Last Epoch Defense Guide: Essential Tips for Scaling Health, Ward, and Defenses

In this Defense for Beginners guide, we cover the essential Defenses you need to understand, such as Resistances, Armor, Endurance, Sustain, and more! Solid Defenses are crucial to your success in Last Epoch. This guide will teach you how to scale your Defenses and help you navigate through any challenge with confidence!

Hit Points (HP)

When your Hit Points (HP) reach zero, your character dies. HP is the most fundamental form of defense and is effective against all types of damage. There are no sources of damage that can negate or reduce its value, so stacking HP is generally a solid strategy for increasing survivability.

The HP Globe on the Left Side of the UI

Added Health is always a flat amount (never a percentage). Multiple sources of Added Health are stacked together. You can find sources of Added Health on your gear, in passives, and you gain a small amount every time you level up. Each point of the Vitality attribute also provides 6 HP. For example, if you have 100 Added Health and acquire an item with 50 Added Health, you now have 150 Added Health.

Increased Health is a multiplier for your Added Health. Sources of Increased Health can be found on gear and in passives. For instance, if you have 150 Added Health and 50% Increased Health, your total HP would be calculated as 150 * (1 + 0.5), resulting in 225 HP.

Hybrid Health is found only through the Hybrid Health Shard, which provides both Added and Increased Health. This can only be found on or applied to Gloves, Boots, and Belts.

Ward

Ward is similar to HP in that it increases the amount of damage you can take before your character dies. Any damage you take is first deducted from your Ward before affecting your HP.

As your Ward increases, the blue line on the UI will fill, and your HP bar will glow blue. Unlike Energy Shield in Path of Exile, nothing can surpass your Ward and directly damage your HP. The only current exception is effects that deal X% Damage to current Health, such as the blood pools during the Emperor of Corpses boss fight.

You can generate Ward from various sources, such as Ward Per Second, Ward on Hit, Ward on Use, and Ward on Kill.

Ward decays over time, with the decay rate increasing as your Ward amount grows. This limits how much Ward you can accumulate at once. However, you can slow down Ward decay with Ward Retention, which can be found on passives, gear, and skills. Additionally, Intelligence grants 4% Ward Retention per point.

Sustain

Sustain refers to any mechanics that replenish HP after damage has been taken.

• Leech takes a percentage of the damage dealt by the player and returns it as Health. For example, if you have 5% Leech and deal 100 damage to an enemy, your Leech amount would be: 100 * 0.05 = 5.
  • The amount of Leech a player receives is not instant. Instead, it is restored over a 3-second period.
  • Leech is a powerful source of Sustain, especially with high damage and/or a high percentage of Leech. There are sources of Leech for all damage types, including DoTs. However, not all sources of Leech work for all damage types.
  • You can increase your Leech Rate from sources like Grand Thirst of the Sun, which doesn’t increase the overall amount of Leech, but reduces the 3-second timer, allowing you to receive the full amount faster.
  • Overkill Damage (when your damage exceeds the enemy's HP) does not count for Leech purposes, unless you’re using an item like Woven Flesh, which specifically provides Overkill Damage Leeched as Health.

• Health Regeneration grants a flat amount of HP per second. All characters start with 6 Base Regen, which increases as you level up. Regen can be further scaled with Added Health Regeneration and Increased Health Regeneration.
  • Added Regen is a flat amount, with all sources added to your Base Regen and then multiplied by the total percentage of Increased Regen. For example, with 6 Base Regen, 10 Added Health Regen, and 20% Increased Health Regen, your total Health Regen would be: (6 + 10) * 1.2 = 19.2.

• Healing is typically provided by skills, subskills, or procs, and restores a certain amount of HP to the player. Healing can be instant or over time and can be scaled through Healing Effectiveness. All sources of Healing Effectiveness are added together, and then multiplied by the base healing amount.
  • Examples of Healing and Healing Effectiveness sources include: Holy Trail, Holy Symbol, and Valor.

• Health on Action refers to gaining health when performing a specific action. These actions are mechanically similar to healing but are not considered healing and therefore are not scaled with Healing Effectiveness. Examples of Health on Action include:
  • For Rogue: Draining Arrows and Perfect Aim can serve as the primary sustain for Marksman builds.
  • For Sentinel: Time and Faith provides health on skill use.
  • Generic sources include affixes like Health On Melee Hit and Health On Kill.

Resistances

Resistances are one of the most fundamental forms of defense in Last Epoch. They protect you from the specific damage types associated with each resistance. All resistances have a cap of 75%, and there is no way to increase this cap. Any resistance over the cap does not provide additional mitigation, but it can help prevent Resistance Shred and Shock from reducing your resistances below the cap.

