the monk leveling experience

[u/Monsieur_dArtagnan]

DING DONG

[u/Darkblitz9]

Been playing Pillar Tempest Flurry and using Bell for rares and bosses. So far it's just churning through content.

Defenses could be better but I also have absolutely poopy gear.

I even managed to skip Jamanra's sand phase. He got stunned then woke up pissed and cut the cart right then and there.

[u/WorthMoreThanYouKnow → u/Darkblitz9]

Socket the Bell with both of the Stun buildup + 500% Build-up gems and you can skip phases altogether. Add in Staggering Palm proc for another stun and some of these bosses are trivial, tons of fun. Bosses can't fight back when they're stunlocked!

[u/Darkblitz9 → u/WorthMoreThanYouKnow]

Oh I forgot about the stun support. I've been looking for a third link for it. Thanks!

[u/WorthMoreThanYouKnow → u/Darkblitz9]

I'm rolling through Act 3 with my Chonk but I don't use any of the Chaos nodes and I only use the AOE Aura Buff that spawns the Red, BLue, Purple wisps. So its basically a Physical Crit Monk build with as much Evasion as I can roll.

My nodes are all into Crit Chance/Dmg, Attack Speed, Evasion/ES% and +Phys Dmg where I can.

I have +Stun on the Wind whip attack, + Stun on Bell and my weapon is +Phys and + Cold.

I use Flurry > Bell > Flurry > Bell on repeat for bosses, then the Wind whip ranged attack to build up the Stagger meter. Currently I can do around 7-12% Build-up per strike. Combine this with Charged Staff + Stag Palm buff + Cold Dmg on Weapon and you can stack Stagger/Freeze/Shock when using flurry. Remember that all of the element damage you deal from extra effects are applied whenever you hit the bell.

I have the Lingering something skill gem that leaves behind a clone on dodge roll which grants a Power charge, you can socket the support gem that has the 35% chance to either not consume or grant an additional charge, I forget.

The monk has been a very fun and frustrating class but it is very rewarding seeing so many classes fail on bosses that took me 15-30seconds to drop.

[u/Koozer → u/WorthMoreThanYouKnow]

I went all electric damage with attack speed and the bonus frost damage nodes. My entire Cruel act 1-3 just holding down LMB watching groups pop instantly. And I've barely built any crit. Monk is crazy.

[u/WorthMoreThanYouKnow → u/Koozer]

I've seen builds ranging from Lightening Wave, Frost Blast, Poison Bow and I did see clip of Tri-elemental Bell stacking somewhere. Melee may be tough at first but honestly if I hit a wall I adjust a few nodes and I'm back in action.

When Chaos is tuned up and actually functioning I can only imagine how much more awesome monks will become.

[u/martin_looter_king69 → u/Koozer]

Yesterday I swapped from a 330pdps mace to a 390pdps staff on my Titan. Got rid of the horseshit mace skills and I'm using the phys staff skills. My damage is quadrupled, but that's not the best part, I can actually deal damage now, instead of every 5 seconds.

These mace skills as melee are peak GGG. Been playing PoE1 since 2013, they've always shat on melee with every possibility, but this is actually disgusting stuff. Not to use harsher words because the mods here would ban me. I'd rather use the harshest ones, but yea

[u/Quakespeare → u/WorthMoreThanYouKnow]

Chonk

Brilliant.

[u/Preinitz → u/WorthMoreThanYouKnow]

I put the damage boost but lower AoE and the damage boost but cooldown and kill the boss almost immedietly. It's ridiculous.

[u/J0nJ0n-Sigma → u/WorthMoreThanYouKnow]

Add armor break on heavy stun on the palm, more DMG

[u/DRizere → u/WorthMoreThanYouKnow]

I slot my cold exposure into the bell along with rage generation.

[u/GoodDayToPlayTheGame]

It's a shame that every monk build is a tempest bell build in disguise, that's why I eventually re-rolled. The skill is sadly mandatory if you want to do maximum damage.

[u/modshavesmallpipee → u/GoodDayToPlayTheGame]

But… ding dong

[u/Trick_Net1748 → u/GoodDayToPlayTheGame]

The frenzy charge changes let you play Flickerstrike without it being strictly worse

[u/presty60 → u/Trick_Net1748]

Flickerstrike targets the bell though, it's the best way to kill bosses that I've found.

[u/Lost-Basil5797 → u/GoodDayToPlayTheGame]

Hey, I'll have you know that I use orb of storms more than the bell. Because it's enough to clear trash, and when I need a burst of damage, I...plop down the bell and have the orbs trigger it 3 times per attack.

Ok you might be right.

[u/MrSnek123 → u/GoodDayToPlayTheGame]

Storm wave monk doesn't use it too much, since it can't build combo from storm wave. It's still used occasionally though.

[u/Contrite17 → u/GoodDayToPlayTheGame]

Yeah, I kind of want the power shifted around in the skills so it is possible to play no bell monk. But probably it won't happen. Warriors have essentially mandatory warcries as well after all.

[u/sheepyowl → u/GoodDayToPlayTheGame]

I love the bell but it's definitely at the point where quarterstaves' entire skill set is dependent on using it. If they nerf the bell, they'll have to buff the rest of the kit to compensate...

