Lore Master Guide

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The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide

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Table of Contents

2Important

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2The short version

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2The long version

7Introduction

8Character Creation

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Race

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Dwarf

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Passive Skills

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Racial Accomplishments

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Elf

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Passive Skills

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Racial Accomplishments

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Hobbit

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Passive Skills


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Man

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Passive Abilities


15Statistics

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Hope and Dread

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Stats

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Might

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Agility

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Vitality

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Will

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Fate

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Armor

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Mitigation

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Resistances

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Abilities

20Traits and Deeds: the Basics





. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Deeds

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Class Deeds

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Racial and Social Deeds

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Region Deeds

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Traits

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Racial Traits

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Class Traits

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Legendary Traits

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Virtue Traits

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Virtue Traits by Grouping

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Lore-Master Class Deeds and Corresponding Traits

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Trait Builds

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Solo Build

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Fellowship Build

33Lore-Master Basics

34Combat as a Lore-Master

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34The Basics

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Things you should know

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Pets

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Healing

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Resurrection

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Crowd Control and Utility

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Damage

38Lore-master 101

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Basic Skills and Uses

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42The Lore-Master played Solo

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43The Lore-Master in a Fellowship

47A Guide to Middle Earth

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Crafting

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Resource Farming

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Leveling

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Reputation

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55(15-18) Bree Land





. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57(18-22) Lone Lands

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58(22-24) Trestlebridge

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58(24-26) Lone Lands

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 58(26-36) The North Downs (Estledin, Othrikar, etc.)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59(36-40) Evendim

. . . . 60(40-50) Rivendell, Trollshaws, Misty Mountains, Angmar, Forochel

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61(50-60) Eregion, The Mines of Moria

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Eregion

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63The Mines of Moria

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65(60-65) Mirkwood

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Western Mirkwood

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Central Mirkwood

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Eastern Mirkwood

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Lore-Master Class Quests and related Deeds/Traits

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68A Well-Ordered Mind

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69A Lore-master's Will

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69The Wisest Way is Contemplation

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Articles of Mystery and Implements of Knowledge

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70A Lesson From Lord Elrond

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Instances

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Great Barrows

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Garth Agarwen

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Fornost

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Urugarth

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Carn Dum

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Barad Gularan

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Glinghant

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Ost Elendil

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Haudh Valandil

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74The Rift of Nurz Ghashu

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Gear Sets

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Reputation Sets

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Instance Sets





. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Rift Set

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Helegrod Set

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Crafted Set

78Conclusion





Introduction

Lore-masters are the scholarly figures whose keen interest in all things Middle-Earth

have left them with a deep and focused knowledge of ancient lore that allows them to

confuse and stun their enemies, as well as help protect their fellowship members against

the darkness of the Sauron and all his minions. The lore-master is the class of choice for

those players who want to find themselves in a utility role. While highly survivable on

their own as a solo class, the vast utility of the lore-master cannot be tapped into while out

in the wilds by yourself. Your vast array of pets, crowd-control abilities, heals, power

drains, stuns, power transfers, cures, and your DPS, mean that you will be a welcome part

of any serious adventure party that wishes to delve into the truly dangerous areas of Middle

Earth.





Character Creation

When creating your Lore-Master there

are several factors in helping you decide

what is the best race choice. Ultimately

most races end up being nearly the same

at the cap, but there are a few unique

differences that are race-specific and can

provide individuals with an aesthetic

difference between their characters and

others.

There is also the choice between a

normal PVE (Player vs. Environment)

server and a Roleplay PVE server.

Again, this difference is purely aesthetic;

there are no open PVP servers for

LOTRO, so regardless of your choice

you will be playing on a PVE server. The

only difference between normal servers

and the Roleplay servers is the naming

policy which is strictly enforced on those

Roleplay PVE servers.

It is also important to note that there is

a difference between the European and

US servers for LOTRO. If you wish to

play on a European server you must

purchase a European copy of the game

from a store that carries the Codemasters

version of the game. Codemasters is the

company who distributes the game

throughout Europe. If you wish to play

on a US server you must purchase a US

copy of the game. You cannot switch

characters from a US server to a European

server or vice versa, so make sure the

version of the game you purchase is the

region you plan on staying within. You

can, however, pay for a character move

from one server to another within your

own region. US players can transfer to

other US servers, and European players

can transfer to other European servers.

Race

The race of your character is purely

cosmetic, although there are a few unique

racial benefits that each class has which

define them from the other races within

Middle Earth. Some racial abilities are

more useful to the Lore-master than

others, but they are hardly game-breaking

in their usefulness. When picking one of

the four races the most important thing to

remember is that you are the person

behind the character, no one else. Pick

something that you will enjoy playing

long-term. Don't be afraid to roll

something entirely against-the-majority if

it's something that sparks your interest or

something you will enjoy. It's just a game,

after all!

You can also visit the official Lorebook

or the LOTRO wiki for more information

on classes and races.





Http://lorebook.lotro.com

http://lotro-wiki.com

All of the Racial Accomplishments are

Traits that must be slotted in your Racial

Traits slots in order to benefit from them.

Dwarf

- Passive Skills

- Racial Accomplishments

Passive Skills

Lost Dwarf-Kingdoms—Reduced Fate

(-8)

Stocky—Reduced Agility (-8)

Sturdiness—Increased Might (+15)

and Vitality (+10) and improved

Common Damage mitigation (+1.0%)

Unwearying in Battle—Increased

Morale and Power regeneration (0.05%)

in combat, although reduced out of

combat (-1 morale, -0.5 power).

Virtuous Dwarf—This gives you a +1

to the following three Traits: Honesty,

Loyalty, Fidelity.

RacialAccomplishments

Enmity of the Goblins -Rank 1 is

available at level 13

-Defeat 50 Goblins

-Reward is the Fateful Dwarf Trait, +20

Fate.

-Rank 2 is available at level 29

-Defeat 100 Goblins

-Reward is the Return to Thorin's Gate

Trait, which is a teleport back to the

Dwarven starting area. It has a 1 hour

refresh timer.


-Defeat 250 Goblins

-Reward is the Endurance of Stone Trait.

+75% common, fire, and shadow

mitigation for 10 seconds. 1 hour

cooldown.

Enmity of the Dourhands -Rank 1 is


-Defeat 50 Dourhand Dwarves

-Reward is the Head-butt ability. This

does 15 common damage to start (goes up

with your level) and has a 5 second

cooldown. It does not cost any power and

is a melee ability.



http://lotro-wiki.com





-Rewards you with the Guild and

Might Bonus Trait. This gives you a 5%

bonus to Spider's Guile and Ent's

Strength Fellowship maneuvers.

-Rank 3 is available at level 25.


-Rewards you with the Dwarf

Axe-damage Bonus. This gives you a 2%

one-handed and two-handed axe damage

bonus.

Enmity of the Trolls


-Defeat 100 Trolls

-Reward is the Dwarf-Endurance Trait,

which provides a Vitality buff to your

Fellowship.


-Defeat 150 Trolls

-Rewards you with the Shield Brawler

Trait, which gives you a 2% increased

block chance. This is a passive ability.

Elf

- Passive Skills


Passive Skills

Agility of the Woods—Improved

Agility (+15)

Fading of the Firstborn—Reduced Fate

(-8)

Sorrow of the Firstborn—Reduced

Morale (-20) and out of combat Morale

regeneration (-1.0)

Suffer No Illness—Improved resistance

to disease and poison (1%)

Virtuous Elf—This gives you a +1

bonus to the following three Traits:

Wisdom, Patience, Charity.






Enmity of the Goblins


-Defeat 50 Goblins

-Reward is the Sylvan Shadows Trait.

Enables your character to Stealth. It has a

30 minute cooldown.


-Defeat 100 Goblins

-Reward is Tactics and Conviction

Bonus. This gives you a 5% bonus to

Eagle's Cry and Stallion's Spirit

Fellowship maneuvers.


-Defeat 150 Goblins

-Rewards you with the Elf

Bow-damage Bonus. This is a passive

2% bonus to all bow damage.

Enmity of the Orcs


-Defeat 50 Orcs

-Reward is the Friend of Man Trait.

Once slotted this gives you +20 Fate.

This is a passive Trait.


-Defeat 100 Orcs

-Rewards you with the Return to

Rivendell Trait. Once slotted this provides

you with a teleport to Rivendell.


-Defeat 250 Orcs

-Reward is the Eldar's Grace Trait. This

gives you a 75% parry chance for 10

seconds on a 1 hour cooldown.

Enmity of the Drakes -Rank 1 is


-Defeat 100 Drakes

-Rewards you with the Elf One-handed

sword damage bonus. This is a passive 2%

bonus.


-Defeat 150 Drakes

-Reward is the Power of the Eldar Trait.

This gives your entire Fellowship a 2%

increase to their power pool for 10

minutes. It has a 1 hour cooldown.





Hobbit

- Passive Skills


Passive Skills

Hobbit Courage—Improved fear

resistance (+1%)

Hobbit Toughness—Improved Vitality

(+15)

Rapid Recovery—Improved

out-of-combat morale regeneration

(+1.0)

Resist Corruption—Improved shadow

mitigation (+1%)

Small Size—Reduced Might (-8)

Virtuous Hobbit—This gives you a +1

bonus to the following three Traits:

Empathy, Honesty, Idealism.


Enmity of the Wolves


-Defeat 50 Wolves

-Reward is the Stoop for a Stone Trait,

which gives you a low-damage ranged

attack (throw a rock)


-Defeat 100 Wolves

-Reward is the Guile and Conviction

Bonus, which gives you a 5% bonus to

Spider's Guile and Eagle's Cry Fellowship

maneuvers.


-Defeat 150 Wolves

-Reward is Hobbit Club-damage bonus.

2% to all one-handed and two-handed

clubs.

Enmity of the Spiders


-Defeat 50 Spiders

-Reward is Hobbit Stature (+20 Might)


-Defeat 150 Spiders

-Reward is Return to Michel Delving (A

teleport to the Shire starting area. 1 hour





cooldown)


-Defeat 250 Spiders

-Reward is Hobbit-resilience. (+1 hope

for 10 min, 1 hour cooldown)

Enmity of the Goblins


-Defeat 50 Goblins

-Reward is Hobbit Stealth. 30 minute

cooldown.


-Defeat 100 Goblins

-Reward is Hobbit-Silence. This is a

Feign Death type ability that can be used

once per hour. Combined with the

Minstrel's Feign Death class ability at 38,

you can have two different feign death

abilities if you roll a Hobbit Minstrel.

Man

- Passive Abilities


Passive Abilities

Diminishing of Mankind—Decreased

Will (-8)

Easily Inspired—Increased morale

regeneration

Gift of Men—Improved Fate (+15)

Strong Men—Improved Might (+15)

Virtuous Man—This gives you a +1 to

the following three Traits: Justice,

Confidence, Patience.


Enmity of the Wargs


-Defeat 50 wargs

-Reward is the Man of the Fourth Age

Trait. +20 Will


-Defeat 150 wargs

-Reward is the Return to Bree Trait.

This is a teleport back to Bree. One hour

cooldown.


-Defeat 250 wargs





-Reward is the Duty-Bound Trait. This

provides a temporary morale boost to

your Fellowship.

Enmity of the Dead


-Defeat 50 wights

-Reward is Upper-cut, a 22 damage

melee attack.


-Defeat 100 wights

-Reward is Tactics and Might Trait,

which gives you a 5% bonus to Stallion's

Spirit and Ent's Strength Fellowship

maneuvers.


-Defeat 150 wights

-Reward is Man Sword-damage Bonus,

which is a 2% damage bonus if using a

one-handed or two-handed sword.

Enmity of Hillmen


-Defeat 150 Hillmen

-Reward is the Balance of Man Trait.

1+ bonus to Parry, Evade, and Block.


-Defeat 250 Hillmen

-Reward is the Strength of Morale

Trait, which gives you a 3k morale

self-heal once per hour.





Statistics

Before you head out into the great wild

in search of adventure and the slaying of

mighty beasts, and long before you

actually delve into any of those dark and

scary dungeons or swing your weapon at

one of the monsters within Middle Earth,

you are going to want to know a little bit

more about the basics of statistics and

attributes and how they can affect your

play and class.

While you do get some slight stat

bonuses as you level up, the majority of

your increases will be coming from gear

and Traits. Traits are a unique feature of

LOTRO and while we will be covering

them a little more in-depth later on in this

guide, it's important to know that there

are a few Lore-Master-specific Traits

which are rather vital to your role in a

group setting, and an entirely different

set which are far more useful in a solo

setting.

But before we get into all of that, you'll

need to know a little bit about the system

and how it works. LOTRO employs a

simple percentage system. What that

means is that you have a percent chance

to resist, land a critical hit, land a critical

heal, resist damage, and so on and so

forth.

You have five basic stats in Lord of the

Rings Online. Might, Agility, Vitality,

Will, and Fate. Beyond that you have a

variety of different attributes, such as

damage reduction, resistances, and armor.

You will be able to modify these numbers

over time through gear and Traits and it

will all directly affect how your

Lore-Master can handle certain encounters

or group settings. The wonderful thing

about LOTRO is how many different

Traits you can acquire over time, allowing

you the opportunity to change your resists

and modifiers as frequently as you find the

need, allowing for more diversity when

approaching specific instances or mobs.

Hitpoints in LOTRO are called Morale.

Power is Power.

Hope and Dread

Hope and Dread are two rather

important "mood" modifiers that you will

need to take into account. The easiest way

to explain this is to think about Hope as

being the extreme "good" side of things,

and Dread as being the extreme "bad" side

of things. Every time you enter into a fight

against one of the boss mobs of an

instance or dungeon of the game you will

encounter Dread. Every time you are

around a "good" character of the game's





story, or in an area where good is

prevalent, you will encounter Hope.

Certain classes can also give you Hope

buffs, and you can get Hope from potions

and other sources as well.

Hope gives you several side effects

-Increased Morale

-Increased receptiveness to healing

spells

-Less damage taken from attacks

-higher chance of landing an attack.

Dread has the exact opposite.

-Decreased Morale

-Less receptive to healing spells

-More damage taken from attacks.

-Lessens the chance of landing an

attack

-May occasionally seized by fear or

unable to attack at all.

That last part is probably the most

important thing to note. In both cases, the

higher the level of Hope or Dread, the

higher the level of the effects. In extreme

cases of Dread your character can find

themselves reduced to the point of

absolute cowering fear...meaning you

will not be able to cast spells or move in

any way.

Stats

- Might

- Agility

- Vitality

- Will

- Fate

- Armor

- Mitigation

- Resistances

- Abilities

Might

Might is more of a melee class statistic,

as it directly influences how often you

block with a shield, parry an attack, and

how much damage you do with a melee

weapon. However it also reduces the

amount of incoming common damage,

which can be useful. Might is not a very

valuable stat for the Lore-Master, so you

probably shouldn't worry about it that

much.





Agility

Agility is more of a ranged class

statistic. It directly influences the damage

you deal with a ranged weapon, but it

also increases your chance to land a

critical hit on a mob, reduces your

chance at missing when attacking with a

melee or ranged weapon, and increases

your ability to evade or parry incoming

attacks. Again, this really isn't an

extremely valuable stat for the

Lore-Master class, so you really don't

need to worry about it.

Vitality

Vitality is one of the most important

statistics for every class in the game.

