In Last Epoch, you can choose one of five primary and 15 mastery classes by progressing through the game, so selecting just one as a newcomer can be challenging. Here is the best class for beginners in Last Epoch.
Best Class for New Last Epoch Players
As a new player to Last Epoch and one attempting to learn the combat and various mechanics of the ARPG, I highly recommend starting with the Primalist. It’s a fantastic starter class capable of holding its own in battle, with Strength and Vitality, alongside an animal companion that can help keep you alive.
Your first skill as a Primalist is Summon Wolf, which allows you to spawn a primal wolf that follows you into battle, attacks enemies and comes with its own upgradable skill tree.
Your second skill, Ice Thorns, appears weak at first glance. However, it can freeze enemies in place and allow you to land a few final blows before taking too much damage. I can’t begin to tell you the number of times a well-timed Ice Thorns saved my skin as enemies overwhelmed me.
Best Stats to Level
As the Primalist, your primary stats include Strength and Vitality.
Your Strength dictates melee attacks and armor. Conversely, Vitality influences health and various resistances, including Poison Resistance and Necrotic Resistance.
Increasing both as you level up via the passive skill tree is a good idea.
Skills to Specialize In
Early on, I do recommend choosing Summon Wolf as your first specialization. The ability to have summoned companions fighting by your side, especially as a new player, is invaluable. They’ll help keep you alive and often take down opponents independently, especially if you increase their physical damage capabilities.
After that, I recommend focusing on Summon Storm Crows, which will summon an elemental flying companion capable of dealing lightning and spell damage. Then, Summon Thorn Totem summons a stationary totem that jettisons thorns at nearby enemies. Finally, Tempest Strike. It’s a powerful melee attack that can trigger Earth Spikes, Northern Winds, or Lightning Bolt when it comes in contact with an enemy.
Most of your abilities will revolve around summoning pets to deal damage to immediate threats and take the aggro from you. It’s often best to lean into that playstyle with the Primalist.
Choosing Your Master Class
As you progress through the game, dumping points into your skills and passive tree, completing quests, etc., you will inevitably unlock the mastery system. At approximately level 25, after finishing the mastery quest in Chapter 4, you’ll have a chance to select your Mastery Class.
For the Primalist, the Mastery Classes include:
- Beastmaster
- Druid
- Shaman
You can only pick one, so I recommend choosing Beastmaster to continue focusing on summons and pets to handle your dirty work. Upon choosing Beastmaster, you’ll unlock access to the following skills as you progress:
- Summon Raptor
- Summon Bear
- Summon Frenzy Totem
- Summon Scorpion
- Warcry
As a fan of bear companions and pets in role-playing games, I immediately specialized in Summon Bear when it became available. The bear is mighty, with 300 base health points and natural resistance to most types of damage. By specializing, you can focus on increasing the bear’s health, damage, bleed chance, adopt poison damage, increase cast speed, improve crit strike chance, and reduce cooldowns. It becomes a literal walking tank.
As you invest time and energy into your starting class, you might want to learn about what progress carries over to the full release.
