Class and Mastery Introduction

Once you've bought and installed the game, the first decision you need to make is what class you want to play. This decision is permanent for each character you make and choosing the right class for your playstyle can be the biggest determining factor in how much you enjoy your first experience with the game. In this guide we provide an overview of each class; including themes, playstyles and masteries. Upon finishing this guide you'll have all the information you need to choose your first class and start your journey in Eterra!

The Sentinel is the typical Warrior or Knight type class. With lots of support for melee (including the ability to dual wield), armor and shields, this class fits with players who like the 'Bruiser' playstyle. He also has some of the highest support for Throwing Attacks in the game. The Paladin mastery fits the theme of a tanky healer through multiple healing skills and strong support of Healing Effectiveness. Thanks to Warpath, Sentinel is also the best choice for players who like to 'spin-to-win'.

Unsurprisingly the Void Knight specializes in Void Damage and it happens to be the only mastery with Void support. Void Knight has nodes for leech, a Void based ailment called Time Rot, and damage increases for not wearing a shield. However, the most interesting feature of the mastery is the ability to create echoes. Echoes create a copy of used skill a short period after using that skill.

Void Knight has exclusive access to the Erasing Strike and Anomaly skills. While the mastery is largely themed around Melee, it also can support Throwing Skills and also has some very powerful builds based around void spells like Abyssal Echoes and Devouring Orb.

This mastery is themed around Physical Damage which includes the ailment Bleed. Forge Guard provides support for both 2 handed playstyles and sword and board. There are also a number of Passive nodes devoted to Throwing Attacks. The mastery bonuses are devoted to defense through armor and resistances.

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Forge Strike, Ring Of Shields and Smelter's Wrath. Forge Guard also has minion support, which makes it a great choice for players who want to use Manifest Armor or any skill that can create Forged Weapons (i.e. Forge Strike).

Paladin is themed around Fire Damage (including the ailment Ignite) and Healing. Support for this mastery includes Fire and Healing as well as Block, Armor, Health, and even some Bleed and Lightning Damage support. The mastery bonuses provide increased Fire, Lightning, and Physical damage and Healing Effectiveness.

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Holy Aura and Judgement. Paladin also has the unique mechanic of being able to scale Adaptive Spell Damage while wearing a shield, allowing for a tanky spellcaster playstyle that pairs well skills like Judgement and Smite.

Every ARPG needs a Mage class and Last Epoch is no different. Mages use elemental damage to destroy their foes, which means they have tons of support for Fire, Lightning and Cold damage types. This class also takes advantage of Ward which provides a strong defensive layer.

As far as masteries go, the Sorcerer provides players with the prototypical mage playstyle of dealing damage through spells, often at range. Spellblade plays much differently, using melee attacks interwoven with spells and lots of Ward generation to create a unique playstyle.

The Sorcerer is the quintessential spell caster, specializing in ranged spells and big elemental AoE damage. He's themed around Fire, Lightning and Cold damage. Critical Strikes are well supported by Sorcerer skills and passives. While not as much as Spellblade, Sorcerer also has support for Ward. The Mastery bonuses provide additional mana and spell damage.

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Meteor, Arcane Ascendance and Black Hole.

Spellblades fill the fantasy of melee wielding spell casters. They have a number of melee skills that can also proc spells, synergistically blending the two playstyles together into a very satisfying combination. Like Sorcerer, Spellblades are themed around themed around Fire, Lightning and Cold damage. They have superior ward generation support to Sorcerers, which is necessary due to their tendency to be in melee range.

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Shatter Strike, Firebrand and Surge. Spellblades also have a lot of support for using one skill to build up damage and then unleashing it with a huge burst from another, so If you're looking for a generator/spender type of playstyle, then this mastery may be for you.

Runemaster has a playstyle that is unique to the genre. Casting elemental skills creates Runes that are based on the Element type of the skill. Using Runic Invocation expends those Runes to choose a spell to cast. The spell it casts is determined by the Rune combination that was created by the elemental skills. Since the Rune combination takes into account the number of Runes (up to 3) Element type, and order, it can create a total of 40 distinct spells. Such a large number of spells from a single skill creates almost limitless possibilities!

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Runic Invocation, Runebolt and Glyph of Dominion.

As the dark magic user, the Acolyte thrives with Blood (Physical), Necrotic and Poison damage. She can curse her enemies, debuffing them before unleashing her wrath. This class also specializes in controlling minions. The acolyte can even use her own health to power abilities.

As far as masteries go, the Lich specializes in dealing direct damage by sacrificing her own health (and sometimes her minions) to power her abilities. The Necromancer focuses on her minions and can deploy them in a wide variety of ways, including as an army, a single powerful entity or or even turn them into (un)living bombs.

The Lich is a master of the Dark Arts; able to cast Physical spells through blood magic as well as having a firm grasp of Necrotic and Poison damage. While her skills are often cast at range, she is also more than capable when it comes to melee combat. Although Necromancer is the minion mastery, Lich is also able to deploy and take advantage of them. The most unique thing about this mastery is the ability to sacrifice her own health in order to increase in power, creating an interesting risk/reward playstyle. The mastery bonuses give her Leech and Increased Damage when missing health.