Vitality increases your maximum morale,

reduces the amount of incoming damage

from shadow, fire, and frost, increases

your morale regeneration in combat, and

increases your wound, disease, and

poison resists. In other games the healer

classes did not always have to worry

about morale, and if you are from one of

those min/max games where your power

pool is the only thing to worry about, you

might want to reconsider. In LOTRO

morale plays a huge part in every player's

survivability at the higher levels of the

game. As I briefly mentioned above, Hope

and Dread can directly modify your

character's morale. In certain fights, like

against the Balrog or Nazgul, you will

encounter such high levels of Dread that

your morale will be drastically reduced. In

order to counter this is it is important to

have a decent baseline morale value, along

with some Hope buffs, to insure you do

not die with one hit from a mob.

Vitality is also extremely important for

the Lore-Master class as many of their

transfer abilities—such as power transfers

or morale transfers—rely on turning their

morale into transferable energy, or

transferable morale.

Will

Will is another important statistic for the

Lore-Master Firstly, it increases the size of

your power pool. This is your second-most

valuable statistic. I find it on equal level of

importance with Vitality, although you

will always have far more Will than

Vitality simply because of the majority of

gear and your stat increases per level as

defaulted by the choice of the Lore-Master

class. It is also an important stat because it

increases your chance to resist fear effects,

including cowering from Dread. It also

affects how much power you regenerate

outside of combat.





Fate

Fate is another baseline stat for players

across the board because it directly

affects how quickly you regenerate

power and morale in combat. This is

another vital statistic for the Lore-Master

class. It also increases the chance for you

to land a critical on certain

morale-enhancing abilities, as well as

increasing non-direct damage weapons

effects such as damage-over-time.

Armor

Much like in other games, Armor

reflects your armor class, or the difficulty

the mobs have hitting you with their

weapons. The higher the value, the

harder you are to hit. However, as a

minstrel, this is not going to be an area

where you spend a lot of time worrying

about.

Mitigation

Mitigation is more commonly

referenced as damage reduction. There are

several types of mitigation in LOTRO, and

each reflect specific types of damage.

-Common damage

-Fire damage

-Frost damage

-Shadow damage

Each of these types is represented in

your Character box and shows up as a

percentage. The higher the percentage the

more you will resist those types of

damage.

Resistances

Resistances play a vital role in LOTRO.

The higher your percentage, the higher

your chance to completely avoid or resist

the entire affect. There are four types of

resists.

-Fear. Can be increased through Will

-Wound. Can be increased through

Vitality

-Disease. Can be increased through

Vitality.





-Poison. Can be increased through

Vitality.

Abilities

Lastly, but not necessarily least, are the

actual abilities that make up your

character.

-Melee crit. Your chance to land a

critical hit on the mob with melee

weapons and/or abilities.

-Ranged crit. Your chance to land a

ranged critical hit on a mob through the

use of ranged weapons and/or abilities.

-Tactical crit. This is your chance to

land critical hits with special attacks and

abilities.

-Block. Your chance to completely

block all incoming damage. You have to

have a shield equipped for this to take

effect.

-Parry. Your ability to completely

parry and avoid all incoming damage.

-Evade. Your ability to evade and

completely avoid all incoming damage.





Traits and Deeds:the Basics

There are four different kinds of Traits

in Lord of the Rings. Virtue traits, Class

traits, Racial traits, and Legendary traits.

Traits are earned by completing Deeds

within the game.

But what are traits? How do they affect

you as a player? The easiest way to

explain this is to think about traits as

ways to further enhance your character's

stats and abilities above and beyond gear.

As you earn levels you gain additional

slots in which you can place your traits.

You can only have a limited number of

traits slotted at level 50, so it's important

to have as many as you can to maximize

your choices. Traits can be slotted by

visiting a Bard within any major city or

outpost and paying a small coin fee. You

may change traits at any time.

So how do you get these traits? Well it

depends on what kind of trait you are

talking about, but most of them stem

from the completion of Deeds.

Deeds

Deeds are tasks which reward the

character with titles, skills, or traits. These

can range from completing a certain

number of quests within an area, to

exploring certain key locations within an

area, to killing a specific number and type

of mob within an area. There are several

different types of Deeds within the game.

Class Deeds

These Deeds are unlocked by using

specific skills related to your class. From

very early on some of your skills will start

Deeds which track your use of a specific

skill and reward you with a Class Trait

after you have used that ability a specific

number of times. There is a maximum

number of times you may advance a

particular skill each 24 hour period, which

means that it sometimes takes a few days

to a few weeks to earn some of your class

Deeds.





Racial and SocialDeeds

Racial deeds are unlocked by

slaughtering creatures which are

particularly hated by your particular race.

If you noticed the Racial

Accomplishments portions of each Race

section detailed further up in the guide

you will see what these racial deeds are

and how they work, as well as at what

level they become available.

Social deeds are one of the most fun

within the game. These involve being the

target of another player's emote, such as

someone targeting you and using the

/scold emote. After a certain number of

times of this emote being used on you it

will reward you with a title or special

emote. As with other deeds, you can only

increase these a certain number of times

per day. In the case of the /scold emote,

for example, your character will

eventually earn the title "The Naughty".

They are a great way to add a little flavor

to your character! You can find a basic

list of social deeds as well as the per-day

limits at:

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Soc

ial_Deeds

Region Deeds

Region deeds are deeds which can be

completed in each region of the game.

These can involve performing quests,

exploring areas, or killing specific mobs.

There is no limit to how many mobs,

quests, or areas you can explore per day.

Most of the time you will find yourself

earning some of these deeds as you

explore and quest within each region, as

running the quest chains will naturally

lead you to kill mobs, explore areas, and

complete quests. However, if you are

interested in fully maxing your character

out you will want to full explore and fully

complete each and every deed within an

area.

Most players find this easiest to

accomplish by coming back once they

reach level 50. For example, some of the

exploration deeds require going into

sections of full-group areas that your

quests might not require. Sometimes

getting a group to side-track into these

remote corners can be a pain, so it's

usually easiest to wait until the area is gray

to you in order to complete these harder

exploration deeds. Also with kill deeds, it

is often easier to wait until you are higher

in level and can come back and slaughter

many of the creatures at one time, whereas

when you are of the actual level you can

only kill one or two at a time.


http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Social_Deeds

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Social_Deeds




Traits

- Racial Traits

- Class Traits

- Legendary Traits

- Virtue Traits

Racial Traits

As detailed in the Racial section

further up in the guide, these racial traits,

which are rewarded through the

completion of the racial deeds, are

unique to each race in particular. The

Virtuous traits, however, are based upon

earning faction for your particular race

through the specific Reputation Houses

located in each starting area. It takes time

to earn enough Reputation for your

specific Virtuous Trait, so don't be

surprised if you don't get this right away.

You need to be Friendly with your race's

faction in order to purchase this trait

from the corresponding vendor.

Class Traits

Class traits are unique and specific to

each class. These traits first become

available at level 10, when you earn the

Novice title. As with all of the other traits,

these can only be earned through the

successful completion of deeds. In

specific, class deeds. Class traits provide

the most specific and significant

enhancement to your skills, and the widest

array of abilities to tailor your character to

your own preferred play style.

Legendary Traits

Legendary traits are the hardest to

acquire and are not available until level

39. They are class-specific. Each class has

a different type of legendary trait. These

are acquired through the collection of

pages to create Books that are specific to

each class. The final legendary trait is only

available after completing the level 50

class quest.





Virtue Traits

Virtue traits are the most common.

They are available to all classes and

races across the board. Virtue traits stem

from the completion of region deeds. The

best part about the virtue traits is they are

tiered. Each time you complete a region

deed you will earn whatever trait is

linked to that specific deed. Over time as

you complete more region-specific deeds

you will earn more ranks in those traits.

So while you might only have rank one

in a trait at level 10, by the time you get

to level 50 and have cleared all the

regions you can earn up to 8 different

ranks of each type of trait. Each rank

gives you a significantly increased bonus

to your stats, depending on what type of

trait it is.

Charity

+ Wound Resistance

+ Ranged Resistance

+ Peace Power Regen

Confidence

+ Fear Resistance

+ Will

+ Peace Power Regen

Compassionate

+ Ranged Resistance

+ Peace Power Regen

+ Magic Resistance

Determination

+ Agility

+ Combat Morale Regen

+ Morale

Discipline

+ Might

+ Disease Resistance

+ Melee Resistance

Empathy

+ Armor

+ Fate

+ Fear Resistance

Fidelity

+ Shadow Resistance

+ Vitality

+ Power

Fortitude

+ Peace Morale Regen

+ Might


Honesty

+ Power

+ Armor

+ Fate





Honour

+ Poison Resistance

+ Shadow Resistance

+ Vitality

Idealism

+ Fate

+ Fear Resistance

+ Will

Innocence

+ Melee Resistance

+ Poison Resistance

+ Shadow Resistance

Justice:


+ Morale


Loyalty

+ Vitality

+ Power

+ AC

Merciful

+ Peace Power Regen

+ Magic Vulnerability

+ Agility

Patience

+ Peace Power regen

+ Wound resistance

+ Ranged Resistance

Tolerant

+ Magic Resistance

+ agility


Valour

+ Morale


+ Might

Wisdom

+ Will

+ Peace Power Regen

+ Wound Resistance

Zeal


+ Melee Resistance

+ Poison Resistance





Virtue Traits byGrouping

Charity

Charity +2: Hero of Ered Luin [Final]

--- Ered Luin

Charity: Ally of Ered Luin --- Ered

Luin

Charity: Bree-Lands Quests

[Advanced] --- Bree-Lands

Charity: Lone Lands Quests --- Lone

Lands

Charity: North Downs Quests

[Advanced] --- North Downs

Compassionate

Compassionate: Defender of Ered Luin

[Advanced] --- Ered Luin

Compassionate: Lone Lands Quests

[Advanced] --- Lone Lands

Compassionate: Peril of the Mountains

--- Misty Mountains

Compassionate: The Life of the

Bounder --- The Shire

Compassionate: Pilgrim of Evendim

[Quests] --- Evendim

Compassionate: Wander of Evendim

[Advanced - Quests] --- Evendim

Confidence

Confidence +2: The Road to War ---

Angmar

Confidence: Garth Agrewen --- Lone

Lands

Confidence: Rath Teraig --- Ered Luin

Confidence: Strongholds Exploration ---

North Downs

Confidence: The Grimfens --- Lone

Lands

Confidence: Where Giants Dwell ---

Misty Mountains

Determination

Determination: Barghest --- Bree-Lands

Determination: Crawler --- Trollshaws

Determination: Slug --- The Shire

Determination: Snow-Beast --- Misty

Mountains

Determination: Warg --- Angmar

Determination: Warg --- North Downs

Determination: Wolf --- Ered Luin

Determination: Salamanders ---

Evendim

Discipline

Discipline: Bog Lurker --- Lone Lands

Discipline: Hendroval --- Ered Luin

Discipline: Sicklefly --- Bree-Lands

Discipline: Troll --- Angmar

Discipline: Wolf --- The Shire





Discipline: Wolf --- Trollshaws

Discipline : Tomb-Defenders

(Brigands) --- Evendim

Discipline: Beasts (Birds, Cave Claws

etc) --- Rep Dungeon in Sarnur (Ered

Luin)

Empathy

Empathy +2: Angmar Quests [Final]

--- Angmar

Empathy: Bree-Lands Quests ---

Bree-Lands

Empathy: North Downs Quests ---

North Downs

Empathy: Peril of the Mountains

[Advanced] --- Misty Mountains

Empathy: The Life of the Bounder

[Advanced] --- The Shire

Fidelity

Fidelity: Defenses of the Lone Lands

--- Lone Lands

Fidelity: Scouting the Dourhands ---

Ered Luin

Fidelity: The Circle of Despair ---

Angmar

Fidelity: The Road to Rivendell ---

Trollshaws

Fidelity: The Sights of Shire --- The

Shire

Fidelity: Ruins of Evendim ---

Evendim

Fidelity: Tombs of Evendim ---

Evendim

Fortitude

Fortitude: Bear --- Misty Mountains

Fortitude: Bree-Lands Woodsman [old

forest trees] --- Bree-Lands

Fortitude: Giant --- Trollshaws

Fortitude: Harvest Sicklefly --- The

Shire

Fortitude: Neekerbeeker --- Bree-Lands

Fortitude: Troll --- North Downs

Fortitude: Warg --- Lone Lands

Fortitude: Orc --- Evendim

Honesty

Honesty: Craban --- Lone Lands

Honesty: Troll --- Lone Lands

Honesty: Wilds of Tal Bruinen

Exploration Deed --- Trollshaws

Honesty: Bilbo's Buttons Deed --- Misty

Mountains (High Pass)

Honesty: Goblin Town locations Deed

--- Misty Mountains (High Pass)

Honesty: The Forbidden Heights ---

Misty Mountains

Honour

Honour: Spider --- Bree-Lands

Honour: Spider --- Lone Lands

Honour: Spider --- The Shire





Honour: Uruk --- Angmar

Honour: Worm --- Misty Mountains

Honour: Worm --- North Downs

Honour: Giant --- Evendim

Idealism

Idealism +2: Brave Deeds in the

Wilderness [Final] --- Trollshaws

Idealism: Angmar Quests [Advanced]

--- Angmar

Idealism: Flowers of the old forest ---

Bree-Lands

Idealism +2: Lone Lands Quests

[Final] --- Lone Lands

Idealism: The History of the Dunedain

--- Bree-Lands

Innocence

Innocence +2: Peril of the Mountains

[Final] --- Misty Mountains

Innocence +2: The Life of the Bounder

[Final] --- The Shire

Innocence: Brave Deeds in the

Wilderness --- Trollshaws

Innocence: Warden of Evendim [Final

- Quests] --- Evendim

Justice

Justice: Brigand --- The Shire

Justice: Angmarim --- Angmar

Justice: Brigand --- Bree-Lands

Justice: Brigand --- Ered Luin

Justice: Orc --- North Downs

Justice: Warg --- Misty Mountains

Justice: Goblin --- Evendim

Justice: Dourhands --- Rep Dungeon in

Sarnur (Erud Luin)

Loyalty

Loyalty +2: Bree-Lands Quests [Final]

--- Bree-Lands

Loyalty: Angmar Quests --- Angmar

Loyalty: Brave Deeds in the Wilderness

[Advanced] --- Trollshaws

Loyalty +2: North Downs Quests [Final]

--- North Downs

Mercy

Mercy: Wight --- Lone Lands

Mercy: Redeemer [the dead] --- North

Downs

Mercy: Wight --- Angmar

Mercy: Wight --- Bree-Lands

Mercy: Wight --- Trollshaws

Mercy: Limrafn --- Evendim

Mercy: Wight --- Rep Dungeon (Haudh

Iarchath) in Barrow Downs

Patience

Patience: No Place for Spoiled Pie ---

The Shire

Patience: Places of the Dwarves --- Ered

Luin





Patience: Restoring the Quick Post ---

The Shire

Patience: Ruins of Bree land ---

Bree-Lands

Patience: The Barrow Downs ---

Bree-Lands

Patience: The Eastern Ruins --- North

Downs

Patience: Wilds of Evendim ---

Evendim

Tolerance

Tolerance: The Villages of the Earth

Kin --- North Downs

Tolerant +2: Bastions of Hope ---

Angmar

Tolerant The Farms of Shire --- The

Shire

Tolerant: Ruins of Misty Mountains ---

Misty Mountains

Tolerant: Ruins of Trollshaws ---

Trollshaws

Valour

Valour: Goblin --- Lone Lands

Valour: Goblin --- The Shire

Valour: Orc --- Bree-Lands

Valour: Orc --- Lone Lands

Valour: Troll --- Misty Mountains

Valour: Worm --- Angmar

Valour: Worm --- Trollshaws

Valour: Snow Trolls --- Rep Dungeon in

Sarnur (Erud Luin)

Wisdom

Wisdom: Elf Ruins --- Ered Luin

Wisdom: High Passes of Misty

Mountains --- Misty Mountains

Wisdom: Lore of the Cardolan Prince ---

Bree-Lands

Wisdom: The Old Forest --- Bree-Lands

Wisdom: The Weathertop Exploration

--- Lone Lands

Wisdom: The Western Ruins --- North

Downs

Zeal

Zeal: Giant --- Misty Mountains

Zeal: Goblin --- Ered Luin

Zeal: Goblin --- North Downs

Zeal: Orc --- Angmar

Zeal: Spider --- Ered Luin

Zeal: Troll --- Trollshaws

Zeal: Kergrims --- Evendim

Zeal: Spider --- Rep Dungeon (Haudh

Iarchath) in Barrow Downs





Lore-Master ClassDeeds and

Corresponding Traits

Master of the Staff. This gives you an

increased version of your Staff Strike.

