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Will Apep’s Supremacy Bring Something New To Your Build In POE 3.24?

May 25, 2024 Author: POECurrency.com

In this guide, we’ll talk about a forgotten unique item, Apep’s Supremacy. We’ll discuss the mechanics of this item and look at any synergies or interesting use cases they might have, especially given the many trend-changing or new unique items that have been added to the game recently.

Apep’s Supremacy is a unique shield introduced in Incursion League, located within Temple of Atzoatl, and is a combination of the predecessor unique Apep’s Slumber on Altar of Sacrifice, as well as Vial of Awakening.

This shield has unique modifiers that allow you to take physical damage from chaos damage instead of bleeding, while requiring you to be poisoned to benefit from its maximum resistance. This set of modifiers, along with Tainted Pact and other POE items, has some interesting potential.

This unique shield is exclusively dropped from a chest in Toxic Grove, a level 3 room in Temple of Atzoatl. Apep’s Slumber is a prerequisite to unlock it, and the other component, Vial of Awakening, can be dropped from the last boss of Temple.

Will Apep’s Supremacy Bring Something New To Your Build In POE 3.24?

Modifiers

Let’s first look at the modifiers on Apep’s Supremacy. We have a flat added damage modifier that adds (50-55) to (72-80) Chaos Damage. This is equivalent to a level 9 or 10 Added Chaos Damage Support.

Then there’s a very large flat energy shield modifier that adds 130 to 150 maximum energy shield. With a good base energy shield roll and 30% quality, you can actually get up to 280 energy shield from Apep’s Supremacy, which is pretty good. In addition, you also get 30% to 50% Energy Shield Recharge.

Chaos Damage From Bleeding

Now let's look at the special modifier on this shield that makes you take chaos damage instead of physical damage from bleeding.

Bleeding is a Damaging Ailment that deals physical damage over time, and is generally considered the most dangerous Damaging Ailment in the game. Bleeding deals 70% of the base damage of the blow that inflicted the ailment every second for five seconds, at least from the perspective of the monster that inflicted it on the player. But when the target is moving, the damage dealt is tripled to 210% per second.

Many characters will choose to use Soul of Ralakesh Pantheon Power to make Bleeding less dangerous. It essentially subverts the bleed mechanics so that it deals less damage to you when you move.

But now, Apep’s Supremacy will make you take Chaos damage instead of physical damage whenever you have Bleeding. The immediate synergy here is Chaos Inoculation Keystone, which sets your maximum health to 1 and makes you immune to Chaos damage.

By combining this Keystone with Apep’s Supremacy, you’ll be able to effectively ignore Bleeding. Sure, you may still be affected by Bleeding, but it won’t do any damage to you.

The modifiers on Apep’s Supremacy don’t just apply to Chaos Inoculation. In fact, it’s so strong that it can also be used on standard setups with capped Chaos Resistance. Because the vast majority of builds won’t have a lot of extra physical damage reduction to help mitigate damage from bleeding.

Apep’s Supremacy vs Soul Of Ralakesh

Next, let’s compare the modifiers for a character using Apep’s Supremacy to a character using Soul of Ralakesh Pantheon Power.

A character using Apep’s Supremacy takes extra damage from bleeding while moving. So they take 210% of the damage from hitting per second while moving. While stationary, they take 70% of the damage from hitting per second with Chaos Resistance at 75%. So they actually take 52.5% of the damage from hitting per second while moving, and only 17.5% of the damage from hitting per second while stationary.

POE 3.24 Soul Of Ralakesh

Meanwhile, a character with Soul of Ralakesh doesn’t take the extra damage from bleeding while moving, and they take 25% less damage from bleeding while moving. So in this comparison, they’re actually taking 52.5% of the damage dealt per second while moving, and 70% of the damage dealt per second while stationary.

You can see that a character using Apep’s Supremacy with Chaos Resistance capped takes the same amount of bleeding damage as a character using Soul of Ralakesh while moving. But they take much less damage while stationary.

But one thing to note here is that Soul of Ralakesh reduces all physical damage you take by 25% while moving, not just bleeding. So it can be used to protect against physical damage from other sources as well.

Something else that might be useful is that the modifier on Apep’s Supremacy lets you take Chaos damage. But physical damage from bleeding is not actually a damage modifier taken. This interaction happens before damage modifiers taken are calculated. This means that technically, you can still shift that portion of damage to another damage type.

