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The Spellblade offers a melee-focused Mastery for the Mage inLast Epoch. With the ability to wield two swords, the Spellblade casts spells at melee range, imbuing his blades with magical energy to empower his attacks.
Shatter Strike is the Spellblade’s Mastery Skill, a melee-range Cold attack that instantly kills enemies below a certain health threshold. This leveling build will use Shatter Strike as its main damage-dealing ability, with Firebrand providing a way to build up your Mana. Below, we’ll take an in-depth look at this Shatter Strike leveling build for Spellblades.
This melee Spellblade build utilizesFirebrandandShatter Strikefor a fast-paced, high-damagebuilder-spendertype playstyle. Build up your Mana andstack damage buffswith Firebrand, then blow through everything with Shatter Strike. WithFlame WardandFlame Rush, this build doesn’t lack survivability, but using it effectively requires skillful timing.
While the builder-spender playstyle can be repetitive for some, it works very effectively in this build and the need to use preventative defensive options means you’ll always have to be paying attention. Plus, this build is very easy to gear, and doesn’t rely on any rare Uniques, making itideal for leveling through the campaign.
Skills And Passives
The core of this build is its two damaging abilities,FirebrandandShatter Strike. Firebrand stacks a buff of the same name,increasing thedamage and size of subsequent Firebrand attacks. However, with theIncinerationnode, you can cause the next melee attack used after Firebrand toconsume Firebrand stacks, turning them into amultiplicative damage bonus.
This then leads tomassive buffs for Shatter Strike, which makes use of several nodes to greatly increase its overall damage and size.
In the Firebrand node, you’ll want to go for theIncineratemajor node first to get this playstyle up and running, then put points into important nodes likeIlluminating Fireto increase the effectiveness of Firebrand stacks,Undying FireandEverflamesto make them last longer, andFading Flameto grant you Ward when gaining or consuming Firebrand stacks.
ForShatter Strike, we are mainly focused on increasing this skill’s damage. This is done through theWhiteoutmajor node, which you’ll want to prioritize first, and theShiver,Absolute Zero, andCold Steelnodes.
Enchant Weaponalso helps play into the builder-spender playstyle, allowing you to operate around aconsistent burst window. In the Enchant Weapon skill tree, put four points into theConcentrationnode to increase its duration, then put four points into theEfficacynode to reduce its mana cost while increasing its damage buff.
From there, stack skill points inShivering Blade,Frostband, andCeleritynodes to increase your Cold damage while Enchant Weapon is active.
For defense, we are usingFlame WardandFlame Rush, which both give great survivability and Ward generation. In the Flame Ward skill tree, prioritize unlocking theDual Aegisnode first, allowing you tostore two charges of Flame Ward. Then, stack points in theBarrierandPrismatic Buffernodes to increase Flame Ward’s effectiveness.
Flame Rushis a traversal skill that doubles as a defensive tool thanks to theLunar Protectionnode that grants Ward as you charge Flame Rush.Runic Eclipse,Celestial Guidance, andBlazing Fluxare all important nodes to stack points into as well. On the right side of the tree, pick upSmolder and Burnso that Flame Rushshreds Fire Resistance.
Eventually, you’ll want to unlock theEnergy EquivalenceandSnowballingnodes to convertFlame Rush’s damage into Lightning and then Cold, as well as giving it the ability toshred Cold resistance, further increasing the damage of Shatter Strike.
Passives
This build mainly utilizes the Spellblade passive tree, putting the bare minimum of 20 points into Mage to unlock Spellblade, andfive into the Runemaster treeto unlockFlame Rush. Every other passive point you get can be put into various nodes in the Spellblade tree.
In the Spellblade Tree, start by stacking points intoArcane Warden, which will greatly increase your Ward generation. Then, drop a few points intoElemental Affinityto increase your damage and elemental resistance.
Arcane Shieldingis a great node that decreases damage taken and generates Ward as you hit with melee attacks.
Essence Dualis your next focus, grantingincreased attack speedand even more Ward when using melee attacks. After you’ve put 25 points into the Spellblade tree, unlock Gemini to gain the ability to dual wield swords.
After that, stack points intoMana Reaver,Prismatic Blade,Volka’s Razor, and finallyBlade Weaver. Blade Weaver is central to the builder-spender playstyle of this build.
When you use anattack that costs less than 10 Mana, in this case Flamebrand, you gain a stack of Blade Weaver. Then, when you use anattack that costs more than 10 Mana, you consume your Blade Weaver stacks to deal 15 percent more damage for each stack.
With this node maxed out, you’ll be able to stack Blade Weaver up to 10 times, which translates into a150 percent damage increase on your next Shatter Strike.
Important Stats And Uniques
As you find new pieces of equipment and upgrade old ones, you’ll want to make sure you’re making the most out of the stats available. Below, you can find the best stats to look out for.
As you level up, be sure to start prioritizing elemental resistances. Enemies at higher levels will deal tons of damage if you haven’t been stacking up your resistances, so attempt to get an even spread on your gear.
For Idol stats, we recommend looking out for the following.
Uniques To Look Out For
While this build doesn’t rely on any single Unique item to function, there are a few that are quite beneficial to have. If you can get your hands on any of the Uniques detailed below, you’ll definitely want to find a way to fit them into your equipment.
If you are lucky enough to get aRune of Ascendence, Body Armour is your best bet at getting a helpful Unique for this build.
