Thread: Guardian: A Guide and FAQ

Originally Posted by Nerdlemen

Thinking about making a guardian, could anyone tell me what the best race/ pros and cons for the different races, for a guardian

My sense is that the starting pros or cons are pretty much irrelevant once you level up a ways so pick whichever race you like. Others with more experience may disagree with my assessment though.

Awsome write up!!!!

Hey Casio;

Is it possible, in the sections about the builds, to put something in about how to use em? For example, the threat guardian...What are they gonna do? what skills? What stats? So I went back and read all the builds, not jsut the threat one, and they have stat focus already in...sowwy bout that. Any focus on the stats for the Threat build? (Understand, you put in the traits and virtues, wondering about the rest.)

Not really lookin for the whole: "First, use this skill, then use this one immediately. then, after 10 seconds, hit em with....."

Just wondering the purpose/reason/benes/drawbacks.

thanks a ton, and its a great write up. Now, I jsut gotta get some more money after spending it all on my houses yesterday and come see you about your Casiodorus' Crazy Crit Crafting Connection

<shameless plug for ya...>

New info for you to add to the gear section Cyber:

http://forums.lotro.com/showpost.php...&postcount=177

Originally Posted by Xeroproject

New info for you to add to the gear section Cyber:

http://forums.lotro.com/showpost.php...&postcount=177

Thanks Xero. Added this shield, the Ornate Black Ash Bow, Fortified Black Ash Bow, Song-Bird, the Goblin-Town Gem, the Jeweled Bell and a link to the Rift-Defender's Set also.

Originally Posted by Darkehawk

Hey Casio;

Is it possible, in the sections about the builds, to put something in about how to use em? For example, the threat guardian...What are they gonna do? what skills?...(Understand, you put in the traits and virtues, wondering about the rest.)

Just wondering the purpose/reason/benes/drawbacks.

Thanks for the plug Dark. C5 always welcomes some love .

I'll spend some time soon to add more details based on personal experience and chats/grouping with and post from some of the best guardian's in the game. (Yeah I'm talking about you [Insert name here])

I have uploaded a screenshot of the Jeweled Bell at the page you have linked on the lorebook It's a nice pocket item

where dose that logbond or whatever club drop i really like that seems really good
oh and what about that elf stone couldl someone post the stats on that please?

Originally Posted by 3029929

oh and what about that elf stone couldl someone post the stats on that please?

Mellonor's Elf-Stone gives +30 fate and +1% block chance.

Originally Posted by 3029929

where dose that logbond or whatever club drop i really like that seems really good

It drops from the giant boss in Helegrod.

Originally Posted by acivilian

Mellonor's Elf-Stone gives +30 fate and +1% block chance.

in that case im sticking with the trinket of battle or whaterver
and what about shatterbone? http://lorebook.lotro.com/index.php/Weapon:Shatterbone

Originally Posted by EnkSun

Concering the 1st 4 pages in ram duath - theres an area heavy with iron crowns just past the guardian gargoyle that you visit for book 6 chapter 6 - that area is just before Bail Rova, but still officially "ram duath". However, hours spent there yielded no drops (except for captain ). Moving south to the areas with the complaining orcs and their stuck war engines yielded up the pages quickly.

From my experience, the pages seem to drop more off of the Iron Crown archers (rather than the fighters) near the Iron Crown Commander in the mixed camp in southeast Ram Duath. It takes a while, but they do drop eventually. I picked up 4 pages in 2 trips out there.

I've also found several books and various other pages there.

Originally Posted by 3029929

in that case im sticking with the trinket of battle or whaterver
and what about shatterbone? http://lorebook.lotro.com/index.php/Weapon:Shatterbone

What about it? If you mean where does it drop, it drops in Uru from Gruglok. If you mean what are the stats (because those stats are dated in the lorebook pic) the new stats are the same except they added +1% tactical crit chance -.-" so yay? Shatterbone is a minstrel weapon now.

ah thanks for clarrifying that i just seemed like a good weapon but yea im definitely gonna try and get it for my Minstrel now

I very much don't agree with the 2H off-tank guide. the virtue traits and class traits are pure guess-work.

Originally Posted by WulfgarsFather

I very much don't agree with the 2H off-tank guide. the virtue traits and class traits are pure guess-work.

It may surprise you that I'm glad you don't agree. As I stated in the beginning, these are suggestions for someone who doesn't know where to start and the information was developed from the builds that tons of Guardian's used in Beta. Even my builds are different since I'm not a min/maxer and prefer a Hybrid build like this one.

Personally, for virtues, I hate Merciful so much I use Discipline in it's place and I'll even sub Zeal for Valour for the additional Melee Vulnerability. Justice also slips in since I have a Man Guardian and 9 Justice is very hard to ignore. For class traits I use Strong Lungs instead of Heat of battle (I pref all the resets to opening parry reactives at will) and Quicken over Parried Blows since I have a bias towards stat line bonuses and resetting Thrill of Danger with the power efficiency of 2H's gives me plenty; not to mention I have several 2H weapons with ICPR. But I passed up my personal feelings when writing the guide because there are tons of guardians with differing opinions on how to make the best in each situation and I did my best to include their opinions, especially when I was outnumbered (and in this case I was).

All that being said, I will probably readdress this specific build after our month of patch becuase the opinions of the veteran testers in this game may have and probably will change.

I hope and assume there are tons of guardians that use something completly different like you and I, but for the Guardian that makes it to 50 and is still slotting Compassion because they have that at the highest level of any of their virtues(I actually saw this and that was the reason), these compiled suggestions give them a place to start.

Originally Posted by WulfgarsFather

I very much don't agree with the 2H off-tank guide. the virtue traits and class traits are pure guess-work.

And what, sir, do you recommend?

