Oh, Jekangbord is required, definitely. Gyrfalcon...not so much. My wrath is fine with provoke and zealous shield glare. Since getting reaper wraps, I can drop glare. And if I get Burst of Wrath, I might drop provoke, not sure. The charged up rune is great for blessed shield and bowmen.
With Jekangbord, I think it easily outperforms all out spenders. There's just no matching the damage/wrath, damage/cast(unless it's a REALLY tight clump for FoH), and ease at spreading damage.
Fist of the Heavens is pretty comparable, but Jekangbord probably puts blessed shield ahead. I feel that Sweep Attack: Blazing Sweep would destroy blessed shield, if that rune wasn't bugged to hell, but a 6 ricochet Jekangbord might still keep it ahead, if combust wasn't bugged.
Blessed shield doesn't really outperform any of the other spenders, it just has really strong AOE, especially when combined with Jekangbord, and not even really from a damage perspective, simply from a "hit everything in existence" perspective. Honestly, it's strength isn't really even that needed, seeing as I rarely find myself surrounded by packs of that size. Even when I do, you're talking about shaving off a few seconds at the cost of performance against guardians/bosses/elites.
Gyrfalcon's is absolutely required, in my opinion. Freeing up having to use a builder is huge, not to mention that your "builder" now has the coefficient of a spender. It's a total game changer, because now you have a really strong AOE, while also being able to add/retain another big elite killer.
How is combust and jekangbord bugged?
It doesn't receive the additional ricochets from jekangbord. It stops at 3.
Honestly, if blazing sweep gets fixed, I could find a goddamn Maximus with a socket, a cindercoat, and a solid hellskull? I think I have a build that would outperform Gyrfalcon's/Jekangbord.
Monks are very very gear dependent for deeps. Get a decent thunderfury and watch things explode. OWE and STI are pretty much required, but you still have 2 slots to play with there, and build will determine utility.
This is why I shelved my monk. OWE and STI are pretty much forced on you, because dex is fucking terrible as a defensive stat, and Thunderfury is basically your only build option, unless you do a lot of grouping(EP fist), and even then you're mostly just the buff bitch. Have a thunderfury? Great! You'll do just fine! Don't have a Thunderfury? Well, I hope you enjoy killing slow as hell! Barbarians are in the same boat, but they at least avoid some of the toughness issues. The largest problem I had with my Barbarian, is that their passives mostly suck. They are usually reliant on being surrounded, or some other conditional.
Speaking of dex, they need to just get rid of dodge entirely. Rework the skills/runes as necessary. Isn't it still 10 STR = 1 armor? 10 int = 1 RA? Why not make it so every 20 dex = 1 armor, 1 RA?