While Diablo 4 Season 3 rolls on and Path of Exile 2 gears up for its early access beta in the summer, right now Last Epoch is the talk of the ARPG town. The loot-gathering RPG is set for its 1.0 launch in just a few days, and following the reveal of its final two class masteries, the Falconer and Warlock, developer Eleventh Hour Games has one final trick up its sleeve, with the reveal of a skill rework for its biggest, bulkiest class, the Primalist.
The Last Epoch release date is almost upon us, bringing with it the final two class masteries, a graphical upgrade, and its clever item factions update. As we await the full game to see whether it’ll claim a spot among the best RPG games of the year, Eleventh Hour details its promised overhaul to the Last Epoch Primalist class. The rework to its Tempest Strike skill has opened the door to a new ability, and we’ve now got a look at what that is – the most electrifying move in all of Eterra, Gathering Storm.
Gathering Storm unlocks for all Primalists at level two, replacing its previous Ice Thorns skill. That means it’ll be available for all three of the Primalist mastery subclasses, the Shaman, Druid, and Beastmaster. Designed as a “low-cost, spammable generator,” Gathering Storm is free to use and grants you Storm Stacks each time you connect with it, which are then used over time to call down Storm Bolts of lightning on nearby enemies. The more stacks you build, the faster those strikes will come crashing down.
As with all skills in Last Epoch, Gathering Storm also comes with its own skill tree, giving you plenty of ways to customize it. Opt for Frostbite to switch it to a cold damage skill perfect for more crowd control. Choose Whirlwind Tactics and those bolts will synergize with your companions. Pick Two-Eyed Storm as a dual wielder and they’ll hit two enemies with each lightning strike. Or select Lagonian Diplomacy, pick up a staff, and the base attack is completely replaced by the ability to cast Storm Bolts directly as a spell with a small mana cost. The choice is yours.
Should you choose to become a Shaman once you unlock your mastery, you’ll find that these Storm Bolts are an even better fit. Eleventh Hour has replaced all instances of Lightning in the Shaman passive tree and other abilities with Storm Bolt, meaning you can enhance it even further, and even have your Primal Wolves cast it for you to create a veritable lightning storm.
Eleventh Hour also gives us a look at the new skill tree for the Primalist’s Tempest Strike skill, which has been transformed into a “powerful high-cost combo ability” that cycles between three different elements as you cast it, creating frigid, wind, and thunder tempests in rotation. That makes it a lot more reliable, and now we have a look at some of the ways you can customize it further.
As a Druid, you can pick up Druid’s Call to turn Tempest Strike into an ability that triggers on your melee attacks while transformed into a beast. Alternatively, you can sacrifice one of the tempests (though you’ll still have to rotate through that hit of the combo) to boost the attack speed and lower the mana cost of the skill.
Looming Gale transforms the skill from a melee combo into a series of totems, allowing you to place down one of each element that will cast their respective tempests, making it a good fit for totem and minion builds. Or you can double down on the base version and add a chance to fire off multiple tempests with each strike – either of a specific element, or all three across the board, whatever suits you best.
This Primalist rework is another great example of the level of options Eleventh Hour is offering to customize your character and come up with the best Last Epoch builds. It’ll arrive alongside Last Epoch version 1.0 when it launches on Wednesday February 21.
If you’re thinking of playing, be sure to check in with the Last Epoch system requirements ahead of launch to make sure your PC is up to scratch. Alternatively, we’ve picked out the best games like Diablo in 2024 to satisfy all those monster-mashing, loot-cashing desires.
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