A Champion's Guide

Original content created by community member: Aceeka

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Weapons/Shields and Combat 2.1 Shields/Heavy Shields 2.2 Dual-wield or Two-Handed Weapons? 2.2.1 Two-Handed Weapons 2.2.2 Dual-wielding 2.3 Choosing Weapon(s) 2.4 Choosing a Weapon Type 2.5 General Tips 3 Taking a Stance 3.1 Kill-Response-Skills 4 Stats 5 Which Race? 6 Legendary Traits 7 Gameplay 7.1 Know your Role, then be the best you can at it 8 Skills 9 Traits 9.1 Class Traits 9.2 Legendary Traits 10 Conclusions 10.1 Credits

[edit] Introduction

This guide has been in development for quite awhile even before being available here in the Lorebook and I doubt this will be the end of its development. As I'm steadily testing and trying new ideas and increasing my lessons learned, I'm certain there's other Champions out there that may be doing the same. Although there's always parts that could be expanded upon, I'd like to make it available for other folks to read over, possibly get some benefit from, etc. There's also room for improvements and additional guidance/advice. What you're about to read is the compilation of my works combined with the greatly appreciated contributions of others. My thanks goes out to those numerous individuals who have contributed to this guide being the quality it currently is for you to view and hopefully benefit from.

This guide is primarily aimed for those at or near level 50 however, there are plenty of tidbits of information within this guide geared towards helping out even the youngest of Champions out there. This is not a leveling guide, boss-strategy guide, shard dropping farming guide, PvMP strategy guide, nor is it an all-encompassing guide. This guide is a series of information which can aid those that are still in The School of Hard Knocks, a review of ever reliable education based on trial-&-error, a collection of character's true-experiences as well as dedicated research, which will hopefully be beneficial to other Champions out there.

I encourage fellow students of The School of Hard Knocks to share there lessons for the betterment of this guide making it the best that it can be. As I mentioned, this guide will likely never be truly completed as long as there is something new for us to test, experience and learn from. Just keep it friendly. As mentioned, in numerous parts thru the guide, there are many highly debatable topics amongst Champions but this guide is not the place for such arguments. Keep it friendly and respectful as this guide is meant to be a host for lessons-learned that many Champions have had to learn the hard way; this is not to be a battlefield of viewpoints. Even fellow seasoned veterans out there can hopefully learn something new, jog their memory, and share their lessons as well.

If you have contributed to the improvement of this guide, I'd like to encourage you to include yourself in the credits at the end of this guide. Your contributions are appreciated and credit is deserved.

[edit] Weapons/Shields and Combat

[edit] Shields/Heavy Shields

There are those that would argue this point, but here’s my advice. Every Champion should have a shield with them – preferably the best they can have. Whether this be a Shield or a Heavy Shield is up to you, your trait selection, and what role you want your Champion to be able to meet. At some point, most every Champion is going to be presented the opportunity where they’ll need to either be the tank or at least the off-tank and this extra damage mitigation can truly save your hide. Unfortunately, to wield a Heavy Shield requires an extremely vital class trait slot. As a side note, in my experience, going with a Shield that had a bonus to Block was more important to me than a slight bonus to morale or power, but that’s just my opinion. I’d rather not be hit at all than to have a minor boost in morale – just my opinion. In any case, I’d suggest at least having a Heavy Shield incase you know you’ll be filling a role as the tank or off-tank, you’ll be ready to juggle some traits and be the best tank/off-tank you can be. If Heavy Shield trait isn’t equipped, have a Shield on-hand incase you suddenly become the tank/off-tank, you’ll have some defense at the ready to switch to in a pinch.

[edit] Dual-wield or Two-Handed Weapons?

As with most every topic that involves Champion builds, this depends on your personal style and preference. There are a vast number of different player-run tests with many different factors tied in that can support either strategy. Here’s some things to consider, but ultimately, just go with what your personal style or preference is.

[edit] Two-Handed Weapons

Here’s some things to consider if you want to wield a big ol’ two-handed weapon.