Slow Down The Expiry Time Of Poison

Now, there’s another potential use case for this modifier, and it takes advantage of another unique item, Tainted Pact Amulet.

Before discussing this synergy, however, we should first look at the other modifiers on Apep’s Supremacy plus the 25% Poison Chance. This modifier will give all incoming physical or chaos damage a chance to poison you.

The added Max Resistance modifier will increase all resistances, including Chaos Resistance, as long as you are poisoned. Meanwhile, Poison Expiry Rate modifier will effectively double the duration of poisons on you by slowing down the expiry time by 50%.

This differs from Poison or Ailment Duration modifiers, which are technically a multiplier of the poison duration, but do not actually increase the duration of the poison. This modifier stacks with other sources of slow expiry rate effects, up to a maximum of 75% slower expiry rate.

Tainted Pact Amulet

Now it’s time to discuss the aforementioned Tainted Pact. This unique amulet will make chaos damage heal you over time while leeching life.

Poison itself deals chaos damage over time and bleeds will also make you take chaos damage over time instead of physical damage. This is thanks to Apep’s Supremacy, and this combination of mechanics will allow you to potentially self-inflict ailment, which actually heals you instead of hurting you.

POE 3.24 Tainted Pact Amulet

Now the interesting thing about Tainted Pact is that the healing benefit gained from Chaos Damage over time is actually based on the damage mitigated, i.e. the damage you take from the source of Chaos Damage over time.

This creates an interesting balance after it’s been mitigated by things like Chaos Resistance. You want your Chaos Resistance to be high enough so that you don’t die immediately from Chaos Strike Damage, but low enough so that you benefit from the healing over time from Chaos Damage.

However, using Tainted Pact does have one very important prerequisite. For the healing to work, you must keep leeching life until unreserved life fills up. You will need a way to maintain life leech.

You can get this effect from some non-Ascendancy mechanics. For example, the Immortal Ambition Keystone can grant this modifier. To keep you from ever reaching full health, you can also use Petrified Blood and make sure you don’t have 50% or more of your life remaining so that the life leech effect isn’t removed at 50% of the maximum recoverable amount of life.

Divine Flesh

Finally, I’ll mention Divine Flesh because you might want to use this Keystone with Apep’s Supremacy.

But if you plan on playing a build with a capped Chaos Resistance, I recommend only using Tainted Pact and Divine Flesh in this setup. Because this Keystone turns 50% of elemental damage into chaos damage.

If you choose lower chaos resistance to ensure you get a lot of healing over time from chaos damage, you will inevitably die from the upcoming elemental blows. But without Tainted Pact, using this Keystone with Apep’s Supremacy and focusing on scaling your chaos resistance and other means of chaos damage mitigation is a powerful combination.

POE 3.24 Divine Flesh

Is Apep’s Supremacy Still Worth Using?

So why isn’t Apep’s Supremacy used more often? Honestly, I think this shield is seriously underrated right now.

But that being said, it has competitors like Saffell’s Frame, which provides an extra 1% max resistance compared to Apep’s Supremacy and doesn’t require prerequisites like Poison.

In fact, the need for Poison prerequisite is the biggest downside to this shield. Because it requires an investment elsewhere to really be effective and also makes it less reliable as a defensive mechanic.

So if you’re using a shield and taking advantage of other synergistic mechanics at the same time, it makes sense to really lean into this mechanic.

That’s it for our in-depth discussion of all the mechanics of Apep’s Supremacy. Hopefully, this guide will shed some new light on this for you!

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Is The Last Lament Lich Build Feasible On A Low Budget In Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.3.0?
Is The Last Lament Lich Build Feasible On A Low Budget In Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.3.0?

The Last Lament Crossbow Lich build performed very well in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.3.0, offering extremely fast clearing speed, high single-target damage, and significant tanking power through its low health mechanics and high movement speed.

This build is considered S-tier for end-game content, including mapping and bossing, and is a popular and powerful choice within the community, allowing you to blast away at small enemies while running quickly.

The only drawback to this build is its cost; completing this setup requires at least several hundred Path of Exile 2 Divine Orbs. This makes it an end-game build, unsuitable for leveling or starting in a league due to its high item cost.

So, why is this build so expensive? It's because it requires a unique weapon - The Last Lament Desolate Crossbow. This weapon, when paired with Lich Ascendancy, effectively mitigates disadvantages, making it highly sought after. 

