Last Epoch Season 2: Best Forge Guard Build

Discover everything you need to know about the best Forge Guard build in Last Epoch Season 2, including the gear to choose from.

Last Epoch Season 2: Best Forge Guard Build
Last Epoch Season 2: Best Forge Guard Build (Source: Eleventh Hour Games)

Forge Guard is a Sentinel mastery that excels in tankiness, fire-based offense, and minion synergy in Last Epoch Season 2. You gain access to the Forge Strike skill when you select Forge Guard mastery. Each hit has a 25% chance to summon a Forged Weapon, which lasts for 20 seconds. The Forge Guard build a charge through enemies with Shield Rush and summons a manifest armor that deals AoE melee damage. Focus on items that increase armor, health, and resistances. Utilizing your skills in the sequence is essential to maintain buffs and debuffs on enemies. Choosing the best skills, passives, and gear is essential, as your gameplay mostly depends on them. In this guide, we’ll discuss the best Forge Guard build, along with the best skills, passives, and idols to choose.

Forge Guard Build Overview

The Forge Guard mastery offers a robust and versatile playstyle with a fire-based offense and minion synergy for tankiness. They are the warriors who excel in close combat, using fire-infused abilities and summoning minions to dominate the enemies. Our build includes skills like Multistrike, Ring of Shields, Symbols of Hope, Healing Hands, and Shield Throw to make your character a powerful Forge Guard.

We include the passives like Armour Claud, Juggernaut, Fearless, Stalwart, Time and Faith, Defiance, Honor, Valor, Steel Aegis, and Fresh from the Forge to complement your main skills. Choose the idols like Heretical Ornate Solar Idol x2 and Humble Weaver Idol x4 to gain bonuses for your character. Summon your Manifest Armor, cast Sigils of Hope to gain buffs, and engage the foes with Javelin. Include Shield Rush to charge through enemies to apply Ignite. This is the perfect build for you if you are looking for a juggernaut that destroys enemies and is able to survive the hardest encounters.

Forge Guard Build ProsForge Guard Build Cons
Massive SustainGear Dependency
Easy to PlayLimited AoE
Tankiness 

Gameplay Mechanics for Forge Guard Build

The Forge Guard build in Last Epoch Season 2 increases the single-target DPS of Multistrike due to the Bladestorm node. Using the Shield Throw, Ring of Shields, and Symbols of Hope is essential to gain more buffs. Healing Hands is a must-have skill that grants you extra mobility, allowing you to deal more damage. However, this setup doesn’t require any unique items to work. Summon Manifest Armor and cast Sigils of Hope to gain buffs. Hit Manifest Armor with Void Cleave for additional damage. You can also command Manifest Armor to charge enemies. Use Ring of Shields for additional defense and Shield Bash to deal massive damage. Make sure your choices align with your preferred combat style. Use Healing Hands for healing and mobility. However, the positioning is required to maximize Shield Bash’s effectiveness.

Skills for Forge Guard Build in Last Epoch

shield throw skill last epoch

Here are the best skills to include in your Forge Guard build in Last Epoch Season 2.

Multistrike

A melee attack that grants a stack of Armament if you hit at least one enemy. Armament stacks up to 2 times, and each stack lasts 3 seconds. Each stack of Armament causes an additional sword to strike a nearby enemy when you use Multistrike. Additional swords cannot target the enemy you initially hit or enemies targeted by other swords. Added damage is applied at 100% effectiveness. Use this setup to enhance the single-target DPS of Multistrike due to the Bladestorm Node in its skill tree.

Ring of Shields

Each shield has 75 base health and lasts up to 10 seconds. Shield draws enemy aggression and blocks projectiles. Stats on your equipped shield also apply to the shields created by the Ring of Shields. Increasing Strength allows you to gain 310 health, and enhancing Attunement provides 20 Health. Use this skill for block effectiveness and block chance. Use Sturdy Shields to enhance block effectiveness if you get healed by a shield. Martyr shield allows your shields to heal your characters when they die.

Symbols of Hope

Every 2 seconds, summons a symbol that orbits you, causing you and your allies’ attacks and spells to deal 3 additional fire damage and increasing health regeneration by 20%. Activate to consume the symbols, granting 100 ward and 5% less damage per symbol for 3 seconds. You can have up to 3 symbols at a time. Use this skill to gain valuable buffs. Consider choosing Tetragram to summon an additional symbol. Make sure to get stats with the skills like Sign of the Guardian, Heavenly Justice, and Iron Sigils.

