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Icicle Marksman Bowmage Build Last Epoch

Icicle Marksman Bowmage Build Last Epoch

Widely popular Bowmage Build that utilizes Reign of Winter Unique Bow to deal tons of Cold DPS with projectiles

Bowmage 
Rogue/MarksmanBuild

Updated for Patch 0.8.5f
 

Build notes:
November 15, 2022
-Build created

 

Build Overview

Who doesn't like on-hit effects? We certainly love them as they often allow the creation of fun and unique builds. Icicle Marksman, the topic of this guide, is an example of such a build. If you're looking for something different that will offer a nice change of pace from the regular Last Epoch Builds, you should definitely check this one out! 

Icicle Marksman (Also known as Bowmage) offers a dynamic and very unique playstyle that revolves around proccing extremely large quantities of icy projectiles from the Unique bow Reign of WinterReign of Winter. The play style is quite similar to regular bow Builds on its own, but if you factor in the triggered Spells, it's a true feast for the eyes.  It is able to cover the whole screen with deadly Icicles, thanks to the Detonating Arrow Skill modified with Lightning Tendrils. Created Icicles are its primary source of damage, which makes gearing and setting it up quite refreshing, which will appeal to many. If set up correctly, Icicle Marksman offers high ranged DPS with amazing AoE coverage and great single-target damage output. It has plenty of useful utility Skills that allow you to kite and outplay your enemies, such as Decoy or Smoke Bomb.  Due to its nature, it's a very fast character, both in terms of pack clear time and sole Movement Speed. You will have a great time farming with this build in every type of content currently available in Last Epoch.

You can also view the full build on the Last Epoch planner here: Icicle Bowmage Build

You can also check our other Last Epoch builds and character guides

 

 Pros
 Your every hit can trigger the Icycle, which makes the AoE clear simply amazing. Triggering a deadly barrage of Icicles from a single shot feels very satisfying!
 This Build can very easily achieve very high Movement Speed values. It makes your gameplay very smooth and enjoyable. 
 You will have many defensive layers available at your disposal. Thanks to the high Dodge, good Health sustain, and the Glancing Blows, this Build is surprisingly tanky. 
 All your Legendary Items are common drops, so getting ones with high Legendary Potential or good rolls will be very easy.
 Cons
 You will need 70 level to equip your build-enabling Bow. Leveling is very manageable, just not as exciting as the final version. 
 Icycle is not guaranteed to proc with every hit, Series of bad luck will lower your DPS noticeably. 

 

Passive Skill Trees

Rogue
Rogue Skill Tree (32 Points)

Rogue's basic Passive Tree offers very potent bonuses. Swift Assassin improves your Attack Speed, so you can proc your Icicles quicker.  Evasion increases your Dodge rating, but also provides very strong damage reduction as long as you keep moving. Agility grants you a chance to get Haste buff which improves your Movement Speed, and increases your Damage based on the amount of Movement Speed you have. Dodge and Parry is a very important passive that grants you a chance to receive a Glancing Blow, which reduces the damage you take by 35%. Lastly, Steady Hand is a decent passive that grants you a bit of Dexterity and Health. 

Bladedancer
Bladedancer Skill Tree (13 Points)

Bladedancer Passives offer yet another source of Glancing Blows chance via the Cloak of Shadows Passive. The Pursuit passive is much less important, as it grants just a bit of Movement Speed once you spend 5 points on it. You can also entirely skip that Passive in favor of something else. 

Marksman
Marksman Skill Tree (68 Points)

Marksman Skill tree offers a great mix of defensive and offensive modifiers that will allow you to unlock the full potential of Reign of Winter. A large portion of your Icicle Damage comes from this Passive Tree. Draining Arrows grants you amazing sustain and improves your Attack Speed. Focus Fire grants you a bit of Dexterity and reduces the chance of Dodge on Rare and Unique enemies you hit. Wound Maker is a very important passive that allows you to stack Critical Vulnerability on your enemies. It improves your chance to Critically Strike them drastically after just a few hits. Heightened Senses Passive is taken to improve your Damage even further, but also to deny your enemies from scoring Critical Strike on you. Concentration and its connected nodes grant you a Concentration Buff, which grants you increased Damage, Dodge Rating, and Movement Speed, which fades out for a few seconds once you get hit. Covering Fire generates Silver Shroud buff every 10 seconds, which gives you a 100% chance to Dodge incoming hit. Death from Afar gives you a decent amount of Armor Shred Chance, which significantly improves your Damage in long fights. Perfect Aim not only improves your Damage, but it also gives you a lot of Health every time you make a Critical Strike. Master Archer increases the range of Detonating Arrow explosion, which improves your clear speed substantially. 

