Torment Warlock Guide
Last Updated:July 17, 2024|Changelog
Welcome to the Torment Warlock Guide. This destructive spellcaster uses dark powers to open a Chthonic Fissure in the ground that releases seeking Tormenting Spirits. These Tormenting Spirits inflict Torment on enemies, a powerful Curse dealing Necrotic Damage over Time. Master the forbidden arts of the Warlock and make all your enemies wither away.
While your main source of Damage comes from Torment, this build takes advantage of multiple different Necrotic Spells. Chthonic Fissure triggers Chaos Bolts, which in turn proc Rip Blood. Profane Veil makes you nearly invincible, and it casts Profane Orbs to deal amazing Damage. These hit-based Spells get free Crit Chance from Acid Skin, which is provided by the Forbidden Chasm Node. Spam Spirit Plague to reduce the Cooldown of Profane Veil and to gain powerful Buffs. The build also has great mobility thanks to unspecialized Transplant.
To play this build effectively, Boneclamor Barbute is recommended, as it provides Ward from Necrotic Resistance. In addition, items like Marina's Lost Soul, Mortality's Grasp and Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros are amazing Uniques that you want to obtain when scaling the build to its full potential.
Overall this powerful Torment Warlock is an amazing Damage over Time build capable of crushing all the content in the game, even in Hardcore. If you are looking for a Necrotic based caster which has amazing AoE 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 Warlock Leveling Guide.
If you are looking for a different playstyle, check all our Build Guides!
- Amazing AoE
- Visually Stunning
- Deals Damage While Moving
- Insane Scaling With Gear and Uniques
- Screen Clutter
- Mana Management
- Needs Uniques To Shine
- Defensive Tools Require Timing
Skills
Chthonic Fissure
Chthonic Fissure releases Spirits which apply Torment. This is your primary source of Damage. Twisted Waves allows you to stack Necrotic Resistance for a massive Damage multiplier. With Grim Tide, generic Critical Strike Multiplier is converted into More Damage. Proc Chaos Bolts with Chaotic Rupture, and take Forbidden Chasm to apply Acid Skin. Acidbane allows you to reach up to 100% Crit Chance.
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.
- Take Nodes with Intelligence.
- Investing Points into Forbidden Knowledge and Unnatural Preservation grants a good amount of Necrotic Resistance.
- Soul Stealer and Occultist's Mind provide Mana Sustain and maximum Mana.
- Place 5 Points into both Harrowing Armor and Dark Protections for the tankiness they provide.
- Speccing into Wither allows you to apply Withered to enemies, granting amazing bonuses to Damage and survivability.
- Doom Herald is very powerful when you're using Profane Veil.
- Wreak Havoc provides a good amount of Crit Multi.
- Accursed Seer is very strong to scale the frequency of Profane Orbs through Hex Flurry.
- Place 1 Point into Infernal Lash and Serrated Bones to activate the Damage multiplier from Exult in Misery.
- If you don't have Experimental Haste Effect on your Boots, spec into Fleeting Crone for the Haste. Unspec Points from Unclosing Wounds for it.
Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Passive Points.
Gameplay
Open a Chthonic Fissure in the ground that spews out tons of Spirits inflicting enemies with the deadly Torment Curse. 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
- Use Chthonic Fissure to apply Torment.
- For Bosses and other tanky enemies, hit them with Chthonic Fissure's inital hit to apply Acid Skin.
- Spread Spirit Plague to as many enemies as possible. Spam it to reduce the Cooldown of Profane Veil.
- Channel Profane Veil to become practically invincible, boost your Damage and cast Profane Orbs.
- Use Transplant to move around the map.
Mapping
- Rush to the objective with Transplant.
- Let all of your various Damage over Time effects and procced Spells kill enemies as you cruise through the Echoes.
- Use Profane Veil for its Buffs and to negate incoming Damage. It can also be used to get through enemies that are blocking your path.
Bossing
- Take advantage of all your Buffs and keep them active.
- Make sure you hit the Boss with Chthonic Fissure's inital hit to apply Acid Skin.
- Maximize the uptime of Profane Veil by using it whenever it's available and by spamming Spirit Plague to reduce its Cooldown.
- Save Transplant for emergency situations.
