Overview
This is a 0.5 Monk build from Scorpius built around Whirling Assault and a double-bell setup, refreshed live a few days into the patch while iterating on it during a subathon. The character takes the Martial Artist path, opening with Way of the Stonefist and picking up Double Bells, with a fourth ascendancy point earmarked for Way of the Mountain for stun, immobilise, extra damage and defence. Whirling Assault is the primary damage tool for both bosses and clear, while Tempest Bell, Falling Thunder and the summoned ghost bells from Hollow Focus and Hollow Resonance provide the burst. The engine of the build is power-charge generation: combo points feed Mantra of Destruction, while Reaper’s Invocation (loaded with Profane Ritual) consumes corpses on maps and Killing Palm pops your own callable bells on bosses to refill charges.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Strong, flexible damage across both single-target and packs — Whirling Assault plus Falling Thunder handles tier 15 maps and bosses alike.
- Achieved entirely without divines: gear was crafted or pulled from the Genesis tree of the breach, with nothing bought above 30-40 exalted orbs.
- Multiple power-charge routes (Reaper’s Invocation on maps, Killing Palm on bells for bosses) keep the rotation flowing.
- High crit thanks to Pinpoint Critical (roughly 88% crit on Whirling Assault versus 55% without it).
Cons
- The rotation is involved: juggling Whirling Assault, bells, Mantra, charge generation and Falling Thunder takes practice.
- Mantra of Destruction’s empowerment is not full-uptime because Ancestral Call on Whirling Assault already provides the ancestrally boosted buff, so the two overlap imperfectly.
- Early-patch pricing means some upgrades (Aless Chime, Ingenuity, Headhunter) are out of reach; the cheaper free power-charge route is used instead.
- Jewels and unique/megalomaniac scaling are still unsettled and deferred to a later update.
Key Skills
- Whirling Assault — main damage and combo-point builder; supported with Ancestral Call, Rage, Magnified Area and Pinpoint Critical. Heft is the easy fifth support.
- Tempest Bell — Concentrated Area, Ancestral Call, Elemental Armament, Close Combat; Rage Forged if you roll a fifth.
- Falling Thunder — boss finisher that also clears maps; Fist of War, Culmination (combo points), Ricochet and Nova Projectiles.
- Charge Staff — consumes power charges to empower strikes and trigger Herald of Thunder more often.
- Reaper’s Invocation + Profane Ritual — map power-charge generation via corpse consumption (Overabundance, Charge Profusion, Compressed Duration to slash skill effect duration).
- Mantra of Destruction — spends accumulated combo points (capped at 20 via Delayed Gratification) to empower the next hits.
- Hollow Focus & Hollow Resonance bells, Herald of Thunder, and Windancer (Magnified Area, Maim, Blind) for clear and defence.
Gear & Anointments
The gear priority is hybrid evasion/energy-shield bases on helmet, boots and chest, with resistances capped across pieces and movement speed on boots. Deflection or energy-shield recharge are welcome bonuses. The belt should be a utility rare (attributes, resistances, charms) until pricier options like Ingenuity or Headhunter become affordable. Rings favour flat damage over increased, plus any missing resistances. The quarterstaff wants increased and flat physical/elemental damage, crit chance, crit damage, plus levels to melee skills and attack speed; gloves stack flat damage (attack speed converts to Onslaught, plus-two melee converts to plus-one melee plus quality, intelligence to cooldown recovery via the Way of Stonefist conversions). Whether to keep Hollow Palm or drop it for a strong quarterstaff cluster depends entirely on your gear bases. For the amulet, Overwhelming Strike (around 37-38 exalted) is the strong anointment, with Serrated Edges (around 15 exalted) as the budget pick. Specific uniques to be confirmed against the source video.
Endgame Notes
Map rotation: spam Whirling Assault to fill Reaper’s Invocation, release it for power charges, then use Charge Staff and Falling Thunder, repeating as you clear. Boss rotation: pre-charge by popping your own ghost bells with Killing Palm, then Whirling Assault, Tempest Bell, Whirling Assault, Mantra into Falling Thunder before the charges expire. Scorpius reports nearly two-shotting Zest by grabbing bell charges between mechanics. Runic Meridians is floated as a possible late-endgame swap for Way of the Mountain.
Credits & Source
Build credited to Scorpius. See the source video for full gameplay + commentary: POE2 0.5 Martial Artist Whirling Bells - Monk Build Guide.