Does Maestro Still Hold Up as a Top Defender? Is he Still Worth R3?

Nemesis_17

So I finished crucible today and got my r3 gem. I had been planning on my next r3 being maestro for a while, but im starting to second guess my choice. I have an r3 in every class except cosmic and tech. In tech the only one who interests me is guardian, but he’s terrible this meta and in the next one so I plan to r3 him later on. In cosmic my top options are basically just maestro, s40 Terrax or s20 sersi. (I’m ftp so no BRB but I don’t think I’d r3 him anyway)

Lately I’ve been seeing maestro get nuked a lot, sometimes even at r3. Part of his threat is when you’re caught without a counter against him, but it seems like almost anyone counters him these days. And if they do happen to be caught without one, wouldn’t an r2 still do the trick?

On the other hand, maybe being r3 still holds up since he’s very tanky and will likely survive long enough to deal some unavoidable damage. Maybe Cgr and juggs would still nuke, but I ban juggs, and I don’t know that many other champs could really nuke him down consistently at r3.

I thought about making this a poll for my next r3, but this is more so about accurately assessing Maestro’s value than deciding who I take up. If he’s still as good as I hope he is, then I will be taking him up. If he’s not, then I maybe will make a poll to sort through my other options.

Does he still hold up? What are your thoughts?

Average_Desi

Yup. He still does

Gildarts99

Ermm...he is still very good defensively. However, no champ is gonna be that great a defender forever not even serpent. Doesn't mean they are any easy now. Just that we keep getting more counters to them and the player base keeps upskilling. So yhh he is great

Nemesis_17

Gildarts99 said:

Ermm...he is still very good defensively. However, no champ is gonna be that great a defender forever not even serpent. Doesn't mean they are any easy now. Just that we keep getting more counters to them and the player base keeps upskilling. So yhh he is great

Well yea, obviously every defender will get easier over time, but I’ve seen myself, and heard from other players that I trust, that he’s not been as tough to deal with lately. Of course I could just be in a sense unlucky with the info I’ve seen and heard, which would mean it isn’t truly representative of how he does. Just wanted to make a discussion on it to get more broad community feedback.

Emilia90

A r3 is definitely very tanky. My r2 still puts in decent work. Looking through my deck, I have around 7-8 good maestro counters but even they would be slowed down by a r3 to a decent level. I think it’s still worth it if you want a tough defender

Nemesis_17

Emilia90 said:

A r3 is definitely very tanky. My r2 still puts in decent work. Looking through my deck, I have around 7-8 good maestro counters but even they would be slowed down by a r3 to a decent level. I think it’s still worth it if you want a tough defender

That’s good to know. I know you play at a fairly competitive level so if an r2 is still doing fairly well for you an r3 should be more than fine.

EdisonLaw

Serpent > Maestro > Hulkling

Emilia90

Nemesis_17 said:

Emilia90 said:

A r3 is definitely very tanky. My r2 still puts in decent work. Looking through my deck, I have around 7-8 good maestro counters but even they would be slowed down by a r3 to a decent level. I think it’s still worth it if you want a tough defender

That’s good to know. I know you play at a fairly competitive level so if an r2 is still doing fairly well for you an r3 should be more than fine.

Yeah he definitely should be. I was considering the same thing but I wanted the dupe and I just don’t enjoy playing him offensively enough to r3 him rn. He’s a fantastic defender though and I think a good way to see it is that a r5A and r2 are supposed to be around the same level. At that level, it’s easier for champs like Kate bishop and CGR to quickly nuke him but it gets harder with higher ranks

A high ranked Juggs or Kush or Chavez would still take him out with moderate ease but the increased health pool not only means more time stalling, but if the cosmic radiation comes up it’s a lot of health loss

JLordVileJ

Do sersi bro trust me. If I had that sersi she'd go up in a heartbeat #noregrets

Pikolu

Sersi has entered the chat

JLordVileJ

Search up yoryies video on sersi i guarantee it will change your mind

Nemesis_17

Emilia90 said:

Nemesis_17 said:

Emilia90 said:

A r3 is definitely very tanky. My r2 still puts in decent work. Looking through my deck, I have around 7-8 good maestro counters but even they would be slowed down by a r3 to a decent level. I think it’s still worth it if you want a tough defender

That’s good to know. I know you play at a fairly competitive level so if an r2 is still doing fairly well for you an r3 should be more than fine.

