Looking for the best monk build in Path of Exile 2? Relying on massive elemental damage, elemental afflictions, and powerful melee attacks, the best monk build can turn this staff wielder into an evasive, crowd-controlling warrior. All it takes is an oversized bell and very low temperatures.

It may not be one of the best courses for beginnersbut the monk can become an elemental damage powerhouse with the right abilities. After a difficult first act, the monk will unlock more and more mastered skills that will allow him to control even the toughest bosses. In this guide we will show you the best monk build in Path of Exile 2focusing on the Summoner’s Ascendancy.

Best Monk Build in Path of Exile 2

The best integrated monk Path of Exile 2 this is what we will call the Building the cold summoner. The idea behind this build is to maximize cold damage, critical damage, and Freeze status. You’ll primarily rely on Ice Strike to charge the Tempest Bell, which you then need to drop next to your toughest opponent. By hitting the bell with strike abilities (again, mainly Ice Strike), you will deal even more cold damage and apply more freeze statuses to surrounding enemies.

This Monk version requires the Summoner’s Ancestryas this will greatly increase elemental damage, making it much easier to freeze enemies. Since the other Monk Ascendancy, Chayula’s Acolyte, focuses on chaos damage, it is not suitable for this version of Path of Exile 2.

Physical damage and critical chance are by far the most important stats, but also try to get better critical damage and attack speed. Stick to the Quarterstaff as your weapon (it’s a requirement for most of the Monk’s best skills). “Moment of Truth”, “Critical Exploit”, “Deadly Force”, “Thin Ice” and “Careful Assassin” are among the most important. passive skill tree nodes.

While freezing enemies is obviously very useful, the main downside to this version of Monk is the effort required to complete the first part of the campaign. It will take a while to unlock the main attack, Ice Strike, which leaves you with weaker options until then, but I promise you; the monk’s freezing abilities are worth it.

Monk Build: Best Skills

As a Monk Invoker, you are not required to stick to a particular source of elemental damage. If you prefer to use lightning damage rather than cold, that’s also fine. That said, since Path of Exile 2’s bosses can actually be frozen, a build capable of inflicting the Freeze disease seems particularly useful. With this in mind, I recommend using the following skill gems for the monk:

Storm Bell

Easily one of the weirdest skills in Path of Exile 2, Tempest Bell requires combo buildup by hitting enemies with “strike” attacks (including Ice Strike, Quarterstaff Strike, Hand of Chayula, and Shattering Palm ). Once full, drop the Tempest Bell on the ground and hit it with other attacks to create shockwaves. Elemental ailments applied to the bell (Freeze, in this case) will cause additional damage of this type. While it might seem strange to hit a bell instead of your opponents, the insane damage is worth it.

Ice Strike

This ability will become your main melee attack. Ice Strike is fast, deals good damage, and only costs 8 mana. Additionally, it converts 80% of physical damage into cold damage and generates incredible frost buildup, especially if you land the full three-hit combo. You will also use Ice Strike to charge Tempest Bell.

Stick Strike

This standard weapon skill won’t turn any heads, but it will hit enough early game ones to be worth mentioning. Although you will eventually abandon Quarterstaff Strike once you have more mana and better abilities, I found it invaluable as a backup attack against the bosses of the first act. Like Ice Strike, you should use it to charge Tempest Bell.

Shattering Palm

More than just a striking ability, Shattering Palm dashes while covering nearby enemies with ice shards. This is a handy mobility skill if you need to close the gap between you and a boss, as well as a great way to deal extra explosion damage.

Herald of Ice

Since you’re breaking frozen enemies left and right, this persistent buff will grant you an easy damage boost: breaking an enemy causes an explosion that will damage all nearby opponents. This won’t make much difference against bosses, but it will help you get rid of weaker enemies. If you need it, we have a guide on how to get more spirit in Path of Exile 2 so you can equip this ability.

Hypothermia

This astonishing curse hardly needs explanation; By lowering opponents’ cold resistance, hypothermia is a perfect fit for this Cold Summoner Monk build, which relies primarily on cold damage. Be careful, this curse is an “elemental” skill gem, but you can use it very well with a staff.

Hand of Chayula

As a meta gem, Hand of Chayula allows you to slot skill gems into this ability, provided they are Curses or Marks. Instead of equipping Hypothermia separately, you have the option to use it on Hand of Chayula, thus using the latter to strike an enemy and reduce cold resistance at the same time. Be careful, hypothermia will have a reduced effect when applied this way, so it’s only really viable if you also insert Freezing Mark – this makes the marked target more susceptible to freezing and causes Cold Nova eruptions when ‘she is dead.

Unbound Avatar

A huge boost to elemental damage and frost application? Yes please! With the Unbound Avatar Ascendancy skill enabled, you’ll gain stacks of Unbound Fury by inflicting elemental ailments, triggering a nearly 10-second “unbound” state that buffs your cold damage and makes it much easier to freeze enemies.

Wind Dancer

Since you’re always on the front lines, it’s difficult to survive as a monk without evasion-based defensive abilities. Wind Dancer is a great option as it increases your evasion when hit by melee attacks, ultimately leading to a knockback attack. Make the most of this lifesaver by adding HP and mana recovery via Support Gems (more on that below).

Monk Build: Best Support Gems

You won’t get the most out of the Monk’s skills without the best support gems. To further improve your abilities, I recommend the following for the Cold Invoker Monk build:

Overabundance

Arguably the most important combo in this build, Overabundance and Tempest Bell are a perfect match for gems. Normally you can’t create stacks of Combos while the bell is active, but by increasing the bell’s limit to two you can. So while one bell is on the field, your next strikes already charge the second bell.

Leverage

Another for the Tempest Bell; gain an additional 50% critical strike chance against immobilized (read: frozen) enemies.

Supercritical

Offering a 100% critical damage increase, Supercritical has the potential to annihilate everyone around you when placed on the Tempest Bell. However, it also reduces crit rate by 20%, so I would only use it if you have a very high crit rate.

Weigh

This amazing Support Gem increases the physical damage of a Skill Gem by 30%, making it absolutely perfect for our main cold physical attack: Ice Strike.

Martial tempo

As yet another way to boost your main attack, place Martial Tempo on Ice Strike to speed up its combo – and therefore its Freeze application.

Cold brew

This support gem increases a skill’s cold damage at the expense of its lightning and fire damage. In other words, a perfect fit for Ice Strike or Shattering Palm, both of which only deal cold as elemental damage.

Increased Curse

To further decrease your enemies’ cold resistance, place this support gem on Chayula’s hand (or directly on hypothermia, if using it as a standalone skill). It increases curses, gaining 25% increase in curse effect.

Persistence

Granting 40% more skill effect duration, this is a very simple but useful buff to place on Hypothermia or Unbound Avatar, with preference for the latter.

Clarity

You’ll likely need better mana recovery, so place Clarity on a skill to receive 30% increased mana regeneration while the skill remains active. It is best put on the persistent buff, Wind Dancer.

Vitality

Another one for the Wind Dancer buff; as long as the buff is active, you will recover 1% Life per second. You can also use cannibalism, but since it requires constant kills, it can be less reliable when fighting a boss.

And that concludes this version of Path of Exile 2 Monk. If you’re new to the game, you might want to check out our list of Things to do first in Path of Exile 2and make sure you understand the character attributes. Don’t forget to use the Path of Exile 2 crafting system to get better equipment, and use the gemstone cutting system to acquire new skills.