Wave of Light

Wave of Light is a Secondary Monk skill unlocked at Level 12. The Monk focuses a beam of light into the shape of a large bell, which deals extremely high damage to all enemies in the radius of effect and knocks back other enemies in a straight line ahead of the Monk for some distance. This is one of the Monk's most popular skills and a centerpiece to many of the most popular Monk builds.

This skill was useful but not that effective until it was hugely buffed in patches. Patch 1.0.4 roughly doubled the damage, then Patch 1.0.7 doubled it again. At launch in version 1.0.1 this skill dealt 215% weapon damage to the targets and 45% weapon damage with the wave of knockback. As of Patch 1.0.7 it deals 829% with the initial impact and 96% with the wave of knockback, for nearly a 4x increase in overall damage.

This skill can be combined with other Monk skills, especially "takes more damage" debuffs provided by Mantra of Conviction and Explosive Palm to deal fantastically high damage, allowing a well-equipped Monk to one-shot almost any enemy... even on MP10.

Background

Wave of Light in action.

This skill is best known for the fact that the Monk summons a large mystical bell, which he then strikes with his fist. The bell, charged with holy energy, smashes into and through enemies in a straight line.

Skill Rune Effects

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Monk">Wave of Light</skill> <skill class="Monk" rune="Wall of Light">Wave of Light</skill> <skill class="Monk" rune="Explosive Light">Wave of Light</skill> <skill class="Monk" rune="Empowered Wave">Wave of Light</skill> <skill class="Monk" rune="Shattering Light">Wave of Light</skill> <skill class="Monk" rune="Pillar of the Ancients">Wave of Light</skill>

Skill Design

This skill first appeared at BlizzCon 2010, though it was too high of a level to have been tested out by players yet.

Synergies

The following Monk passives provide a benefit to Wave of Light, runed or not:

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Monk">Resolve</skill>

Development

This skill was first shown at BlizzCon 2010, although due to the level required to purchase the skill, it was not playable in the demo. Wyatt Cheng spoke briefly about it:

Wave of Light. He summons a mystical bell that he shoots out at range. It's kind of a combination of a melee and ranged attack. One of the things that I really like about this skill is that we need to differentiate the Barbarian from the Monk, they are both melee classes and in his case he's about combining mystic arts with martial arts and I like the evocative imagery that happens here. The concept of a mystical bell that he fires off, it's very vivid.

The bell itself threw some players off at first, but bells are a mainstay throughout temples in history. It is an easy association to make with a monk. What is curious, however, is that the skill description from BlizzCon 2010 for Wave of Light does not mention the bell at all; as of Beta Patch 15, it still doesn't.

Beta

Skill tiers were removed shortly before the beta started in September 2011, and Wave of Light became a level 29 skill. The skill system was once again overhauled for the Beta Patch 13 in February 2012, and Wave of Light was classified as a Secondary skill and moved to level 20. For Beta Patch 14, it was moved down to level 12.

Post-Release

Wave of Light received some of the largest damage buffs of any skill in the game in post-release patches.

Patch 1.0.4: Weapon damage of initial strike increased from 215% to 390%

• Skill Rune – Wall of Light
  • Weapon damage bonus to initial strike increased from 312% to 566%
• Skill Rune – Explosive Light
  • Weapon damage increased from 285% to 430%
• Skill Rune – Pillar of the Ancients
  • Weapon damage on both the initial strike and delayed explosion increased from 210% to 280%.

Patch 1.0.7: Weapon damage increased from 390% to 829%. Follow-up weapon damage (dealt to all enemies in a line) increased from 45% to 96%.

• Skill Rune – Explosive Light
  • Weapon damage increased from 430% to 914%
• Skill Rune – Pillar of the Ancients
  • Now deals 595% weapon damage followed by an additional 595% weapon damage after 2 seconds (up from 280% weapon damage)

Media

Wave of Light can be seen in action on video here:

• None yet.

You can find pictures in the Diablo III screenshot and picture gallery:

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Wave of Light specific gallery contents

• 

  The bell in Wave of Light.

• 

  The skill deals holy damage.

• 

  Another shot.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• Silva's Monk Runestone Effects — IncGamers 6th Sep 2011
• Monk Active Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer primary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer secondary

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Template:Skill navbox Necromancer reanimation

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