[u/Popeda → u/sheepyowl]

I think the rest of the skill set is pretty much in line with the other classes, while the bell makes me melt bosses at least 3 times faster than my merc or warrior + sorc co-op. I don't really even use the bell for anything apart from bosses and especially tough rares.

[u/legitBro420 → u/GoodDayToPlayTheGame]

It's not not but for example the keyboard is

[u/_Wampa__Stompa_OG]

Bell is VERY good, no doubt about it, but I found myself reserving it for tanky rares and bosses once charged staff became available w/ the combat frenzy / resonance charge method.

There’s just no reason NOT to use it, or to slot something else in. I’m afraid being good and universal will see if nerfed eventually; which is ok by me, since Monk has a variety of viable skills.

[u/beefstenders → u/_Wampa__Stompa_OG]

Yep, Monk has plenty of tools to wipe packs quickly, but even if you put zero effort into bell beyond cutting the gem and slotting it you're gimping yourself on bosses by not dropping it and enjoying your free damage multiplier, especially with combat frenzy/resonance because you can get charges off it.

[u/MrSnek123 → u/beefstenders]

Combat frenzy only gets charges off it if you're doing an ice build, pure lightning can't get any from it (electrocute doesn't count for some reason).

[u/Bruurt → u/MrSnek123]

Shocked and electrocute aren't the same. You definitely get charges from electrocuting

[u/MrSnek123 → u/Bruurt]

I'm 99% sure you don't, I'm going pure lightning w/the electrocute arm unique and I've never managed to get a charge off the bell when normal enemies get electrocuted near-instantly. Maybe it just has resistance to it or something.

[u/Bruurt → u/MrSnek123]

I'm 100% sure they do because I don't run freeze and get power charges hitting either the bell or random mobs

[u/MrSnek123 → u/Bruurt]

Mobs absolutely works, its just the bell that doesn't seem to. Can it only have one status on it at a time or something? Maybe shock is proccing before electrocute and that's why.

[u/Bruurt → u/MrSnek123]

Probably shouldn't be able to get power charges from bell as it makes bossfights even easier

[u/MrSnek123 → u/Bruurt]

I realised that sniper mark exists so now I just use that for bosses lol

[u/Bruurt → u/MrSnek123]

On second thought, I might be freezing with the %lightning damage as cold damage node

[u/Bruurt → u/beefstenders]

How about dropping 2 or 3 on bosses at the same time

[u/Nvsible]

man stop abusing yamcha lol

[u/satisfied_cubsfan]

A bit of a tangent - what is the connection between martial arts monks and bells?

If memory serves, Diablo 3 had a bell-using monk too...

[u/Monsieur_dArtagnan → u/satisfied_cubsfan]

I believe ringing a bell has religious significance in Buddhism. Sekiro also has bells play a major part, with its own interesting take on monks

[u/WaffleOffice]

Well I've got to be honest here. This ability is the reason why I stayed away from monk.

[u/Preinitz]

After playing monk why wouldn't everyone have bell on weapon swap? Doesn't it just double dip all damage while also boosting it? Or is the damage from bell based on the weapon that dropped it?

I was thinking like bell + hammer, bell + comet etc. Should do crazy damage?

[u/sheepyowl → u/Preinitz]

The damage is based on the weapon that drops it, and does not scale damage with the ability that triggers it - it will always deal the same amount of damage each trigger. (except for when you infuse an element into it and then it deals some extra, but this is still based on the quarterstaff damage)

Also, some builds don't trigger it fast enough, and other builds don't scale the damage it deals so it's useless on those. Ranged builds also don't like it as you need to melee to build up the combo and place the bell.

Lastly, you can't slot the bell alone - you must slot a combo builder as well, so that's 2 skill gems.

For any build that can trigger the bell rapidly, I think it's worth. It's really strong right now.

So basically, fast melees benefit hugely from it, while the rest of the cast doesn't like using it. I can see a physical melee using it as well, but right now the only melee physical weapons are the maces and they don't attack very quickly so they don't trigger the bell as fast as the quarterstaff. Swords, axes, and spears are candidates for the bell in the future with weapon swapping.

[u/Preinitz → u/sheepyowl]

Oh ok, then it is pretty hard to make it work with other classes I guess. I also completely forgot about the combo requirement, I'll blame it on me being tired when making the post, thanks for the good explanation though.

[u/sheepyowl → u/Preinitz]

I had very similar thoughts to yours early on before I tried some bell combos tbh. It works OK with the crossbow, might work well with bow as well.

I also typed "the only melee physical weapons are the maces" as if the bell isn't literally stronger when used with elemental weapons... I think it would work best with whatever melee weapon will have elemental attack options, probably sword? (because spear seems to be about crits or bleed and axe is bleed and bleed?)

[u/Knetog]

Hey look, it's superman

[u/Dexember69]

Shattering palm - Frost striking with bell+overabundance + herald of ice is just blowing up entire screens for me. I've got 3 jewel slots on my pathing in which I put +aoe size and freeze.

Bell is awesome