Last Epoch boasts an impressive array of 15 Mastery classes, each offering unique playstyles and abilities. Masteries serve as specialized subclasses, allowing players to refine their build's focus, from traditional roles like Sorcerer to innovative ones like Falconer, where you soar across the map with a bird companion for combat. With such a wide variety of options, selecting the right Mastery can be challenging, but this Last Epoch Mastery tier list aims to guide you through the process.
It's important to note that you're not confined to a single Mastery. Many advanced builds often incorporate elements from multiple Masteries, allowing you to allocate points into the first half of any other Mastery's passive tree. Moreover, you can change your Mastery at the Respec NPC in the End of Time, offering flexibility in your build development.
How We Ranked the Best and Worst Masteries in Last Epoch
The strength of a Mastery is determined by how well it meets the needs of various builds, particularly in terms of clear speed (mapping), single-target damage (bossing), and defensive capabilities. Key factors include the presence of 'more' damage multipliers over increased damage multipliers, as the former provides a stronger boost. Additionally, understanding how passives scale damage—through critical hit chance, critical hit multiplier, flat damage, and armor shred—is crucial.
Defensively, Masteries that offer critical hit damage reduction, critical damage avoidance, and various resistances are highly valued, as these stats help mitigate random damage spikes and enhance survivability. Damage reduction and recovery options, such as leech and health regeneration, are also critical for long-term survival. Masteries that efficiently provide these attributes tend to rank higher.
When evaluating Mastery skills, we consider their numerical performance in both clearing and bossing scenarios, alongside how they feel to play. Even an S-Tier skill might lower a Mastery's overall ranking if it feels clunky or cumbersome. Players who are comfortable with mechanics like snapshotting may have different preferences and could rank a Mastery higher based on their playstyle.
Last Epoch Tier List: Best Season 2 Masteries
Contribute to the community Tier List by voting on the best Last Epoch Masteries!
Last Epoch Season 2 Masteries Tier List
S-Tier: Paladin, Void Knight
Best overall clear, bossing, and defense, with no significant weaknesses
A-Tier: Falconer, Bladedancer, Shaman, Druid
Strong clear, bossing, and/or defense. Lacking significantly in one area
B-Tier: Marksman, Lich, Beastmaster
Good clear, bossing, and/or defense. Lacking significantly in one or more areas
C-Tier: Necromancer, Forge Guard, Runemaster
Decent to good clear, bossing, and/or defense. Lacking significantly in one or more areas
D-Tier: Spellblade, Warlock, Sorcerer
Poor to good clear, bossing, and/or defense. Lacking significantly in multiple areas
Our Last Epoch Tier List explanations below feature example builds from our friends at Maxroll.gg.
S-Tier: Void Knight
If you're looking to clear screens with a massive purple sword and remain virtually unkillable, the **Void Knight** Mastery is your go-to. With **Erasing Strike**, you can dominate both clear and bossing scenarios. The Mastery scales effectively into its World Splitter version, and even the **Warpath** build is both top-tier and accessible to new players.
Void Knight now offers improved mobility and effective HP (eHP), maintaining its high clear and solid bossing damage. It's unique in its ability to move and attack simultaneously, boosting your DPS while maintaining a smooth gameplay experience. With 200% added damage effectiveness on all skills and 600% on Erasing Strike, it's where you want to be for maximum impact.
The passive tree includes resistance to and penetration for Physical and Void damage, leech and leech rate, damage reduction, increased health, and more. Notable nodes like **Sorrow & Steel** provide damage, armor, and area of effect in a single package, while **Void Corruption** and **Mortal Cleave** offer critical hit chance, multiplier, and culling. For more Void Knight builds, consider Smite Void Knight for a fast, tanky, long-range option or Time Rot Void Knight for complex sustain and burst.
S-Tier: Paladin
The **Paladin** Mastery has been acknowledged by developer Eleventh Hour Games (EHG) as having been overly strengthened during the Sentinel rework, with **Judgement** Paladin dominating the Terminate Uber Abberoth race. This Mastery excels in dealing massive damage while maintaining unparalleled survivability.
