The Acolyte leveling build in Last Epoch, particularly focused on the Warlock mastery, provides a powerful and smooth progression through the campaign and into the early endgame Last Epoch Gold. This build emphasizes strong damage over time (DoT), curses, and summoning, making it both fun and effective for new and experienced players alike.

Starting out, players use Rip Blood to siphon life from enemies, combined with Summon Skeletons and Wandering Spirits to deal consistent damage and control crowds. Early on, Bone Curse is applied on bosses to weaken them, while Transplant serves as a mobility skill to quickly reposition and speed up leveling.

By around level 10, the build shifts from Summon Skeletons to Summon Bone Golem for better tanking and survivability. At level 15, Spirit Plague replaces the Bone Golem on the action bar for applying curses that generate ward and increase damage taken by enemies.

At level 20, the build transitions to Warlock’s signature damage skills: Chaos Bolts and Chthonic Fissure. Chaos Bolts become the primary damage source, spamming projectiles that trigger Rip Blood procs for healing and damage. Chthonic Fissure is used for clearing groups and single-target damage, especially when mana is low. Spirit Plague continues to be used to curse enemies, generating ward and amplifying damage.

By level 35 and beyond, players focus on maximizing Rip Blood’s damage through Chaos Bolts procs, while using Chthonic Fissure and Spirit Plague strategically for crowd control and defense. Mobility remains high with Transplant, allowing quick movement through zones.

At level 50, the build unlocks Infernal Shade, a powerful fire damage over time skill that excels at melting bosses and tough enemies. The final rotation involves spamming Chaos Bolts for clear speed and mana sustain, applying Spirit Plague for ward generation, using Chthonic Fissure for burst damage, and deploying Infernal Shade on single targets.

Defensive and Offensive Priorities:
1. Defensive stats focus on ward per second, ward decay threshold, health, and physical resistance, ensuring survivability throughout the campaign.
2.Offensive stats prioritize skill levels (especially Rip Blood, Chaos Bolts, Spirit Plague, and Infernal Shade), elemental damage over time, necrotic and fire damage, spell damage, and mana regeneration buy Last Epoch Gold. 

Key uniques like Rune of Ascendance, Advent of the Erased, and Blood of the Exile significantly boost the build’s power. Players should seek gear with mana regen, damage over time, ailment chances (ignite, bleed), health, and resistances.