Thread: Lore-master Help (Because I don't know what I'm doing)

First, I apologize if there's a better place to post this. But I have a few questions about my Lore-master character, an Elf named Andirael.

I feel like I should preface this by saying I'm not a huge gamer and LOTRO is the only MMO I've ever played. Otherwise, my gaming experience is primarily limited to Cool Boarders and Final Fantasy VII-IX on the original PlayStation. So there's quite a few questions that are probably really dumb and just me not getting a term or something commonly used in gaming. I do realize that I probably shouldn't have picked Lore-master as my first go, but too late now. (I've managed to make it to Lvl 28 without knowing what I'm doing). My alt is a Dwarf Hunter, Korvi.

So anyway, onto the questions:

1) What does "debuff" mean? A lot of Lore-master skills are debuffs, for example, "Fire Lore", which supposedly targets 3 enemies. I don't think I've ever targeted more than 1 at a time though, which brings us to the next question...

2) How do you target multiple enemies at one time?

3) I've used the same handful of skills over and over because they're the only ones that seem to do any damage and when I'm questing solo, I don't know what else to do but hit as fast and hard as I can. I've relied mostly on Burning Embers, Cracked Earth, Gust of Wind, and Blinding Flash, along with my pet. Blinding Flash is kind of a big one for LMs, in my understanding, but I've never been able to cast it on more than one character at the same time-- is that usual? Or, again, see question 2. Also are all skills gained through your Trainer? Or are some earned other ways?

4) Are there any good tips for solo questing with a LM?

5) If you have 3 different types of Bears, does it still count as 1 pet as far as the animal's strength and morale are concerned? Or do you need to basically level up each one?

6) Totally unrelated to Lore-master, but is there a mount that's blonde sorrel, but with a dark mane and tail?


So basically I'd like someone to coach me on how to be a better (or at least mildly effective) Lore-master. lol And explain it without terms like AoE or DOT or Debuff because I don't know what those words/abbreviations/whatever mean.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to fill me in!

I'm off to play for a bit now.

I'll be on Riddermark, as Andirael, (but I may switch to Korvi at some point) if anyone wants to chat with me in-game about any of this.

you would better off posting this in the Lore Master Fourm http://forums.lotro.com/forumdisplay...0-Lore-masters



But to answer your questions for you..

1) debuffs are things that you do to make your oppnant less effective (decreasing their armor, There Attack Speed)

2) You don't attack more that one Mob, you do have your AOE (Aera Of Effect) skills.. that will effect more than one mob at a time.


5) You can have a jeweler make you sometihng to change the apparance of your pet.. and you will gain new differnt pets at diffenrt levels (at 45 you get your legedary triat and your eagle) key point to remeber with your pet is, if you level.. dismess it and recall it.. it will level as you level.. but when it's out it will not...

Originally Posted by AndiraelKorvi

First, I apologize if there's a better place to post this. But I have a few questions about my Lore-master character, an Elf named Andirael.


1) What does "debuff" mean?

2) How do you target multiple enemies at one time?

3) I've used the same handful of skills over and over because they're the only ones that seem to do any damage and when I'm questing solo, I don't know what else to do but hit as fast and hard as I can. I've relied mostly on Burning Embers, Cracked Earth, Gust of Wind, and Blinding Flash, along with my pet. Blinding Flash is kind of a big one for LMs, in my understanding, but I've never been able to cast it on more than one character at the same time-- is that usual? Or, again, see question 2. Also are all skills gained through your Trainer? Or are some earned other ways?

4) Are there any good tips for solo questing with a LM?

5) If you have 3 different types of Bears, does it still count as 1 pet as far as the animal's strength and morale are concerned? Or do you need to basically level up each one?

6) Totally unrelated to Lore-master, but is there a mount that's blonde sorrel, but with a dark mane and tail?

1) debuffs are skills that make your oppnant less effective in combat, for example, decreasing their armor, increasing their inductions or attack durations, etc.

2) You cannot target multiple enemies, but you can use Area of effect' skills. These come in two basic flavors: untargted ones that simply effect enemies around you, and targeted ones (such as herb lore), that affect your target and a few other enemies near your target.

