Last Epoch leveling builds are important if you want to get through the campaign swiftly and easily. Luckily, you can find the right leveling build for each of the five base classes. Once you’ve chosen your Mastery, you can even continue your leveling build with some minor adjustments. Since Last Epoch has a great many active and passive skills to choose from, however, creating your first build may feel a bit overwhelming.
This early-game build guide will help you find the best leveling build for your class, and explain which Masteries you can choose from. Once you’re off to a good start, you can tweak these leveling builds to eventually find your perfect endgame build.
If you're trying to decide which class is best, then make sure you also read our Last Epoch class tier list guide.
Last Epoch leveling builds explained
Perhaps you’re wondering why Last Epoch players typically make a distinction between endgame builds and leveling builds. The reason is quite simple; some early-game builds are perfect for fast-leveling, but they’re not well-suited for endgame content. Furthermore, as you unlock more passive and active skills by leveling up, some of the best skills simply aren’t available in early-game yet, so it’s better to focus on good starter skills instead.
Once you’re ready to switch your Last Epoch leveling build to an endgame build, visit Chronomancer Lerinne in The Keeper’s Camp to reassign your passive skill points. This will cost you some gold, but don’t worry; the respec cost is quite low. Beware that you can’t respec your Mastery, so once you’ve spent 20 points in your base class, choose the Mastery you like best rather than the one that’s best for leveling.
Here’s an overview of the best Last Epoch leveling builds for early-game.
Sentinel leveling build
Thanks to its straightforward sword attacks and tankiness, the Sentinel is an amazing choice for a Last Epoch starter class. Sentinel’s first unlockable skill, a spinning attack called Warpath, is the best early-game ability to quickly defeat large groups of enemies, but Rive (unlocked at level 5) should become your go-to melee attack as it doesn’t cost mana. You can then use Lunge for better mobility (quickly dash towards your opponents) and Shield Bash to stun your enemies. At the cost of 20 skill points, get the Smite attack to deal widespread damage and heal yourself as well as your allies.
As better strength and resistance are always great for a Sentinel leveling build, start adding points to the Juggernaut and Armour Clad passives. You can add a few points to Fearless for better healing, but it’s not a requirement. Add some points to Time and Faith next, as this will regain HP and mana whenever you use Rive and Smite.
Once you’re ready to choose a Mastery, here are your options to continue this Sentinel leveling build:
- Void Knight leveling build: deals better Void melee damage. Swap Rive for Abyssal Echoes and use Volatile Reversal as your “staying alive” skill. Put points in Temporal Corruption to convert Smite’s damage to Void damage.
- Forge Guard leveling build: this Mastery is very tanky and great in combination with a strong physical weapon. It’s best to continue focusing on your melee attacks: stick with the Rive, Warpath, and Lunge abilities and level the Weapons Master passive for better melee damage.
- Paladin leveling build: unlock Healing Hands, then fully upgrade the Valor passive to improve its healing power. Level Conviction to improve pretty much every damage type.
Rogue leveling build
The Rogue defeats opponents from afar, aided by swift blades and traps. A particular advantage of the Rogue leveling build is its high movement and attack speed, which will help you move through the campaign faster.
The spinning Umbral Blades are the Rogue’s strongest attack, but until you unlock it, it’s best to rely on the Flurry attack instead. You can then use Puncture to inflict Bleed and the Shift dashing ability to avoid damage. Add the Decoy ability to gather your enemies in one place and get rid of them quickly. As for the passives, start with Swift Assassin; no matter which playstyle you go for, the added attack speed and damage are always welcome.
Your Rogue leveling build can continue as one of the following:
- Bladedancer leveling build: focuses on melee attacks and has better dodging abilities. Definitely keep the Shift skill for this one, combined with strong melee attacks. You can keep Umbral Blades and Puncture, but start leveling Shadow Cascade and Synchronized Strike as your new melee attacks. Pursuit is the best passive to level first.
- Marksman leveling build: improves bow attacks. The best way to make this build stronger is by focusing on bleed damage: after putting some points in Draining Arrows, upgrade the Disembowel and Prolonged Demise passives. You can swap Decoy and Umbral Blades for additional arrow attacks like Multishot and Detonating Arrow.
- Falconer leveling build: gains traps and minions. If using the Last Epoch Falconer class, upgrade the Handler and Agile Hunt passives. As the Falcon deals more damage according to your dexterity, upgrade Steady Hand as well. Start using Falconry, Explosive Trap, and Net as your active abilities (Umbral Blades, Decoy, and Shift can go).
Mage leveling build
Last Epoch’s Mage class deals magical damage from a distance. For your early-game Mage build, you can stick with Lightning Blast and Fireball for a while; both cost little mana and deal decent damage. It won’t take long until you can add the Glacier attack from the skill tree; it has a high mana cost but deals massive explosive damage. Add Mana Strike as a means to regain mana, and Teleport to evade attacks.
The best passive skill to start upgrading first is Arcanist, as the intelligence and resistance boost will stay relevant regardless of the Mastery you choose for your leveling build. You can drop some points in the Scholar passive and start upgrading Mage Flurry next; again, the increased attack and cast speed will always come in handy.
