Original content created by community member: Aceeka

Introduction

Original Introduction by Aceeka:

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 throughout 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.

Added notes by Reillan:

I have considerably overhauled this guide to feature the changes presented by both Mines of Moria and Siege of Mirkwood.  The information in this guide represents what I've gleaned from my own time spent playing a Champion and from the thousands of discussions I have engaged in on the forums.  As with all things Champion, much of the information presented here is still up for debate, as it is difficult currently to establish real and meaningful statistics and methods of measurement.

Weapons/Shields and Combat

Shields/Heavy Shields

[since RoI Champions cannot use shields]

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.

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. 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. This is one significant reason to use 2H weapons in the Ettenmoors, as a big crit has a chance of finishing off an enemy in a single blow, which means that the enemy can neither run nor heal.
  
• Conservative -– Your attacks and the flow of combat are related to your weapon's speed rating (this is now an invisible stat). 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. Many two-handed weapon wielders keep Flurry on – traited version if possible – to boost the attack speed; however, there are some DPS reports that show a reduction in DPS by incorporating Flurry, so, as with all things related to the Champion, it boils down to personal preference.
• Hits vs Miss -– A two-handed attack that misses can be far more impacting to this play-style than to a dual-wield Champion. A few 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.
• Skill Selection -– Most Champion skills factor in only your main-hand damage (specifically: Clobber, Cleave/Rend, Swift Strike, Brutal Strikes, Ferocious Strikes, Merciful Strike, Sound the Attack/Horn of Gondor, Fighting Dirty, and Hamstring); therefore Two-handed weapons gain an advantage over dual-wielders in this department. Interestingly, Brutal Strikes and Ferocious Strikes still have the same number of attacks when switching to a DW setup (the others do not) AND they receive an additional bit of bonus damage in a DW setup. This means that it’s still questionable as to whether 2H or DW does more damage with these skills. Some people would also argue that Relentless/Remorseless Strike should only be used with a 2H weapon, as the big hit from a crit of this can be overwhelming. This is the skill that makes 2H so especially useful in the Moors.

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 (some champions would argue that these shorter battles are more meaningless and therefore not what a champion should be building for).
• Power Usage -– Some Champions find they have to conserve power when dual wielding. Power conservation mostly consists of avoiding certain high-power skills; most especially, Swift Strike (many champs substitute Blade Wall, with its fervour-building trait, for this reason). Brutal Strikes is a fairly power-friendly skill, and so it is an important part of a DW skill rotation.
• 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, a few 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.
• Skill Selection -– Some Champion skills factor in an additional off-hand attack (specifically: Wild Attack, Blade Wall, Blade-storm, Bracing Attack, Raging Blades, Relentless/Remorseless Strike, and Feral Strikes), so when using these skills, a Champion will do more DPS with a DW setup than a 2H setup. As noted previously, Brutal Strikes and Ferocious Strikes get additional damage with DW, despite having the same number of attacks.
  

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. There is a small bit of additional DPS that you can get based on your race, and most Champions select weapons based on their race as a result. This racial damage bonus comes as the result of a trait, and thus will not apply for low-level Champions. The racial bonuses are:

• Dwarves get +2% damage with both 1H and 2H Axes, so they can either DW or 2H with these weapons.
  
• Humans get +2% damage with both 1H and 2H Swords.
  
• Elves get +2% damage ONLY with 1H Swords. This means they cannot receive any bonus DPS in a 2H setup.
  

If you are not concerned with getting the racial bonus, there are only a few minor considerations based on weapon type:

• Axes have a built-in armour-rend ability, which makes them the stand-out favorite for Champions seeking to maximize DPS, as it increases DPS for the entire group.
  
• Swords have a small increase to their hit chance, which means they will hit slightly more often. This may be useful for a Champion who is trying to interrupt inductions.
  
• Clubs reduce enemy attack speed, which slightly decreases the amount of damage enemies do. This is slightly counter-intuitive to the Champion attack strategy, but still useful.
  
• Daggers have a +1% chance to crit on auto-attack, which, while auto-attacks make up between 30 and 40% of a Champion’s single-target DPS, is almost never desired by Champs.
  
• Maces reduce enemy movement speed, which is practically useless in most situations.
  
• Spears have a small Bleed effect that makes them do slightly more DPS than other weapons. These can only be wielded in the main hand of a 1H or DW setup.
  
• Hammers have a chance to reduce enemy Evade, which makes them useful for improving group DPS like an axe, but also useful for increasing hit chance for a Champ needing to clobber. As a result, Hammers are actually better than other weapons for their built-in bonuses, but these bonuses are not as important as the 2% racial damage or the bonuses from stats (see below).
  

The main consideration for weapon choice is actually what the weapon already has on it in terms of stats or legacies (for Legendary Weapons, level 45 and later). Having the right bonuses on a weapon can be much more important than the relatively small DPS and accuracy increases of specific weapons, as these bonuses may increase the Champion’s DPS, hit chance, morale, and chance to crit. The most important stat of all for a melee weapon is its base DPS (though if the difference in DPS is fairly minor, stats may more than make up the difference).

