by Hotstreak - 9 years ago     show comments

Books have often been society’s only bastion of light for passing along knowledge that would otherwise be lost to time or convoluted by the oral tradition. In order to provide new and old adventurers with as much knowledge of what to expect on their journey in Sanctuary, we created this tome of knowledge – Ars Arcanum. We will regularly feature a Legendary weapon or armor piece, discussing its stand-alone powers and capabilities, as well as how it may synergize with new builds or other item

With last week’s Ars Arcanum I went over Lion’s Claw and talked a bit about how it benefits the Seven Sided Strike build for Monks when paired with the Uliana’s Set. This week I will be going over another big piece of the puzzle by taking a look at Gundgo Gear. These bracers are essential to the SSS build as they have the ability to spread your Exploding Palm like the plague and contribute heavily to your damage output.

Why is it good?

Gundgo Gear causes the on death explosion from EP to apply EP to enemies that are hit. This is extremely powerful when paired with the Uliana’s Strategem set and Lion’s Claw. Lets take a look at the Uliana’s set in case you aren’t sure about what it does for EP.

• 2 Piece Bonus – Every third hit from your Spirit Generators applies Exploding Palm.
• 4 Piece Bonus – Your Seven Sided Strike deals its total damage with each hit.
• 6 Piece Bonus – Your Seven Sided Strike detonates your Exploding Palm

With the three and six piece bonuses, your EP becomes the main damage dealer of this build and everything else is there to support it and make it hit even harder. Take Lion’s Claw for example, it adds seven extra hits to your SSS, which in turn causes your EP to detonate much more and it also helps to spread EP to other enemies. The two set bonus also synergizes with this very well as it helps apply EP to as many enemies as possible before you use SSS, which contributes heavily to making a whole group of enemies simultaneously explode in a horrific icy death. When you gather up a large pack of enemies, apply EP, and watch them explode it result sin a very satisfying feeling. I have pulled off some crazy AoE multi kills with this build.

The one thing that these bracers don’t really contribute to is single target damage, as they are only useful when there are multiple enemies around. Even with that being the case, they still can be useful on certain rift guardians who summon adds since GG can easily help you wipe them out very quickly so you can get back to focusing on the guardian. I found them extremely useful when going up against Uber Maghda since you can dispatch her adds very quickly and get that stupid shield off of her.

Another thing that really synergizes with these bracers is the Fist of Az’turrasq. This fist weapon buffs the explosion damage of EP by a maximum of 75%. This damage bonus plays a big role in AoE clearing and cleaving because it makes your EP detonations that much stronger and it really makes a difference when pushing grifts or taking down large groups of enemies quickly. If you can get a hold of an ancient version of this Fist Weapon, then you’re in good shape.

All in all, Gundgo Gear, Fist of Az’turrasq, Exploding Palm are the center piece to the Uliana’s build and without them, you wouldn’t be able to dish out enough damage to push higher level content. Not to mention it’s an extremely fun build and I recommend it to everyone who is interested in trying it out.

Who is it good for?

Even though these bracers have no class requirement to equip, they favor a Monk specific ability so they wouldn’t be very useful on other classes.

Where can I find it?

Gundgo Gear is not a season exclusive item so it can be found on any mode on any character that is level 10 or higher.

The Fluff

“Cover your wrists in righteousness that you may strike with the will of the gods.” —Tenets of the Veradani