Sorcerer Glacier Endgame Build for Last Epoch (Patch 1.1)
Welcome to our Last Epoch Sorcerer Glacier build guide for the Mage class. Here you will learn everything about the Sorcerer play style, passives, skills, strengths, and weaknesses to conquer the world of Eterra.
Build Introduction
Control the harsh elements of winter; this build acts like a true Frost Mage, slamming icicles and large glaciers into enemies and applying massive amounts of Frostbite to any foe hit. Previously a crit-focused build, it has since been converted into a DoT build as Frostbite has seen a notable buff.
- Amazing crowd control with AoE attacks.
- Multiple layers of on-demand defense options.
- Highly mobile.
- Requires Health in order to generate Ward
- DoT based, so burst damage is lacking. High Health enemies and Bosses will live slightly longer until you're able to build stacks of Frostbite and Resistance Shred.
Skill Selection
The focus on this build is to hit enemies as many times as possible with Cold Skills in order to apply hundreds of stacks of Frostbite as quickly as possible. Glacier is a big driver for the build, enabling the buff Rime in order to significantly increase the Damage Over Time this build deals. For actual Frostbite application, Frost Claw is spammed which automates casts of Ice Barrage, which while active will provide a huge global Cold Damage increase and protect a portion of our character model from projectiles.
Flame Ward is used almost purely defensively, bolstering the Armor stat and Block Effectiveness of your character, while Flame Rush is used as both a mobility and defensive cooldown. The mitigative properties of Flame Rush can be kept active at near 100% uptime so long as you have the ability to stay mobile, making this build extremely tanky, specifically to Hit Damage.
Class and Skill Passive Trees
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 Cold Damage, Mana manipulation in the form of Mana refunds and forcing our Mana to act as a psuedo Health bar, and increases to Cast Speed. Runemaster is used for one major aspect, which is to convert all Armor Shred for the build into a chance to apply Frostbite.
Mage Passive Points
- 8 points into Scholar: Added Health and Mana.
- 8 point into Arcanist: Intelligence gain.
- 4 points into Rune of Winter: Additional Freeze Rate Multiplier.
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 Cold Damage, Mana manipulation in the form of Mana refunds and forcing our Mana to act as a psuedo Health bar, and increases to Cast Speed. Runemaster is used for one major aspect, which is to convert all Armor Shred for the build into a chance to apply Frostbite.
Sorcerer Passive Points
- 5 points in Arcane Momentum: Rewards the build for constant casting, providing 25% Increased Cast Speed.
- 5 points in Mana Shell: Mana and Ward per Second, with extra Ward per Second based on maxmimum Mana.
- 4 points in Afterglow: Increased Spell Damage and Ward Retention with doubling effect if an "expensive spell" (40 Mana or more) has been used in the last 4 seconds.
- 7 points in Essence of Celerity: Arcane Momentum now provides Increased Spell Damage and lasts longer. The 6 point bonus also provides precious Movement Speed.
- 6 points in Wisdom: Mana and Increased Mana. 6 point bonus provides Increased Mana Regen per 100 maximum Mana.
- 8 points in Cryomancer: Increased Cold Damage and Frostbite chance for Cold Skills.
- 5 points in Chill to the Bone: Cold Penetration and Cold Damage Leech. Important for sustaining Health pool.
- 9 points in Mana Bulwark: Additional Mana, and Mana now acts as a shield, with a percentage of damage applying to Mana before Health.
- 3 points in Mana Well: Increased Mana, and Mana Spent Gained as Ward.
- 5 points in Archmage: This build will easily hit 300 Mana, but will not reach the 1000 Mana threshold point. As such, +10 Spell Damage and a 70% Chance to refund 20% of Mana costs.
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 Cold Damage, Mana manipulation in the form of Mana refunds and forcing our Mana to act as a psuedo Health bar, and increases to Cast Speed. Runemaster is used for one major aspect, which is to convert all Armor Shred for the build into a chance to apply Frostbite.
Runemaster Passive Points
- 5 points in Unsealed Mana: Cast Speed and Mana. Casting Frost Claw three times in a row will provide us a burst of both Mana and Ward.
- 8 points in Sphere of Protection: Health, and 8% less damage taken from Chilled, Shocked or Ignited enemies.
- 8 points in Arcane Focus: Intelligence and Ward gain on direct spell cast. With how much Cast Speed we have, this is a significant amount of Ward.
- 2 points in Circle of Elements: Forced node, but adds 20% Chill to our attacks.
- 7 points in Freezing Point: This node should be rushed the instant you're able to get affixes of Armor Shred on your gear. The bonus passive converts all Shred into Frostbite Chance.
- 6 points in 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.