Ranged weapons also deserve a brief word. While a Champion can wield a bow, and has a skill to use this bow with a short induction, bow DPS is not generally a significant part of a Champion’s DPS. Most Champions choose bows that give them good stats rather than good DPS. One of the more popular bows among end-game Champions has a +756 Ranged Defence Rating, which helps the Champion take much less damage from ranged sources.

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.

• It’s cheaper to buy, repair, and maintain one weapon rather than two, making 2H weapons ideal for leveling.
  

• It is possible to have the best of both 2H and DW worlds, but 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 – such as Raging Blades or Remorseless Strike – then swap back to dual-wielding to building up more Fervour. This is an advanced strategy, as switching between weapons can take time and focus away from the battle, making it difficult to hit clobber or a horn when needed.

• 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 to maximize your DPS.

For more information on combat mechanics, see relative weapon damage factors.

Taking a Stance

A Champion has 5 stances: Fervour, Ardour, Glory, Controlled Burn (trait required), and using no stance at all. The best Champions will learn when it’s best to use each of these stances and switch between them accordingly.

Fervour is likely the most commonly used stance. It generates a Fervour point every five seconds, and it provides a +20% bonus damage to all melee attacks. The downside to this skill is that, while active, your Parry/Evade/Block (P/E/B) are all ZERO and that most of your incoming healing is reduced by 30%. Any attack aimed at you that 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/Tactical Defence. 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 of seconds, you may want to consider switching stances to increase your defence and make it easier for the healer to replenish your Morale.

Controlled Burn requires a Legendary Trait slot and you’ll probably want to spend a regular trait on it, too. You only get three Legendary traits at a time, but most Champions feel it is worth while. Controlled Burn has a 10min cooldown but lasts for 2.5min (3.5min with class trait). It gives you 15% melee damage bonus (slightly less than Fervour) but without any penalties to Parry/Evade/Block or incoming healing. Additionally, when you first hit it, it pops several useful skills, including Ardent Flurry (described under Ardour) and Glorious Exchange (described under Glory). The class trait also causes it to pop Red Haze, increasing your pip generation further. If it’s going to be a lengthy fight, or a fight where you expect you might take a bit of damage, it’s a good idea to use this, so long as you do not expect to need it again within 10 minutes. One of the problems with Controlled Burn is that it also replaces Flurry and Exchange of Blows with these skills, so that if you need them, you’ll have to pop them with an enemy defeat (see Kill-Response-Skills below). Additionally, a Champion cannot switch out of Controlled Burn willingly – he or she will have to wait until the stance’s duration expires.

Ardour is an often-mocked stance for being a hybrid of several stances without offering clear benefits to any one. It has no damage bonus of its own (an end-game armour set improves it to +3%), it has rather slow fervour pip generation (Legendary Items can improve it to be equal to Fervour), its in-combat power regeneration is worse than Fervour, and while it does not have Fervour’s healing penalty, it does have lower Parry and Evade than Glory, Controlled Burn, or the “No Stance” option. Like Glory, it also has a small amount of Critical Defence, reducing the chance a mob has of getting a critical hit against the Champion. One of the great benefits of Ardour is the skill “Ardent Flurry.” This skill replaces the regular Flurry skill with a skill that improves attack speed by 20% (untraited Flurry is 15%) and does not expire on a set time interval. Ardent Flurry is a CoERD (see below)

Glory is definitely the opposite of Fervour. It has much worse ICPR (still better than “no stance), you keep your full P/E/B, gain a nice bonus to threat generated on attacks, gain a significant amount of Critical Defence, and can trait to get more Morale, but in exchange you suffer a massive penalty to your damage output (15% less damage than “no stance” or Ardour), and have even slower fervour pip generation (can be improved slightly with a Legendary Item). With this stance, your Exchange of Blows skill (reflects some damage back to attacker) becomes Glorious Exchange and is a CoERD (below). This is the only ability a Champion has which actually penalizes their ability to dish out damage however, it offers the strongest defense.

There is a significant argument regarding the amount of threat generated by Glory. Since the Champion does only 85% damage, the additional 60% threat of Glory ends up being only 0.85*1.6 or 136% threat over “no stance.” This is only marginally better than the 120% threat of Fervour (normal threat, but 120% damage), and since incoming damage is relatively minor in most situations, and outgoing damage to kill off mobs quickly is fairly important, many Champions simply do not bother switching into Glory for most tanking situations. Additionally, if a Champ decides to use a shield to improve his or her defence while using Glory, that Champ will do even less damage and thus much less threat.

“No Stance” is another option. Choosing not to use a stance at all seems a bit counter-productive, but it has some benefits: First, it has no healing penalty like Fervour. Second, it has no P/E/B penalty like both Ardour and Fervour have. Third, it does more DPS than Glory. Because of these things, when Controlled Burn is not available or desirable and the Champion is taking damage and needs full P/E/B, it can actually be better to simply drop all stances rather than choose a different one. Additionally, if the Champion simply needs healing but wants to maintain the highest possible DPS, it might be preferable to drop stance rather than go into Ardour, as the Champion can continue to use Flurry normally without having to kill a mob to pop it. Still, fervour pip and power generation in “No Stance” is significantly weaker, and thus it should be used only briefly.

