Marksman Leveling Guide
Last Updated:April 11, 2025|Changelog
This Marksman leveling build annihilates her foes thanks to massive hits and bleeds. It utilizes three Damage Skills: Puncture, Explosive Trap and Detonating Arrow. The first is used early on in combination with the others to apply massive stacks of Bleeds with Explosive Trap and Detonating Arrow for massive damage hit damage.
The Marksman stays away from threats while in combat but has plenty of tools to protect herself in case enemies get too close. Decoy is an incredible Defensive Skill that can save her even from the most dangerous encounters. The build also has insane mobility thanks to Shift which grants 50% increased movement speed.
Overall this Detonating Arrow Marksman is an amazing leveling build, it provides enough damage to one shot most monsters in the campaign and scales really well into the end game. It is also a really good defensive build with its Decoy, taunting enemies and Shurikens increasing its Armour.
Check out the Campaign Guide for an in depth breakdown of the campaign.
This build is centered around the Bow Marksman fantasy, if you want the fastest leveling build for rogue, you can use the Skills and Passives from the Bladedancer Leveling Guide. WARNING: You cannot change your mastery, so be sure to select "Marksman!"
Gameplay
As we level the power of skills evolve, with some becoming stronger while others get weaker. To account for this, we transition from a setup that is optimized for early game to one that is more suited to tackling endgame content.
Early Setup
Use this setup until you reach level 50 and have a Longbow equipped.
- Use Puncture to generate and maintain a Bleed buff.
- For single target and clear, spam Explosive Trap.
- To regenerate Mana, use Puncture.
- Use Shift to move quickly through the chapters.
- Use Decoy to taunt monsters.
Final Setup
You need to have a Longbow, Dreadthorn Bow or Osprix Bow equipped for this setup to work.
- For single target and clear, spam Explosive Trap.
- To regenerate Mana, use Detonating Arrow.
- Use Shift to move quickly through the chapters and proc Shurikens.
- In dangerous situations use Decoy to taunt monsters.
- Use Smoke Bomb to boost your defense.
Key Leveling Notes
- Keep your character at the area level by killing monsters.
- To use this guide, you need to maintain at most a 5 level difference with the area.
- Press C to open the character sheet to find your level and TAB to find the area level.
- Only collect loot that serves as an upgrade.
- The loot filter reveals many items that might not be an upgrade for your character.
- If your inventory is full, stick gear with high value affixes in your stash and sell the rest.
- Don't sell gear that has high value affixes to a vendor.
- Instead, keep it to use later or destroy it with a Rune of Shattering or Rune of Removal.
- Always get the best weapon you can.
- Weapons are a core part of your power and getting a higher level base boosts your damage significantly.
- Early on, you can buy them at the
Gambler NPC in the Council Chamber town and in the End of Time town. - After level 40, they don't sell you higher item bases.
- If you want to enter the Monolith of Fate early, unlock all the passive points and idol slots from quests first.
- By the time you complete chapter 7, you will be ready to tackle the Monolith of Fate content.
- Crafting is powerful and important for enhancing your gear.
- Press F and place your item in the crafting interface to level up its affixes and craft new ones!
- Adding health or vitality on a few empty affix slots can increase your HP by a significant amount!
If you need help with crafting, check the Beginner Crafting Guide.
Skills and Passives
Passives and Skills provide powerful effects that dictate the playstyle of a Class and its Masteries. Remember that you can allocate Passives in the first half of any Mastery regardless of the one you chose.
Click on the Arrows at the top and on the Bar at the bottom to see Passive and Skill Trees Progression
Gearing and Side Quests Step by Step
Itemization is a vital aspect of your journey in Last Epoch. While prefixes and suffixes matter, what sets Last Epoch apart is the power of item bases. Many items have potent implicit attributes that can rival or even surpass modifiers.
Level 1 to 10
Items
- Before unlocking Puncture, use two handed weapons like Blighted Bastard Sword of Conflagration prioritize Chance to Bleed on Hit and Chance to Ignite on Hit. After that use a Bow.
- Blighted Silver Ring of Deflection is the best source of movement speed early on.
- Warrior's Jade Amulet of Deflection provides a decent attack speed boost early on.
