Masteries: What are they and why are they so important?

Your one-stop shop for everything you need to know.

First things first, what are Masteries and where do you get them.

You can farm scrolls in the Minotaur labyrinth dungeon that add up to completed mastery slots. There are white scrolls (tier 1 and 2), green scrolls (tier 3 and 4) and red scrolls (tier 5 and 6). You can get a total of 100 white, 600 green and 950 red scrolls.

Masteries on your champions are the most important thing to do after 6 starring them, the masteries you pick for your champion can significantly increase the effectiveness of the champions skills and overall damage.

Now, we are going to look at each mastery and see what they do and what they are used for.

Let’s start with the offence tree.

Tier 1.

Deadly precision:

5% crit rate

This is the most picked tier 1 offence mastery because Crit Rate is the hardest stat to get

Blade Disciple:

Atk +75

On an attack-based Champion, this is a flat increase of attack by 4 or 5% on high attack-based Champions. However, on a Champion like Brogni this increase of attack is a flat 10% increase.

Tier 2.

Heart of Glory:

Increase damage inflicted by 5% when attacking with full HP

Great Mastery for damage dealers with full health

Keen Strike:

Crit damage +10%.

Simply a damage boost what is not to like.

Shield Breaker:

Increase damage inflicted to targets under Shield buff by 25%.

Great for your Arena nuker as many arena defences have shields

Grim Resolve:

Increases damage inflicted by 5% when attacking with 50% HP or less.

Great for unkillable Clan Boss teams as your Champions will have less than 50% HP for most of the fight or a Skullcrown with her unkillable passive

Tier 3.

Single Out:

Increases damage inflicted to targets with less than 40% HP by 8%.

Very useful for Clan Boss as most of the time you will face him on affinity i.e., less than 40% HP

Life Drinker:

Heals by 5% of the damage inflicted when attacking with 50% HP or less.

Great for unkillable Clan Boss teams and for PVE content gaining a bit of health is nice every time you attack best for damage dealers

Whirlwind of death:

Increases SPD by 6 for each enemy killed by this champion. Stacks across each round in a battle, up to 18 SPD.

If you are building Seer for example you must remember to speed tune her for this mastery.

Ruthless Ambush:

Increase damage inflicted by 8% for the first hit on each enemy.

Great for a damage dealer like a Campaign farmer, arena nuker or a wave clearer. straight up 8% more damage on your first turn

Tier 4.

Bring it down:

Increase damage inflicted by 6% when attacking targets with higher max HP.

A must for your damage dealers, almost all PVE enemies once you are past stage 10 will have more HP than you.

Wrath of the Slain:

Increases damage inflicted by 5% for each dead ally. Stacks up to 10%.

Pretty useless mastery to be honest. You don’t want any of your allies to be dead! The exception is your Campaign farmer.

Cycle of Violence:

Has a 30% chance of decreasing the cooldown of a random skill by 1 turn if the damage inflicted by a skill exceeds 30% of the target’s MAX HP. Occurs once per turn.

Useless for support-based Champions or against Clan Boss. This is great for your damage dealers in wave content like Doom Tower and is an essential mastery for your Campaign farmer

Opportunist:

Increase damage inflicted to targets with Stun, Sleep, Fear, True Fear or Freeze debuffs by 12%.

Massive damage buff for your Champions, if you bring any Champions that place any of these Buffs you are going to hit harder for 12%

Tier 5.

Methodical:

Increases the damage inflicted by this Champions default skill by 2% each time it is used during battle. Stacks across each round in a battle up to 10%.

This is very good for clan Boss as you use your A1 more during that fight.

Kill Streak:

Increases damage inflicted by 6% in the arena and 3% in all other locations for each enemy killed by this Champion in Battle. Stacks across each round, up to 12%.

Only really viable on your Nukers, However, the Arena side of this has no real benefit as you want to kill your enemy in one shot.

Blood Shield:

Places a [Shield] buff on this Champion for 1 turn when this Champion kills an enemy. The value of the [Shield] is equal to 15% of this Champion’s MAX HP. Occurs once per turn.

Great sustain mastery for your damage dealers.

Stoked to Fury:

Increases damage inflicted by 4% for each debuff on this Champion. Stacks up to 12%.

