The Monk is a fantastic class for allPath of Exile 2players, both newcomers and veterans of the series. With a mix of elemental attacks and high mobility, the Monk can crush their foes with some of the best clear speed you’ll find for a PoE2 build.
Leveling a character can prove difficult, but the Monk has a strong set of initial skills to get you through the first few Acts. And once you get your hands on Spirit Gems and some stronger supports, you’ll have little issues leveling through the campaign and breaking into Path of Exile 2’s endgame systems.
Blast your way through the campaign with this lightning-focused Monk build. We start the game withGlacial Cascadeto take advantage of its devastating shatters, but we quickly pivot to a gameplay loop withTempest Flurry,Siphoning Strike, andFalling Thunderto deal some immense damage.Tempest Bellwill then skyrocket your DPS against bosses and rares, covering all of your bases for the campaign.
Charged Staff
For the first few Acts of the campaign, your main source of damage is going to beGlacial CascadeandFalling Thunder. Most packs will die to Glacial Cascade outright, either from the wave itself or the shatter explosion that occurs when you hit a frozen enemy.
Rares and tougher monsters can be deleted with Falling Thunder, but you’ll need to get some Power Charges first. Fortunately, we can useKilling Palmto execute enemies at low HP. Use Glacial Cascade to make an enemy weak, use Killing Palm to execute them, then follow up with a Falling Thunder slam for some jaw-dropping damage.
Single-target DPS is handled throughTempest Bell, a stationary target that echoes all damage dealt to it in a small area. You can throw your Glacial Cascades into it and have the bell echo each strike, dealing substantial damage to bosses. It also inflicts major stagger, perfect for stunning bosses for a safe DPS window.
Once you get further into the campaign, you can drop Glacial Cascade for Storm Wave and more lightning-focused supports for more consistent shocks. This leverages Herald of Thunder quite nicely, unleashing lightning blasts on your next two attacks after you kill a shocked target. Run Tempest Flurry for easy shock application, and you have a great ability kit for most of your playthrough.
If you want to make the build feel a little smoother, you candrop Killing Palm forSiphoning Strike.This lets you sap shock debuffs from targets to gain Power Charges, allowing you to use Falling Thunder during 1v1 boss fights. Finally, once you get access to Level IX gems, wehighlyrecommend you getCharged Staff. This skill skyrockets your single-target DPS and makes up for lackluster gear until around Level 50.
Passive Tree
We haven’t focused on optimizing our passive tree, but this should be a solid framework for most Monk builds you might want to transition into once you beat the campaign. We highly recommend you grab theEvasion/Energy Shield hybrid nodesnear the start of the tree to scale your defenses. Monk relies heavily on evasion to stay alive, but the increased Energy Shield is a nice buffer for massive hits from bosses.
If you need more damage while leveling, path towards the elemental damage cluster under Subterfuge Mask. Surging Currents gives you enough lightning penetration to ignore monster resistances during the campaign.
Once you get a stronger quarterstaff, consider unspeccing from this area to save some passive points. Alternatively,allocate these points to a weapon setto easily swap talents.
One of the first nodes you should get isDreamer, a mana node that restores a hefty chunk of mana from kills. This should solve most resource issues early on. You can then path right out of that node toBlinding Strike, givingallof your attacks a 10% chance to inflict Blind on hit. This reduces enemy accuracy by 30%, greatly increasing your chance of dodging attacks via Evasion.
From there, path towardsPower Chargenodes to scale Falling Thunder’s damage and any Evasion/ES nodes you find. It’s also a good idea to grab theQuarterstaff nodesnear the eastern edge of the tree. It’s right next to some strong Evasion and Herald nodes as well, perfect for scaling your survivability and damage in the mid-game.
Ascendancy
Invokeris currently the best Ascendancy for Monk. Acolyte of Chayula is quite powerful if you have endgame investment, but for standard leveling and early endgame, the Invoker offers some useful utility without sacrificing endgame scalability.
I am the Thunder…is a fantastic node for leveling, granting you easy access to shocked ground. This grants easy shock application forSiphoning Striketo convert into Power Charges. For your second notable, you’re able to get either…And I am the Stormfor a massive damage spike in boss fights orLead me through Grace…for a sizable boost to your Spirit, especially once you get endgame gear.
Equipment
The only thing you need to worry about is yourquarterstaff.Ideally, you want a weapon withpercent physical damage and flat physical damage.This will skyrocket your damage and carry you through multiple Acts. If you may’t get one of these to drop, anything with flat damage rolls will work fine.
As for armor, you wantitems with Evasion and Energy Shield bases.If you spec for Subterfuge Mask on your passive tree, then you’ll want a dedicated Energy Shield helmet to maximize the Evasion bonus of that passive node. The only affixes you need areflat HP and resistances.Don’t worry about min-maxing stats until you complete the campaign; anything with HP will serve you well.