When you’re ready, continue your Mage leveling build with one of the following Masteries:
- Sorcerer leveling build: increases its mana to cast the most powerful spells, so it’s a good idea to stick with the Mana Strike ability. You can eventually choose to upgrade Cold, Lightning, or Fire damage, but for now, keep both Fireball and Lightning Blast. Start upgrading the Arcane Momentum and Essence of Celerity passives for better casting speed and spell damage.
- Spellblade leveling build: mixes magic with melee attacks. Add the Shatterstrike and Enchant Weapon abilities to your arsenal - the latter can greatly enhance the former. Mana Strike will still come in handy and you may want to keep Teleport as a safety measure for a while. The Elemental Affinity passive works great for this leveling build.
- Runemaster leveling build: deals better elemental damage. You can keep Mana Strike combined with some of the lower-cost spells, such as Lightning Blast and Fireball. Swap Teleport for Flame Ward to protect yourself against damage. Get a few points in the passives Quintessence of Triumph and Sphere of Protection, then upgrade Circle of Elements to improve your chances of applying status effects with this early-game leveling build. I've got more detail on the Last Epoch Runemaster class here
Primalist leveling build
This Last Epoch leveling build equips you with a wolf companion. It’s wise to stick with the Summon Wolf skill at the start of the campaign, and use Gathering Storm as your mana-free main attack. Summon Thorn Totem and Swipe, a minion and melee attack respectively, should help you blast through the first enemies quickly as both come with excellent range. Add Warcry when it becomes available, and you’ll have the means to knock back enemies whenever you’re at risk of getting overwhelmed.
Unless you’re already certain that you want your Primalist leveling build to transfer into Beastmaster, assign your first passive points to Natural Atunement as this will benefit mana regeneration and magic gained from external sources. If you’re planning on specialising as Beastmaster, put them in Primal Strength instead.
Eventually, you’ll have to continue your Primalist leveling build as one of the following:
- Beastmaster leveling build: this leveling build is all about the beasts; you get one more minion and increased minion damage. Swap Gathering Storm for the secondary companion of your choice (bear, scorpion, raptor…) and upgrade the Survival of the Pack passive to improve their power. Together with the Ursine Strength passive, this will give you a very sturdy Beastmaster leveling build.
- Shaman leveling build: has strong area-of-effect attacks and uses totems as minions. You can keep the minions and elemental attacks you already used but change Swipe and Warcry for Eterra’s Blessing and Tornado. Start upgrading the Wisdom of the Wild passive to improve your totem’s spell damage, then add Silent Protector for better defense and mana regeneration, scaling with totems.
- Druid leveling build: allows you to take on a beast form, which will become your main source of damage. Add the Spriggan Form and Werebear Form abilities as soon as you can, and switch Summon Wolf for Summon Storm Crows (also counts as a minion ability). You don’t need to keep Swipe and Warcry. Upgrade the passives Survival of the Pack and Chitinous Plating for better minion damage and minion armour respectively.
Acolyte leveling build
As an early-game leveling class, Acolyte’s strength lies in its minion-summoning powers. Right from the start, you can use the Skeleton ability to spawn minions and quickly overwhelm your opponents. Minions also provide a helpful buffer between you and your enemies, allowing for powerful ranged attacks. As the Acolyte can be a bit vulnerable in early-game, Rip Blood makes a great HP-replenishing starting attack. You can swap it for the more damaging Marrow Shards (unless you wish to become a Last Epoch Warlock) once you feel more secure, combine it with Bone Curse to weaken targets, and add Wandering Spirits and/or Volatile Zombie for necrotic and fire spell damage.
Make sure you level the Blood Aura passive first, as it improves the damage dealt by both you and the minions. You can then put a few points in Forbidden Knowledge to improve your intelligence stat, before upgrading Dark Rituals to further boost the minion damage.
Ready to upgrade your Acolyte leveling build with a Mastery? Here are the options:
- Necromancer leveling build: continues a minion-focused build with extra skeletons and better minion damage. Risen Army is the best passive for a new Last Epoch Necromancer leveling build, but you may also need some points in Blood Armour to stay alive. Add the Bone Golem and Skeleton Mage to your arsenal, and focus on leveling the Mage rather instead of your normal Skeletons. You don’t need to keep Bone Curse or Marrow Shards.
- Lich leveling build: you’ll be sacrificing your health for better damage. Upgrade Survival of the Cruel to increase the damage bonus derived from the HP sacrifice, but it’s best not to upgrade it too quickly, as this will also make you vulnerable. Upgrade Apocrypha rather than Dance with Death, as the latter makes your leveling process more difficult (too reliant on low HP). Work towards unlocking Aura of Decay and upgrading Lasting Stench to throw devastating poison damage into the mix.
- Warlock leveling build: as a curse-focused class, you should keep the Bone Curse skill and swap your minions for the Spirit Plague curse. You can stick with the spells as additional attacks. Keep Rip Blood and upgrade the Cauldron of Blood and Crimson Favours passives for amazing Bleed damage.
That concludes our introduction to Last Epoch leveling builds, have fun finding your perfect playstyle!
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