Thread: Captain seeking some tips from all you expert PvPers

Yep that's right. Another thread asking for PvP help.

Not in general through. I want some tips for a soloing captain out there in the Moors.

Seeing as we don't have a slow... (well we do, but it's from our archer and I don't like to use my archer in the Moors because I can chase after someone with 600 morale left into NPCs and then my archer starts to attack the other NPCs instead of my original target, then I end up getting killed in the end while they /laugh)

Well, what do you do? I get into 1v1s against people (reavers and WLs being the easiest for me) but they just put a slow on my and start kiting while they range/DoT me down. I try Make Haste but usually that doesn't help too much, and if I can't kill them before it runs out, then I'm stuck waiting for a chance to get up close again. I try to trait Composure and Turn of the Tide to stun them, but I can barely get off one or two attacks on them before they start kiting again. Even then though they resist my cries a lot.


Then of course there's the wargs. I've learned to not even bother trying to fight back/run when there's more than 2, well, unless they're low ranked.

Any thoughts? If not then I'll just keep running around in circles chasing that pesky defiler while he heals himself up slowly to full health

Honestly, I recommend just not attempting to solo at all on a captain. That said, if you still wana try, trait all DPS, then LS and banner of hope. Get a clicky weapon with make haste duration on it and you can also get Lothlorien survival scrolls for 2 gold leaves and 20 silver feathers at the CG vendor. The scrolls help a bit; they increase your runspeed by 15% for 1 minute, but they also have a 10 minute cooldown.

As a captain out in the moors what you should try to do is duo with a DPS class; either an RK, champ or hunter. Then you should trait HoH, turn of the tide and LS, with bubble instead of oathbreakers as a legendary, and your main focus is to keep the DPSer alive and give them to arms and what not.

Also... no freep class can kill a skilled rank 5+ defiler solo unless they get really lucky.

Wargs and Reavers are the staple food for the 1v1 oriented captain. I'd suggest playing around with the build that suits your playstyle. Personally I go full HoH with Turn the Tide and Defiance (although if its organised 1v1s defiance gets traded for Renewed Voice).

By traiting full HoH (make sure you have strength from within slotted) most attempts to kite you will work to your advantage. As long as you keep VS up whenever possible and muster courage every 20s, you will out heal any dots they have on you (the exception being spiders). Ranked defilers are almost impossible for cappies, fears, massive self heals and high mitigations make them very very hard to kill, generally your best chance is to turtle up yourself to conserve power.

I'd also recommend getting a LI with a 45s Make Haste, its a huge difference. As for them running to npcs, there isn't alot you can do, its just a matter of timing and practice i guess.

Hope it helps

I gave up soloing at the beginning of MoM. But then I didn't really PvP much then, and now, I don't really PvP much on my captain.

So what I'm saying is, I agree with Spaceman. Get in a small group or the raid, it's too much of a zerg nowadays, not to mention all the warg packs running about.

A solo captain is usually too juicy to pass up :P

Originally Posted by IGolbezI

I gave up soloing at the beginning of MoM. But then I didn't really PvP much then, and now, I don't really PvP much on my captain.

So what I'm saying is, I agree with Spaceman. Get in a small group or the raid, it's too much of a zerg nowadays, not to mention all the warg packs running about.

A solo captain is usually too juicy to pass up :P

Yeah i didn't notice he was on brandy =p, but you *can* still solo and get kills, and captains are a powerful class capable of beating alot of high ranked creeps solo still.

Originally Posted by Apocatequil

Yeah i didn't notice he was on brandy =p, but you *can* still solo and get kills, and captains are a powerful class capable of beating alot of high ranked creeps solo still.

heh yup.

A few nights ago on BW I was sitting near stab on my reaver and there were at least 11 wargs, and however many more that I didn't see out of stealth.

It's just getting lame nowadays.

One tip I have for you is try to get the fire def bonuses from 4 of DN armor or the 3 25 rad piece set. These will help you greatly against r4+ reavers. If you have 4 of the BG set or the +15 stuff use it for wargs. Also make sure you use Innocence, zeal, discipline traited for melee defence.

There isnt much you can do against ranked spiders.

I like going for a full HoH survivability build, using muster courage and valiant stike. Stack morale and get armor sets for fire/shadow mitigation, and you can last a stupidly long time.

