Best Mage Mastery and Builds in Last Epoch

If slinging fireballs and freezing foes is your thing, the Mage in Last Epoch is for you. While you may think you’ve seen all that a Mage has to offer in other games, the three mastery classes – Sorcerer, Spellblade, and Runemaster – mix the classic class up more than you’d think.

Mage Masteries in Last Epoch

Like the other classes in the game, the Mage has three masteries to choose from at around level 20: Sorcerer, Spellblade, and Runemaster. Once you choose which style of magic you’d like to focus on, you will not be able to switch to a different mastery. However, you can still respec the points you’ve invested into skills and passives otherwise. As a result, the most important choice is to choose the class that’s for you.

The first half of each passive tree is also available to any mastery, including all skills found before that threshold, meaning you can mix and match to create powerful builds. For instance, a Spellblade can learn the Ice Barrage skill by investing a little bit into the Sorcerer’s passive tree. However, each mastery has powerful passive bonuses and skills unique only to them.

All classes and masteries are viable for reaching the end game. That said, prior to the 1.0 patch of the Last Epoch, the Runemaster is the strongest mastery for the Mage. Let’s take a look at each:

Sorcerer Bonuses, Best Skills in Last Epoch

The most straightforward of the Mage’s masteries, the Sorcerer focuses on casting big spells to deal bigger damage through its passive bonuses. A +50 mana bonus and spells dealing increased damage equal to their mana cost will do that, along with a powerful mastery skill called Meteor. They also get the Arcane Ascendance skill, which increases the damage of spells by a whopping 100% at the cost of draining mana and being frozen in place. The Sorcerer is great for those who like to melt things as quickly as possible, even if it puts them in harm’s way.

Either the Static Orb or Fireball skill works great with the Sorcerer, both of which can be altered significantly within their respective specialization trees. A Fireball build pairs better with Meteor, however, making better use of the mastery’s passive bonuses. Investing in Craterborn and Cycle of Fire within the skill tree will make the Sorcerer a fiery force to be reckoned with.

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Spellblade Bonuses, Best Skills in Last Epoch

Last Epoch takes the spell-slinging and sword-wielding archetype in a fun direction with the passive bonuses for the Mage’s Spellblade mastery. Ward is a shielding mechanic that absorbs damage done to the player before sapping away health, and with 4 ward gained on each melee hit and all mana spent on melee attacks being converted to ward, the Spellblade is the most durable of the Mage’s masteries. This comes paired with close-ranged magic skills such as Flame Reave and Surge, making the Spellblade both formidable and maneuverable.

Shatter Strike is the mastery skill for the Spellblade, and when once you give it a go, you likely won’t want to use anything else as a primary skill. Within the specialization tree, passives such as Breadth of Cold and Iceblink make it one of the most formidable and quick damage-dealing skills. Paired with Mana Strike to keep the Spellblade’s resources topped up and Teleport to keep him alive, this is a potent setup. 

Runemaster Bonuses, Best Skills in Last Epoch

The Runemaster is the most unique take on the Mage archetype both within Last Epoch and fantasy games in general. Its passive abilities are rather straightforward: the Runemaster gains 30% increased elemental damage and 10% increased cast speed with elemental spells. However, it’s the mastery skill Runic Invocation that gives the Runemaster staggering power. Used passively, this skill builds up runes of a specific elemental type. Combining different elemental types – fire, ice, lightning – and activating Runic Invocation sets off a unique spell, of which there are 40. Those who love variety and complexity in equal measure will love the Runemaster.

You can certainly make a Runemaster build without utilizing Runic Invocation, but why would you want to? Taking damage multipliers found within the Runic Invocation skill tree, such as Unbridled Ruin, will make certain invocations extremely powerful. To keep things simple, invoking the powerful Ball Lightning by casting Static Orb thrice (borrowed from the Sorcerer’s passive tree) is a great starting point as you experiment with all the different combinations available, which the Runemaster’s Runebolt will help with.

While Runemaster is by far and away the most exciting of the Mage’s masteries, there’s no wrong option here. As developer Eleventh Hour has tweaked the masteries of each class over its long early access period, expect them to continue to do so, bringing Spellblade and Sorcerer up to speed.

And those are the best Mage mastery and builds in Last Epoch.

Last Epoch is available on PC.