Yes—“fists” builds in Path of Exile 2 are generally about unarmed melee setups for Monk/Martial Artist, especially Hollow Palm-style or glove- transformation builds that let you fight without a staff. Recent community guides for PoE2 0.5 show this as a real build direction, including Martial Artist ascendancy options like Way of the Stonefist and Hollow Palm techniques.

How it works

  • You usually unequip the quarterstaff and stack bonuses that make unarmed hits scale well.
  • Build guides point to skills and passives that support fast close-range melee, clone/bell synergies, or glove-based transformations rather than traditional weapon damage.
  • Some setups are focused on pure unarmed punching , while others use “fists” as the core fantasy but still rely on related Martial Artist mechanics for damage and utility.

What players are using

Build style| What it emphasizes| Notes
---|---|---
Hollow Palm Monk| Unarmed scaling, fast attacks, simple melee flow| Often presented as the classic “use your fists” route 8.
Martial Artist + Stonefist| Glove conversion and strong unarmed-themed bonuses| Highlighted in 0.5 reveal and explanation videos 45.
Clone/Bell Martial Artist| Bell explosions, clone spam, combo gameplay| More complex, but still built around fist-based Monk mechanics 35.

Practical take

If you want the simplest version, go for a Hollow Palm-style Monk and keep your gear/passives focused on unarmed damage, attack speed, and survivability. If you want the newest PoE2 0.5 flavor, Martial Artist appears to be the more advanced fist-focused route, with unique nodes that support both offense and defense.

Forum-style takeaway

“Unequip the staff, stack the unarmed bonuses, and let the fists do the work.”

TL;DR

Fists in PoE2 usually means an unarmed Monk/Martial Artist build , most commonly Hollow Palm or the newer 0.5 Martial Artist setups, with guides showing you can scale it into a full endgame playstyle.