10 Crucial Last Epoch Tips for Faster Progression

After playing Last Epoch since early access, I’ve picked up a ton of small but powerful tricks that can dramatically improve your experience—whether you’re leveling your first character or pushing high corruption in the endgame. In this guide, I’ll walk you through 10 must-know tips that will help you level faster, gear smarter, and save a lot of time along the way. A large amount of Last Epoch gold can also be very helpful.

Tip #1: Level Faster by Playing Below the Area Level

If you want optimal XP while leveling, your level relative to the area matters more than how many monsters you kill. You gain bonus experience when you’re below the area level, with the sweet spot being a few levels under. You can even be up to 10 levels lower for the maximum XP bonus.

Once you’re no longer underleveled, it’s usually better to run through zones quickly instead of full-clearing them. When you do stop to fight higher-level enemies, prioritize magic and rare mobs, as they grant significantly more XP—rares especially.

Tip #2: Choose XP Echoes for Faster Monolith Progression

When running Monoliths, always prioritize Echoes that reward experience. The XP tomes you receive upon completion provide far more experience than grinding monsters inside the echo itself.

To level efficiently, select echoes that lead toward nearby XP reward nodes, complete only the main objective, grab the reward, and move on. If you’re in normal Monoliths, stick to the right side of the timeline to reach level 90 Monoliths faster and unlock Empowered Monoliths sooner.

Tip #3: Prepare Gear for Future Characters with Loot Filters

If you enjoy playing multiple characters each season, this tip is a game-changer. Customize your loot filter to highlight Exalted items with Tier 7 affixes. This allows you to passively stockpile powerful gear while playing your main character.

You can go even further by adding rules that highlight items with two or more Exalted affixes, or by filtering for affixes you know your next character will need. Over time, this builds an excellent stash of ready-to-use gear for alts.

Tip #4: Use Rune of Removal for Precise Crafting

Many players rely too heavily on the Rune of Shattering, but it’s extremely random. If you want control over crafting materials, the Rune of Removal is the better option.

This rune extracts a single affix and gives you exact shard amounts based on its tier. For example, removing a Tier 3 Hybrid Health affix grants three Hybrid Health shards. You can use it multiple times until forging potential runs out.

For best results, pair it with a Glyph of Hope, which gives a 25% chance to consume no forging potential. If all else fails, use Rune of Shattering as a final attempt.

Tip #5: Get Set Bonuses Without Wearing Set Items

Set items are often ignored because they can’t gain Legendary Potential—but their set bonuses can still be incredibly strong. The trick is crafting those bonuses onto normal gear.

By salvaging set items in the Great Bridge woven echo, you obtain set item shards. These shards can be crafted onto regular items, and once you meet the required number, you gain the full set bonus—without equipping the set itself. This can be a massive power boost for certain builds.

Tip #6: Increase Legendary Potential Using Woven Echoes

Farming uniques with high Legendary Potential (LP) can be frustrating, but there’s a way to improve your odds. In the Farside Turtle woven echo, you can reroll uniques that already have LP.

Each reroll functions like a fresh drop—meaning LP often goes down to zero—but if you save many low-LP versions, your chances of rolling higher LP increase. Even if LP hits zero, the Nemesis system gives you another chance to add it back. Never discard uniques with LP too quickly.

Tip #7: Instantly Teleport by Right-Clicking

This is a pure quality-of-life tip that saves hundreds of clicks over time. Instead of selecting a destination and pressing the travel button, simply right-click the destination on the map to teleport instantly.

This works for towns, Monoliths, and echoes—and once you start using it, you’ll never go back.

Tip #8: Push Corruption Faster with Gaze Optimization

To raise corruption efficiently, you need to encounter the Shade of Orobyss, which normally requires traversing deep into the echo web. However, if you collect eight or more Gaze of Orobyss, the Shade appears immediately after your next echo.

To do this fast:

Use Glyphs of Envy or Temporal Sanctum keys

Equip Harbinger’s Needles (dropped by Harbingers and Aberroth)

Repeatedly kill the timeline boss to stack gazes

This method can boost corruption by hundreds in just minutes.

Tip #9: Sync High Corruption to Alternate Characters

If you’ve already pushed high corruption on one character, you can transfer that progress to alts. After completing a Cemetery, use the Altar of the Weaver to insert the Confluence of Oblivion echo.

Defeating all Shade variants inside this echo raises the timeline’s corruption to the highest value achieved on your account, making alt progression dramatically faster.

Tip #10: Prioritize “More Damage” Over “Increased Damage”

Damage scaling becomes crucial at high corruption. While flat damage is strong early, understanding modifiers matters later. Increased damage is additive, while more damage is multiplicative—making it far more powerful.

Whenever possible, prioritize sources of more damage, as they multiply your total output instead of simply adding to it. Having enough cheap Last Epoch gold can also be very helpful.