Monk

The Monk is the 4th character confirmed to be in the game D3 by Blizzard.

Gameplay

The Monk was described by Blizzard as a combination of the D2 Assassin and the WoW Rogue. It uses fast hand to hand combat, plus weaponry such as staffs and claw weapons. Fragile, yet very fast melee action.

Skills

Spirit Generator

Spirit Generator	Unlocked at	Generates	Cooldown	Description
Fists of Thunder	lvl 1	6 Spirit per attack		Deal a series of extremely fast punches that deal 100% weapon damage as Lightning damage. Every third hit deals damage to all enemies in front of you. Each strike has a 15% chance to interrupt enemy attacks.
	20 px	Alabaster	Lightning Flash	Each hit with Fists of Thunder increases your Dodge chance by 2.5%. This effect stacks up to 8 times.
	20 px	Crimson	Thunderclap	Each punch causes a shockwave that hits all enemies within 8 yards of your primary target for 105% weapon damage as Lightning damage. Also enables you to teleport a short distance during the ability's first strike.
	20 px	Golden	Rolling Thunder	Critical hits with this skill generate 7 Spirit.
	20 px	Indigo	Chain Lightning	The third strike creates chain lightning that can jump to up to 9 other nearby targets. Each lightning strike inflicts 80% weapon damage as Lightning damage.
	20 px	Obsidian	Static Charge	Enemies attacked are charged with static for 10 seconds. Charged enemies take 130% weapon damage as Lightning damage when you attack other nearby enemies with Fists of Thunder.
Deadly Reach	lvl 4	6 Spirit per attack		Project lines of pure force over a short distance for 125% weapon damage. Every third hit extends out 25 yards.
	20 px	Alabaster	Keen Eye	The third strike of Deadly Reach increases the armor of the monk by 80% for 10 seconds.
	20 px	Crimson	Foresight	The third strike of Deadly Reach increases the damage of all attacks by 10% for 17 seconds. This effect can stack up to 3 times.
	20 px	Golden	Strike from Beyond	Critical hits with this skill generate 7 Spirit.
	20 px	Indigo	Piercing Trident	The second and third strike of the skill have an increased area of effect. Also increases skill damage to 212% of weapon damage.
	20 px	Obsidian	Scattered Blows	The third strike is replaced with an attack that will hit up to 9 enemies withing 15 yards for 125% weapon damage as Lightning damage.
Crippling Wave	lvl 8	6 Spirit per attack		A series of large sweeping attacks that causes 100% weapon damage to all enemies in front of you. Every third hit damages all enemies around you and dazes them, slowing movement by 50% for 4.5 seconds.
	20 px	Alabaster	Breaking Wave	Affected targets take 80% additional damage from all attacks for 9 seconds.
	20 px	Crimson	Mangle	Increase damage to 220% weapon damage.
	20 px	Golden	Rising Tide	Critical hits with this skill generate 7 Spirit.
	20 px	Indigo	Tsunami	Crippling Wave's third attack range increases to 17 yards.
	20 px	Obsidian	Concussion	Enemies hit by Crippling Wave inflict 50% less damage for 9 seconds.
Exploding Palm	lvl 12	6 Spirit per attack		The first two strikes in the attack deal 100% weapon damage. The third strike causes the target to bleed for 65% of weapon damage per second for 3 seconds. If the target dies while bleeding, it explodes, dealing 40% of the target's maximum Life as physical damage to all other enemies nearby.
	20 px	Alabaster	Essence Burn	The third strike causes the target to burn for 95% weapon damage as Fire damage every second for 3 seconds. If the target dies while burning it explodes causing all nearby enemies to burn for 100% weapon damage as Fire damage for 2 seconds. This effect can chain repeatedly.
	20 px	Crimson	Impending Doom	Increases the duration of the bleed effect to 10 seconds.
	20 px	Golden	Strong Spirit	If a target dies and explodes with the bleed on them, gain 7 Spirit for each enemy hit by the explosion.
	20 px	Indigo	Creeping Demise	The bleed effect hits up to 8 targets standing in front of you.
	20 px	Obsidian	The Flesh is Weak	The first two strikes cause the enemy to take 10% additional damage for 5 seconds. This effect stacks up to 8 times on each target.
Sweeping Wind	lvl 17	6 Spirit per attack		Strike a target for 100% weapon damage. Every third hit creates a vortex of air that surrounds you. The vortex of air lasts 5 seconds and deals 20% weapon damage per second to all enemies within 10 yards. This vortex effect can stack up to 3 times for a total of 60% weapon damage per second to nearby enemies.
	20 px	Alabaster	Master of Wind	Increases the duration of the vortex buff to 12 seconds.
	20 px	Crimson	Blade Storm	Intensify the vortex, increasing the damage per stack to 44% weapon damage per second. This increases the damage with 3 stacks to 132% weapon damage per second.
	20 px	Golden	Inner Storm	As long as your vortex is at the maximum stack count, you gain 2.4 Spirit per second.
	20 px	Indigo	Fire Storm	Increases the radius of the vortex to 14 yards and the damage per stack to 36% weapon damage per second as Fire damage. This increases the damage with 3 stacks to 108% weapon damage per second.
	20 px	Obsidian	Cyclone	While your vortex is at the maximum stack count, every third hit spawns a lightning tornado that periodically shocks nearby enemies for 66% weapon damage as Lightning damage. Each spawned lightning tornado lasts 3 seconds.
Way of the Hundred Fists	lvl 21	6 Spirit per attack		A rapid series of punches strikes enemies for 135% weapon damage.
	20 px	Alabaster	Windforce Flurry	The third strike generates a wave of wind that deals 149-163 physical damage to enemies directly ahead of you.
	20 px	Crimson	Fists of Fury	Affected targets will take an additional 35 Holy damage per second for 5 seconds. Also enables the first hit to dash a short distance.
	20 px	Golden	Spirited Salvo	Every activation of the skill has a 15% chance to generate 7 additional Spirit.
	20 px	Indigo	Hands of Lightning	Increase the number of hits in the second strike from 8 to 22 hits.
	20 px	Obsidian	Blazing Fists	Critical hits increase your attack speed by 22% and movement speed by 11%. This effect lasts for 5 seconds and can stack up to 3 times.

