Primalist Leveling Guide
Last Updated:April 16, 2025|Changelog
Welcome to the Primalist Leveling Guide! Want to smash foes with primal might, call down devastating Storm Bolt, and tear through the campaign in Werebear Form? This Primalist Leveling Guide shows you the way!
You start strong and simple, using Swipe and Summon Thorn Totem to handle the early game. You quickly boost your damage by swapping to Tempest Strike, and then transition again to Tornado once it's available, shredding enemies from range. But the real screen-clearing power ignites when you spec into Unending Storm in the Werebear Form skill tree. This setup lets you unleash constant storms of lightning while rampaging in Werebear Form, wiping out everything on your path!
Once you have it specced, keep Warcry active on cooldown for its powerful buffs. Don't worry too much about dying early on – prioritize getting Health Regen, then stack Health and cap your Physical Resistance to make the campaign feel easy.
This build ramps up hard, especially once you master swapping into Werebear Form for maximum bossing damage and clearing speed. It's easily one of the fastest and most satisfying ways to level a Primalist, letting you blast through the campaign and easily clear the Normal Monolith timelines, preparing you for the challenge of Empowered Monoliths.
This guide focuses on the Druid Mastery to provide the optimal Primalist leveling experience, feel free to respec your Mastery after the leveling process at the Respec NPC 
in the End Of Time.
Gameplay and Skills
As you level the power of skills evolves, with some becoming stronger while others getting weaker. To account for this, you transition from setups that are optimized for early game to one that is more suited to tackling endgame content.
Starting Setup
- At level 2 :
- Replace Attack with Gathering Storm and use it in combination with your Summon Wolf to deal damage.
- At level 4 :
- Use Fury Leap to move quickly through the chapters.
- Use Summon Thorn Totem for extra damage.
- At level 5 :
- Replace Gathering Storm by Swipe, spec into it and use it for damage.
- Use Eterra's Blessing to heal you and your Summon Wolf.
When you unlock Tempest Strike at level 10, switch to the Early Setup tab.
Early Setup
- At level 10 :
- Respec Summon Thorn Totem for Tempest Strike and use it for damage.
- Use Swipe when you are out of mana.
- At 15 points in the Primalist Passive Tree :
- Respec Swipe for Summon Storm Crows.
- Don't use Summon Storm Crows ability, you only want to spend our mana with Tempest Strike.
- Replace Swipe with Gathering Storm on your Action Bar and use it when you are out of mana.
- Respec Swipe for Summon Storm Crows.
- Use Fury Leap to move quickly through the chapters.
When you unlock Tornado at 5 points in the Shaman Passive Tree, switch to the Intermediate Setup tab.
Intermediate Setup
- At 5 points in the Shaman Passive Tree :
- Respec Tempest Strike with Tornado and replace it on your Action Bar.
- Use Tornado to deal damage.
- Respec Summon Storm Crows for Gathering Storm and use it when you are out of mana.
- Respec Tempest Strike with Tornado and replace it on your Action Bar.
- At level 20 :
- Spec into Werebear Form and use Rampage in Werebear Form for clear.
- But don't use it until you have a point in Unending Storm.
- Spec into Werebear Form and use Rampage in Werebear Form for clear.
- Use Fury Leap to move quickly through the chapters.
When you unlock your 4th skill specializing slot at level 35, switch to the Final Setup tab.
Final Setup
- At level 35 :
- Spec into Warcry.
- Use Warcry in Human Form and Roar in Werebear Form on cooldown.
- Spec into Warcry.
- At level 50 :
- Spec into Maelstrom.
- Don't use Maelstrom, it gets procced by Warcry.
- Spec into Maelstrom.
- Use Tornado in Human Form for single target damage.
- Use Rampage in Werebear Form for clear and to move quickly through the chapters.
- Use Fury Leap to move quickly through the chapters while in Human Form.
- Rotate between Human Form and Werebear Form on cooldown :
- Use Tornado in Human Form.
- Use Rampage or Swipe depending on the space available in the boss arena, while in Werebear Form.
- Use Warcry and Roar on cooldown.
