Thread: best legacies on legendary weapons for guardian

hello all

I have a level 71 guardian, concentrating mainly on my blocking technique.
It has occurred to me today that i have a lot to learn about legendaries!!

I would like to know what are the best legacies to concentrate on with my legendary weapon as defensive guardian?

also, I currently have a level 61 2nd age sword, I am also levelling up a third age axe, which if I were to upgrade would give me a greater dps than my current weapon. Do I stick with the second age weapon and concentrate on those legacies or switch to the third age weapon and decon the second age when it gets 65+ to get the goodies?

any advice much appreciated!!

I can kick butt, but coming up to end game I want to get in there and flatten everyone lol.

Weapon:

Must have

Ward Duration - Having ward up helps you to concentrate on building up aggro and do other things while having ward up. having ward up all the time is basic of tanking buisness. Duration increase from 10 to 20 secs.
+ AoE targets - you hit more stuff - generate more aggro, transfer aggro with whirling retaliaton.
Whirling retaliation dmg
Pledge cooldown - less time reqired for "God mode"
Warrior heart duration +60 secs on increased morale- + 1% on block, parry or crit chance depending on your stance when you use skill - very handy in many situations.

For 6th legacy you can go with vexing or sweeping cut dmg

Belt

Must have

Skill Threat Up - adds threat on non-dmg skills
Shield dmg - more dmg = more aggro
Warrior Heart heal % - self heal with some sets over 3k
+Block + Parry in threat stance - helps you to block parry more in threat stance
+ guardian ward block - more block more aggro chain skills/self healing
+ guardian ward parry - more whirling retaliation - aggro transfer on tank from FS within 10m

On belt you can also go for challenge targets or cry resist. but with proper traiting you can still do all jobs you have to do as a tank.
In my experience i found this setup to work perfectly

That is my setup on belt and weapon atm.
I tanked all end stuff.

Originally Posted by mhariel

also, I currently have a level 61 2nd age sword, I am also levelling up a third age axe, which if I were to upgrade would give me a greater dps than my current weapon. Do I stick with the second age weapon and concentrate on those legacies or switch to the third age weapon and decon the second age when it gets 65+ to get the goodies?

You need to drop your sword. The level difference creates a huge DPS difference. I kept 65 tanking weapons for a few weeks after hitting 75, but that was when most only had third agers, and my weapon was perfect as I used it for more than a year (all tier 6 legacies, and top relics). I also had a very nice 65 DPS weapon which had to go as soon as I reached level 70. Don't invest too much into your legendary items before you get at least level 75 2nd age items. They are a dime a dozen now.

ty for the help, that's cleared up quite a bit for me.
Also, how do I change legacies on a weapon I want to use? The Guardian's axe of the third age currently has
91.1 dps
+1640 overwhelm crit rating (major tier 5)
+1% vexing blow damage (major tier 3)
-4 Guardians pledge cooldown (major tier 2)
+1 charge duration (minor tier 3)
+ guardian bleed pulses (minor tier 5)
+0.5 targeted melee skills range (minor tier 3)

Am I right in thinking I don't need the overwhelm, charge duration and guardian bleed pulses? going on what darethelion said? How do i change those for ones that are more appropriate? Do I use scrolls, wait to reforge, or just not put points into those skills?
I probably sound like a total noob, but until now I've just played, survived and not really thought too much about my build other than blocking as much as I can and trying to do damage lol.

To get tier 2 legacy scrolls get a weapon up to level 30 and deforge it. You will get to choose a legacy from the weapon to get a scroll for. It is best to deforge at level 31 for a better payout. I find the best way when making your 75 weapon (probably wait for a second age, the mats are fairly cheap) is to get it to level 30 as well and then swap in the legacies you want. at 40, 50 etc you will get a chance to upgrade the tier of some random legacies. When you cap your weapon use scrolls to finish and get the tiers where you want them.

for weapons - area effect targets, guardians ward duration, and perhaps guardians pledge cooldown are standard.. I like to throw in stamp cooldown and turn the tables cooldown as these are skills that could change the fight, so it's nice to have them up as much as possible. Vit legacy is nice to have too.

for the belt - threat generation up is mandatory, other than that most are pretty good. guardians ward block, guardians threat block and parry if you use it.. challenge targets is nice to have as well. Shield damage is more aggro.. shield wall range makes the ability actually usable, so it makes you more versatile. shield smash damage if you want your one big crit move to make a big number. Vit legacy again is nice.

for a 2h, overpower skill cost reduction and overwhelm crit, maybe guardian bleed pulses for long long battles. the rest is up to you really. An overpower belt would have stagger crit rating and sting damage, the rest up to your judgement.

