Masha

Samsaras

Hi all.

So I had fun playing Masha the last couple of days, so I'm gonna talk about how I built & played her & some ideas for buffing her since many said that she's weak & need buff etc. (Note: this is not a guide, just how I played her.)

Her role is Fighter/Tank but she feels more like fighter/assassin to me, or maybe fighter/tank/assassin?

She's not really good in team fights & gets melted easily despite her 3xIce-cream bars.
There are video guides about her & I watched a few of them, but built her to my preferences.
What I usually go with is the sustain build which is:
1. Corrosion Scythe-The 40% (sorry, 30% now) slow is needed for her to keep the enemies from running away since she lacks reliable CC (slows from S2 & S3 are too short for her DPS). This combined with her S1 mobility works well imo. I started by building DHS 1st but enemies kept running away so had to change to build this 1st.
2. Fortitude boots -Masha is weak against CC, despite her passive resilience at last hp bar since even 40% cc time will be enough to disrupt her sustain. so I usually build this to stack resilience to 90% (Not tested, got it from Gaming Theos channel video, but seems to work). I also see a lot of ppl building tough boots, so that might be good too, especially based on enemy team composition. Fortitude boots give magic defense too which there is a lack of in defense items(Athena-56 vs Blade.A-90).
3.DHS- Works well with her S1 & I think is most suitable item for her cause - 1. Gives 9% damage based on current hp, really increases the speed of lowering HP to 50%(4 atks with DHS vs 10 without at S1 lvl4 ) 2. AtkSpd - helpful since masha is atk spd based hero 3. 20% lifesteal. Helps her sustain more. The stack mechanism suits her playstyle so it's fine. It also gives low phy.Atk, but I mostly rely on her S1 for dmg so...
4. Haas Claws - Buy this totally for the lifesteal. Also, it's passive triggers 3 times & has no CD like Wings of the Apocalypse.

With this 4 items you should have 80% lifesteal at last HP bar, so very hard to kill. Also recommend this to complete her mastery code last chapter - get 5 double kills with last hp bar only (took only a few hours)

Last 2 slots you can do various things with. You can build Antique Cuirass (enemy weakens when tangling with Masha while she gets stronger ) & Immortality like me.

Brute force is another interesting choice. It gives MoveSpd bonus upto 15% which when added to Masha's Skill1 Max bonus becomes 55% moveSpd, like the old sprint. It synergies with Corrosion scythe slow & Masha constant atk style to allow you to stick to a fleeing enemy even more. Also, allows you to disengage from an enemy if reinforcements come (2v1 scary!! Unfair!! come 1v1 ) Beware of CC tho. Also you can increase speed by throwing a few basic atks at creeps or minions to increase you moveSpd while filling your energy at the same time. I'd have used this but it got nerf so switched to antique Cuirass.


You can also build Dominant Ice since it further slows the enemy & reduces their atk Spd. also gives 10% CDR. but the +500 Mana is wasted.
Twilight Armor also synergies with her passive (nullify dmg when she loses an HP bar) but I don't like it's CD...
Also see many build Wings of the Apocalypse whose passive can be triggered at 40% of any hp bar. Again, I dislike the CD, built Haas instead.
Guardian helmet also regens your HP, reducing the rate at which you lose HP from S1 when outside battle. however it only regens 3.5% of current HP bar which is <1.8% of max hp consumed by S1, so passed on this.
Cursed Helmet same problems, damage based on current hp bar only. (Hororo-chan video)
Oracle is useless as it doesn't affect unique skill (Hororo-chan video)


You can also just build Blade.A+Athena Shield for balanced defense, but Blade.A doesn't give any HP & you get 130% hp from items.

Or you can build burst Items. You can build GS as Masha easily achieves max AtkSpd due to her passive, synergies well with DHS. (with DHS+CS+GS she reaches 2.5 AtkSpd when her total hp 75% at lvl 15 taking Corrosion scythe passive into account). However while it reaches 2.5 AtkSpd earlier, the rest of AtkSpd gained from her passive is nullified due to the 2.5 AtkSpd cap. With just Corrosion Scythe she still gets 2.5 AtkSpd when her Total HP is reduced to around 30%, with DHS added she reaches 2.5 AtkSpd at 50% HP. However these calculations are based on her lvl 15 AtkSpd, You can still build AtkSpd items earlier to reach 2.5 AtkSpd faster.
You can build BoD for extra damage, Berserker's Fury for crit chance etc.

