The Lightning Swarmblade Druid channels the very essence of nature, shapeshifting into the formidable Swarmblade Form. This awe-inspiring transformation is more than just a visual spectacle; it serves as the catalyst for unleashing devastating Lightning from a flurry of Melee attacks upon hordes of adversaries. As a force of nature, the Swarmblade Druid immerses players in a thrilling fantasy of becoming a walking Tornado to strike down their foes with unmatched prowess.
This is a Melee build that spams Armblade Slash but scales Lightning Spell Damage. Its Damage primarily comes from poccing many Tornadoes casting Lightning. The build has excellent tankiness and CC thanks to buffs provided by Maelstrom and Serpent Strike.
This setup does not require any Unique to function. However, items like Stormcarved Testament and Culnivar's Claim increase your Damage dramatically, especially with Legendary Potential. Since you Shapeshift into Swarmblade Form, Legacy of the Quiet Forest eases your Resistance gearing. Aurora's Time Glass is also great defensively.
Overall, the Lightning Swarmblade Druid is a great build suited for all content in the game, even in Hardcore. Scaling Dodge for free with almost permanent Stuns and high Damage output really make this build great defensively and offensively. If you are looking for a fast hitting Melee playstyle, this build is perfect for you!
Swarmblade Form
Tornado
Maelstrom
Serpent Strike
Summon Spriggan
This article assumes you have a Level 70 Character. Reach Level 70 with our Druid Leveling Guide.
If you are looking for a different playstyle, check all our Build Guides!
Can Facetank ✔
High Damage ✔
No Mana Issues ✔
Free Dodge Scaling ✔
❌ Limited AoE
❌ Low Mobility
❌ Must Keep Companion Alive
❌ Melee Suffers Against Certain Enemies
Skills
Swarmblade Form
This is a Swarmblade Form build. You proc multiple Tornadoes through Windfury Strikes. Viper's Call lets your Armblade Slash use the Serpent Strike tree. Endless Pressure and Grasshopper's Frenzy provide Rage sustain. Needle-Like Sting helps to cap your Critical Strike Chance. Water Strider provides multiple buffs thanks to Maelstrom.
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.
- Shamanic Infusion unlocks Tornado. Get those 5 points as soon as possible.
- Rageborn is mandatory to sustain Rage. Rush it next. It also helps cap your Critical Strike Chance.
- Harmony of Blades enables you to Dual Wield. You can't equip a Melee Off-Hand without this Passive.
- Bush Stalker provides Life Leech which is crucial to your sustain. It also helps cap your Critical Strike Chance.
- Ursine Strength, Boar Heart and Porcine Constitution provide insane Damage Reduction.
- Natural Duality helps a lot with your Companion's survivability by providing a good amount of Health.
Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Passive Points.
Gameplay
The Lightning Swarmblade Druid shapeshifts into Swarmblade Form and Dives in Melee range to spam Armblade Slash, proccing many of his different abilities. 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
- Summon the Summon Spriggan Companion.
- Shapeshift into Swarmblade Form.
- Dive on Cooldown to stack as many Maelstroms and benefit from all the Buffs they provides.
- Attack with Armblade Slash, proccing multiple Tornadoes attached to you.
Mapping
- Dive into packs of enemies and rush to your objective.
- Dispose of dangerous enemies first, as you should Stun Lock them easily and prevent their devastating attacks.
Bossing
- Take advantage of all your defensive buffs and keep them active.
- Use Dive to dodge 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 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
- 3000 - 3500+ Health
- 70%+ Dodge Chance
- 50% - 60%+ Armour
- 700 - 1000+ Endurance Threshold
- 100+ Added Spell Lightning Damage
- 175%+ Melee Attack Speed
- 100% Critical Strike Chance
- 300%+ Critical Strike Multiplier
- 80% - 100%+ Movement Speed
Gear Progression
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.
Milestone 2
Culnivar's Claim is an insane addition to this build. You benefit from all of its affixes without any downsides since you have Rage instead of Mana. Farm it in the Stolen Lance Timeline by targeting Unique or Set Staff or Sceptre Echo Rewards. It is a common drop and should be easy to get with Legendary Potential.
Milestone 3
Look for Eterra's Path with Legendary Potential in the Spirits of Fire Timeline. Target Unique or Set Boots Echo Rewards. It is a common drop and should be easy to get with Legendary Potential. Getting Movement Speed will subtantially increase your mobility.