IMO most of the 10% damage legacies arn't worth taking because our base damage as a guard is so low to begin with.

Dont decon your weapons on lvl 30 since exp rune u get back would be variation from lvl 20 to 30.
If you decon it on lvl 31 you exp rune in return will be much bigger as it would be going from minimum lvl 30.
I hope you understand what i wanted to say.

Also while leveling you should slot lvl 70+ weapons and decon them on lvl 31+ and aim for specific legacies when you deconstruct them.
Stock up on MAJOR legacies as on MINORS so you have more options when you get 2nd age lvl 75 so you can "create" weapon/belt of your choice!

Gl.

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Belt:
Threat generation rating. -The most important one for filling in a tank role, helps you keep the enemies wailing on you. (MAJOR)

Catch a breath cooldown. -This is very good maxed out, lets you use it every 15 seconds and with the right trait, gives you power back as well (MAJOR)

Guardians ward block rating. -Better block on your guardians ward, which should be on of your most used tanking skills. (MAJOR)

Warriors heart/fortitude heal. -Very good self heal if you are in danger (MINOR)

Guardians threat block and parry bonus. -Good for your tanking stance which should be used often. (MINOR)

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Weapon:
Guardians pledge cooldown. -This is your super tank skill, it makes you close to unstoppable. So you want to use it more... Right? (MAJOR)

Guardians ward duration. -Makes your most used (hopefully most used) tanking skill longer. More time to gain aggro! (MAJOR)
Area of affect melee targets. -Makes skills like Whirling retaliation hit more targets, meaning more targets to tank and hold aggro on. (MAJOR)

Turn the tables cooldown. -Great skill for, well, turning the tables. Very good if you get stunned, which lets face it, sucks. And good chance of starting a FM. (MINOR)

Warriors heart/Fortitude duration. -Why would you not want to make yourself seem larger for longer. Plus, it gives you that little buff longer, you know the one that does not seem to do much but can actually mean the difference between life and death? (MINOR)

Stamp cooldown. -Stops inductions. Used in a fair few boss fight, this is literally giving their attacks "the boot". (MINOR)
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I'm going to go 'off the reservation' and go completely against the grain of what the guards here have posted as their "MUST HAVES" on a weapon. For me it goes something like this:

MAJOR:
AOE targets
Vexing Blow
Sweeping Cut
Whirling Retaliation

MINOR:
Warrior's Heart
whatever floats your boat...for me prob TTK or Stamp

And frankly if it doesn't get 4 major's its unusable (i've deconned a lvl 75 FA because it only had 3).

I don't worry about GW for many reasons. First, in a long battle and especially a battle with multiple opponents having your reactives ready to use isn't the problem...having them still on CD is the problem. Its easy enough to hit your GW into your rotation an extra time or 2 because you don't have the legacy. GW is a nice skill/legacy but in your overal existance its not make or break.

What is necessary is agro generation (can you say ToO acid t2 boss?). While DPS isn't our job, too many guardians discount that our DPS is a vital component of our agro generation. We don't always have a Fray, engage, Shield taunt, etc available to use so what fills in until we can yell at our opponent again? Our DPS skills. Whirling, whether or not there are multiple targets, should be being used at every opportunity and when there are mutiple targets Vexing (traited) and Sweeping helps your agro generation a lot by putting tots (traited gt) on mutilple targets plus the extra you get for your DPS + Threat Gen up (from belt).

Guardian's pledge: Well I guess being able to use it every 4m instead of every 5m is an improvement but there really aren't any fights where you'll be tanking straight for 8m to make it worthwhile. If you need Gp more than the twice you can get (Deep Breath) already, you're in some serious trouble anyway and likely you still won't get to pop GP a third time (Fight will be over one way or another). So i'd rather take a skill that will be used MUCH more often like TTK dmg.

Turn the Tables: Again this is a skill that while 'nice', I wouldn't waste a valuable legacy slot on it. It just doesn't come up enough to be useful. In raids, you're getting Stun Immunity from your LM where its necessary and there really isn't anywhere else you need it 'quickly'. Again, its just too long a CD to be really useful as a main skill. Other legacies are better as they are useful in more situations.

