Marrow Shards Lich Guide
Last Updated:July 4, 2024|Changelog
This Lich transforms into its horrific Reaper Form to unleash sharpened bones from her own body to impale her enemies. The bloody Physical projectiles from Marrow Shards shatter when they hit the ground and create a deadly cone of Bone Splinters that pierce anything in their path and deal insane Damage.
The Marrow Shards Lich wants to stay away from threats while fighting, but also has tools to survive in close ranged combat. Death Seal provides powerful buffs and releases a pulsing wave of energy around you while it's active. The build has great mobility thanks to Reap and Transplant. Bone Curse provides an additional hit source for extra Damage and Ailments.
This setup doesn't require any Unique to function. However, Items like Grimoire of Necrotic Elixirs and Omnis turn this build into an absolute powerhouse, capable of dealing insane DPS while being super tanky.
Overall this gory and powerful Lich is an amazing build capable of crushing all the content in the game, even in Hardcore. If you are looking for a sanguinary caster that destroys enemies and is able to survive the hardest encounters, this build is perfect for you!
This build guide assumes you have a Level 70 Character.
Reach Level 70 with our Lich Leveling Guide.
If you are looking for a different playstyle, check all our Build Guides!
Skills
Reaper Form
This is a Reaper Form build. Thanks to the Unholy Dominion Node, Transplant doesn't share Cooldown with Reap, a new Skill granted while you are Transformed. This ability provides incredible offensive and defensive buffs with nodes like Rapid Destruction, Soul Shroud and Vile Shroud.
- Some Skills showcase extra Skill Points in case you find +Level of Skills that may not be included in the Planners.
- This Marrow Shards setup has many pieces that interconnect to make it work. Adjust the Skill Tree based on your current needs and try to get Level of Marrow Shards on your chest and Increased Projectile Speed With Marrow Shards And Bone Nova on your Idols as soon as possible to enable its full potential.
- Consider investing Points into Deathtouch Scythe and Executioner inside Reaper Form if you don't need the defenses provided by Soul Shroud and Vile Shroud.
- Aura Of Decay can replace Bone Curse if you need survivability. Aura Of Decay grants tons of Poison Damage Reduction while it's active. Absence of Life provides a great heal based on your total Health that helps mitigate the Health cost from Marrow Shards. Respite helps cap your Resistances and Loathing can apply Mark for Death when you get hit.
- The Violent Emergence Node inside Transplant is great for bossing, but not really necessary with the cull provided by Bone Curse's Brittle Bones Node.
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 Nodes with Intelligence, Health, Cast Speed, Spell Critical Strike Chance and Critical Strike Multiplier.
- Investing points into Forbidden Knowledge helps cap Necrotic Resistance.
- Dance with Death has great synergy with Death Seal's Deadlock Node.
- Get tons of Spell Leech with Survival of the Cruel, Soul Maw and Ageless Ascetic.
- Elixir of Death is crucial for survivability.
- Three Plagues and Mind Over Body boost your Damage substantially.
Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Passive Points.
Gameplay
This Lich wants to position itself far away from the enemies while casting Marrow Shards. Stay in combat and leech to keep Reaper Form up as long as possible. Make sure you are familiar with enemy mechanics to know when to use your Support Skills to stay alive. Pay attention to the telegraphed attacks of your enemies and stay out of their range.
Skill Usage/Rotation
- Transform into Reaper Form.
- Use Bone Curse before attacking with Marrow Shards.
- Cast Death Seal when enemies are nearby.
- Aim Marrow Shards carefully to maximize its deadly Bone Splinters.
- Leech back all the Health consumed by casting Marrow Shards.
- Cast Reap and Transplant to juke or move.
Mapping
- Let Death Seal kill enemies as you cruise through the Echoes.
- Time Reap and Transplant apart to always be on the move.
- Use the Haste gained from releasing Death Seal efficiently while your Movement Skills are on Cooldown.
- Save your Death Seal Cooldown for the Echo Boss, if there is one.
Bossing
- Take advantage of all your buffs and keep them active.
- Position yourself to maximize the DPS from the Bone Splinters cone created by destroying Marrow Shards.
