Crippling Wave: A sweeping punch that does 110% damage to all enemies in front of you in melee range. Every third hit strikes all enemies around you and dazes them, reducing their speed by 30% and their attack rate by 20% for 3 seconds. Generates 6 Spirit.
Do you like being in the middle of a cluster of enemies? Do you have a way to get there (Oh, look, Cyclone Strike)? If so, you like this attack. If you’re playing your Monk as a sort of a tank, gathering up enemies to you and then dishing out beatings, this is the premier Primary Skill, allowing you to not only strike out at all of them, but also cripple their ability to do anything- to you or to your party members. Not as good if you’re fighting a single target, though, and its range is a bit short.
Mangle: A sweeping punch that does 143% damage to all enemies in front of you in melee range. Every third hit strikes all enemies around you and dazes them, reducing their speed by 30% and their attack rate by 20% for 3 seconds. Generates 6 Spirit.
Look, ma, more damage! Even nicer against masses of foes.
Concussion: A sweeping punch that does 110% damage to all enemies in front of you in melee range and reduces their damage by 20% for 3 seconds. Every third hit strikes all enemies around you and dazes them, reducing their speed by 30% and their attack rate by 20% for 3 seconds. Generates 6 Spirit.
Crippling wave is a good ‘tanking’ skill. Concussion is even better, allowing you to cut the offensive might of whatever you’re hitting even further than you were with the dazing effect. Especially nice against high-damage bosses, too.
Rising Tide: A sweeping punch that does 110% damage to all enemies in front of you in melee range. Every third hit strikes all enemies around you and dazes them, reducing their speed by 30% and their attack rate by 20% for 3 seconds. Generates 6 Spirit. When you score a critical hit with Rising Tide, you generate 5 more Spirit.
While this is more worthwhile than Strike from Beyond, the question remains: if you need Spirit badly enough to spend your rune on it, why aren’t you using Fists of Thunder instead? This makes little sense. Rising Tide, at least, has the excuse of being a better way to grab and hold enemy aggression than Fist of Thunder is.
Tsunami: A sweeping punch that does 110% damage to all enemies in front of you in melee range. Every third hit strikes all enemies within 17 yards and dazes them, reducing their speed by 60% and their attack rate by 20% for 3 seconds. Generates 6 Spirit.
A modification for the monk-tank who’s tired of enemies wandering off after a few hits and for those who lack Cyclone Strike for some unfathomable reason, Tsunami lets you catch things you didn’t even touch in the tornado of death that is Crippling Wave, and leave them floundering about in a space where you can keep hitting them, again and again. This improves Crippling Wave to the point that it makes a good case for only partying up with people who can let off area attacks to take advantage of it.
Breaking Wave: A sweeping punch that does 110% damage to all enemies in front of you in melee range and increases the damage they take by 10% for 3 seconds. Every third hit strikes all enemies around you and dazes them, reducing their speed by 30% and their attack rate by 20% for 3 seconds. Generates 6 Spirit.
The offensive mirror to Concussion, Breaking Wave lets you take this wonderful circular strike and use it to make sure your enemies break even faster under your whirling fists. Very team-friendly (and AoE friendly), this is an excellent choice if you ever go dungeon-crawling alongside anyone else.
