LizardIRL has been playing Last Epoch at a high level for years. He has invested a huge amount of time learning the game, theory crafting builds and making educational content. By the time LE Multiplayer launched, he already had thousands of hours driven by his competitive nature and desire to improve. His builds and min/maxing rules have shaped the meta, establishing him as a top build maker and theory crafter. LizardIRL livestreams his Rank 1 Arena pushes and has dominated both SC and HC ladders. Learn about the Gear, Gear Progression, Empowered Blessings and Idols for the Explosive Thorn Totem Shaman Build.
Gear
Gearing in Last Epoch revolves around finding Items and then using the powerful Crafting System to enhance them. As long as an Item has Forging Potential left, players can upgrade or modify their Affixes up to Tier 5. However, the powerful Exalted Tier Affixes are drop only and can't be modified by players.
Using the correct Item Bases allows you to make use of their amazing Implicits, this is fundamental for gearing efficiently. Combine Implicits, Passives, Idols and Blessings to cap your Resistances and other defensive layers, while fitting as much Health related Affixes or Endurance Threshold into your gear as possible. Plan ahead for your next upgrades and consider the final Blessings of your build while gearing. Finish up by farming Uniques with Legendary Potential and Sealing Affixes into Exalted Items to unleash all of your build's power!
Here are the Stat Goals for this build:
- Capped Resistances
- Capped Critical Strike Avoidance
- Capped Endurance
- 2500 - 3800+ Health
- 500 - 900 Endurance Threshold
- 60% - 80%+ Armour
- 200 - 400+ Health Regeneration
- 30+ Intelligence
- 100% Thorn Totem Critical Strike Chance
- 70% - 85%+ Movement Speed
Gear Progression
Milestone 1
Aim for good Item Bases with two valuable T5 Affixes. The defensive rolls on T5 Suffixes are very important at this stage as they can easily cap all your Resistances when combined with Item Implicits, Idols, Blessings or Passives. Get a Skeletal Sceptre with double T5 Minion Suffixes as soon as possible.
Milestone 2
Make sure your Critical Strike Avoidance is capped. Remember that Woven Flesh is always an option early on. It can be farmed by killing the Abomination in the Fall of the Outcast Monolith Timeline.
Milestone 3
Fit as much Health into your gear as possible. Hybrid Health and %Health are extremely valuable, but can be hard to find early on. Use regular flat Health until you find them.
Milestone 4
Aim for T5 Level of Summon Thorn Totem on your Helmet to invest extra Points on them. Make sure to grab T5 Totem Adaptive Spell Damage on one of your Body Armour for an early Damage boost. Cast Speed is very valuable, even at lower Tiers.
Milestone 5
While you look for this basic set of gear, start farming your Empowered Blessings and look for any Idols that can help you cap all your Resistances momentarily or increase your Damage output. Keep an eye for Grand Heorot Idols with Chance To Gain Haste For 3 Seconds When You Summon A Totem and Large Nomad Idol with %Health Prefix and Critical Strike Avoidance for You and Your Minions.
Learn the basics for crafting gear with our Beginner Crafting Guide.
Check our Unique Item & Set Farming Guide and learn how to get them!
Want to know more about Legendary Items? Check our Legendary Guide!
Blessings
Completing a Timeline in the Monolith of Fate lets you choose one of several randomized Blessings from its unique pool. Their benefits are permanent and persist even outside of the Monolith of Fate.
Empowered Blessings are a fundamental part of all builds, so getting the correct ones for each is key.
The sooner you reach Empowered Monolith, the faster you can start farming your desired Blessings!
Normal Blessings are not important as they are eventually replaced by Empowered Blessings. However they can still be a great source of Resistances, Critical Strike Avoidance or Life Leech for your build early on.
Pick up these Normal Blessings on your way to Empowered:
- Echo of Solarum
- Bastion of Divinity
- Rhythm of the Tide
- Survival of Might
- Persistance of Will
- Protection of Heorot
- Resolve of Grael
- Heart of the Caldera
- Embers of Immortality
- Body of Obsidian
- Spirit of Command
Note: Don't target farm Normal Blessings. Get to Empowered Monolith as fast as you can.
Reaching Empowered Monolith unlocks all the level 100 Timelines and the ability to farm Empowered Blessings. Unlike Normal Blessings, these need to be farmed until you get the desired ones for your build. It is extremely important to get this set up as fast as possible to free up affix slots on your gear. Remember, the more value you get from your Blessings, the easier it is to craft efficient gear!
These are the core Combat Empowered Blessings for this build:
- Start with Grand Resolve of Humanity for the Resistances.
- Grab Grand Rhythm of the Tide for a huge Health Regeneration boost.
- Farm Grand Memory of Light or Grand Echo of Solarum for the extra Health or Void Resistance.
- Pick Grand Vigor of Jormun for the Endurance Threshold.
- Finish up by farming the best rolled Grand Body of Obsidian you can get. It grants an insane amount of Flat Armour that helps increase survivability and synergises greatly with the build.
These Empowered Blessings are flexible and depend on your current needs and goals.
These are valuable Empowered Drop Rate Blessings for this build:
- Grand Sight of the Outcasts is valuable to help you find Large Nomad Idol with %Health Prefix and Critical Strike Avoidance for You and Your Minions or Totem Damage Suffixes. You can also use Grand Pride of Rebellion to find Grand Heorot Idols with Chance To Gain Haste For 3 Seconds When You Summon A Totem and Health Regen While Transformed.
- Once you find all your Idols, you can switch to the Grand Winds of Fortune and focus on Uniques instead.
- Grand Subtlety of Slaughter helps you find more Daggers.
- Lastly take Grand Vision of the Aurora if you are still looking for Death Rattle.
Learn how to farm Blessings fast with our Advanced Monolith Strategies.
Idols
Idols grant your character bonuses when equipped in the dedicated Idol Container. Unlock all the slots of your Idol Container by completing the Campaign and some of its Side Quests. Remember that some Idols are Class specific and you won't be able to equip them with other non-compatible Classes.
These are the Idols recommended for this build:
- Find 4 Large Nomad Idol with %Health Prefix. For the Suffixes aim for 2 with Critical Strike Avoidance for You and Your Minions and 2 with Totem Damage.
- Get 2 Grand Heorot Idols with Chance To Gain Haste For 3 Seconds When You Summon A Totem and Health Regen While Transformed Suffix.
- You also want 1 Stout Lagonian Idols with %Health Prefix and Lightning Resistance to cap it.
- You might need extra Resistances out of your Idols early on, so keep an eye for anything useful until you get your final setup.
Other useful Idol Affixes
- Health
- %Health
- Vitality
- Armour
- Elemental Resistance
- Void Resistance
- Physical Resistance
- Poison Resistance
- Increased Aspect Of The Boar Effect
- Elemental Resistance While Transformed
Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Idol Slots.
Learn how to be efficient with Idols with our Advanced Idols Setups Guide.