Another interesting build is the Move Speed build. Masha gets 40% move speed from her S1 at max skill lvl. You can build Windtalker +roaming Item to max your move speed. You get a whooping 119 MoveSpd from these items, 79 more than most ppl & 34 more than ppl who build Windtalker+roam item+boots similarly. Also items like Corrosion Scythe, brute force can give you additional move speed. 5 items combined gives you 568 moveSpd (in theory. I could only get it to 512 which decays quickly) but it gives 475 move spd constant when s1 activated (ignoring Brute force)

Or you can build full defense with one core item (CS/DHS/HC). Already discussed the merits of these 3 & most defense items...
Also you can build her like a full burst MM, I haven't tried that so don't know...


Emblems: What I like about her is the 2 talents that suit her well is lvl 20, so it's easier for a new player like me who doesn't have maxed out emblems. Tank emblem level 20 talent gives 35 magic&physical defense every time her hp goes below 40% of her current hp bar. Since she regens a bar easily, it's triggered a lot.
Also fighter emblem lvl 20 talent increases damage dealt with hp lost, synergies well with her passive of increases atkSpd with total hp lost (Anyone remember berserker class from older rpgs? ) I haven't upgraded fighter emblem yet tho, so didn't test if this also triggers for each hp bar or for total HP only.
You can also use emblems that increase her lifesteal (for 90% lifesteal) or jungle emblem talent to kill turtle lord turrets faster... I've seen many use mm/assassin emblem also...

How I play: I abuse her S1 movespeed & play a harassing game with the enemy. Like in the 1st wave, while enemy is happily taking buff, i have already pushed half their turret . Now enemy will be more cautious of me, maybe even send 2 ppl to top lane just for me . My style requires my teammates to be good tho. If they send 2 ppl to my lane, they have a numbers disadvantage at other lanes, so team should utilize that. Once, 2 ppl took my 1 turret but my team pushed 2 turrets in the opposite lane so...

Playing with her early game is really fun. I just go attack minions ignoring enemy attacks, or responding a bit, then I attack the enemy. Retreat just before you lose bar 2, wait 5 sec & you'll have regen a whole hp bar while the enemy is cursing the healing spell...beware of gank or cc tho. I equip Blink on her cause he has no escape skills even tho arrival & vengeance would go so well with her.. Is there a way to remove the useless heal spell so I can choose another battle spell??

After that, I usually have another teammate take my lane & I start roaming. Her skill 1 reduces half of her 3rd hp bar in the time it takes for her energy to fill up at skill lvl 1 & full of 3rd hp bar at max skill lvl (Meaning: If you just run, your unique still will be ready to fill up your hp when you lost 1/2 3rd hp bar at skill lvl1 & full 3rd hp bar at max skill lvl. So you can have constant 3rd hp bar even if you keep 1st skill active all the time). Note that this does not take into account other circumstances like being ganked right when you're about to refill your HP bar... so be careful.

So I activate 1st skill, reach my destination at breakneck speed, use unique skill & 3 hp bar Masha ready to battle! So I move across the lanes, threatening every lane while farming minions & creeps myself. A favourite is to run to the opposite lane & pincer attack the enemy pushing the turret (Ofc needs coordination.)
Also can invade enemy jungle alone, but is a bit risky if you get surrounded or CC'd. However you can also get a kill if an ignorant, basic attack based MM engages you. One of the important things to know when playing as her is when to escape. With her MoveSpd, enemies can rarely catch her even if slowed, but if u r CC'd, it's tough. 2v1s almost never go her way unless there's significant farm difference (Which you can build by farming 3 lanes & jungles at full speed using her 1st skill)
She melts easily at team fights, so I usually just go push a distant turret when a team fight erupts. Then the enemy can either send a hero over calmly, or panic & disengage, or decide to focus on the teamfight ignoring turret. Masha's turret dmg in early game is awesome, so my team should then just play defensively to survive instead of attacking in the teamfight. Even if they can just extend the team fight, I can push the 2nd turret & threaten the inhibitor.
Also, change lanes frequently using MoveSpd bonus, keeping enemy guessing where you will be. Understand vision, do not cross the river in the middle when going from top to bottom as enemy will see you & run away or prepare CC/2v1 trap. Also keep an eye on enemy positions on the mini-map. Masha can quickly rush up to enemy inhibitor if the minion wave is managed well (Well I talk big, but can't do this management at all ), or invade enemy jungle, but better to do so when enemy can't quickly respond. Masha also not very good at tower-diving imo (too fragile, but maybe I just need more skill/practice?) So finding a player turret hugging is annoying, especially MM (come out of the turret & we'll see who's what )

