With the arrival of Path of Exile 2 0.5.0, at the start of the league, almost every player’s primary goal, besides completing the main storyline, is to find a build that can smoothly transition through the early game while also having a very high endgame potential.
Admittedly, there is still much debate about which meta build to choose for POE 2 patch 0.5.0, but it’s clear that most choices focus on the two newly added Ascendancies: The Martial Artist and The Spirit Walker. After all, the advantages of these newly introduced classes in the current league are an open secret among exiles.
Therefore, based on previous testing experience, POECurrency.com presents a Whirling Assault Martial Artist early game build from Patch 0.5.0. This build grants an early advantage with its impressive map clearing speed and survivability, while Hollow Palm Technique provides a significant stat boost in the mid-to-late game, helping you smoothly transition to endgame. It’s undoubtedly the best starter build in 0.5.0.
Why choose Martial Artist?
While this build performs well on Titan, in 0.5.0 Return of the Ancients: Martial Artist is the best choice.
The reason is that you can unlock some incredibly powerful gloves through the first two nodes of Ascendancy, such as Fists of Stone and Facebreaker Gloves. It provides the extremely rare Flat Critical Hit Chance and perfectly scales Cooldown Recovery. Meanwhile, Onslaught on Hit modifier maximizes skill speed and movement speed, balancing devastating defense and mobility.
The core of this build lies in utilizing the power stacking of these powerful gloves to significantly increase unarmed physical damage, allowing Martial Artist to easily overwhelm bosses while maintaining incredible speed.
Whirling Assault Martial Artist Gameplay
For Whirling Assault Martial Artist build, POECurrency.com mainly divides it into two versions: leveling and endgame, based on character level and usage scenario.
Leveling Path
Before reaching level 41 and unlocking the core skill, we follow the leveling path, relying on the extremely subtle synergy between Wind Blast, Wing Blast, and Falling Thunder to easily one-shot bosses and elite enemies in the early stages of the 0.5.0 league. But why wait until level 41? Because after that, we unlock Whirling Assault.
Wind Blast has extremely high multiplicative stun build-up, and when paired with Brink I gem, it can prevent direct stuns. Our goal here is to use it for Primed for Stun, not to one-shot enemies.
Wing Blast, as our core movement and explosive skill, can be quickly unlocked after acquiring Talismans related to Twin-Headed Dragon Wyvern in Act 3. When facing enemies with Primed for Stun effect from Wind Blast, using Wing Blast will instantly trigger Heavy Stun, guaranteeing 100% Power Charge gain. Against bosses, this combo can instantly accumulate 3 Power Charges, easily clearing enemies.
And that’s not all. Combined with Falling Thunder, each Power Charge provides a terrifying multiplicative damage bonus.
The only thing to note is that if you obtain a Tier 3 skill gem early on, don’t use it recklessly. Save it for later with Wing Blast; its combination with Falling Thunder will cause a qualitative leap in your DPS. Also, if you obtain rare PoE2 currency like Lesser Jeweller’s Orb during this process, be sure to save it to add extra slots for core gems later.
Endgame path
Level 41 is a watershed moment; Whirling Assault is officially unlocked at this point. Now, we completely abandon the complex combos of the early game and transition to a true, frantic map-clearing mode.
Here, we first use Whirling Assault to quickly stack the maximum combo count, then trigger Mantra of Destruction by casting Falling Thunder or Tempest Bell. With Lineage Support, each press of Mantra of Destruction reliably grants Power Charges.
Also, since we’re using Lightning Enchantment in the endgame version, with Flat Lightning Damage on rings and gloves, Whirling Assault will frequently apply Shock to monsters.
Once the target is shocked, don’t hesitate, immediately use Siphoning Strike. It will directly consume the shock effect and convert it into power charges. You can then use this power charge to cast Falling Thunder, as this skill deals multiple instances of damage for each charge consumed.
Combined with Charge Profusion II and Perpetual Charge, you can not only gain charges frequently but also have a chance to cast Falling Thunder without consuming charges, achieving free high-damage combos and instantly killing bosses. A little tip: Before the burst, pressing Infernal Cry will grant you an additional 50% damage scaling.
Gear and Affix Priority
Regarding gear, because of the highly random nature of Hollow Palm build, we recommend that you don’t deliberately pursue Uniques during the early stages of POE 2 0.5.0. Instead, prioritize rare gear based on affix priority.
However, once you enter the late game and need to maximize base damage and resistances, remember that POE 2 currency for sale at POECurrency.com is the best shortcut to easily unlocking and crafting your ideal gear sets.
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Armor Base: Must be a mix of Evasion and Energy Shield bases, perfectly matching Hollow Palm Technique scaling.
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Rings/Gloves: The core is finding flat damage. Flat lightning damage, in particular, is key to frequently applying shock and triggering Siphoning Strike bursts.
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Weapons: Before level 41, Quarterstaff with high critical strike chance and attack speed can be used.
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Boots: Movement speed is essential, while also focusing on stacking Evasion and Energy Shield.
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Helm: Only Energy Shield, Mana, Resistance, and Critical Strike Chance are needed.
It’s worth noting that in 0.5.0, the official mana cost of skills was rebalanced, alleviating the pressure of mana consumption in the early game. However, if you still encounter mana issues in the endgame, you can use Constricting Command Helmet and Defy II Gem in synergy. This combination bypasses the mana cost of your main attack skills and grants permanent lucky damage.
To easily obtain these high-level gems and gear pieces without endless grinding, you can buy POE 2 currency from POECurrency.com to fully optimize your endgame gear.
In short, this Whirling Assault Martial Artist set maximizes the advantages brought by Path of Exile 2 0.5.0 update. In the early game, this build utilizes a clever stun build-up and Power Charge to control the battlefield. In the mid-game, it seamlessly transitions to a Hollow Palm playstyle, relying on Whirling Assault’s high-frequency mobile casting and Falling Thunder’s relentless bombardment of the battlefield.
Therefore, if you’re looking for a build that’s fun and allows for easy map clearing in the late game, this is definitely the one for you! POECurrency.com wishes you a smooth progression through Return of the Ancients and a barrage of critical hits!