Hello Travelers!
March has come and gone. With it, the long-awaited launch of Season 4: Shattered Omens happened. What was once just beyond the horizon is now here, inviting you to dive into a darker, more unpredictable Eterra. From shattering Omen Windows to experimenting with the risks and rewards of Item Corruption, Season 4 introduces new systems that reshape how you approach combat, loot, and progression.
We’ve loved watching the community jump in, theorycraft new builds, and push the limits of what’s possible with these new features in Season 4. Whether you’re chasing corrupted gear or braving the new Vision of the Observer, there are no shortage of ways to test your strength this season.
In this month’s Eterra Monthly, we’ll be taking a look at the Omen’s design from start to finish, highlighting some UI updates based on feedback, early content creator builds, a little void surprise, and more so let’s dive in.
Development Highlight: The Omen Start to Finish
Our Art Director, Dmitrii Kuznetsov, and Lead Writer, Kyle Melberg, took some time to share the story behind the Omen released in Season 4.
Kyle: The Lore
For Season 4 we wanted to introduce a singular new enemy with a theme of corruption and could fit a mechanic themed around empowering surrounding enemies. Since we had just come off the heels of introducing Chapter 10 in Season 3, we wanted to dive deeper into some of the elements seen at the end of the chapter, namely the windows seen in the final encounter.
For the Omens we wanted a bit looser of a guideline and more exploration. Here we gave the rough theme and inspiration of the Omens and a few examples of how different damage types could be expressed:
Omens are beings of pure void that take their form from moments of intense despair, the same moments that drove the Observer mad and caused him to transform into Orobyss.
When an Omen appears, it fills the surrounding area with the despair that fueled the Observer's madness, influencing and empowering the enemies nearby and summoning void creatures as the world corrupts around them.
The Omens are inspired by various specific tragedies that the Observer foresaw, resulting in variants that are themed after separate damage types.
With this, we released the Omen with four different variants: Fire, Cold, Lightning, and Void.
Dmitrii: The Art
Part One: Concept
We set out to explore silhouettes and identify the key visual features of the Omen. One of our primary goals was to establish a connection to The Observer, while making it clear that this entity is not him, but rather his herald.
At the same time, we were developing the game design, so certain details evolved throughout the process. For example, early information suggested these creatures would be relatively small, making it important to avoid overly complex designs and instead keep the silhouette and details clear and readable.
We ultimately landed on the G2 version, though I provided feedback to increase the thickness of the arms to improve readability at our typical camera distance.
Part Two: Concept Refinement
We continued exploring additional ideas within the selected direction, including elemental-themed variations. For the base version, we chose to retain the current horn design without over complicating it. From there, we developed several compelling options for Fire, Cold, Lightning, and Poison variants. (We ultimately didn’t release a Poison version and replaced it with Void.)
Part Three: The Render
Once the features and details were locked in, we moved into finalizing the render. This phase is typically straightforward from a design perspective, though it can be quite time-consuming. Ideally, we avoid making further design changes at this point since the direction is already established, but this time was an exception.
As we continued refining the mechanic and building out the prototype, we realized the creature couldn’t remain as small as originally planned (there’s a human scale reference in the image). Given how intense and chaotic the encounter could be, the creature needed to read clearly in combat and feel more threatening, something that was difficult to achieve at the initial size.
We decided to scale the creature up, but simply increasing its size wasn’t enough with the existing level of detail. To support the change and avoid it feeling like an oversized, underdeveloped form, we introduced additional details to better convey its presence, scale, and danger.
Part Four: Additional Details and Sizing
To support the increased size, we introduced additional details and adjusted key shapes. Compared to the previous version, you can see added elements throughout, along with a slight change to the eye shape, which previously gave the creature an unintended “baby-like” appearance.
Part Five: The Final Model
During the modeling stage, we revisited the design and decided to remove the elongated nose. While it initially felt like a unique feature, we ultimately agreed it risked looking unintentionally silly rather than conveying the level of threat and intimidation we were aiming for.
Feedback Forge
Our Senior UI Developer, Justin, thought it would be nice to highlight some of the quality of life UI updates that the team has been making to create a better player experience for you based on feedback from the community.
