Diablo III- Skills Article LXX: The Monk, Secondary Skills- Lashing Tail Kick

Lashing Tail Kick (30 Spirit): A roundhouse kick that deals 200% weapon damage and knockback.

The base form of Lashing Tail Kick is simply not what any Monk would really be looking for.  While the damage is very good, impressive even, the knockback effect mitigates that- anything you happen not to kill with the kick is instead sent flying away from you.  Those who use Thunderclap will have little issue, but anyone else is going to find this skill causing them more problems than they’d like if they use it with any regularity.  Fortunately, runes are available.

Vulture Claw Kick (30 Spirit): A roundhouse kick that deals 220% weapon damage as Fire damage and knockback, both to all enemies in melee range.

This, sadly, is not one of them.  It is a trade up- even more damage to everything around you and evenly-applied knockback makes this an okay tool for escaping melee, but you shouldn’t want to escape melee often enough to use a Secondary Skill for that.  The Fire typing hurts things as well- while it won’t matter some of the time, Fire is a frequently resisted damage type in the game, so while Vulture Claw Kick is superior to Lashing Tail Kick, that’s not really saying a whole lot.

Sweeping Armada (30 Spirit): A roundhouse kick that deals 200% weapon damage and 250% knockback, slowing enemies it hits by 60% for 2 seconds.

This also isn’t so great.  While it’s an even better tool than Lashing Tail Kick for knocking an enemy off of an ally or out of alignment, that should not be a function for your secondary skill.  Tools belong in the Hotbar skills, not on your mouse buttons.  If you’ve been using Vulture Claw Kick, stick with that here, there’s no sense in moving ‘up’ to something more detrimental.

Spinning Flame Kick (30 Spirit): A roundhouse kick that launches a slow-moving tornado of fire, which deals 240% weapon damage as Fire damage to all enemies it contacts.

This is where Lashing Tail Kick finds its first truly good rune.  While Spinning Flame Kick still uses the less-desirable Fire damage type, it drops the knockback in favor of producing a steady line of damage.  For a Monk who’s already been lining or clustering enemies up, or who has allies to do that, this is invaluable, and even for other monks, it provides a ranged option in the event you aren’t using a charge or Cyclone Strike to close the distance yourself.  This is, quite simply, handy, even if it is rather costly in Spirit.

Scorpion Sting (30 Spirit): A roundhouse kick that deals 200% weapon damage and has a 50% chance to stun each enemy it hits for 1.5 seconds.

Another useful swap-in for the unpleasantness that is knockback, Scorpion Sting is particularly useful when fighting bosses or other monsters that appear alone or in small numbers, and makes a very nice way to use Spirit if you happen to fill your pool and continue generating more.  It helps that the damage is not changed in type, either.

Hand of Ytar (30 Spirit): A roundhouse kick that strikes enemies in a selected remote area, dealing 200% weapon damage and slowing enemies it hits by 80% of their movement speed for 2 seconds as well as knocking them back from the center of the area.

This skill is a bit unusual, but fits in with the Monk’s tendency to be stronger against numerous enemies and deliver some degree of crowd control with its attacks.  An 80% slow is hard to find, and will benefit not only the Monk but any allies who happen to be traveling along.  If you don’t feel you need to pump out the damage from your Secondary Skill into melee, and instead want a distance option, this isn’t a bad way to go.