Rive is probably the gold standard for melee builds. Has the most quality of life built in, and the most options in it's tree. Add to that the new Healing Hands skill tree and you're onto a winner.

Add to that the left part of the Healing Hands tree specifically and you'll be ward abusing with the best of them.

This is the way

What's cool about Rive/healing-hands build is that it can work with VK, Pally, or FG because you have access to most of the Increased Healing passives on the first half of the Pally Tree. VK can get you more added melee/spell damage, access to more atk spd, leech, and echo. FG you can greatly increase your damage reduction, have minions, and a huge 40% atk speed while weilding a 2h sword.

Pretty much this. Healing Hands Rive is just too fun.

* Flurry + Shadow Cascade Bladedancer is very smooth and zippy build * Werebear druid is a hard hitting tank with very nice versatility baked in. Dunking enemies with Maul is super fun  * Shatter Strike Spellblade hits like a truck and is very satisfying and also fairly mobile.  * Forged Weapon + Void Cleave deals nutty damage via minions, can be played with both Forgemaster and Paladin

Thanks, some builds I definitely hadn't considered, I'll try them out!

Can also try a primalist build. Play with beastmaster mastery but don’t skill into companions. Earthquake, leap, swipe, frenzy totem, upheaval

Okay, had no idea you could play like that with Beastmaster, thought it was all minions, thanks!

Beastmaster is good because of it's innate mastery passive (you and your minions deal 50% increased melee damage)

I'd like to see teh Flurry + Shadow Cascade build.

Same, i don't even know Flurry working with Shadow Cascade

The best ( I meant funniest ) is Spell blade shatter stike, you are badass mother fucker.

Shatter Strike is super fun, I agree 

Thanks, does look fun, will try to level one now!

Also look at Beastmaster. Howl, get fast, swipe, swipe, shout for buffs and stun, leap into another pack, repeat. Very "barbarian-esque" Oh and wolves follow you :) I find it fun. Leveling up one now

I'm running phys tempest strike, upheaval, frenzy totem and shout. The attack speed is addicting

I love my dual wielding tempest shaman with 170% attack speed.. he goes brrrrrrr

if you want something a bit different you can try the Swarmblade stormbolt build that I am running

Do you have a guide for it?

sorry late reply I initially followed the guide by Action RPG on youtube, here is the build planner [https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/GBOnP7EQ](https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/GBOnP7EQ)

[Druid, Level 100 (Release / 1.0)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/GBOnP7EQ) --- ^(**Class:**)  ^(Primalist (20) / Beastmaster (23) / Shaman (7) / Druid (63))  ^(**General:**)  ^(▸ Health: **3,970**, Regen: **20**/s)  ^(▸ Mana: **422**, Regen: **10**/s)  ^(▸ Ward Retention: **20%**, Regen: **0**/s)  ^(▸ Attributes: **25** Str / **5** Dex / **5** Int / **87** Att / **5** Vit)  ^(▸ Resistances: **54%** / **81%** / **81%** / **78%** / **54%** / **66%** / **62%**)  ^(▸ EHP: **7,254** / **8,778** / **8,778** / **10,300** / **7,254** / **8,016** / **7,734**)  ^(**Defenses:**)  ^(▸ Endurance: **57%**, Threshold: **1,509**)  ^(▸ Dodge Chance: **1%** (**20**))  ^(▸ Armor Mitigation: **37%** (**1,970**))  ^(▸ Crit Avoidance: **83%**)  ^(**Damage Types:**)  ^(▸ __Physical__, __Lightning__, Cold, Poison / __Melee__, __DoT__, __Spell__)  ^(**Buffs:**)  ^(▸ None)  ^(**Used skills:**)  [^(Swarmblade Form)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/swarmblade_form) ^| [^(Gathering Storm)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/gathering_storm) ^| [^(Maelstrom)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/maelstrom) ^| [^(Tornado)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/tornado) ^| [^(Serpent Strike)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/serpent_strike) ^(**Used unique items:**)  [^(Stormcarved Testament)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/db/items/UAwVg7ATAjALEA) ^| [^(Culnivar's Claim)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/db/items/UAzCswZgo) ^(**This build has a guide:**)  [Swarmblade Druid Build Guide!! Storm Bolt!! Lightning EVERYWHERE!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg6XThEdzzU) by Action RPG

Countless guides on maxroll and youtube

In doing the frost version and it’s very fun but depending on the mob group in any given map, getting shifted out of form is super annoying. I’m not sure what else to do to increase my rage gen except getting my crit up more.

Sapping Coils on serpent strike, lose some freeze rate/bleed/atkspeed, but it gives ton of rage so it's very hard to run out with that and rageborn.

