Notable Passives:

1. Arcanist [8/8] - +8 Intelligence, +24% Fire and Lightning Resistance. This is a great passive to take if you want to unlock further passives in the Mage Tree. 
2. Reactive Ward [1/10] - +20 Ward when you get below 70% max Health. This effect has a 12-second Cooldown. This gives us a minor defensive boost and unlocks Warden. 
3. Warden [5/5] - +50% Ward Retention. With this, we should be able to retain our Ward for much longer (especially if we get other similar effects). 
4. Mage Flurry [5/5] - +15% Attack Speed and +15% Cast Speed. This is a very good passive to have on a Spellblade. 

Mage Tree provides us with some much-needed Fire and Lightning Resistances, Intelligence, Attack and Cast Speed (which are both solid for the build), and a whopping 50% Ward Retention (which is insane for a Ward-heavy build). 

Spellblade Skill Tree (86 Points)

Notable Passives:

1. Elemental Affinity [6/6] - 30% Increased Elemental Damage and 18% Increased Elemental Resistance. Thanks to Elemental Resistance, this makes gearing a bit easier. 
2. Infused Weapon [8/8] - +16 Fire, Lightning, and Cold Damage with Melee Attacks. This is a solid damage increase, especially when we have a high attack speed. 
3. Arcane Warden [8/8] - +40 Ward when gained when using Elemental Melee Attack (only works if you hit at least one enemy). This will give us Ward constantly. 
4. Warden's Echo [5/5] - 40% chance to create Elemental Burst when gaining Ward from Arcane Warden. The element of the Burst matches the element of the performed melee attack. This adds some DPS and makes the build flashier. 
5. Defender of Welryn [8/8] - +40% Ward Retention and 160% increased Elemental burst Damage. Damage and defenses in one passive, yay. 
6. Arcane Shielding [5/5] - Using a melee attack and hitting at least 1 enemy with it will now generate an Arcane Shield. While Arcane Shield is active, you receive 10% less Damage and generate 20 Ward per second. 
7. Shattered Aegis [1/8] - 4% extra Armor when Arcane Shield is active. Arcane Shield is now 60% less effective but stacks up to 4 times (so, it's 160% effective with 4 stacks). 
8. Fire Blood [8/8] - +8 Vitality and +8 Melee Fire Damage. Great passive to have on a Melee Fire Damage Dealer. 
9. Essence Duel [5/5] - 15% increased Melee Attack Speed, +15 Ward gained when you use a melee attack and hit at least 1 enemy. This is an amazing Passive that boosts our survivability and DPS. 
10. Gemini [1/1] - Allows you to Dual-Wield by equipping a Sword in your off-hand. You receive a 15% increased Damage while Dual-Wielding. We need a weapon in our off-hand to maximize our damage and attack speed, so this is a must-have. 
11. Prismatic Blade [8/8] - +8 Dexterity, +8 Fire, Lightning, and Cold Damage with Melee Attacks. 
12. Volka's Razor [10/10] - Your High-Cost Melee Attacks deal 150% increased Damage. This affects Skills that cost 10 or more Mana and works with ailments applied by said attacks. Flame Reave benefits from this as it costs 26 mana base. 
13. Mental Fortitude [8/10] - +8 Intelligence and +24 Ward per Second. Intelligence grants 4% Ward Retention per point, making this passive amazing for our build. 
14. Blade Weaver [5/10] - Using a Melee Attack that costs less than 10 Mana generates Blade Weaving Stacks. Melee Attack that costs 10 or more Mana consumes the stacks and deals 15% more Elemental Damage per stack consumed. Stacks are capped at 5. This is a huge DPS increase for this build. 

This is the main Passive tree of this Build, We get a lot of offensive power and defensive utility from it. Blade Weaver is definitely a highlight here, as it determines this build's playstyle of rotating between low and high mana cost Melee Skills. Also, the amount of Ward and Ward Retention we get from this Tree is mind-boggling. 

