Sorcerer Black Hole Ignite Endgame Build for Last Epoch (Patch 1.1)

Our base class is Mage, which fills the role of spell caster and magic user in Last Epoch. Upon finishing Act 1 in the campaign, your character will be offered an opportunity to select an Advanced Mastery. Each base class has three possible Masteries to choose from. For Mage, you can choose between Passive Trees for Sorcerer, Spellsword, and Runemaster. Upon selecting a Mastery and placing 20 Passive Points into the Mage Tree, you'll then be able to place Passive Points into the Mastery Trees.

Sorcerer is the Advanced Class used for this build, and also where the majority of our Passive Points will come from. The Sorcerer Tree will focus around picking nodes that increase our Fire Damage, Fire Penetration, and Chance to Ignite. A lesser amount of Passive Points will come from Runemaster, focusing on Ignite interactions, but also unlocking  Frost Wall and  Flame Rush as usable spells. Spellsword is not used in this build. Each Passive Tree and their points are broken down below.

• 8 points into Elementalist: Increases Fire Damage.
• 8 points into Arcanist: Intelligence and Resistances.
• 5 points into Arcane Flames: Using a Fire Skill Ignites nearby enemies.
• 5 points into Ice and Fire: Increased Cold Damage, Fire Damage, and chance to Ignite with Fire Skills.

Our base class is Mage, which fills the role of spell caster and magic user in Last Epoch. Upon finishing Act 1 in the campaign, your character will be offered an opportunity to select an Advanced Mastery. Each base class has three possible Masteries to choose from. For Mage, you can choose between Passive Trees for Sorcerer, Spellsword, and Runemaster. Upon selecting a Mastery and placing 20 Passive Points into the Mage Tree, you'll then be able to place Passive Points into the Mastery Trees.

Sorcerer is the Advanced Class used for this build, and also where the majority of our Passive Points will come from. The Sorcerer Tree will focus around picking nodes that increase our Fire Damage, Fire Penetration, and Chance to Ignite. A lesser amount of Passive Points will come from Runemaster, focusing on Ignite interactions, but also unlocking  Frost Wall and  Flame Rush as usable spells. Spellsword is not used in this build. Each Passive Tree and their points are broken down below.

• 6 points into Mana Shell: Increased Armor, and required for pathing.
• 5 points into Arcane Momentum: Increased Cast Speed, increasing over each cast to a maximum.
• 8 points into Essence of Celerity: Arcane Momentum stacks now increase Spell Damage.
• 8 points into Pyromancer: Fire Damage and Ignite Chance.
• 5 points into Lavamancer: Invaluable Fire Penetration and Fire Damage Leech. Helps generate Ward with  Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros.
• 8 points into Inferno: Ignite Chance duration and Damage increase.
• 5 points into Arcane Insight: Extra Intelligence and a 25% chance on cast to gain Insight, which increases Elemental Damage and Ward Retention.
• 3 points into Elixir of Knowledge: Potions will now grant you around 350 Ward on use if you have the gear listed in this guide.
• 4 points into Recollection: Lowers cooldown for  Black Hole.

Our base class is Mage, which fills the role of spell caster and magic user in Last Epoch. Upon finishing Act 1 in the campaign, your character will be offered an opportunity to select an Advanced Mastery. Each base class has three possible Masteries to choose from. For Mage, you can choose between Passive Trees for Sorcerer, Spellsword, and Runemaster. Upon selecting a Mastery and placing 20 Passive Points into the Mage Tree, you'll then be able to place Passive Points into the Mastery Trees.

Sorcerer is the Advanced Class used for this build, and also where the majority of our Passive Points will come from. The Sorcerer Tree will focus around picking nodes that increase our Fire Damage, Fire Penetration, and Chance to Ignite. A lesser amount of Passive Points will come from Runemaster, focusing on Ignite interactions, but also unlocking  Frost Wall and  Flame Rush as usable spells. Spellsword is not used in this build. Each Passive Tree and their points are broken down below.