She can gank, but I think rather than hiding it's better to appear behind a lone pusher & just attacking. She can catch up to almost anyone & once Corrosion Scythe passive takes effect, running away is hard. Ofc judge & run away if necessary if enemy team comes (many of my deaths were due to reinforcements just as I'm about to kil my prey). Masha's like a beserker, who gets more powerful as her hp decreases do don't be afraid of your reducing hp. The 1st 2 bars are just layers of protection & she's most dangerous when at her last hp bar (but also most fragile. Melts so quick if multiple enemies). She can easily reach 2.5 atk spd with her passive. (with DHS + CS she reaches 2.5 when her total hp 50% at lvl 15 taking Corrosion scythe passive into account)

I also usually let a good teammate take the last hit on turtle crab etc. One game I remember while trashtalking our lesley said "wait for late game", enemy says "that won't come", and few minutes later our lesley is: "This is late game" lol.

Masha can help snowball the game in your favour but only if your teammates can use the gold & exp advantage properly. Like only so much you can do if enemy keeps killing everyone including you. Very hard to judge recently with Mythic & Legend players mixed in. I'm rambling so much, but maybe it was just whoever had more Mytics & Legends won? lol.

Counters & stuff: Well, she can't be single burst due to her passive and her Skill2 disarms the enemy(no basic attacks). So Eudora, Miya etc will struggle against her (again, depends on the player. One Miya just stood there after being disarmed, so I knew she was just mashing the basic attack key furiously like usual. Another Miya used her ult & ran way). On the other hand skill dependent MM like Granger or multi-burst mages like Lunox won't be affected much (Dark ulti->spam chaos assault & her 3 ice-creams bars melt right away...) Moskov is again annoying. His atks hurt, he can blink away or push you away to interrupt your offensive & he gets CDR from basic atks for spells which have low cd anyway (Masha can sustain but needs time to gouge out enemy HP unless, maybe, you build full burst...) Kimmy can just kite you all the way to your death (low dmg ultra spd atks just bypass her passive) Lesley also has the range, dmg & knockback to kite & one-shot your HP bar... also Gusion's skill based combos can also be deadly. But maybe instead of taking 10 daggers together for a huge burst, send them out & take them back 5 at a time for a staggered burst to account for her passive?

She counters % based attacks though, like DHS, glowing wand, Karrie, Claude etc.(Since it takes her current HP bar into account, not her total hp). Also true damage. Instead of running away I just ready my ulti when X.Borg starts spinning (X.Borg is so OP lol )

I usually don't take part in team fights (since I die all too easily), but I do try to crash the party after I appear on their vision at the opposite lane clearing a wave (surprise) Low HP enemies are a good target, she can chase down most enemy up to their turret (dare not enter turret tho) & she can insta-kill enemies with less than 15% hp. When most turrets are destroyed I run around the map looking for solo targets to entangle, but mostly focus on pushing (I think Masha is early game hero not good at late game when Lesley can 3-shot you) Really hate teammates who signal to retreat from the enemy base cause they're having fun. Wonder how fun it is to get killed by full build MM...
Anyway, I easily die when multiple enemies come at me but mostly win 1v1s. Also, need to keep looking at enemy build constantly, anti-lifesteal hurts her sustain, also good to know who is behind on gold, thus is easy target.(Once entangled with an Alucard, hero I usually win against, only to realize after death that he was one item ahead with a Haas Claw )

Anyway, that's me rambling about my experiences with the new hero. It's not very well thought out or properly ordered, but just hapazard bits of info. Hope someone can make sense of them lol.



Now for Idea for her buff:
1st, I'd change her lifesteal from 0+10+20=30 across her 3 bars to 5+10+15=30. 5% lifesteal on her 3rd hp bar would be helpful before you can build lifesteal items, not too much but just a bit.
2. She has 60% resilience at last hp bar but at that time she's so fragile even 40% CC will be enough to end her. I built fortitude boots for 10% CC but still it interrupts my sustained fighting with my HP fluctuating at 10%. CC immunity would be a bit much, But I'd add 30% & 15% resilience to her 2nd & 3rd hp bar respectively. (She's a wild one & cannot be controlled ) So she'll have 15% resilience with 3 hp bars, 15+15=30% resilience with 2 hp bars & 15+15+30=60% resilience with last HP bar. Rather than tank she'd be more like anti-tank since her skills deal dmg based on max HP & she's resilient rather than tanky.
3. When her HP bar is depleted she immunes damage once. With this I'd add that she also removes all debuffs, marks, statuses or CCs including hard CCs like Franco's ult (This is only removed, not immunity. For example if you're between a wall & a spinning Akai, you will be un-suppressed when you lose you hp bar. But then you'll again be suppressed cause you're still between a wall & a spinning Akai. This only works for Akai since his spin is a constant skill unlike Franco & Kaja since theirs is a target locked skill) The marks & debuffs include all slows, gusion dagger mark, eudora thunder mark etc. It'll be like the revive from Immortality item (She's reborn with her wild power or whatever). Ofc she'll still be fragile but one CC cannot make her lose multiple life bars & offensive of enemies also cannot carry on across her HP bars. Also requires more teamwork to CC her. Like if a Dyrroth & Alucard chase her, both using S1 to slow her will be wrong. 1st one person slows her, then when she loses her hp bar, another person slows her.
This way you can add to her survival without taking away her fragility.