Kill-Response-Skills and CoERDs

Some Champion skills can only be activated when an enemy is defeated in combat (although the Minstrel skills Song of Aid and Call to Greatness make it so that a Champion can pop these skills without defeating enemies).  A few of these skills (noted below) have what is known as a Combat-only Effect Removal Delay (CoERD).  Once a CoERD is popped, it remains effective for as long as combat continues – meaning that these skills shine in extremely long fights. CoERD skills expire 9s after combat is over (can be increased to 14s with a Legendary Item legacy), so it’s in the Champion’s best interests to get back into combat right away.

Controlled Burn activates some of these skills when it is turned on (Ardent Flurry and Glorious Exchange by default, and a class trait adds Red Haze to that list).

• Red Haze – CoERD.  Generates 2 Fervour pips now, and more over time.  (see skills section)

• Second Wind – Restores Power.  Can be traited not to consume your defeat-response some of the time. (see skills section)

• Blocking Blades – CoERD.  Increases Parry chance.  (see skills section)

• Ardent Flurry (Ardour stance)– CoERD.  Similar to Flurry, but 20% regardless of class traits. (see skills section)

• Glorious Exchange (Glory stance)– CoERD.  Similar to Exchange of Blows, but has a 25% higher chance of doing damage. (see skills section)

• Heroics- Restores some power to nearby fellowship members but has a very high power cost and long cooldown. Improved version of this skill can also provide a short-term buff. (see skills section)

Stats

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

Many people make their stat target 50 lower than the current cap (cap is 10 * level at high levels, so 650 for a lvl 65 character). This is because Captains can use a skill called In Defence of Middle Earth (IDOME) to raise all stats by 50. This buff can be maintained 100% of the time, and the only time having max stats is important, there should also be a Captain in the group, so raising stats to level cap without a Captain is a bit of a waste.  If your regular group also features the Captain war banner or Minstrel vitality tales, you might consider having these stats at an even lower level and using food to augment Vitality or Might as needed.

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). It also reduces incoming melee damage normally. Many Champions invest heavily in this one.

Agility– This boosts your chances to hit and your critical hit chances but it has diminishing bonuses. 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 avoidance, 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.  Many Champions invest heavily in this one.

Vitality– This boosts your resistances, but more importantly, it boosts your Morale. Many Champions invest heavily in this one. Every point of Vitality is 3 points of Morale. Champions also 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. Since Champions rely on their massive ICPR rather than their power pools in most situations, this is often a neglected stat.

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 Champions typically want to focus on. There is a big however to this statement - champs who focus on soloing and want to bounce around from battle to battle quickly, as well as champs who want to attack very difficult enemies solo, can focus on Fate to improve their In-combat Morale Regeneration. This stat makes many enemies solo-able for a champ that are not normally solo-able for most classes.

Other Stat Considerations:

Melee Defence is one of the most important stats for a Champion.  This stat directly affects incoming melee damage from all melee sources, which will help the Champion to stay alive when drawing aggro.  Melee Defence is available from some items (especially the Pocket item and from shields), Legendary Item relics (up to +600 on each LI you equip, max: 2), Legendary Item titles (Applied to your Champion Rune, can add another +600), and Virtues (Innocence, the most popular of these virtues, can add +1000 Melee Defence).

Melee Crit is also very important for helping a Champion to maximize his crit chance.  With a Captain in the group for his/her +1215 crit buff, the Champion will only need to reach 3300 Melee Crit on his own, but this can be rather challenging.  The class trait "Vicious Strikes" will help add melee crit to single-target skills if it's needed.  Additional Melee Crit can be found on some items (especially Earrings, Off-hand Weapons, and 2H weapons) and can be added via Legendary Item relics (Up to +350 on each LI you equip, max: 2).  Agility also significantly impacts your Melee Crit chance, but has diminishing returns near max.

Melee Offence is the stat directly related to DPS output. Since melee damage is the primary role for many Champs, this stat should be focused on as well.  Might directly ties into this stat, but it can also be improved with certain armour sets (especially the BG set at max level.

Which Race?

Most questions of Race in LotRO are meaningless – almost every race is just as good. That said, there are some important considerations regardless:

Dwarf-- Dwarves get bonus damage with any axes, Portal to Thorin’s Gate, and they also have a skill, once an hour, to greatly boost their damage mitigation and resistances. Dwarven Champions make excellent tanks, but since Champions are not routinely called on to tank, this may not be a factor.

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-- Elves get bonus damage with one-handed swords and bows and a portal to Rivendell, which is the best racial port. Elves also have a skill which greatly boosts their ability to parry incoming attacks once per hour (note: can’t parry in Fervour). 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. If you’re a Champion who wants to avoid combat (don’t laugh – many do), the Stealth ability can be a good one.