Flame Reave - This is the main Nuke ability of this build. It deals large amounts of Fire Damage and has a solid AoE coverage and range. With the proposed setup, Flame Reave's wave will return to us after reaching its max range and every 4th use of Flame Reave will generate a powerful Fire Wave that will sweep a large portion of the screen (this effect can be triggered with Firebrand as well). 

1. Arcane Severance [3/4] - +24% Melee Damage. We need this to get to Flame Caller. 
2. Ember Infusion [3/4] - +60% Melee Damage at the cost of 45% increased Mana consumption. 
3. Flame Caller [1/1] - With this, Flame Reave returns to the caster. Its damage continues to decrease as it returns, to a minimum of 20% Damage. This is a nice DPS increase. Also, it doubles the number of hits we deal. 
4. Dancing Flames [4/5] - -48% Mana Cost and +16% Attack Speed at the cost of 48% reduced Range. This makes Flame Reave more dynamic and much more spammable (it will still benefit from passives that require it to cost more than 10 Mana). Also, Flame Reave's Damage falls off with distance traveled, so the downside from this is nowhere near as bad as it looks. 
5. Rending Ire [4/4] - +12 Melee Fire Damage. 
6. Naurcrist [4/4] - +20 Melee Fire Damage when using Swords. We can only equip Swords in our off-hand, so that's convenient. 
7. Rhythm of Fire [1/1] - Every 4th use of Flame Reave has 100% increased Width, Range, and Damage. This is the reason why we want to stack Attack Speed. 
8. Versatility [1/1] - This makes Firebrand and Mana Strike uses count towards Flame Reave uses for the Rythm of Fire node. We'll be using Firebrand a lot, so this passive is a must-have. 

Firebrand - This is the ability we'll be spamming the most with this build. It will serve as an activator/builder for our main attack - Flame Reave: Thanks to Firebrand's stacking mechanic and the Incineration and Illuminating Fire mods, we can perform a massive Flame Reave attack with a guaranteed Crit, which is this build's main damage source. 

1. Fulmination [3/3] - Increases Firebrand's Attack Speed by 9% per Firebrand Stack, up to a maximum of 27%. This makes Firebrand much more spamable which is great for triggering the Rythm of Fire from Flame Reave. 
2. Searing Brand [5/5] - +50% Damage. this bonus is multiplicative with other modifiers. 
3. Incineration [1/1] - Your next Melee Attack, that is not Firebrand, consumes all Firebrand Stacks and deals +20% Damage per Stack Consumed. This Damage modifier is multiplicative with other bonuses. This allows us to deal massive amounts of Damage with Flame Reave. 
4. Illuminating Fire [1/1] - Another Attack used with 3 stacks of Firebrand is now a guaranteed Critical Strike. This means even more damage from the Flame Reave/Firebrand combo! 
5. Wildfire [2/2] - Increases maximum Flame Reave stacks by 2. More stacks equal more damage. 
6. Pyroshielding [5/5] - Hitting an enemy with Firebrand grants 40 Ward. This allows us to stack A LOT of Ward very easily. 
7. Undying Fire [4/5] - +60% Stack Duration. This ensures that our Flame Reave/Firebrand Combo goes off with its full potential. 

Teleport - This versatile Skill can be tailored to anyone's needs. In our case, we wanted it to boost our Damage and protect us from harm. To achieve that, we went for Ward Generation, Mirror Images that take aggro from us when we Arrive at our destination, and +50% Elemental Damage. Using Teleport directly before Firebrand/Flame Reave combo will allow us to deal more damage with reduced risk. 

