Last Epoch Season 3 Beneath the Ancient Skies brought massive changes with chapter 10. Featuring things like the new primal hunt system, primordial items, and tons of class reworks, this season reshapes what’s strong from the campaign to empowered monoliths and bosses. If you’re here to speed farm monoliths, melt end game bosses, or just find the build that fits your play style, this tier list walks through the meta from worst to best so you can pick and choose which one is right for you.
Season 3 Beneath the Ancient Skies arrived with chapter 10 and features the new Primal Hunt system, primordial items, and tons of class reworks. Many classes received reworked passives and ward interactions, enemy damage normalization smoothed survivability across monolith progression, and minion survivability buffs helped Necromancer and Beastmaster variants. Shield Bash now scales better with block effectiveness and has smoother animations, Tornado had its overall damage scaling reduced, Shapeshifting got great changes but Swarmblade hasn’t found its place, and Falconer’s Ballista and Dive Bomb rose with reliable utility from Smoke Bomb. New crafting options and primordial uniques allow more flexibility in gearing, while some skills like Harvest and Ignite Shield Rush still feel clunky to scale compared to stronger archetypes.
With these changes being in mind, let's sort out an early Last Epoch Season 3 Tier List for meta starter builds:
1. Warpath Void Knight (S Tier)
This remains one of the best melee builds in the entire game. Warpath spins to win through monoliths, stacking void damage while being nearly unkillable, with incredible clear speed, strong single target, and smooth scaling helped by the new primordial crafting system that gives even more gearing flexibility.
2. Bear Beastmaster (S Tier)
Season’s three buffs made Bear one of the tankiest and hardest hitting melee companions in the game. With improved scaling and the ability to stack insane defenses, the bear can destroy bosses while shrugging off damage and stands out as one of the strongest and safest builds to play.
3. Erasing Strike Void Knight (S Tier)
This build remains a burst damage monster capable of one-shotting bosses with a stacked void crit. Season’s three mana sustain changes and new crafting options make it easier to keep the skill going; it’s slower to farm than Warpath, but for pure boss killing, it’s unmatched.
4. Ballista Falconer (S Tier)
The poster child of the Falconer’s dominance in Season 3. Ballista scale insanely well, shred packs, and provide ridiculous single target damage with minimal effort; combined with Falcon utility, Smoke Bomb, and Primal Hunt, you get one of the safest, most powerful builds in the game.
5. Judgment Paladin (S Tier)
Judgment jumped into S thanks to Season 3 buffs. Judgment’s concentrated aura now scales better and, combined with Paladin tankiness, it feels incredible, acting like Last Epoch’s version of righteous fire dealing persistent AoE while keeping you healed with new primordial uniques for more customization.
6. Abomination Necromancer (S Tier)
Minion survivability buffs along with tweaks to Necro passives pushed this to the top. Abomination hits harder, lives longer, and scales better with minion focused primordial items, dominating both monoliths and bosses as a one-minion playstyle that now truly works.
6. Tornado Shaman (A+ Tier)
Once an S-tier powerhouse, Tornado took some nerfs that reduced overall damage scaling. It still brings persistent AoE damage and synergy through Tempest Strike, remaining a very solid choice with a smoother but slightly trimmed profile.
7. Lightning Blast Runemaster (A+ Tier)
Runemaster buffs to Invocation indirectly help Lightning Blast. It remains flashy and consistent with endgame potential; the downside is squishiness, but skilled players can push it far.
8. Totem Shaman (A+ Tier)
This sits comfortably due to versatility. With Spriggan Form and multiple totem setups, it combines solid AoE, healing, and defensive layering, and smoother itemization helps it perform across monoliths.
9. Hydrohedron Runemaster (A+ Tier)
A turret-style build that creates fire-spewing hydras which persist and melt enemies. With buffs to the hydra unique and some Season 3 Runemaster buffs, it feels better than last season, strong for farming and solid for bossing though it relies on uniques.
10. Raptor Beastmaster (A+ Tier)
Raptor scaling and Beastmaster tweaks make it more dangerous. The raptor’s crit focused damage and scaling with Aspect of the Shark give it a strong step up into A-tier performance.
