Quick answer (Season 5, patch 1.5.3, checked October 30, 2026): The fastest gold in Last Epoch right now is selling loot, not looting gold. Merchant's Guild players should run a trade loot filter, list drops with Automatic Price Lowering, and upgrade good items with Runes of Havoc; Season 5 players report 500k to 1m gold per hour that way. Circle of Fortune players can't sell, so they should stack Grand Scales of Greed (45-70% gold drop rate), the Zerrick Weaver node, gold echoes, shrines and Loot Lizards.
This guide was rewritten for Season 5, Rage of the Frostborn, which launched on October 1, 2026. The live version is patch 1.5.3 from October 21. Season 5 reshaped the gold economy: the Merchant's Guild rank gates are gone, Black Market Tokens are gone, and the Bazaar now prices and discounts your listings for you. Any gold advice written before October 1 is partly out of date, so treat older guides with care.
Every new Season 5 character also started from zero. Gold from Season 4 stayed on Legacy characters, so nobody on the current ladder is sitting on an old bankroll.
What is the fastest way to farm gold in Last Epoch Season 5?
It depends on your faction, because only Merchant's Guild (MG) can turn drops into gold from other players. These are the numbers players are reporting this season. They are community figures from r/LastEpoch, not official rates, and they swing heavily with build speed and market timing.
| Method | Faction | Reported Season 5 income | What you need |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bazaar selling with a loot filter and Automatic Price Lowering | MG only | 500k-1m gold per hour; one seller reported 20-30m per day | Trade loot filter, Favor to list |
| Selling Havoc-upgraded Exalted items | MG only | About 250k per item for max-rolled T7 pieces | Runes of Havoc, market knowledge |
| Clearing echoes, hitting gold shrines, chasing lizards | Both | 100k-200k gold in a few hours | Nothing beyond a working build |
| Gold-reward echoes with the Zerrick node and Scales of Greed | Both | No reliable public figure | Weaver Tree points, the blessing |
The gap is the point. In one Season 5 thread about affording a mastery respec, normal play came in at 100k-200k over a few hours, while selling filtered drops came in at 500k-1m per hour. If you are MG and not listing items, you are leaving most of your income on the ground.
How do you set up the Bazaar selling loop?
This is the best method in the game if you joined the Merchant's Guild, and Season 5 made it far less work. Three changes matter, all from the official Patch 1.5 notes:
- Price Suggestion. "When listing an item for sale, a price suggestion will be provided based on item price history data." You no longer have to search comparable listings by hand.
- Automatic Price Lowering. You set a price floor, then a drop amount (flat or percent of list price) and a frequency (hourly, daily or weekly).
- One-stop listing. Items are listed from the Bazaar sidebar, and stall type can be swapped without walking to another NPC.
Patch 1.5.2 improved this again: "The minimum amount for automatic price lowering in the Bazaar is now 1g, down from 500g." Patch 1.5.3 fixed the Bazaar sometimes defaulting to newest-first sorting, so check your sort if prices ever look wrong.
Here is the loop in four steps:
- Install a trade loot filter. The Season 5 players posting the 500k-1m per hour figure use a filter from the trading community that shows only items with resale value. Pick up everything it shows.
- List instead of stashing. Anything you won't use goes to the Bazaar right away. Stash space holding sellable gear is idle money.
- Turn on Automatic Price Lowering with a floor. Start at or slightly above the suggested price, then let it fall to your floor. Early in a season items have no price history, so EHG's own advice is to hold them or set the price yourself. Four weeks into Season 5, common items now have sales data behind them.
- Upgrade before you sell. Rune of Havoc shuffles affix tiers, which is how players build the perfect T7 pieces that crafters pay for. Players report about 250k gold per item for max-rolled pieces in slots like necklaces and relics, more with a good T6 alongside.
What sells best?
- Uniques with Legendary Potential. LP decides how many affixes can move across in legendary crafting, so a high-LP copy can sell for far more than the same item at 0 LP. Check LP before vendoring any Unique. The Bazaar LP filter only appears once you select a Unique that can roll it.
- Double T7 Exalted bases in meta slots. Our crafting guide explains why crafters want these, and the Season 5 tier list tells you which builds are buying.
- T6 and T7 Havoc and Redemption targets. Patch 1.5 made the T6 and T7 count filters ignore sealed affixes specifically so buyers can find these bases faster.
What does it cost to sell?
Listing costs Favor, so Favor income is part of your gold income. The official Faction Updates post shows a Red Ring of Atlaria with a suggested price of 971,779 gold based on 301 sales, a 280 Favor listing cost, and a 145,766 gold buyer fee, which is about 15%. A separate 2,000 gold example in the same post shows a 500 gold fee, so the rate isn't flat. Price with the buyer's total in mind, because that is the number shoppers compare.
One 1.5 change hits this loop directly: "Entering an echo that has previously been attempted now provides significantly less XP and favor, in addition to the existing reductions to random encounters and loot." Finish echoes on the first attempt, because abandoning and re-entering costs you the Favor you need for listings.
Remember that items you bought from the Bazaar can't be relisted. Only what you found yourself can be sold, so flipping isn't an option. Rank no longer limits what you can trade, either: "All equippable item types can now be purchased simply by being a member of the Merchant's Guild, regardless of rank." Ranks now unlock bags of keys, shards, glyphs and runes. Black Market Tokens were removed entirely, so ignore older guides that call them a money-maker. The Merchant's Guild vs Circle of Fortune guide and the Season 5 faction rework breakdown cover the choice itself.
