Thread: Which 3 classes create the best small fellowship?

Hey guys i have a lvl 44 elf champion but me and a couple friends (2 friends) are going to create new characters and start over. What is the best combination of classes for a small fellowship? If you guys could please let me know, it would be greatly appreciated.

For 3 mans you're gonna need dps heals and tank
dps: champion/hunter/rk
heals: rk/mini
tank:champion/warden/guardian

and support class if one is missing:captain/LM/burglar

Definitly you need heal and tank.
So a minstrel and a guardian are imho the best choice.
Then for the dmg you can take every DD, but I (as the minstrel) prefer a hunter. Makes nice dmg and can stand close to me to protect me and take the aggro when I'm offended.

Also a hunter can provide "free" travel - which is huge!!

if you're all F2P and don't have access to the RK and Warden

Guardian/Hunter/Minstrel

you all can play(start) as same race with those 3 classes too

Mini
Champ
Guard

or

Burg
Burg
Burg

and if you can find a forth go with....

Mini
Champ
Guard
Capt

or

Burg
Burg
Burg
Burg

If I were designing a threesome, I'd probably go with one tanky-type (Guardian or Warden), one healing type (Minstrel or RK) and one support (Captain, Burglar, or LM). When you are doing solo content you'll have PLENTY of DPS, especially if your Minstrel/RK goes into DPS mode and lets the Captain, LM, or Burglar do the healing. If you need more DPS, it's easy to find Hunters or Champs who are looking for groups.

a challenging but fun (and I think effective) one is champ-captain-burg.

Champ will pick up tanking (fervor for easy speed kills, and glory for anything more difficult) + high dps
Captain will handle most of the healing + some dps + buffs + some tanking if needed
Burg will debuff + some dps + CC as needed + emergency healing with CJs

This group is more of a challenge because all the main roles are played by 2nd string classes their (tanking and healing). However it works very will if everyone is coordinated and can handle getting the timings down. The captain + burg cjs as needed (for green) will be enough healing even with a champ tanking. If the pull does get too ugly the burg can CC a bit to help out and the captain can always tank 1-2 mobs to distribute the damage.

All in all this combo gives up traditional tanking + heals in order to have more dps and room for a support class. Plus in my mind the challenge is a lot more fun. I have found that lvling with this combo (and good players) goes a late faster than tank + healer + other.

I should also note that nearly ANY combination of 3 players is good for nearly any small fellowship content. I think it's MUCH more important for each person to play a class that they like than to get an optimum combination of classes. LotRO almost never requires some perfect class combo, even though some (bad) raid leaders like to think it does.

So much depends on the playstyle of yourself and your friends. ''The best'' could be pure effectiveness, but could also be pure enjoyment - sometimes the most ''powerful'' combos are boring to some, or difficult to use effectively for other Players. So, all the above advice (especially what might appear as some unusual combos) must be filtered thru your group, your gaming preferences, experience and playstyle.

Originally Posted by anonymousss

For 3 mans you're gonna need dps heals and tank
dps: champion/hunter/rk
heals: rk/mini
tank:champion/warden/guardian

and support class if one is missing:captain/LM/burglar

Solid basic advice, and a decent simple assessment of the classes. However, there are many more variations possible than those listed above - for instance, it's possible for a LoreMaster to use their animal companion to ''tank'' (for a short while, at least) - so much depends on personal tactics, creativity and the demands of the instance. Also, it's not clear that you need a full-healer to cover a 3-member fellowship - as mentioned by others, 2nd-tier classes my well be able to cover the needs of 3 and be flexible for other duties (and/or just join in the dps fun if the battle is going your way).


Here's another view, one cribbed from my Kin forum (not oriented for pure ftp)...

o Tanks in order: Guardian (& Warden, Champion, Captain)

o DPS Melee in order: Champion, Burglar, Guardian, Warden, Captain

o DPS AoE in order: Champion, Guardian, Hunter, Rune-Keeper, Lore-Master

o DPS Ranged in order: Hunter, Rune-Keeper, Warden

o Healer in order: Minstrel (& Rune-Keeper, Lore-Master, Captain)

o Crowd control in order: Lore-Master, Burglar, Hunter

o Debuffer in order: Burglar, Lore-Master

o Buffer in order: Captain, Minstrel

While much of the above could be argued as ''ymmv'', it should give the three of you a fair starting point to form a trio that works for you.

Originally Posted by Shukar

If you need more DPS, it's easy to find Hunters or Champs who are looking for groups.

If(?) you are ever going to expand your group to 4(+), this is very true. Hunters are a dime a dozen it seems (altho' how reliable/capable that Player is will always be an unknown, and a Hunter can self-destruct very easily if they don't know how to cooperate and they pull aggro onto themselves... but you can always just count that as CC and let them learn the hard way, no loss. They pulled it, they keep it.)

Originally Posted by MaestroJack

Also a hunter can provide "free" travel - which is huge!!

Very true, a HUGE time-saver! While some see this as a convenience, if your on-line time is limited, this may be an important consideration, the ability to 'port to exactly (or nearly so) where you need to go.

Originally Posted by Simsiim2

if you're all F2P and don't have access to the RK and Warden

(Yeah, I'm constantly dumbstruck at how much ''advice'' seems to completely overlook that this is the FREE-To-Play subforum...)

For leveling up you don't really need the traditional heal+tank+dps. That's overkill most of the time and actually can get a bit stale. The drawback is that at level 75 some three person instances really seem to be set up that way, but before then it's no trouble.

I would say you want probably either a tank or a healer, or at least someone who can become a tank or healer when you need it. You get a lot of flexibility if you pick classes with multiple roles for this reason. Ie, a champion is big on damage but can tank when required (even without traiting or changing gear). A rune keeper or minstrel can do a lot of damage but then switch to healing. Having to tank all the time or heal all the time is boring and not necessary.

Make room for support classes too, the ones often overlooked by many players. Captains, lore masters, and burglars. Captain does reasonable healing for small fellowships, even if traited for damage dealing, and can do a reasonable job tanking one or two enemies with some traits, plus makes the whole group work better. Lore masters and burglars will turn a lot of hard fights into easy fights because they can reduce the damage you're taking from enemies (thus you need fewer heals) or mez an enemy to take it out of the fight until you're ready for it. The final bonus is that these classes have more fun game play I think, you're always on your toes, you don't just spam one or two skills, etc.

In fact I think a captain + lore master + burglar trio would be a very good and flexible combination.

Also don't necessarily shy away from having two of the same class in the group.

I'd start with a champion and a captain, and then add another. Any other class would compliment this duo well, including another captain or champion.

Champ + RK + anything else, I would say. If you don't feel like champ-tanking, the 'anything else' could well be warden or guardian or a champ who DOES feel like champ-tanking.

Originally Posted by Lohi

For leveling up you don't really need the traditional heal+tank+dps. That's overkill most of the time and actually can get a bit stale. The drawback is that at level 75 some three person instances really seem to be set up that way, but before then it's no trouble.

I'm going to question this. As I was leveling up my RK, I got into a lot of groups that were built as heal+tank+dps. Those groups had a HARD time with challenging content like GB. Groups built with heal+tank+dps+support did the same content MUCH easier. Going heal-tank-dps ONLY can gimp you.

LotRO is not built like other games. All classes have primary and secondary roles... and in small groups, the secondary role can be as effective and much more versatile. Your little threesome will be much MORE effective by including support classes than by going heal-tank-dps.