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PoE 2 Build

[0.5] WHIRLING Trinity Martial Artist Monk Build - League Starter to Endgame

Monk

Martial Artist

Starter

End Game

Speed Leveling

0.5 RotA

Ronarray

Verified

By Ronarray

Updated on Jun 16, 2026

Jun 16, 2026

Build Overview

This is IN DEPTH Guide for my Whirling Assault Martial Artist Monk Build for 0.5

Right now I'm playing this build myself - check progression or ask stuff on Twitch - twitch.tv/ronarray

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❗GUIDE IS BEING UPDATED LIVE - SAVE IT TO NOT MISS ANYTHING

As always, I will keep updating the guide after league start, so make sure to check it often.

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▸ Crafting Guide for All Gear + Amulet - https://youtu.be/rQ0kydfdesI

▸ Crafting Guide for Weapon + Rings - https://youtu.be/RdKoRIffBBE

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▸ STEP BY STEP Leveling - youtu.be/i6vzzrQIJ6w

▸ T15 Update + Whirling Swap - youtu.be/SKTko6cEckQ

▸ Trinity & Hollow Form Explained - youtu.be/EbyMEBDURpE

▸ When to Go CI and How to Be TANKY - youtu.be/WLT5_uRXR60

▸ How to get FREE Trinity Aura - youtu.be/L38rrIb9TsM

▸ What to FARM: Ritual Guide • Breach Guide

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▸ Why Martial Artist Monk?

After the reveal, Martial Artist ascendency looks like it combines all the best things that "melee" and Monk subclass have to offer. Just the bonuses from Way of the Stonefist are looking good enough to consider Martial Artist a strongest Monk ascendency.

On top of that Martial Artist got improves defenses with 5 additional rune slots or ES Recharge from Martial Adept. Also Deflect is getting a BIG buff in 0.5 together with general evasion improvements (15% on gear in endgame bases) which buffs the build even further.

Martial Artist Monk can work with great a variety of skills but for the Main setup we will useWhirling Assault as a main skill together with Trinity to improve the damage significantly. Whirling Assault ALSO synergizes great with Bells boosting the damage further.

Since Power Charge Generation is MUCH easier now than before, we can use Charged Staff to offset the charges consistently.

And as a final touch, Herald of Ash can provide satisfying explosions across the whole screen!

To melt bosses we also can use a combination of Hollow Focus Technique + Tempest Bell and Hollow Form with Whirling Assault inside to wipe content.

And since we have a lot of free charges, it is also possible (but not necessary) to add Rend to the second weapon slot for HUGE 50% damage buff when we need it.

▸ Campaign Rewards:

Venom: Stun Threshold,

Tattoos: Resistances

Pillars: Movement Speed or Global Defense

Shark Fin: 30% Evasion/ES/Armour (Kaoms)

▸Vender Regex (Copy and paste into trader search):

"10% i.+mov|\d cfl.+da|^\+.*ee skills$|ck spe"

▸Order of Following Versions:

Lvl 1-23 → 23+ Unarmed → Act 3-6 → Campaign End → Early Endgame → Mid Endgame →

Uber Endgame OR Full Screen AOE

Strengths and Weaknesses

HUGE Clear with AOE + Explosions
Melts Bosses
Looks Fun and Fresh
Tanky with ES + Evasion Combo
Mostly 1 Button Mapping

Some Charges Management

Build Variants

Mid Endgame (CI)

Early Endgame

Full Screen AOE (LIVE)

Lvl 1-23

23+ Unarmed

Act 3-6

Campaign End / Early Maps

Uber Endgame

Click other versions on the right to see detailed leveling or Uber Endgame.

Full IN DEPTH Guide + tech demonstration - https://youtu.be/EbyMEBDURpE

Equipment

Mid Endgame (CI)

Early Endgame

Full Screen AOE (LIVE)

Lvl 1-23

23+ Unarmed

Act 3-6

Campaign End / Early Maps

Uber Endgame

Set 1

Set 2

Equipment Priority

▸ Crafting Guide for All Gear + Amulet - https://youtu.be/rQ0kydfdesI

▸ Crafting Guide for Weapon + Rings - https://youtu.be/RdKoRIffBBE

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❗GEAR ABOVE SHOULD BE USED AS THE EXAMPLE OF STATS YOU MIGHT NEED

▸ What kind of Weapon to use:

Quarterstaff

For Quaterstaff we can use Double or Triple elemental version, so prefixes should contain 2 or 3 flat stats with elemental damage, most of the time Fire and Cold is in the priority.

Last prefix could be Elemental stat as well or just "increased Elemental Damage with Attacks"

Usually x3 Flat Elemental dmg is better.

As Suffixes, Aim to get at least +3 levels to melee skills and some crit chance / crit damage.

What about Hollow Palm Technique?

