Notable Passives:

1. Gladiator - grant increased chance to Block and Stun avoidance. You want to maximize your Block chance wherever possible as it's your core defensive mechanic. It's also an option to pick up the linked Aegis of Renewal, but it seems that the Paladin's Holy Symbol offers better healing
2. Armour Clad - grants very high bonus Armor

Notable Passives:

1. Steel Aegis - grants increased chance to Block Attacks and Armor
2. Peltast - grant very high damage bonuses to your thrown attacks which obviously includes Hammer Throw
3. Hammer and Anvil - grants an extra Stance - Hammer Stance which greatly increases your DPS but also damage taken. That's one of the reasons why you want to maximize your Block chance, to negate a big portion of this extra incoming damage
4. Flawless Defender - another Block-related Passive which is a must-have in this build

Forge Guard's Tree is the primary one in this build, increasing your Thrown damage significantly, and offering several bonuses to Block Chance and Block effectiveness. You also get extra Crit. from Javeliner and Crusader Passives. You could also consider getting Battle Hardened Passive, but it would have to replace Paladin's Passive and you wouldn't be able to use Sigils of Hope - there are some alternatives but they won't be covered in this version of this guide

Notable Passives:

1. Honour - increases your Chance to block making it the best first-tier Passive here for this build
2. Holy Symbol - grants decent healing that's triggered automatically

Paladin's Tree is taken for the amazing Sigils of Hope which Passively buffs your offenses and defenses. It's not mandatory here, but for the time being, we couldn't find a better option

Hammer Throw - a primary spammable skill that lets you throw multiple hammers that orbit around a targeted area dealing very high Physical damage. Hammers in this setup deal mainly "on-hit" damage, pierce through enemies and shred their Armor. Currently, because Sentinel lacks a reliable way to replenish or Leech Mana, it's not advised to use the Hammer Vortex which makes your hammers follow you when you move and increase its Mana Cost, making this build even smoother to play

Lunge - it's your primary movement skill which greatly increases your mobility. At the same time, Lunge grants various bonuses including Initiative which greatly increases your damage, Crit. Chance and Crit. Damage Multiplier

Sigils of Hope - an amazing Paladin's buff which increases your Damage, healing, and Block Chance. To some extent, this skill will be triggered automatically whenever you kill enemies, but against Bosses, you will most likely need to recast it manually to benefit from its bonuses

Ring of Shields - another useful duration/buff Skill which offers additional healing, Armor, and Block effectiveness. The shields will also block projectiles and mitigate a big portion of incoming damage

Vengeance - Sentinel's primary attack. Its primary role is to shred enemies Physical Resistance from Vengeance and Riposte Hits. It also reduces all your damage taken for 2 seconds after using it thanks to the Bolster Passive

Stat priority:

This build utilizes mainly Physical Damage, which can be also scaled by Strength Attribute. You should primarily focus on Thrown Damage, Physical Damage, and Critical Strike stats. For the defenses, you should aim to increase your Health and Healing effectiveness. Obviously, you want to eventually have all your resistances capped at 75%

1. Thrown Damage
2. Physical Damage
3. Strength
4. Health
5. Armor

Recommended Unique Items:

Urzil's Pride - grants very high bonuses to your Mana and Armor. It also increases your Mana Regeneration rate based on your Armor, making it a perfect choice for this build

Riverbend Grasp - this pair of gloves grants a very high Throwing Damage bonus and high bonus Health. This is one of the best items you can possibly find in the game, second only to end-game crafted gloves

END NOTE

This is the first beta version of our "Hammerdin" Hammer Throw Forge Guard Sentinel build for Last Epoch. It's one of the builds that we fully believe will find its' place in the core game's meta eventually as it carries an insane Arena and Monolith farming potential. It's also a very balanced and consistent build. If you decide to use it for yourself, we would appreciate your feedback.