Stamp: I'm not so against this one. However, again, it is somewhat situational and while there are a few more situations where it is useful I don't find it really makes a difference. If there is a mob that MUST be interupted its not ever going to be the tanks job to do it. Burglars and Champs will be assigned this task and so your stamp as a guard is an emergency use or happenstance use. The attack is slow and is prone to miss and there are bettter things you can be doing with your time than trying to get that kick in.

Guardian's minor legacies are all somewhat...meh. The WH legacy needs to be 'bigger' as w/out the dragon armor bonus the skill is a lot less attractive and nothing else is that exciting either.

Summary: For me and legacies its all about how often is it going to be used. DPS contributes a lot to our agro so dmg legacies help agro much better than lowering a 5m cd to a 4m cd. My take anyway...

The other post got long so I figured I'd put the belt in a new one. Again, my take on a belt is somewhat different than those that have posted.

MAJOR:
Skill threat up
CaB - heal
CaB - CD

MINOR:
Warrior's heart heal
GT Bl/par
Power restore


That's currently what I use and it seems to work. That being said for major's I'm not against Challenge targets + and cry resists. If I had 4 majors on my belt I'd have challenge targets but with only 3 I went with the CaB (hopefully they improve the skill). Again, I don't bother with GW legacies as capping is super simple w/out it. Shield smash damage is meh but ok if you really want it go ahead. As for the power restore, I know its been controversial as to its actual usefulless but it does seem to help me not have any power issues. Dunno, maybe its just my perception.

Originally Posted by lestat86

DPS contributes a lot to our agro so dmg legacies help agro much better than lowering a 5m cd to a 4m cd. My take anyway...

How much aggro do you think our DPS numbers contribute? Adding 10% to only a few of the skills making up the measly 400 DPS a guard puts out whilst tanking is not something I would say is "a lot".

After coming to that realization I replaced all damage legacies on my tanking weapon with Vitality (mits + morale), Might (block + parry + a little damage to _all_ DPS skills) legacies.

GW legacy for me is a must, because I never seem to find time to actually use GW, so better to have it up for longer.

AoE targets for trash is of course essential.

Pledge CD is a nice luxury depending on the speed you go at and time between pulls for example. Also most guards should have it at 3 min anyway.

Originally Posted by Jullandar

How much aggro do you think our DPS numbers contribute? Adding 10% to only a few of the skills making up the measly 400 DPS a guard puts out whilst tanking is not something I would say is "a lot".

After coming to that realization I replaced all damage legacies on my tanking weapon with Vitality (mits + morale), Might (block + parry + a little damage to _all_ DPS skills) legacies.

GW legacy for me is a must, because I never seem to find time to actually use GW, so better to have it up for longer.

AoE targets for trash is of course essential.

Pledge CD is a nice luxury depending on the speed you go at and time between pulls for example. Also most guards should have it at 3 min anyway.

I'm actually surprised at the end of some fights, bosses mostly, at how much DPS I've actually done. Its always higher than I would think it to be. On these fights i'll usually be between 40k-60k damage. With the DPSers in my raid pumping out 1.8k to 2.3k DPS that 'measly' 10% becomes very important (one run last night against acid boss, champ was dealing 2.9k DPS).

With my VIT at 2030 and might over 800 I don't think having those legs would be all that valuable to me. And the GW legacy thing. I too sometimes find I don't have time for it, but only because my reactives are always up. And given THAT, that's why i decided I could live without it. If my reactives are firing all the time anyway, GW isn't really necessary. The -5% to armor wear is irrelevant. The 10% to partial block/parry is somewhat dubious and the common damage mit probably doesn't help you much as you've likely got it capped anyway or very nearly. So that's why I don't worry too much about it. Oh..and I just found this little gem from Graal on the isen changes "Skills like Guardian’s Ward will just do more damage inherently as the Guardian levels up from 65". So hitting GW more often will increase your DPS too

As you said, GP is a luxury and one I've chosen to do without but I understand those who want it.

I'd recommend gw duration simply because if guardian's ward misses or gets bpe'd it doesn't apply. And i swear it gets missed/blocked like 30% of the time. I have like 5.5k finesse too.

If you hit the skill every 10s or so, it'll probably be up all the time. Without the legacy it'll probably be down half the time.

The bonus mits from GW are nice... But in my experience it's never make or break... At some point i'm sure you'll die when you'd otherwise have lived, but everyone's used to taking a wipe or two; even when stuff is on farm.

