On Mastery Polarization for Mages (and a little bit about Xerath)

Hello guys, I was thinking about the current masteries and decided to discuss them to see if someone shares my view.

My first statement is that currently we have three kinds of Mages playing this game: 1) those who can use Thunderlords to its full potential; 2) those who benefit a little bit more from deathfire touch than from thunderlords; and 3) those who dont operate neither mastery in it`s full potential.

My criteria for this is as fallows:

• What makes a Mage good for Thunderlords: skills that proc multiple times (like Morganas W, or Ahris Q), a very small CLD allowing for chained castings (Ryze comes to mind) or some sort of interaction between Autos and skills (Like Lux). All those champions, in general, can proc Thunderlords with fewer castings or instantly.

• What makes a Mage good for Deathfire`s: basically DOT.

• It is also of note that, whenever in doubt on which mastery to use, going for thunderlords is still quite a good option. Also, many deathfire mages can actually use thunderlords really well.

• There are a few Mages that quite dont fit in either criteria. While no masteries are useless for them, they cant compete with those that I mentioned on efficiency grounds. For example, while a VelKoz may proc thunderlords with one skill (both hits from the W) and an Auto, Ziggs must cast two skills and an Auto for the same effect. Also, Ziggs, to extend the example, is not quite effective as Brand while using deathfire.

I bring this so to understand if Riot, while working on low mobility mages, is aware that no matter what they do to those champions, they must consider the masteries. They must consider that if a mages role is to burst, it must be able to capitalize well on thunderlords; if its role is sustained damage, it must interact well with deathfire. Otherwise, no matter what they do on the changes (after buffs and nerfs) the best mages will still be the ones that use both masteries well.

And about Xerath:

• Ive seen players both using Thunderlords and Deathfire on Xerath. What I feel, while using the champ myself is that while I would not dismiss either mastery, none actually is quite potent on him. Yeah, thunderlord`s means burst, but it triggers by requiring Xerath to cast 3 skills or going close and using an Auto. Deathfire, on the other side, is better if you want to siege and poke, while you lose the extra CLD reduction from the blue tree. I tend to favor the later, since I rather use Xerath for sieges and poke.

• My main concern, however, is that the champion has lost a lot of his personality and role in the game. There are simply other champions best suited for the job. Also, the lore and the skills do not seem to be walking together. A demigod with increasing powers with the objective to be free from its bounds so to become all powerful is by no means represented on Xeraths kit. His power does not increase by any means besides building AP. Veigar, Nasus, Cassiopeia, Thresh, all those champions represent much better ever increasing powers. Also, for a being that seems literally made of mana and arcane energy his mana pool and mana costs are very prohibitive. While his passive should remedy it, it really seems odd. I mean, why simply not giving him some other passive and actually adjusting his mana and costs accordingly? Is range something so oppressive that you must force him to run out of mana and come close to the enemy to recharge? Why does he recharge mana by Autoing enemies? In no point in his lore it says he is some sort of mana vampire.

Id just like if Riot took the time to adjust him together with other low mobility mages, so he can actually feel like the demigod he is portrayed as. I dont want him overpowered, I just want to play him the way his lore sells him.

Cheers,

Fawstus