what is the whole point of the mastery runic blessing?

True. But the cost is a mastery point that can give you more for your money. It will realistically only be of use for the first jungle run... But if you're at 50hp from being in trouble, there are other problems. Alternatively, most (all) junglers don't really need it.

Otherwise it's going to be blown away by the AA of caster.

edit : as BlazingSalvo mentions just beneath this post. It's also so deep in the defensive tree that by the point where you can have it, you have a ton of other very good options.

It works for bruisers or tanks who are often getting peeled and need stickiness. Since most bruisers/tanks go 9/21/0, the Swiftness mastery can make the difference between being in range for an ability cast or getting your butt handed to you thanks to kiting.

It is particularly potent on the following champions;

It should either be 1. removed, 2. moved to the 9 point tree, or 3. buffed to the level of the deeper trees to warrant picking over swiftness/legendary guardian/etc.

I have never gotten this. The only way this is remotely useful is if all of the following are true:

1. the enemy has a frequent slow

2. the enemy has the same movement speed as you

3. you both possess a slow that slow for the EXACT same amount

If at any point any of these are true, the amount of bonus MS from swiftness is going to be massively outweighed by the difference in slow. In a best case scenario, let's look at Udyr with 525 MS vs Thresh. Normally, Udyr going through the box will wave an amazing 115 MS. With swiftness, he now has a whopping 136.

O wait the enemy is going at 380 MS.

So it doesn't matter. NOW, if you are Ashe and Karma vs Varus and Nami, and you, Nami, have 0 AP but Swiftness, you will be able to escape Ashe with Rank 5 Q even if she has MS quints because of that swiftness mastery.

If you're Karma fighting Nami, no matter whether you have swiftness or not, you will always needs E to escape her Phage. Your slow is not close enough in efficacy for Swiftness to help you escape.

Slows come in a much larger variety than base MS, from 10% all the way to 99%. As such, Swiftness is much more niche. Boots of Swiftness must have that amazing bonus MS because without it, the slow resistance would have to be buffed greatly as the difference in MS does help in times of escape.

think its same as the old habit of taking 1 crit rune. That one time where that one frame costs you a kill makes that 1 point worth.

....Course thats the same for the 50 hp shield to i guess.........hrm

The junglers I play, with the players I matchmake, at the ELO I'm in--that 50HP can be the difference between life and death on first blue or wolves.

If you're playing an off-meta jungler or a fringe pick with a difficult clear, an extra 50 up front HP on your initial clear could be useful. Again, the problem is it being so deep in the defense tree. Azingy runs flat health on Karthus jungle along with spell vamp which helps with the clears before he gets Spirit Stone or Spectral Wraith. If Runic Blessing was, say, a available in the 9-point tree, it could be a no-brainer to enable some 21/9/0 mage junglers who need help pre-spirit stone (or once machete goes up in price next season and you only get 3 health pots).

But. again, it's too deep in defense to be useful for those champions.

That's kinda the point. A high value shield on the masteries would be broken Masteries are supported to help a little, not a lot

Before the bug was discovered, there was coding specifically in the game to prevent Amumu from gaining health when he got hit by minions (because he takes -10 damage from them so it could become less than 0 at high armor). However, the same mechanic was never instituted for shields. No one ever noticed this because shields expire after a duration. But with Runic Blessing, the shield has no duration until it breaks, so Mummy could max Despair, build armor and just sit in lane building his shield for days. It was hilarious.

You have to have a level 1 fight then, a single auto from any champ will get rid of the shield, and unless you hard engage they will just walk away after crushing the shield.

stopping an entire auto attack is actually a pretty big deal. and remember this is just for ONE POINT. the alternative for that point would be something like 1.5 armor which adds about 1/10th the effective hp at level 1 (and then only if the enemy deals 100% physical damage)

even if you look at the base stats of a champion at level 18, that 1.5 armor only adds about 50% more effective hp (and still only against physical, and if the enemy were all physical champions you would probably build more armor making the armor from masteries even worse)

you guys want runic blessing to be an OP, must get mastery when right now it's actually pretty balanced: some champions want it in some situations and those that don't still get a decent amount of value relative to other masteries that are only known to be better under very close scrutiny.

Yeah but in the mid-to-late game it falls flat...

I don't ever leech off from em since we all know it'll harm them. Only tank 50-800 hp of damage for the jungler then get to lane about when the 1st wave meets up.

edit: I'm stupid, lol misclicked meant 50-80hp of damage not 800.