Glyphs are key for crafting in Last Epoch. They affect how affixes get added to your equipment in the forge, like avoiding spending your item’s Forging Potential or completely changing the upgrade result, even into experimental affixes.
Using them is straightforward. Open or go to the Forge, place the piece of gear you want to enhance in the Forge window, choose the affix for adding or upgrading, and then click the Glyph sign, which is between the item and the affix slot. Choose the glyph, and it will be consumed to apply it effect during that forging only. There are five types of Glyphs in Last Epoch:
- Glyph of Insight
- Glyph of Chaos
- Glyph of Despair
- Glyph of Hope
- Glyph of Order
How to get and use Glyph of Insight in Last Epoch
You can only get a Glyph of Insight by using a Rune of Research to forge any item, and you have up to 45 percent chance of getting one as a result of this process. Other than that, it’s impossible to drop the Glyph of Insight.
The only way to get Runes of Research is by defeating the Exiled Mage from Rune Prisons scattered around maps on or above level 70, which you’ll find plenty of in the Monoliths of Fate. Finding the Exiled Mage isn’t guaranteed, and the drop isn’t a given either. To increase your odds of dropping it, play in high-level areas, in Empowered Monoliths, and increase your Corruption levels so you have higher chances of dropping rare loot like Runes of Research. Then, use them on any item and hope you get a few Glyphs of Insight to use in other items.
The Glyph of Insight turns a prefix into an experimental affix. These special affixes change an item to a purple Exalted item and often need specific conditions to activate, like “Experimental Volatile Zombie on Potion Use” or “Experimental Minions Transported with Traversal Skills,” which are popular in Wraithlord Necromancer builds, for example.
The experimental affix you get isn’t left to chance. It depends on the sum of affix tiers for Gloves, the item level requirement for Belts, and the Forging Potential for Boots. To figure out what experimental prefix you’ll get based on your gear’s stats, you can use a Glyph of Insight calculator available on Tunklab. Here’s a list of experimental affixes available in the game, all of which can only be obtained from Exiled Mage item drops:
- Armor applies to Damage over Time
- Dodge Rating and Endurance Threshold
- Frenzy Effect
- Haste Effect
- Mana on Potion Use
- Minions Transported with Traversal Skills
- Traversal Cooldown Recovery on Potion Use
- Volatile Zombie on Potion Use
- Ward Gained on Traversal
- Ward on Kill
- Ward on Potion Use
- Ward per Missing Health
How to get and use Glyph of Chaos in Last Epoch
The Glyph of Chaos can drop from any monster in Last Epoch or as a reward from Echoes in the Monolith of Fate that give Glyphs. When you use it to upgrade or add an affix to an item, it randomly changes the affix to a different one of the same type (prefix or suffix) that fits that item. The affix’s tier still goes up as usual, but the specific affix it changes to is completely random.
The Monolith of Fate, especially Echoes that offer Glyph rewards, is the best place to find it.
How to get and use Glyph of Despair in Last Epoch
The Glyph of Despair can seal an affix on an item, meaning the affix moves to a special area where it can’t be changed or improved, but it also doesn’t use up an affix slot. This lets you make that affix a permanent feature of the item, freeing up space to add a new affix. Each piece of gear can only have one sealed affix, and there’s a chance the Glyph of Despair might not work.
To get Glyphs of Despair, like the Glyph of Chaos, the Monolith of Fate is the best place to look, especially in Echoes with Glyph as the node reward.
How to get and use Glyph of Hope in Last Epoch
The Glyph of Hope is named this way because you’ll hope it works. There’s a 25 percent chance it won’t use up your item’s Forging Potential when you’re adding or upgrading an affix. If it works, you save points for more upgrades on your item. It’s a very common drop found all over, so feel free to use it early in the game and during the campaign. The Monolith of Fate is, again, the best spot to farm it.
How to get and use Glyph of Order in Last Epoch
The Glyph of Order stops the roll of an affix from changing when you’re upgrading it during the forging process. Every affix can add a range of values to your gear when forged, and this value, or roll, can change each time you add or upgrade the affix.
For example, the first tier of the Added Armor affix shard can add between six to 20 armor to your gear. If you end up with six armor, it’s the lowest and worst roll. But if you get 20 armor, it’s the best roll. If you upgrade the affix to tier two, your roll resets, and you could get any value from the new range, 21 to 35. If you had 20 armor and are upgrading, you should use a Glyph of Order. This ensures you keep the highest roll possible for the upgrade, since you already had the best roll before, leading to 35 armor. Likewise, if you had six armor, you wouldn’t want to use it because you likely want a better roll. Guess what? The best place to farm Glyphs of Order is also in the Monolith of Fate.
