Overview
This is an early-league progress report on the Whirling Assault herald Monk, run on Invoker instead of Martial Artist. It covers the hardest part of the build: moving from the leveling setup into the Concussive Runes herald chain, where heavy stuns from Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder trigger a runic shockwave that sets off more herald explosions.
The creator leveled with Stormwave, Siphoning Strike and Falling Thunder, finished the campaign in about six hours and kept that setup until tier 4-5 maps. From tier 6 the build switched to Whirling Assault, Frozen Locust and both heralds. Until the stats are high enough, Frozen Locust does most of the clearing while the herald chain is still unreliable.
Invoker was chosen partly because the creator expects Martial Artist to be nerfed in 1.0. Invoker’s thunder and blizzard nodes add extra damage as lightning and cold, and lightning crits that ignore enemy resistances help before Rakiata’s Flow is affordable.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Handles T15 maps with modest gear (a ~2 div Morior Invictus is the biggest purchase shown)
- Clear target stats make the transition measurable
- Invoker crits ignore enemy resistances early on
- Frozen Locust covers clear until the herald chain works
Cons
- Hard stat gates before the herald chain works (see thresholds below)
- Herald explosions are weak on maps with high monster elemental thresholds
- Not ready for 200% Delirium at this stage
- Needs ~300 ward eventually; the creator was running at 152
Key Skills
- Whirling Assault — main attack with Ocean’s Oath, Innervate and crit supports
- Herald of Ice / Herald of Thunder — Magnified Area, Stun and Concussive Runes
- Frozen Locust — extra AoE until the heralds take over
- Tempest Bell — boss damage with Ancestral Call
- Ghost Dance / Wind Dancer — defensive layers
Gear & Anointments
- Target thresholds: ~6,000 lightning and ~4,000 cold DPS on Whirling Assault, ~80% crit, ~4,000 lightning DPS on Herald of Ice, ~900% lightning stun build-up on both heralds
- Polcirkeln ring is treated as mandatory, because chilled enemies count as frozen for shattering
- Ring and gloves with flat cold and lightning to attacks, mana leech on the ring
- Morior Invictus body armour for armour/evasion/ES and spirit
- An amulet with +2 melee skills
Credits & Source
Build credited to Rynze. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: PoE 2 - Monk build Whirling Assault - Herald of Ice and Thunder - 0.5.5 First days progression.