Mastery Unlocks Are So Expensive What’s Really Worth It?

I’m at the point where I need to start unlocking more masteries (Maxing out Willpower, Deep wounds etc), but the unit costs are no joke. Some of them feel like a huge investment, and I don’t want to burn through units on masteries that don’t really make a difference.

Which locked masteries are absolutely worth spending units on?
Are there any that look tempting at first but end up being a waste?
Is spending units on suicide masteries really worth it in this day and age?
Should I grind to actually unlock everything?

Basically, I want to make sure I’m putting my units into the right places and not just throwing them away on unnecessary unlocks. Any advice or personal setups you can share would be a huge help.

Comments

M_A_D_D_Y

Could you share a SS of your current masteries? It’ll be easier to give good suggestions if I can see what you’ve already unlocked.

Magrailothos

Masteries are the best long-term investment you can make in this game, bar none.

To be honest, it's been so long that I can't completely remember which ones I had to pay for; but off the top of my head…

Despair gives incredible utility (shutting down healing) to all kinds of champions, across multiple classes; because it works with both damaging and non-damaging debuffs. It means that you can use champions like Ironheart or Chee'ilth; or even Knull and Terrax to shut down your opponents regeneration. I usually run 2-3 points, personally.

Inequity gives the exact same pool of champions more endurance, by weakening the opponent. So Chee'ilth and Ironheart (who are both already pretty solid at blocking) get even better. I usually run two points; three would generally be overkill.

Deep Wounds is really powerful for a small proportion of champs who have short, intense bleed debuffs, most specifically Nick Fury and Okoye; also good for Blade and Ronin, if you use them. Anyone who already inflicts very long bleeds (like Chee'ilth or Gorr) gets relatively little benefit. It doesn't work at all with passive or instant bleeds (Bullseye, Yelena, etc). So although it's amazing for some champs, only go for this mastery if those happen to be champions you actually use.

Mystic Dispersion is ridiculously overpowered; to the point where a lot of Mystics really don't work properly without it. It's transformative for champions like Dr Voodoo and Kushala.

Pacify mastery and Assassin mastery are ones to think twice about... Yes, it can be helpful to sometimes shut down the opponents cheat death-type abilities. On the other hand, the AAR from these Masteries also interacts with nodes; and that includes nodes that benefit you. So sometimes there might be a node that benefits you if you parry or intercept the opponent; but Pacify/Assassin can cause that beneficial effect to fail. A lot of people avoid these Masteries for that reason. Still, the attack bonus from Assassin is good; and the downside is only occasional, so it may be worth the risk for you...

CheeseMaster482

Recoil masteries are useless outside of arena grinding. In BGs you can play perfectly and still lose 30% of your hp. I'm story content, you are losing 10-15% hp per fight just to finish them 10-15 seconds faster than without recoil masteries. Only ever buy recoil masteries using the free cores form the weekly reunion crystal.

jcphillips7

Mag’s write-up is pretty great and on point.

For what it’s worth OP, I have most of those maxed myself:

3/3 Despair

5/5 Deep Wounds

3/3 Inequity

5/5 Mystic Dispersion

Once I hit lvl 65 and get the extra mastery point, I’ll be considering turning off Assassin completely, along with possibly 1 point in Cruelty to give myself 3 in Collar Tech (good benefit for Bastion, Prowler, and Maker)

As far as some of these other expensive masteries, I only keep 1/3 for Willpower, but I keep 5/5 Stand Your Ground.

Herbal_Taxman

willpower and despair should be priorities, most likely. MD is truly transformative but note that you have to buy mystic class cores with loyalty rather than units.

OP, what level are you?

Usagicassidy

how many people are still using Glass Cannon? I don’t have any of the recoil masteries but I do have that one…

Jerichoharris

if you do arena then suicides are the single biggest positive investment you will ever make. Makes progressing through fights significantly quicker.