Yes our DPS sucks, but you can whittle stuff down with cutting attack and a few good devastating blow/blade of elendil crits. 45s make haste is your best friend.

Originally Posted by IGolbezI

heh yup.

A few nights ago on BW I was sitting near stab on my reaver and there were at least 11 wargs, and however many more that I didn't see out of stealth.

It's just getting lame nowadays.

That's why i don't pvp here anymore.

Originally Posted by Spacmanbobr

Honestly, I recommend just not attempting to solo at all on a captain. That said, if you still wana try, trait all DPS, then LS and banner of hope. Get a clicky weapon with make haste duration on it and you can also get Lothlorien survival scrolls for 2 gold leaves and 20 silver feathers at the CG vendor. The scrolls help a bit; they increase your runspeed by 15% for 1 minute, but they also have a 10 minute cooldown.

As a captain out in the moors what you should try to do is duo with a DPS class; either an RK, champ or hunter. Then you should trait HoH, turn of the tide and LS, with bubble instead of oathbreakers as a legendary, and your main focus is to keep the DPSer alive and give them to arms and what not.

Also... no freep class can kill a skilled rank 5+ defiler solo unless they get really lucky.

I know captains aren't good at solo'ing. I don't like to trait all DPS, I know how much it ruins survivability without that nice HoT from VS. I prefer not to use items in PvMP, I'd rather use them in raids when they're needed, but I do carry around some food to recover my morale and power.

I tried to duo with a champ and then a guard, but I don't like just being someone's pocket healer. I want to do all the fun stuff they get to do. I usually do trait Shield of the Dunedain out in the Moors anyway, I think it's great when I see low ranks/greenies attacking someone who is bubbled and I managed to heal them all the way.

About the defiler... yeah I know... those guys are so pesky. If they can solo a CG at an OP, then I think they can solo me pretty easy. I don't even bother most of the time with them.

Originally Posted by Apocatequil

Wargs and Reavers are the staple food for the 1v1 oriented captain. I'd suggest playing around with the build that suits your playstyle. Personally I go full HoH with Turn the Tide and Defiance (although if its organised 1v1s defiance gets traded for Renewed Voice).

By traiting full HoH (make sure you have strength from within slotted) most attempts to kite you will work to your advantage. As long as you keep VS up whenever possible and muster courage every 20s, you will out heal any dots they have on you (the exception being spiders). Ranked defilers are almost impossible for cappies, fears, massive self heals and high mitigations make them very very hard to kill, generally your best chance is to turtle up yourself to conserve power.

I'd also recommend getting a LI with a 45s Make Haste, its a huge difference. As for them running to npcs, there isn't alot you can do, its just a matter of timing and practice i guess.

Hope it helps

I also go full HoH with Turn of the Tide and sometimes Composure/Defiance/renewed voice, depends on my mood. Reavers 1v1 I can kill easy except for the high ranked ones... Wargs... as long as they don't bring buddies and are lower than rank 5 I can handle them, I generally have 7.5-8.5k morale and the lower ranks can't kill me fast enough.

I almost always have Strength from Within traited (unless I have my archer with me of course), and I never miss a chance to apply VS, gotta love that HoT. As for defilers, again, if they can solo a CG, they can solo me.

I have a 40s Make Haste at the moment, I gotta rank it up a few more...

Originally Posted by Hurod

One tip I have for you is try to get the fire def bonuses from 4 of DN armor or the 3 25 rad piece set. These will help you greatly against r4+ reavers. If you have 4 of the BG set or the +15 stuff use it for wargs. Also make sure you use Innocence, zeal, discipline traited for melee defence.

There isnt much you can do against ranked spiders.

I just can't bring myself to get rid of my shiny new BG boots and my +70 agil gloves but I guess that the +15/+25 set bonus mitigations would help a great deal... As for the traits, I could barely get myself to rank 3 of them to 10... let alone 3 new ones to 10.

Oh and spiders are nasty, slows, hatchlings, DoTs, stuns, mezes... when I see a Spider above rank 4 or 5, I usually run. I don't ever plan on getting in on a 1v1 vs Silk or Evil anytime soon

Originally Posted by Beastnas

I like going for a full HoH survivability build, using muster courage and valiant stike. Stack morale and get armor sets for fire/shadow mitigation, and you can last a stupidly long time.

