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I hate Keystone Masteries.

Count Zubat·2/12/2016, 4:04:02 PM·6 votes·1,579 views

Long text, if you don't want to read all of that, scroll down to TL;DR below.

I don't know how about you, but I just hate them. Imo, they were an unneeded addition to this game that brought nothing but chaos in balance of all champions. Not only that, they are just uninteresting for me, they require no interaction from player, most of them are just free damage or free stats so you can either outdamage your opponents or outsustain in some cases. They just add even more stat checking.

But, let's go through every keystone and briefly describe it, as well as mention what it brought to game balance: Warlord's Bloodlust- if I crit, I heal myself and get attack speed buff so I can outdamage my opponent. So yeah, heal + damage, just so I have to rely even more on RNG stat. And if I'm lucky and crit, well, I'm rewarded even more for my luck. Very uninteresting in design. Also, made Trynda and Yasuo unbelievably broken for a while. Fervor of Battle- my auto attacks deal more damage. Again, no originality, just free damage because you took it. Made Trundle and some other duelists a bit unbalanced for a while. Deathfire Touch- a mastery for DoT champions only, again, the only thing it does is increase your damage output. Do you see a pattern already? Also, it led Brand to become imbalanced and caused nerfs to champions like Karthus and Swain because Rito thought they are going to become OP. Stormraider's Surge- surprise! It doesn't increase your damage output! Seriously, finally a break from shit we saw with previous 3. Also, it's my favorite Keystone in terms of design. Why? Because it gives Movement Speed. Every noob will make use of free damage previous masteries offered, but this one gives a stat only skilled player will make use of. Movement Speed gives you bigger chance of out playing your opponent. This little buff can be enough for you to kite your enemy, or properly reposition yourself. You have to think in order to make use of it and that's why I love it. That's how Keystones should work, give you opportunity to outplay your opponent, not outstat! Whoever designed this Keystone, kudos to you. Thunderlord's Decree- guess what? More damage!!! Seriously, fck that mastery, fck what it led to (League of Thunderlord), fck it's versatility of use, fck it how champions with bullshit loads of damage can deal even more damage to you. Again, uninteresting in design and requires no thinking process to use it. Next. Windspeaker's Blessing- let's make heals stronger. Because Soraka wasn't obnoxious enough. Grasp of the Undying- you start with mini Titanic Hydra passive. Again, no thinking process required to use it, you just deal more damage and heal yourself when you auto your opponent. Strength of the Ages- you get equivalent of 2 Ruby Crystals for farming enough monsters and canon minions. Good for health stackers, what else to say, it's just free stats because you choose that mastery. Bond of Stone- my second favorite keystone in terms of design, still required no thinking process to use, but at least the mechanic is interesting. It grants you and allies damage reduction, as well as transfers a bit of damage dealt to them to you. It's still unfortunately just another free stats, but the damage transfer part makes it a bit interesting, although you won't see any difference in-game.

You see what I mean? The only think these Keystones give you are free stats. They don't change anything in your playstyle, either you deal more damage, or are more tanky, or heal more, just because you have them. They have no real impact on your playstyle and only led to few occurrences of imbalance. The only Keystone that is well designed is Stormraider, because it gives you stat that helps you outplay your opponent, not outstat. Others are just uninteresting. That's why I hate Keystone Masteries, it's just free stats, free damage, free heal etc. just because they exist.

TL;DR: I hate Keystones, they were unneeded addition to this game. They give you nothing more than just free stats or free damage and require no skill to make use of. The only well designed Keystone is Stormraider's Surge, because it gives Movement Speed, stat that you need skill in order to use and outplay your opponent. Other masteries just created even more difficulties to balance game.

9 Comments

Ralanr2/12/2016, 4:34:24 PM2 votes

I just hate thunderlords. Grasp encourages building defensively without losing effectiveness as the game progresses, which is fun for tanks.

Thunderlords is just braindead free damage that anyone can utilize. The worst part is that some champions need a mastery like thunderlords because the others don't work well for them.

Deathfire touch for example feels weak on Pantheon. Thunderlords is the only one I've found that works.

RookPusher2/12/2016, 4:35:59 PM2 votes

I half agree with you. The +damage abilities aren't great. But the thoughtlessness of using them isn't a problem for me.

You don't use all of your items either. I wish the damage Keystones would go. They seem ludicrous. But if the Keystones were utility based, I'd be fine with that. it's a nice way to slightly change a champion by either:

enhancing a strength of theirs or Minimizing a weakness

So:

Attack speed Movement speed Income enhancement CDR Heal increase Summoner CDR Ward enhancements Revive time reduction Health increase

Those are all fine by me. The problem with thunder lords is that you can't really replicate that with an item or runes. it's another hit at all levels.

WoonStruck2/12/2016, 6:09:26 PM2 votes

I hate the new mastery system more than keystones. Why can't I dump all of my points into defense?

Why do I need to spend 12 points in resolve and have 5 free to make merc treads ever sound like a decent purchase?

Why are half the choices I have to make almost entirely unwanted?

Why is Thunderlord's still so powerful compared to other masteries? They were so quick to nerf Bond of Stone and DFT until they weren't common.

On top of that, keystones make already oppressive match-ups even worse, especially Thunderlord's. Some feel completely impossible now.

Riot claims they were adding 'choice' but in reality they took far more away and made masteries more binary. In each tier there's a specific mastery you're going to use based on your champion. There is absolutely no choice. Its head and shoulders above the rest.

Cherysse2/12/2016, 7:04:08 PM2 votes

My problem with Thunderlord it's that it is the only damage mastery that it's reliable, DFT only procs on abilities (and it should proc on attacks) We need things like: +Arcane Blade +a Keystone that applies slow (and reduces AS since for now AS champs are so fcking dominating) for champs that don't have CC +A Keystone that works like runic shield did (but with a shorter regen time). +A Keystone that increases your damage depending on how low on life you are (for an ALL-IN playstyle) +A keystone that grants +5 mastery points, because not everyone wants to have a Keystone. +A Keystone that reduces the target armor/mr, because so far there isn't any succesful hybrid keystone. +A Keystone that grants you early gold and extra gold for hero kills and farming.

Fawksea2/12/2016, 5:29:01 PM1 votes

i agree on some points but since you like stormraiders surge that much go play ekko with it seriously do it its so fun