You must use your Staff Strike 600 times

against enemies in order to finish this

deed and earn the trait. You may only

advance this deed 200 times per day.

Power and Wisdom. This improves

your Ancient Wisdom effect and

increases the duration of your Power of

Knowledge skill. You must Draw Power

from your enemies 250 times in order to

finish this deed and earn the trait. You

may only advance this deed 90 times per

day.

Light of Hope. This lowers the morale

cost of your health-transfer, Beacon of

Hope, by 40%. It also reduces the recast

by 10 seconds and the casting time by

one. You need to use your Beacon of

Hope 600 times to finish this deed and

earn the trait. You may only advance this

deed 85 times per day.

Master of Beasts. This increases the

duration and lowers the power cost of

your Sign of the Wild abilities. You must

use your Sign of Protection 500 times in

order to finish this deed and earn this

trait. You may only advance this deed

175 times per day.

Deep Lore. This increases the number of

targets your AoE spells can affect from

three to five. You need to use your Lore

skills (your AoE spells) 500 times in order

to finish this deed and earn the trait. You


day.

Healer. You gain a 15% reduced power

cost and 50% increased casting time on all

of your Healing skills. You must use

Leechcraft 250 times to finish this deed

and earn the trait. You may only advance

this deed 40 times per day.

Beast-Lore. This increases the toughness

of your pets. You need to use your Sign of

the Wild: Rage pet buff 300 times in order

to finish this deed and earn this trait. You


day.

Dunadan-Learning. This increases the

duration and effectiveness of your Sign

skills. You must use your Signs 1000

times in order to finish this deed and earn

the trait.

Harmony with Nature. This reduces the

power cost on some of your abilities,

specifically Cracked Earth, Gust of Wind,

Test of Wills, Light of the Rising Dawn,

and Ents go to War. Also reduces the overt

magical induction time by 25%. You need

to use Cracked Earth 400 times to finish

this deed and earn the trait. You may only





advance this deed 60 times per day.

Subtlety of Wisdom. This reduces the

amount of threat (hate/aggro) you

generate with your damage-dealing

spells. You must use your Blinding Flash

against your enemies 400 times in order

to finish this deed and earn this trait.

Awareness of Body. This reduces the

morale cost on some of your abilities.

Specifically Cracked Earth, Gust of

Wind, Test of Will, Light of the Rising

Dawn, and Ents go to War. The morale

cost is reduced by 40% and you gain 2%

fire mitigation. You have cast Wisdom of

the Councils 100 times to finish this deed

and earn the trait. You may only advance

this deed 20 times per day.

Proof against all Ills. This allows your

cure spells to become AoE cures, and

allows you to cast Leechcraft while in

combat. You must use Tend the Sick 300

times in order to finish this deed and earn

this trait. You may only advance this

deed 30 times per day.

Knowledge of the Past. All of your

spells gain a small chance to restore

power to you. You need to use your

Ancient Wisdom 300 times in order to

finish this deed and earn the trait. You


day.

Magic Adept. This gives you a

base-line reduction of 3% to all of your

power costs on spells. You must use your

Share the Power skill 750 times in order to

finish this deed and earn this trait. You


day.

Sword and Staff. This is a legendary

trait. You must complete the Lore of the

Blade book in order to earn this. It allows

you to dual-wield sword and staff and

gives you an increase to your melee

offensive and defensive abilities. +2%

evade and parry, and +15% melee offense.

March of the Ents. This is a legendary

trait. You must complete the book Of Leaf

and Twig in order to earn this. This is a

massive AoE attack.

Noble Savage. This is a legendary trait.

You must complete The Book of Beasts

book in order to earn this. This turns all of

your pets into Signature pets, significantly

increasing all of their abilities and stats

accordingly.

Eagle-Friend. This is a legendary trait

that can only be earned by completing the

level 50 Lore-Master class quests. Lord

Elrond will teach you how to summon an

Eagle as your companion, which is

arguably the toughest and best pet that you

can get.





Trait Builds

The following details specific builds.

Depending on the situation you will want

to switch your traits around for

maximized performance. You want to

avoid all "all-in-one" build specifically

because while it might enhance one area,

it will sacrifice in another, and since this

game is very clearly divided between

solo and group play you need to make

that distinction.

For the most part you will leave your

Virtue traits alone...you can keep the

same ones for group and solo play

slotted. The only ones you will be

changing out with regularity is your

Class traits.

Furthermore you should make sure to

pay attention to boss fights for specific

areas. These will be the few times when

you might change out your Virtue traits

to get higher resists. The Rift, for

example, can require high shadow and

fear resists, so if you know what kind of

boss fights you are going up against, you

can change out your Virtue traits

accordingly. But it is fairly rare that you

need to worry about changing the Virtue

ones around, and you don't have to if you

really don't want to.

For the most part you will want to stick

with Virtue traits that increase your morale

and vitality. Why vitality, and not wisdom

and fate, you ask? Because all of the

Lore-Master gear in the game will provide

you with more than enough will and fate

bonuses, but you still need to keep your

morale as high as possible to counter the

massive Dread de-buffs in boss

encounters.

Solo Build

Since most of your time solo will be

spent relying upon your pet to help you

defeat your enemies, your primary focus is

on increasing the toughness of your pets.

However, you will not be able to hold

aggro 100% of the time, so you need to be

able to do some damage if the mobs get in

close.

Also, as soon as you get the Staff and

Sword legendary trait you will be

permanently using that trait regardless of

which role you will be filling. It's just too

valuable to be discarded. You also want

increased cast times and reduced morale

costs as much as possible for survivability,

as well as the ability to control as many

mobs as possible to enhance your abilities

overall. Noble Savage will also be

mandatory when you get it, as the ability

to have your pets be Signature abilities is





just too sweet to pass up.

Master of the Staff

Beast-Lore

Deep-Lore

Noble Savage

Sword and Staff

Prior to achieving your Legendary

traits you can adjust accordingly

dependent upon your playstyle. Many

people find it useful to use the Hardy

Bear trait that you get from your class

quests, because it increases the toughness

of your Bear pet, at least until you get

your Noble Savage trait. However, that is

entirely dependent upon your personal

choice in pets, as many players also find

the lynx to be a far more suitable soloing

companion until the Eagle pet is earned.

Fellowship Build

As with the solo build, your virtue

traits will remain the same and you will

absolutely want your Sword and Staff

trait slotted. Beyond that, you have to

look at what roll you will be playing

within the group. Many zones will

require you to be curing wounds and

other effects on an equal level of

importance with your mezzing, and

power transfers are absolutely paramount

to your role within a fellowship. The Eagle

pet is also a very handle tool within a

group setting due to its fellowship-wide

power regen and various debuffs as well as

its survivability. While you will want to

adjust an occasional trait or two out

depending on the situation, the priority

should usually be as follows.

Sword and Staff

Noble Savage

Proof against all Ills

Eagle-Friend

Healer

Again, dependent upon the situation you

may find additional variations to be useful,

but these are a good baseline choice for

players who want a solid foundation to

start from.





Lore-Master Basics

Now on to the meat of the matter.

What exactly is a lore-master, and how

do they work?

The lore-master is a hybrid class, much

like the rest of the classes within Lord of

the Rings Online. It combines elements

of a wizard, a healer, a crowd-control

class, a pet class, and a vast amount of

utility that will help your fellowship

immensely while out in the wild.

The lore-master's primary goal is that

of a crowd-control. But this is definitely

not your only task. As we go down the

list of utility for the lore-master, you will

quickly discover why they can be one of

the most important additions to any

dungeon crawl.

While the lore-master is highly

efficient at surviving in the wilds all

alone played as a solo class, they really

shine the brightest when put into a

fellowship setting. Your pets, for

example, range from DPS pets, tank pets,

and debuff pets. With a wide variety of

stuns at your command, you will find no

foe unstoppable. Roots, stuns, power

transfers, power drains, heals, cures, and

slows, it can almost seem that there is no

end to the utility of the lore-master class.

The lore-master is a fairly easy class to

play in its base role, which is that of a

mezzer, but it takes a truly detailed player

to bring out the full complexity of the

class within a fellowship setting.





Combat as aLore-Master

Middle Earth can be a dangerous place,

whether you are all alone while traveling

the wilds, or traveling with your boon

companions in a fellowship. In either

case, you are going to want to know how

to best play your class in order to

successfully work your way up to the

top.

As covered in the lore-master overview

above, the class is primarily a mezzer,

but there's a lot of different utility to the

class. That can lead to a variety of ways

in which the lore-master can be played.

In the hands of a master this class is

absolutely the most complex within the

game, but it is also easy to play, which

gives the beginner a chance to ease into

the role without feeling as though they

are too challenged.

The Basics

Life as a lore-master can seem tough

from time to time. Especially in the early

years of your life it can be a little hard to

survive until you begin to grow into the

utility of the class. But even at an early

age you can begin to see the potential in

the class as you get pets, some very nice

damage spells, and the feel for how the

class plays.

As with the other classes in the game,

your Trait build can have some impact on

how you play your lore-master and what

role they fulfill in a group. Specific builds

will be detailed within the Solo and

Fellowship spec section, but it's important

to know that there is no ONE way to play

the class. Different players will find

different setups to work better for them,

and its important to find the unique setting

that works best for you.





Things you should know

While your primary role is that of a

mezzer, we've already talked about how

it's not your ONLY role within the

group. There's a lot more to the

lore-master than just keeping mobs

parked. In the right hands the DPS output

of this class is downright deadly, and

with your ability to drain mobs of their

power, transfer power to other players,

heal the group, heal single targets, root,

DoT, slow the attack speed of mobs,

debuff, and cure players of wounds...well

let's just say you'd be out of breath if you

tried to cover in just one sentence how

important and versatile the lore-master

can be.

Pets

Pets are one of the most valuable assets

a lore-master has at his disposal. At

various levels you get pets that do

different things, culminating in the Eagle

pet at level 50 after you complete the

legendary class quests. A great list of

pets and how they work/what they do can

be found at

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Pet

s#Eagle where each pet has an overview.

Healing

A minstrel you aren't. But that doesn't

mean you can't heal in a pinch. While the

lore-master heals aren't exactly that

powerful, they are absolutely viable, and

in the right situation can mean the

difference in success and failure.

The lore-master has a few types of heals.

The main heal which you will use the most

is on a 30 second refresh timer. It's not

much, but it will absolutely keep your pet

alive while soloing and it can add an extra

bump up for people in the party while the

primary healer focuses on the tank. You

also have a heal-over-time which can

affect the entire group, something that can

be quite effective in settings where mobs

are AoEing a lot. You also have a self-heal

that's on a rather long recast, but it's

important because it gives you nearly full

health which can mean the difference in

life and death in certain situations.


http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Pets#Eagle

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Pets#Eagle




Resurrection

You only get one of these, but yes, the

lore-master CAN rez other players. It

requires a special component that only

farmers can make, which means you can

either farm for yourself or you an buy it

from another player via the auction

house. It's usually not very cheap, but

carrying a stack of these around can be

quite handy just in case you are ever in a

situation where you need to play rezzer.

Crowd Control andUtility

Ah, the meat of the matter. Crowd

Control. The main function of this class.

You get an AoE undead mez which is

actually kind of fun to watch because

you throw a flare up in the air and it

freezes all the undead around in a

stunned state. You also have a lengthy

single-target mez. And a slew of stuns.

More than half of your abilities will stun

the mob in one way or another, and while

not all of your abilities are specifically

aimed at parking a mob and keeping it

occupied, you can effectively keep a mob

out of action for the duration of a fight

by cycling through your stun-nukes.

As is a general rule with any type of mez

spells, AoE damage along with any other

type of damage will break the mez. Pets

are smart and will not attack a mezzed

mob. Other players are not, and can

sometimes miss the stun animations over

the heads of mobs who are otherwise

occupied by your spells. Don't be afraid to

crack the proverbial whip at players who

aren't paying attention. Panicked mobs

running around whacking on the healers =

dead group. Mezzed mobs are controlled

mobs, which means they aren't going

anywhere, aren't whacking on the healers,

and helps the group survive and move on

to fight another day. Nothing is more

frustrating than a player who doesn't

understand they need to back off the AoE

attacks. Don't be afraid to say something if

people keep breaking your mezzes.

You can also transfer power to other

players. This is extremely helpful on long

duration fights or fights where the mobs in

question have a power drain of their own.

And if you start to run low on your own

end, you can drain power from the mobs,

replenishing your own power pool within

moments.

And let's not forget about slows. You

have a single-target attack-speed slow and

an AoE slow which will affect multiple

targets at the same time.

Curing wounds is also another important

function of the lore-master. Often times





the biggest boss mobs in the game will

throw some extremely nasty wound

effects on your fellowship members,

leaving them crippled or unable to use

specific abilities. With a well-played

lore-master in the group these abilities

become nothing more than something

fun to deal with, a little extra challenge.

You can easily clear up such things for

your fellowship and keep them in

top-notch condition for the road ahead.

Damage

You can do it. You aren't just a mez

class. You have a variety of

damage-over-time abilities, single target

nukes, and AoE spells. You can spam

away, safe in the knowledge that you are

quite capable of parsing up there with the

best DPS classes. You are, after all, part

wizard.





Lore-master 101

Nearly half of the time you spend in

LOTRO will be spent working on quests

by yourself. Nearly every quest chain in

Lord of the Rings starts out as a solo

quest but ends up with a fellowship quest

as its finale. Of course, some people

choose to bypass the fellowship content

in its entirety and focus solely on

working their way to level 50 without

bothering to group or even worry about

the group quests.

There are valid points to be made on

either side of the fence when it comes to

soloing or grouping. In Lord of the Rings

Online it is most effective to combine

aspects of both in order to achieve the

fastest route to level 50. However, it's

double important to start with a solid

foundation, and that's where we'll begin.

Keep in mind that you will want to return

to your trainer as often as possible. You

earn Passive abilities every odd level

(1,3,5, 7, 9, etc.) and Active

abilities/skills at every even level (2, 4, 6,

8, 10, 12, etc). Make it a habit to return

to your trainer every 2 levels. It's best if

you make this an even level so you can

keep your active abilities topped off. For

the most part your passive abilities, such

as Block, or Evade, are self-explanatory.

As such I won't be covering them as

explicitly as I will the active skills, but it's

worth noting that you should train them

every chance you get, as they do increase

your chances of survival. There will be a

more detailed explanation of each ability

and its relevance to Solo, Group, or Raid

styles of play later on in this guide, but for

now this section details a basic list of your

skills, when you get them, and what are

the most effective ways to use them.

Basic Skills and Uses

As in any game, starting out at the very

beginning can be a little slow and

sometimes frustrating because you will

seem to be very fragile. But that will soon

change as you level up, so be patient. The

lore-master takes some time to become

powerful, but the wait is well worth it.

