PoE 2: Return of the Ancients - Martial Artist Ascendancy Class Guide
29.05.2026 - 10:06:23
Game Guides , Path of Exile 2
The Martial Artist is the third ascendancy class for the Monk in Path of Exile 2. This ascendancy class, which was introduced in Return of the Ancients, is proficient in melee combat, and is able to harness the power of ghostly bells and illusions to defeat enemies. It is also the only ascendancy class capable of utilizing additional runes, which may prove useful during league start scenarios.
This new ascendancy class in PoE 2 might be of particular interest among Monk players. That is mainly because of the added power that some of the Martial Artist’s ascendancy nodes can provide.
What is the Martial Artist in PoE 2?
The Martial Artist is one of the ascendancy classes in Path of Exile 2. He is the third ascendancy class available to the Monk, right next to Invoker and the Acolyte of Chayula.
What makes the Martial Artist different is that he has mastered some of the “Hollow Techniques” that only dedicated Monks have access to. And no, this PoE 2 ascendancy class does not require the “Hollow Palm Technique” keystone on the passive tree to be proficient in fighting enemies. This means that the Martial Artist can still make use of actual quarterstaves to deal damage, instead of engaging in unarmed combat.
Aside from the mastery of certain Hollow Techniques, the Martial Artist is also the only ascendancy class capable of housing runes in his body. As GGG continues to add more runes in every major content update for Path of Exile 2, the Martial Artist’s capabilities only get better from here on out.
How the PoE 2 Martial Artist Mechanics Work
So, what exactly are these “Hollow Techniques?” Well, the Martial Artist has a few ascendancy nodes dedicated to them, including:
- Hollow Focus Technique
- Hollow Resonance Technique
- Hollow Form Technique
Hollow Focus Technique
Taking the Hollow Focus Technique enables the Martial Artist to occasionally make ethereal bells appear on the battlefield. The Martial Artist can strike this bell, creating a shockwave that deals damage to nearby enemies. Hits against these bells are always a guaranteed critical strike, which is quite helpful when using “Cast on Critical” setups.
Hollow Resonance Technique
The Hollow Resonance Technique, when allocated, grants the “Hollow Resonance” skill. This creates an ethereal bell that is permanently attached to the Martial Artist’s back. Landing critical hits, including the shattering of ethereal bells from Hollow Focus, causes the attached bell to ring out, damaging nearby enemies in the process.
Hollow Form Technique
How about Hollow Form Technique? This grants the Martial Artist the “Hollow Form” skill. This allows him to create fleeting images of himself while channeling, which use a socketed melee skill before they vanish. Hollow Form can also spend Power Charges to create more images, resulting in an improved damage output.
Runic Meridians
Aside from the Hollow Techniques, the Martial Artist has other tricks up his sleeve. One ascendancy node worth mentioning is “Runic Meridians.” When allocated, the Martial Artist can “tattoo” runes onto his body, gaining five additional rune-only sockets. The breakdown is as follows:
- 1 Helmet Socket
- 2 Body Armor Sockets
- 1 Gloves Socket
- 1 Boots Socket
Those rune sockets are special because you can insert gear-specific runes to gain amazing effects. For instance, you could slot in The Greatwolf’s Rune of Willpower into one of those body armor sockets, so that 15% of the damage you receive is taken from mana before life, thus improving survivability.
When you have Runic Meridians, there will be a small button at the bottom-left portion of your inventory (right next to the Flask). Click it to reveal the five additional rune sockets.
Way of the Stonefist
The Martial Artist also has another node that has something to do with gear. This ascendancy node is called “Way of the Stonefist.” When you take this node, the gloves that you equip will turn into the “Fists of Stone” base type, with their explicit modifiers transformed into more powerful related mods. This effect applies to all gloves in PoE 2, including rares and uniques.
The Way of the Stonefist ascendancy node is quite powerful because the “Fists of Stone” gloves actually increase your evasion rating by three and maximum energy shield by one per level.