Here’s a list of the Elves racial traits

• Level 13- Slay 50 Goblins –

Sylvan Shadows (greatly decrease movement speed, -3 Stealth, 30m 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, and a once/hour skill that can heal 3,000 morale – usually enough to just about fill a Champion’s 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)

Before Siege of Mirkwood, it was generally considered best to choose Dwarf, thanks to the Axe damage bonus. Now that weapon damage is evened out among all weapons, Man may actually be the best, thanks to the big self-heal and ability to use both 1H and 2H swords.

Legendary Traits

To begin these, you’ll need to acquire a class book for three of the four Legendary traits available before Moria (three more legendary traits are available within Moria). The books can be purchased at level 39 or later from any Champion class trainer. Once you use the book, your next step is to visit Gimli. He’s at Rivendell, in the same house at the southeast corner where Legolas and Aragorn are stationed (and, fortunately for an Elven Champion, right next to where the racial port takes him/her). 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 either Angmar or Eregion. The last four pages will be from the Misty Mountains or Forochel. 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 and skirmishes inside these zones also can drop these pages (currently, the only skirmish within one of these zones is the Rift skirmish, which is not available until level 65. Humanoids in this skirmish do have a chance to drop pages).

As I mentioned, only three of the four legendaries available before Moria can be obtained by books. The final one is a level 50 class quest (available at level 45). To obtain this class quest, simply talk to any Champion trainer once you reach level 45. Some of the items you will need can be purchased from the Auction House, and almost all of the items can be purchased via Skirmish Marks if you don’t want to bother with the zones where they were originally found. The more expensive of these items can also be obtained from some bosses in Urugarth, and the smaller items come from Angmar and the Misty Mountains – all of which will test your skills as a Champion. Some of the items must be obtained by farming the mobs involved and cannot come from Skirmish Marks or the AH; as a result, it’s often best to wait until after this class quest to bother trying to grind mobs for pages from the other 3 books.

Gameplay

While each player must develop his or her own style and strategies, there are a few strategies worth mentioning:

Teamwork– Some people experience a lot of frustration working with Champions, because the Champion mindset is generally to do as much damage as possible to everything in the area and to stay in combat all the time. Very few other classes work this way, and sometimes this approach prevents other classes from doing their jobs properly.
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 mob’s 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). Learn which inductions can be interrupted with clobber, and which take StA/HoG. If you’re fighting in a group that take stuns, keep your Battle Frenzy on standby to pop it quickly when you need the stun.

Threat-Management and the Ire's- Whether your role is to Tank or DPS, in any fellowship, it definately pays to be familiar with your Ire skills, high-threat skills, and the Champion’s Challenge skill. The Champion has far less Threat-generating skills than a Guardian but they’re more than sufficient for most situations. 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 fellowship’s aggro.

• Rising Ire – Allows the Champion to pull 15% of all threat from one member of the party, putting it on the Champion (Requires 2 fervour and has a 20s cooldown. Can get Legacies to reduce it to 10s).
  
• Ebbing Ire – Allows the Champion to dump 25% of all threat he or she has accumulated onto a single member of the party (Requires 5 fervour and has a 2 minute cooldown. Can get Legacies to reduce it to 1 minute).
  
• Champion’s Challenge – Forces a target creature to attack the Champion for 10s (can be easily resisted).
  
• Raging Blades – AoE attack with high range, high number of targets, high DPS, and high threat generation.
  
• Ferocious Strikes

In most situations, it’s best for the Champion to keep aggro on the main tank. This is because the tank is generally better-suited for handling the incoming damage than the Champion would be. Additionally, if the main tank is a Guardian, he or she will need attacks coming in constantly in order to use many important skills.

As a result, a Champion should be careful not to run in and use Raging Blades or StA/HoG at the start of a battle (generally). Doing so will prevent the tank from being able to control threat for a while, which is bad for the entire party, including the Champion. Champions must also watch the entire field of battle, looking for things going wrong, such as the main tank losing health too quickly or monsters peeling off to attack the minstrel. It’s the Champion’s job take care of these problems when they occur. AoE stuns are often the best way to handle a tank losing health too quickly, as they give everyone a few seconds to recuperate without pulling aggro off the tank.

Ire skills are useful for pulling aggro off of a Minstrel or Captain that is taking too much aggro (occurs fairly often in one end-game instance) and for putting that aggro back where it belongs (the tank). The great problem with them is that they share a cooldown – meaning that when a Champion uses Ebbing Ire, he or she cannot use Rising Ire for at least a minute. Additionally, because these skills use fervour pips, using them lowers a Champion’s DPS (by virtue of not spending the pips on more attacks).

Thus, Champion’s Challenge is actually the preferred method of dealing with errant mobs, when it’s available and when only one mob needs to be pulled.

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

Here's a few of the common expected roles for a Champion.