• Big Bang -- These are much slower than dual-wielding but can involve much bigger numbers. If you enjoy seeing the biggest numbers pop-up over the targets head, this is the one to go with. In general, you’ll want the highest top-end number possible on your weapons damage number and, if possible, a narrow range between your lowest and highest damage number (ie 100-108dmg Beleriand vs 32-90dmg Beleriand). We’ll cover these numbers later but these are the numbers which will directly impact what your skills will be factoring in for damage. A critical hit on a two-handed weapon is much more devastating to your opponent’s health than from a dual-wielder’s attack. In a single hit, a two-handed weapon will almost always out damage a dual-wield hit.
• Conservative -– Your attacks and the fluid of combat are related to your weapons speed rating. Two-handed weapons are generally much slower than one-handed weapons and therefore you’ll get fewer attacks in compared to a dual-wielder. This equates to saving far more power. However, wielding a two-handed weapon is also much slower to build up Fervour than dual-wielding. As a general suggestion, most two-handed weapon wielders keep Flurry on – traited version if possible, to boost the attack speed.
• Hits vs Miss -– A two-handed attack, that misses, can be far more impacting to this play-style than to a dual-wield Champion. Afew misses can seem like an eternity wasted in the precious moments of battle. The attacks are slower and you want each one to count whereas a dual-wielder will hopefully hit with ‘at least’ one of their swings resulting in at least some damage per attack. A high agility as well as your level compared to the opponent’s level can greatly impact your miss chance.
• AoE/Clobber -– These weapons are slower and hit harder and for AoE damage they can truly shine. Some Champion skills factor in only your main-hand damage, such as Clobber, Cleave and Explosion of Blades; therefore Two-handed weapons gain an advantage over dual-wielders in this department. A Champion’s AoE skills such as Blade-wall, Cleave, Explosion of Blades, and Bladestorm also shine when executed with a two-handed weapon.

[edit] Dual-wielding

For those that are looking at the rapid attacks of dual-wielding, here’s some things to consider.

• Fast Fervour Builds -– With these faster attacks, it equates to being able to use your Fervour-building skills faster and auto-attack animation speed is faster. This means gaining access to your larger Fervour-costing, damage-dealing attacks sooner. In many “short duration” battles, a dual-wielding Champion’s rapid attacks triumph over a two-handed weapon Champion however, there's few battles that are ever so short.
• Power Usage -– Dual-wielding daggers, clubs, or spear, is a very fast way to speed thru your attack skills, but this rapid use of skills has a very large power costs associated with it. Very quickly, this blazing attack speed and skill usage will result in an empty power bar for you. Swords and hammers are the middle ground for this. Dual-wielding Axes/Maces will bring you closer to the attack speed of a two-handed weapon thus conserving your power but results in slower attacks.
• Hits vs Miss -– Most Champion skills as well as auto-attacks, for a dual-wielder, involve attacks for both main-hand as well as off-hand weapons. A dual-wielder will normally hit with ‘at least’ one of their swings resulting in at least some damage per attack. Compared to a two-handed Champion play-style, having a miss doesn't feel as painful due to a faster attack rate as well as having twice as many weapons attacking with each swing, so at least for a character watching their attacks hit, afew consecutive misses from a slower weapon can feel like a long time. A high agility as well as your level compared to the opponent’s level can greatly impact your miss chance.

[edit] Choosing Weapon(s)

This topic is almost as much debated as whether to dual-wield or use a two-handed weapon but ultimately is just up to your play style and personal preference. Your overall attack speed is based on the average of your two weapons speeds (3.0 MainHand, 1.0 Off-hand = 2.0 overall attack speed). Most of a Champion’s damage skills are based on the max-dmg range number impacting your main hand’s attack and the low-dmg range impacting your off-hand’s attack. As a general guidance, it’s best to have your highest max-dmg number in your main hand and your highest low-dmg number in your off-hand. When a critical hit is landed, the max-dmg number is always used.

• Axes and maces are generally the slowest, swords and hammers are middle ground, spear, club and daggers are the fastest. Of note, spear can only be equipped in main-hand. For the biggest damage numbers per swing, dual wielding two axes or maces or one of each, will be the way to go, however it will also be the slower, more power-conservative style. This is very possibly the most commonly seen weapon style among dual-wielders.
• Dual-wielding daggers, clubs or spear/dagger, spear/club results in extremely fast attacks and can build Fervour very rapidly due to the ability to continuously spam your Fervour-building attacks however, this comes at the expense of huge amounts of Power consumption. Additionally, daggers/spears/clubs have the lowest numbers for their damage ratings resulting in smaller hits for each Champion skill used. There are Champions that love this play style and swear by it, but they seem to be few.
• Swords and hammers are a middle ground. The damage range is higher than daggers/spears but not as great as most maces/axes; their attack speed is not as fast as daggers/spears but is quicker than maces/axes.

Additional considerations regarding weapons are their combat/fellowship-impact and passive bonuses but we’ll cover these later.

For me, I primarily go dual-wielding, but there are plenty of times where I crack out my two-hander or even switch to tanking/off-tanking with the “sword-n-board” gear. Although I can’t change my traits in the middle of a battle or adventure, I can change my gear to adjust as needed. As I mentioned, I’m normally dual-wielding, but if I’m unable to juggle aggro fast enough, running low on power, or just want to see some big numbers on the screen, I can switch to a two-hander. Overall, I prefer a two-hander for AoE attacks and dual-wielding for single-target. If I find myself as the favored target, I can “turtle up” (equip a Shield/HeavyShield for extra protection), hit afew defense skills, and hold my ground (or make a “strategic” withdrawal). The Champion class has quite afew options available at any time to them, but it requires quick reactions and some anticipation to get the most out of it. The more challenges and experiences you comfront, the more you can learn out of them.

