I just want to share this general advice for prospective new players: LOTRO is quite a journey, should you choose to level and progress without using a Valar boost, so carefully choosing what playstyle you like is important. You will invest a lot of time and effort into your first character whether you plan to play cutting edge content or not. There are heroic deeds to complete, grand narratives to participate in, as well as a questing experience that is fairly time consuming (but worthwhile) compared to some other games where achieving level cap is the ultimate focus. Rerolling to another class once you reach a certain point in the game would be like getting to Rivendell from Hobbiton and then realizing you left the ring at Bag End and have to go back and get it. I'm not saying that you can't do it, in fact you should if you are not enjoying your current class. Just beware that doing the same content multiple times in a short period may lead to burnout (believe me, I know). It's a game and not a job so do whatever feels right to you, but keep this in mind as you begin your adventure.
I was drawn to the game because of how cool the Warden class looked, but I've seen tons of people saying that it's a mechanically complex class. In this case, should I level a character in a "standard" class first, or would you say it's better to just dive straight in into Warden so to avoid burn-out later?
@@arturbb Warden is unique but I wouldn't say it's "more complex" per se. It's a matter of becoming familiar with the gambit combinations. More of a memory hurdle than anything else, but if you play it regularly you will learn it. If that's the class that calls out to you, then go for it. Better to try it and decide if you like it rather than always wonder. I think the most important thing in LOTRO is feeling like you connect with your character and belong in the world and the story. Have fun!
Would you recommend any class in particular? I have years of experience in WoW, so complexity is neither a concern, nor a must. I'm curious to explore LOTRO
There's one "travel skill" for the burglar that you didn't mention: Safe Fall. When traveling in areas with lots of elevation change, you can frequently take quite a few shortcuts without any damage by jumping off of ledges and cliffs (within reason). It only works going down, but in some areas makes a big difference!
Thank you for mentioning fall damage. I started yesterday and I didn't think there was any fall damage because I jumped off a mountain a couple times. Probably because it was the tutorial.
I have always played a Lore master, so much that I often forget most classes can get through mobs way more easily. Until i meet a Warden who clears an entire camp in five seconds.
For fun factor, and if I were forced to choose just one class to play it would be Brawler. I have a Hobbit Brawler and it does get funny watching the smallest race in the game launching trolls into the air.
I guess I got my brawler after they patched it, Cause my stout-axe brawler can generally one shot most of the basic mobs in my area { 81-85} And soloing 300k health bosses. I do prepare and have potions but still I am having fun with my drunken dwarf
I remember playing a LM over a decade ago when I found out about the game, but only played casually with my cousin to about lvl 20, and often just spent days hanging out in the shire fishing -- flash forward to 2022 I picked it back up with a warden. I still have no idea what I'm doing but it's fun! I wasn't aware of the gambit system, it is pretty difficult to get the hang of, and sometimes I press the wrong ability key to combo and end up with a gambit skill I didn't know I had... but when I downloaded the game again, I just loved the idea of playing an elf warden of Lorien - I'm sure I'll get the hang of the game-play, but it's all about the role-playing fantasy for me.
My personal favorite solo class is Champion. The AOE makes certain things REALLY easy to do where as classes like burgler and captian and gaurdian just cant do those. IM A HUGE FAN OF AOE BASED DAMAGE CLASSES. (Yellow) Champion, (Red) Rune Keeper, (Red) Loremaster.
Champion was always my favorite class too. :) Warden's pretty good too though, dunno how they are now but they used to be able to solo some onlevel 12-man raids if you put enough time into it thanks to their selfheals. And they could tank and aoe down like 50 enemies at once. And with some other raids people'd be like "we need 2 tanks for this raid to split the damage from the bosses/adds" and you could be like "no I'm a warden, we don't need another tank".
my first character was a captain, and while fun was tough and slow doin solo landscape, so i made a hunter cuz i loved the rangers and got to around level 100 on him, but i made a warden after coming back to the game after a break and wow do i love this class. its def the class to solo with after you learn the game and the class
As a guardian main. Nothing quite beats running into an enemy camp in blue line, drawing every single mob there is, then whittling them down with your AOE. If you know what you're doing dying on landscape is basically impossible. And even most 3-6 man content can be solod fairly easily with a blue guardian. Sure, champions can do almost just as well because they compensate lower survivability with much higher DPS. But the guardian is definitely the tortoise to the champions hare.
This is a good description of all the Classes, well done! Myself, personally, I'm still waiting on a Bombadil Class. Oh, yes, and my War Ostrich Steed! Ahh, but we all can dream, can't we?
A couple of admittedly minor, missed travel powers: Captains can summon individual team members to them, with a fast cooldown power; doesn't help the Captain get around, but is great for their team mates. Guardians can craft whistles to give to team mates, allowing them to summon the Guardian. Lets a team mate help the Guardian get around.
my fave class will always be the lore-master :) i dont care how slow it is to kill enemies or whatever, im a very casual player, im not in a hurry (my highest lvl character is level 65 and ive played on and off for 10 years lol), to me the skills and especially the pets are just super fun, and yes if a quest is a super challenging group thing, ill probably either wait a few levels to do it or not do it at all, but honestly there are so many quests in every region, i dont even care lol :D so that just to say: just bc a class is not "efficient" in solo play, does not mean at all that it cant be really enjoyable to play solo :)) so if anyone is hesitant about trying lotro bc they have concerns abt solo play: the game is still so so much fun without groups, dont worry abt it :D
Before the legendary server's difficulty slider, I played a Loremaster who used ISBOXER to multi-box with a Guardian Pet, in addition to the animal companion. It was actually super fun, and having that extra tank made nearly all content possible. ISBOXER made it super simple to make my second character a "pet". Pretty smooth experience with it. Although the extra account sub + isboxer sub is more costly, obviously. I always wanted to try a Captain + Captain, so I'd have 2x the pets, and be my own little mini-army. Fortunately, the difficulty slider made the Landscape so much fun, I was finally able to play CAPTAIN on its own without multiboxing. That let me leave multiboxing behind, which is definitely easier/smoother experience. No matter how good software can get, and isboxer is amazing software in its own right, it's still less smooth than not having to do this kind of hack. That difficulty increase is so great though. In normal servers, I found Captain super boring and preferred Guardian or Loremaster (hecne why I decided to have both in the end; ha!). WIth the increased landscape difficulty, Captain became my ultimate favorite. It's so interesting how that difficulty can transform what classes we find most entertaining.
