Detailed Preseason-Feedback Part 3: Masteries
I desided to share some thoughts on the preseason, now after i had 1 patch time to make my experience and refine my stance on the chances. i won't focus to much on balance, as balance always is off duering preseason, and riot usually does a good job restoring it towards end of preseason by simple number tuneing. I try to focuse more on issues that reach a bit deeper and are usually not solved by tweaking some numbers, as those are the things that riot nearly never changes once they hit pbe...
It's alot content, so i decided to split it up on serveral posts, hopefully allowing for somewhat sorted discussions fousing on one bigger theme. waring, huge wall of text incomeing!(TL;DR at the end) This is Part 3: Masteries, here are the links to the other parts: Part 1: Items Part 2: Marksmen Part 4: Miscellaneous
Table of Contents:
- Items 1.1 new items 1.2 reworked/changed items 1.3 removed items 1.4 general item changes
- Marksmen 2.1 Caitlyn 2.2 Corki 2.3 Graves 2.4 Kogmaw 2.5 Miss Fortune 2.6 Quinn 2.7 other marksmen
- Masteries 3.1 Generall Impression 3.2 Ferocity 3.3 Cunning 3.4 Resolve 3.5 Missing Masteries
- Miscellaneous 3.1 Tower 3.2. Vision 3.3. Gold 3.4. Jungle 3.5. Other Stuff
- Conclusion for preaseason
#Masteries:
I really do like the idea of the new masteries, giving less but more meaningfull options that might alter the playstyle. However, onceagain the execution is not that great. I do beleive that if this aproach shhall work, the impact of masteries has to be higher overall, else neither decision will really be impactfull and no option will have enough payoff to alter a playstyle. You will still go with what supplements the playstyle of your champ best, not with what fits YOUR playstyle best. As a result, currently most choices are already made by picking a champion. At best, it's cooseing a champ and 1 out off 2-3 vuable keystones, all other choices on the way are set in stone after that, or ,for most tier 1-3 choices, of so little impact that it's completely irrelvant which one you take, as neither has any noticable effect on the game. Also, ther are cases in which two choice that would benefit the same playstyle exclude each other. Imo this should not happen, you should choose between different playstyles-augmentations, not min-maxing what is most effective for a given playstyle. On top of that, some masteries blatantly ignore the existance of other maps. I just dare you to seek a river in TT, or make use of runic affliction on the Howling Abbys. it's also Questionable that there are differnt trees. i really would prefer it all as one tree, changeing the rule to 2 keystones+stats per tir for tier 1 and 2, and 1 keystone+stats for tier 3. This would allow for far more comninations and thus one could truely customize his masteries for a really individuell result. Maybe still sort the different masteries in differnt trees with a different theme, so it's easer to find whatr you are looking for: damage-> ferocity, tankiness->resolve, utillity-> cunning, but without restrokting your choices.
Aditionally, there is no reason to seal masteries away from new players, all it does is setting them behind vs higher level players, kinda roceing masteries to be lowish impact to not disturb low vs highlevel that much while allso forceing every masterie system to resolve around 30 points.
#Ferocity:
/wish we could use masterie icons in the forums
Fury / Sorccery:
One giving AS, the other increases spell-damage, so on first look it's a nice choice to make, once adds sustained damage, the other increases poke/burst. But looking closely, it's rarly a choices for most champions, as one obviously is far superior to the other. There is no reason to ever get the AS rather than spelldamage on ziggs, at the same time you would never want the spelldamage instead of as on yasuo(q does not count as spell, atleast vs the first target, not sure about aditional targets) So this choice doesn rarly augment a playstyle, it's predetermined by champselect. what would give a choice would be a cdr- and a 'The first AA on a target deals x% more damage, y sec per target cd'-masterie in adition to the two current options. Now you can decide wether you want to focus on burst or sustained damage for both casters and Autohitters
Double Edged Sword / Feast:
Now this is a clear choice: Full glasscannon(more damage and more squishy) or Sustain. However, the sustain is only for non-supports, so supports that want to go in this tree have no real choice, and they often don't want the glasscannon... While this is a clear choice, for many champions it is lacking a statisfying option.
Vampirism / Natural Talent:
Again a clear choice: Sustain vs Damage. Conceptul a good pair of masteries, but just so badly undertuned that it neither one is noticeable(not that the previous masteries would have had any more impact)
Bounty Hunter / Oppressor:
The choice between more damage and more damage. However, one working from early on, the other scaleing as the game goes on, so offering a choice. Just that they both offer different conditions, that besides causeing the early/late difference also prettymuch tie that choice to champselect. I do think a big problem here is that bountyhunter is kills only, ratehr than takedowns, makeing it either a huge gamble or a cleanup-only choice. Aidtionally, Bounty Hunter lacks clarity, we need a buff-icon that has a checklist as tooltip, showing who we stll need to kill to increase our damage and thus also showing how much damage we already gain from it.
