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 Storm Bolt 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 proccing many Tornadoes casting Storm Bolt. 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!
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!
- Strong CC
- Can Facetank
- Good Damage
- No Mana Issues
- Limited AoE
- No Immunity Skill
- Short Mobility Skill
- 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.
- Attunement provides Mana and Flat Damage for Storm Bolt. Spec into Passives with it.
- 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 and Impervious provide a lot of tankiness with their Damage Reduction.
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
- 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 or Evade 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+ Health
- 40%+ Dodge Chance
- 50%+ Armour
- 700 - 1000+ Endurance Threshold
- 500+ Mana
- 175%+ Melee Attack Speed
- 100% Critical Strike Chance
- 300%+ Critical Strike Multiplier
- 80% - 100%+ 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.
Milestone 2
Make sure your Critical Strike Avoidance 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
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 4
Aim for rings with Critical Strike Chance to cap your Critical Strike Chance. This is extremely important to help with your Rage sustain.
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. Keep an eye for Large Nomad Idols with Elemental Resistance While Transformed or Critical Strike Avoidance for You and Your Minions Suffix. 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.
Milestone 2
Look for Legacy of the Quiet Forest in the Fall of the Empire Monolith Timeline by targeting Unique or Set Belt Echo Rewards. This belt is great for covering your Poison Resistance and Void Resistance.
Milestone 3
Transient Rest provides a lot of Resistances and a nice synergy with Mana stacking, generating a good amount of Ward.
Milestone 4
When all your core Defenses are covered, start working on your Damage. Get T5 Level of Swarmblade Form to invest more points into its tree.
Milestone 5
Farm Tempest Maw as this Axe provides a ton of value thanks to Tempest Weapon in Gathering Storm.
Milestone 6
Look for items with as much Critical Strike Multiplier and Mana as you can. Since this build reaches 100% Critical Strike Chance, it increases your damage dramatically.
Milestone 7
Phantom Grip is great as it provides Mana, Critical Strike Chance, and Levels to Swarmblade Form.
Milestone 8
Farm Stormcarved Testament by fighting Lagon in the Ending the Storm Timeline. The stats it provides have great synergies with the build and provides a lot of Damage.
Milestone 9
As you finish up your Empowered Blessings keep a decent Health pool, capped Resistances, Endurance and Critical Strike Avoidance.
Milestone 1
Continue upgrading your gear with T7 Exalted items and begin farming all your Uniques with Legendary Potential. Look for Nemesis encounters in Echoes to add Legendary Potential or Legendary Affixes to any Unique with the Egg of the Forgotten.
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 4
Aurora's Time Glass is a great addition to this build for extra survivability. It is one of the best defensive Amulet for Health based builds!
Milestone 5
Keep target farming until you get Legendary Potential on all of your Uniques.
Milestone 1
Keep upgrading your gear with Exalted Items with Sealed Affixes. Get every stat in the right place and on 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 get all your desired Idols with the best in slot Prefixes and Suffixes.
Milestone 3
Nihilis not only provides amazing Offensive and Defensive stats, but also Movement Speed! Get the best rolled one you can find.
Milestone 4
Seed of Ekkidrasil is a great addition to the build. This item makes you incredibly tanky since Damage Dealt to Mana Before Health affects Rage when you are transformed.
Milestone 5
Farm Static Shell in the Blood, Frost, and Death Timeline by targeting Unique Body Armour Echo Rewards. If you find one with multiple Legendary Potential, it can greatly improve your tankiness while not sacrificing Damage.
Milestone 6
Keep farming until you get the maximum Legendary Potential you can find on all of your Uniques.
Milestone 7
Feel free to experiment with any crazy Unique, Legendary or Experimental Items that you might craft, trade or find! The possibilities are endless! 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:
- 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.
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:
- Start with Grand Survival of Might for the Critical Strike Avoidance.
- Grab Grand Hunger of the Void to sustain your Health in combat.
- Farm Grand Mysteries of the Deep to significantly increase your Damage.
- Pick Grand Body of Obsidian for the huge amount of Flat Armour it provides.
- Finish up by getting Grand Bulwark of the Tundra for the huge % Armour it provides.
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 Nomad Idol with %Health Prefix and Elemental Resistance While Transformed or Critical Strike Avoidance for You and Your Minions Suffix. You can also use Grand Pride of Rebellion to find Grand Heorot Idols with Spell Damage While Transformed Prefix and Cold and Lightning Damage Suffix.
- Once you find all your Idols, you can switch to the Grand Winds of Fortune and focus on Uniques instead.
- Grand Savior of the North helps you find more Sceptres for Culnivar's Claim.
- Grand Embrace of Ice helps you find more Body Armours to get an Exalted Level of Tornado Affix.
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 Large Nomad Idol with %Health Prefix and Elemental Resistance While Transformed Suffix.
- Get 3 Large Nomad Idol with %Health Prefix and Cold Resistance 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 Storm Bolt. 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.
- Attunement: Storm Bolt gains 1 Flat Damage per point of Attunement. It also grants 2 Mana per point.
- % 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.
- Mana: Stacking Mana increases your Damage dramatically thanks to Excited Bolts in Gathering Storm.
- 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 is easy.
- Lightning/Spell Critical Strike Chance: Needle-Like Sting and Rending Vortex 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.
- 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.
- Ursine Strength: Grants 16% Damage Reduction against Nearby enemies.
- Dodge Rating: This build obtains Dodge with minimal investment. Sleet-Footed, Locust Agility and Shroud of Winter and Slither are your sources.
- Stun: Thanks to its Damage output, Essence of Debris and the Shock Ailment, you are able to Stun most enemies, even Bosses.
- Armour Mitigation: This setup gets very high Armour. Combine the Armour from your Item Implicits, Grand Body of Obsidian and Grand Bulwark of the Tundra Blessings, along with your Passives to reach 50%+ Armour Mitigation.
- Health: This build has a good amount of Health. Health is very effective when combined with all the other defensive layers the Druid has access to. Primalist has access to Large Nomad Idols with %Health; not all Classes have access to these amazing Idols!
- Endurance: A defensive mechanic that 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.
- Health Leech: Leech is crucial to your survivability. Bush Stalker and Grand Hunger of the Void are extremely important.
- Frailty: This Ailment reduces the Damage dealt by enemies by 6% for 4 seconds. Stacks 3 times. Make sure to include this affix in your gear setup.
- Cleanse: Available with Ward and Ailment Cleansing on Potion Use. Keep an eye out for dangerous Negative Ailments.
- Chill and Slow: Are Ailments that greatly reduce the Action and Movement Speed of your enemies.
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
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 Storm Bolt thanks to Charged Storm.
- Dive on Cooldown to stack Maelstrom and gain massive offensive and defensive buffs.
- 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 BinaQc
Reviewed by Lizard_IRL, Volca