This build boasts incredible speed and tankiness, but it requires a significant gear investment to fully realize its potential. Besides the aforementioned unique Crossbow, it also requires a variety of gear, including Stellar Amulet, Death Articulated Ornate Gauntlets, and Headhunter.

Our goal here is to make this build playable while still spending less on Divine Orbs. Of course, there are some obvious differences between a low-cost build and a more expensive one: slower movement speed, lower damage, and lower defense, but this should be enough to avoid certain monsters in the map and keep you alive. If you're interested in trying it, read on!

Now, I'll walk you through some updates to this Last Lament Lich build, including its mechanics, how to reduce health, how to use skills, and how to play with it.

Temporal Chains & Cursed Ground Synergy

First, we've added Temporal Chains, a curse that slows down enemies, which is very useful. It's like slowing them down, reducing their ability to attack you. With your energy shield so low, it's your best defense.

Temporal Chains' defensive power is much better than I expected. When you're in a tight space, like when you're trapped in a Ritual or about to open a Breach to fight a boss, you can quickly cast it to slow down enemies.

At the same time, we also cast Cursed Ground, which is mandatory. This uses Temporal Chains as a ground debuff, similar to other ground effects like Chilled Ground or Consecrated Ground, slowing enemy movement and slowing down other effects.

Then, I added Ritualistic Curse, Focused Curse, and Heightened Curse, which make the curses more powerful, last longer, and regenerate more quickly.

If you have extra skill gems, you can also add things like increased duration.

How Does It Work?

Now, let's explain how this build works. First, we mentioned earlier that this is a low-life build. This is because the unique thing about this build is that Last Lament has a 300-life cost to avoid consuming the last bolt, allowing you to fire continuously without reloading. This means that as long as you maintain low life, you can perform an unlimited number of attacks without reloading, effectively converting your life into infinite ammunition.

Lich Ascendancy's Eternal Life node allows players to maintain their health while maintaining a certain amount of energy shield. Combining these two, the health cost of Last Lament is essentially negated, meaning you won't lose health to avoid reloading.

Not only that, this build leverages the low-life mechanic, gaining significant bonuses from passive skill tree nodes and support gems, creating a character with incredible speed and immense power.

How To Maintain Low Life?

So, if we're currently at full health, how can we return to low health?

  1. First, equip Eternal Life node; this is crucial; it prevents your life from scaling while you have energy shield.
  2. Next, remove any gear that provides energy shield, or use a helmet with Eldritch Battery effect to convert your energy into mana. This is crucial because it allows your life to be affected by your actions.
  3. Be careful about using skills that drain life, such as those with Lifetap support gem, to quickly deplete your life until it drops below 35% of your maximum health.
  4. Finally, quickly re-equip your standard helmet to lock your life at its current low health state. Your life will now be permanently low, and you can benefit from Eternal Life node.

Gear Selection

For this build, we've significantly reduced the original PoE 2 currency budget, so some of the gear may not be the best options for your current Last Lament Crossbow Lich build, but it does offer the best value.

  • Weapon: The Last Lament Desolate Crossbow
  • Helmet: Constricting Command Viper Cap
  • Ring: Rune Grasp & Kraken Eyes
  • Amulet: Rune Scarab
  • Body Armor: Pandemonium Skin
  • Gloves: Vengeance Claw
  • Belt: Shavronne's Satchel
  • Boots: Invasion Spark

Gameplay

Finally, to clear maps and defeat bosses with the Last Lament Crossbow Lich build in Path of Exile 2, you'll need to utilize its powerful single-target ability, Compose Requiem, and ensure you always have low health and the necessary resources.

Additionally, focusing on acquiring a high-quality wand with high spell damage and cast speed is crucial for boosting your damage output against bosses.

Then, strategically allocate your Lich Ascendancy points to unlock key nodes like Necromantic Conduit and Crystalline Phylactery to reap the full benefits of this build.

Remember to prioritize defensive abilities like energy shield and high evasion, as these synergize perfectly with Lich's Eternal Life node, keeping you permanently at low health. Finally, remember to collect and re-cultivate areas to acquire better gear to boost your damage and survivability.

That's all for this low-budget Last Lament Crossbow Lich build. If your inventory is overflowing with orbs, you don't need to worry about this at all. However, if you're low on currency or want to push your limits, this Last Lament Lich build might be worth a try!