Warden is incredibly strong (and convenient) for solo, but like you said one tiny lag spike can lead to a lot of trouble haha. The servers aren't quite what they used to be and it messes up my rotation pretty frequently.
Man I remember the struggles of soloing as a mini back in the day, not to mention the hate I got when trying to do DPS 😂 So glad they're more versatile now.
For me, the Yellow line RK is my favorite. In groups or in dungeons, I will usually run red line. If I had to go with a second, it would be the LM. Blue line up to around 35 or so, then switch to red line the rest of the way. All around fun class to play.
Nice video. In my opinion is true that the one you have most fun with will be the best. Here some pointers: if you usually play warrios in other games, take champion. If you usually play shooters, take the hunter. If you like to play mages, take rune keeper. If you like to play the overly complicated classes in games, take warden. And ofc if you want to rp as bilbo, take the burglar ;). Cheers guys
Thanks for this video, it sure helps decide wich alt to level or which character to start with :) I've been maining loremaster for years, in solo I use blue line and I mainly use the bear as a tank and other times, the bog guardian as a shooter companion. All the loremaster pets represent a lotro class in a way. We even have a rogue with stealth XD At level 130, the bear has 800k hp, so it's difficult to kill :) I gave him the polar bear skin ^ ^ With loremaster the idea is taking enemies with a tactical mind, not with a go go go mind or a brute force style. Loremaster has another cure apart of waterlore in his seventies, it has a long cooldown but there it is, half of your life restored in a blink. You also have stuns and ways to slowdown enemies. I enjoy this class a lot ;)
I love how the guardian plays solo both for play style nad because of its tanky nature, I have a level 110 guardian which shared my journey through middle earth since the very beginning in 2012, but I have to say that the warden is a fantastic all rounder, I have got one and it's a lot of fun to play with
Hunter: My main class ever since I started playing back in 2012. Tons of fun! HOWEVER, I do want to say that the blue trait line is only going to get you so far. Around lvl 105, when you enter Mordor, survivability becomes more difficult and by lvl 120, the mobility just isn't enough. That's where yellow line steps in. The decoy dummy has been a life saver for me! Takes aggro away so the loss of mobility is irrelevant. While venturing in Minas Morgul there are a lot of tight spots where you just can't maneuver at all so the decoy dummy and traps are really nice to have. Guardian: I solo leveled a guardian before the class trait revamp and oh man was it SLOW! When the revamp hit I couldn't have been happier. Sure not as strong as champion, but that's okay. I have way more fun nowadays. And I've even started dabbling in the yellow line for soloing challenging content. Captain: Mine is currently lvl 54 and even though it's DPS is slower, I'm still having fun. Champion: Ask in world chat and the general recommendation is going to be yellow line, and for good reason! AoE's all day long! Red line isn't bad if you don't want to aggro a whole camp, and the tank (blue) line is okay. Personally not a fan of the blue line. Warden: Good survivability, but as Louey said not beginner friendly. Even after playing the game for as long as I have I really couldn't get into the warden. The gambit system was a bit much. My warden is lvl 85, and there he will stay. And I haven't really played much of the other classes, particularly the light classes. Beorning seems fun, LM is rather slow, Mini is ok, every one else I haven't played yet.
As a Lore Master at higher levels, I use red line for solo and use my pet, almost exclusively to round up my foes and allow me to use AOE , especially Lightning Storm, to best advantage.
I remember the Warden.. was the last class I played before moving on. Almost 11 yrs ago I think. Sad to hear Elendilmir closed.. was the server I was on at the time.. some fun memories of Creeps and Freeps battles.. Hehe.. Might one day try it out again..
I moved on about the same time but have been planning to return and check things out. Trying to get my game olan together and hostly didn’t think of Creeps v Freeps until I read your comment. Dang those were good times. Swear I played Elendilmir as well, rings a bell.
I think your missing the boat on a Yellow Guardian. Once you obtain Flash of Light they are extremely fast lvlers. Also, if you pick a High Elf you will get more speed and a 5% to Light damage boost.
I agree with what you said about the Warden, it is not a beginner friendly class and it takes time to really get a good rhythm using the gambits, but once learned it is an awesome class. The only time my Warden uses ranged attacks is when I just want to get the enemies attention, and I never had much use for the ranged stance especially after Turbine changed the yellow line from the tanking/aggro management line to the ranged line when they created the trait trees.
A consideration for players choosing a class is your computer speed and, especially, your internet connection speed. Classes, such as Warden or Rune-keeper in which buildup of your skills may be interrupted by slow game play is something that can be played around, but takes awareness of timing. A class that relies on movement during combat like Hunter blue line can be frustrating if your game doesn't allow smooth movement, while red-line Hunter, who is much more stand and shoot works better. We all get frustrated by connection issues, but when you live in an area with poor internet availability, this is a consideration.
I’m gonna be honest, don’t play this game anymore and haven’t for maaaany years now. But I’m glad people still are, don’t want it to die out. So I basically clicked the video for memberberries 😅
You can beat Hunter fast travel with clever use of certain travel skills like Return to Hall Under the Mountain which has a 5 minute cd and allows you to go to Mordor and from there to places like Bree and Gondor. Also if you are kin with Eglain in Lone Lands you get a convenient extra jump off point for Bree when that is on CD. Finally you can buy some shorter CD in the store that reduces your return skills to five minutes. Opening up the world to easier travel.
My fire spec RK generally downs mobs several levels higher in 1-2 seconds. After switching from a captain, I was shocked how quick I mowed down enemies.
For anyone watching this in the current time frame and starting out on Angmar or Mordor yellow line Beorning is practically immortal on Fearless difficulty, especially in crafted gear. It's not an issue to outheal the damage from Shadowy and Mournful Wraiths as you facetank them but of course a Harrowing Wraith should be avoided without assistance.
