Monday, September 28, 2020

Learning LOTRO: Lesson Thirty-Two - Guardian Class

 

In this series, I talk about various aspects of The Lord of the Rings Online. This series is meant for newcomers, but may also help veteran players find more to love about the game.


It's time for the eighth class-focused entry in the series! Today we get to talk about the Guardian class! This is going to be our second adventure with a hobbit, as well -- because how awesome is it that little hobbits can be strong, tanking protectors? Fact: The inspiration for the Guardian class was Samwise Gamgee, whose loyalty to Frodo knew no bounds.

This is only my fourth Guardian character, and the highest level I have reached naturally (without a level boost) is 41. I have, however, quested alongside someone playing Guardian up through Wildermore (level 85). For this reason, I don't feel too out of my depth discussing the basics of the class. For more complicated content, I'll be sure to refer you to the right sources!

Per the established method, the theme this time was "orange" and "cavern," so I used Welsh to come up with Ogoforen, or literally "orange cave." I chose the Stoor hobbit origin for Ogo because they were the last of the kindreds to come to the Shire and are heavier and broader of build -- allowing me to make a beefy little hobbit tank!

The following is a basic summary of the creation process and some of the things you'll encounter when you start out in LOTRO with a Guardian (and/or hobbit).




Character Creation

I've made another hobbit for this entry -- partially for the reasons stated above, and partially to keep race representation somewhat balanced in this series. I am not a pro when it comes to the Guardian class, but it isn't a complicated class to learn to play. That said, I'm not about to jump into group content with the intention to tank for them. 

Tanking, and tanking well, is something that takes a good bit of skill. The role of the tank is to be, well... a tank. You have to be tough, sturdy, and take the brunt of the enemy hits in order to protect your allies. You are also the team's heavy hitter so that you can keep the enemy focus on yourself. Timing is important with your more advanced skills in order to fulfill this role in a group, and that's not something we're going to cover in this entry. 




In this entry, we're going to talk about the basic skills of a Guardian and how they can be used on an individual level as you defend and explore Middle-earth in LOTRO.




Hobbit Intro II

We've been here before. We start off in the Shire on what should have been a pleasant evening but which is disturbed by strange happenings and menacing beings on the roads. You and a Bounder (Shire police, basically) get a good scare from a black rider, so he decides to escape with you through an abandoned farm... except, well... you can see for yourself.





After some spiders, you're knocked out and you wake up in the Blackwold Jail, at which point you're rescued by none other than Strider. Familiar? Yep. We've seen this before. Except that instead of being ushered off to help the other kidnapped hobbits, you're just Strider's tag-along and just as helpless to change the events that unfold.





Class Skills

It will look like you don't have many skills to start with, but that's because you don't need much compared to other classes! You have a one-handed weapon and a shield. You hit with one and bash with the other -- and if you time it well with attacks from your enemy, then you get to hit back with other skills that do more damage. Pretty good deal, right? These are the skills you will start out with:




Sting: Your primary attack! It's not a heavy one, but it's fast and you can chip away at enemy health.

Guardian's Ward: This helps raise your defense so you take less damage, so in the 3 seconds that Sting is cooling down, you should use this one.

Shield-swipe: If your Ward skill does its job, you'll successfully block and immediately get to respond with a double attack with weapon and shield. (And this is why Block is important!)

Retaliation: If your Ward skill doe the other part of its job, you'll successfully parry and immediately get to respond with this damage-dealing attack. (And this is why Parry is also important!)

By the end of the intro, you should be able to reach level 8 and acquire these other skills in the process of leveling up:


   


Sweeping Cut: This is another attack you can use when you want, and it allows you to damage up to 5 enemies within melee range with two attacks. This has a longer cooldown than your other attacks.

Whirling Retaliation: As with Retaliation, this one requires a parry response. The difference is that this skill allows you to attack up to 5 enemies within range. (So if you have your Ward active, and attack a couple brigands in front of you with Sweeping Cut, if you successfully parry you get to follow up with this attack on the brigands!)

Let Fly: This is never going to do a lot of damage. This is, at best, a utility skill to draw enemies to you that you can't reach. Once you have their attention, they should head towards you. If they're a ranged enemy, just move out of their range and they should move closer -- likely to where you can reach them with your weapon and shield. (Tip: When you finish your first few quests and have some spending money, visit the nearest Bowyer and pick up a bow so you have it on hand once this skill is unlocked, making it immediately available to use!)


Parry & Block Responses

To make this easier on yourself, be sure to locate your Auto Skill Bar placement in the User Interface. (Mine is usually hanging out just left of center by default, but you can move anything in the UI by using Ctrl + \.) 

When you have successfully parried or blocked and are able to use a response action, instead of watching for it to light up in your skill bar you can look for it to pop up on the Auto Skill Bar. It saves mis-clicks or trying to remember which number key to hit at the right time!





Trait Trees

I admit that I haven't played around much with the Guardian trait trees. I mostly play the Red line because I solo a lot and need as much damage as I can push out. As I haven't had the, er, pleasure... to tank for a group, I can't say much about Blue or Yellow. However, the basics are that if you are the main tank you should use the Blue line, and if you are the off-tank or need more damage you should use the Yellow line. Different players have their preferences, and a lot of your success if you're tanking is going to rely on paying attention to what's going on around you.



