Chayula monk needs a complete overhaul.

They definitely need to do something to Acolyte of Chayula ascendency, or open up ascendency respecs. Unfortunately it's far weaker than invoker in about every way.

I decided to go Chayula because it looked neat, but didn't pan out at all. They need to rethink literally every node of this ascendency.

Lead Me Through Grace:

"

Gain 1 Spirit for every 6 Energy Shield on equipped Body Armour
Gain 1 Spirit for every 15 Evasion Rating on equipped Body Armour
Cannot gain Spirit from Equipment

vs

"

Removes all Spirit
Base Maximum Darkness is 100
Damage taken is Reserved from Darkness before being taken from Life or Energy Shield
Darkness Reservation lasts for 10 seconds
+5 to Maximum Darkness per Level

Both of these nodes are 2 points of investment from the start. While one allows you to become more powerful by stacking persistent buff abilities, Chayula removes the ability to use these buffs at all. Furthermore it provides you basically a weak form of energy shield that doesn't scale off of anything, and caps out at a dismal 600 at level 100.

Chayula Grasp of the Void:

"

Gain 1% of Damage as Extra Chaos Damage per 20 Unreserved Darkness

and
Chayula Inner Silence:

"

50% reduced Darkness Reservation Duration

don't add much to this. It's still only 600 EHP and the damage portion is only 30% added chaos damage at level 100.

Invoker protect me from harm:

"

Physical Damage Reduction from Armour is based on your combined Armour and Evasion Rating
40% less Evasion Rating

Comparatively to Chayul's damage reduction gives you physical damage reduction for some of the closest defensive nodes near monks starting location in the tree.

Unbound Avatar:

"

Gain Unbound Fury when you inflict an Elemental Ailment with a Hit on an Enemy, no more than once every 0.2 seconds for each type of Ailment
Maximum 100 Unbound Fury
Cannot gain Unbound Fury while Unbound
40% more Elemental Damage while Unbound
40% more Elemental Ailment Buildup while Unbound
80% more chance to inflict Elemental Ailments while Unbound
Unbound duration is 9.9 seconds

Chayula: Into the Breach
```
Collecting Flames of Chayula grants the following bonuses:
Red Flames of Chayula Leech 7% of your maximum Life to you
Blue Flames of Chayula Leech 7% of your maximum Mana to you
Purple Flames of Chayula provide a stacking Buff granting 7% of damage as extra Chaos damage for 5 seconds, and stacks up to 10 times.
```
would be nice, however the buffs do not last nearly long enough IMO and their spawn is RNG. It would be nicer if they would flow towards you and you didn't have to potentially compromise your position to grab them. It would have been really nice if breach rings still had `While in a Breach` effects like PoE1 and a ring would be a permanent buff for Chayula monk...

I wanted to play with the builds of Chayula, but it's not even close. I hope they either provide ascendency respecs, or rethink this ascendency. I'd probably swap in a heartbeat I just don't think there's a build for this ascendency that will ever be comparable.

I think you should gain maximum darkness equal to spirit + 5/level (while keeping spirit) and gain bonuses equal to reserved darkness. So, when you take damage you “enrage”. This would promote a more “insane” monk playstyle of actively taking hits and damage to deal extra as chaos damage.

They should make

Consuming Questions:

"

You cannot Recharge Energy Shield
Mana Leech Effects also recover Energy Shield

to

"

You cannot Recharge Energy Shield
Mana Leech Effects also recover Energy Shield
Energy Shield from leech can overflow to 100% of energy shield

Basically Grim Feast for free. And then buff the damage nodes slightly as well.

With half the nodes bugged, I think it’s a bit early to call.
Darkness doesn’t have the sickest scaling, but 500+ HP that recharge at 100/sec. are quite a good defense layer if you’re stacking evasion.

I think no one would take 500+ HP in favor of the Armor from evasion and energy shield that Invoker provides.

Into the Breach is a cool concept (and the red/blue flames can be a lifesaver in tough fights) but the purple flames don't last nearly long enough and it needs to spawn flames on kill/when hitting rare or unique enemies.

In addition to an anemic ascendancy tree, their placement in the global passives tree really doesn't offer much to syngergize with a Chayula build. The vast majority of proximal dps nodes jive with elemental damage/afflictions. Their class weapon also doesn't give much to work with.