Exploding Palm

Exploding Palm is a Technique Monk skill in Diablo III.

In-game
When used, strikes one enemy within melee range, causing them to Bleed. The target is marked with a glowing Palm symbol above their head. Can have multiple targets under this effect at a time, but applying Exploding Palm again to the same enemy by the same Monk will only renew its duration. Multiple Monks may apply Exploding Palms independently to the same target if needed.

If the target dies while still under the Exploding Palm Bleed effect (no matter the cause of death), they will explode in a rain of blood, dealing high Physical damage to all enemies within 6 yards of itself. The target's corpse, obviously, is destroyed. A monster whose corpse normally explodes after death will explode twice (normal explosion and eruption of blood), whatever way that may sound. At the moment of explosion, a pulsing heart will appear above the victim.

Runes

 * The Flesh is Weak: enemies under the Exploding Palm Bleed effect also take 15% additional damage from all attacks.
 * Strong Spirit: damage type changes to Holy, and if the enemy explodes, gain 15 Spirit for each enemy caught in the blast.
 * Shocking Grasp: damage type changes to Lightning, and Exploding Palm arcs to another enemy within 15 yards when applied, affecting two enemies at once.
 * Impending Doom: removes the damage of the Bleed effect itself altogether, but if the victim dies while under the Exploding Palm effect, it will explode for 6305% damage as Cold within 6 yards.
 * Essence Burn: damage type changes to Fire, damage increases to 1875% over 9 seconds. The exploding enemy will cause other enemies within 6 yards to burn for 3260% damage as Fire over 3 seconds instead of instant damage. Unlike other runes, the damage over time effect of Essence Burn does stack if applied more than once to a single target.

Non-rune enhancements

 * The Fist of Az'Turrasq (Legendary Fist Weapon): damage of the blast increases by 400–500%.
 * Madstone (Legendary Spirit Stone): applies Exploding Palm to each enemy hit by Seven-Sided Strike, exploding outright if the enemy dies from the hit.
 * Gungdo Gear (Legendary Bracers): increases damage by 75-100% and applies Exploding Palm to every enemy damaged or killed by Exploding Palm on-death explosion.
 * Uliana's Stratagem Set (Set Bonus for 2 items): each third (Combo) hit of Spirit Generator Primary skills applies Exploding Palm to all enemies hit.
 * Uliana's Stratagem Set (Set Bonus for 4 items): reduce damage taken by 77% for 7 seconds after applying Exploding Palm.
 * Uliana's Stratagem Set (Set Bonus for 6 items): increases damage by 9000%, and Seven-Sided Strike detonates Exploding Palm on each enemy it hits.

Trivia

 * The Exploding Palms skill is very reminiscent of, if not inspired by a trademark move of Kenshiro in the Fist of the North Star series, in which Kenshiro punches an opponent at a certain vital spot, mutters his trademark "You're already dead" and, after some time, the opponent's head explodes.
 * It seems also similar to the special technique in the Kill Bill movies wherein pressure points on the victim's body are struck. When the victim takes five footsteps, his/her heart explodes.
 * Names of the runes "Flesh is Weak" and "Strong Spirit" are a possible reference to the Bible, Matthew 26:41, "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak".
 * Color of the blood eruption will not vary with the color of the victim's blood, or even with the fact if they have any, up to the point where one may create a red blood explosion of a creature made of sand.

Development
Originally, this skill was dealing damage equal to 50% of the victim's maximum Life with on-death explosion. There was no limit on how great this damage could be (in theory, it could kill or at least severely damage a Rare Monster's minions when their leader died). For balancing purposes, this was changed to a weapon damage percentage amount in patch 2.1.