• Interrupts – Champions actually have 3 things they can do to interrupt: Clobber, Sound the Attack/Horn of Gondor, and War Horn. The first is an instant skill that requires one fervour and works regularly. It can only be used every 5s and is single-target, but it’s one of the best interrupts in the game. StA/HoG is an AoE skill that stuns everything around for 3s. It can be evaded fairly easily, but for mobs that can only be interrupted through stuns and mezzes, it’s an excellent skill. It also serves as a bit of crowd control. The War Horn is a crafted item that can AoE stun for up to 10s, but can only be used every 10 minutes. Its long duration makes it the best AoE stun in the game.
• Off-tank – Champions are generally expected to pick up any aggro that may wander off to the Minstrel. This off-tank role may also have the Champion picking up specific mobs to separate them from the group.
• AoE DPS – Champions do have monstrous AoE dps, and as a result are the best class at damaging large groups of mobs quickly.
• Single-Target DPS – Champions have the third-best single-target DPS in the game.
• Threat Transfer – Champions have the only skills in the game that allow micromanagement of party threat levels. More details can be found above in the Ire section, but a Champion can move threat off of any member of his group and onto any other member with fairly decent regularity.

Each of these roles will require the Champion to utilize specific skills, and some specific knowledge:

Clobber - should generally be placed within easy reach of the movement keys so that the Champion can fire it off quickly.

StA/HoG - Champions can keep their Battle Frenzy in reserve and pop the two skills together - Frenzy, then StA/HoG - to pull it off quickly

AoE - different AoE skills have different radii, and one skill (Blade-Wall) is frontal-only (180 degree arc) while the others are full AoE (360 degree arc).  Champions should spend time learning what the attack area of each skill looks like so that they can fire them off comfortably in heavy combat knowing which targets they'll hit, and which targets they won't. 

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 to 1% parry

Boast– This is primarily a role-playing skill. It has a fairly long cooldown and no combat benefits. When activated, other players around you, join you in a cheer animation.

Bracing Attack– This is the Champion's only attack which actually heals you (as long as you hit your target). It costs 3 Fervour, can only be used every 30s, but at 50th level, this skill heals for just under 400 morale. It’s no miracle heal by any means, but like most Champion factors, it’s the little things that all add up. Additionally, with a class trait this skill can heal for a slight bit more. (Note: The morale given by Bracing Attack is not affected by Fervour Stance's 30% healing reduction)

Brutal Strikes– Most dual-wielding Champions either go with this skill or Relentless Attacks for their single-target attacks. This is the favoured single-target attack by many two-handed weapon wielders. This skill has three attacks which each have a chance to crit, includes a fairly quick recharge timer, but requires 4 Fervour points (removes 3) and a small amount of power.

Champion's Challenge– This is the Champion’s one and only Taunt skill. It works effectively and pulls the target’s focus on you but with a 30 second cooldown this has to be used with careful planning and strategizing.

Cleave– This AoE skill actually benefits two-handed weapons over dual-wielders as it’s based only on the main-hand weapon. It provides decent damage plus a chance to cause a DoT on targets. This skill recharges quickly and can strike up to 5 targets but requires 2 Fervour points.

Clobber– No other class can interrupt a mobs skills/casting as often as a Champion as this skill recharges every 3 seconds. It can interrupt any skill/spell with an induction timer and costs very little power. This skill costs 1 Fervour point and is based on only the main-hand weapon.

Controlled Burn– In my opinion, the greatest of all Champion stances! All the benefits of Fervour stance plus you keep all of your P/E/B. Full offence and full defence – what’s not to love? First, this requires completion of your lvl 50 Class Quest (starts at lvl45) and is definitely a challenge in your Champion’s life. This stance requires a Legendary trait (of which you can only equip two at any time). This skill ends immediately upon leaving combat, or if you switch to a different stance, or your health goes to 20%. Additionally, it comes with a 10min cooldown making it difficult to use this in every battle. This stance can make a huge difference in large, lengthy, and boss-fight battles where both damage-output and damage-mitigation are integral.

Dire Need– Definately an emergency skill, but to benefit the most from this, you’ll want as much Power as you can as it converts 50% of your current power into morale. This quickly can turn a nearly dirt-nap situation into a fully renewed Champion ready to continue or make a strategic withdrawal from the battle. This has a 30min cooldown so use it cautiously. With a class trait, the cooldown can be reduced by 5mins and grant 5 Fervour points when activated. (Note: The morale given by Dire Need is not affected by Fervour Stance's 30% healing reduction)

Ebbing Ire– In a fellowship, this skill can be very helpful in aiding your tank in maintaining his place at the top of the threat meter. This skill transfers 25% of your total threat to your target. The target must be in the same fellowship as you and this has a hefty 20 second cooldown which is shared with your other threat-juggling skill, Rising Ire.

Exchange of Blows– This skill can boost your damage output if you’re being attacked. This skill has a 50% chance to deal minor damage to attackers and lasts 30 seconds plus has an instant cooldown. This skill costs 2 Fervour points to activate. This skill can be boosted by a class trait to generate additional threat and hit more often. In Glory stance, this becomes Glorious Exchange and is a kill-response-skill which lasts until you accumulate 9 seconds out of combat.

Ferocious Strikes– This skill requires a Legendary trait obtained by acquiring a Champion class book and all of it’s pages. This single-target attack cannot be parried or blocked (only evaded or miss), generates a moderately high amount of threat, requires 5 Fervour points, and is arguably the most damaging single-target attack in a Champion’s arsenal. It also has a 30s cooldown which can be quite considerable.

