Lore Master Guide

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide
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Table of Contents
Important
The short version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

The long version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Introduction
Character Creation
Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Dwarf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Passive Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Racial Accomplishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Elf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Passive Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Racial Accomplishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Hobbit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Passive Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Passive Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Statistics
15
Hope and Dread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Stats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Might . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Agility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Vitality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Fate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Mitigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Resistances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Traits and Deeds: the Basics
20
Deeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Class Deeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Racial and Social Deeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Region Deeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Racial Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Class Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Legendary Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Virtue Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Virtue Traits by Grouping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Lore-Master Class Deeds and Corresponding Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Trait Builds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Solo Build . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Fellowship Build . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Lore-Master Basics
33
Combat as a Lore-Master
34
The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Things you should know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Resurrection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Crowd Control and Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Lore-master 101
38
Basic Skills and Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

The Lore-Master played Solo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
The Lore-Master in a Fellowship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
A Guide to Middle Earth
47
Crafting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Resource Farming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Reputation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
(15-18) Bree Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
(18-22) Lone Lands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

(22-24) Trestlebridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
(24-26) Lone Lands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
(26-36) The North Downs (Estledin, Othrikar, etc.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
(36-40) Evendim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
(40-50) Rivendell, Trollshaws, Misty Mountains, Angmar, Forochel . . . . 60
(50-60) Eregion, The Mines of Moria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Eregion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
The Mines of Moria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
(60-65) Mirkwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Western Mirkwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Central Mirkwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Eastern Mirkwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Lore-Master Class Quests and related Deeds/Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
A Well-Ordered Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
A Lore-master's Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
The Wisest Way is Contemplation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Articles of Mystery and Implements of Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
A Lesson From Lord Elrond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Great Barrows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Garth Agarwen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Fornost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Urugarth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Carn Dum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Barad Gularan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Glinghant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Ost Elendil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Haudh Valandil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
The Rift of Nurz Ghashu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Gear Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Reputation Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Instance Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Rift Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Helegrod Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Crafted Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Conclusion
78
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
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.
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.
Race
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.
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!
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
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
Racial
Accomplishments
All of the Racial Accomplishments are

Traits that must be slotted in your Racial
Traits slots in order to benefit from them.
Enmity of the Goblins -Rank 1 is

available at level 13
-Defeat 50 Goblins
Dwarf
-Reward is the Fateful Dwarf Trait, +20

Fate.
-Rank 2 is available at level 29
- Passive Skills
- Racial Accomplishments
-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.
Passive Skills
Lost Dwarf-KingdomsReduced Fate

(-8)
-Defeat 250 Goblins
StockyReduced Agility (-8)
-Reward is the Endurance of Stone Trait.

+75% common, fire, and shadow
mitigation for 10 seconds. 1 hour
cooldown.
SturdinessIncreased Might (+15)

and Vitality (+10) and improved
Common Damage mitigation (+1.0%)
Enmity of the Dourhands -Rank 1 is

Unwearying in BattleIncreased
Morale and Power regeneration (0.05%)
in combat, although reduced out of
combat (-1 morale, -0.5 power).
-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.
Virtuous DwarfThis gives you a +1

to the following three Traits: Honesty,
Loyalty, Fidelity.

Elf
-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.
- Passive Skills
-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
Passive Skills
Agility of
Agility (+15)
the
WoodsImproved
Fading of the FirstbornReduced Fate

(-8)

-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.
Sorrow of the FirstbornReduced

Morale (-20) and out of combat Morale
regeneration (-1.0)
Suffer No IllnessImproved resistance
to disease and poison (1%)
Virtuous ElfThis gives you a +1
bonus to the following three Traits:
Wisdom, Patience, Charity.
Racial
Accomplishments
-Rewards you with the Return to

Rivendell Trait. Once slotted this provides
you with a teleport to Rivendell.
Enmity of the Goblins
-Defeat 250 Orcs

-Defeat 50 Goblins
-Reward is the Sylvan Shadows Trait.
Enables your character to Stealth. It has a
30 minute cooldown.
-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
-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.
-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.
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
Racial
Accomplishments
Hobbit
- Passive Skills
Enmity of the Wolves

-Defeat 50 Wolves
Passive Skills
Hobbit
CourageImproved
resistance (+1%)
fear
Hobbit ToughnessImproved Vitality

(+15)
Rapid
out-of-combat
(+1.0)
-Reward is the Stoop for a Stone Trait,

which gives you a low-damage ranged
attack (throw a rock)
RecoveryImproved
morale
regeneration
-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.
Resist CorruptionImproved shadow

mitigation (+1%)
Small SizeReduced Might (-8)
Virtuous HobbitThis gives you a +1
bonus to the following three Traits:
Empathy, Honesty, Idealism.