You can read up on the Trait Lines here:







Archet Re-revisited

Yep, it's Archet. YET AGAIN. I really don't have anything new to share about it. There's only so much to pull out of a starter area from a 13-year-old game. The only thing that was really good about being in Archet again was that it let me really focus on the Guardian class as I was playing and considering how to present it here in my blog. 




Like before, scope out the mannequins (nothing tickled my fancy this time), check out your trainer, and be sure to select the Heavy Armour quest rewards: you're a tank class and need the heavy stuff!





Quests, Yet Again

The only part of the Archet area I haven't covered really are the quests that the two kidnapped hobbits offer you. Celandine, bless her heart, is focused on poor Amdir. Mundo, on the other hand, is a very self-centered hobbit and is very concerned about his lunch. You'll need to collect some berries for Celandine to make a tea for Amdir -- and kill some boars for Mundo's lunch. 



Neither really help you progress in the starter area, but they do teach you some of the basic quest functions in the game: the berries glow faintly and sparkle, and you click them to gather them; the boar meat is just a way to teach you to cut down an enemy type to collect materials. Just don't hate Mundo too much. (But a little is okay.) Spoiler: He's probably related to Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, though it's never indicated how. If you don't know her: she's the greedy lady hobbit who covets Bag End and tried to filch Bilbo's spoons!

If you want to make the most of your excursion, just go after every single boar you see, even after you've collected what you need. This, and killing all of the spiders in the ruins (not just the ones you're asked to kill) will net you some nice starting XP.

It takes less than an hour to blow through the rest of the intro quests in Archet, and despite how rude and lazy the people of the town are, you have to do your best to defeat the enemies in the final instance in order to put the place behind you! 








Hobbit Presents

We haven't talked about it before, but since this is the last hobbit in the class series I felt it a good time to talk about a new-ish feature in the game: Hobbit Presents. Also referred to as Hobbit Gifts, these have gone through some changes since their original appearance in the game in 2013 (they arrived at the same time Lalia opened her cosmetics shop in Bree!). 

When they first arrived in the game, the window for them appeared very much like a slot machine, scrolling past all of the possible items until landing on the item you receive. Daily gifts (silver) are available every 24 hours to all players, and once a week VIPs can claim another gift (gold). 



The contents of the gifts have changed over time, and in 2019 they changed the appearance of the window for them (likely an attempt to distance the concept from gambling -- though you have to pay in Mithril Coins for additional randomized presents).

Sometimes you get some neat stuff from the Presents, but if you're like me you have bags full of Dale-Men's Crams and Rally Horns. If you can resist the temptation of spending Mithril Coins, it's a nice feature in the game since the daily presents always include Virtue Experience. 





Beyond the Intro


Thankfully, since Ogo is a hobbit, my exit from the Intro landed me back in the Shire -- which isn't that great, but it's a lot better than Archet. Everything is more easily accessible in Michel Delving than in Bree because it's a smaller space. Despite that, Mundo isn't happy with you and he's where you start your adventures in the Shire. 

However, as I've stated in previous Class entries, you can always go quest in other areas. The stables in Combe (just outside Archet), Michel Delving, Thorin's Hall, and Celondim all allow direct travel between them, so it's easy to go quest where you enjoy it best. By level 15 you should be in Bree, regardless.

The best advice I can give you, as a Guardian, is to always stay on top of making sure you have the best gear possible. You're never going to be very good at DPS, because that's not what your class is built for. You're built to survive and be sturdy. Be sure to get a Heavy Shield once you have access to one (around level 18) -- you're the only class who can use them! 


Crafting: Metalsmith

If you want to make your own armour and shields, then Metalsmith is the vocation you want to go for. Prepare to max out your prospecting for ore and spend forever at the forge -- but it's a great way to stay on top of your gear. The Guardian Trainer will have Metalsmith recipes available, too: various levels of Shield-Spike Kits to improve attacks and change the damage type.

Tanking

I am not qualified to discuss tanking, but there are a lot of resources available in the LOTRO forums, various blogs, and on YouTube to help you figure out the best builds to use if you want to tank as a Guardian. My advice would be to learn how to fill this role early on in lower level group content where it isn't as critical to the success, this way you aren't trying to learn how to tank when it really matters. There's nothing like being the reason an entire raid wipes!


I leave you with some pictures of my Guardians! Show me yours on Twitter with the hashtag #GamerReverieBlog!



Was this entry helpful? Let me know! The series continues next Monday!
If you play LOTRO, consider joining The Fellowship on Patreon for as little as $2!


3 comments:

  1. yellow is best for solo once you get warchant. probably your best AoE skill till bash or till you spec into both the AoE boost and bleeds on slash on a red-yellow or red-yellow build (lvl 90 or 100+ i think?). highly recommend switching to yellow! Also for solo a 2h is always more fun to use for the dps boost

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will have to give yellow a try! Thank you for the feedback -- I really appreciate it!

      Delete
  2. I have always been blue, i recently start trying red and yellow.

    ReplyDelete