Swipe Werebear Druid Guide
Last Updated:July 6, 2024|Change Log
This ferocious Swipe Werebear Druid shapeshifts into its Werebear Form to brutally charge across the battlefield and engage in pure melee combat. Quickly move around the map with Rampage and slash enemies with Swipe.
This build is able to proc Maelstroms while in Werebear Form to gain powerful buffs. Use Roar and Maul to benefit from Warcry's and Fury Leap's Trees. This is an incredibly tanky build that has access to tons of Health, Leech, Armour, Dodge and Damage Reduction.
This setup doesn't require any Uniques to function or perform. However, Items like Siphon of Anguish and Aurora's Time Glass are amazing for the build.
Overall the Swipe Werebear is a powerful build capable of completing all the content in the game. The DPS is more gear dependent than in other Druid builds, but the reward is worth the investment. It's extremely tanky, therefore perfect for Hardcore. If you are looking for a pure melee juggernaut that slays its enemies in close-quarters, this setup is perfect for you!
This article assumes you have a Level 70 Character.
Reach Level 70 with our Druid Leveling Guide.
If you are looking for a different playstyle, check all our Build Guides!
- Insane HP Sustain
- Perfect For Hardcode
- Amazing Arena Pusher
- Great Scaling With Powerful Gear
- Small AoE
- Average Single Target DPS
- Melee Suffers Against Certain Enemies
- Needs High Crit Chance To Sustain Rage
Skills
Werebear Form
This is a permanent Werebear Form build. You gain a new set of Skills and Mana is replaced by Rage while Transformed. Frenzied Strikes is a must to sustain Rage. Use Ursine Storm to stack Maelstroms, Insatiable for the Critical Strike and Skull Crusher so Maul benefits from Fury Leap's Tree.
Alternative Skills & Tips
Passives
Passives provide powerful effects that dictate the playstyle of a Class and its Masteries. Remember that you can allocate Passives on the first half of all Masteries regardless of the one you chose.
- Harmony of Blades is necessary to Dual Wield.
- Take all the Strength, Health, Melee Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance.
- Grab Survival of the Pack and Bush Stalker for the Melee Leech they provide.
- Rancour and Rageborn are crucial to avoid running out of Rage while in Werebear Form.
- Berserker, Ursine Strength, Boar Heart and Impervious provide insane Damage Reduction.
- Hideskin can turn any Druid into a tanky juggernaut.
Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Passive Points.
Gameplay
This Druid wants to Rampage or Maul into its enemies. Roar to gain the Berserker buff and start swinging with Swipe while building up your DPS and tankiness. Make sure you are familiar with enemy mechanics to know when to use your Support Skills to stay alive. Pay attention to their telegraphed attacks!
Skill Usage/Rotation
- Rampage towards enemy packs.
- Cast Roar for its Berserker buff and to proc 4 Maelstroms.
- Use Maul to gain all the buffs from Fury Leap.
- Spam Swipe and destroy your enemies.
- Maintain 6 stacks of Maelstrom to get Haste from Windswept and Frenzy from Windfury.
Mapping
- Rush to the objective fast with Rampage.
- Pull ranged enemies into you with the pull from Roar.
- Group mobs before using Maul to maximize its AoE and Pull.
Bossing
- Spam Swipe while you wait for Cooldowns to proc additional Maelstroms with Ursine Storm.
- Fully stack the Berserker buff from Roar to gain high Attack Speed.
- Take advantage of all your defensive buffs and keep them active.
- Roar can save you from incoming Damage. Time it against dangerous telegraphed Boss attacks.
Advanced Skill Tips
Learn more about how to maximize your gameplay in the Build Scaling section of this guide.
Gear
Gearing in Last Epoch revolves around finding Items and then using the powerful Crafting System to enhance them. As long as an Item has Forging Potential left, players can upgrade or modify their Affixes up to Tier 5. However, the powerful Exalted Tier Affixes are drop only and can't be modified by players.