1. Ether Barrier [4/5] - Teleport grants 28 Ward on cast. This gives us a minor defensive boost every time we use Teleport. 
2. Out of Mind [1/1] - Using Teleport grants 1 Ward per point of Intelligence. This turns Teleport into a powerful Ward generator (we have 16 Intelligence from passives alone). 
3. Elemental Affinity [5/5] - Using Teleport grants 50% increased Elemental Damage for 4 seconds. This works best when combined with Firebrand-consuming Flame Reave. 
4. Resonant Plasma [4/5] - +200 Stun Avoidance, +20 Fire, and +20 Lightning Resistance for 4 seconds after using Teleport. 
5. Decoy Position [1/1] - Teleport now creates a Mirror Image at the spot from where it's used. Mirror Images count as Minions and will taunt nearby enemies for 10 seconds. This makes Teleport even more reliable as an escape tool. It also increases Teleport's Mana Cost by 5. 
6. Stable Duplicants [2/5] - +30% Mirror Image Duration. 
7. Unexpected Copy [1/1] - Teleport creates a Mirror Image at the spot of our arrival. This allows us to jump into melee without the risk of receiving too much damage instantly. 
8. Uncontrolled Duplication [2/2] - +2 Mirror Images on Arrival at the cost of 20% reduced Mirror Image Duration. This adds a lot of defensive utility to Teleport and allows us to use it even more aggressively. 

Flame Ward - This is the primary defensive tool for this build that will greatly reduce our Physical Damage Taken. It will also provide us with a solid Fire Damage boost, which will make our Flame Reave combo hit like a truck. 

1. Dilation [3/3] - Reduces Flame Ward's mana Cost by 33% and increases the Duration of Flame Ward and Fire Aura by 33%. More efficiency is always great. 
2. Infusion [5/5] - Flame Ward grants 250% increased Fire Damage while it is active. With this, our Flame Reave's damage will skyrocket. Remember to have Flame Ward active when executing the combo. 
3. Through Flames [5/5] - Flame Ward grants 10 additional Fire Damage to attacks and spells while it is active. This boosts our offensive capabilities a bit. 
4. Stalwart Defense [1/5] - +40 Ward Gained from casting Flame Ward. 
5. Barrier [5/5] - 40% less Hit Damage while Flame Ward is active. Another amazing defensive bonus. 

Enchant Weapon - This is a nice support ability that will increase our DPS quite significantly. It not only boosts our Fire Damage but also provides a mana-based percentage increase to Elemental Damage. Moreover, it increases our Attack Speed by a whopping 50%! 

1. Celerity [5/5] - 50% increased Attack Speed. This is simply amazing for the build as it allows us to perform our combo much faster. 
2. Molten Steel [5/5] - 100% Increased Melee Fire Damage and +25 Melee Fire Damage. This combos exceptionally well with Flame Reave. 
3. Concentration [4/4] - Makes Enchant Weapon stay active for 4 more seconds. This mod bumps Enchant Weapon's uptime to 60%. 
4. Efficacy [4/4] - Reduces the Mana Cost of Enchant Weapon by 20 and makes us Deal 40% increased Elemental Damage. 
5. Desperation [1/1] - Enchant Weapon makes you deal 1% more Damage per 2% of Missing Mana. With this, we'll want to keep our Mana as low as possible without actually running out. 
6. Frozen Sparks [1/1] - +1 Physical and +1 Cold Damage per 10 Physical Damage on your Weapon. This is much better than it looks, thanks to the amount of Increased Elemental Damage we run on this Build. 

Stat priority:

For offense, this build relies on Fire/Elemental Damage and Attack Speed. It doesn't need any Critical Chance, however (as we have a guaranteed Crit mechanic with Firebrand/Flame Reave combo). The best way of getting additional Attack Speed is by using 2 Crystal Swords. Critical Multiplier has a very high value for our Flame Reave Spellblade because of the above-mentioned guaranteed Crits. As for Defenses, capping Resistances is a good idea as always. Also, adding some Life Leech/Fire Life Leech will increase survivability (we recommend Logi's Hunger for this). 