- Save either Reap or Transplant for emergency situations.
- Use Death Seal and Elixir of Death to mitigate incoming Damage. Time them against dangerous telegraphed Boss attacks.
- Keep your Reaper Form active by staying in combat and leeching.
- This build can be scary to play due to Low Life and the high health cost attached to Marrow Shards. Learn your limits and use the build's Spell Leech effectively.
- Target dangerous mobs first and finish them fast with Death Seal.
- Transplant is a blink and can be used to go over incoming attacks or terrain.
- Use a Potion preventively before you engage dangerous enemies to proc Elixir of Death.
- Get at least 1 Large Immortal Idol or Huge Immortal Idol with Chance To Fear On Hit to keep enemies away from you.
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 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 Critical Strike Avoidance
- Capped Endurance
- 3000 - 5000 Health
- 50% - 70% Armour
- 85+ Intelligence
- 100%+ Cast Speed
- 600% - 1000%+ Increased Damage
- 300% - 400%+ Spell Critical Strike Multiplier
- 40% - 80%+ Movement Speed
Gear Progression
Milestone 1
Aim for good Item Bases with two 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 Wand with double T5 offensive Prefixes as soon as possible.
Milestone 2
Make sure your Critical Strike Avoidance or Reduced Damage 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
Start building Critical Strike Chance and 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 T5 Level of Marrow Shards on your Helmet and T5 Level of Reaper Form on your Body Armour to invest more Points into their Skill Trees. Any Tier of Physical Spell Critical Strike Chance is also a great find.
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. Try to find Huge Immortal Idols with Increased Projectile Speed With Marrow Shards And Bone Nova. Chance To Fear On Hit helps keep enemies away from you.
Milestone 1
When all your core Defenses are covered, start working on your Damage. Get Intelligence, Spell Critical Strike Chance, Critical Strike Multiplier and Chance To Shred Armour on Hit to increase your DPS drastically.
Milestone 2
Make sure your Spell Critical Strike Chance with Bone Splinters is close to capped as soon as possible.
Milestone 3
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 4
Look for Grimoire of Necrotic Elixirs, a common Relic that provides great buffs when using a Potion. It greatly complements the Damage Reduction provided by the Elixir of Death Passive. It can be farmed in the The Last Ruin Monolith Timeline.
Milestone 5
As you finish up your Empowered Blessings keep a decent Health pool, capped Resistances, Endurance and Critical Strike Avoidance. Your goal is to have items with 4 valuable T5 Affixes, also known as T20. Keep an eye for any Idols with %Health or Increased Projectile Speed With Marrow Shards And Bone Nova Prefixes and Chance To Fear On Hit, Health and Physical Spell Critical Strike Chance Suffixes.
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
Switch to a Gate Staff when you don't need a Crystal Skull to reach high Critical Strike Chance with Bone Splinters.
Milestone 3
Farm Grimoire of Necrotic Elixirs with Legendary Potential. Aim for the indicated Affixes in the Planner for each slot.
Milestone 4
Omnis is a great addition to this build for the valuable +1 To All Skills. Farm it by killing the Shade of Orobyss at 200+ Corruption. High rolls are not necessary but the Item itself could take significant time to farm.
Milestone 5
Focus on finishing your Large Immortal Idols and Huge Immortal Idols with %Health and Increased Projectile Speed With Marrow Shards And Bone Nova Prefixes and Chance To Fear On Hit, Physical Spell Critical Strike Chance or Health Suffixes. You also want Stout Lagonian Idols with %Health Prefix and Cold Resistance Suffix.
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 find all your desired Idols with the best in slot Prefixes and Suffixes. Consider using Prismatic Gaze as your Helmet if you happen to get a Legendary one with Exalted Level of Marrow Shards.
Milestone 3
Continue farming Grimoire of Necrotic Elixirs and Omnis with the maximum Legendary Potential you can find. Remember that some of these Items are extremely hard to get with multiple Legendary Potential. Good luck with the chase!
Milestone 4
Feel free to experiment with any crazy Unique, Legendary or Experimental Items that you might craft, trade or find! The possibilities are endless!
