The Forge Guard is one of the three Mastery classes available to the Sentinel base class in Last Epoch, offering a distinctive playstyle focused on heavy armor, fire damage, and summoning Forged Weapons as minions. Unlike the Paladin or Void Knight, the Forge Guard emphasizes tankiness, minion support, and throwing attacks, making it a unique bruiser/minion hybrid in the game.

Playstyle and Skills
Forge Guard builds often revolve around skills like Hammer Throw and Shield Throw, which allow the player to deal area damage while maintaining high survivability through blocking and sustain. Mobility is enhanced by Shield Rush, and buffs and healing come from skills like Smite and Symbols of Hope. A common leveling approach is to use Hammer Throw with specialized nodes that make the hammers orbit or launch in waves, maximizing AoE damage.

Another popular build centers on summoning Forged Weapons as minions, which attack enemies independently while the player focuses on support and defense. Key skills include Rive (early game primary attack and summoner of Forged Weapons), Multistrike (main damage dealer later on), Forge Strike (summons additional Forged Weapons), and Void Cleave (boosts minion damage against tough foes). This minion-focused build offers strong damage output and tankiness, making it effective for leveling and endgame content.

Strengths and Weaknesses
The Forge Guard is known for its tankiness and solid AoE damage, with easy gearing requirements compared to other Sentinel Masteries. It excels at sustaining damage through high block chance, armor, and health regeneration. However, it typically has lower single-target damage, which can make boss fights slower compared to other classes.

Community Feedback and Development
Despite its unique flavor, the Forge Guard has historically been the least popular and weakest Sentinel Mastery. Players have criticized its passive tree for being disorganized and lacking synergy, and it has received fewer meaningful updates compared to the Paladin and Void Knight. Some community suggestions include focusing the Forge Guard more on weapon/armor minions, damage reflection, and passive gear buffs rather than throwing and shield skills, to give it a clearer identity and stronger niche.

In summary, the Forge Guard in Last Epoch is a tanky, minion-centric Sentinel Mastery that blends fire damage, heavy armor, and summoned Forged Weapons. While it has faced criticism for balance and design, recent updates have strengthened its defensive and offensive capabilities, making it a solid choice for players who enjoy a durable, minion-support playstyle with a unique thematic identity.
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