Thread: Champion or Hunter?

Hi guys, i'm a new player and I was wondering what to chose from between a champion or hunter, and what are their differences, any helpful answers would be appreciated, thanks

As a first character, both seem like a good choice.
Hunters are nice because of their travel options (they get regular "teleport" destinations that other classes don't - Skills called "guide to [location]"). Those are extremely useful.

As for the fighting experience with both classes, I cannot really compare because my champion is only level 10, while my hunter is my level 75 main character.

Hunters hit from far away but are more fragile, champions are always in the middle of the fight, but have the sturdiness to endure it (if you don't overdo it).

They are probably the two classes who hit the hardest and who are easier to play with.

The best advice I can give you is to make one of each and try them out.

Originally Posted by Lucanthanas

As a first character, both seem like a good choice.
Hunters are nice because of their travel options (they get regular "teleport" destinations that other classes don't - Skills called "guide to [location]"). Those are extremely useful.

As for the fighting experience with both classes, I cannot really compare because my champion is only level 10, while my hunter is my level 75 main character.

Hunters hit from far away but are more fragile, champions are always in the middle of the fight, but have the sturdiness to endure it (if you don't overdo it).

They are probably the two classes who hit the hardest and who are easier to play with.

The best advice I can give you is to make one of each and try them out.

Thanks a lot for the advice, I'm thinking of making a hunter, but can you tell me a bit more about this class, please.

ok then.

Lets see...

Hunter's main focus is ranged damage dealing (ranged dps), most our skills shoot arrows one way or the other.

Our ranged dps skills are divided into two groups: Induction and Focus.

Inductions skills are skills that take a little longer to shoot (have an induction time) and require you to be still while shooting them, these skills usually generate Focus.

Focus skills need this focus to use (and spend it) but are instant high damage skills.
You will usually be alternating between the two, shooting induction skills to generate focus and spending that focus on focus skills to speed up your kills.


We then have some melee skills to complement our ranged skills (it's not like we are able to kill ALL enemies before they reach us). These melee skills are simple damage dealing skills. They deal less damage than your ranged skills, but have added effects to help you survive in melee, gain distance to resume ranged, or even generate focus so you can easily fire your Focus skills.


Besides regular damage skills and the already mentioned travel skills, we are also tracking and trap masters.

We get two trap skills that we can set on the ground so that enemies are hit by them, and we get track skills so that we can find those said enemies. Besides those trap skills, we can also use traps crafted by players different than your skills.


Even another aspect of the hunter is the Crowd Control skills. Besides the mentioned traps that root your opponent, we have several other skills that slow, root, daze, fear or otherwise impair the opposition. It's not our main focus and it is in need of improvement, but it's nice to have.

That's about it. Hunter's are nice. You'll enjoy it and it's very easy to play with.

Lucanthanas' answer is pretty comprehensive. I would add that the difference between Champion and Hunter is mindset. If you like to explore, spot something, and kill it, Hunter can't be beat. In groups, Hunters usually concentrate on a single foe, using long range and dps. In close they can fight, but if several mobs are attacking, they can easily be overwhelmed. And no one beats a Hunter at traveling.

Champions are for those who like to wade into the thick of it, weapons slicing left and right. They are primarily melee dps. At L20 they get Heavy Armour skill, and somewhere about then they get bow use too. Champions have a lot more Area of Effect skills, too, so they can engage multiple enemies in melee.

If you like to pick off your enemies one by one while keeping an eye on the entire battle, Hunter is best. If you like to wade into the thick of it and sort out the carnage later, Champion is best.

I have a L50 Hunter and a L27 Champion. I like both, so it depends on my mood as to which one I will log into. I also have a L39 Warden, who is a bit of both - a little range with javelins and a wades into battle, though he doesn't kill things near as fast as a Champ or Hunter

As a first time player I'd say Hunter, just for the travel skills.

