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PoE 2 Build

[0.5] Giga Bonk Martial Artist - Flicker / Falling Thunder Monk - League Starter to Endgame

End Game

0.5 RotA

By FGKorbyn21

Updated on Jun 20, 2026

Jun 20, 2026

Build Overview

Here's my guide for my Martial Artist Bell Master League Starter and Endgame Build for Patch 0.5! This is a Work in Progress so expect rapid changes early on! I've included Leveling Variants and Budget Variants, just scroll through the Variants!

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🚨Work in Progress, be sure to come by the Twitch Stream for the Newest Skill Tree and Gems as I'm changing it to test new things!🚨

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🚨I've included a League Starter Leveling Guide, Early Mapping Guide, and Endgame Guide to cover your run on Monk from Start to Finish. Click the appropriate Tab for Gear and the Passive Tree🚨

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New Power Charge Tech Here

In the Endgame, we'll use Shattering Palm + Living Lightning II + Culmination II + Ailith's Chimes to generate Power Charges on Hit for FREE! We'll hit a target with Shattering Palm, this will trigger Living Lightning II minions to hit targets and build Combo thanks to the Martial Master node. This combo is then consumed by Ailith's Chimes for Power Charges. Simply enter map, press Shattering Palm a couple times and you have Charges!

Pick your favorite mapping skill to pair with this build! I suggest either Flicker Strike, Falling Thunder + Nova Projectiles I, or Whirling Assault + Tribal Fury. All are effective, just down to preference. I'll be using a hybrid of Flicker Strike + Falling Thunder.

The new Way of the Stonefist Ascendancy Node will allow our Gloves to be transformed into new and stronger versions of themselves! This will provide things like Explode Corpses for Damage, Onslaught on Hit, + to Crit Chance, and More!

We'll also use Martial Adept + Martial Master to build up Combo from ALL our hits and twice as fast. For every 1 Combo we consume, we reduce our Energy Shield Recharge Rate by 0.2 seconds, so 10 combo consumed = -2 seconds before ES Recharge starts. We spam Combo skill so CONSTANT ES recharge!

Our Defenses were Buffed in 0.5 with Deflection and Evasion getting some MASSIVE improvements. We'll be around 7K Energy Shield, 80% Evasion, and 95% Deflect on top of Chaos Immunity with Chaos Inoculation and Instant ES recovery with Shavronne's Satchel + Ultimate Life Flask with Instant Recovery.

Filter's I use (Shoutout Mr9Lives) - Here

Strengths and Weaknesses

Nuke Bosses
Insane Clear Speed
Flexible Skill Choices
Flashy

Tougher League Start
Riskier Playstyle (Skill Diff, just lock in)
Squishy until CI

Build Variants

Giga Invest Bonk / Flicker

Falling Thunder + Ailiths (Budget)

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4 - Whirling Assault Swap

Interludes

Early Endgame - Ailiths Chimes

CI + 4th Ascendancy

Please Read, Monk is not a braindead 1 Button Build for the most part. Lack of reading will make this a painful experience.....

See my in-depth Campaign Guide for a zone by zone walkthrough!

This variant will use Storm Wave + Siphoning Strike to clear monsters and grant Power Charges to fuel Falling Thunder. We'll transition into this combo around Level 22, see the linked Campaign Guide that goes into great detail about this swap.

You'll use Killing Palm to Cull enemies and Hollow Focus Technique Ghost Bells for Power Charges and Siphoning Strike to consume Shock on enemies for Power Charges. These Charges will fuel Falling Thunder for MASSIVE burst DPS. Rend can also be used for Gain 50% of Damage as Lightning before using Falling Thunder. This can be dropped if you don't want another button.

Use Pounce for Movement Speed in Wolf Form and to jump gaps that you typically can't. Purely used for Movement, can drop if you don't want another button.

Take Herald of Thunder as your first Spirit Buff to help your clear speed. We'll eventually spec into Hollow Palm Technique which will provide us with INSANE Attack Speed and Critical Hit Chance until it falls off around Act 4 / Interludes.

Equipment

Giga Invest Bonk / Flicker

Falling Thunder + Ailiths (Budget)

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4 - Whirling Assault Swap

Interludes

Early Endgame - Ailiths Chimes

CI + 4th Ascendancy

Set 1

Set 2

Equipment Priority

Lightning Resistance is really good in Act 2 to help in the Jamanra, The Abomination Fight. Try to get some on your gear pieces before fighting him!

Quarterstaff:

There isn't one now! We use Hollow Palm Technique as its better than almost any Weapon you'll find for a League Starter. It'd have to be an INSANE Quarterstaff with Runes and Quality to be close so just use Hollow Palm Technique and focus on getting Flat Damage on Rings and Gloves + Level of Melee on Gloves / Amulet.