Frost Claw
Frost Claw will be our most used spell in the build, helping to upkeep our Mana, cleansing ailments off us, applying copious amounts of Frostbite onto enemies, and automating Ice Barrage when Frost Claw is casted. While Glacier will typically be better for clearing small groups of mobs due to the sheer size of it, Glacier does cost Mana while Frost Claw doesn't. Use these skills interchangably.
Order of Skill Points
- 3 points in Gift of Winter: Drops the Mana cost by 6 and adds a 36% chance to refund 12 Mana on use.
- 1 point in Rending Cascade: Pathing node.
- 1 point in Frozen Reign: Slows the projectile speed, but not exactly noticeable. We need this for the extra -3 Mana cost.
- 2 points in Fen of the Frozen: Slow and Chill Chance on hit.
- 2 points in Brightfrost: Cast Speed increase and ailment cleanse, which equates to completely removing ailments from the list of lethal things the build has to deal with.
- 1 point in Hand of Morditas: Adds two projectiles to Frost Claw.
- 1 point in Volley of Glass: Frost Claw now doesn't deal damage in AoE burst, but rather each projectile has its own instance of damage, perfect for applying DoT stacks.
- 3 points in Power Word: Hail: Automates Ice Barrage at a 15% chance on Frost Claw cast.
- 1 point in Kolheim Ballista: Casting Frost Claw with an active Ice Barrage will increase the rate of fire on Ice Barrage for each consecutive cast, up to a maximum.
- 5 points in Artor's Sceptre: Taken for the 100% extra Frostbite Chance.
- 1 point in Frost Beyond Time: Ailments applied by Frost Claw have 25% longer duration.
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.
Ice Barrage
Ice Barrage is the hardest hitting damage spell in the build, and it's completely automated off Frost Claw. Important things to note for this skill:
- It consumes a lot of Mana when it is cast. This build has no issue maintaining the automation due to the low rate at which it procs, but it should be noted that if you're exceedingly unlucky with the procs, you may find yourself low on Mana.
- Having an active Ice Barrage boosts Cold Damage globally by 60%. This is massive, and you should aim to always keep this up even if it means a manual cast.
- Ice Barrage will put an Ice Shield up in the direction that Ice Barrage is cast. This will block projectiles from hitting you from the specific angle the shield is blocking. This is a great addition to the build for enemies like Wengari, however it blocking attacks will likely be purely anecdotal since it's hard to control the direction in which the shield is facing.
Order of Skill Points
- 2 points in Biting Cold: Pathing node.
- 5 points in Nailed Shot: All projectiles pierce enemies now. Important for applying Frostbite.
- 4 points in Hypothermia: All projectiles apply Frostbite at a 200% base rate.
- 2 points in Hail Storm: Increased rate of fire.
- 4 points in Cryogenesis: This node is forced at 4 points. Ice Barrage won't last as long, but this doesn't much matter because it should be active most of the time if we're constantly attacking.
- 1 point in Ice Shield: Adds an Ice Shield that deflects projectiles in the direction the shield is aimed.
- 1 point in Deep Shield: Ice Shield now lasts longer.
- 2 points in Frost Armor: While Ice Barrage is active, you deal 60% more Cold Damage globally, and take 20% less Cold 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.
Glacier
Glacier is not the focal point of the build any longer, however it is just as important as its ever been. Glacier must be cast every 5 seconds or so in order to active the Rime buff, increasing your DoT damage by 150% and Freeze Rate Multiplier by 150% globally. This is a massive buff to the build, and should be kept active 100% of the time in order to maximize damage potential. Glacier will leave behind three Ice Vortex AoEs when used, spiraling on the map and dealing Cold DoT to any enemy within them. These are great for zoning enemies and picking off lower Health mobs so you are not overtaken, especially in Arena maps.
Order of Skill Points
- 4 points in Whirlpools: 60% chance to create an Ice Vortex for each Glacier explosion.
- 5 points in Rime Caster: The ever-important Rime buff the enables this build to deal increased damage.
- 2 points in Greater Vortex: The reason we don't kill the 3rd explosion damage in order to reduce Mana, this provides Rime with a 50% buff, but also ensures a 100% chance to cast an Ice Vortex on the last explosion.
- 2 points in Moderate Vortex: Increases Rime Duration by 2 seconds, and ensures an Ice Vortex on the middle explosion.
- 1 point in Lesser Vortex: Ensures Ice Vortex off the first explosion.
- 5 points in Engulfing Vortex: Ice Vortex is converted into Greater Ice Vortex, dealing more damage and have a 60% larger radius.
- 2 points in Breaking Point: Slight boost to damage and Mana Efficiency.
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
Order of Skill Points
- 3 points in Dilation: Duration and Mana Efficiency increased.
- 1 point in Fire Aura: Traversal node.
- 1 point in Frost Ward: Converts Flame Ward into Cold.
- 5 points in Frostguard: Adds 1000 Armor while active.
