Mastery Changes, In-Depth

So as we all know masteries are an issue right now. I've got some ideas that might help the situation and bring in some more meaningful choices. I think the current structure of the trees can work, but choices and trade-offs need to be more meaningful than "Am I solo laning? No? I guess I'll take biscuits then." Most of this can be done by swapping things around.

Here is the current mastery tree for visual reference: http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/e/e2/Masteries.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20161109202819 So, before I get into the changes I'm going to quickly go over the design philosophy of the masteries(paraphrased because I can't find the exact article): Tier 1 & 2: Simple, helps out early game, but doesn't do as much during late game. Often a ball of stats. Tier 3 & 4: Varies on noticeability, but scales better into mid/late game than early. Much more impactful than Tier 1 & 2. Tier 5 & Keystones: Stays useful throughout all points of the game, or gives long-term benefit.

That should be all the background info needed, so I'll go left-to-right. (I apologize in advance for the wall of text...) #Ferocity The Ferocity tree supports being aggressive and rewards offensive tactics. Thematically, it's extremely vicious and has a bit of a blood theme going on, but does not necessarily dismiss magical power. Tier 1: Sorcery swapped with Savagery This change is mostly for thematic purposes, but it also gives a choice whether you'd want easier last-hitting or more attack speed. Also gives a choice in the cunning tree at level 1. Not much else to say. Tier 2: Expose Weakness becomes new: Essence Steal(killing a unit restores 10(?) mana on 30 second cd)? Expose Weakness seems a bit odd in this tree to me since it benefits solo lanes very little until teamfights are more frequent, so I think it should be replaced with something else and put into a different tree. Suggestions on something else are welcome. Maybe basic attacking champions restores a bit of mana on a cooldown? Tier 3 & 4: The only thing I'd change is increase the potential max damage on Battle Trance to 7% over 7 seconds, so there's a better reason to take it over the other two. I think it's fine otherwise, since it gives meaningful trade-offs. Tier 5: Even though there's not much choice, I can't think of anything else that should go there to finish off the tree. As usual, suggestions are welcome. Keystones: Honestly, I don't think anyone likes warlord's in its current form. I think it should either have a complete HP gate like "only works if below X% current HP" or, even better, replace it with something else. My suggestion for replacing it would be to have something similar to Spell & Blade Weaving such as "Damaging a champion with an ability grants your next basic attack within 1 second 10-70 (+AD/AP ratios here) damage". As for the other masteries, I think they're sort of like baselines for how good they are. #Cunning The Cunning tree is meant to be more magical and focuses on skill rather than power or durability. Thematically, it promotes intelligence, cleverness and speed. Tier 1: Savagery swapped with Sorcery See Ferocity. Tier 2: Section now: Explorer, Secret Stash(I like the name Culinary Master but whatever), Assassin Alright, stick with me on this one... Runic Affinity should be replaced with Explorer because of the jungle changes. Since there are only 2 non-epic monster buffs now, Runic is much less valuable, plus explorer makes more sense thematically in Cunning than Resolve. SS and Assassin should stay so there's a choice between sustain, roaming or...assassinating. Also, Assassin does kinda fall off later just because staying alone eventually becomes more of a liability. Tier 3: Merciless switches spots with Precision Yeah, Merciless doesn't have much business being here, but it'd be better to make people who want it have to pick between CDR or executing, plus it forces people to go full into the tree for damage, like most assassins would anyway. Tier 4: This is also fine, IMO. Greenfather's promotes diving into bushes, Bandit is for stealing (theme bonus), and Dangerous Game helps Assassins actually survive(and others, but hopefully I'll make Resolve good enough.). Tier 5: See Tier 3. Keystones: Seem fine to me, since they fill in any spots left in what the tree's supposed to do. For most champs that put 18 points into this, TLD is good if they decide they don't want Windspeaker's(supports) or StormRaider's(whoever else wants this). #Resolve The one anyone reading this far waited for! The Resolve tree is defensive and helps you survive. Thematically, it requires bravery, perseverance, and a will to protect and work with your team. Tier 1: Unyielding replaced with Veteran's Scars Ever since the veteran's scars changes, I don't think anyone uses it seriously, plus it falls off ridiculously quickly. Unyielding, on the other hand, is entirely useless until you get more armor and magic resist, completely going against the design philosophy. This change fixes that pretty quickly. Tier 2: Explorer replaced with Scout. For those of you that don't know, Scout increases the range you can place wards, and Inspiration grants experience while you're near a higher level ally. The purpose of Scout is so a squishy can go ward and not get instakilled because the entire enemy team was hiding in that bush, because getting caught out is what costs games late. Seigemaster is fine and fits thematically, so I personally think it should stay, maybe a small buff. Tier 3: See Tier 1. Might need a number change to keep it on par with Runic Armor. Tier 4: Perseverance replaced with Inspiration (alternatively, buff it to restore % missing health when below a percentage) Remember that thing I said about perseverance? well, the mastery itself isn't very good at ALL for how deep into the tree it is. Anyway, Inspiration grants free experience if they are near allies who are a higher level than them. Fearless was a definite step in the right direction, and buffing Perseverance would make it something to be considered for anyone going that far into the tree. Tier 5: This is also fine because it has options for juggernauts that want to put 18 points into this tree, but now that CoC exists, Legendary Guardian might need a slight buff since it needs 12 points minimum. Keystones: Alright. Here we go. CotC is fine now that it's been nerfed, so the other keystones need to be brought up to its level. Grasp is good but doesn't scale into late game as well because most champs have trouble surviving long enough to proc it more than once, so my suggestion is to have its stay-in-combat-until-ready part start off at 5 seconds and decrease until 2.5 seconds(?) required to stay in combat. Maybe even have the health restored scale up just a bit to 2 or 2.5% max health. It shouldn't take too much for it to be brought back to obvious usefulness. As for Bond of Stone... I really can't think of something for tank supports. CotC can already be used by most of them. I think a good idea would be to make it more obvious that BoS is doing something and clearly display how much damage it's blocking from your team, or maybe give burst protection to your teammates, like "Redirects 6-20% of the damage(based on level) from your nearby allies to you, decaying to 6% over 4 seconds. Refreshes back to full damage reduction after 20 seconds of your allies not taking damage." That's about all I got for this mastery.

...Phew, finally! Again, sorry for the wall of text. Upvote if you like it so hopefully we can hear from Riot and what they think. If you have anything to add, please comment!