First Steps for Beginners in Last Epoch
Last Updated:February 20, 2024|Changelog
Welcome to the Last Epoch Beginners Guide, marking your first steps in the world of Eterra! Last Epoch offers a rich variety of character builds and gameplay options. If you're new to the world of Eterra, check out our Build Guides Section and consider starting with a Leveling Build. Our Leveling Builds are designed to be accessible and effective without requiring high-end gear and provide an easy way to cruise smoothly through the campaign.
Getting Started
If you are an ARPG veteran (especially if you're coming from Path of Exile or Diablo 4), there's a lot of familiar mechanics in Last Epoch. The first thing to do is choose your Realm, Game Mode and optional Challenges:
Offline / Online
- Online: A server authoritative environment, which let's you play with other players and trade. You have a maximum amount of 20 online Character slots.
- Offline: Requires no internet connection. A fully offline experience, with no limits on how many Characters you can create.
Selecting a Realm
Cycle: Offers a fresh start in a new environment. There is a brand new economy and Leaderboards are reset.
Legacy: The place where you can access all of your previous characters and their stashes. No Leaderboards. Cycle characters are moved to the Legacy realm when the current Cycle ends. Cycles typically last around 3-4 months.
Game Mode
- Normal: The standard experience. Your characters persist through death. Last Epoch has no Experience penalty on death.
- Hardcore: for those seeking a true challenge, the Hardcore Game Mode introduces permadeath. Characters who die in Hardcore are sent to the Normal realm and can no longer compete on the Hardcore Ladder.
Challenges
- Solo Account Found: For Solo Players. Your Stash and Crafting Materials are shared between all of your Characters.
- Solo Character Found: For Solo Players. This Challenge is for those wanting a fresh start and a focus on a single Character at a time. Start with an empty Stash, no Crafting Materials, and no Gold. Often used for fair Races and Tournaments.
By far the most common way to play the game is the Normal Cycle Realm. Once a Cycle ends, your Characters and Stashes are migrated to the appropriate Legacy Realm. Think of this as a museum for your old builds!
Classes Overview
Before taking your first steps in the world of Eterra, you get to choose between 5 Classes; Mage, Sentinel, Acolyte, Primalist and Rogue. Then, early in the Campaign, you are presented with a choice of 3 Mastery. Picking a character's Mastery is permanent; it is not something you can respec. That being said, you can invest points into the bottom half of all the other Masteries in your Class. Therefore, you can still explore different abilities and tweak your character even though your mastery choice stays the same. Each Mastery gains access to a unique signature Skill. For example, the Sorcerer gets the iconic Meteor Skill. Pick carefully!
Make sure to check our Class and Mastery Introduction to learn more about them!
Campaign
Progressing through the Campaign in Last Epoch takes you across different timelines and eras within the world of Eterra. There are 9 Chapters to complete, and multiple Quest Rewards to obtain along the journey. These rewards include Passive Points, Idols Slots, and even Attribute Stats. Make sure to unlock them all as they provide your Character with Power!
Fortunately, there are more Quests than rewards, so you can obtain everything without having to do every single Quest. Press [m] to open the Map menu and look at your current rewards in the bottom left corner.
Quest objectives are displayed on the map, guiding you through the story.
Make sure to check our Campaign Walkthrough to learn more about it!
Leveling Up
Both you and your Character's Skills level up in Last Epoch. You gain Experience at the same rate, but each different Skill has its own Exp bar, which is separate from your Character's Exp bar. You gain Passive points with each level-up, allowing you to progress through the Passive Skill Tree. Chronomancer NPCs provide the option to respec Passive points at the cost of Gold. They are found throughout Eterra, most notably in The End of Time (the game's endgame hub). Look for an icon showing a head with its brain.
Check out our Experience Guide to learn more about it!
Skills
Skills in Last Epoch level up alongside your character. When a Skill accumulates enough Experience, an icon appears on the screen, indicating it's ready to level up. Each Skill has its own transformative Skill Tree, which massively influences the way it functions and the damage type it deals! Don't be afraid to experiment and play around with them, as respecs are only a few clicks away. Beware though, should you respec a Skill, you need to level it up again.
Each skill is associated with specific Tags that represent its properties. These Tags are crucial for understanding how to scale a Skill properly. Hovering your mouse over the Skill shows it's Scaling Tags, and pressing [Alt] reveals more detailed information about the actual scaling.
For a smooth experience, follow a reliable Build Guide to eliminate the guesswork in creating a functional build, letting you focus on learning the core mechanics of the game.