 

Skills

Note: Left-Clicking on any of the ability trees below will open the full-size version in a new window. 

Detonating Arrow

Detonating Arrow - it's the main Skill you will be using with this Build to trigger the Icicles. It causes you to shoot an arrow that attaches to the first target it hits and detonates after a short delay.

The main focus of this Specialization Tree is to make the Detonating Arrow hit as many targets as possible. Barrage is an important Passive as it completely removes the delay and transforms the area of the explosion into a cone shape.  Thanks to the Arcing Blast you will create chaining tendrils when it explodes. All hits caused by the tendrils can trigger the Icicle.  Outburst significantly increases the area of the explosion. Weak Spot is another source of Critical Vulnerability Chance, while also improving your Critical Strike Multiplier. 

Detonating arrow

Shift

Shift - A movement Skill that allows us to Teleport a short fixed distance in the target direction. It's the main mobility Skill of the Rogue Class and is primarily used to quickly move around the map and dodge incoming attacks.

Thanks to the Shadow Recouperation and Breathing Technique you will be healed by a decent amount every time you use a Shift. Additionally, the Rebound Passive causes its cooldown to be reset if a single hit takes more than 50% of your total Health. Momentum grants you a lot of Movement Speed for a few seconds after you use this Skill.  Shadowslip is a very powerful passive that grants you total invulnerability while using Shift, making it one of the best defensive tools in the game if you time it well. If that's not enough, you will gain an insane amount of Dodge rating for a short duration thanks to the Elusive notable. Sleight of hand automatically throws Shurikens at your enemies, which is very useful once you invest enough points into that Skill Tree. 

Shift

Shurikens

Shurikens - by default, it's a very simple Skill that causes you to throw 3 sharp Shurikens at your enemies to deal Damage. 

In this Build, you will be using this Skill mainly to avoid incoming damage, as Acrobatics notable adds a short backflip when you activate this Skill. Blade Shield significantly changes the behavior of your Shurikens, as now they will form a circle around you instead. Stagger immobilizes enemies foolish enough to get close to you, making it a very good crowd-control ability.  

Shurikens

Spriggan Form

Decoy  - throws a fake decoy that focuses the attention of nearby enemies on itself and explodes shortly after. This amazing ability allows you to avoid many dangerous situations or give you the opportunity to burst your opponents. 

Sonic Detonation and Harrowing Noise cause deploying the decoy to apply Fear, Armor Shred, and Frailty stacks on nearby enemies. With the Backup Buddy notable, you will store additional charges so you can quickly deploy a second decoy when the first one runs out.  Ambush grants you an additional Critical Strike Multiplier based on the amount of Dodge chance you have when the decoy disappears. Try to synchronize it with the Dodge buff from your Shift ability to maximalize this bonus. 

Decoy

Smoke Bomb

Smoke Bomb - With this ability, you drop a smoke bomb at your location which applies Blind and lowers the Critical Strike Chance of nearby enemies. Use it in dangerous situations to stay alive. 

Escape Tactics adds a short backflip on use, allowing you to dodge incoming abilities with style. Enfeeblement applies Frailty to affected enemies to make them even weaker. Moonlight Bomb grants you a stack of Silver Shroud which gives you a 100% chance to dodge one incoming attack per stack. Cleansing Steam removes any negative Ailments affecting you when you initially use this Skill. Shrouded in Darkness makes staying inside the smoke extra safe as it will grant you a stacking buff that improves your Dodge and a chance to receive Glancing Blow.

Smoke Bomb

 

Items

Stat priority:

This build's damage comes almost exclusively from procced Icicles. This means that you will need some particular stats to make it work. Firstly, Icicles scale with Dexterity (which is actually great as Dex is very easy to stack on a Marksman!). Dex also has the added benefit of improving Dodge Rate, so win-win there. Because of the above, Dexterity should be your top priority. Another high-value offensive stat for the build is Bow Attack Speed as it will improve your trigger rate and make your gameplay smoother. Idols with Increased Damage While Wielding a Bow are a great addition to the build's offensive power as well. You will also need a decent bit of Mana Regeneration to sustain the constant stream of triggered Icicles. You won't need much Critical Strike Chance thanks to the Critical Weakness applied with every hit, but you can never get enough of Critical Strike Multiplier! Defensively, you should focus on Crit Avoidance, the before-mentioned Dexterity, Health, and Resistances. To improve mobility, adding some Movement Speed is also a great idea.

