If it's your first, I'd go with Elhain. The masteries would help a lot to 3* Brutal Campaign and make your Brutal 12-3 farm consistent. Is she 6* yet?

Forget Elhain, go with Royal Guard. Keep using Elhain like that till you don't use her anymore. 

I would 6* zelotah (no books needed!) then apothecary once your 12.3 farmer (assume elhain) is at 60.  If she can farm without masteries, I would do without but you may need as it is more difficult until you improve your gear.

She's already 6* and can farm brutal 12-3 with basically no masteries. I also have Stag Knight 6* and I bought his masteries. I'm having trouble deciding who to waste 800 gems on next since I'm hoping I can replace Elhain with a better AoE attacker soon... Royal Guard is still 5* and he just doesn't hit hard

Zelotah is also 6* already, those 3 are 6* (Elhain, Zelotah and Stag Knight), and Apo will be in a few days.

Great starting roster, you are wise to invest in support early! Your dungeon progression will thank you 😊 post your roster. After apothecary you need a poisoner 

Use epic books on stag knight NOT Zelotah 

I use Occult Brawler when I need a poisoner right now, Frozen Banshee is almost fully booked but he does more damage

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And this is my vault 

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60 skullcrusher, then either brawler (doesnt need books or banshee -- only good when fully booked.  Then probably apothecary..  If you are patient you will have a good core that will progress in dungeons and do mino15.  Coffinsmasher great for CB too.  Then RG and 1 CH.

Thank you sm for the advice!

To add, you said you were going to 6star Apo first.  I can't argue with that either.  But I think with Apo, SC and a poisner you are in good shape.  Your CB team will be an odd mix for a while but IMO focus on dragon progression.  I think the CB rewards are sh!t until you get top chest in UNM, lol, which obviously you are bit ways from :)  And dragon/CB teams can be quite similar.  Zelotah is one of the best epic in the game imo, no books needed and don't worry about weak affinity in dragon as it doesn't affect his primary purpose (shields/heals).  And he is reat for mid-game CB as he keeps you alive past stage 20, better than bad lifesteal gear on everyone.  Let's you use better 2 peice sets to get good speed/acc/def/hp/resist.  In forge, perception gear is best by far.  Save your charms until you can get the 5*gear though which is tough at your stage.

Your question is about masteries, but most people get masteries for there core clan boss team.

You want Masteries on your Clan Boss team so you can deal more over all damage.

In addition, Tier 6 masteries for Offense combined with Lifesteal gear will give your heroes full heals.

You will be able to keep your heroes fully healed through out the fight.

Based on what I am seeing, Your Clan Boss team is probably the following:

- Coffin Smasher -----------------------> Atk Down + HP Burn

- Stag Knight ---------------------------> Def Down

- Frozen Banshee or Occult Brawler ---> Main Poison Dealer

- Aox the Remember -------------------> Side Poison Dealer + Debuff Extender

- Skullcrusher ---------------------------> Counter Attacks for debuff consistency

Based on the above information, You would want Masteries on Stag Knight.

Stag Knight is 1 out of the 5 at level 60.

You would want Offense Tree - Tier 6 Mastery - Warmaster

You also want your Stag Knight in Lifesteal gear.

Another Clan Boss team you could make is the following:

- Coffin Smasher -----------------------> Atk Down + HP Burn

- Stag Knight ---------------------------> Def Down

- Frozen Banshee or Occult Brawler ---> Main Poison Dealer

- Zelotah -------------------------------> Shields + C.Heals

- Skullcrusher ---------------------------> Counter Attacks for debuff consistency 

You could take out Aox for Zelotah.

Zelotah can offer more sustain with his Shields + C.Heals.

You would have to get him on a 4:3 rotation.

Based on the above information, You would want Masteries on Stag Knight or Zelotah.

Both heroes are level 60 so you could decide to pick either for masteries.

You would want Offense Tree - Tier 6 Mastery - Warmaster for either of them.

You could decide to go with Stag Knight as the safe option in this situation.

By going Stag Knight, You still give yourself the option of switching back to other CB team.

Are you able to change masteries when you reach a certain rank? I picked ATK & DEF for Kael when I started and have seen some recommend Support over Def. Thoughts?

You can change the masteries by clicking the "refresh"-symbol in the masteries screen. The first time you do that is for free (once for every champ), then 140 gems.

Thanks Skadi