Last Epoch Beginner's Guide: Your First Steps into Eterra

Welcome to the Last Epoch Beginners Guide, your introduction to the vast world of Eterra! Last Epoch offers a wide array of character builds and gameplay options. If you're just starting out in Eterra, be sure to explore our Build Guides Section and consider choosing a Leveling Build. These builds are designed to be beginner-friendly and efficient, allowing you to progress smoothly through the campaign without the need for top-tier gear.

Getting Started Last Epoch

If you're an ARPG veteran, particularly from games like Path of Exile or Diablo 4, you'll recognize many familiar mechanics in Last Epoch. The first step is to choose your Realm, Game Mode, and any optional Challenges:

Offline / Online

Online: A server-based environment that lets you play with others and trade. You'll have a maximum of 20 character slots available.
Offline: No internet connection required. A completely offline experience with no limit on the number of characters you can create.

Selecting a Realm Last Epoch

Cycle: Provides a fresh start in a new environment, with a completely new economy and reset Leaderboards.
Legacy: The realm where you can access all your previous characters and their stashes. There are no Leaderboards here. When the current Cycle ends, Cycle characters are moved to the Legacy realm. Cycles typically last around 3-4 months.

Game Mode Last Epoch

Normal: The standard experience where your characters persist through death. Last Epoch has no experience penalty upon death.
Hardcore: For those seeking a true challenge, Hardcore mode introduces permadeath. Characters who die in Hardcore are moved 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 who want to focus on a single character at a time, starting with an empty stash, no crafting materials, and no gold. It's often used for fair races and tournaments.

The most common way to play is in the Normal Cycle Realm. When a Cycle ends, your characters and stashes are moved to the appropriate Legacy Realm. Think of it as a museum for your old builds!

Classes Overview Last Epoch

Before you embark on your journey in the world of Eterra, you’ll first choose between five classes: Mage, Sentinel, Acolyte, Primalist, and Rogue. Then, early in the campaign, you’ll be presented with a choice of three Masteries. Selecting a Mastery is a permanent decision, meaning you cannot respec it. However, you can still invest points into the lower half of the Masteries in your Class, allowing you to explore different abilities and fine-tune your character even though your Mastery remains unchanged. Each Mastery unlocks a unique signature skill. For example, the Sorcerer gains access to the iconic Meteor skill. Choose wisely!

Campaign Last Epoch

Progressing through the campaign in Last Epoch takes you across various timelines and eras within the world of Eterra. There are 9 chapters to complete, each offering multiple quest rewards along the way. These rewards include Passive Points, Idol Slots, and even Attribute Stats, all of which provide your character with power!

Luckily, there are more quests than rewards, so you don’t have to complete every single quest to unlock everything. Press [m] to open the map menu and check your current rewards in the bottom left corner.

Quest objectives are displayed on the map, guiding you through the story.

Leveling Up Last Epoch

In Last Epoch, both you and your character's skills level up. You gain experience at the same rate for both, but each skill has its own experience bar, which is separate from your character's experience bar. With each level-up, you gain passive points, which allow you to progress through the Passive Skill Tree.

Chronomancer NPCs offer the option to respec your passive points for a cost in gold. These NPCs can be found throughout Eterra, most notably in The End of Time, the game's endgame hub. Look for the icon depicting a head with a brain.

Skills Last Epoch

In Last Epoch, skills level up alongside your character. When a skill accumulates enough experience, an icon will appear on the screen, indicating that it's ready to level up. Each skill has its own transformative skill tree, which significantly alters its functionality and the type of damage it deals! Don’t hesitate to experiment with them, as respecs are just a few clicks away. However, keep in mind that if you respec a skill, you'll need to level it up again.

Each skill is associated with specific tags that represent its properties. These tags are essential for understanding how to properly scale a skill. Hovering your mouse over the skill will show its scaling tags, and pressing [Alt] reveals more detailed information about the actual scaling.

For a smooth experience, follow a trusted build guide to eliminate any guesswork in creating an effective build, allowing you to focus on mastering the core mechanics of the game.

Gearing & Blessings Last Epoch

Gearing in Last Epoch is a crucial aspect of character progression, affecting both survivability and damage output. Items come in various rarities, each representing a different level of power. The rarities include Common, Magic, Rare, Exalted, Set, Unique, and Legendary.

Additionally, Weaver's Will is a special type of Unique item. As you level up, these items gain experience and either add new affixes or upgrade the tier of an existing affix.

Idols also play a significant role in gearing. If you're familiar with Diablo 2, think of Idols as similar to Charms. They have dedicated slots on the character sheet and provide a variety of stats, some of which can even enable specific builds. This adds another layer of customization and progression to your gearing strategy!

Blessings provide passive bonuses and can be found in the Monolith of Fate endgame system. The Monolith consists of several islands known as Timelines. To complete a Timeline, you must defeat the boss, after which players are rewarded with a selection of Blessings. These Blessings can range from increased power to better drop rates for specific items. Once obtained, Blessings apply to all game activities, not just those within the Monolith.

Crafting Last Epoch

Last Epoch stands out with its deterministic crafting system, making crafting efforts more predictable and consistent. This provides a rewarding approach to customizing your items.

To begin crafting, open the Forge by pressing [F]. Forging Potential is what determines whether an item can still be crafted. Once an item reaches 0 Forging Potential, no further crafting can be done. To start crafting, use an Affix Shard, possibly alongside a Glyph and/or Rune. It's recommended to craft early and frequently!

Crafting is a crucial part of the gearing process and should be utilized at every stage of your character’s progression. While there are more advanced strategies for min-maxing, a good starting point is to use Glyphs of Hope to grant your craft a chance to not cost any Forging Potential. Don’t hesitate to use your Shards and Glyphs, as most of them are quite common!

If you need specific shards, Rune of Removal and Rune of Shattering allow you to extract Affix Shards from items. If the item still has Forging Potential, it's better to use Rune 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.

Monolith of Fate Last Epoch

The Monolith of Fate is Last Epoch's primary endgame system. Once you've completed the campaign, this is where you’ll head next. The entrance is located to the East of The End of Time. The system features a branching map, targetable rewards, bosses, modifiers, and difficulty scaling. It consists of various Timelines, each offering its own web, quests, bosses, rewards, and Blessings.

Alternate Timelines are unstable and are made up of a branching web of Echoes. These Echoes are essentially "maps" that guarantee a reward if completed without dying. As you complete Echoes, the Timeline reveals more Echoes, branching off from those you’ve completed. Completing Echoes also provides Timeline Stability. Once you’ve gathered 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, while also unlocking the next Timeline.

There are two versions of the Monolith of Fate: Normal and Empowered. Normal Monoliths serve as an introduction to the endgame systems, while Empowered Monoliths are where the real grind begins. With infinitely scaling difficulty, this is where you’ll spend most of your time hunting for sweet drops and farming higher rolls on your Blessings.

Summary Last Epoch

The Last Epoch Beginners Guide helps you take your first steps into the world of Eterra by introducing the core mechanics of the game.

Your Class Mastery choice is permanent and cannot be undone, so it’s important to pick a theme and playstyle that suits you, as all classes have strong and viable builds.
Respeccing your skills and passive points is simple and accessible.
Craft early and craft often to maximize your gear’s potential!
Pay close attention to your skills’ scaling tags, as they provide valuable insights into how to optimize them.
Empowered Monoliths are where you’ll want to focus your farming efforts—get there as soon as possible!