At level one you start off with your first

three basic abilities. Staff-Strike is a melee

attack that can be used when the mob is

close to you. You also get Sign of Power:

Command, which slows the attack speed

of the mob by 20%. This is extremely

handy, especially on boss mobs. You also

get Burning Embers, which is your first

damage-over-time ability and doubles as a

30% snare . Level 2 gives you Fire-Lore,

which allows you to debuff the resists of a

mob against fire-based spells. Again, this





can be extremely useful in larger fights

where multiple players may be using fire

damage spells against the boss, or when a

mob has particularly high fire resists.

Level 4 is when you get your first pet,

the Raven. Pets are one of the premier

features of the lore-master within

LOTRO. The Raven pet is a decent DPS

pet, with a high rate of attack and many

flanking maneuvers, as well as the ability

to debuff a mob against ranged damage

and can help boost the damage done by

your fire spells. You also get Beacon of

Hope, which is a heal spell that transfers

morale to an ally or a pet. It's on a 30

second refresh timer and will be your

primary source of off-healing.

Level 6 gives you Power of

Knowledge. This is a really fun spell

which steals power from the mob and

gives it to you. You also get your first pet

buff, Sign of the Wild: Protection.

At level 8 you get Wind-Lore, which is

your AoE slow spell. You also get Sign

of the Wild: Rage, which is your second

pet buff.

At level 10 you get your first "mez",

which is the stun spell Blinding Flash. It

cannot be used against Undead mobs.

Again, any damage from AoE's or

otherwise will break your mez, so be sure

to let people know if you mez a mob.

You also get Leechcraft, which is the

first of your cure wound spells,

effectively allowing you to remove

detrimental effects from your allies.

Level 12 gives you Gust of Wind, which

is an AoE damage spell that also debuffs

the mobs against common damage.

Level 14 gives you your bear pet, which

is arguably the best pet for soloing in the

fact that it's more or less a tank, and has a

force-aggro ability, which forces the mob

to focus on it for a period of time,

allowing you to nuke it from afar. It also

has slightly more hitpoints and

survivability than your other pets. Sign of

Power: Wizardry is the other ability you

get at this level, and it's important to

understand how this works. When you use

this DoT against an enemy while your

companion (pet) is flanking the mob, it

will add a single-target heal which heals

you for around 25% of your total morale.

This is extremely useful in terms of

keeping you alive and positioning is key.

It takes some practise but eventually this

will become second nature to you during

your grinding routine, as you will want to

use this against every third or fourth mob

to top off your health. Essentially with this

spell and your power-drain spell you can

effectively grind non-stop without ever

having to take a break for power or health

management. If you are careful, that is.

Level 16 gives you Inner Flame and

Tend the Sick. Inner Flame is a

heal-over-time spell that only works if you





have a companion summoned, and only

heals you and your companion.

Generally this is reserved for those

moments when you need to mez a mob

and heal up relatively quickly. Tend the

Sick cures diseases from yourself and

your allies when necessary.

Level 18 gives you Bane Flare, which

effectively mezzes up to three Undead

for 15 seconds. Light of the Rising Dawn

is a nuke that also has a stun component

if it is not resisted, which makes it

doubly effective as an interrupt ability

against nasty caster mobs.

Level 20 is a big step up for the

Lore-master. You get Wisdom of the

Council, which is a self-heal that also

doubles as a damage-shield, damaging

attackers and having a chance to stun

them as well as outright soak the damage

from an entire attack. You also get

Knowledge of the Lore-master, which

allows you to find out all the information

about a mob, such as resists, hitpoints,

strengths and weaknesses. More of a

fluff spell than anything else, but it can

come in handy if you are curious what a

certain type of enemy might be

particularly weak against.

At level 22 you get Cracked Earth,

which does initial damage and as long as

the mob stays in that area for the duration

of the spell, will also root the mob upon

the spell ending. It's also an AoE, and

can be used on more than one mob at a

time. It's a little tricky to use considering it

has an AoE damage at the start, which can

tend to pull mobs towards you, but once

you get the hang of it can be quite

effective at parking mobs at a distance

while you mez and stun others. Most

effective while used in a fellowship

setting. Level 24 gives you Share the

Power, which is quite possibly one of the

crowning achievements of the lore-master

class. This is a self-explanatory ability.

Target a friend, transfer power. When you

are low, drain it from a mob. Essentially

you can keep your group members

constantly with power and never worrying

about needing to have any downtime.

Level 26 has Test of Will. This is a

rather big single-target nuke that has a

high chance for critical damage, and also

doubles as a stun. Your main single-target

nuke.

At 28 you get Warding Knowledge:

Dead. This basically creates a circle

around you and your fellowship and any

Dead that are pulled within that circle will

suffer debuffs and allow you to have a

higher chance to critically land attacks on

them. You also get Sign of Power:

Righteousness, which is a great spell that

can remove silence, knockdowns, and

knock-out effects and used pro-actively

can provide immunity to the very same

effects for a short while. Very useful spell





to avoid being stifled or stunned from

mobs that knockback.

At level 30 you get your lynx pet. The

lynx pet is a pure DPS pet that has a

rather nasty sneak-attack that can be used

at the start of a fight if the pet is currently

concealed. You also get Ancient

Wisdom, which increases your Will. This

is single-target and self-buff only.

32 gives you the lore-master rez spell,

Back from the Brink. As mentioned

previously in the guide you can only use

this spell in conjunction with a

farmer-grown spell component, and it's

only useful in out-of-combat situations.

When you get your Eagle pet, this spell

can become quite the fellowship-saver in

dire situations. You also get Sign of

Power: Vigilance, which basically allows

you to have a higher chance of seeing

sneaking mobs.

34 gives you Call of the Valar, handy

for those big fights when you need extra

damage, as it allows you an instant

refresh on many of your abilities.

Level 36 gives you Herb-Lore, which

is an AoE root spell that far out-shines

the root you can get from Cracked Earth.

It can only be used against a max number

of three targets, but it's extremely useful.

Level 38 gives you another Warding

circle, Warding Knowledge: Creatures of

Nature. This works exactly like the

previous version, only against Nature

targets.

Level 40 gives you Warding

Knowledge: Drakes. Self explanatory

based upon previous versions of the spell.

Level 42 gives you Ancient Craft. This

is a massive armor debuff that is

particularly effective against mobs who

have a high armor value and are thus

difficult for the party to hit.

Level 46 gives you Sticky Tar. A great

spell that causes a 50% snare for one

minute and any creature caught within the

tar has a 10% reduced mitigation towards

fire-based spells. This is the perfect spell

to help control a group of large mobs. It

slows the movement rate of everything,

which allows you time to properly root,

stun, and mez your way through targets

and keep your fellowship alive as long as

possible.

At level 48 you get Storm Lore, which is

an AoE damage spell that also has a 3

second stun factor. Another great way to

interrupt casters and keep things under

control.

At level 50 you get Lightning Storm.

This is a massive AoE attack that is used

in conjunction with Ancient Craft, the

armor debuff. It drains quite a bit of

morale and power, but it does a LOT of

damage. And who doesn't like to do a LOT

of damage!





The Lore-Master playedSolo

While the overview you have just read

should provide you with a basic idea of

how the skills work and at which levels

you are going to get class-defining skills

and abilities, you still need to know some

of the finer tips on which abilities are

most useful in certain situations, and the

differences in solo play and group play.

Firstly, there is a different set of traits

that you will want to equip for soloing

compared to grouping. While we will

cover specific spec builds in a different

section of the guide it's important to

remember this for maximization of

playstyle. The lore-master in particular

has an extremely large pool of traits to

pull from, which means there are a lot of

different ways you could spec your

character depending on your own

personal playstyle. But there are some

that are proven favorites, and effectively

so.

Pets are an important part of soloing.

The bear pet and the lynx pet are

generally the best to use for solo

playstyle, but it also can depend on the

setting. For grinding single mobs the

lynx is the best because of its high DPS,

but if you are going to be fighting more

than two or three mobs at a time the bear

pet is the most useful because of is higher

hitpoints and forced aggro, which gives

you time to properly mez and root adds

while your bear takes care of what needs

to be done. When using your bear pet it's

best to send the pet in to draw the initial

aggro, root and mez as necessary, and

simply cycle through the targets. With the

lynx, on the other hand, you will want to

use the sneak attack right off the bat, as it

can land quit the severe damage on the

mob at the initial get-go, which can help

your pet hold aggro throughout the fight.

As we talked about earlier there are

several abilities that can make your solo

life a breeze. You will not kill as fast as a

Hunter, for example, but you will never

run out of power, so endurance is key for

the lore-master. Things can be a bit tricky

at lower levels but as you gain abilities

things shape up quite a bit.

Sending your pet in first is a given. Your

pet needs to have aggro for you to be free

to do the things a lore-master does best.

We've covered what to do if you are facing

multiple mobs, but how can you

effectively solo?

Sending your pet in first has been

covered. After that your main priority

should be slowing the mob with Sign of

Power: Command. This will help your pet

avoid taking damage. You can also buff

your pet accordingly with whatever Sign





of the Wild you prefer. Then stick

Burning Embers on the mob and simply

cycle through your DoTs, single target

nukes and stuns until the mob is dead.

Periodically you will find yourself

running low on power or perhaps

drawing aggro from your pet. If you do

get aggro from your pet, simple take a

few hits while you pop off Staff Strike

and see if you can't get a stun or root off.

If you find yourself running low on

health simple use Sign of Wizardry while

your pet is flanking for a 25% morale

boost. If you have to, mez the mob, back

off, and use Inner Flame to get you and

your pet back to full health. You can use

Beacon of Hope on your pet from time to

time to keep him topped off. Flanking is

explained in greater detail at

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Mech

anics:Flanking.

If you run low on power simply drain

the mob! Generally things die pretty

quickly, so you shouldn't have too many

problems.

At the lower levels it can be a bit

difficult to handle more than two or three

mobs at a time due to the lack of any

serious AoE roots, but once you get that

main AoE root at level 36 (Herb Lore)

you can effectively take on 4-5 mobs at a

time without even batting an eye. Simple

AoE root 3 mobs, single target mez a

fourth while your pet is handling the fifth

and cycle through. Until then simple

single-target mez when you have to, let

your pet handle one of the adds while you

stick a couple of DoTs on it, and work on

the third add while you wait for mez to

refresh. It does take a little bit of timing

but you can keep at least two mobs

mezzed at all times with your single-target

mez spell, despite its refresh time. You

might need to take some hits initially

while you wait on the refresh timer, but

that's no problem for you! Once you get

the timing down it's fairly easy to rotate

and keep things under control.

The Lore-Master in aFellowship

While a lot of the basic lore-master

features work the same in a group setting,

you'll be doing a lot more of your primary

role here, which is essentially crowd

control. And in terms of pets your raven or

eagle pets are generally considered the

best choice for fellowship settings,

although if it's a fairly easy instance you

can use the lynx pet as well. The eagle in

particular is extremely useful as it can rez

you if you happen to go down in a group

wipe, which can be handy in a pinch. And

both of the bird pets have some nice

debuffs which can help your damage out


http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Mechanics:Flanking

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Mechanics:Flanking




considerably.

When the mobs get into camp the first

thing you will want to do is pop your

AoE slow, AoE fire debuff, and then mez

accordingly. Once you have things under

control, assist in DPS or curing wounds

as necessary, and simply rinse repeat.

Another important feature of

fellowship play is Conjunctions, or

Fellowship Maneuvers. These are

basically coordinated attacks that are

triggered through critical hits and by

specific abilities which some classes

have that can open conjunctions.

Guardians and Burglars can both trigger

conjunctions, although the cooldowns are

several minutes on each ability, which

means they are usually best reserved for

specific triggers on boss fights when the

need arises.

When you have broken the defenses of

a mob if you have him targeted you will

move right into the fellowship maneuver

and you will see a "wheel" with the four

colors representing each spoke of the

wheel. If you don't have the proper mob

targeted you will see the symbol for the

conjunction/fellowship maneuver pop up

on your screen...it looks like a little

bulls-eye. Once you click it you will be

presented with a choice of four colors:

red, blue, yellow, and green. At its very

simplest red is for direct damage, yellow

is damage-over-time, blue is power, and

green is health. However, it's much more

complex than that, and one of the crucial

elements that can set apart a good group

from a bad one.

Different combinations can net you

different types of fellowship maneuvers.

Also, the more you have of one specific

color the more benefit you will get from

that type of effect. If your group does all

blues, for example, depending on the

number of players in your group you will

get a variation of power increase along

with side effects, all beneficial. It is

important to know as many combinations

as you can for particularly lengthy or

challenging battles, as a conjunction at the

proper time can mean the difference in

success and failure. Some fights are

actually challenging enough that a

conjunction will literally mean the

difference in winning or a party wipe. A

basic list can be found at

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Fel

lowship_Maneuvers

Conjunctions only occur in fights with

signature or higher difficulty encounters,

and only when you are grouped with at

least one other player. You also must be

level 12 or greater for a conjunction to

work. It's important to note that for

minstrels the fellowship maneuvers will

automatically target the mob upon which

the conjunction was triggered. This can

sometimes be a pain as it will


http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Fellowship_Maneuvers

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Fellowship_Maneuvers




automatically move your target from that

of the tank (or whoever you were

healing) to the target of the fellowship

maneuver, if you choose to click the

bulls-eye and participate.

Red, or Ent's Strength, deals direct

common damage. As it increases in

power, it naturally increases in damage

and at the 6th level of power—that is,

when all 6 players have contributed to

the maneuver—it becomes an AoE attack

what will hit anything within 10 meters.

Blue, or Stallion's Spirit, restores

power, but it's got a lot of really nice side

effects depending on the level of

strength. From the second level onwards

it is a basic power "heal", but at the 5th

level it summons a noble spirit to help

you in battle and at the 6th level it will

summon a greater noble spirit to aid you

in battle. It is important to note that this

spirit will act just like a pet set to

"aggressive" stance, so avoid using this

maneuver if there are any mobs within

aggro range that you are trying to avoid

pulling, because these mobs WILL chase

them down and aggro them to your

group, which can be a pain in certain

areas. Just be sure of the area when you

are doing this. Blues are exceptionally

useful against power-drain mobs and

fights which take longer than normal to

beat, as they will keep your power pool

restored.

Yellow is also known as Spider's Guile,

and it is a basic damage over time with

some direct damage as well. At the 5th and

6th levels it will apply a 15 second effect

that damages the targets power pool and

will slow down its power regen after the

15 seconds are up. Yellow maneuvers are

extremely useful when fighting against

enemies who heal themselves, particularly

boss mobs. Yellow maneuvers will help

cancel out any heals these boss mobs do,

so it's important to remember.

Green is known as Eagle's Cry, and it is

a morale maneuver. From the 2nd level

onward it's a basic fellowship-only AoE

heal-over-time, but at the 5th level it also

cures fear spells and at the 6th level it

cures fears AND wounds. This can be

really handy on those difficult fights

where the bosses are tossing down wounds

left and right and impairing your

fellowship's ability to fight at its peak

performance levels.

As a general rule of thumb most blue

and green abilities can be used from afar,

but reds and yellows need to be done from

within melee range of the mob in question,

unless of course you are a ranged type of

fight or can do some type of ranged

ability. If a red or yellow ability can be

used via ranged attacks the colored icon

within the conjunction wheel will have an

arrow going through it, meaning that you

can use that ability from a distance.





Another important function of

conjunctions is combinations and how

they work. Certain combos such as pairs,

flushes, or straights (of colors) will

increase the maneuver's strength, but the

damage dealt by red and yellow

maneuvers remains associated with the

player who selected those colors.

