Last Epoch returns with Season 5 and new director

Eleventh Hour Games has appointed founding member Mike Weicker as Last Epoch’s game director as the studio prepares to launch Season 5, Rage of the Frostborn, on Oct. 1 at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. GMT / 6 p.m. CEST.

Weicker will assume creative leadership while founder Judd Cobler remains studio head and CEO. Cobler explained he had difficulty balancing CEO duties with the creative demands of game direction as the studio grew past 100 staff working toward the Orobyss expansion planned for 2027. Weicker described his focus as ‘building upon the things that already make Last Epoch special’ and said he plans more regular communication with the player community.

Season 5 adds a new seasonal event system and a pinnacle boss named Morditas, God of Bloodshed. The event mechanic, called Rage of Morditas, can occur during both the campaign and endgame Echoes. Players earn buffs and Bloodrage Charges by defeating enemies quickly; charges increase the rewards granted when an event ends.

When event rewards appear, players choose between two rituals. The bloody ritual removes a reward slot to narrow future drops and grants bloodforging potential, which raises an item’s chance for a critical success when used in crafting. The frozen ritual locks a particular item type so the next set of rewards match and biases their affixes; it grants iceforging potential, which can preserve forging potential during crafting. Cobler called the previous affix tier approach ‘absurd’ and said those tiers were removed from the frozen ritual.

Completing Rage of Morditas events fills a tracker that unlocks a second series of encounters and the opportunity to face Morditas. Defeating him grants access to a Woven Echo that contains a fixed-difficulty pinnacle version of the boss. That pinnacle Echo requires 400 Corruption to enter. Cobler described its difficulty as ‘between Abberoth and Uber Abberoth.’

Season 5 also changes the game’s two item factions. Merchant’s Guild sellers will receive a price suggestion tool and options to automatically reduce prices over time. Circle of Fortune prophecy rerolling has been redesigned so players can select exact rewards, with more options unlocking as players rank up; telescope and lens modifiers remain available to customize outcomes.

The update introduces new skills and rearranges several class trees. Paladins gain Radiant Lance, replacing Symbols of Hope in that branch; Radiant Lance scales with block chance and is uncapped, while Symbols of Hope moves down the progression to become Paladin-exclusive. Bladedancers receive Dreamslash, a spammable dashing melee attack whose shadows create projectile copies; Dreamslash replaces Synchronized Strike, which shifts elsewhere in the tree. Shamans get Summon Tide Elemental as a high-end tree skill that summons a hard-hitting caster minion with node options for solo minion builds, minion armies, or totem echoes.

New gear highlighted for the season includes Death Dance boots, which remove the evade cooldown and trigger the leftmost skill on each dodge; the Eternal Font amulet, which generates a potion every second even if none remain; and the Gift of the Eidolon gloves, which grant haste and frenzy. Developers said additional powerful and very rare chase items will be added.

Eleventh Hour Games has scheduled a week of developer deep-dives ahead of the launch to explain Season 5 mechanics, skills and items. Cobler will continue as studio head while Weicker focuses on game direction and community engagement as Last Epoch enters its next seasonal cycle.