Last Epoch Tomb of the Erased: Sentinel rework, explained

The upcoming Tomb of the Erased update for Last Epoch will introduce the game's first-ever all-encompassing class rework. We already have glimpses of some of the design and balance ideas being put into said rework. Sentinel is one of the two succinctly melee-oriented classes in Last Epoch, but that's not to say that it lacks in ranged offense.

Like all the other classes in Last Epoch, Sentinel has three Mastery specializations, namely Forge Guard, Paladin, and Void Knight. Forge Guard specializes in summoning animated weapons and boosting armor. Paladin, as the name suggests, specializes in casting holy magic but also dishing out divine justice, while the Void Knight excels in distorting time to combine offense and defense.

Here's how Sentinel is changing in Last Epoch's Tomb of the Erased update

While the entire range of changes coming to Sentinel will be made available slightly ahead of the now-revised April 17th release date, the developers at Eleventh Hour Games have provided some details on their design decisions regarding the new Sentinel. Most of these points were collected from a recent developer interview with the ARPG YouTuber GhazzyTV.

The rework's overarching theme seems to be providing Sentinel with a clear goal for each Mastery, focusing on a specific element instead of creating a Frankenstein's Monster that doesn't do much. Furthermore, the rework is also aimed at reducing a lot of useless verbs and mechanical clutter from skills and providing a concise progression that matches the player's pace.

One such example of this seems to be the reworked Symbols of Hope. Originally named the Sigils of Hope, the skill would grant players three orbiting sigils, granting extremely weak additional fire damage and health regen.

The updated Symbols of Hope are an instant cast bulwark of safety (Image via Eleventh Hour Games | Reddit u/Sen0ca)

The reworked Symbols are now an instant cast skill, retaining these benefits but becoming consumable. Doing so will grant players 100 Ward and extra damage reduction. Furthermore, multiple passives within the Skill-specific passive trees are also getting changed, for example, Symbols of Hope will retain the Sigil-specific passive tree but nodes such as Soliloquy and Faith are being changed.

Many of the Sentinel skills, such as Rive, Vengeance, and even Volatile Reversal can now be converted to different elements and ailment types. Rive is getting a new Void conversion, while Volatile Reversal is supposed to get a Fire conversion, although no such images were shown during the interview. Vengeance is gaining both conversions, on top of some hefty buffs to the skill in general.

Electrify and Time Rot are two class mechanics that are being refocused for Sentinel, specifically to skills that are generally used in Paladin and Void Knight builds. Class-specific item bases will now show up with improved numbers on Electrify and Time Rot affixes, with the latter having an extremely high triggering frequency.

The Vengeance skill is also getting a major change to what its passive nodes will provide (Image via Eleventh Hour Games | Reddit u/Sen0ca)

Forgeguard is getting a lot of numerical changes, considering the class is losing a lot of utility from Volatile Reversal's changes to resource gain. The developers do not want to change the theme of Forgeguard being a warrior summoner hybrid but do recognize the need to have a more in-depth look at it down the line. The class is stated to feel better with the upcoming Two-handed and shield options.

Volatile Reversal is by far the center of attention in this rework, with complete mechanical changes and Passive Skill Tree rebalances to boot. Instead of just returning the player to a state they were in two seconds ago, Volatile Reversal is now a targeted melee skill where the player will teleport and strike a position ahead of them, and then teleport back and slam their original location.

Devouring Orb, another skill from the Void Knight's repertoire, is getting a much-needed facelift. The skill is now fully AoE with Damage over time components and an initial burst of damage. The skill will retain the exploding Void Rifts from the original toolkit but will have a significantly altered Passive Skill Tree. And finally, the skill will just last a tad bit longer than before, around 10 seconds.

I do not recognize this Passive Skill Tree but I will have fun testing it (Image via Eleventh Hour Games | Reddit u/Sen0ca)

My personal favorite change is to the Shield Throw skill, and yes, it is very much reminiscent of the Captain America playstyle. The new skill now has no cooldowns, ricochets between two enemies, and then comes back to you but you can't cast it until the shield's return.

The altered Throwing Arm node makes it so the shield can bounce between you and enemies, making it an excellent boss-killing candidate. Additionally, the Colossus node grants players a stackable Colossus buff that adds extra armor and physical penetration depending on the stack size.

As we stated in the beginning, the whole list of changes to Sentinel is still unknown because the patch notes aren't out yet. The developers were initially planning to release it a few days before the launch, but seeing how the Tombs of the Erased got delayed to mid-April, the patch notes are expected to follow suit. Regardless, we will keep you updated as the situation unfolds.

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Edited by Shraman Mitra