Thread: Guardian Morale at 65

Hello all,
I am trying to see if I can get some help on understanding morale levels as they pertain to my lvl 65 Elf Guard. I am a guardian. I currently have appr. 6K morale, however every time I see another guard and compare my morale stats, their morale seems to be higher than mine, in the low 7 Ks.

Are there any guards out there that can help explain to me whether my current morale level is accurate or should I have more for 65? I think my gear is pretty good, I have 4 out 6 for the durins guard set, and decent gear for the rest. All of my vitality virtues are also maxed out.

Also, I routinely have no problems tanking instances. I have done several instances as the primary tank in moria, annuminas and DG.

With the annuminas set, capped virtues, some crafted jewelry, shield, and some LI Relics I tend to hover up near 8k. When in my tanking set-up. I don't even equip ril-mir any more since my Vit is capped without it.

[QUOTE I don't even equip ril-mir[/QUOTE]

Sorry,
Ril-Mir? Dont know what set this is?

It's a piece of jewelery. Post a link to your character page, and I'm sure people will give you lots of suggestions on what you can improve. Guards and wardens should have at a minimum 7k morale, imo, and that is not at all hard to achieve.

Originally Posted by gvazqu29

Hello all,
I am trying to see if I can get some help on understanding morale levels as they pertain to my lvl 65 Elf Guard. I am a guardian. I currently have appr. 6K morale, however every time I see another guard and compare my morale stats, their morale seems to be higher than mine, in the low 7 Ks.

Are there any guards out there that can help explain to me whether my current morale level is accurate or should I have more for 65? I think my gear is pretty good, I have 4 out 6 for the durins guard set, and decent gear for the rest. All of my vitality virtues are also maxed out.

Also, I routinely have no problems tanking instances. I have done several instances as the primary tank in moria, annuminas and DG.

You should have more, but you'll take quite acceptably even at 6k. IIRC I'm running around 7300 in tank mode; I doubt that my character page is up to date but I'll throw out a basic list of stuff/virtues that does not require serious group work to hit 7k+

4x Durin's set is fine; I use Hele head/shoulders for the other 2 slots
Aureate/Mirkwood barter/Enedwaith barter earrings to taste
Egnion-Clog
Guard's Charm/Ened barter pocket; Anvil/Pearl are of course better but take more group grind
Aureate/Mirkwood barter neck
Aureate/crafted Mirkwood wrists
Aureate rings
Loth shield
Loyalty, Innocence, Valour, Justice, Determination

None of these individually is a big upgrade over what I was wearing at around 6k but the total package is. The 2 pieces of Helegrod are probably the biggest upgrade over their easier-to-obtain counterparts, but the Mirkwood 3-piece head/shoulders are truly not *bad* for those slots, and may be easier to obtain depending on your play style.

http://my.lotro.com/home/character/1...9937844290465/

Originally Posted by gvazqu29

Hello all,
I am trying to see if I can get some help on understanding morale levels as they pertain to my lvl 65 Elf Guard. I am a guardian. I currently have appr. 6K morale, however every time I see another guard and compare my morale stats, their morale seems to be higher than mine, in the low 7 Ks.

I was in the same boat as you a year ago; presently my morale is around 7500 without buffs, more if I were to slot Valour. For me the trick was to run Mirkwood instances. Many of the jewelry drops include strong base morale & power bonuses. And my vitality is around 610 unbuffed; remember us guards get 5/3 more morale/vitality point than do other classes (wardens have this as well). (Note - no point in more vitality than 600-ish; buffs from other fellows or vitality food will raise you to the current cap of 650.)

Also, I'm using the full Moria instance set for armour. I bits and pieces from other raids (Mirkwood class set, DG boots, etc.) and they are quite nice as others posters state. So you have several routes to get to 7k morale.

Cheers,
Gloimli

In my tanking getup I'm up around 7600 morale.

What I use is:
2x Aureate Hoop of Combat
2x Aureate Bracelet thingy of Morale
1x Ril-Mir
1x Aureate Band of Morale
1x Mirk barter necklace
4 Annunimas / 2 Hele
1x Subtle Rune of the Crags
Rank 10 Valour
(I don't slot Loyalty or Justice)

I know the overall you can gain a bit more morale using a second Aureate over Ril-Mir, but I like using the flexibility of Ril-Mir to open a slot in my virtues by making Loyalty unnecessary.

