Minstrel Guide

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide
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All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
Important
The short version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

The long version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Introduction
Character Creation
Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Dwarf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Passive Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Racial Accomplishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Elf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Passive Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Hobbit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Passive Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Passive Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Statistics
15
Hope and Dread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Stats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Might . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Agility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Vitality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Fate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Mitigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Resistances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Traits and Deeds: the Basics
20
Deeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Class Deeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Racial and Social Deeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Region Deeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Racial Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Class Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Legendary Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Virtue Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Virtue Traits by Grouping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Minstrel Class Deeds and Corresponding Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Trait Builds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Solo Build . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Fellowship Build . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Minstrel Basics
33
Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Ballads, Anthems, Tales and Songs: The Minstrel's Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Combat as a Minstrel
35
The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Things you should know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Resurrection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Crowd Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Minstrel 101
39
Basic Skills and Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

The Minstrel played Solo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
The Minstrel in a Fellowship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
A Guide to Middle Earth
56
Crafting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Resource Farming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Leveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Reputation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
(15-18) Bree Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

(18-22) Lone Lands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
(22-24) Trestlebridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
(24-26) Lone Lands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
(26-36) The North Downs (Estledin, Othrikar, etc.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
(36-40) Evendim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
(40-50) Rivendell, Trollshaws, Misty Mountains, Angmar, Forochel . . . . 69
(50-60) Eregion, The Mines of Moria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Eregion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
The Mines of Moria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
(60-65) Mirkwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Western Mirkwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Central Mirkwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Eastern Mirkwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Minstrel Class Quests and related Deeds/Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
A Song for Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
A Minstrel's Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
The Finest Melody is Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Articles on Harmony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Implements of Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
A Lesson from Lindir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Great Barrows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Garth Agarwen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Fornost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Urugarth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Carn Dum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Barad Gularan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Glinghant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Ost Elendil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Haudh Valandil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
The Rift of Nurz Ghashu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Gear Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Reputation Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Instance Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Rift Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Helegrod Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Crafted Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Conclusion
89
Introduction
With glorious songs and tales sung of great heroes of ages past you bring hope to the
darkest of times and inspire your Fellowship to great deeds. You can turn the tides of battle
by restoring morale to your companions and lifting up their hearts if defeat has overcome
them. Your songs and ballads strike fear into the hearts of your enemies, and they tremble
at your cries.
The Minstrel is the class of choice for those players who thrive on group play in
Fellowships. While they are a highly-survivable class on their own, they lack the DPS
(damage per second) to compare with the other classes of Lord of the Rings Online:
Shadows of Angmar when it comes to soloing. The primary roll of the Minstrel is that of a
healer.
Character Creation
characters from a US server to a European

server or vice versa, so make sure the
version of the game you purchase is the
region you plan on staying within. You
can, however, pay for a character move
from one server to another within your
own region. US players can transfer to
other US servers, and European players
can transfer to other European servers.
When creating your Minstrel there are

several factors in helping you decide
what is the best race choice. Ultimately
most races end up being nearly the same
at the cap, but there are a few unique
differences that are race-specific and can
provide individuals with an aesthetic
difference between their characters and
others.
Race
There is also the choice between a

normal PVE (Player vs. Environment)
server and a Roleplay PVE server.
Again, this difference is purely aesthetic;
there are no open PVP servers for
LOTRO, so regardless of your choice
you will be playing on a PVE server. The
only difference between normal servers
and the Roleplay servers is the naming
policy which is strictly enforced on those
Roleplay PVE servers.
The race of your character is purely

cosmetic, although there are a few unique
racial benefits that each class has which
define them from the other races within
Middle Earth. Some racial abilities are
more useful to Minstrels than others, but
they are hardly game-breaking in their
usefulness. When picking one of the four
races the most important thing to
remember is that you are the person
behind the character, no one else. Pick
something that you will enjoy playing
long-term. Don't be afraid to roll
something entirely against-the-majority if
it's something that sparks your interest or
something you will enjoy. It's just a game,
after all!
It is also important to note that there is

a difference between the European and
US servers for LOTRO. If you wish to
play on a European server you must
purchase a European copy of the game
from a store that carries the Codemasters
version of the game. Codemasters is the
company who distributes the game
throughout Europe. If you wish to play
on a US server you must purchase a US
copy of the game. You cannot switch
You can also visit the official Lorebook

or the LOTRO wiki for more information
on classes and races.

Http://lorebook.lotro.com
Passive Skills
http://lotro-wiki.com
All of the Racial Accomplishments are
Traits that must be slotted in your Racial
Traits slots in order to benefit from them.
Lost Dwarf-KingdomsReduced Fate

(-8)
StockyReduced Agility (-8)
SturdinessIncreased Might (+15) and
Vitality (+10) and improved Common
Damage mitigation (+1.0%)
Dwarf
Unwearying
in
BattleIncreased
Morale and Power regeneration (0.05%) in
combat, although reduced out of combat
(-1 morale, -0.5 power).
- Passive Skills
- Racial Accomplishments
- Elf
- Passive Skills
- Hobbit
- Passive Skills
- Man
- Passive Abilities
Virtuous DwarfThis gives you a +1 to

the following three Traits: Honesty,
Loyalty, Fidelity.
Racial
Accomplishments
Enmity of the Goblins
-Rank 1 is available at level 13
-Defeat 50 Goblins
-Reward is the Fateful Dwarf Trait, +20
Fate.
-Defeat 100 Goblins
-Reward is the Return to Thorin's Gate
Trait, which is a teleport back to the
Dwarven starting area. It has a 1 hour

refresh timer.
-Reward is the Dwarf-Endurance Trait,

which provides a Vitality buff to your
Fellowship.

-Defeat 250 Goblins

-Reward is the Endurance of Stone
Trait. +75% common, fire, and shadow
mitigation for 10 seconds. 1 hour
cooldown.
Enmity of the Dourhands
-Defeat 150 Trolls

-Rewards you with the Shield Brawler
Trait, which gives you a 2% increased
block chance. This is a passive ability.
Elf
-Defeat 50 Dourhand Dwarves

-Reward is the Head-butt ability. This
does 15 common damage to start (goes
up with your level) and has a 5 second
cooldown. It does not cost any power and
is a melee ability.
Passive Skills
Agility of
Agility (+15)

-Rewards you with the Guild and
Might Bonus Trait. This gives you a 5%
bonus to Spider's Guile and Ent's
Strength Fellowship maneuvers.
-Rank 3 is available at level 25.
-Rewards you with the Dwarf
Axe-damage Bonus. This gives you a 2%
one-handed and two-handed axe damage
bonus.
the
WoodsImproved
Fading of the FirstbornReduced Fate

(-8)
Sorrow of the FirstbornReduced
Morale (-20) and out of combat Morale
regeneration (-1.0)
Suffer No IllnessImproved resistance
to disease and poison (1%)
Virtuous ElfThis gives you a +1
bonus to the following three Traits:
Wisdom, Patience, Charity.
Enmity of the Trolls

-Defeat 100 Trolls

-Rewards you with the Return to
Rivendell Trait. Once slotted this provides
you with a teleport to Rivendell.
Racial
Accomplishments

-Defeat 250 Orcs

-Defeat 50 Goblins
-Reward is the Sylvan Shadows Trait.
Enables your character to Stealth. It has a
30 minute cooldown.
-Reward is the Eldar's Grace Trait. This

gives you a 75% parry chance for 10
seconds on a 1 hour cooldown.
Enmity of the Drakes
-Defeat 100 Drakes
-Defeat 100 Goblins

-Reward is Tactics and Conviction
Bonus. This gives you a 5% bonus to
Eagle's Cry and Stallion's Spirit
Fellowship maneuvers.
-Rewards you with the Elf One-handed

sword damage bonus. This is a passive 2%
bonus.
-Defeat 150 Drakes

-Defeat 150 Goblins
-Rewards
you
with
the
Elf
Bow-damage Bonus. This is a passive
2% bonus to all bow damage.
-Reward is the Power of the Eldar Trait.

This gives your entire Fellowship a 2%
increase to their power pool for 10
minutes. It has a 1 hour cooldown.
Enmity of the Orcs

-Defeat 50 Orcs
-Reward is the Friend of Man Trait.
Once slotted this gives you +20 Fate.
This is a passive Trait.
-Defeat 100 Orcs
Hobbit
Racial
Accomplishments
Enmity of the Wolves
Passive Skills

-Defeat 50 Wolves
Hobbit
CourageImproved
resistance (+1%)
fear
Hobbit ToughnessImproved Vitality

(+15)
-Reward is the Stoop for a Stone Trait,

which gives you a low-damage ranged
attack (throw a rock)
Rapid
out-of-combat
(+1.0)
RecoveryImproved
morale
regeneration
Resist CorruptionImproved shadow

mitigation (+1%)
-Defeat 100 Wolves

-Reward is the Guile and Conviction
Bonus, which gives you a 5% bonus to
Spider's Guile and Eagle's Cry Fellowship
maneuvers.
Small SizeReduced Might (-8)

Virtuous HobbitThis gives you a +1
bonus to the following three Traits:
Empathy, Honesty, Idealism.
-Defeat 150 Wolves

-Reward is Hobbit Club-damage bonus.
2% to all one-handed and two-handed
clubs.
Enmity of the Spiders
-Defeat 50 Spiders
-Reward is Hobbit Stature (+20 Might)
-Defeat 150 Spiders
-Reward is Return to Michel Delving (A
teleport to the Shire starting area. 1 hour

cooldown)
Passive Abilities

-Defeat 250 Spiders
-Reward is Hobbit-resilience. (+1 hope
for 10 min, 1 hour cooldown)
Diminishing of MankindDecreased
Will (-8)
Easily
InspiredIncreased
regeneration
morale
Gift of MenImproved Fate (+15)
-Defeat 50 Goblins
Strong MenImproved Might (+15)
-Reward is Hobbit Stealth. 30 minute

cooldown.
Virtuous ManThis gives you a +1 to

the following three Traits: Justice,
Confidence, Patience.
-Defeat 100 Goblins
Racial
Accomplishments
-Reward is Hobbit-Silence. This is a