Successful combos will strengthen the

individual player's "maneuver" strength,

while blue and green conjunctions gain

an AoE in almost every combination,

therefore benefiting every member of the

fellowship.

Since the damage from these

conjunctions is based upon the person

who triggered as well as the classes who

do the damage it's a general rule of

thumb to let the tank and DPS classes do

red and yellow combinations and let the

minstrel pick last. Your job will be

determining whether or not to finish off

with a green or blue, or whether or not

you should help out with damage. I

always find it best to toggle blues and

greens at the end of combos in any

non-boss fight to keep my fellowship's

health and power meters topped off and

let my group do what it's supposed to

do...slaughter the enemies. There's a

really good post on the official forums

detailing color coding and straight/flush

combos at

http://forums.lotro.com/showpost.ph

p?p=351682&postcount=2

Depending on the encounter at hand will

depend on how you start.


http://forums.lotro.com/showpost.php?p=351682&postcount=2

http://forums.lotro.com/showpost.php?p=351682&postcount=2




A Guide to MiddleEarth

Middle Earth is a vast realm of

ever-changing landscapes and difficulty.

So vast that at times you might find

yourself wondering...where do I go from

here?

Each race has its own unique starting

area. The first time you play any given

race the starting area is mandatory. You

are given the option to skip the intro

quests and area the next time you make a

character of that race, if you so choose.

However, it's an easy way to get your

first 6 levels and starter gear. If you

choose to skip an intro it will dump you

into the "real" world at level 2, with no

gear, no coin, and unless you have a set

of gear ready to twink yourself with, no

way to get started in Middle Earth.

Lord of the Rings Online is a fairly

linear game. Unlike other MMORPGs on

the market this is a storyline-based game.

This is a double-edged sword. For one, it

means that you will never have to go

looking for things to do; a linear game

leads you along on a fairly

straight-forward path. The downside to

this is that you do not have nearly as

large of a "sandbox" feel as you do in

other games. Yes, you can go anywhere

you want and do whatever quest chains

you like, but you will miss out on a

significant portion of the game if you

bypass the linear progression.

The starter areas need no walkthrough

introduction because they are extremely

easy and self-explanatory. Remember to

keep the tutorial hints on as they will

provide you with further details on

game-specific information that can help

guide you on your way to surviving in

Middle Earth. Depending on the race that

you choose for your Lore-Master depends

on the starting area and the storyline that

you will play through. I recommend trying

each racial starting area as a final

determining factor in picking the race for

your minstrel, above and beyond stats,

simply because each race has such a

unique storyline that it can affect some

player's enjoyment of the class they will be

playing. The writers for LOTRO have

done an exceptional job with transferring

Tolkien's world from page to the digital

world. Why not experience as much of it

as possible? And with each introductory

area having such a rich backdrop and

wealth of information, it helps set the tone

for how the rest of the game will unfold,

and will also help you understand the story

you are about to begin to be a part of.

Once you are done with the Intro areas

you will be dropped into your relative

starting area. Men start in Archet which is





part of the Bree region. Dwarves start in

Thorin's Hall, and Elves start in

Celondim, both of which are in the Erud

Luin region. Hobbits start in Michel

Delving, which is in the Shire region.

The absolute first step you should take

before you do anything is find a dynamic

map to help you in your travels.

Arguably the most popular is found at

www.mehq.net and is a player-ran map

with player-input points-of-interest. You

can sort the maps by region and using the

drop-down menu at the top quickly and

easily locate POIs on the map. This will

help you avoid ever getting lost or

needing to wait for someone to give you

help as to where or how to find

something. With this map at your

disposal you will very literally never get

lost. It has every single quest POI for

every region, so if you find yourself

sorting through your quest journal going

"hmm, where do I find that backpack full

of ore I'm supposed to pick up for this

quest?" you can simply tab out of the

game, bring up the map of the region you

need to be in, look for "backpack" in the

drop-down menu and it will show you

exactly where you need to be.

The second most valuable tool is the

database found over at

http://lotro.mmodb.com/. Between this

database and the dynamic map you will

never find yourself lost or confused

about a quest. I keep both of these open at

all times in the background so if I run into

an issue I can simply alt+tab out and

verify.

Each region has specific deeds which

can be accomplished through questing,

killing, or exploring. There are two ways

to go about this. If you want to get to 50 as

fast as possible, worry about doing deeds

after you hit the cap. You can come back

when the mobs are gray and easily get the

exploration deeds while slaughtering mobs

for the kill deeds that you want to obtain.

Quest deeds you usually end up

completing as you level up, because you

will be completing more than enough

quests in each area for the most part.

Using the list provided within this guide

you can determine which deeds are going

to be best for how you plan on playing

your Lore-Master.

Alternatively you may choose to obtain

each deed that you want to pursue while

you are leveling up. Some perfectionists

find this the only acceptable way to do

things as it helps maximize the strength of

your class as you level up. However, it

detracts from the speed of leveling, so it is

a choice you have to make for yourself. If

your priority is getting to 50 as quickly as

possible and then worrying about deeds

for traits, then come back later. If you

absolutely can't live without those traits,

then do them as you go along. The


http://lotro.mmodb.com/




dynamic map will help you locate POIs

for both the exploration and some of the

quest deeds, while the kill deeds simply

require finding specific mobs and

slaughtering them until you are finished.

Since LOTRO is such a dynamic game

they have made it exceptional easy to

level up in this game. One rule of thumb

is important to remember: do quests in

order of their level. The writers have

done a stellar job of avoiding quests that

force you go to an area for a quest, then

return only to find yourself heading back

to that area for another quest a level later,

only to return again even later on. This

will still happen in some cases, but for

the most part if you do quests in the

order of levels (not necessarily the order

in which you obtained them) then you

will minimize your running around. In

some cases you will even end up

knocking out several birds with one

stone. Especially in the higher level areas

you can sometimes find yourself going

into an area and completing 5 or more

quests just by killing mobs of one or two

specific types, which is really great on

the experience points. Your quest tracker

shows quests by level and region so it is

very easy to keep track of things.

Establishing friends is also a good

idea, and finding a good Kinship (or

guild) is even better. You can use the

official LOTRO forums to find guilds

who are recruiting on your server, or keep

an eye out in the various channels for

guilds who might be recruiting. Often

times you will find yourself completing

solo quest chains that have followup

quests that lead into fellowship (group)

quests that can only be completed with

friends. It is also important to note that

some quests within your tracker will be

ranked as "small" fellowship quests, while

others will be ranked with "full"

fellowship icons. The difference is the size

of the icon representing other players

attached to the quest itself within your

tracker. As a general rule of thumb small

fellowship quests can be completed with

2-3 players, depending on the class. Some

normal fellowship quests can be done with

2-3 players as well, provided they are the

right classes and depending on the area.

Others, however, will require a full

fellowship to complete, as well as a

significantly larger period of time to

complete. It's also important to note that

while soloing can be the most effective

way to maximize your exp-per-kill from

mobs, the majority of your experience

points will come from quest completions,

not grinding mobs. As such if you can find

one or two people to make friends with

and level up with as a team you will find

the experience that much more rewarding.

Also with a duo or trio you will rarely

have to wait to find a group for the smaller

fellowship quests since you will already





have one!

Gear is not as important in LOTRO as

it was and is in other games. For

example, there are several tiers of gear.

Common (white), Uncommon (yellow),

Rare (purple), and Epic (teal). While in

other games there is usually a huge gap

between the tiers, in LOTRO there is not.

Yes, there is a difference in Uncommon

and Epic, for example, but it's not so

huge as to make content impossible were

you to only have Uncommon. The

developers of this game want gear to be

more of a choice than a mandatory

end-all-be-all focus of the game. This is

NOT a gear-centric game. This is a

story-centric game, and while gear is all

well and good and shinies are fun to get,

it is not the primary focus of this game.

A person wearing quested gear or crafted

gear, for example, can still win the same

encounters as a player wearing Epic gear

from the instance sets or boss drops. The

only difference is in the set bonuses and

some slightly-higher stats. This is not to

say that gear does not have an impact; it

can, and does. The better your gear the

easier it is to defeat a foe, but unlike

other games where some fights or areas

are impossible without the proper "tier"

of gear, there is no such thing in this

game. All players can accomplish all

content regardless of their gear. Teal sets

simply have the highest value of stats

compared to the others, but the disparity

is not so much that Epic items are godly

when compared to Rare or Crafted. They

are simply slightly better.

The best gear also comes from the

instances and full-fellowship quests, as

well as the end of larger quest chains.

Instances is by far the easiest way to earn

gear on the way up, although crafted gear

can be equal in stats. However, gathering

enough resources to make your own armor

can be a pain. If you can find crafters who

are willing to use your mats to craft you

armor, this is another excellent way to

gear up, although I find questing the

fastest, most effective way to get gear. At

the cap there are several full sets of gear

which offer bonuses for wearing the full

set, or several specific pieces. The more

you wear of a set, the more bonuses you

get. We will cover that later on in the gear

section, but it is something to remember. If

straight-up leveling is your priority, then

your best bet is to rely on quests and

instances for your gear. It's free, requires

no mats, no combines, and simply requires

the time and help of a few friends in order

to acquire.





Crafting

There are several choices when it

comes to crafting, although you don't

have to pick up a trade if you have no

desire to. Each specific vocation is made

up of three professions. A basic overview

of the choices can be found at

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Cra

fting.

The Explorer is most often the logical

choice for the Lore-Master because you

gain Tailoring as a crafting class,

meaning that you can make your own

gear, along with Prospector and Forester,

the skills which allow you to mine ore

and harvest wood, important for helping

earn extra coin. Since hides drop from

monsters that you kill (bears, wolves,

wargs, boards, etc.), choosing this

vocation is usually the wisest course of

action if you want a fast-track to plenty

of coin along with making your own

armor. Ore and wood are arguably two of

the easiest ways to make money in this

game, and considering you pass by nodes

aplenty during the course of your

adventures, it is a best-choice for making

sure you have coin for a horse at level 35

and plenty of coin to spare when you hit

50.

Each profession is broken up into tiers,

which is also explained in greater detail

at the wiki, but the basic concept is you

must reach at least a certain number of

points within a previous tier to unlock the

next tier. For harvesting this means you

must harvest the ore, wood, or hides and

then refine them in order to earn points.

Eventually you will earn enough points to

unlock the next tier and can then harvest

those nodes as well as refine them. Once

you have achieved the full amount of

points within a tier you have a chance to

"critical" or critically succeed when

refining the resources, which will give you

x3 instead of just x1 of the particular

resource.

In crafting it works similar, but the

difference is that each tier is broken up

into two phases. The first phase is spent

earning enough points by making items to

reach the point where you would unlock

the next tier. Once you reach that point

you will be given a quest. You cannot

advance to the next tier until you finish the

quest. Once you finish the quest you have

the option to master the previous tier.

Mastering the previous tier allows you to

critically succeed on items, which gives a

substantial bonus to the stats of those

items.

Various dropped items, crafted scrolls,

and even crafting tools made by a

Metalsmith, can give you bonus to the

chance you have to critically succeed on

an item. While not as important at lower


http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Crafting

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Crafting




levels, they become increasingly

valuable as you reach the cap, as many

players find the crafted gear to be on-par

with the drops from instances. As such,

critically crafted gear can be well worth

the time invested.

Choosing a vocation is entirely up to

you. The Explorer is possibly one of the

best when it comes to the Lore-Master,

but your personal choice may dictate

otherwise.

Resource Farming

There really isn't any such thing as

"farming" in LOTRO. Everyone pretty

much uses resources as the way to get

cash. With most boss drops being

bind-on-pickup, there isn't a huge market

in farming and selling drops. Shards, can

sometimes sell for a nice fee, but shard

mobs are random. Some people farm

reputation items and sell them in stacks

on the broker, but even with the vendor

trash you get from cash you can't come

anywhere close to what you will get

farming for resources. The average

player can farm 5-6 stacks of different

types of resources per hour if they go the

Explorer route, and depending on the tier

those stacks can sell for 200-800 silver

per stack...meaning players can easily

earn several gold per hour, especially as

they start getting into the higher tiers. The

most you will earn farming vendor trash

and rep items is a few hundred silver per

hour

Regardless if you are farming ore and

wood for cash or for your own crafting,

there are several routes through each area

that will warrant you the best amount of

ore and wood. Hides are a different matter

entirely.

Between ore and wood, ore is the more

valuable. If you chose the Explorer craft

the best thing to do is track ore instead of

wood nodes, because where there is ore,

there is usually wood. As a general rule of

thumb you can farm 3 stacks of ore and 1

stack of wood per hour, or vice versa

depending on which you choose to track.

For the first tier of ore, which is Tin and

Copper, head to the swamp in the NW

portion of the Shire. Make large circuits,

staying within the bog. You will also find

plenty of Rowan wood.

For Barrow-Iron, Silver, and Ash, you

have two choices, both of which are in

Bree. You can either make circuits around

the Barrow Downs or you can head north

to the Bree Fields and make large circuits

along the northern ravine edge, all the way

to Trestlebridge and then back.

For Rich Iron, Gold, and Yew wood the

best choice is both west and east of

Esteldin in the North Downs, as well as





north of Othrikar in the same zone. Just

make large circuits and you will find

plenty of resources.

For Dwarf-Iron, Platinum, and

Lebethron wood you can make what is

known as the Evendim (also dubbed

Everswim because of the large lake in

the western area of the zone) lake run,

which consists of heading to the western

edge of the lake and making a large

circle of the land there. You can also find

it in plenty all over the Trollshaws,

especially the wooded areas.

Ancient Iron, Ancient Silver, and

Black Ash wood can be found in any of

the 40-50 zones. There are no specific

routes that are the "best", persay, because

the nodes are found in plentiful array all

over the place. Just be sure to harvest all

that you see.

Hides drop from creatures. If you are

farming for hides your best bet is to find

an area thick with bears, wolves and

boars (or similar) and start slaughtering.

As a general rule you can farm hides

while farming other resources, as the

areas you will be making circuits through

will have plenty of wildlife along the

way. If you use the aforementioned

routes you can easily earn 2-3 stacks of

ore + 1-2 stacks of wood + 2-3 stacks of

hides per hour. It slows down a little

towards the higher tiers as you will be

sometimes fighting mobs that take

slightly longer to kill, but you still manage

to rack up tons of resources.

Leveling

As stated before, each race has a specific

introduction into how their race fits into

Middle Earth. Each intro area has a

distinctly different feel. The first 6 levels

are done in these introduction areas. You

cannot accept kin invites during this phase,

nor will you come across any other

players. These instances are "tutorial"

instances for all intents and purposes.

They do, however, give you some starter

gear, coins, and the ability to get to level 6

before they dump you into the real world.

These introduction areas also introduce

you to the concept of the Book quests. The

Book quests are epic quest lines that

coincide with the actual Tolkien storyline

that the Fellowship is processing through.

At various points in time you will be

assisting the Fellowship, or members of it,

through these Book quests. Each Book has

a series of chapters. When you first get

done with the Intro area you will have a

quest line in your tracker that falls under

the Prologue area. This is the "main"

storyline. While there are literally

hundreds of quests throughout Middle

Earth, and you are in no way required to





complete the Book quests to level up to

the cap, these Book quests lead you into

many scripted instances, major plot and

story-advancing areas, and overall

contain some of the best gear and the

funnest content of the game. You

absolutely want to do these quest lines in

coordination with your other quests.

After the intro, as we mentioned above,

you are dropped into your starter area.

