McFluffin has been playing and making content for Last Epoch since Alpha. He has also been a Community Tester since the implementation of the program, which has allowed him the opportunity to provide feedback to Eleventh Hour Games on pre release builds since 2020. With degrees in both science and philosophy, McFluffin enjoys applying the analytical processees he's learned to build making, efficiency, and a better understanding of the inner workings of the games he plays. Despite all of that, his favorite thing to do is be weird on Twitch while hanging out with his friendly and welcoming community. Learn how to scale your Damage and Defense in the Dragonsong Marksman Build to reach the different Endgame Activities like the Monolith, Dungeons and Arena.
Build Scaling
Dragonfire is a Subskill and has no access to the usual "More Damage" Nodes in regular Skill Trees, and while Meteor is a skill that has a skill tree we can't access it on rogue so it has a similar problem. This makes scaling Damage more complex than your usual "stack as many More Damage Nodes as possible". Even with these limitations, the Dragonsong Marksman can still reach very high DPS and AoE while also being surprisingly tanky.
Dragonfire Spells are the main Damage are for this build, with Meteor providing secondary damage and greater access to clear. Anything not related to enhancing the Damage of these two skills is not valuable. Stats like Bow Damage are mainly useless for the build.
- Dexterity: The Dragonfire Spell scales with Dexterity, gaining 4% Increased Damage per point. Plus we get 1 Cold Damage per Dexterity from Mourningfrost, making this an offensive juggernaut of a stat for us. Additionally it grants 4 flat Dodge per point, which ads a nice defensive layer for the build. Note that Meteor only gets the Flat Damage and no Increased Damage from Dex, but that won't stop us from stacking this stat to the moon.
- Mourningfrost: Since the build stacks Dexterity, it can make use of these amazing Unique Boots. They grant 1 flat Cold Damage to all Attacks and Spells per point of Dexterity. Mourningfrost come with a downside of also reducing your Cold Resistance and Physical Resistance per point of Dexterity. A finished build has around 85 Dexterity, so keep an eye on your Resistances as you gear up and make sure they stay capped.
- Bow Attack Speed: The faster you attack the more Dragonfire and Meteors you proc! Thanks to Sapping Strikes and Mana Warp mana gain isn't a concern, so stack this as high as you can.
- Grand Rage of Winter: Since the build attacks so fast and has so many hits, it is extremely easy to apply 10 stacks of Cold Resistance Shred to your targets. 10 stacks increase the Damage enemies take by 50% (20% for Bosses). This Blessing plays a big part on your Damage output, so make sure you roll it nicely (45%+) and as early as possible. The Fire part of our damage is covered through Kindling and Combustible.
- Chance To Shred Armour on Hit: Each stack of this Ailment reduces enemy Armour by 100 for 4 seconds and stacks infinitely. Enemies have 0 Armour by default and it can go into the negatives. At -1000 Armour a target takes 16.5% increased Cold Damage, while at -4000 Armour it takes 40%. With the amount of hits the build has, the stacks ramp up quickly and we can easily Shred well over 10k Armor quickly which provides a massive boost to our damage.
- Throne of Ambition: Especially important while Bossing. The Cold and Fire Damage plus Armour Multipliers are insanely powerful for the build.
- Critical Vulnerability: Unique to the Rogue, this Ailment helps the build to reach crit cap without fully investing in Crit gear. This Ailment adds 2% flat Critical Strike Chance to your targets per stack and caps at 10 stacks. 5 points in Wound Maker is enough to cap our stacks.
- Critical Strike Chance: The two main damage sources for this build rely on Crits to proc, so we need to get our Critical Strike Chance as close to cap as possible. Thanks to Crit Vulnerability the effective cap is 80%. It's still a substantial investment but well worth it.
- Critical Strike Multiplier: Increases the Damage your Crits deal. Fully stacked Perfect Aim provides 75% on its own. Build as much as you can on your gear.
- Increased Damage: We get so much of this from Passives, Dexterity and Oil Coating from Cinder Strike that we don't need it on our gear. The only exception to this is Increased Damage while wielding a Bow which provides a lot of Damage for little investment.
- Smoke Bomb: Can be used as an extra gap closer that leaves a persistent Slow on the ground for easier kitting. It provides Dusk Shrouds while standing on the fog. Additionally it has a Cleanse and gives Silver Shrouds on use.
- Silver Shrouds: As long as you have one up, the next hit you take is Dodged instead. You also gain 100 Ward per Silver Shroud once they proc to Dodge the incoming attack. Since they last 10 seconds each, you can time Smoke Bomb and Covering Fire apart to make sure you always have one Silver Shroud active, or quickly recover them if they proc. If you do this properly you can always have this protection against hits that can be Dodged, including some major Boss mechanics!
