Path of Exile 2 Monk build: best skills, passives, and support gems to use

So you've chosen to play a Monk in Path of Exile 2. WHo can blame you. The Monk is an especially fun melee class that can be built in a variety of ways, all of them fun. However, if you're struggling to figure out what sort of Monk you want, this article we've written a Path of Exile 2 Monk build that should get you started as you progress through the game.

In this guide we'll go through the core identity of the build, which skills it uses, the best support gems, and the best passives for what we're aiming for. We've also broken down what you should be looking for when it comes to weapons and armour.

Path of Exile 2 Monk build

So with this build, we're gonna go hard into a critical strike Monk build. More so than other classes, the Monk makes it especially easy to not only hit critical hits often, but tremendously boost your damage during and after crits. The result is a melee monk that can absolutely chew through enemies both large and swarming. It's also exceptionally fun.

Path of Exile 2 Monk best skills

Here are the skills we'll be using in this Monk build. You'll notice we're taking some lightning attacks alongside powerful palm strikes. The reason why we're taking lighting attacks - despite not focusing too much on the lightning ailment - is because they provide not only some handy AOE clear but also some fast-hitting skills early in the game. As you progress and get higher level skill gem, we'll use them less in favour of Whirling Assault for AOE and Flicker Strike for a Power Charge cash out skill.

Unlike other classes and builds, you'll get a lot of use out of your regular quarterstaff strike with this build. So be sure to use it, especially when you're running out of mana.

• Quarterstaff Strike - Your standard strike, uses no manner and does decent damage!
• Killing Palm - an execute on low-health enemies, giving you a power charge.
• Falling Thunder - An electric slam that cashes in power charges for a powerful AOE frontal attack.
• Staggering Palm - Dash to an enemy and strike them, causing your attacks to shoot projectiles if it stuns them.
• Tempest Flurry - A series of Strikes, which have modifiers when used in quick succession. We take it because it hits a lot, and thus can lead to valuable crits.
• Whirling Assault - Spin to win! Advance towards enemies while spinning and hitting enemies. Your go-to AOE attack when you get it.
• Flicker Strike - This will replace Falling Thunder as your power charge cash out spell in fights when you get it. Teleport to an enemy and hit them. Hits additional times for every power charge you have.

Path of Exile 2 Monk best support gems

What about support gems? Here's what we picked up for this Monk crit build! (note, we've listed some tier 2 support gems here to use later on. If you're looking to fill up support slots in Act 1 and 2 for your skills, mix and match with recommended gems until then for a temporary boost to your skills. Who knows! It might inspire a build on your next character).

• Quarterstaff Strike - 1: Overpower. Hits cause 50% more stun buildup. 2: Soul Thief. Hits Leach 5% of physical damage dealt back as mana.
• Killing Palm - 1: Profusion. When you gain charges, gain a 50% chance to gain an additional skill. 2: Momentum. A tier 2 support gem. Causes you to deal more damage when you travel at least two metres when you use it. Which, y'know, this skill will likely do!
• Falling Thunder - 1: Lightning Infusion. Does 25% more damage as lightning damage. 2: Coursing Current. A tier 2 support gem. Adds a chance for it to spread shock to nearby enemies.
• Staggering Palm - 1: Impact Shockwave. Causes a damaging shockwave when you stun an enemy. 2: Excise. A tier 2 support gem. Adds a cooldown, but grants a larger chance to critical hit.
• Tempest Flurry - 1: Ambush. Have a 100% increased critical hit chance against enemies at full life. 2: Inevitable Critical. A tier 2 support gem which gradually builds critical strike chance when you hit with the ability.
• Whirling Assault - 1: Brutality. Deals more physical damage while taking away elemental damage types. 2: 2: Close Combat. A tier 2 support gem. Deals more damage to enemies near you.
• Flicker Strike - 1: Martial Tempo. Increases attack speed by 25%. 2: Overpower. Builds up an additional 50% stun when hitting (swap out the gem on Quaterstaff Strike to something else when you get this).

Path of Exile 2 Monk best passives

This build is all about getting critical hits and getting them often. As such, you'll notice us pick up a bunch of powerful passives that not only let us crit more often, but make our critical hits do way more damage. In addition, the Monk passive skill tree has major passives that increase our damage following crits, meaning the build shouldn't feel as feast-or-famine as you'd expect. On top of this, attack speed and general survivability passives have been taken.

The major passives we recommend building towards are:

• Flow Like Water
• Crashing Wave
• Moment of Truth
• The Power Within
• Critical Exploit
• True Strike
• For the Jugular
• Deadly Force
• Lust for Power
• Tempered Mind
• Savouring

As you can see, lots of critical chance, lots of critical damage. We've also got some passives that increase the number of power charges you gain, which is important for both AOE and single target burst when you getting Flicker Strike.

Path of Exile 2 Monk best weapons and armour

Okay so, what should you equip on your Monk? Well, the Monk is a nice class that naturally makes use of both intellect and dexterity, and as such the ideal defensive stats you want on your Monk have both evasion and energy shields. You can get away with having gear with one or the other, especially if they have some especially rad substats on them, but eventually you'll want to fill up your character with duo evasion / energy shield stuff.

Now you've got some gear with evasion and energy shields on it, what about the sub-stats? As with all classes, more health and elemental resistances are always good, as is movement speed. However, with this particular build? You want attack speed, critical hit chance, and critical hit damage. Get a weapon or chest piece with some of that, and you'll be laughing to the bank.

If you can hunt down weapons and armour with these stats included, you should be good to go. The important thing is not to hoard your upgrade materials. You might be tempted to avoid common gear and weapons in favour of blues and yellows, but you never know if a cheeky upgrade could reveal a god roll on this otherwise junk loot. Remember, upgrade material sitting in your stash isn't doing anything to improve your character's power.

With that, we've reached the end of our entry-level Path of Exile 2 Monk guide. From here, you can choose to keep the build going with the fire build, or hey, you can totally switch it up when you feel more confident doing so. Part of the joy of Path of Exile is trying out interesting new builds, so once you've played with this, give some other things a spin.