Introduction

Last Epoch Tools now provides a platform for all content creators to create and maintain their build guides, and for players to view build guides in much more appealing form and discuss them on the forums.

Compared to existing ways of publishing build guides (be it official LE forums or reddit for example), LE Tools build guides platform has the following benefits:

Common structure for all guides (Overview, Pros & Cons, Skills, Passives, Stat Priorities, Gameplay / Mechanics, Leveling, Video)
Easier navigation - there's a table of contents that's built automatically based on build guide sections
Ability to directly link items, item sets, skills, ailments, minions, skill/passive tree nodes
Equipment, Skills and Passives sections are automatically generated and have a familiar UI
Changelog for an easy way to see guide update history
Easy-to-use Build Guide Creator - you can see the resulting guide layout during editing and edit all sections independently using WYSIWYG editor that offers complex formatting

A lifecycle of any build guide looks like this:

(Non-existent) -> (Draft) -> (Submitted for Approval) -> (Rejected) or (Approved)
Rejected build guide state automatically changes to Draft.

To create a new build guide you will have to do the following:

Go to Build Guides section and click "Create Build Guide" button. You should be Logged in on this forum to be able to do that.
Provide guide title and build planner link - this is a bare minimum to save your build guide as a draft. Equipment, Skills and Passives section will be generated automatically based on provided planner link. Do NOT include game version in the title, it will be added automatically based on planner link.
- All build guides created by you can be seen in Build Guides section. If they are in "Draft" or "Submitted for Approval" state, they will be shows at the top of the list.
  *❗️Build planner link used for the build guide must include skill tree and passive tree progressions (they can be set in build planner). Tree progressions will be automatically available in build guide. This will help players to understand the order in which nodes should be taken.
Fill in the contents for mandatory sections (Overview, Pros & Cons, Gameplay / Mechanics, Leveling)
- Overview section should outline the main points of the build, e.g. core items, skill synergies, what gamers the build is aimed for etc.
- Pros & Cons section should cover all pros and cons of the build
- Gameplay / Mechanics section should explain how to play the build, skill rotation, procs, skill interactions, used mechanics etc.
- Leveling section should explain how to level the character, what items/skills to use when aiming for the build
  -❗️If you write stuff like "Hi! It's CoolGamer123. This is my first build! Enjoy!" and write only couple sentences for each mandatory section just to fill it in, such build guide won't be approved. There's no value in such build guides, you can just share a build planner link on your preferred social platform, there won't be any difference.
  -❗️Make sure to link items, skills, ailments etc, otherwise it would be just a wall of text and such guides won't be approved.
  -❗️Make sure to use adequate formatting, section editor has plenty of formatting options. Try not to shorten the words too much and if you use abbreviations, explain them before using them.
  -❗️ Excessive use of color and UPPERCASE is NOT ok. Please use it only when there's actually a need to highlight something.
Provide at least one video link.
- Ideally there should be a video explaining the build guide in details and showing build gameplay, but it's ok to just include a couple videos showing build gameplay in monoliths / arena / boss killing etc.
Fill in Stat Priorities sections for Equipment, Idols and Blessings.
- Items column: each slot should have links to items in that column, prioritized from most to least useful (could be one item, if there are no other options or it's a mandatory unique/set item). One entry per line, please.
- Stats column: each slot should have either links to prefixes/suffixes or stat names in that column, prioritized from most to least useful. One entry per line, please.
- This is mandatory. If these sections are not filled in properly, such build guides will be rejected.
Select any tags if needed.
Fill in any optional sections if needed (Endgame, Loot Filter, FAQ)
- Endgame section should describe how to tailor the build to endgame, e.g. whether some items / skill nodes should be changed for certain endgame modes etc.
- Loot Filter should cover loot filter setup and maybe pastebin links to loot filter
- FAQ section should cover answers to most common questions regarding the build
Submit your build guide for approval (for now it's just a quick review on my end to check that everything is OK with layouts etc., this step might be removed in the future).
- Your guide might be rejected if it doesn't meet requirements described above. In that case you'll be notified via email (there will be a reason for rejection stated there) and the guide will be moved back to "Draft" state.
- If your guide is approved, you'll receive an email with the public link to hour build guide.
Once your build guide is approved the following will occur:
- A new discussion for this build guide will be created by Build Guide Bot in LE forums and it will be linked to the build guide. You will be automatically subscribed to this thread and receive notifications when someone replies in this discussion.
- Your build guide will appear in Build Guides section
- Your build guide will appear in Builds section as well - this section will stay on the site for some time, until (hopefully) at some point most guides will be published in LE Tools

What you can and can't do:

You can change guide title until your build guide is approved, after that it's no longer possible.
You can change build planner link freely when guide is in draft phase. After guide is approved you can provide a new build planner link if it's a build for the same class/mastery combination. If you update your build guide to new patch, build guide title will be automatically updated everywhere reflecting new patch version.
Once your build guide is approved, every time you make any changes in it, you must provide a changelog entry describing the changes (there's no need to specify date/time, it's added automatically).

FAQ:

Do I need to fill in all sections when creating a build guide? I haven't fully finalized the guide yet.
- That's what build guide drafts are for! The only things needed to save a basic draft is guide title and build planner link, that's it. You can then update any sections as you please at your own pace. The list of your build guide drafts is shown at the top of Build Guides section.
When I try to insert a link to [some site] in one of the sections, is doesn't work - why is that?
- Currently editor allows you to link anything from the following domains (whitelist):
  - https://www.lastepochtools.com
  - https://pastebin.com (for loot filters)
  - https://www.youtube.com (for video links)
  - https://docs.google.com (for links to any spreadsheets or extra docs if needed)
Is there some easy way to port my build guide from LE forums to LE Tools?
- No and there won't be, because build guides posted on LE forums have different sections, layout and formatting, so there's no way to provide any sort of tool that can convert these guides into LE Tools format easily. But fret not! Just go to build guide creation section in LE Tools and see for yourself that it's not so difficult to do that manually.
How can I bump my build guide when I made some changes?
- There's no need to. When a guide is updated, Build Guide Bot will post a reply in build guide's discussion thread on the forums where users will see what was changed. And if for example a guide is updated for latest patch version, it will also show up in the default filter in Build Guides sections.
Can I post a guide in [my] language?
- Currently only guides in English will be approved. The reason for this is rather simple - LE is not translated in any other languages yet. I think it will be weird to have a "mixed" language content, because item/skill/etc names are in English and all UI in LE Tools is in English. In future when LE is translated in other languages, support for Non-English guides will definitely be considered.
Do I need to add a video?
- Yes. This is mandatory. You should provide at least one video either explaining the build in details or showcasing the gameplay for the character build.
Why my guide wasn't approved?
- In 99% of the cases the reason for this is poor formatting or a complete lack of it. Section editor provides a number of formatting options, but some people tend to ignore them.
- Furthermore when you want to refer to an item, skill, skill node, etc. instead of just typing it, paste a link to it via buttons in the section editor toolbar. This will make build guides easier to read and people would be able to get all the relevant info just hovering over the linked elements.
Guides that contain a sentence or two in each section will be rejected – come on, these aren't guides, you can just get a link to your build planner and share it somewhere.