Vortex Gaming

· Introducing the new Apiarist set items added in Last Epoch Season 4 and their effects.
· These set items specialize in bee summoning and minion stat enhancement.

Category	Details
Epichomb - Mace	Summon 4-8 Bees every 10 seconds Summoned Bee Melee Damage Increased Minion Damage, Minion Attack Speed Minion Skills have a chance to apply Bleed
Apiary Sweet - Armor	Summon Bees every 10 seconds Health Regeneration per Summoned Bee Attunement, Player and Minion Health/Armor Physical/Poison Resistance
Smoker - Catalyst	Minion Health Regeneration Summon a Bee every 1 second Minion Skills have a chance to apply Poison on hit Minion Movement Speed, Minion Dodge Rating, Endurance
Set Bonus (2 Equipped)	Summoned Bees take no damage for 4 seconds
Set Bonus (3 Equipped)	Summon Queen Bee (Grants Frenzy and Haste to other Bees)

· The Falconer is suitable for this build due to its many minion-related synergies, such as increased minion damage, falcon damage, and bee damage.
· You can summon a Tyrannosaurus through the Tyrant Skull.
· The Tyrannosaurus roars every 12 seconds, granting all benefits from all attributes (attack/cast speed, etc.) to all minions, including your Falcon and Bees.
· The Wild Beast Amulet is optional but a good item for entering the build.
· This build is usable from level 70, and once you have the Tyrant Skull and Apiarist set items, it immediately performs powerfully.

· Introducing the core equipment and mana management methods for this build.

Item	Effect
Hive Mind - Helmet	Summon Bees on Decoy explosion (3-4 bees per explosion) Decoy Mana Efficiency, Health, Armor, Poison Resistance Bee Poison/Elemental Penetration per Dexterity
Phantom Grip - Ring	Minion Critical Strike Chance, Player Critical Strike Chance Increased Falconer Skill Levels, Increased Mana
Legendary Option (Ring)	Throwing Damage, Reduced Throwing Skill Mana Cost (Solves mana issues)
Fruits of the Mountain - Boots	All Attributes
Blue Roost - Boots	Increased Falcon Level, Minion Movement Speed Physical Penetration for Bleed applied by Minions Health on Falcon Hit
Jungle Queen's Chaps - Gloves	Minion Physical Damage (Suitable for Melee Critical Strike builds)

· Decoy is a primary source of bee summoning, generating bees upon explosion.
· The Decoy skill tree is structured as follows:

Node	Effect
Increased Explosion Damage	Increased Decoy explosion damage
Small Explosion Chance	Increased chance for small explosions up to 2 times
Explode on Hit	45% chance to explode and summon bees on hit against enemies
Increased Max Explosions	+6 explosions (total 7 explosions possible), up to 28 bees can be summoned per Decoy
Additional Charge	1 additional Decoy charge
Backup Buddy	Increased Fire Explosion Area Damage

· Acid Flask is a core skill that applies a toxic coating to bees, enhancing their poison damage.
· Hitting bees with Acid Flask applies 'Toxic Coating'. Toxic Coating has a 50% chance to apply poison on hit and provides a 10% damage reduction effect, which can stack.
· If Acid Flask is converted to fire, it can grant a chance to apply ignite on hit.
· Increased minion damage also increases minion poison damage.
· The Acid Flask skill tree is as follows:

Node	Effect
Throwing Attack Speed	Increased flask throwing speed
Quick Draw	Reduced mana cost
Toxic Solo	Fires 2 additional flasks after casting (Mana cost +5)
Splash Zone	Increased Acid Flask area of effect

· Through mana cost reduction options and item synergies, Acid Flask can be used almost for free.
· Idols can further increase Acid Flask's area of effect by up to 160%, allowing more bees to be coated with poison.

