So you’ve taken the path of enlightenment with Monk, dealing crushing blows with elemental waves of magic in Path of Exile 2? The Monk is a powerhouse with its mix between martial combat and magic. Take on the realm of Wraeclast with your quarterstaff, lightning magic, ice magic, and a big old bell. If you’re new to Path of Exile, the passive skill tree will be overwhelming compared to similar games. Fortunately, we have you covered on what are the best passive skills to take during the early portion of the game.

View Full-size

In the early game, focus on attack damage and defense.

Monk Passive Skill Choices for Acts 1 and 2¶

These skill choices take into consideration that only three acts are in the game at the moment, and the first two acts are what’s considered to be early game. During the early stages of the game, you’ll want to focus on attack power for your weapon as it lacks damage initially as well as evasion rating to boost your defense a bit. As Monk primarily uses both lightning and ice magic, obtaining skills that enhance both their damage is a good choice. Let’s take a look at what you should aim for with the first 25-30 skill points you get.

Your first few points will be spent on the four Evasion and Energy Shield nodes which give you some much-needed defense, and then you’ll want to get the first main skill, Step Like Mist, as it’ll give you some mana regeneration and a movement speed increase on top of it. Before you head to the northern parts of the tree, go southeast and get Essence of the Mountain. The 20% freeze buildup is nothing to sniff at, and the extra 5% damage Extra Cold damage will become useful later on.

Now, head back to the Step Like Mist node, and continue along the line and get Mindful Awareness. This will give you a huge 24% increase evasion rating and maximum Energy Shield, which once again, makes you more difficult to hit, and prolongs your life in this harsh world. Continue left along the line, bagging another evasion buff before reaching Flow Like Water. This increases your attack and casting speed by 8%, which is much needed now.

From this node, you can take several routes, but first, head up the second line to the right to get the Flow State passive, which gives you more mana regeneration and increased Skill Speed. Head back to the Flow Like Water node, and take the third line to the right for the Crashing Wave node that increases your damage by a massive 36% if you’ve hit a critical hit in the previous eight seconds.

Once again, return to the Flow Like Water node and take the fourth line up to the right to get the Essence of the Storm passive. This increases your lighting damage by 5% as well as a 30% chance to increase the chance to Shock. Continue along the line until you reach the second attribute node to the right, and follow that line down to get the impressive Blinding Strike passive. Not only does it increase your attack damage by 24%, but it also adds a 10% chance to blind enemies on hit, and that’s not counting the bonus attack and attribute passive you get along the way.

Head back up to the first attribute node you got (2 to the right of Essence of the Storm), and head up the northeast line to get the powerful Moment of Truth passive for the 20% critical hit chance increase and the 25% increase critical damage bonus. This should cover you for the first couple of acts, depending on how many skill books you’ve used. If you’re still in Act 2 and need skills to go for, head up the line heading north to the left of Moment of Truth, and make your way to the Alternating Current passive for the increased mana regeneration as well as the increase to Magnitude of Shock you inflict.