Thread: Best/Easiest Solo Class

I just started LOTR and don't have a whole bunch of time to play per week and solo like 90% of the time. I started a Champion and got him to lvl 10. I am just wondering after looking at the forums if this is the right class for me. I want a class that is fairly quick to lvl and is fun to play and that does not need much assistance when fighting groups. Any help would be cool. Thanks

Personally, for fun soloing and strong group-fighting skills I like Burg, Hunter, LM, because they are all classes that have solid crowd control skills. Burg is particularly good for soloing because of Hide in Plain Sight also, but is relatively slow to level. Hunter has high DPS and is the fastest leveler of those, but is maybe a little bit EZ mode later when you're an experienced player. I think people either like Lore-Masters, or they don't. Good luck.

I have leveled 9 characters (one of each class) up to level 22-26 so far.

Of all of them, I think the one I have the easiest time dealing with large groups of monsters is my Warden. While my Warden may not take things down as fast as pure DPS classes, I also have the benefit of running around quickly (with Forced March). Since a lot of time at lower levels seems to be spent running around, this helps out a lot until I am level 20 and can buy my first horse.

I would recommend a Warden, Burg or RuneKeeper.

Best at soloing-Warden

Easiest at soloing-Guardian

I like soloing with a Burg because the stealth aspect can help you check things out without having to fight.
You can often scope out and entire orc camp and develop a plan before jumping in and finding yourself chased off by 14 mobs.

I've leveled just about everything; sometimes twice.

I've found RK to be fastest to level. You can do large amounts of DPS, but you can also heal yourself (and others if you happen to join a group quest).

But all classes have their advantages while leveling.

My vote would go for Guardian. The soloing isn't as fast as a Hunter, RK or Warden, but they can hande groups and difficult content much easier than those classes. Say your hunting trolls in Dom Dinen (sp?). Trolls are elites. On my Hunter and RK, 1 on 1 I have no issues (as long as there is room to kite). If I get another add, I'm running immediately or I die. With the Warden, he can stand toe to toe with 2 elites, but his self-heals are not powerful in the low 30's and because he's medium armor, it's a 50/50 shot whether I'll survive the 2 elites. With the guardian in the 30's I don't think twice about it. Finish killing one then casually go after the other. The traited self-heal skill also restores Power so with S&B I really have no issues at all. To me it's also very fun to play the guardian reaction skills. You have to be on you toes to react quickly and correctly during a hard fight.

My opinion only, YMMV

Welcome to Middle Earth!

Originally Posted by anarqusoil

I just started LOTR and don't have a whole bunch of time to play per week and solo like 90% of the time. I started a Champion and got him to lvl 10. I am just wondering after looking at the forums if this is the right class for me. I want a class that is fairly quick to lvl and is fun to play and that does not need much assistance when fighting groups. Any help would be cool. Thanks

My Champ has been very easy to level and is much better at taking on groups than my level-capped Hunter. It's definitely been the easiest class for me to level up doing nothing but solo quests.

I'd say Hunter is quickest to level, especially 1-55, because of how quick you can complete quests. So much of your levelling exp is going to be quest based, and most of it involves chain killing mobs, running back and forth between hubs. Hunters get a personal run speed buff, with no ill effects, great for the back and forth. They also get ports to most major areas in game which cuts out a lot of time running to stable masters, and then the horse rides themselves can be pretty long especially in Moria.

Hunters also get desperate flight at level 20, which is an evac on a 30 min cooldown. This takes you to the nearest safe point, which, is almost always pretty close to your quest turn ins, or at least a vendor for when your bags get full. So get a bunch of quests go out and do them, evac, turn-in rinse repeat, while your warden or burg is still hoofing it back.

Down side is for most levels they are far from ideal on groups of mobs, though doable, and you will more often than not be waiting for power regen, but there are potions for that.

Edit: Can't forget about tracking. Need that last warg or bandit and can't find one? Tracking!

Originally Posted by anarqusoil

I just started LOTR and don't have a whole bunch of time to play per week and solo like 90% of the time. I started a Champion and got him to lvl 10. I am just wondering after looking at the forums if this is the right class for me. I want a class that is fairly quick to lvl and is fun to play and that does not need much assistance when fighting groups. Any help would be cool. Thanks

You've gotten a lot of answers. So, I'll try to summarize from my perspective. First and most important, play a class that is fun for you. Can't emphasize that enough. Onward...

Warden is a very good solo class but it's also one of the hardest classes to learn to play well as it requires memorization of all the gambit combinations so you'll know when to trigger what gambit. I would not recommend this class to a player who can't play the character regularly enough to keep the memorized combinations well in mind.