- Blighted Venom Phial of Deflection provides a decent amount of poison chance on hit early on.
- On Vital Leather Boots of Deflection, prioritize Movement Speed and Increased Cooldown Recovery Speed to enhance your mobility.
- On Rogue's Leather Mask of Deflection try to get Level of Puncture, it has a huge impact in your damage.
Side Quests
- Storeroom Sabotuers for 1
Passive point. - Evacuation Quest for 1 Passive point.
Items on planner are for displaying item bases and affixes only. Ignore level requirements.
Level 11 to 25
Items
- Start equipping Idols with Vitality, any type of resistance, Health, Health on Kill, Chance To Bleed On Hit, Chance To Poison On Hit and Chance To Ignite On Hit.
- Equip Warrior's Salvaged Bow of Conflagration and Blighted Light Quiver of Wounds to boost your damage substantially.
- Blighted Gold Ring of Deflection provides significant elemental resistances, outshining other options at this level.
- Rogue's Weathered Coins of Deflection is an easy access to Armor Shred, which is a big part of your damage.
- Blighted Silver Grail of Deflection provides a lot of Mana, increasing the damage window.
- Avarice gives you leech rate, a very rare stat, boosting your survivability as well a decent chunk of elemental resistances.
Side Quests
- Erza's Ledger Quest for 1 Passive point and Avarice.
- Don't talk to the Gambler NPC before completing this quest, otherwise you can't get Avarice.
- The Upper District Quest for 1 Passive point.
- An Ancient Hunt for extra
Idol slots. - The Lesser Refuge Quest for 2 Passive point.
- The Corrupted Lake Quest for 1 Passive point and extra Idol slots.
Items on planner are for displaying item bases and affixes only. Ignore level requirements.
Level 26 to 40
Items
- Rogue's Grolehide Coat of Deflection and Blighted Noble Gloves of Deflection are going to help you sustain the mana cost of Explosive Trap.
- Blighted Ivory Quiver of Wounds and Vital Horned Helm of Deflection help you cap your Physical Resistance.
Side Quests
- Hidden Gems Quest for 1 Passive point.
- The Sapphire Tablet Quest for 1 Passive point and extra Idol slots.
Items on planner are for displaying item bases and affixes only. Ignore level requirements.
Level 41 to 58
Items
- Rejuvenating Bone Amulet of Life is the best amulet base in the game as it gives a lot of resistances, which gives you more space for suffixes on your gear.
- Dexterous Exile Hat of Deflection, Eviscerating Dreadthorn Bow of the Zephyr and Ranger's Skalnir Quiver of Acid are all powerful item bases for the build as we transition from bleed to hit damage.
- Manafused Arcane Bracers of Sparks is just a better version of Blighted Noble Gloves of Deflection.
- Rejuvenating Spidersilk Sash of Life is a powerful base that will help you fix your cold res when combined with Dexterous Heoborean Boots of Life.
Side Quests
- A Heoborean Cure Quest for extra Idol slots.
- Liberating the Nomads Quest for extra Idol slots.
- After defeating the Frostroot Warden boss and completing chapter 7 quests, you have reached the cap of 15 Passive points and 8 Idol slots. You can dive into the Monolith of Fate or you can choose to finish the campaign for a reward of +1 to all attributes.
Items on planner are for displaying item bases and affixes only. Ignore level requirements.
Early Monolith
Items
Important At this point, you have access to most of the best item bases in the game. Your upgrades will come from prefixes and suffixes on items instead of the implicits.
Here is a recap of the best item bases :
- Weapon: Dreadthorn Bow, Longbow or Osprix Bow
- Helmet: Pinnacle Helm, Exile Hat or Scalebane Grimace
- Body Armour: Brigandine Armor, Scalebane Coat and Elite Regalia
- Belt: Spidersilk Sash or Praetorian Belt
- Boots: Heoborean Boots or Solarum Greaves
- Gloves: Arcane Bracers
- Amulet: Bone Amulet
- Rings: Sapphire Ring, Gold Ring or Coral Ring
- Relic: Antidote Vial, Silver Grail, Ruby Dice or Stolen Tithe
Items on planner are for displaying item bases and affixes only. Ignore level requirements.
