Dreamslash (Bladedancer), Summon Tide Elemental (Shaman) and Radiant Lance (Paladin): what each does, which nodes matter, and who should pick it.
Last Epoch Season 5 New Skills: Dreamslash, Tide Elemental, Radiant Lance
Season 5 added three new mastery skills, all unlocked by points in that mastery's passive tree rather than by a new character: Dreamslash at 10 Bladedancer points, Radiant Lance at 15 Paladin points, Summon Tide Elemental at 30 Shaman points. All three shipped with Patch 1.5 on October 1, 2026; as of Hotfix 1.5.1.1 on October 3, none has been rebalanced.
Every cost, cooldown and node percentage here comes from official sources, not build guides. Official source: Last Epoch 1.5 Patch Notes and New Skills | Coming to Last Epoch October 1.
Dreamslash (Bladedancer): a 3-mana dash-slash your shadows copy
Bladedancer's final mastery skill is a melee gap closer. Out of range, it dashes forward hitting everything in the path, then performs a quick slash. Every shadow casts the same ability and dashes beyond its target, so a full shadow roster multiplies your clear speed. The cost is deliberately low: 3 mana, no cooldown, 4% increased damage per dexterity, added damage at 150% effectiveness. Shadows are only consumed within 12 meters of the target, and dash and slash deal identical damage, so one enemy is hit by one or the other.
| Key node | What it changes | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring Dreams | Up to 1 shadow per point (max 4) spends 5 mana to guarantee a resummon | Shadow-cycling builds |
| Collapsing Shadows | +25% Shadow Daggers chance per point, doubled for shadows casting Dreamslash | A second Daggers source |
| Narcolepsy | Gain a Dream stack every 2 seconds; spending one gives 120% more damage but retargets randomly | Hands-off clearing |
| Dreamwalker | +1% Dream gain rate per point per 3 dexterity, about one stack per 0.8 seconds at 3 points and 100 dexterity | Dream-driven builds |
| Dreamshift | Shadows stop casting Dreamslash; with zero Dream stacks you eat a nearby shadow to gain one and attack from its position | Solo Bladedancers |
| Nightmare Steel | The dash becomes a stationary wave in the aimed direction, still a melee attack | When dashing into a pack kills you |
| Apocalyptic Vision | Base physical damage converted to fire; bleed and frostbite become ignite | Ignite without losing movement |
Cheapest of the three to slot into a Rogue you already have; the limit is whether your shadow count can feed the cast rate.
Summon Tide Elemental (Shaman): the 30-point permanent minion
The Shaman's final mastery ability is a permanent cold-spell minion, capped at one at a time. It fires a projectile spell with no cooldown and a Geyser area spell on a 4 second cooldown, and casts Geyser the moment you summon it. Base health is 400; it gains +16 health and 4% damage per attunement plus +16 health per level, and added minion spell damage applies to its projectiles at 200% and its Geyser at 400%. The skill costs 15 mana on a 4 second cooldown. On Assassinate mode the elemental teleports to its target when it casts Geyser.
| Key node | What it changes | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Tidal Totem | The elemental becomes a stationary totem, affected by totem modifiers, dealing 20% more damage | Totem Shaman — the payoff node |
| Seahenge | On summon your totems surround the elemental, each gaining +2 seconds of duration, up to 6 | Long-lived totem setups |
| Wellspring | The elemental gains an aura: +4 cold spell damage and 2% cast speed per point to allies within 18 meters, following your conversion | Support Shaman |
| Pools of Reverence | Wellspring becomes 100% more effective on totems but stops affecting players | Pure minion builds |
| Whirlpools | 25% chance per point that the elemental casts Maelstrom whenever you do, using your Maelstrom tree with its own stats | Maelstrom hybrids |
| Water Spout | A Tornado hitting the elemental is redirected at an enemy within 12 meters, with 20% more damage and speed per point | Tornado synergy |
| Elemental Fury | Elemental Bolt ramps 5% cast speed per stack, up to 5 stacks over 4 seconds | Damage that ramps |
| Unleashed Elements | Casting at max stacks consumes them for +1 projectile per stack in a volley that can hit one target repeatedly | Damage finisher |
Thirty points is the deepest commitment of the three, so the unlock is the actual decision. If you are not already running a Shaman, plan the character around it — see starter builds and mastery classes.
