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You’re adventuring in the untamed worlds of Eleventh Hour Games’ latest ARPG but come across a curious pathway to some red-marked spots on your map. Ahead of you is a curiously locked door with no nearby keys, as the path leading to this is marked “Alternate Leveling” in Last Epoch. What is the difference, and is this path worth the trouble?
What Is the Alternate Leveling Path in Last Epoch?
An Alternate Leveling Path is a challenging way to bypass the longer path carved out by the main story in Last Epoch. These are marked by what resembles a winged sandal before you reach red dungeon nodes on the map. I especially don’t recommend it with how infrequently you can access the dungeons along their paths.
The first dungeon and Alternate Leveling Path you’ll encounter along your first playthrough in Last Epoch is the Lightless Arbor. Due to RNG shenanigans, you might come across a green and gold chest along many of the open areas in the game, not even in the same era as Lightless Arbor. You can’t depend on it to happen.
Even if you find a key and enter the dungeon, you’ll want to be several levels above the recommendation, as the dungeon’s enemies are far tougher, especially for solo players. Finally, if you die, you lose the key and have to find one again randomly.
Is the Alternate Leveling Path Worth it in Last Epoch?
It’s not worth pursuing in your first playthrough unless you seek a challenge and skip story elements. You can ignore these, as trying too hard to access one in your first run can be an annoying waste of time. It’s excellent as a shortcut, as long as you know where to get keys, and it’s the only way to access the dungeons along these paths.
The best advice I can give about whether the Alternate Leveling Path is worth it in Last Epoch is that while not everybody cares about how it enhances speedruns, it can add replayability and depth to the game.
How Do You Get Alternate Leveling Path Dungeon Keys in Last Epoch?
Dungeon keys to access the Alternate Leveling Path are surprisingly rare in Last Epoch, but I’m happy to point you in the direction in which they’re most likely to pop up. You can get these keys through the following:
- Rewards from the Monolith.
- Champions Gate Arena rewards.
- Random loot from ornate gold and green chests.
Keys have red item text; you can insert them into their corresponding dungeon slots. You can get potentially better rewards thanks to tiered keys for harder dungeon runs if that’s your flavor. You can’t use these same keys at the Arena, however, and you’ll need to get those keys specifically from the Monolith, more often than not.