Yes our DPS sucks, but you can whittle stuff down with cutting attack and a few good devastating blow/blade of elendil crits. 45s make haste is your best friend.

I generally don't have more than 8.5k morale at a time, I probably could increase it to about 9 or 9.5 if I really tried.

I know I do need to raise my crit raiting, it's at 10.5% when I'm fully buffed.



Thanks for the tips guys, I'll try out some of these tips later.

Here is my PvP build. http://my.lotro.com/character/elendilmir/hurod
I try to run high morale/might for solo and throw on some will/power gear for raids.

First of all, be sure you have high might, agility and vitality, as these 3 stats are the most helpful in 1v1 scenarios. For leeching/gold tagging the archer is your best bet, you will get some tasty renown and have a bigger chance at KBs. the 10% slow will be of great help when you catch a greenie thats has gone astray. However, in freep ball vs creep ball situations you dont want to take the risk and chase downa slowed target -- 1) the slow has a strength of only 10%. 2)Granted our skills are reaaaally slow and deal pitiful damage, your chances of killing that greenie before the creep ball explodes you are pretty low.

Dont get too comfortable with our Archer's epic slow though, as you will want to trait HoH for most 1v1s. Here is my class trait set up, I believe it's our most helpful combination in 1v1 situations:

HoH:
-Fear No Darkness
-Now For Wrath
-Strong Voice
-Strength From Within
-Captain's Hope
Hands of Healing capstone of course.

LtC
-Adherant of Elendil
-Renewed Voice

NOTE: I use Adherant instead of Expert Attacks because my crit chance is at 14.3%. I know it adds to devastate chance, but I also like to not rely on crits.


Slot melee defence and morale virtues. (e.g. Innocence, Discipline. Valour and Justice -- these 4 you'll never want to unslot.) You want to maximize your survivability as much as you can, so get gear with fire/shadow/acid mitigations. Max your vitality, as it also increases all of your mitigations. Morale. Morale, morale, morale...this is the Captain's main strength--get it as high as you can. Do NOT hesitate to spam your heals -this includes Rallying Cry- everytime you can, you would be impressed to see how quick a well played warg or reaver can destroy you. Use Valiant Strike only when your opponent gives you his back, as you may be in real trouble if it does not land. If you could get an emblem with Vocal and Melee healing, VS morale return, and Muster Courage cd, the improvement will be huge. Here is my 1v1 emblem:




Last but not least, always remember to switch to your War banner when you reach its morale range

Ahh, yes, my priority for skills in 1v1s: use your battle shout whenever its available, as you want to create as many Dev blow/Pressing Attack crit opportunities as possible. Follow it up with Dev blow in the face (only time I actually use PA in 1v1s is when im being kited, as it has a 4.2m range. Be careful though, because it is an AoE, there is a big chance it may not land). Defensive Strike, followed by Cutting Attack or Blade of Elendil--I rather use Cutting Attack first because I have the bleed legacy on my 2nd ager. Use Valiant Strike when you feel you will not waste the HoTs because you are close to the morale cap. Do not use it too late in the fight though, as you may need a second one if the fight lasts long enough.

Here are my tips for fighting each class:

Reavers: they are the funniest fight all around, imo. Get your fire mit gear and on and lay down your Hope banner. Usually the reaver will want to start off with his Charge, but not that it has to be that way. Your call. Move quickly and never, repeat, NEVER give them your back. BPE and misses play a big role in Reaver fights, and since you have high agility, your P/E chance should be pretty good. As long as you spam your heals and land every single blow possible, you should be able to take on very high ranked reavers. Revealing Mark all the way.

Wargs: Also a very fun fight, altough it might be frustrating because of the CJs. When fighting wargs you'll want to spam your heals very cautiously, because the heal will be negated if they stun you midway Muster Courage/Valiant Strike animation. It's important that you have healthy power, as they tend to drain you until you have none. Keep your Cutting Attack DoT on them ALWAYS. Keep your Revealing mark on them until they either bail or start losing, if thats the case switch to noble mark (yes, noble mark!)

