Welcome to the Ignite Shield Rush Forge Guard build guide. Covered in plate armour and wielding a Two-Handed Staff, this Forge Guard rushes into the battlefield and chaotically bounces around, setting everything in his path on fire. Use Shield Rush to brutally charge across the battlefield, proccing Healing Hands to Ignite your enemies. The Fire Damage Over Time this build dishes out is capable of burning the strongest foes to ashes.
Cast Sigils Of Hope with Orian's Sun Seal to gain powerful buffs and use Volatile Reversal to apply insane debuffs to your enemies. Dash with Healing Hands to move quickly around the map and use unspecced Rebuke to tank incoming telegraphs.
While this setup doesn't require any Unique to function and is playable without them, Jasper's Searing Pride and Maehlin's Hubris are extremely important for its DPS. Additionally, Bleeding Heart, Titan Heart, Thorn Slinger, Heirloom of the Last Nomad and Throne of Ambition are amazing for the build.
Overall Ignite Shield Rush Forge Guard is a super fun build capable of defeating all the content in the game. It's easy to play, has great Damage, clears Echoes rapidly and is pretty tanky. If you are looking for a solid beginner friendly build with a crazy and fun playstyle, this setup is perfect for you!
This article assumes you have a Level 70 Character.
Reach Level 70 with our Forge Guard Leveling Guide.
If you are looking for a different playstyle, check all our Build Guides!
- Fun To Play
- Easy To Play
- Amazing DPS
- Very High Block Chance
- Very Chaotic Playstyle
- Heavy Buff Management
- Vulnerable To DoT Damage
- Potential Locked Behind Uniques
Skills
Shield Rush
Shield Rush is your main Damage. Dark Rush is needed as the build does not use a Shield. Combine the interactions between Desynchronous Charge, Mana Memory and The Rush of Sacrifice and the Damage from Consuming Path, Splintering Impact and Warrior's Entrance to weaponize it.
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.
- Take all the Strength, Ignite Chance, Block and Health related Nodes.
- Armour Clad grants Damage Reduction and is crucial for any Sentinel's survivability.
- Juggernaut, Abyssal Endurance and Holy Symbol provide tons of Resistances.
- Smelter's Might and Phoenix Strike are a big part of the build's Damage, especially when you get Maehlin's Hubris.
- Divine Bolt helps apply even more DoTs.
- Infinite Bulwark and Liquid Iron provide powerful defensive buffs on Potion use.
- Crushing Blows has great synergy with this Shield Rush setup.
Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Passive Points.
Gameplay
This Forge Guard uses Shield Rush to rapidly apply deadly Ignites and burn enemies alive. Make sure you are familiar with enemy mechanics to know when to use your Support Skills to stay alive. Pay attention to their telegraphed attacks!
Skill Usage/Rotation
- Spam Shield Rush at your enemies.
- Use Volatile Reversal on top of enemies for extra Damage.
- Maintain 4 Sigils Of Hope up at all times if possible.
Mapping
- Rush to the objective with Healing Hands and Evade.
- Shield Rush when you are close to enemies.
- Be careful not to backtrack when using Volatile Reversal.
Bossing
- Take advantage of all your defensive buffs and keep them active.
- Spam Shield Rush at Bosses to build up Ignite stacks and then Volatile Reversal on top of them to ramp your DPS.
- Keep a charge of Evade for emergency situations or 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 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 Endurance
- 100% Reduced Bonus Damage Taken from Crits
- 4000+ Health
- 80%+ Armor
- 50% - 70%+ Block Chance
- 70%+ Block Effectiveness
- 70%+ Movement Speed
Gear Progression
Milestone 1
Aim for good Item Bases with four 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 Bardiche as soon as possible.
Milestone 2
Jasper's Searing Pride provides most of your Ignite Chance. Get one as soon as possible.
Milestone 3
Get a pair of Maehlin's Hubris. This Item is great to convert all sources of Bleed Chance into Ignite Chance allowing the build to fully focus on applying Ignites and scaling Fire Damage Over Time.
