Last Epoch‘s Acolyte masteries are getting some serious upgrades. For Day 3 of Season 3 Hype Week, Eleventh Hour Games is revealing the Acolyte changes! More specifically, the Lich and Necromancer masteries. Expect a new skill, multiple reworks, unique gear, and plenty of new build possibilities when Beneath Ancient Skies launches on August 21st.
Here is a recap, but if you want to take a look at the original post, you can do so on Last Epoch’s Official Website.
A New Lich Skill – Flay
Season 3 introduces Flay, a hybrid Melee and Spell skill for the Lich. You need to invest 30 points into the Lich passive tree to unlock it. When you use the Flay Skill, you will first Spirit Step a short distance towards an enemy if you are not within range. After that you perform a “narrow, rending slash”. Kills trigger Blood Eruptions, dealing Physical damage in an area, and enemies can even be hit by multiple eruptions at once.
Flay’s skill tree allows you to specialize in the melee strike, the eruptions, or both. Some nodes include:
- Deadly Plot
- Scales damage with your Mana. For a small additional mana cost, Flay and all skills triggered by its skill tree deal 5% more Spell damage per point per 100 maximum Mana.
- Transference
- Moves your Aura of Decay onto a target for 6 seconds, letting you stay safe from its self-damage.
- Damage Conversions
- Swap Physical for Corrupted Blood (Bleed chances is converted to poison), Frostblight (Flay’s base DMG is converted to Cold, and bleed chance to Frostbite), or Soul Ripper (Flay’s base DMG is converted to Necrotic, and Bleed chance is converted to Damned chance instead). This way you can match your damage to the rest of your build.
A Unique Weapon With a Dark Story
The Lich is also getting Executioner’s Tithe. This is a community-designed weapon! It was created during the old “Design a Unique” Supporter packs by creator names Heavy!
Built for hybrid melee-caster playstyles, it boosts Chaos Bolts, mana sustain, and synergizes with skills like Deadly Plot and Flay. Heavy’s inspiration was a weapon that makes Mana a true source of power and delivers devastating cooldown-based bursts.
Skill Changes
Several other Acolyte abilities are being reworked for Season 3:
Acolyte – Rip Blood
This skill will now hit all enemies in a line instead of just one target, still returning healing orbs. New synergies like Blood Bond, Blood Tether, and Carnage make it a more flexible. All three of those also got slight modifications.
Necromancer – Summon Abomination
No more health decay by default. Your Abomination now “remembers” the minions it was made from and can eat them to heal, without touching your allies’ summons. New nodes like Tower of Bones (buffed Stomp) and Dead Eye (Skeletal Archer’s Eternal Arrow) open up more options.
Lich – Aura of Decay
The skill was balanced, and you will now take 30% less poison damage from all sources,a nd 50% less damage from your own Aura of Decay. The skill will also offer new ways to convert your damage type, such as Blood Font (Physical and Bleed) and Cold Death (Cold and Frostbite). On top of that, Putrid Bombs now triggers on movement skills, and the new Fester node rewards stationary play with stacking damage boosts.
Passive Tree Changes
Both Lich and Necromancer are getting new passives:
- Executioner – Allows Lich to dual wield axes or daggers with attack and cast speed bonuses.
- Accursed Feast – Heavy life leech but you need to keep your health under 66%.
- Impact Ward – You take less damage over time.
- Forbidden Teachings – Buffs minion crits and DoTs per point of your intelligence and vitality.
- Effigies – Redirects damage to your lowest-health minion and if one of your minion dies, the others restore health.
The devs are calling this just a taste of the Acolyte updates, with more changes coming in the full patch notes next week. Tomorrow, Hype Week focus on the Beastmaster minions, QoL updates, and improved minion AI, so stay tuned!
