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PoE 2 Build

0.5 Martial Artist League Starter

0.4 TLotD

Monk

Starter

End Game

Creator

By Scorpius

LIVE

Updated on May 14, 2026

May 14, 2026

Build Overview

Martial Artist Monk — League Starter Guide for Patch 0.5

Click Favorite to save this guide for all updates & changes. If you have any questions, join me live on Twitch and ask away!

Welcome to the most comprehensive Monk League Starter guide for 0.5! Since Monk has a notoriously rough early game, this guide is built around flexibility — offering multiple tested build variants so you can pick the one that fits your playstyle and goals best.

After extensive live testing of nearly every viable starting option on stream, I've carefully shortlisted the builds that delivered the best performance and smoothest progression. While strong options like Twisters, LA/LR, Lightning Spear, and Spark are absolutely viable, they didn't make the final cut due to factors like personal preference, Monk passive tree synergy, transition compatibility, and overall consistency.

Our destination is the Hollow Palm Technique, leveraging Monk-exclusive abilities in combination with the brand-new Martial Artist Ascendancy. Specific ability interactions and mode breakdowns will be added once patch notes drop on May 21st, as there may be significant changes that affect the whole Monk kit. This guide will be updated promptly.

Choose a starting Build variant and when you are ready to transition to Hollow Palm Technique then go into the Hollow Palm Build.

An Endgame Variant section is also in the works and will be added as soon as we have enough information to theory-craft a complete and reliable setup.

Build Variants

Glacial Start

Grenade Start

Entangle Start

Hollow Palm BUILD

Official Patch Notes are going to be released on May 21st, therefore this build might change according to the buffs & nerfs.

Build Overview:

This Glacial Start build utilizes the full kit of the Monk and whether you go for ALL abilities shown here is completely optional. The aim for this build is to use as many Monk specific abilities as we can while making our early leveling easier.

Hollow Palm Switch:

When you're ready to switch to Hollow Palm Technique, go to the Hollow Palm Build variant above for the full build.
If you want you can rush into Hollow Palm at level 13, however it's not advised because it scales its Physical Damage based on the Skill level aswell as Evasion & Energy Shield on gear.
So finding a Body Armour with High Energy Shield and/or Evasion, should be a priority once you get into ACT 2, aswell as shifting all your other pieces to EV and/or ES.
Early on, a great weapon will always out-dps Hollow Palm IF you don't have good gear with ES and/or EV, so I would recommend transitioning around level 24. This will allow you to get good gear, get some good nodes on the tree aswell as needed Skills to make Hollow Palm Technique feel smoother and better.

Important Info:

A good Quarterstaff is REALLY important early on as it will significantly boost your damage. (Check the Gear section for full details)
In ACT 1, we want to look for Armor based Gear as it's way better than EV and/or ES. In ACT 2 and beyond however, we want to start looking for EV & ES so we can build a strong base for Hollow Palm Technique
We're starting with Glacial Cascade + Frozen Locus + Frost Bomb which is more than fine, for both AOE & Boss damage.
You can also go for Killing Palm + Falling Thunder combo but it's not necessary.
(Full ability breakdown & additional information can be found at the Skill Section below)
Unfortunately we cannot utilize the Wing Blast + Rend damage increase because our Glacial Cascade does not build up sufficient STUN and it will require us to ONLY deal damage to the bosses with the Quarterstaff Strike to PRIME them for stun.
At level 14, in Act 2 and BEFORE Hollow Palm Technique we will go for Tempest Flurry with combination the Tempest Bell for bosses while using Glacial Cascade for AOE until level 22 when we unlock Storm Wave.
The priority of how to cut all the Skill Gems & Support Gems will be provided in the Skill Section below.

Equipment

Glacial Start

Grenade Start

Entangle Start

Hollow Palm BUILD

Set 1

Set 2

Equipment Priority

Target specific items that you need from the vendor with a Regex: "vem|o att|ll mel|s: qua"

Act 1:

Any flat or increase Damage on Quarterstaff (+skills is great but depletes mana)
Flat damage on Gloves
Damage on Rings
Movement speed on Boots
Res & Life on Gear

Armor based gear is highly advised for ACT 1 as it's simply better than Evasion & Energy Shield bases.

Act 2:

In Act 2, we need to start shifting our Armor Based Gear to either ES and/or EV as we are building up the scalability for our transition to Hollow Palm Technique.
DO NOT get baited too early into the change. Hollow Palm scales with Evasion and Energy Shield and it will be hard to beat a good weapon early on.

Super Important Milestone.
At level 16 you will unlock the next tier of Items, so make sure that you save all your gold for a shopping spree in the Ardura Caravan.

