Fists of Thunder

Fists of Thunder in action, with Lightning damage.

Fists of Thunder (known as Hands of Lightning prior to July 2011) is a Primary Monk skill unlocked at Level 1. The Monk charges his strikes with lightning. Every third strike adds knockback.

[edit] Background

The Monk charges his strikes with lightning in a three-stage attack that ends with an area of effect blast.

[edit] Skill Rune Effects

The following is a very quick summary. See the Fists of Thunder rune effects page for a more thorough description of rune effects, or any of the individual rune pages for numbers, screenshots, blue quotes, and much more.

Name	Level	Description

Fists of Thunder
(database)
Primary

1

Generate: 6 Spirit per attack

Unleash a series of extremely fast punches that deal 110% weapon damage as Lightning. Every third hit deals damage to all enemies in front of you and knocks them back a short distance. Generates Spirit faster than other Spirit-generating skills due to the high attack speed.

Thunderclap
(database)

6

Teleport to the target and release an electric shockwave with every punch that hits all enemies within 6 yards of your primary target for 35% weapon damage as Lightning.

Lightning Flash
(database)

14

Increases your chance to Dodge by 16% for 2 seconds.

Static Charge
(database)

30

Your primary target is charged with static electricity for 5 seconds and takes 37% weapon damage as Lightning when you attack other enemies with Fists of Thunder.

Quickening
(database)

42

Critical Hits generate an additional 15 Spirit for each target hit.

Bounding Light
(database)

52

Every third punch releases chain lightning instead of knocking enemies back. Each lightning strike inflicts 73% weapon damage as Lightning.

[edit] Skill Design

A Monk vs. the Undead.

This skill first appeared at BlizzCon 2010, playable in the demo. It adds lightning damage to the Monk's strikes.

During the beta, all the skills previously known as combos were simplified down so much that only three of them (Fists of Thunder, Deadly Reach, and Crippling Wave) still contain any semblance of combo functionality. These three skills now provide simply an additional effect on every third strike, while the others (Way of the Hundred Fists, Exploding Palm, and Sweeping Wind) now have a single function on every strike. Combos previously consisted of: the normal spell attack on the first strike; a stronger attack on the second; and on the third, an even stronger attack coupled with an additional effect.

[edit] Synergies

The following Monk passives provide a benefit to Fists of Thunder, runed or not:

Name	Level	Description

Resolve
(database)
Passive

10

Damage you deal reduces enemy damage by 20% for 2.5 seconds.

Combination Strike
(database)
Passive

50

Each different Spirit Generator ability you use increases your damage by 8% for 3 seconds.

[edit] Development

Killing Zombies.

Killing Zombies harder.

Fists of Thunder was first shown at BlizzCon 2010, then named Hands of Lightning. Blascid reported on using the skill at BlizzCon:[1]

In the Monks case, with her actual lightning fist skill (I do not remember the name), the first hit would be a claw sweep with lightning damage, the second one granted more lightning damage with more lightning graphics, and the third hit was a lightning blast that created a nice AOE arc. (The third move’s animation {Monk’s move and spell effect} reminded me of how Ryu and Ken’s Hadouken looked in Street Fighter 2 {Sorry, I have not played any more recent than that} if your opponent was right in front of you.)

Flux also wrote about using this skill at BlizzCon. A small excerpt:[2]

The only drawback of Hands of Lightning was the fun factor. It was a fairly plain attack. It looks pretty with the big lightning blasts, but it’s basically just a straight ahead right, left, right combo. It doesn’t hit multiple enemies, it doesn’t debuff them, it doesn’t let you dash across the screen to start hitting, etc. It’s the lowest level combo skill for a reason; it’s just a damn powerful attack to use against a single or a few enemies, and sure, killing them quickly and efficiently is fun. But if I were playing for real, I’d probably respec it to another combo when I had the chance. (Though it might be handy long term for the huge lightning damage.)

Before the July 2011 Press Event (when skill tiers were removed), Hands of Lightning was renamed Fists of Thunder.

[edit] Beta

The beta started in September 2011, and Fists of Thunder became a level 1 skill. The skill system was once again overhauled for the Beta Patch 13 in February 2012, and Fists of Thunder was classified as a Primary skill (but remained at level 1). For Beta Patch 14, it was buffed a bit.

A male Monk unleashing the third strike.

[edit] Previous Versions

See Hands of Lightning for the original version of this skill.

Also, see the combos page for additional information on how this and other combo spells used to work.

The three hits of Hands of Lightning, with the big blast on the final hit (from 2010).

Did somebody mention Street Fighter?

[edit] Media

Fists of Thunder can be seen in action on video here:

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

Posing the final strike (from 2010).
Monk using Hands of Lightning (from 2010).
Arcing lightning damage (from 2010).
The three-hit sequence (from 2010).

[edit] References

BlizzCon 2010 Hands-on Blascid
BlizzCon 2010 Monk Hands-on Report
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

Fan-made Classes			Fan-made Skills [e]
• Alchemist • Arcane Warrior • Artisan • Aurian Mage • Bard • Channeller • Dragon Warrior	• Flagellant • Giant (U) • Hollow Man • Nomad • Onaga Manji • Phase Knight	• Ranger • Slayer (U) • Techpriest (U) • Telepath • Untainted (U) • Zealot	Dragon Warrior Skills • Bow and Throwing Skill Tree • Dragon Disciplines Skill Tree • Martial Arts Skill Tree	Untainted Skills • Divine Skill Tree • Void Skill Tree • Wrath Skill Tree	Aurian Mage Skill • Holy Power Skill Tree • Shadow Spells Skill Tree • Nature Forces Skill Tree
(U) = Unfinished

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