How Does Skill Specialization Work in Last Epoch?

Last Epoch is one of those action role-playing games that almost require you to have a degree in the genre to grasp the myriad of skill trees. With several different types of passives along with skill specializations in Last Epoch, we’ve put together this guide to explain how they work.

How Does Skill Specialization Work in Last Epoch?

Simply put, each and every skill in the game – that is, active, usable abilities – have sprawling skill trees for you to spec into. There’s a total of 5 skill specialization slots (seen at the top of the skill screen, accessed by pressing “S” on the keyboard) that are unlocked as you level up.

Once unlocked, you can drag and drop a skill your character currently knows into that slot at the top of the screen. From there, you can click on said skill and spend skill points within that tree. Specialized skills level up independently of your character, based on experience earned through slaying monsters and completing quests. 

You can respec a skill by clicking the respec button at the top right of the specialization screen. This will allow you to swap in a different skill; however, this also resets the skill level. Skills of a lower level will gain bonus experience in order to catch up to your other skills/player level.

Related: Best Mage Mastery and Builds in Last Epoch

How Do Passives Work in Last Epoch?

There are three types of passives in Last Epoch. First and foremost, skills have plenty of passives within their skill specialization trees. These are generally not what players mean when they refer to passives in Last Epoch. These are selected by spending skill points in that specific skill tree.

By pressing the “P” key, you’ll pull up the passive window, which showcases passives for the base class and the three masteries that you can choose from after clearing Chapter 4. The Sentinel, for example, has a Sentinel passive skill tree, along with three more skill trees for the Void Knight, Forge Guard, and Paladin, respectively. Even if you choose to become a Void Knight, you can place up to 25 points into the Forge Guard and Paladin passive trees, which will earn both passive abilities along with a couple of skills. However, placing any points in a non-mastery skill tree (other than the base class) is not possible. 

Passive points for these trees are earned upon leveling up and can be reset at NPCs with a pink brain icon above their heads within towns and settlements.

Finally, each mastery has passive bonuses exclusive to them. The Void Knight, for example, increases void damage, while the Paladin increases damage based on total health.

Complicated, right? With this information under your belt, however, you should be good to adventure through Ettera until the mid-game, where skill specializations and passive trees will become second nature, helping you to mix and match in order to create powerful, broken, and fun builds.

And that’s how skill specialization and passives work in Last Epoch.

Last Epoch is available on PC.