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Reaper Form which allows her to transform into a Reaper, and Death Seal.

The classic minion class, the Necromancer has the ability to wield large armies, single but powerful minions, or sacrifice them in a variety of destructive ways. She is also capable of buffing her minions, creating the opportunity for a more active playstyle even for 'zoo' builds. The Necromancer's minions have a wide variety of supported damage types allowing for a large amount of variety in builds. She can also use her minions to provide buffs to herself, improving her own damage or survivability. The mastery bonuses provide her with more Skeletons and Skeleton Mages as well as increased minion damage.

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Summon Wraith, Dread Shade and Assemble Abomination.

A Damage Over Time (DoT) specialist, the Warlock can release the very fires of Hell upon enemies. They are able to easily use Fire, Necrotic, Poison and Physical damage to their advantage, making them one of the most flexible damage type classes. They can also Curse enemies more than any other, making this a truly terrifying archetype.

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Chthonic Fissure, Soul Feast and Profane Veil.

The Primalist is a versatile class that fills several thematic rolls. The Beastmaster focuses on pets and melee damage, the Shaman specializes in totems, and the Druid is the primary transformation class of Last Epoch. The wide variety of options means there is something for almost everyone to enjoy in the Primalist toolbox. Damage types with primary support are Physical, Lightning, Cold, and Poison. Primalist also has a wide variety of defensive options including the highest support for Endurance of all of the classes.

For the Necromancer, minions are an expendable tool, but not the Beastmaster. His are Companions whose deaths are to be avoided at (mostly) all costs. His Companions have their own active skills that can be used by the player whenever they're off cooldown. If a Companion falls in combat, they can be revived. Any Primalist can use Companions, but the Beastmaster excels at them, gaining access to more support and the ability to have more Companions. He also has strong support for Melee and the Physical and Poison damage types. The Beastmaster's most unique mechanic comes from Aspects: special buffs he can apply to himself and his Companions through certain actions.

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Summon Raptor, Summon Sabertooth and Summon Frenzy Totem, a support totem that can buff him and his Companions.

The Shaman is the primary Totem user, but also excels at spellcasting. His damage type support is largely Cold and Lightning, but he also has some Physical. He can use totems for direct damage or to provide buffs to Spells, Melee Skills, or even Companions. His mastery bonuses reduce Totem mana cost, provide Attunement, and buff the Shaman's Elemental Resistance while he's controlling a Totem

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Summon Storm Totem and Avalanche.

The Druid's most notable feature is the ability to transform into Werebear Form, Spriggan Form or Swarmblade Form. Werebear and Swarmblade are mastery exclusives making this class a must for anyone who wants to experience all of the transformation playstyles. He also has the ability to 'stance dance' between multiple forms and can gain buffs from doing so. Damage type support is Physical, Poison, Cold (Spriggan and Swarmblade) and Lightning (Werebear). The mastery bonuses give him increased Health and Mana and damage reduction when leaving a transformed state

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Werebear Form, Swarmblade Form and Entangling Roots.

Ninja? Assassin? Ranger? The answer is 'yes'. The Rogue fills all of these rolls and more. With a skillset that includes attacking from the shadows, firing with bows from Range, and even Melee Range ranking, she can seemingly do it all. It doesn't hurt that she also has the widest variety of defensive options at her disposal including, the most Dodge support and exclusive access to Glancing Blows Damage support. She is largely based around Physical and Poison but she also has solid access to Fire, Cold, and Lightning, only adding to her versatility. She also has access to Shadows, a unique mechanic that creates a copy of the Rogue and mimics the next skill used.

As far as masteries go, the Rogue offers two very different playstyles. Bladedancer is focused on Melee with some Throwing support, while Marksman is the only Mastery that can use Bows.

The Bladedancer fits the Ninja/Assassin playstyle with skills like Shurikens and Smoke Bomb making the theme clear. A unique feature of this mastery comes from Shadow Daggers, an ailment that is guaranteed to Crit when procced. Bladedancer is primarily focused on Physical and Poison damage, but also has some support for Fire. Defensively, it has more support than Marksman for both Dodge and Glancing Blow which makes up for the larger risks this playstyle tends to invite.

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Dancing Strikes and Lethal Mirage

This is Last Epoch's version of the Ranger. Marksman has exclusive access to both Bows and Quivers and much of their damage scales only with Bows.Staples of the theme show up here in skills like Multishot and Hail of Arrows, but there are also some more unique options. The mastery has a much better balance of supported damage types than Bladedancer, with Physical, Poison, Fire, Lightning, and Cold all being good build options.

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Detonating Arrow and Hail of Arrows.

The Falconer is a minion class with a twist. The Rogue's special Falcon assists her in many ways, including directly attacking enemies and buffing her own skills. But where the Falcon stands out is in it's immunity to damage, allowing Falconer builds to focus much more on the Falcon's offense or her own stats. The Falconer can use many different damage types, but typically specializes in Physical, Poison, Lightning or Fire.

The exclusive skills for this mastery are Falconry, Aerial Assault and Dive Bomb.