Last Epoch’s Forge Guard is the least flashy of the three Sentinel Masteries, but that doesn’t mean it can’t tear through enemies like nothing. Take up a hammer and anvil and turn these timelines into your masterpiece.
Here is the best Forge Guard leveling build in Last Epoch.
Best options for Forge Guard leveling up in Last Epoch
Our Last Epoch Forge Guard leveling build will have a primary focus on minion damage by spawning many Forged Weapons through dungeons. We will also want to prioritize survivability through armor, block effectiveness, and any sort of regeneration we can muster.
While we don’t think they’re as effective as other Sentinel options for leveling, Forge Guards can ignore entire packs of enemies while their minions chew them to shreds, making them a unique leveling experience.
For safety’s sake, we plan on using a Shield for this build. There is a very valid—and highly damaging—two-handed Forge Guard build that requires a similar amount of effort and has a bit more trouble surviving combat than this one. This Mastery can be very tanky or be torn to shreds if you’re not careful, so maximizing your chance to survive silly situations is for the best.
Best Skills and Skill Specializations for leveling a Forge Guard
We recommend the following Skills and Skill Specializations to take while you’re leveling your Forge Guard:
| Skill | Recommended Specializations |
| Rive | Flurry 5, Iron Reach 1, Challenge 1, Rending 2, Sever 2, Bound Weapon 4, Twisting Fangs 2, Flame Drinker’s Blade 1, Assassin’s Sustenance 1, Indomitable 1 |
| Forge Strike | Forged by Fire 4, Well Forged Weapons 4, Mass Production 3, Forgemaster 1, Lightforge 4, Arcane Welding 3, Beneath Solarum 1 |
| Manifest Armor | Platemail 3, Self-Repair 2, Bulwark 2, Shield-Bearer 1, Iron Grasp 1, Redistributed Steel 3, Titan Sword 1, Force of Impact 1, Lambent Metal 1, Steel Greaves 2, Warstomp 1, Lethargy 2 |
| Ring of Shields | Banding 2, Enduring Defense 2, Shield Spike 1, Reinforcement 2, Bastion 3, Amass 3, Heavy Burden 3, Healing Shields 3, Phalanx 1 |
| Volatile Reversal | Terminal Void Rift 1, Dark Expanse 3, Harbinger of Dust 3, Time Sap 2, Incipient Void Rift 1, Disintegration 3, Time Rifts 3, Traveller’s Fatigue 2, Warped Time 2 |
These happen to be in the order you’ll obtain them. You may need to Respec skills from your Sentinel and early Forge Guard levels to gain abilities like Volatile Reversal and Ring of Shields in your Specialization slots. Feel free to take generic damage options like Shield Throw and Shield Bash before then.
Ring of Shields is unique, as you shouldn’t have it on your bar once you get the Shieldcrafter Passive which automatically summons your Ring. Once you get that Passive, you can invest in Void Knight to get Volatile Reversal instead. For the non-upgraded Skill on your bar, we recommend Shield Rush since it carries a Sentinel across maps quickly and easily.
For multiplayer, we recommend swapping Rive for Multiattack. Multiattack can also spawn Forged Weapons but doesn’t require you to kill targets to do so. This can make it a lot more suited for the hectic multiplayer piles where you can’t quite land kills but can build Armament stacks.
Best Passives for leveling a Forge Guard
The following are our suggested passives for a Forge Guard, specifically one with a one-handed weapon and shield:
| Tree | Passives |
| Sentinel | Juggernaut 4, Fearless 1, Stalwart 1, Armor Clad 4, Valiant Charge 5, Time and Faith 4, Aegis of Renewal 1 -> Focus on Forge Guard and Void Knight -> Armor Clad 5, Time and Faith 5, Stalwart 4, Mail Crusher 10 |
| Forge Guard | Steel Aegis 5, Weapons Master 5, Rallying Block 5, Smelter’s Might 5, Thornmail 4, Iron Attunement 8, Crushing Blows 6, Folded Steel 10, Flawless Defender 5, Osprixbane 8, Walls of Solarum 8, Shield Crafter 3, Avatar of War 1 |
| Void Knight | Abyssal Endurance 5 |
While leveling up, put 20 Passive points into Sentinel, then invest as many as you can into Forge Guard. You want quite a bit of the Minion Damage, Block Chance, Armor, and the ability to spawn a Ring of Shields when taking damage.
The five points in Void Knight are to get Volatile Reversal. This can be done at any point in your Forge Knight’s career, but we recommend getting it once you close in on level 50.
Once you’re done putting points into Forge Guard and Void Knight, Sentinel actually has a few more tricks up its sleeve. We recommend reinvesting once you’re on your last 15 Passive points and getting Mail Crusher, a 120 percent flat damage buff for your build. Alternatively, if you find a unique Sword or Axe, you can get Blademaster and Axe Thrower.
Gameplan for a leveling Forge Guard
As a Forge Guard using a Shield, your damage is almost entirely located within your Forged Weapons—Creating and maintaining a count of Forged Weapons is critical to clearing dungeons. And, unfortunately, you only have two paths to doing so—killing enemies with Rive and landing Forge Strikes. However, once they’re up, they’ll reap carnage on your enemies while you stay safe with a high block rate and minions who taunt your foes.
Your main goal for leveling is to use Shield Rush to move quickly through areas, Forge Strike to deal massive damage and gather a supply of Forged Weapons, and Rive to clear whatever remains when you run out of Mana. Your Forged Weapons will deal massive damage to foes through attrition—you’ll have up to 12 just from passives, and they all do significant bonus damage while attacking quickly.
Your Manifest Armor will be a bit of an annoyance while you’re leveling up. Even tanky variants can die quickly, especially against the wrong Elite types. However, once they establish the Shield and get bonuses from your equipment and late-game passives, it will serve as a valuable tank and a legitimately high-damage threat.
Volatile Reversal is a strange active which you’ll use offensively and defensively. If you find a dungeon to be relatively low damage and you’re surviving with ease, Volatile Reversal is a great damage buff for elites which helps you tear through enemies fast. It even restores Mana, so you can set up your damage buffs and then hammer the foe with Forge Strikes to regain Forged Weapons and keep up your offense.
However, it has a long cooldown with this build, so it might need to be saved for emergencies. We didn’t take Timelost Vitality or Timelost Wisdom because we occasionally need this for a safety net. The 20-ish second cooldown is usually enough for it to come online between challenging Elites, but you’ll need to keep an eye on it. If you don’t mind losing the Mana or Health restoring qualities, then either Timelost node is a good choice.