Considering in the Doom Tower the Enemy waves throw out a lot of debuffs 12% is a lot of extra damage.

Tier 6.

Warmaster:

Has a 60% chance of inflicting bonus damage when attacking. Bonus damage is equal to 10% of the target Champion’s MAX HP or 4% of the target’s MAX HP when attacking Bosses. Bonus damage can only occur once per Skill and does not count as an extra hit.

Great for High Levels of Doom Tower, late levels of Dungeon stages and Clan Boss. This is a must for single or double target damage dealers

Helmsmasher:

Has a 50% chance to ignore 25% of your targets DEF. For skills that ignore DEF, this 25% is in addition to the amount ignored by the Skill.

This is great for a general damage dealer as it has a chance to ignore 25% of the target’s defence. So, if you equip your champion with a savage set and a cruel set the total ignored defence with this mastery is 55% of the enemies Defense if it procs.

Giant Slayer:

Has a 30% chance of inflicting bonus damage when attacking. Bonus Damage is equal to 7.5% of the target’s MAX HP or 3% of the Boss’ MAX HP. Bonus damage can occur on each hit of a Skill but does not count as an extra hit.

Great for High Levels of Doom Tower, late levels of Dungeon stages and Clan Boss. This is a must for triple or quadruple hit damage dealers

Flawless Execution:

Critical Damage +20%.

This mastery is mainly used if you want that guaranteed damage buff. For example, if you are built Royal Guard or Coldheart and you want their big slams to hit for the same number each time you should pick this one

That’s it for the Offence tree lets move on the Defense tree this tree was never really used. But now it’s coming into players builds more often due to the need for Resistance and the Counterattack Masteries.

Tier 1.

Tough Skin:

Defense + 75.

Like on the offence tree this is just a flat increase of Defense of about 7.5% which is never a bad thing

Defiant :

Resistance + 10.

This is only ever used if you are building a Resistance Champion.

Tier 2.

Blastproof:

Decreases damage from AoE attacks by 5%.

Nearly everyone is going to pick this mastery because most boss damage and Arena damage is AOE, and this reduces that damage and helps you stay alive a bit longer

Rejuvenation:

Increases the amount of healing and the value of [Shield] buffs this Champion receives by 5%.

This is a must mastery on any shield Champion like Valkyrie, Krisk or Borgni

Mighty Endurance:

Decreases the damage received by 10% if this Champion has [Stun], [Sleep], or [Freeze] debuffs.

If you know you are going up against enemies that place any of this Debuffs this will help you stay alive.

Improved Parry:

Decreases damage received by this Champion by 8% when this Champion is hit with a critical hit.

Very underutilised mastery. You know you will be hit by a critical hit in the arena. Great for your Arena defence or a go second Arena team.

Tier 3.

Shadow Heal:

Heals this Champion by 6% of their MAX HP each time an enemy is healed. Occurs once per turn.

Not a fan of this since it only occurs once per turn which means for it to work properly it must be a long fight.

Resurgent:

Has a 50% chance to remove 1 random debuff from this Champion when they lose 25% of their MAX HP or more from a single enemy skill.

Potentially the most broken mastery in the game. Certainly, for Arena, imagine you get drop defence put on you and this procs the Decrease Defence goes away, and you take less damage. It is a must for Arena Defence teams

Bloodthirst:

Heals this Champion by 10% of their max HP when they kill an enemy target. Cooldown: 1 turn.

This is particularly good on a High HP Champion like Mountain King or Magnar

Wisdom of Battle:

Has a 30% chance of placing a [Block Debuffs] buff on this Champion for 1 turn when [Stun], [Sleep] or [Freeze] debuffs expire on this Champion.

This is very good for Faction Wars and Doom Tower as you are more likely to get these Debuffs placed on you. The 30% is kind of weak for a mastery

Tier 4.

Solidarity:

Increases Ally Resist by 5 for each buff placed on them by this Champion.

Weak mastery, probably the worst mastery in the game. 5! Only 5 that is nothing!

Delay Death:

Reduces the damage this Champion receives from a specific enemy by 0.75% with each hit taken from that enemy, Damage reduction stacks up to 6% for each enemy.

A straight up damage mitigation from a single enemy. Mainly useful in clan boss, over time the Clan Boss hits harder and harder.

