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Last Epoch is a genuine treat of an ARPG, feeling familiar enough to the dungeon-crawling audiences yet appealing to newcomers. It’s a killer game with an ocean of depth to its customization and unique gear potential, yet it’s easy to play for hardcore or casual players. For newcomers, we have this handy starter guide as you dive into Last Epoch!
Starter Tips for Last Epoch Beginners
Fundamentally, Last Epoch is not very different from other isometric Action RPGs. These games, typically referred to as dungeon-crawlers, offer tons of loot in large, winding dungeons, for which you have a constantly available map you continue to flesh out. However, their landscape and rewards change when you leave and return to these dungeons.
This can leave people perhaps a little intimidated or curious about what there is to gain. However, with a potent, varied combat system referred to by Zizaran on YouTube as a combination of traits between Path of Exile and Diablo, it’s a familiar formula. It’s a beloved formula with decades of critical and fan praise. Last Epoch isn’t fundamentally different, so there are plenty of suggestions for any starter guide, whether for newcomers to the game or the subgenre itself.
Forget the Base Class, Focus on Your Mastery
In Last Epoch, there are 5 Base Classes:
- Mage
- Primalist
- Acolyte
- Sentinel
- Rogue
However, each of these Base Classes has 3 Masteries, bestowing a different play style enhanced by the foundation laid by their Base Class archetypes. Forget the Base Class and focus on these Masteries, shown in the following:
| Base Class | Mastery |
|---|---|
| Mage | Runemaster |
| Sorcerer | |
| Spellblade | |
| Primalist | Beastmaster |
| Druid | |
| Shaman | |
| Acolyte | Lich |
| Necromancer | |
| Warlock | |
| Sentinel | Forge Guard |
| Paladin | |
| Void Knight | |
| Rogue | Bladedancer |
| Falconer | |
| Marksman |
The Mage is magic-oriented, but you can tailor your focus tooffensive magic or magic-enhanced close combat. The Primalist is a master of nature and spirits, commanding life in its many forms. The Acolyte can control the power of death either for your empowerment or to control undead minions. The Sentinel is a close combat machine able to brave deadly assaults head-on, mitigate their damage, and punish unworthy opponents. The Rogue is a killer of many forms, either close up, at a distance, or by using their companions to do their bidding.
But their Masteries add even more flavor here. These Masteries can be intimidating at a glance, and to avoid drowning you in details about each Mastery’s strengths, it’s easier to suggest you discover them for yourself.
The Spellblade might bridge that gap for Mage players wanting more emphasis on melee attacks instead of the usual spellcaster build. The Paladin is an excellent, sustainable defender capable of delivering deadly counterattacks. The Lich and Necromancer might sound similar, but the former uses power over death to enhance yourself and steal it from others, while the latter empowers hordes of minions.
The game’s character creation menu is an inviting potential roster of deadly warriors able to handle innumerable legions of enemies, so try everything!
Each Skill Has a Skill Tree
Skills, your manually-activated abilities typically as attacks or stat modifiers with cooldowns, each have a massive array of options for you to fine-tune them. The further along each tree, the more likely you’ll find clusters of skill mods that tweak your character to do exactly what you want.
This means you should look over your options before you leap and figure out a path of progression for your character, such as Mastery and preferred Skills. It also means you have a huge pool of potential, and yes, that can include potential for mistakes, but those mistakes are reversible.
You Can Respec, and Should Always Consider the Option
Respec mechanics are sometimes haphazardly put into later phases of a game, so you’re given a long time to decide whether or not you’re happy with your character. It means that once you get the chance to do so, you can respec and reorganize your stats however you need them. However, in Last Epoch, just an hour into your starter session, you’ll have a chance to respec if you’re unhappy.
When you want to level up Skills in Last Epoch, you must have a Mastery slot available to assign to your preferred Skill. You will have all 5 Skills available by Level 50, but way before then, you can choose to remove Skill Points individually from buffs such as for Disintegrate. If that’s not enough, you can even despecialize it entirely if you want to try building up a different Skill.
But that’s not all! There’s the Passive section in your character customization, that is, upgrades to your character that enhance your play style as a whole. These can be adjusted or removed often for a modest fee at the Chronomancer or similar characters, marked by a human brain icon on your minimap.
Last Epoch Can Be Played With a Mouse & Keyboard or the Gamepad
This is likely to spark a debate between PC-loyal purists and those wishing for a more relaxed — dare I say — casual experience in Last Epoch. You can plug in a gamepad like your Xbox controller to play the game seamlessly.
Yes, the mouse & keyboard allow for a massive pool of hotkeys, allowing you to control the game on a level the gamepad can’t compete with. However, the gamepad is remarkably versatile and comfortable, and controlling isometric movement with a thumbstick instead of pointing and clicking is an accessible, valid alternative. Keep this in mind when playing.
Focus on Attributes That Work Well for Your Character
Ah, yes, we’re approaching the min-maxing discussion when talking about how to play RPGs. You must, above all else, play an RPG or any other game solely for your enjoyment. However, if you enjoy winning, min-maxing gives you an edge.
It’s simple: you maximize your character’s best strengths, investing more Intelligence into a Sorcerer, while not worrying about anything like gear that enhances unnecessary stats like Strength. You don’t care about melee attacks when you can point your magic death ray at the enemy without laying a finger on them.
That’s what min-maxing is: you minimize undesirable traits while maximizing those that play to your character’s strengths. It’s not a requirement, but it’s undeniably effective, even if you’re left feeling like a power gamer.
Experiment With Forging in Last Epoch
One of the coolest aspects of Last Epoch is a streamlined yet surprisingly deep Forge system. You can forge runes and other items into your gear, and due to the insane variety of combinations that couldn’t be listed in any definitive sense, my advice is to experiment as much as possible. Don’t ignore the anvil icon when you’re in a hub area. You only stand to benefit from experimenting with gear to add powerful traits and bonuses.
Have Fun, Either Solo or Online
Last Epoch is smooth and fun to play for any type of player. It’s got mechanics in place for those wishing to chill out alone or for those wanting to share their adventures and loot with others. This is encouraging, especially in light of the game’s server issues mere hours into its full release.
But my final advice is just to have fun. There’s incredible depth to the game without even needing to dive into its microtransactions, which are certainly…present. No two characters will wind up the same, whether by stats or with gear, so get out there and be your best self, with extra slots available if you want to tweak that self a little bit further.