Guardian is a relatively easy class to learn to play well solo. It's more complicated to play well at higher levels in fellowships as main tank. But it's a very tough class and when you get Overpower stance, they do quite good dps.

Hunter is one of the easiest classes to learn to solo. I recommend it for any new player who wants an easy class that does very good damage and will level fairly quickly. Coping with groups of mobs can be dicey, but do-able when correctly equipped and played well. I've mostly soloed my hunter to her current level, 62. But, as with every class, there are times to group so you don't miss fun content.

Champions are also easy to learn to solo play. Their downfall is that inspite of the heavy armor, they are fairly squishy. Go with guardian if you want a tough class.

Runekeepers are also easy to learn to play well, as long as you don't try to join a fellowship as main healer with them. Then, they are harder to play well in groups as doing dps and healing are different in groups than solo play. But, they have high dps and can level pretty fast but are pretty squishy.

So, guardian or hunter for ease of learning and playing by a player that doesn't have much time to play. And, guardian if you're worried about groups of monsters. All classes will do much better if equipped and traited properly, so joining a kinship to get access to crafters is worth it. And, make whatever class you choose an Explorer and sell all the ores and wood on the Auction House to make money.

Finally, LOTRO is a game best sipped and savored. There is no rush to the high levels inherent in the game itself. Enjoy the journey, especially since you can't play as often as you may like.

Well, that's my advice. Good hunting.

Originally Posted by jeffm

Finally, LOTRO is a game best sipped and savored. There is no rush to the high levels inherent in the game itself. Enjoy the journey, especially since you can't play as often as you may like.

Of all the advice you received here the above paragraph is the most important. To experience the full glory of LOTRO you should enjoy the story and immerse yourself in Middle Earth. Yes, unlike most of the other mmorpgs there IS a story here. You are only young once, enjoy it.

Hunter is the fastest to level because the above mentioned skills and the minimal time it takes to kill enemies. I have a Lore-master as my main and it is a really involved class but I rolled a Hunter to see what it was like. I kill so fast that it makes me laugh and unlike Lore-master I don't have many skills to worry about and much planning to do before I engage an enemy so it is easier to play when I am tired or not feeling well since it is hard to mess up. The class is forgiving and isn't stressful so I definitely recommend it to someone just getting their feet wet with the game or someone who doesn't have a lot of time to learn their class and manage a lot of skills.

EDIT: Once you get the hang of the game and have some more spare time, you can roll more advanced classes which will slow down your leveling but give you much more time to absorb/enjoy your surroundings.

I'll just c/p my post from a similar thread:

I would go Hunter becaaauuuse:

1. You are just starting the game, and Hunter will farm you Turbine points much faster to buy quest packs, mount, and other stuff players have already gotten.

2. You said you don't have much time to play - hunter is great for this because you can travel fast, teleport to different places, and get stuff done quickly and efficiently. Think of it as the time-saver class.

Basically you want a DPS class. While the recommendations for guardian/warden are good, the fact is that guardian especially is a slow leveling class. Sure, it's awesome to be so survivable, but the OP is probably looking for something that kills fast and moves right along.

Good choices:

Champion - This gets better, believe me. They can AoE quite well and deal with decently large pulls of regular mobs with no issue. Also mostly immune to problems from "surprise aggro" that plague ranged classes, since it IS a melee class.

Hunter - Popular for a reason. Gets instant travel to most points in the game (plus campfire, and you still get your map and home port), +15% run speed buff, can track mobs to make quests and deeds much easier for a new player, does good/very good DPS at range, has 40m range so kills most things before they get close, has good CC, wears medium armor and has great parry so it's decent at surviving a melee situation, though not great. The downside to all this is that hunter is not a mobile class, its class "ability" is Focus, and focus degrades with every step you take. This will occasionally be problematic, especially in certain skirmishes. The other issue is that most ranged skills have inductions that can be set back by being struck, so when enemies get close you all too often find yourself feeling like a gimped melee class. Still, very good class, very easy, not too many skills to manage, recommended for newbies and casuals.