Harvest Despair:

Has a 60% chance of placing a [Leech] debuff for 1 turn when placing [Stun], [Sleep], or [Freeze] debuffs.

If you Champion can place any of the Debuffs mentions, then getting a leech is nice for extra healing Champions like Scyl of the Drakes, Kymar or Ma’Sallad this mastery would be great on them. Just remember no boss allows any of these Debuffs to be placed on them, this is only for Doom Tower or Dungeon waves

Stubbornness

Increases RESIST by 10 for each debuff on this champion, Stacks up to 30.

This is a weird one if you are building a resistance Champion the chances of you receiving Debuffs will be slim and if you do then an extra 30 resistance is not going to do much

Tier 5.

Selfless Defender:

Decreases the damage an ally received from the first enemy hit in each round by 20%. This Champion will receive that damage instead.

Only one Champion on your team can proc this, so if all your Champions have this mastery only one of them will use it and as it is only each round this is useless against the Clan Boss. It can be good for Arena Defense.

Cycle of Revenge:

Has a 50% chance of increasing the Turn Meter by 15% when an ally is attacked with a critical hit. Will only increase the Turn Meter once if an ally receives multiple critical hits from a single skill.

Very good mastery for Champions you want to boost their turn meter like Cardinal in a go second Arena team.

Retribution:

Has a 50% chance to counterattack when this Champion loses 25% of their MAX HP or more from a single enemy skill.

Amazing mastery and is used in nearly all Clan Boss teams now and is brilliant on Skullcrown when she is hit and places her Unkillable Buff.

Deterrence:

Has a 20% chance to counterattack an enemy when they apply a [Stun], [Sleep], or [Freeze] debuff on an ally.

Another Counterattack mastery that is very useful against enemies that place the Crowd Control Debuffs like the Clan Boss. 20% is kind of low though.

Tier 6.

Iron Skin:

Def + 200.

This is never taken as a tier 6 mastery and rightly so the other 3 masteries in tier 6 are so much better.

Bulwark:

Decreases the damage all allies receive by 5%. This Champion will receive that damage instead.

Like Selfless defender Bulwark will only work on one person on your team. But bulwark Is more consistent. Mainly used on your uber tank Champions

Fearsome Presence:

Increases the chance of placing a [Stun], [Sleep], [Freeze] or [Provoke] debuff from Skills or Artifacts by 5%.

Great for your Stun Champions in Faction Wars it gives a straight up 5% increase to proc the Debuff mentioned, and it also applies to the set bonus’ a great example is a Stun set Pyslar she doesn’t hit hard anyway and that 5% extra chance to proc the Stuns she is being used for.

Unshakeable:

Resist + 50.

Only used in Resistance builds and if you are going that route remember you will need to go big with resistance up to 500 or 600 as the game favors accuracy

And now for the last mastery set The Support tree, which, you guessed it is mainly for your Support Champions. But early game a lot of players will benefit from this tree for the accuracy as its one of the most important stats in the game. If you are trying to land debuffs or anything to the enemy’s bar raw damage you are going to need accuracy, and this is the best place for that.

Tier 1.

Steadfast:

Max HP + 810.

Depending on the Champion you are building this tier1 mastery might suit it better for example Brogni doesn’t need accuracy. So, this is perfect for him. Additionally, if all things are equal in Clan Boss for the Stun target, he will not hit the Champion that has this mastery.

Pinpoint Accuracy:

Acc + 10.

Most players will pick this mastery at the start because its just a flat increase of 10 for your accuracy

Tier 2.

Lay on Hands:

Increases the value of heals this Champion casts by 5%.

Simply a must for Champions that heal.

Shieldbearer:

Increases the value of [Shield] buffs this Champion casts by 5%.

Again, a must for champions that place a Shield

Exalt in Death:

Heals this Champion by 10% of their Max HP the first time an enemy is killed in each round.

This is a useful mastery it heals this Champion by 10% if any enemy is killed

Charged Focus:

Increases ACC by 20 when this Champion has no skills on Cooldown.

Often people get caught with this mastery the accuracy is only increased when no skills are on cooldown. So, this turns off as soon as you have used a skill it is very regularly this is not working. It is only useful in Arena speed farming team where they will only use one skill anyway.

