Flame Reave Spellblade Guide

Last Updated: September 29th 2023

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This Flame Reave Spellblade faces its enemies with a Sword coated in Fire while protecting himself with a Shield and bursts of Ward. Attack with Firebrand to stack Rhythm of Fire and Blade Weaver to enhance the destructive power of your next Flame Reave.

This build dives into combat head first to fight at close range and has tools to protect himself in case enemies surround him. Flame Ward is an incredible Skill with tons of Damage Reduction that can save you even from the most dangerous situations. The build also has decent mobility thanks to Teleport; a Movement Skill that grants great defensive buffs on use.

While this setup doesn't require any Unique to function, Sunwreath completely empowers Flame Reave by changing its default cone shape into a giant circle that expands around you. Items like Bulwark of the Last Abyss, Omnis or Aurora's Time Glass can enhance the build tremendously, but are not mandatory.

Overall this beginner friendly Spellblade has amazing AoE clear and is suited for all the content in the game, even in Hardcore. If you are looking for an easy to play yet powerful melee build, this guide is perfect for you!

End Game Gear Planner

Flame Ward

Flame Reave

Teleport

Enchant Weapon

Firebrand

This article assumes you have a Level 70 Character. Reach Level 70 with our Spellblade Leveling Guide.
If you are looking for a different playstyle check all our Build Guides

Easy to Play
Giant AoE and Burst Damage

Great Defensive Support Skills
Good Scaling
With Gear & Uniques

Rotation Playstyle
DPS Downtime After Rotation
Some Enemies Counter Melee
Defensive Skills Require Timing

Skills

Flame Reave

Flame Reave is your main Damage Skill. This build takes advantage of the synergies between Rhythm of Fire, Versatility and Firebrand. Flame Reave returns to you thanks to Flame Caller and Sunwreath Ring turns its default cone shaped AoE into a giant circle; greatly increasing its clear potential.

Click the Nodes at the bottom to see Skill Tree Progression

Alternative Skills & Tips

Passives

Passives provide powerful effects that dictate the playstyle of a Class and its Masteries. Remember that you can allocate Passives on the first half of all Masteries regardless of the one you chose.

  1. Take Mage Flurry and Essence Duel for the Attack Speed.
  2. Mana Reaver provides Mana sustain for the build.
  3. Investing points into Arcanist and Elemental Affinity helps cap Elemental Resistances.
  4. Get Infused Weapon, Fire Blood and Prismatic Blade for the Flat Fire Melee Damage.
  5. Blade Weaver is a crucial offensive component for the build. Stack it by spamming Firebrand and consume it with Flame Reave.
  6. Arcane Shielding and Shattered Aegis are great for increasing the survivability of the build.
  7. Burden of Knowledge synergizes amazingly with Arcane Severance.
  8. Grab Arcane Flames provides an additional Fire Damage Multiplier.
Click the Nodes at the bottom to see Passive Tree Progression

Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Passive Points.

Gameplay

This melee Spellblade wants to dive into enemies to fight them at close range. Make sure you are familiar with enemy mechanics to know when to use your Support Skills to stay alive. Pay attention to dangerous telegraphed attacks and be aware of ranged enemy threats.

Skill Usage/Rotation

  • Buff your defenses by casting Teleport.
  • Cast Enchant Weapon to buff your Damage momentarily.
  • Attack with Firebrand to stack Illuminating Fire and Rhythm of Fire to enhance your next Flame Reave. Each extra attack grants an additional Incineration and Blade Weaver stack.
  • Attack with Flame Reave and release a giant wave of destruction.
  • Use Flame Ward defensively before you take Damage.
  • Refresh your Teleport defensive buffs by casting it before they expire.

Mapping

  • Group as many enemies as possible before attacking with Flame Reave to maximize its AoE.
  • Time Enchant Weapon and maximize the uptime of its buffs.
  • Use Teleport to leave dangerous enemies behind and traverse terrain gaps.

