Masteries: A new Outlook + Play Diana

INTRO The new masteries have people (including myself - somewhat) upset about their lack of choices and flexibility. "What if i want both attack speed and increased spell damage in the ferocity tree?" - Can't do it. "But i don't want feast or double edged sword" - too bad.

The reason we wanted flexibility before is because some masteries were simply terrible. Some of these masteries are still around (hello vampirism). The open tree also allowed us to do some really crazy things like throw 30 points in offense and melt faces with hybrid akali.

BUT THINGS HAVE CHANGED

-Before, we had weak masteries up until the 21st point in each tree. And that mastery point was slightly above average. -Now the first 17 masteries of each tree are still fairly weak but the keystone mastery is RIDICULOUS. -If we convert all mastery points into gold and cost out each stat value we find that masteries are worth about 2500 gold

The Keystone mastery is worth about 1000 gold all other 29 points are valued at about 1500 gold with some of the stats being less impactful like health regen etc. So lets round down to 1000 gold.

The keystone mastery is HALF of your decision

Riot said that they wanted mastery decisions to be more impactful. Technically they are. 2000 gold is a lot of resources. Now maybe not all 30 points are created equally. But your decision does matter.

Take a role like ADC. The trees used to look the same for all +/- spell weaving/bladeweaving. Now the trees look the same but the keystone mastery you choose may be different. This means that your tree is 1000 gold different than another ADC's. Your choices do matter. As for the other 29 points. Realistically if you can't get a mastery you want - it's not a big deal. It's only a fraction of the 1000 gold your 29 points use. Keystones are where it's at now. focus on those.

HOW TO BUILD YOUR MASTERY TREE

1. pick a keystone mastery
2. build up to it
3. fill in another tree
4. IF YOU ARE A MAGE USE THE CUNNING TREE - trees have changed, they arent tank, offense, utility anymore - ADJUST

Number 4 is actually something i overlooked. I saw the cunning tree as a mock utility tree. But the keystones are geared to mages. Not saying it offsets all the item nerfs, but mages are still plenty viable.

Also, Diana is secret op right now. Her items didn't get touched and everything is squishy. DON'T TELL PEOPLE THNX. (Thunderlord's decree keystone)

Takeaway Message Things have changed. Pick a decent keystone mastery, learn the new items (essence reaver gives crit strike now f.y.i.) and try to make it work. After that you can complain that yasuo is ridiculous. Cuz he is. It will be fixed. I promise. Sleep well knowing this.