Having said that... Pledge cooldown, gw duration, and + aoe melee targets. Melee targets is by far the most important.
For minors i run with WF duration, a vita legacy, and stamp cooldown.

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...y-shield-taunt

That thread is probably the most useful thing around for threat, and it's buried 5 months ago... I wish the mods were as active about sticky'ing useful content as they are about tempbanning people for flaming.

Here are mine tanking LIs.

Weapon (2nd age):

- Guardian's Ward Duration - maxed (The less often you need to use this skill, you can use more aggro skills)
- Guardian's Pledge Cooldown - maxed (and with the ToO set the cd is down to 3 min)
- Melee AOE targets +2 (I hardly ever tank more than 5 mobs. Also not enough points to spend more on this, I have a 2nd age)
- Overwhelm crit rating - no points used (don't have any points to use anyway so this is nice even without spending points. Might also replace with vitality legacy)
- Warrior's Heart Duration - maxed
- Stamp Cooldown - maxed

Belt (1st age, 3 crystals)

Shield Use - maxed

- Threat Generation Up - maxed
- Shield Damage - maxed
- -Cry Resist Chance - no points used
- Shield Wall Range - maxed
- Shield Smash Damage - maxed
- Guardian's Threat Block and Parry - use any remaining points

As you can see, my belt is mostly focused on shield damage. Combined with Threatening Presence and 5-piece Orthanc set bonus, Shield Blow is my best friend from the aggro skills (good threat + threat over time and not gated by block event). Shield Smash also does nice amount of damage and threat. Bash is useful when Shield Taunt is on cd.

Originally Posted by lestat86

I'm going to go 'off the reservation' and go completely against the grain of what the guards here have posted as their "MUST HAVES" on a weapon. For me it goes something like this:

MAJOR:
AOE targets
Vexing Blow
Sweeping Cut
Whirling Retaliation

MINOR:
Warrior's Heart
whatever floats your boat...for me prob TTK or Stamp

And frankly if it doesn't get 4 major's its unusable (i've deconned a lvl 75 FA because it only had 3).

I don't worry about GW for many reasons. First, in a long battle and especially a battle with multiple opponents having your reactives ready to use isn't the problem...having them still on CD is the problem. Its easy enough to hit your GW into your rotation an extra time or 2 because you don't have the legacy. GW is a nice skill/legacy but in your overal existance its not make or break.What is necessary is agro generation (can you say ToO acid t2 boss?). While DPS isn't our job, too many guardians discount that our DPS is a vital component of our agro generation. We don't always have a Fray, engage, Shield taunt, etc available to use so what fills in until we can yell at our opponent again? Our DPS skills. Whirling, whether or not there are multiple targets, should be being used at every opportunity and when there are mutiple targets Vexing (traited) and Sweeping helps your agro generation a lot by putting tots (traited gt) on mutilple targets plus the extra you get for your DPS + Threat Gen up (from belt).

Guardian's pledge: Well I guess being able to use it every 4m instead of every 5m is an improvement but there really aren't any fights where you'll be tanking straight for 8m to make it worthwhile. If you need Gp more than the twice you can get (Deep Breath) already, you're in some serious trouble anyway and likely you still won't get to pop GP a third time (Fight will be over one way or another). So i'd rather take a skill that will be used MUCH more often like TTK dmg.



Turn the Tables: Again this is a skill that while 'nice', I wouldn't waste a valuable legacy slot on it. It just doesn't come up enough to be useful. In raids, you're getting Stun Immunity from your LM where its necessary and there really isn't anywhere else you need it 'quickly'. Again, its just too long a CD to be really useful as a main skill. Other legacies are better as they are useful in more situations.

Stamp: I'm not so against this one. However, again, it is somewhat situational and while there are a few more situations where it is useful I don't find it really makes a difference. If there is a mob that MUST be interupted its not ever going to be the tanks job to do it. Burglars and Champs will be assigned this task and so your stamp as a guard is an emergency use or happenstance use. The attack is slow and is prone to miss and there are bettter things you can be doing with your time than trying to get that kick in.

Guardian's minor legacies are all somewhat...meh. The WH legacy needs to be 'bigger' as w/out the dragon armor bonus the skill is a lot less attractive and nothing else is that exciting either.

Summary: For me and legacies its all about how often is it going to be used. DPS contributes a lot to our agro so dmg legacies help agro much better than lowering a 5m cd to a 4m cd. My take anyway...

