Last Epoch: Best Bear Beastmaster endgame build (Season 3)

Last Epoch’s Bear Beastmaster promises to be a real force of nature as it tears through the endgame content of Season 3. Anyone who has read my work in the past knows I love a good companion build, and while this is certainly different from Necromancer builds I typically play, I like the power and devastation of this build. It’s only one companion, but it’s truly a powerful one.

However, while this is an amazing, tanky single-target damage build, it does have some drawbacks. If you really want this class to do well, you need a full complement of powerful legendary armor, and it has pretty serious buff management.

You, of course, need to rely on your companion’s cooldown, so that’s also worth noting. With solid improvements made to minions in Season 3, I think it’s time for Bear Beastmasters to shine.

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Skill Setup for Bear Beastmaster build in Last Epoch Season 3

We have quite a full build when it comes to buttons we can press as a Bear Beastmaster in Last Epoch Season 3. This build uses the Summon Bear, Swipe, Fury Leap, Warcry, and Maelstrom abilities. Though we specialize in Earthquake, it’s not on our bar. That’s because our Bear does it for us, with the right talents.

1) Summon Bear

Time to utilize the power of the mighty bear! (Image via EHG)

The Summon Bear is going to be our primary traveling companion throughout this Season. It helps us fight, is remarkably tanky, and thanks to Groundshaking Might, it can now cast Earthquake with a 6 second cooldown.

Sure, it has reduced damage, but it’s a second cast of Earthquake other than your own. You can also make it Swipe using Forceful Swipes, which is on a 2 second cooldown. It even gets to take advantage of your Swipe Tree. When you have more skill points from gear, consider putting points into Primal Precision and Unstoppable Force.

2) Swipe

Swipe is our primary source of combat damage, and it builds up buffs (Image via EHG)

Our primary spammable button, Swipe, is a damage dealer, thanks to talents like Aspect of the Panther and Feline Hunter. Aspect of the Panther gives you a stacking buff that grants you more damage that lasts 4 seconds.

If you plan on running Seed of Ekkidrasil boots, you also want Duality of Nature, to make this skill generate mana. Seed of Ekkidrasil has a trait that drains your mana instead of health when incurring damage, making it an ideal talent to keep you alive as long as possible.

3) Earthquake

We don't even use Earthquake! Bears cast that for us. (Image via EHG)

Earthquake is basically our primary real AOE damage, but it’s a strong candidate for our build as a Bear Beastmaster in Last Epoch Season 3. All of the talents we pick enhance its damage, to make up for the -50% we get when our Bear casts it.

Earthquake isn’t a skill we use on our bar, instead, we go with Fury Leap to get around. Seismic Tide, Rupture, Concussion, The Harder They Fall, and Crushing Wake are all good picks.

4) Warcry

Cry, and let slip the Bears of war! (Image via EHG)

Warcry is our CC ability; it knocks back and stuns enemies. When we pick the Berserker talent, it also becomes a damage/attack speed buff! You can give it a Cleanse through Purging Shout, though, my favorite talent is Whirlpool.

This makes it so whenever we cast Warcry, we also cast Maelstrom. If you’re running Yulia’s Path, these Maelstrom casts give your minions Necrotic damage for a limited time. It’s a very useful talent, that’s for sure.

5) Maelstrom

Getting free Maelstrom casts is never a bad thing (Image via EHG)

Maelstrom normally does cold damage, which is fine, but we’re going to make sure to pick up Cyclone to turn it into physical damage. This also gives us a slow, and a damage boost. We’re going to want to build up stacks of Beneath the Waves, to get additional Maelstrom casts, which will serve us well in combination with our Bear’s Earthquake.

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How to play Bear Beastmaster in Last Epoch: Skill Rotation explained

Playing a Bear Beastmaster in Last Epoch Season 3 is pretty simple, thankfully. You want to keep your Summon Bear out at all times. Swipe is our primary spammable ability, and use it to give you stacks of Berserker and Aspect of the Shark, two of our buffs.

When you have 3 stacks of Beneath the Waves, then you can cast Maelstrom. You also want to activate your Companion to give Aspect of the Lynx, another buff. Wait until your Bear uses Earthquake to pop Warcry, which also gives you Berserker, as well as even more Maelstrom casts for free. Fury Leap is just to get you around the map faster.

Bossing is much the same. Keep your buffs up consistently, and use Warcry against incoming telegraphed hits to reduce damage.

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Best endgame passive tree builds for Bear Beastmaster in Last Epoch Season 3

Here's your Beastmaster Tree, completed (Image via EHG)

Since Bear Beastmasters dip into three talent trees for Last Epoch Season 3, the screenshot above will feature the tree with the most points (Beastmaster). For the other two, look at the list below to figure out what skills you need, and how much of them.

Primalist

• Gift of the Wilderness x6
• Primal Strength x8
• Harmony of Blades x1
• Hunter’s Restoration x5
• Cornered Beast x4

Shaman

• Shamanic Infusion x8
• Sky Warrior x5
• Tempest Form x2

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Last Epoch Endgame Bear Beastmaster itemization guide

Here's what your gear could look like before its legendary (Image via EHG)

Thankfully, the Bear Beastmaster isn’t a build in Last Epoch that requires a ton of Uniques to even function. We see enough of that in Diablo 4, thanks. However, there are Uniques that make the build much easier:

Ideal, but not required Uniques

• Yulia’s Path (Boots)
• Inheritance of the Erased (Amulet)
• Naal’s Tooth (One-hand sword)
• Red Ring of Atlaria x2 (Rings)
• Cleaver Solution (One-hand axe)
• Mantle of the Pale Ox
• Seed of Ekkidrasil

If you really want to get the most out of those, you’ll want Legendaries, which is even more time consuming. You can start off with regular gear, but eventually, that’s the stuff you’ll want to aim for. In terms of stats, especially when starting to reach endgame, you’ll want to look out for what we have listed below.

Most important stats (damage)

• Minion Flat Melee Damage
• Minion % Increased Attack Speed
• Minion % Increased Damage
• % InCreased Minion Critical Strike Chance
• Minion Critical Strike Multiplier
• Strength
• Armor Shred Chance

Most important stats (defensive)

• Health
• Armor
• Endurance
• Health Regen
• Leech

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Best Blessings and Idols to use for Bear Beastmaster in Last Epoch

Below we’ve categorized the best Blessings you can have for a Bear Beastmaster in Last Epoch, as well as some ideal Idols that will complement your build nicely. In general, you’re going to want several Large Nomad Idols that grant you increased Aspect of the Shark Effect, to help in combat. You will also run a pair of Humble Weaver Idols for their defensive nature.

Blessings to pick

• Grand Memory of Light (The Black Sun)
• Grand Survival of Might (Reign of Dragons)
• Grand Body of Obsidian (Spirits of Fire)
• Grand Bulwark of the Tundra (The Age of Winter)
• Grand Rhythm of the Tide (Ending the Storm)

Ideal idols

• Resolute Heretical Large Nomad Idol of the Predator
• Lucid Heretical Huge Nomad Idol of the Predator x2
• Restful Small Weaver Idol of the Trapdoor
• Restful Small Weaver Idol of Antivenom
• Swaddling Humble Weaver Idol of Chitin x2
• Resolute Heretical Large Nomad Idol of Agility

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Check out our other Last Epoch guides and features

• Last Epoch Season 3: Beneath Ancient Skies patch notes
• Best Mage leveling build in Last Epoch Season 3
• Last Epoch S3 Primal Hunt mechanic: Rift Beasts, Evolution, and new Runes explained
• Last Epoch S3: All new Lich and Necromancer skills (and reworks)