3) I think everyone does that, myself included. A lot of the LMs skills are debuffs, and crowd control, not so much direct damage.

4) depends on your play style. AT earlier levels, I like using my bear as a tank, and once it build agroo, then I use ranged skills on it.

5) You basically have one bear. The other skills simply change the appearance of the bear. And it's level is tied to yours, so you don't 'level it up' per se.

My LM is very young and inexperienced, but I'll try to answer your other questions.

1) Think of debuffs as disadvantages. There are debuffs for reducing attack speed/damage, stunning or otherwise CCing, temporarily decreasing stats (e.g., -20 to vitality), slowing movement speed, etc. A mob can give you a debuff or you can give a mob a debuff.

2) I pick the mob in the middle of the group. Hover over an AoE skill to see its radius. (It's generally a very good idea to read all your skill tooltips.

3) Most skills are obtained from class trainers. Some, like the ones for summoning non-combat pets (LMs) or mentoring instruments (minis), come from drops. Others are from legendary traits.

6) How dark? http://lotrosteeds.com/ has pics of most of the available mounts.


AoE = Area of Effect
CC = Crowd Control (temporarily taking mobs out of the fight by stunning, dazing, fearing, or rooting them)
DoT = Damage over Time (debuff, e.g. a wound that makes you lose 50 morale every 2 seconds for 30 seconds)
HoT = Heal over Time (buff, similar to DoT but gives you morale)
For more general MMO terms, this may be helpful: http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/MMO_T...y_and_Acronyms. Other acronyms/abbreviations you may come across, like GA (Garth Agarwen), GB (Great Barrows), GS (Grand Stair), Uru (Urugarth), CD (Carn Dum), Hele (Helegrod), and ToO (Tower of Orthanc) refer to instances. Don't worry, you don't need to remember all of these! I certainly don't.

Edit: Bah, I type slow.

Hi and welcome to LOTRO, I have some experience with the loremaster and I would be glad to share some tips with you (although I am sure there are a number of more experienced loremasters out there).
1) A debuff is a skill which does not necessarily deal damage to your target but weakens it in some way. You have abilities which make your enemy take longer to attack, to have a higher percent chance of missing you, to deal less damage. These abilities are all debuffs. A debuff will place an icon beneath the affected target portrait indicating that the debuff is active.
2) You cannot target multiple enemies at one time. When a skill mentions that it targets three enemies it means that up to three enemies may receive the effect of the skill. There is usually a radius around your initial target that the other enemies have to be within in order to receive the damage/debuff/whatever.
3) This is sort of a tough question. My favorite spell rotations with my loremaster are based around cracked earth. Cracked earth causes your targets to be rooted after a certain period of time has passed. I tend to send my pet in for initial aggro, use Burning embers to pull because of the long range/slow, then cracked earth, then one of my stunning skills. The stun usually keeps the target in place long enough for them to become rooted. I then try to get another cracked earth on the target and keep them rooted/slowed/stunned and away from me for as long as possible. I sometimes throw other skills: wind lore against archers, perhaps wizards fire, or fire lore against other melee mobs. I think as long as you remember you primary focus is to keep them away from you, life should be OK.
4) Sort of integrates with previous question. Send the pet in first. Don't sit there and let them catch up/hit you, run around. Try to use skills which make it hard for them to get to you.
5) Bears are bears are bears. Some just look prettier than others.
6) No idea. I personally think that the Mathom society rep horse is one of the prettier ones in the game for whatever that's worth...
AS a post statement I'd like to fill you in on a few terms you mentioned that might be important for you to understand:
DoT--Damage over time--Instead of just dealing a set amount of damage immediately the full impact of your attack is spread out over a period of a number of seconds. Often these are more damage per cost as long as the battle lasts long enough that the full amount of the damage happens.
AoE--Area of Effect--Sometimes a skill can hit more than one enemy in a certain space. This is usually measured as a radius coming away from your initial target. Any other enemies within that space will take damage (and attack you) up to the maximum number of targets.
Lore-masters are a tough but fun class to play. You may be jumping in at the deep end but a few untimely deaths never really hurt anyone. (Does that statement even make sense?) Anyways, play and have fun! You don't need to be an expert and you will pick up on a lot of these things while you go through the game.