[edit] Choosing a Weapon Type

General/Common Bonuses

These are the common effects found on most of these weapon types – there are exceptions to this rule

• Axes have the chance to reduce the armor class of their target for afew seconds which can benefit everyone attacking the target however, for player-characters (sparring) armor class only affects resist to Common damage type. For MonsterPlayers and monsters, Common armor class seems to impact ALL of their resistances to some degree. This is additionally effective since many DoT (damage over time or “bleed”) effects are Common damage type and thus benefit even more. Additionally, this effect is completely random and therefore should not be relied upon.
• Maces have the chance to stun a target for afew seconds. During this time the target is unable to deal out damage, evade/parry/block incoming attacks, or escape from the battle. For the solo Champion, this result is great as it saves your hide or creates a very brief window for you to decide to stay and fight or make a strategic withdrawal. However, the chance to stun the creature is completely random therefore not something to rely upon. Within a fellowship this can be a boon or bane. After a stun, the target is immune to stun effects for a considerable period of time. If stun immunity is on the target, Loremasters are unable to use their crowd-control abilities, Burglars are unable to execute conjuctions, and anyone in the party would be unable to create a Fellowship maneuver. If these won’t be an issue, this can be perfectly fine in a fellowship as it creates the same benefits that the solo Champion would have - less damage output from the stunned opponent.
• Swords have a slight increase to hit their target. If you’re having a difficult time hitting your mark, these could be the extra edge that changes that Miss to a damage-dealing-hit. This is a steady bonus although slight. Investing in Agility is a far more rewarding means of pursuit if you are steadily missing your attacks as it boosts your hit-chance, crit-chance, evade, and parry. Your level compared to the targets level is also a huge factor in determining your miss chance
• Hammers have a chance to reduce the targets ability to Evade. As two of the more common Champion abilities, Ferocious Strike and Relentless Strike, can only be Evaded, this is a great way to help make sure these devastating attacks reach their mark. However, this effect is random and not to be relied upon in combat. Quite afew hammers seem to have ICPR (in-combat power regen) bonuses as well.
• Clubs are very fast weapons but have a low damage range resulting in smaller hits for the expensive Champion skills. Clubs have a chance to slow their opponent’s attack speed however, the effect is random and not to be relied upon. Champions going with clubs seems the rarest of all.
• Daggers are certainly the fastest weapons to be found although the lowest in damage. Almost all include a bonus to land a critical-hit on auto-attacks. If you’re steadily spamming your attack skills, auto-attacks do not come into play a great deal. These weapons primary bonus to a Champion is a boost in attack speed.
• Spear has a chance to DoT or “bleed” their target. The damage-type on the DoT is Common damage-type and therefore the damage is reduced based upon the targets armor class. For creatures that may stealth and attempt escape, such as player-controlled Burglars and Wargs, this bleed can break them out of stealth. However, the effect is random and not to be relied upon. Few Champions use Spears as they can only be equipped in the main-hand and have the lowest damage ratings (same as daggers and clubs). This weapons primary bonus to a Champion is it’s attack speed.

In my experiences, the blazing speed of daggers and spears was a lot of fun. I even tried building up my Fate and ICPR, but I was still having power issues if I was hitting my skills as soon as they were up. It also didn’t feel like I was dealing out as much damage and the spear’s bleed effect was incredibly rare. For quite awhile I went with hammers and had a great time with them – the ICPR they came with and bonuses to critical attacks was awesome, but eventually I joined the bandwagon and tried dual maces and axe/mace combination. The dual maces were great for soloing and I also loved when they kicked off in PvMP but I could tell they weren’t the best choice when I was often giving stun immunity to my fellowships targets. In my opinion the very brief stun my maces occasionally granted wasn’t worth forfeiting any chances for a Burglar to open a Fellowship Maneuver, or the Guardian/Loremaster/Burglar to execute their longer stuns and more beneficial fellowship maneuvers. Axes and even axe/mace combo was certainly enjoyable as I was seeing my biggest dual-wielding numbers and, for me at the time, that was definitely enjoyable. It didn’t matter how many attacks I was streaming, I rarely had power issues and after we got the Second Wind skill to recharge our power, it’s been incredibly rare for me to ever touch a power pot. I am starting to miss the faster attacks, especially when it comes to clobber and jumping in conjunctions early, but I juggle my weapon selection around quite frequently depending on damage-type needed and what I plan on battling against. It all just depends on your play style and what role you want your Champion to be – a blur of blades, a slow and heavy hitter, or somewhere in the middle ground.