Originally Posted by gvazqu29

http://my.lotro.com/home/character/1...9937844290465/

thanks. Your armor is fine, but your jewelery needs a lot of work, fortunately, that's not all that hard to do.

I've excluded any items that drop from raids or are very rare.

Replace fighter's earring with warrior's earring or the glowing aurate hoop of combat. The 'warrior' jewelery is the upgraded version of the 'fighter' items, and still not too expensive. A worthwhile upgrade if you can't afford the glowing aurate stuff.

Replace your phial with the guard's charm. It's not a bad piece, really. Look for an upgrade to anvil/pearl/enedwaith pocket items.

You necklace - again, replace with warrior's necklace.

Bracelets - I think you can do better than this. There's a bracelet available for barter in mirkwood http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Item:Angechor_(Level_61) or the glowing aurate bracelet, with some icpr instead of agility.

Rings. Both of these need replacing as well. In order of preference.

Ril-mir from SG
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Item:Ril-M%C3%AEr

Toringor, also from SG.
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Item:Toringor

Glowing aurate Ring of morale
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Item:...Band_of_Morale

Warrior's ring
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Item:...Greenwood_Ring

Awesome,
Thanks for the info, its great. I agree on my jewelry, I haven't really focused on it as much. I will look for the pieces you mentioned. I hope it helps.

Dunno bout others but I like my main stats at cap as cappys arnt always available for a lot of instances.My guard sits at almost 7800 moral in her tank gear,http://my.lotro.com/home/character/firefoot/nymp

i would also add that while morale is certainly important for tanking you dont want to overlook your mitigations, make sure your -incoming melee damage is pretty high. virtues, relics and legendary titles help greatly with this

you probably already know that, but it never hurts to be sure

Originally Posted by Tech6425

i would also add that while morale is certainly important for tanking you dont want to overlook your mitigations, make sure your -incoming melee damage is pretty high. virtues, relics and legendary titles help greatly with this

you probably already know that, but it never hurts to be sure

On a guardian, it's actually fairly easy to get might, vit, and agility all over 600 unbuffed (though a bit lower without tomes), cap melee def. with scrolls, go overcap with ranged def, get a huge chunk of crit defence when needed, cap incoming healing (or go to 20% if you're Man), overcap with block, close to cap with parry (or cap with cappy buffs), and with sufficient radiance to do all of BG EM or HM (not that it'll matter soon), while still staying over 8,000 unbuffed morale. I managed to do this on my guard a month or so after hitting 65. Not trying to brag, just saying that in the current state of the game, it's possible to do all that in a build without making any significant sacrifices.

Dalthyn is absolutely correct.

Also, 9k is the new 8k. You heard it here first.

Originally Posted by Jaunt

Dalthyn is absolutely correct.

Also, 9k is the new 8k. You heard it here first.

You're talking about post-update I'm guessing?

9000 will still be a stretch post update...

Originally Posted by bob97

9000 will still be a stretch post update...

Uh no.

You do have to give up a bunch of stuff to do it, but it is doable.

Incoming healing takes the biggest hit. To get that back to a reasonable (non healer hating you) level drops you back down to the 8800 range.

Tons more options now and all sorts of weird builds I assume will appear.

Tanking in raids, my morale is 8.1k without buffs, although I do know Guardians with nearly 8.5k unbuffed. Buffed, I usually reach 10k.
In OP, I'll often hover near 8k.
I have mediocre jewellery, simply the glowing aureate set and my Vit is capped.

What about Morale for Level 52? What should it be around? I am around 4.2k, wondering if that's where I should be at

Originally Posted by xStrongBad36x

What about Morale for Level 52? What should it be around? I am around 4.2k, wondering if that's where I should be at

Unless your dying a lot, or having issues tanking, I wouldn't worry about it.

As you approach 65 is when you want to start working on your gear and figuring out what works for you. At lower levels you will find yourself wasting time worrying about gear, as you will out grow it faster than it takes you to get it. What you should be working on during the lower levels is traits(deeds) and abilities.