Feign Death type ability that can be used
once per hour. Combined with the
Minstrel's Feign Death class ability at 38,
you can have two different feign death
abilities if you roll a Hobbit Minstrel.
Enmity of the Wargs

-Defeat 50 wargs
Man
-Reward is the Man of the Fourth Age

Trait. +20 Will
-Defeat 150 wargs
-Reward is the Return to Bree Trait.
This is a teleport back to Bree. One hour
cooldown.
-Defeat 250 wargs

-Reward is the Duty-Bound Trait. This
provides a temporary morale boost to
your Fellowship.
Enmity of the Dead
-Defeat 50 wights
-Reward is Upper-cut, a 22 damage
melee attack.
-Defeat 100 wights
-Reward is Tactics and Might Trait,
which gives you a 5% bonus to Stallion's
Spirit and Ent's Strength Fellowship
maneuvers.
-Defeat 150 wights
-Reward is Man Sword-damage Bonus,
which is a 2% damage bonus if using a
one-handed or two-handed sword.
Enmity of Hillmen
-Defeat 150 Hillmen
-Reward is the Balance of Man Trait.
1+ bonus to Parry, Evade, and Block.
-Defeat 250 Hillmen
-Reward is the Strength of Morale
Trait, which gives you a 3k morale
self-heal once per hour.
Statistics
Before you head out into the great wild
in search of adventure and the slaying of
mighty beasts, and long before you
actually delve into any of those dark and
scary dungeons or swing your weapon at
one of the monsters within Middle Earth,
you are going to want to know a little bit
more about the basics of statistics and
attributes and how they can affect your
play and class.
While you do get some slight stat
bonuses as you level up, the majority of
your increases will be coming from gear
and Traits. Traits are a unique feature of
LOTRO and while we will be covering
them a little more in-depth later on in this
guide, it's important to know that there
are a few Minstrel-specific Traits which
are rather vital to your role in a group
setting, and an entirely different set
which are far more useful in a solo
setting.
But before we get into all of that, you'll
need to know a little bit about the system
and how it works. LOTRO employs a
simple percentage system. What that
means is that you have a percent chance
to resist, land a critical hit, land a critical
heal, resist damage, and so on and so
forth.
You have five basic stats in Lord of the

Rings Online. Might, Agility, Vitality,
Will, and Fate. Beyond that you have a
variety of different attributes, such as
damage reduction, resistances, and armor.
You will be able to modify these numbers
over time through gear and Traits and it
will all directly affect how your Minstrel
can handle certain encounters or group
settings. The wonderful thing about
LOTRO is how many different Traits you
can acquire over time, allowing you the
opportunity to change your resists and
modifiers as frequently as you find the
need, allowing for more diversity when
approaching specific instances or mobs.
Hitpoints in LOTRO are called Morale.
Power is Power.
Hope and Dread

Hope and Dread are two rather
important "mood" modifiers that you will
need to take into account. The easiest way
to explain this is to think about Hope as
being the extreme "good" side of things,
and Dread as being the extreme "bad" side
of things. Every time you enter into a fight
against one of the boss mobs of an
instance or dungeon of the game you will
encounter Dread. Every time you are
around a "good" character of the game's

story, or in an area where good is
prevalent, you will encounter Hope.
Certain classes can also give you Hope
buffs, and you can get Hope from potions
and other sources as well.
Hope gives you several side effects
-Increased Morale
-Increased receptiveness to healing
spells
-Less damage taken from attacks
-higher chance of landing an attack.
Dread has the exact opposite.
Stats
- Might
- Agility
- Vitality
- Will
- Fate
- Armor
- Mitigation
- Resistances
- Abilities
-Decreased Morale
Might
-Less receptive to healing spells

-More damage taken from attacks.
-Lessens the chance of landing an
attack
-May occasionally seized by fear or
unable to attack at all.
That last part is probably the most
important thing to note. In both cases, the
higher the level of Hope or Dread, the
higher the level of the effects. In extreme
cases of Dread your character can find
themselves reduced to the point of
absolute cowering fear...meaning you
will not be able to cast spells or move in
any way.
Might is more of a melee class statistic,

as it directly influences how often you
block with a shield, parry an attack, and
how much damage you do with a melee
weapon. However it also reduces the
amount of incoming common damage,
which can be useful. Might is not a very
valuable stat for the Minstrel, so you
probably shouldn't worry about it that
much.
Agility
Agility is more of a ranged class
statistic. It directly influences the damage
you deal with a ranged weapon, but it
also increases your chance to land a
critical hit on a mob, reduces your
chance at missing when attacking with a
melee or ranged weapon, and increases
your ability to evade or parry incoming
attacks. Again, this really isn't an
extremely valuable stat for the Minstrel
class, so you really don't need to worry
about it.
Vitality
Vitality is one of the most important
statistics for every class in the game.
Vitality increases your maximum morale,
reduces the amount of incoming damage
from shadow, fire, and frost, increases
your morale regeneration in combat, and
increases your wound, disease, and
poison resists. In other games the healer
classes did not always have to worry
about morale, and if you are from one of
those min/max games where your power
pool is the only thing to worry about, you
might want to reconsider. In LOTRO
morale plays a huge part in every player's
survivability at the higher levels of the
game. As I briefly mentioned above, Hope

and Dread can directly modify your
character's morale. In certain fights, like
against the Balrog or Nazgul, you will
encounter such high levels of Dread that
your morale will be drastically reduced. In
order to counter this is it is important to
have a decent baseline morale value, along
with some Hope buffs, to insure you do
not die with one hit from a mob.
Will
Will is another important statistic for the
Minstrel. Firstly, it increases the size of
your power pool. This is your second-most
valuable statistic. I find it on equal level of
importance with Vitality, although you
will always have far more Will than
Vitality simply because of the majority of
gear and your stat increases per level as
defaulted by the choice of the Minstrel
class. It is also an important stat because it
increases your chance to resist fear effects,
including cowering from Dread. It also
affects how much power you regenerate
outside of combat.
Fate
Mitigation
Fate is another baseline stat for players

across the board because it directly
affects how quickly you regenerate
power and morale in combat. This is
another vital statistic for the Minstrel
class. It also increases the chance for you
to land a critical on certain
morale-enhancing abilities, as well as
increasing non-direct damage weapons
effects such as damage-over-time.
Mitigation
is
more
commonly
referenced as damage reduction. There are
several types of mitigation in LOTRO, and
each reflect specific types of damage.
-Common damage
-Fire damage
-Frost damage
-Shadow damage
Each of these types is represented in
your Character box and shows up as a
percentage. The higher the percentage the
more you will resist those types of
damage.
Armor
Much like in other games, Armor
reflects your armor class, or the difficulty
the mobs have hitting you with their
weapons. The higher the value, the
harder you are to hit. However, as a
minstrel, this is not going to be an area
where you spend a lot of time worrying
about.
Resistances
Resistances play a vital role in LOTRO.
The higher your percentage, the higher
your chance to completely avoid or resist
the entire affect. There are four types of
resists.
-Fear. Can be increased through Will
-Wound. Can be increased through
Vitality
-Disease. Can be increased through
Vitality.

-Poison. Can be increased through
Vitality.
Abilities
Lastly, but not necessarily least, are the
actual abilities that make up your
character.
-Melee crit. Your chance to land a
critical hit on the mob with melee
weapons and/or abilities.
-Ranged crit. Your chance to land a
ranged critical hit on a mob through the
use of ranged weapons and/or abilities.
-Tactical crit. This is your chance to
land critical hits with special attacks and
abilities.
-Block. Your chance to completely
block all incoming damage. You have to
have a shield equipped for this to take
effect.
-Parry. Your ability to completely
parry and avoid all incoming damage.
-Evade. Your ability to evade and
completely avoid all incoming damage.
Traits and Deeds:

the Basics
There are four different kinds of Traits
in Lord of the Rings. Virtue traits, Class
traits, Racial traits, and Legendary traits.
Traits are earned by completing Deeds
within the game.
But what are traits? How do they affect
you as a player? The easiest way to
explain this is to think about traits as
ways to further enhance your character's
stats and abilities above and beyond gear.
As you earn levels you gain additional
slots in which you can place your traits.
You can only have a limited number of
traits slotted at level 50, so it's important
to have as many as you can to maximize
your choices. Traits can be slotted by
visiting a Bard within any major city or
outpost and paying a small coin fee. You
may change traits at any time.
So how do you get these traits? Well it
depends on what kind of trait you are
talking about, but most of them stem
from the completion of Deeds.
Deeds
Deeds are tasks which reward the
character with titles, skills, or traits. These
can range from completing a certain
number of quests within an area, to
exploring certain key locations within an
area, to killing a specific number and type
of mob within an area. There are several
different types of Deeds within the game.
Class Deeds
These Deeds are unlocked by using
specific skills related to your class. From
very early on some of your skills will start
Deeds which track your use of a specific
skill and reward you with a Class Trait
after you have used that ability a specific
number of times. There is a maximum
number of times you may advance a
particular skill each 24 hour period, which
means that it sometimes takes a few days
to a few weeks to earn some of your class
Deeds.
Racial and Social

