Spellblade Shatter Strike Endgame Build for Last Epoch (Patch 1.2)

Our base class is Mage, which serves as a caster in Last Epoch. Upon completing Act 1 in the campaign, your character will have the 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 Spellblade, Runemaster, and Sorcerer. After selecting a Mastery and allocating 20 Passive Points into the Mage Tree, you can then allocate Passive Points into the Mastery Trees.

For this build, we capitalize on several nodes to gain substantial Ward in the Mage tree. We also benefit from significant Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance, and Critical Strike Multiplier. Most of our points are spent in the Spellblade Tree, grabbing nodes that increase base damage and overall damage output. Uniquely, we allocate points only in the Mage and Spellblade classes.

• 8 points in Arcane Warden: Grants a large amount of Ward per enemy hit, plus Intelligence per point and Ward Decay Threshold per point of Intelligence.
• 8 points in Infused Weapon: Adds flat Cold Melee Damage.
• 4 points in Frozen Steel: Further boosts Melee Cold Damage and Freeze Rate Multiplier.
• 5 points in Arcane Shielding: Grants Arcane Shield on melee hits, providing an independent damage reduction layer and Ward per second.
• 5 points in Warden's Echo: Grants a chance to cast  Frost Claw on melee hits.
• 5 points in Shattered Aegis: Converts Arcane Shielding to grant significant Armor through stacks of Arcane Shield.
• 5 points in Essence Duel: Boosts Attack Speed and Ward generation on elemental melee hits.
• 1 point in Gemini: Enables dual-wielding but increases damage taken by 9%.
• 8 points in Prismatic Blade: Adds Dexterity and Melee Damage.
• 6 points in Volka's Razor: Increases Elemental Damage for melee attacks costing more than 10 Mana.
• 5 points in River Blade: Adds Melee Cold Damage and reduces  Teleport cooldown.
• 4 points in Blade Weaver: Melee attacks costing less than 10 Mana grant Blade Weaving stacks. Using a melee skill costing 10 or more Mana consumes stacks, dealing 15% more Elemental Damage per stack. Our rotation (four  Mana Strike per  Shatter Strike) makes further investment unnecessary.
• 5 points in Mental Fortitude: Increases Intelligence and Ward per Second.
• 4 points in Prodigy: A strong node; take earlier if Critical Strike Chance is low. Grants Ward per Second per 15 Intelligence and +1% base Critical Strike Chance per 15 Intelligence.
• 8 points in Defender of Welryn: Grants Dexterity and increased Critical Strike Chance per Dexterity.

 Mana Strike is one of our two primary attacks. To capitalize on Blade Weaver, we attack four times with  Mana Strike between  Shatter Strike uses. This is essential to meet our high Mana requirements. Some enemies may be defeated by  Mana Strike alone, but in deeper Corruption, Season 2 champions require  Shatter Strike.

• 1 point in Swift Sap: Increases Attack Speed.
• 1 point in Sprite Blade: Slightly increases  Mana Strike’s area.
• 4 points in Mana Drain: Boosts Mana generation from  Mana Strike.
• 5 points in Critical Mana: Grants Mana on critical hits with  Mana Strike. We should almost always critically strike, making this node highly effective.
• 2 points in Mana Spark: Taken to path further, with moderate damage gains after conversion.
• 4 points in Bountiful Victory: Generates more Mana on kill or when hitting Rare or Boss enemies.
• 2 points in Ward Strike: Grants Ward per  Mana Strike attack.
• 1 point in Frigid Grasp: Fully converts  Mana Strike’s Lightning damage to Cold.

 Flame Ward is purely defensive. When triggered, it grants 1,000 Armor and substantial Ward. It automatically activates when stunned, helping us escape danger. Use it proactively to prepare for unavoidable big hits, as it has two charges.

• 3 points in Dilation: Increases duration and lowers Mana cost.
• 1 point in Fire Aura: Taken to progress further in the skill tree.
• 1 point in Frost Ward: Converts the skill to Cold.
• 5 points in Frostguard: Adds 1,000 Armor while  Flame Ward is active.
• 3 points in Stalwart Defense: Grants Ward on cast.
• 3 points in Desperate Defense: Grants additional Ward based on missing Health when low on HP.
• 1 point in Astonish: Automatically casts  Flame Ward when stunned, if off cooldown and Mana is positive.
• 2 points in Fuel The Flames: Increases Ward gain with a slightly longer cooldown.
• 1 point in Dual Aegis: Adds a second charge to  Flame Ward.

 Enchant Weapon should be used for tough packs or boss fights. Its significant boosts to Attack Speed and base damage are critical. We avoid auto-casting to maintain control, though you could enable it via Kindling Blade if preferred. The build was tested without auto-casting.

• 5 points in Celerity: Increases Melee Attack Speed while active.
• 2 points in Shivering Blade: Passively adds Chill chance to Melee attacks, doubled when active.
• 5 points in Frostbrand: Increases Melee Cold Damage while active.
• 4 points in Concentration: Extends  Enchant Weapon duration by 4 seconds.
• 4 points in Efficacy: Reduces  Enchant Weapon’s Mana cost and increases Elemental attack damage while active.

 Frost Claw isn’t on our skill bar;  Teleport takes its place for movement. It adds damage but, more importantly, generates free Ward. With our high attack speed,  Frost Claw triggers rapidly via Warden's Echo, granting 12 Ward per cast.

• 3 points in Gift of Winter: Reduces Mana cost, irrelevant since we don’t cast it directly.
• 3 points in Shiver Shell: Grants a chance for  Frost Claw to cast when hit.  Frost Claw, by any trigger, grants Ward.
• 1 point in Reowyn's Veil: Increases Ward generation based on  Frost Claw’s Freeze Rate.
• 3 points in Macuahuitl: Grants a 30% chance to cast  Frost Claw on melee hits.
• 3 points in Glamdring: Scales  Frost Claw 3-to-1 with added Melee Damage.
• 4 points in Rending Cascade: Adds base Critical Hit Chance and Freeze Rate Multiplier.
• 1 point in Frozen Reign: Reduces Mana cost and increases damage to Frozen enemies.
• 1 point in Cold and Calculating: Boosts Freeze Rate Multiplier, scaling with  Frost Claw’s Critical Hit Chance (near 100%).
• 1 point in Fen of the Frozen: Grants  Frost Claw a chance to Chill, increasing damage to chilled enemies via Frozen Steel.

 Shatter Strike is our primary damage dealer, cleaving hordes in a single cast. With Whiteout, one attack triggers multiple large AoE strikes. It’s scaled to add 160% to our Critical Strike Multiplier, pushing the planner’s total to 744%! Alternate with  Mana Strike to maintain Mana and maximize Whiteout efficiency.

• 2 points in Lingering Chill: Recent use increases global Cold Damage and Freeze Rate.
• 1 point in Breadth of Cold: Boosts  Shatter Strike damage and area.
• 2 points in Whiteout: Recasts  Shatter Strike twice, reducing Attack Speed and increasing Mana cost.
• 5 points in Iceblink: Greatly increases Attack Speed, but restricts  Shatter Strike to one-handed weapons. Note: If the rotation with  Mana Strike feels too fast, trade points to Cold Presence.
• 4 points in Icy Flow: Grants Ward and reduces Mana cost. Note: Adjust points to keep  Shatter Strike above 10 Mana, but not excessively higher, based on gear.
• 4 points in Absolute Zero: Increases damage but lowers Attack Speed.
• 2 points in Shiver: Boosts area and Cold Penetration.
• 4 points in Cold Steel: Adds 160% to  Shatter Strike’s Critical Multiplier with proper gear.