Hollow Palm can be a solid option even in the endgame but it will require more testing to confirm it can beat the staff.

Equip any Talisman (like Alpha Talisman for example) in the second weapon slot if you want to use Rend to get a damage buff. It's not necessary, but very helpful.

▸ Armour options

Gloves

Since Martial Artist Monk build can use Way of the Stonefist it is pretty important to roll the gloves for some particular stats.

Perfectly we will need to have Flat Physical Damage to attacks + 2 Flat Elemental Damage to Attacks (cold, fire and Lightning) as prefixes so Way of the Stonefist will give us Dame as Extra for Each.

Getting Arcane Surge on Crit (It is Desecrated Modifier) is also pretty important because it will be transformed to Power Charges on Crit which will make generation MUCH easier!

Body Armour

Get Hybrid Sleek Jacket with base Evasion / Energy Shield As High as you can.
Deflection % as a suffix is recommended, if you dont have it on body, get one on boots
Rest is just resistances

Boots

Focus on getting as high movement speed as possible, preferably 35%, after that, just focus on high combination of EV + ES.
Get as many Resistances as you can + Deflection (especially if you don't have it on body).

▸ Jewellery

Amulet

❗Important: You will need to get at least 60 Spirit on your Amulet to use all auras. If you dont have enough, drop Herald of Ash

❗As Alternative you can use Free Trinity Amulet

Follow that trade link (change league if needed) to buy it

+ 3 melee skills for more damage is very good to have
Defensive stats like Global Defences, More ES from Body, Increased Maximum ES
Instill Subterfuge Mask or Melding depending on your tree

Rings

Focus on getting as much damage to attacks on the rings as you can
MANA Leech is nice to have on one of the rings to feel better with mana situation
Take Resistances to the cap

Belt

For the belt use Shavronne's Satchel, it is the best option for CI or ES Based builds because in a combination with instant Life Flask.

❗IMPORTANT: For Shavronne's Satchel to work properly, your flask SHOULD have Instant recovery modifier. Look at the flask above for example.

If you have a big Budget - Mageblood is a very good option, aim to get x2 Evasion Mods + Quicksilver. Last Mod can be anything you lack, such as Sulphur, Gold, Resistances or even 1 more Quicksilver.

▸ Jewel Stats

Rares Jewels: Maximum Energy Shield + Critical damage bonus is the main goal there.

At least 1 jewel should also have "recover 2% of Maximum Mana on Kill".

Elemental Damage % is also a nice addition.

For Heart of the Well: you NEED Damage as Extra Cold + Any other extra, Other 2 stats can be stun threshold related.

❗If you do not use Rage III - you will NEED Gain 1 Rage on the Heart of the well or on another jewel

Skill Gems

Mid Endgame (CI)

Early Endgame

Full Screen AOE (LIVE)

Lvl 1-23

23+ Unarmed

Act 3-6

Campaign End / Early Maps

Uber Endgame

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 55

Dex 90

Int 70

Whirling Assault

Killing Palm

Level 20

Hollow Form

Trinity

Tempest Bell

Hollow Focus

Level 20

Hollow Resonance

Ghost Dance

Herald of Ash

Charged Staff

Rend

Wind Dancer

Gem Priority

+36

How to play the Build?

In maps, just spam normal Whirling Assault and sprint between packs to maintain the speed. Nothing else needed. For bossing or VERY tough rares, use tech explained below.

Watch this to not mess Trinity up - https://youtu.be/EbyMEBDURpE

How to fit ALL Auras?

To fit all Auras, you need to use the amulet (Absent Amulet) which provides free Trinity

If you dont have it - drop Wind Dancer

How Hollow Form works and when to use it?

Combination of Whirling Assault + Hollow Form is a great way to deal with bosses.

Generate some rage and charges (either with Killing Palm + Hollow Focus OR with Mantra of Destruction + Ailith's Chimes OR with charges on gloves) and just hold down Hollow Form button to melt the boss.

For especially hard encounters (not map bosses) you can also use normal Whirling Assault a few times and add Tempest Bell before casting Hollow Form for MAXIMUM DMG.

To trigger rest of the abilities try to stay closer to the boss too.

❗In some situations you can also use Hollow Form even WITHOUT charges at all to hit staff from afar if you need it.

How to recover Energy Shield with Chaos Inoculation?

Adding Ghost Dance in that case is pretty necessary, feel free to drop any Herald or even Trinity in that case. Getting %Faster start of recharge on jewels helps a lot as well.

How to generate charges for Charged Staff and Hollow Form:

Generation in early game and in the endgame is different.

In the Endgame you can use Mantra of Destruction + Ailith's Chimes + Delayed Gratification

Every time when you will get enough combo for Mantra of Destruction and use it - yopu will get your charge pack to activate Charged Staff or use Falling Thunder for the bonk.