The first thing you want to do is find a

Milestone and use it. You will have been

given a Map at the end of the

Introduction. This map allows you to

recall back to your "bind" point, which is

any Milestone you choose to set your

bind point to. Since you will be spending

till around your mid teens in these areas,

use the Milestone that is most centrally

located for you. You can change your

bind point at any given time by using a

Milestone. Certain outposts along the

way will have bankers and trainers so

you will find it worthwhile to change

things as you progress.

You also should find the nearest

Stable-Master and "unlock" his stable by

clicking him. This will allow you to ride

a horse to this location in the future. If

you do not unlock the location you

cannot ride to the location from

somewhere else. Always remember to

talk with your local Stable-Master when

first arriving in an area.

While crafting is not something

everyone wants to get into, it is important

to at the very least have some form of

gathering skill for making money. Mining,

or Prospecting, is a guaranteed

money-maker, and considering you will

need 4 gold 220 silver for your horse at

level 35, you will want to have some form

of alternative income other than just quests

and vendor trash. There are several paths

to choose from, so take the time to look

them over. Prospecting is the best paying,

although you will get plenty of hides from

killing mobs (used by tailors) and if you

go with Explorer, you can mine ore and

wood at the same time, plus gather hides

from killing, which means you are able to

gather three different types of components

at the same time, which equals lots of

money!

If you start as an Elf, you will set your

Milestone to Celondim. If you are a Dwarf

you will set it to Thorin's Hall. If you are a

Man you will set it to Archet. If you are a

Hobbit you will set yours to Michel

Delving.

The starting areas are very linear, and

require little/no effort. They will introduce

you to the world of Middle Earth and start

you down the path that will begin to draw

you into the conflict that is affecting all of

the Free People. While you will get a quest

from each starting area to head to Bree,

don't head out just yet. It's worth your time





to finish all of the quests in the starter

areas, as it will get you to level 15 or 16.

Keep in mind also that green and

low-blue quests are still worthwhile to

complete because the quest exp is still

good enough to make it faster than

grinding mobs. NEVER grind mobs in

LOTRO for exp. It is unproductive and a

waste of time. Always quest. If you don't

have a quest for a mob, leave it alone.

You will waste your time if you bother

with it.

The starter areas will get you equipped

in some better gear, give you your starter

quests, introduce you to how the game

works, and involve you in a few

fellowship quests which will allow you

to start playing your class in a group

setting from time to time. All roads lead

to Bree, however, so once you wrap up

the quests in your starter area and

progress the Prologue quest to the point

where they tell you to seek out Strider in

the Prancing Pony, it's time to head out

to Bree. You can either travel by foot, or

you can take a Mount from the local

Stable-Master and quick-travel for 1

silver to Bree. You can only quick-travel

from your starter areas to Bree.

Reputation

Reputation is another factor of Lord of

the Rings Online. There are several

different Reputation systems throughout

Middle Earth. Each race has an associated

faction they can earn Reputation with, as

well as certain areas throughout the game

which have a faction associated with them.

As you earn ranks within the Reputation

system it allows you access to special

vendors who have unique items, abilities,

and other sundries which you can purchase

from them if you have the corresponding

level of Reputation.

A detailed list can be found at

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Rep

utation

(15-18) Bree Land

Ah, the lovely little village of Bree.

Centrally located just north and east of the

Shire, Bree is a haven for all of the races.

It is also the central hub for quite some

time. As soon as you get to Bree set your

Milestone to the one in front of The

Prancing Pony. There is a Bard inside, as

well as a minstrel trainer, so you will want

to use this as your headquarters for awhile.

There are two stable-masters in Bree.

One at the west gates and one at the


http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Reputation

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Reputation




south-eastern gates, down by the Auction

Hall.

After you've set your bind point and

gotten your horse points, go inside the

Pony and advance the Prologue quest

into the first Book quest. Strider will

send you on a series of errands that are

very easy and straight-forward. You can

easily run the first few up to chapter 9 at

level 15. Once at chapter 9 you will

probably need to wait a couple of levels,

or find help. Chapter 11 will require a

full-group.

Once you have run those quests as far

as you can for your level, head back to

Bree and simply make a rotation around

the city, picking up every quest that you

can find. You will notice that you get a

couple of quests to run to the Lone Lands

as well as some instance quests for the

Great Barrows. Ignore these quests for

now. The Great Barrows should not be

attempted until you are around level 24,

and only with a full fellowship. The Lone

Lands you can wait to do until you are

level 19 or 20.

Most of the Bree quests can be done

solo, although a few lead to fellowship

quests. If you are in a hurry you can blow

off the fellowship quests, but I suggest at

least trying to get groups for them as you

find them, because the exp and rewards

generally make it worth it. Plus you'll

need all the coin you can get on your

way up the ladder.

Once you have made your rotation

around Bree, you can start running the

quests, in order of their level. As linear as

things are, it's fairly straight-forward and

easy enough to simply grind your way

from 15 to around 18-19 in a matter of just

a few hours.

There is also a small camp west of Bree,

along the road, called Aldo's camp. You

will pass through it on one of the chapters

of the first Book quest-line. While the

quests here are lower level, you can do

them if you find yourself bypassing the

Fellowship content of Bree lands. The

same applies for the Buckland quests, as

they are lower level. Even so, they give

decent xp and are worth looking at if you

are simply looking to grind the fastest way

up the levels and bypass the group content

as much as possible.

The Old Forest can be a pain, and you'll

have to go in there for several quests, both

now and later on in the game. There is an

excellent map to be found at

http://community.codemasters.com/fo

rum/showthread.php?t=191870 which

gives you a very clear picture of how to

navigate the Old Forest, which helps

alleviate any headaches due to the

maze-like environment.

Do all of the quests you find in Bree.

Most of the chains will end up in either

small fellowship or full fellowship quests.


http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=191870

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=191870




I don't recommend spending an

inordinate amount of time looking for a

fellowship. Just keep your eye out for

other players, and ask around in the LFF

channel from time to time, or if you are

in a Kinship ask them. But if you can't

find the help you need within a night or

two, bypass them. It's much quicker to

just keep moving forward on the solo

quests than wait around for a fellowship

that may or may not ever happen.

Remember those quests that wanted

you to head to the Lone Lands? Now's

the time to worry about them. Don't

worry about the run to Trestlebridge just

yet...that's for later on.

(18-22) Lone Lands

Once you have hit 18/19, it's time to

move out to the initial Lone Lands quest

hub, the Forsaken Inn. This will be your

base of operations for the next couple of

levels, but I would not change my bind

point from Bree just yet, as there are no

trainers in the Lone Lands.

Firstly, pick up all of the quests in the

Inn and outside of it. You'll want to do

all of the initial steps because they all

lead up to chains, and several of them

require you to run back to Bree. Ignore

the quest that requires you to run to Ost

Guruth. You'll want to do this quest later,

as it's the next quest hub. My

recommendation is to stay here until you

level 20, ignoring any quests that have you

return to Bree just yet. Wrap up as many

chains as you can to get you to level 20,

then recall back to Bree to train. You will

have a few quests to turn in, as well as one

followup that you need to do before you

head back to the Inn, which requires you

to kill some wolves in the mountains.

Once you get back to the Inn, finish all

of the chains you can, up to the Fellowship

quests. At this point you can either sit

around and wait for a fellowship, or you

can move to the next town, Ost Guruth.

Once you get to OG, you can begin

again with the quest chains. If you are

careful you can easily get to 22 or 23 here

before you need to worry about a different

area. Once you get to the point you are left

with only fellowship quests or orange/red

quests, you will want to head to

Trestlebridge for the first few chains there.

Also you will have a quest in the low 20's

to run to a small area north of the Shire.

There are a few quests to run there, most

of them solo, and if you choose you can go

there and do them. I generally do not

recommend it as it takes quite some time

to travel and there's plenty of other things

to worry about in the meantime.





(22-24) Trestlebridge

Trestlebridge fills the gap between 22

and 24 in Lone Lands. There are plenty

of solo quests here that lead up to a few

impressive chains in the Nan area of

goblins. Groups are usually always

running here, so it's easy to get them if

you need. Run the chains until you are

completed with them. Don't worry about

heading to Esteldin just yet...that's a stop

for later on.

(24-26) Lone Lands

Once you get done in Trestlebridge,

you can head back to Ost Guruth and run

the remaining quests + Book 2 in its

entirety. This should push you to level 26

or 27. Book 2 will require a group for

most of it, especially the last few steps.

You will also get the starter for Book 3,

which takes place within the North

Downs. You will want to be sure to

advance this quest to the point it asks you

to travel to Estledin. You can ignore the

Garth Agarwen quests for now, as they

are all full-fellowship quests and require

a minimum of level 30 to run the

instance.

(26-36) The NorthDowns (Estledin,

Othrikar, etc.)

Estledin, within the North Downs. This

is the next major hub. Once you get here,

you will want to do several things. Firstly,

set your new bind point. The reason for

this is because Esteldin hosts all the

trainers, a crafting area, and a bank, so it's

the logical next step to set up as your

headquarters. Secondly, run around like a

mad bunny and pick up ALL of the quests

you can find. Secondly you will want to go

due west out of Esteldin, once you get

settled in, and pick up the quests from the

two farmers.

Esteldin is the start of what the rest of

the game is like: a plethora of quests. If

you thought there were plenty of quests

before, just wait! This is when leveling

really starts to pick up and you will find

yourself literally rocketing through the

levels.

Remember to run the quest chains in

order of the level, not in the order which

you received them.

When you find yourself running out of

blue and white quests, simply run down to

the Elven village south of Estledin along

the road. You will need to do a starter

quests here but once you are done it





unlocks another bunch of quests from the

NPCs in the village. Run these until you

are done.

Also check out the Dwarven village of

Othrikar, which is North of Esteldin

along the road. This is another smaller

quest hub that will have plenty of quests

for you to do.

You will eventually make your way to

an Earth-kin camp which is just outside

of Estledin to the east, which is another

smaller quest hub.

The Dol Dinen quests require a group

and are a hell of a lot of fun so try not to

miss out on these if you get a chance. It's

not an instance, just overland elite mobs.

Wait until level 30ish to run Book 3.

You will need a group for most of this

other than the first couple of stages. Once

you are done you will be asked to travel

to Rivendell to finish. Rivendell is also

where the next few Book series start,

although you won't want to set it as your

hub for some time. Wait until level 45 to

worry about any more Book

quests...more on this later. You will,

however, want to go to Rivendell as soon

as you get the opportunity, because the

start for a rather lengthy quest chain that

takes place in the next leveling area will

start with Aragorn in Rivendell. You can

get there one of three ways. One, you can

find a hunter to give you a teleport. Two,

you can use your racial trait to go there

(if you are an Elf). Otherwise you will

need to head to Ost Guruth and head east,

on foot, and make your way through the

Trollshaws. It is not an easy journey, nor

is it short. Prepare to burn up 30 minutes

of time to make this trip.

Once you get there, be sure to talk with

Aragorn to start his chain to restore his

sword, Narsil. Eventually he will ask you

to talk to a Ranger friend of his in

Evendim.

(36-40) Evendim

Evendim is west of the North Downs.

Just follow the road through the Fields of

Fornost. Tinnudir is the city you are

looking for. Just head due west past the

cross roads and you will find it located on

an island. I would recommend binding

here, as there are trainers, and you'll be

spending the next few levels here.

Most of these quests are solo. You will

have some quests from the island, and

some from the town of Ost Forod, which is

north of the cross roads. Run the quests

until you are completely out of them. They

are very straight-forward, and very easy.

The Aragorn chain is particularly fun,

because it's very long and has an amazing

story behind it. It will eventually lead to

fellowship quest within the Tomb of





Elendil at level 40.

(40-50) Rivendell,Trollshaws, Misty

Mountains, Angmar,Forochel

The first thing you should do when you

hit 40 is return to Rivendell and set your

bind point. At level 40 you can

fast-travel from Rivendell to many areas

of the game, as well as vice-versa.

Rivendell is like Bree...it has an Auction

Hall, Banker, Trainers...everything you

will need.

From Rivendell you will want to travel

to the area south, the Trollshaws. This

will have some low 40's quests you can

work on, as well as some fellowship

quests. You can also pick up all of the

quests in Rivendell. Once you've done all

that you can, head north of Rivendell into

the Misty Mountains. Do all of those

quests that you can as well until you have

nothing left but orange/higher quests.

Once you hit 43ish you will be heading

off to Angmar, which is north of the

North Downs. The first camp is the Earth

Kin camp, in the southern part of the

zone. There are quite a few quests here,

most of which are solo. Just north of here

is the main camp of Men as well, which

has many more quests to start. The place is

called Aughaire, and you will also get

your first full armor set. This is when you

will want to finally ditch that Medium

Armor trait and slot something else in its

place, as the set you earn from the quests

at this camp is a light armor set. These

quests are all low 40's quests and lead to

mid-40's, which also lead to many other

areas within Angmar. You will spend a lot

of time here. Between Angmar, Misty

Mountains, and Trollshaws, you should

find yourself an easy path to 45, although

you might need to bounce around between

them a bit here and there.

At 45 you can head to Forochel and

work on those quests as well, although

your priority at level 45 should be doing

Books 4 through 6 in their entirety, as you

will gain access to eastern Angmar after

completing Book 6, which is rather

important for getting to future Book areas

as well as some of the dungeons for your

class quests.

By the time you get to 47 you will likely

start running into a lot of group-only

quests. In specific, the Book quests are

mostly group-only, although they have

parts which are soloable, especially books

4 and 5 since you saved them until you are

higher level. If you find yourself running

out of things to do as a soloer or if things

are just a bit too hard for you until you get

that next level you will probably have to





spend some time looking for a group.

Just keep track of those fellowship quests

and if you haven't found someone to help

you knock them out already, now's the

time. As a general rule of thumb groups

are extremely easy to get as a

Lore-Master, since every group loves CC

and nukes, so you shouldn't have any

problems.

(50-60) Eregion, TheMines of Moria

- Eregion

- The Mines of Moria

Eregion

Introduced with the Mines of Moria

expansion, this area borders the

Trollshaws and is the first place players

headed for the Mines of Moria will enter.

To the north, entering from the

Trollshaws, it is wooded and bordered by

hills and mountains in the north, turning

to grass and thin woods as you move

southward. The first settlement found is

Gwingris, almost right on the border and

housed within the ruins of the ancient

city by the same name. The Elves of

Rivendell are attempting to regain a

foothold in this region.

South of Gwingris almost to the far end

of the map is Mirobel, at the fork of what

is now a dry riverbed of the river once

known as Sirannon. This river flowed into

Moria to the east.

Halfway between Gwingris and Mirobel

is Echad Eregion, another settlement. East

along the dry riverbed, at the first pass

before the Walls of Moria is Echad

Dunann, the fourth and last settlement

within Eregion.

It's important to note that in order to

swift travel within Eregion, a specific

Quest Completion Deed will need to be

done.

Gwingris

In Gwingris, you'll find a stable master

and several quest-givers. Quests here

begin at about level 48 and center mainly

around the evils in the woods of Glad

Ereg, directly south of the ruins of

Gwingris.

Quests of note include the Foul Wood

chain, given by Lithuilas, the final of

which gives a bow (29.1 DPS Beleriand

Damage, +1% Critical Hit chance with

Ranged Auto-attack, +208 Ranged Critical

Rating, -3% Incoming Ranged Damage)

that any Hunter would enjoy having or a

staff (29.1 DPS, +29 Might, +29 Agility,

+29 Vitality, +208 Melee Critical Rating,





10% chance of increasing target's

susceptibility to Fire damage) that most

Lore-Masters would like.

Another fork in that quest chain (Seeds

for the Future) culminates in a final quest

that gives great light torso armor with

452 armor plus other bonuses.