Check here: http://forums.lotro.com/forumdisplay...0-Lore-masters for the LM forums, lots of good answers. Also, to add to Jiraiyaisnolia, learn to notice flanks. When your pet does a flanking move, (noticed by a sound and red/pink arrows) you can return a little power/morale or do extra damage.

Originally Posted by AndiraelKorvi

First, I apologize if there's a better place to post this. But I have a few questions about my Lore-master character, an Elf named Andirael.

Well, there are separate forums for each of the classes, including Lore-masters; click on "Forum" above and scroll way way down.

But in the meantime, I'll try to answer some of your questions. I'll also define some terms as I go along. (I had to learn them too; I still don't know 'em all. )

Note: A Lore-master is not a wizard. There are only five Wizards in Middle-earth; we meet three of them during the course of the game. The Lore-master is a practical engineer, zoologist, and botanist whose understanding of the natural world enables him to manipulate his environment to his advantage.

I feel like I should preface this by saying I'm not a huge gamer and LOTRO is the only MMO I've ever played. Otherwise, my gaming experience is primarily limited to Cool Boarders and Final Fantasy VII-IX on the original PlayStation. So there's quite a few questions that are probably really dumb and just me not getting a term or something commonly used in gaming. I do realize that I probably shouldn't have picked Lore-master as my first go, but too late now. (I've managed to make it to Lvl 28 without knowing what I'm doing). My alt is a Dwarf Hunter, Korvi.

So anyway, onto the questions:

1) What does "debuff" mean? A lot of Lore-master skills are debuffs, for example, "Fire Lore", which supposedly targets 3 enemies. I don't think I've ever targeted more than 1 at a time though, which brings us to the next question...

A debuff is an action that has a negative effect on a mob (that's an enemy character of any kind, played by the computer). Fire Lore will, in effect, set as many as three enemies on fire. If you mouse over the icon for Fire-Lore, you'll see a window with some fancy language about how it raises the temperature around your enemies and makes it harder for them to fight. Down at the bottom of the window it'll say what it actually does: takes 30% of the enemy's ability to do damage, and adds a 2% chance that they might miss hitting you.

The opposite is a "buff" which has a positive effect on you or your fellows or your pet. There are skills available to different character classes that can make characters stronger, more resistant to damage, able to heal faster, and so on; before a group go out to fight, you'll frequently see them casting buffs on themselves and one another to prepare them for battle.

2) How do you target multiple enemies at one time?

For one thing, some of your skills are AoEs, that is, Area-of-Effect skills, that will hit every target within a certain radius. Sign of Power is one of these; Storm-Lore is another.

In addition, as a Lore-master, you can use Blinding Flash to daze one mob for 30 seconds, so it stands there looking stupid and doesn't fight (unless somebody hits it); send your pet to attack another, and cast your various skills at a third. If there are more than that, you might try pulling only a few of them closer to you with a Burning Embers or something.

3) I've used the same handful of skills over and over because they're the only ones that seem to do any damage and when I'm questing solo, I don't know what else to do but hit as fast and hard as I can. I've relied mostly on Burning Embers, Cracked Earth, Gust of Wind, and Blinding Flash, along with my pet. Blinding Flash is kind of a big one for LMs, in my understanding, but I've never been able to cast it on more than one character at the same time-- is that usual?

Yes. Blinding Flash dazes only one mob at a time, for thirty seconds. That's to get it out of the way while you fight the other ones. If, for example, there are three baddies together and one is more powerful than the others, blind him; the other two will come and fight you, and with luck you'll be able to despatch them by the time the third wakes up.

Or, again, see question 2. Also are all skills gained through your Trainer? Or are some earned other ways?

You gain the ability to learn spells as you level, and about every other level you can go to the Trainer and buy the spells appropriate for your level for not very much silver. Be sure to look at the Passive as well as the Active skills. The Passive skills are not something you actively use, but they strengthen you. Collect 'em all.

4) Are there any good tips for solo questing with a LM?

Well, give yourself what buffs you can, and bring up your pet; give him a buff using Sign of the Wild: Rage or Protection -- you will eventually be able to trait to put both on at the same time.