- Use Profane Veil to tank 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 stack as many other defensive layers 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
- 4000+ Stable Ward
- 50%+ Armor
- 100+ Intelligence
- 70%+ Cast Speed
- 500%+ Ward Retention
- 900%+ Necrotic Resistance
- 500%+ Crit Multiplier
- 70% - 90%+ 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. Get a Weapon with double T5 offensive Prefixes as soon as possible.
Milestone 2
Make sure your Critical Strike Avoidance or Reduced Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes is capped. Remember that Woven Flesh is always an option early on. Farm this by killing the Abomination in the Fall of the Outcast Monolith Timeline.
Milestone 3
Get Boneclamor Barbute to get Ward by stacking Necrotic Resistance.
Milestone 4
Any Affixes with extra levels to Skills are great to invest more Points into their Skill Trees. Level of Profane Veil and Level of Chthonic Fissure are great finds.
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 Ornate Bone Idols and Grand Bone Idols with Necrotic Resistance.
Milestone 1
Upgrade your T20 gear 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
When all your core Defenses are covered, start working on your Damage. Get Necrotic Resistance, Intelligence, Critical Strike Multiplier and Cast Speed to increase your DPS drastically. Chance to Shred Armour on Hit is important for improving the Damage of all your Hit-based Spells.
Milestone 3
Get Marina's Lost Soul and Mortality's Grasp for the great Damage they provide.
Milestone 4
Farm Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros from Emperor of Corpses in the Reign of Dragons Monolith Timeline. The Ward and stats granted by it are very powerful.
Milestone 5
As you finish up your Empowered Blessings keep a high stable Ward pool, capped Resistances and Critical Strike Avoidance or Reduced Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes. Keep an eye out for Ornate Bone Idols and Grand Bone Idols with Necrotic Resistance Suffix.
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
Maximize your Necrotic Resistance, Intelligence, Critical Strike Multiplier and Cast Speed. Get Increased Cooldown Recovery Speed to get high uptime on Profane Veil. Build Poison Damage to get more Crit Chance from Acid Skin through Acidbane.
Milestone 3
Flames of Midnight with Legendary Potential is an option for the extra Movement Speed from Swiftness.
Milestone 1
Keep upgrading your gear with Exalted Items with high tier 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 and Legendary Potential are technically possible.
Milestone 2
Immolator's Oblation, Chains of Uleros and Red Ring of Atlaria with Legendary Potential are amazing items for this build, providing Damage and Defense. Blood of the Exile is an option for higher Movement Speed. However, you need multiple Legendary Potential on them.
Milestone 3
Nihilis and Omnis with 2+ Legendary Potential are great choices for the Amulet slot at this stage, if you get them with amazing rolls and the correct Legendary Affixes. However, you will lose the valuable DoT mitigation from Oracle Amulet.
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
- Persistance of Will
- Protection of Heorot
- Resolve of Grael
- Heart of the Caldera
- Body of Obsidian
- Embers of Immortality
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. In endgame, the Reduced Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes Affix is the preferred option on this build.
- Grand Resolve of Humanity provides tons of Resistances.
- Work on Grand Resonance of the Sea for extra survivability.
- Grand Resolve of Grael is useful to cap your Physical Resistance early on. Whenever that is not needed, grab Grand Bulwark of the Tundra for a big survivability boost.
- Once your core Defenses are sorted, grab Grand Emptiness of Ash for a huge Damage boost. Make sure you eventually get a high roll!
- Farm the best rolled Grand Body of Obsidian you can get. It grants a large amount of Flat Armor 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 Favor of Souls and Grand Pride of Rebellion are very valuable to help you find Ornate Bone Idols and Grand Bone Idols with Necrotic Resistance Suffix. Once you find all your Idols, you can switch to the Grand Winds of Fortune and focus on Uniques instead or Grand Strength of Mind for Experience.
- Farm Grand Cruelty of Formosus to find more Marina's Lost Soul.
- 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:
- Get 2 Ornate Bone Idols with the Increased Duration for Profane Veil Prefix and Necrotic Resistance Suffix.
- You also want 2 Grand Bone Idols with the Spell Damage for Curses Prefix and Necrotic Resistance Suffix.
- You can snapshot 2 Ornate Bone Idols with the Increased Poison Damage while Aura of Decay is active Prefix to get additional Crit Chance from Acidbane. Equip these Idols and turn on Aura Of Decay. Remove the Idols, and the Increased Poison Damage will stay as long as Aura Of Decay is active.