Blackarrows: any half brained BA will kite you until you drop. If its an arranged fight (e.g. CM, fight clubs) you should get the kill without problem if the BA does not have Fire trap (rank 8). If its an impromtu 1v1 though, expect them always to run off. Now, for BAs, I like to use noble mark, as you will not be hitting them very often. Wait for him to lay his firetrap and get your fire mit gear on, the fun is about to start. You want to deal as much damage as you can before the firetrap is gone. If he pops evade, fine, stay on the trap keep spamming your heals. Careful though, you dont want to hit him with Valiant Strike when his evade is up. One the trap is gone pop make haste and finish him, it should be no hard task.


Warleaders: this will be one heck of a fight. Get some power gear on but dont drop too much might or agility. If you feel confident enough, try starting the fight with your power banner, for future power issues. Do not interrupt every heal he does, especially if you do not have the Kick legacy. You will basically just keep banging on him until his power drops, then you want to start interrupting most of his heals. Pop Oathbreakers to make the kill easier.


Defilers: another long fight, but with lesser winning chances. I dont think its possible to beat a well played high ranked defiler without the Kick legacy, so this is definately a must have. They deal fire and I believe acid damage as well, though your best bet is fire gear. Same as the warleader, wait for him to drop his power and keep banging on him. The real key for the Defiler's victory is their AoE fear, imo, so get some fear pots -- you will need them.

Weaver: a fun kiting fest. Get your acid mit gear and quickly lay down your Hope banner. They will usually start the fight with their daze, so that they can put all their debuffs on you. Keep an eye out for Latent Poison (their 10s stun on a timer) pot out of it if you can.
You want to deal as much damage as possible before you get the Latent Poison stun. After said stun, the spider will kite you until you drop, laying down their Web The Earth skill from time to time. He will also make spawn the hatchlings, which will be a very helpful tool for getting Defeat Responses. Lucky you if theres a PA target legacy on your weapon, as you may be able to hit 4 target simutaneously in that spar. Dont waste too much time hitting the hatchlings though, the weaver will still be damaging you at a very rapid pace, not to mention the hatchlings also hit you.



Dont be afraid to solo as a Captain, if you have the right gear and know what you are doing it is not hard at all.

I agree with most of what Gala says. Reaver and Warg are 2 best fights IMO. either one can go either way dependent on crits and B/P/E. And I use the exact same legacies on my emblem.

Thanks Gala, I got a lot to work with now

The reason I want to solo is cus I'm tired of only getting my renown during the raid hours, if it is just a massive gold tag fest then basically I have to send my archer out there to get a little bit of renown before the greenies put 10 DoTs on him , if not then I have to hope one of my hunter friends or mini friends are willing to let me tag along while I be their pocket healer.

Also currently 5k away from r7, I rank so slow only getting renown during raid times

it is still possible to pvp in the moors as a solo captain but you gonna do much better duo.

solo fights are few and far between and unless its two blue dot wargs your gonna die.

From what you said it seems like you have the basics down but i don't really know how you roll. I can tell you how i do it and see if it fits your way.


My setup involves DN Set + the craftable +74 morale guantlets and a high might/vit build focusing very little on power and healing. I use a emblem with all melee/pvp related legacies on it and only spent left over points into emblem healing rating. I use a second age halberd with 6 pa targets. And i have a swap out weapon for 45 second make haste. In solo it is hard there is not a lot you can do recent changes hurt archer herald but it is still ok to use. my usual trait setup is 5 red 1 green 1 yellow. My main strat is to use my emblem which has mc cd and Iton cd to force the enemy into a corner while dpsing them as much as possible. I rely on crits and luck to win but also on my cd's ls and som are nice and all but they don't make a huge difference in duels since most creeps already account for them.

I won't lie to you it is hard out there as a captain specially solo but with a friend you can do some serious damage. One of my new tactics since mirkwood is when i get attack by 3+ creeps i line em up and use pressing attack which hits all of them i will usually get a crit response so i can use Aoe stun and make a tactical retreat hopefully in the direction of a raid or group of freeps willing to even the odds.

I think I'll take some screenshots of my gear/LIs/traits next time I log on, as for my style, I have no real set style atm, every time I head out there I try something different. I'm mostly curious to see what style other people use and hopefully I can blend the strong points together to make me a better solo cappy.

http://my.lotro.com/character/brandywine/elhorad my current equiptment layout, sometimes I do swap out my gloves/boots/chest/legs with the Moria +10 set.

