Hello Travelers,
Welcome to the third installment of Pre-Patch Hype Week Blog Posts! We’ve mentioned some of the new crafting options previously, and today’s Blog Post will dig into all the specifics on the Endgame Itemization potential waiting inside the new Tombs, Cemeteries, and Woven Echoes. We’ll also delve more into the balance changes beyond the Sentinel Overhaul and a few Uniques and Idols coming with Last Epoch Season 2: Tombs of the Erased on April 17th.
New Features
Endgame Crafting Additions
We know players love our Forge, or more accurately our Crafting mechanic, and in Season 2 The Weaver has blessed us with SIX new Endgame Crafting methods to aid you on your journey through Eterra.
Set Shattering
A battle with emboldened foes bolstered by barrages of burning projectiles rages as you break through barricades and beat back mobs to cross The Great Bridge. Once victory is yours and all enemies have been vanquished, you will find what they fought so hard to protect - The Forge of Shattering.
Here, you can shatter your Set items for Set Shards, which can then be used to create Reforged Set items. Each Set item will create a specific Set affix based on the Set item shattered - For example, shattering Vilatria’s Storm Downfall staff would provide 1-4 Vilatria’s Storm Downfall Reforged shards that can then be crafted onto a staff to turn it into Vilatria’s Storm Downfall Reforged.
As with normal affixes, Set affixes can be crafted up to Tier 5; however, using the new Rune of Havoc, which shuffles all tiers of non-sealed affixes, you have the potential of reaching a T6 or T7 Set affix.
‘But how will these items apply Set Bonuses?’ I hear you ask. When an item gains a Set affix - and items can only have 1 type of Set affix - it is considered a Set item for the purpose of the Set Bonus, with each Set affix providing 2 stats from that specific Set item.
Remember, like Set items, Reforged Set items are unique enough that they cannot be combined with an actual Unique in the Eternity Cache to create Legendary items.
Idol Enchanting
After defeating the Boss in a Tomb or Cemetery, don’t just leave… In the final room you’ll find a Woven Enchanter, which allows you to enchant Class specific Idols - Adorned, Grand, Huge, Large, or Ornate - with new affixes, called Enchanted Affixes and some Weaver’s Touch. It can also be used to reroll the existing Enchanted Affix(es) and Weaver’s Touch for Memory Amber.
Weaver’s Touch is consumed like Weaver’s Will when slaying enemies to upgrade the Idol further; this can upgrade the existing Enchanted Affixes or add a new Enchanted Affix if there is an empty slot. Another unique property of the Enchanted Affixes is that these will come from a new pool of affixes that cannot be found on Idols elsewhere and, unlike standard Idol affixes, can reach Tier 7.
Tombs will allow you to use the Woven Enchanter once, Cemeteries twice, and some Woven Echoes may allow you to use it up to four times. This number applies to each Enchant and Re-enchant and can be used on different Idols. For example:
- If an Altar has 3 uses, a player may choose to place an unenchanted Idol in and Enchant it, then re-enchant the same Idol for Memory Amber. This would count as two uses of the Woven Enchanter. The player could then place a different Idol in the Woven Enchanter and choose to Enchant or re-enchant it depending on their wishes; this would consume the third use of the Woven Enchanter available to them.
Once an Idol is Enchanted, however, re-enchanting it will remove any added Enchanted Affixes and unspent Weavers Touch, and grant the Idol a new Enchanted Affix and new Weavers Touch amount.
Attribute Swapping
The Observer watches all timelines, and so does the Traveler. At Oerden’s Watch, protect the Relic of the Observer in the Divine Era from the Osprix encamped in the Abandoned Tower and reclaim the Refortified Lich’s Tower from Imperial forces in the Imperial Era. Time travel between the two towers to defeat both armies and take control of the Relic of the Observer, a powerful artifact that allows you to alter the attributes of your items.
Once claimed, you can use the Relic of The Observer to replace a non-sealed attribute affix - Intelligence, Strength, Dexterity, and Attunement - with a different attribute of your choosing. The tier and roll range of the replaced affix will be preserved on the new affix.
The Observer’s gaze may touch many domains, but life remains in the hands of Eterra. This is why you cannot replace or choose Vitality or the +All Attributes affixes.
