Overview
This is the matured version of the Hollow Form Whirling Assault Martial Artist — the creator’s own final update on a build they have been iterating on all league, recorded at level 96 on a Chaos Inoculation conversion with roughly 6,000 energy shield. The identity is unchanged from the original: clones spawned by Hollow Form Technique carry Whirling Assault, and a pair of gloves that shares charges with allies in your presence treats those clones as allies, producing a self-sustaining charge loop.
What is new is a curse layer that most players running this build do not have. Blasphemy with Repulsion keeps a curse permanently active, and the curse itself hits — building stun, breaking armour with an armour break support, and shocking through Living Lightning wisps. The creator calls it a straight upgrade over whatever else you are reserving spirit on, and it works in maps and on bosses equally.
The other pillar is charge economy. Charge Regulation consumes each charge type for a different payoff: power charges become critical chance, endurance charges become armour, evasion and energy shield, frenzy charges become skill speed. Because the gloves generate all three constantly, all three payoffs run permanently.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Effectively a one-button build with optional utility, unusual for a class built around combos
- Playable from early Act 4 once two ascendancies and the right gloves are in hand — no endgame gear gate to start
- Permanent charge generation means permanent crit, defence and speed bonuses from Charge Regulation
- Stun-and-freeze lockdown from the physical-to-chill helmet means boss mechanics often never fire
Cons
- Requires two completed ascendancy trials before the build functions at all
- The central charge interaction is an unintended-looking item quirk that could be patched in a future version
- Best-in-slot AoE support runs 30-40 divine, though a cheaper substitute exists
- Chaos Inoculation leaves you exposed to ignite, which the creator flags as the main remaining threat
Key Skills
- Hollow Form Technique + Whirling Assault — the entire damage core; supported with Heft, Blindside for crit against blinded enemies, Efficiency for mana sustain, and an area support
- Blasphemy + Repulsion — permanent curse that stuns, breaks armour and (with Living Lightning) shocks
- Charge Regulation — converts power, endurance and frenzy charges into crit, defences and skill speed
- Shattering Palm — mobility and blind application, not a damage skill
- Rend (weapon swap) — consumes a power charge for a 50% gain-as-lightning buff, used for single target
Gear & Anointments
The two mandatory pieces are the ascendancy-transforming gloves — level 38, cheap, and worthless-looking until Way of the Stone Fist rewrites their stats into charge generation — and a helmet that makes physical damage from hits contribute to chill magnitude and freeze buildup. That helmet is what freezes bosses without a single point of cold investment, and it also blinds enemies in your presence, which feeds the Distracted Target crit node and the Blindside support.
The quarterstaff wants flat physical, increased physical, and the physical-with-accuracy line; a sinister base adds crit chance. Lightning damage is acceptable filler since shocked enemies take more. Rings carry the build’s resistances because the unique belt provides none. Chest is evasion/energy shield hybrid so deflection remains available.
Charms cover freeze and slow; the creator suggests a dousing charm as a swap since ignite hurts most under Chaos Inoculation. For runes, only the gloves need to be rune-forged — that is the requirement for the ward-based damage-immunity skill. The tree pairs two sources of 50% reduced curse effect for full curse immunity in maps.
Anoint is Well of Power: 5% of maximum mana recovered on power charge consumption, which is effectively infinite mana here.
Endgame Notes
The creator has done pinnacle boss carries on this setup and went from tier 1 to tier 15 maps in a single day. A Time-Lost jewel in the monk crit cluster is called out as a strong pickup and has been a fixture since patch 0.3.
Credits & Source
Build credited to Ghosded. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: INSANE NEW TECH WITH 1 BUTTON MARTIAL ARTIST MONK.