• 8 points into Sphere of Protection: Since everything we do causes Ignite stacks, this effectively becomes a permanent Damage Reduction.
• 2 points into Unsealed Mana: Bonus to Cast Speed.
• 10 points into Circle of Elements: 100% Ignite Chance for all Fire Skills.
• 8 points into Arcane Focus: Ward gain on cast, and extra Intelligence.
• 2 points into Mental Catalysis This is taken to round out the reduced bonus damage from crits, functioning with our Unique Boots,  Fiery Dragon Shoes. Depending on your roll on these, you can opt to remove or add points into this node, using Unsealed Mana to do so.
• 6 points into Transcendence: Health and Ward per Second.

In this section, we will break down each skill and highlight the key passives we have selected to make the skill shine in the build. While some of these skills do allow for some variation to exist depending on your own custom choices, we recommend utilizing the skill trees as presented until you have a strong understanding of the build itself.

 Black Hole acts as a giant nuke for the build. Looking at the stats on your character page, it looks like our actual Ignite Chance is low, however through the node Heat Wave this spell will generate Ignite stacks off of the uncapped Fire Resistance we have. This will make for very potent Ignite stacks at once on enemies within its range, dealing hundreds of thousands in the form of DoT Fire Damage.

• 4 points into Catalyst: 60% increase in damage. Black Hole will not pull in this build, so that is irrelevant.
• 1 point into Red Giant: Turns Black Hole into a star, converting the damage dealt into Fire and increasing the duration.
• 3 points into Flaming: 30% increase in Fire Damage.
• 5 points into Heat Wave: Increases Ignite Chance by increases to Fire Resistance.
• 1 point into Binary System: This node creates an awesome visual with a Cold and Fire star both orbiting each other, but this is taken for the 100% more damage.
• 3 points into Stability: Increase to the duration of Black Hole.
• 3 points into Umbral Core: Black Hole deals 30% more damage.
• 4 points into Event Horizon: Black Hole deals 60% more damage.
• 1 point into Pulsar: Black Hole explodes once a second. This deals Hit Damage.

In this section, we will break down each skill and highlight the key passives we have selected to make the skill shine in the build. While some of these skills do allow for some variation to exist depending on your own custom choices, we recommend utilizing the skill trees as presented until you have a strong understanding of the build itself.

 Frost Claw is what we use in between casts of  Black Hole in order to maintain damage output. While Black Hole is a nuke meant for a single target or for taking care of clustered mobs, it doesn't do a great job of taking out mobs that are spread out, or coming from multiple directions. This is where Frost Claw comes in. There is a moderate Mana cost associated with this skill, but that is handled through extra Mana Regen on our gear and by taking several Mana nodes within the tree.

• 3 points into Gift of Winter: Massive Mana cost reduction, with a chance to regain 12 Mana on cast.
• 1 point into Fen of the Frozen: Pathing node mostly, a bit of extra Ignite Chance.
• 1 point into Lava Talon: Converts the skill from Cold to Fire.
• 5 points into Spark of Celerity: Taken almost entirely for the Mana Efficiency, the Projectile Speed is a bonus.
• 1 point into Brightfrost: Cleanses ailments on cast.
• 1 point into Hand of Morditas: Increases Mana cost, but adds more projectiles.
• 1 point into Volley of Glass: Projectiles no longer burst, but all projectiles have their own instance of damage.
• 2 point into Rending Cascade: Increased base Critical Strike Chance.
• 1 point into Frozen Reign: Reduced Mana cost.
• 1 point into Glamdring: Pathing node.
• 1 point into Cold Star: Since we remove the burst on Frost Claw, half this node does nothing. We do gain the extra damage from it, though.
• 1 point into On Through The Snow: Frost Claw's initial hit continues on for a second jump.
• 1 point into Frozen Malice: The previous node, that hit is now directed at a nearby enemy.
• 1 point into A Crack in the Ice: The second hit from the previous nodes now creates a third jump, which directs back to the player.

If missing points from gear, remove them from Adept.

In this section, we will break down each skill and highlight the key passives we have selected to make the skill shine in the build. While some of these skills do allow for some variation to exist depending on your own custom choices, we recommend utilizing the skill trees as presented until you have a strong understanding of the build itself.

