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PoE 2 Build

[0.5.5] Giga Bonk Martial Artist - Falling Thunder Monk - League Starter to Endgame

presentationMonk
presentationMartial Artist
End Game
Starter
0.5.5 FR
Beginner
Verified
Updated on Sep 26, 2026
Sep 26, 2026

Build Overview

Here's my guide for my Giga Bonk League Starter and Endgame Build for Patch 0.5.5! 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 TONS of Power Charges on Hit! We'll hit a target with Shattering Palm, this will trigger Living Lightning II minions which will expend built Combo when h itting targets 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!

We'll use these Power Charges with Falling Thunder + Nova Projectiles II for 360° Clear! This will be our main Bossing and Mapping Skill. Bonk with Falling Thunder, then recharge your Charges with 1 press of Shattering Palm on enemies, then bonk again!

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 6K Energy Shield, 77% 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. We'll also have a Companion with Spirit Vessel from the Forgotten Warden Body Armor. This Companion will eat 10% of Damage taken and 15% of Deflected Hit Damage for a massive Damage Reduction!

Filter's I use (Shoutout Mr9Lives) - Here

Act 1 Regex - "i.+mov|^ad.*ph.*da|^\d.*ph.*da|^\+.*ills$|lacquered|studded|co.+res"

Act 2 Regex - "li.+res|^\+.*ills$|i.+mov|nymph's|o-wisp's|sylph's|\d [cfl].+da"

Act 3 Regex - "i.+mov|resi|^\+.*ills$|\d [cfl].+da|nymph's|sylph's|cherub's"

Act 4 Regex - "i.+mov|resi|^\+.*ills$|\d [cfl].+da|^\d.*ph.*da|^ad.*ph.*da|nymph's|sylph's|cherub's"

Strengths and Weaknesses

  • Nuke Bosses
  • Insane Clear Speed
  • Curse and Crit Immune
  • Super Tanky (Deflection OP)
  • Very Fast
  • Tougher League Start
  • Riskier Playstyle (Skill Diff, just lock in)
  • Kinda Squishy until CI

Build Variants

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

Falling Thunder will start to "Fall Off" around this time since it'll require better Power Charge sustain and AoE to feel smooth for mapping and bossing. This time around I've decided to use Hollow Form with Whirling Assault until we get our hands on Ailith's Chimes.

Ailith's Chimes is the BIGGEST power spike we can get for the build, so until we get it we'll abuse Beyblade Monk to carry us into Maps. Without it, Falling Thunder will feel really clunky which upset some people at the 0.5 start. Hopefully Ailith's Chimes will be cheaper much sooner this league, until then we'll use Hollow Form.

Lochtonial Caress should be your #1 chase item to buy / drop! This will be a massive power spike that will automate Power Charge generation for us. Save your currency for this and get it ASAP! Lochtonial Caress are INSANE with Way of the Stonefist as they allow our Hollow Form Clones to grant us all 3 Charge Types. This means we can infiniely sustain our Power Charges to summon additional Clones.

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. Then pick up either Wind Dancer (More Defense) or Mana Remnants if you have Mana problems.

Around Act 4, Hollow Palm Technique will start to fall off if you don't get + Level of Melee Gloves or Amulet. You'll want to start looking for a % Increased Physical Damage / + Physical Damage Quarterstaff.

Equipment

item
2
item
4
item
6
item
3
item
8
item
5
item
2
item
1
item
9
item
7
item
item
item
item
item
Equipment Priority
+9

Quarterstaff:

Around Act 4, Hollow Palm Technique will start to fall off if you don't get + Level of Melee Gloves or Amulet. You'll want to start looking for a % Increased Physical Damage / + Physical Damage Quarterstaff.

Any Added Damage to Attacks, + Level of Melee, and Attack Speed are also nice. Damage type priority: Physical -> Lightning -> Cold -> Fire

Body Armor:

Take any Armor with Maximum Life and + / % EV/ES first, then start worrying about Resistances and Attributes. % of Evasion as Deflection is really solid early on for a potential 40% Damage Reduction. This will be the largest source of EV/ES so make sure to have a solid Body Armor.