You mentioned how LM pets stop scaling late game, that hasn’t been my experience. My level-cap LM doesn’t fight mobs anymore, my bog lurker will kill camps of 3-4 mobs, a mix of norm and signature difficulty mobs while I pick up the barrel/herb/etc fetch item for the quest
It’s critting 70k damage on its abilities and one-shotting on-level mobs. It’s not taking on 6+ enemies at a time like you’d see warden/champ doing but still feels downplayed how good they are late game (and this is in redline btw)
My favorite class was a Hunter, then I really liked a Captain best for a fellowship, then a Guardian became my favorite when I went two-handed red line, then my Rune-keeper was my favorite, killing and healing. Now my Loremaster with her Sabertooth is my favorite. I have not tried Brawler or Beorning, so I don't know about them. Warden is fun when I play one for a while, but by the time I play it again, traits have changed and I don't remember what all the gambits do anymore. Burglars and Champions do not appeal to me as much and I haven't played them for a while.
I settled on a class but now I’m torn on server. Treebeard sounds cool to go a slower place but I also already started on Crickhollow. Even did a run of Great Barrows with 4 people which was super fun to do again.
Just gonna say it, I think Crickhollow is a better server to play on than Treebeard. Treebeard has a far lower percentage of active players (due to being VIP only and a TLP server) and is interesting and tight knit, but it doesn't feel as active. Also the "progression" system in place for those legendary servers is rudimentary at best and basically changes nothing but the level cap. It doesn't actually bring the game "back" to those old xpacs in any real way. Crickhollow is a very populated server, with a super friendly community and active most hours. It's been a far better experience than Treebeard for me personally, so I would say do not be torn, you picked the right one with Crickhollow :) more pop, more content, what's not to love?
Brawler just needs one consistent self-heal skill and its pretty much the perfect class. Its really strong in solo landscape so its a great starter class. Id honestly say that its the type of class that is easy to learn but hard to master since their set-up and finisher takes practice and planning to ensure you dont lose their buffs. Not to mention they have a lot of damage buffs as well which is whack lol
Warden is one of the most enjoyable mmo classes I've ever played. Before the most recent update, I could solo most elite stuff 4-5 levels above mine. Since then, it feels like a normal class in terms of power. Maybe that's the way I'm using him, idk. Still agree that everyone should give it a try.
So, what about a duo? If I were to play with my wife (who is not a good game player) who loves hunter? Should I roll a guardian or a champion or something else to maximize on synergy? I personally love Warden and played it when the class came out years ago.....and I mean years ago. So, what do you thing would work best with a hunter? (please say Warden, but the honest truth would be better)
I play Brawler right now in low level areas and can say i have no problem fighting against higher levels. I even have no problem fighting 2 or 3 elite masters at the same time that are 3 levels above me without problem.
My Bog-guardian still consistently deletes anything in his path. I'm seeing crits as high as 17k dmg in one hit at level 105+, and while it's only single target damage, mobs die so fast that I don't really notice any slowdowns. I can usually just sit back and let the pet do all the work. And it's ranged.
Great video, though as someone who’s spent the past 23 years constantly trying to make up my mind on what class to play in MMOs, I don’t know that I’m any closer to choosing one in LOTRO because they really do mostly all seem very cool in their own ways lol. I’ve always wanted to play Warden but I don’t know if my ADD would allow me to memorize the whole gambit system. So I think I’m right where I started off. No clue what to play. :x
Hunter is like an automatic transmission, Warden is like a manual transmission. Very fun either class Warden more challenging with gambit and preferrable with aoe
As someone who has played almost every class in 12 years the Warden rocks. My second favorite would be Lore Master which I used as a light tank back in the Moria days. Cappys are great in groups and like you said slow to level. Have not played Brawler or Beorning yet. The Hunter is my main class, but I play on it less these days.
i main guardian red line i never really had a problem lvling with it i did put rest of my points on the yellow line i love it my 2nd fav is the champion yellow line on that one so fun to me
My favorite class in Lotro has changed multiple times over the years, though these days it's probably either the Warden or the Champion. Both have solid AOE dps, which is my favorite, though the champion does have the edge still there. But I love warden being able to switch to ranged on open landscapes, and in long fights where you don't need to switch targets much, the gambit system is a lot of fun. Not to mention both are quite competent at soloing group content. What disappoints me the most these days is the Captain. Captain used to be my favorite class in the game, but now it's one of my least favorites outside of the class fantasy aspect. The damage is lower than most other specs, it feels clunkier, heralds can get lost in pathing which screws up you being able to use a couple of abilities, motivating speech is on a 5 minute timer, and no consistent ranged weapon for pulls. You're stuck with the archer, or battle-shout when it's off CD. And while blue captain is fun in a group, I find yellow captain to be an absolute snooze fest. So few skills and essentially non existent damage, no longer being able to use SoD on self...over time I just feel this class has really dropped in the level of fun it offers. A couple of years ago it was a much better experience than it is now.
@@AxisSabian1 Well now you can solo dgs and do the delves (Harder tier'd dungeons at 140) so you do not need raids for the most part no more. And there solo/duo content.
I wish they would make the brawler yellow line a speed trait line. High octane rapid attacks and faster travel speed. A trait line Like Luffy's gear 2nd from the greatest manga of all time, One Piece. (Maybe even make it so that it could damage multiple enemies at once with shockwaves from your attacks. Like the brawler class does in Black desert for example. Of course, the trade off is that each individual attack is weaker than in the other traitlines. Think of Sauron's mace attack from the fellowship movie.) Well shockwave attacks might not fit the lotro games but the super-fast attacks could and they would be a lot of fun.
Hello Louey7! I make a query. In the captain's yellow line, he says that he uses a 2-handed weapon, but I've seen that they use it as a 1-handed weapon and a shield, what do you recommend and why? Thank you! And keep it up, you have great content!