Milestone 4
Aurora's Time Glass is a great addition to this build for extra survivability. Make sure the Physical Resistance Suffix on your Relic and Ring is well rolled for a smoother transition into this Unique.
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
- Bastion of Divinity
- Survival of Might
- Dream of Eterra
- Resolve of Humanity
- Persistance of Will
- Protection of Heorot
- Resolve of Grael
- 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 3 Large Nomad Idol with %Health Prefix and Elemental Resistance While Transformed Suffix.
- You also want 1 Large Nomad Idol with %Health Prefix and Critical Strike Avoidance for You and Your Minions Suffix.
- Find 2 Grand Heorot Idols with Spell Damage While Transformed Prefix and Cold and Lightning Damage Suffix.
- The last Idol you want is a Stout Lagonian Idol with Health and Health. This slot is flexible and you should feel free to replace it with any other Idols that can help cap your Resistances.
- You might need extra Resistances out of your Idols early on, so keep an eye for anything useful until you get your final setup.
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 Lightning Swarmblade uses permanent Swarmblade Form and stacks Melee Attack Speed to proc as many Tornadoes that cast Lightning. It mainly deals Lightning Spell Damage and aims to reach 100% Critical Strike Chance. This build also has incredible survivability thanks to the defensive layers it can take advantage of.
- Lightning/Spell Flat Damage: You want to get as much Lightning or Spell Flat Damage as possible. Spell Damage and Rune Dagger or Culnivar's Claim are crucial to build it up.
- % Lightning/Spell Damage: Anything that increases Lightning or Spell Damage is welcomed.
- Melee Attack Speed: The faster you attack with Armblade Slash the more Tornadoes you proc and the more Dodge you can stack.
- 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 16.6% increased Lightning Damage, while at -4000 Armour it takes 40.1%. With the amount of hits the build has, the stacks ramp up quickly. Aim for at least 100+ stacks.
- Grand Mysteries of the Deep: This Blessing plays a big role in increasing your Damage. With the amount of hits the build has, reaching the 10 stacks cap of Lightning Resistance Shred for 50% Lightning Penetration is easy.
- Attunement: Lightning gains 4% Damage per point of Attunement.
- Lightning/Spell Critical Strike Chance: Needle-Like Sting and Aura of Retribution increases your base Critical Strike Chance dramatically. It is easy to cap it with Culnivar's Claim, Critical Strike Chance, Rageborn and Bush Stalker.
- Critical Strike Multiplier: Increases the Damage your Crits deal. Build as much as you can on your gear.
- Level of Tornado: Get this Prefix on your Body Armour for the Increased Damage it provides and to invest extra Points into its Tree.
- Level of Swarmblade Form: Get this Prefix on your Body Armour for the Increased Damage it provides and to invest extra Points into its Tree.
- Chance to Shock on Hit: Reduces Lightning Resistance and increases chance to be Stunned. Make sure to have at least 1 source of Chance to Shock on Hit on your gear.
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.
Recommended End Game Activities
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.
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.
The Tornado Lightning Swarmblade Druid is an amazing Monolith of Fate farmer. The layers of Defense it can stack makes pushing Corruption a breeze even for a Melee build.
Monolith Goals
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:
- Reach Empowered Monolith as fast as possible.
- 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.
- Finish up your Drop Rate Empowered Blessings.
- Farm for key Uniques and Set Items.
- 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.
- 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
Summary
The Lightning Swarmblade is a Melee Swarmblade Form build that Dives into battle and disposes of its enemies with flurry of strikes casting Tornado. Overall this Druid is excellent at completing all content in the game.
- This is a permanent Swarmblade Form build therefore uses Rage instead of Mana.
- Thanks to the Viper's Call Node your Armblade Slash benefits from the Serpent Strike's Tree.
- Spam Armblade Slash to stack Tornadoes via Windfury Strikes and allow them to cast Lightning thanks to Charged Storm.
- Dive on Cooldown to stack Maelstrom and gain massive offensive and defensive buffs.
- Slither is amazing at giving you insane amounts of Dodge Rating for almost no investment.
- Ursine Strength, Boar Heart and Berserker also provide great Damage Reduction.
- While it is not mandatory, a Legendary Culnivar's Claim is amazing to unleash the build's potential and free Affixes slots on your gear.
Credits
Written by Binashole
Reviewed by Lizard_IRL