Season 3 Masteries And My Evaluation

[LazaHorse]

If you haven't yet seen the Season 3 mastery page, it can be found in an editable form here:

 

http://www.finalesfunkeln.com/s3/#

 

The picture (less helpful) is as shown:

 

 

Now the notable pieces from the the new page (in my opinion):

Offense:

• Removal of Vampirism (moved into deep Utility)
   
  
• Nerf to percent penetration from 10% to 8%
   
  
• The addition of Spellsword (hi Teemo)
   
  
• Frenzy will be busted and likely nerfed
   
  
• Attack Speed no longer linked to Mpen: Warwick players rejoice
   
  
• AD champs have to "waste" 2 points on either minion damage or percent damage dealt
  

Defense:

1. No longer -4 damage from minions
    
   
2. Armor and MR no longer tier 1; Sona can't run 1-3-26 anymore
    
   
3. Removal of Initiator (3% movement speed) as part of the overall nerf to mobility
    
   
4. Addition of tenacity and slow reduction (Jax gonna go so ham)
    
   
5. Percent damage reduction added to deep defense tree
    
   
6. Random time spent dead mastery moved to deep defense
    
   
7. Tanks have very obvious choices, while Tanky DPS have equally obvious but very different choices
   

Utility:

1. Movement speed mastery effective only when out of combat now
    
   
2. 3% free MS moved to 21st utility point; effectively removing it from the game
    
   
3. Mastermind moved WAY UP in the utility tree
    
   
4. Addition of Artifacer for item CDR
    
   
5. Strength of spirit moved up, but not viable with only 9 points in utility (3 point mastery: 9-11)
    
   
6. Vampirism DEEP in the utility tree adds 3% lifesteal AND spell vamp (no one will ever get it)
    
   
7. Biscuiteer and Explorer show supports some love...... but IMO are just gimmicks
    
   
8. Pickpocket would be broken for supports... if it was ever worth going 21 deep with the new masteries
   

My overall opinion is that the mastery changes ATTEMPTED to address three major forces in the current meta. The three "problems" Riot wanted to deal with are the mobility creep, the 0 CS support role, and the lane hyper-aggressiveness. However, I don't think they went about dealing with any of the three the proper way. They completely removed the mobility masteries for all intents and purposes, and now junglers like Alistar, Cho'Gath, and Amumu as well as supports like Crank, Leona, and J4 will be nerfed HEAVILY. They added two gimmicky items and a gimmicky mastery to utility (DEEP INTO THE TREE) that most supports will either pass over or find little gain in using. They removed the minion damage reduction mastery (changed the 2 damage reduction to only from champion damage), but also added Safeguard and Legendary Armor which both allow under-tower aggression.

 

The huge drawbacks of the new change for me are that they are making a number of current junglers complete garbage (no MS for the ones mentioned before, no free lifesteal for Wukong or Shyvana, and only -2 minion damage reduction for Mundo or Lee Sin), they are adding support-oriented masteries in inaccessible parts of the page (no support would need 3% free MS while giving up all the defensive stats in the Defense tree), and they are once again neglecting the lack of variety that AD champions have (it will likely be the same 19-11-0 that most ADs/Bruisers run ATM with a few changes for select champions). Time will tell how this plays out, but my hopes aren't high for these masteries.

 

Real. (sorry I forgot, yolo)

Edited November 28, 2012 by LazaHorse