11. Glacier Sorcerer (A+ Tier)
One of the hardest hitting cold builds in the game. Season 3 balance didn’t touch it much; still very strong, just overshadowed by a few S-tier options.
12. Sabertooth Beastmaster (A+ Tier)
Stronger than before with Season 3 buffs. It does not match Bear’s tankiness or Raptor’s burst, but it’s reliable and can shred bosses when geared.
13. Shatter Strike Spellblade (A+ Tier)
A fun, flashy crit melee-caster. Defensive passive tweaks this season make survivability smoother while keeping high damage cadence.
14. Storm Crows Beastmaster (A+ Tier)
Minion survivability buffs help, and snapshotting with Crow Storm remains very powerful. With the right setup, it performs very well into endgame.
15. Infernal Shade Necromancer (A+ Tier)
This DoT summoner took a bit of a hit from balance changes, but remains strong thanks to Shade scaling and new survivability buffs for minions. It handles bosses with ease, though slower than top casters.
16. Earthquake Beastmaster (A+ Tier)
Uses Tempest Strike to fuel devastating Earthquakes. Season 3 buffs to Beastmaster, especially aspect scaling, make it hit harder than last season; gear brings it to life.
17. Melee DoT Lich (Flurry-style) (A Tier)
This build received some love thanks to reworked passives and ward interactions that make it tankier than before. It provides consistent melee damage over time through bleed and necrotic scaling and the updated ward nodes give much-needed survivability; strong in monoliths and good against bosses, just a bit more fragile than S picks.
18. Acid Flask Rogue (A Tier)
This has always been a sleeper and Season 3 indirectly helped via primordial items. Acid Flasks provide massive AoE poison coverage and, when paired with Decoy or Smoke Bomb, survivability improves drastically; capable of endgame farming with the right setup.
19. Chaos Bolts Lich (A Tier)
This caster thrives on spamming chaos projectiles that shotgun enemies for huge damage. Ward passive changes give more defensive stability; damage is excellent and clear speed is strong, just a step behind the very top casters.
20. Javelin Paladin (Holy Trail) (A Tier)
A versatile setup that remains a solid choice. Holy Trail conversion provides DoT healing and damage at the same time, and Season 3’s crafting and primordials allow more gearing flexibility for a reliable all-rounder.
21. Rive Void Knight (A Tier)
Continues to perform well thanks to strong void scaling and sustain. Void Knight benefited from enemy damage normalization, making survivability smoother; strong single target and AoE for a melee mainstay.
22. Shield Throw Paladin (A Tier)
A great mid to high-tier choice thanks to tankiness and a ranged playstyle. Improved itemization helps; it still struggles against very large packs compared to true AoE builds, but its single target and survivability are excellent.
23. Devouring Orb Time Rot VK (A Tier)
Remains very strong thanks to the synergy between Devouring Orb and ailment stacking. Season 3 didn’t gut it and primordial uniques allow even more potential; clears well and melts bosses.
24. Crit Hammer Throw Paladin (A Tier)
Hammer scaling changed, but the crit variant remains powerful. With the right gear, hammers shatter enemies across the screen, and Paladin’s natural tankiness makes it forgiving.
25. Shield Bash Forge Guard (A Tier)
Now here after being bottom last season. Season 3 gave Forge Guard and Shield Bash welcome buffs: better block-effectiveness scaling and smoother animations let this tanky bruiser hit extremely hard, with AoE as its main limit.
26. Bleed Hammer Throw Paladin (A Tier)
Focused on ailments, it stacks bleed effectively for single target fights. Not the fastest clearer, but a steady, reliable farmer with sturdy defenses.
27. Hail of Arrows Marksman (A Tier)
Excels at creating zones of denial, melting enemies who step inside. Season 3 didn’t directly buff it, but Primal Hunt and better crafting improve flexibility; slower pace than Falconer but reliable for DoT fans.
28. Marrow Shards Lich (B Tier)
Lich got some love with reworked passives and better sustain, making this a little more viable. Health cost is still risky, but with careful management it pumps out solid ranged damage; still lacks the survivability and scaling for higher tiers.
29. Smite Void Knight (B Tier)
Indirect buffs via primordials help spellcasting, but Smite remains inconsistent. It can clear maps with chain lightning-style Void Smite procs, yet it feels weaker on bosses compared to other Sentinel setups.