Check out our Passives and Skills and Respec guide to learn more about them!
Gearing & Blessings
Gearing in Last Epoch is a vital aspect of character progression, influencing both survivability and damage output. Items come in different rarities, each representing their level of power. The rarities are Common, Magic, Rare, Exalted, Set, Unique and Legendary.
Additionally, Weaver's Will is a special type of Unique item. As you progressively level up, Weaver's Will items gain Experience and add new Affixes or increase the Tier of an existing Affix on the item.
Idols are also a major part of gearing in Last Epoch. If you are familiar with Diablo 2, Idols are similar to Charms. They have dedicated slots on the character sheet and provide a wide variety of stats, and can even be build enabling. This adds an extra layer of customization and progression to your gearing strategy!
Blessings provide passive bonuses and are found in the Monolith of Fate endgame system. The Monolith has a number of islands called Timelines. To complete the Timeline you must kill the boss. Upon killing the boss players are rewarded with a selection of Blessings. These Blessings range anywhere from increased power to improved drop rates for certain items. Once obtained, your Blessings apply to every activity in the game, not just the Monoliths.
Check out our Gear Walkthrough to go more in depth about gearing in Last Epoch!
Crafting
Last Epoch distinguishes itself by having a deterministic crafting system. Your crafting efforts are much more predictable and consistent, providing you with a rewarding approach to item customization.
In order to start crafting you need to open the Forge by pressing [F]. Forging potential is what allows an item to be crafted on. If an item reaches 0 Forging Potential, then no more crafting can be done on the item. Use an Affix Shard, possibly alongside a Glyph and/or Rune to start crafting. Your best bet is to craft early, and often!
Crafting is a core part of the gearing process, and should be used at every stage of your character's progression. While there are more advanced strategies when it comes to min-maxing a craft, a good starting point is to use Glyphs of Hope to grant your craft a chance to not cost any Forging Potential! Don't be afraid to use your Shards and Glyphs, most of them are quite common!
If you need specific shards, Rune of Removal and Rune of Shattering let you extract Affix Shards from items. If the item still has Forging Potential, it is better to use Runes of Removal to guarantee obtaining shards equal to the Tier of the Affix removed. If not, you can try your luck with a Rune of Shattering.
Check out our Crafting Guide to learn more about how to make the most out of it!
Monolith of Fate
The Monolith of Fate is Last Epoch's primary endgame system. Once you are done with the campaign this is where you head next. The entrance is located to the East of The End of Time. It features a branching mapping system, targetable rewards, bosses, modifiers, and difficulty scaling. It is composed of different Timelines which each offer their own web, Quests, Boss, rewards and Blessings.
Alternate Timelines are unstable and composed of a branching web of Echoes. These Echoes are essentially "maps" that have a predetermined guaranteed reward, should you complete them without dying. As you complete Echoes, the Timeline reveals more and more Echoes, branching from the ones that you have completed. Completing Echoes also provides Timeline Stability. Once you've accumulated enough Stability, Quest Echoes, including Boss Quest Echoes, unlock. Killing the Boss of a Timeline rewards you with a selection of Blessings and allows you to choose one along with unlocking the next Timeline.
There are two different versions of the Monolith of Fate: Normal and Empowered. Normal Monoliths offers an introduction to the end game systems, but Empowered Monoliths are really where the grind begins. Offering an infinitely scaling difficulty, this is where you spend most of your time looking for those sweet drops and farming higher rolls on your Blessings.
Check out our Monolith of Fate page to learn more about it and it's farming strategies!
Further Reading
To facilitate a smooth experience and better your understanding of Last Epoch, we have put together a number of Guides and Resources right here on Maxroll. They cover the most important topics about how characters, damage, defenses, loot filters, etc. work and give you a good overview of all systems in the game. Understanding the basics goes a long way towards being successful in the world of Last Epoch!
Here is a list of resources to help you get you started:
Summary
The Last Epoch Beginners Guide helps you take your first steps into the world of Eterra by introducing the game's core mechanics.
- Your Class Mastery choice is permanent and cannot be undone. We recommend choosing a theme and playstyle that suits you, as all Classes have strong and viable builds.
- Respeccing Skills and Passive points is easy.
- Craft early, and craft often!
- Pay attention to your Skills scaling Tags. They offer great input on how to scale them.
- Empowered Monoliths are where you want to farm. Get there asap!
Video
Credits
Written by BinaQc.
Reviewed by Lizard_IRL, Tenkiei.