If you don’t know how the death penalty works in Last Epoch, do not worry. Not many players who first encounter this system understand how it works. It is a bit confusing but I’m here to help.
The death penalty works somewhat differently in Hardcore and Softcore modes. Lets first talk about the softcore mode’s take on Death Panelty.
How Death Penalty Works in Last Epoch Softcore Mode
The Softcore Mode has minimum penalty linked to death which gives players more freedom to take risks and experiment with their gameplay and builds.
When your character dies in the game, you won’t lose any XP or Gold. The general gameplay remains lenient but there are certain endgame activities that impose penalties when your character dies. Moreover, boss fights are easier because when you are killed by a boss, their HP won’t regenerate to 100% when you respawn and come back.
For example, if you brought down a boss to 10% HP, it’ll remain there for you to finish the job after you respawn. Now let’s talk about endgame impact of the death penalty:
- Reward Forfeiture: Dying during a monolith run results in the loss of rewards for that particular echo.
- Stability Loss: In quest echoes, death can lead to a loss of stability, necessitating additional runs to regain it before reattempting the quest.
Dungeons are also impacted by the death penalty in Last Epoch. Each dungeon requires a key to enter. If you die your key will be consumed so you’ll have to get a new one.
Arena runs will get terminated if you end up dead, resetting the entire thing.
How Death Penalty Works in Last Epoch Hardcore Mode
Now if you’re playing on Hardcore Mode, the death penalty is not at all lenient. In Hardcore Mode, if your character is dead you will be transferred to Softcore mode and can no longer participate in Hardcore leaderboards and challenges.
You will also lose your entire stash if you end up dead but you can transfer any valuable items from your stash by intentionally killing your low level mule characters but that’s a workaround.
- Boss health won’t reset
- You will lose dungeon keys
- Stability loss
That’s pretty much it!