-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)
Passive Abilities

-Defeat 250 Spiders
-Reward is Hobbit-resilience. (+1 hope
for 10 min, 1 hour cooldown)
Enmity of the Goblins
Diminishing of MankindDecreased
Will (-8)
Easily
InspiredIncreased
regeneration
morale
Gift of MenImproved Fate (+15)
-Defeat 50 Goblins
Strong MenImproved Might (+15)
-Reward is Hobbit Stealth. 30 minute

cooldown.
Virtuous ManThis gives you a +1 to

the following three Traits: Justice,
Confidence, Patience.
-Defeat 100 Goblins
Racial
Accomplishments
-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.
Enmity of the Wargs

-Defeat 50 wargs
Man
-Reward is the Man of the Fourth Age

Trait. +20 Will
- Passive Abilities
-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.
Stats
- Might
- Agility
- Vitality
- Will
- Fate
- Armor
- Mitigation
- Resistances
- Abilities
-Decreased Morale
Might
-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.
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.
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 abilitiessuch as power transfers
or morale transfersrely on turning their
morale into transferable energy, or
transferable morale.
Vitality
Will
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
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
Mitigation
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.
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.
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.
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 Social

Deeds
Region Deeds
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 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.
Traits
Class 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 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.

+ Peace Power Regen
Virtue Traits
+ Magic Resistance
Determination
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.
+ Agility
+ Combat Morale Regen
+ Morale
Discipline
+ Might
+ Disease Resistance
+ Melee Resistance
Empathy
+ Armor
+ Fate
+ Fear Resistance
Fidelity
+ Shadow Resistance
Charity
+ Vitality
+ Wound Resistance
+ Power
+ Ranged Resistance
Fortitude
+ Peace Power Regen
+ Peace Morale Regen
Confidence
+ Might
+ Fear Resistance
+ Will
Honesty
+ Peace Power Regen
+ Power
Compassionate
+ Armor
+ Ranged Resistance
+ Fate

Honour
+ Wound resistance
+ Poison Resistance
+ Ranged Resistance
+ Shadow Resistance
Tolerant
+ Vitality
+ Magic Resistance
Idealism
+ agility
+ Fate
+ Fear Resistance
Valour
+ Will
+ Morale
Innocence
+ Melee Resistance
+ Might
+ Poison Resistance
Wisdom
+ Shadow Resistance
+ Will
Justice:
+ Peace Power Regen
+ Wound Resistance
+ Morale
Zeal
Loyalty
+ Melee Resistance
+ Vitality
+ Poison Resistance
+ Power
+ AC
Merciful
+ Peace Power Regen
+ Magic Vulnerability
+ Agility
Patience
+ Peace Power regen
Virtue Traits by
Grouping
Confidence +2: The Road to War --Angmar

Confidence: Garth Agrewen --- Lone
Lands
Charity
Confidence: Rath Teraig --- Ered Luin
Charity +2: Hero of Ered Luin [Final]

--- Ered Luin
Charity: Ally of Ered Luin --- Ered
Luin
Charity:
Bree-Lands
[Advanced] --- Bree-Lands
Quests
Confidence: Strongholds Exploration --North Downs

Confidence: The Grimfens --- Lone
Lands
Confidence: Where Giants Dwell --Misty Mountains
Charity: Lone Lands Quests --- Lone

Lands
Charity:
North
Downs
[Advanced] --- North Downs
Determination
Determination: Barghest --- Bree-Lands
Quests
Determination: Crawler --- Trollshaws

Determination: Slug --- The Shire
Compassionate
Compassionate: Defender of Ered Luin
[Advanced] --- Ered Luin
Determination: Snow-Beast --- Misty

Mountains
Compassionate: Lone Lands Quests

[Advanced] --- Lone Lands
Determination: Warg --- Angmar
Compassionate: Peril of the Mountains

--- Misty Mountains
Determination: Wolf --- Ered Luin
Compassionate: The
Bounder --- The Shire
Life
of
the
Determination: Warg --- North Downs
Determination:
Evendim
Salamanders
---
Discipline
Compassionate: Pilgrim of Evendim