Tier 3.

Healing Savior:

Increases the amount of healing and the value of [Shield] buffs placed by this Champion by 10% if the target ally has 40% HP or less.

Great for shield and healing champions but remember its only if the target ally is low health

Rapid Response:

Has a 30% chance of increasing the Turn Meter by 10% when a buff cast by this Champion is removed or expires.

This is great for champions that place loads of Buffs like Helmut or Maus Mage, and they are going to get their turn meter filled again. Be cautious if you have a speed tune for Clan Boss this mastery can put your order out of sync

Swarm Smiter:

Increases Acc by 4 for each enemy alive. Stacks up to 16.

Generally, it’s always 16 apart from Clan Boss and Boss fights

Arcane Celerity:

Has a 30% chance of increasing the Turn Meter by 10% when a debuff cast by this Champion is removed or expires.

Is the same as Rapid Response except it’s for the Debuffs you cast

Tier 4.

Merciful Aid:

Increases the amount of healing and the value of [Shield] buffs placed by this Champion by 15% if the target ally has [Stun], [Sleep], [Fear], [True Fear] or [Freeze] debuffs.

Very situational mastery and it doesn’t happen very often until you get into high level Doom Tower and Faction Wars

Cycle of Magic:

Has a 5% chance of decreasing the cooldown of a random skill by 1 turn at the start of every turn.

It has a low chance of decreasing the cooldown. However, if you are building a Champion that only has one skill that has a cooldown like Bad el-Kazar or Stag Knight this is very good

Lore of Steel:

Increases the Set Bonuses of Basic Artifact Sets by 15%. This increase is multiplicative, not additive

Lore of Steel is probably the most well-known mastery because it increases the base stat bonus on all sets including Perception, Swift Parry, Cruel and many more by 15%

Evil Eye:

Decreases the target’s Turn Meter when this Champion hits target for the first time with the default skill. Decreases the Turn Meter by 20% with single-target Skills and by 5% with AoE Skills. Occurs once per target

One of the best masteries in the game. simply put when your Champion uses their A1 you decrease the turn meter of the target. Brilliant for all content in the game

Tier 5.

Lasting Gifts:

has a 30% chance to extend the duration of any buff cast by this Champion by 1 turn. It will not extend [Block Damage], [Unkillable] or [Revive on Death] buffs.

Great mastery any chance to extend buffs is brilliant. Amazing for Bad el-Kazar if you want to keep the heals, he does on your Champions

Spirit Haste:

Increases SPD by 8 for each dead ally. Stacks up to 24.

Its kind of a useless mastery and very situational. Can be very good on Uugo with his Passive and revive mechanic.

Sniper:

Increases the chances of placing any debuff from Skills or Artifacts by 5%. It will not increase the chances of placing [Stun], [Sleep], [Freeze] or [Provoke] debuffs.

Adds 5% to landing your Debuffs but doesn’t add this to the big Crowd Control Debuffs

Master Hexer:

Has a 30% chance to extend the duration of any debuff cast by this Champion by 1 turn. It will not extend [Stun], [Sleep], [Freeze], [Provoke], [Fear], [True Fear], or [Bomb] debuffs.

Same as Lasting gifts apart from it is for your Debuffs great for Boss or Clan Boss fights

Tier 6.

Elixir of Life:

Max HP + 3000.

Nobody really takes this mastery it’s not useful

Timely Intervention:

Increases this Champions’ Turn Meter by 20% whenever an ally hero drops below 25% HP.

Great for revivers to get back to their revives or for your turn meter control Champions to get you back in the fight

Oppressor:

Increases the Turn Meter fill rate by 2.5% for each active debuff cast by the Champion. Stacks up to 10%.

Rarely used and is very niche.

Eagle Eye:

Accuracy +50.

If you are struggling with accuracy in your build or if your Champion is just there to land debuffs or abilities this is great for them

And that is all the masteries explained. I hope you have learned something. Because I know I have! The main takeaway from this is for you to remember do not blindly copy other people’s masteries. We at the website have worked very hard to make sure the new masteries set up on the champions page can cater for all builds.

If you enjoyed reading this or if you disagree with any of the article, please leave a comment down below we love to hear from you!