Season 2 Masteries: Top Picks in Last Epoch

Last Epoch features an impressive array of 15 Mastery classes, each offering unique subclass options that enhance specific aspects of your character's build. From the classic Sorcerer to the unique Falconer, which lets you soar across the map with a bird companion, the choice can be overwhelming. This **Last Epoch Mastery tier list** is designed to guide you in selecting the best Masteries for your gameplay style.

Remember, you're not locked into a single Mastery. It's common to experiment with multiple Masteries to create a min-maxed build. You can allocate points into the first half of any Mastery's passive tree and even switch your Mastery at the Respec NPC in the End of Time.

How We Ranked the Best and Worst Masteries in Last Epoch

The strength, weakness, or middling status of a Mastery hinges on its ability to enhance potential builds effectively. A strong build relies on a combination of factors for mapping (clear), single target (bossing), and defense. Key elements include 'more' damage multipliers, which are superior to 'increased' damage multipliers, and stats like critical hit chance, critical hit multiplier, flat damage, armor shred chance, and effect. Defensively, critical hit damage reduction and avoidance are crucial, as are resistances, damage reduction, recovery options like leech and health regeneration, and effective HP (eHP).

Mastery skills are assessed based on their damage potential for both bossing and clearing, as well as their usability and feel. Even an S-Tier skill can drag a Mastery down if it's clunky to play. However, preferences for mechanics like snapshotting can influence how you might rank a Mastery.

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 aiming to obliterate foes with a massive purple sword while staying virtually unkillable, the **Void Knight** (and its **Erasing Strike**) is your go-to. It scales excellently into the World Splitter version, and the **Warpath** build is equally viable, being both top-tier and accessible for new or casual players. With enhanced mobility and effective HP, it boasts exceptional clear and respectable bossing damage, all while allowing you to move and deal damage simultaneously for boosted DPS. The passive tree offers a buffet of benefits including resistance, penetration, leech, damage reduction, and more. Standout nodes like **Sorrow & Steel**, **Void Corruption**, and **Mortal Cleave** are powerhouses. For more builds, explore Smite Void Knight for its speed and tankiness, or Time Rot Void Knight for its complex yet rewarding playstyle.

S-Tier: Paladin

The developer, Eleventh Hour Games (EHG), acknowledged overdoing the Sentinel rework, resulting in the **Judgement** Paladin dominating the Terminate Uber Abberoth race. This Mastery offers potent skills, robust defense, and massive damage output. **Judgement** alone packs a punch with 350% damage effectiveness and a 200% critical multiplier, offering both healing and damage. Each Paladin skill is equally formidable, a rarity among Masteries. The passive tree boasts the highest resistances in the game, plus recovery, damage reduction, and more. Key nodes like **Covenant of Light**, **Covenant of Protection**, **Reverence of Duality**, and **Convenant of Dominion** enhance damage, sustain, and defense. For alternative builds, consider **Bleed Hammerdin** or **Smite** for a unique twist.

A-Tier: Falconer

Despite nerfs, the **Falconer** remains incredibly powerful, offering unparalleled movement speed and top-tier damage through critical hit multipliers and Dexterity scaling. **Aerial Assault** allows for simultaneous movement and damage, making it a thrilling choice. However, defense is its Achilles' heel, requiring strategic use of **Dodge**, **Silver/Dusk Shrouds**, and **Glancing Blows**. The lack of resistance options forces reliance on gear and idols. For an adventurous build, try the Zero HP Ballista Falconer, which uses Silver Shrouds and Dodge to cheese incoming damage. Alternatively, **Umbral Blades** is a strong option, transitioning from **Shadow Daggers** to a Dexterity stacking build with **Talons of Valor** bow and **Razorfall** boots.

A-Tier: Bladedancer

While less popular than Falconer, **Bladedancer** is equally formidable, offering strong clear, single target, and defense through high-DPS skills and the **Lethal Mirage** iframe. Ideal for fast melee gameplay, it provides everything needed to succeed, from Dexterity stacking to crit, leech, and armor shred. Key nodes include **Pursuit**, **Argent Veil**, and **Death’s Door**. Build options range from **Shadow Daggers** and **Shadow Cascade** to **Chakrams** and **Lethal Mirage** with **Black Blade of Chaos**. The Chakram version is Uber Abberoth viable, ensuring a competitive edge.

A-Tier: Beastmaster

The summoner's choice, **Beastmaster** excels with **Storm Crows** and **Summon Wolf** buffs, placing second in the Uber Abberoth race. Though not as tanky as top-tier Masteries, its summons are potent once they get going. For a balanced build, consider **Poison Nova Scorpion**, though be prepared for slower movement speed. The passive tree offers damage reduction, health, healing, and crit support, but lacks direct damage, which must be sourced elsewhere.

