I just finished the game on hell difficulty, and am beginning my decent into inferno. I don't have too much of a hard time taking enemies out, but I do notice that if a couple baddies get a few hits in that I'm almost dead. So I come to the forums in search of knowledgeable people in hopes to find advice on how to proceed. I kept seeing a lot of gear with a % of resist all elements, do I need to focus on that attribute? Right now my monk is around 22K health and 8K damage, is this good for someone beginning inferno? Is there anything at all that I need to know that might make my journey less of a hassle?

8k DPS sounds way low, but act 1 is pretty easy anyway. I don't know if they patched the public game glitch yet but you could use that to farm a resplendent chest in act 3 (google it for a better explanation), should give the best gear with the least hassle. I hear you can get hacked from public games though but if you have an authenticator you'll be fine. Otherwise, just go through Act 1 as you would normally and when you hit a wall start to farm whatever you can on inferno. When the next patch hits Act1 will have a chance to drop the same tier of gear as Act 3 & 4, so farming the Butcher with 5 stacks will probably be a good farming method for people with bad gear.

Also for monks I hear tanky with Life on Hit + Attack Speed is the way to go.

@Jack268 said:

I hear you can get hacked from public games though but if you have an authenticator you'll be fine.

There's no evidence for that. Blizzard is saying it's not even possible.

@Spiritgod: Best suggestion I've got is to start using the Auction House and looking for the cheapest/best equipment. I defeated Act 1 butcher with about 12k DPS (as a monk), though I spent quite some time fighting him with the entire floor on fire (half a minute?). I was probably rather inefficient in that fight, but you may want to aim higher. *shrug* That said, I've hit a ceiling at the start of Act 2 that I don't intend to even try to pass until after 1.0.3.

Resist is good to have - you have 2 routes to take, either you can pick up the "One with everything" passive and stack a specific resistance... or start piling on Resist to All gear. The passive route is cheaper, but you using a passive you could be using on something else.

you will struggle at first with 22k health and 8k dps but take the time to get better gear in hell or use the auction house route and get resist all gear, as much as you can then vitality then dex then think about upgrading your weapon, when i first started i could barely take a hit with a shield equipped but now i can do it using a 2 hander and a more offensive build

smoke screen for Demon Hunter

Thanks everyone. As for farming for better gear. I can do one of two things: either restart the first few levels of Act I or keep revisiting Whimsyshire in hell. I can't go to the auction house as I've spent all my money upgrading the staff of herding. Which would be better at obtaining better gear?

@Spiritgod: IMO I would tell you to not play inferno until the patch where they change the drop percentages but if you really want to push forward..

Get a better weapon, I think you can get a 800DPS 1 handed for around 200K gold in the AH. 8K DPS is too low and you'll be struggling by the time you reach skeleton king. Focus on stacking 1 particular resistance and pick "one with everything" in your passive slot. Pick gear that has for example, +X fire resistance; +X to all resistance to double stack. You'll want to get your resistance up to around 300 to be safe but 200+ should be fine for ACT1. Don't ignore your armor value too, try to get it up to at least 5K.

Also, you might want to take another look at your skill build. Unless you have good gear you're going to be using a very defensive skill build.

@supamon: I wasn't going past Act I until the patch hits, but seeing as I'm having a bit of a hard time now I need to farm for better gear. And just so I'm clear, DPS is the damage amount found under Armor in the Attributes menu? If that is the case then I've upped that to 9K, my armor is sitting at 4K. I was focusing a little on attack speed, but I'll have to change that after the patch hits. I can't go to the auction house, at least not yet, as I've spent most of my gold on upgrading the Staff of Herding.

Okay, I didn't know about the buff you get for defeating elites that gives greater gold/magic find so I've began my farming from the beginning of Act I on Hell and will just farm gold that way and purchase the gear I need from the auction house.

Wait for 1.0.3

when IS 1.0.3 dropping?

@clstirens: Later this month apparently.

