If you've chosen the Monk in Path of Exile 2, congratulations! You're in for a unique and rewarding experience. The Ice Strike Monk offers both high mobility and powerful damage output, allowing you to dash in and out of combat while freezing enemies in place. Below is a detailed guide to help you build the most effective Ice Strike Monk for both beginner-friendly play and endgame content.
Key Skills & Support Gems
Main Abilities
Ice Strike (Core Skill)
Description: Ice Strike is your main attack. It has a multi-hit mechanic (3 hits: 2 smaller, 1 big) that stacks Freeze quickly. This lets you deal substantial damage while immobilizing bosses and enemies.
Support Gems:
Martial Tempo (Increased speed and power of Ice Strike)
Concentrated Effect (Increased damage but reduced area)
Primal Armament (Adds elemental damage)
Cold Infusion (Increases cold damage)
Ice Bite (Adds cold damage on hits)
Tip: Always have Ice Strike active throughout the entire campaign and in the endgame. It's a powerful tool for map clearing and boss fighting.
Herald of Ice (Supporting Skill)
Description: Herald of Ice creates explosions when enemies are shattered. This is especially useful in mapping as it clears large groups of enemies and triggers additional damage.
Support Gems:
Magnified Effect (Increases the effect of Herald of Ice)
Longshot (Increases explosion range)
Cold Penetration (Improves cold damage penetration)
Ambush (Adds bonus damage to chilled enemies)
Tip: Use this skill liberally when clearing large mobs. The explosions can chain and cover multiple enemies at once.
Tempest Bell (Utility Ability)
Description: Tempest Bell creates a large shockwave around it, amplifying your damage within its radius. It's also capable of absorbing the effects of your other skills to increase their effectiveness.
Support Gems:
Font of Rage (Boosts power)
Overabundance (Increases damage when near the Bell)
Heft (Increases the bell's shockwave damage)
Tip: Place the bell near bosses or large packs of enemies to maximize your area damage and keep yourself safe.
Elemental Invocation + Ball Lightning (Boss Killer)
Description: Elemental Invocation allows you to stack charges with a chosen spell. When combined with Ball Lightning, it delivers high boss-damage potential.
Support Gems:
Ball Lightning (Core spell)
Deceleration (Slows enemies affected by Ball Lightning)
Scattershot (Increases Ball Lightning's area of effect)
Impetus (Adds bonus damage to Ball Lightning)
Tip: Ball Lightning will be your go-to skill for dealing with massive boss damage. Use it after placing the Tempest Bell for an optimal burst of damage.
Extra Abilities
Hand of Chayula: Provides a dash to enemies and applies a cold curse, making enemies more vulnerable to cold damage.
Support Gems: Hypothermia and Freezing Mark for additional cold damage.
Wind Dancer: Grants increase evasion, making you harder to hit in combat.
Ghost Dance: Recharges Energy Shield when hit, based on your Evasion.
Grim Feast: Recharges Energy Shield beyond its original limit, perfect for survivability in tougher content.
Survivability: Evasion vs Energy Shield
Survivability is key in PoE2, especially when facing difficult bosses and tough endgame content. Here's a breakdown:
Early Campaign: Focus on Evasion. Evasion helps you dodge physical hits and provides a reliable buffer in the early stages of the game.
Endgame: Shift your focus to Energy Shield. In higher tiers, damage taken will be enormous, and Energy Shield provides a more reliable way to absorb damage. Combining Evasion and Energy Shield offers the best of both worlds - the ability to dodge most damage and a safety net when you inevitably take a hit.
Important Gear for Ice Strike Monk
1. Rings
Polcirkeln Unique Ring:
The unique effect of this ring will trigger shattered ice explosions when you use Ice Strike. This creates a chain of cold damage explosions that can clear entire screens of enemies.
Second Ring: Look for resistance, cold damage, and life to bolster your defenses.
2. Quarterstaff
A high physical damage Quarterstaff is essential for your build, as Ice Strike converts 80% of physical damage into cold damage.
Focus on stats like Crit Chance, Mana Leech, and Increased Elemental Damage to maximize output.
3. Gloves
Hands of Wisdom and Action: This unique item boosts Dexterity and Intelligence while increasing attack speed. It's an easy way to boost damage without needing to search for perfect rare gloves.
4. Body Armor
Look for gear that boosts Evasion. This is essential for staying alive during the early and mid stages of the game.
5. Helmet
Choose a helmet that offers high Energy Shield. Energy Shield is critical for surviving late-game content.
6. Boots
Movement Speed boots are crucial for avoiding damage and getting around quickly. Aim for 30% or higher movement speed.
7. Belt
A Heavy Belt with high Strength, resistance, and life is ideal.
Passive Tree & Ascendancy
Ascendancy Choice: For Monk, you'll likely want to take the Elemental Focus and Evasion passives that further enhance your cold damage and survivability.
Invest in Cold Damage and Crit Chance nodes to improve the damage output of your Ice Strike and Ball Lightning skills.
Conclusion
The Ice Strike Monk is a fantastic and versatile build in PoE2 that offers a great balance of offense and defense. With its ability to freeze enemies, clear groups, and deal substantial boss damage, it's an excellent choice for both beginners and endgame players.
When possible, use currency like Exalted Orbs or Chaos Orbs (or their PoE2 equivalents) to trade. Most valuable PoE2 items can be purchased using a fair amount of PoE 2 currency. Crafting PoE 2 items with your currency can also add significant value to your gear. For example, Essence crafting allows you to focus on specific modifiers that could be very beneficial to your build (like Cold Damage, Attack Speed, or Energy Shield). Good luck.
MMOexp POE 2 Team