Today, I'm thrilled to present potentially my strongest minion build ever in Last Epoch—the Lightning Retaliation Wolf Pack. This build has utterly dominated content, and I'm here to break down every aspect of it for you. Yes, I'm talking about taking down Aboth with this build. And not only that—not a single wolf died during the entire fight!
Whether you're a seasoned Last Epoch veteran or new to the game, you'll want to stick around because this build is a game-changer. I'll walk you through the skills, passives, gear, blessings, idols, and leveling tips to help you recreate the build and dominate with your very own lightning wolves.
Gameplay Overview
First, let's dive into some gameplay footage. What you're seeing here is my 700 corruption Lightning Retaliation Wolf Pack in action. With the right synergy between skills and passives, these wolves tear through content with ease, whether you're tackling bosses, clearing endgame content, or farming resources.
In this build, I'm using the following core skills:
• Gathering Storm
• Summon Wolves
• Wolf Pack
• Frenzy Totem
• War Cry
• Fury Leap
The wolves become lightning-powered behemoths that strike back at enemies with retaliation, dealing lightning damage while being buffed by your attacks. As a result, they're nearly unstoppable. Watching them zip around, leaping and attacking, is pure satisfaction.
I'll show you some single-target footage to emphasize the power of these wolves. For example, 700 corruption Exiled Mage? Gone. Fully empowered Nemesis challenge? Wiped. Even the Shade of Orabis couldn't stand up to these wolves. And as for Aboth, let's just say, lightning wolves did not disappoint.
How to Build Your Lightning Retaliation Wolf Pack
Let's break down the essential components of this build, starting with the skills and how they synergize.
1. Fury Leap
• Bottom Tree: Focus on enhancing melee damage and spell damage since your wolves are getting both of these boosts. The best part? Your wolves leap with you, staying close and repositioning easily.
• Take points in Frenzy Life and Cleanse to boost your survivability.
• Finish with Storm Bolts, which complements the lightning theme of this build.
2. Summon Wolves
• Left Tree: Maximize melee damage multiplicative with stun and crit chance. Don't forget to pick up that cold tag to synergize with other parts of your build.
• Lightning Tree: We're stacking storm callers, reprisal, and multiplicative spell damage to supercharge the lightning damage on your wolves.
• The key here is Howl of the Night. You'll be howling constantly, increasing your wolves' damage by 120% multiplicatively. This works wonders for both melee and spell damage.
3. Gathering Storm
• Take points for attack speed, lightning penetration, and storm bolt damage. This skill provides additional damage while dual-wielding, making your wolves even more lethal.
• Jolting Strikes adds shock chance and Tempest Weapon, scaling your melee and spell damage based on the axes you're wielding.
4. Frenzy Totem
• This skill enhances your melee damage and crit chance and provides life regeneration to both you and your wolves. The key nodes here are the frenzy effect, health regen, and the refresh howl mechanic, which is vital for constantly keeping the buffs rolling.
5. War Cry
• Unlike many builds, I'm not focusing on berserk. The main focus here is enhancing critical strike chance and cooldown reduction. You want your War Cry to activate three times per use, keeping your wolves buffed constantly.
• The Bringer of Winter node is essential as it provides chill and crit chance, further empowering your wolves.
Passive Tree Breakdown
With a Beastmaster at level 100, this is where you'll be spending your points. The goal is to maximize both damage reduction and minion damage.
Base Tree:
• Natural Attunement gives you Attunement and resistance.
• Primal Strength boosts your strength and regen.
• Hunter's Restoration is key for dual-wielding, ensuring both you and your wolves benefit from the same regeneration effects.
Beastmaster Tree:
• Ersen Strength grants you damage reduction and minion attack speed.
• Porcupine Constitution adds damage reduction for your wolves, making them tankier.
• Cornered Beast is a game-changer, giving you 20% less damage when your life is low.
• Viper Fangs and Cry enhance your wolves' melee attack speed and crit multiplier.
Shaman Tree:
• Shamanistic Infusion is essential for Attunement and minion penetration.
• Earth and Supremacy helps you avoid stuns while stacking additional Attunement.
Druid Tree:
• Plating increases armor and minion armor, ensuring your wolves are tankier.
• Duw's Prowess boosts Attunement and strength, providing more damage.
Gear & Idols
Blessings:
The goal with blessings is to increase survivability and damage resistance:
• Void Resistance
• Critical Strike Avoidance
• Endurance
• Physical Resistance
• Health Regeneration
Idols:
The ideal idol setup focuses on life and minion damage. You can stack up to double life idols and choose between lightning damage, minion melee damage, and critical strike buffs for your wolves. Some idols also provide elemental resistance, which you can use to balance out any resistance you're lacking.
Key Gear:
• Howl of the West Wind (lightning retaliation helmet) is a must-have for this build. It boosts wolf damage and retaliation lightning damage. Aim for at least 2 LP (Legendary Potential), but 3 LP is ideal.
• The Fang is essential for summoning wolves up to your companion limit. It also provides bonus melee damage and life.
• Ribbons of Blood is great for keeping your wolves alive and providing crit immunity.
• Tempest Ma (dual-wielding axes) is the best option for scaling lightning damage and providing strength and Attunement.
Leveling Tips
When you're leveling, I recommend focusing on these skills:
• Swipe: This skill will help you clear mobs quickly with leech and multiplicative damage. It's perfect for progressing through the campaign.
• Maelstrom: Use this skill in its physical form for synergy with Swipe. This will make clearing content even faster.
• War Cry: Take Whirlpool to auto-cast Maelstrom while boosting your damage.
• Fury Leap: Use this skill as an unsectored skill to help you jump around the map with ease, allowing you to leap in and out of combat.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, the Lightning Retaliation Wolf Pack is an dominant build. The synergy between your wolves' retaliation, the buffs from your skills, and your tankiness makes this one of the best melee minion builds in Last Epoch.
Get plenty of Last Epoch Gold from MMOexp, feel free to tweak it as you see fit, but if you follow this guide, you'll be well on your way to ruling the battlefield with an army of lightning-infused wolves.
MMOexp Last Epoch Team