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Creating a build inLast Epochcan be daunting for newcomers to ARPGs. While the game does a fantastic job onboarding players to its myriad of skill trees and progression systems, finding a build that can smoothly clear the entire campaign and early endgame can be tricky if you’re a newer player.
For those looking to crush the campaign with a fast and fun spellcaster, look no further. This Runemaster build covers the screen with lightning bolts that deal massive critical damage, capable of melting rares and most campaign bosses with ease. If you’re new to Last Epoch and want a solid leveling experience that also introduces you to most of the Mage’s core mechanics, give this build a try.
This Runemaster build turns your Mage into a walking tesla coil, unleashing a torrent of chaining lighting strikes through the Lightning Blast skill.By scaling cast speed and Intelligence, this build can cast Lightning Blast multiple times per second and easily proc its multicast passives. While this skill isn’t the best for single-target DPS, we can make up for this with the Runemaster’s skills and passive tree.
Runemasters have access to excellent sources of Ward generation, giving you a massive health pool that can breeze through most of the campaign and early Monolith progression. Additionally, you may augment the Runemaster’s skills to trigger even more lightning effects, greatly improving this build’s damage against rares and weaker bosses. It’s easy to play, quite fast, and doesn’t rely on any complicated mechanics.
Skills And Passives
How The Build Works
Before we cover most of this build’s skills and passives, it’s important to explain how we scale damage. Lightning Blast has access to an incredibly strong passive node calledClosed Circuit, allowing Lightning Blast to chain to you and nearby allies. Allies hit by your lightning will gain +15% elemental damage and 40% critical hit chance for a short duration. Unlisted anywhere in the perk’s description,this buff stacks on itself.
If you scale your cast speed and Lightning Blast’s multicast passives,you’re able to maintain over a dozen stacks of Closed Circuit,giving you over 480% increased critical chance and a ton of elemental damage. This frees up space for more defensive modifiers or new sources of damage scaling—armor shred, elemental penetration, critical multiplier, etc.
Flame Ward
Grants +400 Ward. For the next 3 seconds, hits deal 30% less damage and cause retaliatory damage.
Static
Build charges as you move or get hit. Activate Static to discharge all stacks, striking up to 5 targets with lightning.
Runic Invocation
Gain an elemental Rune when you cast a skill. Casting Runic Invocation will expend all Runes to cast a unique spell.
Fire grants Rah Runes. Lightning grants Gon Runes. Cold grants Heo Runes. Max 3 Runes.
Frost Wall
Creates an ice wall that deals Cold damage to enemies inside. Can freeze enemies, but not bosses.
Lasts for 6 seconds. Max 1 wall.
Lightning Blastis the main skill of this build and does just about everything. It’s a relatively weak skill by itself, but it becomes significantly stronger once you grabArcing Powerto give it additional chains. You’ll also want to grabClosed Circuitto gain elemental damage and critical chances everytime you cast the skill.OverchargeandHypercastallow you to double and quadruple cast this skill, respectively.
Throw on some cast speed, and you may gain over a dozen stacks of Closed Circuit. We also takeShattershocksince it’s a multiplicative damage bonus we can trigger with ease, although we suggest grabbing this last.
Flame Wardis the Mage’s core survivability skill. You gain a ton of Ward, temporary damage resistance—further enhanced withBarrierandPrismatic Bufferr—and it can be cast twice ifDual Aegisis allocated.
Staticis a great skill for quickly killing rares and early campaign bosses. Walking and getting hit will build Static charges that can be detonated by casting Static. This will release an electric explosion that hits the five closest targets, dealing a substantial amount of damage. It also casts Lightning Blast automatically once you take theOverloadandUnlimited Powernodes.
Runic Invocationis arguably the most complicated skill in Last Epoch. In essence, you gain a Rune every time you cast a spell, and you may expend those Runes to cast a powerfull spell. The type and order of your Runes will determine which spell is cast. For our build, you’ll usually be castingBall Lightning, a skill that deals excellent damage against tankier foes. We grabEnigmaso we can use Runic Invocation as a traversal skill.
Frost Wallcan be turned into a tesla tower with theLightning Rodpassive, allowing your Frost Wall to cast Lightning Blast on its own.Charged PillarsandAmplified Currentsmakes this behavior far more consistent. Beyond that, we takePyroglassandBrand the Invadersto debuff targets with Brand of Trespass. This triggers some powerful passives in the Runemaster’s passive tree.
Passive Trees
This build actually uses three different passive trees, although you only need to use theMage and Runemaster treesstarting out. Once you reach Monoliths, you can opt to spec a few points in Sorcerer.
Magehas access to the fantasticArcanistnode, increasing your character’s Intelligence, Fire Resistance, and Lightning Resistance. Put a point intoScholarandReactive Wardso you can spec intoMage Flurry, increasing the build’s cast speed. Place five passives intoWardento scale your Ward Retention, then use the rest of your points in your Mastery trees.
Why Not Take Arcane Current?
Arcane Current is a decent passive for your first few levels, but this effect significantly falls off once you level Lightning Blast. Arcane Lightning doesnotcount as Lightning Blast, so it doesn’t benefit from any of the passives from your skill tree.
It’s a decent pick for the second and third Chapters of the campaign, but its cooldown becomes a serious bottleneck once you get more cast speed.
