Champion Mastery Levels 6 and 7 live now!

Riot·May 19, 2016·13 votes·553,348 views

Show off your skill with your favorite champs along with your dedication to them with new Champion Mastery Levels 6 and 7. When we launched Champion Mastery, our goal was to recognize you for playing the champs you love, and give you feedback on how well you play them. The new levels go further, requiring high-skill performances in addition to time spent playing.

As you rank up, you’ll unlock champ mastery rewards:

New mastery badge emotes
New loading screen border flags
Announcement banner upgrade

But first, here’s how you hit the new levels using the Hextech Crafting system:

Champion Mastery Level 6

Reach Mastery Level 5 on a champ
Earn an S- or higher with that champion, unlocking a Mastery token for that champion
Combine 2 Mastery tokens with a champ shard of the same champ, OR the champ permanent of the same champ, OR 500 blue essence, to unlock Level 6

Champion Mastery Level 7

Reach Mastery Level 6 on a champ
You can no longer earn Mastery 6 tokens for that champ with S- grades, but...
Earn an S or higher in a champ mastery-enabled queue with that champ, unlocking a new Mastery token for that specific champ
Combine 3 Mastery tokens with a champ shard of the same champ, OR the champ permanent of the same champ, OR 600 blue essence, to unlock Level 7

We’re emphasizing a performance requirement alongside a dedication component (the time needed to unlock free chests or earn IP for the champ shards or permanent loot) to build on the original system’s blend of skill and participation.

Because loot has some RNG elements to finding champ shards and permanents, we’re working on a way to pick up only champ shards for IP or RP. We’re aiming to have it up within the next patch or two. We’ll continue to tweak and update loot and Mastery, and we’re still looking for your feedback--especially about the new additions to champ mastery. Leave us your comments and questions below, and we’ll see you on the Rift!

607 Comments

RadMedusaMay 19, 2016272 votes

I feel like it could be so much more simple to be effective. After level 5 only earn champ XP with an S score. And it would take LOT of S games to level up. If you can S on that champ so consistently I think it's fair to say you're master of that champ.

So many leveling systems are meaningless when a high rank doesn't actually mean "plays well", it really just means "plays a lot".

LucasmanMay 19, 20169 votes

ZithiasMay 19, 20167 votes

Agreed.

bobbbyzer0May 19, 2016120 votes

I agree with this completely. The way it is now, you Literally need to purchase your mastery with essence that cant even be earned with that champ (because you wont earn any chests while playing that champ), which makes no sense.

OvatalaMay 19, 201671 votes

It makes perfect sense.It is another money sink.

ChronicSyndicateMay 29, 20163 votes

Definitely not what this is.... They don't need to "trick" their players in to wanting to buy these new things, but for those who are already customers and are willing to pay instead of wait (like some YouTubers like to do to get the "first look" at something) it makes it more accessible.

AsasinoEzioJun 3, 20167 votes

with that said lets call it

" definitely not a riot trick"

ba dum tss

trickschickenMay 20, 20167 votes

they said at the bottom that they are planning to implement a way to get the champ shard with ip or rp so you can get it with all the spare ip we have laying around

ulie loveMay 19, 201619 votes

It's Riots way of dealing with excess champion shards in hextech chests. A not satisfying and over complicated process just to BM.

Vizzy1225May 19, 201629 votes

I think should be lowered to A. I've had a lot of amazing games on my support champ, Nami. 3/1/20 is a pretty good score, and only because of that one death did I get an A+. One thing They could also do instead is you have to earn S's and, at the same time, have a set amount of Mastery Points. 50k for Level 6 with S's and maybe 75k or 100k for 7 and a certain amount of S's. They should throw out the essence needed, you can't buy it and since you most likely earned your chest for your champ, you have to use another champ (which shouldnt affect your level) to get the essence. It's ridiculous they didn't think this through.

StenavenMay 19, 201617 votes

I actually recently had a LeBlanc game where I went like 19/0/7 or something like that, deathless, and I only got like an A+. Maybe my cs wasn't as good as it could be, but like, dang, yknow?

WreckanizeMay 19, 201634 votes

Clearly grades are not based solely on KDA. It would be nice if they gave some general guidance as to how grades are determined though. It might help everyone get better!

RakkndonMay 20, 201610 votes

Exactly. Any guidelines would be helpful. I cant tell you how frustrating it is to get an A or A+ when I just went 9/1/12 as Garen top or 2/1/15 as Blitzcrank support.

KoƒuMay 20, 20166 votes

I feel you. As a Soraka main, going 2/1/20 is pretty darn great. Had 60k in healing. Apparently that only warrants an A-.

