Mastering Dungeons in Last Epoch: Key Information on Bosses, Mechanics, and Rewards

Dungeon Guide

Dungeons are one of the main endgame systems in Last Epoch, making them a crucial activity after the campaign. They offer substantial rewards to players who complete them. While each dungeon is unique in its layout and challenges, there are many aspects that apply to all dungeons. In this guide, we will cover the basics of dungeons, including how they work, how to unlock them, and provide descriptions of each dungeon.

Dungeon Basics

Each dungeon in Last Epoch is designed to provide a unique experience that sets it apart from other content in the game. However, the general design of all dungeons follows a similar structure, which allows us to provide a general framework for what to expect when entering a dungeon.

Accessing the Dungeon

To enter a dungeon, a key is required. Each dungeon has its own specific key:

• Lightless Arbor Key
• Soulfire Bastion Key
• Temporal Sanctum Key

These keys must be used to access their respective dungeons.

Difficulty

Dungeons scale difficulty through two main mechanics. The first and most significant is tiers. Each dungeon has 4 tiers of difficulty that players can choose from, with tier 4 being the most difficult but also the most rewarding. Players usually must complete lower tiers in order to access higher tiers (with some minor exceptions). Each tier also features a bonus reward that rotates daily, with higher tiers generally offering better daily rewards.

The second way difficulty is scaled in dungeons comes from the modifiers found when opening doors. Each door in a dungeon comes with a modifier that affects both the rewards and increases the monster damage and health. The modifiers are different for each door, and better rewards typically come with higher damage and health modifiers. As players progress through higher tiers of dungeons, they will receive better rewards, but at the cost of facing monsters with higher damage and health.

Special Mechanic

Each dungeon in Last Epoch has its own unique special mechanic that is used both while traversing the dungeon and during the boss fight. For example:

• Temporal Sanctum features Temporal Shift, which allows the player to switch between two separate timelines at will. This mechanic can be used to avoid enemies and mechanics, traverse areas that are impassable in one timeline, or even find a door to the next map.

Each dungeon’s special mechanic is designed to add an additional layer of strategy and challenge, making them more dynamic and engaging.

Dungeon Layout

All dungeons in Last Epoch follow a similar layout, consisting of two maps and a boss arena. Players must travel through each map to find one of two doors that lead to the next section.

• The first map leads to the second map.
• The second map leads to the boss encounter.

Once the boss is defeated, the dungeon is complete.

Randomization

The maps in dungeons are not randomized, but paths within them can be blocked in a randomized manner. For example: when running the dungeon for the first time, a path may be open and traversable, but on the second run, the same path may be blocked. There will always be at least one path leading to the doors that lead to the next section, but which path(s) are available will change with each run.

You Only Get One Shot...

There are no extra attempts in Dungeons. If you die at any point in the Dungeon, you lose all of your progress and will need to use a new Key to try again. This means you must balance the risks of starting over with the rewards offered to you, in order to maximize your Dungeon experience.

Uniques

The boss of each dungeon has its own specific Unique drop pool, which contains Uniques that are exclusive to that boss. This means the only way to acquire these items is by completing the dungeon. Many of these Uniques also require a minimum tier to drop, which further incentivizes running higher dungeon tiers.

Special Dungeon Reward

Every dungeon has a unique special reward that is granted upon completion. For example, Lightless Arbor allows players to spend gold to purchase modifiers that increase the value of the rewards inside the Vaults of Uncertain Fate. These rewards are very powerful, often being the primary reason for running the dungeon. However, just like the Vaults themselves, these rewards come with their own price to pay.

Acquiring Keys

Since keys are required to run dungeons, it’s important to know how to acquire them. There are several ways to obtain dungeon keys:

• As random loot from killing enemies.
• From killing Timeline bosses in the Monolith of Fate.
• As a reward for completing The Arena of Champions.
• The Lightless Arbor Key can be a reward from the Vaults of Uncertain Fate, which is the special dungeon reward for Lightless Arbor.

However, not all of these options are equal. We recommend hunting dungeon keys by killing Timeline bosses in the Monolith of Fate. They have a relatively high chance of dropping keys, and that chance scales with Item Rarity. At high enough Item Rarity, they often drop multiple keys. Keys can also drop from monsters that need to be killed to farm the stability needed to defeat Timeline bosses, so this strategy offers multiple paths for key acquisition.

In contrast, the Arena of Champions has one modifier that can be selected to drop a single dungeon key, but the chances of seeing that modifier are relatively low. Enemies in the Arena of Champions also don’t offer nearly as much loot as those in the Monolith, so the odds of getting a random key are much lower.

Dungeons as a Campaign Skip

Another purpose of Dungeons in Last Epoch is to act as a campaign "skip" for players who have multiple characters. Each dungeon is designed in a way that provides an entrance and exit that bypass large parts of the campaign without missing the main quests. This creates an alternative path through the campaign, offering some flexibility for experienced players, as they can choose which dungeons to complete and which to skip while progressing through the campaign.

However, new players will not have keys to enter these dungeons on their first playthrough, ensuring they stay focused on the main campaign without being distracted by dungeon content.

Dungeon Descriptions

In this section, we provide an overview of the unique features of each dungeon in Last Epoch. Each description also includes a link to the individual guide, which goes into much greater detail (including boss mechanics and strategies). These guides are a must-read for anyone who wants to get the most out of their dungeon experience!

Temporal Sanctum

• Key: Temporal Sanctum Key
• Boss: Chronomancer Julra
• Dungeon Mechanic: Temporal Shift allows the player to switch between two Timelines at will. This mechanic can bypass roadblocks, uncover doors, and even avoid boss mechanics.
• Special Dungeon Reward: The Eternity Cache allows players to combine a Unique with Legendary Potential and an Exalted item into a Legendary item.
• Uniques:
  • Julra's Stardial
  • Somnia
  • Julra's Obsession
  • Vessel of Strife

Soulfire Bastion

• Key: Soulfire Bastion Key
• Boss: Fire Lich Cremorus
• Dungeon Mechanic: Soulfire Shield allows players to spend Souls to switch between Fire and Necrotic damage immunity.
• Special Dungeon Reward: Souls can be used to purchase items from the Soul Gambler. The items at the Soul Gambler are influenced by modifiers attached to the doors used to traverse the dungeon. Some of these modifiers are very powerful.
• Uniques:
  • Ashes of Mortality
  • Lich's Envy
  • Immolator's Oblation
  • Pyre of Affliction

Lightless Arbor

• Key: Lightless Arbor Key
• Boss: The Mountain Beneath
• Dungeon Mechanic: Burning Amber illuminates the area around it. Enemies that are not illuminated deal much more damage and take much less damage. Burning Amber is also used to destroy Pyres, an important dungeon mechanic.
• Special Dungeon Reward: The Vault of Uncertain Fate gives players the opportunity to spend gold on powerful modifiers that improve the rewards inside the vault. Rewards from the Vaults can be massive. However, gold costs increase as players choose modifiers, and modifiers are limited.
• Uniques:
  • Peak of the Mountain
  • Foot of the Mountain
  • Face of the Mountain
  • Core of the Mountain

Summary

Each dungeon in Last Epoch is unique but shares several similarities:

• Accessing a dungeon requires a specific key.
• There are multiple ways to farm keys, but we recommend killing Timeline bosses with high Item Rarity.
• Dungeons have four tiers of difficulty.
• Each dungeon features a unique boss, special mechanic, and reward. The boss also has its own pool of exclusive Uniques.
• Dungeons can also be used as a partial campaign skip.