Originally Posted by Spacmanbobr

Also... no freep class can kill a skilled rank 5+ defiler solo unless they get really lucky.

Hehe spaceman you know Rks can tear up defilers, just kite so they can't fear you. then use shocking touch,interupt,shocking words stun,and perfect imagery to interupt heals.

Originally Posted by mrgray28th

Hehe spaceman you know Rks can tear up defilers, just kite so they can't fear you. then use shocking touch,interupt,shocking words stun,and perfect imagery to interupt heals.

It's still often a very close fight. None but the best PvMP RKs can beat a Defiler. Captains? Have no chance. Although, I did see a well-played Captain come very very close to killing a low-ranked Defiler in a 1v1 once.

He should try harder.

Originally Posted by Cloudie-wan

It's still often a very close fight. None but the best PvMP RKs can beat a Defiler. Captains? Have no chance. Although, I did see a well-played Captain come very very close to killing a low-ranked Defiler in a 1v1 once.

I've killed defilers up to rank 6 this book, and i haven't had to opportunity to fight a truly high ranked one, something about Defy being asleep whenever I'm on. Captains with fear/disease/power pots can definately challenge mid-ranked defilers. I wouldn't want to fight Nopain or Kral though, I think the BPE would be a pain, i dont see how they would kill me either though.

Just wondering, to those that use the archer, how much does he hit for from auto-attacks? and how much morale do you have on your captain when traited that way?

Originally Posted by Forza

Just wondering, to those that use the archer, how much does he hit for from auto-attacks? and how much morale do you have on your captain when traited that way?

6.3k morale and he auto attacks for 90-170, his skills have hit for as hard as 1k for me with oathies and +to arms. Granted he is single target dps but he is ranged single target which does help to keep them from kiting you.

I would be more then happy to answer any questions you have about archer herald in the moors, or just for solo. He hits much harder against pve mobs btw.

Originally Posted by ydoc

6.3k morale and he auto attacks for 90-170, his skills have hit for as hard as 1k for me with oathies and +to arms. Granted he is single target dps but he is ranged single target which does help to keep them from kiting you.

I would be more then happy to answer any questions you have about archer herald in the moors, or just for solo. He hits much harder against pve mobs btw.

That's weird, I traited for archer two nights ago with all the available traits to make him stronger and he hits for an average of 99 to 110 damage on sig creeps and up.

If I use to arms, damage goes up a bit, but I'm really looking for damage output without temporary buffs.

Check out this post from the PvMP forums. It has a lot of really good advice.

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=324674&page=2

Best thing to do as a captain is have friends. Captains by themselves are really hard to play solo out there, most classes that can't kill you will just run away and you can't really do anything about it.

Couple tips for those that want to run away from a fight.
1. Always save "Make Haste" for when they start to run.
2. Switch to a buffing weapon that has Make haste duration on it, hit it, then switch back to main weapon.
3. Once you get up to them again pop Time of Need then hit routing cry to give you a little bit of CC to beat on them for a couple secs.
Hopefully you have finished them off before make haste runs out, otherwise you might as well turn and go the other way cause you have probably been called out.

Well lately i decided to roll a champ for pvmp purpose.. I'm not done yet..

Though what i'd like to do is a setted bomb group made of 2 captains, 2 champs, 1 guard and 1 lm.

This is pretty helpful for me as well. I'd like to say I do a lot of soloing, but in actuality I really just do a lot of getting destroyed. I have 5.7k morale with an oathbound archer who deals an average of 120 damage on auto-attack, and around 400-500 damage with skills. I'm able to solo 2 green dots, 1 blue dot if they're not a skilled player, and I generally don't stand a chance against red dots. Even wargs tear me apart. I guess I just really need a new strategy, but even with my banner, and all my buffs and best equipment I only have like 7k morale. I don't know what to do to raise it. All my gear is pretty decent, I'd say. Lots of Might, a lot of Agility and Vitality, but it's still just not as high as most Captain's. But the whole reason I changed to an Oathbound was because using a Banner just wasn't cutting it. I was getting mezzed and torn down before I could get off any attacks.

http://my.lotro.com/character/brandywine/baor

Let me know what you think I should change. I also don't really know what to do with my Class traits. I've had them set for my Oathbreaker so long.