[edit] General Tips

• Just as your skills and attacks are based on your overall attack speed, so too is your ability to contribute to a Fellowship Maneuver. The faster your skills can recharge, the faster your character will complete whatever attack sequence they’re in and contribute to the fellowship maneuver. This tip also applies to the Champion’s Clobber skill. Clobber can be executed faster by a Champion with a higher overall attack speed -- a two-handed weapon Champion will normally hit harder as only the main-hand weapon is involved in this attack however, a dual-wielding champion can execute this attack faster which could mean the difference between getting the interrupt in within time against your adversary. Champions Clobber skill recharges fairly quickly and makes them a prime candidate to interrupt skills, heals, and casting of targets. The tides of battle quickly change when the Champion’s target is unable to heal itself or summon it’s countless minions to wreak havoc

• It’s cheaper to repair one weapon than two

• It’s generally cheaper to buy one weapon than two

• It is possible to have the best of both worlds, but I’ll warn you it’s not easy. It’s possible to dual-wield to build up Fervour points, equip your two-handed weapon, then activate your big damage dealers – be this an AoE attack, Brutal Strikes or Ferocious Strikes – then swap back to dual-wielding and building up your more Fervour. At least for my play-style, it’s not too often I use this strategy as I try to focus on quite afew other factors during battle in fellowships and raids. I’m focusing on who’s taking damage in the party, where folks are on the threat meter, which mobs are in AoE range, cooldown/buff/debuff/Fervour status, which mobs are mezzed, which mobs (or Creeps) are trying to escape/approach, which position I should be in versus my target, and occasionally I even look at my own health bar. There’s always lots of stuff going on that I normally don’t add this weapon swap tactic into the mix.

• With few exceptions, it’s usually safer to equip a Champion Rune rather than a bow, unless you’re intentionally pulling or intentionally contributing your meager amount of ranged damage. This prevents accidentally pulling or finding yourself in the situation where you’re a foot from your opponent watching your character try to fire that bow like a Hunter. Champions excel at melee range. For solo play and for some situations in PvMP, any extra damage you can get in, is always good stuff – for fellowships and raids, keeping in mind the exceptions listed above, I’d recommend the Champion Rune. There's Rune of Striking to reduce our high power costs on Strike skills and Rune of Vanquishing to reduce the cost of our AoE attacks. The power-saving benefit on these are not overly significant, but like most Champion factors -- the small things all add up.

• Once you get used to your fighting style, whether it be duel-wielding or two-handed weapons, you should become adjusted to the fluid feel of your attacks; knowing when to properly time your attacks with auto-attacks to maximize your DPS.

• Many may disagree with this thought, but in my opinion, when aiming for the biggest hitting numbers, your damage range on the weapon is far more important than what its DPS rating is. DPS rating is based on your damage range and the weapons speed. Your skills are based strictly upon your damage range.

• Our one and only Taunt skill (Challenging Shout) is very effective at changing a targets focus to you, however it has a long cooldown. It’s one you’ll want to likely hit when an enemy is munching on your healer but otherwise it requires planning to ensure it’s up when most needed. Rising and Ebbing Ires can greatly contribute to managing a fellowship's standings in threat meters. Stealing the Minstrel or Hunters aggro frequently can keep them off the top of the threat meters. Finding yourself with too much aggro? Transfer some of the threat to the main tank preferably. If you're in a raid and no tank in your fellowship to transfer your aggro to, you can transfer it to a target that's normally low on the threat meter (Burglar's can be great for this, sometimes even Captains but communicate this ahead of time in either case) or tough it out and off-tank the new aggro.

Finally, to end the Weapons section, this link can provide a more in-depth look into the combat system that you may, or may not, be interested in, but it’s available for your either way. http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=58815

Want the raw data? This Champion, real-life engineer, has definately devoted a great deal of time into cracking this number game, so for those interested in numbers and how stuff works on pen-&-paper, here's a great resource, I believe the links are on the left. http://haakon.stormbrow.googlepages.com/home

Perhaps a break-down of combat mechanics and relative weapon damage factors to bring in further depth to the equation?

[edit] Taking a Stance

There’s Fervour, Ardour, Glory, and Controlled Burn (trait required) for our options. To use our more powerful attacks, they require Fervour points. A Champion starts are 0 Fervour Points and can build up to 5 for a maximum. SwiftStrike, WildAttack, and BladeWall(with StalwartBlade trait) are the attacks which generate Fervour points. Additionally, Fervour, Ardour, and Controlled Burn also generate a point of Fervour every few seconds – varying based on your stance. Fervour Points can only be built up while in combat. Fervour and Controlled Burn are our number one damage dealing options both granting the most bonus damage, ICPR, and fervour points. These do come at a price.

