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Last Epoch, with its diverse class system, offers a wealth of build options to suit every kind of player. One of the most creative and exciting builds in the game is the Machine Gun Stygian Coal Lich. This build is a fascinating take on the Lich class, taking advantage of its unique necrotic and spellcasting abilities, while focusing on making Lich's Drain Life skill function like an automatic machine gun.

In this detailed guide, we'll go through everything you need to know about the Machine Gun Stygian Coal Lich build. From skill trees, passives, gear, and idols, to gameplay strategies and leveling tips, this build is perfect for players seeking a dynamic and powerful Lich experience.

Build Overview

The Machine Gun Stygian Coal Lich is a necrotic-based spellcaster that specializes in using the Drain Life skill to dish out relentless damage. The build revolves around Stygian Coal, a unique Catalyst that transforms Drain Life into an automatic machine gun-like attack. This makes the build both highly efficient and visually satisfying as your Lich shoots out beams of life-draining energy to decimate enemies.

The build also utilizes Transplant, Reaper Form, and Rip Blood to maximize both offensive and defensive potential, providing high survivability while still delivering substantial damage. With its focus on quick, automatic Drain Life spam, it has earned the "Machine Gun" moniker.

Key Features of the Build

  · Machine Gun Drain Life: Automatic, channeled, and high-damage Drain Life beams targeting nearby enemies.

  · Reaper Form: Adds a powerful buff, increasing critical strike chance, damage, and survivability.

  · Necrotic Damage Focus: The entire build revolves around necrotic damage, leveraging passives and skills to multiply this damage type.

  · Spam Skills: Rip Blood and Death Seal enhance both damage and defense, supporting the Lich's attack style.

Now, let's break down how to make this build work from the ground up!

Skill Breakdown

The core skills that form the heart of this build include Drain Life, Transplant, Reaper Form, Rip Blood, and Death Seal. Let's go through each one, explaining the nodes and choices that make them optimal for the Machine Gun Lich.

1. Drain Life

The main skill that powers the Machine Gun Lich build, Drain Life, becomes a spammable attack thanks to the Stygian Coal Catalyst. Here's how to optimize this skill:

Key Nodes:

  · Dark Shackles: This node is crucial as it transforms Drain Life into a machine gun by allowing it to automatically target enemies. It's the heart of the "machine gun" effect.

  · Unholy Mass: This node boosts Drain Life's damage by a massive 63%, significantly increasing your overall damage output.

  · Multiplicative Damage Increases: Additional nodes grant a 40% and 20% multiplicative increase to Drain Life damage, ramping up your offensive capabilities.

  · Zero Mana Cost: Reduces the mana cost of Drain Life to zero, allowing you to maintain constant spam without worrying about running out of mana.

2. Reaper Form

Reaper Form grants the Lich various buffs that make it both an offensive and defensive powerhouse. When activated, it increases critical strike chance, damage, and attack speed.

Key Nodes:

  · Soul Shroud: Grants you additional armor based on your intelligence, making you tankier while also boosting damage.

  · Executioner: Adds a bonus critical strike multiplier, further improving your damage.

  · Base Necrotic Damage: Boosts your necrotic damage, which is the primary damage type in this build.

3. Rip Blood

Rip Blood is a secondary skill that helps with both survivability and damage. It provides AoE damage and works well with Mana Feast to sustain mana.

Key Nodes:

  · Mana Feast: Grants you mana each time Rip Blood hits an enemy, making it a great tool for sustaining your mana during combat.

  · Double Blood Splatter: Casts two blood splatter effects for every Rip Blood use, increasing the damage and area of effect significantly.

  · Health Per Intelligence: Boosts your health regeneration when you pick up intelligence bonuses, supporting your survivability.

4. Transplant

Transplant is a mobility skill that also deals damage. While not your primary damage source, it's useful for repositioning and dealing extra necrotic damage.

Key Nodes:

  · Necrotic Damage: Convert Transplant's damage to necrotic, matching the rest of your build's theme.

  · Haste Frenzy: Increases the speed of Transplant, allowing for quicker, more efficient mobility.

