S-TIER | BUILD MOINE GLACIAL CASCADE MARTIAL ARTIST (@Mordarim) | SAISON 5

Build Video

Build Overview

@Mordarim’s Glacial Monk is one of the most original and satisfying creations of the « Return of the Ancients » season for the Martial Artist. This build relies on a unique synergy between three complementary skills: Glacial Lance, Glacial Cascade and Shattering Palm. The gameplay loop constantly alternates between melee and ranged — you apply Ice Shards to enemies with Shattering Palm, then shatter them at range with Glacial Lance, whose empowered version (unlocked via frenzy charges) explodes outward in multiple hits, clearing entire screens and instantly freezing everything in sight. The clear speed rivals the fastest builds in the game, and the AoE can hit targets two screens away.

At the heart of the build lies the freeze mechanic: freezing enemies is not only an offensive technique — it is also the defensive engine driving the entire system. Each frozen enemy feeds the ascendancy node Way of the Mountain, granting a 40% damage reduction whenever a hit would remove 30% of your life. Combined with the physical → lightning conversion from Lightning Coil (which already reduces physical damage by an additional 37.5% with 75% lightning resistance), the build’s defense is far more solid than it appears despite a deliberately low life pool. For stubborn bosses, Glacial Cascade comes into play at the end of the combo: this skill consumes the freeze to deal absolutely apocalyptic damage, capable of eliminating virtually any boss in a single sequence.

What makes this build truly unique is the depth of its interactions: six unique items form a precise mechanical chain to generate the frenzy charges needed by Glacial Lance, while Way of the Stonefist transforms your glove modifiers into far more powerful stats, and Hollow Focus Technique generates power charges and critical bonuses through the bells summoned around you. At the most accessible budget, all six of these uniques can be acquired for just six exalted orbs, making this a remarkably affordable build for its performance level.

Strengths / Weaknesses

Skill Gem Setup by Step

This build offers 3 progression steps from leveling to the final build. Select a step to see the corresponding gem setup.

100-200 Div budget Endgame 300-500 Div UBER Endgame Bare minimum Low budget Endgame

100-200 Div budget Endgame

16 skills • 64 gemmes

Hollow FocusHollow Focus

Charge de ValakoValakos Charge

Déclenchement lors de l'utilisation d'un CharmeCast on Charm Use

Jet de lanceSpear Throw

Pureté de la foudrePurity of Lightning

Paume meurtrièreKilling Palm

Marque glacialeFreezing Mark

Danseur du ventWind Dancer

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Régulation des chargesCharge Regulation

Déferlement de glaceGlacial Cascade

Paume fracassanteShattering Palm

Tir de barrageBarrage

Frénésie du combatCombat Frenzy

Lance glacialeGlacial Lance

300-500 Div UBER Endgame

16 skills • 64 gemmes

Hollow FocusHollow Focus

Charge de ValakoValakos Charge

Déclenchement lors de l'utilisation d'un CharmeCast on Charm Use

Jet de lanceSpear Throw

Pureté de la foudrePurity of Lightning

Paume meurtrièreKilling Palm

Marque glacialeFreezing Mark

Danseur du ventWind Dancer

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Régulation des chargesCharge Regulation

Déferlement de glaceGlacial Cascade

Paume fracassanteShattering Palm

Tir de barrageBarrage

Frénésie du combatCombat Frenzy

Lance glacialeGlacial Lance

Bare minimum Low budget Endgame

16 skills • 59 gemmes

Hollow FocusHollow Focus

Charge de ValakoValakos Charge

Déclenchement lors de l'utilisation d'un CharmeCast on Charm Use

Jet de lanceSpear Throw

Pureté de la foudrePurity of Lightning

Paume meurtrièreKilling Palm

Marque glacialeFreezing Mark

Danseur du ventWind Dancer

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Régulation des chargesCharge Regulation

Déferlement de glaceGlacial Cascade

Paume fracassanteShattering Palm

Tir de barrageBarrage

Frénésie du combatCombat Frenzy

Lance glacialeGlacial Lance

Recommended Equipment

This build relies on a chain of six uniques that interact in a precise way. Each one plays an indispensable role in the charge generation mechanic:

• Scold’s Bridle (helmet): converts a portion of skill cost into physical damage dealt to yourself as a hit — this is the trigger for the entire charge generation chain
• Lightning Coil (body armour): dual defensive and offensive role — converts 50% of physical damage you take into lightning damage (drastically reducing raw damage taken thanks to your lightning resistances), and triggers Valako’s Charge to generate frenzy charges
• Bajjon Belt / Bijouborne (belt): the only way to reduce charm duration, allowing them to be used much more frequently and recharging their charges faster thanks to the belt’s intrinsic recharge rate
• Valako’s Roar ×3 (all three charm slots): these charms generate frenzy charges on use, powering the enhanced version of Glacial Lance that explodes outward
• Guiding Palm of the Heart (weapon set 2, optional but recommended): this unique sceptre provides flat lightning damage at a low cost, freeing the gloves slot for other stats. It can be obtained for around 15 exalted orbs
• Unset rings with flat damage: top priority — spears and the quarterstaff benefit enormously from flat damage for their damage scaling. Unset rings also unlock additional skill slots for Wind Dancer and Siphoning Strike

For resistances, rely on runes in your extra slots (provided by Runic Meridians) and optionally Soul Cores in your main sockets. Gloves with physical, cold, and lightning damage interact directly with Way of the Stonefist to convert into even more powerful stats.