Monolith Progression
After beating the Abomination timeline boss and completing your first timeline, you have the choice to go between The Stolen Lance timeline and The Black Sun timeline. Go for The Black Sun timeline.
You want to do timelines on the right-hand-side of the Monolith progression as they provides more relevant Blessings for your character progression.
Level progression includes 1-10, 11-25, 26-40, 41-58 and Early Monolith, scroll to find the correct tab.
Marksman Uniques
If you are lucky you might get a Rune of Ascendance while leveling. Use this first on a quiver to get a unique quiver such as Arrowguard or Sanguine Hoard.
Keep an eye out for useful Uniques such as Mourningfrost, Bleeding Heart, Arrowguard, Gathering Fury, Zeurial's Hunt, Blood of the Exile, Dragonsong and Arboreal Circuit.
Gear Stats Priorities
Best Prefixes
- Level of Puncture, Level of Shift, Level of Detonating Arrow, Level of Explosive Trap, Level of Smoke Bomb and Level of Shurikens
- Bow Damage and Increased Damage while wielding a Bow
- Crit Chance and Bow Attack Speed
- Critical Strike Multiplier
- Critical Strike Chance
- Bow Attack Speed
- Physical Damage, Lightning Damage and Elemental Damage
- Increased Area with Detonating Arrow
- Vitality
Best Suffixes
- Chance to Bleed on Hit until level 50
- Chance to Shred Armour on Hit
- Physical Penetration and Minion Physical Penetration
- Health
- Hybrid Health
- Fire Resistance, Lightning Resistance, Cold Resistance, Elemental Resistance, Physical Resistance, Necrotic Resistance and Void Resistance
- Health
- Chance to Apply Frailty on Hit
- Chance to Slow on Hit
- Chance to Chill on Hit
- Armour
- Dodge Rating
- Increased Cooldown Recovery Speed
Idols
- Chance to Bleed on Hit, Chance to Ignite on Hit, Chance to Poison on Hit, Physical Damage Over Time and Chance to Bleed on Bow Hit until level 50
- Chance to Shred Armour on Bow Hit, Increased Armour Shred Duration and Increased Armour Shred Effect
- Increased Damage while wielding a Bow
- Bow Damage
- Bow Elemental Damage
- Bow Critical Strike Chance
- Increased Bow Attack Speed for 3 seconds when you use a Bow Attack (10 second cooldown)
- Increased Area with Detonating Arrow
- Health
- Health
- Vitality
- Dodge Rating if Hit Recently
Loot Filter
Loot Filters are critical in Last Epoch. Highlighting all the related valuable Item Bases, Affixes, Uniques and Idols is crucial to your character's progression. As your gear gets better, remember to hide the rules that are no longer useful to avoid screen clutter.
Link : Download Lootfilter
Learn how to load and make Filters with our Loot Filter Guide.
Summary
This Marksman leveling build is matchless in speed and damage. It kills monsters in seconds, makes you so fast that you barely see enemies and is super fun to play!
- Before Level 50, stack the Bloodthirst buff from Puncture before using Explosive Trap.
- After Level 50, use Explosive Trap to kill monsters instantly and Detonating Arrow to regenerate Mana.
- Throw Decoy to distract your enemies. Take advantage of this to reposition and DPS.
- Use Shift to move quickly through the chapters.
- Starting level 13, look for good Salvaged Bow. Starting level 50, Longbow, Dreadthorn Bow and Osprix Bow.
- Cap your Physical Resistance early to make the campaign look easy.
What's Next?
Congratulations, you completed the campaign and your first 3 Monoliths Timelines! What awaits you is unlocking Empowered Monolith after pushing through The Reign of Dragons, Spirits of Fire, The Age of Winter and The Last Ruin Timelines and activating the beacon in the middle of them. Then you can dive into dungeons, empower your character further and test your limits at the Arena leaderboard.
Check out our Marksman Guides and find the perfect Marksman Endgame build for you.
Explore the Monolith of Fate with our Beginner Guide and learn how to farm Dungeons.
Credits
Written by Terek.
Reviewed by Aristotelian, Lizard_IRL, Volca and Tenkiei.