Battering Blow / Piercing Thoughts:
Totally predetermined by champselect, only a few hybrid DDs really have to think on which one they might need more, or split up points in between.
Warlord's Bloodlust / Fevor of Battle / Deathfire Touch:
Warlord's is the lategame masterie, offering good in-combat sustain aswell as increased dps. However, it's for crit builts only, limiting the potential users alot.
Fevor is the AA-dps masterie, scaleing well trough out the entire game and always helping at extendet confrontations. I do think that it's a viable choice for Warlord's users, offering a bit more dps, and mostly a better earlygame at the cost of lategame-sustain
Deathfire is the poke/dps masterie for casters, but sadly only for glasscannons. I don't really understand why it has next to no base damage and only scaleings, rather than a basedamage scaleing with levels and maller ratios. Why am i not allowed to optimize my aoe-dps on a tank like amumu via keystones? Aren't keystones ment to offer a playstyle related choice? Am i not supposed to be able to decide i want more damage on my tank rather than picking up aditonal hp? Also, while the changes on PBE are generally good, i do think that the duratrion for aoe skills needs to be increased to 3sec, it feels very lackluster for any mage that has neither a dot nor a low cd singletarget skill.
#Cunning:
Wanderer / Savagery:
Damage vs Minions and monsters or better roaming. Sounds like a relevant choice, just that once again, the impact of each one is pretty poor. Wandere means you need about ~0.7 sec less from mid to top&bot, wow... Savagery atleast gives a noticeble boon for early jungle clear or CSing, but for supports it's pointless. I think Savagery would be more impactfull if it either adds an aoe vs minions on AAs, helping with waveclear, or increases damage vs minions/monsters/towers by x%, increasing pushingpower and clearly saying i focus on staying in lane and push down that tower, while wandere is the I roam around option.
Runic Affinity / Secret Stash
Bove very niche options, with often neither one beeing statisfying, especially because Stash does not change refilble potion's into cooky jars There certainly is a lack of options here.
Merciless / Meditation:
Execute damage vs manasustain. Actually a nice choice to make, just that this tree is mostly used by supports, and most supports profit very little from %damage increase, so for them the choice is mostly clear. On manaless champs, there is also no choice. And for most manausers, since mana-pots and flask have been removed, meditation seems clear superior, but that might just be personal prefferaence( I really hate going oom)
** Bandit / Dangerous Game**:
Gold gain vs teamfight-sustain, one sppeds you up on your way to lategame, the other empowers you skirmishes and teamfights. Theortically a nice choice based on preferences. I just feel like bandit lacks clearity, it's hard to judge how mutch impact it has exactly, whereas i'm vey positive over how often dangerous game saved my ass(or that of an opponent).
Precision / Intelligence
A really nice pairing, both tempting to use with most champs, one improveing burst and early trades, the other boosting your sustained impoact and utillity.
Stromraider's Sourge / Thunderlord's Decree / Windspeaker's Blessing
Stormraider's is a nice idea, but horrible to use imo. the effeckt is to weak for how unreliable it is. It also is not realy useable for any champ that doesn't focus on damage, and it's far more reliable vs squishys. I think the idea of a dealyed speedboost to either force extendet trades or backoff from short trades is nice, but the current condition to proc it is bad, it's simply very dependend on the champion matchup and pretty unreliable. If you would habe more controll over when to proc it, it would be great. Also, for a effect that you have to activly utilize, it is very to hard to notice. Half of the time i don't even notice when it triggers.
Thunderlord's is now with the cd buff in a goo spot, it's a noticeable burst, it's usable by any champ as it mostly works with level-scaleing basedamage and can be proced by 3 consecutive AAs. It is a clear commitment to all-in burst and thus a definit augmentation of the playstyle.
Windspeaker's Is a great masterie, clearly focuseing on empowering allies. It's potential users are very limited as they need a shield/heal in their kit though. It also lacks a bit clearity: the client tooltip says only the armor/mr effect is ally-only, while the in-game tooltip says that both the shield/heal increase aswell as the mr/armor buff are ally only. I hope the client version is correct, it would be a shame if it does only benefit allys. Totally fine with the defstats beeing ally only, but your often forced to shield/heal yourself, so it would be a big downer if it does nothing at all for yourself. Also, i hope that lulu'S ult counts as a heal for this and ardent, if it doesn't, that would be a good way to buff her as support without really doing much to her sololane.
#Resolve:
Recovery / Unyielding:
Sustain vs raw tankiness, a clear choice. Just that the sustain is so piss poor that it never matters, and the defstats are only relevant for those that go for very tanky builts as they are %**bonus ** based. So there is not real choice, one very weak master and one that is only usefull for tanks. going into that tree as a squishy feels realy bad.