Experimental Crafting
The Weavers web has taken you to the Rune Prison Complex, a fortress from where the imprisoned Exiled Mages are temporally displaced across Eterra. As you infiltrate this complex and open the Rune Prisons, you will draw the ire of the Rune Wardens. Defeat them to unlock the very device Rune Mages used to create Experimental Items and craft your own.
Here you may wield the arcane knowledge that led to some Mages being imprisoned and exiled, and replace a prefix with an Experimental Affix on Belts, Boots, and Gloves. Any item you wish to craft must have at least two prefixes though the Thaumaturgy Device will not interfere with the work of other Mages, so your item must not have any Experimental Affixes.
Quality does not go unnoticed, either. The chance of higher tier Experimental Affix outcomes increases with the combined prefix tiers. If the prefixes are Exalted, Tiers 6 or 7, then they contribute much more to the chance for higher tier outcomes.
Rerolling Uniques
Finally, the Unique you have always wanted drops, but fate has not been kind when it comes to the Implicits and Affixes attached to it. A feeling of strife washes over you. Why even bother taking this item now? It’s not the first time this has happened, either.
Fear not, Traveler. The Weaver provides it as long as you offer it first. Find yourself a Gauntlet of Strife Woven Echo and prove your worth by defeating a series of Bosses and their Champions in order to access the Sacrificial Altar.
Here, you can sacrifice one copy of any Unique, Legendary, Weaver’s Will, or Set item to re-roll all the Implicits and Affixes on a matching item. The sacrificed item must, at minimum, meet the potential of the item you wish to reroll - for example, to reroll a Unique with 2 Legendary Potential, the sacrificed item must either have at least 2 Legendary Potential or if offering a Legendary item instead, at least 2 different Legendary Affixes for it to be considered a worthy sacrifice.
Travelers should know that while the Legendary Potential or Weaver’s Will will be preserved, all affix ranges, including Unique, Implicit, and Legendary, are rerolled. This will not change the tier of Legendary Affixes, only reroll their ranges within the tiers they already have.
Legendary Crafting Potential
See the turtle of enormous girth! On his shell he holds the earth!
Through Her web, find this legendary creature for a legendary crafting opportunity, though the open sea is filled with both wonder and danger.
Objects in the Farsight Turtle Concept Art may appear smaller than they are.
Once you place Unique items with at least 1 Legendary Potential into the Transmuting Gem, you can take your chances at re-rolling the amount of Legendary Potential each item has. For each item, the new Legendary Potential is rolled the same way as the Legendary Potential of a freshly dropped Unique of that type, so think carefully and pray The Weaver blesses you.
However, should The Weaver forsake you and fail to grant your item any additional Legendary Potential, all Legendary Potential on the item will be taken by Her. To thank you for your offering, the Weaver will gift you a Rare Shard for each Legendary Potential taken.
All is not lost, though, as Uniques with 0 Legendary Potential may be given to a Nemesis in the place of the Egg of the Forgotten to try and gain back that Legendary Potential.
New Crafting Materials
Rune of Weaving
We know that having the right gear can be an integral part of not just surviving all that Eterra throws at you but progressing on your path to save it, which is why unequipping that carefully crafted 2xT7 Exalted Weapon to see what The Weaver might bless you with can be a tough choice.
Enter the Rune of Weaving.
You will be able to place an item in to your Forge with this Rune, where it will take each swing of the hammer as a swing (or firing) of your weapon of choice and transform some amount of the current Weaver’s Will or Weaver’s Touch on your gear or Idols into additional affixes or upgrade existing affix tiers.
Rune of Havoc
You finally see it. Your loot filter has even emphasized it because it has the affix you want! That Exalted item you’ve needed dropped, you pick it up… T5, T5, T6! T3, that one affix you wanted to be T6 or higher is T3, and you don’t have the shards to craft it. But what you do have is a few Runes of Havoc.
With this Rune, you can shuffle the tiers of non-sealed affixes on an item with each other, guaranteeing at least one changed tier. The rolls of the affixes within their tiers are preserved even if their tier doesn’t change. Also, to prevent the Rune from being wasted, you will not be able to use this Rune on an item if all non-sealed affixes share the same tier.
Another way to use this Rune is by taking that super rare affix you only have a few of, for example ‘Level of Meteor’, craft it as a Tier 1 onto an item with another Tier 7 affix, and then by using Rune of Havoc that Level of Meteor could very well turn to a Tier 7.