Gameplay Tips

Mapping:

• Main rotation: simply alternate Shattering Palm and Glacial Lance into packs — enemies freeze instantly, triggering the Herald chain interactions and wiping them out en masse. This is sufficient for the vast majority of situations
• Tough packs: use Barrage to buff Glacial Lance against resistant rares, followed by a Glacial Cascade to clean up
• Ground effects: can’t see anything? Step out of the packs. Work from range with Glacial Cascade and Glacial Lance from the edge — this also keeps the Pursuit and Retreat supports active on both of your skills
• Siphoning Strike: use it occasionally for its offensive buffs, but it is not a core skill during mapping

Bossing:

• Preparation: before entering the fight, build up rage and maintain it along with all your charges
• Opening: apply Freezing Mark on the boss — this mark lowers the freeze threshold to 70% and stays active thanks to Eternal Mark even after it triggers
• Sequence: alternate Shattering Palm and Glacial Lance until the boss reaches 50% freeze buildup, then chain Barrage → Siphoning Strike on a bell → one final Shattering Palm → launch your glacial lances which trigger the freeze and all damage bonuses → then spam Glacial Cascade hitting the target with both the tip AND the lance portion of the skill to maximize damage
• Mandatory phases: if the boss forces a phase transition (invincibility), wait patiently and restart the sequence as soon as possible

The Freeze Combo: Core of the Build

Freeze is far more than an offensive mechanic in this build — it is the true heart of both the defensive and offensive system simultaneously. Freezing an enemy immediately activates Way of the Mountain, ensuring near-permanent uptime on maps since normal monster packs freeze instantly. This reduces by 40% the damage of any hit that would deal more than 30% of your life — a reduction calculated silently before the damage is actually applied.

Offensively, freeze turns Glacial Cascade into a nuclear bomb. This skill consumes the freeze to deal damage that is, in the author’s own words, simply apocalyptic: virtually every boss in the game can be nearly one-shot during the optimal freeze sequence. Freezing Mark plays a crucial role by lowering the freeze threshold of the marked enemy to 70% and remaining active thanks to Eternal Mark — meaning you do not have to reapply it manually after each trigger.

Way of the Mountain: Tanky Despite Low Life

The first impression of the Glacial Monk can be misleading: the life pool is intentionally low. However, the combination of defensive mechanics makes this build far more resilient than the raw numbers suggest. Lightning Coil converts 50% of physical damage taken into lightning damage — with 75% lightning resistance, this amounts to a 37.5% reduction of all physical damage received, a colossal defensive bonus for a single unique.

Way of the Mountain then acts as a second safety net: every freeze generates a stack, and spending a stack when using a skill grants a 15% more damage multiplier. Its true defensive power is the 40% reduction triggered whenever a hit would remove more than 30% of your HP — this calculation happens before the damage is actually applied. Evasion, ward, and remaining energy shield all work on top of this protection. The main weakness: chaos damage, which is addressed through gear and runes.

Runic Meridians and the Charge Chain

The first ascendancy node — Runic Meridians — provides extra rune slots. This is crucial in this build because the six mandatory uniques occupy the head, chest, belt, and all three charm slots, making resistance access through gear very limited. The extra rune slots solve this problem trivially, where other classes would struggle far more during early progression.

The frenzy charge generation chain is the mechanical backbone of the build: Scold’s Bridle forces the character to hit themselves with a physical strike on every skill activation → Lightning Coil partially converts that damage to lightning → Valako’s Charge then generates frenzy charges. These charges fuel the explosive version of Glacial Lance. The Bajjon Belt reduces charm duration, allowing Valako’s Roar to be used more often and thus recharging charges even faster. Combat Frenzy completes this system as an additional frenzy source during combat.

Hollow Focus Technique and the Bells

The final ascendancy node — Hollow Focus Technique — summons bells around the character. These bells serve two purposes: they participate in the Herald interaction chain (Herald of Ice → Armour Explosion → Herald of Ash to propagate fire explosions through packs), but their primary role is to serve as targets for Killing Palm. By executing the bells through automatic critical hits, you gain 100% uptime on power charges, additional shocks, 25% more lightning damage, and 15% increased fire damage.

All of these charges (frenzy, power, endurance) are then regulated by Charge Regulation, which simultaneously consumes all three types to provide more crit chance, skill speed, and defenses. Cast on Charm Use on the Bajjon Belt activates the Profane Ritual spell on every charm use, adding one final layer of passive power charge generation mid-combat.

Skill Tree