Rune Keeper - Squishiest class in the game in terms of basic defenses, but more than makes up for it by being by far and away the most mobile class in the game. Has half the range of a hunter but many if not most spells have no induction so you can kite with ease. DPS eventually greatly exceeds the hunter as well. If something gets in your face, no setbacks to your inductions, cause you aren't using inductions. Of course, the class can also switch to heal mode for grouping, and has a few tricks for dealing with sticky situations. The downside to this class, besides being squishy, is that you have relatively few get out of jail free cards. If things get dangerous, it's probably just too bad, you will die if you can't escape (this changes somewhat at later levels), though with practice this isn't a real issue as you will learn to kite even groups of mobs around and laugh as they fail to even hit you. Also this class requires an octopus to be effective at, probably has the most skills of any class in the game (I didn't count, but it fills 4 hotbars and that's not even counting stuff like pots and other things you may want on a hotbar. Compare hunter which fills maybe 2, not counting travel ports.) so it can be overwhelming to a newbie and because this is a kiting class, it is NOT clicker/keyboard turner friendly.

Warden: This class is, for some reason, described as "advanced" difficulty by the game. That's hogwash, this is the easiest class in the game except maybe hunter. The gambit system is supposedly hard to memorize - not true, most of the gambits are intuitive and easy to remember, and the class is ridonkulously good solo. Has ports like a hunter (self only), run speed like a hunter, does good DPS, is at home in any situation, can self heal, etc etc. Just a stupidly good class and frankly it's also a ton of fun to play and looks very cool.

Burg, loremaster - Good classes for sure, but less DPS than the premier DPS classes, much less survivability than warden, and focused more on utility than their archetypes would suggest (they aren't really your standard rogue/pet caster classes). You can try them and see if it clicks, but if you want easy mode solo leveling this isn't the best bet.

But all this is immaterial...you should always play what you enjoy and the game will go at the pace you like. The only caveat is that certain classes take a little longer than others to take off. Hunter is good from level 1. Rune keeper doesn't get good until 20+. Champion takes a while to get into gear. Guardian starts super sloooooow then gets a little better. And so forth - if you think you will enjoy the class but it feels weak, consider pushing out level 20 at least and see if it works out for you. Most classes feel much more like what they are meant to be by that level and you can test drive it in groups with Great Barrow by then.

My opinion

Most fun and easy = Hunter

good for solo = warden,guardian

The best/easiest solo class is much more vague? I rather put this question!~ "How fast you can kill 1-3 elite monster"?
Lotro had tons of quest with elite that you need to kill to finish the quest! Second question? Which class is the fastest killer in dealing with elite? For me - "NONE". It depends how you used the skill and how you deal with it? I might say used the fastest killing skill then used more damage skill once in awhile and when you see ur hp goin down used a potion or used stun skill/healing skill or vice versa thats how you deal with it! I think this is the best that you can do because there is no best or easiest solo class/race there's always advantages and disadvantages in every game especialy in lotro. My advice is take time to do the quest and dont missed. If you reach level 65 and you missed a quest you will be disappointed.

Well i have leveled a Guardian and a Hunter so far. Hunter has the dps, but is weak. When it comes to mellee your armour is just not gonna save you.
Now guardian...you can stomp mobs
at level 48 im in moria stomping level 54's solo.
But it is good to experience a lil of everything. helps with groups then you have an understanding of the others roles not just yourself. Knowing all the classes will make you a better player just from the wisdom.
Playing hunter first to 35 then leveling a guardian(now past the hunter) it has actually made me a much better hunter. When i started i knew nothing about aggro control. Now as a guardian i see what annoys me about dumb hunters and realize, hey i was an annoying dumb hunter haha. Give them all a try, eash class in this game really has advantages and disadvantages unlike a lot of games

Originally Posted by jeffm

You've gotten a lot of answers. So, I'll try to summarize from my perspective. First and most important, play a class that is fun for you. Can't emphasize that enough. Onward...

...Well, that's my advice. Good hunting.

Sorry I chopped your post, but I just wanted to make sure that you know that I'm posting in response to that one specifically.

I think your post was very informative, and would help any newbie out in making that all-important decision.....
What the heck should I do now, when at the creation screen!!
Thank you very much for this excellent post!!!

For me the best class to level up is burglar.With Burglar u can survive hard situations cause of the high survability and at higher levels the DPS is enough high. At level 24-26 your damage will be about 50-70 if well geared. If you combine some skills you can greatly kill your target quite quilckly such as 10 seconds. I recommend burglar. It's fun to play and at higher levels burglars are useful because of the crowd control skills. if u want level up burg is alot o f fun

And the thread necromancy award goes to....?

Felt like replying cause... well, it's been a while since I last won an award and anything with 'necromancy' is definately worth getting.

I have played burglar 16, Captain 27 and guardian 39. Also a fairly new player aswell.

Burglar I thought was least fun but had some control over situations with more than 1 mob. At first I was eager to play it but interest fell when I was more or less dissapointed with some skills. Did abit of research as to what other he would get also. Class was very frail in some situations.