Rune of Redemption
You pick up that Exalted item; it’s a triple T7. You have been blessed. Then you read the affixes. One of those three is decent, but the others? You wish they were anything else. After all, you really don’t need minion-focused affixes! If only you had a way to redeem this item…
Change the non-sealed Exalted affixes on an item while preserving the affix tiers and rolls within those tiers. The new affixes are randomly chosen from the same pool as those that can naturally spawn on that type of item when dropped from a regular enemy.
Balance Changes
Boss Ward
The feedback we received on Boss Ward was substantial and divisive. While many players were in favor of the change from Dynamic Damage Reduction to Boss Ward, we also heard all of the feedback on how this change affected gameplay. We have been working on some adjustments to how the Boss Ward mechanic is applied and reducing the frequency that players will encounter it.
In Season 2, the initial decay rate of Boss Ward will be doubled, and it will be seen in far fewer enemies than before. It will only be found on Bosses that feel like they should have it. The most notable Bosses, such as Aberroth, Harbingers, Shades of Orobyss, and Timeline Bosses, will keep their Boss Ward; however, lesser enemies, such as Exiled Mages, Nemeses, or mini-bosses, will no longer have it. Bosses that have had their Boss Ward removed have been compensated by increasing their health.
Player Balance Changes
The delicate balance of Health, Ward, Offense and Defense between Passives, Skills and items is an integral part of Last Epoch which is why we listen so closely to player feedback in these areas.
Often players find that specific classes or builds have an easier time scaling Health, while others excel more with Ward, and so whenever one of them is substantially better than the other, we’ll see the meta closely be tied around builds that can utilize whichever is better at the time.
In recent patches, Ward has been the more dominant meta for a few reasons:
- The introduction of two new Masteries - Runemaster and Warlock
- And a major buff to Sorcerer
These classes all had many good sources of Skills and Passives to invest in Ward generation as their primary defense. This, combined with Ward not being strongly tied to gear, made it very easy to obtain high amounts of Ward while Health required lots of itemization to compete.
In Season 2 we’re making a few changes to tighten the gap between these two defensive options and below are some details to tide you over while you wait for the Patch Notes with the full list of changes on April 11th.
Ward
Part of what made Ward so powerful has been the Intelligence Attribute - It provides both damage scaling and Ward Retention, a very integral part of keeping the Ward you gain as high as possible. This, in combination with Passives and items that provide additional scaling for Intelligence, both in offense and defense, has made Intelligence the easy choice for players focusing on Ward builds.
Ward Retention
To address this we have reduced Ward Retention offered by the Intelligence Attribute, to 2% per point from 4%. However due to how the Ward Decay formula works, seen below, this doesn’t just simply mean that the amount of Ward you maintain is cut in half.
0.00005 x (current ward - ward decay threshold)^2 + 0.2 x (current ward - ward decay threshold) / 1 + (0.5 x ward retention)
Some of this Ward Retention can be added back through new affixes exclusive to the Weaver Idols, as shown below, but the overall amount of Ward Retention obtainable in Season 2 will be lower than before.
Ward Decay Threshold
We are also offsetting this by increasing the amount of other lesser scaling stats that help you increase your Ward pool through gear. These stats are Ward Per Second and Ward Decay Threshold.
A new craftable hybrid affix will spawn on Rings and Amulets and help increase not only the rate you generate Ward per Second but also raise your Ward Decay Threshold, which lets you have more Ward before it starts decaying.
Ward Per Second
Alongside the new affixes, we’re also increasing the Ward per Second affix found on Off-Hand Catalysts and the Helmets and Body Armor for Mages and Acolytes, making it around 40% stronger across all tiers and making it a little more common to find in Eterra.
Health and Endurance
In addition, Season 2 comes with some substantial buffs to Health Regeneration as well. This is mainly done by making Added Health Regeneration less of a scarce stat but also by slightly buffing the values of the Increased Health Regeneration affix (around 15% across all tiers).
Added Health
The Added Health affix available on almost all equipment slots has been increased for Tiers 4 to 7, but most notably maximum value of Tier 5 by 20% (75 to 90) and Tier 7 by 12.5% (160 to 180).