Gloves:

Lochtonial Caress are INSANE with Way of the Stonefist as they allow our Hollow Form Clones to grant us all 3 Charge Types. This means we can infiniely sustain our Power Charges to summon additional Clones.

I would save any currency that you can get in the campaign and buy these ASAP! Even try using Orbs of Chance on Temperred Mitts if you get any. Otherwise any pair of +1 Melee Gloves will be good enough until you can get these.

If you get Lochtonial Caress, re-spec Hollow Focus to Way of the Stonefist until you get your 3rd Ascendancy Trial! This will allow you to have infinite Power Charges early on and is stronger than the bells if you have this unique!

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 20-25% 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. % of Evasion as Deflection is really solid early on for a potential 40% Damage Reduction. This on top of the Way of the Mountain Damage Reduction should be solid.

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.

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:

Your preference, but I prefer a Stone Charm, Staunching Charm, Thawing Charm, Dousing Charm, or Silver Charm are great.

Skill Gems

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 55

Dex 55

Int 45

1

Hollow Form

Level 13

whirlingassaultplayer
supportarmourbreakplayerthree
supportmagnifiedareaplayertwo
supportmeleephysicaldamageplayer
2

Storm Wave

Level 13

supportshockplayer
supportelementalarmamentplayertwo
supportbranchingfissuresplayertwo
supportrapidattacksplayertwo
3

Siphoning Strike

Level 13

supportchargeprofusionplayertwo
supportrapidattacksplayertwo
supportrageplayerthree
supportefficiencyplayertwo
4

Devour

Level 13

supportchargeprofusionplayertwo
supportthrillofthekillplayertwo
supportblazingcriticalplayer
prolongeddurationsupportplayertwo
5

Hollow Focus

Level 13

supportcooldownrecoveryplayertwo
supportconcentratedareaplayer
supportblindplayertwo
supportarmourbreakplayerthree
6

Herald of Thunder

Level 13

supportmagnifiedareaplayertwo
supportelementalarmamentplayertwo
supportelementalfocusplayer
7

Wind Dancer

Level 13

supportmagnifiedareaplayertwo
supportmaimplayer
supportblindplayer
8

Rend

Level 13

prolongeddurationsupportplayertwo
supportperpetualchargeplayer
supportrapidattacksplayertwo
9

Pounce

supportmarkofsiphoningplayertwo
supportmarkfordeathplayertwo
supportcooldownrecoveryplayertwo
10

Charge Regulation

Level 13

Gem Priority
+32

Mapping:

We'll use Hollow Form with Whirling Assault to summon clones that will attack for us. If we consume Power Charges, it'll summon additional clones. We can get these Power Charges from either using Devour on corpses or using Siphoning Strike on Shocked Targets.

Channel Hollow Form when you have Power Charges to easily clear everything, use Devour and Siphoning Strike to acquire more charges when needed. I like to keep Storm Wave just in case, really nice for shocking bosses to start the Power Charge loop.

If you have Lochtonial Caress with Way of the Stonefist, you can just channel your Hollow Form and you'll get all 3 Charge Types for free and can ignore having to setup. Just remember to refresh your Rend buff when bossing.

Bossing:

Get Power Charges from our Hollow Focus Technique Bells by using Devour on them or Siphoning Strike after Shocking the boss with Storm Wave. Once you have Power Charges, use Pounce on the Boss to Mark them and then Channel Hollow Form.

Refill on Power Charges in between the clones, feel free to use Rend for 50% Damage Gained as Lighting as well. This will make using Siphoning Strike for Power Charges more consistent as well.

If you have Lochtonial Caress with Way of the Stonefist, you can just channel your Hollow Form and you'll get all 3 Charge Types for free and can ignore having to setup. Just remember to refresh your Rend buff when bossing.