Talisman:

Take any Talisman that you can here as its important to use Wolf Form on Weapon Set 2 for Movement Speed. Wolf Form Passively gives 30% Movement Speed when not Sprinting which is great for Dodge Movement through zones. We'll take Pounce for even more Movement Speed and some cheeky skips.

Go for any Added or Increased Damage that you can, Attack Speed and Life on Hit are also great for QoL here.

Body Armor:

Take any Armor with Maximum Life and + / % EV/ES first, then start worrying about Resistances and Attributes. Lightning Resistance is really good to look for as Jamanra, the Abomination does a TON of Lightning Damage so this will make the fight easier and should help avoid a one shot.

Gloves:

Try to get an EV, ES, or EV/ES pair of Gloves with Added Damage to Attacks and / or + Level of Melee. Attack Speed, needed Resistances, and Attributes are also solid.

+ Level of Melee Skills is really important now that we're on Hollow Palm Technique as this scales our DPS by a LOT. This should be the most important roll to look for on Gloves!

Helmet:

They nerfed Subterfuge Mask so no more Pure ES Helmet!

We'll be going hybrid EV/ES with Maximum Life. Make sure to get any needed Resistances and Attributes.

Boots:

Take any Boots with 15% Movement Speed as this will allow you to move through zones quicker and just make your QoL better.

Try to get Maximum Life alongside some Resistances and Attributes. Stun Threshold is also an underrated pick since avoiding stuns early on when smacking stuff is great.

Amulet:

I like getting Attributes here as managing our Strength, Dex, and Int early on can be a little tough. Any other stats are nice but I do like Maximum Life, Resistances, and + Level of Melee Skills since we'll be going Hollow Palm Technique and this massively scales our DPS.

Rings:

Take any Rings with Added Damage to Attacks, this will be one of our biggest DPS sources so any early on will make your Melee League Start experience a bit easier.

I like getting at least 1 Topaz Ring for the Implicit Lightning Resistance to help with the Jamanra, the Abomination fight.

Any extra Maximum Life, Resistances, Attributes, etc... are going to be helpful early on. I'd say focus on Flat Damage the most though.

Belt:

Take any Belt you can get that has solid Maximum Life, Resistances, and Attributes. Things like Life Flask Recovery Rate are very slept on and turn your Flask into near instant heals so look out for that if you can!

Flasks:

Overall Flask don't get a ton of attention, but early on they're very important and can make your Melee League Start SOOOO much easier.

If you have Extra Orbs of Transmutation or Augmentation, try to slam your Life Flask for something like Increased Amount Recovered, % of Recovery Applied Instantly, or Increased Recovery Rate. This will make those early fights feel a little less stressful.

Charms:

Start looking for a Topaz Charm if you can't cap your Lightning Resistance for the Jamanra Boss Fight as this'll help mitigate some of that damage. Otherwise, a Stone Charm, Staunching Charm, or Silver Charm are great alternatives.

Skill Gems

Giga Invest Bonk / Flicker

Falling Thunder + Ailiths (Budget)

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4 - Whirling Assault Swap

Interludes

Early Endgame - Ailiths Chimes

CI + 4th Ascendancy

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 15

Dex 25

Int 30

Storm Wave

Level 7

Falling Thunder

Level 7

Siphoning Strike

Level 7

Pounce

Level 3

Rend

Level 7

Killing Palm

Level 7

Hollow Focus

Level 7

Herald of Thunder

Level 6

Gem Priority

+14

Skill Gem Order -

You should drop some Level 7 Uncut Skill Gems which can be used on Siphoning Strike for more Power Charge generation if needed.

Most people REALLY like Storm Wave in the campaign so I've included it as a swap from Wind Blast. Its really good at Shocking Bosses so we can use Siphoning Strike for Power Charges and offers good clear. Feel free to stick with the prior setup if you like it, just gonna include it from here forward.

How to Play -

Mapping:

Storm Wave has really good damage and synergizes with Herald of Thunder perfectly. Spam this until you want some Power Charges with Killing Palm / Siphoning Strike for Falling Thunder.

Hollow Focus Technique Bells should spawn around you and help clear packs easier. Use Killing Palm on them to get Power Charges back in Boss Fights on top of Siphoning Strike!

Use Wolf Form from our Talisman to move around quickly, dodge roll while in Wolf Form to safely move through zones much faster than you would normally on foot.

Bossing:

Still try to carry some Power Charges into our Boss Fights for either the Rend Buff or Falling Thunder and DO NOT FORGET Bosses have a massive Damage Reduction for the first 5 seconds of the Boss Fight!

