An honest build guide for a Lightning Blast Mapper.
Lvl 20: Sorcerer, Level 20 (LE Beta 0.9.0i) - Last Epoch Build Planner
Lvl 35: Sorcerer, Level 35 (LE Beta 0.9.0i) - Last Epoch Build Planner
Lvl 50: Sorcerer, Level 50 (LE Beta 0.9.0i) - Last Epoch Build Planner
Level 95 (full build with recorded progression skill/passives) - Sorcerer, Level 95 (LE Beta 0.9.0i) - Last Epoch Build Planner
loot filter:
The Blaster 2.0.xml (41.4 KB)
Intro
Hello lovely people, Thyworm here with a build guide for Last Epoch patch 0.9. This is my Blaster 2.0, the new iteration of an old build I made. These days, with the new overhaul in 0.9, lightning blast is a fun skill to use, but it doesn’t do insane damage or anything. Don’t expect this to be a miracle, but it’s enjoyable, which is important. Let’s dive in. All sorts of useful links are in the description.
This is a lightning blasting mage, made primarily for mapping in the monolith. It has 100% crit, some autocasted support abilities, it’s fairly tanky, and I completed around 150+ corruption with ease so far, plus some dungeons. And that is on still rather average gear. This is my honest build guide, it’s just something fun to play, so let’s look at the pros and cons.
Pros
Here are the pros
It’s a smooth mapper
Lightning Blast is one of my favorite skills, so that’s a pro
It has a very simple, straightforward playstyle, making this a good build for beginners
Cons
Then the cons
It’s not the fastest build out there
I levelled using lightning blast, which does take some levels to get going
Bosses can take quite some time to kill, especially tanky ones like Lagon or the Emperor of Corpses
Uniques
Let’s start with the build requirements
In terms of uniques, there are no must-have items here. However, there are a few very good uniques which work wonderfully for this build, but I’ll go into those when we talk about the gear. That means it’s easy to get this build going, all things considered.
Build Philosophy
Then, the build philosophy
My build philosophy in general is just that I want to play fun builds. I don’t have end-game requirements per se, and I see no reason to farm 400 corruption. It’s the exact same as 100 corruption, after all. This build to me is just fun, you’re electrifying everyone, what more do you really want. So if you like what you see, give it a go.
The idea of this build specifically is mainly that I want a smooth mapping build, and with lightning blast that chains across the screen, clearing maps is easy. It’s not super fast, you don’t rush towards the objectives, but rather get the bonus timeline stability by killing monsters.
Wish List
So, what do you need in terms of stats? Here’s the wish list.
In terms of defences, make sure to get res capped of course, and get 100% crit avoidance. I use the Woven Flesh for easy crit avoidance. The blessings in the monolith can help a lot here too, as well as idols. Furthermore, you want health, and as soon as you make the swap to ward, after you found the relic we’ll be talking about, you want some ward retention. Mana regen is useful too, for auto-casting
In terms of offence, we’re scaling added crit spell damage and crit multiplier as our main sources of damage. The goal is to get to 100% crit chance for lightning blast. An off-hand catalyst with flat spell crit chance, like the Crystal Skull, can help out a lot here. Shock chance is mandatory, and armor shred helps too. Added spell damage is quite good and if possible, get lightning penetration on an amulet. Lastly, you get any lightning damage, elemental damage or spell damage.
Skill Specialization
Let’s look at the skill specialization and skills we’re using
I will not discuss each point invested, but instead focus on the most important nodes. You can see everything in the build planner yourself.
Lightning Blast
Let’s start with Lightning Blast. You first path towards Arcing Power, for the chains. Then, storm razor, for more damage and base crit, then take 4/4 overcharge and then hypercharge, for a chance to cast LB 4 times. After this, you fill up the rest. For extra chain range, I really like Surging Influence. Closed circuit is good for single target, because lightning blast now chains between you and the target, if you’re close enough. Shattershock is a more multiplier if an enemy is shocked or chilled, which they will be. Lightning Attunement provides lightning Aegis, which is an extremely useful buff, providing 50% increased lightning damage, plus 25% less damage taken. Any remaining points you may have from gear, you put into frontloaded for more damage.
Flame Ward
Up next, Flame Ward, the tried and tested defensive skill for mages. I autocast this ability, by the way. I first focus on damage, to help us get through the campaign, so take dilation, infusion and finally lightning ward to convert all the fire stats to lightning ones. Through flames adds flat spell damage, which is great, but only pick this if you have enough points. And then we handle the defences, so that’s 5/5 barrier for 40% less damage taken, plus 3/3 prismatic buffer, for 30% reduced elemental damage taken.
Teleport
Then, our movement ability, teleport. You can specc teleport in many ways, there’s no real right or wrong here I feel. I went for some more damage with elemental affinity, some ward generation with Ether Barrier, stable bubble and out of mind. And then finally cooldown recovery so I can cast teleport more often, with 4/4 comet rush.
Static
Up next is Static, another autocast ability. This ability gains charges when we move or crit, and then automatically using autocast, discharges, providing buffs and dealing very good damage. This kills a bunch of stuff while running around the monolith. First, let’s get the charges up with High Voltage and Stormchaser. Then we take Reverberation and 4/4 insulation, because we don’t have the mana to cast static that often, plus the ward you get here is nice. Then, depending on the points you have, fill up Empower, travel to 3/3 electrify for more crit, and finally Surge, for even more charge generation.
Arcane Ascendance
Finally, Arcane Ascendance. We’re not focused on single target with the build, but this clears map bosses quite nicely. It’s a buff that locks you in place, makes you cast really fast, and does tons of damage. First, make your way over to Acuity, so this skill doesn’t drain mana anymore, that’s the most important. I take 1/3 cunning, allowing you to cast 8 spells before the buff ends. That’s typically enough, because you can’t be standing still for much longer anyway during bosses, or you die. The rest of this tree is just pure damage, with Higher Plane, 5/5 power overload, unstable energy for cast speed, superconductor to cast additional lightning blasts, and closed circuit to reduce the superconductor cooldown.