Bossing

  • Take advantage of all your defensive buffs and keep them active.
  • Fully stack Blade Weaver and Incineration with Firebrand for maximum single target Damage.
  • Use Enchant Weapon during your DPS window against Bosses.
  • Flame Ward can save you from incoming Damage. Time it against dangerous telegraphed Boss attacks.

Advanced Skill Tips

Learn more about how to maximize your gameplay in the Build Scaling section of this guide.

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 Empowered 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
  • 2600 - 3500+ Health
  • 45% - 60%+ Armour
  • 2000+ Ward (while in combat)
  • 40% - 100% Block Chance
  • 30%-45%+ Block Mitigation
  • 100%+ Increased Attack Speed
  • 400% - 800%+ Increased Damage
  • 300%+ Melee Critical Strike Multiplier
  • 40% - 70%+ Movement Speed

Gear Progression

Starting Gear
Advanced Gear
End Game Gear
BIS Gear

Milestone 1
Upgrade your T20 set up with Exalted items, high value Sealed Affixes or ideally both. Obtain the Affixes included in the Planner, but prioritize the indicated Item Bases for their Implicits. Make sure to Seal highly efficient low tier Affixes. Ward and Ailment Cleansing on Potion Use is a must have for Belts.

Milestone 2
Farm Throne of Ambition in The Stolen Lance Empowered Monolith Timeline. It's a rare drop from God Hunter Argentus so it might take a few tries to drop. This Idol is great for increasing your Boss DPS and survivability.

Milestone 3
Farm Sunwreath Rings with the maximum Legendary Potential you can. Aim for the indicated Affixes in the Planner for each slot.

End Game Gear Planner

Milestone 4
Aurora's Time Glass and Omnis are great Amulet options for this build if you are looking for additional survivability. Use the best one you find. Remember that Omnis can only drop by defeating the Shade of Orobyss at 200+ Corruption in the Monolith of Faith.

Milestone 5
Bulwark of the Last Abyss is a powerful Unique Shield that can be farmed by defeating Harton's Husk in the Fall of the Empire Empowered Monolith Timeline. While it's not mandatory, it's best in slot for the build. Combine it with the Grand Bones of Eternity Empowered Blessing to get really tanky against Hits. Use an Exalted Ironglass Shield until you get one.

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!

End Game Blessings
Normal Blessings
Empowered Combat Blessings
Empowered Drop Rate 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
  • Crash of the Waves
  • Survival of Might
  • Persistance of Will
  • Protection of Heorot
  • Resolve of Grael
  • Bones of Eternity
  • Heart of the Caldera
  • Embers of Immortality
  • Body of Obsidian

Note: Don't target farm Normal Blessings. Get to Empowered Monolith as fast as you can.

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 1 or 2 Adorned Arcane Idol with Chance To Gain Lightning Aegis When Hit. You gain 25% Damage Reduction while Lighting Aegis is up. These Idols are great for increasing your survivability.
  • Complete your setup with a situational mix of Idols to cap your Resistances and increase your total Health pool.
  • Use Throne of Ambition for Boss fights. You can farm it in The Stolen Lance Empowered Monolith Timeline. It's a rare drop from God Hunter Argentus.
End Game Idols

Other useful Idol Affixes

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.

Build Scaling

The build uses Firebrand to enhance Flame Reave's DPS. The setup takes full advantage of Blade Weaver and Rhythm of Fire to deal massive burst Damage. This Spellblade also has great survivability thanks to its multiple defensive layers and the Unique Items it can take advantage of.