Captain, my first char was awesome at times but actually I never liked the companions, in groups i used banners. He could solo very well and kill 3-4 mobs at once with some help of the herald companion. The shouting got annoying after awhile and I think it should be a deeper voice to match the human character. Good self healing abilities.

Guardian my fave toon I got. This is just a pure melee tank with heavy armor, Soloed pretty well not fragile at all. I used shield all the time could take more than one mob easily. Nothing worse that being outnumbered and loose. Could heal himself every now and then and slam sometimes with shield to cause a nice stun.

Would say burg wasnt as easy to play as the others.

/grabs the necro award and welcomes new player, better late than never..

Sry to put u guys wrong, guys but i play lotro only ever solo, so i no what the answr is: 100 percent champion. I play every other mmo I have ever played solo, including max 7 toons solo in original Guild wars. trust me as a solo player vet myself, a cha in lotro kills 4-5 lrvel over its own lev easy. That is fact. A champion waer heavy armour and dble handd weapon. I am now at lvl 73 just by solo.

Huc

Hey

Okay, I read almost all post here and I need to say.. why is hunter for some of you the best in solo?
I played hunter in Wow but I need to say, there was a lot easier because of pet, who has aggro all the time, so I was always back with my bow and arrows. But here you don't own any pet but you are on your own.
And I had already a thought, that hunter isn't for me after all... before every attack you need to concentrace (with skill) or put down a trap or both. It's really slowly or am I doing it wrong? And about those monsters and solo.... it's not easy. Monsters always comes to you and attack, while you are fighting them with arrows or blade(knife or whatever..)... but what I wanted to say is, that on my hunter I cannot kill more than 2monsters the same level as me o.O Isn't that weird? But if I want to kill a monster and before that I do all that concentrace thing and trap, than I kill the monster really fast, before it even come to me.

Originally Posted by Anchy

Hey

Okay, I read almost all post here and I need to say.. why is hunter for some of you the best in solo?
I played hunter in Wow but I need to say, there was a lot easier because of pet, who has aggro all the time, so I was always back with my bow and arrows. But here you don't own any pet but you are on your own.
And I had already a thought, that hunter isn't for me after all... before every attack you need to concentrace (with skill) or put down a trap or both. It's really slowly or am I doing it wrong? And about those monsters and solo.... it's not easy. Monsters always comes to you and attack, while you are fighting them with arrows or blade(knife or whatever..)... but what I wanted to say is, that on my hunter I cannot kill more than 2monsters the same level as me o.O Isn't that weird? But if I want to kill a monster and before that I do all that concentrace thing and trap, than I kill the monster really fast, before it even come to me.

In my opinion a Hunter is not the best option for solo playing when you are new in this game. If you are a veteran in this game and know how to play it, which virtues and traits are the best, which armour and weapons are the best, and so on then I suppose it is (but then every class is a good solo class I think). Just try a few classes and then decide which is the best for you. It depends mostly of your play style.

Originally Posted by Anchy

Okay, I read almost all post here and I need to say.. why is hunter for some of you the best in solo?

I don't think it is necessarily the BEST in solo, but I often recommend it for new folks for these reasons:

• Arguably the best solo class, Warden, is a premium class. If you are new you shouldn't spend to unlock a class before you even know if you like the game.
• Hunter is a high DPS class, which is attractive for many people. This makes it a little faster to level up with.
• Hunter has relatively straightforward game mechanics, at least up to level 30, especially compaired with Burglar or Loremaster. For some folks that's good so they have the brainpower left over to learn all the non-class specific stuff.
• Hunters have a large number of travel skills which makes getting around easier, especially if you don't have regular access to Swift Travel routes.

You should also know that most classes have trouble with more than 2 on-level monsters at a time. Eventually you get more skills that can disable or distract extra unwanted foes. If you are having trouble with that, it may be time for you to review skills you are not using and try them out in those situations.

If you are unhappy with your hunter, try out some other classes. Guardians and Captains (of the free classes) tend to have the least trouble with multiple monsters. They're not as high-damage as Hunter but they survive much better. Try them out!

Thank you both for your really helpfull answers and tips. I just made some new classes (champion, burglar and guardian) and the feeling is much better. Now I just need to choose, which is for my opinion better Again, thank you!

Guardian and minstrel

You ask a whole group of people what their opinion is and you're going to get a huge variety of results. I've tried playing every single class and I'm only really hooked on a few of them. NOTE: these are only my views of the classes.