CaveslothJun 2, 20163 votes

They say its based on the top players, but isn't that objective? Aren't they still deciding what those players do that weighs more? Would it kill them to give us even some general guidelines with some math behind it? Not to mention it usually dicks over tanky players since it seems to require way more cs than reasonable. Often as tanky jungler i have to build a titanic hydra just to get an S even when its not really something that character should build. Not to mention it doesn't really reward you for tanking damage and saving your teammates which is the tanks frikin job.

MikuSamaMay 21, 201612 votes

Grades are percentile based, meaning it compares your overall score with the average overall score for your champ in your role in your elo. Your overall score is determined from your Kills, Assists, Deaths, CS, Objective Participation, Wards Placed, Wards Destroyed, and Gold Earned. It also takes into consideration how well your teammates did that particular game. So if you are Support Soraka and you do much better than the average Support Soraka in your elo than you would get an S however if your entire team does exceedingly well then your grade will be lowered. So it is possible to go 15/1/45 and still get an A if everyone on your team had a similar score or better. I know that might be a little confusing but I hope I helped a little bit.

brownfloundrMay 23, 20167 votes

I just had a game where i went Nasus top 13/1/5 with 368 CS against a teemo and got an A+. I dont care what you say there is no way that many Nasus players do that consistently at my elo

LadyCosmicMay 20, 20164 votes

yes, ive gotten A, A- on sup champs, its so hard to get an S on supports, i finally got an S- on my Sona today going 6/4/25 and being really aggressive and roaming.

Hïde ön bushMay 19, 201616 votes

It's just another way for Riot to suck money out of people

Lobsterman81May 20, 20166 votes

I totally agree with this. They're making it way to complicated.

GreedyRavenMay 19, 201693 votes

This feels like Riot is trying to force relavence of champion shards by hampering the relavence of the Champion Mastery system. I really hate that Champion Mastery now relies on RNG/RP/IP purchases. That doesn't make sense. Why do I need to spend some resource to show that I'm good at something?

HethaleanMay 19, 20168 votes

It was something that they put out because people were complaining that they had nothing to do with those champion shards. Why do you need to spend some resource to show that I'm good at something? Why do you need a mastery level to show you're good at something to begin with?

Mr ConfuseMay 19, 20161 votes

They can introduce a system to convert orange into blue and blue into orange essence and they can make it so its not exactly 1-to-1 ratio to combat abuse. Adding RNG and resource into obtaining mastery makes that mastery mean nothing. RIOT should make mastery lvl 6 or atleast lvl 7 a pure skill requirement like certain number of S+ or 5 penta kills in ranked or something along those lines.

In response to people asking me the same question over and over again here is my other comment I wrote in reply to the whole support and tank penta kill issue:

My argument was to make it purely skill based and that clearly doesn't mean just penta kills or S ranks, those were just examples. I meant it in terms of some achievement that applies to a specific champion or a group of champions. Say for example to get mastery lvl 7 with ezreal it could be to hit x number of consecutive mystic shots on champions. I know people spam qwe to stack tear and its counter productive but I'm sure the people at RIOT can come up with requirements that doesn't negatively affect game play.

HethaleanMay 19, 201610 votes

Like requiring 3 mastery tokens to get Mastery 7 when you only get Mastery Tokens on S or S+ ranks (see bottom)? Or are S ranks (not S+) too easy to get? Also, if you actually read the article, you'll understand that they know about the RNG aspect. "Because loot has some RNG elements to finding champ shards and permanents, we’re working on a way to pick up only champ shards for IP or RP. "

I disagree entirely on the mastery meaning nothing. You still need the skill to get S ranks on the champion. It's just additionally harder because you rely on RNG to get the champion shards you need. Doesn't make it mean less. Just that some people 'might deserve it' but haven't gotten it yet. That feels like means more to me.

As for the penta kill idea, I'm guessing you do not play support or tank champs. It needs to be an idea that is accessible to every champion in the game. Pretty sure you'd tilt your team and carries if you steal a penta kill as the support (not to mention you don't build damage anyway so GETTING those kills will be rough).

Earn an S or higher in a champ mastery-enabled queue with that champ, unlocking a new Mastery token for that specific champ Combine 3 Mastery tokens with a champ shard of the same champ, OR the champ permanent of the same champ, OR 600 blue essence, to unlock Level 7 (copied from the article)

SherrifMay 20, 20161 votes

Except that an S rank does not indicate skill with a champion.

In fact the S rank picks up people who are skilled at the game, but actually means very little about how good or bad they are with that specific champion. Whether or not your showcase of ability in the game will translate across the stats the algorithm looks at to determine your rank is pretty much just as much RNG as the Hextech Boxes.

