Last Epoch finally leaves early access for its full release, so it’s now getting all the attention it deserves. Players can explore the world of Eterra and embody the power of their chosen masteries. These classes will dictate how you play the game and what builds to run. If it’s your first time playing the game, you might benefit from knowing which masteries you should run until you get the hang of the meta. This tier list will show players the best ones to use all around.
What are Last Epoch Masteries?
Gamers can take on specialized roles called Masteries that are based on their original class. This field focuses more on specific gameplay and builds while providing unique abilities. Each of the five basic classes has three specializations, which you can access after reaching the end-of-time in-game. Masteries are permanent selections, so there’s no way to respec them.
Mastery Tier List
S-Tier
These masteries can easily solo any content in the game. In addition, they can also synergize well with other classes and are easy to build. Their ease of use, even in endgame content, makes them the best specializations.
- Druid (Primalist) - Druids can transform into various shapes and forms, like a Spriggan or a Werebear. Players who prefer a powerful melee fighter can take this mastery due to its excellent melee power while being durable enough to tank damage. Druids can also adjust to various situations due to their ability to transform into other beings, which provides other stats and skills.
- Lich (Acolyte) - Liches may lose a lot of HP, but they can regenerate them quickly. This mastery sacrifices their health to use powerful spells to decimate their enemies. Fortunately, they also have various skills to recover their HP, making them the class with the best sustain. They excel in solo content and can quickly clear most challenges.
- Necromancer (Acolyte) - ARPGs consistently reward minion builds, and the Necromancer mastery follows that trope. This mastery can summon tons of skeletons and undead to you. You won’t have to worry about getting too close or receiving damage when you have a horde of minions fighting for you.
- Runemaster (Mage) - Runemasters focus more on casting runes and traps rather than directly attacking enemies with powerful spells. However, these runes are powerful and can have varying effects, from triggering massive explosions to activating status ailments against enemies. This mastery stands on S-tier because it lets you easily kite enemies, which makes them highly adept at not taking damage.
- Paladin (Sentinel) - Paladins embody the most defensive characters in the game. They possess tremendous durability and solid healing powers. While they don’t have spells as strong as the other S-tiers, they have multiple abilities that do great work in clearing out mobs, which is why they deserve to be here.
A-Tier
These masteries fall slightly lower than S-tiers because of their jack-of-all-trades nature. They excel all around but don’t have specific aspects they truly focus on. They are also easy to build and can easily fit any team composition. They may outscale S-tiers in other elements and are incredibly fun to play.
- Bladedancer (Rogue) - Bladedancers can quickly eliminate most targets due to their rapid strikes. They can also summon shadows to help them in the fight, which synergizes well with their other abilities. This mastery is one of the game's most mobile and fastest specializations. While they are extremely squishy, but you can move fast and avoid damage to mitigate this weakness.
- Marksman (Rogue) - Marksman are your “standard and deal tremendous damage from afar” mastery. They have tons of mobility and can unleash many lethal attacks in any range. They are squishy and lack crowd-control skills, but they have plenty of maneuverability to keep them far from danger.
- Sorcerer (Mage) - You can blast your enemies with tons of magical spells with this mastery, which is quite proficient. They have strong AoE and single-target abilities that can eradicate most mobs. While they have crowd control skills, they are less effective than those from Runemasters. They become vulnerable when enemies get too close, so players need to manage their cooldowns and keep kiting.
- Void Knight (Sentinel) - Void knights combine magic with brawn since they specialize in offense and defense. This mastery augments their fighting prowess and magical abilities, letting them easily take care of large hordes. It falls only to the A-tier because Void Knights needs more team-support skills and has less sustainability and durability than Paladins.
B-Tier
B-tiers only excel in specific areas and aren’t that good all around. They only perform better than higher tiers in certain situations but will mostly be outscored. However, if you like using niche builds, then these masteries are something that you can consider using.
- Foreguard (Sentinel) - Foreguards excel in defense, but that’s about it. They are more durable than any other class but lack reliable damage skills or support spells. While they can survive most content, it takes too long to clear out most mobs. However, they can be an excellent frontline if you play in a team.
- Beastmaster (Primalist) - This mastery would be ranked higher if they can summon more companions instead of two. Beastmasters can call forth beasts like Bears, Scorpions, Raptors, and Sabertooths to help them fight. These creatures also bring other perks that can boost your fighting capabilities.
- Warlock (Acolyte) - Warlocks prefer casting curses and dealing with DoT attacks instead of deliberately obliterating their enemies. They are excellent against fights with bosses or single-target units since they can inflict many debuffs that can shred their HP. However, they lack strong AoE or cleave attacks to quickly clear out mobs, which you’ll need play solo.
C-Tier
These masteries feel weak to use throughout, and they rarely shine because their kit needs to be fully optimized. Overall, there are better options until these specializations are reworked.
- Spellblade (Mage) - Spellblades are fun to use at the start, but it can get frustrating when you’re nearing towards the endgame content. This mastery focuses on imbuing magic to their melee abilities, making them warrior mages. The main problem with this class isn’t about their kit, but more that they are hard to build correctly. There aren’t many items in the game that can maximize this mastery’s potential, so unless we get more sets, playing as a Spellblade isn’t recommended.
- Shaman (Primalist) - Shamans make you feel like you are playing tower defense because you can create various constructs that can deal damage or status ailments. The class sits very low in the tier list because the totems need to scale better into end-game content. Their constructs feel underwhelming and too squishy to be reliable in battle.
- Falconer (Rogue) - Falconers should have been fun to play if only their kit wasn’t lackluster. Compared to other minion masteries, you can only have one companion, which is your falcon. The problem is that it doesn’t do much to help you fight and doesn’t scale great. The Falconer has the potential to be a fun and decent class, but it will need significant buffs in future updates.
