The Warlock is a new mastery added to the Acolyte class in Last Epoch as part of the full release and the 1.0 update, bringing a whole new way to play the class.
Having selected the Warlock for my class, I’ve been experimenting with different approaches and have put together the best Warlock leveling build in Last Epoch, which we’ve outlined for you.
Best Warlock AOE leveling build in Last Epoch
Skills
- Rip Blood (Specialized)
- Summon Skeleton (Specialized)
- Chtonic Fissure (Specialized)
- Infernal Shade
- Soul Feast
Any build in Last Epoch needs to have a strong skill for clearing mobs and, given the defense of the Acolyte is relatively low, you need passive healing for your Warlock—which is where Rip Blood shines, particularly when specialized as you can significantly reduce its cost and, eventually, make it free when you’re out of Mana. In this build, I use Rip Blood as my main skill.
Summon Skeleton is a core part of this build and should be Specialized as soon as possible to increase its worth. Specializing Summon Skeleton results in a higher number of maximum summons, adding the likes of Skeleton Rogues to your arsenal. Eventually, though, you’ll want to remove Skeleton Archers from the pool of summons for it to work perfectly alongside the Soul Feast skill. When you use Soul Feast, a summoned minion is destroyed, dealing AOE damage. As Archers are away from the fight most of the time at a safer distance, you instead want summons that get up close and personal.
Chtonic Fissure is the Mastery skill for the Warlock and is a crucial selection as it forms the main point of AOE damage in the build. The focus is to work towards the Return Below node, which instantly activates any Infernal Shade cast upon an enemy to deal full damage, resulting in more spirits unleashed from the Chtonic Fissure.
The key strategy in this build is to use Rip Blood at every opportunity to earn passive healing and build stacks of Coagulated Blood, which can then inflict massive amounts of damage upon enemies. At the same time, cast Infernal Shade as often as possible. Make sure to take note of the maximum number of enemies it can be inflicted on and try to target the enemy in the center of the mob to deal surrounding damage to more enemies.
Chtonic Fissure pairs perfectly with that approach and can deal huge damage to enemies inflicted with Infernal Shade, boosting the number of spirits unleashed to result in even more damage. Soul Feast can then be used to sacrifice minions and deal further damage—just make sure to keep summoning minions as and when you can.
Passives
For Acolyte Passives, the most important nodes are Forbidden Knowledge, which improves the Rip Blood and Cast Skeleton skills, Blood Aura, and Bone Aura, increasing the base damage and armor for you and your minions. Dark Rituals is also an important selection, as it opens the door to the Etheral Revenant node—which has come in clutch for me on any occasion where I’ve been overrun and my health has depleted significantly.
After unlocking the Warlock class tree in Last Epoch, the focus should be on increasing AOE, fire damage, and anything that boosts Rip Blood. Chaos Flames, Spiteful Decay and Cauldron of Blood should be your main focus early on, alongside Occultist’s Mind to increase your Intelligence stat. From there, you have the freedom to improve other core stats like your Vitality, Health, Cast Speed, and Critical Multiplier.
Gear
For weapons, look for anything that reduces Mana cost, improves Health Regen, and increases Spell Damage, especially if anything pairs well with fire damage or the Rip Blood skill. Armor wise, prioritize any gear you find that boosts Damaged Leeched as Health, Cast Speed, or improves Resistance against all ailments.
