Thread: Guardian skill layout help? Also any advice would be nice. :)

Hi Folks,

So I'm mostly a warden who dabbles in other classes mostly to allow for different crafting abilities to come into play. My guardian is level 24, and right now, I'm having trouble adjusting from my 49 Warden to this Guardian because while the Warden is debatedly more complex in term of gambits, it takes fewer keys to fire off different abilities.

Right now, my Warden is using advice gleaned from this post by Cuuniyevo: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...29#post6182529

I was hoping someone could help me visualize something similar for a guardian as at 24, I have more skills than I know what to do with, pretty much.

Advice would be most appreciated as well, as I'm hoping to solo a lot of content using a weapon and shield style.

I found the following thread very useful when modelling my Guard after I first hit lvl cap although it may help at the lower levels too.

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...ardian-(-ROI-)

Hope it helps.

In combat I want to keep my left hand close to WASD for movement so I've placed the skills I need more often closer to the left side. I find reaching for keys from 1 to 6 quite easy without much hand movement. Also shift and alt are easy keys to hit with my little finger and thumb so I have block skills as shift+1...6 and parry skills as alt+1...5.

More situational skills (either because of the cooldown or it's not needed that often) take control+1...5. Still easy enough to use when the situation calls for it but i need to move my hand from the default position.

I find F key very suitable for a skill that I often use while running. I can press W and F to fire off Challenge before turning around and getting in position to tank. Some people tend to start attacking the moment they see monsters move, even before tank has got any threat skills off.
Emergency skills like Warrior's Fortitude and Pledge are key mapped to H and G. I think it's important not to lose time trying to click these skills with my mouse, even half a second can be important.
I have Turn The Tables keymapped to alt+F for pvmp, where the creep who stunned me can move out of range if I'm not quick enough.
I like Shield Walling my group members so I have it under < key, on my keyboard it's right next to left shift. Stances, pots, swap gear and other skills I click using a mouse.

I'm not a serious Overpower guardian so these skills are on my hotbar but rarely used. Sweeping cut is so far because it takes way too much power. When I do need these skills I can just move my hand.

I have set up my skills so that I can use them all without moving my left hand too much and that I can press every skill without looking at the keyboard. Sometimes playing in a room with no lights is neccesary.

There is no right or wrong layout. Whatever works for you is the best one there is. Before you do find the one you like you're probably going to change quite a bit - you said that your guardian is lvl 24 so there's a lot more skills to come. Maybe my post will help you, maybe not. Just have fun playing a guardian and finding your own way.

Heyo.

Thanks for the replies.

The skill layout is really helpful for me as it lets me better visualize skill synergies and oftentimes I use the advice given to me to great effect. I try to ask for that kind of information every time I tackle a new class regardless of game.

The skill layout and thread linked above are a great help for me.

My layout is key-centric. I'm using Logitech G15 keyboard with 18 additional keys for left hand. Main skills are grouped to 3 6-key groups (they positioned in same way in my layout, but in different keytable corners). First 6 are aggro/block-response-based aggro skills. Second 6 are damage/parry chain skills. Third 6 are shield-damage skills. For tanking shield taunt (as last in block-chain) is associated with scroller (for instant respone), and shield-blow with first additional mouse-button (again, for independent constant using). Other skills (like stance-dance between stances or weapon-changing for S&B/OP quick switching) are located using QWE ASD ZXC. Motion-navigation in mousebased. Result is, that i'm ready to use any skill much quicker than game is able to response. Feeling is littlebit irritating, to be always one step ahead from game. My comrades often hearing me to hit one button 3-6 time, asking irritably: "Where is that ... response?" But actually i'm compensating such way my disability to see things fast and locate my position in room, if something changes positions even littlebit. What i lost in one part, i can recover in another part.