Fervour is likely the most commonly used stance. You gain a free Fervour point every five seconds, and this offers the greatest bonus damage to all of your attacks (tied with Controlled Burn). The downside to this skill is that, while active, your Evade/Parry/Block are all ZERO. This means that any attacks aimed at you, and doesn’t outright Miss, is going to hit. Your only means of reducing the damage from these attacks is your resistances, such as wound/Shadow/Common/Poison/etc, and your Melee/Ranged Vulnerability, and if you’re battling an opponent near or higher in level to you, you’re definitely going to be feeling these hits even after this mitigation kicks in. Fortunately these can be addressed by gear/trait selection to some degree, or even more effective by learning to control your threat. As a suggestion, if you’re taking damage for more than a couple seconds, you’ll want to consider either changing stances, pulling out a shield (have to change or drop stances for this to be helpful), or deactivating Fervour mode until the tank can regain aggro.

Controlled Burn requires a Legendary Trait slot. You only get two Legendary traits at a time, so this means you’re giving up either Fight-On, Raging Blade, or Ferocious Strike as an option. Controlled Burn has a 10min cooldown and expires once combat ends or if your health goes below 20%. It gives you all the benefits of Fervour but without any penalties to Evade/Parry/Block. If it’s going to be a lengthy fight, it’s a good idea to use this. If you’re going to be taking damage that you’d rather not be taking, it’s a good idea to consider using this. For tanking, I prefer this one rather than Glory, Ardour, or Fervour however, if you're health drops below the 20% threshold, it's time to switch stances.

Ardour trades out some offense for some defense. In exchange for losing the extra bonus damage from Fervour, lowering the ICPR bonus, and lowering Fervour regeneration, you get to keep 50% of your Parry/Evade and maintain full Block. Although this stance misses out on the bonus damage Fervour/ControlledBurn get, it does offer at least a chance at defending yourself. With this stance, you also lose Flurry (your attack-speed boosting buff) but as a kill-response-skill, you can activate Ardent Flurry which lasts until the combat ends. If you're a fan of Flurry, activating Ardent Flurry will save numerous Fervour points in a lengthy battle or series of battles. By selecting this kill-response-skill you give up the option to activate skills such as SecondWind, RedHaze, or BlockingBlades – at least till the next mob dies. In my opinion, the trade-off is too steep but, I'm a Flurry-addict and it's one of my primary reasons to use Ardour. The Fervour saved from needing to re-activate Flurry can be used for more damage-dealing attacks. I find myself using this mostly for long-duration fights where I'm taking damage and if Controlled Burn is not an option. If you can maintain your in-combat state this is a great stance for keeping Flurry (Ardent Flurry) active. If your opponents are spread out abit, you can "walk your opponent" towards your next target when it's nearly defeated thus reducing the distance to travel to be back in-combat again with your next opponent thus maintaining Ardent Flurry and any other kill-response-skills that have been activated.

Glory is definitely the opposite of Fervour. You gain a slight bonus to ICPR, you keep your full P/E/B, and gain a nice bonus to threat-generated on attacks but in exchange, you suffer a massive penalty to your damage output, forfeit the bonus Fervour generated, and of your stances available gain the lowest amount of ICPR. With this stance, your Exchange of Blows skill (reflects some damage back to attacker) becomes Glorious Exchange and is a kill-response-skill, which lasts until combat ends. By selecting this kill-response-skill, you give up the option to activate skills such as SecondWind, RedHaze, or BlockingBlades – at least till the next mob dies. This is the only ability a Champion has which actually penalizes their ability to dish out damage however, it offers the strongest defense. The threat increased in this stance seems very weak, at least compared to having full damage attacks. If I’m tanking/off-tanking or just the center of attention by a swarm of enemies, I prefer Controlled Burn rather than Glory but if Controlled Burn isn't available, I try to use this one. Additionally, if you're Tanking/Off-tanking, using Glorious Exchange is a great way to boost your threat generated while slightly contributing to your damage output. Of note, with the Champions' set bonuses from The Rift of Nurz Gashu armor, there's a significant boost to the threat generation in Glory which really helps this stance out. Additionally, if your opponents are spread out abit, you can "walk your opponent" towards your next target when it's nearly defeated thus reducing the distance to travel to be back in-combat again with your next opponent and therefore maintaining Glorious Exchange and any other kill-response-skills that have been activated

[edit] Kill-Response-Skills

• Red Haze – Additional Fervour points (see skills section)

• Second Wind – Restores Power (see skills section)

• Blocking Blades – Parry increased (see skills section)

• Ardent Flurry (Ardour stance)– Similar to Flurry but lasts throughout combat (see skills section)

• Glorious Exchange (Glory stance)– Similar to Exchange of Blows but lasts throughout combat (see skills section)

• Heroics- Restores some power to nearby fellowship members but has a very high power cost (see skills section)

[edit] Stats

By moving your mouse over these on your character sheet it will detail what each of these impact.

Might– This will boost your DPS on each attack as well as impacts your ability to Parry attacks and Block attacks with a shield equipped (and not in Fervour-stance). With 500 Might (the cap) it raises your damage by approx 33%, about 0.0066dmg/Might and with an investment in crit-gear and Agility, this bonus damage truly shines with critical hits. Many Champions invest heavily in this one.

