Terek has been playing Last Epoch consistently since 2020, along with streaming and creating videos on YouTube. He fell in love with Last Epoch after putting too many hours into PoE and D3, so much so that he decided to speedrun it! He has been consistently pushing boundaries of what is possible in Last Epoch through his speedruns and has established most of the leveling strategies used today. Learn about Skills and Passives for the Forge Guard Leveling Build.
Forge Guard Passives
Passives provide powerful effects that dictate the playstyle of a Class and its Masteries. Remember that you can allocate Passives in the first half of any Mastery regardless of the one you chose. Powerful skills and nodes are usually found in the masteries tree.
Don't spend any passive point past 20 points invested until you get your Mastery!
Skills
Hammer Throw
Hammer Throw is your first specialized skill. It is your main Damage Skill until level 35. It has insane Damage and AoE by getting as many hits as possible to apply DoTs with high damage early in the campaign.
Shield Throw
When you unlock your Mastery and have 5 points in the Forge Guard tree, spec into Shield Throw. Don't use it until level 35. Then use it to proc a sweeping melee attacks with Manifest Inspiration from Manifest Armor.
Manifest Armor
When you unlock Manifest Armor spec into it. Don't use it until level 35. This is your main source of damage in combination with Shield Throw. This skill takes advantage of the scaling of your gear, so you want the best weapon you can get and the body armor with the highest base armor possible.
Javalin
At level 35 spec Javelin. It is used as a healing tool for yourself and your Manifest Armor, but it's also used to boost its damage by converting it into a targetable AoE. It provides 4% Increased Damage and Armor per point of Attunement through Battle Standard and 100 Health per second with Banner of Restoration.
Void Cleave
At level 35 respec Hammer Throw for Void Cleave. It is only used as a buffing skill when faced against strong foes. You need to hit your Manifest Armor to get the boost as it gives him 112 flat Fire Damage with Molten Blades and Scorching Path.
Sigils of Hope
At level 50 spec Sigils Of Hope. It gives damage to yourself and your minions. It is your only real mana spender as you always want your maximum amount of sigils up. To make it easier to sustain, you want to equip idols with Seconds to Sigils of Hope Duration.
Gameplay
As we level the power of skills shift, with some becoming stronger while others get weaker. To account for this, we transition from a setup that is optimized for early game to one that is more suited to tackling endgame content.
Early Setup
- At level 4 spec Hammer Throw and use it as your main damage skill until level 35.
- Don't spec your second skill yet.
- Use Lunge to move quickly through the chapters.
Final Setup
- When you unlock your Mastery and have 5 points in the Forge Guard tree, spec into Shield Throw. Don't use it until level 35. At that level, target your Manifest Armor so that he does an AoE attack at each ricochet.
- When you unlock Manifest Armor spec into it. Don't use it until level 35.
- At level 35 spec Javelin. Use it to heal yourself and boost the Manifest Armor damage.
- At level 35 respec Hammer Throw for Void Cleave. Use it on your Manifest Armor to boost his damage on bosses.
- At level 50 spec Sigils Of Hope and use it to boost your Manifest Armor damage and your defence. You want to always be on maximum stacks.