The Roosting Tree quest line gives a

good set of heavy leggings (692 armor,

+29 Agility, and more) while the Lost

Goods chain rewards a Rune Stone (Fire

Affinity, 29.1 DPS, +29 Will, +29 Fate,

and more) for the Rune-keeper.

Echad Eregion

Another small outpost of Rivendell

elves holds this former city. There is

another stable master and several quest

givers as well. Most of these quests can

be soloed, but some have signature

enemies that will require some skill to

defeat alone. These quests are mainly of

levels 49 and 50.

Quests of note include the Pembar

series of quests, which reward several

good items including heavy armor (+312

Wound Resistance Rating and other

buffs) and a good 1-handed hammer

(25.6 DPS, Ancient Dwarf-make, plus

other buffs).

Further in this chain is a medium helm

of note (197 armor, +24 Vitality, and

more). Later, a heavy shield that is one of

the best quest rewards in the game up to

this point (1,350 armor, -10% incoming

Ranged damage, +424 Block Rating, -3%

incoming Melee damage, +45 Maximum

Morale) while the earring given in that

same quest would make any player

envious.

Mirobel

Echad Mirobel is the Elven outpost that

is very near the old, ruined city of

Mirobel, which was once a great school. It

is now infested with Dunlendings,

Half-Orcs, and worse. There is a stable

master and a few vendors.

Many of the quests in Echad Eregion

lead here and back again with only a

handful originating in Mirobel.

Echad Dunann

This is a large outpost of Elves and

Dwarves with several amenities including

a stable master, supplier, healer, and so

forth. This is the stronghold that guards

the Walls of Moria and is where most of

the quests within the Walls of Moria

originate.

This is also where the Epic quest chain

for Book 1, Volume 2 begins, which your

character must complete in order to enter

the Mines of Moria.





The Mines of Moria

Under the Misty Mountains in the land

of Rhovanion, north of Rohan and west

of the Mirkwood Forest are the mystical

Mines of Moria. Long abandoned by the

Dwarves who made them, after their

greed unleashed the Balrog from the

depths, the Dwarves now plan to retake

Durin's Halls.

When you first gain entrance to Moria,

you will find yourself in the first

encampment of Dwarves on the western

end of the map. Directly east is the Great

Delving, gateway to Moria.

There are many areas to this vast

complex of mines, tunnels, huge caverns,

and splendid Dwarf-hewn rock works.

North of The Great Delving is the

western end of the long halls called

Durin's Way, where most of your

adventuring will likely start. Directly east

of the Delving is New Khazad-dum and

further east is Old Khazad-dum with an

exit from the mines east of that to Dimril

Dale and Lothlorien.

South of the Great Delving are the

Silvertine Lodes, then the Water-Works,

east of which are The Flaming Deeps,

then the Redhorn Lodes, and finally the

Foundations of Stone. The instance area

Zirakzigil is also inside Moria.

Most of your adventuring will be

quested from The Great Delving and

Durin's Way. At the center of Durin's Way

is the 21st Hall, where you'll spend your

crafting time and work with your

Legendary Items.

Durin's Way

Capping the northern end of the map,

this is the hub of the Dwarves' activities in

the Mines so far. Here you'll find

Three-Forks Camp (Dolven-View), the

instance entrance to Zirakzigil, The Stone

Hall, 21st Hall, and entrances to

Zelem-Melek and Nud-Melek

(Khazad-dum).

Most of the quests here begin in

Dolven-View and eventually lead to the

Stone Hall and the Twenty-First Hall.

They center around Orc, Goblin, and

Merrevail infestations of the area. Quests

are of level 48 and higher, most beginning

at around 50, and are small group and

fellowship quests for the most part. Many

can be soloed by a strong player, however.

The introductory quest "Welcome to

Moria" will introduce you to most of the

NPCs within these areas of Moria,

including quest-givers.

Damage-dealers will like the Great

Hammer of Moria (29.67 DPS, 2-handed,

with other buffs) that comes from the

quest of the similar name.





The same quest also rewards The

Shield of Moria (heavy, 1,296 armor,

plenty of other buffs) if your character

prefers armor.

Many class-specific and Legendary

Item quests are also available in Durin's

Halls, mainly in The Stone

Hall/Dolven-View.

The Great Delving / The Silvertine

Lodes

These two areas are side-by-side (or

over-and-under if you prefer). The Great

Delving is a part of Durin's Way and the

Silvertine Lodes are more or less

underneath it. Most of the quests here

involve killing goblins--there are several

camps of them--and finding specific

items within them. Solo players will need

to be over level 53, but fellowships can

be lower in level.

While the rewards in the Silvertine

Lodes aren't spectacular enough to

mention by name, they are consistent and

a lot of 3rd Age legeldaries drop here.

The Mark of Loyalty, Know Thine

Enemy, and Lawlessness Among

Goblins are quests worth doing. You'll

find all of the quest-givers are in one area

at the entrance to the mine shafts.

The Flaming Deeps, The

Water-Works, and Foundations of

Stone

While very different from one another in

appearance and name, these areas are

intricately tied together and lie next to one

another on the map along the southern end

of Moria. Collectively called "The Lower

Deeps," these areas house many of the

more challenging quests within Moria.

Filled with Orcs, worms, and servants of

Saruman, these areas are dangerous and

bloody. Most of the quests here are of

level 53 and higher.

The Fungus series of quests will be of

interest to light armor wearers

(Lore-masters and Rune-keepers) as a

reward includes a great piece of light

armor (508 armor, +59 Power, +35 Will,

and more). The same quest chain yields a

heavy shield (1,486 armor, +46 Power,

+50 Morale, and more).

Another quest in that chain rewards with

a good 1-Handed Sword (+134 Morale,

chance of morale transfer from opponent

to wielder on hit).

The quest titled "Kheled-menem:

Ghashug" gives a great Warden's Shield

(826 armor, +18 Agility, Might, Vitality,

and more).

Other Areas Within Moria

The other areas within Moria contain

many more quests and instances.

Especially in Khazad-dum. Most of these

are fellowship quests of higher level. They

center around Legendary Items, the Epic





quest line, and the final level 60 quests

for characters to cap their levels: which

ends in a confrontation with the Balrog

himself.

In The Shadowy Abyss (below

Nud-melek, a part of Zelem-melek), is

literally the bottom of the mines. The

only outpost is the Shadowed Refuge and

the area is filled with Orc-kind and

worse. There are many mine nodes,

however. Keep your eyes open for trolls,

especially if you're solo.

(60-65) Mirkwood

It's shockingly fast to gain five levels

in Mirkwood. The region is chock full of

quests as you make your way from the

west end to the east end of the map. The

average player can easily get from 60-65

in about a week while the more hardcore

types can swiftly blow through the

content in a couple of days. Mirkwood

isn't a very big place, and the main

storyline neatly connects the various

quest hubs together.

Before you start your journey, keep in

mind that many quests offer IXP as

rewards, not to mention that every kill

grants you more IXP. Don't let them go

to waste! If you're level 60 and your

current weapons are maxed out, equip

any level 59-60 LI to collect those

precious points. However, remember that

deconstructing a level 60 LI beyond level

11 only yields a Moria IXP rune, which

can't be used on level 61+ LIs. Therefore,

as soon as you hit level 61, immediately

equip any old level 61 LI, and deconstruct

that level 59-60 LI. Pour the rest of your

IXP into the level 61 until you hit level 65.

Once you have an LI you'll want to keep

indefinitely, deconstruct that level 61 LI

and put the points into your active

weapon. This will save you from spending

a lot of time in grinding IXP runes for

your LI.

Although the ideal level to enter

Mirkwood is 60, some players may feel

overwhelmed and not ready. Don't worry;

there is no rush. You can finish up any

leftover quests you have in Moria;

alternatively if you want to take it easy, do

the simple, non-combat repeatable quests

in Lothlórien. Better yet, you can gain a

level or two in a few skirmishes, the most

significant addition to LOTRO since the

legendary item system. I'll discuss

skirmishes in a little bit. However, for the

sake of the guide, I'll assume that you land

in Mirkwood at level 60.

You can easily solo your way to 65, as

there are only a couple of quests that

require a small fellowship. Feel free to

skip them if you have trouble finding a

group. The most group quests (3- and 6-

person group instances, and the raid) are





located at the camp in Dol Guldur, but

you don't have to worry about doing

them until you hit 65.

Western Mirkwood

As mentioned earlier, when you

complete the Mirkwood Landing

instance, you wind up in the "real"

version of the Mirk-eaves. As you pick

up the quests, don't forget to check out

the Malledrhim barterers; one of them

offers some nice earrings. Wardens and

Hunters should pay special attention to

these barter NPCs, as they also have the

Muster in Mirk-eaves and Guide to

Mirk-eaves skills, worth a few feathers

each.

When you've finished with Mirk-eaves

you may be tempted to head to the

Haunted Inn in the Dourstocks since the

Book quest leads you in that direction,

but hold off on that. Instead, head to

Echad Mothelen (13.5 S, 58.1 W) first, a

small campsite with NPCs that give a

healthy number of quests. It's a short but

worthwhile detour on route to the

Haunted Inn. Once you reach the Inn,

pay a visit to the Malledrhim NPCs

inside; one of them offers some nice

bracelets. After finishing with the

Haunted Inn quests, head south to

Estolad Mernael (16.9 S, 51.5 W) in the

swampy Drownholt.

In certain locations, doing all the quests

will unlock repeatable quests, with

Malledrhim feathers as rewards. These

feathers can be traded for level 65 morale

and power pots, a cheap and easy

alternative to buying them off the AH.

There are several repeatable quests,

though some aren't worth doing because

they take too much time or require you to

go to some out of the way place to kill

mobs. For the fastest way to earn feathers,

I recommend talking to Handelen in

Thangulhad (12.7 S, 46.6 W) and accept

the quests "Scouting in Force" and "An

Eye on the Enemy". If you have your quest

tracker turned on, simply ride on your

horse and follow the arrow. Very easy and

fast.

Central Mirkwood

Make your way to the elven hideout of

Ost Galadh, in Emyn Lum. This is right

smack in the middle of the map, so you

can't miss it. Again, check out the

Malledhrim barter NPCs for goodies such

as recipes, jewelry, and LIs. This is the

new 21st hall in the sense that you have

almost all the important NPCs and

facilities here (e.g. crafting hall, bard,

Relic-master and Forge-master). Oddly

there is no AH, so if you're not a hunter or





warden that can easily port anywhere, if

you need to visit an AH, use your racial

map to visit one in any of the starter

areas. You can also swift travel from Ost

Galadh to Calas Galadhon for an AH.

Do all the quests in Ost Galadh, and

when you've finished you can either go

north to the spider infested Scuttledells

or south to Iavassul's Watch (16.4 S, 50.5

W) in Taur Morvith. You'll eventually

want to quest in both areas so it doesn't

matter which you visit first.

There is one special repeatable quest in

Ost Galadh that shouldn't be missed. It's

a crafting quest that you pick up from the

Relic-master called "Silken Threads".

The quest takes you to the Scuttledells

where you're supposed to collect 25

pristine webbing from spiders. To make

this quest go faster, enter the spider cave

at the very northwest part of the

Scuttledells. The reward for turning in

this quest is a Compendium of

Middle-earth II, a special crafting

component used to make orange crafted

relics. There's a similar crafting quest in

Anazarmekhem called "Trace Metals" in

which you have to collect 15 iron ingots

and 10 burnished worm scales. Kill orcs

for the ingots and worms for the scales.

The rewards is a Compendium of

Middle-earth I, a crafting component

used to make teal crafted relics.

Eastern Mirkwood

Head a little north and east to the

outpost of Thangulhad, in Gathburz. As

usual, see what the Barter vendors have to

offer. There are some nice level 65 cloaks,

and morale/power pots as well. There are

plenty of quests here so you might be here

for a while. Be careful while you wander

around, as you may run into signature

level mobs. Soloing one isn't difficult, but

you may get in trouble if you accidentally

aggro another mob in the process.

You'll most likely start on the Mithechad

(17.6 S, 48.3 W) quests in the Ashenslades

when you hit level 64. Finish off with Dol

Guldur. If you do the book quest chain at

the same time as you're doing these quests,

you'll hit 65 easily without the need to do

any repeatable quests or mob grinding.

Even when you hit 65, you don't have to

stop questing if there are still some

available. Remember that many quests

offer IXP as rewards, so finish as many

quests as possible. Also, if you haven't

reached Kindred reputation with the

Malledrhim yet, do some of the repeatable

quests in Thangulhad and the Ashenslades.

There's also one more quest hub, Barad

Angol (17.4 S, 44.5 W) for you to check

out if you wish.

In Dol Guldur, you'll find that many of

the quests are for group instances.





Remember that the Medallions of

Mirkwood only drop in these group

instances, so if you want those stat

scrolls start running those instances. On a

related note, the medallions can also be

bartered for +15 and +25 radiance gear,

another reason why you may want to run

those instances, particularly the easier

3-person ones. Visit your class trainer to

see what gear is available and how many

medallions are required.

Lore-Master ClassQuests and related

Deeds/Traits

You will have several class-specific

quests as you progress through the world

of Middle Earth. These quests will test

the strength of your knowledge, the

sharpness of your wit, and the tone of

your voice. They will enable you to

become a stronger minstrel, to tell

greater tales, and to bring more renown

to the fellowships you are a part of.

A Well-Ordered Mind

This is the first of your Lore-master

class quests, and it becomes available at

level 15. Any lore-master trainer in Middle

Earth will offer you the quest. Apparently

you are going to need to learn something

more about the ways of the lore-master

and you have been send to speak with

Dorset Oakes, son of the famed

lore-master Benton Oakes.

Dorset can be found just outside of the

village of Staddle, near Bree. After a bit of

a speech he will explain to you that he

wants to get ahold of one of his father's old

books, which are in a cave that used to

serve as his library.

You need to search the book-cases

within the library, but you will have to

fight to get to them. You will be provided

with three pages which give you clues as

to which bookshelf they reside on.

If you don't feel like dealing with

figuring it out on your own, the easiest

way is simply this: DO NOT kill both of

the goblins. Every time the second mob of

the duo dies, a higher level duo will

appear. Kill one while keeping the add

stunned/mezzed. Perma-stun him while

you search the book-cases. Each search

takes 15-20 seconds. The book you are

looking for can be found on bookshelf

B-9.





You get the Hardy Bear trait for this

quest, which gives your bear pet more

power.

A Lore-master's Will

This is the second of your

class-specific quests, and is obtainable at

level 30. You can get the quest from any

lore-master trainer within the world and

they will send you to speak with Isferon,

in the village of Duillond located within

Erud Luin. Apparently he has a riddle

that needs solving, and you are going to

help with it.

The first riddle/key is southeast of

Duillond, under the large bridge that

leads to the shire. Look for a statue, and

your chest will be at the base.

The second is by a statue in

Brokenborings, which is in the

Greenfields part of the Shire.

The third is in the Forsaken Inn which

is located in the Lone Lands.

When you are done you will receive

the Flame of Anor trait, which is a 10%

fire damage increase buff to all of your

fire spells.

The Wisest Way isContemplation

At level 45 any lore-master trainer in the

world will send you to speak with Isdi,

who can be found at the ruins of Edhelion

on the slopes above Thorin's Hall in Erud

Luin. This is a simple hail and complete

quest that leads to the final lore-master

quests.

Articles of Mysteryand Implements of

Knowledge

These are the two quests Isdi will give

you at level 45. Like all of the other class

quests at level 45 they require a lot of

time, effort, and a combination of soloing

and grouping within dungeons to

complete.

