Welcome to the Hydrahedron Runemaster Guide. Fill the battlefield with fiery octahedrons that spew a deadly rain of Fire Projectiles that incinerate everything in the area! Combine Lightning, Fire, Fire (L,F,F) Runes to conjure Hydrahedron, a powerful Runic Invocation unique to the Runemaster that turns foes into ashes.
Generate Lightning Runes with Runebolt and Fire Runes with Flame Rush, a powerful dash that casts Runic Invocation on use and grants great defensive buffs. Flame Ward is an incredible Defensive Skill with tons of Damage Reduction that can save the Runemaster even from the most dangerous attacks. Frost Wall provides additional DPS and grants Flame Ward on ally pass through.
This setup doesn't require any Unique to function. However Items like Box of Hydrae and Fundamental Criterion have the potential to enhance the build's power tremendously, especially with Legendary Potential.
Overall the Hydrahedron Runemaster is a great build suited for all the content in the game, even in Hardcore. If you are looking for the classic Fire turret playstyle, this build is perfect for you!
This article assumes you have a Level 70 Character.
Reach Level 70 with our Runemaster Leveling Guide.
If you are looking for a different playstyle, check all our Build Guides!
- Turret Fantasy
- Visually Pleasing
- Great Defensive Support Skills
- Good Scaling With Gear and Uniques
- Rotation Based Playstyle
- Requires Rune Management
- No Room for Positional Errors
- Defensive Skills Require Timing
Skills
Runic Invocation
Combine Lightning, Fire, Fire (L,F,F) Runes before casting Runic Invocation to conjure Hydrahedron, your main Damage Skill. Grab Unbridled Ruin, Devastating Starfall and Runic Energy to boosts its Damage. Invest a point in Scrivener's Haste to generate Fire Runes faster with Flame Rush and smooth the gameplay.
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.
- Focus on Intelligence and Spell Critical Strike Chance related Nodes.
- Investing points into Arcanist helps cap Elemental Resistances.
- Calculated Destruction is crucial to raise your Spell Critical Strike Chance.
- Arcane Flames, Decree of the Burning Wind and Celestial Doom grant substantial Damage Multipliers.
- Sphere of Protection is a great for survivability.
- Ancient Inscriptions is a must have for most Runemasters.
- Elemental Affinity can be used to cap your Resistances if needed.
- Spec into Mental Catalysis and Inscribed Instruments over Edict of the Scion and the spare points that max Intelligence related Nodes while you use a Wand and a Catalyst. Switch to a Staff when you find a well rolled Fundamental Criterion.
Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Passive Points.
Gameplay
This Runemaster wants to position itself far away from the enemies while casting deadly Spells. Make sure you are familiar with enemy mechanics to know when to use your Support Skills to stay alive. Pay attention to the telegraphed attacks of your enemies and stay out of their range.
Skill Usage/Rotation
- Generate Lightning Runes by spamming Runebolt and stack the buffs it provides.
- Cast and hold Flame Rush until you generate 2 Fire Runes to conjure a Hydrahedron every time it's off Cooldown.
- Place Frost Wall and go through it for its amazing buffs.
- Use Flame Ward defensively before you take Damage.
- Use Runebolt to generate Mana.
Mapping
- Flame Rush through Frost Wall and rush to your objective.
- Place Frost Wall far away but directly on your trajectory to gain Haste for the maximum duration possible.
- Use Flame Rush to leave dangerous enemies behind.
Bossing
- Take advantage of all your defensive buffs and keep them active.
- Flame Ward can save you from incoming Damage. Time it against dangerous telegraphed Boss attacks.
- Take advantage of Aspirant's Arrival inside Frost Wall and manually cast Runic Invocation against Bosses for extra Damage.
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 stack as many other defensive layers 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
- 3000 - 10000+ Ward (while in combat)
- 400+ Ward Retention
- 45% - 65%+ Armour
- 40 - 65+ Attunement
- 50 - 80+ Intelligence
- 300+ Mana
- 300%+ Spell Critical Strike Multiplier
- 40% - 90%+ 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 Weapon with double T5 offensive Prefixes as soon as possible.
Milestone 2
Make sure your Reduced Damage Taken from Critical Strikes 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
Get as much Increased Cooldown Recovery Speed as possible to be able to spam Flame Rush more often.