Yeah I figured that, thanks for the reply.

And I am not having any trouble tanking/surviving. I get compliments on my tanking all the time :P

So yeah, I guess I won't worry much until I hit 60 - 65

With the new gem in that other thread, 1 crag/thunder, and 5 BG + hele helm, BG shield, 9k is not that much of a strech, while melee defense capped with scrolls, stats at 600+ without idome, and incoming healing around 3700. My character copy failed, and I got to 8600 base morale on an auto-rolled guard that has no crags/thunders, without the new gem, without the new melee earrings, and the loth shield instead of the BG one. Block is capped and parry caps with ward.

I could hit 9k off new relics alone. Then drop back down to 8.9 as I break out the Helegrod helm to fix my inc healing. Maybe gloves too. Losing inc healing isn't a huge deal because I've been not wearing Helegrod because I'm so near capping without it that the stat hit seems dumb.

But hey guys, it's easy to swap helms, not so much to swap relics. I'll be near 9k when soloing, and a bit lower when I'm not, but I'll have much better inc healing.

I sit around 8100 in tank mode. Contrary to alot of other people I try not to cap vit and have it sit around 600 to make room for buffs.

Not to burst your bubble, but that's standard operating procedure.

I run with a low morale build I guess... on BR I think I'm sitting around 7.7-7.8k (and easily 8k when finished with my build) but I'm not gonna go for 9k this update.

I remember velious tanks getting 8k or so.. then came 9, then came 10-12..

Now it is ridiculous at 40k.

Lotro don't make the same mistake.

Morale goes up, damage goes up, boss morale goes up. I don't see what the problem is... that's like saying WoW levels went from 60 to 70 to 80 to 85, now it's ridiculous.

Originally Posted by Dalthyn

On a guardian, it's actually fairly easy to get might, vit, and agility all over 600 unbuffed (though a bit lower without tomes), cap melee def. with scrolls, go overcap with ranged def, get a huge chunk of crit defence when needed, cap incoming healing (or go to 20% if you're Man), overcap with block, close to cap with parry (or cap with cappy buffs), and with sufficient radiance to do all of BG EM or HM (not that it'll matter soon), while still staying over 8,000 unbuffed morale. I managed to do this on my guard a month or so after hitting 65. Not trying to brag, just saying that in the current state of the game, it's possible to do all that in a build without making any significant sacrifices.

i never said they had to sacrifice anything, just giving something else to pay attention to besides morale

I don't know if I will shoot for 9k or not....I run almost 8400 unbuffed now with the +390's in both li's instead of the +100 morales, so could be just shy of 8600 already, but choose not to. We'll see what the flavor of the day brings...Jaunt made a good point about always being able to break out the hele helm for lost incoming healing, but I am still pretty attached to my tier 9's and offensive capacities even when tanking (can't help it, even if it doesn't necessarily make total sense vs. an extra 200 morale...I feel the +390's make for some better crits along with my vexing +dmg, sweeping+dmg and whirling retal +dmg legacies on 1hnder...hence better aoe threat).

A pure morale build is ??????ation at best.

Having low Agility or Might will make you no better than a Warden.

Picking all the best morale gear also gives you a lot of might and agi. We can have our cake and eat it too. The real tradeoff is inc healing.

Jaunt is correct.

Originally Posted by PenetrateIsProfanity

A pure morale build is ??????ation at best.

Having low Agility or Might will make you no better than a Warden.

Hey!_______

Originally Posted by Jaunt

Picking all the best morale gear also gives you a lot of might and agi. We can have our cake and eat it too. The real tradeoff is inc healing.

This is true - it's all about what you want to lose or gain. I guarantee those guards that stack morale are going to be missing some other vital stats. It's a balancing act. Personally, I'm not going to start stacking morale just yet when I can already hit close-to-cap levels in most of my stats (for tanking) and still get over 8k morale.

When tanking a hard hitting boss morale build is great, for 95% of the content up to that point I like to run with heal proc gear, gloves helm and with the next update legs. Heal proc gear more than makes up for a few hundred less morale than the tank that doesn't use it. For trash pulls run with a BP and shield that mitigates common if you know that's what type of instance you're running.