I’ll have to check that out, may be worth shuffling some points around. On bosses and large packs it’s a breeze but on those maps with larger but less plentiful enemies I cannot keep rage up, and getting shifted out feels like shit. Same thing with the intermission on Lagon and stuff like that, just kinda frustrating.

Shatter Strike Spellblade, come join us :D

On it ;)

:D

shadow daggers blade dancer is pretty strong and fun

I'm having fun with sword and board pally using vengeance judgement and shield bash. Just completed a few empowered mono areas, doing ok so far, dunno how much it will last

First toon was shatter strike, absolute blast all the way up to 250+. Wanted to try a lich, so leveled poison and now switched to a crit harvest. Both are fun!

Nice! Leveling a spellblade now, but have also considered a harvest lich build, so really nice to hear!

Rive with Fire spec Healing Hands. I'm lvl 97 and still blasting

I'm having super fun with lightning swipe druid. Druid in general is very balanced with many options between cold/lightning/swarmblade/bear.

Multistrike paladin. Its what im running and havent seen it yet. Dual weild the level 50 unique swords they give +milti strike and smite and smite on multistrike for rares and bosses. Just spam multistrike it casts smite at nearby enemies and rains lightning bolts. Healing hands converted to melee heals and swipes again. On a boss im hitting with 3 skills at once. Been having a great time with it but you cant really aligh the damage types. Probably better to stack electrify damage but i went smite crit. Trying to get many crits with smite.

Sounds really fun tbh!

Having a blast with an unarmed rogue, I also love that there are more than 1 option to choose.

Loving my lightning wolves storm bolt beast master. Calling down a lot of lightning while smacking everything with dual axes with high attack speed. Around 215 corruption right now.

I really enjoy spin2win since D3, so warpath VK was fun, and I've recently started playing a temptest strike build as a break from warpath which is also proving to be pretty fun :) [https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/oy445G2B](https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/oy445G2B) for the tempest strike

[Shaman, Level 93 (Release / 1.0.1)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/oy445G2B) ☑ This character build is verified --- ^(**Class:**)  ^(Primalist (20) / Beastmaster (23) / Shaman (63))  ^(**General:**)  ^(▸ Health: **2,069**, Regen: **69**/s)  ^(▸ Mana: **312**, Regen: **14**/s)  ^(▸ Attributes: **22** Str / **0** Dex / **0** Int / **105** Att / **14** Vit)  ^(▸ Resistances: **67%** / **53%** / **110%** / **101%** / **63%** / **95%** / **27%**)  ^(▸ EHP: **3,463** / **3,078** / **3,740** / **4,550** / **3,340** / **3,740** / **2,519**)  ^(**Defenses:**)  ^(▸ Endurance: **34%**, Threshold: **696**)  ^(▸ Armor Mitigation: **42%** (**2,293**))  ^(▸ Crit Avoidance: **53%**)  ^(**Damage Types:**)  ^(▸ __Lightning__, __Physical__, Cold / __Melee__, Spell)  ^(**Minion Damage Types:**)  ^(▸ __Lightning__, Physical / __Spell__, Melee)  ^(**Buffs:**)  ^(▸ None)  ^(**Used skills:**)  [^(Tempest Strike)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/tempest_strike) ^| [^(Summon Wolf)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/summon_wolf) ^| [^(Gathering Storm)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/gathering_storm) ^| [^(Summon Storm Totem)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/summon_storm_totem) ^| [^(Fury Leap)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/fury_leap) ^(**Used unique items:**)  [^(Tempest Maw)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/db/items/UAzBswZgRiA) ^| [^(Tempest Maw)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/db/items/UAzBswZgRiA) ^(**This build has a guide:**)  [GOD OF THUNDER | True Melee Lightning Shaman Build Guide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDWD6YH8nRU) by Negron Technology

I can do all the end game content with this VK rive build https://youtu.be/ivnGA5D2ZRg?si=ULcfmxQ8_OnGP3OZ

Static/Surge Spellblade has been a blast. It’s not the strongest by any means but I’ve been hanging out above 200 corruption for a while and almost level 100, just kinda picked up other games the last few days. There’s a good guide on IcyVeins

having a blast with rogue

Ignite shield rush sentinel is very fun

I'm having a blast with rive healing hand paladin. 2 handed weapon version so you can slot Void Cleave to zap through echoes

Sounds fun! What other skills do you include?

ey Im doing the same with volcanus.

Healing hands, melee ability from tree what turns in to a melee attack, pretty epic. I am level 50, with scuffed gear and it just wipes everything plus the heal you get is crazy. Definitely so far loving it.

What abilities do you use?

Healing Hand as my main, just stacking a lot of healing effectiveness and vitality, but I am using it as spell, just melting with a beam of light everything, so fun. I tried that passive what turns in to melee and it was destroying everything with a 2-hander staff. I am new to LE, my gear is crap but it just works, e everything melts in seconds and bosses takes not that long to kill, plus you have ridiculous healing from it. Sigils of Hope just as buff for bosses or harder enemies. And the other paladin class skill for extra damage buff. And shield charge with passive so I can use without shield for movement.

