Invoker Ascendancy Overview

The Invoker Monk Ascendancy focuses on empowering elemental attacks and spells with focus on Critical hits. It offers a unique blend of offensive tools used to harness the power of Ice and Lightning elements. Stacking high Evasion rating and Energy shield for defences is the Invoker's favoured way of dealing with damage as Lead me through Grace… and …and Protect me from Harm provide great payoffs for doing so.

Invoker Mechanics

The Invoker Ascendancy for the Monk class in Path of Exile 2 offers a dynamic playstyle centered around elemental damage and Critical strikes.

Cold and Lightning Damage Affinity

• Ice Abilities: Invokers can inflict Chill and Freeze ailments, effectively slowing or immobilizing enemies. Skills like Ice Strike synergize with passives such as I am the Blizzard… to enhance Cold damage and crowd control.
• Lightning Abilities: Invokers can apply Shock, increasing damage taken by enemies. Utilizing skills like Tempest Flurry in conjunction with the I am the Thunder… passive amplifies Lightning damage and Shock effectiveness.
• Herald Skills: Invokers can effectively utilize skills like Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder to capitalize on their elemental specialisations. By focusing on Cold, Lightning damage, or both, Invokers can trigger these Herald skills more consistently, leading to improved map clear.

Damage and Defences

• Sunder my Enemies…: By increasing Critical hit chance, this passive allows your elemental damage to ignore resistances, greatly increasing your damage, especially against bosses with traditionally high resistances. This is ideal as the Invoker has access to numerous Critical hit passive skills near its starting location.
• Lead me through Grace… provides a substantial amount of Spirit when equipping high Evasion rating and Energy shield body armor. This allows Invokers to reserve multiple offensive and defensive Auras.
  • As you're incentivised to build hybrid Evasion/Energy shield due to passives near monk start boosting both simultaneously as well as the bonuses provided by Lead me through Grace…, The invoker monk can make efficient use of Spirit reservations which greatly increase its survivability.
  • Wind Dancer Provides a stacking multiplier to your Evasion rating, making you much less likely to be hit the more you have.
  • Ghost Dance periodically grants stacks which when you are hit are consumed, recovering Energy shield based on your Evasion rating. This is great for use in scenarios where you cannot get on kill effects, such as when bossing.
  • Grim Feast grants an on kill effect which leaves behind Grim Remnants. When you walk over these remnants they grant Energy Shield which overflows, doubling your Energy shield pool while mapping.
• …and I Shall Rage: A powerful cooldown that charges as you inflict ailments on enemies—the more ailments you inflict, the faster it charges. When active, you gain 40% more Elemental Damage and 40% more Elemental Ailment Buildup, making it a potent cooldown for bosses.
• Faith is a Choice: A powerful defensive tool that can be used before engaging with enemies. Activating it allows you to double your total maximum Energy shield. It is especially strong in bossing situations, as you can fully channel it before engaging to give yourself a massive hit-point buffer for learning and engaging with dangerous mechanics.
• Hand of Chayula: A powerful unarmed attack that allows the Invoker Monk to apply both a socketed Mark and Curse while also quickly dashing to your target. This is a potent tool for taking down stronger enemies, as Voltaic Mark and Freezing Mark provide enhanced ailment application, while Hypothermia and Conductivity greatly reduce enemy resistances.

Hybrid Specialisation

• The Soul Springs Eternal Allows you to trigger Meta skills more frequently to unleash powerful spells. Combine this with Lead me through Grace… to gain enough Spirit to activate even more Meta skills.
• …and Scatter Them to the Winds: Promotes a hybrid attack/spell playstyle as it triggers spells on melee Critical hits. This can potentially create synergies with The Soul Springs Eternal and Lead me through Grace… as Meta Skill spells also benefit from spell damage scaling.

Power Charge Utilization

• The Invoker Ascendancy leverages Power Charges to significantly enhance skills such as Falling Thunder and Flicker Strike.
• Accumulating Power Charges is achieved by using Combat Frenzy in conjunction with Cold damage and the Resonance Keystone, which converts Frenzy Charges into Power Charges.
• Additional bonuses are granted by Charge Infusion and Charged Staff, greatly incentivizing Monks to invest into charges.

The Invoker Ascendancy for the Monk class in Path of Exile 2 offers a great toolkit, focusing on elemental damage and Critical strikes. By effectively utilising key passive skills such as I am the Blizzard…, I am the Thunder…, Sunder my Enemies…, and Lead me through Grace…, players can create a build that excels in both offense and defence. Strategic selection of skills and gear that synergise with these passives can further enhance the Invoker's capabilities, making it a strong choice for players looking for a balanced and powerful character.

Credits

Written by: Crouching_Tuna
Reviewed by: Tenkiei