Hero gear mastery is one of the largest power sources for your best heroes, and also one of the easiest places to waste materials if you upgrade without a plan. This guide explains what mastery does, what it costs, and how to decide where to spend, then points you to the calculator for the exact numbers.
What gear mastery does
Every hero has gear pieces, and each piece can be pushed up through mastery levels, to a maximum of level 20. Each level you add raises that piece's power and attribute bonuses, so a fully mastered set is a big step up over an unupgraded one. Because the bonus is per piece, your total gain depends on how many pieces you invest in, not just how high you push a single one.
When it unlocks
Gear mastery opens once your Town Center reaches level 20. If it is greyed out for you, that requirement is usually why, so keep your Town Center progressing as covered in the beginner's guide.
What it costs
Two materials drive mastery:
- Forgehammers are the main cost and are spent at every level. The amount needed climbs steeply as the level rises, so the last few levels cost far more than the first few.
- Mythic hero gear pieces are required in addition to Forgehammers once you push into the higher levels, so plan for both, not just hammers.
Because the cost curve is steep, the jump from a high level to the next is where most of your materials go. It is worth knowing that total before you commit.
Reforging refunds half your Forgehammers
If you reforge a piece's mastery, you get half of the Forgehammers you spent on it back. That safety net means an investment is not fully locked in: if your roster changes and you want to move power to a different hero, you recover a meaningful share of your materials rather than losing all of them. It still costs you the other half, so reforging is a course correction, not something to do casually.
Plan before you spend
The single best habit is to work out the full cost before you start, especially when upgrading several pieces at once. Decide the target level, count the pieces, and check the Forgehammer and Mythic gear totals against what you actually have. This avoids the common trap of starting an upgrade you cannot finish and stranding materials halfway.
The Forgehammer and mastery calculator does this for you: pick your current and target levels, set how many pieces, and it returns the exact Forgehammers and Mythic gear needed, plus how much you would get back from a reforge.
Where to spend first
Concentrate mastery on the heroes you actually field in your strongest squads rather than spreading it thin across your whole roster. A smaller number of well-mastered pieces on a main hero does more for you than a level or two on everyone. If you are unsure which heroes are worth the investment, review their rarity, type, and skills in the hero database and back the ones that fit your lineup.