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PoE 2 Build

Everseen's Hollow Form Shield Wall Martial Artist for HCSSF

presentationMonk
presentationMartial Artist
Starter
End Game
Speed Leveling
0.5.5 FR
HC
SSF
Updated on Sep 16, 2026
Sep 16, 2026

Build Overview

All of my gear is used as an example and is far worse than what you can actually achieve in game.

Shoutout to WesteyWest for suggesting this build. His Guide can be seen here: https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/profile/grim-flower-rcg8fc/builds/6284ed8d-2726-46a8-953c-1cc4b2f80b30?ws-ngf5-f7d82102-7e77-4a44-ad24-33b67e8ae7bf=activeVariantId%2C1

Ascendancy Order while Quarterstaff

Hollow Focus Technique Way of the Stonefist

Ascendancy Points after Lochtonials/Shield Wall Swap

Hollow Form Way of the Stonefist Runic Meridians Hollow Focus

Why Play This Build?

This build is disgusting in my opinion on a leaguestart scenario. The gear is super easy to obtain, and Runic Meridians offers a lot of flexibility early on. It is insanely tanky thanks to Evasion/Energy Shield, Deflection, Ghost Dance, Block as well as Magma Barrier, and Armour/Additional PDR on shield and Chaos Inoculation.

For context, in a Hardcore Private League, THC 4, I was able to kill Quest Arbiter of Divinity with only a +3 melee mace with Attack Speed from a greater haste essence and a 743 Armour Shield.

Requirements to Swap to Shield Wall

3x Level 9 skill gem, Sunder/Shield Wall/Volcanic Fissure

Swap at Isle of Kin since we get our first Level 4 Support from the Caged Beast Rare Elite Monster

Level 4 Support from Crab at Whakapanu Island for Mark for Death II to socket in Pounce

30-40k Gold

Runes to Socket for Runic Meridians

Resistances/Attributes early game to satisfy requirements. Scale out of certain runes like going for the Craiceann's Rune of Recovery. We get 75% reduced curse effect through The Hollowkeeper and Inner Faith so I don't bother going for Craiceann's Rune of Warding to have full curse immunity. Since I use Wanderlust or Legacy of Wanderlust I don't really bother going for full curse immunity since in the endgame it's really hard to satisfy resistances/attributes with something like Andvarius.

For Aldur's Legacy I do Legacy of Wanderlust but other great options are Legacy of Foxshade or Legacy of Svalinn

Important Tech

  • Sunder MUST BE PLACED BEFORE Shield Wall IN THE SKILL ORDER. This is so that sunder breaks the shield walls that get placed much easier.
  • Attack Speed is one of the best scaling factors for the build because it allows your clones to place walls and break them faster.
  • Overabundance II is massive for Hollow Form because this essentially gives us +1 clone which allows us to have 3 Shield Walls placed at once to be detonated. With Lochtonial Caress it is 2 Shield Walls, and with Overabundance it goes to 3. By far the biggest damage upgrade.
  • Later we use Bleed IV in Shield wall to do more Melee Physical Damage. Since Shield wall cannot inflict bleed, we still generate Incision fairly fast so our Hollow Focus bells can make the target bleed. Alternatively you can use Bleed III in Volcanic Fissure to guarantee bleeding as well.
  • Traditionally Shield Wall does not benefit from attack speed on a mace, this is because attack speed is only local to the weapon and since shield wall does not use your weapon it uses your shield, it doesn't count. However, since we are using Hollow Form this skill actually DOES use your one handed mace making Attack Speed super desirable on the mace. Keep in mind that things like stun buildup are also very desirable.
  • Shield Wall benefits greatly from increases to "Area of Effect" try to get this as much as you can on the tree because it causes the skill to get overlapping damage. Before Lochtonial Caress you can also get regular rare gloves with Flat Lightning Damage for Damage as Extra Lightning and Strength for Increased Area of Effect through the Way of the Stonefist notable.
  • The build is cursor dependent, this means that the closer you place the cursor relative to your characters position, the closer the clones will spawn to you. The same goes for things further away.
  • Hollow Focus Technique will be used early game in combination with Killing Palm to generate power charges while bossing. We can also use Storm Wave and Siphoning Strike too, but Killing Palm should be faster. We will use Thrill of the Kill to get extra lightning damage from culling our bells.
  • Rend will be used in this build because the buff that it gives is very good for our build. Giving us 50% of Damage as Extra Lightning Damage is insane. We can have this buff for 10+seconds which is more than enough time to use with Falling Thunder. In addition we will use Heightened Charges for a 20% chance to DOUBLE the effect of Rend giving us 100% Damage as Extra Lightning!
  • You can achieve curse immunity by using the 50% Reduced Effect of Curses and the The Hollowkeeper. This node gets unlocked by allocating both First Principle of the Hollow and First Teachings of the Keeper.
  • Pounce along with Mark for Death II is a really good early game option to get free Armour Break. Since we're using Sunder we can also take advantage of the Sunder Broken Armour too.
  • Wing Blast will be used early on to generate power charges on stunning a unique monster which we will then use Rend for 50% damage as extra lightning for shock. Since Hollow Form uses power charges, we benefit and get more damage from multiple clones as well.