Top tier:
Warden - easiest class to survive in as you can simply spam heals. One of most complicated classes due to the gambit system.
Rune-keeper - can heal and DPS really well and can easily kite around while killing opponents.
Captain - invaluable in groups because of their buffs and heals. Though, in my opinion, is really easy to fail at.

Middle tier:
Champion - is fun too because they can hit multiple enemies with big attacks and have plenty of survival skills.
Minstrel - is good because they are pretty much the main healers and is great fun to level.
Lore-Master - may be the hardest class to level to a certain point which turns people away from playing it.

Lower tier:
Hunter - extremely good DPS, but is one of the most played class and personally, I don't like the inductions
Guardian - haven't gotten far on leveling so can't share my opinion on them.
Burglar - really good DPS and has good debuffs that can use on enemies and good Crowd Control which makes enemies not attack you.

I have all 9 classes. My main is a Lore-master. A lore-master must plan encounters, so you will not level quickly; but after level 50, a Lore-master really shines and is very versatile. To me, the easiest to solo class would be a champion, but you can get overwhelmed. I know the warden least of all (my baby alt among my army ) but I do know that wardens can be just as quick leveling as the champ; but the gambit system makes the warden a more advanced class. Then again, I like advanced classes.

Warden. I had a huge writeup describing all the classes, but I was afraid i was re-inventing the wheel. TLDR : Warden is the best bet IF.....you can handle the gambit system. if you don't like it, try other classes to get a feel for what you like


Guard - Traditional tank style with 2h damage option
Captain - True hybrid class. Loved in groups, slow but solid solo play
Warden - most flexible solo class, but high learning curve
Loremaster - complex class, but flexible in solo play. like captain, loved in groups. less tanky, more DPS-ey
Hunter - excellent solo class for exploring and killing stuff. best travel skills in game. not as sturdy as warden though, so falls short of best solo class.Very close tho...but if your in for the big achievements (I solo'ed big nasty X boss today!! ) Warden trumps.
Runekeeper - very dynamic and versatile class. easy to get basic functin out of, hard to master. due to light armor and complexity of dealing with multiple mobs, i put this one as "not friendly" to ultimate solo work, but it can do it.
Burglar - have no clue...don't play the class


there ya go. after close to 5 yrs of playing this game, that's what I feel it breaks down to. My personal preference is guardian and RK. They both can do enough of the game that I never worry about it. very close behind them is hunter. but again, if your looking for the ultimate flexibility in solo play, it's warden. And Im not a fan of wardens, but i recognize their ability. SOLO. group function is a whole new can of beans.

Originally Posted by Malakho

...snip...
Burglar - have no clue...don't play the class
...snip...

That's a real shame. You sound like someone that enjoys intricate gameplay. You are missing out.

Call me biased, but I'm gonna have to answer guardian. If not that, then champ.

My main is a guard, and I'm still a pretty low level. It's great for a beginner because of the survivability, mainly. You can afford to make a few mistakes and not die. At the same time, there is enough complexity in higher levels to keep play interesting and not just mashing buttons in the same order to kill everything. I also like how the skills are trained in a way that really lets you learn each one and what it does.

Besides, what could be more satisfying than fighting 5 or 6 on-level mobs and coming out on top?

We get great survivability in sword and board, and OP is still a pretty reasonable soloing stance, despite what some complainers might say.


If you can't stand the idea of tanking in groups (since that is mostly what you'll be doing - personally I love it) then consider a champ. It's one of the easier classes to play and there's no confusion about your role: shing-shing your way through everything, pretty much.

Just my 2 cents.

Originally Posted by Arathaert

If you can't stand the idea of tanking in groups (since that is mostly what you'll be doing - personally I love it) then consider a champ. It's one of the easier classes to play and there's no confusion about your role: shing-shing your way through everything, pretty much.

This.

If you are new to the game and don't want to spend time thinking alot about how to play the game champion is the way to go. Easy to play at start and good at killing the enemy. With a champion you can just run into danger and come out the survivor. Easy to take on 3 on level mobs and survive.

As a vocation take Tinkerer - weapons and armour you get as quest rewards are very good; but the jewellry you can make is often better the the quest rewards so become a jewellry. And cooking is good since its often easy to find plenty of stuff from farmers in the AH so you can make your own food to buff your champion.

Playing a champion lets you explore the world and have fun. After you have gotten to know the world you can then make a second toon - you get 2 toons as a free player - then for the second toon you can select something else.

Thanks for all responses, found this thread very helpful. Just subbed and am going to go test out warden now!

Keep in mind, Warden's don't get that good until around lvl 20, when they get their Tank stance and can start self healing.

But, after lvl 20, equip some Blue traits, and you can self heal until the cows come home.