Deciding which Skill Gems to pick up for a build is the most important decision any player is going to make for their character to get stronger inPath of Exile 2, more so than even their choices on the passive skill tree.
Monks are one of thebest melee classes inPoE 2, thanks to their access to some incredible CC and staggeringly high DPS. They have a good variety of options to choose from when it comes to Skill Gems, and while they are free to choose their skills from other classes’ trees, their own Skills have more than enough juice to carry them all the way to the Endgame and more.
The early leveling phase of Monks—before they get access to Tempest Flurry/Ice Strike—can be a struggle. To make reaching this point easier, consider usingRanger’s Lightning Arrow + Lightning Rodcombo at the start of the campaign.
1
Best Support Gems
Perpetual Charge, Innervate, Lightning Infusion
Falling Thunder is a bit of a tricky ability to use. At a base level, it makes the Monk jump up and slam his quarterstaff down in a very small AoE. If the Monk has somePower Charges, however, this slam creates lightning shockwaves that travel quite a large distance, dealing massive damage. With the proper investment and consistent Power Charges, Falling Thunder can easily clear entire screens of enemies in one move.
At early levels, a combination of using Killing Palm to generate Power Charges from low-health enemies and Falling Thunder to clear the field is the best wave clear Monks have access to. With the proper investment, it is a potent combo that can carry players throughout the entire campaign.
7
Magnified Effect, Mobility, Upheavel, Conduction
Monks have access to two ‘ranged’ Skill Gems: Storm Wave and Glacial Cascade. Glacial Cascade is a good option for single-target damage, but Monks have a dozen other skills that are way better at single-target than this skill.
Storm Wave, on the other hand, is a much betterskill for crowd control, something the Monk has a lot of trouble with. With Support Gems like Upheavel, it can get even better at doing just that.
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Martial Tempo, Perpetual Charge, Heft, Close Combat
Flicker Strike is the Monk’s ‘coolest’ Skill, blitzing from one target from another with incredible speed. That it also does incredible damage and clears multiple screens worth of enemies with one activation is secondary; the sheer awesomeness factor alone should be more than enough to sell this to anyPoE 2player.
Flicker Strike requires a lot of Power Charges to work; the more, the better. Luckily, by the time Monks get access to their skill, they will already have their Power Charge problems sorted and ready to go. Combine Flicker Strike with Momentum (which deals more damage the farther the Monk moves during the Skill’s activation) and Perpetual Charge (which gives the Monk a percentage chance of retaining their Power Charges even after activation).
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Expanse, Heightened Curse
Hand of Chayula is a must-have for any Monk hoping to take downendgame pinnacle bosseswithout issue. While Monks do have the tools to get this job done without Hand of Chayula, this Skill Gem makes it much, much easier to do so.
What Hand of Chayula does is allow the Monk to slot in Curse Skills and Marks on a single target, instantly applying multiple debuffs to severely weaken a single target with one move. Hypothermia, Freezing Mark, and Enfeeble are especially useful for Ice Strike Monks, but there are other options too.
5
Martial Tempo, Primal Armament, Lightning Exposure, Strip Away
Accessing level 5 Skill Gems is a watershed moment for leveling this class because, at this point, they gain access to the best DPS Skill Gems for Monks inPoE 2. One of these is Tempest Flurry, an ability that can replace the basic Quarterstaff attack.
Tempest Flurry infuses the Monk’s Quarterstaff with lightning, increases their attack speed, and inflicts Shock. It’s a vastly more effective form of DPS and one that can be further improved with the right Support Gems like Martial Tempo and Primal Armament.
Martial Tempo, Concentrated Effect, Ice Bite, Primal Armament
Ice Strike is the other level 5 skill Monk players get access to alongside Tempest Flurry, and it is considered by a vast majority of the player base the superior option. Ice Strike is a bit slower than Tempest Flurry, and instead of Lightning damage, it does Ice damage. But where Ice Strike outshines its counterpart is in its ability to Freeze enemies in their tracks.
Inflicting Freeze on a target means that they will not be able to move, cast spells, or react in any way for a few seconds, more than enough time for the Monk to defeat them without issue. Additionally, Ice Strike Monks have the additional benefit of getting easy access to the Monk’s most meta build, Double Herald, which allows them tocombine Herald of Ice and Thunderwith Ice Strike to clear hordes of enemies in seconds.
Primal Armament, Conduction, Overcharge, Coursing Current
Charged Staff is the Monk’s bread-and-butter skill and can be combined with both Ice Strike and Tempest Flurry Monks for devastating damage. What it does is essentially use Power Charges to infuse the Monk’s Quarterstaff with Light Saber-like beams of lightning, doubling or even tripling the damage in some instances.
Charged Staff is a must-have skill for every single Monk build, no matter whether they’re maining Flicker Strike, Tempest Flurry, or Ice Strike, which makes it one of the most universally useful Skills Monk players should invest in.
How to Generate Power Charges
Three of Monk’s Skill Gems, Charged Staff, Flicker Strike, and Falling Thunder, require Power Charges to function. At early levels, Power Charges can be generated using Killing Palm, but for consistently maintaining a lot of Power Charges, using a combination of Resonance (Passive Notable) and Combat Frenzy (Spirit Gem) is the way to go.
3
Font of Rage, Overabundance, Close Combat, Supercritical
Once players step firmly into theultra late game phase of the Endgameand start facing off bosses like Xesht, Zarokh, King in the Mists, they’ll start realizing that wave clear and map clear are the easy parts of the Endgame, gaining enough DPS to trivialize pinnacle bosses is what separates the uber-powerful from merely okay builds. Tempest Bell is the Monk’s absolute best way of dealing not only single-target but minor AoE damage as well.
Like Charged Staff, Tempest Bell is an easy plus modifier for the Monk’s DPS skills but without the requirement for Power Charges, making it objectively better than Charged Staff. With the Overabundance Support Gem, players can even increase the number of Tempest Bells they can put down in a single fight for even more single-target damage.
