Path Of Exile 2: The Ultimate Monk Building Guide

The Monk is one of six classes available in Path of Exile 2 Early Access. It is a mixed melee and ranged class that has access to several different types of builds, all of which are extremely rewarding if used correct. While the Monk seems pretty weak at the start of Path of Exile 2, he grows stronger as the game goes on, culminating in an extremely powerful end-game character.

If you want some tips on how to build your Monk or tips on what skills to use, we’ve got everything you need in the guide below.

Monk overview in Path of Exile 2

When you first start Path of Exile 2 as a monk, you’ll have access to a constant melee attack as well as some basic ranged elemental abilities. The monk can use both lightning and frost damage, as well as aerial abilities that can damage and/or stun enemies. During the early game, you’ll want to use whatever ability you’re first introduced to, regardless of damage type.

However, as you level your Adolescent Monk, you can start focusing on one or two damage types to really synergize the build. This will help you set a clear direction for your tree. of passive abilities and will make it easier to choose an Ascendancy for your monk.

Regardless of your level, you want to try to increase your Dexterity and Intelligence attributes as much as possible. The Monk is a mobile class that relies on dodging enemy attacks up close and at range. Dexterity helps keep your monk as mobile as possible, while the Intelligence attribute ensures you have enough mana to cast all the elemental abilities you can access.

After a while, you’ll probably want to ditch the basic body attack to focus only on those elemental abilities. In the early game, though, these melee attacks will deal the most damage to enemies, so spam it whenever you’re having trouble. Quarterstaff attacks also don’t use any mana, which is a nice bonus at early levels, but as you progress, you’ll usually have enough mana to spam other abilities and still have some left over.

The best monk skills in Path of Exile 2

Now that you have a better understanding of the Monk in Path of Exile 2, it’s time to go over what kind of abilities you want to use. Currently, the best route for a monk is to use most of the lightning skills the class can use. However, you also want to combine these lightning skills with an aerial skill or two.

In the early game, feel free to mix lightning and air skills with a freeze skill, as you’ll have some space on your hotbar anyway. Glacial Waterfall is the best freeze ability that can be a very effective boss killer for the Monk. This ranged ability creates a line of frost on the ground and explodes after reaching a certain point. Spamming bosses from a few feet away can deal tons of damage and also freeze the boss, opening them up to additional attacks.

We won’t be using Glacial Cascade in our final build though, as it’s full of lightning and air abilities that punish enemies up close and far. Here are the skills we recommend for a monk in Path of Exile 2:

• Thunder falling
• Killing the Palm
• Amazing palm
• The bell of the storm
• Gust of storm
• Swirling assault
• Gathering storm
• Flicker Strike

Your build really begins when you reach level 12 and can unlock the Tempest Flurry skill. This can essentially replace the basic attack as it is a melee combo skill that deals lightning damage. After a full combo, the ability ends with a lightning strike, AoE.

You can use Tempest Flurry in conjunction with Tempest Bell, which relies on landing a four-hit melee combo. Once the combo is hit, you can throw a large bell, dealing damage every time you hit it with an attack. The bell deals air damage by default, but if you hit it with lightning it will deal the same type of damage.

Placing the Tempest bell and standing still to hit it will still require a full shield/HP bar as enemies will keep hitting you. If there are too many enemies around, using the Falling Thunder ability to take out large groups is an effective strategy. Falling Thunder is based on the power charge system, which gives you more powerful attacks when fully built. When enemies are low on health from your attacks, finish them off with Killing or Staggering Palm.

At later levels, unlock abilities like Whirling Assault, Gathering Storm, and Flicker Strike. Flicker Strike in particular is a useful addition as it allows you to bounce from enemy to enemy dealing damage. This gives the monk extra mobility to stay out of harm’s way. If you just want to take out hordes of enemies, though, Whirling Assault is your best bet.

The best support for monks and spiritual jewels

With the basic skills out of the way, you can now equip them with the right support stones. You’ll also start receiving spiritual gems, which can be used to equip your monk with additional ailments.

Here are some support stones we recommend for a few abilities, as well as the best spirit stones to use:

Gems support

• Perpetual Charge (Falling Thunder)
• Lightning Infusion (Falling Thunder)
• Relentless (Stormbell)
• Magnified Effect (Storm Bell)
• Life Evacuation (Klling Palm)
• Profusion (Klling Palm)
• Overpower (stick attack)
• Driving (Tempest Flurry)

Spiritual groans

• Herald of Thunder
• Persistent illusion

You generally want to stick with dexterity support gems when looking to equip your monk. There are plenty of solid options for all of your abilities that increase elemental damage, improve potential charges, and give you more area of ​​effect.

The best monk passive skills

Every time you level up the Monk, you’ll get points to put into your passive skill tree. For the most part, you’ll want to stick with nodes that deal lightning damage, but there are a few specific nodes that you should grab as soon as possible:

• Conservative casting
• Killer Instinct
• It flows like water
• Step like mist
• The essence of the storm
• Immortal infamy

The best monastic ancestry

Finally, after you level up enough as a monk, you’ll need to choose an Ascendancy. As with all classes in Early Access, only two Ascendencies are available for the Monk in Path of Exile 2: Summoner and Acolyte of Chayula.

For our build, only Invoker makes sense. This boost promotes the use of elemental attacks and stacking, meaning you’ll deal more damage with your lightning attacks and have a higher chance to stun enemies. Specifically, the Summoner has a passive called “I am Thunder” that gives you extra lightning damage and the ability to shock the ground around you.