Deeds
Region Deeds
Racial deeds are unlocked by

slaughtering creatures which are
particularly hated by your particular race.
If
you
noticed
the
Racial
Accomplishments portions of each Race
section detailed further up in the guide
you will see what these racial deeds are
and how they work, as well as at what
level they become available.
Social deeds are one of the most fun
within the game. These involve being the
target of another player's emote, such as
someone targeting you and using the
/scold emote. After a certain number of
times of this emote being used on you it
will reward you with a title or special
emote. As with other deeds, you can only
increase these a certain number of times
per day. In the case of the /scold emote,
for example, your character will
eventually earn the title "The Naughty".
They are a great way to add a little flavor
to your character! You can find a basic
list of social deeds as well as the per-day
limits
at:
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Soc
ial_Deeds
Region deeds are deeds which can be

completed in each region of the game.
These can involve performing quests,
exploring areas, or killing specific mobs.
There is no limit to how many mobs,
quests, or areas you can explore per day.
Most of the time you will find yourself
earning some of these deeds as you
explore and quest within each region, as
running the quest chains will naturally
lead you to kill mobs, explore areas, and
complete quests. However, if you are
interested in fully maxing your character
out you will want to full explore and fully
complete each and every deed within an
area.
Most players find this easiest to
accomplish by coming back once they
reach level 50. For example, some of the
exploration deeds require going into
sections of full-group areas that your
quests might not require. Sometimes
getting a group to side-track into these
remote corners can be a pain, so it's
usually easiest to wait until the area is gray
to you in order to complete these harder
exploration deeds. Also with kill deeds, it
is often easier to wait until you are higher
in level and can come back and slaughter
many of the creatures at one time, whereas
when you are of the actual level you can
only kill one or two at a time.
Traits
Class Traits
- Racial Traits
- Class Traits
- Legendary Traits
- Virtue Traits
Racial Traits
As detailed in the Racial section
further up in the guide, these racial traits,
which are rewarded through the
completion of the racial deeds, are
unique to each race in particular. The
Virtuous traits, however, are based upon
earning faction for your particular race
through the specific Reputation Houses
located in each starting area. It takes time
to earn enough Reputation for your
specific Virtuous Trait, so don't be
surprised if you don't get this right away.
You need to be Friendly with your race's
faction in order to purchase this trait
from the corresponding vendor.
Class traits are unique and specific to

each class. These traits first become
available at level 10, when you earn the
Novice title. As with all of the other traits,
these can only be earned through the
successful completion of deeds. In
specific, class deeds. Class traits provide
the most specific and significant
enhancement to your skills, and the widest
array of abilities to tailor your character to
your own preferred play style.
Legendary Traits
Legendary traits are the hardest to
acquire and are not available until level
39. They are class-specific. Each class has
a different type of legendary trait. These
are acquired through the collection of
pages to create Books that are specific to
each class. The final legendary trait is only
available after completing the level 50
class quest.

+ Peace Power Regen
Virtue Traits
+ Magic Resistance
Determination
Virtue traits are the most common.

They are available to all classes and
races across the board. Virtue traits stem
from the completion of region deeds. The
best part about the virtue traits is they are
tiered. Each time you complete a region
deed you will earn whatever trait is
linked to that specific deed. Over time as
you complete more region-specific deeds
you will earn more ranks in those traits.
So while you might only have rank one
in a trait at level 10, by the time you get
to level 50 and have cleared all the
regions you can earn up to 8 different
ranks of each type of trait. Each rank
gives you a significantly increased bonus
to your stats, depending on what type of
trait it is.
+ Agility
+ Combat Morale Regen
+ Morale
Discipline
+ Might
+ Disease Resistance
+ Melee Resistance
Empathy
+ Armor
+ Fate
+ Fear Resistance
Fidelity
+ Shadow Resistance
Charity
+ Vitality
+ Wound Resistance
+ Power
+ Ranged Resistance
Fortitude
+ Peace Power Regen
+ Peace Morale Regen
Confidence
+ Might
+ Fear Resistance
+ Will
Honesty
+ Peace Power Regen
+ Power
Compassionate
+ Armor
+ Ranged Resistance
+ Fate

Honour
+ Wound resistance
+ Poison Resistance
+ Ranged Resistance
+ Shadow Resistance
Tolerant
+ Vitality
+ Magic Resistance
Idealism
+ agility
+ Fate
+ Fear Resistance
Valour
+ Will
+ Morale
Innocence
+ Melee Resistance
+ Might
+ Poison Resistance
Wisdom
+ Shadow Resistance
+ Will
Justice:
+ Peace Power Regen
+ Wound Resistance
+ Morale
Zeal
Loyalty
+ Melee Resistance
+ Vitality
+ Poison Resistance
+ Power
+ AC
Merciful
+ Peace Power Regen
+ Magic Vulnerability
+ Agility
Patience
+ Peace Power regen
Virtue Traits by
Grouping
Confidence +2: The Road to War --Angmar

Confidence: Garth Agrewen --- Lone
Lands
Charity
Confidence: Rath Teraig --- Ered Luin
Charity +2: Hero of Ered Luin [Final]

--- Ered Luin
Charity: Ally of Ered Luin --- Ered
Luin
Charity:
Bree-Lands
[Advanced] --- Bree-Lands
Quests
Confidence: Strongholds Exploration --North Downs

Confidence: The Grimfens --- Lone
Lands
Confidence: Where Giants Dwell --Misty Mountains
Charity: Lone Lands Quests --- Lone

Lands
Charity:
North
Downs
[Advanced] --- North Downs
Determination
Determination: Barghest --- Bree-Lands
Quests
Determination: Crawler --- Trollshaws

Determination: Slug --- The Shire
Compassionate
Compassionate: Defender of Ered Luin
[Advanced] --- Ered Luin
Determination: Snow-Beast --- Misty

Mountains
Compassionate: Lone Lands Quests

[Advanced] --- Lone Lands
Determination: Warg --- Angmar
Compassionate: Peril of the Mountains

--- Misty Mountains
Determination: Wolf --- Ered Luin
Compassionate: The
Bounder --- The Shire
Life
of
the
Determination: Warg --- North Downs
Determination:
Evendim
Salamanders
---
Discipline
Compassionate: Pilgrim of Evendim

[Quests] --- Evendim
Discipline: Bog Lurker --- Lone Lands

Discipline: Hendroval --- Ered Luin
Compassionate: Wander of Evendim

[Advanced - Quests] --- Evendim
Discipline: Sicklefly --- Bree-Lands

Discipline: Troll --- Angmar
Confidence
Discipline: Wolf --- The Shire

Discipline: Wolf --- Trollshaws
Discipline
:
Tomb-Defenders
(Brigands) --- Evendim
Discipline: Beasts (Birds, Cave Claws
etc) --- Rep Dungeon in Sarnur (Ered
Luin)
Fidelity:
Evendim
of
Evendim
---
Fortitude
Fortitude: Bear --- Misty Mountains
Fortitude: Bree-Lands Woodsman [old
forest trees] --- Bree-Lands
Empathy
Fortitude: Giant --- Trollshaws
Empathy +2: Angmar Quests [Final]

--- Angmar
Empathy:
Bree-Lands
Tombs
Bree-Lands
Quests
Fortitude: Harvest Sicklefly --- The

Shire
---
Fortitude: Neekerbeeker --- Bree-Lands

Fortitude: Troll --- North Downs
Empathy: North Downs Quests --North Downs
Fortitude: Warg --- Lone Lands
Empathy: Peril of the Mountains

[Advanced] --- Misty Mountains
Fortitude: Orc --- Evendim
Empathy: The Life of the Bounder

[Advanced] --- The Shire
Honesty: Craban --- Lone Lands
Fidelity
Fidelity: Defenses of the Lone Lands
--- Lone Lands
Fidelity: Scouting the Dourhands --Ered Luin
Fidelity: The Circle of Despair --Angmar
Fidelity: The Road to Rivendell --Trollshaws
Honesty
Honesty: Troll --- Lone Lands

Honesty: Wilds of Tal
Exploration Deed --- Trollshaws
Honesty: Bilbo's Buttons Deed --- Misty

Mountains (High Pass)
Honesty: Goblin Town locations Deed
--- Misty Mountains (High Pass)
Honesty: The Forbidden Heights --Misty Mountains
Honour
Fidelity: The Sights of Shire --- The

Shire
Honour: Spider --- Bree-Lands

Honour: Spider --- Lone Lands
Fidelity:
Evendim
Ruins
of
Evendim
Bruinen
--Honour: Spider --- The Shire

Honour: Uruk --- Angmar
Justice: Orc --- North Downs
Honour: Worm --- Misty Mountains
Justice: Warg --- Misty Mountains
Honour: Worm --- North Downs
Justice: Goblin --- Evendim
Honour: Giant --- Evendim
Justice: Dourhands --- Rep Dungeon in

Sarnur (Erud Luin)
Idealism
Idealism +2: Brave Deeds in the
Wilderness [Final] --- Trollshaws
Idealism: Angmar Quests [Advanced]
--- Angmar
Loyalty
Loyalty +2: Bree-Lands Quests [Final]
--- Bree-Lands
Loyalty: Angmar Quests --- Angmar
Idealism: Flowers of the old forest --Bree-Lands
Loyalty: Brave Deeds in the Wilderness

[Advanced] --- Trollshaws
Idealism +2: Lone Lands Quests

[Final] --- Lone Lands
Loyalty +2: North Downs Quests [Final]

--- North Downs
Mercy
Idealism: The History of the Dunedain

--- Bree-Lands
Innocence
Innocence +2: Peril of the Mountains
[Final] --- Misty Mountains
Mercy: Wight --- Lone Lands

Mercy: Redeemer [the dead] --- North
Downs
Mercy: Wight --- Angmar
Innocence +2: The Life of the Bounder