Healing Hands

Heals all allies in a target area for 50 health and applies a lingering warmth which heals 80 health over the next 3 seconds. The lingering warmth cannot stack on the same target. Enhancing the Attunement allows you to gain 30% increased healing effectiveness. Use Healing Hand as your movement skill and gain additional damage by combining it with the Multistrike by using Cleric’s Hammer. Use Halted Scourge and Turn Undead for damage reduction and Seraph Blade to change it into a devastating melee attack.

Shield Throw

Throws a shield at a target enemy. The shield ricochets to up to 2 additional targets before returning to you. You cannot throw a new shield until the current shield has returned to you. The shield hits all enemies, even those it does not ricochet from. However, the added throwing attack damage is applied at 225% effectiveness. Combine this skill with the Colossus and Defender’s Rage for additional buffs. Use Hemrin’s Technique to stack the enemies on a single throw. You can frenzy by activating the Defender’s Rage and using Aeroplates to reduce its mana cost.

Passives

Here are the best passives to include in the Forge Guard build in the last Epoch Season 2.

  • Armour Clad- Adds armour and reduces the damage you take from nearby enemies.
  • Juggernaut- You gain +8 Strength, 32% fire resistance, and 32% void resistance.
  • Fearless- You gain +1 Vitality and 5% increased health regen.
  • Stalwart- You have a higher chance of blocking hits and take less damage from hits that you block.
  • Time and Faith- You regain mana and a portion of your missing health when you directly use Rive, Vengeance, Smite, or Multistrike.
  • Defiance- This skill provides you with +5 Attunement and +15% elemental resistance.
  • Honor- You are less likely to be stunned, you have a higher chance to block hits, and you take less damage from hits that you block.
  • Valor- You gain +14% endurance, 35% increased healing effectiveness, and 84 health.
  • Abyssal Endurance- You gain +40 health, +20% void resistance, and +20% physical resistance.
  • Steel Aegis- You have a chance to block hits and take less damage from hits that you block.
  • Fresh from the Forge- You have additional melee and throwing physical and fire damage. Your forge strike and smelter’s wrath penetrate enemy physical and fire resistances.
  • Peltast- This skill allows you to gain 6% increased throwing attack damage and 6% increased throwing attack stun chance.
  • Shield Breaker- Your throwing attacks cost more mana, but shred physical and fire resistance.
  • Champion of the Forge- You have increased critical strike chance while wielding two-handed weapons. You gain an additional critical strike multiplier, scaling with your Strength, while wielding two-handed weapons.
  • Smelter’s Might- You and your minions have a chance to inflict bleeding and ignite on hit. This bonus is doubled for you if you are using a two-handed melee weapon.
  • Hammer and Anvil- This skill allows you to gain a 100% armor shred chance and 100% minion armor shred chance.
  • Might- You gain +6 Strength and 12% increased health.
  • Duelist- You gain increased melee critical strike chance up to 60%.
  • Flawless Defender- While you are using a shield, you have additional armor.
  • Walls of Solarum- You take less damage, and this effect is doubled if you have at least 50% block chance. Additionally, you have an additional chance to block hits.

Stats Priorities

stats last epoch

Here are the best stat priorities in Last Epoch Season 2.

Offensive Stats

  • Flat Physical Melee Damage
  • Strength
  • Increased Physical Damage
  • Increased Critical Strike Chance
  • Critical Strike Multiplier
  • Physical Resistance Shred
  • Physical Penetration
  • Armor Shred Chance

Defensive Stats

  • Health
  • Armor
  • Endurance
  • Block Chance
  • Block Effectiveness
  • Leech

Best Equipment Forge Guard Build

plague dragon's tongue weapon

Here is the best equipment for a Forge Guard build in Last Epoch Season 2.

