Lord of the Rings Online Class Guide

Exploring the Hunter and Captain

Whether you like mixing it up on the front lines of the war against the Shadow, inspiring your comrades to greater deeds of valor, or fighting from the rear, raining death upon your foes, you'll find a class to your liking in The Lord of the Rings Online. From valiant warriors to crafty keepers of lore to stealthy rogues, LotRO offers a wide variety of options for character creation and customization.

This is the first in a series of articles exploring the classes available in LotRO, along with their roles, their strengths, their weaknesses, and how best to use each class's skills and unique abilities. Whether you're thinking about starting up a new character of one of the classes below or you're looking for some tips on how to play your existing characters, you'll find plenty of useful information to help you make your decisions and improve the gameplay of your chosen profession.

The Hunter

At its heart, the Hunter is one of the easier classes in the game to play, though mastery of your Hunter's late gameplay requires nearly as much deftness and skill as the act of archery itself. Legolas is an example of a character from the books who resembles the Hunter class, though any other skilled archer could also justify the title.

Role. The Hunter's primary role is DPS, especially single-target DPS. Hunters do more damage to single targets than any other class in the game, and are above average when it comes to multiple-target DPS. The Hunter also boasts an impressive array of secondary skills, including unparalleled travel capabilities, making them a welcome addition to any fellowship on the move.

Race. Any of the four races can be a Hunter. You should play whatever race you enjoy the most, though Elves enjoy a few advantages. They have higher agility than the other races and, late in the game, acquire a racial skill that increases their damage with a bow, the Hunter's primary weapon. Hobbits and Men are good secondary choices for Hunters. Dwarven Hunters can take more of a beating than those of other races, but Dwarves' lower agility is a slight hindrance.

Attributes. There's really only one attribute to prioritize with Hunters, and that's agility. A Hunter will do most of their fighting with a bow, and agility determines how much damage their ranged attacks do and how often they land critical hits. Agility should always be a Hunter's highest attribute, by far, even if they have to sacrifice something from other attributes to maximize their score.

Vitality is also helpful, as it is with any class, in order to keep morale high. Hunters rarely have issues with power, except in long boss battles, so will and fate tend to be de-emphasized. Might is the lowest priority for a Hunter; most battles will be conducted at long range, so melee fighting and parrying ability are not big concerns.

Skills. Proper use of the Hunter's focus meter is key to success as a damage-dealer. Many basic combat skills add focus (to a max of nine), and stronger attacks consume focus as they are used. Finally, movement reduces focus; as such, a Hunter should try to stand in one spot, without moving, for as long as possible during a fight.

The Hunter's three most basic focus-building attacks are Barbed Arrow (gained at level 1), Quick Shot (1), and Swift Bow (2)/Improved Swift Bow (54). Blindside (8) is a nice melee attack that also gains a Hunter three focus. These enable Penetrating Shot (10), a solid single-target attack that requires three focus and has a short cooldown; Rain of Arrows (20), an AoE attack; and Merciful Shot (30)/Improved Merciful Shot (52), which consumes six focus, but does heavy damage to a foe with less than half morale. Use the skill Focus (10) before every battle - it fills your focus meter to full, but can only be used out of combat - and Intent Concentration (20) when you're in a tough spot and need focus quickly.

For the ultimate in DPS, there's Heart Seeker (50), a skill with a long induction time (five seconds) and cooldown (five minutes) that does more damage to a single target than any other skill in the game, though it neither adds nor consumes focus. And Needful Haste (34) boosts a Hunter's attack speed, increasing DPS.

Just as important to a Hunter's focus meter is which stance is used. Hunters have four stances to choose from, each with its own benefits. Stance: Strength (4) and Stance: Precision (18) are offensive stances, which increase damage and accuracy, respectively, while Stance: Endurance (28) lowers both power cost and threat, which is used almost exclusively in long boss battles. Stance: Fleet (56) comes in handy if the Hunter has to be on the move.

A Hunter also enjoys a wide array of secondary skills, including the most useful set of skills to any fellowship on the move. The Hunter's Guide skills, such as Guide to Bree (32) and Guide to Rivendell (46), transport the entire fellowship to the specified location for the cost of just a few traveling rations (available from any provisioner), saving hours on travel time through the course of play. Not all such skills are gained from class trainers; a few, such as Guide to Evendim and Guide to Ost Guruth, must be obtained through a few simple quests from NPCs at the specified locations.

A Hunter can also lay traps and snares to slow down or damage onrushing foes, as well as use a variety of oils (such as fire and light) to deal different damage types to enemies. Finally, they have three tracking skills, one each for animals, undead, and bipeds (such as men or orcs) that alert the fellowship to nearby enemies, an invaluable help for tracking down that last bear or named mob you need for a quest (not to mention foes in PvMP play on the Ettenmoors!). DPS may be the Hunter's primary role, but there's more to them than just filling enemies full of arrows!

Traits. When it comes to virtue traits, maximizing agility is still the name of the game. That makes high Determination a must-have. Tolerance also gives a lesser boost to agility.

Racial traits obviously depend on your Hunter's race, but anything that increases DPS is useful. Unlike most classes though, you won't need to slot a Return trait, since you can quickly travel to any location at will using your Guide skills.

For class and legendary traits, Graceful Draw and Bow of the Righteous are essential for long battles, where power must be conserved. Bard's Arrow is another useful legendary trait, fearing out a target. Your other traits depend on what you're using for skills and which trait set (usually The Bowmaster or The Huntsman) you wish to emphasize.

