Sunwuko Wave of Light Monk Inna Wave of Light Variation

This variation is no longer relevant due to the rework of the Inna set in Patch 2.7.1. Please refer to the main page for a viable iteration of this build.

The Inna Wave of Light Monk is a variation of the base SWK Wave of Light build, which gained popularity around Season 16 due to the passive RoRG, and has remained a viable and strong option for a WoL build since.

Active Skills
Wave of Light Explosive Light Dashing Strike Blinding Speed 1 Epiphany Desert Shroud 2 Cyclone Strike Soothing Breeze 3 Mystic Ally Air Ally 4 Mantra of Salvation Agility
Passive Skills
Seize the Initiative Beacon of Ytar Harmony Near Death Experience

The Inna Wave of Light has a fairly simple playstyle; use Dashing Strike to seek out and draw the attention of massive groups of enemies, then begin the Wave of Light assault. You will cast Epiphany Desert Shroud on cooldown, and add to it either the interaction of Cyclone Strike and Lefebvre's Soliloquy, or simply pop Serenity Ascension for your overall survivability. Resources will be managed through a combination of the passive Epiphany and Air Ally restoration, as well as the instant refill of the Mystic Ally active (you get all the runes from the Inna set) when your reserve is about to deplete.

• Wave of Light is your damage skill of choice, taken with the Fire rune Explosive Light mostly due to its massive AoE potential.
• Cyclone Strike Soothing Breeze can be used in the slot usually reserved for Sweeping Wind in Sunwuko builds. Try not to pull too many enemies with the skill — a bit counter-intuitive, but you are simply using it for the damage reduction proc of Lefebvre's Soliloquy, and WoL builds require distance from the enemy to perform optimally. Serenity Ascension can also be used in this slot, and is somewhat preferred for high-end progression due to the total immunity it offers, even if it requires timing and precision to maximize its effectiveness (its cooldown does not start until the effect finishes).
• Epiphany Desert Shroud is an omnipresent self-buff in all versions of the build due to the massive damage mitigation and utility it offers. In Inna variants, it is also a source of extra damage due to the equipped Rabid Strike.
• Dashing Strike is an amazing mobility tool with an added defensive aspect for GR progression through the rune Blinding Speed.
• Mystic Ally is a vital part of the build; you will be amplifying your allies' damage with the Inna set bonus and double their number with The Crudest Boots. Selection of a particular rune is not needed — you will receive all five at the same time from the Inna 6-piece bonus. Besides their passive presence, each Mystic Ally offers a valuable active component. The most valuable effect for WoL builds is the Spirit restoration of Air Ally and the full HP restoration of Earth Ally, and you should pop the Allies' active effect whenever your Life or Spirit get low.
• In Inna builds, you get the base effect of all Mantras; nevertheless, take Mantra of Salvation Agility for the added survivability.
• Your passive selection is fairly typical for WoL builds: Harmony for the overall toughness by spreading Secondary resists on gear, Beacon of Ytar for the Cooldown Reduction, Seize the Initiative for the burst of damage at the start of a fight, and Near Death Experience — for the cheat death.

As the name of the variation implies, this Wave of Light build uses the Inna set over Sunwuko or a Legacy of Dreams setup, resulting in a tankier and more beginner-friendly WoL setup. You will be taking five of the seven Inna set pieces, completing the 6-piece bonus via a Ring of Royal Grandeur in the Cube. The remaining armor slots will be taken with Wave of Light- and Inna-synergistic legendary items.

Rolls-wise, this is a Cooldown Reduction-heavy setup, which also requires a fair investment in Area and Skill damage affixes. When it comes to the Inna pieces, you will be aiming for a combination of double Crit stats, CDR and (eventually, at high Paragons) Area Damage to replace the base Dexterity on Inna's Hold. Inna's Sandals are a source of Wave of Light skill damage %, besides the usual tanky stats. core Inna slots like Inna's Vast Expanse, Inna's Favor and Inna's Temperance can be dedicated entirely to toughness, adding to the signature survivability of the setup.

As far as specific breakpoints go, will retain a high focus on Cooldown Reduction (at least 50%+, and ideally passing the 60% barrier on a fully-optimized character, with CDR pretty much everywhere but the amulet), a modest amount of Resource Cost Reduction (17%+, achievable with two RCR rolls — the innate roll on the Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac and one more on your shoulder) and spread Area Damage wherever possible (90%+, shoulders, gloves and Paragon at least).

In your jewelry, you will be running a split between the Endless Walk set and an Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac. The Endless Walk set — The Compass Rose and The Traveler's Pledge amulet — add a unique mechanic that slowly increases your damage by up to a 100% if you remain stationary, and drains it away and increases your damage reduction while moving. This dynamic mimics the Inna WoL Monk playstyle, as you alternate between Dashing Strike bursts of movement in search of the next big fight with extended periods of stationary Wave of Light spam. Your other ring is the CDR powerhouse Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac, which lowers your vital cooldowns (most notably Epiphany) every time you use a resource-spending attack.