Milestone 4
Aim for T5 Level of Runic Invocation on your Helmet to further invest into its Tree. T5 Penetration with Fire Invocations is also a great upgrade.
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. Make sure you have at least 300 Mana if you find Idols with Increased Fire Damage (Doubled If You Have Over 300 Max Mana) to increase your DPS.
Milestone 1
Look for Box of Hydrae. This Item provides a great Damage boost. You can farm it earning Unique Relic Echo Rewards in the Last Ruin Monolith Timeline.
Milestone 2
Get Chance to Apply Frailty on Hit to decrease the Damage enemies deal to you. This Ailment is really important and should always be kept in mind.
Milestone 3
When all your core Defenses are covered, start working on your Damage. Get Chance To Shred Armour on Hit on your Gloves and your Amulet. Intelligence and Critical Strike Multiplier are also amazing for this build. The Attunement gives Mana and anticipates the Fundamental Criterion power spike.
Milestone 4
As you finish up your Empowered Blessings keep a decent Health pool, capped Resistances and Less Damage Taken from Critical Strikes. Your goal is to have items with 4 valuable T5 Affixes, also known as T20.
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 Box of Hydrae with Legendary Potential. Aim for the indicated Affixes in the Planner for each slot.
Milestone 3
Get a well rolled Fundamental Criterion. Stack as much Attunement as you can for the insane Damage Multiplier this Unique provides. If you wish to increase your DPS further, equip an Exalted Staff and switch your Passive Tree accordingly. Do NOT switch unless your Exalted Staff outweighs your current Wand and Catalyst.
Milestone 4
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.
Milestone 5
Get the rest of your Idols with Increased Fire Damage (Doubled If You Have Over 300 Max Mana). These Idols are great for increasing your DPS. Get them as well rolled as possible and make sure you have at least 300 Mana to double the effect of the Suffix.
Milestone 1
Keep upgrading your gear with Exalted Items with Sealed Affixes. Get every stat in the right place and in the correct Item Base. Min/Maxing your gear in Last Epoch can be pushed to the extreme as Items with multiple Exalted Affixes are technically possible.
Milestone 2
Get as close to perfect rolls for all your Empowered Blessings and find all your desired Idols with the best in slot Prefixes and Suffixes.
Milestone 3
Look for any Experimental Items or Affixes that suit your build. These can be hard to come by, but can give insane power pikes if used properly. We especially recommend to aim for Experimental Traversal Cooldown Recovery on Potion Use and Experimental Ward on Kill.
Milestone 4
Continue farming Box of Hydrae and Fundamental Criterion with the maximum Legendary Potential you can find. Remember that some of these Items are extremely hard to get with multiple Legendary Potential. Good luck with the chase!
Milestone 5
A Legendary Strands of Souls is a great addition to the build if you manage to slam Increased Cooldown Recovery Speed or Experimental Traversal Cooldown Recovery on Potion Use on it. It's a rare drop but can be farmed by killing the Abomination in the Fall of the Outcast Monolith Timeline.
Milestone 6
Feel free to experiment with any crazy Unique, Legendary or Experimental Items that you might craft, trade or find! The possibilities are endless!
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
- Hunger of the Void
Cruelty of the Meruna - Survival of Might
- Persistance of Will
- Protection of Heorot
- Resolve of Grael
- Heart of the Caldera
- Embers of Immortality
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:
- If you are lacking Critical Strike Avoidance, start with Grand Survival of Might. A high roll on this Empowered Blessing can be combined with a single high rolled T5 Critical Strike Avoidance to cap it.
- Work on Grand Echo of Solarum for the Void Resistance. If you have enough on your gear, grab Grand Emptiness of Ash for the Damage boost instead.
- Once your core Defenses are sorted, grab Grand Cruelty of the Meruna.
- Finish up by farming the best rolled Grand Body of Obsidian and Grand Resolve of Grael you can get. They grant an insane amount of Armour that helps increase the survivability of the build and synergises greatly with Throne of Ambition.
These Empowered Blessings are flexible and depend on your current needs and goals.
These are valuable Empowered Drop Rate Blessings for this build:
- Grand Pride of Rebellion or Grand Mark of Agony are very valuable to help you find Idols. Once you find all your Idols, you can switch to the Grand Winds of Fortune and focus on Uniques instead.