- 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
This build's main Damage comes from Torment, which is applied by the Spirits from Chthonic Fissure. It also uses multiple other Skills to output high Necrotic Damage over Time. This Warlock also has great survivability thanks to the multiple defensive layers it can take advantage of.
- Flat Spell Damage: With the amount of Damage Multipliers this build has access to, you want to stack as much Flat Damage as possible. Your Weapon is the main source of it.
- Necrotic Resistance: Thanks to the Twisted Waves Node in Chthonic Fissure, you can scale the Damage of Torment by stacking Necrotic Resistance.
- Critical Strike Multiplier: The build can further scale the Damage of Chthonic Fissure and its Ailments, including Torment by building generic Critical Strike Multiplier thanks to the Grim Tide Node. It also increases the Damage your Crits deal.
- Crit Chance: Acid Skin from Forbidden Chasm provides up to 100% Crit Chance, which is a massive Damage boost for all the Hit-based Spells this build uses.
- Cast Speed: Increases the frequency of Profane Orbs with the Hex Flurry Node.
- Intelligence: Gain 4% Damage per point of Intelligence.
- % Increased Damage: Anything that increases Necrotic Damage is welcomed.
- Necrotic Resistance Shred: Severed Wards in Chthonic Fissure provides the build with enough Shred. 10 stacks increase the Damage enemies take by 50% (20% for Bosses).
- Penetration: Any amount of Penetration is welcomed.
- Doom Herald: This Passive provides a multiplicative Damage bonus to Damned enemies while channeling Profane Veil.
- Wither: Each stack of Withered increases Damage taken from Curses by 10% (6% against players and Bosses), lasts 3 seconds and can stack up to 10 times.
- Warlock Mastery Bonus: You get 4% more Damage per Curse on the target. This build can apply 7 different Curses (Torment, Anguish, Penance, Acid Skin Mark For Death, Spirit Plague and Bone Curse) for a total multiplicative Damage bonus of 28%.
- Intelligence: Aside from gaining Damage per point of Intelligence with your Skills, each point of Intelligence provides 4% Ward Retention per point.
- Ward: This build can get high Ward. The End Game planner can achieve 4000+ stable Ward.
- Ward Retention: Reduces the rate of Ward decay.
- Ward per Second: Determines the amount of Ward gained per second. Boneclamor Barbute allows you to gain it by stacking Necrotic Resistance.
- Ward on Kill: Provides a certain amount of Ward on each kill.
- Ward Decay Threshold: Ward does not decay below this threshold and Ward below it does not contribute to decay rate. Imperishable provides a ton of it.
- Armor Mitigation: This build can get high amounts of Armor. With the Armor from your gear, Grand Bulwark of the Tundra and Grand Body of Obsidian Blessings you reach 50%+ Mitigation.
- Health: Since this build focuses on Ward, Health is a low priority.
- Leech: Survival of the Cruel provides the build with enough Health Sustain. As a Ward focused build, Leech is not a high priority. You need some of it with Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros.
- Harrowing Armor and Dark Protections: These Passive Nodes provide tankiness per unique Curse on the target.
- Doom Herald: Grants less Damage taken while channeling. Great with Profane Veil.
- Wither: You take less Damage from Withered enemies.
- Chill and Slow: Ailments that greatly reduce the Action and Movement Speed of your enemies.
- Frailty: This Ailment reduces the Damage dealt by enemies by 6% for 4 seconds. Stacks 3 times.
- Ward and Ailment Cleansing on Potion Use: Cleanses all Ailments on Potion use.
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
Overall the Torment Warlock is a horrific powerhouse capable of defeating all the content in the game. It has amazing clear, good single target DPS and great survivability thanks to its multiple defensive layers.
- Open a Chthonic Fissure in the ground that spews out tons of Spirits inflicting enemies with the deadly Torment Curse and proccing Chaos Bolts.
- Apply Acid Skin with Chthonic Fissure to get up to 100% Crit Chance.
- Use all your different Skills together to obliterate your enemies.
- Channel Profane Veil to boost your Damage, cast Profane Orbs and become practically invincible.
- The build has access to one of the best Movement Skills, Transplant.
- While they are not mandatory, Marina's Lost Soul, Mortality's Grasp and Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros are great Uniques that you want to get to scale the build to its full potential.
Credits
Written by Volca.
Reviewed by Lizard_IRL, Tenkiei, BinaQc.