[Quests] --- Evendim
Discipline: Bog Lurker --- Lone Lands

Discipline: Hendroval --- Ered Luin
Compassionate: Wander of Evendim

[Advanced - Quests] --- Evendim
Discipline: Sicklefly --- Bree-Lands

Discipline: Troll --- Angmar
Confidence
Discipline: Wolf --- The Shire

Discipline: Wolf --- Trollshaws
Discipline
:
Tomb-Defenders
(Brigands) --- Evendim
Discipline: Beasts (Birds, Cave Claws
etc) --- Rep Dungeon in Sarnur (Ered
Luin)
Fidelity:
Evendim
of
Evendim
---
Fortitude
Fortitude: Bear --- Misty Mountains
Fortitude: Bree-Lands Woodsman [old
forest trees] --- Bree-Lands
Empathy
Fortitude: Giant --- Trollshaws
Empathy +2: Angmar Quests [Final]

--- Angmar
Empathy:
Bree-Lands
Tombs
Bree-Lands
Quests
Fortitude: Harvest Sicklefly --- The

Shire
---
Fortitude: Neekerbeeker --- Bree-Lands

Fortitude: Troll --- North Downs
Empathy: North Downs Quests --North Downs
Fortitude: Warg --- Lone Lands
Empathy: Peril of the Mountains

[Advanced] --- Misty Mountains
Fortitude: Orc --- Evendim
Empathy: The Life of the Bounder

[Advanced] --- The Shire
Honesty: Craban --- Lone Lands
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
Honesty
Honesty: Troll --- Lone Lands

Honesty: Wilds of Tal
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
Fidelity: The Sights of Shire --- The

Shire
Honour: Spider --- Bree-Lands

Honour: Spider --- Lone Lands
Fidelity:
Evendim
Ruins
of
Evendim
Bruinen
--Honour: Spider --- The Shire

Honour: Uruk --- Angmar
Justice: Orc --- North Downs
Honour: Worm --- Misty Mountains
Justice: Warg --- Misty Mountains
Honour: Worm --- North Downs
Justice: Goblin --- Evendim
Honour: Giant --- Evendim
Justice: Dourhands --- Rep Dungeon in

Sarnur (Erud Luin)
Idealism
Idealism +2: Brave Deeds in the
Wilderness [Final] --- Trollshaws
Idealism: Angmar Quests [Advanced]
--- Angmar
Loyalty
Loyalty +2: Bree-Lands Quests [Final]
--- Bree-Lands
Loyalty: Angmar Quests --- Angmar
Idealism: Flowers of the old forest --Bree-Lands
Loyalty: Brave Deeds in the Wilderness

[Advanced] --- Trollshaws
Idealism +2: Lone Lands Quests

[Final] --- Lone Lands
Loyalty +2: North Downs Quests [Final]

--- North Downs
Mercy
Idealism: The History of the Dunedain

--- Bree-Lands
Innocence
Innocence +2: Peril of the Mountains
[Final] --- Misty Mountains
Mercy: Wight --- Lone Lands

Mercy: Redeemer [the dead] --- North
Downs
Mercy: Wight --- Angmar
Innocence +2: The Life of the Bounder

[Final] --- The Shire
Mercy: Wight --- Bree-Lands

Mercy: Wight --- Trollshaws
Innocence: Brave Deeds

Wilderness --- Trollshaws
in
the
Mercy: Limrafn --- Evendim
Innocence: Warden of Evendim [Final

- Quests] --- Evendim
Mercy: Wight --- Rep Dungeon (Haudh

Iarchath) in Barrow Downs
Patience
Justice
Justice: Brigand --- The Shire
Patience: No Place for Spoiled Pie --The Shire
Justice: Angmarim --- Angmar

Justice: Brigand --- Bree-Lands
Patience: Places of the Dwarves --- Ered

Luin
Justice: Brigand --- Ered Luin

Patience: Restoring the Quick Post --The Shire
Valour: Snow Trolls --- Rep Dungeon in

Sarnur (Erud Luin)
Wisdom
Patience: Ruins of Bree land --Bree-Lands
Wisdom: Elf Ruins --- Ered Luin
Patience: The Barrow Downs --Bree-Lands
Wisdom: High Passes of

Mountains --- Misty Mountains
Patience: The Eastern Ruins --- North

Downs
Wisdom: Lore of the Cardolan Prince --Bree-Lands
Patience:
Evendim
Wilds
of
Evendim
---
Misty
Wisdom: The Old Forest --- Bree-Lands

