Last Epoch is an interesting ARPG with classes that branch out into Masteries as you play the game. Choosing your class is one of the first decisions you’ll make as you create your character. After deciding, you’ll only be exposed to the Masteries of that class once you get through the main campaign.
There aren’t any ‘bad’ classes in Last Epoch, but we can’t argue that some options rise to the top more than others. In this guide, we’ll give you an idea of all the options’ relative strengths to make it easier for you to make the choice. You can also learn about the best ones here and determine which class is perfect for your playstyle.
How Many Classes Does Last Epoch Have?
Last Epoch has five base classes, each with three different Masteries to choose from. Depending on the skill tree in which you decide to invest your points, you can develop in the desired direction to master one of the subclasses fully. For example, you can put points into the Shaman Mastery even if you’re a Beastmaster.
Each Mastery is unique and provides different benefits, but some aren’t as useful and powerful as others. We've rated each of them from high to low to help you decide which ones are worth looking at and which ones you shouldn’t consider choosing.
S-Tier
Mage
There’s nothing that can beat the Mage in terms of dealing immense DPS, especially if we’re talking about ARPGs. The Runemaster Mastery, in particular, has the highest potential for damage since it’s so versatile. If you spec into the right nodes (Runic Invocation), you can generate elemental runes for your attacks and constantly exploit an enemy’s weakness.
The Mage certainly isn’t the simplest class to play by any means, especially if you’re going in as a Runemaster. Depending on the rune types you get, you can deal more damage against bosses or have better mana regeneration. This makes the Mage one of the more complex classes in Last Epoch. But at the same time, it allows you to have efficient and highly specialized playstyles. You can check out our Last Epoch Mage leveling build for the Runemaster if you want to know more about how to optimize this Mastery.
And let’s not forget that the Mage also has the Spellblade and Sorcerer Masteries—both of which are viable DPS-dealing options as well. While none of them have the unlimited potential of the Runemaster, with the mere fact that Sorcerers tend to focus on area-of-effect spells, they can instead focus on providing crowd control.
Acolyte
The Acolyte is one of the most challenging classes to play in the Last Epoch. However, just like the Mage, there’s a lot of potential here waiting to be tapped if you know what to do with it. This is partly due to the Necromancer Mastery, which can let you summon hordes of the undead, sit back, and let your zombies do all the work for you. Kidding aside, the minion AI in Last Epoch is excellent, and if you equip them with some damage-boosting passives and armor, they can attack while staying alive. The Wraiths are especially strong but cost much more mana to summon. Depending on the type of build you’re going with, having a bunch of active minions on standby doesn’t always require a lot of skill, making the Necromancer one of the easier Masteries to play within the Acolyte.
You can say that the Necromancer is overpowered, but don’t sleep on the Lich, which lets you turn into the Grim Reaper. While doing this drains your health constantly, you can add some tricks to prolong your existence, such as leeching health from your foes. The Lich has a lot of DPS potential. Plus, you can teleport around with Transplant—an exceptionally advantageous skill against bosses.
Unfortunately, the Warlock is overshadowed by the Necromancer and Lich Masteries. It’s more difficult to play and tends to struggle with mana regeneration. Moreover, it struggles to dish out quite as much DPS and instead relies on slowly sapping enemies' health away.
A-Tier
Primalist
The Primalist may not be the DPS-killing machine you’re looking for, but boy, does it get perfect marks for being fun to play. While their potential is less than the other classes in this tier list, they still have a bunch of builds worth using if they tickle your fancy.
The Druid Mastery is the best because of the shapeshifting abilities it possesses. You can turn into a Swarmblade to get up close and personal and do plenty of melee damage, or transform into a Spriggan to support allies if you’re together with a group. If the goal is to tank as much damage as possible, don’t worry—the Werebear form’s got you. The only thing we don’t like about the Druid is that it’s a bit slow, and its AoE effects feel more limited than those of the other masteries, making it fall short of the S-Tier.
Meanwhile, the Shaman relies on Spriggan minions and totems to deal damage. It doesn’t have the same damage potential as some other classes, but it’s easy to build and play. Finally, the Beastmaster is a melee-focused Mastery where you can have two to three minions/animal companions. It’s not as powerful as the other classes, but you can create pretty straightforward builds with it, making it perfect for those who just want a reliable character build without fussing over the details.
B-Tier
Sentinel
The best Sentinel builds in Last Epoch, admittedly, are a step down from the Mage and Acolyte, but they make up for it by being more accessible and easy to understand for players new to ARPGs. Out of all the Masteries within it, the Paladin is arguably the best since it can do everything to a standard. You’ve got AoE attacks, direct DPS, reliable support, and heals—what’s there not to love? It’s also an easy Mastery for new players to try. The Paladin’s Healing Hands gives you a high chance of survival in solo and co-op play.
The Void Knight isn’t as tanky as the Paladin, but it exchanges that for better crowd-control abilities and movement. You can use Anomaly to cast debuffs to surrounding enemies and Shield Rush to dash into battle. Then, trigger Warpath to obliterate everyone around you.
The Forge Guard is the weakest link of the three Masteries within the Sentinel. It’s fine if you’re just looking for a tank, but it’s slow and has no good AoE attacks. The single-target focus of the Forge Guard is too cumbersome, especially for players looking to level up quickly and do the Monoliths.
C-Tier
Rogue
The Rogue is a class where no Mastery stands above the rest. All three Masteries are equally viable for different reasons. The Falconeer Mastery has high versatility and damage potential, and you can use it differently. You’ll have to rely on your evasion abilities like Shift to keep you alive, but your Falcon companion and traps/ballista should keep your enemies at bay while you continue to kite around.
The Blade Dancer is a glass cannon that deals high damage while being agile. The damage comes from their constant barrage of blade attacks, such as Shadow Cascade and Umbral Blades. You can tweak your passives to improve their efficiency or increase the number of blades in your arsenal. However, the catch is that you have to keep moving at all times to survive, and even with Shift and Smoke Bomb, this can prove to be difficult if you’re swarmed.
Lastly, the Marksman is what you expect it to be: a ranged specialist. You can use different types of arrows and explosive traps. That said, it heavily relies on evasive abilities—much like the Blade Dancer—making it more difficult to manage than other ranged classes in Last Epoch.
Choose Wisely
There are no bad classes in Last Epoch, but it’s worth noting that you can only choose a base class once during the entire game for a character. If you make a mistake or regret your decision, the only way out is to create another character with a different class. Hopefully, our guide has helped you in finalizing your decision on which class you should start with. Once you’ve picked your Mastery later on, consider checking out all our Last Epoch Mastery builds, from the best starter to endgame-worthy builds
