The effect I want is achievable by altitude, but won't work with any sort of displacement so is not a solution, but shows scales don't cause any issue there.
Update: I figured out the culprit. My mud warper, was using a base PF. I instead used that PF on a redirect shader on X and Z. It seems since the tree is read, naturally, from top to bottom, the warper breakups and distorts the colour masking lower in the tree.
However, don't you think since I am basing the masks off the the warped result, it would be smooth and follow the warped result, and not broken up as if the warping is applied over the colour, independent of displacement? As even warping on X and Z results in breakup.