Power-charge quarterstaff. Herald of Thunder/Ice + Charged Staff → combo points → Whirling Assault. Big cold conversion, near-100% crit, curse immune.
The Falling Thunder Martial Artist teaches you how to take your character from Level 1 all the way to Pinnacle Endgame content. The build utilizes multiple methods of generating Power Charges throughout progression which are spent on Falling Thunder to deal massive damage.
In the endgame, the build takes the Martial Master Ascendancy Notable, causing your Herald of Thunder, Herald of Ice and Charged Staff to generate Combo Points. These Combo Points can then be spent with Whirling Assault supported by Culmination II and Ailith's Chimes to provide reliable on-demand Power Charge generation. Martial Adept also grants near-permanent Energy Shield recovery due to the number of Combo Points consumed.
Offensively, the build reaches close to 100% Critical Hit chance, making Critical Damage Bonus one of the build's strongest offensive stats. It also adds a lot of Damage Gained as Extra Elemental Damage through a Heart of the Well, Innervate, Ice Bite II and the converted Glove modifiers from Way of the Stonefist. The added Cold Damage allows you to consistently freeze enemies to enable Herald of Ice explosions.
Defensively, the build scales Energy Shield, Evasion Rating, and Deflection Rating. It is also immune to curses, so that you can ignore many annoying map mods such as Temporal Chains. You also have the option to switch to Chaos Inoculation, making you immune to chaos damage and bleeding.
This is the strongest raw-damage-per-divine build once it's online, but the campaign is more button-press-heavy than Cold Spark or Twister. The Power Charge / Combo Point rotation takes practice. Pick this if you want a Monk that hits like a truck and you don't mind a learning curve.
Build details sourced from Maxroll's Falling Thunder Martial Artist guide by Milkybk, last updated June 11, 2026.