Marksman Cold Heartseeker Endgame Build for Last Epoch (Patch 1.2)

Our base class is the Rogue, which acts as a generic brawler and marksman. Our character will be offered an opportunity to select an Advanced Mastery once we have completed the first act of the campaign. Each base class has three possible masteries to choose from. For the Rogue, we have access to the Mastery Tree Passives for Bladedancer, Falconer, and Marksman. Upon selecting a Mastery and placing 20 Passive Points into the Rogue Tree, you'll then be able to place Passive Points into the Mastery Trees.

Marksman is the Advanced Class used for this build and also where the majority of our Passive Points will come from. The Marksman Tree will focus on picking nodes that bolster a host of offensive and defensive capabilities. These will enable us to efficiently use our bow while keeping our defensive prowess in line. Falconer and Bladedancer are both used to a degree, but only very selective points are used from these trees.

This guide will tell you which nodes to sacrifice if some must be made when leveling your Marksman. However, this guide expects you to be at least level 70, with 100 points allocated.

• 8 points in Steady Hand: Dexterity and Health.
• 1 point in Guile: Base dodge rating and poison resistance.
• 5 points in Evasion: Take 20% less damage when moving.
• 5 points in Agility: We have a chance to gain Haste on crit. Additionally, we also do increased damage based on our movement speed.
• 5 points in Dodge and Parry: Dodge Rating and Glancing Blow Chance.

Our base class is the Rogue, which acts as a generic brawler and marksman. Our character will be offered an opportunity to select an Advanced Mastery once we have completed the first act of the campaign. Each base class has three possible masteries to choose from. For the Rogue, we have access to the Mastery Tree Passives for Bladedancer, Falconer, and Marksman. Upon selecting a Mastery and placing 20 Passive Points into the Rogue Tree, you'll then be able to place Passive Points into the Mastery Trees.

Marksman is the Advanced Class used for this build and also where the majority of our Passive Points will come from. The Marksman Tree will focus on picking nodes that bolster a host of offensive and defensive capabilities. These will enable us to efficiently use our bow while keeping our defensive prowess in line. Falconer and Bladedancer are both used to a degree, but only very selective points are used from these trees.

This guide will tell you which nodes to sacrifice if some must be made when leveling your Marksman. However, this guide expects you to be at least level 70, with 100 points allocated.

• 5 points in Focus Fire: We gain our precious Dexterity stat, which enables our  Heartseeker recurve chance. We also get Haste when we evade.
• 8 points in Draining Arrows: We increase our bow attack speed.
• 8 points in Assassin's Quiver: This skill can sacrifice 3 points if necessary — Flat Bow damage with flat and increased Critical Strike Chance.
• 5 points in Missile Mastery: This skill can sacrifice 5 points if necessary. We take this for the Armor Shred effect.
• 1 point in Concentration: We gain a passive stat called Concentration that will empower our damage and other stats.
• 1 point in Wound Maker: We gain Critical Vulnerability.
• 1 point in Meditation: We recover and gain Concentration more quickly and have additional flat dodge rating.
• 5 points in Heightened Senses: We gain a defensive state of Critical Strike Avoidance and increase our own Critical Strike Multiplier.
• 5 points in Reflection: This skill can sacrifice 1 point if necessary — While we have Concentration, we gain an increased dodge rating and movement speed. Additionally, we take 10% less hit damage while we have Concentration.
• 1 point in Arrow Storm: Purely taken to get the next point, but the chance to gain attack speed is welcomed.
• 1 point in Covering Fire: When we gain the Arrow Storm buff, we also gain a stack of Silver Shroud.
• 4 points in Sharpshooter: When we hit an enemy from 10 meters or more (common), we gain a stack of Sharpshooter, which increases our damage per stack we gain, up to 10.
• 3 points in Ethereal Arrows: We increase our base mana and mana regeneration. Additionally, we do more damage based on the mana cost of the skill being used.
• 2 points in Master Archer: This passive works twice as hard for us, increasing our  Detonating Arrow area explosion but also increasing our  Heartseeker chance.
• 5 points in Mana Warp: This makes skills that cost mana cost more, cohesively increasing their damage from Ethereal Arrows. Additionally, when we use our  Puncture, we gain mana. Puncture is a feasible skill to finish an enemy quickly.
• 5 points in Death from Afar: For every stack of Sharpshooter, we also get a 20% chance to stun and shred armor, up to 200% for both.
• 1 point in Barrage of Pain: For every stack of this, we gain 3% Critical Strike Chance, up to 5 stacks.
• 5 points in Perfect Aim: This skill can sacrifice 4 points if necessary. In addition to Critical Strike Chance, we also gain Critical Strike Multiplier (15% per stack) along with health gain on crit per stack (15 health per stack).