- Dodge: Dexterity, Dodge, %Dodge allow you to reasonably reach between 30% and 40% permanent Dodge without buffs. Thanks to Elusive we end up around 60% any time we're using Cinder Strike. The Elusive Node on Shift (both nodes unfortunately share the same name) provides a massive Dodge boost for 1 second and can provide up to 80%+ Dodge for the duration, making even objective rushing a relatively safe process.
- Glancing Blows: You take 35% less damage from Hits with Glancing Blows. We take every point from the Passive tree and use Dusk Shrouds to push it further. If you're considering competitive Arena, use Arrowguard to get 80% permanent Glancing Blow chance, and reach 100% chance when using Smoke Bomb thanks to the Dusk Shrouds it provides.
- Dusk Shrouds: Each grants 5% Glancing Blow Chance and 50 flat Dodge.
- Shift: This dash gives immunity frames while it's used thanks to the Shadowslip node. Time this Skill properly to avoid incoming damage or potential 1 shots. It provides a massive boost of Dodge and procs 5 Shurikens on use.
- Shurikens: Can be used as an extra gap closer for a total of 3 different dashes on this build. They also grant a ton of %Armour while active thanks to Bladed Armor.
- Armour Mitigation: Surprisingly this build can get a ton of Armour too. Just with the implicit Armour from your gear, the Grand Body of Obsidian Blessing and Shurikens your Armour easily reaches 35%+ Mitigation. Thanks to Throne of Ambition this Mitigation increases to 45%+ while Bossing. This is huge on top of all the other defensive layers the build has.
- Decoy: Crazy support skill. Aside from its multiple temporary buffs, it Taunts. While Taunted, enemies focus the Decoy instead of attacking you. Additionally you can instantly Fear anything inside its AoE on use.
- Health: Rogue has access to Large Shadow Idols with %Health. Not all classes have access to these amazing Idols, so take advantage of it.
- Health on Hit and Crit: Sapping Strikes, Draining Arrows and Perfect Aim provide the build with insane sustain. With the amount of hits and how easy it is to Crit thanks to Critical Vulnerability, the build can recover all of its HP instantly.
- Evasion: The Damage Reduction while moving is great while escaping from threats.
- Chill and Slow: Are Ailments that greatly reduce the Action and Movement Speed of your enemies. They are must haves on most builds, specially once you reach hard content with insane speed modifiers.
- Frailty: This Ailment reduces the Damage dealt by enemies by 6% for 4 seconds. Stacks 3 times.
- Ward and Ailment Cleansing on Potion Use: If you can manage to get this on your Harbinger of Stars great. Otherwise, take advantage of the Cleanses provided by Shift and Smoke Bomb. Do not prioritize this prefix on your belt over Health and Hybrid Health.
Our Damage Explained Article covers all you need to know to scale Damage.
Learn all you need to know to scale Defense with our Defense Explained Article.
Recommended End Game Activities
Last Epoch has multiple end game activities with completely different roles and rewards. All the builds in Maxroll.gg have been tested and are designed to complete all available content. However, not all builds excel at doing the same activities. Make sure you are familiar with the end game strengths and weaknesses of your character.
The Monolith of Fate is the main end game system. Most of your character gear upgrades are found here. Once you get all of your desired Empowered Blessings, you can start pushing Corruption to increase your chances at finding incredible Exalted Items. The Monolith of Fate rewards speedy builds that are able to target farm Echo Reward Nodes or stack Timeline Stability as fast as possible.
The Dragonsong Marksman is a superb Monolith of Fate farmer. It's super fast, has a ton of CC and defense plus great single target, perfect for rushing Echo Reward Nodes and defeating Bosses for their Unique drops and Blessings.
Monolith Goals
Your goals in the Monolith of Fate will differ greatly depending on what build you play and what stage your character progression is at. Here are the objectives you should aim at when playing this build:
- Reach Empowered Monolith as fast as possible.
- Farm your Combat Empowered Blessings. Prioritize gaining Timeline Stability and fight the Timeline Bosses as often as possible. Once you are done with one Timeline, move to the next one. Reach 200 Corruption to farm your desired Blessings faster, as it unlocks a 5th option to choose from after you defeat a Timeline Boss. Defeat the Shade of Orobyss to gain and transfer Corruption between Timelines.
- Farm your first Drop Rate Empowered Blessing in The Stolen Lance Empowered Monolith Timeline. Here you should also farm Throne of Ambition until you get it.
- Finish up the rest of your Drop Rate Empowered Blessings.
- Farm for key Uniques.
- As you farm for Uniques, stack Corruption as high as your gear can handle. The higher Corruption you do, the more Items you find. Get your character ready for the other end game activities.
Monolith Modifiers
Every time you choose an Echo a Modifier comes attached with it, adding difficulty and changing how enemies behave. These Modifiers stay active for a maximum of 6 Echoes and stack with each other. Some Modifiers can handicap your build immensely while others can almost be ignored. Monolith Modifiers scale with Corruption and increase the Item Rarity of Echoes. Ideally you want to do the hardest content possible, without delaying your clear times. Keep up Item Rarity as high as you can without it slowing you down.