30. Stygian Coil Lich (Infernal Shade/necrotic DoTs) (B Tier)
Ward and minion survivability changes help, but damage uptime is sometimes lacking; it lands in the middle of the pack.
31. Multistrike Smite VK (B Tier)
A stylish hybrid melee-caster that remains clunky. Season 3 didn’t solve awkward mana management and reliance on multiple skills; decent boss damage if everything lines up, but lacks the flow of top builds.
32. Forge Weapons Forge Guard (B Tier)
The minion-based weapon golems benefit from Forge Guard survivability buffs, but scaling is still rough and minions feel underwhelming without strong gear in empowered content.
33. Heartseeker Marksman (B Tier)
Still does solid crit-based power damage, but it fell behind Ballista and Hail of Arrows and doesn’t sync with Primal Hunt as well as Falconer builds.
34. Multistrike Forge Guard (B Tier)
Slow animations and limited AoE drag it down. Forge Guard durability keeps it playable, but damage is inconsistent versus more explosive Sentinel options.
35. Umbral Blades Falconer (B Tier)
Used to be top-tier, but scaling nerfs and rising Ballista/Dive Bomb synergy pushed it down. It still clears decently and is fun for shadow gameplay.
36. Ignite Shield Rush Forge Guard (B Tier)
Season 3 didn’t do much for ignite builds and Shield Rush remains awkward to scale. Ignite stacking works, but survivability is low and clear is inconsistent.
37. Shadow Cascade Bladedancer (B Tier)
Stylish with lots of daggers flying across the screen, but fragile and setup-heavy compared to other rogue builds; the new season didn’t push it forward.
38. Frostbite Frostclaw Sorcerer (B Tier)
Some Sorcerer and Runemaster synergies improved, but Frostclaw trails Glacier for cold output; fine for leveling and farming.
39. Lethal Mirage Bladedancer (B Tier)
Attack speed changes helped and it can pop bosses, but overall consistency is lacking.
40. Flame Wraith Necromancer (B Tier)
Minion survivability buffs help and Flame Wraiths do decent ranged damage. Reliance on summoning idols and overall squishiness keep it from climbing higher.
41. Squirrel Beastmaster (B Tier)
Herald of the Scurry is still the core, making it extremely gear dependent. With buffs to Raptor and Bear, the squirrel squad falls behind.
42. Lightning Swarmblade Druid (C Tier)
Shapeshifting got great changes, but Swarmblade hasn’t found its place. The lightning variant struggles with scaling into endgame and didn’t benefit from Primal Hunt’s primordial uniques.
43. Multishot Marksman (C Tier)
Once a solid screen-clearer, it burns mana too quickly, needs heavy crit and attack speed investment, and gains little from Season 3 crafting; Hail of Arrows and Heartseeker beat it for consistency and bossing.
44. Torment Warlock (C Tier)
Warlock saw some buffs, but Torment remains underwhelming. Damage uptime is inconsistent and defenses are thin, feeling clunky for monolith farming compared to faster DoT casters.
45. Bleed Falconer (C Tier)
Falconer is strong via Ballista and Dive Bomb domination, but the bleed variant lacks the explosive burst those setups provide. It works if you want a DoT-focused playstyle.
46. Mana-stacking “Void Mage” Necromancer (C Tier)
Season 3 brings minions taking less damage from dangerous abilities, yet this build remains extremely gear dependent. Without perfect idols, high mana gear, and strong sustain, it crumbles despite impressive single target on paper.
47. Harvest Lich (C Tier)
Harvest remains clunky with poor scaling compared to other melee options. Lich got tweaks to ward passives and minion survivability, but Harvest itself did not get the rework it desperately needed; even with heavy leech and Reaper sustain, clear and single target fall far behind.
Extra Tested Starters and Notes
Bleed Javelin Forge Guard
It performed very well and was one of the most satisfying visually thanks to giant beams of light from the Smite idol. The build got buffed next patch because of bleed gloves that convert ignite chance into bleed chance. Running a Serpent’s Fractal Tree for clear to add Javelin projectiles and swapping to a two-handed obsidian axe for single target pushed it further; it’s a functioning Forge Guard build from a fresh start environment and a very satisfying playstyle.