Our base class is the Rogue, which acts as a generic brawler and marksman. Our character will be offered an opportunity to select an Advanced Mastery once we have completed the first act of the campaign. Each base class has three possible masteries to choose from. For the Rogue, we have access to the Mastery Tree Passives for Bladedancer, Falconer, and Marksman. Upon selecting a Mastery and placing 20 Passive Points into the Rogue Tree, you'll then be able to place Passive Points into the Mastery Trees.

Marksman is the Advanced Class used for this build and also where the majority of our Passive Points will come from. The Marksman Tree will focus on picking nodes that bolster a host of offensive and defensive capabilities. These will enable us to efficiently use our bow while keeping our defensive prowess in line. Falconer and Bladedancer are both used to a degree, but only very selective points are used from these trees.

This guide will tell you which nodes to sacrifice if some must be made when leveling your Marksman. However, this guide expects you to be at least level 70, with 100 points allocated.

• 1 point in Wilderness Scout: Base Health and Base Dodge rating.
• 4 points in Raptor's Wings: We do more damage when we have haste, as well as a chance to gain haste when we hit an enemy.
• 5 points in Outlander's Tenacity: One of our biggest defensive layers comes from this passive, which gives us 15% of our maximum health as Endurance Threshold.

Our base class is the Rogue, which acts as a generic brawler and marksman. Our character will be offered an opportunity to select an Advanced Mastery once we have completed the first act of the campaign. Each base class has three possible masteries to choose from. For the Rogue, we have access to the Mastery Tree Passives for Bladedancer, Falconer, and Marksman. Upon selecting a Mastery and placing 20 Passive Points into the Rogue Tree, you'll then be able to place Passive Points into the Mastery Trees.

Marksman is the Advanced Class used for this build and also where the majority of our Passive Points will come from. The Marksman Tree will focus on picking nodes that bolster a host of offensive and defensive capabilities. These will enable us to efficiently use our bow while keeping our defensive prowess in line. Falconer and Bladedancer are both used to a degree, but only very selective points are used from these trees.

This guide will tell you which nodes to sacrifice if some must be made when leveling your Marksman. However, this guide expects you to be at least level 70, with 100 points allocated.

• 5 points in Pursuit: This skill can sacrifice 5 points if necessary — Only worth taking if you can invest all 5 points right away, as we only take it for the movement speed.
• 8 points in Cloak of Shadows: This node further adds to our Glancing Blow chance, as well as our best attribute, Dexterity.

 Heartseeker is the button we will be hitting the most or just holding down if you wish. We will shoot out several Heartseeking projectiles that will not bounce between targets but rather hit the same target over and over again. Because of this playstyle, it is recommended to target multiple separate targets when engaging enemies. This is because our Heartseeker has something called a "recurve" chance. This is the chance our Heartseeker will hit the enemy again after the last strike; this has a diminishing multiplier of 0.8. However, we scale this chance very high through Dexterity and gear affixes. When an enemy dies while under the effect of Heartseeker, it will shoot out a number of  Puncture arrows equal to the number of recurve hits remaining. Example: 5 recurve hits remain on enemy death = 5 Punctures are emitted from the corpse.

To add insult to injury, our Reign of Winter will shoot out a multitude of Icicles; these are spell damage, but because we gain base damage to spells and attacks via our Mourningfrost boots, it tears into enemies with machine-gun-like efficiency. These have a very high chance to critically strike as well, making short work of the biggest champions you come across.

This skill will be played on the skill bar, as this is our main spam skill. Most of any engagements will start and end with this skill; no mana problems are expected. Heartseeker also empowers us defensively, giving us a chance gain stack of Dusk Shroud, giving us Glancing Blow Chance. With this skill being used, there’s is a very good chance you will be at 95%-100%+ of Glancing Blow chance (going over 100% does not do anything for us.