Basically, a 2-handed weapon offers more damage and 1H + shield more defense. Many yellow line Captains (including me) will go with 1H + shield because the damage doesn't matter that much
Main hunter even with my new account this year and yea very squishy lol but for f2p players that don't have access to swift travels? Hunter is your choice and when you know the quests, lores, deeds, and the basic mechanics of the game, you can create a new character with a different class. Bottom point, the hunter class enables new f2p players to explore the game faster. But again with my hunter's progress at lvl 65 and an elf ambassador, I find starting a new char tiring now. 😂
Love the warden but it's a class you can't just mentally switch off when farming mobs its a constant memory game. But wardens in my mind can pretty much solo everything
Hi everyone, I'm just starting out and I'm undecided between LM and RK. I wanted to play with something full of anniations related to lightning, storm and thunder. which of the two classes has more spells of the type and with more cool and exaggerated lightning animations? :D
Well its been years since I played but Captain was my main class. Later levels its best to use banners instead of the whole pet thing but what is also weird is that it doesn’t wield the heavy shields like a guardian and if i remembered right the champion can wield them as well but like I said its been years and I don’t know what has changed. Captain class is more into two handed weapons than one handed. Yeah its suppose to be a paladin like class but its sadly its not very tanky which I kinda find odd. If I remembered right its based off of either Aragorn or Boromir. When it comes to Lore master vs rune keeper for fun wise…I say rune keeper is more fun.
The best class is ALL of them. Why? Because the game is more relaxing than stuff like WOW and such, you could play the Captain and feel like a badass in Solo Play. May I ask, why has "Travel Speed" become a factor? That kinda gets out of the window when you could just buy a mount at either the LOTRO store or the stablemaster in Bree-Lands. Nullifies that factor completely
Great video Louey, hmm favorite class, thats tough, I have and RK @ 100, LM @ 100, Mini @ 100, Burg @ 81, Champ @ 86 Beorn @ 54, Hunter @ 36, Capt @ 19, Guard @ 10, No Brawler because I dont own Gundabad, and Warden.......well Lets say I have tried and deleted several times, I just cant get it! As far as a favorite, RK and Mini. I am a returning non-vip player and I am trying to decide what to start from scratch with.
Warden is the best imo. I tried em all now. With warden I have a swiss army knife for any situation. And he's fast a f*** boooyyyy. He doesn't become boring because he has the most skills of all classes with his gambit system. You have hot, dot, debuffs, enemy buff cleansing, buffs for yourself, range attacks, melee attacks. He is for big brain people who want to be rewarded for not just pressing 1,2,3. Oh, and being an explorer, you can get next to any ressource besides scholar type of things that have to be picked up from the ground. But if you kill 1 million humanoids, like orks, goblins, and evil humans, you will get it anyway eventually and all the shiny loot they drop too.
Louey7: If you are nw don't jump right in to warden. Me, a new player (no really i just downloaded the game last night): I think I'm going to try warden 1st.
I'm loving mine so far. I also have a high elf champ and stout axe brawler, but I kinda needed a break from them so I am considering a hobbit burg next.
Probably for me, having almost all classes at 70+ Hunter is about the best solo class, great ranged damage and those travel skills. I’ve never played a minstrel, it’s never appealed to me
Waaay back I rolled a Minstrel just to be an item mule with no intention of playing it as I thought the concept was silly. But as I started to play it, the sillyness amused me all the way to Level 60 (the cap at the time) and it kind of became my main. Not trying to convince you to try it, but I understand the lack of appeal, haha.
I just want to share this general advice for prospective new players: LOTRO is quite a journey, should you choose to level and progress without using a Valar boost, so carefully choosing what playstyle you like is important.
You will invest a lot of time and effort into your first character whether you plan to play cutting edge content or not. There are heroic deeds to complete, grand narratives to participate in, as well as a questing experience that is fairly time consuming (but worthwhile) compared to some other games where achieving level cap is the ultimate focus.
Rerolling to another class once you reach a certain point in the game would be like getting to Rivendell from Hobbiton and then realizing you left the ring at Bag End and have to go back and get it. I'm not saying that you can't do it, in fact you should if you are not enjoying your current class. Just beware that doing the same content multiple times in a short period may lead to burnout (believe me, I know).
It's a game and not a job so do whatever feels right to you, but keep this in mind as you begin your adventure.
I was drawn to the game because of how cool the Warden class looked, but I've seen tons of people saying that it's a mechanically complex class. In this case, should I level a character in a "standard" class first, or would you say it's better to just dive straight in into Warden so to avoid burn-out later?
@@arturbb Warden is unique but I wouldn't say it's "more complex" per se. It's a matter of becoming familiar with the gambit combinations. More of a memory hurdle than anything else, but if you play it regularly you will learn it.
If that's the class that calls out to you, then go for it. Better to try it and decide if you like it rather than always wonder. I think the most important thing in LOTRO is feeling like you connect with your character and belong in the world and the story. Have fun!
If you're crazy like me, you take all classes through epic quest line at the same time. Some weird form of completionist OCD I think.
Would you recommend any class in particular? I have years of experience in WoW, so complexity is neither a concern, nor a must.
I'm curious to explore LOTRO
@@AkTheArne im doing the same dude...just finish the download. free to join ;)
There's one "travel skill" for the burglar that you didn't mention: Safe Fall. When traveling in areas with lots of elevation change, you can frequently take quite a few shortcuts without any damage by jumping off of ledges and cliffs (within reason). It only works going down, but in some areas makes a big difference!
Thank you for mentioning fall damage. I started yesterday and I didn't think there was any fall damage because I jumped off a mountain a couple times. Probably because it was the tutorial.
I have always played a Lore master, so much that I often forget most classes can get through mobs way more easily. Until i meet a Warden who clears an entire camp in five seconds.
No way
See thats the genius of the class and the High Skill /Reward gambit system. Reward skilled players with damage beyond what others can reach
I really hope they buff pets and one day we can be stronger in open world with blue line
@@redrenji6144 IKR. It's really sad when the pet class of LOTRO has pets that are flimsier and weaker than wet tissue paper.
@@redrenji6144 me too, i really like having a pet class but is sad they lag behind bad after certain level
For fun factor, and if I were forced to choose just one class to play it would be Brawler. I have a Hobbit Brawler and it does get funny watching the smallest race in the game launching trolls into the air.