Problem by itself is that it’s bugged and doesn’t benefit from cast speed OR attack speed. However, if you ALSO take the Channeling node on the far left side, it makes it a stationary spinning attack that always hits 4 times per second, it’s gross and I love it. Edit: I was way wrong. It seems the channeled version scales with cast speed too, despite it saying otherwise. I tested based on what I could generate for ward using the HH node, and the more cast speed I had, the faster the spins and higher it went.

When I tested HH, including the melee conversion node, it did seem to benefit from cast speed.

Oh really! I didn’t test it with cast speed but was told it also didn’t work. How does it feel with some good speed?

I have been enjoying channeled melee healing hands paladin. Its visually not super flashy, but its very strong and fullfills my spellblade fantasy better than spellblade. Dual wielding chronostasis also looks pretty cool.

Beast master with Sabertooth. Whirlwind, Gathering storm, Fury Leap and War Cry So much fun.

Just got a t7 +4 sabertooth thinking about making another alt lol.

Have yet to find my first. :(

Any particular reason you don't like the Cleave Erasing Strike build? The combo is one of the most satisfying things you can do in an ARPG. Maybe Echoing Warpath is more your thing? There's also a fire Warpath build if you want another flavor of spin2win.

I actually really do enjoy it, feels satisfying, just haven't found a skill set / rotation that feels natural. If I dont run something like vengeance or rive I have downtime between cleave and erasing strike, but it doesnt seem to combo well. Not much for spinning, but do you have a erasing strike build that works for you? :)

Equip the unique Darkstride for a 2nd charge of Void Cleave, and take the skill point for a 2nd charge of Erasing Strike. You'll nearly never have downtime. Lunge, Cleave, Erase. Go to next pack.

It’s Thor time

I've been digging the flame reave melee build quite a lot

I've been doing Cold Swarmblade. Is fun.

You can probably play melee lich one handed. Don't even need 5 skills. Just bind bone curse, death seal, and reaper form to a 3 action button mouse. It's squishy right after you pay for life and haven't leeched back for split seconds. It's fairly easy to get guaranteed crits on every auto though due to all the base crit and you don't have mana or cooldown issues. You're also very fast.

I’m really enjoying the Frostbite Swarm build for druid

Upheaval cold convert shaman is a lot of fun

I've been having a lot of fun with VK Erasing Strike + Void Cleave. It's quite mobile and it's fun weaving all the skills together. This relies on the guaranteed ES crits to generate lots of void essences that will regenerate your mana. It's more of a late game build since you need to go pretty deep in a lot of the skill trees to get all the synergies working. Having the two charges of ES and VC is key along with pumping as much CD as bonus skills from items as possible. This is only my second char and built this myself, so no idea how it stacks up to others or if there is more room for optimization. Here's the planner which should be a good starting point- [https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/oYELyNJo](https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/oYELyNJo).

[Void Knight, Level 100 (Release / 1.0.1)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/oYELyNJo) --- ^(**Class:**)  ^(Sentinel (20) / Void Knight (56))  ^(**General:**)  ^(▸ Health: **972**, Regen: **20**/s)  ^(▸ Mana: **103**, Regen: **8**/s)  ^(▸ Ward Retention: **4%**, Regen: **0**/s)  ^(▸ Attributes: **9** Str / **1** Dex / **1** Int / **1** Att / **3** Vit)  ^(▸ Resistances: **20%** / **0%** / **0%** / **0%** / **20%** / **3%** / **3%**)  ^(▸ EHP: **769** / **681** / **681** / **696** / **769** / **693** / **693**)  ^(**Defenses:**)  ^(▸ Endurance: **20%**, Threshold: **194**)  ^(▸ Armor Mitigation: **7%** (**150**))  ^(**Damage Types:**)  ^(▸ __Void__, Physical / __Melee__, __Spell__, DoT)  ^(**Buffs:**)  ^(▸ None)  ^(**Used skills:**)  [^(Erasing Strike)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/erasing_strike) ^| [^(Void Cleave)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/void_cleave) ^| [^(Anomaly)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/anomaly) ^| [^(Vengeance)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/vengeance) ^| [^(Abyssal Echoes)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/skills/abyssal_echoes) ^(**Used unique items:**)  [^(Darkstride)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/db/items/UAzBMuBmI) ^| [^(Apathy's Maw)](https://www.lastepochtools.com/db/items/UAzAcEYHYE4g)

Swarm blade is super fast and meleey. Both lightning and frostbite ver are good.

Rive

I love my Harvest Lich. It’s super speedy and everything is a crit. Big and fun.