The Monk is quite possibly the most underrated Diablo 3 hero as of 2012. His setup is simple and very basic yet he is also a very solid group player. The Monk is, like the Barbarian, a tank. His main stat is dexterity. Rather than absorbing damage, the Monk avoids it through various spells and mantras. The Monk also uses Mantra which can be spent but doesn’t degrade like the fury of the Barbarian.

Fighting Style

The Monk uses martial arts to conquer his enemies. He punches, kicks, and dodges while on the battlefield. He can dual wield most any weapon (including fist weapons), or he can use a 2 handed staff. As always, when using 2 handed weapons, the heroes lose attack speed. The Monk is all about speed. He jumps for one mob to the next with lightning speed and punches them with quick and deadly blows. His job is to keep them at bay while other DPS based heroes mo them down. The Monk is believed to have the highest survivability in the game. Some argue that his DPS abilities need improvement but I beg to differ.

Group Buffs, Mantras, and Heals

Also other heroes have minor healing abilities, the Monk has the highest AOE heal in the game. He is one of the few healers in an action RPG game. His heals are massive and extremely useful to the group.

Also, the Monk has mantras which act as group buffs. Some of his Mantras increase damage while others increase defensive abilities. In particular, the Monk can also use a Mantra to regenerate life for the entire group and also reflect damage back to the mobs.

In addition, the Monk has many rune and passive abilities that greatly improve all of these group buffs.

Bottom Line

Monk is probably the best group buff hero but seems to be unpopular due to various reasons. We shall see how this plays out as the Paladin was also very unpopular at first until later when he was the single strongest hero of Diablo 2.