Last Epoch Season 3 tier list: All Classes and Masteries ranked

It is hard to accurately represent the power ceiling of classes with a Last Epoch Class tier list. The ranking of these classes tends to form a broader gradient, as two Masteries (subclasses) stemming from the same class may give you very different performance in grinding out high-corruption Monolith maps.

To solve this problem of vagueness, this Last Epoch Class tier list will provide a broader ranking of the classes, and then rank all the 15 individual Masteries in tiers. Season 3 (patch 1.3) did not shake up the meta by a huge margin, so expect to see a lot of reprising top builds from Season 2 here.

Note: All Last Epoch classes and Masteries are at least somewhat viable in the end-game. Ultimately, your personal preference and playstyle will go a long way to decide the best Last Epoch Mastery for you.

Last Epoch Class Tier list: Ranking base classes in Season 3

There are 5 base classes in Last Epoch (Image via Eleventh Hour Studio)

For our class tier list, we will divide the five last Epoch classes into three tiers: S, A, and B. However, as explained earlier, you should also look at the Mastery tier list breakdown below to decide what you should pick this Cycle.

With the Last Epoch 1.3 patch for Season 3, a sweeping class rebalance uplifted previously underperforming classes. While Season 2 focused on the Sentinel, the Season 3 rebalancing attention went towards Acolyte (and Primalist, to a lesser extent).

Keeping that in mind, here's our ranking of Last Epoch's base classes in Season 3:

Tier	Classes
S	Sentinel
A	Acolyte, Primalist
B	Mage, Rogue

Patch 1.3 seems to even the board more than ever, and Mage should only reach B-tier by a very narrow margin. Meanwhile, despite all the nerfs, Sentinel is still probably the easiest straightforward way to play the game for first-timers.

This ranking is done by a very rough estimation on what its Masteries offer on paper. Some of these are more clear-cut than others. For example, Sentinel was clearly the big winner of the day-one Season 2 meta, whereas for Acolyte, a lot of Warlock builds were less performant than they before.

In all likeliness, this class tier list isn't of much use to decide what class is good in Last Epoch. Instead, read along for a subclass tier list breakdown, you'll find a more (hopefully) clearer demarcation of which Masteries are looking good.

Last Epoch Season 3 Mastery tier list: All subclasses ranked

Masteries in Last Epoch are far less commitment-heavy than subclassing in the average ARPG. You can pick one Mastery of your class while harvesting some of the benefits from the other two.

Here's the Masteries available to each base class in Last Epoch:

Mage: Runemaster, Spellblade, Sorcerer
Primalist: Shaman, Beastmaster, Druid
Acolyte: Lich, Necromancer, Warlock
Rogue: Bladedancer, Marksman, Falconer
Sentinel: Forge Guard, Void Knight, Paladin

Since patch 1.2, Last Epoch even allows you to fully change your Mastery, so the lines are even more blurred. This takes away some of the rigidity previously present with Mastery selection, so a Mastery tier list based on leveling matters far less than it used to.

Now, you can simply level with whatever offers the faster clearing acumen for the campaign, and then pivot to the Masteries that do best in the endgame. Going by that logic, our Mastery/Class tier list in Last Epoch is a bit more endgame-leaning.

With that out of the way, here's our Last Epoch Season 3 Mastery tier list:

Tier	Masteries
S	Beastmaster, Void Knight
A	Paladin, Falconer, Runemaster, Marksman, Lich, Necromancer
B	Bladedancer, Warlock, Shaman, Sorcerer, Spellblade
C	Forge Guard, Druid

Before we proceed, this tier list is based on how good the Masteries came off after balanced changes in Last Epoch Season 2. The actual meta remains to be figured out. It's possible (if unlikely) that even the lowly C-tier entrants get access to the most busted tech.

S-tier Masteries in Last Epoch Season 2

The masteries ranked in the S-tier boast the most powerful builds in the game, dominating all aspects of gameplay, such as Monoliths, speed farming, leveling, and arenas. They are exceptionally powerful against bosses and demonstrate remarkable versatility in the endgame.

The masteries that belong to the S-tier are the following:

Void Knight
Beastmaster

Void Knight

Last Epoch buffed this Mastery with a massive Sentinel rework in Season 2, changing his past reputation of a middling sublcass. Most would agree that EHG overcorrected a bit too much, and so he was one of the primary targets of the Sentinel nerfs in this Last Epoch Season.