How Does The New Asynchronous Trade System In Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.3.0 Work? | Selling And Trading Details
How Does The New Asynchronous Trade System In Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.3.0 Work? | Selling And Trading Details

While Path of Exile's complex skill tree system and challenging endgame mechanics are both fascinating, one flaw it often criticizes is its cumbersome and rigid trading system.

Yes, in PoE, if you want to trade an item with another player, you and the seller must be online at the same time. This means that if you encounter a seller who's offline or unresponsive for a long time, you'll have to rely on luck to secure a perfect deal!

On the other hand, the in-game trading system can also be inconvenient for sellers. When you're desperate to sell an item, you have to constantly monitor the chat screen. If someone actually expresses interest in trading, you'll have to drop your map or whatever you're doing to sell it.

Sometimes, you'll receive a message to sell an item, drop what you're doing, only to find that the other party either doesn't show up or tries to sell it for less than you originally requested. It's really frustrating!

But all that's a thing of the past with Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.3.0. The new Asynchronous Trade System in The Third Edict will surprise you every time you log back in!

Here, we'll explain how to unlock and use the brand-new Asynchronous Trade System in Patch 0.3.0. Let's take a look!

How To Unlock Asynchronous Trade System?

Creating A Hideout

To unlock Asynchronous Trade, you must first enter Path of Exile 2 Act 4. Here, you'll meet an NPC named Ange, who will give you a quest called Hostile Takeover, which requires you to find a suitable location to build a hideout.

If you don't have a suitable hideout yet, you can travel to Wakapanu Island, defeat Diamora, and then speak with Ange again in Kingsmarch to unlock Shoreline Hideout. Don't worry, we've got a detailed Diamora boss guide here.

Read More: How To Defeat The Final Boss In Path Of Exile 2 Act 4 Whakapanu Island? - Diamora, Song Of Death Boss Guide

Talking To Ange

Once you have a hideout, head there, and Ange should automatically appear. You can interact with it and perform Asynchronous Trade, which allows you to sell items for a fixed price without having to trade online.

Obtaining Or Converting To Merchant Tabs

To sell items, you need some Merchant Tabs, which can be obtained in-game through the microtransaction store. However, if you own Premium Stash Tabs from before the 0.3.0 update, you can also convert some of them into Merchant Tabs through the official Path of Exile 2 website.

Please note that upgrading tabs is permanent; this system wasn't available in Path of Exile 1. Therefore, if you upgrade here, you will temporarily lose access to these tabs from POE 1.

Also, it's worth noting that the old trading system is still available in-game. Therefore, if you want to continue using this system for any reason, please do not upgrade every Premium Stash Tab you own.

How To Trade Using This System?

Selling Items

After you obtain these Merchant Tabs, click Manage Shop button. You should see your Merchant Tab and an additional Earnings Tab there. To sell an item, place it in Merchant Tab and set a price.

However, it's worth noting that Asynchronous Trade System currently doesn't allow you to set a price for an entire tab like Premium Stash Tab does. I imagine this is to prevent accidentally listing an item in the wrong tab without knowing it.

Also, only items that can't be exchanged for PoE 2 currency can be placed in Merchant Tab. Therefore, items like Currency, Shards, Fragments, Essences, Socketables, and Gems must be sold through Currency Exchange or the legacy trading system.

Once an item is placed in Merchant Tab and priced, you have approximately 30 seconds to freely adjust the price or remove it. After that, it will be registered on Marketplace, locking in its position and price for a short period of time.

Before setting a price, it's recommended to research the selling prices of items with similar attributes to avoid overpricing or underpricing, which could result in unnecessary losses.

If you're still unsure, I recommend setting a slightly higher price. If the item doesn't sell for a long time, you can always lower the price. Regardless, it's recommended to check and lower the price of any unsold items every one or two days to increase your chances of a successful trade.

If someone is interested in an item while you're in hideout, you'll see it appear next to the hideout, ready for players to trade.

If you're online, you'll receive a small notification in the bottom right corner of your screen indicating a successful sale. Even if you're offline, players can still access and trade items, so when you log back in, you'll receive a bonus of POE 2 currency!

If you want to see which items you've sold, you can view your sales history in the top right corner of the merchant window.