Easy Modifiers
- Enemy Critical Strike Avoidance (Ignored thanks to Critical Strike Vulnerability).
- Enemy Critical Strike Chance (Once you have 100% Critical Strike Avoidance).
- Enemy chance to Dodge (Ignored thanks to Focus Fire).
Avoid these Modifiers
- Enemy chance to receive a Glancing Blow.
- High health enemies take less damage.
- High health enemies deal increased damage.
- Increased enemy Movement Speed.
- While bossing: enemies Enrage at half health and enemies gain Frenzy and Haste when hit.
Learn more about the Monolith of Fate with our Empowered Monolith Guide.
Dungeons are another important end game activity. All of them have an unique reward system attached that can only be accessed by defatting the Boss guarding it. They are divided by 4 Tiers of difficulty; it might take you some time to have a character strong enough to defeat Tier 4. Remember, Dungeons require specific Keys to enter them.
The Dragonsong Marksman is a decent Dungeon farmer but it requires Boss knowledge and can't facetank their mechanics. It has an easy time with the Temporal Sanctum and the Lightless Arbour but Soulfire Bastion proves a significant challenge for the build.
Dungeon Tips
When it comes to Dungeons, each build has different needs and should focus on the ones that fulfill them. Remember, each Dungeon comes with an unique Dungeon Skill. Make sure you are familiar with the different Dungeon Skills, Boss fights and Rewards before you attempt them.
Recommended Dungeons for this build:
- Temporal Sanctum: Since its a Unique heavy build, the Bowmage needs to interact with the Eternity Cache often in order to upgrade any desirable Uniques you find with Legendary Potential. The Boss fight against Chronomancer Julra is very easy for any Marksman, as many of her telegraphed attacks can be dodged with Silver Shrouds.
- Lightless Arbour: While the gold sink in the Vault of Uncertain Fate is not necessary for this build to progress, the Bowmage has a great time dealing with The Mountain Beneath and, thanks to Silver Shrouds, his most dangerous attacks can be trivialized. The Stone Titan's Heart is also easy, just make sure to use Shift to go through its moving lasers. Run this Dungeon when you have some excess Gold, be careful as it gets expensive really fast!
- Soulfire Bastion: The Dragonsong Marksman struggles a bit here. The fight against Fire Lich Cremorus is chaotic and for that reason is hard get value out of your Silver Shrouds. The Damage Over Time present in this Boss room makes things even worst, as the build revolves around running away from threats and here you are completely trapped. Luckily, this Dungeon and the Soul Gambler can be ignored as nothing attached is relevant for the Bowmage.
Remember, if you struggle to do a particular Dungeon you can always dedicate a different character that shines against it to earn its reward. This is not possible if you play in any of the Solo Game Modes.
Check all of our Dungeon Guides if you want to learn more about their Bosses and rewards systems.
Use everything explained in the Gameplay and Build Scaling sections of this Build Guide to defeat them.
The Endless Arena is the main competitive game mode. It's all about the Ladder! While you might get some upgrades, the other end game activities are far superior for gearing up. The Endless Arena is not for everyone and only the best builds and players can reach the top. You need an Arena Key or an Arena Key of Memory to enter.
The Dragonsong Marksman is a very good Marksman build for competing in the Endless Arena. However, the greater range of Bowmage makes it a superior choice over this build for the most competitive arena pushes. Play this one if you want a greater challenge while still being capable of pushing high waves.
Endless Arena Tips
Adjusting your playstyle to the build you are playing is mandatory to reach high waves. Use the easy early waves as a practice tool; learning about wave management, developing good habits and limit testing your build are very important things to become a better Endless Arena player.
Tips for playing this build in Arena:
- Make sure you always keep track of all 4 enemy packs. New waves do not spawn as long as there are two enemies of the current wave alive. Finish them up at the right time!
- Fight 1 spawn at a time, manipulate the enemy pathing with your positioning and engage on your terms.
- As a ranged build it is crucial to be far away from the spawns and the enemies, but for this build you can't be too far or Dragonfire won't reach . Find a safe spot that is still close enough to damage the enemies!
- If enemies are too dangerous for Dragonfire, resort to killing them with Meteor procs from farther away.
- Enemy homing projectiles are really dangerous for this build. Use Decoy or hide behind terrain before enemies fire at you. You can also juke them with your multiple Movement Skills or time Shift for its Immunity Frames.
- Use Shift, Shurikens and Smoke Bomb to kite your enemies. Make sure to always keep one of them off cooldown in case you spawn enemies with leaps or dashes.
- Hold your Decoy for emergency situations. You never know what enemy types are coming next.
- Time Smoke Bomb and Covering Fire to make sure you always have one Silver Shroud active.
Eager to get competitive? Check our Arena Guide!
