Fists of Thunder

Fists of Thunder is a Primary Monk skill. It is reminiscent of the classic Assassin's skill Fists of Fire.

In-game
When the enemy is targeted with Fists of Thunder, if the Monk is not at close combat distance, he/she will teleport to them (can teleport for up to 20 yards, can pass through enemies and allies, but not through impassable obstacles). The first two hits deal damage to the primary target only, but the last hit splits damage among all enemies in a 6 yard sphere in front of the monk, centered on the primary target.

As with other Combo skills, to gain the third hit, Monk does not need to hit the same target three times or even stand in one place: the hits just need to be done within a reasonable time.

This skill generates Spirit faster than other primary skills.

Runes

 * Thunderclap: each hit also releases a shockwave that hits all enemies within 6 yards of the primary target for 120% damage as Lightning and knocks them back. The shockwave damage is not split, it delivers full damage to every target (unlocked at level 6).
 * Wind Blast: damage type changes to Cold, and third hit also Freezes affected enemies for 2 seconds (unlocked at level 14).
 * Static Charge: also applies a Static Charge effect to every enemy hit. Every time an enemy with Static Charge is hit by the Monk (only the Monk who applied the effect), there is a chance (42% on the first two hits and 30% on third hit) that all other enemies with Static Charge within 40 yards suffer 40% damage as Lightning (unlocked at level 30).
 * Quickening: damage type changes to Physical, and Spirit generation increases to 20 (unlocked at level 42).
 * Bounding Light: damage type changes to Holy, and every third hit also releases a chain lightning that hits up to 3 enemies within 40 yards for 240% damage as Holy (unlocked at level 52).

Non-rune enhancements

 * Depth Diggers (Legendary Pants): damage increases by 80-100%.
 * Band of the Rue Chambers (Legendary Ring): increases Spirit generated per hit by 40-50%.
 * Raiment of a Thousand Storms Set (Set Bonus for 2 items): increases Fists of Thunder attack speed by 25% and damage by 400%.
 * Raiment of a Thousand Storms Set (Set Bonus for 6 items): hitting an enemy with Fists of Thunder increases the weapon damage of Dashing Strike to 60000% for 6 seconds, and Dashing Strike increases damage done with Fists of Thunder by 6000% for 6 seconds.
 * Spirit Guards (Legendary Bracers): a successful hit also reduces all damage taken by the bearer by 45-60% for 3 seconds.
 * Simplicity's Strength (Legendary Gem): increases damage by 25% (+0.5% per rank) and heals the character for 4% of maximum Life per hit (rank 25 bonus).
 * Boyarsky's Chip (Legendary Gem): Taunts the first enemy hit for 2 seconds (rank 25 bonus).
 * Shenlong's Spirit Set (Set Bonus for 2 items): damage is increased by 2% for each point of Spirit the Monk has. When reaching maximum Spirit, all damage is increased by 350% and the Monk loses 65 Spirit per second until all Spirit is drained.
 * 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.

Passives

 * Combination Strike: every hit increases damage done by 10% for 3 seconds, the effect from different skills stacks.
 * Mythic Rhythm: every third hit increases damage of the next Spirit spender skill by 40%.
 * Alacrity: increases Attack Speed by 15% for the Primary skills.

Development
The skill was originally called "Hands of Lightning." It generated 3 Spirit per hit, or 9 per combo, and then 6 per hit and 18 per combo.

In the interim between the release of Diablo III and its expansion, it was found that Thunderclap was the ability's most popular Skill Rune due to its teleport ability. For Reaper of Souls, all of the other Skill Runes of this ability gained this property.

Static Charge in 2.3 affected all enemies hit by any Monk with this skill, being incredibly potent if taken by multiple Monks in a group. In 2.4, this is fixed to only affect enemies hit by the Monk themselves.