Path of Exile 2: Martial Artist Ascendancy Showcase

2026-05-22By Path of ExileWatch videoDuration: PT6M16S

Summary

New Ascendancy: The Martial Artist is a new Monk Ascendancy class arriving in the Return of the Ancients update on May 29th.
Core Identity: Focuses on physical mastery, utilizing hollow techniques, stunning enemies, and high-impact melee combat.
Key Mechanics: Includes unique bell-based skills, astral projections (clones), rune-enhanced gear, and powerful transformation passives that turn gloves into stone fists.
Build Archetypes: The class supports diverse playstyles, including frost-based executioners using staves and bell mechanics, as well as rapid-fire “Hollow Palm” fisticuffs builds.

Hollow Focus: Spawns ethereal bells around the player. Hitting these bells causes them to shatter, releasing a powerful shockwave. These bells are always critically hit, are always primed for stun, and can be culled.
Hollow Resonance: Complements bell skills by strapping a bell to the player’s back; it rings out and deals damage in an area whenever the player lands a critical hit on an enemy.
Hollow Form: A channeling skill that spawns astral clones of the player to attack with chosen skills. Spending power charges allows the player to spawn triple the number of clones for increased damage.

Runic Meridians: Grants five additional rune sockets, providing more flexibility for using runes found in the Runes of Aulder league.
Martial Adept & Martial Master: Designed for combo-chaining playstyles; these generate massive amounts of combo points while providing protection during attack sequences.
Way of the Mountain: Immobilizing enemies grants a stony carapace. This provides stacking defensive and offensive bonuses, including increased damage and damage reduction against smaller hits.
Way of the Stone Fist: Transforms any equipped gloves into “fists of stone.” This grants significant evasion and energy shield, and—most importantly—converts the explicit modifiers of the equipped gloves into specialized bonuses.

Frost Executioner:
- Utilizes a staff and bell skills combined with Shattering Palm and Herald of Ice to clear packs of enemies.
- Constantly freezes enemies to maintain Way of the Mountain stacks for damage and protection.
- Uses Way of the Stone Fist to leverage high-tier glove modifiers.
Hollow Palm Technique Build:
- Combines the Hollow Palm Technique keystone (which treats empty hands as weapons) with the Martial Artist’s kit.
- Uses Staggering Palm to launch projectiles that fuel a whirling assault.
- Relies on Hollow Form for massive damage, using Killing Palm, Culmination, and Aulith’s Chimes to maintain a consistent power charge engine for boss encounters.