Trading Items

If you want to acquire an item, you have two options. You can use the new Asynchronous Trade Marketplace or Currency Exchange in Path of Exile 2.

To open Trade Marketplace in-game, select it from the menu. From there, you can enter exactly what you're looking for and search.

When you find an item, you can click Travel to Hideout to instantly teleport to that player's hideout and trade there.

Alternatively, if you're using the old trading system, you can click Direct Whisper. The other options are essentially the same.

My Thoughts

Honestly, I think the new Asynchronous Trade system is a vast improvement in PoE 2. The old system was notoriously bad, and a real hindrance for both buyers and sellers.

The only problem with the new system is that it requires players to enter Act 4 of the new league before they can trade, which is why some people still use the old system. I really hope this changes, at least by making it available in towns in the early stages.

How To Defeat Tavakai The Chieftain Final Boss In Path Of Exile 2 Act 4 With Three Phases!
How To Defeat Tavakai The Chieftain Final Boss In Path Of Exile 2 Act 4 With Three Phases!

Today, our guide to the final boss fight in Path of Exile 2 Act 4 is finally here! This mysterious boss is Tavakai, the Chieftain, and he's the most dangerous enemy in the campaign so far.

This three-phase boss fight is quite lengthy, and Tavakai's powerful attacks will definitely put your build and gear to the test. Therefore, I sincerely recommend that you upgrade your character to at least level 56 or higher before attempting Tavakai, unless you're willing to invest a large amount of POE 2 currency in crafting a complete set of crafted gear.

Preparation is also essential before every brutal boss fight, and you'll have to ensure you have auto-recharged life and mana flasks; otherwise, you'll have a hard time surviving. If you're ready, follow along as we tackle the final battle in Path of Exile 2 Act 4!

How To Find Tavakai?

To find Tavakai, you'll first need to travel to Whakapanu Island. Next, you'll need to fight your way through two of Path of Exile 2's largest and most challenging maps: Ngakanu and Heart of the Tribe.

So, take your time and explore every corner. You'll find him in Heart of the Tribe area.

Phase 1 - Tavakai, the Chieftain

Once you've found Tavakai, the Chieftain, Phase 1 begins.

Honestly, this is the easiest phase, so your goal is to use as few flasks as possible to advance to the next phase, as you'll need them later.

Tavakai's attacks in this phase are very simple, primarily using his axe for physical attacks. Fortunately, these attacks are easily dodged, as he moves slowly, allowing you to counterattack with Momentum.

His powerful attack creates Jade Crystals, which then explode. Stay away from them to avoid the explosions, which provides another opportunity for a counterattack.

The key to completing this phase quickly is to dodge attacks and counterattack, allowing you to continue stacking damage on the boss.

Note that when Tavakai's health reaches 50%, he stops attacking and transforms into Tavakai, the Fallen. When this transformation occurs, a shockwave will hit you, knocking you to the ground. This officially begins Phase 2.

Phase 2 - Tavakai, the Fallen

Follow Tavakai, the Fallen to another arena, where you'll find Makoru in Altars. This is where the final battle begins.

In Phase 2, Tavakai becomes even more powerful, regenerating his health. Additionally, he gains new attacks that deal significant damage. Let's take a look at them.

  • His first move is to swing his axe skyward, followed by a rain of jade spikes. This attack covers the entire arena, so try to watch where it lands to avoid being hit.
  • Tavakai can also summon three to five jade statues that explode when they get close to you, dealing area damage.
  • Another powerful attack occurs when he says, "Lend me your hunger, Father of Chaos!" A pool of blood will appear on the ground, and he'll stomp on it, dealing area damage.
  • Then, when he says, "Weakness becomes you!", several bloody tentacles will sprout from his hands. If these tentacles hit you, they'll inflict Shock, Ignite, and Fire Resistance debuffs.
  • Another powerful attack during this phase occurs when he says, "Unleash yourself, Valako!" He'll slam his bag into the ground, creating several waves of jade spikes that fly upward. The best way to avoid this attack is to stay close to Tavakai, as it covers the entire arena.

You May Like: Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.3.0 Changes To Witch Hunter Ascendancy Class' Passive Skills

However, the problem with phase 2 is that Tavakai's boss attacks continuously, making it impossible to predict the exact timing of your counterattack. However, during our testing, he would first unleash waves of jade spikes, then summon jade statues, followed by blood tentacles, and finally a rain of jade spikes. It felt like everything was happening simultaneously. It was complete chaos.

