So far, I've completed the game on Normal with four characters: Hermit, Evoker, Oracle, and Conqueror. Now I'm working on a Dragon Hunter.

I started with Nature Mastery for the Hermit, maxing Call of the Wild, Survival Instinct, and Strength of the Pack. For the Evoker, I picked Earth Mastery first, maxing Ring of Flame, Earth Enchantment, and Volativity. With the Oracle, I began with Storm, maxing Squall, Static Discharge, and Eye of the Storm. And when I made the Conqueror, I started with Warfare, maxed Weapon Training, Battle Standard, and Triumph before maxing both Onslaught and Ardor. In each of those masteries, I maxed the skills that helped me level up quicker and easier.

Right now, with my Dragon Hunter, I started with Hunting Mastery. I'm currently working on the Marksmanship tree, though I plan to get Study Prey to help deal with enemies with higher pierce resistance. I've already maxed Wood Lore for increased attack speed and defensive ability with bows, spears, and bows. While my crowd-killing isn't as quick or fast as the others above with the first mastery picked for them, I'm making progress.

From my experience and from watching Kerplunk Gaming's videos on Youtube for Quickstarting Single Masteries, some masteries are easier to use for levelling up easily and quickly in the game, moreso than others. I saw that the best ones for leveling up and killing crowds of enemies are Nature, Earth, Storm, Dream, Rune, and Neidan. Warfare is great for one-shotting many enemies with maxed Battle Standard, especially with Triumph. From what I saw, Hunting, Spirit, and Defense aren't as strong. Rogue is a mixed bag because many enemies are highly resistant or immune to poison attacks, including certain undeads, ghosts, devices, and constructs.

What I want to know is, does it really matter which mastery you start off with when making a character?

From my point of view and seeing efficiency, it is very important. In the game, I do not decide on the choice of mastery at the very beginning of the game. Usually just after I finish Greece.

According to experience, considering that I have played over 8000 hours on TQ Anniversary, the combination of Earth with Neidan, then Earth with Spirit, Warfare with Defense also suits me best.

I'm currently playing in the Santa Klaus gear, but I can only use this gear after level 35. Up to this level, it is necessary to arrange the mastery for protection, vulnerability, defense and attack. I miss the secondary weapon in Santa Klaus, which was not intended as original by the game developer, but left up to the player's choice. There are also no original Xmas-themed icons or amulets in Santa Klaus.

Currently, I have beaten the game with six more characters since I wrote the first post on this thread. They are Dragon Hunter, Brigand, Harbinger, Channeler, Corsair, and Skinchanger. Currently, I'm playing a Conjurer where I pick Spirit first.

So far, the best masteries to start off with for quick killing and levelling up are:

Nature - The wolves do all the work for you. They become even stronger when you invest in Strength of the Pack and Survival Instinct. And when you wear jewelry increasing their damage.

Storm - Squall is one of the best crowd control skills in the game, even more so when combined with Static Charge, Eye of the Storm, and Obscured Visibility. It can hit several times in one cast and has a very short recharge. It needs to be maxed to start getting effective at killing things.

Rune - Runic Mines is great for damage and defence; just lay it down and lure your enemies to it. Later on, Seal of Fate is great for crowds, though you need Menhir Wall to get them to stay on it. Rune Weapon is great for increasing your elemental damage.

Dream - Disruption Wave when combined with Chaotic Resonance is one of the best physical damage spell combos in the game, even stronger when Lucid Dream is taken. However, it is quite energy expensive, so get some energy leech on your weapon.

Intermediate Masteries include:

Neidan - Dragon's Breath is best for levelling up early on in the game. Shen Pao can be taken later for another quick recharge high damage skill. Once Dragon's Flame becomes available, the points from Dragon's Breath can be respeced into it.

Earth - Ring of Flame is the skill of choice. Earth Enchantment and Volativity can be maxed to make it kill faster. Stone Form and Molten Rock synergize well with it for defensive purposes. Heat Shield is also good for survivability. However, the ring loses effectiveness starting in Act 4.

Warfare - Battle Standard makes a powerful buff for damage as does Triumph which reduces physical resistance. Weapon Training increases attack speed with certain weapon types, Battle Rage and Crushing Blow both raise damage temporarily. The Dual Wield tree is great for improving skill in fighting with two weapons.

Rogue - Poison Gas Bomb is great for crowd control with Shrapnel increasing its damage and crowd control abilities. Since certain types of undead, constructs, devices, and traps are immune to poison, Calculated Strike and Lucky Hit are great for dealing with them, and they shine with ranged weaponry since the fourth hit has a 100% chance to pierce enemies.

Weaker Masteries

Spirit - You'll need to rely on the Liche King as it gives the best damage. Life Drain is better for healing rather than damage while early game staves are too weak for Ternion Attack to be of any use. Remember to wear jewelry that increases the Liche King's damage. The fact that you can only have one makes it less effective than Nature's wolves.

Hunting - Marksmanship is good for ranged combat. Wood Lore increases attack speed and defensive ability. Study Prey reduces resistances. You won't be able to hit more than one enemy at a time until Scatter Shot becomes available, though the damage is weaker.

Defense - Batter is the closet to a spammable attack. It becomes stronger with Rend Armor. Disruption allows Shield Charge to hit more enemies around you. Colossus Form and Defensive Reaction increase physical damage of all shield attacks.

In order of strongest to weakest, the masteries in my opinion are: Nature, Storm, Rune, Dream, Neidan, Earth, Warfare, Rogue, Spirit, Hunting, Defense.

At which level did you complete individual games out of these six? I assume that everything is above level 80, or am I wrong?
Have you played any of these six different modes without getting killed in a single stage? I will play this game mode in the next selection of characters. At what level do you decide to create a certain character? I usually do this in "Normal" mode when transitioning from Greece to Egypt.

Do you have an interesting screenshot? Do you also use the partner Ylva from Scandia for the fight? Have you ever managed to bring soldiers from Elysium to the city of Cornith?

Thanks for the answers.