A-Tier: Shaman

As a melee and elemental Mastery, **Shaman** is a high performer in Arena, reaching Wave 500-700+. **Tornado** is the star, with its deceptive damage and vacuum effect. While **Earthquake** and **Avalanche** are less popular due to high mana costs, **Aftershock** idols can boost their utility. **Summon Storm Totem** adds decent damage and serves as a decoy. The passive tree is packed with penetration, cooldown reduction, mana, and elemental damage with resistances. Key nodes include **Fist of Stone**, **Lagon’s Answer**, **Conflux**, and **Swirling Maelstrom**.

A-Tier: Druid

The shapeshifting **Druid** excels with **Storm Werebear**, boasting high DPS capable of tackling Abberoth and high corruption levels. With solid eHP, it's a well-rounded choice, though not the fastest for farming. **Werebear** transforms your skills into bear-appropriate versions, offering movement and damage with **Rampage** and **Maul**, and control with **Roar**. **Spriggan Form** offers strong defense but is better paired with Druid/Beastmaster. The passive tree is rich with health, mana, sustain, crit, and damage reduction nodes.

B-Tier: Lich

The **Lich** Mastery embraces the 'sacrifice for power' theme, with strong skills like **Reaper Form** and a robust passive tree. **Drain Life** is useful with the **Hecatomb** node, while **Aura of Decay** supports poison builds, though it's weak in practice. **Death Seal** boosts damage and reduces damage taken, adding risk and reward. **Reaper Form** is a versatile movement and damage skill with recovery options. The passive tree supports Intelligence stacking, mana, health, ward, and recovery, with standout nodes like **Dance With Death**, **Hollow Lich**, and **Ageless Plagues**.

B-Tier: Marksman

As a classic Archer subclass, **Marksman** shines with **Hail of Arrows** and **Heartseeker**. **Hail of Arrows** benefits from **Sanguine Hoard**, perfect for bleed combos, while **Heartseeker** offers auto-targeting. Marksman excels at HP on hit, crucial for its high projectile output. **Multishot** and **Hail** are strong, while **Detonating Arrow** underperforms. The passive tree supports dodge, crit, movement speed, and more, with key nodes like **Heightened Senses**, **Thief’s Quiver**, and **Death From Afar**.

C-Tier: Necromancer

The **Necromancer** offers undead summons and a versatile passive tree, hitting 200-400 Waves in Arena. **Summon Skeletal Mage** reduces enemy health regeneration and can be a traversal skill, focusing on a single powerful minion. **Sacrifice** is less popular due to poor personal damage support. **Dread Shade** offers temporary damage boosts, while **Assemble Abomination** summons a tanky minion, requiring snapshotting for optimal performance. **Summon Wraith** has strong damage and crit support. The tree provides health, recovery, minion support, and more, with key nodes like **Elixir of Hunger** and **Rite of Undeath**.

C-Tier: Runemaster

The **Runemaster** allows for unique spell combinations, with **Rune of Invocation** offering versatility and high damage. **Hydrahedron** is key for high corruption viability, while **Focus Autobomber** is tanky but requires a budget. **Flame Rush** and **Frost Wall** are strong, with the latter excelling at bossing. **Runebolt** and **Glyph of Dominion** provide solid numbers and debuffs. The passive tree supports Ward, mana, elemental debuffs, and more, though not as outrageously as higher tiers.

C-Tier: Forge Guard

While **Forge Guard** holds its own, it's outshined by top Masteries. **Manifest Armor** rewards STR/armor stacking, **Shield Throw** has high damage effectiveness, and **Ring of Shields** adds defense. **Smelter’s Wrath** scales offense and defense but is slow due to channeling, while **Forge Weapon** offers high damage and summons. The passive tree provides health, stun chance, and regen, with key nodes like **Guardian**, but lacks the standout features of higher tiers.

D-Tier: Spellblade

Though **Spellblade** is D-Tier, it remains viable with strong DPS and speed, though it struggles with defense. **Flame Reave** is underwhelming due to its limited range and high mana cost, while **Enchant Weapon** boosts DPS and supports Ignite builds. **Firebrand** reaches 300 Corruption but lacks the damage of top skills. **Surge** and **Shatter Strike** offer mobility, crit, and debuffs. The passive tree supports ward, resistances, damage, and more, but lacks standout features to compete with top tiers.

D-Tier: Warlock

**Warlock** focuses on damage over time and curses, making it easy to gear for new players. **Cthonic Fissure**, **Profane Veil**, and **Chaos Bolts** are key for Bleed and Witchfire builds, though defense is weak despite high eHP and recovery. Key nodes like **The Ashen One**, **Crimson Favours**, and **Cauldron of Blood** support specific builds.

D-Tier: Sorcerer

The classic **Sorcerer** is viable but lacks standout features. **Frostbite Frostclaw** is a strong all-rounder, though it struggles with mana and speed. **Static Orb** and **Black Hole** are strong, with utility nodes like **Static Armor** and **Overwhelming Barrage**. **Ice Barrage** offers respectable numbers and auto-targeting, while **Arcane Ascendance** is powerful but costly. **Meteor** has high base stats but demands significant mana investment. The passive tree supports ward, damage, and cast speed but lacks the punch of higher tiers.

Head to our Last Epoch 1.2 builds page for more guides for Last Epoch 1.2, Tombs of the Erased!