Passives
Time to look at the passives. I’ve recorded, link below, the progression of the passives, so you can see that for yourself in the planner. I’ll just pick out a few nodes that I want to highlight. Intelligence is a great stat for this build, scaling damage and providing ward retention, so we take all of it. Cast speed is good too, so you have Mage Flurry in the mage tree. And anything that has to do with crit, so Knowledge of Desctruction. The ward nodes you see in here you get much later on, after you found the unique relic. In the sorcerer tree, we take arcane momentum and essence of celerity, for cast and movement speed. These nodes also incentivize you to kill stuff, rather than rush to the objectives. The whole bottom side of this tree is dedicated to lightning damage, so clearly we take that. There is some flat spell damage over here, with spell slinger and archmage. Try to not go over 200 max mana, so you get the triple bonus. And finally 4/4 recollection, for increased cooldown recovery speed.
Gear
Then, also very important, Gear
Let’s talk about a specific relic, the Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros. This you can farm from the emperor of corpses, in the reign of dragons timeline. It’s amazing for this build, and provides a ton of health and ward generation, plus a +1 to elemental spells. It converts health to ward whenever we cast a spell, which we do all the time. This means we need to a source of leech, to replenish our health. I’m using a woven flesh, because that’s just an easy unique, and it gives 100% crit avoidance. There’s another mage item called the Prism Weave, which provides the same use. That chest is arguably better, because it makes you very defensive against elemental damage too, but the choice is yours. And if you don’t have the relic, just use a good mage relic instead. You will have much less ward, but still good health sustain.
Another luxury item that recently got overhauled is the oceareon, a ring that randomly drops, but it’s very rare. It provides chill, shock, shock duration, and most importantly 1% more damage per stack of shock. Shock can have 10 stacks, so this ring is 10% more damage. That’s pretty huge. And I think they stack, but I only have 1 of them, so far.
The rest of the gear is primarily focused on crit chance and crit multi. If you can get enough of that on your gear, you can use a staff, like I do. Otherwise, use a wand plus a skull catalyst, because getting crit capped is more important than flat spell damage. The rest of the gear is decent, but really nothing special, with health, some more damage, shock chance on the weapon which is very important, and that’s really about it.
Idols
For idols, I am just using these to get crit chance and fix my resistances. Just fill out the idols to your own needs.
Blessings
For blessings, I’m taking all the resistance blessings, because I don’t want to deal with resistances. It’s really nothing special. You’ll get these by naturally progressing through the monolith and as you get more, you can replace gear as you go.
Loot Filter
I created a loot filter specific for this build. Please use this at your own risk, however, because it’s tailored to my needs and it might contain mistakes. For example, I put in level restriction so that at some point, at certain character levels, the rule doesn’t apply anymore. I did use this thing myself from the start and I levelled all the way to level 95 using this filter, so it’s pretty good, but I’m sure it’s not 100% perfect. Let me walk you through it. I recoloured idols for you with affixes you want. I made flashy green all the affixes that give you levels for the skills you’re using. I made grey all items outside your build with at least T4 class specific affixes, so you can disenchant those. The loot filter shows normal items till level 10, it shows the best usable staves in orange. And movement speed boots are green. And then there are more colors for all your other loot, starting at the bottom with yellow and gradually getting stricter all the way to purple. At some point, I put a level cap on most of those rules, so yellow items will show up until a certain character level, and then not anymore. Should be smooth sailing.
Play Style
Here’s the build in action.
You will notice this build doesn’t do insane damage. My staff is not the best, first of all, but more importantly, I really value just a fun, achievable build, rather than a min-max one no one can realistically get. In online mode, at least. You’re simply making your way through the map, autocasting Flame Ward and Static, and just blasting those chain lightning spells. I think it’s very satisfying, and with the new visuals and sounds, a ton of fun to play. You right-click for arcane ascendance if you encounter a tough mob. Because we’re pretty tanky with all the leech, you can take a few hits typically. And you just teleport between packs. Very straightforward, very simple, very enjoyable, in my opinion.
When it comes to timeline bosses, this build is definitely struggling, because of the lack of single target. You can easily turn lightning blast into a good single target skill, but then it doesn’t chain anymore, and that’s half the fun.
Levelling
Talking about Levelling for a bit. It’s pretty slow, but that’s because of recent nerfs to levelling. I did level with lightning blast, which is nice on the one hand, because it’s your starting skill, but it’s not that nice on the other hand, because at low levels, it’s not very good. It takes you around the time you ascend into a sorcerer before this skill really pops off a little, but at least once it does, it’s typically fine. You might hit similar roadblocks in the monolith at times, especially when you’re still level 70 and you’re doing level 90 timelines. Just remember that equipping a good staff or wand with good flat spell damage helps an awful lot and is typically a huge damage boost.
Monolith
Let’s talk some Monolith modifiers
I would avoid crit avoidance if you can, as this is a 100% crit build. Without crit, your damage is severely hampered. I would also try to avoid giving the enemies tons of damage, especially physical or void damage. And of course stuff like deadly when not hit, frenzy, haste, all those nasty modifiers, you should take at your own risk. Healing if not damaged recently can also really screw up timeline boss fights, so be careful with that. But honestly, that’s not build-specific. Only the crit avoidance is.
I spent a good chunk of time on these guides, which is why I don’t release many of them. If you appreciate the effort, consider liking or subscribing, it really helps me out. Thanks for watching. See you soon, love you all, bye bye.