Before you even ask:
Why is this posted in exploits and not in guides section?
Well the snapshot it self is not intended, however some of you think otherwise and say the skill is supposed to work this way. BUT the snapshot of Sweeping Wind also snapshots the lifesteal of the weapon you are wearing the moment you cast Sweeping Wind. So, even if you swap later to a weapon with no lifesteal at all you will still have the life steal of the first weapon. So, having a weapon with life steal, cast sweeping wind and then swap to a weapon with life on hit, you can have the survivability of both weapons. If you cant understand this is an exploit then im sorry go play pac-man.
General:
For this exploit to work better you will need 2 sets:
1. One with full attack speed + critical chance gear(with Innas set if possible)
2. One with full:
- Dexterity.
- Weapon Damage.
- Elemental Damage
- Critical Hit Damage.
- Improved Damage vs Elites.
- Improved Damage of Sweeping Wind.
- Lifesteal.(yes it snapshots your lifesteal too!)
Then you need to have a G15 Logitech Keyboard or a script to fast swap between these two sets.
If you have a G15 all you need to do is go here http://www.ownedcore.com/forums/diab...g300-g400.html
Here is a list of items that are the most optimal for your Sweeping Wind snapshot.
The following items will give you the maximum possible damage. Note, these are only for use during the snapshot, afterwards switch to high attack speed/critical hit chance gear. Attack speed and critical hit chance are not factored into the snapshot, everything else is AFAIK.
This spec is what you will use to achieve Maximum Sweeping Wind Damage
ITEMS:
Helmet - Madstone - Game Guide - Diablo III with 14% sweeping wind. [Almost any helmet can roll % sweeping wind, it's just easier and usually cheaper with a Madstone, Optimally with high + Dexterity
Chest - Tyrael's Might - Game Guide - Diablo III With +15% demons, +4% elites, + dexterity and 3 sockets
Belt - Inna's Favor - Game Guide - Diablo III With +8% Holy damage and as much dext as you can get
Amulet - Tal Rasha's Allegiance - Game Guide - Diablo III with +6% elemental, + Average Damage and + Dexterity [comes with 61-65% crit damage]
Amulet (2) Mara's Kaleidoscope - Game Guide - Diablo III +12% Sweeping Wind, +Crit Damage, + Dext, + Average Damage.
Ring 1 Skull Grasp - Game Guide - Diablo III With +11% Sweeping Wind, + Dexterity, and + Crit Damage or + Average Damage
Ring 1 (2) The Wailing Host - Game Guide - Diablo III With + Average Damage, Dexterity, Crit Damage, and 4% to elites
Ring 1 (3) Unity - Game Guide - Diablo III + Average Damage, Dexterity, Crit Damage, +4% Elites
Ring 1 (4) Skull Grasp (legacy) - Diablo 3 Database - DiabloNut.com + Average Damage, + Dexterity, + 4% elites.
Ring 2 Stone of Jordan - Game Guide - Diablo III + 14% Sweeping Wind, +30% elites, +6% elemental Damage.
Gloves - [Rare Gloves] + 50% Crit damage, +300 Dexterity
Shoulder - Vile Ward - Game Guide - Diablo III Maximum +300 dexterity.
Bracers Strongarm Bracers - Game Guide - Diablo III These can roll upwards of +265 Dexterity, Maybe 300.
Boots - Zunimassa's Trail - Game Guide - Diablo III +8% Poison Damage, + 200 Dexterity
Pants - Depth Diggers - Game Guide - Diablo III +300 Dexterity with 2 sockets
WEAPONS
Here's where things get interesting, there are many items you can choose to be effective. For maximum damage, you will want the highest average damage you can get with as much dext and crit damage as possible.