Passives
Passives provide powerful effects that dictate the playstyle of a Class and its Masteries. Remember that you can allocate Passives in the first half of any Mastery regardless of the one you chose.
Gearing and Side Quests Step by Step
Itemization is a vital aspect of your journey in Last Epoch. While prefixes and suffixes matter, what sets Last Epoch apart is the power of item bases. Many items have potent implicit attributes that can rival or even surpass modifiers.
Items
- Focus on Health and Physical Resistances affixes for defenses.
- Use two handed weapons with Chance to Bleed on Hit and Chance to Ignite on Hit.
- Equip Silver Rings to boost your movement speed.
- Look for a Jade Amulet to boost your damage.
- Start looking for Staves as you get closer to level 10.
Side Quests
- Storeroom Sabotuers for 1
Passive point.- The Storerooms - Area level 5.
When you unlock Tempest Strike at level 10, switch to the Early Setup tab.
Items
- Focus on Health and Physical Resistances affixes for defenses.
- Equip a Staff, but prioritize sources of increase damage over a better item base until you unlock Tornado.
- Equip Avarice as soon as you get them, in combination with Living Seed they provide you leech.
- Noble Sash is a big damage upgrade as can spend more mana on Tempest Strike.
Side Quests
- Evacuation Quest for 1 Passive point.
- Last Refuge Outskirts - Area level 10.
- Erza's Ledger Quest for 1 Passive point and Avarice.
- Erza's Library - Area level 11.
- The Upper District Quest for 1 Passive point.
- The Upper District - Area level 14.
When you unlock Tornado at 5 points in the Shaman Passive Tree, switch to the Intermediate Setup tab.
Items
- Focus on Health and Physical Resistances affixes for defenses.
- Look for a Copper Amulet to increase your flat spell damage.
Side Quests
- An Ancient Hunt for extra
Idol slots.- The Ancient Forest - Area level 20.
- The Lesser Refuge Quest for 2 Passive point.
- The Lost Refuge - Area level 21.
- The Corrupted Lake Quest for 1 Passive point and extra Idol slots.
- The Corrupted Lake - Area level 26.
- Hidden Gems Quest for 1 Passive point.
- Maj'elka - Area level 33.
- The Sapphire Tablet Quest for 1 Passive point and extra Idol slots.
- The Ruined Coast - Area level 35.
When you unlock your 4th skill specializing slot at level 35, switch to the Final Setup tab.
Items
- At level 40, equip Sapphire Ring to greatly increase your damage.
- But at level 52 replace them with Opal Ring. You want as much Cooldown Recovery Speed as you can get.
- Craft it on boots and belts as well.
- Look for a Kolheim Armor, Bone Amulet, Spidersilk Sash and Solarum Greaves to fix your resistances.
- Focus on ways to increase your Cast Speed to cast more Tornado while in Human Form. This massively boost your damage.
Side Quests
- A Heoborean Cure Quest for extra Idol slots.
- The Wengari Fortress - Area level 47.
- The Ice Caverns - Area level 46.
- The Tundra - Area level 46.
- Liberating the Nomads Quest for extra Idol slots.
- The Wengari Fortress - Area level 47.
- After defeating the Frostroot Warden boss and completing chapter 7 quests, you have reached the cap of 15 Passive points and 8 Idol slots. You can dive into the Monolith of Fate or you can choose to finish the campaign for a reward of +1 to all attributes.
Monolith Progression
After beating the Abomination timeline boss and completing your first timeline, you have the choice to go between The Stolen Lance timeline and The Black Sun timeline. Go for The Black Sun timeline.
You want to do timelines on the right-hand-side of the Monolith progression as they provide more relevant Blessings for your character progression.
What awaits you is unlocking Empowered Monolith after pushing through the Spirits of Fire, The Age of Winter and The Last Ruin Timelines and activating the beacon in the middle of them.
Check out the Campaign Guide for an in depth breakdown of the campaign.
