Weapon Mastery

Every weapon type keeps its own record of what you have done with it. Where talents are chosen, mastery is simply earned — you cannot buy it, respec it or skip it.

Win a fight with a weapon in hand and that weapon type gains mastery XP. Every path counts: expeditions, dungeons, raids and live raid rooms. A weapon far below your level pays less. There are 12 separate tracks — one per weapon type, starter weapons included — and they never share progress: switching from a gladius to a mace starts the mace at nothing.

The ranks

What each rank grants depends on the weapon's character — a balanced weapon, a precise one and a heavy one climb different channels. A balanced weapon at rank 5 is carrying +1 to hit, +2 damage, +1 critical chance, +1 % damage. The bonuses are deliberately small: mastery is meant to be a key, not a power curve.

What it unlocks

• Sockets. Reach rank 3 with a weapon type and the Ossuary will fit a socket to that weapon for 180 Crypt Marks. Prying a stone back out costs 60.
• The Opus recipes. 9 master weapons, one per type, at item level 50 and never worse than rare. Each needs profession skill 80 and mastery rank 5 with that exact weapon. You cannot forge a master's bow until you have been a master with a bow.

The stones

Sockets are bought with dungeon marks; the stones that fill them drop in raids, one per raid. They sit on different channels, so the best stone is the one your build wants rather than the newest one.

Mastery, the weapon's own character and a fitted stone all push the same combat channels, and those channels are capped. Stacking all three is worth it — but it will not take you past the ceiling described in Combat.