Added Health and Added Health Regeneration
Rings and Relics can now spawn with a new hybrid health affix - Added Health and Added Health Regeneration. This hybrid affix provides less Added Health than the standard Added Health affix but balances this by also providing Added Health Regen.
Increased Health Regen
We’re also making some changes to the Increased Health Regen suffix. This suffix will spawn now on Helmets, Body Armor, Belts, Rings and Relics, but as of Season 2 it will no longer spawn on Gloves. For Legacy players, existing Gloves with this affix will remain as they are but will no longer be upgradable in the Forge.
We also have a few other changes related to Health which we’ve detailed below;
- Extra Potion Slot And Potion Health
- Health Gained on Potion Use is now increased by 50%
- Potions now heal 50+10 per level, up from 50+5 per level.
Endurance Threshold
Moving into Season 2, the Endurance Threshold suffix will only roll on Belts. This will free up suffix slots that previously competed with the Added Health suffix which will also increase your Endurance Threshold as this scales with your total Health. This change was made as in most cases Endurance Threshold needlessly complicated build crafting and diluted the pool of available affixes without having a meaningful positive impact, especially for new players, when increasing your Health with Added Health was the better option.
Items from previous Seasons - Helmets, Gloves, Rings and Relics - with the Endurance Threshold suffix will remain as they are.
Global Damage Over Time
More Ward, more Health, more Crit Avoidance, more Dodge - those are all going to help when a mob or Boss hits you, but what about when an enemy lands an attack that’s not a Hit?
Damage over Time is another area players have let us know is a point they would like to see improved, especially in Empowered Monoliths as Corruption begins to build. To help with this, in Season 2 we are reducing the damage over time players take by 15% globally as well as halving the current damage over time bonus enemies receive from Corruption.
For example:
- If it says “Enemies have 60% more health and damage” the actual effect is “Enemies have 60% more health, 60% more hit damage, and 30% more damage over time”.
Skills
Just like other major updates, Season 2 comes with lots of changes to different Skills. While some Skills near the ceiling are being brought down a notch, such as:
- Mana-stacking Static Orb.
- Explosive Trap and Frost Claw excessive ailment cleansing and Ward generation.
- Falcon builds, especially Dive Bomb
- Potion Ballista
We’re also buffing a significant number of Skills that have been on the weaker side. As we prepare to release the full detailed breakdown with the patch notes on April 11th, we can still share some of them here with you today. Given we have already covered the majority of Sentinel changes in the Sentinel Rework & Heartseeker Blog Post, we’ve prepped a list of interesting changes to other Class Skills for this post instead.
Many abilities have received buffs to their damage and base functionalities, such as:
- Black Hole’s base damage and damage effectiveness are doubled, the Time Dilation node provides 10% increased duration per point, and Singularity grants 100% more damage (previously 50%).
- Flurry’s damage effectiveness has been increased from 60% to 80%.
- Shuriken’s damage effectiveness has been increased from 100% to 125%.
- Acid Flask’s damage effectiveness has been increased from 100% to 125% and Alchemical Proficiency node grants 8% more damage per point (previously 3%).
- Tornado’s damage effectiveness has been increased from 75% to 125%.
- Maelstrom’s damage effectiveness has been increased from 60% to 80%.
- Ice Barrage’s damage and damage effectiveness are increased by 20%, Brightlance node now grants 30% more hit damage (it was 15% before and Nailed Shot now provides a 34% chance to pierce from 20%, meaning you only need 3 points instead of 5 to reach 100%.
- Dread Shade no longer has a duration.
- You can now hold 3 Black Arrows from 1, allowing you to pick up a few of them instead of needing to consume it every time before you can pick up another.
- Movement skills are able to “shortcut” through corners and short gaps more than before. For example, skills like Fury Leap would normally allow you to traverse only 30 meters worth of walking, but that has been double to 60 meters, allowing you to jump bigger gaps than before.
- Warcry’s Berserk buff’s duration has been increased from 1 second to 1.5 seconds.
- Puncture’s Bleeding Fury stacks from Bloodthirst node now respect Puncture’s conversions. For example, if Puncture is converted to Poison or Cold, Bleeding Fury Stacks would grant Poison or Frostbite Chance instead of Bleed Chance.
- Burning Dagger, a subskill available to some Rogue skills such as the upcoming Heartseeker, has received base damage and damage effectiveness increases to 30 and 150% (from 16 and 100%).
