PoE2 Martial Artist Monk: Whirling Assault Build Guide

The Martial Artist is the Monk's new ascendancy in patch 0.5 and it is, quite mercifully, broken. You spin. Bells explode. Everything dies. Whirling Assault covers almost the entire screen per swing and your ascendancy passives automate half the damage for you: which is convenient, because you clearly have better things to do than actually play the game.

The core loop: generate Power Charges, hold down Whirling Assault, let Hollow Focus Technique spawn bells every ~1.8 seconds, hit or cull those bells for more charges and free shockwave damage, drop a Tempest Bell on a boss, watch it die while you barely move. The build is an affront to other melee options and GGG appears fine with that.

Bell mechanic in brief: Hollow Focus spawns ethereal bells that always register as Critical Strikes when struck. Hollow Resonance attaches a permanent bell to your back that erupts on every crit. Two sources of free, automated AoE: with zero effort required from you specifically.

This is the Martial Artist league starter for 0.5. You can go from level 1 to mapping without a single point of currency investment, then scale it into one of the strongest endgame setups available. The build rewards basic button-pressing and punishes literally nothing except dying to your own Mana Flask on a CI setup (see FAQ).

Ascendancy Nodes

Take these in order. Do not overthink it.

Note: If resistances are collapsing during the campaign, swap Way of the Stonefist for Runic Meridians at ascendancy 2. Resistances fix themselves immediately. Move Stonefist to slot 3 later. This is the only acceptable deviation.

Campaign Progression

Act 1 Lv 1–13

Hollow Palm Rush

Pick up your Quarterstaff on the Shores, grab Entangle from the Primal tree in Clearfeld: yes, a vine skill, because it lets you move while throwing damage instead of standing still like a large idiot. Add Killing Palm for Power Charges, then Wing Blast from the Wyvern for stun-primer clears.

Your first 13 passive points go entirely to Hollow Palm Technique (regular skill tree, not ascendancy). This converts your unarmed attacks to behave as if you have a high-quality Quarterstaff, scaling off your gear's Evasion and Energy Shield. You no longer need to care about weapons until Act 4. Gear only for Armor and +2 Melee Skills until then.

Boss combo: fill stun bar to ~70%, Wing Blast for instant three Power Charges, tap Rend once for the 50% lightning damage buff, drop Falling Thunder. Repeat until dead.

Act 2 Lv 20–34

Ascend + Bell Spam Online

Ascend at level 20 with Hollow Focus Technique. Bells now spawn every 2.35 seconds. You eat them with Devour for Power Charges and healing simultaneously, then immediately fire Falling Thunder. The fact that Devour also triggers Thrill of the Kill: granting 25% extra lightning damage: on bell consumption is either intended or a gift. Assume the latter.

Add Storm Wave for shock application, Siphoning Strike to consume shocks into Power Charges, and Herald of Thunder as your first Spirit skill. Get +2 Power Charges from the passive tree. At level 22, unlock Hollow Palm Technique on the tree and switch to EV/ES gear.

Jaman Raw dies before he finishes talking. You already have three Power Charges from eating bells during his monologue.

Act 3 Lv 34–40

Hollow Resonance + Elemental Weakness

Second ascendancy gives Hollow Resonance Technique. Now every bell hit triggers two simultaneous shockwaves. You critically strike a bell: which you will, since hits against bells are always crits: and the back-bell erupts. This is a compounding system with no counterplay for enemies.

Add Hand of Shaula with Elemental Weakness for a 90% lightning damage setup. Also pick up Wind Dancer as a Spirit skill to keep mobs at a comfortable distance. Passive tree extends toward 30% more damage against rare and unique enemies and melee strike range nodes, which synergise directly with the incoming Whirling Assault switch.

Act 4 Lv 41+

Whirling Assault Takes Over

Level 41 unlocks Whirling Assault. Replace Storm Wave and Siphoning Strike. Your new core setup: Whirling Assault with Rage + Heavy Swings + Magnified Area, Tempest Bell with Prolonged Duration + Heavy Swings + Magnified Area, and Staggering Palm with Multi-Shot + Impact Shockwave.

Killing Palm returns: now specifically for hitting bells to stack its 15% fire and 25% lightning bonus damage buff. Charged Staff enters the rotation, consuming Power Charges for a massive flat lightning damage buff to all attacks. Keep it topped up. At this stage, Tabakai is not a problem. You walk in already fully buffed.