Martial Adept
While the Hollow Techniques mentioned earlier are powerful, the Martial Artist is not one-dimensional at all, as he can also chain attacks together to unleash more powerful combos. When taking this route, certain ascendancy nodes have to be considered.
Martial Adept is an ascendancy node that gives the Martial Artist an easier time accruing combo points. Plus, each time he expends a Combo Point by using skills that require it (such as Tempest Bell and Mantra of Destruction), the delay of energy shield recharge is reduced by -0.2 seconds per Combo Point spent.
Martial Master
Martial Master is another node that has something to do with Combos. Thanks to this node, the Martial Artist can build and retain Combo Points regardless of the current weapon set. Besides that, Combo Points can now be accumulated from all attack hits, alleviating the need for Practiced Combo and other related support gems to achieve the same thing.
Way of the Mountain is the last ascendancy node for the Martial Artist. This lets the Martial Artist accumulate stacks of “Mountain’s Teachings” whenever he immobilizes an enemy (up to 30 stacks).
When the Martial Artist has at least one stack of Mountain’s Teachings, he gains the following:
- 15% more damage.
- Hits from the enemy that would deal damage less than or equal to 30% of the Martial Artist’s maximum life (after mitigation from armor and resistances) will deal 40% less damage.
- 50% more stun threshold.
PoE 2 Martial Artist Ascendancy Nodes
| Ascendancy Node | Effect | Path | Notes |
| Way of the Mountain | 100% surpassing chance per enemy power to gain “Mountain’s Teachings” on immobilizing an enemy, up to a maximum of 30. Lose a Mountain’s Teaching when you are hit, or when you use or sustain an attack that benefits from Mountain’s Teachings. | Bottom of the tree. | The Way of the Mountain is likely one of the nodes that most Martial Artist builds in PoE 2 may use. The benefits of having Mountain’s Teachings are enormous, and may be utilized by most builds with the right setup. |
| Way of the Stonefist | Gloves you equip have their base type transformed to “Fists of Stone” while equipped, and their prefixes and suffixes are transformed into more powerful related modifiers. | Second node from the bottom. | Another ascendancy node worth taking, the “Fists of Stone” gives you a free and meaningful upgrade for your gloves. Keep in mind that the Way of the Stonefist applies to all equipped gloves, whether they are rare or unique. |
| Martial Adept | When you gain a Combo, gain an additional Combo. -0.2 seconds to current energy shield recharge delay per Combo expended when using skills. | Third node from the bottom. | Allows for easy accumulation of Combo Points for use on Tempest Bell. |
| Martial Master | Skills can build and retain Combo regardless of weapon set. Gain Combo from all attack hits. | Node next to “Martial Adept” on the tree. | Alleviates the need for “Practiced Combo” or other support gems that allow you to gain Combo from attack skills. Together with “Martial Adept,” you can reliably accumulate and maintain Combo Points, even after you spend them with Tempest Bell. |
| Runic Meridians | Can tattoo runes onto your body, gaining additional rune-only sockets: -1 Helmet Socket -2 Body Armor Sockets -1 Gloves Socket -1 Boots Socket | Fourth node from the bottom. | With over 60 runes introduced in the Runes of Aldur League, taking this ascendancy node is a good choice. |
| Hollow Focus Technique | Grants the “Hollow Focus” skill. Hollow Focus: Bells appear within a 4-meter radius of you. Bell duration is 5 seconds. 4.1-second duration between bells appearing. Limit 1 active bell (at a time). Bells cannot cause stun build-up. The shockwave radius is 2 meters. | Fifth node from the bottom. | Incredible ascendancy node that may prove quite useful during league start scenarios. The bells can be destroyed with one hit, causing a shockwave that deals damage to nearby enemies. Hitting the bell always results in a critical hit, which is useful for certain mechanics, such as an automatic spell cast from “Cast on Critical” meta skill. |
| Hollow Resonance Technique | Grants the “Hollow Resonance” skill. Hollow Resonance: Attaches a ghostly bell to your back. Critical hits with other skills will cause the bell to ring out, damaging nearby enemies. The ghostly bell from Hollow Resonance causes 150% more stun build-up. The shockwave’s radius is also 2 meters. | Node right next to Hollow Focus Technique. | Might be a good complement to the Hollow Focus Technique, especially if you don’t have endgame gears just yet. |
