The best build to start Last Epoch 1.0, druid primalist build very resistant and ultra effective Swarmblade form for bosses and areas!

Introduction

This build uses the Druid's Swarmblade form to summon storms and clear all areas easily just by moving. You will also have the opportunity to slash the elites and bosses of the game with your claws. Your main source of damage comes from your various tornadoes and Frostbite caused by Serpent Strike which deals cold damage over cold duration. The Swarmblade form, in addition to making you very resistant, gives you access to 4 new skills:

• Your basic attack: Armblade slashes
• Your dash: Dive
• Your little army of little insects: Summon Hive
• Your AoE attack that combines with your locusts: Swarm Strike

Build Explanation

The Swarmblade skill tree allows you to trigger Primaslist and Shaman-specific spells:

• Armblade slashes will allow you to use the Serpent Strike skill tree and cast the Tornado skill after 6 attacks. Serpent Strike gives you bonus attack speed, chance to dodge, and inflicts Frostbite on impact dealing cold damage over time. Tornado, in addition to doing considerable damage, will give you 10% movement speed for 2 seconds after being summoned and 21% attack speed.
• Dive will not only allow you to advance faster but also give you Maelstrom stacks up to 4 stacks per dash. After two dashes (8 stacks of Maelstrom) you will get the Haste bonus which gives you 30% movement speed as well as the Frenzy bonus which gives you 20% attack speed.

The Swarmblade form allows you to convert all your dodge into armor (which will naturally make you resistant), give you Freeze Rate Multiplier based on your Attunement and convert your latest skills (Summon Hive and Swarm Strike) into cold. The last tornado that you can use and which does a lot of damage combines your last two skills of the Swarmblade form:

• Summon Hive allows you to summon 3 hives which will in turn summon a dozen insects to attack enemies.
• Swarm Strike is a circular attack, if you launch it into a group of insects, they will be "consumed" and you will then summon a swarm of cold insects. The more insects you consume, the greater the AoE of the swarm.

The Spriggan will provide you with life regeneration, dodge chances and Freeze Rate Multiplier via its aura. Finally, the build is designed to provide you with maximum DoT for your different tornadoes but also to maximize Frostbite penetration for unique targets (bosses and elites) via the Freeze Rate Multiplier and the unique Snowdrift boots. It is also very important to reach 60 Attunement to get the damage bonus from the Maelstrom Turbulence node (80% damage instead of 40%).

Talent Tree

• Base class (20 points): Natural Attunement, Primal Strength, Hunter's Restoration
• Shaman (15 points): Shamanic Infusion, Sky Warrior, Earthern Supremacy
• Druid (78 points): Chitinous Plating, Spirit Warden, Primordial Resonance, Druidic Prowess, Blessed Springs, Thicket of Thorns, Focused Wrath, River Spirits, Rancour, Harmonious Wisdom (to be increased as needed to reach your 60 Attunement), Fetid Resilience, Hideskin, Impervious

Items to collect

This build only needs the unique Snowdirft which will give you a significant damage bonus for Frostbite (you will have around 1800% Freeze Rate Multiplier). For your objects in general (idols included), choose:

• damage over time and elemental damage over time
• attunement (to reach the mandatory 60 points)
• resistors
• vitality and life percentage

If you want to use unique items, the following are recommended:

• Legacy of the Quiet Forest for bonus armor and poison resistance when transformed.
• Mordita's Reach which will inflict 5 additional Frostbite stacks on you per hit (very useful for bosses)
• Chimaera's Essence to give you bonus damage, attack speed, and movement speed while transformed. Beware, however, of the resistance debuff to be caught up.
• Wing Guards: for bonus dodge and attack speed. DoTs cannot be critical so these gloves are just a bonus for you.
• Throne of Ambition for bonus armor and cold damage against bosses and elites.

Gameplay

The gameplay is very simple, in human form at the start of the game, summon your Spriggan, then transform into a Swarmblade. In monoliths and dungeons map proceed as follows:

• Use Dive as soon as the skill is available to charge your Maelstrom stacks and get your Haste bonus. Maelstrom should be enough to one-hit standard enemies just by approaching it. So just “fly” through enemy lines and pick up the loot!
• When you encounter an Elite, use your Armblade Slashes skill in addition to your Dive to summon your Tornado (this skill can also stack) and boost your damage over time (Tornado and Maelstrom).
• When you encounter a boss, in addition to the first two skills, summon your hives and use Swarm Strike to unleash your final “Swarm” tornado which will do a lot of damage. Repeat when the swarm disappears until the boss is dead.

Last Epoch Tools

Find the complete builder of Tool Druid Swarmblade :

History

Modifications and creation of the build according to the patches:

• 1.0: no changes
• 0.9 : the build remains very powerful and has undergone some modifications which you will find at the beginning of this article
• 0.8.5F: creation

This build is very pleasant to play and above all very simple. Its resistance and damage make it one of the best builds to start Last Epoch. Dive coupled with Maelstrom will allow you to quickly complete monolith objectives by clearing the area just by moving.

By Michel, December 2022