Pros and Cons of Following a Pre-Made Build vs Going In Blind
Whether you’re just getting started Last Epoch or you’ve been itching to make a brand new character, it’s always more fun to play a good build. But if you don’t really feel the pre-made builds out there, why not just wing it?
With a little bit of creativity, a little bit of reading, and a whole lot of patience, winging it can be SUPER fun. In this article, I will talk about the pros and cons of pre-made builds vs winging it when you are starting out from level 1.
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What is a Build in Last Epoch?
A build consists of which spells, specializations and passive talents are used during battle. On any character, you can have a maximum of 5 spells in your spell bar, but you can choose from a plethora of spells in your unlocked set and chosen Mastery (click “K” in-game to open that window). While it can seem restricting at first to only have 5 abilities, especially coming from games like FFXIV, with no number restriction on abilities at all, Last Epoch’s gives us spells that pack a punch, and even having only 5, we can make some solid combinations.
There are starter class-specific spells (i.e. mage-specific) and Mastery-specific spells, which are unlocked after choosing your Mastery in Act 4. However, even with your Mastery chosen, you can and should check out the other two Masteries; the left half of the board, before the chain divider, is still available to you. The Mastery trees (click “P” for in-game to open the window) are what unlocks Mastery-specific spells one you put enough points.
Yet another customizable aspect of your build is the spell specialization. It has five slots, like the spell bar, and each spell slotted opens a spell-specific tree to upgrade as you level it up. The maximum level of specialization is 20, but there are ways to get that to 21-24, depending on your gear. Specialization levels follow your character experience, and if you need to re-specialize, you will have an double XP gain buff that will help you get your brand new spell closer to the previous one’s level.
Pre-Made Last Epoch Builds
You can find pre-made builds through Youtube, Google search, or lastepochtools.com with varying levels of difficulty, types of gameplay, and use of Unique items. I personally prefer the Last Epoch Tools website, as I am not a fan of video format for a build, but that’s just my own preference. If you follow the link to Last Epoch Tools, under “builds” you will find a long list of options. For an easy overview, click on the “Build Planner” link on the left of the build.
The great thing about pre-made builds is that the work is done for you. Someone else has looked into the spell synergies, the items, and the mastery passives that would work really well together, and you can just follow that for your own character.
The main drawback is the fact that you don’t have to look into why the build works the way it does, or why each point goes where it goes. However, it’s not like you can’t have a reading session later. If you want to get into the game and play right away, then following a blueprint will get you to a satisfying damage output pretty early on.
The Art of Winging It and Finding Synergies in your Class and Mastery
Last Epoch has so many ways to customize things that logging in to your character with no prior knowledge can be fairly daunting. The tutorial does show you a lot, and the new systems are well spaced out for you to absorb a lot of the knowledge fairly easily, but all the spell definitions and the specific wording of Affixes and Spell tags or modifiers is easily overwhelming.
I was definitely overwhelmed on my tiny Acolyte on my first playthrough. What’s more important? What can wait? Why is this stat making my damage go up so much more than that one?
Lots of questions, and very few answers without reading up on a lot of things.
However, I thoroughly enjoy learning that way. Theory doesn’t work well for me compared to trial and error. I need finding the problem first, so I can find the specific answer to that one problem.
The best “Pro” argument for winging it is that without guidelines to a build, you don’t instantly know what will work well together, which means you’ll have to go through the information one by one. That way, you’ll find what you’re looking for, but also notice that a lot of things can have a compounding effect, or synergize better than other combinations. That’s how you start moving spells around and figuring out what sticks, as well as your own personal preferences!
You may have guessed it, but the “Con” argument is having a lot of work to do upfront to gain a basic understanding of your class. It starts with one ability, two, three, then a specialization which gives so many more things to read, and next thing you know you’re knee deep in your passive tree trying to understand what to do with these points and then– You get the gist.
How to Choose a Build or Direction for Last Epoch
Especially if you are new to the game, I strongly suggest avoiding builds that include wording such as “corruption”, “monolith farmer”, “hardcore” or ones that have a level requirement. Look for “leveling build” or “starter build” types. If you’re curious about a build, check out the gear they suggest; if you see Uniques that have high level requirements, it may be better to hold off, especially if those Unique Items have effects on specific spells. Those builds can feel underwhelming without the specified gear.
I have gone with a “monolith farmer” pre-made build from level 1 on my Primalist. The build specified level 80-something. I didn’t really see why until I noticed that one of the key Uniques to make the entire build work as designed had a very high level requirement, but the lower levels weren’t terrible either, just less powerful than it could have been had I chosen a build made specifically for leveling. Some other builds with the same wording could have a true “make or break” Unique item, though; make sure to double check.
As for winging it, well, I think we all know my stance on that. “Fuck around and find out” is an entire playlist of build fails on my Youtube channel, after all!
The Final Word
It is very understandable to not want such heavy infodump and unfamiliar jargon right away, especially as a brand-new player. However, I do recommend to dive in head-first into that heavy reading at some point, even if you choose a pre-made build.
As for the pros and cons; it depends on your own goal. Do you want to play and learn, or would you rather have a research-free gaming session? Very few things need to be chosen right away; you have about 23 to 27 levels of gameplay before even choosing you Mastery, which is the only thing that is set in stone.
However, if you want to immerse into the story, marvel at the environments and maps, and pay attention to details that may come up later, I would suggest getting yourself a pre-made build. To clarify, you don’t really need to pay attention to small details except for lore purposes, interesting things to notice later, and more immersion. No quest will fail you because you didn’t look under a table of the Armory zone at level 8!
I will make a post with some of my favorite pre-made builds and starter classes, if you feel like checking those out!