Using the correct Item Bases allows you to make use of their amazing Implicits, this is fundamental for gearing efficiently. Combine Implicits, Passives, Idols and Blessings to cap your Resistances and other defensive layers, while fitting as much Health related Affixes or Endurance Threshold into your gear as possible. Plan ahead for your next upgrades and consider the final Blessings of your build while gearing. Finish up by farming Uniques with Legendary Potential and Sealing Affixes into Exalted Items to unleash all of your build's power!
Here are the Stat Goals for this build:
- Capped Resistances
- Capped Critical Strike Avoidance
- Capped Endurance
- 3000 - 5000+ Health
- 1000 - 1500 Endurance Threshold
- 50% - 70%+ Armour
- 40% - 60%+ Dodge
- 80+ Strength
- 100% Melee Critical Strike Chance
- 50% - 80%+ Movement Speed
Gear Progression
Milestone 1
Aim for good Item Bases with two valuable T5 Affixes. The defensive rolls on T5 Suffixes are very important at this stage as they can easily cap all your Resistances when combined with Item Implicits, Idols, Blessings or Passives. Get two Swords with double T5 offensive Prefixes as soon as possible.
Milestone 2
Make sure your Critical Strike Avoidance is capped. Remember that Woven Flesh is always an option early on. It can be farmed by killing the Abomination in the Fall of the Outcast Monolith Timeline.
Milestone 3
Fit as much Health into your gear as possible. Hybrid Health and %Health are extremely valuable, but can be hard to find early on. Use regular flat Health until you find them.
Milestone 4
Aim for T5 Level of Werebear Form on your Helmet and Level of Swipe on your Relic to invest extra Points on them. Make sure to have Chance to Slow on Hit on one of your Axes to proc Swipe´s Trapper Node.
Milestone 5
While you look for this basic set of gear, start farming your Empowered Blessings and look for any Idols that can help you cap all your Resistances momentarily or increase your Damage output. Keep an eye out for Large Nomad Idol with %Health Prefix, Critical Strike Avoidance for You and Your Minions or Elemental Resistance While Transformed and Critical Strike Chance with Lightning Skills for You and Your Minions Suffixes.
Milestone 1
When all your core Defenses are covered, start working on your Damage. Get Critical Strike Multiplier, Strength and Chance To Shred Armour on Hit to increase your DPS drastically.
Milestone 2
Get Chance to Apply Frailty on Hit to decrease the Damage enemies deal to you. This Ailment is really important and should always be kept in mind.
Milestone 3
Get as much Critical Strike Chance on your Gear, Passives and Skills as necessary to reach 100% Melee Critical Strike Chance.
Milestone 4
Farm Siphon of Anguish for the Doom chance it provides. It's a common drop from Shade of Orobyss in any Monolith of Faith Timeline. You can farm this Unique while you look for Empowered Blessings.
Milestone 5
As you finish up your Empowered Blessings keep a decent Health pool, capped Resistances and Critical Strike Avoidance. Start working on capping 60% Endurance. Your goal is to have items with 4 valuable T5 Affixes, also known as T20.
Milestone 1
Upgrade your T20 setup with Exalted items, high value Sealed Affixes or ideally both. Obtain the Affixes included in the Planner, but prioritize the indicated Item Bases for their Implicits. Make sure to Seal highly efficient low tier Affixes. Ward and Ailment Cleansing on Potion Use is a must have for Belts.
Milestone 2
Farm a Siphon of Anguish with Legendary Potential. Additionally, the Shade of Orobyss can drop Shattered Chains if you have at least 120 Corruption when you defeat it. This belt provides another Damage Multiplier for the build. Target this Uniques while you farm Corruption in any Monolith of Faith Timeline.
Milestone 3
Aurora's Time Glass is a great addition to this build for extra survivability. Make sure the Implicit Necrotic Resistance of your Spirit Catcher and Ivory Ring are well rolled for a smoother transition into this Unique.
Milestone 4
Get all your Large Nomad Idol with %Health Prefix and Critical Strike Avoidance for You and Your Minions, Elemental Resistance While Transformed or Critical Strike Chance with Lightning Skills for You and Your Minions Suffixes. Keep stacking as much Health, Attunement and Strength on your gear as you can while having 100% Melee Critical Strike Chance.