 Frost Wall is converted into a Fire Wall for the purpose of this build, used to quickly apply Fire Resistance Shred stacks to enemies within its range. Walking through Frost Wall will cause it to explode, and also significantly buff our character and the damage potential for  Flame Rush if Flame Rush was used to move through Frost Wall.

• 5 points into Marching Winter: Frost Wall is now larger and has the potential to last longer.
• 1 point into Pyroglass: Converts Frost Wall into Fire Wall.
• 1 point into Brand the Invaders: Applies a heavy Fire DoT to enemies that pass through the wall.
• 4 points into Crystals of Protection: Ward generation and Mana refund when passing through the wall.
• 3 points into Boosted Kickoff: Provides Haste and Frenzy when the player passes through the wall.
• 1 point into Runic Conclusion: Frost Wall will now detonate when you walk through it.
• 1 point into Glyph of Direfrost: Increases the damage and area of the detonation.
• 1 point into Shattered to Pieces: Significant increases to the damage and area of the detonation, but also destroys Frost Wall in the process.
• 2 points into Biting Limit: Applies Fire Shred stacks at an incredibly fast rate; 4 stacks per second.
• 1 point in Purifying Gate: Single point defensive node, will cleanse ailments off you as you pass through the wall. Works especially well for ailments that reduce your Reistances to certain types of damage.

In this section, we will break down each skill and highlight the key passives we have selected to make the skill shine in the build. While some of these skills do allow for some variation to exist depending on your own custom choices, we recommend utilizing the skill trees as presented until you have a strong understanding of the build itself.

 Flame Ward has two purposes in this build. The main purpose is survival, as using this skill will enhance us with extra Ward and mitigation a large amount of damage dealt to us. It may also be used as an offensive skill, as this adds an extra 250% Increased Fire Damage to attacks while Flame Ward is active.

• 3 points into Stalwart Defense: Bonus 120 Ward on activation.
• 3 points into Dilation: Increases the duration Flame Ward persists.
• 5 points into Infusion: Bonus 250% Fire Damage while Flame Ward is active.
• 1 point into Desperate Defense: Pathing node.
• 1 point into Astonish: When you are stunned, Flame Ward is automatically cast so long as you have positive Mana and Flame Ward is not on cooldown.
• 3 points into Fuel The Flames: All Ward generated by Flame Ward is boosted by 20%.
• 1 point into Dual Aegis: Flame Ward now has a second charge.
• 5 points into Barrier: When Flame Ward is active, you take 40% less Hit Damage.

If you're looking to pump higher amounts of damage with this build, forego selecting Concentrated Shielding, Fortification, and Fuel The Flames and instead place these extra 8 points into Dilation and Infusion. This will subtract a bit of Ward generation from the build, but  Black Hole will deal a lot more damage.

In this section, we will break down each skill and highlight the key passives we have selected to make the skill shine in the build. While some of these skills do allow for some variation to exist depending on your own custom choices, we recommend utilizing the skill trees as presented until you have a strong understanding of the build itself.

 Flame Rush is the Traversal Skill in the build and has been amplified to go fast on a short cooldown. Flame Rush will function best when used together with  Frost Wall, as doing this will apply Haste and Frenzy, cleanse us, force the Frost Wall to explode, and increase the damage and area of Flame Rush's final explosion.

• 3 points into Solar Rush: Increases the speed and range.
• 4 points into Blazeborn: Flame Rush deals more damage in a larger area.
• 1 point into Gas Powered: As long as you pass through  Frost Wall when using Flame Rush, the skill will deal damage in a much larger area, and has a much higher chance to deal critical damage.
• 5 points into Smolder and Burn: Applies 5 stacks of Fire Resistance Shred upon passing through an enemy.
• 3 points into Blazing Flux: Increased Cooldown Recovery Speed and Mana Efficiency. These bonuses are doubled with this build.
• 3 points into Runic Eclipse: Reduces damage taken when channeling Flame Rush.
• 2 points into Celestial Guidance: The mitigation from the previous node persists for a set amount of time after you stop channeling.