Since this is a non-SWK setup, you are able to drop Vengeful Wind from the standard Wave of Light build and enjoy the extra damage from Rabid Strike; your high Epiphany uptime will essentially double up your damage output on an extra target. Your other weapon slot will be taken by the WoL-dedicated Kyoshiro's Blade, which adds another damage multiplier on the skill and increases it even further in smaller fights (an indispensable bonus against Rift Guardians).

You have no particular requirements for the shoulder piece; any well rolled legendary will do. In the ideal case, you will have either Lefebvre's Soliloquy (in a Cyclone Strike setup) or Pauldrons of the Skeleton King (in a Serenity setup) for some extra utility in the slot.

To help you with farming the gear you need for your builds, we have two very useful guides that you can access by clicking the links below: a Salvage Guide to help you quickly check whether or not you can safely salvage a piece of gear and a Legendary Farming Guide to help you efficiently farm legendaries and set items.

In the Core section, max out Movement Speed to the 25% cap (normally this is done by dumping the first 50 Core Paragon points into Movement Speed, but if your boots have an imperfect roll with Movement Speed as a stat that you cannot replace, adjust the necessary point investment accordingly by simply subtracting your roll from the 25% max.) After that dump as much as you comfortably can into Dexterity, but feel free to invest into Vitality if you feel yourself lacking in toughness, or Maximum Spirit if you want to play around with a bigger resource pool.

In the Offense section, max out Cooldown Reduction, Crit Chance, Crit Damage, and Attack Speed, in that order. In Defense, prioritize All Resistance, then Life %, then Armor, and finish off with Life Regeneration. In Utility, build up Resource Cost Reduction and Area Damage first, then finish off with Life on Hit and Globe Radius.

Bane of the Trapped is a potent source of additional damage, as it is its own multiplier in your total damage calculation. This gem will be easily procced by the slowing property of Pinto's Pride bracers.

Zei's Stone of Vengeance is another independent multiplier, whose range-dependent amplification can be easily maxed out by the long reach of Tzo Krin's Gaze Wave of Lights. The level 25 property will add some minor control and safety to the build, as well as another proc for Bane of the Trapped. An alternative for this slot, if you choose a more defensive and close range playstyle (at the cost of some of your damage potential) is to slot Esoteric Alteration here.

Introduced in Season 4, Bane of the Stricken occupies the third and final jewelry socket in GRs. Building up your damage multiplicatively in prolonged fights and with a level 25 bonus specifically targeting Rift Guardians, this gem is designed to assist AoE heavy builds in their struggle against single target, high HP enemies. The Wave of Light Monk does better than most builds in single target situations but still benefits decently from the gem — a testament to its quality.

When it comes to gear gems, you will start out progression by slotting the highest available level of Emeralds in the chest and pants sockets. Ideally, these will all be Flawless Royal Emeralds as soon as possible. As you grow in Paragon (bulking up Dexterity in the Core section) and aim for higher tier and more dangerous GRs, you will transition those gems into the defensive Flawless Royal Diamond. There is no specific breakpoint where you do that; the rule of thumb is to make the change as soon as you feel the lack of toughness impede your progress. Since this is a fairly cooldown-dependent build, slot a Flawless Royal Diamond in your helm. In your weapons, use a Flawless Royal Emerald for the Crit Damage boost.

For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.

For Greater Rift progression, the weapon slot will be taken by the Incense Torch of the Grand Temple, as its resource cost reduction bonuses soften the restrictive price of Wave of Light.

The Crudest Boots are a crucial piece for the setup, doubling your Mystic Ally summons and thus doubling the effectiveness of the Inna 6-piece set bonus, as well as several passive and active effects of the skill itself (the Air Ally Spirit regeneration, the Fire Ally damage bonuses, etc.)

In the jewelry slot you will use the Ring of Royal Grandeur, a cache legendary ring from Act I bounties. Running the full 6-piece Inna set bonus and Tzo Krin's Gaze while dodging the undesirable guaranteed stats on the Grandeur by cubing its power is a tremendous boost to the build.

The Kanai's Cube can be used for much more than simply extracting Legendary powers from items. Please refer to our Kanai's Cube guide for more information.

The recommended follower for this build during solo GR progression is the Scoundrel due to his powerful crit buff, allowing you brief windows of extra damage that are well suited to the strengths of this build.

For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our Follower Guide, which contains detailed advice for choosing the skills and the gear of your follower.

Your recommended potion is Bottomless Potion of the Tower, whose Armor-increasing properties complement the naturally high All Resistances stat of Monks (due to Harmony) for optimal survivability.