The Plasma Orb Runemaster blitzes onto the battlefield, wielding the power of the cosmos itself. Combine Fire, Lightning, Fire (F,L,F) Runes with Runic Invocation to conjure Plasma Orbs, spheres of crackling Lightning, and zap foes into oblivion.
Plasma Orb serves as your main source of Damage, specifically its Lightning portion. Generate your Fire Runes with Runebolt, your Mana generator, and Lightning Runes with Static Orb. Flame Rush serves as a powerful dash, granting Offensive and Defensive Buffs, alongside Flame Ward and Static Orb.
While this setup doesn't require any Uniques to function, Mad Alchemist's Ladle, Fundamental Criterion, Mourningfrost, Omnis, Boneclamor Barbute, Strands of Souls, and Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros dramatically bolster the build's power, especially with Legendary Potential.
Overall, the Plasma Orb Runemaster is a great build suited for all content in the game. If you are looking for a fast-casting build with orbiting balls of destruction, this build is perfect for you!
This article assumes you have a Level 70 Character.
Reach Level 70 with our Runemaster Leveling Guide.
If you are looking for a different playstyle check all our Build Guides.
- Robust Defense
- Visualy Pleasing
- Engaging Gameplay
- Scalabitlity With Gear
- Mana Management
- Needs Uniques To Shine
- Rotation Based Playstyle
- Complex Button Management
Skills
Runic Invocation
Runic Invocation is your main Damage ability. Combine Fire, Lightning, Fire (F,L,F) Runes before casting Runic Invocation to cast Plasma Orb. With Copied Scrolls you can occasionally repeat Plasma Orb, invoking 2 at once. Word of Rahyeh and Transcriber of Power provide Flat Damage, much needed when using the Mad Alchemist's Ladle. With the Cold converted Lightning Blast from your Passive Rune of Winter, combine Cold, Fire, Cold (C,F,C) Runes before casting Runic Invocation to cast Reowyn's Frostguard instead, an Invocation that grants Damage Reduction and Ward.
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.
- Focus on Intelligence , Cast Speed and Spell Critical Strike Chance related Nodes.
- Rune of Winter is needed to generate Cold Runes with Lightning Blast
- Investing points into Arcanist helps cap Elemental Resistances.
- Calculated Destruction is crucial to raise your Spell Critical Strike Chance.
- Runeword: Cataclysm, Decree of the Burning Wind and Celestial Doom grant substantial Damage Multipliers.
- Sphere of Protection is a great for survivability.
- Ancient Inscriptions is a must have for most Runemasters.
- Jagged Veil and Celestial Doom are great to build up Ward.
- Runeword: Inferno, Runeword: Hurricane, Runeword: Avalanche and Celestial Doom provide much needed Flat Spell Damage to synergize with the Mad Alchemist's Ladle.
Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Passive Points.
Gameplay
The Plasma Orb Runemaster attacks enemies from close to long range, ensuring that all the Skills at his disposal can hit the target. Make sure you are familiar with enemy mechanics to know when to use your Support Skills to stay alive. Pay attention to dangerous telegraphed attacks and be aware of ranged enemy threats.
Skill Usage/Rotation
- Before engaging enemies, combine (C,F,C) Runes by casting Lightning Blast, Runebolt, then Lightning Blast.
- Cast Reowyn's Frostguard with Runic Invocation.
- Cast Plasma Orbs by repeating the process of combining (F,L,F) Runes with Runebolt, Static Orb, and Runebolt, and then casting Runic Invocation.
- With Plasma Orbs orbiting you, you can now engage enemies.
- Use Flame Rush to move around the map and proc Static Orb, providing you multiple Buffs.
- Cast more Plasma Orbs between Flame Rush uses.
- Keep track of your Mana. Ensure that Runebolt hits enemies to gain Mana.
- Recast Reowyn's Frostguard regularly to maintain its Buffs.
- Use Flame Rush for positioning and to avoid telegraphed attacks.
Mapping
- Use Flame Rush and rush to your objective.
- Keep many Plasma Orbs orbiting you to dispose of enemies.
- Maintain uptime on Reowyn's Frostguard.
Bossing
- Take advantage of all your Defensive Buffs and keep them active.
- Position as close to Bosses as possible to get as many hits with Plasma Orb as possible.
- Flame Rush through Bosses to apply the Brand of Subjugation and benefit from the Runemaster Passive Celestial Doom.
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, Ward 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
- 100% Reduced Bonus Damage Taken From Crits
- 80+ Intelligence
- 80+ Dexterity
- 450%+ Ward Retention
- 200%+ Cast Speed
- 100% Critical Strike Chance
- 800%+ Increased Damage
- 30% - 60%+ 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 Weapon with double T5 offensive Affixes as soon as possible.
Milestone 2
Make sure your reduced Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes is at or near 100% to mitigate Critical Strike Damage against you.