Yeah he definitely should be. I was considering the same thing but I wanted the dupe and I just don’t enjoy playing him offensively enough to r3 him rn. He’s a fantastic defender though and I think a good way to see it is that a r5A and r2 are supposed to be around the same level. At that level, it’s easier for champs like Kate bishop and CGR to quickly nuke him but it gets harder with higher ranks

A high ranked Juggs or Kush or Chavez would still take him out with moderate ease but the increased health pool not only means more time stalling, but if the cosmic radiation comes up it’s a lot of health loss

Yea the dupe would be quite nice to have but in bgs sized fights you can do just fine without it, especially at r3. I actually do find him quite fun on attack too. He may be someone like sassy who really benefits from that r3, which has been the case with my sassy and r3ing him has paid off very well.

I don’t have 7* juggs so I ban every r2 or higher, Kushala i also don’t have so I usually ban her at r3, which leaves just Chavez. She could definitely be a problem but unless she’s a duped r3 I think she still won’t take him down too quickly.

Nemesis_17

JLordVileJ said:

Do sersi bro trust me. If I had that sersi she'd go up in a heartbeat #noregrets

Oh I love sersi as a champ, and I think she’s underrated… but not to the point where I want to r3 her that much. She does great on defense when they don’t have a counter, but if they do, she’ll get smoked whether she’s r2 or r3. The r3 would help her on attack tho I must admit.

Nemesis_17

Pikolu said:

Sersi has entered the chat

I respect a man who keeps his opinions consistent. 🫡

Fryday

Nemesis_17 said:

Pikolu said:

Sersi has entered the chat

I respect a man who keeps his opinions consistent. 🫡

For @Pikolu it is not an opinion, it is Fact 🤣, right Pikolu?

Also Pikolu must have a special tag on Sersi, that ping notifications whenever Sersi is mentiones on the forum (or maybe anywhere, everywhere...all at once 🤣).

EdisonLaw

Emilia90 said:

A r3 is definitely very tanky. My r2 still puts in decent work. Looking through my deck, I have around 7-8 good maestro counters but even they would be slowed down by a r3 to a decent level. I think it’s still worth it if you want a tough defender

Also a viable attacker if need be

Real_Madrid_76_2

He's great as a defender in certain scenarios. Decent as attacker. Choice is yours whether u wanna risk your items

captain_rogers

Not defender maestro but attacker maestro is definitely worth r3. He is my high risk high reward counter against chitinous thorns FAM in path 3 AW

PT_99

R3 Maestro is the one where I have to play seriously, r2 and r5 Ascended just dies way too soon with Vox Kate.

So yeah r3 Maestro is top defender and also war attacker in current meta

EdisonLaw

I also think that the sooner we get to awaken the 7* Maestro the better he will become, because the awakened ability allows for two things
1. Allows him to refresh furies with special 1. Obviously this isn’t necessary in a BGs fight because the fight would most likely be over, but this would be nice in like questing or war.
2. Neutroniun increases block penetration, this is the defensive part and will make him harder on defense because he deals more block damage (combined with pierce stat focus and pierce effects)

EdisonLaw

Pikolu said:

Sersi has entered the chat

Sersi > Hercules

PT_99

You mixed up between > <
Choose the correct one next time 👀

Nemesis_17

Thanks everyone for the feedback, it looks like I was overthinking things when it came to maestro, sounds like he’s still very much so a threat. I’ve decided to wait a few days until after the base pool changes and I open my 7* crystals, as there’s a few champs there that could alter my decision. If I don’t get any pulls that really interest me, maestro will get the rankup.

