of all — Dashing Strike. A charge-based skill on a low cooldown by default, its role is flipped into a spender via the Raiment set 4-piece bonus. Notice the Raiment 6-piece bonus, making Dashing Strike and Spirit generators trade buffs — increasing damage of one when the other is used. It is up to you to choose which skill will be augmented and which will simply act as the buff; and while a variation of a Raiment build can focus on Dashing Strike as the damage dealer, this spec focuses on generators instead. As such, you need to cast Dashing Strike at least once every 6 seconds to maintain the Raiment 6-piece bonus; ideally, once every 4 seconds in a good engagement to maintain the Attack Speed bonuses of the Radiance rune.

Combination Strike multiplies your damage for every different Spirit Generator used in the last 10 seconds (note that the buff stacks tick on their own, separate 10-second long timers). The damage buff stacks are additive with each other, capping at 300% if you equip all 4 generator skills.

Two attack speed oriented passives provide the bulk of your passives selection. Seize the Initiative provides you with a temporary attack speed increase when engaging enemies over 75% health, resulting in faster Spirit generation for more Crippling Wave damage. As you get more comfortable with the build, you will learn to draw the attention of additional enemies or freshly spawned boss adds to effectively extend the benefits from Seize the Initiative. Alacrity is another offensive fit for the build, adding a 15% separate attack speed multiplier to your Spirit Generators and directly translating into better damage through the faster buildup of resource for Shenlong.

You have some room for adjustment in your final passive slot. Our general recommendation is to use Beacon of Ytar to reduce the downtime of vital protective cooldowns like Serenity and Epiphany by 20%. Another viable defensive alternative for the slot is The Guardian's Path — a top tier defensive passive when dual-wielding, offering a substantial 35% dodge chance increase. The all-out offense option is Exalted Soul, directly increasing your damage by expanding your resource pool with 50 Spirit. Its Spirit regeneration aspect is just an added bonus.