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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

LIVE

Updated on Jun 20, 2026

Jun 20, 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 Guides

▸ All Armour + Amulet - Step by step video

▸ Weapon + Rings - Step by step video

▸ 50% ES Jewels - Step by step video

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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 • Abyss • Boss Rush • Expedition

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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 improved 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

You can swap into Hollow Palm Technique version around 23-25 Level when you will have a Hollow Palm Notable allocated.

❗ TO USE SKILLS WITHOUT WEAPONS YOU NEED TO ALLOCATE Hollow Palm Technique

STEP BY STEP Guide for leveling + tech demonstration - video

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

During the campaign you will need to focus on EVASION Related gear because Attack Speed from Hollow Palm will scale better early on than Crit.

Your main item to scale it is Body Armour - so try to always have a body armour with maximum amount of Evasion for the campaign.

The rest of the gear can be Evasion too or Evasion / Energy Shield hybrids.

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 30

Dex 35

Int 30

Storm Wave

Wind Dancer

Charged Staff

Herald of Ash

Killing Palm

Falling Thunder

Rend

Set 2

Devour

Set 2

Hollow Focus

Gem Priority

+18

Use Siphoning Strike or Devour before you will get Hollow Focus Technique Bells to cull with Killing Palm.

Will Thrill of the Kill on Killing Palm work on bells and will it provide the buff?

At the moment I'm not exactly sure how good will be the uptime for Thrill buff, I will keep it in the setup until in game tests and will update it later. If it will not work properly, just drop it and get rapid attacks instead.

In that version you will just spam Storm Wave against all enemies, bosses and packs alike.

To use Charged Staff and Falling Thunder we will need Power charges.

❗IMPORTANT:

DONT Spam Falling Thunder without Charges and use it only when you have all 3 Charges up.

You can generate charges properly only after 1st Ascendency, when you became Martial Artist and got Hollow Focus as your first ascendency node.

How to generate charges for Charged Staff and Falling Thunder:

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

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

It will allow us to just use Killing Palm (or even Staggering Palm for the buff) directly on the belts, culling them and getting free power charges that we can use for Falling Thunder.

So when the bells are appearing, hit them with Killing Palm, after hitting 3 bells and getting 3 charges, use Charged Staff then repeat and use Falling Thunder when you will have 3 again.

It might sound complicated, but damage improvement if worth it. You can also combine it with technique below for even MORE DMG.

How to use Rend to get HUGE Damage Bonus:

If you will equip a Talisman to your second weapon set, you can use Wyvern skills to boost your damage.

So every time when you will have Power Charges up, you can use Rend to get 10-12s buff to your lightning damage. Use it for bosses and rares if needed.

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:

Since the progression is pretty close you don't really need to swap anything between the Bow and Hollow palm tree at lvl 23+.

Ascendency Order That I will Use:

Hollow Focus Technique -> Way of the Stonefist -> Hollow Resonance Technique -> Runic Meridians

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. if during campaign you need more defence or res just take Runic Meridians instead.

How we are generating charges for Charged Staff:

To generate charges we will use Lingering Illusion - when enemies are hitting illusion after you dodge roll, you will get charges.

Roll more to generate, it can feel not that smooth but it is an easier option to generate on low level before Ailith's Chimes is available.

DON'T INVEST Into Crit too Early:

Start getting Crit nodes such as Moment of Truth or Heartstopping only when you are 50+ lvl .

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.