Milestone 1
Keep upgrading your gear with Exalted Items with Sealed Affixes. Get every stat in the right place and in the correct Item Base. Min/Maxing your gear in Last Epoch can be pushed to the extreme as Items with multiple Exalted Affixes are technically possible.
Milestone 2
Get as close to perfect rolls for all your Empowered Blessings and find all your desired Idols with the best in slot Prefixes and Suffixes.
Milestone 3
Farm Siphon of Anguish, Shattered Chains and Aurora's Time Glass with the maximum Legendary Potential you can find. Remember that some Unique Items are extremely hard to get with multiple Legendary Potential. Good luck with the chase!
Milestone 4
Feel free to experiment with any crazy Unique, Legendary or Experimental Items that you might craft, trade or find! The possibilities are endless!
Learn the basics for crafting gear with our Beginner Crafting Guide.
Check our Unique Item & Set Farming Guide and learn how to get them!
Want to know more about Legendary Items? Check our Legendary Guide!
Blessings
Completing a Timeline in the Monolith of Fate lets you choose one of several randomized Blessings from its unique pool. Their benefits are permanent and persist even outside of the Monolith of Fate.
Empowered Blessings are a fundamental part of all builds, so getting the correct ones for each is key.
The sooner you reach Empowered Monolith, the faster you can start farming your desired Blessings!
Normal Blessings are not very important as they are eventually replaced by Empowered Blessings. However, they can still be a great source of Resistances, Critical Strike Avoidance or Life Leech for your build early on.
Pick up these Normal Blessings on your way to Empowered:
- Echo of Solarum
- Thirst of the Sun
- Mysteries of the Deep
- Bastion of Divinity
- Survival of Might
- Persistance of Will
- Protection of Heorot
- Resolve of Grael
- Bulwark of the Tundra
- Heart of the Caldera
- Embers of Immortality
- Body of Obsidian
Note: Don't target farm Normal Blessings. Get to Empowered Monolith as fast as you can.
Reaching Empowered Monolith unlocks all the level 100 Timelines and the ability to farm Empowered Blessings. Unlike Normal Blessings, these need to be farmed until you get the desired ones for your build. It is extremely important to get this set up as quickly as possible to free up affix slots on your gear. Remember, the more value you get from your Blessings, the easier it is to craft efficient gear!
These are the core Combat Empowered Blessings for this build:
- Start with Grand Survival of Might. A high roll on this Empowered Blessing can be combined with Large Nomad Idols or a single T5 Critical Strike Avoidance to completely cap it.
- Grab Grand Mysteries of the Deep for a huge DPS boost.
- Farm Grand Thirst of the Sun for the extra Leech Rate.
- Pick Grand Bulwark of the Tundra for additional survivability.
- Finish up by farming the best rolled Grand Body of Obsidian you can get. It grants an insane amount of Flat Armour that helps increase the survivability of the build and synergises greatly with all the Strength the build stacks. You can grab Grand Swiftness of Logi instead if your gear lacks %Dodge Rating.
These Empowered Blessings are flexible and depend on your current needs and goals.
These are valuable Empowered Drop Rate Blessings for this build:
- Grand Sight of the Outcasts is valuable to help you find Large Nomad Idol with %Health Prefix and Critical Strike Avoidance for You and Your Minions or Elemental Resistance While Transformed Suffixes. Once you find all your Idols, you can switch to the Grand Winds of Fortune and focus on Uniques instead.
- Grand Enmity of the Clans helps you find more Exalted Swords.
- Lastly take Grand Slumber of Morditas to increase your chances at finding a Relic with Exalted Level of Swipe or Grand Arrogance of Argentus to increase you chances at finding a Helmet with Exalted Level of Werebear Form. You can also farm Grand Vision of the Aurora if you are still looking for Aurora's Time Glass.
Learn how to farm Blessings fast with our Advanced Monolith Strategies.