Since you won't be familiar with the quests or zones, and wil be exploring the landscape for the first time, you're going to be spending a lot of time travelling back and forth. When it comes to travel, Hunter's speed bonus and ability to travel to every zone will save you a LOT of time.

As for actual gameplay, both are damage-oriented classes. Hunter does high ranged damage to a single target with a bit of crowd control skills. Champion does melee damage to multiple targets at once.

Thanks guy that was really helpful, I was concerned at first that hunters were weak, but it turned out to be the opposite

Be careful with hunters - there is an abundance of them everywhere, making them less desirable for grouping than other classes. At low levels hunters are extremely powerful because of their very high damage and the range abilities - at later levels their power does suffer compared to other classes.

I play a champion as my main and I love the class, you are always right in the enemies face swinging with everything but the kitchensink. Champions do absurd amounts of damage - I believe the only class that can consistently keep up is rune keepers at high level. You do die a lot - in any group the champion should be the first to die, we live by the credo that it is not about how often you die, it is about how many enemies you take with you.

Originally Posted by Traur

You do die a lot - in any group the champion should be the first to die, we live by the credo that it is not about how often you die, it is about how many enemies you take with you.

This part is true (right after the tank that is). They SHOULD.
Unfortunately, not every champion can keep up with a hunter and usually if the tank is down I'm usually the next target.
I don't find that champions deal more damage than hunters near end-game (an easy way to see this is to see who the forge targets in the foundry instance - I suppose champions will not be transferring aggro there...).
In fact, when it comes to damage, I believe champions, hunters and RK are fairly similar (RK a little behind, maybe).

But it may be my perspective... Or course, champions DO have much better skills to deal with threat (aggro), so maybe that's why they come after me (or another hunter) when the tank falls...

As for there being lots of hunters, that is true. You will not lack competition as a hunter. :P
Still, I never had any trouble finding a group...

As for the current problems with the hunter near end-game (mainly survivability and aggro issues), by the time you get there, champions may be the ones with issues, so there is really no point on worrying about that.

But we are diverting from the issue here.

Important part:
The concern for having a lot of hunters around is a reasonable one. Be prepared for the competition. It's much easier to get a group as a champion (once again, this is end-game we are talking about).

My hunter was my first Character and I am really glad I picked him first. I enjoy my Warden more than my hunter, but the travel skills of a hunter make them great first characters. It is very easy to get lost in Middle Earth if you don't know where you are going. The hunter travel skills mitigate getting lost. Once you get a hunter to level cap you mostly know your way around and getting lost won't be much of a problem on your next character.

Hunters may spoil you for later characters due to their ability to travel around hehe

Seriously though, it's pretty much if you want to do ranged, go hunter, if you want to do more in your face melee, do champion.

Or do what I do, and do both (characters, not combat styles :P)

Cool, thanks again guys but i think I'm going with hunter

Originally Posted by Lucanthanas

This part is true (right after the tank that is). They SHOULD.
Unfortunately, not every champion can keep up with a hunter and usually if the tank is down I'm usually the next target.
I don't find that champions deal more damage than hunters near end-game (an easy way to see this is to see who the forge targets in the foundry instance - I suppose champions will not be transferring aggro there...).
In fact, when it comes to damage, I believe champions, hunters and RK are fairly similar (RK a little behind, maybe).

But it may be my perspective... Or course, champions DO have much better skills to deal with threat (aggro), so maybe that's why they come after me (or another hunter) when the tank falls...

As for there being lots of hunters, that is true. You will not lack competition as a hunter. :P
Still, I never had any trouble finding a group...

As for the current problems with the hunter near end-game (mainly survivability and aggro issues), by the time you get there, champions may be the ones with issues, so there is really no point on worrying about that.

But we are diverting from the issue here.

Important part:
The concern for having a lot of hunters around is a reasonable one. Be prepared for the competition. It's much easier to get a group as a champion (once again, this is end-game we are talking about).

