Overview
This Martial Artist Monk turns the new ascendancy’s bells into a power-charge battery for a Falling Thunder payoff. Killing Palm shatters the creator’s own bells to generate power charges — and the more charges banked, the harder Falling Thunder hits — while Ice Strike and Frozen Locus keep enemies frozen so that lightning lands for full damage. The whole rotation is woven from cheap, self-found pieces, which is exactly why it has held up in Solo Self-Found Hardcore.
Mapping is a loop of smacking bells for charges, leading with Falling Thunder, and topping up rage and charges with Killing Palm between packs. Bossing is a deliberate sequence: open with Hand of Chayula for debuffs, freeze with Ice Strike + Frozen Lotus, fire Mantra of Destruction once the combo is ready, then unload Falling Thunder. Heavy-frost nodes that ignore the resistances of frozen enemies, plus the quarterstaff power-charge tech, make the single-target bursts hit well above the build’s modest gear level.
It’s a survivability-first, all-content workhorse that rewards good charge and freeze management over raw currency.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Hardcore-proven on Solo Self-Found — survives on scuffed, self-found gear
- Very strong, flexible mob clear; most skills can finish packs on their own
- Big single-target burst via freeze-ignore nodes + Mantra of Destruction
- Evasion + energy shield defensive stack tuned for hardcore safety
Cons
- High piloting complexity: bell upkeep, power-charge timing, freeze setup, and rage management all at once
- Bells can physically block your boss hits — needs deliberate positioning
- Damage scales with charge count, so sloppy upkeep means weaker hits
- Gear shown is admittedly mediocre; resistances lean hard on tattoos and runic meridians
Key Skills
- Falling Thunder — main payoff skill, scaled by max power charges, Rage Forge, and Fist of War
- Killing Palm — culls bells to generate power charges, rage, and bonus lightning
- Ice Strike / Frozen Locus — freeze engine for boss damage and pack control
- Hand of Chayula — single-target debuff (elemental weakness + freezing mark)
- Mantra of Destruction — combo-spend boss burst adding chaos damage to the next hit
Gear & Anointments
The build runs a pure energy-shield helmet plus a hybrid evasion/energy-shield chest, with resistances heavily offloaded onto tattoos so rings and gear can chase damage. Rings want flat physical and lightning damage to feed Falling Thunder; gloves prioritise +melee skills and three flat damage rolls. The quarterstaff wants high physical, +melee skills, attack speed, and mana leech — the creator notes the upgraded unique Nazir’s Judgment (via the Verissium Anvil) as a cheap, capable stand-in. Runic Meridians make resistance-capping easy in hardcore. Specific top-end uniques to confirm against the source video.
Endgame Notes
The creator is still experimenting — likely shifting ascendancy points into combo nodes for faster Mantra of Destruction, and respeccing toward crit once a high-base-crit quarterstaff is acquired. An unset ring opens room for a Charge Staff setup to buff attacks for long windows.
Credits & Source
Build credited to IamBramer. See the source video for full gameplay footage and the complete skill-tree walkthrough: Hardcore-Ready Martial Artist Thunder Bell Build Guide.