X-Way dimmer light switch replacement

So I’m in the process of replacing my light switches. The previous owner attempted to wire multiple 3/4-way switches, but did so in correctly and the result is that some switches have to be left on for other to work, etc… Also, there are separate rheostat dials for the switches instead of having the dimmer attached to the switch itself.

From my research, it looks like if I move to a connected light switch, I would only have to get a single dimable master switch which actually controller the power to the light, and then multiple accessory switches to replace the others just hooking up the hot and not the neutral, which wouldn’t actually control the light directly, but instead communicate via z-wave with the master switch to turn on/off/dim the lights.

Am I right in this case?

If I have multiple sets of lights that I would like dimable, is that possible, and if so, would I just separately connect the accessory switches to the master switch that I want them to control?

Following that, in order to connect the lights up to the smarthub, I’m assuming that I would only pair the master switches with the hub, and leave all the accessory switches out, since they would be redundant in the smarthub.

The switches that I’m familiar with (GE/Jasco) require a wired connection between the master and the slave switches, so the slaves just need a traveler and a neutral as opposed to a hot and a neutral.

so I’d have to make sure there is existing wiring running between all switch locations before I can hook up the new ones?

Yes. If there is not wiring there, there is still an option. You can connect another z-wave switch (not the slave switch) with nothing on the load, and then use a SmartApp to connect it with the other switch that is actually connected to the load.