Agility– This boosts your chances to hit and your critical hit chances but it has diminishing bonuses. At 500 Agility (the cap) it grants a 16% crit chance. It also boosts your chances to Parry and Evade (when not in Fervour-stance). Compared to Might, investing in Agility will provide more bonuses to your character by means of avoidence, hit chance, and crit chance. However, it is best to invest in both Agility AND Might as the crit bonuses from Agility enhance the bonus damage already granted by Might. Of a Champions top three stats, this is possibly the more difficult to keep up as finding Agility gear seems more difficult. Many Champions invest heavily in this one.

Vitality– This boosts your resistances but most importantly, your morale and morale regen. Many Champions invest heavily in this one. Vitality has diminishing returns and often Champions begin to look for morale-boosting equipment as well to additionally boost their morale higher.

Will– This impacts some of your resistances but more importantly the size of your power pool. Though not to be neglected, this is not in the top three stats for Champions to focus on

Fate– This primarily impacts your ICPR but has greatly diminishing returns. The Champion has the greatest ICPR bonuses compared to the other classes, and although you don’t want to completely neglect this skill, this is definitely not one of the top three stats for Champions to focus on

[edit] Which Race?

I tried multiple Champions when I first started out and went thru the first 15 levels with each race available. Before public release, I went with the Dwarf and had a great time. My current Champion is a Man for no reason other than reaching the Undying title and having lost my interest in recreating a character to start over yet again. Whichever option you go with, there’s pretty much only a couple options which will effect you in the long term. As far as stats, your equipment can adjust to any shortfalls you may have. In general, Man seems the most common, followed closely by Dwarves. There seems to be few Elf Champions, but they do exist.

Dwarf-- Bonus damage with any axes. Portal to Thorin’s Gate, which has the only Superior Forge for the top tier of Armor and Weapon crafting as well as a Superior Workbench, after obtaining sufficient reputation, for top tier Tailoring. Thorin’s Gate isn’t overly difficult to navigate however the stables and the location your portal takes you to are both outside of town. Dwarves also have a skill, once an hour, to greatly boost their damage mitigation and resistances

Here’s a list of the Dwarves racial traits

• Level 13- Slay 50 Dourhands –

Headbutt (very minor melee damage, 5s cooldown)

• Level 13- Slay 50 Goblins –

Fateful Dwarf (+20 Fate)

• Level 19- Slay 100 Dourhands –

Guile and Might bonus (5% boost to Fellowship Maneuvers of Yellow or Red)

• Level 25- Slay 150 Dourhands –

Dwarf Axe (2% damage bonus to Axes)

• Level 29- Slay 100 Goblins –

Thorin’s Gate Portal (1hr cooldown)

• Level 30- Slay 50 Trolls –

Dwarf’s Endurance (35 Vitality buff for fellowship for 10mins. 1hr cooldown)

• Level 35- Slay 150 Goblins –

Hunker Down (greatly reduces incoming damage for a brief time)

• Level 35- Slay 150 Trolls –

Shield Brawler (2% Block Chance)

Elf-- Bonus damage with one-handed swords and bows. A portal to Rivendell, which offers a Superior Study for top tier Scholar work and, until level 40, is difficult to reach by many other means. Elves also have a skill, once an hour, which greatly boosts their ability to parry incoming attacks. They also have a skill allowing them to enter a means of Stealth, similar to a Burglar, but with steep movement penalties and not as powerful as the Burglars.

Here’s a list of the Elves racial traits

• Level 13- Slay 50 Goblins –

Sylvan Shadows (greatly decrease movement speed, -3 Stealth, 30s cooldown)

• Level 13- Slay 50 Orcs –

Friend of Man (+20 Fate)

• Level 19- Slay 100 Goblins –

Tactics and Conviction bonus (5% boost to Fellowship Maneuvers of Blue or Green)

• Level 25- Slay 150 Goblins –

Elf Bow-Damage (2% damage bonus to bows)

• Level 29- Slay 150 Orcs –

Rivendell Portal (1hr cooldown)

• Level 30- Slay 100 Drakes–

Sword-Damage Bonus (2% damage bonus to one-handed swords

• Level 35- Slay 250 Orcs –

Parry Boost (+75% Parry for a short time, 1hr cooldown)

• Level 35- Slay 150 Drakes –

Power of the Eldar (adds bonus to fellowship’s power for 10mins. 1hr cooldown)

Man-- Bonus damage with any swords. Portal to Bree, which has stables leading to most major places within the game, this place is usually the most populated. The city is arranged rather inconveniently, and the portal actually places you outside the city. Man has a skill, once an hour, which can heal 3,000 morale – usually enough to just about fill a Champions morale bar granting almost a second life.