- Grand Cruelty of Formosus and Grand Reach of Flame help you find more Exalted Wands and Catalysts. Get Grand Chill of Death to get more Staffs.
- Lastly, take Grand Embrace of Ice or Grand Slumber of Morditas depending on what type of Unique you are looking for.
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 Adorned Arcane Idol with Ward Retention and Chance to gain Lightning Aegis when hit. This Idol is great for survivability.
- Get them 4 well rolled Grand Glass Idol with Mana and Increased Fire Damage (Doubled If You Have Over 300 Max Mana). Make sure you have at least 300 Mana to double the effect of the Suffix.
- Get a Throne of Ambition. You can farm it in The Stolen Lance Empowered Monolith Timeline. It's a rare drop from God Hunter Argentus.
- Finish up the setup with Resistance related Idols. You might also need extra Mana out of your Idols early on, so keep an eye for anything useful.
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
This Runemaster also has great survivability thanks to its multiple defensive layers and the Unique Items it can take advantage of.
- Flat Spell Damage: You want to get as much Flat Damage as possible.
- Idols: Increased Fire Damage (Doubled If You Have Over 300 Max Mana) is great for increasing your DPS. Get it as well rolled as possible and make sure you have at least 300 Mana to double the effect of the Suffix. They are a priority when it comes to scaling this build and its main source of Increased Damage. Throne of Ambition provides an insane DPS boost while fighting Bosses.
- Intelligence: Your skills gain 4% Damage per point or Intelligence. It also provides %Spell Critical Chance thanks to Calculated Destruction. Additionally it grants 4% Ward Retention per point, which adds a nice defensive layer for the build.
- Fundamental Criterion: If you wish to increase your DPS, equip a Dragon Staff and switch your Passive Tree accordingly. Stack as much Attunement as you can for the insane Damage Multipliers this Unique provides.
- Spell Critical Strike Chance: It's easy to cap thanks to your Passives.
- Critical Strike Multiplier: Increases the Damage your Crits deal. Build as much as you can on your gear.
- Frost Wall: Has built in Fire Resistance Shred thanks to this Node. Since the build attacks so fast and has many hits, it is extremely easy to apply the maximum 10 stacks to your targets, increasing the Fire Damage enemies take by 50% (20% for Bosses).
- 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.
- Flame Ward: The Damage Reduction is insane. While this Skill is active you are almost immortal!
- Armour Mitigation: This build can get decent Armour. Just with the implicit Armour from your gear and high rolled Blessings you can reach 45%+ Mitigation. Thanks to Throne of Ambition this Mitigation increases to 65%+ while Bossing. This is huge on top of all the other defensive layers the build has.
- Ward: A shield above your Health that is generated by certain effects, rapidly decays over time and is protected by Armour Mitigation.
- Ward Retention: Reduces the rate of Ward decay.
- Intelligence: Each point of Intelligence provides 4% Ward Retention.
- Endurance: A defensive mechanic that allows you to take up to 60% less Damage while below a certain Health threshold. Due to the Ward nature of the build, endurance is not as valuable as it is for pure Health setups. Your Endurance Threshold is 20% of your total Health by default.
- Chill and Slow: Are Ailments that greatly reduce the Action and Movement Speed of your enemies. They are must haves on most builds, especially 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: Cleanse all Ailments on Potion use.
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.
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
Summary
Overall the Hydrahedron Runemaster is a very fun build capable of completing all the content in the game. It has insane Range, a very active playstyle and has great survivability thanks to its multiple defensive layers and powerful Unique Items.
- Fill the battlefield with fiery octahedrons that spew a deadly rain of Fire Projectiles that incinerate everything in the area! Combine Lightning, Fire, Fire (L,F,F) Runes to conjure Hydrahedron, a powerful Runic Invocation unique to the Runemaster that turns foes into ashes.
- While this setup doesn't require any Unique to function, items like Box of Hydrae and Fundamental Criterion have the potential to enhance the build's power tremendously, especially with Legendary Potential.
- Flame Rush 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.
- Use Runebolt to generate Mana if needed.
Credits
Written by Lizard_IRL.
Reviewed by Volca