PoE 2 0.3 Rise of the Abyssals Best Monk Builds (Ascendancy, Keystone, Skills & Gear)

A handful of keystones and notables added on the passive tree in the Path of Exile 0.3.0 The Third Edict update, which brings strong build options for the new league. In this article, we'll talk about meta Monk builds in PoE 2 Rise of the Abyssals. 

PoE 2 0.3 Rise of the Abyssals Best Monk Builds

In terms of the Monk class changes in Path of Exile 2 version 0.3.0, the Invoker ascendancy received significant buffs to its Elemental Expression skill, greatly increasing the fire, cold, and lightning damage dealt by its elemental explosions, while the Meditate skill’s cooldown was shortened and its energy shield recharge rate substantially boosted, enhancing both offense and survivability. Meanwhile, the Acolyte of Chayula ascendancy underwent major reworks: the Reality Rending notable was renamed Sap of Nightmares and now grants life leech from chaos as well as physical damage, Lucid Dreaming became a choice-based node allowing customization of Flames of Chayula, and several other passives were renamed and rebalanced to introduce new mechanics like the Void Illusion skill and volatile buffs, while improving chaos damage effects and elemental ailment chances. No matter which ascendancy class you are going to choose, here are good Monk league starters for PoE 2 0.3.

1. Flicker Strike/Falling Thunder Invoker Build

For the new Path of Exile 2 Rise of the Abyssals league, the Monk class focuses on two main skills with quarter staffs: Flicker Strike and Falling Thunder. These skills let you quickly jump around enemies and deal fast, powerful attacks. What’s new and exciting is that support gems can now be used multiple times on the same skill. This means you can stack effects like faster attacks or bigger area damage a lot more than before. For example, Flicker Strike now has a high chance to not consume charges, letting you keep using it many times without stopping. This makes the build very fast and fluid. The build shines because it combines very high attack speed, critical hit, and strong area damage. You jump from enemy to enemy, hitting lots of foes quickly and often critting, which deals extra damage. The ability to swap weapons instantly (without slow animations) makes using different setups for Flicker Strike and Falling Thunder easier and more effective.

Skill Tree Focus

• Focus on Attack Speed: The first thing you want is to find and grab points that increase how fast you can attack. The faster you strike, the more hits you land, and the better Flicker Strike works. There are special spots on the tree that give you big boosts to attack speed. Make sure to connect to those early!

• Pick Critical Strike Bonuses: Critical strikes are like lucky hits that deal extra damage. On the tree, look for places that increase your chance to land critical hits and the damage those critical hits cause. Getting a high crit chance will make your Flicker Strike and Falling Thunder much more powerful.

• Grab Life and Energy Shield Nodes: Surviving is just as important as dealing damage. You’ll find clusters that give you more life (health) or energy shield (a magical shield that absorbs damage). Take enough of these so you don’t get knocked out quickly. Energy shield works well with the Invoker’s skills, so balancing both life and energy shield is smart.

• Get Charge Management and Mana Support: Since Flicker Strike uses charges, it’s important to have points that help you keep your charges longer and recover mana faster. There are special parts of the tree that reduce mana costs or help you regain mana quickly, so you can keep attacking non-stop.

• Look for Evasion and Defense Bonuses: The Monk is nimble and can dodge attacks. The skill tree has spots that boost your evasion (your chance to avoid attacks) and reduce damage taken. Picking these will help you stay alive, especially when you’re in the thick of battle.

• Explore New Clusters for Unique Effects: Path of Exile 2 adds new interesting clusters that might increase your critical chance when you trigger skills or boost your attack speed based on how much energy you have. Try to include some of these because they can make your character even stronger in clever ways.

2. Unarmed Hollow Palm Chayula Build

One of the most popular ascendancy classes in Path of Exile 2 0.3 is going to be Acolyte of Chayula, especially with the Hollow Palm Technique. Instead of using weapons, this Monk punches enemies with bare hands. The new Keystone Passive Skill makes your fists hit really hard by using your armor’s stats to boost damage. Without any weapons equipped, this build focuses on armor stats like evasion and energy shield to make you faster and more deadly. For every bit of evasion and energy shield your armor has, you get more attack speed and a higher chance to land critical hits. This can add up to a huge bonus, making your unarmed attacks hit very fast and very hard. Plus, there’s a bonus 5% base critical chance just for attacking unarmed, making this build great for crit-focused strategies. This build is strong because it relies on stacking defensive stats on your gear to boost offense, which is a unique playstyle. However, it might struggle a bit because you lose the power that comes directly from weapons, so it needs some special support gems or passive skill points to fill the gap.

Skill Tree Focus

The skill tree focuses on boosting evasion (which helps you dodge attacks) and energy shield (a magical shield that protects you), because these two stats give you more attack speed and a higher chance to land critical hits. So, your armor is super important here; the better your armor’s evasion and energy shield, the faster and deadlier you become. You also want to take points that help you recover energy shield quickly by leeching life or mana, which means when you hit enemies, you heal yourself. This keeps you alive even when you are up close in dangerous fights.

Gear Choices

Since you don’t need weapons for this build, your focus is on finding armor with high evasion and an energy shield. This means helmets, chest pieces, gloves, and boots that give you lots of these stats. A special unique item called Thunderfist Utility Wraps is perfect because it adds lightning damage when you hit enemies unarmed, gives you more energy shield and evasion, and even boosts your attack speed and critical chance. But there are other gloves that can help you leech life or mana faster, which is very useful too.

How the Hollow Palm Technique Keystone Passive Works in PoE 2 0.3?

Usually, your damage comes from the weapon you hold. But with Hollow Palm Technique, your skill gem level acts like your weapon’s power. For example, if you use the skill Ice Strike at level 15, your damage comes from that skill’s level, and if you level it up to 16 or 17, your damage increases accordingly. So, the skill gem is your weapon. Because you don’t need a physical weapon, you don’t get bonuses like extra attack speed or critical chance from weapons, but instead, the keystone gives you attack speed and critical hit chance based on the evasion and energy shield stats from your armor. Specifically, you gain:

• 1% more attack speed for every 25 evasion rating on your armor.

• 0.1% added base critical chance for every 10 energy shield on your armor.

For example, if your armor has 1366 evasion and 197 energy shield, you get about 54% more attack speed and nearly 17% base critical chance on your attacks, which is very strong—even better than some quarterstaff weapons.

Best Class for Hollow Palm Builds in PoE 2 0.3

One of the best ascendency classes for this build is Acolyte of Chayula, because it has abilities that let you leech energy shield from damage, helping you survive by recovering your energy shield when you hit enemies. Since this build is unarmed and close to enemies, you’ll take damage often, so energy shield leech is very important. Other good options include Invoker (for elemental damage) and Amazon (which can leech life and convert it to energy shield), but Monk with Chayula is currently the top pick for survivability.