I don't think I have ever had a hunter take aggro before I did in foundry unless I am washing off aggro with ebbing ire, but that is usually a waste of time - the tank is good they don't need it in that instance and if they are bad it won't help enough.

In order of who should die in a 6 man instance: 1. Champion, 2. Burglar, 3. Hunter, dps RK, LM, 4. Off-tank, captain, 5. Healer, 6. Tank. As long as the tank is alive and can kite, the healer can retreat and run back, get healing and combat rez.

If I were you I'd choose Champion.

Champions are like Hunters wearing heavy armour in my opinion. At level 30, Champions can get the Bow skill, so basically they start to use bows as well as hunters.

Champions focus on dealing damage to more than one enemy at the same time, while the Hunter focuses on dealing damage at one opponent then focus on another.

A good Hunter skill in my opinion is (I don't know its name) one where they make camp fires. Camp fires allow their Morale to Regenerate faster than just standing there waiting for minutes until they get full Morale. Sure, other classes can just travel to camp fires located almost everywhere in Middle-Earth, but it's more relaxing with Hunter.

If you just can't decide, you should pick another class. I don't know if this is true but javelins can deal more damage than bows sometimes. (Only us Wardens can use javelins)

At their most basic, a Champion is melee and a Hunter is ranged. A Champion goes "toe to toe" with enemies, trading attacks, while a Hunter tries to kill enemies at range before they close to attack. Each is better than the other at what they do, but can cover the other ''adequately''.

What this means for the Player is that the Champion is much more like a martial-arts vid game, and the Hunter is more like a FPS. Dealer's choice.

Originally Posted by Brennel

I don't know if this is true but javelins can deal more damage than bows sometimes. (Only us Wardens can use javelins)

It's not true, at least not based on the weapon alone. Weapons have the same dps (damage per second) at-level - that is, one equivalent* Minimum Level 20 "ranged" weapon will have identical dps as any other ML 20 Ranged weapon, whether it's bow, crossbow or javelin.

(* drop loot, or normal crafted, or craft-crit.)

Some classes might be able to do better with one weapon or another, but there is no way a Champion is better (or even close) with ranged weapons than a Hunter, and for some reason I, personally, strongly doubt that a Warden does more Ranged damage than the range-dedicated class, the Hunter.

Guardian! Best survivability awesome armor plus you can mail your acorn to people and the can summon you anywhere.

I just want to add one more note on hunters.

If you are coming from another game be aware that in LOTRO hunters do NOT have pets to tank things for them. You do need to think a bit more about HOW you pull things when out solo questing. Traps are your friend.

HUNTER! But that couldn't possibly be because I'm bias or anything. :P

Actually it just depends on your play style.

Personally I prefer the range so my favorite characters are the Hunter and the Rune Keeper. I haven't tried the Minstrel or the Lore Master though.

The champ is close range, melee. It has a bow, but that's really just to call an enemy to you rather than having to go to them. I didn't like my champ much, but I kind of like my gaurdian. I hated a captain, just not my play style. My warden is ok, I haven't gotten her up high enough to really know whether or not i like her though.

I would say make one of each, play them both to level 20-25, and that should tell you which one you will like better. But most people that play the game make multiple characters to play based on how they want to play at that moment, dealing damage, holding the enemy's attention, or even healing others. A lot of people also like haveing multiple characters for the crafting possibilities.

So I would make one of each if they are what draws you. If your Free to Play then make one, buy something from the store. Anything will unlock the extra 2 slots per world, then make the other and play them to 20-25. It will help you figure out your personal play style.

Originally Posted by Brennel

At level 30, Champions can get the Bow skill, so basically they start to use bows as well as hunters.

While yes, Champions get a bow skill, that's just not true.

@OP: I have both a level 75 hunter and champion and both are really fun. It really depends on your play style, and I won't go into detail because I'll just be repeating what everyone else has said.