Milestone 4
Get a source of Life Leech. Use Avarice (obtained by completing Erza's Ledger Quest in the Campaign) for the Elemental Leech it provides until you find a Bleeding Heart, a very common Amulet.
Milestone 5
Thorn Slinger is a great addition for the build as it provides +1 Physical Skills and can be used to further increase Shield Rush's DPS. Get Orian's Sun Seal so you don't need to manually cast [le-skill id=SigilsOfHope]Sigils Of Hope[/le-skill] at all.
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.
Milestone 1
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 2
Try to 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 Increased Fire Damage And Ignite Duration, Elemental Damage Over Time and Strength on your Prefixes to increase your DPS drastically.
Milestone 4
Keep farming the build's Unique Items with at least one Legendary Potential. Look for Nemesis encounters in Echoes to add Legendary Potential or useful Affixes to any Unique with the Egg of the Forgotten.
Milestone 1
Upgrade your setup with T7 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.
Milestone 2
Farm Throne of Ambition in The Stolen Lance Empowered Monolith Timeline. It drops from God Hunter Argentus and has great synergy with Ignite Shield Rush.
Milestone 3
Look for Jasper's Searing Pride, Maehlin's Hubris, Bleeding Heart, Titan Heart, Thorn Slinger, Heirloom of the Last Nomad with Legendary Potential. Aim for the indicated Affixes in the Planner for each slot. Make sure to collect Exalted Items that might be useful in this process.
Milestone 4
Get all your Large Rahyeh Idol with Chance To Ignite On Hit and Fire Damage Over Time, Block Effectiveness or Health Suffixes. Keep stacking as much Health, Strength and Elemental Damage Over Time on your gear as you can.
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 a GG Code of an Erased Sentinel with the Affixes indicated in the Planner. It's a great source of extra tankiness against Damage Over Time.
Milestone 4
Continue farming all the desired Uniques with the maximum Legendary Potential you can find. Remember that some Unique Items are extremely hard to get with multiple Legendary Potential. Good luck with the chase!
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:
- Flames of the Black Sun
- Bastion of Divinity
- Survival of Might
- Persistance of Will
- Vigor of Jormun
- Patience of Herkir
- Breath of Cinders
- Embers of Immortality
- Body of Obsidian
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. Building Reduced Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes is more optimal, so go for Grand Resolve of Humanity instead. Grand Hemmorage of Marrow is also an option if you don't need the Resistances.
- Take Grand Bones of Eternity for the Block Effectiveness and Block Chance.
- Take Grand Flames of the Black Sun for a DPS boost.
- Finish up by farming the best rolled Grand Patience of Herkir or Grand Body of Obsidian you can get. Grand Breath of Cinders is also good but the additional DPS is not really needed.
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 Rahyeh Idol with Chance To Ignite On Hit or Chance To Cast Void Rift On Kill Prefixes and Fire Damage Over Time or Health Suffixes. Once you find all your Idols, you can switch to the Grand Winds of Fortune and focus on Uniques instead.
- Grab Grand Grip of the Lance to help you find more Maehlin's Hubris Gloves or Grand Vision of the Aurora to help you find more Bleeding Heart Amulets.
- Lastly take Grand Chill of Death to find more Staves.
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 Large Rahyeh Idols with Chance To Ignite On Hit and Fire Damage Over Time, Block Effectiveness or Health Suffixes.
- 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.
- You might also want 1 Grand Solar Idol with Damage Over Time Prefix and Chance To Slow With Void Skills Suffix, but this slot is flexible.
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 Forge Guard uses Shield Rush to brutally charge across the battlefield and Ignite your enemies. Scale your Ignite Chance and Fire Damage Over Time as much as possible. This build also has decent survivability thanks to the multiple defensive layers it can take advantage of.
- Ignite Chance: The more Chance you have, the more Ignites you apply.
- Bleed Chance: Thanks to the Maehlin's Hubris Gloves, all sources of Bleed Chance get converted to Ignite Chance. A flaming hot Bardiche is even deadlier than a regular one!