EV and/or ES Bases on Gear
Flat damage on Gloves/Rings
+Skills on Amulet
Movement speed on Boots
Res & Life on Gear
Dmg and +skills on Quarterstaff (very important before the transition to Hollow Palm Technique)

Hollow Palm Switch:

When you're ready to switch to Hollow Palm Technique at level 24, go to the Hollow Palm Build variant above for the full build.

Skill Gems

Glacial Start

Grenade Start

Entangle Start

Hollow Palm BUILD

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 15

Dex 10

Int 0

Glacial Cascade

Frozen Locus

Frost Bomb

Pounce

Herald of Thunder

Tempest Bell

Tempest Flurry

Storm Wave

Gem Priority

SKILL GEM PRIORITY:

First Uncut Skill Gem is from RENLY in the Clearfell Encampment , for Glacial Cascade.
Second Uncut Skill Gem is from a little camp in Clearfell, for Frozen Locus.
Third Uncut Skill gem should be used to cut Frost Bomb
If you find an extra Tier II Uncut Skill Gem you can either get Killing Palm OR upgrade Glacial Cascade
At level 6 our choices are pretty weak. So either upgrade Glacial Cascade or get Pounce for mobility.
After Glacial Cascade has been upgraded, you wanna cut Tempest Bell.
Your first Spirit gem should be Herald of Thunder.
At level 14 we can cut Tempest Flurry so we can use it with Tempest Bell for bossing.
At level 22 we can cut Storm Wave which will replace Glacial Cascade.

SUPPORT GEM PRIORITY:

First support gem should be Rapid Attacks I for Glacial Cascade.
Second support gem should be Rage I for Glacial Cascade.
Third support gem should be Elemental Armament I for Herald of Thunder.
Fourth support gem should be Overabundance I for Tempest Bell.
Fifth support gem should be Upheaval I for Storm Wave.
At level 22, when you have both Storm Wave and Tempest Flurry you will switch your support gems around.
Rapid Attacks I + Upheaval I + Elemental Armament I on Storm Wave
Rage I on Tempest Flurry

SKILL INFORMATION:

Quarterstaff Strike: Hits with this strike are not that bad, especially if you have a good weapon.
Glacial Cascade: This serves as our AOE and Boss damage dealer. However you want to aim to hit the enemies with the Spike at the end of the ability. Hitting Frozen Locus will make it explode.
Frozen Locus: This places an Ice Crystal on the ground and when it's destroyed it will cause an explosion. The Ice Crystal can be destroyed by both our attacks and enemy attacks.
Frost Bomb: This provides us with exposure to the bosses which increases our damage.
(OPTIONAL) Pounce: We use this for mobility.
(OPTIONAL) Killing Palm: We can get Power Charges by dashing to culled enemies and then use those charges to boost our Falling Thunder for big AOE and single target hits.
(OPTIONAL) Falling Thunder: This ability is great once we get some power charges from Killing Palm
Tempest Flurry: This is used for bossing in combination with the Tempest Bell for extra dmg.
Storm Wave: This will become our main ability for AOE.

SKILL ROTATION:

LEVEL 1-21 AOE:
- Spam Glacial Cascade and try to hit them with the spike at the end. Use Frozen Locus and destroy the crystal for big bursts.
- If you took Killing Palm then use it when enemies are culled and use those power charges with Falling Thunder for additional AOE damage.
- If you got Ice Strike, then you can use it for the damage and the dash. (This depends on whether you have a good weapon or not.)
LEVEL 1-21 BOSS:
- Place Frost Bomb on the boss for the exposure. Place Frozen Locus on the boss for extra damage. Spam Glacial Cascade and position yourself accordingly for the big spike hits. Keep Frost Bomb & Frozen Locus up as much as you can.
- If you got Ice Strike & Tempest Bell, then you can use them on the boss as gap fillers. (This depends on whether you have a good weapon or not.)
LEVEL 22+ AOE:
- Spam Storm Wave.
LEVEL 22+ BOSS:
- Use Frost Bomb on the boss for the exposure. Hit them with Tempest Flurry for damage and combo points, then place your Tempest Bell and continue with Tempest Flurry.
You can also use Storm Wave and/or Frozen Locus as it has good interaction with Tempest Flurry.

Ideally at level 24, you want to transition to Hollow Palm Technique. Check the Hollow Palm Build variant above for the full build.

Passive Tree

Glacial Start

Grenade Start

Entangle Start

Hollow Palm BUILD

main:

123

set 1:

set 2:

Following the priority above will increase your damage, attack speed and give you enough time to build up good gear and get important skills like Tempest Flurry / Storm Wave before our transition to Hollow Palm Technique at level 24.

At level 24 your tree needs to look like this and simply just get Hollow Palm Technique. You will then need to refund Dizzying Sweep and use those points for Wild Storm.