How do you get Grand Scales of Greed?
Grand Scales of Greed is the most important passive gold multiplier for both factions. It adds 45-70% to your gold drop rate. The normal Scales of Greed blessing gives 25-40% and comes from the same timeline at level 55, while the Grand version requires the empowered timeline at level 100.
Both come from Fall of the Outcasts, the first Monolith timeline. Maxroll's timeline guide lists Scales of Greed among its most useful picks, since blessings there focus on drop rates for items, gold and experience. The boss is The Abomination.
Take the normal version on your first pass, then replace it with the Grand version when you reach empowered monoliths. Both roll a value within their range, so a low roll is worth replacing if gold is your main goal. If you need a route to the empowered timelines, our Season 5 monolith guide covers the order, and the Season 5 leveling guide gets you to that point.
How should you farm gold in monoliths?
Every echo in the timeline web shows its reward before you start it, and gold is one of the possible rewards. When you specifically need gold, pick those echoes first. From there, four levers do most of the work.
1. Take the Zerrick Weaver node. The Tombs of the Erased patch notes describe it plainly: "Gain a chance for Zerrick to join you in your Echoes with a big boost to gold drops." The multiplier is still live, since the 1.5 notes fixed gold bags wrongly benefiting from it. Icy Veins' Weaver Tree tips name Zerrick's Aid and Golden Treasures as the two gold nodes south of the starting point.
2. Block rewards you don't want. Season 5 players use Weaver Tree blocking nodes to remove other echo rewards so gold piles appear more often, alongside nodes that give a chance to double echo rewards.
3. Build a Woven Echo nest. The current farm players recommend pairs one Lostwood Folly with False Temples around it. Maxroll's Weaver Tree Strategies, updated October 14, 2026, explains why it works: Lostwood Folly "fills surrounding maps with Weaver Enemies", and False Temple is an enemy-dense echo "with many Shrines". More enemies and more shrines mean more gold. Both are bought with Memory Amber: False Temple costs 750 at Woven rank 1 and Lostwood Folly costs 1,000 at rank 3. Run the Folly first, then the Temples around it.
4. Hit every gold shrine and chase Loot Lizards. One Season 5 player calls these the largest gold bundles outside of echo rewards. Maxroll's General End Game tree also buffs lizards through Greedy Lizards and Lizard's Inheritance, which makes them a steady Exalted source. MG players can then sell those Exalteds, so this pays twice. Unclaimed Trove is the Woven Echo to pick if you want more lizards, since its Lost Caches spawn them.
How high should you push Corruption? Only as far as your clear speed holds. Corruption scales enemy reward, but an echo that takes twice as long rarely pays twice as much. See the corruption guide for how the scaling works.
Which dungeons make gold in Last Epoch?
Short answer: don't treat dungeons as a gold source. Maxroll describes Lightless Arbor as a dungeon "whose primary function is to serve as a gold sink", with a juicing mechanic where spending gold increases rewards. It is where gold goes, not where it comes from, so only enter with money you can afford to lose. Run other dungeons for their bosses and drops, and sell those drops if you are MG.
What should you spend gold on, and what should you skip?
Season 5's real gold sinks are mostly late-game purchases. These are the ones worth planning around:
| Gold sink | Reported cost | Worth it? |
|---|---|---|
| Mastery respec | About 600k at level 83, 800k at level 94, 1m at level 100 | Only if you are changing builds for good |
| Stash tabs | Around 140k per tab for one Season 5 player, rising as you buy more | Yes for CoF, and for MG sellers who need the room |
| MG item bags | "Escalating gold and favor costs" by rarity | Good for crafters with spare gold |
| Bazaar upgrades | Listing price plus the buyer fee | Yes, with a target item in mind |
| Lightless Arbor juicing | Your choice of gold spent | Only once you have spare gold |
Three habits protect your bankroll. Plan your mastery swap before level 80, because cost rises with level, and it reached 1m at level 100 this season. Set a target before opening the Bazaar, because browsing is how gold disappears. And don't over-invest in leveling gear you will replace within hours.
If you are Circle of Fortune, gold mostly matters for respecs and stash tabs. You can't list items or buy from other players, so don't farm gold for its own sake. Grab the blessing and the Zerrick node, then let gold accumulate while you chase prophecies.
FAQ
What is the best way to farm gold in Last Epoch right now? If you are Merchant's Guild, sell your drops on the Bazaar with a loot filter and Automatic Price Lowering. Players report 500k-1m gold per hour in Season 5. If you are Circle of Fortune, stack Grand Scales of Greed, the Zerrick node, gold echoes, shrines and lizards.
Does gold carry over to Season 5? No. New Season 5 characters start with no gold. Gold from Season 4 characters stays with them on Legacy.
Do you need a high Merchant's Guild rank to make gold? No. Since patch 1.5, all equippable item types can be bought by any member regardless of rank, and you can sell from the moment you join in Chapter 9. Ranks unlock bags of keys and crafting materials. You still need Favor to list and buy.
How do I know what to charge on the Bazaar? Use the suggested price, which is based on recent sales of similar items, then enable Automatic Price Lowering with a floor. The tooltip beside the suggestion shows which attributes drove the price.
Do Black Market Tokens still exist in Last Epoch? No. Patch 1.5 removed them along with the rank gates. The Merchant Token remains, and it removes the Favor cost from a Bazaar purchase.