[Final] --- The Shire
Mercy: Wight --- Bree-Lands

Mercy: Wight --- Trollshaws
Innocence: Brave Deeds

Wilderness --- Trollshaws
in
the
Mercy: Limrafn --- Evendim
Innocence: Warden of Evendim [Final

- Quests] --- Evendim
Mercy: Wight --- Rep Dungeon (Haudh

Iarchath) in Barrow Downs
Patience
Justice
Justice: Brigand --- The Shire
Patience: No Place for Spoiled Pie --The Shire
Justice: Angmarim --- Angmar

Justice: Brigand --- Bree-Lands
Patience: Places of the Dwarves --- Ered

Luin
Justice: Brigand --- Ered Luin

Patience: Restoring the Quick Post --The Shire
Valour: Snow Trolls --- Rep Dungeon in

Sarnur (Erud Luin)
Wisdom
Patience: Ruins of Bree land --Bree-Lands
Wisdom: Elf Ruins --- Ered Luin
Patience: The Barrow Downs --Bree-Lands
Wisdom: High Passes of

Mountains --- Misty Mountains
Patience: The Eastern Ruins --- North

Downs
Wisdom: Lore of the Cardolan Prince --Bree-Lands
Patience:
Evendim
Wilds
of
Evendim
---
Misty
Wisdom: The Old Forest --- Bree-Lands

Wisdom: The Weathertop Exploration
--- Lone Lands
Tolerance
Tolerance: The Villages of the Earth
Kin --- North Downs
Wisdom: The Western Ruins --- North

Downs
Tolerant +2: Bastions of Hope --Angmar
Zeal
Zeal: Giant --- Misty Mountains
Tolerant The Farms of Shire --- The

Shire
Zeal: Goblin --- Ered Luin

Zeal: Goblin --- North Downs
Tolerant: Ruins of Misty Mountains --Misty Mountains
Zeal: Orc --- Angmar
Tolerant: Ruins of Trollshaws --Trollshaws
Zeal: Spider --- Ered Luin

Zeal: Troll --- Trollshaws
Valour
Valour: Goblin --- Lone Lands
Valour: Goblin --- The Shire
Zeal: Kergrims --- Evendim

Zeal: Spider --- Rep Dungeon (Haudh
Iarchath) in Barrow Downs
Valour: Orc --- Bree-Lands

Valour: Orc --- Lone Lands
Valour: Troll --- Misty Mountains
Valour: Worm --- Angmar
Valour: Worm --- Trollshaws
Minstrel Class Deeds

and Corresponding
Traits
Harmonious Melody. This ability gives
you a longer window of opportunity in
which to perform your next tier of
ballads. +5.0 to effect duration and a
Line Bonus of +0.3 to morale regen
in-combat. You have to play 1,500
ballads to finish this deed and earn this
trait. You may only advance this deed
500 times per day.
Herald's Hammer. This gives you an
enhanced version of your Herald's Strike.
Adds 100% to your Herald's Strike. Also
gives a Line Bonus of +50 to max
morale. You must successfully land
Herald's Strike 700 times to finish this
deed and earn this trait. You may only
advance this deed 240 times per day.
Powerful Voice. Decreases the cost of
your cries. Reduces the Power cost of all
cries by 5%. Gives a Line Bonus of +65
max power. You must successfully use
your cries 300 times to finish this deed
and earn this trait. You may only
Smooth Voice. This trait increases
specific ballad effect durations. When
slotted this turns your Ballad of Vigor
and Ballad of Balance into songs that no
longer deal damage, but add bonus to the

status of your group. Song of Vigor is a 30
second buff of +29 vitality. Song of
Balance is a 2.6% evade chance increase
for 30 sec. Both have a 15s cooldown. line
bonus of +50 max morale. You must
successfully use Piercing Cry 600 times to
finish this deed and earn this trait. You
may only advance this deed 200 times per
day.
Focused Performance. This trait
increases the induction time of your
abilities, making you harder to disrupt.
10% faster cast times on skills. Also a line
bonus of 2% fear resist. This is one of the
more important Minstrel traits. You must
evade 300 attacks to finish this deed and
earn this trait.
Life Singer. This trait reduces the power
cost for your morale-renewing skills
(heals). 10% reduction from the power
cost, as well as a line bonus of 0.3 to
morale regeneration. You must use your
healing spells 1,000 times to finish this
deed and earn this trait. This is one of the
more important Minstrel traits. You may
only advance this deed 150 times per day.
Unrelenting. When slotted this allows
your Piercing Cry to stun enemies after a
crit. It also reduces the recovery time on
Piercing Cry and gives it a 25% additional
chance to critical when slotted. Stun, plus
line bonus of 50 to max morale. Also
reduces 3.0 from the skill recovery time.

You must successfully land critical hits
with your Piercing Cry 100 times to
finish this deed and earn this trait. You
may only advance this deed 20 times per
day.
traits. It reduces the threat generated by

your skills by 25. It also gives you a line
bonus of 65 to max power. You must use
your Song of Soothing 300 times to finish
this deed and earn this trait.
Graceful
Demeanor.
This
trait
enhances the effects of your Enlivening
Grace and Rally! Abilities. It also
subtracts 2.0 from the cast time on your
resurrection spells. When slotted it
reduces the cast time on Rally by 2
seconds and recovery time by 5 minutes.
Line bonus is 2% fear resist, 20% to
morale and 30% to power upon
resurrection. Must use Enlivening Grace
100 times to finish this deed and earn this
trait.
Battle-Hymn. This ability increases the

regen rate while in-combat for the Anthem
of the Valar. Line bonus of +65 to power.
Must use Anthem of the Valar 250 times
to finish this deed and unlock this trait.
Light in the Dark. This trait increases

the damage for your Tier 1 and Tier 2
ballads. Adds a 10% bonus to your
damage and a line bonus of 50 to max
morale. You must use your Ballad of
Resonance 1,000 times to finish this deed
and earn this trait. You may only
Silver Tongue. This ability allows your
songs to recover more quickly than
before by reducing the recharge time by
3.0. You also receive a line bonus of 2%
to fear resist. You must use your Cry of
the Chorus 500 times to finish this deed
and earn this trait.
Subtle Movements. This is another of
the more important Minstrel-specific
Exemplar of Song. This is a title. There

is no trait associated with it.
Heralded Saviour. This ability increases
the effectiveness of your Song of Aid. It
lasts 10% longer and has a 20% increased
recovery time. You also receive a line
bonus of 2% to fear resist. You must use
your Song of Aid 400 times to finish this
deed and earn this trait.
Mentor of Song. Title, no trait.
Associated with mentoring players to use
instruments. You can only mentor 1
instrument every 5 days. It takes 3 mentor
sessions to earn this title.
Strength of Voice. This increases the
duration of your Tier 3 ballads by 10
seconds and gives a line bonus to moral
regen in-combat by 0.3. You must use
your Ballad of War 500 times to finish this
deed and earn this trait.
Melodies of the Valar. This deed gives
you the Rally trait upon completion. This
is a legendary trait. Rally is an in-combat

resurrection spell. You must gather 8
pages from the Melodies of the Valar
book in order to complete this deed and
earn this trait. The first four pages drop
from Goblins in the Misty Mountains
and the last four pages drop from
Morroval in the Ram Duath.
The Rising Chord. This deed gives you
the Song of the Hopeful Heart song upon
completion. This is a legendary trait.
This song enables you to temporarily
reduce the Dread of an area for 60
seconds. (Find info on where pages drop)
Valour's Marches. This deed gives you
the legendary trait Anthem of the
Wizards. It allows you blast your
enemies with an area-of-effect (AoE)
that will slow anyone who is affected by
it. Like all anthems, this can only be
played after a Tier 3 ballad, and your
counter will be reset. 30% movement
rate reduced, 20% attack rate reduced. 30
second duration. (Need more info on
pages)
Trait Builds
The following details specific builds.
Depending on the situation you will want
to switch your traits around for maximized
performance. You want to avoid all
"all-in-one" build specifically because
while it might enhance one area, it will
sacrifice in another, and since this game is
very clearly divided between solo and
group play you need to make that
distinction.
For the most part you will leave your
Virtue traits alone...you can keep the same
ones for group and solo play slotted. The
only ones you will be changing out with
regularity is your Class traits.
Furthermore you should make sure to
pay attention to boss fights for specific
areas. These will be the few times when
you might change out your Virtue traits to
get higher resists. The Rift, for example,
can require high shadow and fear resists,
so if you know what kind of boss fights
you are going up against, you can change
out your Virtue traits accordingly. But it is
fairly rare that you need to worry about
changing the Virtue ones around, and you
don't have to if you really don't want to.
For the most part you will want to stick
with Virtue traits that increase your morale
and vitality. Why vitality, and not wisdom

and fate, you ask? Because all of the
Minstrel gear in the game will provide
you with more than enough will and fate
bonuses, but you still need to keep your
morale as high as possible to counter the
massive Dread de-buffs in boss
encounters.
Solo Build
The solo build is made up of primarily
increased damage traits. You will be
surprised at how much DPS the minstrel
can do, especially in the upper 30's and
to cap. Also keep in mind that since all of
your trait slots will not become available
until higher levels, some of the traits will
not be available to you until higher
levels.
Fellowship Build
Your Virtue traits will remain the same,
regardless if you are in Solo or Fellowship
mode. However, your class traits are
important. While you want a higher DPS
mode when soloing or duoing or even in
smaller groups, you absolutely want to
switch out for performance-healing traits
whenever you decide it's time to do an
instance. Healing is, after all, your primary
role, and as fun as it is to be able to DPS
while playing this class, it's important to
remember that doing so is your backup
job.
Focused Performance (this is the only
trait which you will never move. Faster
cast time is important regardless of solo or
fellowship play).
Herald's Hammer.
Life-Singer.
Light in the Dark.
Harmonious Melody.
Unrelenting.
Battle-Hymn.
Focused Performance.
Glorious Anthem.
Silver Tongue.
Subtle Movements.
Powerful Voice.
Also keep in mind that until the
low-mid 40's one of your class trait slots
will be taken up by the Medium Armor
minstrel class trait. Once you get your
first full set of light gear in Angmar you
can replace that with any of the above.
Keep in mind that these are the most

