The primary endgame activity in Last Epoch is the Monolith of Fate, a sequence of dungeons intricately connected through the fabric of time itself. By conquering these dungeons, players can acquire a plethora of new items, crafting materials, and endgame keys.
However, akin to typical ARPG endgame setups, the Monolith of Fate demands resilience and determination. Advancing through timelines escalates their difficulty and accrues Corruption. Overcoming these hurdles promises access to some of Last Epoch's finest endgame gear and a remarkably engaging endgame structure, ensuring hours of replayability for players.
Specific Steps To Unlock Monoliths Of Fate
Upon completing campaign of the game, the Last Epoch Monolith of Fate Farm becomes available.
Progressing through the campaign unlocks the "Monolith of Fate" side quest, guiding players to the End of Time. Upon arrival, speaking to the Forgotten Knight in the hub town provides a concise overview of the Monolith's mechanics. Subsequently, players can venture to the eastern outskirts of town to access the Monolith dungeon timelines.
Within the Monolith area, players can approach each timeline crystal to initiate a Monolith run, which generates a network of interconnected dungeons. Commencing from the central point, the objective is to advance as far towards the periphery as possible. As progression deepens, modifiers intensify, but so does the quality of loot obtainable.
How To Unlock The Timelines?
The Monolith of Fate comprises ten distinct timelines or dungeon variants.
Initially, all players have access to the Fall of the Outcasts timeline, which is tailored for players at level 58 and above.
Upon conquering this initial timeline, access to further timelines within the Monolith of Fate is granted.
Progressing through these additional timelines ultimately unlocks the last three timelines situated near the top of the map: The Age of Winter, Spirits of Fire, and The Last Ruin.
Echo Modifiers
Upon initiating interaction with a Monolith, you'll encounter a network of islands, each adorned with a reward icon, known as Echoes.
These Echoes represent miniature dungeons that guarantee specific types of rewards. Hovering over an Echo reveals its attributes at the bottom-right corner of your screen, including:
- Enhancements applied to monsters within the dungeon. The farther you venture from the center of the network, the more challenging these modifiers become. (Certain modifiers persist across multiple Echoes and may affect boss encounters within the timeline.)
- Multipliers affecting your experience points and item rarity.
- Guaranteed rewards upon completion of the selected Echo, such as crafting materials or Exalted items.
Once an Echo is initiated, a primary objective is presented, which must be fulfilled before departure. These objectives do not impose time constraints, allowing you to clear the dungeon at your own pace. Upon completing the objective, you can open a portal to claim your rewards from the Echo. Afterward, you may interact with the Monolith to select a new Echo and continue your journey.
What Is Stability?
Upon successfully clearing an Echo within the Monolith of Time, the stability of your current timeline increases, granting access to Quest Echoes specific to that timeline. Each timeline offers three Quest Echoes, with the first two acting as prerequisites for unlocking the respective timeline's boss encounter, while the third Quest Echo invariably involves a boss battle.
Stability is accrued through defeating enemies within Echoes and accomplishing Echo objectives. The primary means of earning stability is by eliminating monsters, making it beneficial to dispatch any encountered foes en route to your main objective. The farther the Echo is from the Monolith map's center, the greater the stability gained.
Upon accumulating a sufficient amount of stability, typically ranging from 240 to 400, access to the final Quest Echo of the timeline is granted. Conquering the boss within this Echo results in the conversion of all stability into rewards exclusive to the loot pool of that particular boss. For instance, the Twisted Heart of Uhkeiros Unique item may only drop from the final boss encounter in the Reign of Dragons timeline.
Blessings: Enhancing Your Character's Journey
Emerging victorious against a boss enables you to acquire a Blessing unique to that timeline.
These Blessings provide passive bonuses that permanently influence your character, akin to the effects of your character's passive tree. Upon defeating a boss, you'll be presented with a selection of 3-5 blessings, determined by your timeline's Corruption value. Each character may only benefit from one Blessing per timeline, with a maximum accumulation of ten Blessings.
Empowered Monoliths: Explained & How To Unlock Them
Upon triumphing over a timeline's boss for the first time, you unlock new timelines for exploration within the End of Time.
For instance, vanquishing the primary boss in the Fall of the Outcasts timeline grants access to The Stolen Lance and The Black Sun timelines. The ultimate objective is to progress towards the last three timelines situated at the apex of the map: The Age of Winter, Spirits of Fire, and The Last Ruin.
To unlock Empowered Monoliths, you must defeat the bosses within the final three timelines. These represent significantly more challenging iterations of the Monolith of Fate, wherein all enemies are set to Level 100, and Echo modifier values, including XP and item rarity bonuses, are amplified. Activating an Empowered Monolith run entails interacting with a timeline Monolith in the End of Time and selecting the "Legendary" difficulty option.
The gameplay loop of Empowered Monoliths mirrors that of their non-empowered counterparts. Players must clear Echoes to accumulate stability, utilize said stability to confront bosses, and venture deeper into the map's periphery to unlock greater rewards.
However, Empowered Monoliths introduce a grim twist by drawing the attention of the Void. As players venture further from the center, they encounter heightened levels of Corruption.
What Does Corruption Do?
Corruption serves as a modifier that adjusts both player rewards and monster strength.
Each increment of Corruption augments monster health and damage, while also enhancing player experience gains and item rarity. While it's possible to accrue Corruption during regular Monolith runs, there's a hard limit of 50 stacks. Conversely, all Empowered Monoliths commence at 100 Corruption and can escalate indefinitely.
Corruption accumulates passively as your character progresses through Echoes, with the intensity of Corruption increasing the farther you venture from the center. This implies that it's conceivable to make your Monolith run excessively challenging, potentially rendering it impossible to defeat enemies. However, there are solutions to mitigate this challenge.
To reduce your Corruption stacks, you can either clear the Sanctuary of Eterra node or defeat the Shade of Orobyss boss. The Sanctuary consistently spawns near your Monolith, while the Shade of Orobyss emerges at the outer edges of the timeline web. Completing either Echo results in a decrease in Corruption stacks for your timeline.