• 4 points in Arrow Mastery: Recurve chance for us is everything, so we instantly grab this node.
• 1 point in Shadow Weaver's Grasp: We now have a base minimum recurve chance.
• 1 point in Nimble Threads: We gain recurve chance per point of Dexterity we have.
• 3 points in Bloodseeker: We gain recurve chance and leech a percentage of our damage from Heartseeker as life.
• 1 point in Exposed: Our recurve gains 100% Armor Shred chance and 100% Frailty chance. This works both offensively and defensively for us.
• 1 point in Straight Through: The magic of our clearing starts and ends here. Swaths of  Puncture will fill the screen when an enemy dies under the effects of Heartseeker.
• 1 point in Against All Odds: Evasive enemies are no longer evasive, as Heartseeker now cannot be dodged. Heartseeker also gains more damage.
• 1 point in Controlled Icicle: We fully convert our Heartseeker to cold damage. More on this in the next node.
• 2 points in Frozen Splinter: Heartseeker will now gain cold penetration for every 10% you are overcapped in cold resistance. This proves difficult in gearing, which is why so much of it is found in our gear and blessings. The unique boots we use strip away both cold and physical resistance from us the more Dexterity we have. This is something we must build around to capitalize properly without getting melted ourselves. Follow gearing carefully.
• 3 points in Bonepiercer: Heartseeker gains a stacking damage buff every time it recurves on an enemy (Yes, it snowballs). This caps at 12 recurves, however.
• 3 points in Decimating Spike: We give our Heartseeker base critical strike chance and critical strike multiplier.
• 3 points in Hidden Skewer: Whenever we attack with Heartseeker, no matter if we hit anything or not, we have a chance to gain a stack of Dusk Shroud, which gives us +5% glancing blow chance and flat dodge rating per stack. We scale this to happen many times per 2 seconds. Because of this, we can easily cap our Glancing Blow chance, giving us 35% damage reduction from hits.

While  Puncture is mostly automated, we can elect to use it directly to quickly add the final Shadow Dagger and seal the deal. We would typically recommend still using  Heartseeker to kill a singular enemy, as the Punctures that are emitted will hit far and wide.

This skill will be played on the skill bar, as it is a free attack, and we can gain Mana from it. This build was tested with minimal Mana Regen on gear, thus no Mana problems are expected.

• 4 points in Splinter: Our Puncture now has a chance to shred physical resistance; this empowers our  Shadow Daggers.
• 2 points in Redouble: Puncture will do more damage per enemy it pierces; there is no limit to the buff.
• 5 points in Shatter: Whenever our Puncture hits an enemy, it has a chance to apply Shred Armor at an increased effect. This empowers all of our hits from our skills.
• 2 points in Death's Imprint: This is the bread and butter of our clear and can be used directly to wipe up remaining mobs. Whenever the automated Puncture from Heartseeker hits an enemy, it will apply a single stack of  Shadow Daggers; at 4 stacks, it will critically strike the enemy. Since this is applied so rapidly from our automation, it is difficult to see. Late in corruption, this can be used directly; by doing so, we apply Shadow Daggers 2 at a time, as opposed to the 1 stack we get from indirect attacks.
• 4 points in Timing: Our Puncture has more damage, but direct usage is slower. We are not concerned about the drawback as it is mostly used automatically.
• 3 points in Rapid Strikes: Every 4 seconds, direct usage will shoot 3 volleys of Puncture very quickly, each volley applying 2 stacks of Shadow Daggers.

 Shift is likely seen as defensive, but it is also very offensive. Using Shift increases our movement speed significantly, and we have scaled to have increased damage equal to our movement speed. This Rogue is very strong and should not worry about shifting into a pack, as the chances of getting hit hard enough to kill you are very low. Shifting in, blasting with Heartseeker, and evading out is a strong combination that will move you in and out of monoliths very quickly.

This skill will be played on the skill bar and should typically be used whenever off cooldown. The only exception is boss fights; save it for evading heavy hits, as we are immune to damage when in the animation of Shift.