effective for long-term buffs, decreased
aggro, and maximized healing.
Minstrel Basics
Whether solo or in a fellowship, there a
few things that make playing a minstrel
far different than many of the other
healers you might have played to-date.
Firstly and foremost is the different tiers
of ballads, songs, anthems and how they
play into your heals. Second is
instruments, and how they can affect the
potency of your songs, ballads, anthems,
and help you with your aggro. Thirdly is
aggro itself. Aggro in LOTRO is
different than in almost every other
game. Heals generate a LOT of threat,
and unless you are using the full extent
of your abilities, you will be squashed
like a little bug.
Instruments
Instruments play a vital role in how the
minstrel class is played. I keep a full set
of instruments on me at all times, as each
particular instrument gives a unique
bonus that can come in handy depending
on the situation. Instruments are crafted
by the Woodworker class. Each tier of
instrument gives you a better bonus, so
try and replace your instruments with the
next tier each time you ding 20, 30, 40,
and 50. Please note that there is a

difference between the basic instruments
that can be used to play in-game music
and the crafted instruments which give
unique minstrel-only bonuses. The crafted
instruments start at level 20, whereas the
basic instruments can be obtained at level
1 (although the skill to use them does not
always start at level 1)
Drums. Drums give you a +% to Ballad
damage and +% to the Ballad cost.
Flutes. Flutes reduce a % of the power
cost on all Songs.
Harps. Harps reduce a % of the power
cost on all Ballads.
Lutes. Lutes reduce a % of the power
cost on all Anthems.
Theorbo. This reduces the amount of
thread you gain during combat. This is
probably the most important instrument in
your repertoire.
As with all crafted items the higher the
level the higher the % of the effects on the
instruments. Critical versions of the
instruments will give you further
enhancement. The most common pair of
instruments to be used is the Drum and the
Theorbo. You can switch them during
combat. Usually people keep the drum
slotted most of the time to get a bonus to
ballad damage, then switch over to the
theorbo when they need to heal.
Ballads, Anthems, Tales

and Songs: The
Minstrel's Gallery
Ballads are one of the unique features
of Lord of the Rings Online and the
Minstrel class. This is also where the
strategy part of playing the minstrel
comes into play.
The easiest way to think about ballads
is tiered abilities. A tier 1 ballad must be
played in order for a tier 2 ballad to be
played, and a tier 2 ballad must be played
in order for a tier 3 ballad to be played.
In most cases your strongest abilities will
stem upon a prerequisite tier 2 or tier 3
ballad being in effect, especially with
your anthems.
generate with each heal spell, which can

be extremely useful in longer fights.
Minstrels also have the ability to switch
between "normal" mode and War-Speech
mode. When you enter into War-Speech
mode via the toggle, your heal spells are
reduced by 50% effectiveness. However,
your DPS is increased on specific abilities,
and you will also gain some abilities that
are only usable while in the War-Speech
stance. It is important to remember that
while some of your abilities gain strength
in this stance, your heal abilities are cut in
half, which means you have to pay closer
attention to morale meters. Generally
War-Speech is only used for solo play or if
you are the second minstrel in a party,
which rarely happens. I will cover this in
more detail in the Solo and Group Combat
areas.
Tales are your toggled buffs. You may

only have one tale active at any given
time. These are powerful tales of deeds
long past, of glorious battles won to help
strengthen your allies in times of need.
Songs are generally direct-damage or
instant-cast abilities, while Anthems are
generally only opened after a tier 3
ballad has been performed. Anthems will
give your fellowship the most beneficial
abilities and in-combat buffs, like morale
regeneration and extra resistances.
However some of them can also do such
things as reduce the amount of aggro you
Combat as a
Minstrel
your own, your War-Speech will help you

transform into a battle-hardened veteran
that any foe should tremble to face!
Middle Earth can be a dangerous place,

whether you are all alone while traveling
the wilds, or traveling with your boon
companions in a fellowship. In either
case, you are going to want to know how
to best play your class in order to
successfully work your way up to the
top.
The Minstrel is primarily a healer. But
that doesn't mean that's all you do. Nor
does it mean you are relegated to simply
being a buff-bot and heal-bot. The
minstrel in LOTRO is a unique class
with a lot of different abilities, and many
different ways they can be played while
still maintaining that primary role as a
healer. You can mez undead, you can
fear evil mobs, you can feign death, you
can rez in combat and out of
combat...you are the backbone of any
fellowship desiring to see the deepest and
darkest depths of the game.
But it's not just about fellowships. The
minstrel class has one of the highest rates
of survivability within Lord of the Rings
Online. Unless you are just not paying
attention to what you are doing it is
virtually impossible to succumb to
defeat. When you are out in the field on
The Basics
Ballads, Tales, Songs, Anthems...you
have a vast repertoire of skills at your
command. But where to start!
Life as a young minstrel can be a bit
tough, but as with all things you will
eventually grow, and as you grow you
begin to take on multiple roles within the
group or solo setting. When you are solo
you are going to want to worry about your
damage output, as well as keeping yourself
alive. As detailed in the class traits section
above there are several traits which can
help you when it comes to soloing,
specifically the Medium Armor trait, the
Focused Performance trait, and the
Unrelenting trait. Those three are the most
important when it comes to your ability to
rapidly defeat your enemies while at the
same time retaining some form of dignity
in terms of staying alive long enough to
get the job done.
Your instruments will also play a vital
role in your abilities. While you cannot
create macros in LOTRO to easily switch
out instruments, you can manually do it or

simply add them to your hotbar so you
can simply click a button and equip the
correct one. Depending on the situation
you can switch them out as you see fit, or
you can just use one or two.
It's also important to note that while
you can use most of your songs and
abilities while running you can NOT heal
while moving! You must be standing still
in order to properly heal you or your
fellowship members.
Healing will generate a LOT of aggro.
And by a lot, I mean a LOT. You get
several abilities, such as the Song of
Soothing, which allow you to de-aggro
mobs during combat. Be aware that you
must use your de-aggro abilities when in
a fellowship or you will find yourself in
the frying pan. Aggro management in
this game is not as simple as the guardian
simply spamming his taunts and keeping
the mob focused on him. It requires you
focusing on using your de-aggro abilities
as much as possible to make sure the
mobs are focused in the right
direction...away from you!
Things you should know

Just because the primary role of the
Minstrel is a healer, doesn't mean that it's
your job to keep everyone at full health
during the entire fight. It simply means
that it's your job to keep everyone alive.
Too many players have a misconception
that it's your job to keep them at full health
through the entire fight, and that's just
silly. First of all it's murder on the tank if
the healer is spam healing; he'll never keep
aggro if you do that. It's always best to
worry about getting your de-aggros off
first, then worry about healing the
party/tank. There's a rather interesting read
over at the official LOTRO forums which
talks about things other people should
know about the minstrel.
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.
php?t=33296
Healing
The minstrel can only heal effectively
with no mobs on them, so everyone
should be scrambling to get them off of
you!
a general rule of thumb burglars and

lore-masters will mez/stun mobs but in the
case of you not having one of these classes
available have someone pick it off with
ranged weapons...a hunter will work just
as well. It's easier to heal the hunter than it
is to have to heal yourself.
Healing requires line of sight. You

can't heal around corners, tents,
buildings, etc. If you can't see the person
getting ganked, you can't heal them.
As mentioned before, while we can
cast many of our other abilities while on
the move, we cannot heal while moving.
Everyone needs to stay close...because
we can't be running around trying to heal
everyone.
If the minstrel is out of power,
everyone needs to be prepared to heal
themselves. To be honest, I've never ran
out of power except on exceptionally
hard boss fights. If you spec properly and
take care to have decent gear, this should
never be a problem.
Any time we heal, loose mobs WILL
aggro on us. In particular, ranged mobs
seem to love the minstrel class. The bad
thing is that ranged mobs aren't usually
close enough for the tank to have
established aggro on them, so even if you
use Song of Soothing or one of your
other de-aggro abilities, the mob is still
going to be shooting you because no one
else has established any aggro with it. As
Resurrection
We can't do any until level 20. So tell
everyone to stop asking! And even then,
we can't rez in combat until we get the
Rally trait, which is a legendary trait
reward from one of the legendary deeds,
as detailed in the Deeds and Traits section
of this guide. Even then, Rally has a rather
lengthy cooldown so it's only for
emergencies.
In the case of a party wipe the minstrel
can attempt a feign death. If it succeeds
then you have nothing to worry
about...other than re-spawns.
Please, for the love of all things holy and
unholy, do not revive until your minstrel
says you should. I cannot tell you how
many times I've had to deal with people
who don't pay attention and revive after a
death before waiting to get a rez. It is not
your job as a minstrel to have to tell
people how to play, but if I'm with people
I don't know that well I always remind
them at the start of a group to wait for a