@Spiritgod: If you are able to do any part of Inferno, you may want to consider doing Act 1 Inferno for gold rather than doing it in Hell, as you will be getting higher-level loot (I believe Hell Act 1 is balanced around level 50-52? Inferno Act 1 is 60) and a bit more gold. Even if you can't do the entire act, it's probably time better spent.

Also, you lose your stacks of Nephalem Valor when you swap acts... but there are plenty of those champion and elite packs so it doesn't take that long to build it back up to 5 stacks.

Hell Act 4/Whimsyshire is probably the second best alternative if you are finding most/all champion/elite packs to be nigh impossible on Inferno.

i'm not finding that the staff of herding was a great investment.

it was talked up so much that i figured it would be a gold mine.

@stinky: I'm starting to think the same thing. I've only found a few pieces of gear that I've been able to use or sell, though it was awesome when I first started visiting that magical land. I'll still pay the cool 1M in gold to upgrade it for the last time, just to see how hard it can get.

I had a huge post typed out but this board sucks and broke it. I'll try again.

I currently have a level 54 Monk in late Hell but not Inferno yet so I can't really say what you'd need as a melee character. Besides this game is all about what you prefer and like and is highly subjective.

I do have a Wizard in Inferno though so I can tell you that you'll need in general. Resistances of approx. the 400-500 range minimum, HP of at least 30k and decent amount of DPS for a melee build which I would say is around a minimum of 9k-10k before buffs.

However, from experience with my Monk I can give you some suggestions, which have worked for me. Not sure how well they will translate to Inferno, but he's a tank in late Hell so, I digress. I would recommend cause you have a Monk that you go with something to boost your Evasion and Armor. Mantra of Evasion with Hard Target, Seize the Initiative, One with Everything (it would be cheaper to buy gear with 1 resistance and just stack that if you are broke, instead of level 60 all resistances gear) and The Guardians Path if you are Dual-wielding. This will drastically improve your survivability, but will hurt your DPS.

An underestimated skill I love is Blinding Flash. It will save your ass so many times if you start to get ganked. Using this with Faith in the Light also boosts your DPS. Breath of Heaven with Blazing Wrath also will boost your DPS and save your ass and also help your party in key situations. With this build any other artificial way to boost your DPS without sacrificing a skill or Passive is the key.

Here's my current build. Hope this helps. I use Wave of Light because it's a great skill that while costs a lot, I use more as a defensive ability then for the 285% damage boost. It's perfect for knocking back and stunning enemies for about 1 second. This in conjunction with Blinding Flash is an awesome CC combo.

I use Seven Sided Strike for Champion and Rare packs and as a defensive ability (you are invulnerable for the entire skill and will help you get out of walled, jailed, molten, consecrated and defiled territory). It's also great for single mobs that have a lot of high HP. Fists of Thunders is my primary ability cause it's the fastest attack out of the primaries (this may change though) and it also has the rune which boosts your dodge even further. Synergy is the key.

Lastly as I am not level 60 yet, I am going to change Wave of Light's rune to Pillar of the Ancients and see how that works once I unlock it and also Blinding Flash to the aforementioned Faith in the Light once I unlock that too. Seeing as you are already level 60 give them a try and see how they work for you.

@Mnemoidian: I'm now able to farm Act I, or at least up until the SK, on Inferno, I just couldn't get past most elites without dying a ton and spending a lot on repairs, and had to farm on Hell to boost gold so that I could buy a few key items from the auction house.

@Hyperglide: Thanks for the advice. Once the servers are back up, I'll give your suggestions a shot.

I have just started inferno as a DH and am hitting 22k DPS, mobs go down fast but if they touch me once I pop... need to sort out my armour as I am a glass cannon.

Currently in Act 4 Inferno as a Monk, though I lack dps to progress through late act 3 and 4 solo. I just tank for friends who are glass cannons.