Milestone 3
Aim for Tier 5 chance to gain 20 mana when you directly cast Runebolt or Fireball on your Helm to sustain your Mana.
Milestone 4
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.
Milestone 5
Keep an eye out for Large Arcane Idol with Increased Cast Speed while you have Lightning Aegis Prefix and Elemental Resistance, Cold Resistance or Health Suffixes and Adorned Arcane Idol with Ward Retention or Ward gained per Rune consumed with Runic Invocation Prefixes and Health or Cold Resistance Suffixes.
Milestone 1
When all your core Defenses are covered, start working on your Damage. Get Cast Speed, Intelligence, Level of Runic Invocation, Critical Strike Multiplier and Spell Damage to drastically increase your DPS.
Milestone 2
Farm Strands of Souls from Abomination on Empowered difficulty. This belt provides a lot of Ward synergies which is the build's primary defense.
Milestone 3
Farm Mad Alchemist's Ladle by targeting Exiled Mages inside Echos. Be on the lookout for them!
Milestone 4
Farm Mourningfrost in the Spirits of Fire Timeline by targeting Unique Boots Echo Rewards or using Rune of Ascendance. They are crucial to increasing your Flat Damage.
Milestone 5
Farm Fundamental Criterion in the Blood, Frost, and Death Timeline by targeting Unique Body Armour Echo Rewards or using Rune of Ascendance. This Unique provides amazing Damage Multipliers and is a key factor to scale your DPS.
Milestone 6
With all these items, you now have all the pieces needed to make good use of Dexterity for Damage. Make sure to prioritize getting Dexterity on your Prefixes.
Milestone 7
Farm Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros in the Reign of Dragons Timeline by defeating Emperor of Corpses on Empowered difficulty. Keep in mind, this is a Rare drop.
Milestone 8
As you finish up your Empowered Blessings keep your Resistances capped. 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
Prioritize obtaining as much Dexterity as possible. This will scale your Damage tremendously thanks to Fundamental Criterion and Mourningfrost.
Milestone 3
Keep looking for Exiled Mages inside Echos. The Mad Alchemist's Ladle with Legendary Potential is a common drop.
Milestone 4
Keep farming for Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros with Legendary Potential. Keep in mind, this is a Rare drop.
Milestone 5
Now look for Fundamental Criterion with Legendary Potential in the Blood, Frost, and Death Timeline by targeting Unique Body Armour Echo Rewards or using Rune of Ascendance.
Milestone 6
Farm Boneclamor Barbute in The Black Sun Timeline by targeting Unique Helm Echo Rewards or using Rune of Ascendance. Get chance to gain 20 mana when you directly cast Runebolt or Fireball on it as a Legendary for better Mana management, or Level of Runic Invocation for extra Damage.
Milestone 7
Omnis is a great addition to this build for the valuable +1 To All Skills and Resistances. Farm it by killing the Shade of Orobyss at 200+ Corruption. High rolls are not mandatory, but Physical Resistance is your most desired high roll.
Milestone 8
Keep farming until you get all of the build's Unique Items with Legendary Potential.
Milestone 1
Keep upgrading your gear with Exalted Items with Sealed Affixes. Get every stat in the right place and in 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.
Milestone 3
Frostbite Shackles synergises very well with Ward based builds, letting you scale Cold Resistance to obtain Ward Retention. Farm Frostbite Shackles in the Blood, Frost, and Death Monolith Timeline by defeating Formosus the Undying.
Milestone 4
Red Ring of Atlaria is an insane addition to the build if you manage to land Dexterity on it as Legendary. You benefit from so many of its stats, making the build way tankier while not sacrificing too much Damage. Farm it in the Age of Winter Monolith Timeline by targeting Unique Amulet Echo Rewards or using Rune of Ascendance. Keep in mind, this is one of the rarest Item in the entire game!
Milestone 5
Keep farming until you get the maximum Legendary Potential you can find on all of your Uniques.
Milestone 6
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
- Mysteries of the Deep
- Resolve of Humanity
- Persistance of Will
- Protection of Heorot
- Resolve of Grael
- Heart of the Caldera
- 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:
- Grand Resolve of Humanity makes it much easier to reach Resistance Cap.
- Grab Grand Hunger of the Void for the sustain it provides.
- Pick up Grand Mysteries of the Deep to increase your Damage.
- Farm Rage of Winter to further increase your Damage from Mourningfrost.
- Finish up by farming the best rolled Grand Body of Obsidian you can get. It grants 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 Cruelty of Formosus helps you find Mad Alchemist's Ladle.
- Grand Arrogance of Argentus increases your odds at finding Boneclamor Barbute.
- Lastly, Grand Sight of the Outcasts helps you find Large Arcane Idols with the much wanted Increased Cast Speed while you have Lightning Aegis Prefix and Elemental Resistance, Cold Resistance, or Health Suffixes.
