Overview
This is an Oil Barrage Martial Artist Monk built around a shape-shift viper-form channel that splits oil projectiles at the ground rather than enemies — which combines with Fork, Nova Projectiles, and Ricochet 2 to cover the entire screen with chain-bouncing oil grenades. Because Oil Barrage targets the ground, the build can chain-fork projectiles through the same enemy multiple times, which is where the bulk of its damage actually comes from (the support gems carry no “more damage” multipliers — the multi-hit interaction is the multiplier).
Power charges drive everything. Devourer is the early/mid-game charge generator (eat corpses or cull low-life enemies), and Lingering Illusion replaces it once the build matures — the illusion drops corpses that the build picks up for free power charges. Way of the Stone Fist gloves provide huge hybrid evasion + energy shield numbers that the creator pitches as 20K evasion / 5–6K energy shield without major investment.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Oil Barrage chain-forking through ground projectiles creates massive on-screen multi-hits without traditional damage multipliers.
- Way of the Stone Fist gloves scale defence with character level — a clean, gear-cheap defensive ramp.
- Whirling Slash weapon-swap setup ignores movement speed entirely, freeing the boots slot for pure defence.
- Way of the Mountain provides a 40% damage reduction floor against hits ≤30% of max life — a strong early/mid-game safety net.
- Off-screen clear: projectiles chain off the ground for full two-screen clears with the full support setup.
Cons
- Channelled — the player must stop to channel Oil Barrage, which feels slower than instant-attack builds.
- Early game is a multi-skill ramp (lightning arrow → rend → devourer → oil barrage); skill is locked behind support-gem tier-4 access in Act 4.
- Requires starting on Ranger then transferring the bow/quiver/lightning arrow to a Monk character via stash — a non-obvious workaround.
- Endgame Eye of the Chimera setup is expected to be expensive due to Martial Artist demand.
Key Skills
- Oil Barrage — Main damage and clear skill from Act 4 onward; ground-targeted channelled projectile.
- Devourer — Power-charge generator early and mid game via corpse eating / culling.
- Rend — Bridge skill in Acts 2–3 before Oil Barrage is online; also provides a 50% lightning damage buff.
- Lightning Arrow + Lightning Rod — Act 1 leveling skills (Ranger starter swap).
- Wing Blast — Heavy-stun power-charge source for early boss fights.
- Whirling Slash (weapon-swap) — Set-one movement skill that bypasses boot movement speed.
- Frost Bomb — Early-act elemental damage support skill.
- Lingering Illusion — Mid-game corpse generator for free power charges.
Gear & Anointments
Leveling targets the standard Martial Artist hybrid evasion + ES bases plus a quiver and bow for Act 1 lightning arrow leveling. Weapon-swap setup uses a high-attack-speed spear for Whirling Slash on set one and damage stats on set two. Boots can intentionally roll no movement speed since Whirling Slash bypasses it — opening that suffix for resists or another defensive layer.
Act 4 transitions to a Granulated 5-link for Oil Barrage with Fork, Nova Projectiles, and Ricochet 2 as the carry support setup. Endgame brings in echoing-cry / Feral Furor combo for one-shot bossing. Eye of the Chimera is the endgame Martial Artist unique target, though the creator notes it will be expensive due to demand.
Endgame Notes
Late game commits to the Eye of the Chimera + Martial Master + Marshall Adept setup. The creator’s ascendancy plan stops at Way of the Stone Fist + Way of the Mountain for league start, with Hollow Focus or Runic Meridians as the third-trial pick before Eye of the Chimera goes online. Crit-CI is the long-term defensive target.
Credits & Source
Build credited to Peuget2. See the source video for the full Mobalytics planner walk-through and act-by-act gem swaps: My 0.5 Starter! Oil Barrage Martial Artist Monk Build — Detailed League Starter Guide.