The Sentintel got a large rework in the last patch for Last Epoch, so I re-arranged my build to try out a lot of this new stuff, mainly warpath which was heavily changed, and the completely new skill, void cleave to compliment it. This build uses both damage over-time and flat damage, it’s been a ton of fun, I’m really happy with how warpath turned out. I’m going to leave the Last Epoch Tools build down in the description, alongside a loot filter that will help you hunt for the stats you’ll need to scale this build. If you want to know more about Item stats, types, and loot filters, check out my Guide to Items here.
Right now my Void Knight is level 89 and has completed all of the normal Monoliths and is now onto the Empowered versions without much struggle. The sentinel passives make it pretty easy to stack a lot of health and resistances, becoming tanky without needing much gear investment, the same goes for the Damage Over Times that we use, Time rot from warpath and other skill trees, and Future Strike from the passive tree, neither requiring much gear investment to make work as long as you can stack them quickly. That low amount of gear investment required for both defense and damage makes me think this would be a great build for beginners.
The main skill is Warpath, which was one of the biggest hit skills with this rework. This is the classic action rpg staple Spin2Win skill, but there’s a few different things we can do with it on the skill tree. By default, this skill has 40% less ailment applying chance due to it’s high attack rate, but we stack more than enough chance to apply ailments to make up for that. We fully convert to void damage and focus heavily into damage over time from the Time Rot ailment and some other stuff. When Leveling, you unlock Warpath at level 2 but won’t be able to convert it to void damage with Damage Over Time until later, so you should scale physical damage instead, the attached item filter takes that into account until level 30. You’re definitely going to want Lunge while leveling, we don’t have it specialized for the endgame build but lunge is a great mobility skill that will save you a bunch of time going through the story.
SKILL TREES
This is what my Endgame Warpath skill tree looks like. First of all, you should spend points in “unchained”, that makes it cost 10 less mana per tick, making it very close to free so you can spam it to hearts content. “Echo Knight” gives a chance of an Echo to sit and channel warpath, you need to channel for at least 2 seconds and travel at least 4 meters for this passive to take effect.
Next is Apolalypse Whirl, that gives a flat 30% chance to apply Time Rot on hit, and converts all bleed or ignite chance to time rot chance. Time rot by default deals 45 Void Damage over 3 seconds and increases stun duration by 5% per stack, up to 12 times. We scale a lot of void damage and damage overtime for this and 2 other DoT effects I’ll talk about in a minute. Remember that every Percentage above 100% chance to apply a DoT gives you a chance to apply 2 at once, but time rot is capped at 12 so we don’t need to go overkill.
I don’t take the last 2 points, Maw of the deep only applies to hits and we are focusing more on Damage Over Time, Abyssal Echoes from Abyssal Tempest is great, but we have another way to cast that skill, letting it cast every 5 seconds just ruins my mana bar with this skill that’s usually free thanks to Unchained.
After that I make our way to the bottom right, starting with Quicksilver wind that gives some speed while channeling. GoreBringer gives a little bit of bleed chance and duration. The Bleed chance is converted to Time Rot chance thanks to our other point, I don’t believe the duration affects it, but I only spend one point to travel. Path of fire, will be converted to a path of Void thanks to our other points, automatically applying time rot to enemies that stand in it, which is great for making sure packs you’re moving on from will die as they chase you. The remaining points are spent in the top left portion of the tree for a bunch of AOE, up to 85%.
Void Cleave is a new skill added last patch, it has some awesome skill tree points for a Damage overtime build. I focus entirely on the bottom right portion of this tree. I completely max out Fraying Strikes to reduce enemy’s void resistance, then get Resonating Cleave that casts abyssal Echoes after using Void Cleave.
Abyssal Echoes is awesome, it’s another specialized skill that I’ll talk more about soon, all you need to know now is that it deals a ton of single-target burst damage. Remember that triggered skills like this won’t cast if you don’t have the mana, in this case, you need 39, so we will need to get at least a little bit of maximum mana to consistently cast this.