If you have trouble fighting the mobs in a given area, go back to somewhere where they're a bit lower. Mobs and quests are color-coded:

Grey = too low for you to get any XP (experience points) from, though you can loot them-- also, they won't attack you; they can't even see you till you attack them.
Green = just barely high enough to get some xp out of.
Turquoise = higher than green.
Blue = higher than turquoise.
White = your own level, or very nearly.
Orange = a couple of levels higher than you are.
Red = enough higher thah you are that you'd better not try them.
Purple = Way higher than you are; run away.

Practice on green or turquoise mobs, so you get some XP, while you're learning your skills.

I'm hampered by not remembering just what skills you do and don't have at 28. Train the ones you can get at your level, and experiment with them ... go out to some lower area (Rushock Bog, for instance) and try them out on something that's grey to you and can't hurt you very much, till you find out what the skills does.

5) If you have 3 different types of Bears, does it still count as 1 pet as far as the animal's strength and morale are concerned? Or do you need to basically level up each one?

The different kinds of bears are just cosmetic. Jewelers make items that you can use to give yourself a different appearance of Bear, Raven, Lynx, et cetera. I believe you can also buy them in the LotRO Store. But all the different appearances of the same species have the same powers for their level, which will be one level below yours. If you level while you're out with your pet, dismiss him and summon him again, so he'll gain another level too.

6) Totally unrelated to Lore-master, but is there a mount that's blonde sorrel, but with a dark mane and tail?

I have no idea; I don't collect horses. You might look in the LotRO Store, and be sure to attend the seasonal Festivals, which frequently offer new and different horse appearances as prizes for quests. The Farmer's Festival is coming up any time now.

So basically I'd like someone to coach me on how to be a better (or at least mildly effective) Lore-master. lol.

Post on the Lore-master forum; and read all the posts that have already been posted there.

You can also, if you're interested in a particular topic, search for it in the Search box at the upper right hand corner of the forum screen.

And explain it without terms like AoE or DOT or Debuff because I don't know what those words/abbreviations/whatever mean.

You'll learn them as you go along. Somewhere there's a post that gave a long list of abbreviations and terms. I've already defined "mob," "buff." "debuff," "AoE." "DoT" is Damage over Time; in other words, the skill doesn't just hit the enemy, whack, and it's done, but goes on doing damage for several seconds. Burning Embers is one of these. This kind of damage is sometimes called a "bleed."

Can someone post a link to that list of definitions?

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to fill me in![/QUOTE]

No problem. Welcome to Middle-earth.

1) What does "debuff" mean? A lot of Lore-master skills are debuffs, for example, "Fire Lore", which supposedly targets 3 enemies. I don't think I've ever targeted more than 1 at a time though, which brings us to the next question...

A debuff on a NPC/Mob means you put a hinderance of one sort or another on that mobs abilities. LMs have a lot of these options. A few do damage too but some just reduce the ability of the mob/npc/pvp-creep from using their skills. ex: Wind Lore reduces ranged (archer) abilities. Tar reduces run speed thru the goo and increases damage from your fire skills and group members that use fire like hunters.

A debuff on You means the other guys have done the same to you. You may be slowed or disarmed (a NPC/Mob favorite) which makes some of your skills grey out for a period of time.

Sometimes debuffs can be cured. If they have a bright colored edge around the icon they generally can be removed with a pot. There are some that cannot and you have to survive until it wears off.


2) How do you target multiple enemies at one time?

Skills that say Target:3 are AOE (area of efffect) and will auto target the number of mobs. The skill generally says how far apart the group can be for the effect. Something like Target 3 / 5 Meters / 20 meter range. That means the skill will automatically hit 3 mobs IF they are within 5 meters of each other and you are within 20 meters of the group. Cracked earth/ Herb lore is like this.

Just target the one in the middle and you get the 2 on each side. If there are more then only the number indicated will be affected. ex: 3 of 5.


3) I've used the same handful of skills over and over because they're the only ones that seem to do any damage and when I'm questing solo, I don't know what else to do but hit as fast and hard as I can. I've relied mostly on Burning Embers, Cracked Earth, Gust of Wind, and Blinding Flash, along with my pet. Blinding Flash is kind of a big one for LMs, in my understanding, but I've never been able to cast it on more than one character at the same time-- is that usual? Or, again, see question 2. Also are all skills gained through your Trainer? Or are some earned other ways?

