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Marvel Contest of Champions
Super Hero Fighting Game
Like Spider-Man hanging in the shadows, Masteries – one of Marvel Contest of Champions’ skill-boosting systems – lurk on the very edge of this epic brawler.
Masteries’ effects aren’t always clear, even for seasoned players – but they can truly elevate your game. Here’s a refresher on how these upgrades supercharge your fighters.
What exactly are Masteries, anyway?
Masteries are bonuses that permanently increase your characters’ attributes and abilities. Each time you level up, you can upgrade or unlock new ones. It’s like your champions just honed their skills in the X-Men’s Danger Room, or got combat lessons from Cap himself.
What are the different kinds of Masteries?
To see the full range of unlockable Masteries, go to your Summoner profile and tap the Mastery button. Masteries are grouped by the effects they have on your super-team:
Offense Masteries improve damage-dealing attributes like Critical Hit Rating (the chance of landing a stronger-than-usual blow). Putting points into these also enhances abilities such as Fury, which increases attack power and Bleed, which weakens foes over time.
Defense Masteries bolster Health, Armour and other life-preserving attributes. They also enhance abilities like Block.
Proficiencies Masteries elevate skill-type attributes like Stun and improve abilities such as Dexterity and Parry.
Which Masteries are most valuable
Most of them are pretty helpful, but here are a few of our favourites:
Deep Wounds. This Offense Mastery boosts any Bleed effects inflicted by your champions. When your fighters have more health points than their opponent, Deep Wounds also adds extra damage each time they inflict Bleed. This is especially useful for characters like Deadpool who deal lots of short Bleeds (with low-blow punches and whirling blades, in his case).
Willpower. This Defense Mastery improves the resilience of all non-robot champions (sorry, Ultron!) against enemy debuffs. For each new debuff type, Willpower provides additional Armour and Regeneration. It’s a great way to increase your survival rate, as debuffs are quite common.
Parry. Unlockable at level 9, this Proficiencies Mastery rewards you for blocking enemy attacks just before they land. Parry successfully, and you’ll take less damage and stun your opponent – giving you a great chance to get some hits in. It’s clobberin’ time!
Parry works against projectiles (Iron Man’s repulsor beams, Punisher’s bullets, Storm’s lightning bolts) as well as physical attacks, but it won’t inflict Stun against ranged opponents or those using a special attack. A successful Parry always offers extra damage reduction, though.
Dexterity. Unlockable at level 10, this Proficiencies Mastery is triggered when you dash backward the moment an enemy attacks. Time your backpedalling just right, and you’ll avoid taking damage from Morningstar’s mace, Hulk’s giant fist – you name it. Successful dodging with Dexterity grants a buff that increases the chance your next attack will be a critical hit.
Dodge correctly and you can even avoid multiple hits in quick succession. A word of warning: some beam attacks (like Cyclops’ optic blasts) are tough to fully avoid with Dexterity, though it is possible!