One of Path of Exile 2's strongest selling points is the sheer build variety at every player's fingertips. The passive skill tree is just as big and overwhelming as it was in PoE 1, but with the added complexity of the game being completely new to everyone.

While there is merit in figuring things out on your own, PoE 2 is significantly harder than its predecessor, with almost Soulslike bosses barring the way forward, which makes experimentation for the sake of it a time-consuming affair, time most gamers don't have. This Monk leveling build is meant to give players who have picked the class a way to start their campaign on the right foot.

Monk Leveling Passive Skill Allocation

There are quite a few different builds for the Monk class, and pigeonholing yourself in a bad build early is a quick way to ruin your playthrough. To remedy this, this passive skill tree spread is meant to be as broad-strokes as possible without committing to any single playstyle too hard. To start, this Monk leveling build is meant to be played as a Lightning Monk, but respeccing out of it to a Cold Monk, for example, will only require a little bit of gold. The idea is to give players a decent starting point from where they can jump to whichever playstyle calls to them the most while making the early game struggles as painless as possible.

To progress further into this build, you can either lean into the Power Charging mechanic, go the Critical Hit Rate + Damage route, or shift completely into Cold Monk.

Best Monk Leveling Skills

Monk has quite a few great skills to choose from, but has a few standouts that need basically no investment to become very powerful against early-game mobs and bosses.

Glacial Cascade

Glacial Cascade is Monk's main ranged attack and is very decent at chipping away at a boss's health from far away. There is no point in using this at close range because most of its damage comes from the large spike that emerges at the end of the cascade. Using this skill against regular mobs is almost never worth it because its area of effect is very small, and when mobs are swarming you, you'll only hit the ones directly in front of you for low damage.

Killing Palm

Killing Palm allows Monk to cull enemies that are low on health by teleporting him directly to the enemy's location and thrusting a palm to kill them. The benefits of this skill are multifold. It is the fastest gap closer in the Monk's arsenal, much faster than Vaulting Impact, and it works on bosses as well. More importantly, it is the earliest and most reliable way a Monk has to obtain Power Charges, which are needed for the Monk's next main move, Falling Thunder.

Falling Thunder

Falling Thunder is Monk's main way of dealing a large amount of Area of Effect damage before he gets access to Tempest Bell. If used normally, the Monk charges up his Quarterstaff and slams it onto the ground, dealing AoE damage in a small cone directly in front of him. However, if the Monk has Power Charges through the use of Killing Palm or another source, Falling Thunder becomes much more potent, and its AoE range drastically increases. A Falling Thunder powered by 3 Power Charges can clear an entire screen very easily in one move.

Tempest Bell

Unlocked with a level 3 Uncut Skill Gem, Tempest Bell is one of Monk's most powerful skills, and what he will be relying the most on in order to clear swarms of monsters easily on the map. To activate Tempest Bell, you'll need to perform four melee attacks with your Quarterstaff or another melee attack skill, like Tempest Flurry. The Bell damages the enemies it lands on and deals AoE knockback and damage upon being hit by any melee attack or skill. If the Monk causes an affliction like Shocked or Frozen to affect the Bell, its shockwaves gain that element as damage. Unlike Falling Thunder, Tempest Bell's AoE is a complete circle, allowing Monk to hit enemies in a circle around the Bell's location. Additionally, there is no cooldown timer between shockwaves, meaning the faster you hit the Bell, the faster the shockwaves come out.

Tempest Flurry

A level 5 Uncut Skill Gem will allow you to unlock Tempest Flurry, one of Lightning Monk's most powerful melee skills that will remain relevant throughout the rest of the campaign. It's a melee skill that imbues the Monk's Quarterstaff with Lightning and allows him to swing it at 140% base attack speed. It hits quickly, takes advantage of any investment you've made into lightning damage, and has an AoE aspect at the end of the combo.

How to Play Monk Leveling Build

At the very start of the campaign, rely on the combination of Falling Thunder and Killing Palm to destroy groups of enemies. Use the basic Quarterstaff attack to bring an enemy down low before using Killing Palm to gain a Power Charge. In most cases, it's better to use Falling Thunder with one Power Charge instead of three because, with one Power Charge, there is a high chance some enemies will survive with low health, allowing you to use Killing Palm again to quickly obtain another charge.

Prioritize obtaining the Profusion support gem for Killing Palm and Perpetual Charge support gem for Falling Thunder. It makes maintaining Power Charged status much, much easier and more consistent. At this stage, your best move against bosses is to rely on Glacial Cascade at range and the basic Quarterstaff in melee.

After you get Tempest Bell and Tempest Flurry, this build really starts coming online. With this setup, every encounter should start with you spamming Tempest Flurry in order to place down a Tempest Bell as quickly as possible. Use it to deal easy AoE DPS; bonus points if you manage to inflict Shock on it with Flurry.

Pay attention to the positioning of Tempest Bell, as placing it in the wrong spot means you can't do effective AoE damage until the Bell runs out (roughly 12 seconds).

Keep an eye out for the glowing indicator that shows when an enemy can be culled with Killing Palm. When the Tempest Bell is near its expiry timer, use Killing Palm to obtain Power Charges and use Falling Thunder whenever needed. This is to prevent being swarmed by enemies during the downtime between Bells. Against bosses, try to figure out their movement pattern and when they pause for attacks. This is the time you should use to place down Tempest Bell and use it in conjunction with Tempest Flurry. Keep Tempest Charges topped up at all times during a boss fight by constantly pestering them with a single hit of Flurry whenever an opportunity presents itself.