Judgement is exceptionally potent, offering 350% damage effectiveness and a 200% critical multiplier, paired with healing capabilities. Each Paladin skill follows this theme of combining damage and defense, making it uniquely powerful. The passive tree provides the most resistances in the game, alongside recovery, damage reduction, mana, and more. Key nodes like **Covenant of Light** and **Covenant of Protection** enhance both damage and sustain.
While Judgement steals the spotlight, **Bleed Hammerdin** and **Smite** are also strong alternatives for those seeking variety. For detailed builds, check out Maxroll.gg's resources.
A-Tier: Falconer
The **Falconer** Mastery, though nerfed from its initial overpowered state, remains exceptionally strong. Its unparalleled movement speed and top-tier damage, enhanced by critical hit multipliers and Dexterity scaling, make it a formidable choice. **Aerial Assault** allows you to attack while moving, maximizing DPS.
However, defense remains a weak point, requiring reliance on **Dodge**, **Silver/Dusk Shrouds**, and **Glancing Blows** to mitigate damage. The lack of resistance options on the tree puts additional pressure on your gear and Blessings choices. For a high-risk, high-reward build, consider the Zero HP Ballista Falconer, which hits hard but relies heavily on dodging mechanics.
**Umbral Blades** is another popular Falconer build, transitioning from **Shadow Daggers** to a Dexterity-focused setup with **Talons of Valor** and **Razorfall**. This build is engaging but requires quick reflexes to maximize its potential.
A-Tier: Bladedancer
While less popular than Falconer, **Bladedancer** offers a well-rounded package with strong clear, single-target damage, and defense. High-DPS skills like **Lethal Mirage** and supportive passives make it an excellent choice for those who enjoy fast-paced melee combat.
The passive tree features efficient damage and movement speed nodes like **Pursuit**, **Argent Veil**, and **Death’s Door**, alongside defensive options like **Glancing Blows** and **Dodge**. Builds like **Shadow Daggers**, **Shadow Cascade**, and **Chakrams** are viable, with the latter being suitable for challenging content like Uber Abberoth.
For more build options, check out the Maxroll Last Epoch planner and explore community creations.
A-Tier: Beastmaster
As a summoner-focused Mastery, **Beastmaster** offers strong damage potential, though it falls short in tankiness compared to S-Tier classes. It achieved second place in the Uber Abberoth race, largely due to **Storm Crows** and **Summon Wolf** buffs. Builds like **Poison Nova Scorpion** are well-rounded but require patience to scale up.
The passive tree provides essential damage reduction, health, healing, and companion support, though it lacks direct damage boosts. For speedier options, consider using **Haste** via **The Scavenger** belt and idols to mitigate the build's natural sluggishness.
A-Tier: Shaman
The **Shaman** Mastery excels in both melee and elemental damage, capable of pushing high waves in the Arena (500-700+). While its clear speed is strong, defense could be better. **Tornado** is a standout skill with impressive damage and vacuum effects, while **Earthquake** and **Avalanche** are less popular due to their high mana costs and clunky mechanics.
The passive tree offers penetration, cooldown reduction, mana, and elemental damage boosts, with key nodes like **Fist of Stone**, **Lagon’s Answer**, and **Conflux** enhancing both offense and defense. **Summon Storm Totem** is a popular choice for its decoy and damage capabilities.
A-Tier: Druid
The **Druid** Mastery, particularly **Storm Werebear**, excels in DPS and can handle challenging content like Abberoth and high corruption levels. Its effective HP (eHP) is strong, but farming speed is a notable weakness. The Werebear form replaces four skills with bear-appropriate abilities like **Rampage** and **Maul**, which offer both movement and damage.
The passive tree supports health, mana, and sustain through nodes like **Spirit Warden** and **Focused Wrath**, alongside damage boosts from **Bush Stalker** and **Primal Shifter**. **Spriggan Form** adds significant defense, though it's better paired with Druid/Beastmaster builds.