Stats Priorities
Offensive Stats
- Ignite, Poison and Bleed chance
- Until level 9
- Cooldown Recovery Speed
- Very high priority only after level 35
- Level of Skills
- Swipe, Summon Thorn Totem, Tempest Strike and Summon Storm Crows early
- Gathering Storm, Warcry, Tornado, Werebear Form and Maelstrom after level 20
- Increased Cast Speed
- Increase Spell damage and Lightning Damage
- Armor Shred
- Strength
- Increased Mana Regen
Defensive Stats
- Health Regen
- Until you unlock Tornado
- Health
- Any type of Resistance
- Focus on Physical Resistance
- Endurance
- Vitality
- Frailty Chance, Slow Chance and Chill Chance
- Armour
- Dodge
Scaling Tips
- Your damage rotation on bosses after level 35 relies on spending all your mana in Human Form and switching back and forth between Werebear Form and Human Form. This makes Cooldown Recovery Speed top priority for single target damage and Cast Speed as well.
- Even if Strength is ranked last, it still provides very high value for the build. You get 1 Adaptive Spell Damage per Strength in Werebear Form on top of increasing you Armor.
- Rely on item bases to cover your Resistances, but focus on Health and Physical Resistance during the campaign.
Uniques
If you are lucky you might get a Rune of Ascendance while leveling. Use this first on boots to get Unique boots.
Keep an eye out for these Uniques as they are very impactful for your build, such as :
Swaddling of the Erased Chimaera's Essence Kermode's Cage Ucenui's Sphere Dedication of an Erased Primalist Liath's Signet The Invoker's Static Touch Vilatria's Downfall
Key Leveling Notes
- Keep your character at the area level by killing monsters.
- To use this guide, you need to maintain at most a 5 level difference with the area.
- Press C to open the character sheet to find your level and TAB to find the area level.
- Only collect loot that serves as an upgrade.
- The loot filter reveals many items that might not be an upgrade for your character.
- If your inventory is full, stick gear with high value affixes in your stash and sell the rest.
- Don't sell gear that has high value affixes to a vendor.
- Instead, keep it to use later or destroy it with a Rune of Shattering or Rune of Removal.
- Always get the best weapon you can.
- Weapons are a core part of your power and getting a higher level base boosts your damage significantly.
- Early on, you can buy them at the
Gambler NPC in the Council Chamber town and in the End of Time town. - After level 40, they don't sell you higher item bases.
- If you want to enter the Monolith of Fate early, unlock all the passive points and idol slots from quests first.
- By the time you complete chapter 7, you are ready to tackle the Monolith of Fate content.
- Crafting is powerful and important for enhancing your gear.
- Press F and place your item in the crafting interface to level up its affixes and craft new ones!
- Adding health or vitality on a few empty affix slots can increase your HP by a significant amount!
- The Nemesis system has the ability to grant incredibly strong equipment.
- It can generate exalted items with no high-level requirement, giving you a massive power boost.
If you need help with crafting check the Beginner Crafting Guide.
Loot Filter
Loot Filters are critical in Last Epoch. Highlighting all the related valuable Item Bases, Affixes, Uniques and Idols is crucial to your character's progression. As your gear gets better, remember to hide the rules that are no longer useful to avoid screen clutter.
Link : Download Lootfilter
Learn how to load and make Filters with our Loot Filter Guide.
Summary
This Primalist leveling build is matchless in speed and damage. It kills monsters in seconds, is fast and super fun to play!
- Choose the Druid Mastery.
- For damage, spam Swipe early, then at level 10 Tempest Strike and finally Tornado once you unlock it.
- Once you have a point in Unending Storm in Werebear Form, start using Rampage in Werebear Form for clear.
- At level 35, use Warcry or Roar on cooldown.
- On bosses, rotate between Werebear Form and Human Form and spam Tornado.
- Use Rampage and Fury Leap to move quickly through the chapters.
- Focus on Health and cap your Physical Resistance early to make the campaign feel easy.
What's Next?
Congratulations, you completed the campaign and unlocked Empowered Monoliths! You can dive into dungeons, empower your character further and test your limits at the Arena leaderboard.
Check out our Primalist Guides and find the perfect Primalist Endgame build for you.
Explore the Monolith of Fate with our Beginner Guide and learn how to farm Dungeons.
Credits
Written by Terek.
Reviewed by Tenkiei.