[PoE 2] WHIRLING Martial Artist Build - T15 Endgame Guide for Monk - Path of Exile 2 0.5

Overview

This is a Monk played as the Martial Artist ascendancy, presented by Ronarray as a T15 endgame update to a build that began as an unarmed league-start character. The core idea is to transition out of unarmed combat once you reach maps (roughly level 65-70) and commit to Verin Assault (the “whirling” attack the build is named for) as a single, do-everything skill. Once the swap is complete you simply run across the map spamming Verin Assault to clear, while a supporting cast of bells, Killing Palm, and a charge skill handle setup and single-target. The creator confirms the build comfortably farms tier 15 maps even on “day one” average gear, with damage scaled primarily through critical strikes and elemental (mostly lightning, with significant cold) conversion.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• One-button mapping: spam Verin Assault across the whole map for clear and bossing alike.
• Strong, scalable single-target via stacked bells (up to three) reapplied on bosses.
• High crit chance (around 71% with Pinpoint) drives consistent damage and triggers.
• Proven to farm T15 maps even with mediocre, cheap gear.
• Flexible defenses layering evasion, energy shield, and deflection (block).

Cons

• Requires a mid-game gear swap from unarmed to weapons, which can be a gear/currency hurdle.
• Verin Assault is very mana-hungry at higher levels and needs tree support to sustain.
• Several skills depend on bugs/interactions (e.g. charge skill killing bells before power charges generate) that may change with patches.
• Herald of Ice payoff requires committing heavily to cold damage in the build.

Key Skills

• Verin Assault — the primary whirling attack and the build’s clear + boss skill; recommended with five sockets, supported by Rage, Ancestral Call, Pinpoint, Efficiency, and Elemental Armament.
• Killing Palm — used to kill bells and generate power charges before boss fights; supported by Thrill of the Kill, Charge Profusion, and Blazing Critical.
• Bell (Tawhoa-style summon) — your own bell for single-target burst, reapplied up to three times on bosses; runs Magnified Area, Durability, Ancestral Call, and Close Combat.
• Charge skill — cast before entering boss arenas after building power charges; runs Prolonged Duration (Perpetual Charge optional).
• Heralds — Herald of Ice (with heavy cold investment) or Herald of Thunder, paired with Herald of Ash for clear.

Gear & Anointments

Weapons should be elemental, ideally cold plus another element (lightning or fire), with increased elemental damage with attacks or +level of all melee skills; the creator targets at least ~300 weapon DPS when first swapping off unarmed. Rings prioritize resistances (including ~30% chaos resistance) plus added damage to attacks and ideally life. Gloves want double or triple added damage. Boots want ~30% movement speed and resistances. Helmet and body armour stack evasion, energy shield, and deflection. Beacon of Azis is recommended as a cheap unique. Runes mentioned include Th-granal runes of mastery on gloves and Sakaval/Farl runes of the hunt on the weapon, plus the runic anvil for adding quality. Use a Sun’s Satchel charm for survivability, which requires a flask with instant recovery to function. Specific uniques to be confirmed against the source video.

Endgame Notes

The guide is built around farming tier 15 maps and sits between the creator’s “early late game” and “waystones” written variations — both viable, but the upgraded variation needs significantly more gear investment. Mapping is pure Verin Assault spam; bossing means casting Killing Palm to fully stack power charges, casting your charge skill, then reapplying bells inside the arena. Watch for the power-charge bug where a charge skill kills bells before Killing Palm registers. For the final ascendancy, take Runic Meridians for the broad rune bonuses, but the creator notes a current Trial of the Sekhemas bug affecting the last point. Survivability comes from layering evasion, energy shield, and deflection; the Sun’s Satchel charm (with an instant-recovery flask) and spamming an ultimate life flask cover incoming damage, and Grand Chaos Circulation is a later consideration once energy shield exceeds ~4k.

Credits & Source

Build credited to Ronarray. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: [PoE 2] WHIRLING Martial Artist Build - T15 Endgame Guide for Monk.