Wisdom: The Weathertop Exploration
--- Lone Lands
Tolerance
Tolerance: The Villages of the Earth
Kin --- North Downs
Wisdom: The Western Ruins --- North

Downs
Tolerant +2: Bastions of Hope --Angmar
Zeal
Zeal: Giant --- Misty Mountains
Tolerant The Farms of Shire --- The

Shire
Zeal: Goblin --- Ered Luin

Zeal: Goblin --- North Downs
Tolerant: Ruins of Misty Mountains --Misty Mountains
Zeal: Orc --- Angmar
Tolerant: Ruins of Trollshaws --Trollshaws
Zeal: Spider --- Ered Luin

Zeal: Troll --- Trollshaws
Valour
Valour: Goblin --- Lone Lands
Valour: Goblin --- The Shire
Zeal: Kergrims --- Evendim

Zeal: Spider --- Rep Dungeon (Haudh
Iarchath) in Barrow Downs
Valour: Orc --- Bree-Lands

Valour: Orc --- Lone Lands
Valour: Troll --- Misty Mountains
Valour: Worm --- Angmar
Valour: Worm --- Trollshaws
Lore-Master Class
Deeds 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.
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.
Magic Adept. This gives you a

base-line reduction of 3% to all of your
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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 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.
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.
Combat as a
Lore-Master
The Basics
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.
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 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.
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
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.
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.
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 and

Utility
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.
previous version, only against Nature

targets.
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.
Level
40
gives
you
Warding
Knowledge: Drakes. Self explanatory
based upon previous versions of the spell.
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
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 played

Solo
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 a
Fellowship
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

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

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 powerthat is,
when all 6 players have contributed to
the maneuverit 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.
Depending on the encounter at hand will

depend on how you start.
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
A Guide to Middle
Earth
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

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

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

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.

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 North

Downs (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, The

Mines of Moria
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.
- Eregion
- The Mines of Moria
Gwingris
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
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).
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.
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
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
Water-Works, and
Stone
Deeps,
The
Foundations of
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 Lothlrien. 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 6person 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.
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.
Lore-Master Class
Quests 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.
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 is

Contemplation
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 Mystery
and 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 Lord

Elrond
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.
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.
Instances
Great Barrows
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 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

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

Ghashu
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

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.
Rift Set
Crafted 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.
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.
These sets are class-specific, which

makes them extremely fun to get. And
they look pretty darn cool!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

Lore Master Guide

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Lore Master Guide

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The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide

The long version

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide

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

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

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide

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

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide

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

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide

characters from a US server to a European

When creating your Lore-Master there

There is also the choice between a

The race of your character is purely

It is also important to note that there is

You can also visit the official Lorebook

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide

All of the Racial Accomplishments are

Enmity of the Goblins -Rank 1 is

-Reward is the Fateful Dwarf Trait, +20

-Defeat 100 Goblins

-Rank 3 is available at level 35

Lost Dwarf-KingdomsReduced Fate

-Defeat 250 Goblins

StockyReduced Agility (-8)

-Reward is the Endurance of Stone Trait.

SturdinessIncreased Might (+15)

Enmity of the Dourhands -Rank 1 is

-Defeat 50 Dourhand Dwarves

Virtuous DwarfThis gives you a +1

-Rank 2 is available at level 19

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide

-Rewards you with the Guild and

-Rank 3 is available at level 25.

Fading of the FirstbornReduced Fate

-Rank 1 is available at level 30

Sorrow of the FirstbornReduced

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide

-Rewards you with the Return to

Enmity of the Goblins

-Defeat 250 Orcs

-Rank 1 is available at level 13

-Reward is the Eldar's Grace Trait. This

-Rank 2 is available at level 19

-Defeat 100 Drakes

-Defeat 100 Goblins

-Rewards you with the Elf One-handed

Enmity of the Orcs

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide

Enmity of the Wolves

-Rank 2 is available at level 19

Hobbit ToughnessImproved Vitality

-Reward is the Stoop for a Stone Trait,

-Defeat 100 Wolves

Resist CorruptionImproved shadow

-Rank 3 is available at level 25

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Loremaster Guide

-Rank 3 is available at level 35

-Rank 1 is available at level 29

Gift of MenImproved Fate (+15)

Strong MenImproved Might (+15)

-Reward is Hobbit Stealth. 30 minute