Last Epoch: All minion improvements in Season 3

Last Epoch’s Season 3 update, Beneath Ancient Skies, isn’t only touching up the skills for the Necromancer and Beastmaster, but it's also improving the minions you travel around with. Some of these changes include adjustments to their behavior and increased damage. Alongside the minion changes, the game is also updating the Merchant’s Guild and adding the ability to use cosmetics offline.

The update will launch on August 21, 2025, and here are all the minion changes coming to the Season 3 update.

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All minion changes in Last Epoch Season 3

Improvements to minions suggest related builds may become meta during Season 3. Considering a lot of focus is on Acolyte and her Mastery, Necromancer, she may be a popular pick. However, before you decide, it’s essential to know what’s changing.

Minion AI changes

Minions now have different modes (Image via Eleventh Hour Games)

One of the most notable features coming to Season 3 is the ability to control what your minion does. Following the update, there will be an option allowing you to toggle between two different behavior modes: Assassinate and Protect.

The Assassinate mode will set them loose on the screen to prioritize attacks on stronger enemies and bosses. While this mode will leave you separated from the pack, you won’t have to get close to bosses during fights.

The Defense mode was originally the default for minions, in which they stick close and attack enemies in proximity. This mode allows better protection from being ganked by smaller enemies. Note that both modes will be toggleable with a single key.

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Minion improvements

Minions are getting a significant buff (Image via Eleventh Hour Games)

In addition to the AI changes, minions also received a small buff to damage and defenses. Each time you level up, your minions gain 0.8% power, up from 0.6%, bringing the overall damage and defense to 60% at Level 100. This change is in addition to the 60% minion damage reduction from dangerous enemy abilities, which was previously 50%.

Several bugs relating to minions, including pathing issues, responsiveness, and target acquisition, have also been fixed. Moreover, they now run in front of the character and take the first enemy hits.

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Beastmaster specific changes

Beastmaster's pets can cast spells (Image via Eleventh Hour Games)

The Beastmaster Mastery has received various new nodes, and while not everything has been revealed, they mainly focus on allowing minions to transform or activate other skills. Here are a few highlights:

• Volcanic Adaptation: Transforms the Raptor into Dragon Raptor, whose abilities scale with fire damage. It also gains the Fore Breath ability.
• Frozen Winds: Summoned Scorpion has a chance to cast Maelstorm when you do. Each point invested increases the chance by 25% and will guarantee the cast at four points.
• Groundshaking Might: Summoned Bear can cast Earthquake with a 6-second cooldown. The skill deals 30% less damage than the regular Earthquake.

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Merchant’s Guild update and offline cosmetics

Merchant Tokens provide easy trades (Image via Eleventh Hour Games)

The Merchant’s Guild allows you to trade uniques with other players, and the Last Epoch Season 3 update has added more QoL to this process. Whenever you select a unique item, it will provide a new window to choose min or max roll ranges for finding the desired item roll.

Two new tokens have also been added for trading items without Favor or Rank requirements. These are:

• Merchant's Token: Allows you to bypass the favor cost when purchasing an item.
• Black Market Token: Allows you to bypass the favor cost, as well as the rank requirement for the item.

Another notable change is the ability to use purchased cosmetics offline. Last Epoch is playable offline, but the cosmetics from supporter packs and the MTX shop were not usable without an internet connection. After the update, you will need to play the game once in either online or offline mode to set up offline cosmetics.

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Check out our other articles for Last Epoch:

• Last Epoch Campaign Speedrunning guide (All Acts covered)
• Last Epoch: Best Weaver Faction tree for Circle of Fortune (Season 2)
• Last Epoch 2025 roadmap: What to expect from the game this year
• Last Epoch S3 Primal Hunt mechanic explained