Hobbits inherently have an advantage when it comes to punching mobs in the harblz :D
Totally lore accurate lol😂
I guess I got my brawler after they patched it, Cause my stout-axe brawler can generally one shot most of the basic mobs in my area { 81-85} And soloing 300k health bosses. I do prepare and have potions but still I am having fun with my drunken dwarf
but i have to pay 15 bucks for it
I remember playing a LM over a decade ago when I found out about the game, but only played casually with my cousin to about lvl 20, and often just spent days hanging out in the shire fishing -- flash forward to 2022 I picked it back up with a warden. I still have no idea what I'm doing but it's fun! I wasn't aware of the gambit system, it is pretty difficult to get the hang of, and sometimes I press the wrong ability key to combo and end up with a gambit skill I didn't know I had... but when I downloaded the game again, I just loved the idea of playing an elf warden of Lorien - I'm sure I'll get the hang of the game-play, but it's all about the role-playing fantasy for me.
My personal favorite solo class is Champion. The AOE makes certain things REALLY easy to do where as classes like burgler and captian and gaurdian just cant do those.
IM A HUGE FAN OF AOE BASED DAMAGE CLASSES. (Yellow) Champion, (Red) Rune Keeper, (Red) Loremaster.
Was gonna write this! Never had a faster leveling experience than with the champion. Ruthless steamroll through everything!
Guardian yellow spec has decent aoe too, not a big aoe blender or anything but still very decent for tank class.
I actually started playing a Champion because of your comment and man your right they are awesome!
Champion was always my favorite class too. :) Warden's pretty good too though, dunno how they are now but they used to be able to solo some onlevel 12-man raids if you put enough time into it thanks to their selfheals. And they could tank and aoe down like 50 enemies at once. And with some other raids people'd be like "we need 2 tanks for this raid to split the damage from the bosses/adds" and you could be like "no I'm a warden, we don't need another tank".
my first character was a captain, and while fun was tough and slow doin solo landscape, so i made a hunter cuz i loved the rangers and got to around level 100 on him, but i made a warden after coming back to the game after a break and wow do i love this class. its def the class to solo with after you learn the game and the class
As a guardian main. Nothing quite beats running into an enemy camp in blue line, drawing every single mob there is, then whittling them down with your AOE. If you know what you're doing dying on landscape is basically impossible. And even most 3-6 man content can be solod fairly easily with a blue guardian.
Sure, champions can do almost just as well because they compensate lower survivability with much higher DPS. But the guardian is definitely the tortoise to the champions hare.
This is a good description of all the Classes, well done! Myself, personally, I'm still waiting on a Bombadil Class. Oh, yes, and my War Ostrich Steed! Ahh, but we all can dream, can't we?
A couple of admittedly minor, missed travel powers:
Captains can summon individual team members to them, with a fast cooldown power; doesn't help the Captain get around, but is great for their team mates.
Guardians can craft whistles to give to team mates, allowing them to summon the Guardian. Lets a team mate help the Guardian get around.
my fave class will always be the lore-master :) i dont care how slow it is to kill enemies or whatever, im a very casual player, im not in a hurry (my highest lvl character is level 65 and ive played on and off for 10 years lol), to me the skills and especially the pets are just super fun, and yes if a quest is a super challenging group thing, ill probably either wait a few levels to do it or not do it at all, but honestly there are so many quests in every region, i dont even care lol :D so that just to say: just bc a class is not "efficient" in solo play, does not mean at all that it cant be really enjoyable to play solo :)) so if anyone is hesitant about trying lotro bc they have concerns abt solo play: the game is still so so much fun without groups, dont worry abt it :D
You're my kind of player; I play an LK, she's 40ish, I have no idea when and if I'll pick the game up but I enjoy roleplaying the class so much.
Before the legendary server's difficulty slider, I played a Loremaster who used ISBOXER to multi-box with a Guardian Pet, in addition to the animal companion. It was actually super fun, and having that extra tank made nearly all content possible. ISBOXER made it super simple to make my second character a "pet". Pretty smooth experience with it. Although the extra account sub + isboxer sub is more costly, obviously.
I always wanted to try a Captain + Captain, so I'd have 2x the pets, and be my own little mini-army.
Fortunately, the difficulty slider made the Landscape so much fun, I was finally able to play CAPTAIN on its own without multiboxing. That let me leave multiboxing behind, which is definitely easier/smoother experience. No matter how good software can get, and isboxer is amazing software in its own right, it's still less smooth than not having to do this kind of hack.
That difficulty increase is so great though. In normal servers, I found Captain super boring and preferred Guardian or Loremaster (hecne why I decided to have both in the end; ha!). WIth the increased landscape difficulty, Captain became my ultimate favorite.
It's so interesting how that difficulty can transform what classes we find most entertaining.
Warden is incredibly strong (and convenient) for solo, but like you said one tiny lag spike can lead to a lot of trouble haha. The servers aren't quite what they used to be and it messes up my rotation pretty frequently.
It sucks at first, but once you get used to playing around it, they can function mostly like normal.
Man I remember the struggles of soloing as a mini back in the day, not to mention the hate I got when trying to do DPS 😂 So glad they're more versatile now.
For me, the Yellow line RK is my favorite. In groups or in dungeons, I will usually run red line. If I had to go with a second, it would be the LM. Blue line up to around 35 or so, then switch to red line the rest of the way. All around fun class to play.
It's tough to play a game and choose a 'main' when all classes like and seem fun to play...
Thank you for this video, it was very informative! I started playing today and I'm very eager to find the class that is right for me.