Here’s a list of the Man racial traits

• Level 13- Slay 50 Wights –

Upper-cut (very minor melee damage, 5s cooldown)

• Level 13- Slay 50 Wargs –

Man of the Fourth Age (+20 Will)

• Level 19- Slay 100 Wights –

Tactics and Might bonus (5% boost to Fellowship Maneuvers of Green or Red)

• Level 25- Slay 150 Wights –

Man Sword Damage (2% damage bonus to Swords)

• Level 29- Slay 150 Wargs –

Bree Portal (1hr cooldown)

• Level 30- Slay 150 Hillmen –

Balance of Man (1% bonus to Parry, Evade, and Block)

• Level 35- Slay 250 Wargs –

Duty Bound (Adds bonus to fellowships morale for 15mins. 1hr cooldown)

• Level 35- Slay 250 Hillmen –

Strength of Morale (3,000 morale heal. 1hr cooldown)

[edit] Legendary Traits

To begin these, you’ll need to acquire a class book for three of the four Legendary traits. The books can drop from any creature of level 39+ anywhere. They can be often found on the Auction House or perhaps your Kinship has found some and may provide them. Once you use the book, you’re next step is to visit Gimli. He’s inside the Misty Mountains immediately to the left at “Gloin’s Camp”. Misty Mountains are north of Rivendell. Your next step is to find the missing pages. These pages drop from humanoids of level 39+. The first four pages, which can be viewed in your Deed log, will be found in Angmar. The last four pages will be from the Misty Mountains. You’ll need to ensure you attempt to loot every humanoid mob as these will not show up on the “roll” window when in a fellowship or Raid. Of note, the humanoids within instances inside these zones also can drop these pages.

As I mentioned, only three of the four legendaries can be obtained by books. The final one is a level 50 class quest (available at level 45) and will require a fellowship for good many of the components or else a heavy coin pouch for the Auction House. To obtain this class quest, the other Legendary traits must be completed first. The most difficult class-quest items for this Legendary trait involve trips into Urugarth as well as returning to Angmar and Misty Mountains – all of which will test your skills as a Champion. Though the Urugarth components can be exchanged by players, such as the Auction House or a supporting Kinship, there are other components that you must collect for yourself.

[edit] Gameplay

I’m all for each player having their own style and strategies. But it’s always good to refresh the pointers or suggest new ideas so here’s afew.

Teamwork– Communication is key. It may take afew extra moments but communicate with your team. Know which targets are to be focused on first, know what role you’re expected to perform, know which mobs may be mez’d and which are immune, communicate if the plan is to AoE the targets down in blaze of attacks or if the strategy is to burn them down one at a time. Your team will appreciate it and benefit from having a game plan established. If your teammates expect you to pull a mobs attention off them and onto you, they need to know that running around like mad is not the way for you to catch up to the attacker – hey, it’s natural to run away to save your life, but whether you’re a Guardian or a Champion, it only complicates the ability to catch up to the adversary.

Know your Opponents– For example, know which opponents will be casting spells (and what the animation looks like), which opponents generally fire at range (and don’t stand at range trying to exchange bow shots against a ranged-specialist -- close to melee range), know which tend to flee when the battle turns against them (and hamstring them), know which call for reinforcements (and be ready for it or ensure they’re beyond hearing distance of it’s friends).

Threat-Management and the Ire's- Whether you're role is to Tank or DPS, in any fellowship, it definately pays to be familiar with your Ire skills and the Champion Challenge skills. The Champion has far less Threat-generating skills than a Guardian but why shy away from a good challenge? Champion's Challenge can be great for pulling a stray opponent off your healer or other squishy but it has a steep cooldown time of 30 seconds. I normally save this one specifically for peeling an opponent off the healer of the fellowship. As for your Ire skills, you can juggle your entire fellowships aggro.

• -Still in-combat and have a moment before the next wave of creatures approach? Use Rising-Ire to transfer 15% of your Minstrels or Hunters aggro to yourself.
• -Happen to be getting yourself too high on the threat meter? Use Ebbing-Ire to transfer 25% of your threat to the Guardian or tank -- I'm sure they love the extra boost.
• -Happen to be the Tank/Off-tank and finding yourself competing for top position on the threat meter? Use Rising-Ire to sap 15% of the threat from your competitor.

Used correctly, the Ire skills can greatly boost the survivability of your fellowship. Keep in mind, the cooldown on both of these powerful skills are shared and once your dump your aggro (Ebbing Ire), that's 2 minutes your without the ability to lower your fellow teammates aggro or to transfer yours again. Although far more tricky, this can be used in conjunction with Champion's Challenge to shout your way to the top of the threat list then either transfer the accumulated aggro or stack on 15% of a fellow teammates aggro on top of it, however you'll need to keep an eye on the duration of your Challenge.