Strengths and Weaknesses

  • Extremely Cheap
  • One-Shot Potential
  • High Stun Buildup
  • Clears all content easily
  • Weak in the Beginning
  • Melee
  • Lots of buttons early
  • Balancing Attributes

Build Variants

Equipment

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

Skill Gems

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 15

Dex 10

Int 15

1

Rend

2

Quarterstaff Strike

Level 5

supportrageplayer
supportrapidattacksplayer
3

Falling Thunder

Level 5

supportaddedlightningdamageplayer
supportelementalarmamentplayer
4

Frozen Locus

Level 1

supporticebiteplayer
supportelementalarmamentplayer
5

Killing Palm

6

Frost Bomb

Level 2

7

Tempest Bell

Level 4

supportconcentratedareaplayer
8

Wing Blast

Level 3

9

Pounce

Level 3

10

Herald of Ice

Level 4

supportmagnifiedareaplayer
Gem Priority
+8

This build uses a lot of skills in the beginning to try and push as much damage as possible with the Quarterstaff Kit.

Quarterstaff Strike will be our main single target damage and how we apply lots of stun buildup.

Frozen Locus is our main clearing skill and we leave it at Level 1 for awhile until we get a good Gothic Quarterstaff and then we make it Level 4. Basically we want to keep this low level so we 1 shot it and can clear all of the monsters around. Since they get shattered we can take advantage of Herald of Ice explosions on top of it to clear entire packs.

Killing Palm will be used to cull enemies for power charges, this can be used on many bosses that have minions or bosses in areas where we can kill monsters, generate 3 power charges, begin the fight, falling thunder and then continue your damage rotations.

Frost Bomb is used to apply exposure to enemies to greatly increase our elemental damage on bosses.

Tempest Bell will be used on bosses to generate lots of stun buildup and extra damage.

Wing Blast will be used when a boss is primed for a stun to get 3 power charges.

Rend will be used to consume one of those power charges to give 50% of damage as extra lightning damage.

Falling Thunder will be used as following Killing Palm early on and then after Rend on bosses to inflict a massive hit.

Pounce is used primarily as a movement skill and a way to close the gap after using Wing Blast

Clearing Rotation:

Frozen Locus, break it with Quarterstaff Strike, repeat, use Tempest Bell if need be

Killing Palm any primed enemies for cull to follow with Falling Thunder

Single Target Rotation:

Quarterstaff Strike to build Rage and Stun Buildup, Use Frost Bomb on Cooldown to get -25 exposure, Once you have Tempest Bell available use Frozen Locus and follow it up with Tempest Bell to move forward and break the Locus. When the enemy is primed for a stun use Wing Blast to generate 3 power charges, Rend to consume 1 of those charges, use the other 2 charges with Falling Thunder. Repeat or just use Tempest Bell and Frozen Locus to kill the boss.

Passive Tree

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

Weapon Set shows to take 1 Strength node in the beginning because you will lack strength for Talisman/Support Gems/Armour Gear. Take it and then Respec it once you're able to, to your main path.

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
Hunting Grounds — The Crowbell
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Ogham Farmlands — Una's Hut
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Valley of the Titans — Medallion
30% increased Charm Charges gained
+1 Charm Slot
The Spires of Deshar — Sisters of Garukhan
+10% to Lightning Resistance
Keth — Kabala, Constrictor Queen
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Deshar — Final Letter
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
Jungle Ruins — Mighty Silverfist
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Aggorat — Blood Sacrifice
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Whakapanu Island — Great White One
+30% increased Global Armour, Evasion and Energy Shield
Eye of Hinekora — Navali's Rest
5% increased Maximum Mana
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
Journey's End — Captain Hartlin
Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Skill Gem(Lv 13)
Delirium Drop
Halls of the Dead — Yama The White
Grants 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
Wolvenhold — Oswin, the Dread Warden
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
The Khari Crossing — Akthi and Anundr
Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points
Howling Caves — The Abominable Yeti
Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Comments

18
S
StoneCrown•2d ago

Can you share the rotation for the sadist build? Sorry Im still new to this and it seems like the endgame build is stronger due to break armor

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everseen
Author
•1d ago

there's really nothing to it, volcanic fissure is used by sadist mercy so you just get the slow debuff on monsters from it, the living lightning portion is to inflict maim and we have jagged ground in as well in fissure for tons of slow.

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FreshFlame•11d ago

Is there an area in which you explain which runes to aim for on Runic Meridians? Loving the build so far. Thanks!

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F
FreshFlame•11d ago

Also where are you getting the spirit needed for all the spirit gems? gear?

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everseen
Author
•9d ago

I'll add that, generally though, the body armour is used for 30% increased energy shield recharge rate and you can do 50% reduced effect of curses to be fully curse immune. We get 75% reduction through the passive tree though and immunity to temporal chains through wanderlust so I don't really bother. I'd stack resistances or attributes to help satisfy requirements though. Personally I also went for aldur's legacy on the boot slot of Runic Meridians for perma immunity to slows

1
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StoneCrown•11d ago

how do you check your damage in poe ninja? or path of building?


0
E
everseen
Author
•9d ago

pob doesn't work great and there really is no way since hollow form doesn't really track as simply as that. It does everything in the game and even mega juiced content like spirit boxes or 200% delirious expeditions, grand expeditions etc.

1
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gerz601•13d ago

Great write up and build OP. This is truly a good league starter. It may even go without saying, the best way to play warrior is to play....monk? I'm level 93, with level 75 gear and most content is complete.

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everseen
Author
•12d ago

Nice man! It's definitely a crazy build for the budget, that's why it's my #1 starter atm

1
Z
zorakian•14d ago

Having trouble generating power charges, especially early on around level 55, especially against bosses

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FreshFlame•14d ago

palm the bells / low enemies for clear. siphon strike after a storm wave on bosses. wing blast on primed boss as well

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E
everseen
Author
•12d ago

what FreshFlame said, if you're swapped to shield wall the way we generate power charges is through lochtonials gloves

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