B-Tier: Lich
The **Lich** Mastery embodies the classic 'sacrifice life for power' archetype, offering potent skills like **Reaper Form** and a robust passive tree. While **Drain Life** and **Aura of Decay** have limitations, **Death Seal** provides a significant damage boost and damage reduction. **Reaper Form** is versatile, offering movement and AoE damage while healing.
The passive tree supports Intelligence stacking, mana, health, ward, and recovery, with standout nodes like **Dance With Death** and **Hollow Lich** providing efficient damage boosts. **Harvested Legions** offers automatic minion generation, enhancing the Mastery's versatility.
B-Tier: Marksman
The **Marksman** Mastery excels in ranged combat with popular builds like **Hail of Arrows** and **Heartseeker**. **Hail of Arrows** benefits from **Sanguine Hoard** for a bleed-focused playstyle, while **Heartseeker** offers auto-targeting with potential for Bleed, Poison, or Icicle variations.
The passive tree supports HP on hit, dodge, crit, and movement speed, with key nodes like **Heightened Senses** and **Thief’s Quiver** enhancing survivability and damage. While not the best defensively, Marksman excels in clear and damage output with the right build choices.
C-Tier: Necromancer
The **Necromancer** Mastery focuses on undead summons, offering a solid suite of skills and a versatile passive tree. It can achieve 200-400 waves in the Arena, with **Summon Skeletal Mage** providing utility and damage against bosses. **Sacrifice** sees little use due to the Mastery's poor personal damage support.
Skills like **Dread Shade** and **Assemble Abomination** offer significant damage and utility, with the passive tree supporting various damage types and recovery options. While defense is limited to recovery and minion tanking, Necromancer remains a competitive choice for summoner enthusiasts.
C-Tier: Runemaster
The **Runemaster** Mastery offers a unique caster playstyle, combining spells to create powerful invocations. **Rune of Invocation** is central to its appeal, enabling versatile builds like **Hydrahedron** for high corruption viability. **Focus Autobomber** is tanky but less focused on DPS.
Skills like **Flame Rush**, **Frost Wall**, and **Runebolt** offer strong damage and utility, with the passive tree providing support for Ward, mana, and elemental debuffs. While not as powerful as higher tiers, Runemaster remains competitive with the right build choices.
C-Tier: Forge Guard
While **Forge Guard** can hold its own, it doesn't quite match the top Masteries. **Manifest Armor** and **Shield Throw** offer unique build options, but lack the versatility of higher tiers. **Smelter’s Wrath** and **Forge Weapon** provide strong damage, but the Mastery's passive tree lacks standout nodes compared to others.
D-Tier: Spellblade
Despite its D-Tier ranking, **Spellblade** remains viable, offering strong DPS and speed but struggling with defenses. **Flame Reave** is underwhelming compared to other skills, while **Enchant Weapon** provides a potent damage boost. **Firebrand** and **Surge** offer enjoyable playstyles, but their damage falls short of top-tier skills.
The passive tree supports ward, damage, and health, but lacks significant defensive options. Spellblade is suitable for players who enjoy combining magic with melee, despite its limitations in higher-tier content.
D-Tier: Warlock
**Warlock** focuses on damage over time and curses, making it accessible for new players and casuals. While viable, builds like **Witchfire** don't push as far as other Masteries. **Cthonic Fissure**, **Profane Veil**, and **Chaos Bolts** offer competitive damage, but defense remains a significant weakness.
The passive tree supports high eHP and recovery, but lacks the comprehensive defense of higher tiers. Warlock remains a solid choice for those who enjoy a damage-over-time playstyle.
D-Tier: Sorcerer
The classic **Sorcerer** Mastery is viable but doesn't stand out significantly. **Frostbite Frostclaw** is a well-rounded build but suffers from mana issues and slow speed. Skills like **Static Orb**, **Ice Barrage**, and **Black Hole** offer strong stats and utility, but the passive tree lacks the comprehensive support of higher tiers.
For more detailed guides and builds, visit our Last Epoch 1.2 builds page for Last Epoch 1.2, Tombs of the Erased!