HethaleanMay 20, 20164 votes

lol ok, according to you then, people who are good at the game, and are able to perform better on a champion than others... Are not good at that champion. Good differentiation. Thanks. Because I totally want the CPU bog down for recording if a Riven main can easily perform the AA animation interrupts because that's what matters. Not how much you can turn your skill towards kills, warding, objective control, and winning the game. But very specific mechanics. I can only assume then because that is what's left.

CarameI FrappeMay 19, 201651 votes

.. That's not what we wanted Riot. Using blue essence to unlock a Mastery token doesn't show us how skilled we are with said champion. Just saying.

ĘbbAndƒloweyMay 19, 20165 votes

Truthfully, Level 7 is pretty hard to achieve unless you are extremely good with that champion. 3 S or S+ ranks are easier and easier to get the more games you have, but they are still hard accomplishments. I normally get S- on Bard 3/4 of my games, but I have gotten S or S+ maybe 10 out of my 100+ games with the system. I currently have 6 (in fact I got it in 3 games,) but 7 has given me trouble even though I have the essence for it.

jKS5jTvKfLMay 19, 20162 votes

Its not hard at all. Getting an S rating is easy if you know the difference between an A+ and S-. Ive played certain champions so many games that I know what rank I have even b4 the game ends. So I get about 5 S games every 8-9 games.

ĘbbAndƒloweyMay 19, 20169 votes

{quoted}

Its not hard at all. Getting an S rating is easy if you know the difference between an A+ and S-.

I'm not talking about S-, I'm talking about S and S+. Which, as a support main, requires me to not die for my team during fights (that I'm normally in the middle of getting targeted due to my early game dominance as Bard) while still getting kills. Assists are the easy part, unless the game ends early. In that case, I normally don't have the assists to obtain an S, or S+ rank. So I have to get the kills that game to make that part high enough, which then makes my experience horrible cause people berate me for taking kills and still getting targeted so I have to be careful for not dying and ruining my kda. I get S- almost every game, but that step up to S feels extremely hard as I win over 60% of my Bard games but still rarely get S or S+. Does that mean if I make that step up I'll win over 70? 80? nearly 100?

ulie loveMay 19, 201632 votes

I dont know if i'm playing league of legends to have fun or to collect farm mastery points anymore. This system is way to complex, I would have been happier just with points or S rating... Hextech shards is very unnecessary was to dump champion shards for those who own all champions.

SugarCookMay 19, 201624 votes

Why in the world would you attach this new mastery system to having to have a champion shard of the same type? I know you're implementing a new way to get specific champ shards in the next couple of patches, but come on. I don't want to have to pay to be able to get a new emblem simply because I don't have the luck to be able to get the shard. It feels like you're trying to cram this new thing down our throats. It was fine to start out with and I was like "Oh, this is cool!" But limiting the mastery that we can get by adding extreme RNG/ a paywall is a step in the wrong direction. Make it to where we can still get the mastery for free WITHOUT the skin shards, but have it require more tokens or something. I'm fine with having to have 6 S- tokens instead of just two. Gives me a chance to TRULY prove that I deserve the mastery. It makes sense to add a sense of challenge to getting higher mastery, but don't put it behind RNG/ a paywall. Heck, I'd even go far as to say that those who want it for free can even power through a full 10 tokens for mastery 6 and 20 for mastery 7. Those who have truly mastered the champion will be able to do it. Some may think that 10/20 is too much, but honestly these new ranks should be the ULTIMATE challenge of skill and teamwork. All I want is a shiny new emblem above my Bard ...

nickcesMay 19, 201621 votes

I think the main issue here is that the Champion Mastery system really focuses on playing one or a few champions a lot, and being skilled at those Champions, while the Hextech Crafting system focuses a lot on playing many different Champions, since you can only get one free chest per Champion each season.

Basically, let's say I want to get my Mastery Level 7 on Vel'Koz. So I play a lot of Vel'Koz until I hit Level 5. I get one free chest for getting an S with him, and maybe I got a couple of key fragments along the way. Now all the sudden, if I wanna keep showing people that I'm reaching higher and higher mastery levels, I need to go play other champions to get chests with them and hope that I get a Vel'Koz shards or enough random Champion shards so that I can get my Level 6 and 7.

So I think the real problem here is: why should I have to play random other champions to show that I'm good at Vel'Koz?

ShínyMay 19, 201618 votes

I'm still a bit underwhelmed by the champ mastery system,I was able to get a level 7 mastery in the first day. I'm still waiting for the champ mastery tier that actually makes me feel like it's an accomplishment and/or makes me fear for my life when I see one on the enemy team.

Fjork3May 19, 201614 votes

Then you were able to get at least 5 S grades on the same champ in one day, which sounds like a pretty good sign you know what you're doing.