Ultimately, the Void Knight is a resilient tank, and his resistances include cross-Cycle meta shifts too apparently. He's a bit worse for wear, but both Erasing Strike and Warpath are still quite good after the nerfs.

Best Void Knight builds to try: Erasing Strike Void Knight, Warpath Void Knight

Beastmaster

In Cycle 1.2, Beastmaster was mostly carried by how good Storm Crow got. Otherwise, it was a less popular version of Necromaner. This time, the tables are turned. Beastmaster has clawed its way to the top, and it's mainly thanks to what an S-tier build Bear Beastmaster has turned out to be. Last Epoch Season 3 buffed a lot of things about the class. I also have a sneaking suspicion it's due to the theming of the current season.

Best Beastmaster builds to try: Bear Beastmaster, Raptor Beastmaster (plus you can get a T-Rex now, too)

A-tier Masteries in Last Epoch Season 2

The masteries ranked in the A-tier have good viable build variety, which often leads to high versatility with different comps. While these may occasionally match the performance of S-tier masteries in certain aspects of gameplay, they are still not as 'broken' as them.

Here are the masteries that belong to the A-tier:

Paladin
Falconer
Marksman
Runemaster
Lich
Necromancer

Paladin

Judgment Paladin is still pretty good, while some of the more second-fiddle builds like Javelin got knocked back a bit in terms of raw numbers. Yet, Paladin is still doubtless the ol' faithful if you want to just bring the righteous hammer to swing at a problem till it solves itself.

Best Paladin builds to try: Judgment Paladin is dependable as always, and Crit Hammerdin Paladin is the rising build in Season 3

Falconer

As arguably the most uninvolved autopilot way to carpet-bomb the entire campaign and transition into a number of busted builds in the Monoliths, Falconer was probably the biggest target for the nerfhammer. Well, it worked -- Falconer is down to A-tier from S-tier now. Umbral Blades has powered down quite a bit, but you can actually still have an easy time with Ballista Falconer. It's not all bad if this is your main way to play Rogue.

Best Falconer builds to try: Ballista Falconer is still the best one to try among the popular builds

Marksman

Marksman had its first big glow-up in Season 2 due to the explosive popularity of the Heartseeker build. That specific build has been target-nerfed to a vast degree in Season 3, as many of us Marksman enjoyers expected. It's still not all bad, though - you can still have a relatively easy time with the game with the classic Acid Flask, or try Hail of Arrows, which is still about as good as last Season.

Best Marksman builds to try: Acid Flask Marksman, Hail of Arrows Marksman

Runemaster

Invoker mains from Dota 2, rise and shine. Last Epoch Season 3 is yet another opportunity play Runemaster, to... unpredictable results. Runemaster is probably the hardest to pin down anywhere on a Last Epoch tier list, because of the sheer catalogue of spells this character brings.

Hydrahedron (Lightning, Fire, Fire) was the big winner in the last Cycle, and this still remains in the same place. While Runic Invocation got some straight buffs, they're not too big on the whole. Runemaster is arguably the best wayo to scale the mage in Last Epoch, and by that virtue, gets A-tier in this tier list.

If you're a beginner held back by the apparent complexity, though, rest assured. You can easily level Mage with the Runemaster thanks to the simple but effective Glacier - Shatter Strike combo. Which aren't Runemaster-exclusive Skills exactly, but the Mastery-stealing allowances are there for a reason.

Best Runemaster builds to try: Hydrahedron Runemaster, STR-stacking Autobomber Runemaster

Lich

With the numerous changes, Lich is in a much better place in Last Epoch Season 3. There's still a risk-vs-reward element going on with this class, and you might need to get fidgety with ward and mana management. Flay, for example, requires way too much Mana for an early transition -- you almost certainly need to specifically gear for Mana sustain first.

However, Harvest Flay Lich has been supercharged in this cycle - so Lich gets to be on A-tier despite the big Stygian Coal build nerfs. Lich's main problem going towards the early Endgame is single-target DPS, but you can just get that solved in multiple ways - Marrow-Shard bleed with Rip Blood, and/or machine-gun Hungering Souls through Death Seal.

Best Lich builds to try: Harvest Flay Lich, Death Seal Lich

Necromancer

In many ways, Last Epoch has one of the most fun and robust minion-based subclasses in the Necromancer. To sweeten the pot, Last Epoch Season 3 makes numerous QoL changes to Minion AI, and then buffs Assemble Abomination on top. The build still has the problem of needing to prime up your Abomination every single time he dies, but it's still an absolute S-tier build. Had other builds like Roid Mage been good, Lich could even been a chart-topper in this Last Epoch S3 tier list.