Radiant Lance (Paladin): 15 points and the block chance rewire
Radiant Lance imbues your shield with light from above and fires it forward. It costs 24 mana, has no cooldown, applies added damage at 500% effectiveness, gains 4% increased damage per attunement, and deals 1% more damage per 1% uncapped block chance, multiplicatively with other modifiers. That last line is a season-wide change: the official announcement states that all effects scaling damage off block chance now use uncapped block chance, and the 1.5 notes do the same to Shieldstorm's attack speed and Shield Bash's damage.
| Key node | What it changes | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudburst | Stops firing a forward beam, dropping a sky blast on the targeted area instead, for 25% more damage | Melee Paladins wanting a punish |
| Exterminatus | Fires a forward beam and a sky blast that can hit the same enemy twice; costs 10% cast speed and +25 mana | Boss damage, paid for in resources |
| Cloudless Sky | No shield needed; block scaling replaced by 1% more damage per 25 maximum mana | Two-handed Paladins |
| Scathing Light | Bosses and rares take a non-stacking lightning and fire damage over time ailment, unaffected by conversions | Ailment builds |
| Abyssal Heresy | Void conversion: Electrify becomes time rot, lightning resistance shred becomes void shred, attunement scaling replaced by spell void damage per vitality | Void Knight players |
| Golden Reliquary | Place an invulnerable Reliquary that casts for 6 seconds, roughly every 2 seconds, +1 maximum per 70 attunement | Hands-off damage on your own stats |
Pick Radiant Lance when block chance is already a main stat — it is the only one of the three that scales off a defensive stat. Cloudless Sky is the escape hatch when you cannot stack block.
Do you need a new character for any of them?
No. The unlock condition on all three is points in the mastery passive tree — 10 in Bladedancer for Dreamslash, 15 in Paladin for Radiant Lance, 30 in Shaman for Summon Tide Elemental. No quest, no drop, no new character, so you re-allocate inside the mastery you already have.
Two loose ends the patch notes leave open:
- Does Dreamslash take over Synchronized Strike's old unlock slot? The notes only say Synchronized Strike "is now locked to Bladedancer, acquired at 35 points invested (from 10)". They never state the two share or swap a slot — treat it as not officially stated.
- Does the Shaman skill need anything beyond the 30 points? Not stated beyond the points themselves.
A season restart buys economy, not skill access: Item Factions in Season 5 and the Season 5 overview matter more to a fresh character. Everything here covers PC/Steam (store page).
What Season 5 items do to these three skills
Two new Uniques rewrite what the new skills hit with: Effusive Oath converts Radiant Lance to physical, and Scorched Earth converts Summon Tide Elemental to fire while granting the minion fire penetration. No Season 5 unique converts Dreamslash. See damage types and conversions and Season 5's new Uniques.
Dreamslash's Trance of Isolation has no effect if Apocalyptic Vision is allocated, and Radiant Lance's Sunbeam has no effect if Abyssal Heresy is allocated. Thunder Elemental (cold to lightning) and Wind Elemental (cold to physical) are single-point terminal conversions — pick one.
Known problems with the three new skills
Patch 1.5.1 fixed one Dreamslash issue: you could end up inside Yrun, Champion of Morditas's hitbox while using it. Hotfix 1.5.1.1 shipped no changes to any of the three; anything stranger goes on the bugs and hotfix tracker.
FAQ
Which is cheapest to unlock? Dreamslash, at 10 Bladedancer points, against 15 for Radiant Lance and 30 for Summon Tide Elemental.
Does the Tide Elemental count as a totem for totem bonuses? Not by default. Tidal Totem converts it into one: it stops moving, gains totem modifiers, and deals 20% more damage.
Are these worth building a fresh character around? Tide Elemental most, because of the 30 point gate; the other two slot into existing Bladedancer and Paladin builds cheaply — see starter builds.
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