It is wonderful that Last Epoch has set items, but I doubt that anybody uses any of them in a strong end game build. I would even argue that most experienced players simply exclude all set items from their filter all together. So how to make them end game viable?

> EHG stance about set items.

What EHG wants to avoid is having set items as “best in slot”. This would lead to most builds revolving around these items, all players doing the same builds, killing creativity, etc. Totally understandable.

> So why not give set items Legendary Potential?

An obvious solution that players have been discussing for years

• On Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/LastEpoch/comments/rmz9ou/set_items_having_legendary_potential/?rdt=43561
• On LE's forum : https://forum.lastepoch.com/t/should-set-items-have-legendary-potential/46314 )

However, I am certain that I have heard Mike from EHG saying that Set items deserve a more unique and creative solution. They have some ideas and don’t want to simply copy-paste existing mechanic as a quick fix. However as far as I know they have never shared with us what those internally discussed ideas may be. We simply don’t know “what” and “when”.

Thus I thought it would be fun to see what the community could think of instead. I personally can suggest 2 potential mechanics. As expected, they would come from a new dungeon that lets you improve set items as a reward (Just like Temporal Sanctum Dungeon makes uniques with LP into legendary items).

> IDEA 1: Combining 2 of the same set item to double its affix(es)

Quite simple idea. Maybe if some set items gave double as much power as they did today, they would become powerful enough to be interesting, without being best in slot (actually far from it :D)?

A “slam” of two set items of the same type can result in merging and effectively doubling the values of 1, 2, 3… or all modifiers of the item. Item 1 gives you 25 fire damage, item 2 gives you 27, so after crafting you have 1 final item with 52 fire damage. Here the idea can be refined. Maybe there should be a chance (low for Tier 1 dungeon and highest for Tier 4) to double an affix of an item. And the same item can be “slammed” several times until you get all affixes with double values?

• Example with “Blade of the Forgotten Knight”

Set item in process of crafting with 3 out of 5 affixes improved so far.

I personally would consider a 1 hand weapon with + 120 mele void damage (among other things) for my final end game build.
A bonus benefit from this mechanic would be that suddenly there would be high demand for set items with high rolls. Even if you drop the most useless (for you) set item, but with max rolls it would cost a small fortune in Trade as it is literally perfect for crafting in the new set-items dungeon. Good for Merchants Guild!
A negative is that the outcome is always known. With Legendary Potential you can get veeery different final items. Here the question is only what number of the already existing statys will you manage to get.

> IDEA 2: Create a Greater version of a Set

Again, a dungeon with special crafting mechanic for that. This time you put the whole set and do the slam. It would give 1 more special set bonus on top of the existing ones. To make it more interesting maybe there should be a pool of predetermined modifiers that feel unique. Something more “crazy”, similar to the experimental affixes from the Exiled Mages, and more universal (many builds on all classes could benefit from it) so that it can better fit for almost any set. Like for example:

+ 150 life for every rare ring you have

+ Max life increased by 100% of your mana

+ 15% less damage taken if all of your resistances are <50%

+ Endurance is 100% if not hit recently

+ Every 10 seconds your next spell applies Mark for Death

+ … and so on

Maybe there should be a way to even add 2-3 or such modifiers, as I doubt that only 1 would be enough for people to consider end game build with only 1 extra modifier. For example, a very low “critical success” chance for Dungeon Tier 3 and somewhat higher chance for Tier 4?

• Example with Forgotten Knight Set:

This set has been improved from the dungeon and now gives much larger \"3 Set\" bonus.

A plus of this method is that it has some randomness, can create interesting build opportunities and encourages you to actually wear the whole set (not a single OP item as in the 1 Idea).
I think if a similar mechanic to those that I suggested here would be applied in some future cycle it will lift set items from trash tier to potential end game viable items, without even coming closer to what several 3 or 4 LP powerful uniques can give you. Again, the idea is not to have everybody go around in sets, thus ignoring tons of uniques with LP potential for the same slot.

What do you guys think? What other ideas do you have?

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