However, my advice is: you must deal damage first, then pause and run away to survive, then return to attack. Of course, the problem with this is that you'll never be able to stack a significant amount of damage, and the battle will be stretched out again, but it's the only way to survive.

This is also where your auto-recharged flasks come in handy; they're invaluable, otherwise a few combos from the boss will easily kill you.

Anyway, keep fighting, and soon Tavakai will unleash his most powerful attack of this phase: Daughter of the Moon. This is when a massive beam or icicle strikes the ground for several seconds. If you're hit, your chance of death is very high.

Phase 3 - Tavakai, the Consumed

Continue to deal damage, and as Tavakai's health drops to 25%, the final phase begins. At this point, the boss transforms into his final form, Tavakai, the Consumed. He's fully healed again, which is terrible.

Unsurprisingly, the final phase is the hardest, as his attacks are once again buffed.

  • Tavakai's first attack is a weapon combo attack, culminating in a series of Leap Slams. You'll want to dodge these attacks and avoid counterattacks.
  • He also has an attack that opens rifts, from which Shadow Dragons spawn. They're clearly from another dimension, as you can see stars within the rifts. These dragons will inflict debuffs on you, so stay away from them.
  • Next, Tavakai will cover the entire arena with greenery. Standing in it triggers Tawhoa's Forest debuff, which essentially reduces all damage taken while you're there. The only safe zone is in the center of the map, but Tavakai is likely there.
  • The boss also has a new attack during this phase: he summons a series of exploding blood crystals from the ground. Try to avoid standing on or near them.
  • If you're tempted to head to the center of the arena, think twice, because Tavakai summons a small sun that rises and explodes there. The explosion leaves behind an even smaller sun and burning ground. Once the sun hits the ground, it deals massive area damage.
  • If all these attacks aren't enough, he can also summon an erupting volcano that spews flames onto the ground. And the more health you deplete, the more attacks the boss will have, making the fight more difficult. So, you can see why this fight is so frantic.

However, the real problem is that you can't attack continuously, which is why defeating Tavakai is so difficult.

Basically, you need to constantly survive, wait for things to cool down before striking back. Then interrupt your attacks again, and repeat this process, making sure your life and mana flasks don't run out.

Towards the end of the fight, Tavakai will also cast lightning bolts that chase the player. These attacks will shock you and slow you down, making you more vulnerable to all his other attacks.

All in all, it's a tough fight, and I think a bit of luck is ultimately required. Because your life and mana flasks are crucial to your survival!

When you finally defeat Tavakai, the Chieftain, The Hooded One will appear, and Tavakai will return his weapon to him. The Hooded One will rescue Makoru and restore Tavakai to his mortal form.

Yes, that concludes our guide to the toughest bosses in Act 4 campaign! Enjoy your victory!

How To Build Acolyte Of Chayula Hollow Palm Monk League Starter In Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.3.0? - For Leveling, Campaign & Endgame
How To Build Acolyte Of Chayula Hollow Palm Monk League Starter In Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.3.0? - For Leveling, Campaign & Endgame

Today, we'd like to share our league starter build for Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.3.0: Acolyte of Chayula Hollow Palm Monk.

The core of this build is the new Hollow Palm Technique Keystone, added in The Third Edict update. This grants physical damage based on your skill level and attributes, creating a powerful unarmed build.

Players earn Keystones by progressing through the passive skill tree and can build around it, utilizing skills like Ice Strike or Storm Wave to deal massive damage through stacked attack speed and critical hits even without a weapon equipped.

This flexible build allows players to focus on stacking evasion and energy shield to unlock massive damage, creating powerful unarmed melee or spellcaster builds.

Especially for a class like Monk, Hollow Palm Technique can be used to become a powerful unarmed fighter, stacking evasion and energy shield to gain massive attack speed and critical chance.

I expect this Acolyte of Chayula Hollow Palm Monk build to be fairly easy to level up throughout the campaign and scale well into the late endgame. Let's take a look at how to maximize this build's potential during the different stages of The Third Edict!

Ascendancy Class

I imagine your first question is why play this Hollow Palm Monk with Acolyte of Chayula Ascendancy? Is it the best Ascendancy class in PoE 2? Personally, I think it's definitely not; it's just slightly above average.