Fervour– This is a Champion’s first stance achieved. This stance is your highest DPS stance and ICPR stance (both tied with Controlled Burn) granting the Champion the greatest damage output bonus (+15%) and a steady supply of power. If that wasn’t great enough, it also grants a Fervour point every 5 seconds which is the fastest of your stances. All this comes with a steep penalty. While this stance is active, you are not allowed to Parry/Evade/Block (with one exception, see Sudden Defence). What this means to you is, unless a swing actually Misses you, it’s going to hit and you’ll quickly be losing morale. The Fervous Stance also reduces most incoming healing by 30%. It’s a trade-off of defense in exchange for heavy offense.

Fight On!– This skill can greatly boost your damage output for a short duration but has some steep penalties to consider. This skill requires a Legendary trait obtained by acquiring a Champion class book and all of it’s pages. It can only be activated when the Champion is under 50% health but steals a chunk of power from surrounding opponents, provides a very large boost to your damage output for a short time, and can be used to hopefully end a fight very quickly. When the effect expires the Champion’s ICPR is severely crippled, until combat ends.

Fighting Dirty– I’m not really sure why this skill deserves such a name but in any case it can provide a nice boost to your AoE damage. It provides 1 Fervour point, adds 25% damage to your next AoE skill if used within 30s, costs very little power and a very fast cooldown. The catch is, this skill is only available if your target is under 25% morale, but a class triat can increase this to 50%. This is another of those skills based only on your main-hand weapon thus dealing more damage for the two-handed weapon wielders

Flurry– For those that wield slower weapons, and to a lesser degree those that wield fast weapons, this skill can completely change the flow of your attacks. Granting a 15% reduction to your attack speed for 20 seconds and has an instant cooldown. This is a very noticeable speed increase but costs 2 Fervour points. This skill’s duration and speed can be boosted with a class trait.In Ardour stance, this becomes Ardent Flurry and is a kill-response-skill which lasts until you accumulate 9 seconds out of combat.

Glory– This is the third stance a Champion achieves. This is considered the tanking stance as, compared to Fervour and Ardour stances, this allows you to keep your full P/E/B as well as granting a large bonus to the Champion’s threat generation (60%). As a trade off, this stance offers the lowest boost to ICPR and damage output – it actually reduces your damage output by 15%. This stance also provides the slowest Fervour generation - 1 point every 12 seconds.

Hamstring– The only snaring effect the Champion has, this skill recharges quickly, costs only 1 Fervour point and costs very little power. The targets movement speed is decreased by 30% and lasts for 20sec. This skill is based only on the main-hand weapon and is subject to the target’s Wound resistance. Definately a great skill to keep your opponent from escaping your wrath or from catching up to any ally escaping.

Hedge– The name for this skill isn’t very fitting but this skill can certainly pull you out of a difficult situation. This skill removes the Disarmed effect which otherwise effectively stops any DPS from the Champion as well as slightly boosting your Wound resistance for a brief amount of time. The downside is, it has a 3minute cooldown so if another mob disarms you immediately afterwards and your Wound resistance doesn’t counter it, expect to wait out the duration or activate a Wound pot. This is another skill based on main-hand weapon only however, if you’re disarmed, you won’t be able to juggle weapons around anyways.

Heroics– This kill-response-skill grants no direct bonus to you, costs a very large amount of power, and slightly recharges the power of up to 10 nearby allies. With a 10min cooldown you certainly won’t be keeping your fellowship’s power pools full with this skill, but at least it’s some help.

Let Fly– This is the Champion’s only skill which rely’s on a bow to be equipped. With a relatively fast induction timer, this fires an arrow and doesn’t interrupt your auto-attack timer (an auto-attack bow shot will always fire immediately after this shot goes as long as it hasn’t closed into melee range or gone beyond your auto-attack range). It can be used to squeeze in a slight bit more damage when pulling your target into melee range.

Merciful Strike– This skill can be useful for ending a battle quickly. It provides two Fervour points, costs very little power, and hits fairly well. The catch? It can only be used when your opponent is under 25% morale, which can be increased to 50% with a class trait, and comes with a 30 second cooldown, so this won’t be a skill that you’ll be spamming.

Raging Blades– This skill requires a Legendary trait obtained by acquiring a Champion class book and all of it’s pages. It provides an additional AoE attack hitting up to 8 targets and having a greater range than other AoE skills. This comes with a high threat gain in each hit, requires 5 Fervour points, and has a 10s cooldown

Red Haze– Definitely a favourite amongst Champions, this kill-response-skill instantly grants 1 Fervour point and an additional point every 15 seconds plus it’s a nearly instant recharge time. Even when this effect is already active, activating this skill in another kill-response still grants an instant Fervour point. This effect ends when combat ends

Relentless Strike– Most dual-wielding Champions either go with this skill or Brutal Strikes. This skill can only be Evaded – it will never miss, be parried, or blocked as long as the target’s level does not exceed yours. It costs 4 Fervour and recharges almost instantly.

