Last Epoch 1.2.1 patch notes: More juiced Exiled Mage, rarer Rune Wardens, and bugfixes

The Last Epoch patch 1.2.1 has now gone live, and as documented in the patch notes, there are two big notable changes. Firstly, Rune Wardens are a bit rarer now, and only start appearing at area level 65 and above (meaning from the third Monolith and onwards for most players).

Secondly, Exiled Mage encounters throughout the campaign and endgame are easier, and have a higher base chance to drop one additional Experimental item (although Mad Alchemist's Ladle drop chances remain the same).

Note that the developers also fixed a potentially big exploit earlier with the 1.2.0.4 patch, which went live a few hours before 1.2.1. Although it's not completely pertinent to the Last Epoch 1.2.1 patch notes, it's still worth mentioning the change. Essentially, Weaver Tree Imprint-affected items could gain significant Legendary Potential from a Rune of Ascendance, which was an unintended interaction. This has now been patched out.

With that out of the way, here are the full patch notes (sans bugfixes) of the Last Epoch patch 1.2.1, as disclosed by the developers.

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All changes in Last Epoch patch 1.2.1 notes

Last Epoch's new patch makes Exiled Mages only slightly better (Image via EHG)

• More than 50 non-player facing changes.
• Made visual improvements to the water effects in-game.
• Updated Baroness audio to improve combat clarity and combat feedback.
• Reduced a source of hitching in monoliths.
• Corrected a source of a possible memory leak for some players.
• Introduced a system that will limit the amount of active ragdoll effects to ensure smooth performance. When the limit is reached, enemies will fallback to a death animation.
• Added additional SFX for Primal Serpents and the Primalist’s Swamblade form.
• Added new condition for matching specific uniques to Loot Filters and Stash Priority.
• Made VFX improvements to some ailments, including armor shred and frailty.
• Updated the description for the Flaming Fury node in Cinder Strike, so that its description more clearly describes its current behavior… The Burning Daggers node has been renamed to Molten Arsenal, and Flaming Fury’s description has been updated to state Burning Daggers from all sources deal more damage, and Burning Daggers from Molten Arsenal consume less mana (previously it was unclear which effects applied to various sources of Burning Daggers).
• Reduced the size of the non-champion Grave Engine. It is now roughly 25% smaller.
• Updated the Void Leader enemy with a new Void Prophet enemy in the Defiled Wood.
• Chronomancer Lerinne in the Council Chambers and Cailyen in the Outcast Camp will now correctly have their floating icons change if you have a quest to turn in to them.
• Players can now use gamepad bumpers LB and RB to switch between Faction Groups on the Factions Panel.
• Removed the delay between the start of the movement animation and the actual movement of game actors in online play.
• Stygian Beams (from the item Stygian Coal) now prioritize enemies in front of the play for gamepad targeting, but will still target other nearby enemies if there are no such enemies.
• Made improvements to the performance of Void Smite with the Fissure node.
• The Woven Firstborn is now resistant to damage while emerging. Also, significantly reduced the damage per hit from the Woven Firstborn’s lightning DoT fields.
• Enemy abilities now no longer apply Time Rot or Damned.
• Fixed a bug where you could not upgrade or otherwise craft on swapped attribute affixes on items that could not have drop with them.
• Reordered a handful of conversations in Heoborea and Maj’elka for better clarity and to remove dialogue loops.
• Added a quality of life settings option for alternative Item tooltip layout when comparing ground items.

Rune Warden changes

• Zones are 50% more likely to contain zero Rune Wardens
• Zones that do contain Rune Wardens spawn them later on average and contain fewer of them on average
• Rune Wardens start spawning at area level 65 and above (from 60)
• Rune Wardens have 13% less health
• Rune Wardens can now deaggro if you move a long distance from their starting location
• Exiled Mages from Rune Prisons left by Rune Wardens now drop 3 times as many Experimental Items

Exiled Mage changes

• Exiled Mages have 10% less health at level 0 scaling linearly up to the same health as before at level 100
• Exiled mages have a 15% chance to drop two Experimental Items instead of 1. The CoF bonus turns this into a 30% chance to drop 3 instead of 2, the Rune Warden bonus turns it into a 45% chance to drop 4 instead of 3, and both together result in a 90% chance to drop 7 instead of 6.

There are, of course, over a hundred bug fixes, which we haven't included here. You can read up on them from the official forum page.

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Check out our other guides on the game:

• 7 big reasons to revisit Last Epoch in Season 2
• Last Epoch Campaign Speedrunning guide (All Acts covered)
• 6 Strongest starter builds to try in Last Epoch Season 2
• Last Epoch: Best Weaver Faction tree for Circle of Fortune (Season 2)
• Last Epoch 2025 roadmap: What to expect from the game this year