Bow builds for Rogues in Last Epoch can be just as strong as everything if players get the right synergies going, and with the Marksman subclass, you'll get a ton of additional options for making your ranged attacks stronger.
This guide is a Rogue Marksman build for Last Epoch that combines a crit-based build with a burst-heavy, DoT based one that works surprisingly well when everything is put together. It's great for clearing endgame maps, and it's not too shabby in terms of early-game progression either.
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Best Puncture Rogue Build in Last Epoch
For this build, we'll be using Puncture to deal great single-target and AoE damage, but this skill alone won't be the only source of DPS. The build will also make heavy use of DoT effects, especially Bleed and Poison. By going down the Puncture DoT route, you'll be able to skirt around the low AoE and DPS output of early-game Bow Rogue in Last Epoch without having to rely on other active skills.
Early Game Rogue Puncture Build
Puncture makes you fire an arrow that penetrates every enemy in a straight line. This costs no mana, but the damage output is fairly low by itself. To supplement its DPS, take the passive nodes in its skill tree that give Puncture a chance to inflict Bleed on-hit.
Acid Flask complements Puncture's bleed damage by adding Poison to the list of DoT effects you inflict on enemies. This stacks on top of Bleed procs, letting you deal large amounts of damage over time without having to attack enemies. Like all other DoT builds, this allows you to kite enemies more efficiently, accelerating your early game progress.
Shift and Decoy are your main defensive abilities. The former lets you dodge and reposition, while the other draws enemy aggro away from you. Decoy is especially helpful with this build since you won't have many other defensive stats and abilities.
To play this build, just spam Puncture while moving towards your next destination and let the DoTs do their job. Throw Acid Flask at dense packs, elites, and bosses to reduce their resistances and add even more Dot damage.
Use whatever skill you prefer for the last vacant slot. This will be replaced with Detonating Arrow later.
Puncture Mutilate Rogue Marksman Build in Last Epoch
The build remains more or less the same once you unlock the Marksman subclass, though it will become significantly stronger, and you'll get access to some strong synergies as you level up your Specialized skills.
Detonating Arrow Build
Once you unlock the Marksman subclass, you'll get access to Detonating Arrow, which we will use primarily to stack more Poison on enemies. Take Scorpion Arrow and Deadly Ailments, then slowly work your way toward Rapid Detonation at the bottom-left of the skill tree as you level this skill up.
Depending on your Poison chance, Detonating Arrow can inflict up to large amounts of Poison stacks per cast to every enemy it hits in its area of effect. This is great for general mob clearing, but it only gets better once you add Puncture to the mix.
Puncture Build
The reason we're speccing Detonating Arrow for Poison is because of the interaction between the Scalebane and Mutilate passives from the Puncture skill tree. Scalebane converts all Bleed-related effects on Puncture to Poison-based ones — your Chance to Inflict Bleed becomes Chance to Inflict Poison, and Chance to Shred Armor becomes Chance to Reduce Poison Resistance. More importantly, even though it's not explicitly stated, Scalebane also affects Mutilate.
Mutilate makes every third arrow from Puncture consume Bleed stacks to deal all the remaining damage that those stacks have left in one big burst. With Scalebane, Mutilate will instead affect Poison stacks. With Acid Flask and Detonating Arrow, this Last Epoch Rogue Bow build becomes capable of detonating any Poison DoTs on an enemy with Puncture.
Specialize Puncture first, and try not to stray too far from the build above. You can respec in Last Epoch, but if you reset your skill passives, you'll have to level that skill again.
Acid Flask Build
For Acid Flask, prioritize getting Poison Pools and Amatoxic Pools. This turns Acid Flask into a lingering area ability that continuously Poisons enemies while applying Efficacious Toxin, which increases the DoT damage enemies take.
After these, work your way to Toxic Salvo and Barrage so you can throw more flasks per skill cast, greatly increasing the ability's area of effect.
Shift Build
Shift is mostly here for mobility, so take skills that decrease its cooldown and add other bonuses. Spend your first set of points on Velocity, Momentum, and Swift Recovery before proceeding down the Shadowslip branch, ultimately getting Arrival Gift for the Acid Flask synergy.
Decoy Build
Frostfire Powder and its associated nodes are great for turning Decoy into an even stronger crowd control tool. Pair this with Backup Buddy to get an extra Decoy charge, and once you get enough points, grab Grand Diversion too for even more decoys. Alternatively, take Acid Fumes for more Poison.
This skill is primarily used against elite packs and bosses. For general fighting, you'll want to rely on your other skills more. If you think you don't need Decoy as much, you can replace this with Dark Quiver with Lacerating Arrows or Smoke Bomb with Toxic Cloud.
Gear and Preferred Stats
For this build, you'll want to get items that give you an added chance to inflict DoT effects like Poison, Ignite, and Bleed. If you're ailment chance goes beyond 100%, you'll then have a chance to inflict an additional ailment stack on-hit. Preferably, you should have as much Chance to Inflict Poison as possible to make Puncture/Mutilate stronger later on.
As for the rest of your items and gear stats, focus on getting the following
- Bow Damage
- Damage Over Time
- Poison Damage
- Dexterity
- Defensive stats (evasion, elemental resistances, armor, and health)
- Mana
Monoliths in Last Epoch are great for target-farming equipment.
If you're looking for Unique weapons that can work well with this build, try the following:
- Shadowstring grants crit chance, bonus charges for Shift and Smoke Bomb, as well as Ward when you use the latter two skills.
- Hydra Arc gives Poison stats, levels to Dexterity skills, and bonus elemental damage. When you Evade, you cast your most recently used bow attack at a nearby enemy (excluding channeled attacks and ones that have cooldowns).
- Longshot grants bonus elemental and physical damage as well as Life Leech as Health on Bow Damage. Puncture cannot be evaded and it deals more damage against distant enemies.
Passive Skills
Since the build won't be using elemental damage, take the nodes in the bottom-half of the Marksman tree. The Prolonged Demise node is especially good considering the DoT focus of the build, and later on, grab Barbed Arrows and Poison Tipped Arrows at the top side of the tree.
As for everywhere else, it all depends on preference. If you're dying too much, consider getting skills that increase health and evasion. If you're running out of mana often, get the Sapping Strikes node from the Rogue tree. If it's damage you want, attack speed is great for stacking Poison and reaching the third Puncture hit that detonates Poison.
Notable Marksman passives include:
- Draining Arrows: Increases bow attack speed and restores health when you hit enemies.
- Assassin's Quiver: Increases bow damage and crit chance.
- Prolonged Demise: Reduces the effect of DoTs on you while increasing the power of your own DoT effects when using a bow.
- Barbed Arrows: Gain bonus physical damage, Phys Res Shred Chance, and Chance to Inflict Bleed on Bow Hits.
- Poison Tipped Arrows: Gain Poison Penetration, Bow Poison Chance, and Poison Duration.
- Barrage of Pain: Gain Barrage of Pain stacks on bow hits, with each stack increasing your crit chance.
- Perfect Aim: Barrage of Pain stacks now also increase your crit strike multiplier and restores health on crits.
For the regular Rogue tree, we recommend getting it to at least 22 points, with two points two Sapping Strikes to help with health and mana regeneration.
Last Epoch
- Released
- February 21, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Rating Pending
- Developer(s)
- Eleventh Hour Games
- Publisher(s)
- Eleventh Hour Games
- Engine
- Unity
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
- Platform(s)
- PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- How Long To Beat
- 18 Hours