The Captain

The Captain is a staunch foe of the Shadow, who emboldens their fellows to fight, leading by example and never backing down from a challenge. Their unique talents are welcome in every fellowship, and their courage serves as an inspiration to all. Aragorn is a great example of a Captain in The Lord of the Rings.

Role. The Captain's primary role is as a buffer and support class. Their skill set includes a number of powers that boost their fellows' abilities and stats, and they have some limited healing capabilities. As a heavy-armor wearer (after level 20), they're also an effective melee fighter and can fill in as a tank and general aggro-magnet if called upon.

Race. This one's at least an easy choice - only characters of the Race of Men can be Captains. This means that every Captain should have the Strength of Morale skill (see below), as well as the ability to Return to Bree at the middle levels.

Attributes. In truth, a Captain makes use of nearly every attribute. As a melee fighter, might and vitality are important. Power consumption is often an issue, making will and fate (for power regeneration) vital, as well. Agility is the one attribute that can be neglected somewhat, though even so, critical hits are a useful component of the Captain's fighting style.

Skills. At low levels, the Captain is primarily a melee fighter with a few extra perks. Battle-Shout (level 1) is their primary first attack; when it hits, they can follow up with Devastating Blow (2) or Pressing Attack (10). After one of those skills hit, go with Blade of Elendil (30)/Improved Blade of Elendil (52) to give your entire fellowship a chance to deal light damage for a while.

The Captain's real talents shine, though, when they're in a group. They have at their disposal a suite of post-combat skills to improve the fellowship's fighting skills. After defeating an enemy, several skills will become available for a short time. Rallying Cry (1) heals the entire fellowship, while War-Cry (4) speeds the fellowship's attacks for a minute. If damage is more important than support at the time, use Routing Cry (8) for an AoE attack or Shadow's Lament (60) to deal heavy damage to one foe.

Most valuable to the Captain's party, though, are the buffs they provide over the long term. Starting at level 10, the Captain can call a herald to act as an additional fighter and provide a continual bonus to their fellowship's attack, morale, or power. At level 20, they can use a banner (which increases the Captain's own stats but is static and cannot fight) for the same effects.

As the Captain progresses, their most useful set of skills become available, providing long-term bonuses to the fellowship. Motivating Speech (16) increases a fellowship's morale by 5%, and the various Command skills - On Guard (18), Relentless Attack (28), and Focus (38) - are single-target buffs that help with parrying, criticals, and power regeneration, respectively. All of them last for 30 minutes, and a good Captain keeps an eye on their fellows' status bars and makes sure they're fully buffed at all times, re-applying the skills when their timers run out (or after they've been defeated and revived). If they can complete their level 45 class quests, they'll gain access to the powerful In Defence of Middle-earth, which provides a five-minute buff of +50 to every attribute of each character in the fellowship!

Another set of skills allows a Captain to single out one fellow for buffs and healing. Words of Courage (14) is useful for spot healing, but at level 22, the Captain gains the ability to designate one fellow as their shield-brother. This character, who should usually be a melee fighter also capable of doing some damage (Champions or Wardens are ideal), can receive a brief bonus to DPS with To Arms (40) or a heal with the attack skill Inspire (22). There's no power cost to having a shield-brother, so a Captain should always have one, even if they don't intend to use the associated skills - just in case.

Finally, there are a few miscellaneous skills in the Captain's repertoire that are vital to know. They can mark an enemy with Telling Mark (6, increases damage dealt to the target), Noble Mark (12, deals damage and increases the Captain's threat), or Revealing Mark (30, heals a fellowship member each time they damage the target) to aid his fellows in battle against hardy foes. Muster Courage (16) dispels up to three fear effects from each character in the Captain's fellowship. It doesn't seem like much early on, but late in the game, with all the fear effects enemies are capable of throwing at them, it's crucial. A Captain also has two resurrection skills in their arsenal: Escape from Darkness (20) and Cry of Vengeance (32), but both have long cooldown times (30 minutes), so use them wisely.

Then there's Last Stand (22), which makes it impossible for the Captain to be defeated for a limited time. It's a great "ass-saving" skill in its own right, but it really comes into its own once In Harm's Way (36) is added. IHW lets the Captain absorb all damage done to their fellowship for a time. Combined with Last Stand, this means the Captain can suck up all incoming damage and not be defeated, providing an unbreakable defense for their fellowship in times of great need.

Traits. As a front-line fighter who's expected to be durable, vitality- and morale-boosting virtue traits, such as Valour and Justice, are useful. Wisdom and Idealism help with the constant demands on a Captain's power.

As a Man, the Captain will want the usual good racial traits: Return to Bree, Balance of Man, Man of the Fourth Age, and especially Strength of Morale, a huge (2,000-3,000 morale) heal with a one-hour cooldown.

Class traits will generally come from the Hands of Healing or Lead the Charge line, with one exception: Defiance increases the duration of Last Stand and heals the Captain when the skill expires, making it a must-have in emergencies. Always equip one of Captain's Hope, Captain's Victory, or Captain's Valour, depending on which herald/banner you're using. Fear No Darkness and Now for Wrath greatly boost the Captain's healing ability. For legendaries, there's the aforementioned In Defence of Middle-earth, as well as Oathbreaker's Shame, which provides a huge short-term defense debuff to a single foe.