rez if they die. If they choose to revive
instead of waiting for a rez, that's their
problem, not yours.
Crowd Control
We can mez undead for 30 seconds,
but everyone needs to be on their toes
and avoiding their AoE attacks. Any
damage will break the mez. We can also
lull mobs, which can make pulling a lot
easier and reduce the need for rez and
stuns. The less mobs that come, the
easier the fight!
We can fear mobs. The best part about
fear in LOTRO is that unlike in other
games a feared mob doesn't bring back
everyone else in the zone. They won't
bring back any. So you can generally fear
mobs without worrying about adds.
Damage
War-Speech. I've talked about this
briefly but basically it's a toggled stance
that you can enter into which allows you
to do a lot more damage than usual,
including some nice AoE damage, but
your healing abilities are cut in half. This
is NOT a good stance to be in for instance
settings, unless you are a backup minstrel.
As a general rule of thumb you'll only
have 1 minstrel per fellowship but on
occasion there will be 2. Make sure to go
over it with the other minstrel first to see
who will heal and who will go into
War-Speech mode. War-Speech is
particularly useful for solo grinding,
especially as you get into your 30's and
find yourself with several abilities in the
stance. You can literally kill as fast as
most of the other classes if you have the
right gear and proper trait selection. It is
also highly useful when in small groups
doing outside quests that don't require a lot
of healing. You will eventually be able to
lay on some serious AoE damage with
War-Speech active, which makes it
particularly useful when grinding.
Minstrel 101
Nearly half of the time you spend in
LOTRO will be spent working on quests
by yourself. Nearly every quest chain in
Lord of the Rings starts out as a solo
quest but ends up with a fellowship quest
as its finale. Of course, some people
choose to bypass the fellowship content
in its entirety and focus solely on
working their way to level 50 without
bothering to group or even worry about
the group quests.
There are valid points to be made on
either side of the fence when it comes to
soloing or grouping. In Lord of the Rings
Online it is most effective to combine
aspects of both in order to achieve the
fastest route to level 50. However, it's
double important to start with a solid
foundation, and that's where we'll begin.
Keep in mind that you will want to return
to your trainer as often as possible. You
earn Passive abilities every odd level
(1,3,5, 7, 9, etc.) and Active
abilities/skills at every even level (2, 4, 6,
8, 10, 12, etc). Make it a habit to return
to your trainer every 2 levels. It's best if
you make this an even level so you can
keep your active abilities topped off. For
the most part your passive abilities, such
as Block, or Evade, are self-explanatory.
As such I won't be covering them as
explicitly as I will the active skills, but it's

worth noting that you should train them
every chance you get, as they do increase
your chances of survival. There will be a
more detailed explanation of each ability
and its relevance to Solo, Group, or Raid
styles of play later on in this guide, but for
now this section details a basic list of your
skills, when you get them, and what are
the most effective ways to use them.
Basic Skills and Uses

When you first start out as a baby
minstrel you will find yourself with only a
few skills to be equipped. Raise the Spirit,
which is your basic fast-cast small heal,
Ballad of Vigour, which is a tier 1 ballad
that does damage and gives you some
vitality, and Herald's Strike, which is a
melee ability. It's not much, but it's the
start of a much larger world for you.
All of your ballads can be cast on the
move, and they all act as ranged abilities,
which makes it easy to pull mobs from a
distance rather than having to run up to
them. It also helps because you don't have
to chase things down if they decide to flee.
You can merely use your abilities and kill
them in mid-flight.

At level 2 you get another one of the
foundation skills, Piercing Cry. This
ability will become particularly useful
later on, as your War-Speech will give it
enhanced
damage
and
reduced
cooldown, and you can slot a trait which
adds a stun every time you land a critical
hit with your Cry. This is one of your
highest damage abilities, so you should
use it as often as possible for the fastest
advancement.
damage. It's important to note that almost

all of the tier 3 ballads are group buffs.
Through your early days as a minstrel your
tier 1 and tier 2 ballads will be specifically
for damage and most commonly used for
soloing, while in a fellowship setting you
will be focused on stacking your ballads to
unlock the tier 3 and Anthems as quickly
as possible in order to maximize the
damage output of your group and to
unlock the more powerful group abilities.
At level 4 you gain the Ballad of

Swiftness, which is your first tier 2
ballad and does some damage to the mob
as well as giving you a bonus to your
attack speed. You also get the Ballad of
Steel, which is another tier 1 ballad that
enhances your armor and does some
damage.
Once you hit level 8 you gain another

tier 1 ballad, the Ballad of Resonance. It
gives an enhancement to Tactical damage.
You also gain another tier 3 ballad, the
Ballad of Unshakable Will. This gives
your group a boost to their fear resists and
is particularly useful on boss fights or
areas where fear/dread are particularly
bothersome.
At level 5 you gain the first of your

Instrument abilities. These are passive
abilities. You can use a lute from level 1,
but at level 5 you can learn the flute, the
harp, the clarinet, horns, and the cow-bell
(which is basically useless; it's just fluff).
Be aware that while some of these
instruments can be crafted and add
bonuses
to
your
minstrel
songs/ballads/abilities, some of them are
pure fluff for playing music in-game.
At level 6 you gain your first
ballad, which also happens to
fellowship buff, giving your
fellowship an increase to their
tier 3
be a
entire
melee
Level 10 is when you get your first

group heal, Inspire Fellows. This is one of
the most important abilities you will ever
get. It's also a major aggro puller, so while
you should use it as often as necessary, be
aware that the moment you let this baby
fly, any loose mobs are going to make a
beeline for you. You also gain the ability
to use Drums.
At level 12 you get Cry of the Valar,
which is your fear spell. It only works on
evil mobs. Certain animals will be immune
as they don't necessarily fall under the
"evil" category. Remember, feared mobs

don't bring adds in this game like in other
games you might have played, so feel
free to use this skill without worry. It's an
extremely important part of your class,
regardless if you are solo or group.
Level 14 sees the first of your
War-Speech abilities, Echoes of Battle.
While this skill works even when you
aren't in War-Speech stance, its effects
are increased when you enter the stance.
It is a basic damage-over-time with direct
damage initially type ability. You also
get the Ballad of Balance, which is a tier
2 ballad that increases your Evade
chance. This ability is key in earning
your Focused Performance class trait
since you must evade 300 attacks for the
deed to complete. The increased cast
time from Focused Performance makes it
one of the top 5 abilities you will want to
worry about as a minstrel, so using the
Ballad of Balance every chance you get
is extremely important. It's not as viable
in group combat as you won't be getting
hit as much, but for solo play it's
absolutely imperative.
Once you hit level 15 you will gain the
ability to use the Theorbo. At lower
levels it's not as critical, but especially at
the cap if you can get a critical success
version of the Theorbo crafted for you by
a Woodworker, it helps considerably
with reducing your overall threat
generation and aggro control.
At sixteen you get Noble Cause. This

ability rocks in fellowships for those
oh-crap situations because it causes your
next 3 Herald's Strikes to do extra damage
as well as returning part of that as morale
to the fellowship. When you invoke this
skill it resets the timer for Herald's Strike,
even if it has already been used, and also
allows you to use the next three Herald's
Strikes without any cool-downs. This is
particularly
useful
for
those
omfg-I'm-out-of-power moments when
you need to keep your group topped off.
Trigger Noble Cause, get in close enough
for melee, and spam Herald's Strike three
times in a row to get some group heals
going.
Level 18 is a big boost to your role as a
team player. You get three rather
important abilities. The first is your
slow-cast single target big heal. This is
your primary heal spell. You also get Song
of Restoration, which is useful for
removing some of the Dread of defeat.
You also get your mez undead ability,
which is another key skill in your
multi-function world. It lasts for 30
seconds, and combined with your fear,
gives you two different crowd control
abilities to enhance your desirability in a
fellowship.
Twenty! This is another big step for the
minstrel! War-Speech! This is when you
first get the ability to switch stances into a

DPS stance vs. a healing stance.
War-Speech is primarily used for solo
play. It transforms many of your abilities
into higher-damage abilities, as well as
having some specific abilities you will
get over time that can only be used when
you are in the stance. War-Speech is not
as effective through the 20's as it will be
when you get into the 30's and 40's, but it
still adds a much-needed bonus to your
DPS. You also get Anthem of the Free
People, which is a in-combat morale
regen. It can only be used after a tier 3
ballad has been used so you have to stack
ballads to unlock this ability in a combat
setting. You also get your non-combat
rez, Enlivening Grace.
Level 22 gives you firstly the Tale of
Heroism, which is your first toggle buff
for the fellowship. This particular buff
increases the Will and Fate of your entire
fellowship. Depending on the situation
you will use different Tales, but for the
most part this is your primary buff. It
increases power pool, regen, and the
chance to critically land some abilities,
which makes it a very good buff. You
also get your second War-Speech ability,
the Call of Orome. This is an AoE ability
which can affect up to three different
mobs and it has a rather fast refresh of 10
seconds, which makes it a viable soloing
tool. It also reduces the mobs Light
mitigation, which helps some of your
other abilities do more damage against
mobs who have been struck by the Call.