EquipmentItemEffects
WeaponsMarauder’s Plague Dragon’s TongueRange 3M Base Attack Rare 0.94 +107 Melee Damage +6% Melee Critical Strike Chance +75% Fire Resistance
HelmetVital Sealed Leonine Greathelm of Life+550 Armor 85% Reduced Bonus Damage Taken From Critical Strike +8 Strength +8 Vitality +90 Health 26% Increased Health 51% Increased Shred Armor Effect
Body ArmorSentinel’s Mantle of the Pale Ox+74 Armor 60% Increased Healing Effectiveness +4 to Multistrike 150% Increased Melee Damage 24% of Damafe Redirected To Your Highest Health Minion 32% Increased Health For You and Your Minions +16 Strength 10% Increased Movement Speed +2 To Strength Minion Skills
GlovesAssassin’s Falcon Fists of the Giant+75 Armor +15% Endurance 15% Increased Melee Attack Speed 50% Increased Critical Strike Chance +130 Health 10% Increased Health +16 Cinder Strike Melee Damage Per Level of Falconry While Unarmed 0.04 Increased Cinder Strike Area Per Level of Falconry While Unarmed
BootsMercurial Suloron’s Step+56 Armor 14% Increased Movement Speed 30% Increased Movement Speed +105% Melee Critical Strike Multiplier 22% Increased Movement Speed -75% Physical Resistance
RingSiphon of Anguish of Remedy +185 Elemental Resistance +45% Poison Resistance +180 Health 3% of Melee Damage Leeched as Health 3% of Void Damage Leeched as Health 30% Increased Leech Rate 8% Increased Movement Speed +30% Chance to Apply Doom on Hit
BeltShattered Chains of the Ox+65 Armor +3 Potion Slots 26% Increased Health 70% Increased Armor +10 Melee Void Damage 70% Increased Melee Damage 5% More Melee Damage Doom Using a Potion Cleanses Stun and Freeze
AmuletEviscerating Aurora’s Time Glass+25 Health +59% Critical Strike Multiplier +15% Endurance 18% Increased Attack and Cast Speed +60% Ward Retention
RelicEviscerating Sealed Argent Crest of Endurance50% Increased Critical Strike Chance +50% Critical Strike Multiplier +90 Health +15% Endurance +15% Chance to Apply Frailty on Hit

Idols

Choose the idols that provide physical penetration (Prefix), minion physical penetration (Prefix), minion melee attack speed (Suffix), and added minion melee damage (Suffix).

  • Heretical Ornate Solar Idol x2
    • Vitality (Prefix)
    • Minion Melee Attack Speed and Added Minion Melee Damage (Suffix)
    • Shared Physical Damage (Suffix)
    • Ward decay threshold and Ward per second (Suffix)
  • Humble Weaver Idol x4
  • Physical Penetration and Minion Physical Penetration (Prefix)
  • Shared Physical Damage (Suffix)
  • Small Weaver Idol x4
  • Physical Penetration and Minion Physical Penetration (Prefix)
  • Shared Physical Damage (Suffix)

Tips and Tricks for Forge Guard Build

Here are the best tips and tricks for a Forge Guard build in Last Epoch Season 2.

  • Use Healing Hands to move towards the group of enemies.
  • You can activate Volatile Reversal on the foes for buffs.
  • Use Shield Bash to deal massive damage while fighting the enemies in tough encounters.
  • Equip the gear that complements your playstyle and synergizes with the build.
  • Upgrade your gear regularly to keep it effective in the game.
  • Use the skills with the passives in sequence for more effectiveness.
  • Choose the passive that works well with the main skill to boost their effectiveness.
  • Focus on using the weapons that deal high damage while maintaining strong defenses.
  • You can buff yourself by using Shield Throw if you need additional DPS.
  • Spamming the Multistrike is essential to dominate the enemies.

FAQs About the Best Forge Guard Build in Last Epoch Season 2

Which is the best weapon for a Forge Guard build in Last Epoch Season 2?

Marauder’s Plague Dragon’s Tongue is the best weapon for a Forge Guard build in Last Epoch because it allows you to deal massive damage in combat and provides a melee critical strike chance.

Which are the best skills for a Forge Guard build in Last Epoch Season 2?

Multistrike, Ring of Shields, Symbols of Hope, Healing Hands, and Shield Throw are the best skills for a Forge Guard build in Last Epoch Season 2.

What are the best offensive stats for a Forge Guard build in Last Epoch Season 2?

Flat Physical Melee Damage, Strength, Increased Physical Damage, Increased Critical Strike Chance, Critical Strike Multiplier, Physical Resistance Shred, and Physical Penetration are the best offensive stats for a Forge Guard build in Last Epoch Season 2.

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