PoE 2 Leveling: God-Tier Ice Strike Monk Build Guide

The Monk class, although recently introduced in Path of Exile 2, has quickly become one of the most popular options in the game. If you're searching for an exceptional Monk build, you've come to the right place. In this guide, Raxxanterax shares his Monk build that allows players to defeat a Boss rapidly in PoE 2 with just a single rotation.

Strengths and Weakness

Strength

√Insta Delete Bosses

√Play as Darth Maul

√Freeze and Shock

√Excellent Mobility

Weaknesses

×Ranged from 1-14

×Melee Can Be Rough

Skill Progression

Firstly, it's worth noting that playing an early-game Monk is quite challenging. Before level 14, playing like a Ranger is the best solution to avoid dying too often. You need to buy a bow from the vendor (costs about 100 PoE 2 gold) and use the Lightning Arrow and Lightning Rod skills until level 14. After that, unlock Ice Strike, which is significantly better than the Lightning variant due to its superior mobility and crowd control.

Levels 1-14

Use Lightning Arrow with Marshall Tempo and Lightning Rod with Primal Armament.

Level 14 Onwards

1. Ice Strike

Start to use a decent quarterstaff and focus on buffing Ice Strike, which is effective for killing a single target rather than AoE.

Support Skills

Marshall Tempo: Increases Attack Speed.

Concentrated Effect: Boosts damage despite reducing AoE, which is fine since it's a melee skill.

Primal Armament: Enhances weapon elemental damage.

2. Tempest Bell

After you swing the staff four times, you can drop a Tempest Bell. When you hit the bell, it resonates, sending shockwaves and dealing additional damage. If you apply Ailments to the bell, it will do extra elemental effects. The combination of Ice Strike and Tempest Bell is why you can instantly kill the boss.

Support Skills

Rage: Boosts Ice Attack damage.

Close Combat: Deals more damage to enemies based on how close they are to you.

Font of Rage: Gives two Rage Generation and slows the decay of Rage.

3. Charge Staff

Charge Staff adds extra Lightning damage and shoots a Lightning shockwave. This is useful for activating the Tempest Bell and clearing trash mobs.

Support Skills

Persistence: Prolongs effect duration.

Conduction: Grants more chances to Shock.

Overcharge: Increases the Magnitude of Shock.

4. Herald of Ice

Herald of Ice causes enemies to explode upon shattering, aiding in crowd control.

Support Skills

Cold Penetration: Penetrates Cold Resistance.

Megnifide Effect: Grants more AoE.

5. Combat Frenzy

Combat Frenzy grants a Frenzy Charge when you freeze, electrocute, or Pin an enemy. In the meantime, when you pick the Resonance passive skill, you will gain Power Charges instead of Frenzy Charges. Therefore, Combat Frenzy + Resonance gives infinite Power Charges for Charged Staff.

Support Skills

Profusion: Generates Charges.

Clarity: Increases Mana Generation rate.

6. Hypothermia

Hypothermia lowers Cold Resistance of enemies, maximizing Ice Strike damage.

Support Skills

Expanse: Grants higher AoE.

Heightened Curse: Increases the effect of Supported Curses, allowing for a Boss kill in only one rotation.

7. Wind Dancer

Wind Dancer increases Critical Hit Chance and knocks back enemies on hit. In addition, as you progress into the Acendency passive tree, you will want to take the node called And Protect Me from Harm, and Wind Dancer will be a good synergy with the node for a Physical Damage reduction. 

Support Skills

Blind: Causes enemies to Blind on hit.

Culling Strike: Culls Rare and Unique enemies on hit.

8. Unbound Avatar

Unbound Avatar grants Unbound Fury when you inflict an Elemental Ailment on an enemy with a hit. It's best to save this skill until you've set everything up on the enemy. Once you activate this skill, the enemy will die instantly.

Support Skills

Cold Mastery

Fire Mastery

Lightning Mastery

These three skills raise the level of the gem by three levels.