Best Necromancer builds to try: Abomination Necromancer, that's it.

B-tier Masteries in Last Epoch Season 2

B-tier masteries comprise builds often outperformed by other masteries in different facets of gameplay. While certain builds can be competitive, there are always better options.

The B-tier masteries are the following:

Shaman
Bladedancer
Warlock
Spellblade
Sorcerer

Shaman

Want to try out an elementalist with a touch of Totems, and a side of Primalist shenanigans? Go for Shaman in Last Epoch Season 3.

In the 1.2 patch, the standout stars were mainly the Shock/Thorn Totem spammer playstyle, or any elemental Tornado build. These builds landed mostly in the same place after the patch 1.3 Primalist changes, and plus, a Reflect Shaman build from Lizard IRL is the new best way to scale to endgame. If you're looking for an AFK playstyle in the Endgame, this is the best way to go about it.

In truth, Shaman is qutie dependable at this point, and probably deserves a A-tier - but if you're picking Shaman in Season 3, you're passing on Beastmaster.

Best Shaman builds to try: Reflect Shaman, Shock Totem Shaman

Bladedancer

Bladedancer is the traditional portrayal of a classic Rogue archetype — and the only Rogue subclass that got any signif9icant buffs in Season 3. However, even with some really good Dancing Strike buffs, I don't see it becoming meta, or anythign above A-tier for the purposes of this tier list. You're still incentivized to just go Falconer or Marksman. However, if you are not super ambitious with your corruption level in Monoliths, a lot of the old builds like Dancing Strikes - Shadow Cascade still do qutie well.

Best Bladedancer builds to try: Dancing Strikes-Shuriken Bladedancer, Lethal Mirage Blade Dancer

Warlock

In case you are coming to Last Epoch for the first time in Season 3: Warlock used to carry the whole Acolyte class on its shoulders through 1.0 and 1.1. In the current patch though, Warlock is far from the unimpeachable S-tier material that she used to be.

In Season 2, the up-and-coming meta builds were all about making use of the Witchfire and Torment ailments. Despite some great necrotic damage scaling, those were not universally good in all departments of the endgame, and they're even less worthwhile endgame considerations now. With some CD reduction, the only viable way to play Warlock in the endgame (that I know of right now) is just Profane Orb spam.

Best Warlock builds to try: Profane Veil Warlock

Spellblade

If stealing juice from secondary Masteries was not allowed in Last Epoch, Spellblade would probably be a much higher-tier subclas. True to its name, Spellblade gives you a pretty good sword-and-sorcery combo class fantasy.

The problem is that it's not very cozy, as you often have to do some active resource-management to get good performance out of it. Most good Spellblade builds also get highly gear-reliant in the endgame, to boot. In Last Epoch Season 3, none of these things have changed, and so Spellblade is still a Shatter Strike + Whiteout stick.

Best Spellblade builds to try: Shatter Strike Spellblade

Sorcerer

Sorcerer is a great way to play Mage if you don't want to stress about gearing in Last Epoch Season 3. From the point you unlock Glaciers, it can carry you through the entire campaign, and provide some good scaling into Endgame with good gear. You'd still be much better off as a Runemaster, though - whichi, if not just as easy, is far more punchy.

Best Sorcerer builds to try: Glacier Sorcerer

C-tier builds in Last Epoch Season 2

These Masteries have fallen out of favour with the meta for good reason. Namely, they provide underwhelming results compared to the amount of effort you have to put into them. You can still make these work with good crafting luck and the best unique item synergies, but expect nothing extraordinary.

The masteries that belong to this tier are the following:

Forge Guard
Druid

Forge Guard

Why is Forge Guard all the way down here? Well, because it's nowhere near as good as the other two Sentinel specs. It's the opposite of Smith of Kitava from PoE2 in that way. In Last Epoch, you play Forge Guard because you want to be an unsubsidized countryside smith, as animated weapons follow you around, and you do alright at beating the game, and surprisingly good at the endgame - up till a certain critical point of failure at high Corruption levels.

At that point, you decide to just respecialize to one of the dozen-odd Void Knight builds that would carry you much easier.

Druid

Stormbear Druids will do just fine (as always), while other builds are not really doing much better from the looks of it. In all likelihood, it's possible that there are some sleeper hit Druid builds out there, and I just don't know about it because I never play or look into Druid.