Rising Ire– This skill can be very helpful in tanking or just providing a bit more of a buffer for the squishies that are high on the threat meter. This transfers 15% of your target’s threat to you. If you’re tanking and you just picked a high-threat target, this should nearly seal the deal in keeping you at the top of the list. Although this can reduce the threat that a Hunter or Minstrel has built up, keep in mind that a Champ managing their threat well, is likely just below the tank on the threat meter – this skill will likely move you to #1 on the threat meter. This skill shares it’s 20 second cooldown with your other threat-juggling skill, Ebbing Ire.

Savage Strikes– Duel-wielding Champions potentially benefit slightly more from this skill however, it has a very long attack animation and I tend to avoid it. It recharges quickly, costs 2 Fervour points, has relatively low power cost and swings with 2-3 attacks (3 for duel-wielders). You could use this skill in conjunction with Brutal Strikes to utilize a full 5 Fervour, but since this attack has such a long duration to attack, I can’t recommend it except in the starting career of a young Champion.

Second Wind– In case the Champion’s high ICPR doesn’t keep us full enough in power, this kill-response-skill provides a moderate boost to the power pool and has a 15s cooldown.

Sound the Attack– Other than the crafted Champion Horn, this is the Champions only stun skill – not only that, it’s an AoE stun. It deals a fair amount of damage (based on main-hand weapon only), effects up to 5 targets and has a low power cost. It does require a full Fervour meter of 5 points and only stuns it’s targets for 2-3s. Additionally, this skill cannot be resisted, but the sound of this horn is subject to block/evaded/parry – don’t worry, every Champion out there is likely just as baffled as you on this one. If it is P/E/B’d, the target doesn’t receive damage nor the stun. This can be useful in a pinch if your Clobber misses an interrupt, if multiple targets are casting, or just to halt a group of opponents for a brief moment.

Sprint– Here’s the Champion’s ability to briefly ignore any movement impairing effects and race towards, or away from, your adversary. Sprint sets your run speed at 125%, and lasts for 15sec. Certain other effects, such as spraining your ankle from jumping off that last cliff, will override Sprint, setting your movement speed to it's level, rather than the 125% that we'd all love to have instead. This skill has a cooldown of 5mins and is more often used as one of those emergency buttons when you need to increase the distance between the angry mobs and your precious life.

Sudden Defence– Though not exactly an emergency skill, it can definitely help a bad situation. It requires at least 1 Fervour point but will consume all Fervour points built up at the time you activate this skill. In exchange you gain a nice bonus to Evade and Parry for 30secs. With a cooldown of 5mins, this won’t be a skill you’ll be able to constantly have up. For even greater defence, “turtle up” while using this skill to avoid and mitigate even more incoming damage. Sudden Defence will override Fervour Stance's Parry/Evade/Block impairments, allowing you to parry, evade, and block in Fervour Stance for the duration of the buff. The Parry/Evade/Block ratings during Sudden Defence are not affected by Fervour Stance and you will have the same chance to Parry/Evade/Block as if you used Sudden Defence in Glory Stance or No stance. The Ardour Parry/Evade/Block reductions still apply during Sudden Defence.

Swift Strike– This skill generates 1 Fervour point, and can be used almost instantly (is not affected by auto-attack sequence). However, this skill has a moderate cooldown time and a very high power cost which can quickly deplete your power. Blade-wall, with the Stalwart Blade class trait equipped, has a cheaper power cost, hits harder, and is a frontal AoE skill. However, it’s not as fast. If you have the power, feel free to use this skill, if not, you may want to avoid excessive use.

Wild Attack– Probably the most commonly used skill by any Champion. It grants 1 Fervour point for a small cost of power and recharges quickly. It’s not a fast animation compared to Swift Strike, but it makes up for this in it’s other bonuses. If a trait is equipped, this skill can generate a decent amount of threat when it hits, therefore boosting the Tank/Off-tank role.

Traits

Class Traits

Call of the Wild– Additional threat from Wild Attack. Other than having the class trait Patience equipped or the legendary traits for Ferocious Strike and Raging Blades, these are the only threat-generating attack skills for a Champion beyond straight-up-damage. Definately something to consider if you'll be filling a role of a tank or off-tank.

At The Ready– +2% Block

Patience– Exchange of Blows reflects hits more often and generates threat. Other than having the class trait Call of the Wild equipped or the legendary traits for Ferocious Strike and Raging Blades, these are the only threat-generating attack skills for a Champion beyond straight-up-damage. Definately something to consider if you'll be filling a role of a tank or off-tank.

Heavy Shield Use– Ability to use Heavy Shields

Blood-Lust– Wild Attack grants 1 additional Fervour point on critical hits

Vicious Strikes– +4% crit-chance for Wild Attack, Savage Strikes, Brutal Strikes and Ferocious Strikes

Deadly Strikes– +25% bonus critical damage from Wild Attack, Savage Strikes, Brutal Strikes and Ferocious Strikes

Deep Strikes– Bleed effect on critical hit from Wild Attack, Savage Strikes, Brutal Strikes and Ferocious Strikes. When fighting creatures that may stealth (Wargs in PvMP) this can hopefully break them from stealth sooner as well as adding abit of bonus damage.