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
- Emptiness of Ash
- Hunger of the Void
- Bastion of Divinity
- Survival of Might
- Fury of the North
- 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. A high roll on this Empowered Blessing can be combined with a single high rolled T5 Critical Strike Avoidance to cap it.
- Work on Grand Bastion of Divinity and Grand Echo of Solarum for their Resistances.
- Once your core Defenses are sorted, grab Grand Fury of the North for a huge Damage boost. Make sure you eventually get a high roll!
- Finish up by farming the best rolled Grand Body of Obsidian you can get. It grants an insane amount of Flat Armour that helps increase the survivability of the build.
These Empowered Blessings are flexible and depend on your current needs and goals.
These are valuable Empowered Drop Rate Blessings for this build:
- Grand Curse of Flesh and Grand Sight of the Outcasts are very valuable to help you find Huge Immortal Idols and Large Immortal Idols respectively. Once you find all your Idols, you can switch to the Grand Winds of Fortune and focus on Uniques instead.
- Farm Grand Cruelty of Formosus to find more Wands or Grand Chill of Death to find more Two-Handed Staffs.
- Lastly, take Grand Slumber of Morditas to find more Relics.
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 2 Huge Immortal Idols with Increased Projectile Speed With Marrow Shards And Bone Nova Prefix and Chance To Fear On Hit or Physical Spell Critical Strike Chance Suffixes. The Fear is crucial to keep enemies away from you.
- Get 2 Large Immortal Idols with %Health Prefix. For the Suffixes aim for either Physical Spell Critical Strike Chance or Health.
- You also want 2 Stout Lagonian Idols with %Health Prefix and Cold Resistance or Health Suffixes.
- Fill the remaining slots with Small Lagonian Idol with Armour and Cold Resistance or Health.
- Health
- %Health
- Vitality
- Armour
- Elemental Resistance
- Lightning Resistance
- Fire Resistance
- Cold Resistance
- Void Resistance
- Physical Resistance
- Poison Resistance
- Critical Strike Chance For You And Your Minions
- Increased Cooldown Recovery Speed With Transplant
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 build shatters Marrow Shards to create a cone of Bone Splinters that pierce anything in their path and deal insane Damage. The Bone Splinters Physical projectiles are scaled to deal big Crits to enemies. This Lich also has great survivability thanks to the multiple defensive layers it can take advantage of.
- Low Life: Death Seal enables the Low Life playstyle thanks to Deadlock. In combination with the Dance with Death Passive and the Corrupted Consciousness Node, this ability provides incredibly Damage buffs for its duration.
- Flat Spell Damage: With the amount of Damage Multipliers this build has access to, you want to stack as much Flat Damage as possible. Since Marrow Shards doesn't cost any Mana this build can make use of a Gate Staff for the huge Damage Implicit while ignoring the Mana Cost downside. Grimoire of Necrotic Elixirs also grants a good amount of Necrotic Flat Spell Damage on Potion use, not ideal since the build scales Physical Damage, but still valuable.
- Level of Marrow Shards: Is crucial to invest more Points into its Skill Tree for more Damage.
- Increased Projectile Speed With Marrow Shards And Bone Nova: Marrow Shards can be an awkward Skill to use by default. This affix helps smoothen how the Skill feels and how reliably you can apply Damage with it.
- Cast Speed: The faster you attack the more Marrow Shards you cast and Ailments you apply.
- Intelligence: Marrow Shards and Bone Splinters gain 4% Damage per point of Intelligence.
- % Increased Damage: Anything that increases Physical Spell Damage is welcomed.
- Spell Critical Strike Chance: Deathbringer, Darkguard and the Reaper's Curse Node inside of Reaper Form give this tons of Spell Critical Strike Chance. It's easy to cap it for the Bone Splinters thanks to the Dark Precision Node inside Marrow Shards.
- Critical Strike Multiplier: Increases the Damage your Crits deal. Clairvoyant Insight grants 50% on its own. Build as much as you can on your gear.