Runemastermight have the most loaded passive tree out of any Mage mastery. Virtually everything in this tree is great.Arcane Focusis S-tier in this build, granting a large chunk of Ward whenever you cast a spell.Runeword: Catalclysmgives you bonus damage to low-health targets,Inscribed Instrumentsgives you an unethical amount of critical multiplier, andAncient Inscriptionsgives you cooldown reduction for every four points of Intelligence you have.
Cast speed can further be scaled withUnsealed ManaandRune of Dilationpassives. With the cooldown reduction from Ancient Inscriptions, this ensures Rune of Dilation is almost always up. For more damage, takeCelestial Damagefor flat spell damage and more damage to branded targets—a debuff inflicted via Frost Wall. This build also grabsJagged Veilfor its multiplicative critical damage bonus.
Sorcerershould only be taken once you’re in the endgame.Calculated Destructiongives a substantial amount of critical chance for a five-point investment. You can then useArcane Momentumand the accompanyingEssence of Celeritynodes to scale your cast speed, elemental damage, and movement speed. Put a point intoCeraunomancer, put a few points inAfterglow, then maxRift Bolt.
Items To Look Out For
While leveling through the campaign, keep an eye out for these affixes:
Additionally, we recommend youclear as many Rune Prisons as you may.The Exiled Mages have a small chance of dropping theMad Alchemist’s Ladle.It’s a Level 17 wand that scales your cast speed with Intelligence, a stat we gain through our passive tree and other items. This weapon will carry you to Empowered Monoliths if you keep scaling Intelligence and cast speed.
Beyond that, typical leveling Uniques are good here.Arboreal Circuitrings and any pair ofboots with movement speedwill drastically increase your movement speed. If you’re playing a Deathless character, you may also level withLessons of the MetropolisandClose Callto drastically increase your Dodge rating.
Levels 1-15
The Mage’s first skill is Lightning Blast, so you can start playing with it immediately after character creation.Make Lightning Blast your first skill specialization, then grab Arcing Power.This lets Lightning Blast chain between targets. Put your first three levels into this node.For your passive points, max Arcanist first.This will scale your Intelligence stat, increasing the damage of your spells.
At level five, you will unlockGlacier.You’ll want to put this on your hotbar and use it against tougher foes. The third and final explosion from this skill deals immense damage at this level. For large crowds of enemies, you may useElemental Novauntil you level up Lightning Blast. The second spell you specialize doesn’t matter at this point, so feel free to experiment.
Runic Scrolls
Runic Scrolls are a fantastic relic this early since they give flat spell damage unconditionally.
When you reach level ten, you should be in Chapter 2 and have unlocked The Council Chambers. You’ll want tocomplete Erza’s Ledger and give the book to Erza.This will give you the Avarice Unique gloves, allowing you to recover HP by dealing damage with your spells.
Levels 16-30
At this point, you should have a small sum of Gold.Purchase Runes of Shattering you find on gear vendorswhenever possible. These Runes allow you to dismantle items into a bundle of affix shards thatyou can use in crafting. Keep an eye out for affixes that scale your spell damage, cast speed, and Intelligence. You can adjust your loot filter to highlight these items in a unique color.
Once you hit Level 20,specialize the Static skilland replace Glacier with it. You can activate Static while near tough enemies to one-shot them in most situations, speeding up the leveling process. Try to path your way towards the Unlimited Power node on the right-hand side of the tree, as this lets Static cast Lightning Blast as you walk.For Lightning Blast, start speccing towards Hypercast.
Completing Chapter 2 will unlock your Mastery class.Pick the Runemaster Mastery.You will gain access to theRunic Invocationskill and the Runemaster skill tree.Respec your Mage tree so it has only 20 points, then specialize in Runic Invocation in your third slot.You should have Lightning Blast, Static, and Runic Invocation specialized. Start putting your points in Unsealed Mana and Arcane Focus.
You’ll also find some good item bases at this point. Keep your eyes peeled forBirch Wands, Branded Skulls, and Copper Amulets.Use the forge to add damage affixes to these items, and you should feel a noticeable power spike.
Completing The Campaign
The rest of the Last Epoch campaign shouldn’t pose too much of an issue at this point. Continue fleshing out your skill trees and Runemaster passive tree, craft better items with affix shards you’ve obtained, and complete your side quests to unlock more Idol slots and passive points.
Our only real recommendation is tocap your elemental resistances before Chapter 7.While resistances aren’t nearly as important in Last Epoch as in similar ARPGs, the Lagon boss fight in Chapter 7 is extremely dangerous and does mostly Cold and Lightning damage. If you have both of these stats capped and have some additional Armor and Ward, you should be able to tank everything in that fight except Lagon’s beam attack.
Progressing In The Endgame
Endgame will play out similarly to the second half of the campaign. You’re looking to flesh out your skill trees, passive trees, and locate better base items—notablyCrystal Skulls,Siren Wands(Level 52), andDragonhorn Wands(Level 77+). You’ll also want to keep an eye out forIdols that scale HP, Ward, and lightning damage.Large Idols can notably roll with an affix that grants Static charges each second.
While this build isn’t tuned for Corrupted Monolith runs, anyone who wishes to push endgame content would want items withchill on hit, armor shred, and ranks to your specialized skills.Use theIsadora’s Tomb Bindingbelt for a ton of armor, doubleInvoker’s Static Touchrings for flat lightning damage, and theTwisted Heart of Uhkeirosto convert most of your HP into Ward, drastically increasing your survivability.
