Ignite Shield Rush Forge Guard 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.
Use Symbols of Hope to gain powerful buffs and use Healing Hands to move quickly around the map. Ring Of Shields is an amazing source of Block Effectiveness and Block Chance while Volatile Reversal applies an Increased Damage Taken debuff to enemies and provides additional mobility.
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 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 that is easy to play and has great Damage. If you are looking for a solid build with a crazy and frenetic playstyle, this setup is perfect for you!
This build guide assumes you have a Level 70 Character.
Reach Level 70 with our Sentinel Leveling Guide.
Check our Tier Lists to know how this build performs in the current patch.
If you are looking for a different playstyle, check all our Build Guides!
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.
- Shield Rush consumes Health when it's used. Make sure you have enough Leech to sustain.
- Put more Points into Symbols of Hope's Iron Sigils Node over Burning Sign Node if you lack survivability and have enough Damage early on.
Skills showcase extra Skill Points in case you find +Level of Skills that may not be included in the Planners.
Passives
- Armour Clad grants Damage Reduction and is crucial for any Sentinel's survivability.
- Combine Juggernaut, Abyssal Endurance and Holy Symbol to cap your Resistances.
- Smelter's Might and Phoenix Strike are a big part of the build's Damage, especially when you get Maehlin's Hubris.
- Crushing Blows has great synergy with this Shield Rush setup.
Get 5 Points in Weapons Master Passive and use a Bardiche until you find Jasper's Searing Pride.
Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Passive Points.
Gameplay
Skill Usage/Rotation
- Spam Shield Rush at your enemies.
- Use Volatile Reversal on top of enemies for extra Damage.
- Move around with Healing Hands and Evade.
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 one of your Movement Skills up for emergency situations or telegraphed Boss attacks.
- Be careful not to backtrack when using Volatile Reversal.
- Shield Rush consumes Health when it's used. Don't use it indiscriminately if you are not Leeching.
- Use the Damage Reduction granted by the Protective Speed Node while using Shield Rush efficiently! Sometimes it is better to stay in the fight than retreat.
Gear, Idols & Blessings
- Get Maehlin's Hubris. This Item converts all sources of Bleed Chance into Ignite Chance, allowing the build to fully focus on applying Ignites and scaling Fire Damage Over Time.
- Jasper's Searing Pride with T7 Elemental Damage Over Time is a massive boost to your DPS. Use a Bardiche and spec 5 Points in Weapons Master Passive until you find it.
- 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.
- Thorn Slinger is a great addition, as it provides +1 Physical Skills and increases the DPS of Shield Rush.
- Get all your Idols and farm Throne of Ambition for the amazing offensive and defensive buffs it provides.
- Get Legendary Fiery Dragon Shoes and Legendary Sunwreath to further scale your Ignite Damage.
- Flames of Midnight provides the valuable Swiftness buff, which grants 20% Movement Speed at level 100. In addition, it grants Fire Penetration.
- Eventually, you want to switch to a Legendary Titan Heart with multiple LP for extra tankiness.
- Shattered Worlds from Uber Aberroth is very powerful for the permanent Haste and other valuable stats it provides.
Get 5 Points in Weapons Master Passive and use a Bardiche until you find Jasper's Searing Pride.
Learn the basics for crafting gear with our Beginner Crafting Guide.
Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Idol Slots.
Build Scaling
Offensive Stats
- Ignite Chance
- Ignite Duration
- % Increased Elemental Damage Over Time
- % Increased Fire Damage Over Time
- % Increased Fire Damage
- Strength
- Fire Resistance Shred
- Fire & Ignite Penetration
Defensive Stats
- Health
- Armor
- Endurance
- Block Chance
- Block Effectiveness
- Leech
Scaling Tips
- Bleed Chance: Thanks to the Maehlin's Hubris Gloves, all sources of Bleed Chance get converted to Ignite Chance.
- Crushing Blows: Great synergy with Shield Rush, as this setup has a high Mana cost.
- Throne of Ambition: Provides an insane DPS boost while fighting Bosses.
- Volatile Reversal: The Time Rifts Node applies a debuff on your enemies that makes them take Increased Damage.
- Fire Penetration: Causes enemies to take extra Fire Damage.
- Level of Shield Rush: Get this Prefix on your Body Armor to invest more Points into its Skill Tree. You can easily get an extra Point with the Thorn Slinger Belt.
- 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.
- Protective Speed: This Node inside Shield Rush provides 20% Damage Reduction while rushing.
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 necessary 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.
FAQ & Mechanics
Once a guide is released, many players have questions on why and how we are approaching certain choices. In this section you can find the answers to the questions that have been asked the most.
Unfortunately, the Forgemaster's Might Passive does not allow you to use Jasper's Searing Pride. This Staff provides up to 1400% Melee Ignite Chance when spamming it against a single target, as it can reach 70 stacks. Going for a different Weapon hurts the DPS of the build too much and is not recommended.
Video Guide
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Summary
This chaotic Forge Guard build brutally charges across the battlefield with Shield Rush and Ignites anyone that gets on his path. It's quite fast, has good AoE and is one of the most fun builds in the game.
- Use Shield Rush to charge across the battlefield and Ignite your enemies.
- Jasper's Searing Pride with T7 Elemental Damage Over Time is a massive boost to your DPS.
- Thanks to the Maehlin's Hubris Gloves, all sources of Bleed Chance get converted to Ignite Chance.
- Use Symbols 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.
Content Reviewed by Volca.
Language Reviewed by Tenkiei.