The resistances are displayed on the Character Sheet, and the full list includes:

• Fire, Lightning, Cold (Elemental Resistance)
• Physical, Poison, Necrotic, Void

Resistances protect against both Hits and Damage over Time (DoTs), including Damaging Ailments.

As a general rule, it's recommended to have your resistances capped by the early to mid stages of the Monolith. Before that, focus on the resistances that protect against the most common damage types in the content you're engaging with. For instance, Chapter 1 primarily involves Void and Physical damage, while Chapter 9 is mostly Poison damage.

Resistances can be reduced to negative values, and each 1% of negative resistance increases damage taken by that type by 1%.

Capping your resistances is crucial, but unlike in Path of Exile, having resistances below the cap is not as punishing in Last Epoch.

Armor

Armor provides damage mitigation against Hits, but it has no effect against Damage over Time (DoT).

Armor is especially effective at mitigating Physical Damage, with a cap of 85% mitigation for Physical Damage and 59.5% for all other damage types.

The percentage of damage mitigated by Armor depends on your Armor value and the level of the area you're in. You can see your Physical Damage mitigation from Armor for your current area level in the Character Sheet. Hovering over it will also display your mitigation for other damage types.

Dodge

Dodge is a defensive mechanic that gives you a chance to completely avoid a Hit, preventing any damage and ailment effects that would have been applied. Damage over Time (DoTs) cannot be dodged.

Dodge chance has a cap of 85%.

Your dodge chance is calculated based on your Dodge Rating and the area level you are in. You can view your current Dodge Chance for the area level in the Character Sheet.

Endurance

Endurance is a unique defensive mechanic that reduces the amount of damage you take when your health is below a certain threshold. While your health is below the Endurance Threshold, you will take less damage, equal to your Endurance value. This damage reduction applies to Health but does not affect Ward.

Endurance is visible by hovering over the Health Globe in the UI. It increases the amount of Damage Reduction a player receives, up to a maximum of 60% less damage taken. The baseline Damage Reduction provided by Endurance is 20%.

The Endurance Threshold is the amount by which your HP must be below its maximum to start receiving Damage Reduction from Endurance. The baseline for the Endurance Threshold is 20% of the player’s total HP, meaning this value scales with any increases to HP and the Endurance stat itself.

Endurance applies to any damage taken below the Endurance Threshold, even if that damage was taken while you were above it. For example, if you take a hit of 100 Damage, but 50 of that damage was below your Endurance Threshold, the last 50 points of damage will have Endurance applied.

Block

Block gives you a chance to reduce a portion of the damage taken from Hits, including Spells, but it does not apply to Damage over Time (DoT) effects.

Block Chance is rolled to determine if you successfully block a hit. Any increases to Block Chance are additive. For example, if you have 30% Block Chance and gain an additional 10% Block Chance, your total Block Chance becomes 40%.

Block Effectiveness determines how much Damage Reduction you receive from a successful block. The damage reduction from Block Effectiveness caps at 85%. The percentage of damage mitigated depends on your Block Effectiveness and the level of the area. You can view your Damage Reduction from Block Effectiveness for your current area level in the Character Sheet.

Additionally, the damage from blocked hits can be further reduced with the Reduced Damage Taken on Block affix.

Critical Strike Avoidance

Critical Strikes from enemies deal double damage. Critical Strike Avoidance grants a chance to turn critical strikes into normal hits instead.

Critical Strike Avoidance caps at 100%, meaning that with 100% avoidance, you can never be critically hit. It is highly recommended to cap this stat as soon as possible, especially on Hardcore mode!

An efficient way to cap Critical Strike Avoidance early on is by using Woven Flesh, which has a 50% chance to drop from the Abomination in the Fall of the Outcasts Timeline.

One of the best sources of Critical Strike Avoidance is the Grand Survival of Might Blessing. You can also find it on various gear slots thanks to the Critical Strike Avoidance affix.

An alternative to Critical Strike Avoidance is Reduced Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes, which reduces the extra damage taken from critical hits. With 100% of this stat, critical strikes are fully reduced to regular hits.

This stat can be found on Helmets, Body Armors, Boots, Gloves, Belts, and Shields. Additionally, it can be acquired from Two-Handed Axes, Maces, Spears, and Swords.

Summary

• Health is your most important stat. If it reaches 0, you die.
• You will need sources of Added and Increased Health to properly scale your health pool.
• Ward works similarly to additional health but decays over time, and damage is taken from your Ward before your Health.
• Having strong Sustain is crucial for staying alive and fully utilizing your health pool.
• Resistances are very important. It's advisable to cap them, but it's not as strict as in other games like Path of Exile.
• Capping either Critical Strike Avoidance or Reduced Bonus Damage Taken from Critical Strikes is highly recommended.
• The other key defensive layers are Armor, Dodge, Endurance, and Block.