You gain skills as you level and also as you earn Class Traits. Some will make your skills more powerful and more useful. As you get higher level you may swap out for new improved skills. But every class has some bread n butter skills. BE / CE / HL / WF / BF are LM stock in trade. SI come in handy with group play.

The skills you use solo will be slightly different then if you group. Hunters do a lot of damage but only LMs can give out power in big chuncks. So often you will forgo the Damage and go more to Healing and Debuffing.

Each skill has a Cooldown (30 sec/ 1 min etc). You cannot use it again until the CD has completed. Some Class Traits will let you shorten the CDs on some skills at the expense of others. If you need to stun/daze something then check the skill tool tip for the duration of the "stun/daze", CD and if it breaks on damage. If it breaks on damage and you drop BE on the mob, the mob will come alive again. If it only lasts 3 seconds but you can drop Ents on it during that time without breaking the "disable" you can get a lot more mileage.


4) Are there any good tips for solo questing with a LM?

My Motto #1: Never go in the Front Door
My Motto #2: Stun and Run.

Think things carefully thru before you commit to battle. Use all of your skills and the terrain to your advantage. Never go in the main gate - there is always a second entrance thats a bit easier for squishies. When you get in trouble, sacrific your pet, stun anything chasing you and RUN AWAY. Come back when you figure out where you went wrong.


5) If you have 3 different types of Bears, does it still count as 1 pet as far as the animal's strength and morale are concerned? Or do you need to basically level up each one?

All pet types are the same: bears just look different. There are buffs and foods you can use on your pet to make them more durable. Honey Oats for bears, Meat for lynx etc. As you level up so does the pet. Each pet has a specialty use it to your advantage. Lynx does a lot of DPS but if you need to hold one big baddie the bear with his taunt is great. Decide how you want them to attack and set your plan in motion. Be the General.

6) Totally unrelated to Lore-master, but is there a mount that's blonde sorrel, but with a dark mane and tail?

Horse color names have been incorrect since the start of the game. Only a few have the corrrect ones. They ride the same but some horses have special buffs like higher run speeds or ability to withstand passing attacks better (like if you ride through a pack of wargs).


So basically I'd like someone to coach me on how to be a better (or at least mildly effective) Lore-master. lol And explain it without terms like AoE or DOT or Debuff because I don't know what those words/abbreviations/whatever mean.

DOT - Damage over time. Your skill continues to affect the mob for the duration stated on the tool tip and generates extra damage each tick. B/E or W/F

HOT - Heal over time. Some except its a heal (like food)

AOE - Area of Effect. The skill will work on the area discribed in the tool tip. Wind Lore / Ents / Store Lore / Ancient Craft

FUN - What the game is supposed to be and I hope you enjoy your LM.

Originally Posted by AndiraelKorvi

Blinding Flash is kind of a big one for LMs, in my understanding, but I've never been able to cast it on more than one character at the same time-- is that usual?

Unless you trait it, or trait Master of Nature's fury, it's a 30 second mezz/daze with a 15 second cooldown. So it's possible to keep 2 locked down by cycling through... the trick is to keep number 2 occupied for the first 15 second cooldown period!

A lot of the previous posters have given really detailed and good answers.....so wont repeat those points, I'll just point out a few things...


Loremasters are one of THE most complex classes in the game....very versatile...and equally fun once you get the hang of them First thing to do as an LM is, take some time and carefully read all the description tooltips of your skills and traits....many many LM skills have two or even three different effects.....for example Burning Embers causes direct damage, also puts a damage over time effect on your enemy in which it keeps taking set amount of damage every few seconds and also slows the target down by 30 percent.....another example is Wizards Fire....it is a purely damage over time skill.....but if used when your pet has "flanked" your enemy, it heals your morale......in the same way, Cracked Earth is causes direct damage but is also a delayed root i.e., it roots those targets hit by it after 10 seconds for 30 seconds....Gust of Wind has direct damage but also increases your enemy's miss chance......So all in all....almost all skills have many effects......read up on them


Debuffs are your counter to light armor.....since our armor is lighter, we instead reduce the enemy's capability to deal out damage.....like heavy armor absorbs 30-40 percent damage done by your enemy, light armor absorbs only 10-20 percent....hence we have debuffs....like fire lore....which reduce the enemy's melee damage by 30 percent....wind lore reduces ranged damage by 50 percent....