1. Melee Fire Damage
2. Melee Elemental Damage 
3. Critical Multiplier
4. Melee Attack Speed 
5. Melee Physical Damage 
6. Resistances
7. Life Leech 

Recommended Unique Items: 

+(40-80)% Chance to Ignite on Melee Hit  (40-80)% increased Fire Damage Over Time  +14 Melee Fire Damage  Flame Reave hits enemies in an expanding circle around you (The circle has 35% less range than Flame Reave's normal shape)  +(4-10) Flame Reave Mana Cost

Sunwreath - This is the BiS Unique item for this build. It turns Flame Reave's AoE into a Nova that hits everything around us! Moreover, it provides a high increase to Fire Damage and increases Flame Reave's Mana Cost (which is actually a benefit, because of the Desperation mod from Enchant Weapon). 

(40-100)% increased Melee Fire Damage  (40-100)% increased Melee Cold Damage  40% Chance to gain Haste for 1 second on Hit  40% less Damage Taken While Moving  +1 to Fire Melee Skills  +1 to Cold Melee Skills

Wings of Argentus - This amazing Unique Gladiator Armor provides a very high bonus to Melee Fire Damage, +1 to Fire Skills, and a 40% chance to gain Haste for 1 second on Hit. Moreover, it reduces all Damage Taken while Moving by 40%! If you're looking for an offensively-oriented Chest, this is as good as it gets. 

+(2-3)% Fire Critical Strike Chance  (5-8)% of Fire Damage Leeched as Health on Crit  (50-80)% Increased Leech Rate  +(2-3)% Minion Critical Strike Chance  +2 to Fire Minion Skills

Logi's Hunger - With this Unique Bone Amulet, our Flame Reave/Firebrand Combo will Leech A LOT of Health back to us, as it is a guaranteed Crit. This Amulet alone can take care of our Life Leech needs. 

+30% Chance to cast stationary fire Tornado at a nearby enemy on hit (3 second cooldown)  +(50-150)% Chance to shred fire resistance each second with Tornado  (40-60)% increased Fire Damage  +(30-50)% Fire Resistance  (20-30)% increased Armor

Rule of the Simoon - This is a very interesting choice for the build. With it, we'll be able to Shred Fire Resistance of the tougher enemies (the ones that survive in our presence for more than a couple of seconds). It will also increase our Fire Damage by quite a lot. 

You gain a stack of Ambition when you hit a boss or rare enemy (1-second cooldown)  20% increased Fire Damage per stack of Ambition  20% increased Cold Damage per stack of Ambition  20% increased Armour per stack of Ambition  20 Maximum Stacks of Ambition  You lose all stacks of Ambition if you go 4 seconds without gaining a stack

Throne of Ambition - This Unique Adorned Silver Idol will boost our Damage against Bosses and greatly increase our survivability against them. 

Idols:

Idols that provide Increased Elemental Damage and/or Fire Damage are the best offensive options. Ornate Glass Idols can give you both of these bonuses at once, which makes them perfect for this build. Stout Lagonian Idols and Small Lagionian Idols can increase Fire Damage as well. Throne of Ambition, as mentioned above, will also provide bonuses to Fire Damage (only against Bosses, though). As for the more defensive Idol options, anything that gives Ward is a good option. Grand Glass Idols with Ward gained from casting Flame Ward and Ward per Second are great, but Large Arcane Idols can do the job as well. 

Recommended Blessings:

• The Black Sun: Grand Emptiness of Ash is the single most powerful Blessing you can have from this Timeline. It will provide you with anywhere between 27% and 40% Critical Multiplier. 
• Ending the Storm: Resonance of the Sea, which you can get from this timeline, is a nice defensive option - it will give you up to +30 Ward per Second. 
• Reign of Dragons: All Resistances or Melee Leech are both good, as they make customizing your gear much easier. 
• The Age of Winter: You can get a lot of extra Armor from this Timeline if you pick up Grand Bulwark of the Tundra. 

END NOTE

This is the beta version of our Flame Reave Spellblade Build for Last Epoch. It is one of the most enjoyable Melee builds we've played and it performs very well in the End-Game content. Obviously, as the game gets new content updates, we will be updating this guide regularly, though it may be impossible to be done after each Patch.