  1. Dexterity 
  2. Bow Attack Speed 
  3. Critical Strike Multiplier 
  4. Mana Regeneration  
  5. Critical Strike Avoidance 
  6. Health 
  7. Resistances (Cold, especially. Because of the penalty from Mourningfrost)
  8. Dodge 
  9. Movement Speed

Recommended Unique Items: 

 

Reign of Winter
  • +(30-50) Bow Cold Damage 
  • +(30-50) Spell Cold Damage 
  • +(5-9)% Cold Penetration 
  • (23-28)% Chance to cast Icicle on Bow Hit 
    • Icicle - Cast a shard of ice in the direction of your bow attack. 
  • +(10-15) Attunement 

Reign of Winter - This amazing Unique Bow is the centerpiece of the build. You need it to make the whole thing work, so get it as soon as possible. It has a rather high chance to cast an Icicle when you attack with it, which is the mechanic this build embraces. It's a common drop from the Age of Winter Timeline boss encounter. 

Arrowguard
  • (15-30)% increased Bow Damage 
  • (30-50)% Chance to receive a Glancing Blow when hit 
  • +(30-50) Armor 
  • (30-50)% increased Armor 

Arrowguard - This is a very strong defensively-oriented Quiver. Think of it as a Shield that also happens to increase your Bow Damage and doesn't prevent you from using a 2-Handed Ranged Weapon! Roll on the Glancing Blow Chance is very important, but thankfully it's very common Unique so you can be very picky!

Mourningfrost
  • (30-100)% increased Freeze Rate Multiplier 
  • (10-20)% increased Movement Speed 
  • +1 cold damage to attacks and spells per point of dexterity 
  • -1% physical and cold resistance per point of dexterity 

Mourningfrost - If you want to maximize your Icicle Damage, you simply have to have these boots. They will increase your Cold Damage by +1 per every point of Dexterity you have. The downside is, you'll also lose Cold and Physical Resistance per each point of Dexterity you have. 

Throne of Ambition
  • 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 amazing Idol will increase your Armor and Cold Damage by 400% (yes, 400%!) against Bosses and Rares. Because of the defensive boost it offers, it's hard to pass up on any build... In a build that mainly deals Cold Damage, the value of this item skyrockets even further!

Idols:

Throne of Ambition is the best possible Idol for this build. You will benefit from its Armor as well as Cold Damage modifiers very much. As for other Idols, Large Shadow Idols are great as they can be used to improve your Damage While Wielding a Bow (which is one of the bonuses that affect Icicles!) - you should have 4 of these with the mentioned Affix and additional Resistances or Health. To fill up the remaining slots, you should use any small Idols with increased Health and missing Resistance (as you will need a lot of them to circumvent the drawback of your Boots). 

Recommended Blessings:

  • The Black Sun: This Timeline offers you multiple powerful Blessings; you should choose one of the following: Void Resistance, Health, or Critical Strike Multiplier. 
  • The Age of Winter: Chance to Shred Cold Resistance on Hit is the single best Modifier you can get from Blessings. With this build's Attack Speed, you can stack it to 20 with no problem at all! 
  • Spirits of Fire: You can get plenty of defensive options here, grab increased Armor, Endurance, or Fire Resistances. You can also get the Dodge rating but it's the least desirable. 
  • Reign of Dragons: All Resistances and Crit Avoidance are both great choices. Chose the one you need more. 
  • Ending the Storm: Lightning Resistance is a solid choice if you lack it. Otherwise, try to get increased Cold Damage here.

 

END NOTE

This is the beta version of our Earthquake Werebear Druid Build for Last Epoch, which makes great use of Bhuldar's Wrath Unique Weapon. We had amazing results with the final form of this Build, and we can attest you won't be disappointed with it. If you enjoy high bursts of damage and don't like to worry about mana management, you have to try out this Build! Future Patches can change the performance of this Build, we will keep our eyes on it and update this guide accordingly to the game's growth. 

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Eleventh Hour Games