Nice video. In my opinion is true that the one you have most fun with will be the best. Here some pointers: if you usually play warrios in other games, take champion. If you usually play shooters, take the hunter. If you like to play mages, take rune keeper. If you like to play the overly complicated classes in games, take warden. And ofc if you want to rp as bilbo, take the burglar ;). Cheers guys
Thanks for this video, it sure helps decide wich alt to level or which character to start with :) I've been maining loremaster for years, in solo I use blue line and I mainly use the bear as a tank and other times, the bog guardian as a shooter companion. All the loremaster pets represent a lotro class in a way. We even have a rogue with stealth XD At level 130, the bear has 800k hp, so it's difficult to kill :) I gave him the polar bear skin ^ ^ With loremaster the idea is taking enemies with a tactical mind, not with a go go go mind or a brute force style. Loremaster has another cure apart of waterlore in his seventies, it has a long cooldown but there it is, half of your life restored in a blink. You also have stuns and ways to slowdown enemies. I enjoy this class a lot ;)
I love how the guardian plays solo both for play style nad because of its tanky nature, I have a level 110 guardian which shared my journey through middle earth since the very beginning in 2012, but I have to say that the warden is a fantastic all rounder, I have got one and it's a lot of fun to play with
Hunter: My main class ever since I started playing back in 2012. Tons of fun! HOWEVER, I do want to say that the blue trait line is only going to get you so far. Around lvl 105, when you enter Mordor, survivability becomes more difficult and by lvl 120, the mobility just isn't enough. That's where yellow line steps in. The decoy dummy has been a life saver for me! Takes aggro away so the loss of mobility is irrelevant. While venturing in Minas Morgul there are a lot of tight spots where you just can't maneuver at all so the decoy dummy and traps are really nice to have.
Guardian: I solo leveled a guardian before the class trait revamp and oh man was it SLOW! When the revamp hit I couldn't have been happier. Sure not as strong as champion, but that's okay. I have way more fun nowadays. And I've even started dabbling in the yellow line for soloing challenging content.
Captain: Mine is currently lvl 54 and even though it's DPS is slower, I'm still having fun.
Champion: Ask in world chat and the general recommendation is going to be yellow line, and for good reason! AoE's all day long! Red line isn't bad if you don't want to aggro a whole camp, and the tank (blue) line is okay. Personally not a fan of the blue line.
Warden: Good survivability, but as Louey said not beginner friendly. Even after playing the game for as long as I have I really couldn't get into the warden. The gambit system was a bit much. My warden is lvl 85, and there he will stay.
And I haven't really played much of the other classes, particularly the light classes. Beorning seems fun, LM is rather slow, Mini is ok, every one else I haven't played yet.
As a Lore Master at higher levels, I use red line for solo and use my pet, almost exclusively to round up my foes and allow me to use AOE , especially Lightning Storm, to best advantage.
I remember the Warden.. was the last class I played before moving on. Almost 11 yrs ago I think.
Sad to hear Elendilmir closed.. was the server I was on at the time.. some fun memories of Creeps and Freeps battles.. Hehe..
Might one day try it out again..
I moved on about the same time but have been planning to return and check things out. Trying to get my game olan together and hostly didn’t think of Creeps v Freeps until I read your comment. Dang those were good times. Swear I played Elendilmir as well, rings a bell.
I think your missing the boat on a Yellow Guardian. Once you obtain Flash of Light they are extremely fast lvlers. Also, if you pick a High Elf you will get more speed and a 5% to Light damage boost.
Great video Louey! I really enjoyed your straight forward breakdowns and seeing video of each class was an awesome addition! This was a good one!
My main is a Hunter, but I like the Beornings and Brawlers for the "PUNCH EVIL IN THE FACE" thrill.
Bro you should make a complete warden guide
Its so fun to play i already learn how it works
Most people dont even try it
I agree with what you said about the Warden, it is not a beginner friendly class and it takes time to really get a good rhythm using the gambits, but once learned it is an awesome class. The only time my Warden uses ranged attacks is when I just want to get the enemies attention, and I never had much use for the ranged stance especially after Turbine changed the yellow line from the tanking/aggro management line to the ranged line when they created the trait trees.
A consideration for players choosing a class is your computer speed and, especially, your internet connection speed. Classes, such as Warden or Rune-keeper in which buildup of your skills may be interrupted by slow game play is something that can be played around, but takes awareness of timing. A class that relies on movement during combat like Hunter blue line can be frustrating if your game doesn't allow smooth movement, while red-line Hunter, who is much more stand and shoot works better. We all get frustrated by connection issues, but when you live in an area with poor internet availability, this is a consideration.
I’m gonna be honest, don’t play this game anymore and haven’t for maaaany years now. But I’m glad people still are, don’t want it to die out. So I basically clicked the video for memberberries 😅
You can beat Hunter fast travel with clever use of certain travel skills like Return to Hall Under the Mountain which has a 5 minute cd and allows you to go to Mordor and from there to places like Bree and Gondor. Also if you are kin with Eglain in Lone Lands you get a convenient extra jump off point for Bree when that is on CD. Finally you can buy some shorter CD in the store that reduces your return skills to five minutes. Opening up the world to easier travel.
My fire spec RK generally downs mobs several levels higher in 1-2 seconds. After switching from a captain, I was shocked how quick I mowed down enemies.
how can you make the UI larger in 2K. I cant read shit
For anyone watching this in the current time frame and starting out on Angmar or Mordor yellow line Beorning is practically immortal on Fearless difficulty, especially in crafted gear.
It's not an issue to outheal the damage from Shadowy and Mournful Wraiths as you facetank them but of course a Harrowing Wraith should be avoided without assistance.
You mentioned how LM pets stop scaling late game, that hasn’t been my experience. My level-cap LM doesn’t fight mobs anymore, my bog lurker will kill camps of 3-4 mobs, a mix of norm and signature difficulty mobs while I pick up the barrel/herb/etc fetch item for the quest
It’s critting 70k damage on its abilities and one-shotting on-level mobs. It’s not taking on 6+ enemies at a time like you’d see warden/champ doing but still feels downplayed how good they are late game (and this is in redline btw)
Can you make a tier list of classes that are the best at soloing group content? Like 6-mans and such.
My favorite class was a Hunter, then I really liked a Captain best for a fellowship, then a Guardian became my favorite when I went two-handed red line, then my Rune-keeper was my favorite, killing and healing. Now my Loremaster with her Sabertooth is my favorite. I have not tried Brawler or Beorning, so I don't know about them. Warden is fun when I play one for a while, but by the time I play it again, traits have changed and I don't remember what all the gambits do anymore. Burglars and Champions do not appeal to me as much and I haven't played them for a while.
