Overview
This is an end-game Martial Artist Monk built around Whirling Assault as the primary damage skill, supported by the class’s signature bell ecosystem. The 0.5 defensive changes are leveraged hard: the build stacks evasion and energy shield, abuses the reworked deflection formula, and uses Blind to lower enemy accuracy so both deflection and evasion climb together. The result is a fast, durable build that destroys Tier 15 maps and can potentially one-shot bosses.
The engine is a power-charge loop. Whirling Assault builds combo points and serves as the main AoE and boss tool, Tempest Bell and Falling Thunder provide layered burst, and Charge Staff plus Falling Thunder consume power charges for big lightning hits. Power charges are generated two ways: Reaper’s Invocation (with Profane Ritual) consumes corpses during mapping, while Killing Palm destroys the player’s own callable ghost bells to refuel charges before a boss — letting the player pre-load charges, drop Tempest Bell and Falling Thunder, and delete pinnacle targets.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Comfortably clears Tier 15 maps; Falling Thunder is described as overpowered for map clear
- Strong single-target burst with a Killing Palm → bell → Falling Thunder one-shot setup for bosses
- Very tanky for an evasion build thanks to stacked energy shield, deflection, and Blind
- Flexible support slots (Heft, Aless Chime, etc.) let the build scale as currency allows
Cons
- Not a league starter — this is a third-day-into-league update with several-Divine gems and gear
- Complex rotation: combo points, two power-charge generators, and bell management to track
- Some upgrades (e.g. a 9-Divine chime for power charges) are explicitly priced out early-league
- Whirling Assault’s Ancestrally Boosted empowerment overlaps with Mantra of Destruction, reducing its uptime
Key Skills
- Whirling Assault — main damage and combo-point generator (Ancestral Call, Rage, Magnified Area, Pinpoint Critical)
- Tempest Bell — concentrated bell for buffed burst
- Falling Thunder — boss nuke and surprisingly strong map clear (Fist of War, Culmination, Ricochet, Nova Projectiles)
- Charge Staff — consumes power charges to empower strikes with lightning
- Reaper’s Invocation + Killing Palm — the two power-charge generators for maps and bosses respectively
Gear & Anointments
The build stacks evasion and energy shield across gear, with a self-crafted high-crit staff carrying +3 to all attack skills. Windancer provides a defensive knockback aura. Power-charge enablers (Reaper’s Invocation, Killing Palm targeting ghost bells) replace expensive unique chimes for budget-conscious players. The creator notes some pieces — like a 9-Divine power-charge chime — are deliberately left out as too pricey for early league. Exact item rolls and the full passive tree should be confirmed against the source video’s written guide.
Endgame Notes
The build is demonstrated on Tier 15 maps with a Killing Palm → bell → Falling Thunder routine for bossing. Reaching level 90 unlocks the sixth ascendancy point, which the creator highlights as a roughly 40% more damage spike for the build.
Credits & Source
Build credited to Scorpius. See the source video for the full rotation, gear, and gameplay footage: Martial Artist Monk endgame build — PoE2 0.5 guide.