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PoE 2 Build

Pillar of the Caged God Twink Leveling (Monk Variant)

Monk

Starter

Verified

0.1 Early Access

By Lazy Exile

Updated on Feb 20, 2025

Feb 20, 2025

Build Overview

Hey guys, I'm Lazy Exile, and this is my leveling guide for Alt (your 2nd character).

In this guide, I assume you have access to gold, support gem tier 3, and currencies to purchase the required unique items.

The term "Twink" leveling comes from WoW initially, which means giving your character items that are otherwise unattainable in a first playthrough.

This will give you the best player power throughout the campaign from Act 1 to Act 6. Destroy everything with ease with any class.

Check out my setup for other classes here:

Twink Sorcerer Variant

Twink Mercenary Variant

Twink Warrior Variant

Twink Ranger Variant

Twink Witch Variant

For people that have mana issue:

Allocate Price of Freedom on the amulet (remember you can use this again on the next character)
Upgrade your damage with 2 flat damage rings (don't care about res and other stats, just the cheapest 1 ex flat damage ring you can find on trade)
Use Melee Attack (Quarterstaff Strike) with Lightning Infusion + Soul Thief + Execute to help finish off the boss
Pariah's Embrace is good alternative, and you can remove Herald of Thunder + Overwhelming Presence to have enough spirit

Disclaimer:

This build is not intended for endgame content and is meant to take you through the campaign from level 1 to 65 only. This build uses a specific attributes-stacking tree and will require you to respec later on to your build. Good thing GGG just nerfed the gold respec so it won't be nearly as much as before.
You'll also need some currency to get started because there are some required unique items in this build, and if you don't have it, expect the player's power to drop drastically.

Build Variants

Level 1 - 30 (Act 1 & 2)

Level 30 - 65 (Act 3 & Cruel Campaign)

Check out the tab below for the gear, gems, and skills setup for different progression levels.

Equipment

Level 1 - 30 (Act 1 & 2)

Level 30 - 65 (Act 3 & Cruel Campaign)

Set 1

Set 2

Equipment Priority

Mandatory Unique:

Pillar of the Caged God is the most important unique in this build. You'll use this weapon from level 1 to 65 all the way!
Greymake will be beneficial to you up until level 30. After that, you'll need to remove this and replace it withBlack Sun Crest. Being able to use this unique item will also solve your attributes problem, allowing you to stack more strength early in the game.
Enfolding Dawn is an excellent unique item that will allow us to use Elemental Invocation early.

Optional but Good Leveling Unique:

Wanderlust's movement speed is so strong during the campaign that if you're able to get this item at level 11, it will greatly help Acts 1 and 2 progression.
Meginord's Girdle gives a lot of strength early on, which translates to damage and will also help you greatly in the early levels.
Blackheart gives flat damage and is also good out of the gate. You'll replace this with any rare rings that give flat added damage that have a higher number than this.
Northpaw, cheap level 1 unique that added flat damage. Again, replace this with any rare gloves with added flat damage that are better.

For making the switch right at level 2:

If you want to make the switch right in town, it depends on the class (i.e: Witch) will lack the dexterity, so we can fix it by snapshotting enough Dexterity by:
- 1st, equip Wings of Caelyn for +20 dexterity
- 2nd, equip Foxshade and unequip Wings of Caelyn, then you'll have plenty of Dexterity, and Foxshade is a good and cheap early game unique as well.

Sample ring to swap at level 28 added:

It should have double or triple T3+ Flat Damage and ideally 2 of them to replace Blackheart rings.

Skill Gems

Level 1 - 30 (Act 1 & 2)

Level 30 - 65 (Act 3 & Cruel Campaign)

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 15

Dex 35

Int 5

Expand all

Falling Thunder

Ice Strike

Tempest Bell

Herald of Thunder

Storm Wave

Gem Priority

+11

DISCLAIMER: This guide is not for a fresh new player and is meant for your second character, so I assume you will have access to support gem tier 3 (for Upheaval), gold to respec, etc. However, if you want to follow as a fresh character and somehow got your hands on the 2 cheap mandatory uniques, then you can follow along and ignore the gem link if it's a higher tier (but don't expect the same power)

IMPORTANT:

If you want to cut gems from other classes, make sure you click the All Gems in the left side of the gemcutting tab.

Act 1

In town, the first skill gem you're going to cut is Falling Thunder⁣.
Cut Martial Tempo and Lightning Infusion as support gem.
After level 6, cut Skill Gem level 3 to get Tempest Bell (won't use it until you get Ice Strike)
- Support it with Font of Rage and Overabundance.
After level 14, cut Skill Gem level 5 to get Ice Strike.
- Support it with Martial Tempo and Crescendo.
- Use this to create combo points, then drop Tempest Bell on bosses or rare monsters.
- Then REMOVE Falling Thunder.
After clearing the Freythorn quest—kill The King in The Mist, you will get +30 spirit and an Uncut Spirit Gem, use it to cut Herald of Thunder.
- Support it with Innervate and Elemental Focus

Skill Rotation:

Falling Thunder, one button skill, just spam it.
Once you get Ice Strike, use it to build up combos and drop Tempest Bell when it's available in front of the rares or bosses. Then use Ice Strike to hit both the bell and the monster to do big damage.

Act 2

After level 22, cut Skill Gem lel 7 to get Storm Wave.
- Use a lesser jeweler orb on it.
- Support it with Upheaval, Martial Tempo, Primal Armament.
- Use this skill for both AoE and single target DPS

Skill Rotation

Storm Wave for AoE and single target clears

Passive Tree

Level 1 - 30 (Act 1 & 2)

Level 30 - 65 (Act 3 & Cruel Campaign)

main:

123

set 1:

set 2:

Attributes

We are stacking attributes for damage, and with Pillar of the Caged God, we only need strength, so for all attribute nodes, grab +5 strength. If you're lacking some attributes, take other attributes as necessary.

Attributes gear is excellent. Ensure you keep/take any int/dex or all attributes gear.

Pathing

The key thing here is making sure you grab Resonance whenever you have Combat Frenzy + Charged Staff ready. Pathing will be in terms of priorities as follows:

1. Tenfold Attacks is a powerful early-game node, it gives attack speed and 10 strength which makes it one of the best early-game priority

2. Immortal Infamy should be the next node to grab since it gives very good sustain as life on kills should keep you top up for the majority of the game

3. Proficiency & Falcon Technique should be the next priority as you do need dexterity for gem requirements, and also dexterity makes you attack faster, and that means better QoL

4. Essence of the Storm gives some extra damage and shock chance, which boosts our early game damage

5. For the Jugular & Pure Energy are good nodes to take, because it gives +20 int total, and eventually you'll need 95 ints for Ball Lightning

Ascendancy

Ascendancy is not needed in the build, so if you want to ascend, just pick the ascendancy that you're looking to play, or you can just level without touching the ascendancy at all.