Season 2 Masteries: Top Picks in Last Epoch Tier List

Last Epoch boasts an impressive roster of 15 Mastery classes, each acting as a subclass that allows you to specialize in a specific gameplay niche. From classic choices like Sorcerer to more unconventional options such as Falconer — where you soar across the battlefield with your avian companion dishing out damage — there's plenty of variety to explore. With so many options available, it can be challenging to decide which Masteries are worth investing in. This **Last Epoch Mastery tier list** is here to help guide your decision-making process.

You’re not confined to just one Mastery — it’s common and often encouraged to invest points into multiple passive trees to optimize your build. You can allocate points into the early sections of any other Mastery’s passive tree, giving you flexibility without full commitment. If you ever want to change your primary Mastery, simply visit the Respec NPC located in the End of Time.

How We Ranked the Best and Worst Masteries in Last Epoch

The strength of a Mastery largely depends on how well it supports core aspects of a build — such as clear speed, bossing efficiency, and survivability. Some Masteries naturally synergize better than others, offering multipliers or mechanics that significantly boost performance. For example, “more” damage modifiers are generally superior to “increased” damage modifiers, making Masteries that offer the former more desirable. Pay close attention to passive descriptions, as they clearly state how scaling works.

On the defensive side, key stats like critical hit damage reduction, resistances, armor shred mitigation, and damage reduction play crucial roles in ensuring survival. While some of these stats can be found on gear or idols, having them available within a Mastery tree gives you greater customization. Recovery mechanics — such as leech, health regeneration, and ward generation — also factor heavily into long-term sustainability. Any Mastery that provides these benefits efficiently will likely rank higher on this list.

Mastery skills are evaluated based on their raw power for both bossing and area clearing, with slight consideration given to playstyle and user experience. A skill may be objectively strong but feel awkward to use, potentially affecting its overall ranking. However, if you're comfortable with mechanics like snapshotting, you may find certain Masteries more appealing than the tier list suggests.

Last Epoch Tier List: Best Season 2 Masteries

Contribute to our evolving community-driven tier list by voting on the most effective Masteries in Last Epoch Season 2.

Last Epoch Season 2 Masteries Tier List

S-Tier: Paladin, Void Knight
Top-tier performance in all areas — exceptional clear speed, bossing power, and survivability.

A-Tier: Falconer, Bladedancer, Shaman, Druid
Highly effective builds with only minor weaknesses in one or two categories.

B-Tier: Marksman, Lich, Beastmaster
Solid options with good performance in at least one major category, though lacking in others.

C-Tier: Necromancer, Forge Guard, Runemaster
Moderately viable with decent utility, but often fall short in key areas compared to top-tier options.

D-Tier: Spellblade, Warlock, Sorcerer
Still playable but require precise execution and optimization to perform well in endgame content.

Our tier list includes detailed breakdowns of each Mastery, along with example builds from Maxroll.gg to help you get started.

S-Tier: Void Knight

If you enjoy wiping out entire screens of enemies with a massive purple cleaver and surviving nearly every encounter, the Void Knight (especially when paired with Erasing Strike) is your ideal Mastery. It scales beautifully as you progress, particularly when transitioning into World Splitter or Warpath variants — both of which are powerful and beginner-friendly.

Void Knight offers excellent mobility and eHP (effective health), combined with incredible area-clearing potential and solid bossing damage. One of its biggest advantages is the ability to move while attacking, greatly improving DPS and playability.

Stat-wise, it delivers a generous 200% added damage effectiveness across all skills, spiking to 600% with Erasing Strike — exactly what you’d expect from an S-Tier Mastery.

The passive tree grants access to physical and void resistance, penetration, leech, damage reduction, increased health, mana solutions, attack speed, and much more. Notable nodes include:

• Sorrow & Steel – Combines damage, armor, and AoE.
• Void Corruption – Massive boosts to crit chance and multiplier.
• Mortal Cleave – Culling support, damage, and crit in one node.

