Last Epoch: What does the Frailty debuff do?

In Last Epoch, understanding debuffs is key to pushing through tough content and optimizing your build's effectiveness. Frailty is one such debuff that shows up often in top-tier builds. While it might seem subtle at first, Frailty plays a huge role in reducing incoming damage and improving your survivability across all stages of the game.

Whether you're a new player or a veteran optimizing for high corruption content, this guide will explain what the Frailty debuff does in Last Epoch, how it stacks, and how to use it to your advantage.

Also read: Last Epoch Season 2 tier list (All Classes and Masteries ranked)

What is Frailty in Last Epoch?

Frailty stats in Last Epoch (image via Eleventh Hour Games)

Frailty is a defensive debuff that reduces the damage dealt by enemies affected by it. When an enemy has Frailty applied, they deal less damage, making it a vital tool for players looking to mitigate damage passively during fights.

Core Effect of Frailty:

Enemies with Frailty deal 6% less damage for each stack, lasting for 4 seconds.
You can apply up to 3 stacks, totaling 18% reduced damage dealt by the enemy.

Frailty applies to all types of damage an enemy deals, including melee hits, spells, and even damage-over-time effects. This makes it a universal damage mitigation tool, helpful in nearly every build.

How does Frailty work?

Frailty stacks independently on enemies. Each source of Frailty has its own duration, and enemies can carry multiple stacks simultaneously, up to the 3-stack limit. It wears off gradually, so consistent reapplication is important to keep the reduction active.

Key mechanics:

Maximum stacks: 3
Total Damage Reduction: Up to 18%
Duration: 4 seconds.
Stack Type: Independent—each instance counts separately and can expire at different times.
Scaling: Frailty can be scaled only by stacking (up to 3 stacks) and no other method.

Frailty does not reduce your outgoing damage. It strictly affects how much damage enemies deal, so it's a valuable layer of indirect defense.

How to Apply Frailty in Last Epoch

There are multiple ways to apply Frailty in your build, depending on your gear, passives, or skill tree.

Pact Severance, Mad Alchemist’s Ladle, Scales of Lemniscate, and Bloodkeeper’s Nest apply Frailty on hit chance (Image via Eleventh Hour Games)

Common sources of Frailty:

Ailment Chance on Hit: Certain skills or passives grant a percentage chance to apply Frailty on hit.
Idols and Affixes: Some idols or gear affixes allow you to apply Frailty on hit, especially for melee or ranged attacks.
Unique Items: Specific uniques like Pact Severance, Mad Alchemist’s Ladle, Scales of Lemniscate, and Bloodkeeper’s Nest apply Frailty on hit chance.
Blessings: Curse of Sulphur and Grand Curse of Sulphur are the only blessings to provide a chance to apply Frailty.
Skill and Passive Trees: Multiple classes in Last Epoch have access to the Frailty affliction in their Passive Tree nodes as well as their primary skills. Classes like the Void Knight, Forge Guard, Paladin, Bladedancer, Falconer, Acolyte, Warlock, etc. can easily apply Frailty with proper skill point allotment.

The best builds combine consistent hit frequency with gear that guarantees frequent Frailty uptime.

Why use Frailty in Last Epoch

Even a single stack of Frailty makes a noticeable difference in damage taken, especially in high-corruption Monoliths or Arena waves where enemy scaling becomes extreme. It's especially helpful for:

Tankier builds: Reduce incoming burst damage for better survivability.
Minion builds: Lower the damage your minions take from AoE or ranged enemies.
Ward-based setups: Extend the duration of your ward buffer by taking less incoming damage.
High-leech builds: Reduce burst risk while sustaining through incoming hits.

It’s a passive, no-cost form of defense when built properly, making it ideal for hands-off damage mitigation.

Frailty might not have the flashy visuals of some other ailments in Last Epoch, but it's quietly one of the most powerful defensive tools available. By reducing enemy damage by up to 18%, it acts as a consistent safety net for both squishy and tanky builds alike.

Whether you're looking to survive deep corruption echoes, push Arena leaderboards, or just give your build more breathing room in tough encounters, adding Frailty to your toolkit is a smart and effective choice.

Check out our other guides on Last Epoch:

About the author

Jagaran is an MMO and ARPG writer at Sportskeeda. His involvement in the gaming industry also includes working as a concept artist and as a narrative designer.
At age of nine, Halo: Combat Evolved kicked off his love for the medium. He looks back fondly on the times he visited cyber cafes, watching the older boys playing the game and shouting, "Master Chief!"
If given a chance to inhabit a game world, he would eagerly jump into the breathtaking world of Halo.
He admires Ben "CohhCarnage" Cassell for his engaging dialogue and gameplay as well as his critical thinking regardless of how much he loves the game, which encouraged him to spend countless hours in games and technically analyze them.
In his free time, he enjoys writing books, cooking, sketching, and the occasional game of football.

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Edited by Shraman Mitra