In Last Epoch, you can choose 5 classes and a total of 15 “masteries”. MyMMO editor Benedict Grothaus has tried a few of them, but the popular rune master gave him the rest.
The sheer variety of classes in Last Epoch is wonderful. Each class has its own playstyle, different builds, and an identity. And everything is somehow playable; most classes even have an absolute top build – partly really absurd stuff without weapons.
If you don’t know how the classes work: You choose one of 5 heroes with a fixed class, and around level 15 during the campaign, you choose one of 3 masteries – the actual class.
After I was quite satisfied with my falconer on the second try, I wanted to look around a bit more, especially to play some co-op. I chose the Mage. It got a new mastery right before the 1.0 release, the Rune Master.
Rune Masters create their own spells, which sounds pretty cool at first. But I probably won’t touch mine anytime soon…
When it was announced, the class sounded really good:
A new spell with a huge list
I don’t know who came up with this. I don’t know if it’s genius, stupid, or crazy. But I know that while playing an ARPG, I rarely had to think so hard about math homework as with the Rune Master.
With the choice of mastery, I get exactly one new spell: Rune Summoning. Even the description of the spell is long. Passively, certain spells create runes when cast, depending on their element.
Rune Summoning then consumes these active runes to cast a new spell. And here it gets tricky, because the order of the runes is also crucial, and each rune can be used multiple times. A lot adds up:
- Rune Summoning by itself already works as a spell.
- There are 3 elements that can be converted into runes: Fire, Lightning, and Cold.
- For each of these elements, Rune Summoning can already use a single rune.
- 9 more spells are added by combining two different runes (2 to the power of 3).
- Another 27 spells are created through the permutations of three runes (3 to the power of 3).
- In total, the Rune Master ends up with 1+3+9+27, so 40 spells with just one button!
Here’s even a ten-minute video ONLY about this one spell:
Now comes the catch, which is why I eventually gave up: There is no list of spells in the game. That means I have to figure out and remember each of the 40 combinations myself.
As if that wasn’t enough, I can’t just prepare spells. The runes don’t remain “stored” after 3 spells; they rotate when I cast other abilities with corresponding elements.
Do I really need all 40 spells?
I do realize that the Rune Master could be played without this eternally long list of self-created spells. But to be honest: If I only remember 2 spells and do everything with them, I might as well play a wizard.
The Wizard mastery is more focused on strong single spells and is also more pronounced there. With the Rune Master, it doesn’t feel right to not fully utilize the potential – and that’s huge! Rune Masters are currently among the strongest builds overall.
Sure, I could have a list of spells open on the second screen. But… you know ARPGs. No one has the time to look at the second screen to find the right spell for a situation.
Still, I don’t want to speak badly of the class. I think the idea is pretty cool, and it felt a bit like back when I played Magicka with friends and desperately searched for spell combinations.
For the moment, though, I prefer to stick to classes that I can play without having to think about my tax return. Overall, I’m quite satisfied with Last Epoch – and with the year so far in general: 2024 is the best year if you love games like Diablo