A great list can be found at

http://www.pooh.cz/lotro/a.asp?a=20

14367 detailing where you can find each

component. Some are gathered, some are

drops, and they span the scope of the level

45-50 game. Be prepared to spend some

time. But they are important to complete

so that you can receive the final quest

from Lord Elrond in order to get your

Eagle pet.







A Lesson From LordElrond

This is the final, level 50 class quest

for the lore-master. Isdi will send you to

speak with Elrond in Rivendell. Once

you speak with Elrond he will be

satisfied with your knowledge and award

you the Eagle-Friend trait, which gives

you the Eagle companion, the most

powerful pet in the game.

Instances

Instances within LOTRO are few and

far between. There are only several

"major" instances until you hit level 45.

That is, instances which don't correspond

with the Epic Book quests and have their

own separate quest chains. Many people

bypass them entirely as they can slow the

leveling process considerably, which is a

downright shame in my opinion. Gone

are the days when players used to thrive

on dungeons. Now it's all about solo play

and rapid advancement. But if you are up

for a challenge and you like going in

with a full group and taking several

hours to complete quest chains, getting

phat lewts and knowing you personally

were responsible for kicking the butt of

the boss mobs, then you will want to be

sure to check out the following. Keep in

mind that most of the instances within

LOTRO take 4-6 hours to complete the

first couple of times through, so you

should make sure to have plenty of time to

go in beforehand. While the instances and

dungeons within LOTRO are not nearly as

challenging as in other games (this is a

game tailored for the casual player after

all) they are still a heck of a lot of fun and

can add a little something extra if you find

yourself needing a dungeon run or fights

requiring more than just 2 or 3 people.

Great Barrows

The Great Barrows, also known as GB,

is the first instance within LOTRO. It's set

for the mid-20's and if you picked up the

quests from Bree and ran all of the chains

to their end, you should have several

quests for this instance. It will require two

runs to fully complete as you cannot get

the followup for the main boss mob until

you get the 2 key pieces from the two

mini-boss fights, and then turn them in

back in Bree. It's rather large, and can take

a few hours, so save this for a time when

you know you can dedicate.





Garth Agarwen

The second major instance within Lord

of the Rings Online. It is also known as

GA. There are several "outer" quest

chains that lead to inner quests, and I

highly recommend doing them if you can

get a static group together. If you can't

get a static group together this place can

be a pain because there are so many

quests and so many different chains that

trying to find pickup people with the

same steps as you is nearly impossible.

The place is also a maze, in and of

itself. You can find a really good map

over at

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.

php?t=117001 to help you with your

transition.

You have to kill mobs in particular

order to get the keys to unlock other

portions of the dungeon. The twins drop

the key to get into Ivar's area, and Ivar

drops the key to get into the Red Maid's

area. The only two challenging fights in

this zone are the Red Maid and Ivar, and

out of the two Ivar is the hardest. The

Red Maid is a straight up tank-and-spank

mob, although she does have a nasty

knockback. Ivar is a bit more of an issue.

When you take him out you should focus

on his elite add first, then him. Every

time he spawns an elite add, kill it.

Ignore the banner adds because he will

eventually drain their health completely.

This is a long fight. Use ALL BLUE

conjunctions every time you get them to

counter his power drain. Have the

lore-master feed power to you and the tank

+ drain from Ivar/his add. It's fairly

straight-forward, just that his power drain

can be a bit of a pain.

Fornost

Fornost is the third major instance of

LOTRO. It's rated for 38th to 40th level

characters, but I would recommend

waiting to level 40. If you ran Esteldin

quests you will have gotten a few starters

for here, and once you head up to Fornost

proper you will find a camp which has

even more quests. You can run the outer

quests with 3-4 people fairly easy, but

once you get to the inner quests inside the

instance you will want a full,

well-balanced group. You will absolutely

need a lore-master, a tank, and a minstrel.

A burglar too if you can find one. And

keep in mind, getting to the final boss in

here can literally take 6-8 hours if you go

in at the appropriate levels. Frustratingly,

most players bypass this dungeon entirely

because it "takes too long", but if you are a

person who really likes a challenge you

won't want to skip this place. It's an


http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=117001

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=117001




absolute blast. But it does take 6-8 hours

if you go in at level 38-40, so be

prepared. There is a map with the linear

route at

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Area

:Fornost. You can accomplish pretty

much all of the inner quests if you follow

this route, so you shouldn't have to do

more than one run. Unless you want to

out of fun! While lengthy, this is a great

dungeon for the level.

Urugarth

Also known as Uru, this dungeon is

best suited to a team of 48+ adventurers,

although it is rated for 45+. It is located

within Angmar. It is not for the faint of

heart or those who do not have the time

to go. It will take several hours, but is

well worth the time. All of the instances

within Lord of the Rings Online are

extremely well done, and this is par for

the course. You should absolutely do the

quests for this area, as well as run the

dungeon. There's an absolutely

phenomenal map with the path and

walkthrough over at


14335. There are also quite a few

class-specific items which drop here in

relation to the class quests for 45-50, so

you will be coming here on probably

more than 1 occasion.

Carn Dum

Also known as CD, this is another

high-level instance in Angmar, rated for

45th to 50th level. You will need items for

your level 45 class quest from within. This

is one of the larger dungeons and has

several areas, revolves around several

quest lines, and requires a well-oiled team

of players to complete. A really great

guide with maps and tips on the boss mobs

can be found at

http://allshallfade.guildlaunch.com

/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1130023&

;gid=17132 which I really love. There are

also Book quests related to this dungeon,

and there are specific keys and locks

which must be met in order to gain access

to the dungeon. This is the only

single-fellowship instance in the game

which requires you to have locks.


http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Area:Fornost

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Area:Fornost



http://allshallfade.guildlaunch.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1130023&gid=17132






Barad Gularan

Also known as BG, this is one of the

premier high-level dungeons of LOTRO.

You should be level 50. It is also an

extremely short and straight-forward

dungeon, only taking a couple of hours to

complete if you avoid any wipes. It can

be found in north-east Angmar. Related

quest information can be found at

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Bar

ad_G%C3%BAlaran. This is mostly a

"for the fun of it" dungeon, as there

really aren't any class-specific quests that

relate to it.

Glinghant

Also known as The Gardens, it is one

of the several instances of Annuminas

and is in the top 3 dungeons which

should be focused on after you are done

with book quests and sundries, as you

can earn a full set of Annuminas set

armor by completing the three dungeons

within the area. Keep in mind that all of

the Annuminas dungeons cannot be

entered unless specific outer areas are

cleared of mobs and "unlocked". The

NPC factions will occasionally take back

control in this dynamic setting, so at

times you might find access to the

Annuminas dungeons blocked until you

unlock them. More information can be

found for each specific area at the links

provided. Most of the quests are

repeatable, as well. The set armor as

detailed later in the guide is quite nice, and

well worth the time if you don't plan on

Rifting, or even if you do, as it provides

you with another alternative while you are

earning your Rift set. The Garden is a

short instance, taking only an hour or hour

and half at most for a well-oiled team of

players. Fear and disease can be a pain

here so either have high resists or bring

potions with you. The place is fairly linear,

and the end boss requires a full fellowship

and is a high-DPS fight. He'll spawn adds

periodically through the fight but your best

bet is to simply ignore the adds by either

CC or having your Guardian AoE taunt

and simply burn the final boss down as

fast as possible, then worry about the adds.

A fairly simple DPS fight. A good

overview can be found at

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Gli

nghant.


http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Barad_G%C3%BAlaran

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Barad_G%C3%BAlaran

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Glinghant

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Glinghant




Ost Elendil

Also known as OE, this is another

Annuminas dungeon. It is the second

most difficult, but is also fairly short if

you know what you are doing and have

no wipes. The first few times through

you might take longer but once you get it

down, it's very quick, taking only about

an hour to an hour and a half. A decent

overview can be found at

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Ost

_Elendil.

Haudh Valandil

Also known as HV, this is arguably the

hardest instance in the entire game. You

will absolutely want a well-balanced

group for this. You will need a

Lore-master for sure for wounds/disease

curing, a Guardian for tanking, and a

Captain for buffs/rezzing/summoning in

case of wipes. Additionally you can fill

up the last two slots as you see fit, but a

Burglar and Hunter or Champion are

good picks. You will not want to go in

here with duplicate classes...a balanced

group is key to success.

There is a detailed overview of this

zone to be found at

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Hau

dh_Valandil but the most important key to

this instance is a well-balanced group of

skilled players. People who have run

challenging content in other games will

find this to be one of the funnest instances

in the entire game, and well worth running

on multiple occasions. For newer players,

this place is absolutely challenging and

may take multiple runs to clear.

The Rift of NurzGhashu

The Rift is a 12 man instance,

culminating in a fight with a Balrog. This

is quite possibly the most challenging

instance within the entire game. The boss

mobs drop gems which can be traded to an

NPC in exchange for gear...each boss mob

drops a specific gem for a specific piece.

There are many different tactics and

strategies across the 'net that people use

for this encounter. This is located in NE

Angmar and is best left to level 50. A

basic guide to the instance and mobs can

be found at

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/The

_Rift_of_N%C3%BBrz_Gh%C3%A2shu.

This is a lengthy instance and works off

of a lock system, meaning you can save

your progress if you find that you cannot

complete this area in one evening. The

zone resets each Thursday evening. Most


http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Ost_Elendil

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Ost_Elendil

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Haudh_Valandil

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Haudh_Valandil

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/The_Rift_of_N%C3%BBrz_Gh%C3%A2shu

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/The_Rift_of_N%C3%BBrz_Gh%C3%A2shu




guilds break this up over 2 nights,

although the more "hardcore" guilds will

do this in one.

Gear Sets

For the most part you will be earning

quest gear as you level up from one to 50

throughout Middle Earth, but as you get

into the higher levels of the game and

specifically certain areas you will find

armor sets and jewelery sets that are

extremely fun to earn and worthwhile

because of the set bonuses you will

receive from wearing full sets. The

bonuses range depending on how many

pieces of the set you are wearing.

There are also Reputation-based sets of

gear that can be acquired from maxing

out your faction with the various

Reputation factions available as detailed

earlier on in the guide. With such a wide

variety of gear available to you at the

max level, it's really up to you as to what

you want to focus on, because each set

will have its own unique bonuses and

looks.

It is also important to note that while

the Rift set is arguably the "best" in the

game, gear is not the same in LOTRO as

it is in other games. Yes, Rift gear is

nice, and it has slightly better stats and

different bonuses than the Rep sets, PvP

set, or Instance sets but that is really all it

is...a different set. The stat differences do

not make the Rift set "godly" in

comparison to the other sets, which means

you can function at pretty much the same

level as anyone else even if you don't have

one set or another. Player skill factors

more in this game than armor, whereas in

other games it was the other way around.

There is no gear disparity in LOTRO. You

do not "need" tier 1 to get to tier 2 to get to

tier 3 and so on and so forth. While gear

can help make fights substantially less

difficult there is not a single encounter in

the game that requires a specific set of

gear or a specific arrangement of your

traits in order to defeat. Any players who

tell you otherwise are locked in the

mindset that gear>skill, which is not the

case. Skill>gear in this game.

As far as the gear goes, this game is so

linear that you will get the same gear

choices every time you play through,

regardless of what class you play (other

than class-specific quests and their

rewards). As you level up through the

game and follow the linear progression

through the game, you will come across all

of the "must have" gear on the way to the

top, where you are suddenly presented

with the possibility of a half dozen

different sets or so that you can wear,

depending on your class. All of the quest





rewards are the same for the leveling

game, so you get gear regardless. There's

really no such thing as "must have" gear

in LOTRO, or even gear that makes

leveling easier. This game is such that as

long as you are making forward progress

on quests, you are leveling. And gear

really doesn't make an impact on that

whatsoever. A couple of DPS points here

and there from a weapon isn't enough to

make or break the leveling game, and

even at the cap the difference between

non-critted crafted gear and, say, the Rift

set is marginal at best. The only

difference is a few stat points and the

bonuses you get from the sets.

Reputation Sets

There are various reputations

throughout Middle Earth, and maxing

your faction with each can lead to some

rewarding benefits. Along with a

drastically reduced repair bill and other

nice perks, you also gain access to gear

sets which can only be purchased from

the various Rep vendors once you have

reached that prestigious level. The best

guide you can find that shows you each

distinct set and lists of the faction

necessary to earn them and which

factions have what can be found over at

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Cat

egory:Reputation.

Instance Sets

There are 2 instance sets of gear within

LOTRO. A set from the Angmar

dungeons, and a set from the Annuminas

dungeons. The Angmar set is easier to

obtain and takes less time, but the stats are

significantly less. As of book 14 (July

2008) the stats on both sets have been

significantly increased. As you can see

over at

http://www.lotro-europe.com/news.ph

p?id=6798&type=Dev the new stat

bonuses are quite nice.

Both sets are earned through a

barter-type system where you gather

components from within the dungeons off

of boss mobs and regular mobs and trade

them at Quest NPCs for each dungeon

area.


http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Category:Reputation

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Category:Reputation

http://www.lotro-europe.com/news.php?id=6798&type=Dev

http://www.lotro-europe.com/news.php?id=6798&type=Dev




Rift Set

As previously mentioned, the Rift set

of armor comes from the gem drops off

of the boss mobs within the instance

itself. You can find the NPCs who trade

gems for armor in Angmar, at the ranger

outpost called Iorelen's Camp. You can

find basic information at

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Ior

ellen%27s_Camp.

These sets are class-specific, which

makes them extremely fun to get. And

they look pretty darn cool!

Helegrod Set

Similar to the Rift, the Helegrod set is

based upon barter items looted from the

boss mobs within Helegrod. Unlike the

Rift, Helegrod is a 24 man raid zone, and

the only one to-date within LOTRO.

Each class-specific armor set is bartered

from vendors within Elrond's house in

Rivendell. You will need specific drops

from the boss mobs to earn your set.

Crafted Set

Crafted gear in LOTRO is really nice.

Unlike in other games, it's actually viable

gear, instead of just thrown in for the sake

of giving people the ability to craft. In

most cases crafted gear is actually better

than similar level gear from the quests. At

the cap it is comparable to the Instance

and Reputation sets, but slightly less than

the Rift set.

A great overview can be found over at

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Cate

gory:Recipes. Just follow the tabs and you

will see the recipes by tier, as well as what

the resources required are, and also the

regular successful combines along with the

critical success combines making it easy

for you to make the best educated decision

as to what kind of gear you want to have

for your playstyle.


http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Iorellen%27s_Camp

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Iorellen%27s_Camp

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Category:Recipes

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Category:Recipes




Conclusion

In closing, the Lore-Master is a unique

look into the Lord of the Rings Online

game. It is a class that has a

multi-functional purpose within Lord of

the Rings Online. The beauty of the

game, and the class, is the ability to

perform under a variety of circumstances

without breaking a sweat.

There will be small occurrences where

players might feel the need to deviate

from this guide, and that is fine. LOTRO

is an extremely casual-based game that

does not require strict adherence to gear

or stats, whereas other games you might

have played place a heavy emphasis on

those two factors. With that being said,

LOTRO is a far more relaxing and

enjoyable setting than many other games

on the market, because you can focus

less on the gear and stats and more on

actual enjoyment of the game. But for

those of you out there who derive

enjoyment from min/maxing, then this

guide will help you get started.

The Lore-Master is a highly rewarding

class to play. You are highly versatile in

a variety of circumstances, regardless of

group or solo setting. With your ability

to perform as such, you will find this one

of the most rewarding classes you will

ever have the opportunity to play.

Best of luck in your adventures, and

may you enjoy your time within Middle

Earth as the Minstrel, teller of tales, singer

of songs, and bringer of light into the dark

places.


Documents

Lore Master Guide