Is there a Lich build that doesn't require me to play piano?

[Hex: Onii-Chan]

Okay, i'm kinda getting annoyed at this point. Bone Curse is bugged (or the description is wrong), which means you can't use its passives while it is cast as an aura, making Harvest not really an option. Drain Life doesn't work properly because you can't regenerate mana while channeling for some braindead reason. Reaper Form is on a timer no matter what you do, leaving you without any mobility and with your ♥♥♥♥ in your hand whenever it runs out.

Is Lich just a class that needs you to faceroll on the keyboard to keep your damage up or have I managed to grab the wrong skills? I want to press one button to fight the enemies, not 5.

My Shatter Strike Spellblade also needs Mana Strike, but at least it's offset by having a bunch of stuff giving you back mana while using SS and it deals a ton of damage in a large area, stacks a ton of debuffs and grants massive ward. So while annoying to have to have to tickle the boss every now and then so my grandpa can use his actual skill again, it's at least somewhat satisfying. Lich just sucks ass so far.

[Judaspriester]

The setup I'm using right now:
- Right click: marrow shards
- Q: reaper form (doesn't need to be reactivated that often if you're playing well)
- W: Death Sigil (with reduction to 35% health, several explosions, as well as the duration extension to 8)
- E (or mouse thumb button 1): Transplant with Bone curse casted on arrival
- R (or mouse thumb button 2): Bone curse for manual casting (in case I feel like I need it)

Little hint for reaper form: You got some passive skill points that reduces the life drain per second. I gave it a try on my lich once: skilling all 15 points increased the time from 100 to 0 just by activating reaper from 15 to 45 sec (or at least something close to that).
Also keep in mind that having the reaper form active (which you usually want to have) disables life reg, so there isn't that much reason to invest into it.

[Hex: Onii-Chan]

Originally posted by Judaspriester:

The setup I'm using right now:
- Right click: marrow shards
- Q: reaper form (doesn't need to be reactivated that often if you're playing well)
- W: Death Sigil (with reduction to 35% health, several explosions, as well as the duration extension to 8)
- E (or mouse thumb button 1): Transplant with Bone curse casted on arrival
- R (or mouse thumb button 2): Bone curse for manual casting (in case I feel like I need it)

Little hint for reaper form: You got some passive skill points that reduces the life drain per second. I gave it a try on my lich once: skilling all 15 points increased the time from 100 to 0 just by activating reaper from 15 to 45 sec (or at least something close to that).
Also keep in mind that having the reaper form active (which you usually want to have) disables life reg, so there isn't that much reason to invest into it.

I'm using those nodes, the nodes on the tree and even Aura of Decay with armor shred conversion and the heal node, but it still makes it lowkey annoying.

Bone Curse with Transplant does seem a good idea though, thanks.

[Judaspriester]

https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/
Username: Judaspriester
Charactername: Shanti_Buttfrozen

Feel free to take a look, maybe you can pull some more inspirations out of it. With that char I'm doing Monos with 150 corruption right now. I'm somewhat sure that there is still room for improvement, but for my first char for the game and a homebrew build I'm satisfied.