| Hollow Form Technique | Grants the “Hollow Form” skill. Hollow Form: Channel to create fleeting images of your astral self near the target location. The images perform a socketed attack once and then vanish, targeting the closest enemy if possible. The images cannot perform channeled skills or conditional skills. Images can be created within a 6-meter radius of you. Creating an image spends 80% of the socketed skill’s cost. Creates two additional images when consuming a Power Charge. Socketed skills have 30% less attack speed. Socketed skills deal 20% less damage. | Sixth node from the bottom. | Hollow Form is a great way to use attack skills that you otherwise won’t cast yourself. Having multiple images that use that attack skill may yield better results, especially when you find a way to gain Power Charges to create more images. |
PoE 2 Martial Artist Build Ideas
Do you want to play the Martial Artist ascendancy class in Path of Exile 2? If so, here are some build ideas you can try:
Falling Thunder Martial Artist
This league starter build is centered around the Falling Thunder. However, that is not the only skill that you will utilize because you’re going to build up Combo Points using other skills.
Whirling Assault is utilized to gain Combo points. After that, you cast Charged Staff and then drop Tempest Bell to deal considerable amounts of damage. When you have reached your max Combo Points, use Falling Thunder to finish the job.
This build makes great use of Martial Adept and Martial Master to accumulate and maintain Combo Points as you use your melee skills. Additionally, Tempest Bell now drops three bells instead of one, with each causing damaging shockwaves when hit.
To give you additional benefits, take the Way of the Stonefist as well. Equip a pair of gloves that have offense mods to improve your overall damage output with this build.
Core Mechanics:
- Falling Thunder
- Combo Points
- Tempest Bell
- Martial Adept
- Martial Master
- Way of the Stonefist
Oil Barrage Martial Artist
Oil Barrage is a wyvern-only skill that lets you unleash a series of oil projectiles fired in sequence if you have some Power Charges. To reliably accumulate Power Charges, you have Lingering Illusion to take care of that. This is a persistent buff that allows you to create copies of yourself that can be damaged by enemies. When one copy is destroyed, a Remnant will drop, granting you a Power Charge when picked up.
You’ll start the league wielding a bow and quiver. This is so that you can utilize the combination of Lightning Arrow and Lightning Rod to progress the early parts of the campaign. As soon as you reach Act 3, you can acquire a Talisman that will transform you into a Wyvern, thus enabling you to use Oil Barrage.
The Oil Barrage Martial Artist has Way of the Stonefist to improve the gloves and Way of the Mountain to get additional bonuses. Runic Meridians is an option you could take, though that is only advisable in the endgame, where you have enough PoE 2 currency to acquire the more expensive runes.
Core Mechanics:
- Oil Barrage (must have Talisman equipped)
- Power Charges
- Way of the Stonefist
- Runic Meridians
‘Stonebound Executioner’ Martial Artist
This PoE 2 Martial Artist build uses Shattering Palm and Herald of Ice to freeze enemies and deal massive amounts of cold damage in the process. The Hollow Focus Technique and Hollow Resonance Technique are both allocated to trigger the bells for additional damage.
The Stonebound Executioner Martial Artist also deals more damage and has incredible defense thanks to Way of the Mountain. Because this build can freeze enemies on a consistent basis, it always gets Mountain’s Teachings stacks, so long as it doesn’t stop its relentless assault.
To supplement that damage, the Stonebound Executioner Martial Artist has the Way of the Stonefist allocated as well. Make sure to craft a good pair of gloves that has extra cold damage for the maximum benefit.
Core Mechanics:
- Shattering Palm
- Herald of Ice
- Hollow Focus Technique
- Hollow Resonance Technique
- Way of the Mountain
- Way of the Stonefist
PoE 2 Martial Artist Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths:
- Strong ascendancy nodes that are great for league start and endgame scenarios.