Idols
Idols grant your character bonuses when equipped in the dedicated Idol Container. Unlock all the slots of your Idol Container by completing the Campaign and some of its Side Quests. Remember that some Idols are Class specific and you won't be able to equip them with other non-compatible Classes.
These are the Idols recommended for this build:
- Find 4 Large Nomad Idol with %Health Prefix. For the Suffixes aim for Critical Strike Avoidance for You and Your Minions, Elemental Resistance While Transformed and Critical Strike Chance with Lightning Skills for You and Your Minions.
- Get 2 Stout Lagonian Idols with %Health Prefix and flat Health Suffix.
- You also want 2 Stout Lagonian Idols with %Health Prefix and Lightning Resistance to cap it.
- You might need extra Resistances out of your Idols early on, so keep an eye for anything useful until you get your final setup.
Other useful Idol Affixes
Make sure to complete the Campaign to get all your Idol Slots.
Learn how to be efficient with Idols with our Advanced Idols Setups Guide.
Build Scaling
This Druid uses permanent Werebear Form and stacks Melee Attack Speed related buffs to unleash Swipe against its enemies. It deals Lightning Damage and aims to reach 100% Melee Critical Strike Chance. This build also has great survivability thanks to the multiple defensive layers it can take advantage of.
- Melee Flat Damage: You want to get as much Flat Damage on your Swords as possible. Additionally, Roar's Berserker buff grants 4 Melee Damage per stack.
- Crystal Sword: A powerful base with amazing Implicits.
- % Lightning Damage: Anything that increases Melee Lightning Damage is welcomed.
- Melee Attack Speed: The faster you attack with Swipe the more Damage you deal and Ailments you apply. Roar's Berserker buff grants up to 60% Melee Attack Speed thanks to Warcry's Fury Strikes Node and Fury Leap's Rage Node provides a 30% Melee Attack Speed buff.
- Chance To Shred Armour on Hit: Each stack of this Ailment reduces enemy Armour by 100 for 4 seconds and stacks infinitely. Enemies have 0 Armour by default and it can go into the negatives. At -1000 Armour a target takes 16.5% increased Lightning Damage, while at -4000 Armour it takes 40%. With the amount of hits the build has, the stacks ramp up quickly.
- Strength: Swipe and Maul gain 4% Damage per point of Strength. Additionally it grants 4% Armour per point, which adds a nice defensive layer for the build.
- Attunement: Swipe gains 2% Lightning Penetration per point of Attunement thanks to the Storm Scour Node.
- Shock: This Ailment reduces Lightning Resistance by 5% per stack. Stacks up to 10 times, increasing the Lightning Damage enemies take by 50%. Additionally, it activates the Wrath of the Wild Node inside Swipe's Tree.
- Critical Strike Chance: Bush Stalker, Rageborn and Insatiable give this tons of increased Critical Strike Chance. It's easy to cap it if you get Melee Critical Strike Chance on your Axes.
- Critical Strike Multiplier: Increases the Damage your Crits deal. Build as much as you can on your gear.
- Slow: Necessary to proc Swipe´s Trapper Node.
- Doom: Granted by Siphon of Anguish this Ailment greatly increases the Melee Damage Taken by enemies. 4% per stack, maximum 4 stacks.
- Level of Werebear Form: Get this Prefix on your Helmet for the Increased Damage it provides and to invest extra Points into its Tree.
- Level of Swipe: Allows you to invest Points into its Tree for more Damage.
- Grand Mysteries of the Deep: Use Swipe to apply 10 stacks of Lightning Resistance Shred to your targets. 10 stacks increase the Lightning Damage enemies take by 50%(20% for Bosses). This Blessing plays a big part on your sinlge target DPS, so make sure you roll it nicely (45%+) and as early as possible.
- Cull: 2 Points into Swipe´s Culling Node provide a 14% kill threshold.
- Stun: Thanks to its Damage output, the Shock Ailment and the huge buff provided by Maelstrom's Essence of Debris Node the build is able to Stun most enemies after a few hits.
- Roar: Grants a brief Damage Immunity thanks to Warcry's Juggernaut Node.