If it were in Patch 0.2.0, I would definitely say the best Ascendancy for Hollow Palm Technique would be Deadeye without a doubt.

However, in PoE 2 The Third Edict, the developers gave Acolyte of Chayula a major overhaul, adding mechanics like Volatility, which deals a significant amount of chaos damage when detonating stacks, and the ability to leech chaos damage via the renamed Sap of Nightmares node. So, I'm really curious to see how it performs.

So, I'm going to talk about some of the advantages that Acolyte of Chayula has in Hollow Palm.

First, in PoE 2 patch 0.3.0, Acolyte of Chayula now grants chaos damage via Volatility mechanic, granting 1% increased chaos damage per stack of Volatility detonated. So, essentially, I think Acolyte of Chayula is a good starting class for leagues, as it does deal a lot of free damage, right?

On top of that, we'll also get the leech effect of Sap of Nightmares node. Honestly, I think in this league, if you're playing a melee, offensive character, Energy Shield is pretty hard to come by outside of a few specific classes. So, as a melee Monk character, a class that can leech Energy Shield, this is quite viable.

But the main reason I chose Monk Acolyte of Chayula as my starting Ascendancy class is because it has the closest skill to Hollow Palm Technique on the skill tree. So if you want to master it as quickly as possible, then Acolyte of Chayula is the one for you.

However, if you want a smooth leveling experience, this might not be the best approach. Quarterstaffs generally don't truly master Storm Wave until level 22, and before then, you might struggle to stack more critical damage into your build.

Leveling

If you're looking for fast leveling with this build, I'd recommend starting with Spear instead of Quarterstaff, as I find it easier to level up than Quarterstaff. Especially since Frozen Locus skill gem, a key item for Quarterstaff build damage stacking, was significantly nerfed in 0.3.0, reducing its damage range at all gem levels. This makes Quarterstaff no longer always a must-have for Monk builds.

In the early game, to obtain and maximize Spear, it's recommended to first head to Clearfell Encampment and spend a small amount of PoE 2 currency from the vendor there to obtain a Hardwood Spear, which will allow you to use Whirling Slash and obtain Uncut Skill Gem from Renly.

After that, when you reach the next map, you can travel to Abandoned Stash, pick up Twister, and start using Whirling Slash Twister.

Next, head to Mud Burrow and find Frozen Locus dropped by Devourer boss to obtain the next Uncut Skill Gem.

From there, you can start leveling up. This is until you reach level 13, when you begin to unlock Hollow Palm Keystone.

Campaign

However, if your goal is to complete the campaign, you can actually start using more Quarterstaff-based skills, such as Ice Strike, Tempest Bell, and Glacial Cascade.

This is because the developers reworked the mechanics of Wind Blast and Vaulting Impact in patch 0.3.0. Furthermore, Vaulting Impact triggers a skill called Broken Stance, which allows you to deal more damage with smaller attacks.

Therefore, we'll be using Ice Strike and Wind Blast for a lot of minor attacks to help us gain an advantage in single-target attacks going forward.

This will now be how we level throughout the campaign, starting at level 13, and we'll continue using these skills until the endgame begins.

Endgame

Right now, I've chosen to use Ice Strike as my primary skill for leveling, and we'll eventually switch to Storm Wave. However, during the endgame, we'll still use Ice Strike for single-target attacks.

This build has a lot of single-target options, since Hollow Palm isn't really a skill-based build, but more of a playstyle, right? So you can use a lot of skills with it, but for the foreseeable future, I'd choose Ice Strike as my primary single-target skill.

However, you don't have to use Ice Strike and Tempest Bell exclusively for single-target attacks. In fact, I do think skills like Falling Thunder, which deals damage based on Power Charges, can be very useful when paired with fast-paced skills like Flicker Strike, which consumes Power Charges to quickly teleport to the enemy and deal damage. Therefore, these two skills might be more suitable for late-game boss fights.

For endgame mapping, we'll rely on Shattering Palm, which has undergone a bit of a redesign and no longer has its own damage, but the nice thing about it is that it scales with our weapon's damage. Since weapon damage in this build is provided by Hollow Palm Technique, I suspect Shattering Palm will be even more powerful than before. This way, we can truly rely entirely on Shattering Palm to clear the map.

That's it for this Acolyte of Chayula Hollow Palm Monk build guide. This build is a great choice for everything from early leveling to campaign and endgame challenges. We'll see how it performs!

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