- Grand Fury of the North: Since the build attacks so fast, it's extremely easy to apply 10 stacks of Physical Resistance Shred to your targets. 10 stacks increase the Damage enemies take by 50% (20% for Bosses). This Blessing plays a big part on your Damage output, so make sure you roll it nicely (45%+) and as early as possible.
- 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 23.7% increased Physical Damage, while at -4000 Armour it takes 57.2%. With the amount of hits the build has, the stacks ramp up quickly.
- Penetration: Three Plagues grants 24% Physical Penetration.
- Mark for Death: Is an Ailment that reduces All Enemy Resistances by 25%, causing them to take extra Damage. You can apply it on hit thanks to Bone Curse. If you decide to use Aura Of Decay use the Loathing Node ant the Haunting Node inside Reaper Form instead.
- Brittle Bones: This Node in Bone Curse provides a Cull. Great for Bossing.
- Chance To Fear On Hit: The Fear provided by the Idols helps keep enemies far away from you.
- Low Life: Death Seal enables the Low Life playstyle thanks to Deadlock. When active it provides 33% Damage Reduction. Combined with the Desperate Shroud Node, this ability grants incredibly Defensive buffs for its duration.
- Endurance: A defensive mechanic that allows you to take up to 60% less Damage while below a certain Health threshold. Due to the Low Life nature of the build, Endurance has insane value for this setup.
- Intelligence: Aside from gaining Damage per point of Intelligence with your Skills, this build also gains defenses from it. Reaper Form's Soul Shroud and Vile Shroud Nodes allow you to gain Resistances and Armour based on your total Intelligence.
- Bone Armor: Transplant provides this buff. It grants Flat Armour and Damage Reduction. Keep it always up while mapping with Bone Curse's Marrow Thief Node.
- Elixir of Death: Gain 50% Physical and Necrotic Damage Reduction while this buff is up. Combine it with the Damage Reduction granted by Grimoire of Necrotic Elixirs to turn into a juggernaut while you use a Potion and cast Death Seal.
- Health: This build can stack an insanely high Health pool that is very effective when combined with all the other defensive layers the Lich has. Acolytes have access to Large Immortal Idols with %Health; not all Classes have access to these amazing Idols! The more Health you have, the better the buffs granted by Death Seal's Desperate Shroud Node are.
- Armour Mitigation: This build can get really high Armour. Just with the implicit Armour from your gear, Bone Armor, Death Seal's Desperate Shroud Node, Reaper Form's Soul Shroud Node and Grand Body of Obsidian you can reach 50% to 70%+ Mitigation.
- Spell Leech: Marrow Shards doesn't cost any Mana to Cast but consumes your own Health instead. Survival of the Cruel, Ageless Ascetic and Soul Maw provide more than enough Leech necessary to sustain. Use it to keep Reaper Form up for as long as possible.
- Chill and Slow: Are Ailments that greatly reduce the Action and Movement Speed of your enemies. They are must haves on most builds, especially once you reach hard content with insane speed modifiers.
- 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.
- Aura Of Decay: If you decide to use this ability instead of Bone Curse, it provides a great Heal based on your total Health that helps mitigate the health cost from Marrow Shards and the Health lost per second from the Mind Over Body Passive.
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. 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
Overall the Marrow Shards Lich is a sanguinary powerhouse capable of defeating all the content in the game. It has amazing single target DPS and great survivability thanks to its multiple defensive layers.
- Transform into your Reaper Form and stay in combat to keep it up as long as possible.
- This build shatters Marrow Shards to create a deadly cone of Bone Splinters that pierce anything in their path and deal insane Damage.
- Marrow Shards doesn't cost any Mana to Cast but consumes your own Health instead.
- Death Seal enables the Low Life playstyle thanks to Deadlock. When active it provides 33% Damage Reduction and a 66% Damage Multiplier. Combined with the Desperate Shroud and Corrupted Consciousness Nodes, this ability grants incredibly buffs for its duration.
- The build has access to two great Movement Skills: Transplant and Reap.
- While they are not mandatory, Grimoire of Necrotic Elixirs and Omnis are great Uniques that you want to get to scale the build to its full potential.
Credits
Written by Lizard_IRL.
Reviewed by McFluffin.