For optimal builds, consider Smite Void Knight for fast, tanky gameplay or Time Rot Void Knight for high burst and sustainability.

S-Tier: Paladin

Following the Sentinel rework, the Paladin Mastery rose to prominence, dominating competitive races like Uber Abberoth. Its mix of insane damage output and near-unbreakable defense makes it a clear choice for S-Tier.

Skills like Judgement offer 350% damage effectiveness and 200% critical hit multiplier for minimal resource cost and cooldown. Other abilities such as Symbols of Hope and Holy Aura further reinforce both offense and defense, while Healing Hands provides massive healing potential — especially useful during boss fights.

Passive nodes include:

• Covenant of Light – Enhances Healing Hands and Holy Aura simultaneously.
• Covenant of Protection – Boosts survivability.
• Reverence of Duality / Covenant of Dominion – Offers insane damage, sustain, and defense.

Although Judgement is the standout skill, builds like Bleed Hammerdin and Smite also shine if you prefer a less conventional approach.

A-Tier: Falconer

Falconer remains a powerful option even after several nerfs. Designed around high movement speed and critical hit multipliers, this Mastery lets you dominate the battlefield with Dexterity-based builds. Skills like Aerial Assault let you unleash devastating attacks from the air, riding your pet for extra flair.

However, defense is its weakest link. You’ll need to rely on Dodge, Silver/Dusk Shrouds, and Glancing Blows to mitigate damage, and the lack of resistances in the passive tree forces you to seek them elsewhere.

Build options include:

• Ballista Falconer – Extremely high damage but requires constant dodging and timing.
• Umbral Blades – Uses Shadow Daggers early before switching to Talons of Valor bow and Razorfall boots for maximum DPS.

While mechanically demanding, Falconer offers a thrilling and visually satisfying combat experience.

A-Tier: Bladedancer

Though slightly less popular than Falconer, Bladedancer holds its own as a balanced, high-performance Mastery. Whether you're clearing hordes or taking down bosses, this class delivers reliable results with strong defensive tools like Lethal Mirage granting invincibility frames.

Key passive nodes include:

• Pursuit – Efficient damage and movement.
• Argent Veil – Makes dodge more dependable.
• Death’s Door – Damage reduction for low-life builds.

Defensive layers like Glancing Blows, Dusk Shrouds, and Dodge ensure survivability, while Dexterity stacking, crit, leech, and armor shredding provide offensive versatility.

Popular builds include:

• Shadow Daggers
• Chakrams – High AoE damage.
• Lethal Mirage – Requires Black Blade of Chaos.

Despite not reaching the same numerical heights as Judgment Paladin, Bladedancer remains a top-tier choice for melee enthusiasts.

A-Tier: Beastmaster

As the summoner Mastery, Beastmaster isn’t as durable as Void Knight or Paladin, but it still performs exceptionally well in events like Uber Abberoth. Builds centered around Storm Crows offer elite DPS due to snapshotting mechanics, and Summon Wolf companions further enhance your effectiveness.

Notable passive features include:

• Damage reduction
• Health regeneration
• Companion endurance
• Crit support
• Stun mechanics

Builds like Poison Nova Scorpion offer a well-rounded experience, though movement speed can feel sluggish unless optimized through gear and passives like Haste.

A-Tier: Shaman

Shaman is a versatile Mastery combining melee and elemental damage, making it one of the strongest Arena-pushing builds — capable of reaching Wave 500–700+. The clear speed is fast, though not quite top-tier, and defense remains solid.

Star skills include:

• Tornado – High vacuum effect and AoE damage.
• Earthquake – Strong but mana-intensive.
• Summon Storm Totem – Useful decoy and moderate damage.

Passive highlights:

• Penetration support
• Cooldown reduction
• Elemental damage with resists
• Auto-triggered skills

Recommended nodes include Fist of Stone, Lagon’s Answer, and Swirling Maelstrom, all of which deliver efficient damage and utility