Boss Rotation

Hypothermia -> Charged Staff -> Unbound Avatar -> Tempest Bell -> Spam Ice Strike = DEAD

Note: If you don't have any Power Charges, spam Ice Strike at the beginning of the fight until you do, then do this rotation

Gear Recommendations

Quarterstaff

It is recommended to spend your PoE 2 currency to roll a very high Physical Damage quarterstaff. The higher the damage, the better. Appy percent Physical Damage or Flat Physical Damage, specifically. Then, you can look for crit and Attack Speed.

You also need to improve the quarterstaff with Blacksmith's Whetstone until you get +20% quality. Furthermore, putting two Iron Runes on it grants you an extra 40% Physical Damage.

Armor: Focus on life and resistance across your gear (hat, chest, belt, boots, amulet).

Rings: Aim for flat damage rolls, especially flat Physical Damage.

Gloves: Seek flat damage rolls, attack speed, and crit chance.

Charm: Antidote Charm makes you immune to poison, giving you resistance against Chaos Damage.

Flasks: Ultimate Life Flasks and Ultimate Mana Flasks can recover your Life and Mana instantly.

Passive Tree

Phase One: All you need to do is load up on damage.

Phase Two: Use the Charge Staff for Lightning Damage.

Phase Three: Start to build up Critical Chance and Critical Damage.

Ascendancy

The most important node here is And I Shall Rage, as it grants you the Unbound Avatar, which gives a nuke button on yellow enemies or bosses, providing 40% more Elemental Damage and 40% more chance to inflict Elemental Ailment.

You will also need And Protect Me from Harm, but in the endgame rather than in the campaign.

Key Nodes

Crashing Wave: 36% increased damage if you have dealt a Critical Hit in the past 8 seconds.

Echoing Frost: 30% increased Elemental Damage if you've chilled an enemy recently.

Echoing Thunder: 30% increased Elemental Damage if you've shocked an enemy recently.

*If you have a lot of fire damage on gear or weapon, you can also take the Echoing Flames.

Blinding Strike: 24% increased Attack Damage and 10% chance to blind enemies on hit with attacks.

Killer Instinct: 30% increased Attack Damage when on full life and 50% increased Attack Damage when on low life.

Tenfold Attacks: 4% increased Attack Speed, and 6% increased Attack Speed if you've been hit recently. Also, it adds 10 Strength.

Resonance: Gain Power Charges instead of Frenzy Charges.

Serrated Edges: 10% increased Critical Hit chance for attacks, and 30% increased Attack Damage against rare or unique enemies.

Manifold Method: 50% increased amount of Mana leeched and 25% increased chance to inflict Ailments against rare or unique enemies.

Sharp Sight: 5% increased Attack Speed and 30% increased accuracy rating against rare or unique enemies.

Coming Calamity: 50% increased Cold/Fire/Lightning Damage while affected by Herald of Ice/Ash/Thunder.

Martial Artistry: 25% increased Accuracy rating with quarterstaves and 25% increased Critical Damage bonus with quarterstaves. Also, it adds 25 Dexterity. This node is pretty important because you will need a good amount of Dexterity in the early game so you can equip any gear and weapons you find.

Essence of the Storm: Gain 5% of damage as extra Lightning Damage and have a 30% increased chance to shock.

Essence of the Mountain: Gain 5% of damage as extra Cold Damage and 20 increased Freeze buildup.

Moment of Truth: 25% increased Critical Damage bonus if you've dealt a non-critical hit recently and 20% increased critical hit chance.

True Strike: Adds 10 Dexterity and an extra 20% critical hit Chance.

For the Jugular: Grants an extra 30% Critical Damage Bonus and 10 Intelligence.

Deadly Force: Gives an extra 30% damage if you've dealt a critical hit in the past 8 seconds and an extra 12% critical hit chance.

That is the powerful Monk build that can eliminate a Boss instantly. If you found this video helpful, make sure to subscribe to Raxxanterax's channel for more future content related to Path of Exile 2.

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