At level 24 you get Anthem of
Compassion. This is one of your de-aggro
abilities, but like the other Anthems it can
ONLY be cast after you have used a tier 3
ballad, which means it takes time to stack
your ballads and unlock this. For longer
fights this is an extremely useful ability.
Level 26 unlocks the Cry of the Chorus
ability. This ability unlocks ALL tiers of
ballads and Anthems at once. It has a
rather lengthy cool-down so I usually
reserve this for boss fights when I need to
make sure I have a resist, regen, or
de-aggro up before the fight starts. This is
a highly useful skill in a group setting, and
can often mean the difference between
success and failure. You also get a Cure
Fear spell, which is extremely handy in
boss fights to remove deadly effects which
can wipe your party or have other
detrimental effects.
Song of Soothing comes at level 28.
This is by far the most important spell next
to your heals. This is your main de-aggro
spell. It can only be used while in combat
and will only effect those mobs who are in
combat. You won't be using this while
soloing, and you don't always have to use
it for smaller fights while in a fellowship,
but if there are more than three or four
elite mobs in your camp at the same time,
always use this spell if you have the time
to get it off before you cast a heal. If you

have to cast a heal before you use this
spell you will likely get aggro but as
soon as you get this Song off you will
ditch aggro. However, someone has to
have established some form of threat on
the mobs or they won't go back to
ignoring you. This is another one of
those cases where people need to be on
their toes. If a ranged mob is shooting
you from beyond the tank's range of
aggro he's still going to shoot you even if
you land this spell on him unless
someone else does something to him to
establish another threat.
Level 30 is a big level, and rather
expensive to train as well. Firstly, you
get Song of Aid, which unlocks all gated
abilities for your fellowship as well as
letting Lore-Masters use their Beacon of
Hope more frequently/for less morale.
You also get a large instant-heal
group-heal that will heal a significant
portion of your group's morale. This is an
oh-crap heal because it has a 15 minute
timer. It will also draw a HUGE amount
of aggro so keep that in mind if you are
planning to spring this beauty. You also
get the first of your Mentor abilities,
Horn and Clarinet. What this allows you
to do is teach other players to play these
instruments. None of the classes can
learn all of the instruments that the
minstrel can, and some of them like to
know things for "fluff" reasons, and the
only way to learn them is from a minstrel
who has the abilities. These are nothing

more than fluff. You also gain access to
the Scribe Stance, which allows you to
change your Mentor skills into Scribe
skills and create manuals to teach players
instruments, rather than mentoring them in
person. However it is much more taxing
and puts a 10 day cooldown on all of your
mentoring skills. It also requires a Blank
Mentor Manual.
At level 32 you get Tale of Battle. This
is another buff, but instead of Will and
Fate this one focuses on Vitality and
Wound resistance. This is particularly
useful for boss fights when you need a
little extra hitpoints for the fellowship, but
overall it is a backup buff that is purely
situational. You also get Ballad of Flame.
This is a tier 3 ballad which increases your
fellowship's resistance to fire-based
attacks.
At level 34 you get a lull, Song of
Distraction. Keep in mind this is just a lull,
not a de-aggro. It works wonders in terms
of making pulls a heck of a lot easier. You
also get another War-Speech ability, Call
of the Second Age. This is another AoE
ability which strikes up to three targets and
although the refresh timer on it is not as
short as Call of Orome it does significantly
more damage. This is yet another addition
to your solo skills and as far as I'm
concerned this is when the minstrel really
steps it up a notch in terms of DPS. This

ability allows you to slaughter much
faster, making it feel a lot less like a
healer class and more like a hybrid.
At level 36 you get Ballad of the Stout,
which is a tier 2 ballad that gives a bump
to all your resistances and also does
some damage. You also get another fluff
ability to mentor Cow-bells, which is a
fluff instrument.
38 is another big level for the minstrel,
because you get two rather important
abilities here. The first is your Still as
Death ability, which is a feign-death. To
have this as a healer is just amazing. If
you see a party wipe coming, just hit this
spell and if it lands you are good to go to
wait for the mobs to reset and then go
about rezzing your group back into the
fray. This is absolutely one of the top
abilities for a minstrel in this game. You
also get Chord of Salvation, which is an
instant heal that heals a single target for a
significant amount of morale. It also only
has a thirty second cooldown, which
makes it a valuable skill that should
become part of your "core" skills.
Level 40. Down to the last ten levels to
the cap, and while you have established
most of your core abilities by now, the
really powerful abilities start here. You
get Anthem of the Valar at this level,
which is an AoE. Like all Anthems, you
must have used a tier 3 ballad to unlock
this ability for use.
At level 42 you get Lay of the

Hammerhand. This is a really, really neat
ability. When you toggle it on it allows
you to take damage and instead of losing
morale you will lose power points,
effectively giving you two pools from
which to draw your morale. This is a
life-saving skill which can often times
mean the difference between success and
failure. When things start to get hot, you
can toggle this skill on and give yourself a
chance to recover. Stuns and knockdowns
will interrupt the lay, however. It's also
really great to use when you want to beat a
hasty retreat from an area, or to "train" out
rather than fight your way out. Simply pop
this on and make sure your fellowship
sticks close on your tail as you lead them
out. Since you are in front everything will
be hitting you, meaning your group can
follow you to safety...provided you don't
run out of power.
At level 44 you get Tale of Warding. As
with your other Tales, this is a toggled
buff and you can only use one Tale at a
time. This particular Tale increases the
armor and Hope of your party. This can be
particularly useful in the major boss fights
of the game when every bit of Hope
counts to counter the Dread meters in
fights with mobs like the Nazgul or the
Balrog. Extremely useful in specific
situations.

At level 46 you get Call to the
Fellowship. This is another useful ability
for boss fights or lengthy battles when
Fellowship Maneuvers/Conjunctions are
being used. It gives a 10% bonus to all
healing and damage from fellowship
skills. It's on a 10 minute timer and only
lasts for 15 seconds so it's important to
ONLY use this ability at the start of a
conjunction to maximize performance.
At level 48 you get Gift of the
Hammerhand. This is a unique ability
that can really help your main tank, or
other people in dire need. It allows you
to give a 10 second reprieve from
damage to one of your fellowship
members where every Common point of
damage done to morale is instead taken
from their power pool at a rate of 2 to 1.
So for every Common point of morale
damage they would lose 2 points of
power instead. This has a 15 minute
cooldown so it's usually used as a
last-ditch ability or only on specific boss
encounters. It is also extremely useful for
those fights when your tank might be
dealing with 4 or more mobs at any given
time and you need time to get a de-aggro
or some resists off before worrying about
heals. It'll give you some to work your
magic, although you sacrifice some of
your power pool. If you've managed to
get decent gear, however, this really
won't be a problem.
At level 50 you get your last two

abilities. Irresistible Melody is a fluff
song...it basically causes any Free People
(good guys) in its range to burst into
dance. The second is Call to Greatness,
which is on a 5 min timer and is a
single-target buff. This ability affects each
class specifically as follows:
Call to Burglars: +15% damage to
positional attack skills. Surprise Strike is
recovered every 5 seconds. This has a 15
second duration.
Call to Captains: Grants a defeat event.
Grants the Battle-readied state every 5
seconds. This has a 15 second duration.
Call to Champions: Grants a defeat
event and 2 fervor. Grants 1 fervor every 5
Call to Guardians: +25% hate
generation. Grants the Guardian's Ward
effect every 5 seconds. This has a 15
second duration.
Call to Hunters: -10% threat generation
and +3 focus. Grants 2 focus every 5
Call to Lore-Masters: -3% chance for
enemies to resist Blinding Flash. Recovers
Blinding Flash every 5 seconds. This has a
15 second duration.
Call to Minstrels: +10% to healing.
Recovers Chord of Salvation every 5

At level 39 and 41 you can trait your
Legendary traits, which have specific
skills with them. There are several to
choose from, but it's up to you which
ones you use. Rally is your in-combat
rez, Song of the Hopeful Heart is an AoE
dread reduction fellowship buff. Anthem
of the Wizards is a Light-based AoE
damage Anthem. At level 50 you will
earn the Fellowship's Heart skill from
your class quest. This final ability is a
group heal-over-time and it also removes
any fear effects from the character. You
must have your legendary traits slotted in
order to use any of the skills that go
along with them.
The Minstrel played

Solo
With the overview that you just read
you should have a basic idea of how the
skills work and at which levels you are
going to get class-defining skills and
abilities. But there's more to it than just
knowing when and how your skills work.
You need to know how to play the class
effectively in each setting. In this portion
we will cover the best tactics for solo
play.
There's two different variations of
healing in LOTRO. Firstly is just straight
healing. That is, simply casting your heals

and letting them do their basic job. But if
you use Herald's Strike you add a
temporary increase to the amount of
morale each one of your heals does. What
this means is that while straight-up healing
can get the job done, it is far more
effective to make sure you've landed a
Herald's Strike before you toss a heal,
because you will be healing for more
morale but the same amount of power. It's
all about efficiency. This goes double-so
when you are in War-Speech, as your
healing abilities will be cut by 50%.
As a general rule you can kill a single
normal mob at any point in time while in
War-Speech and never have to cast a heal.
You'll end up with about 50% morale left
over at the end of the fight and you can
toss a quick heal off before chasing after
the next mob. It is virtually impossible to
run out of power while soloing. It's a little
slower when you first start out simply
because you have a limited number of
abilities, but as you grow in strength so
does your DPS, and eventually you will be
moving with a fairly rapid pace.
War-Speech is by far the most important
factor when it comes to soloing as a
minstrel. As we've discussed before, many
of your abilities are transformed when you
enter into this stance, giving you much
more DPS and additional abilities as well.
But along with War-Speech is also

knowing which traits to have slotted to
make sure you are as effective as
possible. Seeing as how it's fairly cheap
to change your traits around at the local
Bard NPC, it's important to grab the right
ones before heading out into the field.
The traits you want to worry about
when soloing are the ones that increase
the damage of your songs, your abilities,
and give you an overall boost to your
DPS. Every little bit counts. In particular
you want to try and get Herald's Hammer
and Unrelenting completed as early on as
you possibly can, because these two will
help you a lot in your younger minstrel
life. Focused Performance is also
important, as it increases the speed of
your skills. The faster you cast, the faster
you do damage, the faster mobs die, the
faster exp comes in, which ultimately
means you level faster.
Later on you will want to make sure
you get your Silver Tongue and Light in
the Dark traits, because they give you a
reduced cast time on your songs and 10%
bonus to your tier 1 ballads. Eventually
you will also want to have your Anthem
of the Wizards, which is one of your
legendary traits, as it gives you yet
another AoE to help you on your way up.
It's also extremely important to have
the Medium-Armor trait slotted from
your level 15 class quest. Understandably
it will take up one of your class trait slots
early on and as they don't come that