Gem Level Up Priority -

1. Whirling Assault

2. Storm Wave

3. Siphoning Strike

4. Anything else

Passive Tree

main:
123
123
set 1:
20
20
set 2:
20
20

Don't forget to un-spec Hollow Palm Technique once you swap to a Quarterstaff!

We'll swap Essence of the Storm for Crashing Wave as we'll start orienting our setup towards Crit as we get closer to Endgame. We'll grab Heartstopping and Struck Through for additional Crit Chance increases. We'll then take Enhanced Reflexes for an Evasion and Deflection Increase.

Your 1st Ascendancy Points can be spent on Hollow Focus Technique. Your 2nd Ascendancy Points should be spent on Hollow Form as we'll be swapping to this at Level 41. If you're still using this setup by your 3rd Ascendancy Points then take either Hollow Focus Technique or Way of the Stonefist depending on what you had prior.

If you get Lochtonial Caress, re-spec Hollow Focus to Way of the Stonefist until you get your 3rd Ascendancy Trial! This will allow you to have infinite Power Charges early on and is stronger than the bells if you have this unique!

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
Whakapanu Island — Great White One
+15% of Armour also applies to Elemental Damage
Gain Deflection Rating equal to 12% of Evasion Rating
+12% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge
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
+15% of Armour also applies to Elemental Damage
Gain Deflection Rating equal to 12% of Evasion Rating
+12% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge
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
15% increased Armour, Evasion and Energy Shield
Kriar Village — Lythara, the Wayward Spear
+40 to Spirit
Howling Caves — The Abominable Yeti
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

How it Plays

See YT Videos!

How it Works

See YT Videos!

Changelog

9/26/26 - Updated all other Endgame Variants to match changes I made in 0.5.5. Please let me know if theres mistakes as this was a massive overhaul

9/25/26 - Updated Mirror Tier Variant, other variants will get updates soon

9/12/26 - Fixed Socketable mistake

9/10/26- Updated Atlas Tree

9/7/26 - Fixed issue with early leveling variant, added Atlas points to mirror variant

8/31/26 - Updated Leveling variant to feel a it smoother for league start. We'll utilize Hollow Form + Whirling Assault until we can drop / buy Ailith's Chimes since its kinda required to get our Endgame build up and running.

7/9/26 - Added Mirror Tier Investment Variant. This is a high skill and investment version of the build that is centered around farming the juiciest Expedition in the game. Can swap the Berserk tech for Legacy of Wanderlust if slow is too annoying.

6/27/26 - Added Tatto's since Mobalytics added support for it

6/23/26 - Updated ALL Endgame variants providing more clarity on what mods to prioritize. Updated to match Final Update changes with a video to come within a day or two.

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.

Comments

83
K
Kaz•17h ago

HI, I'm new. Just got to maps on this. In your 'Early Endgame' variant you had the comment "You'll need 1 line of Leech Phys Damage as Mana on either Weapon, Gloves, or Rings to make Oisín's Oath work!!!!". However I don't see anywhere in your weapon having that line item?

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FGKorbyn21
Author
•1h ago

Was old text that needs to be removed, Oisín's Oath is still solid but leech won't keep up once we stack a ton of levels of melee. I'll get it fixed ASAP

0
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rabbitniuby•1d ago

Hi, I'm a new player and still learning the game. I followed your trade link for the gloves, but it shows "No results found" even with the auto-filled filters. I also tried searching manually with Explicit and Desecrated, and lowering the values, but still nothing.

Are these gloves a specific unique item, or a rare with those affixes? Is this a trade site bug, or am I missing something? Thanks for any help!

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Blackberry•20h ago

Hi hope this will help and when you're searching the items like the gloves usually they are the perfect example what You're aiming for so usually when its not showing in the trade its really expensive or rare when searching for items "my opinon" is add wanted stats 1by1 so you can see when the price starts to skyrocket and settle with cheaper option

This is one of the most important pieces of our build now thanks to Way of the Stonefist.