- 5 points in Glacial Reinforcement: 10% Block Chance, 2500 Block Effectiveness, and 25 Ward gained on Block. This is massive for the synergy with Faith of the Frozen.
- 5 points in Infusion: 250% Increased Cold Damage.
- 1 point in Energize: Ward per Second bonus.
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.
Glacier
Flame Rush is as much a mobility skill as much as it is a defensive skill. It is very unlikely you die while moving with Flame Rush, or even immediately after coming out of it. This skill is perfect for getting through maps quickly, and Ice Barrage will continue casting as you zoom around the map. Channeling Flame Rush for longer will actively make the mitigation off Flame Rush last longer once you stop channeling, so keep that in mind if you need to face tank a hit.
Order of Skill Points
- 3 points into Blazing Flux: Mana Reduction and decreased cooldown.
- 3 points into Runic Eclipse: Adds mitigation while channeling.
- 3 points into Celestial Guidance: Allows the mitigation to persist beyond the channel of Flame Rush.
- 3 points into Lunar Protection: Ward generates while channeling.
- 1 point into Energy Equivalence: Traversal node.
- 1 point into Snowballing: Converts Flame Rush into a Cold-aspected spell.
- 3 points into Solar Rush: Increases the speed and range of Flame Rush.
- 1 point into Branding Cold: Applies a Cold DoT upon passing through enemies, scaling off Chill Chance.
- 1 point in Ember Wake: Generates Rune Embers (converted to Cold) when you channel Flame Rush, and will seek enemies out when you stop. These apply your ailments, so they're good for picking enemies off as you rush through maps.
Build Mechanics and Playstyle
With Frostbite being the main focus of the build, everything we do will be in an effort to either boost the DoT damage we deal or bolster our character defensively to withstand heavy hitting attacks from enemies.
Spamming Frost Claw will trigger Ice Barrage which will act as homing projectiles that seek out nearby enemies in the direction of which Frost Claw was shot. Glacier acts as a way for us to zone the around around us and also applies the buff Rime on use for 6 seconds. This will buff all Damage Over Time effects applied by us by 150% for the duration Rime is active, meaning you should be casting Glacier again about every 5 seconds. Since Frost Claw is costless, the build will never run into Mana issues unless you go out of your way to spend Mana with Glacier by spamming it repeatedly. The Mana cost on Ice Barrage is fairly hefty, but the proc rate is only 15% off Frost Claw so it ends up eating less Mana than you'd think. Since the focus of this build is shooting as many ice projectiles as possible, it's perfect for applying other ailments as well; Chill and Shock are used in conjunction with Oceareon to provide more mitigation to the build, as well as boost the damage we deal by another 20% (at max Shock stacks).
Survivability
This build has many defensive layers. For starters, Flame Ward and Flame Rush add a massive amount of mitigation, even if not used together. Flame Ward, while active, will reduce Hit Damage by 30%. Flame Rush is a bit more consistent, mitigating 40% damage while it is being used, but also retaining those mitigative buffs for a short period after we finish the cast. Ward is used as a buff between life and death, generating off Mana spent and the Unique Relic, Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros. Twisted Heart will drain our Health, however Ice Barrage does a great job of dealing Hit Damage naturally, refunding the Health back that this Relic drains. As a bonus, enemies should constantly have 3 stacks of Frailty, providing yet another layer of flat mitigation to the build.
Equipment and Gear Affixes
You will notice this build uses a shield. Prior to getting the required Armor Shred affixes on gear that are important for Frostbite application, you may wish to change the shield out for a more damage-focused Offhand, such as a Catalyst. However, Faith of the Frozen does an excellent job of keeping us alive by providing Health gains from Blocking an attack or Freezing an enemy. It has amazing synergy with both Frostbite Shackles and Snowdrift as well, adding Freeze Rate Multiplier (which boosts our Cold Penetration with Frostbite) and a substantial amount of Cold Resistance (bolstering Ward Retention). Skill wise, Flame Ward will also be supplying the build with a Block Effectiveness boost, so while that is active you will also block even more damage, making this shield extremely useful.
We've placed Chance to Blind on Hit as a Sealed Affix on the Wand, however this is only done because the build lacks Critical Strike Avoidance. If you're able to cap that through Legendary Potential or a Sealed Affix on another gear piece, this can be removed from the Wand.