Nice to see someone that feels like I do. My guard 1 hander is:

Vexing blow damage
guardian area effect melee targets
Whiling retaliation damage
(my old 7 leg one hander 65 had sweeping cut ::sniff:
targeted melee skills range
Warriors heart/fortitude dur
stamp cooldown - I suppose I should make a second weapon and leave this off it. For the fights its not needed. But I hate having stamp on CD when I need it.

Belt is:

challenge targets
Threat Gen up
Guardians ward parry - guess I could replace this with CaB moral heal -- but I like the extra parry for WR - Though what is it 1.7% plus or minus more.
Power restore on reactions
warriors heart/fortitude moral
Guardians Threat block and parry

If you have good enough reflexes, and you're good with your fingers using hotkeys and such.

You do not need to waste legacies on CD and duration skills (the ones you don't spam anyway) on your main LIs.

For example:

1H weapon -
Pledge CD
Warrior's heart/fortitude duration
Stamp
Sprint Duration
TtT CD

belt -
challenge targets
Shield wall range
Warrior's heart/fortitude heal %

You can have these on a separate LI (they don't even need to be lvl 75) and swap them in when you hit your skills, then swap back to your main.

This style of play isn't for everybody though (and of course not necessary to complete content), but if you want to really be on the top of your game then this is the way to go.

But at the end of the day, learning what legacies works best for you and best suits your style of play is probably the best thing you can do.. for example don't have block reactive damage/power restore if you never trait it (which i do see is the case with a lot of guards....) test.. test and more test..

Originally Posted by DuneBug

I'd recommend gw duration simply because if guardian's ward misses or gets bpe'd it doesn't apply. And i swear it gets missed/blocked like 30% of the time. I have like 5.5k finesse too.

If you hit the skill every 10s or so, it'll probably be up all the time. Without the legacy it'll probably be down half the time.

BINGO. If you're running around with 2000+ vit, 800+ might, and 300+ agility, then your Ward will miss. Ward is our ONE defensive buff skill, and the legacy increases duration by 100%. I'll take that over 10% damage on Vexing Blow any raid of the week.

There are no boss fights in the game where 10% damage on VB, SC, WR and TtK are going to make more difference than proper use of challenge, engage, and ebbing ire.

Weapon:
Aoe Targets, Ward Duration are the only must-haves.
Targeted Melee Skills Range, Stamp CD are nice but not required.
Everything else is gravy. Want a shorter Pledge CD, Turn the Tables CD or longer Brutal Charge? Use a swap weapon.

Belt:
Skills Threat Up, Shield Damage, (Challenge Targets OR Catch a Breath CD) are the most useful majors
Threat Stance block/parry rating, Warrior's Heart Morale Heal are the most useful minors.
Reactive Block Damage is awesome for funzies (like soloing the entire Skumfil spider wing in one pull).
All else is gravy. A useful swap belt would have Challenge Targets, Ward block rating, and Ward Parry rating.

Everything technical is really covered already. All I will add is what is "best" depends on what you're doing. If you're trying to tank Teir 2 Raid content, it will be VERY different than if you're doing Epic Storyline Quests solo even if you're coming from a defensive mindset both times.

this link helped me a lot :
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...%28Post-RoI%29

Originally Posted by Maelendil

You need to drop your sword. The level difference creates a huge DPS difference. I kept 65 tanking weapons for a few weeks after hitting 75, but that was when most only had third agers, and my weapon was perfect as I used it for more than a year (all tier 6 legacies, and top relics). I also had a very nice 65 DPS weapon which had to go as soon as I reached level 70. Don't invest too much into your legendary items before you get at least level 75 2nd age items. They are a dime a dozen now.

Excuse me, I know this is unrelated but I am uncertain on how to post questions. Could someone tell me how? I have similar question on legendary weapons as he but do not know how to properly vocalize them on here so all can see and respond.

In this Guardian forum, right above the top post titled: Sticky: Feedback: New Player Tips for Guardians, there is a green button called "Post New Thread".

Click on that and under where it says "Title:" there is a small white box that you put the title of your thread, such as "Question on Guardian Legacies" or "I need help choosing my Legacies" or "Need opinions on what Legacies to choose", something along those lines if that if what your question is above.

In the bigger white box under all the editing tools, you write your question in more detail, similar to how you did above, making sure to give your character level if it is not already in your signature.

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