EdisonLaw

Nemesis_17 said:

Thanks everyone for the feedback, it looks like I was overthinking things when it came to maestro, sounds like he’s still very much so a threat. I’ve decided to wait a few days until after the base pool changes and I open my 7* crystals, as there’s a few champs there that could alter my decision. If I don’t get any pulls that really interest me, maestro will get the rankup.

Do you have Serpent ranked up?

Polygon

Sassy can take him as well. CGR nukes. Idk how kate does against an r3. Sunspot probably cant?

Nemesis_17

EdisonLaw said:

Nemesis_17 said:

Thanks everyone for the feedback, it looks like I was overthinking things when it came to maestro, sounds like he’s still very much so a threat. I’ve decided to wait a few days until after the base pool changes and I open my 7* crystals, as there’s a few champs there that could alter my decision. If I don’t get any pulls that really interest me, maestro will get the rankup.

Do you have Serpent ranked up?

Don’t have him. Would wait on rebalancing if I were to pull him anyway.

SecondSkriller

R3 Maestro is still very much relevant as a defender. If u have him and Serpent the opponent will really struggle to find counters.

Nemesis_17

SecondSkriller said:

R3 Maestro is still very much relevant as a defender. If u have him and Serpent the opponent will really struggle to find counters.

No serpent, but I do have domino, sassy, and killmonger as my 3 big r3 defenders. I like the idea of adding a 4th, because that way they chat just ban the 3 biggest defensive threats and move on. One of them can still get through.

captain_rogers

Nemesis_17 said:

SecondSkriller said:

R3 Maestro is still very much relevant as a defender. If u have him and Serpent the opponent will really struggle to find counters.

No serpent, but I do have domino, sassy, and killmonger as my 3 big r3 defenders. I like the idea of adding a 4th, because that way they chat just ban the 3 biggest defensive threats and move on. One of them can still get through.

And trust me that one leftover defender will never enter your draft. But magically always enters opponent draft if they have them as well.

Happens to me everytime with serpent lol

Nemesis_17

captain_rogers said:

Nemesis_17 said:

SecondSkriller said:

R3 Maestro is still very much relevant as a defender. If u have him and Serpent the opponent will really struggle to find counters.

No serpent, but I do have domino, sassy, and killmonger as my 3 big r3 defenders. I like the idea of adding a 4th, because that way they chat just ban the 3 biggest defensive threats and move on. One of them can still get through.

And trust me that one leftover defender will never enter your draft. But magically always enters opponent draft if they have them as well.

Happens to me everytime with serpent lol

You’re telling me serpent isn’t banned in 99% of your matches?

But yea lol it could happen though it’s unlikely. Most of the time they don’t ban all 3 of my defenders, but adding a 4th still gives an extra problem.

captain_rogers

Nemesis_17 said:

captain_rogers said:

Nemesis_17 said:

SecondSkriller said:

R3 Maestro is still very much relevant as a defender. If u have him and Serpent the opponent will really struggle to find counters.

No serpent, but I do have domino, sassy, and killmonger as my 3 big r3 defenders. I like the idea of adding a 4th, because that way they chat just ban the 3 biggest defensive threats and move on. One of them can still get through.

And trust me that one leftover defender will never enter your draft. But magically always enters opponent draft if they have them as well.

Happens to me everytime with serpent lol

You’re telling me serpent isn’t banned in 99% of your matches?

But yea lol it could happen though it’s unlikely. Most of the time they don’t ban all 3 of my defenders, but adding a 4th still gives an extra problem.

He is banned in most matches, and rarely when he doesn't get a ban, usually when opponent has a serpent too, it's almost always they get to draft him but I don't, lol.