Added Damage -> Gain Extra Damage as ____ - Increased Crit Bonus -> + to Base Crit Chance (Massive Increase) - +2 Level of Melee -> +1 Level of Melee & 10% to All Skill Quality



SEARCH THESE :

Increased %# EV/ES

+ Level of Melee skill level

Damage to attack phy/cold/electr etc

% Increased Critical Damage Bonus

% Increased Attack Speed


Way of the Stonefist. will change these modifiers

2
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FGKorbyn21
Author
•1h ago

Exactly like Blackberry said. To note, you can use any "base of gloves meaning Armor / Evasion / Energy Shield / Hybrid of any of these. The Way of the Stonefist converts any glove base to a EV/ES base so any glove with % increased Armor / EV / ES will work for the % More Global EV / ES converted mod.

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P
PrettySun•2d ago

What should we grab for 4th ascend?

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F
FGKorbyn21
Author
•1d ago

Runic Meridians

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StoneDagger•5d ago

Hey man, quick question. Can I just level with falling thunder once I do my second asc? Since its not league start in and I have a round 100 dov I can just put chime while leveling right? Or will My damage be too low to support falling thunder early on? Never played monk so I saved up some divs first, and this build looks really sick!

0
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FGKorbyn21
Author
•1d ago

You can level with Falling Thunder but you'll have to use Siphoning Strike to get charges until Level 65 and having both Martial Master and Martial Adept. You cant equip Ailiths until 65 and need those ascendancy nodes to make the power charge generation solid enough

0
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nislregenDA•6d ago

I'm insanely new to POE, what 4 skills go on the primary skill set and what skills on the secondary?

0
F
FGKorbyn21
Author
•1d ago

All of your Quarterstaff skills (Falling Thunder, Charged Staff, Shattering Palm ETC...) go on Set 1 and the Talisman Skills will go on Set 2 (Rend, Pounce)

1
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BoldFlame•6d ago

You say "6K Energy Shield, 77% Evasion, and 95% Deflect" Is this while at 100% energy shield or are you saying you hit 95% as your energy shield goes down due to body armour?

Wondering this myself as I am NO WHERE CLOSE to that deflection rating on full ES. I am sitting at 37%

1
F
FGKorbyn21
Author
•1d ago

Lots of the Deflection is going to come from having "Gain Deflection Rating equal to % of Evasion Rating" and the rest will come from the tree. The Jade Flask on Mageblood provides a ton of EV which a portion is gained as Deflection. I'm sitting at 80% in hideout, then the Blind Effect from our Charged Staff / Heralds will bring us closer to 95%. If you have any damage taken, you should then be at 95%. Theres other sources of deflection like socketables and the Shark Fin reward which is also helpful

1
S
ShinyRobot•6d ago

Hi, thank you for the build OP, it feels pretty good.

May you also add, what would be the major source to get more ES? I am about 2.5k now, and I am not sure where else could I get it from before respec into CI node. Thank you


0
R
roddy•2d ago

you want a lot of % energy shield from passive tree, amulet and jewels paired with very high flat energy shield armour pieces mostly coming from the helmet and chest, but the more % energy shield you get the more worth flat has, you want to scale both up

0
F
FGKorbyn21
Author
•1d ago

Glad you like the build! Lots of the ES is going to come from an ES Helmet and 1 Defensive Mod on the Gloves, preferably % More Global Evasion / Energy Shield. Otherwise, it'll come from Jewels, Amulet Affixes (% Increased Global Defenses / % Increased ES), other Hybrid Armor pieces, etc....

0
F
FierceRobot•7d ago

cant put chimes on shattering palm?

0
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Ccguys•7d ago

After u put culmination II u can socket chimes!

0
F
FGKorbyn21
Author
•1d ago

Exactly like Ccguys said

0

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