You will need 4 types of stats on your gear: Dex, Vit, All Resist and any single resist type. Prioritize all resist and a single resist gear, while still having ok dex and vit stats. Getting gear with high armour is also really good. You will need a shield at some point. The extra armor just becomes way to valuable when you get to Act 2. It terms of weapons, getting high attack speed with life on hit are the best. Don't sacrifice too much dps just to get some life on hit though.

Here is my build. Stats are 18k damage (buffed), 35k hp, 800 resist, 8.5k Armor (buffed)

One With Everything is why you need All Resist and a single resist that's used on all your gear. You will pretty much double your resistances this way.

Your mantra will become your spirit dump. Try to keep the 3 second buff up all the time. If you keep that up while attacking with Fist of Thunder you should get around 60% dodge while also healing due to the transcendence passive.

Breath of Heaven with the Blazing Wrath rune will give you a 15% damage buff which you can keep up forever.

Serenity and Blinding Flash are your "Oh Shit!" abilities. Serenity for dealing with champion affixes. Blinding Flash for a brief stun and for doing a large burst of damage.

Lashing Tail Kick is optional. I like it due to the knockback and slow that the rune gives. Helps with dealing with packs of white mobs. I switch this out with Earth Ally, Sweeping Wind or Seven-Sided Strike depending on the situation.

@Reale: I just made it through Act 1 of Inferno on my DH. I was the same way, only with more DPS (in the mid 40k's with sharpshooter).

The thing is I farmed the end of Hell and some of the earlier parts of Inferno and never found any gear that would have helped out. Not one or two pieces that told me I just needed to keep farming, I never found anything. Just piles of mediocre off-class gear or DH gear with laughably shitty stats. I'm not sure where you are supposed to be finding anything worthwhile aside from the auction house - the source of all of my 57-60 gear. Apparently most of my gear came from Acts 2 & 3 of inferno, and even with that I was barely making it. The epitome of "glass cannon."

I've read about the changes they plan to make in 1.0.3, but my question is if the idea was to have to focus on defense at the beginning of each act in Inferno until you get more offensive gear, how the fuck was that ever supposed to work with the crap gear and types of ridiculously overpowered champion/elite spawns I've run into? Forget "defense," you're usually just forever kiting and relying on one or two cheap abilities that only prolong inevitable death. My "defense" is being forced to build as much DPS as possible because the only real way to handle anything is to burn it down quickly. Stacking vitality, armor, and resistance might keep you around longer, but without the DPS, your foes will just be there longer too. Same end result.

Not only does the gearing situation make no sense, it makes for a really shitty way of playing through the game. And that's not even getting into how ridiculous shit gets in Act 2.

My advice for anyone else starting Inferno? Unless you have the spare gold (or cash) to blow in the AH, get through Act 1 then wait for Blizzard to finish the game.

@Robo: I was constantly asking the same question through most of the game. I think I found maybe two or three things that helped me along my travel, but the majority of everything was bought from the AH. I hope this new patch will solve the issue, because as it sits now you only play to farm enough gold to visit the AH.

Simply stacking a bunch of vitality/resist all gear can pretty comfortably get you through Act 1 Inferno as melee. Act 2 Inferno is where you start to hit the wall in a big way (particularly if you're a melee class).

Once your gear catches up, Act 1 Inferno is a joke. I just run into groups of elites, no matter the combination, much like I did on normal difficulty. But yeah - Act 2 is a very different animal.