Stalwart Blade– Blade Wall generates 1 Fervour point on successful hit. This is the only way for a Champion to actually generate Fervour from an AoE attack.

Braced Against Defeat– Bracing Attack restores additional morale

Winds of the Storm– Blade Storm can hit up to 10 targets

Eye of the Storm– Blade-Storm requires only 3 Fervour points

Flurry of Blows– Flurry lasts additional 10 seconds and speed increased 5%. Warning: this attack speed increase can become addictive

Swift to Anger– Swift Strike grants 1 additional Fervour point on critical hit

Time of Need– Dire Need cooldown reduced by 5mins and grants 5 Fervour points

Fervent Rage– Battle Frenzy grants 5 Fervour points

Legendary Traits

Controlled Burn– After completing the other Legendary deeds, completing level 45 Champion Class Quest which starts with any Champion trainer and has multiple parts. Grants Controlled Burn skill/stance. The quest segments are "Articles of Valour", "The Boldest Road is Discipline", "Implements of Daring", and finally "A Lesson from Gimli"

Explosion of Blades– “The Artisan Blade” book completion, grants Raging Blades skill. Other than having the class traits Patience or Call of the Wild equipped or the legendary trait for Ferocious Strike, these are the only threat-generating attack skills for a Champion beyond straight-up-damage. Definately something to consider if you'll be filling a role of a tank or off-tank. Additionally, this is an AoE attack that generates a high amount of threat to each target it hits.

Ferocious Strikes– “The Tome of Swords” book completion. Grants Ferocious Strikes skill. Other than having the class traits Patience or Call of the Wild equipped or the legendary trait for Raging Blades, these are the only threat-generating attack skills for a Champion beyond straight-up-damage. Definately something to consider if you'll be filling a role of a tank or off-tank.

Fight_On!– “The Joy of Battle” book completion. Grants Fight-On skill

For all Champion class books, “The Artisan Blade” pages can be looted by anyone and either traded or found on the Auction House. The two other books can only be looted by the Champion and found on humanoids within Angmar and Misty Mountains as well as humanoids within instances inside those zones.

Conclusions

What I hope you’ve learned from this, if nothing else, is the following

• For gear, traits, virtues, and your selections of these, many are very small bonuses, that when put together can be quite large

• Have a plan for what you want your Champion to be, then strive to be the best you can at it. Some folks want to be a DPS Champion dishing out huge chunks of damage, others may want to be a flurry of flashing blades, others may want to tank/off-tank, some want to deal out massive amounts of damage in a tornado of area-effect attacks, some want to strive for the highest damage mitigation or highest morale build they can, and some just want to be available to contribute in abit of all of these specialties. It’s all about what you want from your Champion, then reaching that goal.

• In a lengthy battle, Champions should always have plenty of power even though their fellows are all scraping the bottom of the barrel in their power pool and hitting power pots whenever they are up. This is what makes Champions the best at sustained DPS in lengthy battles. Although trait and gear selection factor greatly into this, for short, single-target battles, Hunters will often out damage a champion.

• Champions truly shine their DPS abilities when using their AoE skills against the maximum number of targets. No other class can meet the Champion in this department but it’s easier in theory than in practice. A Champion doesn’t have the exceptional damage mitigation and defensive arsenal as a Guardian when it comes to being the center of aggro for eight to ten mobs. If you’re focusing on AoE damage you’ll be either dual-wielding, or better, swinging a two-handed weapon thru your opponents – this means you don’t have a shield to boost your damage mitigation. This type of combat requires you to rely heavily upon your fellow players to keep you alive when you are swarmed by these targets aggro. Multiple Champions performing AoE upon the same cluster of opponents can be both incredible to witness and demolishing upon their opponents but again, this generates a great deal of threat upon the Champion.

• The Champion can be a very challenging and rewarding class. It takes a single mobile object to mash keys on a keyboard -- it takes skill, knowledge, planning and the execution of all three together, as one, to be a Champion. Get familiar with the Champion's skills, know what your limits are in battle, challenge those limitations, and practice your strategies. If you think you have mastered combat against every creature out there -- battling a player-controlled Creep will start you back at the basics with new strategies and opponents that are trying to out-think and out-play every move you make. What ever you're up against, show 'em who the Champion is.

• What We Wish Other Classes Knew About Champions

• "Champion Resources"

Credits

Thanks to the LOTRO Forums Champion community for the constructive feedback used to refine this guide:

• Sarsomar
• SiSL
• APErebusAU
• Wosret
• Wanderv
• Farinidon

As well as a motivational Guardian: Dett

Additionally, the numerous individuals which requested this guide be created as well as those who pushed me forward to make it available to many other aspiring Champions.

Definately a thank goes out to Clover for helping me to understand how to create a page here on Lorebook, then to figure out the editing tools.

A great appreciation to those who are linked within this guide, as well as the numerous individuals both in-game and throughout the online community which have helped me in learning, studying, and refining my knowledge which contributed to this guide.

Finally, I'd like to thank those here who have reviewed this guide and added their contributions:

• -Gradivus, grammar corrections
• -Amoryn, updated Might stats benefit