No-life Lich without Reaper form

Acolyte
1

Hello, Travelers!

I’m trying to do a low-life (even no-life since it two digits at the end) Lich build without using the Reaper form (since I have no life to sustain it in any way) with using the Marrow Shards as the main damage skill. Here is my build at the momemnt: Lich, level 86 (Release / 1.0.5) - Last Epoch Build Planner

I have a problem with this build. I have only 3.7k damage (taken from the skill’s tooltip, but actually it ~2 times more since I’m at low life constantly UPDATE: Lich’s passive skill deals increased damage based on missing health, not more, I’m just stupid) but at 100th monolith it is not enough to clear echoes smoothly with a somewhat of a clear speed. I know that my gear is not optimal but I think that my wand sources about 80-90% of the damage.

Dear Travelers, is there something that I can improve of the damage or is such a build just not possible at all? Maybe you have some advices for me? Maybe it is okay to be capped at 100-150 corruption with such a build?

P.S.: I’m even doing the mid-distance destruction of Marrow Shards to damage monsters only with Bone Splinters to be more efficient but still have no any clear speed.

1 Like
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I have took the Double-cast node of Marrow Shards and the situation is improved a little. Will see if it is possible to improve damage with cast speed somehow.

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With additional passives that add a total of 20% increased cast speed now I have 8k at a skill tooltip. Double-cast and incresed cast speed just double my damage and even a little more. Will try to push it further.

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This is awesome that you’re trying to play it differently. I wouldn’t worry about clear speed if you’re having fun building your character like this. :hugs:

I’ve only played fire Necro (didn’t like it) and melee poison Warlock (Nurgle Knight and loving it!) I think the game really does feel more like a game when you don’t go meta walking simulator, you also get better at playing the mechanics too, which is where the fun is at imho.

I hope to try Lich when I get my head around the low life mechanic. I do wish that the Acolyte had more melee skills to use the scythe though. Maybe in the future they’ll have weapons that transform abilities from ranged to melee and visa versa, a bit like the rogue does. I really want my Nurgle Knight to be a tanky mess of plague slowly wandering and devouring the monoliths in my wake. :joy:

Keep us updated, would love to see you push this higher. :hugs:

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5

Thanks for the kind words.

I too think it’s a game not about following meta-builds. As soon as I found out that the developers positioned it as a game with builds diversity I was immediately interested in it, and its ability to easily explore and redesign builds right in the game itself, not in third-party programs, made me a fan of it.

The ability to make a no-life build caught my eye as soon as I saw Exsanguinous and the Lich passive skill that increases damage deals increased damage based on the amount of missing health(UPDATE: just +xx% of damage equals to xx% of missing health), so I jumped right into making that build.

But at some point, influenced by the opinions of some streamers and the fact that my build was barely progressing, I started to feel like the promised build diversity just wasn’t there and that this game was just like the others. I started to feel scammed. But as soon as I managed to advance and double my damage - I immediately felt relieved, because it turned out to be not the problem of the game, but only my inattention and suggestibility.

I am immensely glad that there are those in the community who want not to follow the meta, but to make their own, unique builds. It makes me feel like I’m finally home. Thanks again for your kind words. I’ll try to update this topic as I find new features for my build.

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I’m sooooo dumb.

I believed that the Lich passive skill that increases attack damage based on missing health does not increase, but deals more. I can’t believe I’m sooo stupid.

It all started because I was testing damage incorrectly on the training dummy, I was dropping all the passive tree and testing damage without equipment and passive skills, from which I was getting double the number as I was getting a ~90% increase. I did this because I couldn’t keep up my health, which drained very quickly and I didn’t have time to gauge the numbers.

So the main reason for creating this build is gone. But on the other hand I created an opportunity to use Marrow Shards for free, since I use ward instead of health.

I can’t put into words how dumb I feel.

P.S.: Marrow Shards is very good with double cast, targeted destruction and more damage against bleeding, with increased cast speed from equipment I increased the initial damage of 3.7k to 13.2k, that’s all what I figured out, jeez I so dumb…

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I done another test, I can just regenerate a looot of health cause my character leech 6-10%(I don’t really know how much exactly, but at least 6% of damage on hit).

This build is just as stupid as I am. Can’t believe this…

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I was seeing your planner and wondering are u going for a direct damage or bleed oriented marrow shard?

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I was hoping I could do something with bleed, but I never found the right synergy. In the end I going on direct damage based on double cast and increased cast speed combined with damage over time from Spirit Plague and Infernal Shade, and I use Bone Curse for mobs with a lot of HP and bosses. I also use a ring to permanently resurrect Volatile Zombie, which is a spreader of Infernal Shade (but it’s a frankly weird combo, although it works on bosses). Here’s my current build: Lich, level 90 (Release / 1.0.5) - Last Epoch Build Planner.