- Disintegrate’s Laser Focus node now grants 40% less damage instead of 60% and no longer has 60% less ailment chance.
- Summon Skeleton’s mana cost has been reduced to 9 (previously 15).
- Summon Bone Golem’s mana cost has been reduced to 35 (previously 60).
- Summon Skeletal Mage’s mana cost has been reduced to 21 (previously 27).
- Manifest Armor and Wraithlord (from Wraithlord’s Harbour unique helmet) are now much more responsive at high movement speeds, reducing the instants of the minion struggling to move to its intended location and “skating” instead.
- Summon Bear now gains 20 health per strength and per level (previously 18), and Forceful Swipes node now also grants +1 melee physical damage per 3 strength for the Bear. The Swipe from Forceful Swipes now also has a cooldown of 2 seconds (previously 5 seconds).
Uniques
Balancing Uniques always goes hand in hand with Skills, and several Uniques have received updates to help make them more useful! Below, we’ve highlighted some we think you’d like to see.
Eye of Reen
Eye of Reen no longer requires you to crit with a Direct Melee Attack in order to gain a stack of Reen’s Ire. This means it can once again be used with Warpath and other skills which hit with indirect attacks!
Bhuldar’s Wrath
Bhuldar’s Wrath left their foes quaking in their boots, and now they are twice as angry! In Season 2, this Unique will have a 100% Chance to use Earthquake after using a Non-Channelled Movement Ability, up to 2 times every 5 seconds.
Eye of Storms
Cloudy with a chance of Maelstrom? Not a chance anymore. From Season 2, the Eye of Storms Unique will now Cast Maelstrom every 3 seconds while also granting 6%-15% Increased Lightning Damage per Active Maelstrom (up from 6%-8%).
You can still increase the amount of Maelstrom cast every three seconds, though, by combining this Unique with the Maelstrom Cast chance found on Idols.
Storm Breaker
Lighting rarely strikes twice, and in Season 2, instead of having a 36% chance to cast Lightning Strike when you use a Skill that costs at least 10 mana, players using the Storm Breaker Unique will gain a Storm Stack when they directly use a melee attack and hit at least one enemy.
New Uniques
Through Mike’s Streams, the Official Trailer, and the Tour of the Erased Podcasts, a fair few of the upcoming Uniques have been teased already. But not all of them! While we won’t be showing off the full armory, travelers can hope to find it in Season 2. We will be taking a look at two new Uniques and a closer look at one some of you may have seen already.
Tolmat’s Incorrect History of Eterra
Sir Tolmat was one of the most well-regarded historians to document the history, flora, and fauna of Eterra, allowing us to view the world as they saw it, as very few get the chance to. That’s not to say the way they viewed the world was entirely correct.
This Off-hand Catalyst gives an off-piste look at the history of Eterra, summoning a historically ‘accurate’ minion from a random Era of Eterra to join you on your journey.
Elecoe’s Innovation
Critical Strike Chance has always been important when dealing damage; now, with this innovative new Unique, it’s also important for recovering Health and Mana.
Brewmaster’s Buckle
Buckle up and drink until your heart is content! While it provides 4 extra potion slots, a hearty +20% to Endurance, and a whopping +14 to Vitality, the Brewmaster still has a secret hidden up their sleeve, or more accurately, in this belt that you’ll only discover by wearing it.
Outro
Thank you for joining us today! We couldn’t have made Last Epoch what it is without each and every one of you, without your support, feedback, and love of ARPGS. We look forward to continuing on our journey to take Eterra to greater and brighter heights.
If you’re interested in hearing more about the Season 2 Itemization changes, you can watch EHG’s Founder and Game Director - Judd, Creative Director - Ross and Game Designer - Karv on TalkativeTri’s Podcast here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyNqI7qLup8
We’ve still got plenty to come this week, though, so keep your eyes out for the Quality of Life, Dungeon Improvements & More post, followed by the one we know you’re all waiting for, the full Patch Notes for Season 2: Tombs of the Erased on April 11th!
You can also catch several of EHG’s team on an upcoming Podcast with AaronActionRPG & Frostylaroo on April 11, 2025 at 3:00 PM CDT, where they’ll be talking in-depth about what’s coming in Season 2!
Thank you once again, Travelers, and safe journeys through Eterra!