my personal monk gear advice is to get the following , attack speed rings and neck , with dex /vit if possible and other bonuses like crit% and damage are great too , but the attack speed is what counts , on gear , lots of vit / dex is always good but you need tos tart stacking a resistance type + all resist with the one with everything passive , you can find alot of gear with a single resistance type and all resistances on the same item , so you could in theory get 120 resist all out of a single piece , but yeah you can also find gear with better stats and the single resist you are stacking , that sell cheaper because they dont have resist all on them etc .. , resistance and armor reductions help alooot

shields themselves are good for armor but you can dodge/avoid so many attacks as a monk that dual wielding can be alot better , especially if you have 2 good weapons

for weapons , the primary stat apart from its damage that you want to focus on is life per spirit spent, you can get around 60 on them , (on monk helms too , and random legendaries ) , combined with the passive that adds 62+ your mantra , or other abilities will heal you alot , so in theory 2 weapons with high life per spirit , + helm and passive will net 10k+ heals , and since mantras have no cooldown , if you are building enough spirit by staying in melee combat longer , the loop continues etc , but even around 100 life per spirit = 5k heals on demand , which is great . . finally you can focus on roundiogn out dex and vit , and other useful stuff like crit damage

movement speed boots = get hit alot less while kiting..

also you probably want to start using your abilites more defensively , the 1.5 second fear rune on the healing spell is great for a jam , and the 30% damage increase rune on the blind is amazing for jumping in and doing some damage quickly , mantra of evasion + hard target rune is a go to for armor and dodge buff , but if you can mantra of conviction and overawe for masssive damage helps alot more , and if you have enough life per spirit to make it a powerful heal then its great for popping things , also the submission rune , which does constant damage to everything in 20 yards is great when you have alot more raw damage

also they tend to get 1 shot but the earth and air allys can be great for distracting/offtanking enemies for you , and the enchantress with maxed out int gear is really useful with the charm ability and 3% attack speed buff , and the armor buff is good too

blah blah blah i could go on forever but this stuff i think was most useful to me as i changed from plowing thru everything to kiting/tanking in inferno

currently in act 3 with 41khp 21k damage 7k ar and 420 resists (420 yo)

@envane: I've weaned myself off of attack speed since patch 1.0.3 is going to reduce its effectiveness. I do agree that attack speed is a nice buff but I don't want to be dependent on a stat that will most likely change in the future and then have to figure out a new formula for my character.

@Scotto said:

Simply stacking a bunch of vitality/resist all gear can pretty comfortably get you through Act 1 Inferno as melee. Act 2 Inferno is where you start to hit the wall in a big way (particularly if you're a melee class).

Once your gear catches up, Act 1 Inferno is a joke. I just run into groups of elites, no matter the combination, much like I did on normal difficulty. But yeah - Act 2 is a very different animal.

just to add on... I have 650 res all unbuffed and 1k buffed and I still die in act 2... there really is a WALL for melee classes. I thought I would just choose to survive longer but kill slowly but it turns out I can't even tick the survive long box.

I'm wainting patiently for 1.03. Hope i will be able to plow through act2 maybe 3 after it releases.

I ran my way to collect Kulle's blood, but now i just make a move and die. Even though i think i have good survival stats, i still get my ass handed to me by elite packs(all of them).

I thought 650ish allres, 5400 armor, 14k damage, 38k life, 40ish dodge, 20%block and about 5-6% lifesteal would do the trick, but it doesn't.

Sucks being stuck like this, because i know i'm not the cause. I know if i would farm like 10 million gold and went shopping it would all be okay, but farming for gold is not my style. I would rather farm for items. I like doing that. I hate breaking pots and hunting imps. It doesn't get me the same satisfaction as "ooh wonder if this rare will be any good"does.

Don't bother stacking too much attack speed, they are gna nerf it hard. I have a barb in inferno and I play with a friend who is a monk. Stacking resistances should be your priority as armour should now be giving diminishing returns in terms of damage reduction. Specifically with a monk you can stack one type and equip the passive skill that makes all your resists equal your highest one. Shop smart and you can get all your gear in the ah for less than 50k if you aren't too picky. Aim for a total dps of around 8-10k for act 1. Use a shield with a high block chance and block damage. Life steal is less effective in inferno as it is scaled down, life on hit is generally better (with the sole exception of mass aoe skills and combining life steal on existing skills). This should be enough for act 1. I'm still stuck in act 2.