Marksman Mastery Leveling Build for Last Epoch (Patch 1.0)

The Rogue Passive Tree only has a few nodes that we actually want. Everything in this kit scales off Dexterity, making Steady Hand an easy choice. Likewise, Agility has a chance to grant Haste on hit, which will make walking through maps that much faster.

We've taken more than the necessary 20 points to unlock Mastery Trees, with Critical Precision removing 8 points from our Passive pool. While this node is extremely important, don't feel the need to put points into it immediately. Especially at low levels, the increased Critical Hit Rate may not be noticeable and nodes in the Marksman Tree will likely provide something more useful.

The remainder of our points will be placed directly into Marksman, ignoring Bladedancer for the sake of the leveling experience. This Passive Tree provides a substantial bonus to our Critical Strike stat through the nodes connected to Assassin's Quiver, as well as augment our Mastery Bonus by adding Critical Chance and Critical Multiplier to Bow Mastery.

Very rarely will you be in harms way, but to provide a bit of sustain, 10 points are placed into Thief's Quiver, allowing  Cinder Strike to leech health as damage dealt.

 Cinder Strike will be your most used skill in this build. Due to the combo system on it, with the first hit being AoE and dealing extra damage, it works extremely well for both single-target and AoE. Pathing towards Inferno and Cauterize are fairly self explanatory. Extra Fire Damage and extra Critical Multiplier synergizes well with the build. For the late leveling experience, we have opted to take Burning Daggers. These have the ability to hit critically, triggering the unique effect from the bow that is suggested to be used with this build. If you do not have the bow, you should still use these nodes, as the extra damage is still worth it.

While at its core,  Shift is a Traversal skill, this dash will be responsible for a large portion of both this build's damage and survivability. Both  Shurikens and  Acid Flask are auto-cast off this skill, so you'll be using it frequently to both get around maps quicker, but also demolish mob groups before they even notice you're there.

Other than the nodes taken to synergize with other skills, the selection above ensures  Shift will be more readily available by reducing its cooldown and reducing the Mana requirement on it. Prioritize Sleight of Hand first, then path towards Arrival Gift, as  Shurikens has more value defensively than  Acid Flask.

When you think of throwing stars, you may not think of the application they'll be used for with this build. Rather than throw them at our enemies, every time we use  Shift, we'll be throwing them around our own character! The throwing stars will circle our character for roughly 4 seconds, providing a boost in Armor, as well as damaging any enemy they touch. With the timer being extended on Shuriken, and the timer on Shift being reduced, it's possible to have full uptime on this skill and reap the defensive benefits permanently, so long as you're comfortable dashing around the map during fights.

Focus the nodes on the pathing for both Floating Blades and Bladed Armor, while maxing Jagged Edges last. All 4 points should be placed into Ethereal Blades before the next node is touched, as you don't want the throwing stars disappearing instantly every time you  Shift into enemies.

 Acid Flask is not, and should not, ever manually used by the player for this build. It gets auto-casted off  Shift, dropping a flask both at the starting and ending location of using the dash. It deals a decent amount of damage in a moderately sized AoE, and applies Fire Resistance Shred to all enemies hit. If enemies haven't died from the initial burst of damage, you'll now be in a prime position to finish them off with  Cinder Strike.

Focus on taking the nodes dealing with Fire Damage first, prioritizing specifically Smoulder. Move back to the left side and take Tempered Glass for the extra Fire Resistance Shred, then continue taking the Fire-based nodes on the right.

 Smoke Bomb has a dual purpose for this build, first and foremost providing a substantial amount of Dusk Shroud stacks for our own survivability, but also ensuring out hits deal critical damage when you strike.

Prioritize Shadow Hunter before anything else, then head over to Rapid Concealment. Cleansing Steam should be taken last, as the nodes over on the right side merely provide a bit of extra Dodge and the ability to self-cleanse, which will not be entirely important while leveling.