• 2 points in Shadow Recuperation: When we shift, we heal ourselves.
• 5 points in Sleight of Hand: When Shift is used, we also throw 5 Shurikens, which we have scaled to give us armor. These Shurikens will also provide us Haste when they hit an enemy.
• 3 points in Velocity: Our Shift has a lower cooldown and costs us less mana to use.
• 3 points in Momentum: For 1.5 seconds after using Shift, we gain a movement speed buff. This buff is independent of haste and will stack.
• 3 points in Swift Recovery: We gain 12 mana when we Shift; alternatively, if we are below 50% life, we will gain three times as much (36).
• 1 point in Shadowslip: We are immune to all damage while we are in the Shift animation.
• 3 points in Elusive: After shifting, we gain a massive amount of base dodge rating per point of Dexterity we have. Since we scale our Dexterity very high, this should put us at or near the dodge cap of 85%.

Season 2 brought new Champions to the game. These hard-hitting and very tanky monsters need a way to be put down quickly, or you run the risk of being overrun. They commonly will be seen blinking on top of you if you try to run away, so it's best to deal with them when you see them.  Detonating Arrow should be used on the monsters when you see them first, then tear into them with  Heartseeker. By the time the arrow detonates, large portions of their life should be removed, and the scaling of the arrow should do the rest. It is scaled specifically as a time bomb, which stays on them, gaining more damage for each second it is attached and more damage for each % the enemy has missing.

This skill will be played on the skill bar; reserve its usage for heavy targets. Be sure to put this on before doing damage to empower Heartseeker.

• 4 points in Beastslayer Arrow: We specifically scale this skill to be a sort of “time bomb”. This node enables it.
• 2 points in Copper Dust Arrow: While a Detonating Arrow is attached, the enemy will lose 20% of all elemental resistance. This allows our  Heartseeker to hit harder.
• 2 points in Delayed Detonation: We further scale the amount of time the arrow “cooks”.
• 3 points in Lethal Blast: Now Detonating Arrow will do more damage based on missing health, in addition to the length of time it was on the enemy.
• 3 points in Concentration: We scale to do more damage while sacrificing the AoE of the blast. This is fine, as this skill is traditionally saved for Champions, Bosses, and Rares only.
• 1 point in Outburst: We add a small amount of AoE to the blast of Detonating Arrow.
• 1 point in Infused Discharge: The skill will now consume a portion of your current mana, doing more based on how much was consumed.
• 2 points in Well Crafted: We add a small amount of AoE and damage to the blast.
• 1 point in Thundersteel Arrow: Detonating Arrow now has a cooldown to gain a huge amount of damage and AoE for the blast.
• 1 point in Loaded Quiver: We gain an additional charge of Detonating Arrow since our previous node gave us a cooldown. We typically do not spam this skill. Two charges should be plenty for pack-to-pack engagements.

 Shurikens are used primarily as a defense by empowering our armor value. This can be quite strong, but it has a limited lifespan, which is why using  Shift when it is off cooldown is recommended. The Shurikens will also give you haste when they make contact with an enemy, which is why shifting into a pack works well for us, as it would not be uncommon to see 140%–160% movement speed after shifting, quickly moving you out of danger almost as fast as you went into it.

This skill will NOT be played on the skill bar. Using  Decoy without being specialized is recommended in its place. This will allow us to draw enemies away from us when we need a chance to recoup.

• 3 points in Alacrity: We are forced to take this node to enable the usage we are looking for.
• 1 point in Fan of Blades: We throw 2 additional Shurikens when it is used directly.
• 1 point in Blade Shield: The Shurikens will now orbit us in a tight circle.
• 3 points in Bladed Armor: We increase our armor by 30% for each Shuriken that orbits us.
• 3 points in Floating Blades: The effects of Blade Shield will last longer.
• 4 points in Ethereal Blades: Typically, when a Shuriken hits an enemy, it will cease to exist; this allows it to now pierce. This allows us to keep the armor effects, which is why we take this skill altogether.
• 2 points in Scintillant Steel: We take this point to move further in our tree.
• 1 point in Acrobatics: This skill has no effects on us (unless used directly); we only take it to move to the next point.
• 2 points in Exuberance: Whenever our Shurikens hit an enemy, we gain haste.