Ravager is the main thing that makes Void Cleave deal lots of damage for this build. You’ll now gain the Ravaging Aura whenever you use void cleave for a duration depending on how many enemies you hit, up to 10 seconds. This aura deals a ton of damage overtime around you, it costs 5% of your HP a second but I have enough leech to deal with that. The next point, Annulling Presence adds spell damage to the Ravaging Aura, and up to 100% AOE, we max this because it’s a huge damage boost. Last is Endless Hunger that gives us leech on Ravaging Aura, which will help make up for it’s HP cost.
Volatile Reversal sends you back in time 2 seconds ago, with your old Mana and health values intact. This is the how I regenerate my mana, and why it’s important that Warpath is as close as possible to free, I only want void cleave to cost mana so I can instantly restore it. First I get time Sap that reduces the cooldown of this skill by 9% every time I kill an enemy, making is awesome for restoring mana more often. Then I put a point in Timelost Vitality, making it’s cooldown way faster, but also making it no longer change health, which I’m fine with because I only care about mana, I have more than enough leech to sustain health, and going back to my health value 2 seconds ago often gets me killed. I put a point in both Incipent Void Rift and Terminal Void rift, that makes void rifts appear at the start end end location when I use this skill. Void rifts are spells that deal some damage, they’re not that great by themselves but we get a few points that make it amazing for dealing extra damage. First we go to the top right, starting with Disintegration that gives the Void Rift some extra damage, we only spend 3 points there to get to the next point, Time Rifts, that makes enemies hit by the void rifts take 60% more Damage over time for 4 seconds. Then we go to the bottom left, Dark Expanse gives the void rifts up to 200% increaed area of effect, and Harbinger of dust makes enemies hit by the rift take 30% more damage for 4 seconds. Now we can use volatile reversal to not only fully regain mana, but also to debuff enemies to make them take a lot more damage than usual.
I have Abyssal Echoes specialized, which gets automacially cast every time I use Void Cleave, making use of all the skill points I put in it’s tree. This skill applies the “Abyssal Decay” Damage over-time Debuff to enemies hit, dealing some void damage and scaling incredibly hard with added spell damage. The cool thing about Abyssal Decay, is that if the enemy takes a hit, the entire damage remaining in the DoT debuff gets dealt instantly, making this skill amazing for single-target burst damage. Deep Expanse gives some more AOE, but I use this as a single target skill so I only spend 2 points here to get to the next point, Vorpal Explosion that increases the damage by 80%, but cause it to no longer chain between enemies, which is fine because once again this is my single-target skill. Screaming Rift let’s me cast this skill at a target location instead of right on top of me, and make it cast 3 seperate abyssal echoes in that same location with about a second between them. Shrieking Echoes adds 2 more casts, for a total of 5.
Since this skill get’s cast 5 seperate times with just one button press, you can warpath while it’s going off to get that gigantic burst of the entire DoT on hit, then the next one will go off for another giant burst, this can happen 5 seperate times, which is results in a ridiculous amount of damage.
Then I went to the left side of the tree, Vorpal Rejuvination adds a bunch of spell damage that this skill scales off with with 305% effectiveness. Turbulence increases the Duration of abyssal decay up to 75%, which in turn increases the overall damage. Embrace the Darkness gives us the “Nether Coating” buff for 4 seconds after casting this skill, that gives us 20% attack speed and 100% increased damage over time.
Last I have Anamoly, a skill that sends enemies forward in time for a few seconds, it doesn’t do much at first but we get a few skill points that makes enemies take a lot more damage after returning to the present. First you want to get Borrowed Time that makes this skill instant so you can cast it while you’re spinning. Then I went for 3 points in QuickSand, that makes ailments tick 75% faster when the enemies return, the point behind it, Cycle of Decay pairs really well because it resets the time on all ailments when the enemy comes back. I have to spend 1 point in Void touched even though I don’t need it, but I need to get to Exacerbate that increases time rot’s duration and damage, I asked a dev in the game chat and he said that it looks like this passive makes time rot more effective during the effect of anomaly, which is good enough for me. Mark of Rot below makes enemies take 100% increased void damage when they come back, one second per point, in our case, 3 seconds feels like enough. Then I put my last point into time-bubble that creates a little bubble at the target location, slowing enemies and increasing their void damage taken even more. Anomaly is your panic button skill when things get too scary, but it’s also your massive single-target damage skill that you can use on bosses with capped ailment to watch them quickly die.
