This guide covers the Martial Artist Ascendancy for the Monk, including Unique Skills and Skill Interactions.
Martial Artist Overview
Martial Artists are master of Melee Combat, specializing in Unarmed attacks. They are master of illusions, able to create Bells and clones out of thin air.
Martial Artists practice the Way of the Stone Fist, drastically improving the bonuses of their equipped gloves and turning their fists into lethal killing machines.
By mastering their ability to create illusions, they can create Bells, which deal massive damage and are always considered to be in Culling Strike Range, Primed for Stun, and guaranteed to take Critical hits.
Additionally, Martial Artists can engrave Runic Tattoos into their body, gain extra Augment slots that only hold Runes.
Hollow Form
Hollow Form grants the Hollow Form Skill, a Channeled Meta Skill which performs any socketed Melee Attacks for a reduced cost, but also reduced Skill Speed and Damage. It can consume Power Charges to spawn additional clones to compensate for the downside.
The fact that this is a channeling skill means that to use it comfortably, you’re almost forced to have Mobility as one of the socketed supports. It does however open up access to using Supports like Burgeon for huge damage boosts.
Given that Hollow Form is limited to just Melee Skills, the interesting options available are quite limited. They example they chose, Whirling Assault is a prime candidate for this skill, as it its great AoE would allow it to clear very well with Power Charges.
The other skills that have interesting potential with this skill would be Storm Wave, Wave of Frost, Rapid Assault, and Stampede. Storm Wave and Wave of Frost are great for the potential AoE they can provide alongside other support gems.
Rapid Assault is more of an Off-meta option here, with the general idea being that the Clones stack up the Spearheads for you, then you follow up with a Detonator Skill for heavy burst damage and Bleed.
Rolling Slam could work insanely well as part of a Mace (or Facebreaker!) build, letting you place down Volcanic Fissues or Forge Hammer and constantly slamming them to set them off again.
Hollow Focus
Hollow Focus grants the Hollow Focus Skill, creating bells around you. The Bells deal heavy damage and will Heavy Stun Enemies that are Primed for Stun. Additionally, the Bells ALWAYS take Critical Hits, are in Culling Strike Range, and Primed for Stun.
Hollow Focus is a monster of a skill for various Build Synergies. Cull the Weak for Frenzy Charges, Killing Palm for Power Charges, Stun for Staggering Palm just to name a few.
Cull the Weak and Killing Palm can also be supported by Life Drain and Soul Drain to improve recovery. This can also extend to any skill with Culling Strike Support as well.
One synergy that may prove incredibly useful is with the Black Insignia, granting access to Tailwind. This provides Movement Speed, Skill Speed, and Evasion Rating; all stats great for the Martial Artist.
Combined with Hollow Form and AoE Attacks, it could also prove to be an exceptionally good way to activate other Critical Hit-based bonuses like Stormcharged and Crashing Wave long before you can scale Critical Hit Chance.
Hollow Resonance
Hollow Resonance grants the Hollow Resonance Skill, putting an Illusory Bell on your back that sends out a Shockwave with increased Stun Buildup when you Critically Strike.
The Stun Buildup is more of a minor effect, but will mean that Heavy Stunning Bossing will be much easier on a melee build once you invest into Critical Hit Chance.
The incredibly small radius will limit the viability of this skill to strictly melee builds, as it’s attached to you unlike a Tempest Bell. This is more than fine though, as the Martial Artist is better suited for that playstyle anyways.
As it doesn’t rely on Attack Speed at all, it’s very easy to load up with damage supports for the extra damage and call it good. You’ll definitely want Cooldown Recovery Rate on it to to help keep it in line with your attack speed.
However It will also be worth considering its use as a supportive tool. Leech, Armour Break, Ailments, Impale, Blind, and Exposure are all great way to utilize it. In particular, it could be a way to consistently apply a potent Shock without having to rely on a secondary skill to apply it.
Runic Meridian
Runic Meridian grants five additional Rune-only Sockets to use, outside of your gear. These are separated into 1 Helmet Socket, 2 Body Armour Sockets, 1 Glove Socket, and 1 Boot Socket.