- Bonuses that you can get from additional rune sockets (Runic Meridians) and the Fists of Stone (Way of the Stonefist) are too hard to pass up.
- Huge potential in the endgame, where you have access to better gloves and weapons.
Weaknesses:
- Among the “Hollow Techniques” available to the Martial Artist, only Hollow Focus and Hollow Resonance Techniques are viable in the late game (at least, on paper).
- If this ascendancy class proves to be too powerful, there is a good chance that GGG may nerf the Martial Artist in the next major content update for PoE 2.
PoE 2 Martial Artist vs. Other Monk Ascendancies
So, how does the Martial Artist compare to other Monk ascendancy classes in Path of Exile 2?
Against the Acolyte of Chayula, the Martial Artist is just better in their current forms. While the Acolyte of Chayula has nodes that can be beneficial in league start scenarios, such as Lucid Dreaming, Sap of Nightmares, and Waking Dream, the Martial Artist has nodes that have an impact that can be felt immediately.
For example, the Hollow Focus Technique allows the Martial Artist to conjure ghostly bells periodically. When struck, the bell shatters, causing a shockwave that deals damage to nearby enemies. This particular node functions without additional investment in gear and can work in tandem with the Hollow Resonance technique to cause more shockwaves as you attack.
When pitted against the Invoker, who has access to “Meditate” for increased energy shield recharge rate, the Martial Artist has “Way of the Mountain” to counter that. This ascendancy node grants a stacking buff (Mountain’s Teachings) that gives more damage, more defense, and a higher stun threshold.
As for rankings, RPGStash puts the Martial Artist in first place because the nodes available to him grant additional bonuses, offense, and survivability that only get better with access to endgame gear. You can read our PoE 2 best class tier list to learn more.
The Invoker is in second place. Although he has ascendancy nodes that improve cold and lightning-based skills, the damage of those skills is likely not comparable with the potential shockwave overlaps caused by the Martial Artist’s ghostly bells. This is also considering that both have the same pieces of gear equipped.
The Acolyte of Chayula is the clear third placer here, given that he barely got any upgrades in recent content updates. His ascendancy nodes leave much to be desired, so hopefully, he gets a massive overhaul before the official launch of PoE 2, especially regarding his offensive capabilities.
FAQ
Is the Martial Artist Good for League Start?
Yes. The Martial Artist is not only meant for league starting scenarios, but it also has a high ceiling, which means that this ascendancy class only gets better over time.
Does the Martial Artist Need Weapons?
Not necessarily. The Martial Artist can engage in unarmed combat when the “Hollow Palm Technique” keystone is allocated on the passive tree. As such, you might want to take Way of the Stonefist to gain additional modifiers from your equipped gloves.
What is the Martial Artist Good at in PoE 2?
The way the Martial Artist is made, GGG has probably intended this ascendancy class for use with skills that spend Combo Points (like Tempest Bell). When more Combo-related skills are introduced in Path of Exile 2 in the future, the value of the Martial Artist may increase because of that.
What Ascendancy Nodes Should I Take When Playing the Martial Artist in PoE 2?
In early- to mid-game scenarios, Hollow Focus and Hollow Resonance Techniques will aid you in completing the campaign. The shockwaves that the ghostly bells produce deal considerable amounts of damage, which might make it easier for you to kill enemies.
As you engage with the Atlas and have obtained good gear, you might also consider taking Runic Meridians to have additional rune sockets, as well as Way of the Stonefist to get the most out of your equipped gloves.
What Are the Best Martial Artist Ascendancy Nodes in PoE 2?
Runic Meridians and Way of the Stonefist. The former lets you use five additional rune sockets, while the latter adds new modifiers to your equipped gloves.
Runic Meridians can be quite helpful in the early game, where resistance modifiers on gear are still not high enough to achieve 75% without a huge investment.
Way of the Stonefist, however, is probably the best ascendancy node, particularly in the endgame. Equipping mirror-tier gloves should be the main goal to get the most out of this node. The additional modifiers are just too hard to pass up.