Last Epoch, the action RPG gaining immense popularity, offers a plethora of classes and subclasses, each with unique playstyles and progression paths. For players seeking a sturdy and impactful melee experience, the Forge Guard, a subclass of the Sentinel, stands out Last Epoch Gold.
Why Forge Guard for Leveling?
The Forge Guard excels at survivability and consistent damage. Its unique mechanics, revolving around forging weapons and summoning powerful allies, make it a compelling choice for both new and experienced players. This build emphasizes maximizing clear speed and minimizing downtime, allowing you to efficiently traverse the campaign and reach the endgame content quickly.
Core Skills and Their Synergies
This leveling build centers around the following key skills:
Forge Strike: This serves as your main attack skill. It inflicts considerable physical damage and has a probability of forging a weapon upon impact. Allocating points into its skill tree to enhance flat damage, the chance to forge, and to incorporate an area of effect (AoE) feature will significantly boost its efficiency. Concentrate on nodes such as "Iron Embrace" for additional armor and "Embers of War" for conversion to fire damage and AoE.
Shield Rush: This is an essential mobility skill that also inflicts reasonable damage. Utilize it to swiftly bridge the distance to foes, evade perilous situations, and disrupt enemy assaults. The "Juggernaut" node provides temporary health, enhancing your survivability. Explore nodes that augment its speed and diminish its cooldown.
Smelter's Wrath: This skill functions as both a formidable single-target attack and a source of elemental damage. By forging a weapon, you enhance this skill to deliver a catastrophic strike. Invest in nodes that amplify its damage, increase its size, and extend the duration of the forged weapon buff.
Manifest Armor: This skill summons a robust melee minion that takes on attributes from your equipped gear. It offers valuable support and absorbs damage, enabling you to concentrate on your own offensive actions. Focus on nodes that enhance its health, damage, and duration. The "Armory of Will" node, which permits the Manifest Armor to utilize skills, is particularly potent.
Ring of Shields: This is an additional defensive skill that envelops you with rotating shields. These shields obstruct projectiles and inflict damage on nearby adversaries. Allocate points to nodes that increase the quantity of shields, their damage output, and their duration. The "Bastion of Renewal" node for health regeneration is especially beneficial for sustainability.
Passive Tree Progression
Your passive tree progression should initially focus on survivability and damage. Here's a suggested priority:
Sentinel Tree: Start by investing points into increasing your health, armor, and elemental resistances. Key passives include "Juggernaut Stance" for increased armor and "Enduring Stance" for increased health.
Forge Guard Tree: This is where you'll focus on amplifying your damage and enhancing your Forge Strike. Prioritize passives that increase physical damage, melee damage, and the chance to forge weapons. The "Master Smith" passive is crucial for increasing the duration of forged weapons and boosting their stats.
Void Knight Tree: A few points here can provide useful damage mitigation. "Abyssal Endurance" provides valuable void resistance, a common damage type in Last Epoch.
Gear and Itemization
During leveling, focus on acquiring gear with the following stats:
Increased Health: Vital for survivability.
Armor: Provides crucial physical damage reduction.
Elemental Resistances: Essential for mitigating elemental damage.
Increased Melee Damage: Amplifies your damage output.
Increased Physical Damage: Further boosts your Forge Strike's effectiveness.
Mana Regeneration: Helps sustain your skill usage.
As you progress, look for unique items that synergize with your build. Sentinel-specific uniques that boost Forge Strike or Manifest Armor are highly desirable buy Last Epoch Gold.
The Forge Guard leveling build offers a robust and engaging experience in Last Epoch. By following this guide, you can efficiently level your Forge Guard, overcome challenges, and prepare for the endgame content. Embrace the power of the forge and smash your way to victory! Remember to adapt the build to your playstyle and enjoy the journey through Eterra. With dedication and careful planning, you'll be forging your legend in no time. And remember, when you hit the endgame, finding efficient ways to acquire Last Epoch Gold can significantly improve your gear and overall character progression.