With the mass amount of runes being added in Runes of Aldur, there will be plenty of great options to choose from, especially as you get deeper into the endgame. Even with those aside, there are also plenty of great runes to consider beyond those.
At a very basic level, this will reduce the pressure on your gear for Resistances and attributes. These are more of a temporary measure of course, but will make reaching the endgame more comfortable.
The Rarer Runes are what will really push the value of these Sockets, providing powerful bonuses that you’ll never have to worry about repurchasing ever again should you find an upgrade.
Farrul’s Rune of the Chase will likely be the go-to option for the Boots Socket, as Movement Speed is a very in-demand stat. Thane Grannell’s Rune of Mastery is similar for boots, granting easier access to more powerful Shocks.
The Body sockets are more open for debate, as unless you want Reduced Effects of Curses on you, you’re limited to the basic Runes and anything the Runes of Aldur offers.
Martial Adept
Martial Adept grants an Additional stack of Combo when gaining Combo. Additionally, Energy Shield Recharge Delay is reduced by 0.2 seconds per combo expended.
Building Combo faster is a huge boon for Monk, allowing much easier and more Frequent Tempest Bells, as well as quickly stacking it up for supports like Combo Finisher or Ailith’s Chimes.
Reducing your Energy Shield Recharge Delay by expending Combo is also incredibly strong. With constant skill use it will become very easy to maintain your Energy Shield alongside bonuses to Energy Shield Recharge Rate, though less is available compared to past leagues.
When paired with Ailith’s Chimes and Hollow Form, you can create a cycle of using Hollow Form to quickly build Combo, use it with Ailith’s Chime to turn it into power Charges, then spend the charges with Hollow Form to do it all again.
Martial Master
Martial Master allows all Attack Hits to gain Combo, while allowing Combo to be built and retained across Weapon Sets.
Building Combo from all Attack Hits is a very interesting property, as it enables non-strike skills to build combo. In particular, Ranged Skills are the big inclusion here. Assuming no limitations prevent it, you could just carry a Crossbow with Cluster Grenades supported by Short Fuse and Multishot to instantly build combo. The same concept could also be used on Bows using skills like Rain of Arrows as well.
Retaining Combo between Weapon Sets is also a great Quality of Life and really enables easy use of the above strategy. Any combination of a quick, multi-hit skill and a powerful skill to spend the combo with is the ideal way to use this.
While it’s not taking full advantage of it, it does also allow a second weapon set to provide more potent curses, marks or other various utility without sacrificing Combo.
Way of the Stone Fist
Way of the Stone Fist converts your equipped Gloves to Fists of Stone, gaining Evasion Rating and Energy Shield per Level as well as replacing all modifiers with stronger variations.
Way of the Stonefist is one of the defining passive for the Martial Artist Ascendancy, giving the Unarmed playstyle a much needed boost, and synergizing with Hollow Palm exceptionally well. It’s still incredibly good for standard Attack builds as well, offering the same power boost on top of still having a strong weapon to get more out of it.
The power of this passive comes from the upgraded Modifiers, which even extend to Unique Items. Below are some of the items they showcased both with and without the passives, which provides a good overview of how different modifiers are affected.
Way of the Mountain
Way of the Mountain grants a stacks of Mountain’s Teaching when immobilizing an enemy based on their Power. Stacks are lost on hit, when performing Attacks, or going 20 seconds without gaining stacks.
While any number of stacks are maintained, Attacks you use deal 15% more Damage, damage that doesn’t exceed 30% of your Maximum Life deals 40% less damage, and you have 50% increased Stun Threshold.
Way of the Mountain provides too many bonuses to pass up. When maintained it’s an exceptionally strong passive for early game, providing everything you’d possibly want for easier leveling.
For the most part, most Cold-based skills will be able to maintain stack fairly easily. Though options that let you keep distance, like Glacial Cascade, will make it much easier to upkeep.
If Lightning Skills are more your thing, Kitoko’s Current will work well for maintaining stacks early on as well. These could even become quite the powerful option with Way of the Stonefist as well.