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welp you kinda got a synergy for bleed Ossumancy and cast speed its a nice pair, you can focus on Soul Blood and Gounging Splinters and proc multiple bleed stacks.

In case you don’t know Bone splinters and Splintering impact don’t stack

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Thanks for the interesting idea, I hadn’t thought of combining cast speed and bleed stacks. I just tested it and unfortunately for me there is no advantage. With maximum points invested in bleed chance I manage to cast about 50 bleed stacks on a stationary target, which gives about 8k damage per second (I tested it on a training dummy), which is about half as much as direct damage, while direct damage fell by half as well.

But the main problem is that in combat I have almost no time to create so many bleed stacks, because I need to have some distance to be able to detonate Marrow Shards to do damage with Bone Splinters. As a result, I was only able to create 10-20 bleed stacks against fast mobs, and 15-30 against medium speed mobs. I also had to sacrifice the Infernal Shade damage.

I looked through all the unique and set items and skills available to me, but I couldn’t find any suitable combos that could significantly increase bleed damage. But maybe I missed something or didn’t realise what I should have been looking for.

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Thanks for the tip, but I took this node just to save one point instead of going through Dead Weight.

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I’m apologyze, I didn’t really understand what you did meant by that. The Splintering Impact make Marrow Shards creates Bone Splinters in a cone behind the enemy when destroyed. Could you please explain exactly what did you meant by “don’t stack”? It doesn’t create more Bone Splinters, is that what you meant?

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its the same effect just that one is better suited for a more ranged playstyle (Splintering Impact) and the other for a more “melee” approach (Bone Splinters), you can’t proc both effects because one overwrites the other.

15

Okay, I think I understand your point, but I can’t imagine why I might want both effects to proc, since both skill nodes are same in their effects, except that one disables piercing and the other makes it travel less far. Maybe I’m missing something here?

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that’s right you don’t need both, I just say it cause in your planner you had both.

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Thanks for the clarification and all your time and help, I really appreciate it.

1 Like
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I’m at 158 corruption, and it seems to be the end for this build. I have no problems with damage (20k from tooltip, 11-12k for individual Bone Splinters against a training dummy), but now it’s my survivability. I have 5.2k total ward, but that’s not enough anymore. As soon as I get surrounded, the enemies damage is enough to drain my entire ward almost instantly. Does anyone have any ideas on how to generate a ward without the extra ward retention? Current version of my build: Lich, level 94 (Release / 1.0.5) - Last Epoch Build Planner

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Hey there, we talked in the 300c topic.

So, about your build … I checked out how Bone Marrow works.
It’s a physical hit skill, that means going for Cast Speed, Crit chance and Crit multiplier. But you barely have any Crit Chance, zero Crit Multi, you’re leaving a ton of DPS on the table.

As for the defenses, your max HP is rather low, so your LL Ward was kinda weak, and you had no defensive layers and no crit avoidance. A total glass cannon :slight_smile:

Here’s the modified planner Lich, level 94 (Release / 1.0.6) - Last Epoch Build Planner

I swapped Mastery passives, some Skill passives, I removed Spirit Plague and gave you Transplant. I threw away the crappy uniques, gave you a spell crit off-hand, and most importantly I fixed your gear affixes. The gear you see is T20 + T1 sealed or T5 sealed experimental - in other words, all that gear is craftable. You can check vendors for rare items and forge them into decent gear. I’m sure you’ll easily find an upgrade for your current amulet, off-hand and relic that way.

With this setup, you’ll have:

  • +20% cast speed for 10s after you summon a zombie
  • +10% cast speed for 4s when you drink a potion
  • summon 4 volatile zombies (2 instantly, 2 more after a while) when you drink a potion
  • up to 80% physical spell crit chance, it’s just barely enough for 100% crit on Bone Marrow.
  • up to +173% Crit Multi, up to +208% Crit Multi on Bone Marrow
  • extra +105% more damage on Bone Marrow
  • up to 200% Armor Shred on Hit
  • 30% chance to apply Frailty on Hit (from Relic)
  • Physical Resistance Shred (from Blessing)
  • 10 Ward on Crit
  • 100 INT
  • almost 2k max HP = close to 7,5k stable Ward
  • 25% Armor

Once you find (CoF) or buy (MG) exalted +3/+4 to Bone Marrow helmet, you can add points to Dark Precision passive (+2% base crit/point), and that will free up some crit chance affix slots on your gear.

Bone Curse now slows for 4 seconds on cast, hitting bonecursed enemy has 24% chance to apply Chill on them. Chill stacks 3 times and should help with big enemies and bosses.

Transplant gives you Haste (+30% movespeed) and Frenzy (another +20% Cast Speed), automatically casts Bone Curse in the area where you teleport, leaves blood puddles that also slow enemies, and once every 10 seconds you get Bone Armor (Armor and DR%) for 7 seconds.

Hope it helps :slightly_smiling_face: