Last Epoch Passives and Skills Guide: Unlock Your Full Potential

Welcome to the Passives and Skills guide! In this article, we provide all the essential information, tips, and tricks to help you understand and optimize these key game systems. No matter which build you choose to play, this guide compiles everything you need to know about Passives and Skills.

Passives Last Epoch

A character earns a Passive Point for each level starting at level 3. Additionally, characters can gain up to 15 extra Points as rewards from certain quests in the campaign. The total number of Passive Points a character can acquire is 113.

These Passive Points can be spent on any unlocked node in the Passive Trees. The golden progression bar shows how many Passive Points need to be spent in the tree to unlock a specific Passive Node or Skill.

Passive Trees

All classes have a Base Tree and three additional Mastery Trees.

Base Tree

At the beginning, all characters have access only to the base Class Passive Tree. Mastery Trees become available after spending 20 Points in the base Class Tree and completing the Mastery Quest in the campaign. The Mastery choice is permanent and cannot be undone. Players may choose to spend more than 20 Points in the base Class Tree.

Mastery Trees

Once the Mastery Trees are unlocked, players can invest Points into any of the Masteries. You can allocate Passives in the first half of all Masteries regardless of the one you choose, but the second half is exclusive to the Mastery you select.

Some builds distribute their Passive Points evenly across all Mastery Trees for versatility, while others focus entirely on their main Mastery Tree to enhance a specific playstyle.

To Respec your Passive Points, you’ll need to visit a Chronomancer NPC. Keep in mind, however, that your Mastery choice is permanent.

Skills

Skills in Last Epoch are the core element of your character and play a vital role in your journey through Eterra. With over 100 Skills available, each comes with its own Specialization Tree, offering numerous ways to customize and enhance them!

Skills can be unlocked by reaching certain character levels, investing a set number of passive points into a Class, or by selecting a Mastery Class. To view which Skills are available for your character and how to unlock them, open the Skills Window (by default, bound to the S key). To change which Skill is equipped, click one of the 5 Skill Slots on your Action Bar at the bottom of the screen.

Skill Specialization

Skill Specialization Slots are unlocked as your character levels up, with a maximum of 5 slots (matching the number of Skills that can be equipped on the Action Bar). You can also use unspecialized Skills on your Action Bar, which can be especially useful when one of your Specialized Skills doesn't need to be directly integrated into your build.

Skill Specialization Slots unlock at character levels 4, 8, 20, 35, and 50.

The Skills you select earn experience as you progress, leveling up and becoming more powerful. Once you unlock a Skill Specialization Slot, you can choose to specialize in any Skill that your character knows. Specializing in a Skill allows you to level it up and invest Points into its Specialization Tree. By investing Skill Points, you can enhance your Skills and even change them entirely. Skills have a default maximum level of 20, which is typically reached around level 75.

You can increase the maximum level of your Skills beyond 20 with Affixes, Set Items, and Unique Items that grant +Level of Skills. Some of these properties are generic, like those provided by Omnis, which affect all Skills, while others are specific to a particular Skill, such as Level of Marrow Shards.

Any Skill levels granted by Items are displayed above the Skill's XP bar within its Skill Tree. If you unequip an Item that provides Skill levels, the points granted by that item will be removed, unless you have unspent Points equal to or greater than the levels lost. Nodes that lose points this way are highlighted in red when inspecting that Skill's Tree.

If you wish to specialize in a different Skill, press the Respec button at the top right of the Skills Window while viewing the tree for a specialized Skill. Newly specialized Skills will be set to your Minimum Skill Level and may receive an XP bonus to help them catch up to your other Skills. The Minimum Skill Level caps at 10.

Additional Minimum Skill Levels unlock at character levels 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80.
You can view your current Minimum Skill Level on the Respec button within the Skill's tree. Skills that are currently affected by an XP bonus will be indicated above their XP bar on the left side of their tree.

Summary

Overall, the Passive and Skill systems in Last Epoch are highly engaging and flexible, while still providing enough depth for players to min/max their characters and explore different playstyles. Enjoy the journey and have fun experimenting with your builds!