The build isn’t done yet, so I may add more later, but for its current state see this link: Bladedancer, Level 85 (LE Beta 0.9.2f) - Last Epoch Build Planner
EDIT: And here it is at level 94: Bladedancer, Level 94 (LE Beta 0.9.2f) - Last Epoch Build Planner
Other than the idols, the only difference from Lvl 1 to that lvl 84 gear is that I was wearing two Scorching Grasp rings when leveling. The Ruby Fang and Zerrick Sets are definitely needed for this build, the Corsair’s Blood Cowl and Pillager’s Gold probably are too. The other items might not be, but are clearly useful, but you can use any rares until you can start equipping the Set gear.
I’d been saving one of every Unique and Set item I’ve found, but wasn’t really paying much attention. Two weeks ago I decided to look at the Set items, noticed some had some really nice synergies, and got curious if I could make a build around them. I really like what I’ve come up with, and I find it to be noticeably nicer than the glass not-quite-cannon I’d been playing until now. I thought I’d share it here because I wasn’t able to find any good Set-based builds and thought someone else might like to try it, if they have the gear. If anyone has any suggestions that could improve the build, please drop them below.
It’s not the highest health build, and not the highest damage build, but I feel like it’s a super nice mix of damage, survivability, and ease-of-use. It’s not a glass cannon, but also not a slow tank. If meme and meta builds are “S tier” then I’d consider this build a strong B+ to A- (maybe 85%-91%), but it’s the QoL that more than makes up for it, for me.
Pros:
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Build is really comfortable even as early as lvl 35 when you can equip the first Set items. You can still die, but it’s rare enough to not care about it. The 3rd phase of Lvl 75 Lagon is still a huge pain in the ass, but some of that may have been my own fault (see below). Other than that everything else has been really nice.
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If you time it right, Lethal Mirage’s invulnerability means you can avoid certain tougher mechanics and maintain your attack instead of needing to Shift out then reengage. LM’s long cooldown ensures you can’t spam it, but it’s available enough to be nice when you can do it.
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Basically no crafting. I happened to have two Scorching Grasp rings, and I was able to equip those at lvl 35, so all I had to do was pick up a few rares during the campaign and improve them while waiting to be able to equip the Unique and Set items. Now that I’m in monoliths I want to craft two rings that are better than the two Scorching Grasps, but that’s it. I can deal with crafting an item or two, but needing to make an entire build’s worth of gear is just annoying to me. There are three Unique items in the build, which might be upgradable to Legendary items if you get lucky, but so far it hasn’t seemed necessary, so that might just be icing on the cake if I ever get to that.
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Filtering items is a breeze. There are only three Unique items in the build, and I only have one with Legendary potential, so I set the filter to show any idols or base type with the mods I want to gather for crafting. I pick up everything the filter shows me, but the only items I need to look at are rings, idols and Exalted relics. Everything else gets shattered or vendored.
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The build starts off with Cinder Strike. Because of Shift auto-dropping Acid Flasks it ends up feeling like a 2-skill build (Shuriken and Lethal Mirage), but when things get tight I can spin up the Blade Shield, then get in a few hits with Cinder Strike, and alternate. I like this because (again, personally) I find builds that NEED you to be playing the game like a piano to be annoying. This comes at the cost of not being the highest damage build, but that’s a tradeoff I’m very comfortable with because this build is at least survivable enough that I don’t feel like I need to minmax something (everything) just to keep from being aggravated by some deficiency. It’s just a good, comfortable build.
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The burning dagger Pillager’s Gold throws is both a Pro and a Con, but more Pro than Con. Sometimes it aggros a mob I didn’t want to aggro. Somtimes it kills off a mob that only needed one more hit to kill it. But the thing I like most is that if I’m not at full health it’ll throw one any time I walk over a health potion, and it’ll fly towards the nearest mob. This is useful if I just cleared an area because it’ll show me where the next nearest mob is, which makes clearing a map a lot faster because I don’t need to think as much, I can just follow it (most of the time). If the map’s been cleared then it just goes off into a random direction.
Cons:
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Getting used to potions no longer healing. I can use Shift or leech to get some moderate healing, and if I really need to heal badly I need to use Lethal Mirage - but Lethal Mirage will only heal if I’m able to attack something, so if I’ve killed everything around me I have to take a breather for a few seconds. But that rarely happens, so the gameplay has been very smooth.
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While health pots can be used as buffs, Marked for Death reduces all resists by 25%. This is handy when dealing with large low-risk mobs because I can just hit the space bar then pop off Lethal Mirage, but I have to remember that in fights where I’m in danger I can only use the pots if I’m overcapped in their damage types (fire or poison). This isn’t really a problem once you get used to it, but it took me a long time to remember to keep it in mind. (I think this might have been the reason lvl 75 Lagon was more of a pain in the ass than I expected, because I was hitting pots in his 3rd phase when I shouldn’t have been. — Also note that I took the node to drop a flask on Shift on low health, which you may want to unspec when fighting Lagon.)
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This build can’t face-tank everything. That said, I’m pleasantly surprised by just how non-squishy it is. You can definitely take a hit or two, maybe three depending on the fight, but there are still attacks you have to get out of the way of. But if you time Lethal Mirage just right you can be healing and attacking in places you would’ve otherwise had to dodge and pot, which I think makes the fights seem smoother, even if the build’s damage might make the fights a slight bit longer. Again, I just feel like it’s a comfortable trade.
I have my skill bar as:
1 Shift
2 Shuriken
3 Cinder Strike
4 Acid Flask
M Lethal Mirage (right click)
Shift is always 1 to force me to remember to use it whenever I move. It really speeds up my gameplay, but for some reason if I put it anywhere other than 1 I’ll keep forgetting to use it. I have Acid Flask on 4 because I never actually throw them. I need that skill to convert Poison to Fire, then take the nodes to drop them with Shift.
Other than adding a few more passives as I level, I feel like there’s only 3-4 things I need to do to improve the build at this point:
- Replace my idols with ones that have better resistance rolls as I find them
- Craft rings (one Ruby, and the other either Gold or Ivory) that have the same implicits and prefixes as the Scorching Grasp, but with either cold/lightning res or crit avoidance
- If I can overcap my resists with the steps above I could swap the Apostate’s Sanctuary for a Serpent’s Milk that I already have
- Eventually look for idols with good resist rolls that also have better prefixes
- Upgrade the 3 Unique items to Legendary
If you have all the set items, give it a try, you might like it.
PS - Ruby Venom is a temporary buff. There’s no information about it anywhere online, so I assumed it was something that just wouldn’t apply to my character. I happened to notice it by accident when my mouse went over the icon when I was in game. if anyone knows who runs the wiki, maybe suggest they add it.
Major tags: Fire, poison, melee damage, throwing damage
Minor tags: Bleed, Block, DoT, Crit
only use Doom if you choose to make a melee hit build.
relegating Cinder Strike as a purely support skill for DoTs.