Thank you for guide. Could you explain how to change quickslot's order? Can not find any settings ;/
I settled on a class but now I’m torn on server. Treebeard sounds cool to go a slower place but I also already started on Crickhollow. Even did a run of Great Barrows with 4 people which was super fun to do again.
Just gonna say it, I think Crickhollow is a better server to play on than Treebeard. Treebeard has a far lower percentage of active players (due to being VIP only and a TLP server) and is interesting and tight knit, but it doesn't feel as active. Also the "progression" system in place for those legendary servers is rudimentary at best and basically changes nothing but the level cap. It doesn't actually bring the game "back" to those old xpacs in any real way.
Crickhollow is a very populated server, with a super friendly community and active most hours. It's been a far better experience than Treebeard for me personally, so I would say do not be torn, you picked the right one with Crickhollow :) more pop, more content, what's not to love?
not sure about pre endgame but the moment you can trait Killing Spree as a yellow champ, all bets are off as to who is best.
Brawler just needs one consistent self-heal skill and its pretty much the perfect class. Its really strong in solo landscape so its a great starter class. Id honestly say that its the type of class that is easy to learn but hard to master since their set-up and finisher takes practice and planning to ensure you dont lose their buffs. Not to mention they have a lot of damage buffs as well which is whack lol
my main now is a brawler.i just like the idea of punching things to death
Warden is one of the most enjoyable mmo classes I've ever played. Before the most recent update, I could solo most elite stuff 4-5 levels above mine. Since then, it feels like a normal class in terms of power.
Maybe that's the way I'm using him, idk. Still agree that everyone should give it a try.
Captain. For soloing, fellowships, grinding, questing, always Captain.
Great vid once again Louey! My favourite classes : LM, Beorning. Champion
So, what about a duo? If I were to play with my wife (who is not a good game player) who loves hunter? Should I roll a guardian or a champion or something else to maximize on synergy? I personally love Warden and played it when the class came out years ago.....and I mean years ago. So, what do you thing would work best with a hunter? (please say Warden, but the honest truth would be better)
Sure you have some guides for some of the classes, would be awesome to have them in the description and in the video. Tnx!
I play Brawler right now in low level areas and can say i have no problem fighting against higher levels. I even have no problem fighting 2 or 3 elite masters at the same time that are 3 levels above me without problem.
My Bog-guardian still consistently deletes anything in his path. I'm seeing crits as high as 17k dmg in one hit at level 105+, and while it's only single target damage, mobs die so fast that I don't really notice any slowdowns. I can usually just sit back and let the pet do all the work. And it's ranged.
Great video, though as someone who’s spent the past 23 years constantly trying to make up my mind on what class to play in MMOs, I don’t know that I’m any closer to choosing one in LOTRO because they really do mostly all seem very cool in their own ways lol. I’ve always wanted to play Warden but I don’t know if my ADD would allow me to memorize the whole gambit system. So I think I’m right where I started off. No clue what to play. :x
Hunter is like an automatic transmission, Warden is like a manual transmission. Very fun either class Warden more challenging with gambit and preferrable with aoe
Good video thanks louey 🙃
As someone who has played almost every class in 12 years the Warden rocks. My second favorite would be Lore Master which I used as a light tank back in the Moria days. Cappys are great in groups and like you said slow to level. Have not played Brawler or Beorning yet. The Hunter is my main class, but I play on it less these days.
I tried installing this game and it fails all the time...need some help...really want to try this,,
Back in the day a buddy would run 6-man solo as a Warden. He’d be perplexed that it was even possible.
i main guardian red line i never really had a problem lvling with it i did put rest of my points on the yellow line i love it my 2nd fav is the champion yellow line on that one so fun to me
does Frost Affinity on weapons stack with Frost Affinity on traits ? rune stone weapon at lv60 often have fire/frost/lightning Affinity
Came for the class-related content, stayed for the cat cameos. 😼
I am having fun with the Guardian.
I'm sorry but how does the minstrel not have any traveling skills?...
They should be THE traveling class. With party traveling skills as well.
i have most fun with the captain even though it's clearly the class meant for group play
Great video, thank you!
Loved this video. Great job.
One thing to consider for your word choices... mid level would start about 60-70 :)
Id be curious of your take on mini after the update.
Of my 4 slots, i have a Beorning, Warden, Runekeeper, and Hunter. Highest lvl so far is Beorning at lvl 32. Fangrel Maw, find me on Laurelin!
Totally agree in every point! Great video!
Hi Louey, I'm thinking of making a female high elf warden. Are their animations okay? Do all races and genders have the same combat animations?
My favorite class in Lotro has changed multiple times over the years, though these days it's probably either the Warden or the Champion. Both have solid AOE dps, which is my favorite, though the champion does have the edge still there. But I love warden being able to switch to ranged on open landscapes, and in long fights where you don't need to switch targets much, the gambit system is a lot of fun. Not to mention both are quite competent at soloing group content.
What disappoints me the most these days is the Captain. Captain used to be my favorite class in the game, but now it's one of my least favorites outside of the class fantasy aspect.
The damage is lower than most other specs, it feels clunkier, heralds can get lost in pathing which screws up you being able to use a couple of abilities, motivating speech is on a 5 minute timer, and no consistent ranged weapon for pulls. You're stuck with the archer, or battle-shout when it's off CD. And while blue captain is fun in a group, I find yellow captain to be an absolute snooze fest. So few skills and essentially non existent damage, no longer being able to use SoD on self...over time I just feel this class has really dropped in the level of fun it offers. A couple of years ago it was a much better experience than it is now.
I keep trying to level my Captain but it is stupid slow.
I love to play Blue but no raids want you. 😢
Oh boo - you can't use Shield of the Dunedain on yourself now? Bah.
@@AxisSabian1 Well now you can solo dgs and do the delves (Harder tier'd dungeons at 140) so you do not need raids for the most part no more. And there solo/duo content.
Thinking about playing this game, good video.
I wish they would make the brawler yellow line a speed trait line.