BaggyJMay 20, 201616 votes

Riot please fix the Champion Mastery system and fulfill the promise your made to the players to have a system to genuinely rewards skill and dedication.

Champion mastery is hands down the most exciting feature I have seen introduced to the game in the past two years I have been playing, but it has completely fallen short of the promise that was made.

Champion mastery points seem to stop mattering after 20 thousand. I've got almost 350k mastery points with Graves and yet I feel as though I need to be messing around with the hextech crafting system to be able to have this recognized.

These two system should be completely independent. The moment that "paid" translates to "mastery" (even if only cosmetically) League of Legends has begun to lose its integrity.

AgesModsMay 19, 201615 votes

So, I can't get Mastery 7, nor 6 for my Sona unless I give money to get chests... Okay. I guess getting S and S+ is just a waste of my time then...

ShadedEveMay 20, 201613 votes

Here's a tl;dr for you Riot.

Almost everyone dislikes this new system. Think on that.

Cartr1dgeMay 19, 201612 votes

lmao... pay to master your champ. ill pass and stick with lvl.5 ... the tokens are no issue. honeslty that part is the only thing that deals in "mastery" with a champion the rest is highly unlikely unless i toss in money. but everyone rest assured. nobody is going to care about lvl 6/7 because of the shards required to get it...

6/7 should be just like 1-5. no reason for them to be different. hell ratchet it up to 10 and GIVE US SOMETHING like an icon or w/e. but this is in the books. so RIP lvl 6/7 mastery

FoxySlütMay 20, 201611 votes

Well this is a punch to the face. More than 90% of us beta testers that had given their input on this were completely against this. You trust us to be the first line of feedback and when we collectively agree that an idea is poor, you completely ignore us. Shame on you Riot games, you dont give a shit about what we think, why even have us test things in the first place...

KenpeMay 19, 201610 votes

Um. How did this get through the PBE? Look at the comments. Sure, they're a few people who agree, but most are complaining about how we need the champion shards / blue essence and these 'mastery tokens'. Which is completely RNG at the moment. Unless you pay with RP for chests and keys of course. I know you guys are adding a way to get champion shards with IP, but to make sure people don't just buy champion shards for a cheap price, activate them to play them for a week or spam shard rerolls, there has to be some catch or limit to buying shards. Another problem (for F2P players)is; why would we spend precious IP on fancy emotes and nice gold ring in our summoner profiles, when we could be using that on more significant things like champions or runes?

Look, I see where Riot's trying to go with this, making you prove that you're actually GOOD with a champion, but this system is flawed and needs to be changed. Just my opinion.

DaBaiXiongMay 20, 20169 votes

Cool. So champ mastery has never, and will never actually mean anything.

Just get lucky and its yours. Like your MMR system. Thanks, Riot. Love that money grab.

Way to have some integrity and stand up to your Chinese overlords.

torarmundMay 20, 20166 votes

i think the fact that we have to use shards and essence to get these lvls is BS. i like the idea of the token in order to rank up to the next mastery but masteries were supposed to be something for us that allowed us to earn rewards NOT TAKE AWAY THE ONES WE ALREADY HAVE TO EARN IN ANOTHER WAY!!! this is great for people that already have all or almost all the champions but for someone like me that maybe has about 1/3 this is stupid and down right punishing for me because now i have to chose between getting a mastery on my favorite champion or unlocking a new one. I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO BE MAKING A CHOICE LIKE THAT!

Sammy14039Jul 13, 20166 votes

I'm level 5 Soraka and have 2 mastery 6 tokens. Why can't I get level 6 with champ permanent? I own the champ so what does it mean "champ permanent" when I can't even upgrade to lvl 6 without buying?!

NOFXISTMay 20, 20165 votes

i bought your skins and i got my S+ now i need to buy essence, I got a bunch of chests but not key fragments to open them, So lvl 6 and 7 are pretty much u didnt earn it you bought it, Thats a great ranking system now if I drop 100 bucks on league can i be the best in rank. Stick to money for skins and champs. Not impressed riot.

SinzzeMay 20, 20164 votes

i wonder how much money riot lost when they brought hextech out, since they're trying to find a new rp sink. did free skins really kill your pocket book that hard that you had to bring mastery into a cash grab?

Scrub PrinterMay 19, 20163 votes

Can you give us something else to spend our blue essence on too? Because eventually people are gonna run out of Masteries to obtain.

Chronicle1230May 20, 20162 votes

I don't think the new mastery system is showing a players skill or knowledge of a champion. It seems like a useless way to get people to use the crafting system. I also feel like the S ranks are way to difficult to earn.