Rare 2H Mace Doom Hammer - Game Guide - Diablo III with over 1700 average damage, 200% Crit damage, + Dext, + Open Socket and + Bonus to Elites
Other choices
Skorn - Game Guide - Diablo III + Dexterity. If you do not need lifesteal on your cyclones, you can get one with + Bonus vs Elites (8% max), otherwise, get one with either higher dexterity [500] or Lifesteal.
Any rare 2h with high average damage, + 150% crit damage and +Dext and if you need it, +5-6% lifesteal. (Search for average damage 2h in AH, Higher Dps ≠ Average damage. Attack speed can inflate the dps value here, be careful)
CASTING SW
Before casting Sweeping Wind damage its important to explain one other Monk skill mechanism:
Blinding Flash (buff adds weapon damage x APS as holy damage)
This ability takes the weapon damage, adds bonus damage from the equipment, if any, and multiplies it with attack speed. Dexterity, critical hits, etc. are not taken into account at this point. This means that the faster the weapon, the more damage buff you get from the Blinding Flash, so:
1350 DPS non-elemental 1H + .25 APS echoing fury - both with no other stats needed. This setup beats the biggest 2h weapons out there in terms of blinding flash strength due to the fact that BF scales with attack speed. One important detail is the active weapon gets reset to the mainhand when you swap at all, so you don't need to babysit it. (Also, flying dragon doesn't work)
So the steps to cast Sweeping wind are:
1. Wear the full attack speed+crit set
2. Activate foresight, blazing wrath, then use thunderclap to activate combination strike,
3. Cast Blinding Flash
4. Use your G15 to swap to the full damage set
5. Cast sweeping wind
6. Use your G15 to swap back to the full attack speed +crit set
(some might say why not cast Mantra of Conviction - Overawe before casting Sweeping wind for 48% additional damage? Well the reason is that the Mantra of Conviction is not a buff to yourself but a debuff to monsters, so casting it after casting Sweeping Wind has exactly the same effect on your damage output)
AFTER CASTING SW
Sweeping winds damage can be 'captured', in that what weapon damage and bonuses your character has at the time of casting it will stay as long as the buff doesn't fall off. This is made possible by our Inna's 4 set bonus -70 spirit cost of sweeping wind
The best weapons to use after you switch are high attack speed.
For the fastest attacks, wield Echoing Fury - Game Guide - Diablo III [Best would be +11% attack speed with +0.25 Attacks per second] at 1.58 Attacks per second, and a white quality dagger that has the balanced affix (20% attack speed) This will equate to 1.8 attacks per second, or 2.05 with the echoing fury.
Azurewrath - Game Guide - Diablo III is also worth mentioning with 21% attack speed, at 1.69 [, which is bumped up to 1.94 with the Echoing Fury.
There is also the other choice of a very fast attack speed weapon and a +10 crit chance shield(you want those cyclones to crit dont you?)
TO SUM UP:
TOTAL +% DAMAGE from GEAR
+49% Sweeping Wind Damage (Helmet, SoJ, Mara's Kaleid, Skull Grasp)
+15% Damage to Demons (Tyrael's Might) [It will list monster type under health bar]
+38% To Elites (SoJ, Ring 2)
+22% Elemental (Inna's Favor, SoJ, Zunimassa's Trail)
+500% Critical Hit Damage (Mara's 100%, Glove 50%, Ring 1 50%, Weapon 300%)
+%Increase from Skills:
+30% Faith in the Light
+16% Combination Strike
+18% Foresight
+15% Blazing Wrath
= 79% + (48% from Overawe)
With these increases, I think it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility to see your cyclones hitting for over 600k per crit
At 6 attacks per cyclone, that is 3.6M damage just for one cyclone on a boss (demon elite) such as Azmodan.
Hope this little guide helps some mates out there slain some more of these ugly diablo monsters. Cheers!
CREDITS:
Septemvri#2538 - Community - Diablo III
http://www.ownedcore.com/forums/memb...441-sn4rk.html
overview for Sundeath
http://www.reddit.com/user/Raticus79
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/iNSiPox-1144/