Quarterstaff note: keep playing Hollow Palm until you find a Quarterstaff that legitimately beats it. Require 400+ Physical DPS minimum before swapping. Most Act 4 drops will not qualify. Do not be impatient.

With the bonus 40 Spirit from Interlude 3, swap Hand of Shaula out for Reaper's Invocation supported by Profane Ritual and Compressed Duration. Kill enemies, build stacks, trigger Profane Ritual on corpses, receive Power Charges automatically. You now barely need to use Killing Palm on bells for charge generation during area clear: just press the Reaper button when it charges. Bosses remain trivial.

Final Skill Gem Setup

Hollow Focus Support: Cooldown Recovery I on the Hollow Focus skill itself. Current optimised rate: 1.8 seconds per bell. Target: 1.4–1.5s. Every tenth of a second matters when bells are your damage engine.

Passive Tree Priority

The tree evolves across acts. This is the priority framework: not a node-by-node list, because you are presumably capable of clicking in a direction.

1. Hollow Palm Technique: first 13 points, full stop. No discussion.
2. Concussive Attacks + Endless Circuit: Act 2 extension. Endless Circuit lets Siphoning Strike consume and reapply shocks for doubled charge generation.
3. +2 Max Power Charges: mandatory. Five charges minimum before Act 3.
4. 30% more damage vs Rare/Unique + Daze chance: Act 3 passive tree goes bottom-right for these.
5. Melee Strike Range nodes: make Whirling Assault's AoE even more obnoxious.
6. Chakra of Thought: Act 4 onwards. Attack speed and mana regen for Whirling Assault spam.
7. First Principle of Hollow + Subterfuge Mask nodes: EV/ES conversion path. CI viability requires 3,000 ES early endgame, 5,000+ for Pinnacle bosses.
8. Evasion Rating clusters: fuels Hollow Palm's attack speed and crit scaling.

During the campaign, you are actively trying not to spend currency on gear. Hollow Palm means your weapon slot is irrelevant until Act 4. Prioritise the following modifiers in order of importance.

CI Warning: If running Chaos Inoculation, check every flask. Any flask with "percentage of mana recovered removed from Life" will instantly kill a CI character. Swap it out. This is not a skill issue: it is a one-shot from your own flask UI.

Defense

The build's defensive profile is not an afterthought. Endgame targets: 1,000+ Life, 1,000+ Energy Shield, 40%+ Evasion Rating at map entry: scaling toward 80% Evasion and 95% Deflect (cap) in optimised gear. Chaos Inoculation is the long-term goal; prioritise it once Energy Shield reaches 5,000+.

Hollow Palm Technique converts Evasion into attack speed and crit chance, which means stacking Evasion is both offense and defense simultaneously: a mechanic so obviously efficient it barely requires explanation. Wind Dancer keeps melee mobs at range. Devour and bell-eating provide sustain without a dedicated healing layer.

The build becomes defensively self-sustaining as soon as you have Hollow Focus online: bell consumption heals you, Whirling Assault keeps enemies staggered, and evasion deflects what actually reaches you. You will not die to normal content. The only genuine threat is your own flask inventory.

Early Mapping & Endgame

Early mapping is described as a "breath through" for a reason. Your bells are already destroying packs before you reach them. Whirling Assault's coverage per cast is nearly screen-wide. Herald of Ice with Armour Explosion can be added to chain explosions through entire map sections. The build does not lack clear speed: it lacks any meaningful obstacle.

Boss rotation in endgame: Heavy Stun the boss with Whirling Assault, drop Tempest Bell adjacent to it, resume Whirling Assault (the skill's AoE hits both the boss and the bell simultaneously), activate Mantra of Destruction for Power Charges, consume them with Charged Staff for flat lightning buff, continue Whirling Assault until the fight is over. The buff lasts ~20 seconds. You do not need to refresh it constantly.

Optional escalation (budget permitting): Greater Jeweler's Orbs allow a 4th socket on Whirling Assault: slot Heft for more physical damage. Add Elemental Armament to Herald of Thunder once you have sufficient elemental damage to justify it. Hollow Resonance can run Magnified Area + Brutality + Life Leech (or Mana Leech if starved).

Third ascendancy unlocks Marshall Master access by pulling two points from Hollow Resonance: this is the next progression step and subject of continued guide updates.