Builds and Guides

None yet.

Lore

The last weeks of autumn had settled upon Ivgorod, and the first breath of winter had crept into the air. As night fell and the sun dipped below the horizon, I was all too grateful to take refuge in a tavern. As I entered, I noted a certain tension in the room. Despite the hour, it was not busy, with only scattered, small groups huddled at the tables around the edges of the room. The benches at the center of the room were empty except for one man.

The man seemed ignorant of the cold. He was dressed like a beggar, wearing little more than an orange sheet wound around his body, leaving half of his chest exposed. A garland of large wooden beads hung around his thick neck. His head was completely shaved, with the exception of a wild bushy beard. Then, recognition struck me: upon his forehead he had a tattoo of two red dots, one larger than the other. As any informed student of the peoples and cultures of this world must also realize, this man was one of the monks of Ivgorod, the secretive and reclusive holy warriors of the country.

I had heard countless fantastic stories about the monks, tales that were surely the beneficiary of significant embellishment. The monks’ skin, the accounts said, was as hard as iron, impenetrable by the blade of any sword or by the point of any arrow, and their fists could break stone as easily as you or I would snap a twig. Though the unassuming man before me seemed miles away from what I had heard and read of the monks, I approached cautiously, sliding down onto the bench across from him, eager to take his measure. He beckoned me forward with a small wave of his hand.

"Ah, a soul brave enough to sit with me. Come, friend."

Food was placed before me, but I had little hunger for it, focusing instead on recording the details of the monk's life. He told me of his belief in the existence of a thousand and one gods, gods he believed could be found in all things: the fire in the hearth, the water in the river and the air that we breathed. Pretty enough for a story, perhaps. But any reasoned individual must surely, as I did, scoff at such a view of the world as little more than superstition. He went on to describe his intense mental and physical training, his unending quest to hone his mind and body into an instrument of divine justice. Though I do wonder for what need his thousand gods would require a mortal man to implement their will. When I asked him why he did not carry a sword or, indeed, any weapon at all, he simply replied, "My body is my weapon." Then raising his hand and tapping his forehead, he added, "As is my mind."

Most unexpectedly, I would be treated to a display of this mastery.

A group of men approached our table, knocking my book to the floor and shoving me out of the way, producing knives and other weapons as they advanced. They were focused only on the solitary figure of the monk seated across from me. I scrabbled beneath the table, having an inkling of what was to come. I watched as at some unseen signal, they attacked.

Without rising from his seat, the monk met the first man's lunging slash, grabbing his wrist and tossing him carelessly over his shoulder, throwing him into a table with a loud crash. The suddenness of the monk's attack momentarily stunned the men, and as they stood there, he rose.

That was when chaos broke out.

The monk was a fluid mass of restrained energy, meeting every attack with hardly a moment's distress. He fought with hands and feet in a way I had never seen before. In my days, I have witnessed my share of drunken bar brawls, but this was something else altogether. The sound of bones crunching with each of his strikes mixed with something I could not quite believe: the monk was laughing as he fought. One by one, he dispatched his foes until only one remained. That one picked up a chair and hurled it toward the monk. The monk swung his arm forward and struck the incoming projectile, meeting the solid oak of the chair with his closed fist. The wood broke apart, splinters filling the air as the shattered pieces of the stool fell harmlessly to the ground around him.

"You don't fool me, demon," the monk spat. He pulled his arms back to his sides, then extended his hands before him and began to chant. A nimbus of white light appeared around his head, growing larger and more intense until it completely encompassed the monk’s body. He roared, and the light blew outward. As it washed over the other man, his skin peeled away, revealing a red-skinned demon beneath and threw the creature through the front doors of the tavern.

The monk hurtled forward, but his individual movements were too fast for my eyes to track. It seemed as though there were seven of him raining blows upon the demon from every side. Staggered, the demon stumbled. The monk grabbed the demon by the neck, grinning as he pulled his free arm back, crackling energy glowing on his open hand. He shoved his palm forward, and when it struck the demon, its body exploded: muscle, skin and bones tore apart, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air.

I would not have believed it if I had not seen it with my own two eyes. It seems the stories of these peerless warriors might not have been as exaggerated as I first thought. - www.blizzard.com/diablo3