Last Epoch Warlock build guide

The best Last Epoch Warlock build is a powerful mid-range class focusing on damage over time and curses - drain enemies' blood, poison them, or deal continuous necrotic damage to win the battle. However, be aware you’ll need attacks that work together and focus on the same damage type so you can fully benefit from your passive skills. There's a lot to weave together from active skills to passive skill point distribution, so here’s how to get the best Warlock build in Last Epoch. 

You can also check out my Last Epoch Class tier list ranking if you want to try anything else, or these Last Epoch best leveling builds to help speed up your progress.

Last Epoch Warlock builds explained

The Last Epoch Warlock class is an Acolyte Mastery and therefore closely related to the Necromancer and Lich. The Warlock’s biggest strength here is its damage over time potential, which can stem from poison, necrotic damage, or bleed effects applied to enemies. To maximise your Warlock build’s power it’s best to focus on one type of damage and buff it as much as possible. In the Warlock build I focus on here, all attacks are converted to Bleed for that reason. 

Best Last Epoch Warlock skills

• Chthonic Fissure: fully upgrade Blood Gulch to inflict Bleed, and upgrade Stygian Current and Chaotic Rupture to cast more fissures and convert them to Chaos Bolts respectively. It’s highly recommended to upgrade Fragile Crust to reduce the mana cost.
• Chaos Bolts: fully upgrade Condemned to Chaos, Grave for Two, and The Burn to extend Chthonic Fissure duration. Upgrade Sanguine Reverie, Another Affliction, Exacted Libation, and Cursed Blood to convert to physical and trigger Bone Curses and Rip Blood attacks. Recommended upgrades: Doom’s Vindication and Devour the Dead.
• Rip Blood: upgrade Gushing Wound and Splatter for better Bleed damage. It’s recommended to use Hemomancer and Quenching for better HP recovery.
• Bone Curse: fully upgrade Cloven Flesh to give Bone Curse a Bleed chance. Fully upgrade Conflation, Iron Maiden, and Brittle Bones to affect a larger area and deal better damage. Use Marrow Thief to gain armour upon kill and thus improve your defensiveness. 
• Spirit Plague: fully upgrade Pestilence, Haemorrhage, and Laceration to deal Bleed damage. Consider upgrading Exsanguination and Defilement for more damage and better mana regeneration, but beware this casts Bleed on yourself. Efficacious Application may therefore be better. Plague Burst and Putrid Recovery are highly recommended.

The idea behind this Warlock build is to cause maximum Bleed damage (all of the attacks above either deal default Bleed damage or are converted to physical) and perform as many bonus attacks as possible. Chaos Bolts is the most important ability as it triggers Rip Blood and Bone Curse attacks, and also extends the duration of your Chthonic Fissures. Chthonic Fissure, in turn, sparks Chaos Bolts that scale with your Chaos Bolt tree. Spirit Plague is then used to gain a higher chance of applying Bleed to your opponents. 

The best way to use this Last Epoch warlock build is to cast Chthonic Fissure, use Spirit Plague, then spam Chaos Bolts, which will automatically trigger Bone Curse and Rip Blood. 

Best Last Epoch Warlock passives

• Acolyte passives: fully upgrade Forbidden Knowledge, one point in Blood Aura, and three or four in Stolen Vitality. This added intelligence and vitality gives access to skills that improve damage at the cost of HP and prolong Bleed: put two or three in Blood Pact and the rest in Crimson Gluttony. 
• Warlock passives: as we’re looking to maximise damage over time and especially Bleed, upgrade Spiteful Decay, Cauldron of Blood, and Crimson Favors, followed by Vessel of Chaos later on. Put five points in Soul Stealer for the chance to gain mana on hit. Recommended passives for survivability are Harrowing Armor, Dark Protections, Wither, and Malefic Body. 
• Lich passives: upgrade Apocrypha if you need better mana regeneration.

The most important passives for this Last Epoch Warlock build improve Bleed chance and Bleed damage. The Warlock tree’s Spiteful Decay and following passives are perfect for that, as is Vessel of Chaos. To make sure your Warlock isn't too squishy, distribute the rest of the points between passives that increase mana regeneration and gain ward or armour. 

Last Epoch Warlock equipment

Without armour that specifically improves bleed damage or duration, increase your damage over time stat instead. Be on the lookout for extra intelligence, better mana generation, and better Bleed penetration too. As we’ll be converting attacks to physical/Bleed attacks, it’s always good to gain increased physical damage from your Warlock build equipment.