[edit] Know your Role, then be the best you can at it

Here's afew of the common expected roles for a Champion. This is not all-inclusive nor does it mean you have to follow it. The Champion is all about having numerous options available. The roles mentioned below are very focused on a specific task. Using combinations of these can ensure you are prepared for unexpected events. For instance, having a mixture of AoE traits and Single-Target traits slotted along with HeavyShield use; is well-rounded in that you bring more AoE options to the fellowship than a Single-Target spec, have better individual-target focus traits than an AoE-DPS spec, plus can equip a HeavyShield within a blink if needed to hold your ground or reduce the incoming attacks. Go with what you enjoy, swap out as often as you'd like, but ultimately, just go with what you enjoy the most.

AoE-DPS Role– This is your calling, this is where Champions outshine all other classes, this is where Champions can become swarmed and die the fastest. Know the range of your AoE attacks as you often may not want to break a mez on a particular target or you may want to ensure your hit reaches that monster that may be laying into your healer. There’s nothing like wasting an attack that doesn’t hit it’s mark. The Champion's Class Traits that correspond directly to AoE attacks also boost your output damage with these skills by 2% each. For the AoE-DPS-role, afew of the skills you'll be using, benefit most from a 2-handed weapon; but personal preference and your personal playstyle should ultimately decide which you prefer. A Champion can perform amazing victories using either weapon option available to them.

As far as damage: Blade-storm (w/class trait) can deal 300-500dmg x 10 targets = 3,000-5,000dmg in a single attack

Explosion of Blades (Legendary trait) can deal 300-400dmg x 13 targets = 3,900-5,200dmg in a single attack

No other class can dish out that much damage with just two attacks

See the skills and traits section for a breakdown of the numerous AoE attacks and their corresponding traits.

Single-target Focused Role- This DPS-minded role can definately be appreciated when against one opponent at a time, such as smaller encounters or in the presence of heavy crowd-control. The Champion's Class Traits that boost this spec directly each increase your damage output (by 1% each) while in Ardour or Fervour stances. These definately add up quick considering it's every attack while in these stances. The single-target-focus role is aimed for DPS and this cumulative damage increase does not carry over to Glory stance. The focus of this role is to land critical hits and maximize the damage output with each of these hits. See the skills and traits section for a breakdown of the numerous single-target attacks and their corresponding traits..

Tanking/Off-tanking Role- Filling the role of a Tank or Off-tank can be a challenging but can also be very vital to your fellowship or raid. Although I would always recommend to have at least a Shield or a HeavyShield with you at all times, it's definately helpful to know in advance that you will be needing to fulfill this role. Slotting afew traits can help immensely with your ability to gain and maintain your position on the threat list. Call of the Wild class trait will bolster Wild Attack's threat gain. I only recommend slotting this if you actually plan to get and keep your position at the top of the threat list. Patience class trait will boost the frequency of Exchange of Blows retaliating as well as providing a boost to the threat generated. Of course, this requires your opponent to be already attacking you to be useful, but it can help in your ability to maintain aggro. At the Ready class trait provides a 2% Block chance. Although not related to maintaining aggro on the threat list, this is a helpful bit to mitigate your incoming damage -- both you and your healer should appreciate that. A Blocked attack equates to zero damage received.

Equip a Shield or Heavy Shield to get the most from your damage mitigation. Both provide a boost to armor class which strengthens your Common damage resistance. The Heavy Shield provides MUCH more armor class as well as a -10% Ranged Vulnerability thus reducing your incoming damage from those outside melee range. The trade-off is, the Heavy Shield requires you to slot a Class Trait to use it. Although it's possible to successfully Tank/Off-tank with a Shield vs Heavy Shield, the Heavy Shield offers more overall protection.

[edit] Skills

Ardour– This is the second stance achieved as a Champion. It doesn’t provide any bonuses to damage but does provide decent ICPR, though much less than Fervour stance. Parry and Evade are dropped to 50% and the Fervour point generation is slower than that of Fervour stance, only generating one every 9 seconds. This stance converts Flurry of Blades to Ardent Flurry which can only be activated as a kill-response-skill and will last until combat ends.

Battle-Frenzy– Instantly grants 3 Fervour points and has a 1min cooldown. Always nice to quickly reach those high Fervour skills immediately.

Blade Storm– This is one of the Champion’s primary AoE skills. Able to strike 5 targets within range (this can be increased by a class trait) and providing a nice bonus damage amount, it comes with a 10s cooldown and requires a 4 Fervour points (can be reduced to 3 with class trait)

Blade-Wall– This is the Champion’s first AoE skill though limited to frontal attacks only. It can strike 5 targets and has a fairly fast cooldown. This skill does more damage than Swift Strike and, with a class trait equipped, can be used to generate 1 Fervour point. As long as crowd-control isn’t an issue for those targets within range, this skill is great.

Blocking Blades– Here’s one of those kill-response-skills and it’s effect lasts until combat ends. This skill grants a bonus of 2% to Parry however, if you’re in Fervour stance you still get no benefit from this skill, and in Ardour stance, this equates