Shock the Boss with Storm Wave and then use Siphoning Strike to consume that Shock and grant us 1 Power Charge. This should allow you to do this combo -> Shock Boss -> Siphoning Strike -> Falling Thunder which Shocks 95% of the time -> Siphoning Strike -> Falling Thunder -> Siphoning Strike -> etc.....

Once you have the Charges from Siphoning Strike, use Rend to consume 1 Charge for 50% of Damage gained as Lightning, and then follow up with a Falling Thunder for MASSIVE Damage. I typically two-shot bosses when Speedrunning with SSF gear so very easy.

Gem Level Up Priority -

1. Falling Thunder - Main Bossing and Large Pack DPS

2. Storm Wave - More Damage = More Clear Speed and higher Shock Chance

3. Siphoning Strike - Does surprisingly decent Damage, level will increase that further

Passive Tree

Giga Invest Bonk / Flicker

Falling Thunder + Ailiths (Budget)

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4 - Whirling Assault Swap

Interludes

Early Endgame - Ailiths Chimes

CI + 4th Ascendancy

main:

123

set 1:

set 2:

Take Flow Like Water and Essence of the Storm, then take any needed Attributes as we travel towards Concussive Attack. After taking Concussive Attack, path to Hollow Palm Technique so we won't need a weapon for the rest of the campaign. Then take Conservative Casting as Mana tends to be a problem around this time.

Then take Killer Instinct for a massive Attack Damage Boost and then pick up Storm Surge and Storm Swell, we'll need this Elemental Penetration for the Jamanra fight. Lastly, grab Dizzying Sweep for an Attack Area Damage increase.

Your 1st Ascendancy Points can be spent on Hollow Focus Technique since this will enable both Charged Staff and Staggering Palm since we can Cull / Stun the bells instantly. Also means more Power Charges for Falling Thunder.

Quest Rewards

Check which quests you’ve completed on your character

Clearfell — Beira of the Rotten Pack

+10% to Cold Resistance

Hunting Grounds — The Crowbell

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Freythorn — The King in the Mists

+30 to Spirit

Ogham Farmlands — Una's Hut

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Ogham Manor — Candlemass, the Living Rite

+20 to maximum Life

Keth — Kabala, Constrictor Queen

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Valley of the Titans — Medallion

30% increased Charm Effect Duration

+1 Charm Slot

Deshar — Final Letter

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

The Spires of Deshar — Sisters of Garukhan

+10% to Lightning Resistance

Jungle Ruins — Mighty Silverfist

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

The Venom Crypts — Venom Draught

25% increased Stun Threshold

Jiquani's Machinarium — Blackjaw, the Remnant

+10% to Fire Resistance

The Azak Bog — Ignagduk, the Bog Witch

+30 to Spirit

The Molten Vault — The Molten Vault

Reforging Bench

Aggorat — Blood Sacrifice

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Journey's End — Captain Hartlin

Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Skill Gem(Lv 13)

Delirium Drop

Eye of Hinekora — Navali's Rest

5% increased Maximum Mana

Halls of the Dead — Yama The White

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Halls of the Dead — Tawhoa's Test

+5% to Lightning Resistance

Abandoned Prison — Goddess of Justice

30% increased Mana Recovery from Flasks

Halls of the Dead — Tasalio's Test

+5% to Cold Resistance

Halls of the Dead — Ngamahu's Test

+5% to Fire Resistance

Halls of the Dead — Tribal Medicine

30% increased Armour, Evasion and Energy Shield

Wolvenhold — Oswin, the Dread Warden

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

The Khari Crossing — Akthi and Anundr

Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

The Khari Crossing — Molten Shrine

5% increased Maximum Life

Qimah — Tabana's Pillar

+5% to all Elemental Resistances

Kriar Village — Lythara, the Wayward Spear

+40 to Spirit

Howling Caves — The Abominable Yeti

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Changelog

6/20/26 - Updated descriptions, added Shark Fin Reward. Update video coming soon!

6/7/26 - Added link to new video, added new Body Armor Forgotten Warden (Cheap and OP). Updated descriptions further and corrected some typos.

6/7/26 - Added new Power Charge Tech which replaces Whirling Assault with Shattering Palm. Check the Tech out! Updated all Endgame variants to match. Added new info for Giga Invest variant revolving around Mageblood. Lots of other minor changes.

6/2/26 - Added new video going over New Power Charge Tech and the new Breachlord's Amalgam Lineage Gem. Updated Variants

6/2/26 - Did major updates to all variants to match the changes we've made due too the testing in 0.5. PoB file removed until I give it a full update, new YT video coming in a day or two to go over newest changes.