Damage
Defense
  • Sunwreath: This Unique completely empowers Flame Reave by changing its default cone shape into a giant circle that expands around you.
  • Flat Melee Damage: With the amount of Multipliers this build has access to, you want to stack as much Flat Damage as possible. Grab all the Flat Fire Melee Damage from Infused Weapon, Fire Blood and Prismatic Blade. Enchant Weapon also adds to the pool of Flat Melee Damage with Nodes like Molten Steel.
  • Blade Weaver: is a crucial offensive component for the build. Stack it by spamming Firebrand and consume it with Flame Reave.
  • Melee Attack Speed: The faster you attack the faster you stack Illuminating Fire, Incineration, Rhythm of Fire and Blade Weaver. Enchant Weapon grants a whopping 50% Melee Attack Speed while it's active thanks to the Celerity Node.
  • Cooldown Reduction: You can have permanent Enchant Weapon uptime with enough Cooldown Reduction.
  • Crystal Sword: Its Implicits are insane for the build. Get a good rolled one!
  • Intelligence: Flame Reave gains 4% Damage per point of Intelligence. Additionally it grants 4% Ward Retention per point, which adds a nice defensive layer for the build.
  • Dexterity: Flame Reave gains 4% Damage per point of Dexterity.
  • Throne of Ambition: Provides an insane DPS boost against Bosses.
  • % Increased Damage: Any extra source of % Increased Fire Damage is welcomed.
  • Critical Strike Chance: Attacking with Firebrand stacks the Illuminating Fire and Accelerando Nodes and greatly boosts your next Flame Reave Critical Strike Chance.
  • Critical Strike Multiplier: Increases the Damage your Crits deal. Build as much as you can on your gear.
  • 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 Fire Damage, while at -4000 Armour it takes 40%. With the amount of hits the build has, the stacks ramp up quickly.
  • Omnis: This build can greatly benefit from the +1 To All Skills that this Unique provides.
  • Grand Breath of Cinders: Flame Reave does not need it to deal good Damage, but if you wish to go fully offensive, the build can easily apply the maximum 10 stacks to your targets, increasing the Fire Damage enemies take by 50% (20% for Bosses).

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.

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.

Monolith
Dungeons
Endless Arena

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.

This Spellblade is an amazing Monolith of Faith farmer. The playstyle fits perfectly and its AoE is great for clearing echoes. It's a balanced setup that thrives while rushing objectives and blowing up entire screens of enemies.

Monolith Goals

Monolith Timelines

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:

  1. Reach Empowered Monolith as fast as possible.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Finish up the rest of your Drop Rate Empowered Blessings.
  5. Farm for key Uniques.
  6. 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 Chance (Once you have 100% Critical Strike Avoidance).
  • Enemies heal if they have not been damaged recently.
  • Rare enemies have high speed and crit chance until approached.
  • Rare enemies regenerate health.

Avoid these Modifiers

  • Enemy chance to receive a Glancing Blow.
  • Enemy Critical Strike Avoidance.
  • Enemy chance to Dodge.
  • High health enemies take less damage.
  • High health enemies deal increased damage.
  • Enemies are Deadly if not damaged recently.
  • 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.

Loot Filter

Loot Filters are critical in Last Epoch. Making sure you highlight all the related valuable Item Bases, Affixes, Uniques and Idols is crucial to ensure your character's progression. As your gear gets better, remember to hide the rules that are no longer useful to avoid screen clutter.

Here is the Endgame Loot Filter for this build:

Learn how to load and make Filters with our Loot Filter Guide.

Video Guide

COMING SOON!

Summary

Overall the Flame Reave Spellblade is a solid melee build capable of completing all the content in the game. It's easy to play, has insane AoE and great survivability thanks to its multiple defensive layers and powerful Unique Items.

  • Attack with Firebrand at least 3 times to stack Illuminating Fire to ensure your next Flame Reave Crits. Blade Weaver is a crucial offensive component for the build. Stack it by spamming Firebrand and consume it with Flame Reave for massive burst Damage.
  • Sunwreath empowers Flame Reave by changing its default cone shape into a giant circle that expands around you.
  • While they are not mandatory Bulwark of the Last Abyss, Aurora's Time Glass, Omnis and Throne of Ambition are great Uniques that you want to scale the build to its full potential.
  • Cast Enchant Weapon to buff your Damage momentarily.
  • Teleport is a great Movement Skill that grants great defensive buffs on use.
  • Flame Ward is an incredible Defensive Skill with tons of Damage Reduction that can save you from incoming Damage. Time it against dangerous telegraphed Boss attacks.

Credits

Written by Lizard_IRL.
Reviewed by Facefoot

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