  · Pool of Blood: Leaves behind a slow pool of blood, further assisting with crowd control.

5. Death Seal

Death Seal is a powerful skill that deals high damage when activated and significantly boosts your damage output while at low health. It's essential for maximizing your damage potential.

Key Nodes:

  · Mortal Pulse: Deals damage every 0.4 seconds while in Death Seal, increasing your DPS significantly.

  · Critical Strike Chance: Increases your chances of landing critical strikes while in Death Seal, maximizing your damage potential.

  · Multiplicative Damage: More nodes increase your damage based on how low your health is, making you even deadlier when low on health.

Passive Skill Tree

The passive skill tree for this build should focus on both offensive and defensive passives that enhance necrotic damage, intelligence, and survivability. Here's how to allocate points:

1. Base Acolyte Passives

  · Forbidden Knowledge: Increases intelligence and necrotic resistance.

  · Bone Aura: Grants additional armor for added defense.

  · Stolen Vitality: Adds bonus health, boosting your tankiness.

2. Lich Passives

  · Dance on Death: Increases damage by up to 120% when at low health, perfect for synergizing with Death Seal.

  · Gas Bu Fate: Grants more damage for each point of intelligence.

  · Crippling Insight: Provides more intelligence, further boosting your overall damage.

3. Warlock Passives

  · Soul Stealer: Boosts mana regeneration, helping you sustain your powerful skills.

  · Cultist Mind: Increases mana capacity, allowing you to spam skills without worrying about mana issues.

Gear and Idols

Required Gear

The Stygian Coal Catalyst is absolutely necessary for this build. It turns your Drain Life into the automatic machine gun that is central to the build's function. This Catalyst is relatively easy to acquire and can be dropped from merchants or found in specific dungeons.

Gear Suggestions

  · Weapon: Lost Soul is the best weapon for this build, granting huge boosts to necrotic spell damage, cast speed, and spell penetration.

  · Helmet: Prioritize bonuses to Drain Life, Reaper Form, and Rip Blood to enhance the primary skills of the build.

  · Armor: Look for gear that boosts intelligence, health, and necrotic resistance for defensive stats.

  · Rings: Phantom Grips improve your critical strike chance, but they aren't essential for the build's core mechanics.

  · Relic: A Weaver Relic with bonus intelligence and necrotic damage is highly recommended.

Idols

The focus should be on increasing your overall health. Idols like the Immortal Idol increase your health by up to 9%, which is essential for your survivability.

Leveling Tips

While this build is not optimal for leveling, the best approach for an Acolyte is to start as a Necromancer. Here's a suggested leveling path:

  1. Skeletons: Start by summoning skeleton archers to clear early content.

  2. Bone Golem: Summon a bone golem for extra tankiness and threat generation.

  3. Transition to Lich: Once you unlock the Lich class, focus on maximizing your intelligence and necrotic damage.

Since many of the core skills and passives are locked behind Lich, you'll need to level through a more standard necromancer build and then respec into Lich when possible.

Gameplay Strategy

Once you've reached the endgame, your gameplay revolves around constantly moving, spamming Drain Life, and using Rip Blood for AoE damage. Transplant helps you reposition and escape danger, while Death Seal boosts your damage output when you're at low health. The goal is to keep your enemies at bay using your range while taking advantage of your life leeching mechanics to keep you alive.

You'll want to focus on managing your mana and health efficiently. Using Rip Blood with Mana Feast will ensure that you never run out of mana, and your life leeching from Soul Ma and Stolen Vitality will keep your health in check.

Conclusion

The Machine Gun Stygian Coal Lich build in Last Epoch is one of the most fun and creative ways to experience the Lich class. By turning Drain Life into a machine gun-like skill, you're able to dish out rapid, continuous damage while still maintaining survivability through leech and tankiness. With its powerful synergies, this build offers a high damage ceiling and great flexibility, making it a top choice for players who enjoy spellcasting, high damage, and complex gameplay.

By following the detailed skill tree, passive, gear, and gameplay strategies in this guide, you can make the most out of the Machine Gun Stygian Coal Lich build and carve your way through Last Epoch's toughest challenges to make more Last Epoch Gold & items!