Quick Move Improvements
Quick move now picks a destination based on what panels are open and what containers exist that can accept the item. If the preferred destination rejects the item (container is full or item is incompatible), then the next possible destination is tried instead.
In this video, you can see how it moves into the Woven Potential ("Turtle Legendary Potential reroll") crafting panel first until it fills, then to the inventory until it fills, then to the stash. If an item is no longer valid to be placed in the crafting panel (i.e. because it lost it's Legendary Potential), then it skips over the crafting panel.
Woven Echo UI Update
We've received a lot of feedback about the difficulty in quickly finding the Woven Echoes you want to place so we've reorganized the tab with a focus on organizing Woven Echoes based on the type of content they contain.
It is now arranged into groups of Bosses, Crafting, Auras, and Encounters, replacing the content type icons:
Woven Echoes that are just a boss fight (previously had a skull content icon) are now grouped in the Bosses section.
Woven Echoes that reward access to a craft (previously had a hammer content icon) are now grouped in the Crafting section.
Woven Echoes that affect other nearby echoes (those that display a range indicator when placed) are now grouped in the Auras section.
Woven Echoes with miscellaneous objectives are now grouped in the Encounters section.
Within each group, we've also placed popular Woven Echoes in easy to find places and grouped related Woven Echoes near each other. Here's some notable examples:
False Temple and Lostwood Folly (a popular combo placed repeatedly for XP farming) are placed in the top left corner of the Encounters and Auras sections.
Conquered Tower (Nemesis) is placed in the bottom left corner of the Encounters section.
Confluence of Oblivion (corruption catch up) is placed on the left edge of the Bosses section.
Omen's Veil and Fractured Prison (the new Season 4 Woven Echoes) are placed on the right edge of the Bosses section.
Collapsing Horizon, The Fading Brink, and Threshold of Eternity (Forgotten Knights Woven Echoes) are placed along the bottom edge of the Bosses section.
The Woven Echoes that award class-specific loot are placed along the top edge of the Encounters section.
Updated Minimap Shader
The map overlay has been reworked to provide better contrast against any background: light or dark. It now has a light gradient on the outer edge and a dark gradient on the inner edge, which helps it stand out against a variety of backgrounds. In lighter zones (such as sandy or snowy areas), the dark inner gradient will stand out. In darker zones (such as void or indoor areas), the light outer gradient will stand out.
Build Spotlight
With Season 4 just starting, the theorycrafting is still ongoing so instead of a single build spotlight this month, we’ve decided to share some early builds from content creators to get you going!
Wudijo: Last Epoch - Season 4 Builds Tier List & My Starter
Dr3adful: Last Epoch Top 5 Lazy Dad Gamer Builds I Recommend For Shattered Omens
Dr3adful: Last Epoch Top 7 Builds I Recommend For Shattered Omens
Zeckar: Last Epoch S4 | 20 Minion Builds For Shattered Omens
Pixel Aptitude: 5 INSANE Lich Builds that Will DESTROY Season 4 | Last Epoch
Pixel Aptitude: 4 INSANE Builds that Will SMASH Season 4 | Last Epoch
BinaQC: Updated! All My Season 4 Build Guides! | Last Epoch Season 4
FrozenSentinel: BEST MAGE STARTERS - SEASON 4 | Last Epoch
Volca: ALL NEW & UPDATED BUILDS FOR SHATTERED OMENS | Last Epoch Season 4
Tevonsonte: My Acolyte STARTERS For Last Epoch S4!
What's Next?
Season 4: Shattered Omens is now live, and with it comes a new layer of depth and challenge to explore across Eterra. From the Omen Windows to Item Corruption to Idol Altars, this season invites you to push your builds further and rethink how you approach every encounter. Whether you’re chasing powerful new outcomes, experimenting with fresh character paths, or diving into the evolving endgame, there’s never been a better time to step back into Last Epoch. We have been watching watching the community closely and listening to your feedback. We will continue to deliver updates for Season 4 as we begin work on Season 5. Thank you for continuing to join us on this journey and we will see you in Eterra!