Last Epoch: How To Increase Defense [Proven Methods]

A detailed guide on how to increase defense using ward, resistance, passives, armor and health in Last Epoch.

It is important to increase the defense of your character In the Last Epoch to survive against the powerful bosses and enemies. Focusing on health, resistance, armor, and dodging is important to defend yourself. You will be able to increase your defense in several ways in the Last Epoch.

Key Takeaways
  • Defense in Last Epoch relies heavily on HP, Armor, Ward, and Resistance.
  • By using the right gear and equipment, players can increase their defense.
  • Certain classes, like Mage, lack highly in defense as compared to others.
  • Investing in passives that increase defense is important for survival.
  • It is important to Dodge and Avoid attacks to increase defense against enemies in Last Epoch.

How To Increase Defence In Last Epoch

You can increase defense by investing in health, ward, armor, and resistance.

Furthermore, by mastering movement skills like avoiding and dodging, you can reduce incoming damage. As such, learning the ideal playstyle alongside solid progression is another key component.

Increasing Health And Vitality

When you first start in the Last Epoch, you won’t have much health. However, as you level up, your health pool will increase with each level, and you can also equip certain gear that will boost your base HP.

Health
Make sure to increase your base health [Image Capture Credit: eXputer]
Since I was playing as a mage, my character had low defense. But with the right equipment, I was able to boost my HP a lot.

  • Using HP Potions: Make sure to keep yourself stacked with HP potions. They usually drop from enemies and chests.
  • Equipping Gear: Some gear and equipment also help to increase health. It is important to check the gear stats to see if it has HP buffs. Equipping the right gear will help you with Health Regeneration, Health Leech, and Health Gain On Hit. You can also use modifiers on your gear to increase your health further.
  • Investing in Passives: Spending points on passive skills that help with Health Regeneration or Health Gain On Hit can be very beneficial in increasing defense.
Last Epoch How To Increase Defence
Equip gear that will boost your health [Image Capture Credit: eXputer]

Investing In Armor And Ward

The best way to increase your defense is to invest in armor and wards. Armor will help you against all kinds of attacks, including physical and non-physical attacks.

How To Increase Defence In Last Epoch
Make sure to equip armor with resistance [Image Credit: eXputer]
However, against spells, your best defense is increasing your ward retention. You will be able to gain wards per second, per hit, or even through skills and passives.

  • Using Unique Items: When your ward bar is full, you won’t take any damage. Certain skills like Mage’s Flame Ward and items can increase your ward. Furthermore, you can also equip skills or items that can slow down the Ward Decay.
    How To Increase Health and Defence In Last Epoch
    Ward is important to protect your HP [Screenshot Capture Credit: eXputer]
  • Increasing Intelligence: With Mage or sorcerer builds, you will be able to use plenty of passives and actives to increase your Ward Retention and decrease the Ward Decay. I would also recommend increasing Intelligence as it grants 4% Ward Retention per point.

Increasing Resistance

Resistances in the Last Epoch cap at 75%. I will highly recommend capping your resistance against elements as soon as possible. Other than that, you should focus on increasing your resistance against Physical, Void, and Poison, as you will be facing enemies mostly with these elemental-type attacks in the early chapters.

How To Increase Defence In Last Epoch using skills
Increase your resistance against all elemental attacks [Screenshot by eXputer]
It is also important to know that enemies will get Penetration against resistance as they level up. Therefore, depending upon the area or enemy, your resistance won’t work if it’s a high-level enemy, and you might end up taking increased damage.

enemies
Increase Endurance to survive against end-game bosses [Screenshot Capture Credit: eXputer]
I will also advise investing in gear, skills, passes, or blessings that will increase your Endurance. If you have chosen the Primalist class, you will have the most Endurance.

Evading And Dodging Attacks

In Last Epoch, dodge chance caps are at 85%. Learning how to increase dodge chance is important if you want to increase your defense.

Dodge
Improve Dodge chance rating to survive [Image Credit: eXputer]
You can use certain gear, blessings, or skills to increase your dodge chance. Some effects, like Silver Shroud, can also increase the dodge chance. Whenever you come across an enemy, pay attention to their move set so you can avoid any lethal attacks. I will also recommend equipping gear like Survival Of Might or Woven Flesh to get critical strike avoidance from incoming attacks.

With this, I conclude my detailed guide on how to increase defense in Last Epoch. I would recommend checking out Obaid’s guide on the best Shields in Last Epoch to boost your defense even more. You can also check out Obaid’s guide on the best armor to increase your survivability.

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Kashaf is an RPG and Battle Royale enthusiast and can be seen spending most of her time battling other players in Naraka Bladepoint or improving her skills in Diablo 4. She loves to curate builds based on her own expertise and writes guides to help the audience become pros in no time. She kicked off her writing career on eXputer with several years of experience. You can follow Kashaf's gaming activity on her Steam profile.

Experience: 3+ Years || Education: Bachelors in Journalism.

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