Gathering Storm Dual Wield Melee Beastmaster
This build was so bad it took seven agonizing minutes on Aberroth where an average build takes three to four. It ramps damage by attacking very fast, but bosses move and you can’t face tank on day-one SSF gear, and in monos it feels like hitting a wet tissue; skip it until numbers improve.
Static Sorcerer
A node lets Lightning Blast crits charge Static so you can cast Static as many times as possible without awkward downtime. It’s functional and does enough damage, but mediocre overall; Static feels like it should hit everything around you in an AoE to fit its purpose, and a Wrong Warp nerf didn’t help, though primordials might raise the ceiling.
Bleed Shield Rush Paladin
This performed very well and was always fun. You use Shield Rush to bonk into things and cause Holy Flame explosions from Holy Aura; double hits plus a Healing Hands proc reliably trigger explosions with a big more damage modifier that works well with ailments. A high-area variant could cover the whole screen and smooth the playstyle, and the build just worked right out of the box.
Here we also sort out an early class tier list for Last Epoch Season 3:
Sentinel (Void Knight / Paladin / Forge Guard)
Void Knight: Warpath is one of the best melee builds in the entire game, and Erasing Strike remains a burst damage monster for bosses. Devouring Orb Time Rot is very strong with great clear and bossing.
Paladin: Judgment jumped into S, Crit Hammer Throw is still powerful, Shield Throw is reliable and tanky, and Bleed Hammer Throw is steady. Multiple starter-friendly routes with sturdy defenses.
Forge Guard: Shield Bash received very welcome buffs with better scaling and smoother animations and now hits extremely hard. Several niche picks exist; even the off-meta Ignite Shield Rush and Forge Weapons are playable.
Primalist (Beastmaster / Shaman)
Beastmaster: Bear is one of the tankiest and hardest hitting melee companions and Raptor received buffs that push it into A/A+. Sabertooth and Earthquake builds are strong when geared.
Shaman: Tornado remains very solid after trims, Totems are versatile with solid AoE/healing/defense, and overall the class fields multiple A–A+ options for smooth progression.
Rogue (Falconer)
Falconer: Ballista is the poster child of Season 3 dominance, shredding packs and bosses with minimal effort while staying safe through Falcon utility and Smoke Bomb. Bleed Falconer is weaker, but the class still boasts a top S-tier option.
Mage (Sorcerer / Runemaster / Spellblade)
Sorcerer: Glacier remains one of the hardest hitting cold builds. Static Sorcerer is functional but mediocre overall; still, the class offers at least one great cold path for endgame.
Runemaster: Lightning Blast benefits from Invocation buffs and can push far, while Hydrohedron (hydra turret) is strong for farming and solid for bosses, though it leans on uniques.
Spellblade: Shatter Strike is flashy with excellent crit potential and smoother survivability this season, giving the archetype a reliable A/A+ melee-caster lane.
Rogue (Marksman / Bladedancer)
Marksman: Hail of Arrows is reliable for DoT fans and farms well; Multishot and Heartseeker fell behind Falconer options.
Bladedancer: Lethal Mirage can pop bosses but lacks consistency; Shadow Cascade is stylish yet fragile. Overall, Rogue as a class lands high thanks to Falconer’s S-tier and Marksman’s solid pick.
B Tier
Acolyte (Lich / Necromancer / Warlock)
Lich: Chaos Bolts is strong with excellent damage and better ward stability; Marrow Shards improved but still risky; Melee DoT Lich feels tankier with reworked passives and ward nodes; Stygian Coil DoT setups are middling. Harvest Lich sits at the bottom.
Necromancer: Abomination is S-tier with harder hits and tougher minions; Infernal Shade summoner is strong but slower; Flame Wraith is workable yet squishy and idol-dependent; the mana-stacking “void mage” concept remains extremely gear dependent and fragile.
Warlock: Torment remains underwhelming with inconsistent uptime and thin defenses despite some buffs.
C Tier
Druid (Swarmblade)
Lightning Swarmblade struggles to scale into endgame and didn’t benefit from Primal Hunt’s primordial uniques. While Shaman within Primalist is strong, Swarmblade itself lags and holds back Druid’s solo standing when judged by this variant.
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