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 4 Large Arcane Idols with Increased Cast Speed while you have Lightning Aegis Prefix and Elemental Resistance, Cold Resistance, Spell Lightning Damage or Health Suffixes.
- Get 2 Adorned Arcane Idols with Ward Retention or Ward gained per Rune consumed with Runic Invocation Prefixes and Health or Cold Resistance Suffixes.
- Complete your setup with a situational mix of Idols to 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 Plasma Orb Runemaster combines Fire, Lighting, Fire (F,L,F) Runes with Runic Invocation and casts Plasma Orb. He primarily uses Dexterity and Intelligence for lots of its scaling. The build deals a mix of Fire, Cold and Lightning Damage and aims to reach 100% Critical Strike Chance with Plasma Orb. This build also has great survivability thanks to the defensive layers it can take advantage of.
- Intelligence: Plasma Orb gains 4% Damage per point of Intelligence. Additionally, it grants Cast Speed via Mad Alchemist's Ladle, Elemental Penetration via Elemental Lore, and Critical Strike Chance from Calculated Destruction.
- Dexterity: Provides Flat Damage from Mourningfrost and Damage Multiplier from Fundamental Criterion.
- Flat Spell Damage: Any additional Flat Spell Damage you can get on Skills, Passives or gear is welcomed, no matter the Damage type. Mad Alchemist's Ladle does not have a lot in its Implicit, therefor you must use other sources like Transcriber of Power, Word of Rahyeh, Mourningfrost, Celestial Doom, Runeword: Inferno, Runeword: Hurricane, and Runeword: Avalanche.
- Cast Speed: The faster you attack, the higher your DPS is and the faster you build Ward. Mage Flurry, Unsealed Mana and Arcane Momentum provide some in the Passive Tree, with the rest coming from your gear and Skills.
- Critical Strike Chance: Your biggest source comes from the Sorcerer Passive Calculated Destruction.
- Critical Strike Multiplier: Increases the Damage your Crits deal. Inscribed Instruments is your biggest source, with the rest coming from your gear.
- 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 Non-Physical Damage, while at -4000 Armour it takes 40.1%. Aim for at least 100+ stacks.
- Penetration: Penetration subtracts from Resistances, causing a source of damage to deal more damage. Elemental Lore is your biggest source.
- Resistance Shred: Grand Mysteries of the Deep and Grand Rage of Winter are your sources of Resistance Shred.
- % Increased Damage: Any extra source of % Increased Damage is welcomed. Since your Damage is split between multiple different Damage types, % Increased Spell Damage is very valuable.
- Movement Speed: Reduces the reaction time needed to react from attacks. The faster you move, the faster you can get out of danger!
- Flame Ward: The Damage Reduction provided is insane. While this Skill is active, you are almost immortal! This build procs it on Stun via Astonish.
- Reowyn's Frostguard (C,F,C): Grants an incredible amount of Ward and Damage Reduction.
- Armour Mitigation: This build can reach a decent amount of Armour Mitigation. With your gear, Passives and Blessings combined, it's reasonable to get over 40%+ Armour Mitigation.
- Ward: A shield above your Health that is generated by certain effects, rapidly decays over time and is protected by Armour Mitigation. Your main sources are Reowyn's Frostguard, Arcane Focus, Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros, Jagged Veil and Celestial Doom.
- Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros is a huge Ward builder that can easily keep you in the thousands of Ward.
- Frostbite Shackles has excellent synergy with Ward based builds, enabling you to scale Cold Resistance to obtain Ward Retention.
- Health: Excellent synergy with Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros, any extra Health you can get is welcomed.
- Spell Leech: Hunger of the Void is you main source of it to provide the sustain to the build.
- reduced Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes: This build can easily cap this stat thanks to the Passive Mental Catalysis and using a Catalyst. The rest comes from your gear.
- Intelligence: Grants 4% Ward Retention per point, which is a very important stat for this build.
- Sphere of Protection: This is a great source of Damage Reduction that we get naturally from our Chills.
- 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.
- Slow/Chill: An Ailment that greatly reduces the Action and Movement Speed of your enemies. It's a must have 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.
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 Plasma Orb Runemaster is a fast-casting build that excels in both Offense and Defense. It easily handles all content in the game, even in high Corruption. It involves a very active playstlyle, has good Damage, and excellent survivability.
- Combine (F,L,F) Runes and cast Plasma Orb with Runic Invocation to deal Damage.
- Scale your survivability with high Cast Speed by generating Ward with Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros.
- Reowyn's Frostguard (C,F,C) is an incredible Defensive Spell. Keep it up permanently.
- Use Flame Rush to avoid telegraphed attacks, proc Static Orb, and benefit from the Buffs it provides.
- Keep track of your Mana. Ensure that Runebolt hits enemies to gain Mana.
- Increase your Damage by stacking Dexterity with the Mad Alchemist's Ladle, Mourningfrost and Fundamental Criterion combo.
Credits
Written by BinaQc
Reviewed by Lizard_IRL