I run all crit relics, which gives me a 12.5% melee crit rate unbuffed. I use this to help with TTK conjs or litany of defiance stacks. Also I don't stack morale, I have valour but that's my only morale stat, the rest is either -incoming melee damage , - incoming tactical damage, or the 2 shadow defence virtues, depending on what I'm going to run next.

+1550 fire defence build I run around 7700
+1550 shadow defence build I run around 7500
Common damage build I run around 7900

I have no good raid items, basically all my stuff comes from 6 mans and I do great as a tank. My agility is a little low but it doesn't matter too much, basically I can't ever win a roll on the items I need. I'm currently pugging everything while I look for a kin.

Originally Posted by NeoPromethious

I run all crit relics, which gives me a 12.5% melee crit rate unbuffed. I use this to help with TTK conjs or litany of defiance stacks. . My agility is a little low but it doesn't matter too much.. .

I agree with the substantive points you make and have taken a liking to the heal proc gear as well, unless trying to become a "huge bucket of morale," as you correctly state is preferable for very hard hitting bosses (i.e., Durchest), where healers are going to be pouring morale in anway and being a bigger bucket for them to "max" is better. But with many lesser mobs hitting you, the procs of around +~90 each coming in from tiny hits of multiple mobs (with a capped man-race incoming healing), an extra 500 max morale or even 1000 morale over longer pulls and more mobs hitting you, is actually less important than those little procs.

I do pause as to the above portion quoted from you. I believe (not in game atm), that unbuffed, with a 2hndr that has +130 melee crit on it and at 650 capped agility and all the best available melee crit jewels and relics inserted on LI's (talking live game as is, NOT talking about beta BR new relics), that a guard currently soft-caps at 3640, and that 12.5% equates to around 3700 (this is why I repeatedly whine about the rank 3 + 4 crit passives that would give us an added +480 ).

3700 on live is not possible atm, more, not possible while in tank form, since there is no +130 crit on a 1hndr (you mentioned using that 12.5% to help with litany capstone procs), and even more not possible with reported "low agility."

Not meaning to be a contrarian, but am just suggesting that the unbuffed 12.5% you mention (especially given the above add'l circ's you listed), must have been measured either with your skirmish soldier buff applied (i.e., in homesteads where it is applied even without the soldier being called), OR you must be talking about a copied toon on BR that now has the newer relics in place that will go a bit higher.

My bad, wrote that off the top of my head. I checked in game - its at 11.7% . I usually run around with scrolls so that's probably why I thought it was around 12.5%. Maxing melee mitigations and damage type of the hardest damage for the upcoming instance is more important in my opinion than morale. I think having high morale is part of being a guardian, but there are a few things that are more important than a few hundred morale points. Having low 7000s is fine if the OP is working on mitigations. It's not only crits but crit damage that helps holding aggro when I sweeping cut for 600s, AoE vexing for 500s and such it actually helps a lot. Crits help a bit , damage is another hate rating in itself.

Lets take 1500 shadow mit for example, a 3 piece bonus in mirkwood, and in moria. I have 27.3% shadow mitigation without the armor. Lets add 1500 and see how much morale is saved over a non shadow mitigation bonus set. After putting it on I have 34.0% shadow mitigation. 6.7% difference in over 8000 morale of damage is 537 morale that you didn't have with your normal gear - well worth the sacrafice in morale, especially in long fights where you take a lot of damage.

Yesterday I had 43% shadow mitigation from raven and all shadow mit virtues and gear. I was still taking 900 on some hits during one of the barrow fights where the mob was hitting for only shadow damage. If I had no shadow damage gear, virtues, or LM pet I don't really think the healer could reliably keep up on spike damage, being prepared, building mitigations then morale and lastly incoming heal rating is in my opinion most important. I probably got healed for at least 20k on that fight.

Having those extra 2 crit passives would be awesome for helping us tank.

Originally Posted by NeoPromethious

Having those extra 2 crit passives would be awesome for helping us tank.

Finally someone who really understands me...wanna go steady

No worries on the rough crit figure, I just knew from striving to max it all the time that something was a little off...no big tho

I don't mean to brag or anything but i get at least 100-120k morale unbuffed...