Path of Exile 2 Monk build and class guide

What is the best Path of Exile 2 Monk build? If you’re after a class in PoE 2 that can deal immense amounts of damage, can utilize powerful abilities, and looks good while doing it, then the Monk is for you. A powerful magic user without the need for ranged spells, we have a full class breakdown for you right here.

There are many Path of Exile 2 classes, and each puts forward a compelling use case – the Sorceress can control the battlefield from the backline, while the Warrior thrives while in the mix, for instance. The PoE 2 Monk is for those who want a mix of both damage and aggression, and those who crave a certain amount of flair. Here is our Path of Exile 2 Monk class guide.

Path of Exile 2 Monk overview

The Path of Exile 2 Monk is a melee class that can deal incredible amounts of damage. The Monk doesn’t have high defensive stats like the Warrior, so you can consider it more like a glass cannon than a bruiser.

The Monk can make excellent use of elemental attacks – especially ice – to crowd-control mobs and deal huge single-target damage to bosses. Freezing your opponents, creating totem-like objects that can be detonated to deal AoE damage, and dashing around the battlefield are all part and parcel of this deadly class.

There are two ascendancies for the Path of Exile 2 Monk:

• The Invoker: This ascendancy utilizes elemental magic in its attacks and can seemingly use abilities more often than its counterpart.
• The Acolyte of Chayula: A master of the Spirit of Darkness, the Acolyte of Chayula uses this magic to deal damage, and absorb power.

Path of Exile 2 Monk skills

The Monk class relies on constant motion and activity. You’ll need to hit your enemies with basic attacks to charge up your powerful skills, but once you’ve found that flow state, the amount of AoE damage and crowd control at your fingertips is astonishing.

All Path of Exile 2 Monk active skills

All Path of Exile 2 Monk persistent Spirit buffs

Best Path of Exile 2 Monk build

The best mid-game Monk build is:

• Key skills: Falling Thunder, Killing Palm, Siphoning Strike, Storm Wave, Whirling Assault, Gathering Storm
• Key persistent Spirit buffs: Herald of Thunder, Lingering Illusion, Elemental Invocation
• Key passives: Essence of the Storm, Conservative Casting, Harmonic Generator, Stylebender, Overload, Deadly Force
• Ascendancy: The Invoker

Key skills

For most of your first run through the story, you’re going to rely on Falling Thunder, Killing Palm, Siphoning Strike, and Storm Wave to cycle Power Charges while shocking enemies. However, you may have to lean into some cold-focused skills to get around enemies that are resistant to shock damage.

This build truly comes alive when you unlock Lingering Illusion, giving you additional Power Charges when you dodge, something you’ll often be doing as you duck into and out of battle. When you reach Cruel difficulty, Gathering Storm becomes paramount to flip out of trouble and deal massive damage in return. We also recommend picking up Whirling Assault to make it easy to clear out weaker mobs.

Key persistent Spirit buffs

Herald of Lightning fits this lighting-focused build perfectly, while Lingering Illusion ensures you have enough Power Charges to power up your lighting-themed skills. Elemental Invocation is also vital as you’ll frequently apply Shock to enemies and have a chance at triggering socketed skills.

Key passives

This lightning Monk build is difficult to put together because the lightning-specific nodes are spread out from each other. Still, there are lot of great passives to take like Style Bender along the way before you reach the key lightning-based notables. You’ll want to start with grabbing Essence of the Storm and Conservative Casting before pivoting to the Harmonic Generator notable.

Head in the opposite direction to grab Overload and its surrounding nodes to penetrate lightning resistance on enemies – a very integral part of this build. Loop back and take the nodes leading up to the Deadly Force notable to greatly increase your chance to critically hit enemies. This is beneficial with your Ascendancy’s ability to send out elemental shockwaves on critical hits.

Ascendancy

To round out this lighting-themed build, we recommend going with the Invoker Ascendancy as it has the ‘I am the Thunder’ passive that allows extra lighting damage and your attacks to create shocked ground. Furthermore, you’ll get some nice extra elemental damage on top every time you land a critical strike.

Now that you know the best Path of Exile 2 Monk build, you can be confident going into any fight. Check out our PoE 2 Twitch drops guide so you can pick up some free goodies, and our most exciting upcoming PC games so you can see what else there is to look forward to.

Original contributions by Paul Kelly.