Throwing Out Some Chayula Monk Darkness Line Rework Ideas

The Chonk Darkness line needs a massive rework. Right now, darkness just is NOT worth it. You trade probably some of the best skills and way to use extra gem slots, for a kind of shoddy ablative health that does not really scale all that much.

For the base darkness node, I think you should gain maximum darkness equal to spirit + 5/level (while keeping spirit). This makes it so darkness gets added as ablative health and can still scale to a certain extent. Flavor wise, this shows how you have been corrupted into worshiping "The Dreamer" and the more faith (spirit) you have, the more dark power you have.

Grasp of the Void I think should give phys damage reduction (and maybe chaos thorns?) ramping with darkness in addition to the extra damage as Chaos so you're promoted to get stuck into the fray and be a sort of "berserker" style Chonk that has embraced darkness for power.

Inner Silence should grant life and ES healing to you and allies in an area when you remove reservation ramping with darkness gained (maybe even add a nova of chaos damage). This promotes a more hopping in and out of combat style of play where you can be a supportive healer for minions or other players (or just be more tanky with healing bursts 5 seconds after taking a hit). For character fantasy you're mastering and controlling the dark power you've gained from Chayula and also promoting a more front line minion master that wants to get hit every so often.