Diablo III- Skills Article LXXVII: The Monk, Techniques Skills- Dashing Strike

Dashing Strike (25 Spirit): Quickly dash to the far side of the target enemy or destructible object, dealing 100% weapon damage to it and rooting it for 1 second.

Dashing Strike is a very useful skill, and it would be even more useful if it worked like the tooltips and game guide claim it does- both say that it lets you ‘quickly dash at the targeted enemy or location’.  Sadly, Dashing Strike only works targeting a location if there is a destructible object where you clicked- otherwise, you dash about four yards, which is unquestionably not worth 25 Spirit.  On the upside, what isn’t mentioned is that Dashing strike lands you on the far side of whatever you targetted, striking back at it- which means you get more distance than you thought, and you don’t land in enemy area attacks as often.  In a crowded battlefield or even in a relatively open one, the ability to near-instantly arrive almost anywhere you want (except for getaway purposes) that you can see is invaluable and well worth the skill slot even without the runes.

Way of the Falling Star (25 Spirit): Quickly dash to the far side of the target enemy or destructible object, dealing 100% weapon damage to it and rooting it for 1 second.  If you strike an enemy with this skill, your movement speed increases by 25% for 3 seconds.  This increase does not stack.

The first rune for Dashing Strike serves to increase the boon that the base skill gives you- Way of the Falling Star’s movement boost makes it an even more valuable tool for putting yourself where you want to be on the battlefield.  This rune is unquestionably an asset you want to have available to you.

Flying Side Kick (25 Spirit): Quickly dash to the far side of the target enemy or destructible object in a flying kick, dealing 100% weapon damage to it and rooting it for 1 second, with a 60% chance of causing a 1.5 second stun.

If increasing your mobility doesn’t suit your preference, afflicting the target of your Dashing Strike with a stun can be a very nice way to keep a target pinned down- at lower levels, this can even be used to keep bosses fairly well locked up and unable to use many attacks.  60% is a good stun chance- not the best available, but far from anything to sneer at, and 1.5 seconds is frequently enough to build up a good chunk of the Spirit needed for another Flying Side kick, letting you hold things down and just churn out the damage.

Quicksilver (10 Spirit): Quickly dash to the far side of the target enemy or destructible object, dealing 100% weapon damage to it and rooting it for 1 second.

Compared to the normal cost of the skill, this is probably the biggest cost reduction available anywhere in the game that doesn’t totally eliminate the cost of a skill and replace it with a different cost (or a cooldown).  10 Spirit for a very useful mobility skill like this is an outright steal, and makes it even easier to use it in serial to great effect.  On the off chance you have trouble generating enough spirit to repeatedly Flying Side Kick or Way of the Falling Star, Quicksilver will give you the chance to enjoy practically teleporting all over the battlefield will-I nill-I and wreaking absolute havoc on the enemy’s ability to do anything about you at all.

Soaring Skull (25 Spirit): Quickly dash through the air to the far side of the target enemy or destructible object, dealing 100% weapon damage to it and rooting it for 1 second, and slowing all enemies you pass over by 60% for 2 seconds.

This form of Dashing Strike makes it more of an impairment effect, and while it can be an advantage if you don’t want other enemies jumping into your fight with the target of your dash, that’s rarely something you actually care to avoid.  Still, if you need more crowd control available, particularly if you’re using Dashing Strike to come to the aid of a ranged character under assault, Soaring Skull may be a useful investment of your rune.

Blinding Speed (25 Spirit): Quickly dash to the far side of the target enemy or destructible object, dealing 100% weapon damage to it and rooting it for 1 second.  For the next 3 seconds, your Dodge chance is increased by 20%.  This increase does not stack with itself.

As an alternative to tacking a useful effect onto your Dashing Strike or reducing its cost, you can use Blinding Speed instead, and improve your own combat durability.  This is most likely to be useful in later levels of the game, where you will face clusters of champions or rare monsters who you want the boosted defenses to deal with, rather than briefly disadvantaging them.  It’s up to you whether you’d rather stun things or evade their attacks, so make your choice based on what you find more useful or find you need more.