But Ailith's Chimes is too expensive and is NOT available early on, so we can use other tech for charges that I will describe right below. Keep using it UNTIL you will get Ailith's Chimes up.

As your first ascendency as Martial Artist Monk you should pick Hollow Focus Technique

Hollow Focus will generate Bells, those Bells are always Primed for Stun, can be culled and hits against them are ALWAYS crits.

It will allow us to just use Killing Palm directly on the bells, culling them and getting free power charges that we can use for Hollow Form, Charged Staff or Rend

So when the bells are appearing (perfectly BEFORE boss fight), hit them with Killing Palm, after hitting 3 bells and getting 3 charges, use Charged Staff then repeat and use Hollow Form (Or Falling Thunder early on) when you will have 3 again.

It might sound complicated, but damage improvement if worth it.

How to make Trinity good?

To make sure that your Martial Artist build benefitting fully from Trinity you will need to balance your elemental damage.

Check in game stats or POB to see if your elemental dmg types (fire ,cold ,lighting) are overlapping properly and swap weapon or Rings to improve situation.

Watch this video to understand Trinity better - https://youtu.be/EbyMEBDURpE

Why there is Rend in the setup as well and how to use it?

Since Power Charge generation in the endgame is completely solved with charges on crit from gloves or Killing Palm + Hollow Focus combo, we can try to use Rend to boost our boss DPS and get free 50% Lightning damage bonus. To use Rend just equip Talisman in second weapon slot and use it once when you have charges to get 10-12s of a buff.

❗IMPORTANT: I'm not sure if the rend part will be necessary, so might drop it out of the build later if DMG will be good without it.

Passive Tree

Mid Endgame (CI)

Early Endgame

Full Screen AOE (LIVE)

Lvl 1-23

23+ Unarmed

Act 3-6

Campaign End / Early Maps

Uber Endgame

main:

123

set 1:

set 2:

❗IMPORTANT: Way of the Mountain NOT working with Chaos Inoculation, so don't pick it if you wanna play CI

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Hollow Resonance vs Runic Meridians?

Both options are valid, Hollow Resonance is not hitting that often since AoE of it is smaller, but Runic Meridians also cant provide much on top of 50% reduce curses rune.

Pick any that suits your game style at the moment, Hollow Resonance adds some damage and Runic Meridians for QoL and Defense.

Ascendency Order:

Hollow Focus Technique -> Way of the Stonefist-> Hollow Form-> Hollow Resonance

Why is that particular order?

Hollow Focus Technique can be pretty good early on so we can use Killing Palm on the bells to get Power Charges for Falling Thunder and Charged Staff for bosses. Taking it early can also help with clear and should be a high quality of life upgrade.

Way of the Stonefist bonuses can differ based on your gloves, but it still look promising enough to try it as early as we can get it.

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But what about Crit chance for Hollow Resonance?

During Campaign we will use Hollow Palm Technique together with Energy Shield based gear so Crit Chance should be enough to trigger Hollow Resonance provided Tempest Bell at least fromn time to time.

Is Chaos Inoculation Necessary?

Not really, in case if you don't have enough Energy Shield (atleast 4-5k is needed) or if you want to use Way of The Mountain Node from Martial Artist ascendency, you can just drop CI and roll some Chaos Res on the rings and boots.

Quest Rewards

Check which quests you’ve completed on your character

Clearfell — Beira of the Rotten Pack

+10% to Cold Resistance

Freythorn — The King in the Mists

+30 to Spirit

Ogham Manor — Candlemass, the Living Rite

+20 to maximum Life

The Spires of Deshar — Sisters of Garukhan

+10% to Lightning Resistance

Valley of the Titans — Medallion

30% increased Charm Charges gained

+1 Charm Slot

The Azak Bog — Ignagduk, the Bog Witch

+30 to Spirit

Jiquani's Machinarium — Blackjaw, the Remnant

+10% to Fire Resistance

The Venom Crypts — Venom Draught

25% increased Stun Threshold

Abandoned Prison — Goddess of Justice

30% increased Life Recovery from Flasks

Eye of Hinekora — Navali's Rest

5% increased Maximum Mana

Halls of the Dead — Ngamahu's Test

+5% to Fire Resistance

Halls of the Dead — Tasalio's Test

+5% to Cold Resistance

Halls of the Dead — Tawhoa's Test

+5% to Lightning Resistance

The Khari Crossing — Molten Shrine

5% increased Maximum Life

Qimah — Tabana's Pillar

Not Specified7 choices

Kriar Village — Lythara, the Wayward Spear

+40 to Spirit

How it Plays

In maps, just spam normal Whirling Assault and sprint between packs to maintain the speed. Nothing else needed. For bossing or VERY tough rares, use Hollow Form + Tempest Bell with tech explained above.