Last Epoch: Best Acolyte Build [Tried & Tested]

Acolytes are one of the most fun character classes you can play in 1.0. Additionally, they are also quite overpowered when built properly. Fortunately, this Best Acolyte Build in Last Epoch caters to mage lovers and has a solid early, mid, and late-game phase with overwhelming damage and sustain.

Best Acolyte Build Summarized

A quick overview of the best Acolyte Necromancer build is listed as follows:

The Acolyte mastery associated with this build is the Necromancer. Although Lich is quite popular, your summons as a Necromancer allows you to summon an army to fight for you and provide versatility in your play style.

Skills And Specializations

You can only select the Necromancer mastery after level 20. However, before that tree unlocks, you rely on your Acolyte skills for most damage. Because of level-based trees, you may have to replace some skills as the game progresses. I have listed the Skills that suited my playstyle the most, but you can choose to replace any if this build doesn’t fit your playstyle.

Chaos Bolts

Chaos Bolts are ranged necrotic projectiles that explode on impact, dealing necrotic and fire-type damage to targets. You should focus on the right side of the Skill tree, completely prioritizing Mana Anarchy and Revolution. This will increase the mana cost but will increase the damage you and your minions deal by a lot.

Dread Shade

It is an Area spell that boosts your and your minions’ necrotic damage by ten and deals 50% increased Necrotic damage to enemies inside. However, it will also damage your minions for 3% of their max health per second.

You should build Lingering Doom so your minions stay alive longer in the pit. Additionally, Dying Coven and Flesh Harvest will boost the speed. Similarly, the All For One and Egoism nodes will increase spell damage and boost crit chance.

Infernal Shade

Infernal Shade is an ignite spell that lights the targeted enemy on fire. It also damages the target and the enemies around it for 5 seconds.

You must upgrade the Influence and Fanning the Flames nodes in its skill tree so you can target a larger area. I also recommend building Soulfire and Devour In Flames skill tree nodes to increase this spell’s fire damage.

Transplant

Transplant is the hail mary of any Best Acolyte build in Last Epoch. It lets you teleport to a new location quickly, leaving behind a body that detonates and damages any enemies around it. However, instead of mana, it costs 13% of your current health to cast.

It is imperative to build Fleeting Form and Acolyte’s Fervor as the first two nodes in the skill tree. These nodes help you a lot in casting this spell quicker and for cheaper. Reign of Blood and Violent Emergence are great nodes to boost most of this skill damage.

Summon Skeletal Mage

The Summon Skeletal Mage is the most important skill of this build. It allows you to summon skeleton mages that can use spells and aid you in a fight. These are your main sources of damage in this build, so it’s important to build this skill properly.

If you want just one Super Mage, go for the Archmage route. It will limit you to only one summon, but after building Forbidden Arcana and Splintered Dominion, it will deal more damage to its targets. However, if you want two relatively strong mages, build the above nodes. Instead of Archmage, go for Celer Mortis and Grey Merchant for Critical Multiplier and Mobility.

Passive Abilities Pathing

The passive abilities are crucial to making any build shine. I will review the base Acolyte passive tree and the Necromancer tree. Granted, the order of unlocking skills is up to you, based on your playstyle, but the result should be the same as shown below.

Acolyte Passive Tree Path

You should max out Forbidden Knowledge, then Dark Ritual, to ensure your minions are as strong as possible. Additionally, you can build Mania of Mortality and Unnatural Preservation to increase utility until you unlock the Necromancer mastery.

Necromancer Passive Tree Path

The Necromancer Passive Tree must be built properly, as this controls your primary source of damage and overall dictates the build quality. As this will be your mastery, you can unlock the entire tree, starting with the Grave Thorns Node. The other primary nodes you want to build are Crused Blood and Aegisfall for better attacks and armor shred.

Some additional nodes that you should max out as you level up are:

• Frantic Summons
• Moonlight Pyre
• Rite of Undeath 
• Blades of the Forlorn 

Best Equipment For An Acolyte

Naturally, no build will be complete without its proper equipment in Last Epoch. Fortunately, the Necromancer build I’ve explained above isn’t restricted to any armor or weapon item. However, I will be listing some of the equipment pieces you should keep an eye out for in your adventures.

The best equipment for the Necromancer is listed as follows:

• Skeletal Sceptre
• Ornate Bone Idol
• Avarice
• Avent of the Erased

Necromancer Playstyle

The play style for this build is pretty straightforward. Once entirely built, you will be using your Skeletal Mages as puppets to go and fight for you while you damage your enemies from far away. Transplant is perfect for Necromancers in case enemies start chasing you, and you must quickly escape. However, you should have no trouble fighting with the right equipment and skills, even if your minions succumb to the void.

My Tips On The Acolyte Build

As a fan of casters, I am heavily biased towards the Acolyte class because of the fun summons I get to try out. This build seemed to settle with me the best out of the more popular ones that focus on blood magic or summoning Wraithlords. It gave me a whole Necromancer experience that I loved experimenting with for hours.

That concludes my take on the best Acolyte Build in Last Epoch. As always, I suggest checking out some similar guides, such as the best classes in Last Epoch. If that isn’t to your liking, consider giving the Best Rogue Build in Last Epoch guide a look.

Up Next:

• Last Epoch: BEST Rings
• Last Epoch: Best Mage Build
• Last Epoch: How To Unlock Mastery
• Last Epoch: Best Beastmaster Build