So always use your debuffs when fighting....and a good way is to begin with Sign of Power : Command...its a debuff and it does not aggro the mob.....so you can use it before you pull the enemy.....

Also since many of our skills give damage over time effects (Burning Embers, Wizards Fire), make sure you dont cast those skills on enemies on whom you want to use Blinding Flash....blinding flash is a daze that is broken when damage is done to the enemy....so if the enemy has DoTs on him, the DoTs will break the daze.....same goes for using area-of-effect skills like Cracked Earth and Gust of Wind.....even if your not targeting the dazed mob, if you target a mob that is near the dazed mob and if its in range of the area effect of the skill, it will break the daze.....so be careful of all these things.....use the delayed root of Cracked Earth strategically......


All - in - all, Loremaster is a class where you need to plan and use strategics in a battle and play around with your enemies.... Good Luck....if you have more questions, do check out the Loremaster forums.....they have some excellent advice and a great community always willing to help out

Is there a record for the number of times a question can get answered?

As a mediocre player, this being my only MMO ever, I know what you mean about just hitting attack buttons. That's my play style, too. I have a level 37 lore master, along with 6 other characters and I don't play her much. But one thing I found out, at level 30, when you get your lynx, things suddenly get easier! You can send him in to attack from stealth and he can do lots of damage! At level 28 I was about ready to abandon her, but was encouraged by forum posters to "hang in there" and given good advice like you've gotten. Levels 30 to 37 seem to go much faster than 28 to 30! I understand the higher level pets are even better.

I haven't abandoned her. But I've gotten my two highest level characters, a hunter and a guardian, to Moria and when I feel like exploring new (to me) territory, I play one of them. And I enjoy learning new classes, so I'm also leveling a burglar, minstrel and a runekeeper. So I have a choice of play style, depending on the mood I'm in. I'll get back to her some time.

Best advice I've been given----play the way YOU want and have fun!

1. When you get higher-level and start grouping, debuffs and crowd controls really start coming into play to make things easier for the group. After all, tanking and healing isn't as much of an issue if there are less mobs attacking you, or if they do attack you, do less damage. I've been in 3-mans where we replaced the healer with an LM. For the multiple groups of NPCs, you use your roots and stuns to reduce the number of enemies that are attacking. For boss fights, use your damage reduction and miss chance debuffs to seriously reduce the damage that the tank is taking. In both situations, your group will take a lot less damage and therefore should manage to survive off in-combat morale regeneration, food and pots rather than needing active healers.

2. Use your pets and CC to make mobs less threatening to you. You see a group of 5 mobs? Root em! One manages to resist and charges towards you? Stun em! Have your bear(or other pet) tank loose mobs, use your Lore skills like Fire Lore to reduce the damage of the ones beating on you, and then focus fire until enemies are dead, one at a time.

Thanks so much for all the replies! I didn't realize there was a Lore-master forum. I scrolled down as far as the foreign language forums and figured that was it from that point, so I came back up here. Sorry. I'll go check it out ASAP. Is there a moderator or someone who can just move this thread there then?

When I log on again tonight, I'm definitely going to go find some low-level enemies to practice my skills on and see if I can better learn what they all do, but I think I have a much better idea already from all your helpful replies!

Don't worry if your LM doesn't "feel" like it should be feeling when it comes to smooth playing. In lower levels it was sometimes a drag to play LM and more than once I was ready to give it up. But now as I've made it into Moria I have a ball playing my LM. It's a very interesting, challenging and fun class to play. It just goes off with a slow start.

Originally Posted by AndiraelKorvi

Thanks so much for all the replies! I didn't realize there was a Lore-master forum. I scrolled down as far as the foreign language forums and figured that was it from that point, so I came back up here. Sorry. I'll go check it out ASAP. Is there a moderator or someone who can just move this thread there then?

When I log on again tonight, I'm definitely going to go find some low-level enemies to practice my skills on and see if I can better learn what they all do, but I think I have a much better idea already from all your helpful replies!