Gear Slot | Implicits | Modifiers |
---|---|---|
Wand | Spell Damage - Mana Cost for Spell Skills Mana Spent Gained as Ward |
Prefixes Increased Cast Speed Mana, Mana Spent Gained as Ward Suffixes Chance to Apply Shock Freeze Rate Multiplier Sealed Affix Chance to Blind on Hit |
Shield | Faith of the Frozen | Prefixes Block Chance |
Head | Armor Critical Strike Avoidance |
Prefixes Intelligence Chance to Apply Frostbite on Hit with Cold Skills Suffixes Increased Health Needed Resistances |
Amulet | Increased Cast Speed | Prefixes Increased Cold Damage Freeze Rate Multiplier, Cold Resistance SuffixesChance to Apply Shred Armor on Hit Health |
Chest | Armor Mana Spent Gained as Ward Ward Decay Threshold |
Prefixes Chance to Apply Frostbite on Hit with Cold Skills Mana Spent Gained as Ward Suffixes Health Increased Health |
Belt | Armor | Prefixes Increased Elemental Damage Over Time Freeze Rate Multiplier, Freezing Concoction on Potion Use Suffixes Hybrid Health Needed Resistances |
Ring | Oceareon | Prefixes Freeze Rate Multiplier, Cold Resistance |
Ring | Necrotic Resistance Ward Retention |
Prefixes Freeze Rate, Cold Resistance Intelligence Suffixes Health Needed Resistances |
Gloves | Frostbite Shackles | Prefixes Increased Cast Speed Chance to Apply Shred Armor on Hit |
Feet | Snowdrift | Prefixes Intelligence Movement Speed |
Relic | Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros | Prefixes Intelligence Freeze Rate Multiplier, Cold Resistance |
A loot filter made specifically for the gear table above may be copied by pressing the button below. Once in the Loot Filter portion of the in-game menu, choose the "Paste Clipboard Contents" option to import the code.
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Uniques
Below we have the required uniques to make the build work. While the idea behind the build will work decently in either Normal Monoliths or low Corruption, it is suggested to have these drops to effectively play the build.
Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros
Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros: This relic is by far the most important part of ensuring your survivability when it comes to gear. It converts current Health into Ward any time you cast an Elemental Spell. Combined with the Blessing Grand Hunger of the Void, you'll be able to continually generate Ward while also refilling your Health on each cast. This Relic can be target farmed in Monolith Timeline "Reign of Dragons".
Snowdrift
Snowdrift: These boots are required, as they provide, on average, 200% Cold Penetration to Frostbite just by themselves. This is why Freeze Rate Multiplier is such a coveted stat on our gear. These have a low required level to be used, and are fairly common of a drop, making this one of the easier gear pieces to acquire.
Frostbite Shackles
Frostbite Shackles: These gloves do two things. The first is a substantial boost to Frostbite application and duration, which these two stats alone would be enough reason to grab them for gearing. However these gloves scale Ward Retention through Cold Resistance, which is a free stat for us since it comes combined on many affixes for Freeze Rate Multiplier. These can only be gotten by killing Frost Lich Formosus in "Blood, Frost and Death".
Faith of the Frozen
Faith of the Frozen: While not mandatory, this shield compliments the build perfectly, adding great survivability to the build and providing damage increases through both Freeze Rate and Cold Resistance.
Idols
Idol slots are gained through the campaign, unlocking small bonuses and unique affixes for the player to discover and augment their builds with. The Idol screen consists of a grid system for the player to fill out with different sized Idols, eventually filling in every part of the grid. As the Idol shape increases (1x1, 1x2, 1x3, 1x4, etc.) the stronger an affix you might find for your build.
Your main priority with Idols for this build will be Reistances and Health. Grand Glass Idols can be used where applicable to provide the build with Increased Damage Over Time modifiers.
Blessing
Blessings are permanent buffs that are applied to your character. These come in two different powers, Standard and Grand. Grand blessings are significantly stronger than the Standard Blessings. In total, there are 10 Blessing Slots, one for each Monolith Timeline. When you complete a Monolith and defeat the final boss you will be awarded a choice of three blessing with a random value.
Blessing Name | Affix | Timeline |
---|---|---|
Grand Hunger of the Void | Spell Damage Leeched as Health | The Black Sun |
Grand Resolve of Humanity | All Resistances | Reign of Dragons |
Grand Light of the Moon | Mana | Ending the Storm |
Grand Curse of Sulphur | Chance to apply Frailty on Hit | Spirits of Fire |
Grand Rage of Winter | Chance to Shred Cold Resistance on Hit | The Age of Winter |
Changelog
- 15 Jul. 2024: Updated for 1.1. Build converted from Crit to DoT based. Lightning Blast and Snap Freeze changed to Frost Claw and Ice Barrage.
- 31 Jan. 2024: Guide added.
GhazzyTV is a professional content creator that knows all about theory crafting builds in Path of Exile and Last Epoch and has been teaching players how to build their characters for over 9 years. He is a huge Blizzard fan with thousands of hours invested into Diablo 3 and 4 and is a frequent World of Warcraft Classic player. His builds will be helpful content for new players and veterans alike. You can find his PoE Vault Guide Hub here and his LE Guide Hub here. You can follow him on Twitch, YouTube or Twitter.
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