- Increased Fire Damage And Ignite Duration: This powerful Prefix extends the duration of your Ignites, allowing them to deal extra Damage for a longer period of time.
- Shield Rush: This ability has really high Damage Multipliers inside its Tree that greatly enhance the Damage of the Ignites applied by it.
- Strength: Shield Rush gains 4% Damage per point of Strength. Additionally it grants 4% Armour per point, which adds a nice defensive layer for the build.
- Elemental Damage Over Time: This powerful Prefix has some of the highest numerical values of any offensive Affix in the game. This is a priority when it comes to scaling this build and its main source of Increased Damage.
- Sigils Of Hope: They grant increased Damage and Ignite Chance with this setup.
- Crushing Blows: Great synergy with this Shield Rush setup high Mana cost.
- % Increased Damage: Anything that increases Fire Damage Over Time is welcomed.
- Throne of Ambition: Provides an insane DPS boost while fighting Bosses.
- Volatile Reversal: The Time Rifts and Harbinger of Dust Nodes apply a powerful debuff on your enemies that makes them take additional Damage.
- Fire Penetration: Causes enemies to take extra Fire Damage.
- Level of Shield Rush: Get this Prefix on your Body Armour to invest more Points into its Skill Tree. You can also get a point with the Thorn Slinger Belt.
- Grand Breath of Cinders: While not necessary, this Blessing allows you to apply 10 stacks of Fire Resistance Shred. 10 stacks increase the Fire Damage enemies take by 50% (20% for Bosses). If you decide to pick it up, make sure it rolls nicely (45%+).
- Armour Clad: Grants Damage Reduction and is crucial for any Sentinel's survivability.
- Channeling: Since Shield Rush is a channeled ability you have Stun Immunity while using it. Additionally, you can make use of the Grand Patience of Herkir Blessing.
- Protective Speed: This Node inside Shield Rush provides 20% Damage Reduction while rushing.
- Block Chance: Grants a chance to reduce the Damage taken from Hits.
- On a successful Block, a percentage of the Damage is mitigated.
- This build can easily reach 100% block.
- Block Effectiveness: The percentage of Damage reduced on Block depends on how much Block Effectiveness you have and cannot exceed 85%.
- Endurance: It allows you to take up to 60% less Damage while below a certain Health threshold. Your base Endurance Threshold is 20% of your total Health.
- Strength: Grants 4% Armour per point.
- Armour Mitigation: This setup can get insanely high Armour. Combine the Armour from your Item Implicits, Blessings and all the Strength this build has to reach 40% to 70%+ Mitigation. Thanks to Throne of Ambition this Mitigation increases to even more. This is huge on top of all the other defensive layers the build has.
- Health: This build can stack a decent Health pool that can surpass the 4000 mark. Health is very effective when combined with all the other defensive layers, but be careful since this Shield Rush setup consumes 15% of your current Health on use.
- Leech: Bleeding Heart provides tons of Leech for the build. Use Avarice (obtained by completing Erza's Ledger Quest in the Campaign) for their Elemental Leech until you find the Amulet.
- 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. Click on the Generate Loot Filter button down below then use the Paste Clipboard Contents button in-game to import it!
Here is the Endgame Loot Filter for this build:
Learn how to load and make Filters with our Loot Filter Guide.
Video Guide
Summary
This chaotic Forge Guard build brutally charges across the battlefield with Shield Rush and Ignites anyone that gets on his path. Overall this Forge Guard is an amazing setup capable of completing all the content in the game. It's fast, has great AoE, good survivability and is one of the most fun builds in the game.
- Use Shield Rush to charge across the battlefield and Ignite your enemies.
- Thanks to the Maehlin's Hubris Gloves, all sources of Bleed Chance get converted to Ignite Chance.
- Maintain 4 Sigils Of Hope up at all times for the amazing buffs they provide.
- Use Volatile Reversal on top of enemies for extra Damage.
Credits
Written by Lizard_IRL.
Reviewed by McFluffin, Volca.