**Explorer / Tough Skin: ** One helping you to shrug of early damage, the other giving a bit roaming power. Both not really noticeable, though though Skin can help a bit with early jungle clears. The main issue with that pairing is that they are both to weak to have a real impact, makeing the choice rather irelevant. It would be nice if Explorer doubles for brushes and stays for 1-2 sec after leaving a brush, anf if Though skin would block more damage from champs, and maybe some from minions.
Runic Armor / Veteran's Scars:
One increaseing you sustained tankiness, the other intial beefyness, so a choice to make. However, Ruinc armor is only usefull if you have alot selfheal, so many champs have no real choice. And if the PBE changes get through, verteran's scars will simply suck.
Insight / Preserverance:
Right now a imbalanced pair, Insight objectivly is just far superior to Preseverance. %base regen is just a overall weak stat, and the threshhol for increasing it to an meaningfull amount is way to low. You won't stay around with below 25% hp, waiting to hit that mark any time soon... i'm not sure if there is a point in keeping that preserverance, rather change it to the old one that healed based on %missing health every 5 sec.
Swiftness / Legendary Guardian:
Two good masteries, but a bad pairing. Both mostly enable the same playstyle: diveing into the oppseing team. It is horrible to have to choose between them, as frankly, would want both to enchance the exact same thing.
** Grasp of the Undying / Strength of the Ages / Bond of Stone**:
Grasp of the Undying: my personal favourit. I just love in-combat sustain, i love surviving when my opponents belived me already dead. However, i do think that it's a bit to powerfull in the early lane, and to much limited in which champs can use it. I'd rather see a scaleing basevalue+some %hp rather than only % hp(like 2/lvl +2%) to make it more attractive for champs that don't stack hp(break even would be 3600 hp) . i also think the nerf for ranged is to harsh. i understand that they would be insane in lane, but there are better options: change it from 'in combat' to 'in combat with champions'(reciving or dealing damage to a champ labels you as in combat with them for 2 sec) This way you can't just go for stron AA poke while sustaining yourself in between farming, you do have to comit to a trade for 4 sec to use it. This would lower it'S power in lane, especially for ranged champs, while keeping it the same for teamfights. If ranged would still be abuseive with it if granted the full effect, half the base value for them but keep the full %hp, as they usually have not that much hp.
Strength of the Ages: It's just a bit...boring. i'd like to see some more pay-off for fully stacking it, like not only healing from siege-minions, but also from big monsters and objectives. Or getting a small %hp increase ontop of the 300.
Bond of Stone: I like that, but i do think the PBE changes are bad, it should put more focuse on reduceing the damage dealt to your allies, as the other two already are tow good and differnt options for selfish tankiness. Also, it lacks a bit clearity on the damage transfer: is the damage transferd pre or postmitigation? Or even post allied and pre your mitigation? That would be a grate buff to the transfer part and allows to cut down the selfish mitigation.
#Missing Masteries:
This is a bout old masteries I'd like to see again, maybe with some tweaks.
Spell-/Blade-Weaver: I miss masterie for spellweavers, it could be added to the oprressor/bountyhunter stuff. After each AA, you next abillity deals 5% more damage, after Each Abillity, your next AA deals 5% more damage. So to utilze it, you have to constantly weave AAs in between your skills.
Arcane Blade: I want an ap-ratio on my AAs once again! I want to feel good about useing my AAs as a Mage!
Old-Sorcery: I want a 5% cdr option once again(that doesn't push max cdr), or a buff to cdr runes. Without the masterie and with boots beeing reduced to 10%, cdr runes feel od now, as you either have 5% to much ot to little...
Second Wind: Increased healing+shielding below a certain threshold would be nice, i like getting harder to take down once i seem to be low.
Old-Intelligence: i'd love to see reduced item-cd on a new masterie, maybe even put in back on Intelligence, but that might be overkill.
** Expose Weaknesses**: I want more masteries that focus on helping my team rather than beeing selfish. An idea for such a keystone: Radiance: increase shields and healing recived by 5%(stacking with runic armor), 16% of all heal and shielding recived is applyed to nearby allies aswell, reduced to 4% for lifesteal and healthregen.
TL;DR:
- lower tier masteries have way to little impace, so the choices made don't really matter
- As a solution, Masteries need to get more impactfull overall, mostly in the lower tiers so the coices actuall have a real impact.
- Many choices are predetermined by champselect.
- Coices are rarly made based on personal preference to augment a playstyle, but based on what's onjectivly best to enchance the primary playstyle of a champ
- Sometimes you have to choose between two masteries that enchance the same playstyle.
- often two bad choices for some champs
- As a solution the "tree's" need to become one. No more limitation by trees, but rather limited to 2keystones for the first two tiers and one keystone tier 3, aswell as 10 points for stats at each tier(maybe limited to 5 at tier 3) with still a max of 5 points per stat. That way you wouldn't have situation where two suiteing masteries exclude eachother, and you would always find multiple atractive options. The only difficulty that remains is balanceing the masteries.