What else... @BD007 suggested a  dash after one of her HP bar is gone, but I think lack of blink skills is an interesting weakness on her since she already has movement speed bonus of constant Sprint spell. Maybe boost her MoveSpeed temporarily after she loses an HP bar? But then again maybe that is too much survivality when put together with my idea to cleanse her after she loses an HP bar?

Also, maybe extending the time of slow on her skills can be considered since she can hardly burst an hero to death so fast?
Also I think her defense should also be adjusted. Not saying she should be more tanky (tanky fighter with that regen and my other suggested changes might be too much) but just enough so she can survive just a tiny bit longer? This will need to be fine-tuned by the devs...
I'm not looking for another OP hero, but since there are already OP heroes in-game, buffing her a little couldn't hurt right?

Anyway, that's all I have for my 1st post here. Suggestions, discussions & constructive criticism is welcome. After all, I'm only a low ranked new player who tried all this on Classic (PS: A good rotation would probably negate most of her advantage on the higher Ranks, I think? Solo turtle is useless if a teamfight breaks out at turtle every time it spawns?) Negative comments & No-value insults will be ignored.

That's all. Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings

PS: 3rd HP bar means when she has 3 HP bars & there is a x3 next to it. 2nd HP bar is when she loses 1 HP bar & there is a x2 next to it. Last HP bar is the bar you will die if you lose it. So 3rd HP bar is not last remaining HP bar. Sorry for any confusion.

StreetGamer

Eow you are new but u wrote so much about masga, ty for it :D
I saw some interesting idea like idea for lifesteal but to balance her i would put it in last hp bar, and adding blink effect at lats hp bar. And so many ideas for build you are awesome :D
As you mentioned she is not so good at teamfights, but she has great mobility. Ree man u said everything about her xD
Also you should definitely to repoet your idea for buff to costumer service and put link of this thread in report :D
Keeo up sharing ideas with us

Yunozaki

My kind of playstyle for Masha is pretty different apparently

I play Masha based on her respective role which is a Fighter/Tank hybrid. I realised she's not going to be able to survive during the early phase of the game so I went on a different approach by giving her defensive items firsthand then proceed with the damages. That means I will not be taking the role of dealing damage but instead becoming the 2nd tank in the team during the early phases of the game. It works perfectly well!

The build is closely similar to yours, but I learned something new with your info on Bruteforce Breastplate and Dominance Ice and I would love to try it out in some matches. And it's true, her survivability in the game itself is just too much as there are too many heroes that are capable of draining HP in just a few seconds.

And as an addition, I use Masha's Skill 1 damage capability to secure the Turtle. Simply by lowering it to the 2nd bar (Perhaps 3rd bar if I want a risky play)

This is a pretty fun read, keep it up!

BD007

thanks a lot for sharing masha guide.
i think she is a bit weak in current meta.
even though she has 3 hp but but total hp is still 5000 you have to remember that. i suggest she should have some kind of immunity for 1 second during loss of hp bar so she can decide to withdraw or attack.

pastichka1

masha is trash for team fight dont pick her in rank !

Ncup.Ajh

your explanation is almost the same as my opinion of her.. She is different when compared to heroes that have been released before like X.borg which is too OP when he first appeared in original server and then immediately he gets nerf on the next patch XD
I just hope she's still worthy to be used in the current meta considering her is a new hero

MakiNish

Nice guide.
My Masha build is: Corrosion Scythe, Tough/Swift Boots, Haas Claws, Windtalker/DHS, Queen Wings, Athena Shield. It can vary depending on situations like that you have explained.
I used Arrival spell, though I may somewhat need Flicker to escape enemy ganks.

She isn't good at teamfights, but great at pushing and doing objectives also decent at doing 1v1 against most heroes, especially MMs and probably tanks. I have tried some strategies like using Arrival on the outer turtle lane tower, going straight to the enemy buff and cutting the enemy lane. It may risk on getting ganked.