--Walli

Originally Posted by Cyberjazz

but for the Guardian that makes it to 50 and is still slotting Compassion because they have that at the highest level of any or virtues

Certainly this isn't a shot at Wartooth :P

Awesome...exactly what I needed.

Any chance of an update for book 12?

Originally Posted by Nerdlemen

Thinking about making a guardian, could anyone tell me what the best race/ pros and cons for the different races, for a guardian

Dwarf - Pro - This is the choice for a straightforward chunky Guardian with high Morale and Might. Probably best suits a build based around high block %. Minor racial bonuses (Axe damage, Dwarf-endurance). Con: no stealth ability, no emergency skills (see human and hobbit)

Hobbit - Pro - Racial Hobbit-silence skill, allows feigning death in dire emergency to avoid defeat. Hobbit stealth is a cool racial skill too. Con is slightly lower baseline stats. Slightly lower Might will give marginally lower dps.

Man - Pro - Racial skill that gives emergency 2000-point morale heal. Minor sword damage racial bonus. Con is lack of Will early on that cuts Power Max and OOC Power Regen.

Elf - I see plenty of these around and they are in my opinion a curious choice for a Guardian. Lack the raw morale/might of a dwarf or the get-out-of-jail racial skills of Humans and Hobbits. Have some minor resistances and a temporary Parry/Evade buff that don't add up to very much. Racial stealth skill may appeal to some but AFAIK is no better than a Hobbit's. Bow damage bonus is of no consequence to any class except a Hunter.

Originally Posted by kuepper

Dwarf - Pro - This is the choice for a straightforward chunky Guardian with high Morale and Might. Probably best suits a build based around high block %. Minor racial bonuses (Axe damage, Dwarf-endurance). Con: no stealth ability, no emergency skills (see human and hobbit)

Dwarfs have Endurance of Stone which is an awesome emergency skill. Depending on the situation, it might be even better than the man heal.

Humans and dwarfs are best races, IMHO, but in the grand scheme of things, it does not really matter. Elves and hobbits can make formidable guardians as well.

very well written

Not a nag Cyber, but just wondering will you be maintaining the Guardian FAQ for Moria?

Originally Posted by Xeroproject

Not a nag Cyber, but just wondering will you be maintaining the Guardian FAQ for Moria?

I will. Once I fully awake from my turkey based coma I'll put the stuff from the patch in. I was going to do it before I left but I noticed some changes in other content and wanted to see what was actually patched before posting.

Many of the thread links no longer work. They lead to a page indicating the thread is invalid or no longer exists.

The video link for seeing a tank move while using skills points to a for-pay site which no longer permits free download.

My heart sinks when I see a key post like this with a first post date of 2007 and an last post date in 2009....

....last person to leave the forum please turn the lights out

This is a great candidate for the Lorebook!

Originally Posted by Clover

This is a great candidate for the Lorebook!

It's pretty out of date ... There was a real good one that got purged though I tried finding it last week

Does it need updating? It's 2 years since last update

not sure this is still being updated but in regard to the legacy book pages after visiting sam

top 4 pages for all 3 books drops in Morfil little cave instance ne of Aughaire

bottom 4 pages all dropped from hillmen on the bitter stair in Misty mountains

As a bonus while farming i got to complete a couple of race deeds and zone deeds as well cave had orcs/wargs blue to my lvl 43 bitter stair was blue to my 42 took about 3 hours in each spot to get all pages done

Would be nice to have an updated Guardian guide..

I am just getting into LotRO and have been looking for any recent and relevant guides for Guardian/OP Guardian, however everything is out of date it seems =(

As a whole the Guardian forum is pretty quiet. The class hasn't changed a lot in the last few updates (I've only been playing since Aug, but my husband has been playing for 4+ years). Minor tweaks to some skills and such - but nothing as significant as classes like Mini, warden, etc.

That said, I think if you had specific questions regarding the class and posted them to the forum, you'd get the feedback you are looking for pretty quickly.

I'd be happy to answer anything I could in my limited experience regarding OP vs. tank mode - since I've run and do still run both. It's a great class, just not a lot of changes in it for the past year or so.

This Guardian FAQ would be so much better if you had a main catagory of
VIII Caps

I come here looking for Caps and don't seem to find it.

Originally Posted by Gandie2

This Guardian FAQ would be so much better if you had a main catagory of
VIII Caps

I come here looking for Caps and don't seem to find it.

What caps?

Originally Posted by Gomar_Eldar

What caps?

You know ... A B C D these are caps,... no wait I meant

Baseball caps.... No wait... I meant Washington Capitals. Gotta love dem caps.


Actually I'm interested in guardian caps on Mitigation - block, parry, incoming healing.

Well Physical mit is capped at 70% so what about the rest.

How outdated is this guide?In the offensive build it still have agility as the main stat.I suppose in old days agility did provide parry, but it is not anymore. Also many class traits may have been changed since then...

I am a new guardian and now to level 25..So, should I read this guide, or it will mislead me to a wrong play? Imagine if I read this and start stacking agility for example to play an offensive build..If the only thing outdated is agility and 1-2 class traits maybe worth to follow this guide.

Mitigations (both physical and tactical) are capped at 70%
Avoidances (block, parry, evade) are capped at 25%
Partial avoidances (partial blck... etc.) are capped at 10%, and his mitigations are capped a 35%
Inc healing is ccapped at 25%

resist are capping at 50%(heavy to reach if not impossible withcurrent gear)

as i know arent anycap for offense,

and crit rating is capped at 25%, whjil devastate is capped at 10%

these cap are only for ratings, so +% can go over the cap, so if u are a man u can have max 30% inc heal, or with block stance given +5% block chance the block can go up to 30% , also partial avoidance caps cannot extenden just their mitigation caps (with relics)