High octane rapid attacks and faster travel speed.
A trait line Like Luffy's gear 2nd from the greatest manga of all time, One Piece.
(Maybe even make it so that it could damage multiple enemies at once with shockwaves from your attacks.
Like the brawler class does in Black desert for example.
Of course, the trade off is that each individual attack is weaker than in the other traitlines.
Think of Sauron's mace attack from the fellowship movie.)
Well shockwave attacks might not fit the lotro games but the super-fast attacks could and they would be a lot of fun.
Hello Louey7! I make a query. In the captain's yellow line, he says that he uses a 2-handed weapon, but I've seen that they use it as a 1-handed weapon and a shield, what do you recommend and why? Thank you! And keep it up, you have great content!
Basically, a 2-handed weapon offers more damage and 1H + shield more defense. Many yellow line Captains (including me) will go with 1H + shield because the damage doesn't matter that much
@@Louey7 Thanks for your answer! helped me a lot
Main hunter even with my new account this year and yea very squishy lol but for f2p players that don't have access to swift travels? Hunter is your choice and when you know the quests, lores, deeds, and the basic mechanics of the game, you can create a new character with a different class. Bottom point, the hunter class enables new f2p players to explore the game faster. But again with my hunter's progress at lvl 65 and an elf ambassador, I find starting a new char tiring now. 😂
Love the warden but it's a class you can't just mentally switch off when farming mobs its a constant memory game. But wardens in my mind can pretty much solo everything
Hi everyone, I'm just starting out and I'm undecided between LM and RK. I wanted to play with something full of anniations related to lightning, storm and thunder. which of the two classes has more spells of the type and with more cool and exaggerated lightning animations? :D
Don't get seduced by the LM's big capstone lightning storm - it looks really flashy - the RK will be much better at sustained DPS and landscape.
Man, your game seems so smooth. I have troubles in lotro getting a decent fps even with my gaming pc. Any tips?
Increasing the CPU prioirity in task manager (and confirming you're using the 64 bit client... lotroclient64.exe) may help
Saying that brawler is one of my new favourites just love smashing out dps.
But isn't hunter most vulnerable with much less health than all others?
Warden is fun as long as you keep playing it; Relearning the gambits after a break is a pain.😅
Well its been years since I played but Captain was my main class. Later levels its best to use banners instead of the whole pet thing but what is also weird is that it doesn’t wield the heavy shields like a guardian and if i remembered right the champion can wield them as well but like I said its been years and I don’t know what has changed. Captain class is more into two handed weapons than one handed. Yeah its suppose to be a paladin like class but its sadly its not very tanky which I kinda find odd. If I remembered right its based off of either Aragorn or Boromir. When it comes to Lore master vs rune keeper for fun wise…I say rune keeper is more fun.
I tested almost all the classes... Warden is still my favorite :)
I wish i could play Warden on EU but the lags are horrible.
So instead of best class. What would you consider is the least played class at max lvl?
I see the least of Brawler then Burglar then Lore Master, usually
nice one Louey
The best class is ALL of them. Why? Because the game is more relaxing than stuff like WOW and such, you could play the Captain and feel like a badass in Solo Play.
May I ask, why has "Travel Speed" become a factor? That kinda gets out of the window when you could just buy a mount at either the LOTRO store or the stablemaster in Bree-Lands. Nullifies that factor completely
7:11
GOD DAMN IS THAT RIGHT
Level 140 Captain here, and I've got the SCARS TO PROVE IT.
/RoutingCry
Imo warden is more fun than hunter and isnt too hard to learn
Truly a jack of all trades class
I love Warden but with the lag i have i get only half of my gambits off.
Hey Louey you did not cover the Lore Master's movement options.
Oops.. must've gone too fast for them
(for anyone that doesn't know LMs have nothing for travel)
Great video Louey, hmm favorite class, thats tough, I have and RK @ 100, LM @ 100, Mini @ 100, Burg @ 81, Champ @ 86 Beorn @ 54, Hunter @ 36, Capt @ 19, Guard @ 10, No Brawler because I dont own Gundabad, and Warden.......well Lets say I have tried and deleted several times, I just cant get it! As far as a favorite, RK and Mini. I am a returning non-vip player and I am trying to decide what to start from scratch with.
Did warden get their heals fixed?
Nc video buddy! Best tank atm in your opinion?
Warden is the best imo.
I tried em all now.
With warden I have a swiss army knife for any situation.
And he's fast a f*** boooyyyy.
He doesn't become boring because he has the most skills of all classes with his gambit system.
You have hot, dot, debuffs, enemy buff cleansing, buffs for yourself, range attacks, melee attacks.
He is for big brain people who want to be rewarded for not just pressing 1,2,3.
Oh, and being an explorer, you can get next to any ressource besides scholar type of things that have to be picked up from the ground.
But if you kill 1 million humanoids, like orks, goblins, and evil humans, you will get it anyway eventually and all the shiny loot they drop too.
me watching this even if i have all classes level 100+
Louey7: If you are nw don't jump right in to warden.
Me, a new player (no really i just downloaded the game last night): I think I'm going to try warden 1st.
Nice video, love the LOTRO content =)
Beorning seems so cozy
I'm loving mine so far. I also have a high elf champ and stout axe brawler, but I kinda needed a break from them so I am considering a hobbit burg next.
hey great video ty
I absolutly love my Lore Maste!
I wanna start this game and I’d love to play high elf but I don’t know what class I should play. I wanna be like Legolas.
Like Elrond sorry
Perhaps a High Elf Lore Master? LM is inspired by Elrond
Probably for me, having almost all classes at 70+ Hunter is about the best solo class, great ranged damage and those travel skills. I’ve never played a minstrel, it’s never appealed to me
Waaay back I rolled a Minstrel just to be an item mule with no intention of playing it as I thought the concept was silly. But as I started to play it, the sillyness amused me all the way to Level 60 (the cap at the time) and it kind of became my main. Not trying to convince you to try it, but I understand the lack of appeal, haha.
I prefer playing solo, so thanks for the guide!
I can't decide between Warden or Rune Keeper at this point! :O