Ball Lightning Hybrid DoT / Crit Runemaster Build Guide

Absolutely insane amounts of damage, both single target and AoE (see Mechanics section). That's not an exaggeration. T4 Julra dies in less than 4 (FOUR) seconds.

Approximately 30% of damage comes from hits/crits from Runic Invocation, while another 70% of damage comes from Brand of Deception,which is a 1 stack DoT — which means that the damage doesn't need a ramp-up (as in case with ailment dots, such as Ignite or Poison.

Very good mobility via Flame Rush (which also applies Brand of Deception by the way) and with PrefixExperimental Traversal Cooldown Recovery on Potion Use you can reset the cooldown very quick. You can zoom through maps, while killing the trash mobs that you zoom through.

Pretty solid survivability against hits (which constitute the majority of the damage in Last Epoch), thanks to high Dodge rating. The build does 300 Corruption monos and T4 Dungeons without any problems (see videos). I didn't push it further than 300, because I'm a lazy ass, but I don't see it having much trouble pushing to 1000 as is, without any gear improvement. (Pushing further than that with current gear might be problematic though)

CHEAP: Despite not being beginner-friendly, the build is very cheap, at least by MG standards. Since it's very different from the standard Runemaster Meta, even the incredibly powerful 3LP Fundamental Criterion and 4LP Reowyn's Fortress are less than 20 Mil, while T6+T7 exalteds are as low as 3 Mil. The entire setup did cost me less than 200 Mil, and none of the individual items worth more than 25 Mil.

The build survivability heavily relies on Dodge and Armor. It can not scale HUGE amounts of Ward (3-4k is essentially the cap). Therefore, it is rather squishy vs various Spell Dots (such as Lagon's cold breath, or Emperor of Corpses' necrotic whirlwind), because DoTs completely ignore Dodge, largely ignore Armor (unless you stack PrefixExperimental Armour applies to Damage over Time) and sometimes even ignore Ward. Usually it can be easily avoided by using Flame Rush though, but some encounters might be pretty difficult (e.g. The Mountain Beneath).

The build is not particularly easy to afford for Circle of Fortune players due to rather hard requirement of high LP Uniques, such as Fundamental Criterion. Technically not impossible, of course, but I'd imagine it would be VERY hard to farm on your own. One of the main points why is this build is possible at all — is because none of the items are Meta, and therefore they are SUPER cheap on MG.

For trash

Ball Lightning is effectively a single target skill, since its AoE is way too small. We need something else to clear trash. That's where Interlude comes into play. This Runic Invocation node automatically casts a 2-rune invocation whenever you directly cast 2 or 3-rune Invocations. In our case — this is Sea of Sparks. It doesn't do that much damage, but it effectively covers an entire screen (since it hits almost all the mobs that are nearby). And it also applies Brand of Deception (since the skill costs 35 mana), and it also receives the bonuses from Fundamental Criterion and Reowyn's Fortress.

So, the plan is to zoom around with Flame Rush (while periodically popping potions to refresh the cooldown), spam 3-Gon rune Runic Invocation. Then whatever the Ball Lightning and Sea of Sparks didn't kill will be dead from Brand of Deception very soon.

For bosses

Apart from the core mechanics listed in the Overview, Runic Invocation damage is further boosted by its own skill tree (such as Unbridled Ruin and Runic Energy). Then all the skills from Runic Invocation are also DUPLICATED by Copied Scrolls. Then it's boosted by other Skills and Passives, such as Aspirant's Arrival or Decree of the Decree of the Burning Wind. And then it's boosted EVEN MORE by Vaion's Chariot multiplicative bonus for Movement skills (since our Runic Invocation is now a Movement skill, thanks to Stride to Safety node).

Therefore, the plan here is to cast Frost Wall, wait for ~7 seconds, while stacking Gon runes with Runebolt, cast Runic Invocation. The Ball Lightning lasts for 4.4 seconds — if the target is not dead by then — just repeat.

The build can, obviously, be improved by getting more LP on items, but the price is steep. For example, 2 LP Stormcarved Testament starts from 150 Mil, which is something that I personally can't be arsed to farm...

On the other hand, a much more realistic opportunity to improve the build comes from Weaver's items. For example, you can replace Gloves and Belt slots fairly safely, if you find a good-rolled Swaddling of the Erased and Communion of the Erased. And with the help of the MG rank 10 (you can buy all Legendary items) there's a good chance you'll find what you need — just look for the affixes that you need (while leaving the "Weaver potential" > 0)

Another option: explore the Crit-based version of the build (e.g. less accent on the PrefixElemental Damage Over Time gear and more on PrefixCritical Strike Multiplier and PrefixLightning Damage)

https://www.lastepochtools.com/loot-filters/view/pA6L5eBv

I use my own MG filter. It's not particularly strict, but at least you most likely won't miss very expensive stuff (such as idols, for example).