This is the skill bar I use for endgame, I don’t actually have abyssal echoes slotted in, because void cleave automacially casts it for me, instead I have lunge, not specialized, just for more mobility so I don’t feel so sluggish. With the skills trees set up like this, Warpath and Void Cleave’s Ravaging Aura alone are more than enough to clear out trash mobs and even rares, but when we need some more single-target damage, we have abyssal echoes, which also automatically get’s cast from Void Cleave if we have the mana.
The combo for an insane amount of single-target damage is:, Void Cleave which automatically casts 5 abyssal echoes, Volatile Reversal to restore the mana costs, and then hold warpath. If you keep close eye on your mana pool and how much mana you had 2 seconds ago, you can potentially never run out and spam your skills as much as you’d like. Be careful with lunge, because it’s mana cost goes up with the distance traveled, and using volatile reversal to regain the mana will just bring you back to your original location, effectively doing nothing but wasting cooldowns. If you lose track of your mana, you might just have to stop spinning for a while and let the DoT deal with enemies while you wait to regenerate.
PASSIVES
We have to spend at least 20 points in the base Sentinel Tree before we can move on the the good stuff in the void knight tree. I maxed out Fearless for Vitality, Armour Clad for Armour, and valiant charge for more health and cooldown to movement skills. Then I put 2 points in Juggernaut and moved onto the void knight tree.
I started with Abyssal Endurance for some health and resists, physical resist is really important, I have this maxed but you don’t have to max it until endgame, just spend enough to travel to World Eater that gives us leech on melee and void damage. Then I get points into Doom Knight, I’m trying to stack as much flat HP from the tree as possible, and strength gives a little bonus hit damage. I have 3 points into Future Strike, that gives me a 30% chance to apply this ailment that deals void damage 2 seconds later. I have another item that brings me to a total 50% chance to apply future strike, but I think even that is overkill because it doesn’t stack, I think 30% is enough with our fast attack rates.
Now for the good stuff. Woe gives a buff that increases damage and Armour for 4 seconds whenever I kill an enemy with melee, which happens pretty often with trash, this is a good damage and defense boost while clearing, and it unlocks the node behind it. Singular Focus gives a whopping 100% void damage bonus, we don’t use a shield so this less block chance does nothing to us, it’s just a huge damage boost. Eternal Form gives a ton of health in the form of vitality that also scales damage, and percentage health, we max this since it’s such a big defensive boost. The point behind it, Void Aegis gives a chance on hit to get this Aegis buff that gives 10% damage reduction until you take 100 damage. I have 5 points spend in Future Mind for flat mana and mana regen because I wanted a little bit of wiggle room when it came to sustaining mana, remember that you need 56 mana to cast void cleave and abyssal echoes, even more if those skills echo, so I try to keep my mana pool slightly above double that to leave room for lunges. Essence of the End with 4 points gives a 16% chance to get a void essence on kill, boosting void damage and stacking 3 times.
Echoing Strikes simply gives your skills a chance to echo 1 second later. This echo chance affects the echo knight skill tree passive for warpath, and it’s also great for Void Cleave, but remember that echoing void cleave will cost extra mana so keep an eye on that. Time Legion gives more Echo chance, but also attack speed and time rot chance, we max this because attack speed + echo chance is so valuable to us. I don’t take the final point here because it gives less attack speed, which reduced my sheet DPS by quite a bit, it’s hard to tell if 10% echo chance makes us for that, but I’d rather just spin very fast. I did get the final point Time Flux that sends enemies away if I reach 20% health, making use of all of anomaly’s passives, so the enemies will take a bunch more void damage when they come back. Then there is Dread, that gives void damage and movement speed, I’m currently working on leveling this point, so it should be maxed by the time I’m level 100.