Welcome to the life of a LM. One thing I would like to point out about the LM skill icons. Some of the descriptions are exceptionally obtuse. You really need to read and pay attention to what the skills is saying.

EX: Lighting Storm - Description says the mob is attracted to lightning after being coated with a mixture from ancient craft. Many a LM has failed to read into the description what it means is before LS can be used, AC must be cast first as a pre-req. Many other skills are written the same way. Do take time as you said to find some green mobs to read and practice your skills. Makes for less frustraiting play later on.

Originally Posted by AndiraelKorvi

1) What does "debuff" mean? A lot of Lore-master skills are debuffs, for example, "Fire Lore", which supposedly targets 3 enemies. I don't think I've ever targeted more than 1 at a time though, which brings us to the next question...

2) How do you target multiple enemies at one time?

3) I've used the same handful of skills over and over because they're the only ones that seem to do any damage and when I'm questing solo, I don't know what else to do but hit as fast and hard as I can. I've relied mostly on Burning Embers, Cracked Earth, Gust of Wind, and Blinding Flash, along with my pet. Blinding Flash is kind of a big one for LMs, in my understanding, but I've never been able to cast it on more than one character at the same time-- is that usual? Or, again, see question 2. Also are all skills gained through your Trainer? Or are some earned other ways?

4) Are there any good tips for solo questing with a LM?

5) If you have 3 different types of Bears, does it still count as 1 pet as far as the animal's strength and morale are concerned? Or do you need to basically level up each one?

6) Totally unrelated to Lore-master, but is there a mount that's blonde sorrel, but with a dark mane and tail?

1. Debuffs make your enemy less effective

2. You target one but some of your skills such as Cracked Earth will affect more than one enemy at a time. This is called an Area of Effect skill. (AoE)

3. You will get skills from your trainer as you level - always check once you've levelled to see if there are any new ones. You can use your pet to your advantage.. send him/her to attack and get them from afar. If you have a bear use the skill (I forget it's name) to force the enemy to attack your pet only, when you have a Lynx, do the suprise attack and just remember to keep an eye on your pets morale and heal them when it gets low.

4. Use your pet, as above :P and familarise yourself with the healing skills you will gain as you go through the game. You will get one that gives you nearly all your morale back when it gets low, as well as the one where you can heal your pet (Which can be used when you are doing a 'rescue' quest in bandit camps etc.

5. I have several colours of pets and they have exactly the same stats.. the colour doesn't matter, it's what species the pet is that makes the difference. Just to be clear, You will have a Raven, a Bear, a Lynx, an Eagle and a Sabrecat (I can't rmember if anything comes after that at the moment..) and whatever colours of each you have, a bear is a bear, a Lynx a Lynx etc..

6. http://www.lotrosteeds.com/ That will show you every horse in existance in LOTRO and how to get it.

I've read through this thread and pretty much all the OPs questions are answered so I won't reapeat...

Tips:

Try different pets in the same situations to get a grasp on what each (species) does.

Make sure you 'buff' your pets. Your own buffs are limited to consumables like stat food or battle/ward scrolls.

If you use the bear, get a polar cub avatar. You will appreciate being able to see!

My #1 skill, occupying the left bottom of the main skill bar is STUN IMMUNITY.

One typical battle strategy is: Open with non-aggro debuffs and send in pet. Continue to debuff, toss some tactical damage then close to melee for the finish.

You have MANY skills to orchestrate a fight, and more than one way to 'skin the cat' (sorry lynx and sabre). Be ready with your plan B, if one skill is resisted.

Learn which skills have long inductions. It is helpful to put a stun on some attackers in order to get other skills to work. Fast Loader is a nice trait.

Added: Learn to use pet flanking and that you can toggle some pet skills to be always on (or used as soon as ready). You do not always want your bear stunning things. Your pet has different 'states', so be sure to set it up how you want it: Attack, Passiive, Assist etc. You want to be sure your pet is doing EXACTLY what you want.

There are many styles of play for the LM. You can trait for Damage, but usually at a tradeoff for CC/pet skills.

Bottom line is: TEST TEST TEST. You will find you can pretty much handle ANY situation, even though you are one of the squishiest characters.