- Berserker: Provides 25% Damage Reduction when you are below 35% of your total Health. This Passive has insane synergy with Hideskin and Endurance.
- Endurance: A defensive mechanic that allows you to take up to 60% less Damage while below a certain Health threshold. Thanks to Hideskin your base Endurance Threshold is 30% of your total Health.
- Ursine Strength: Grants 16% Damage Reduction against Nearby enemies.
- Aspect of the Boar: Combining Boar Heart with Porcine Constitution grants it 30% Damage Reduction. Proc it with Swipe and Maul thanks to Primal Strength.
- Impervious: This setup can afford 5 points in this powerful Passive. The Damage Reduction its stacks provide are really handy, especially when fighting isolated Bosses. The stacks can easily be sustained by spamming Swipe.
- Harmony of Blades: This Passive is necessary to Dual Wield. It comes with the drawback of making you take increased Damage from enemies. While pretty bad on its onw, it's compensated by the multiple defensive layers and Damage Reduction sources this build has.
- Dodge: Maelstrom's Sleet-Footed Node allows you to reach between 40% and 60% Dodge, depending on the total amount of active Maelstrom stacks and %Dodge Rating on your gear. It's very useful to keep stacks of Impervious up.
- Melee Attack Speed: The faster you attack with Swipe the more Maelstroms you proc with Ursine Storm for additional Dodge.
- Armour Mitigation: This setup can get insanely high Armour. Combine the Armour from your Item Implicits, Grand Body of Obsidian Blessing, Grand Bulwark of the Tundra Blessing and all the Strength this build has to reach 50% to 70%+ Mitigation. This is huge on top of all the other defensive layers the build has.
- Health: This build can stack a huge Health pool and surpass the 5000 mark. Health is very effective when combined with all the other defensive layers the Druid has access to. Primalist has access to Large Nomad Idols with %Health; not all Classes have access to these amazing Idols!
- Leech: Survival of the Pack and Bush Stalker provide decent Melee Leech. Swipe has some built in Leech thanks to the Way of the Hunt Node. Grand Thirst of the Sun and Siphon of Anguish grant extra Leech Rate.
- Chill and Slow: Are Ailments that greatly reduce the Action and Movement Speed of your enemies. They are must haves on most builds, especially once you reach hard content with insane speed modifiers.
- Frailty: This Ailment reduces the Damage dealt by enemies by 6% for 4 seconds. Stacks 3 times.
- Ward and Ailment Cleansing on Potion Use: Cleanse all Ailments on Potion use.
- Aurora's Time Glass: This powerful Unique can save you from dangerous situations. Make sure its internal CD is ready before you engage your enemies.
Our Damage Explained Article covers all you need to know to scale Damage.
Learn all you need to know to scale Defense with our Defense Explained Article.
Loot Filter
Loot Filters are critical in Last Epoch. Making sure you highlight all the related valuable Item Bases, Affixes, Uniques and Idols is crucial to ensure your character's progression. As your gear gets better, remember to hide the rules that are no longer useful to avoid screen clutter.
Here is the Endgame Loot Filter for this build:
Learn how to load and make Filters with our Loot Filter Guide.
Video Guide
COMING SOON!
Summary
This unstoppable Werebear Form build brutally charges across the battlefield with Rampage and unleashes Swipe against its enemies. Overall this Druid is an incredibly tanky setup capable of completing all the content in the game.
- Spam Swipe and destroy your enemies.
- Use Roar and Maul to benefit from Warcry's and Fury Leap's Trees.
- Cast Roar and attack with Swipe to cast additional Maelstroms while in Werebear Form.
- Maintain 6 stacks of Maelstrom to get Haste from Windswept and Frenzy from Windfury.
- Reach 100% Melee Critical Strike Chance thanks to you Gear, Passives and Skills.
- Berserker, Ursine Strength, Boar Heart and Impervious provide insane Damage Reduction.
- While they are not mandatory, Siphon of Anguish and Aurora's Time Glass are great Uniques that you want to get to scale the build to its full potential.
Credits
Written by Lizard_IRL.
Reviewed by McFluffin.