ITEMS
Before we look at the items in this build, I want to mention that a lot of these items are really bad I only have one exalted item on and it’s not even a good one, you’ll surely be able to find better stuff if you put in a decent amount of time, just what I’m wearing right now is the best I’ve been able to find and it’s been good enough for starting empowered echoes. Instead of telling you exactly what items to put on, I’ll tell you what stats you should be looking for and where to get them, using some of my items as an example.
First of all, I think it’s really important to stack a lot of vitality which can be put on helms, body armour, and boots. Vitality gives a flat 10 HP per point, but it also adds damage to void cleave and abyssal echoes, making it both a defensive and offensive stat.
Then you want to hunt for %Void Damage, which can be put on any weapon and accessory including your belt. The Helm slot actually has a special affix of %void damage and flat void spell damage, which scales Abyssal Echoes really hard, so stay on the lookout for that.
You’ll also want %Damage over time, but not as bad as you want void damage, you might not be able to fit this on every prefix and that’s fine, just go with what you have.
I have plus one level of warpath on my chest piece, if you can get more levels on affixes, then you’ll have more skill points to spend, which could be awesome, but totally unnecessary, this is pretty rare and it scaled melee damage rather than overall damage.
My weapon is not very good, the base and the affixes are nowhere near optimal, but it’s what I’m currently working with, and I’m still doing alright. I think I’d much rather %Void damage than flat void damage to scale my DoTs, and this base type plus the suffix give way too much chance to bleed, it’s kind of overkill because I’m instantly stacking to 12 time-rots and unable to go further. There is a two handed sword base type, the Hollow Blade, unlocked at level 77 that gives added void damage and void penetration that I would much rather have my hands on.
My relic is a Dread Banner that adds void damage and extra chacne to apply Future Strike. This is pretty good, there are a few other good relic types that the loot filter will show you in the endgame, most notably Tainted Effigy that gives both flat void melee and spell damage, remember how hard abyssal echoes scales with spell damage.
Then of course there are resistances, which can be a suffix on pretty much anything. This game doesn’t require you to have capped resists like most ARPGs do, resists are just another very powerful defensive layer on top of armor, health, block, or whatever else you have. I try to get resists on most of my gear, it’s a very noticeable change in survivability.
Now for the uniques, I have 2 “Siphon of Anguishes” equipped, that give melee/void leech, leech rate, movement speed, chance to apply doom, and doom effectiveness. For some reason so I had to search the Internet to find out that it’s another Damage overtime effect that deals a base 400 void damage over 4 seconds, and increases their melee damage taken, stacking up to 4 times. This is an incredibly powerful DoT, the base damage is much higher than most but it can only stack 4 times. Siphon of anguish is the most common drop from Oroboryss in the monolith of time, a boss that you’ll encounter many times, and you’ll be swimming in these rings soon enough.
The other unique isn’t target farm-able, you just have to get lucky, it’s “Wing Guards” that gives us more attack speed that we can get on any other item and chance to gain haste on hit, giving 20% bonus movement speed. The downside of this item is that you can no longer critically strike, but that’s fine because damage over time can’t crit anyways. If you don’t have these, you can find normal rare gloves with attack speed and whatever other stats you need, you’ll probably deal less damage but you’d be tankier.
Now let’s look at the Idols. Once again, these aren’t perfect, but the loot filter will highlight some of the idol affixes that are amazing for this build, you can’t craft idols so it’s pretty hard to find the perfect one, but these affixes are still huge game changers. My Grand idol on top gives increased abyssal decay duration which increases the total damage, and chance to apply time rot on hit. I think I have way too much chance to apply time-rot, so I’d rather get another affix. Then 2 of my 4by4 adorned idols are the same, increased void damage after a skill echoes and increased damage overtime. I’m really happy with these 2 idols, I don’t think I’d want anything else. My Ornate Idol has increased AOE for void cleave and more chance to apply time rot on hit. This is the first one I would replace, it’s not really doing much for us. Then my other Grand idol on the bottom gives more abyssal decay duration and melee void damage. I have 2 small idols that give a tiny boost to damage overtime and necrotic resist.
smattymatty 