As a mix of a barbarian and a druid, the Primalist class in Last Epoch brings with it a little bit of everything. From nature magic, summoning bear companions, or turning into a Werebear yourself, the Beastmaster, Druid, and Shaman masteries are all fun ways to explore Ettera.
Primalist Masteries in Last Epoch
Like the other base classes, the Primalist in Last Epoch has three masteries: Beastmaster, Druid, and Shaman. Once you choose one at around level 20, you will not be able to switch to a different mastery, though you can respec the skills and passives within your base class and mastery. As a result, you’ll have to choose wisely which type of Primalist you want to be, as all three play quite differently.
The first half of each passive tree is also available to any mastery, including all skills found within that threshold, meaning you can mix and match to create powerful builds. For instance, the minion-focused Beastmaster can nab the Summon Spriggan ability by investing 15 points into the Druid 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 Last Epoch, the Druid is a couple of steps ahead of the Beastmaster and Shaman. Let’s take a look at each:
Beastmaster Bonuses, Best Skills in Last Epoch
It’s all in the name: the Beastmaster leans into summoning powerful beasts to shred mobs for him. The mastery’s passive bonuses add to that effect with the ability to summon one extra minion and a 50% bonus to melee damage for both the Beastmaster and his minions. It’s also a class with skills such as Summon Frenzy Totem, which will give an attack and casting speed not only to himself and his minions, but also to all his allies. Also, there’s a rare helmet called Herald of the Scurry that turns your wolves into squirrels.
It’s difficult to build a Beastmaster by relying on minions alone. As a result, skills from other masteries go hand-in-hand with Summon Wolf. A build that focuses on the Earthquake skill while investing in the Howl ability of the Summon Wolf skill, which has a chance to increase melee damage of you and your allies every time a wolf kills an enemy, thus powering up Earthquake further, is a great beginning for a potent build.
Related: Best Sentinel Mastery and Builds in Last Epoch
Druid Bonuses, Best Skills in Last Epoch
While the Druid can also summon some nature-related creatures, he leans more into transforming into one himself. As you’d expect, the Druid’s passive bonuses help when transforming both in and out of different forms: a 70% damage reduction when leaving a transformation for 2 seconds, along with an overall 20% buff to health and mana. While he also has some crowd control skills, the Druid’s Werebear Form mastery skill is the star of the nature show, though he also has the option to become a Spriggan and a vicious Swarmblade.
While the Werebear may be the last Druid skill to unlock, the Swarmblade form also provides a lot of high-damage build options, particularly with the Armblade Slash skill that becoming a Swarmblade unlocks. This is done primarily through investing in Windfury Strikes in the Swarmblade specialization tree, which summons a Tornado after hitting 6 enemies. Throw in investment into the Shaman’s Tornado skill itself, and you’ve got the makings of a powerful flurry of a build.
Shaman Bonuses, Best Skills in Last Epoch
Don’t like summoning beasts or turning into them? The Shaman ditches that flair (though he can still spec into some of it) for powerful nature magic, a buff to the Primalist’s totem skills, a 50% elemental resistance with a totem around, and a bonus to attunement. As you’d expect, the Shaman’s skills focus on three different natural disasters: Tornado, Earthquake, and Avalanche. The former two can be nabbed by any mastery, but the powerful Avalanche skill, along with the Storm Totem, remains Shaman only. If you don’t want to play a Mage, the Shaman is a great alternative.
While not the strongest mastery at the moment, most agree that the Summon Thorn Totem skill, despite being a base Primalist skill in Last Epoch, works great with a lot of passives that the Shaman has. Adding to this build’s versatility are both the Spriggan Form and Summon Spriggan skills.
While the general consensus is that the Druid’s beastly forms make it one of the best masteries of any class due to raw damage output and survivability, expect developer Eleventh Hour Games to buff Beastmaster and Shaman at some point to bring it on par. Really, there’s no wrong option here – go with what you think looks the most fun.
And those are the best Primalist mastery and builds in Last Epoch.
Last Epoch is available on PC.