· Bladestorm is a new skill added in Season 4 that has strong synergy with Acid Flask.
· Acid Flasks exploding inside Bladestorm deal more damage and have a 75% larger radius.
· The Bladestorm skill tree is as follows:

Node	Effect
Increased Duration	Increased Bladestorm duration
Reduced Mana Cost	Reduced skill mana cost
Roaming Bladestorm	Moves to track enemies
Allow Animation	Improved Bladestorm movement
Bladestorm Movement Speed	Increased movement speed, can attack the same enemy (Increased efficiency in boss fights)

· If you want Bladestorm's own damage, you can take related nodes; if you only want to focus on increasing Acid Flask explosion radius, you can remove those nodes.

· The Falcon plays an important role in throwing Acid Flasks to help apply toxic coating to the bee swarm.
· The Falcon skill tree is as follows:

Node	Effect
Toxy Airdrop	Makes the Falcon throw Acid Flasks
Flask Throwing Interval	Throws a flask every 6 seconds, can throw again on cast (Doubles flask throwing frequency)
Increased Falcon Damage	Increased Falcon's damage (Also increases Acid Flask damage)

· Aerial Assault is both a movement skill and provides additional damage.
· Through the Feather Storm node, the Falcon throws the player forward and deals Feather Storm (throwing damage) to enemies.
· Ring items allow for more skill points.
· The Aerial Assault skill tree is as follows:

Node	Effect
Increased Feather Burst Throwing Damage	Increased Feather Storm throwing damage
Projectile Training	Enhanced projectile-related stats
Coordinated Assault	Reduced Falcon active button cooldown
Increased Area, Increased Damage, Cooldown Recovery	Overall skill efficiency enhancement

· Introducing Rogue and Falconer passive skills to maximize the build's survivability and offense.

Class/Tree	Node	Effect
Rogue	Attack Speed	Faster throwing speed
	Dexterity and Health	Enhanced base stats
	Sapling Strikes	Health/Mana recovery on flask throw (Efficient due to 0 mana cost)
Falconer	Wilderness	Additional Health and Dodge
	Hapter Wings	Increased damage with Haste
	Handler	Increased Minion Damage
	Mana Regeneration, Dodge Rating, Mana Recovery on Dodge	Resource management and increased survivability
	Increased Falcon Throwing Damage per Dexterity	Enhanced Falcon's throwing damage
	Throwing Node	Increased player and Falcon throwing damage
	Blast Hoses	Falcon throwing damage converts to Falcon, increasing skill area (including Acid Flask)
	Evasion Task	Increased Armor, enhanced survivability
	Increased Armor on Falcon Hit	Armor buff when Falcon attacks
	Relentless	Increased Minion Damage, Health recovery on Falcon hit
	Critical Strike Related Nodes	Increased Critical Strike Chance, Minion Critical Strike Chance, Critical Strike Multiplier, Minion Critical Strike Multiplier
	Minion Critical Strike Multiplier	Increased per 3% Critical Strike Avoidance
	Health Recovery on Critical Strike Avoidance	Increased survivability
Blade Dancer	Resilience	40% Critical Strike Avoidance (New in Season 4)

· Through these passives, you can secure a total of 75% Critical Strike Avoidance, with the remaining 25% needing to be supplemented by other means.

· The recommended blessings for this build are as follows:

Category	Recommended Blessing
Offense	Increased Critical Strike Chance Increased Critical Strike Multiplier
Defense	Increased Health Void Resistance (Secures resistance without Legendary Potential)
Utility	Critical Strike Avoidance (Important for increasing Minion Critical Strike Multiplier)
Health Regeneration	200% Increased Health Regeneration

· Combining the Apiarist set's 'Health Regeneration per Summoned Bee' effect with the '200% Increased Health Regeneration' blessing can secure an enormous amount of health regeneration.
· For example, if 40 bees are summoned, you gain an additional 240 health regeneration on top of your base health regeneration, which is then multiplied by 3, allowing you to achieve over 1,000 health regeneration per second.