quickly it can be a bit frustrating at the
early levels but believe me, every little bit
of armor counts. You will be going
toe-to-toe with mobs for the most part
because you cannot use your fear spell to
kite mobs. While your fear is a very
effective crowd control ability, it has zero
usefulness as a kiting spell, because the
moment any damage is done to the mob
the fear will break and it will come
running straight back to you.
Since you will be going toe-to-toe with
mobs, the easiest way to survive and work
on some traits in your early years is to
keep it simple. Some of the key traits you
want rely on evading attacks and using
your Herald's Strike, so it's important to
use this to your advantage. Up until level
20 when you get War-Speech your soloing
tactics are going to be a little different than
they will be afterwards.
Every fight you will want to start off
with a Herald's Strike, followed up by a
Piercing Cry. After that simply cycle
through your ballads. Since there are
timers associated with each tier and how
long a tier will remain open before you
need to re-do the cycle it's most effective
to "bounce" the tiers back and forth. Use
your Ballad of Vigour, then follow it up
with Ballad of Swiftness. Use Piercing Cry
as often as it pops as well as Herald's
Strike. Usually you only need to do two

rotations to drop most mobs. Once level
14 opens up the Ballad of Balance you
can change things up a bit and start off
with any of your tier 1 ballads, then
immediately get your Ballad of Balance
up, since it will give you an evade bonus
and help you get your Focused
Performance trait as quickly as possible.
Toss in Piercing Cry/Herald's Strike as
often as they pop, and just keep cycling
ballads until the mob is dead. I don't
worry so much about Echoes of Battle
(your DoT) until after War-Speech opens
up, because until then the damage is kind
of insignificant compared to what it is
afterwards.
Once you hit 20 and get your
War-Stance you can start toggling the
Echoes of Battle skill at the start of each
fight for some meaty DoT damage.
Piercing Cry will also have an increase to
damage from being in War-Speech. As
soon as you unlock Unrelenting, Piercing
Cry becomes one of your key damage
abilities while in War-Speech because it
will stun + do some serious damage.
When you hit 22 you can start using
Call of Orome, which is your first
Light-based AoE spell that is only usable
while in the War-Speech stance. Here's
where you can start making a noticeable
change-up in your fights. Start off each
fight with Echoes of Battle, Piercing Cry,
and Call of Orome. With any luck those
3 combined will have dropped the mob to

50% of its health. You have a 10 second
refresh on Call of Orome, which gives you
time to get off a tier 1 ballad and a tier 2
ballad and Herald's Strike before it's
refreshed. Usually by the time you use
Call of Orome the second time the mob
will be dead. Very fast, very effective.
Toss a patch heal on yourself and on to the
next!
If you find yourself in a multiple-mob
setting you should probably fear the
second add for now. When you get into
your 30's you will be able to more
effectively AoE 2-3 mobs at a time, but
until then you are rather limited on what
you can do to more than just 1 mob, not to
mention it's hard to get your ballads off
when you are being hit all the time. So if
you get more than 1, fear the adds as
frequently as you can. It really does help.
You will keep that tactic from level 22
all the way until level 34. This is when
you get your second War-Speech ability,
which is also another AoE attack, the Call
of the Second Age. You also get your lull
ability here, which can help you
single-pull mobs more effectively when
you need to.
Once you hit 34 you can change things
up. Still start off with Echoes of Battle,
Piercing Cry, and Call of Orome, but you
can also toss in Call of the Second Age.
This usually drops the mob to lower than

half of its morale, and you can usually
clean it up with a Herald's Hammer and a
ballad or two. Extremely fast. Extremely
deadly. In cases where multiple mobs are
going just keep repeating your Calls as
frequently as you can, making sure to
keep Herald's Strike going as often as
you can also in order to make sure to
balance out that 50% reduced healing
from War-Speech, just in case you need
to toss a patch heal in there somewhere.
Don't worry about trying to use your
slow-heal...just use the instant patch-heal
when necessary. The others are too slow.
That's pretty much it for the solo
format. Things will get a little easier
when you get Still as Death, because you
can sometimes recover from a crappy
pull, but the minstrel is a highly
survivable class that has quite the array
of abilities. Used properly you can DPS
just as effectively as some of the other
classes while still maintaining your core
role as a healer...you can just switch in
and out as necessary.
The Minstrel in a
Fellowship
This is where your class really begins to
shine. The majority of your skills,
especially from level 40 to 50, focus on
your role in the groupor fellowship as it
is called in LOTROsetting. Your main
role will be that of a healer, but depending
on the situation you may be called upon to
crowd control mobs through either the use
of your fear or your mez-undead spell.
In terms of traits you are going to focus
on those which increase the duration of
your abilities, decrease the amount of
power it costs to cast your heals, and those
traits which transform your ordinary
ballads into fellowship-wise buffs rather
than only for yourself. In specific, Focused
Performance is extremely important for its
reduced casting time on abilities, making
your heals cast faster with less chance of
an interrupt being possible. The
Life-Singer trait is also important because
it gives you a 10% reduction to the power
cost of all your heals. Smooth Voice is one
of my favorites because it turns your
Ballad of Vigour and Ballad of Balance
into 30 second group buffs instead of
damage-dealing self-buff spells. Subtle
Movements is important because it further
reduces the amount of hate you generate
from abilities. Silver Tongue can

sometimes be a boon here as well, since
it reduces the cooldown on your songs.
You can of course arrange these as you
see fit, but I find the most important to
use in a group setting are Focused
Performance (Which never leaves its
slot. I have had this trait slotted since the
day I got it and I will never remove it),
Life-Singer,
Smooth
Voice,
and
Subtle-Movements. But depending on
the situation you can use whatever you
see fit to increase regeneration, the
duration of your ballads, or any other
combination that works.
Another
important
feature
of
fellowship play is Conjunctions, or
Fellowship Maneuvers. These are
basically coordinated attacks that are
triggered through critical hits and by
specific abilities which some classes
have that can open conjunctions.
Guardians and Burglars can both trigger
conjunctions, although the cooldowns are
several minutes on each ability, which
means they are usually best reserved for
specific triggers on boss fights when the
need arises.
When you have broken the defenses of
a mob if you have him targeted you will
move right into the fellowship maneuver
and you will see a "wheel" with the four
colors representing each spoke of the
wheel. If you don't have the proper mob
targeted you will see the symbol for the
conjunction/fellowship maneuver pop up

on your screen...it looks like a little
bulls-eye. Once you click it you will be
presented with a choice of four colors: red,
blue, yellow, and green. At its very
simplest red is for direct damage, yellow is
damage-over-time, blue is power, and
green is health. However, it's much more
complex than that, and one of the crucial
elements that can set apart a good group
from a bad one.
You see, different combinations can new
you different types of fellowship
maneuvers. Also, the more you have of
one specific color the more benefit you
will get from that type of effect. If your
group does all blues, for example,
depending on the number of players in
your group you will get a variation of
power increase along with side effects, all
beneficial. It is important to know as many
combinations as you can for particularly
lengthy or challenging battles, as a
conjunction at the proper time can mean
the difference in success and failure. Some
fights are actually challenging enough that
a conjunction will literally mean the
difference in winning or a party wipe. A
basic
list
can
be
found
at
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Fel
lowship_Maneuvers
Conjunctions only occur in fights with
signature or higher difficulty encounters,
and only when you are grouped with at

least one other player. You also must be
level 12 or greater for a conjunction to
work. It's important to note that for
minstrels the fellowship maneuvers will
automatically target the mob upon which
the conjunction was triggered. This can
sometimes be a pain as it will
automatically move your target from that
of the tank (or whoever you were
healing) to the target of the fellowship
maneuver, if you choose to click the
bulls-eye and participate.
Red, or Ent's Strength, deals direct
common damage. As it increases in
power, it naturally increases in damage
and at the 6th level of powerthat is,
when all 6 players have contributed to
the maneuverit becomes an AoE attack
what will hit anything within 10 meters.
Blue, or Stallion's Spirit, restores
power, but it's got a lot of really nice side
effects depending on the level of
strength. From the second level onwards
it is a basic power "heal", but at the 5th
level it summons a noble spirit to help
you in battle and at the 6th level it will
summon a greater noble spirit to aid you
in battle. It is important to note that this
spirit will act just like a pet set to
"aggressive" stance, so avoid using this
maneuver if there are any mobs within
aggro range that you are trying to avoid
pulling, because these mobs WILL chase
them down and aggro them to your
group, which can be a pain in certain

areas. Just be sure of the area when you
are doing this. Blues are exceptionally
useful against power-drain mobs and
fights which take longer than normal to
beat, as they will keep your power pool
restored.
Yellow is also known as Spider's Guile,
and it is a basic damage over time with
some direct damage as well. At the 5th and
6th levels it will apply a 15 second effect
that damages the targets power pool and
will slow down its power regen after the
15 seconds are up. Yellow maneuvers are
extremely useful when fighting against
enemies who heal themselves, particularly
boss mobs. Yellow maneuvers will help
cancel out any heals these boss mobs do,
so it's important to remember.
Green is known as Eagle's Cry, and it is
a morale maneuver. From the 2nd level
onward it's a basic fellowship-only AoE
heal-over-time, but at the 5th level it also
cures fear spells and at the 6th level it
cures fears AND wounds. This can be
really handy on those difficult fights
where the bosses are tossing down wounds
left and right and impairing your
fellowship's ability to fight at its peak
performance levels.
As a general rule of thumb most blue
and green abilities can be used from afar,
but reds and yellows need to be done from
within melee range of the mob in question,

unless of course you are a ranged type of
fight or can do some type of ranged
ability. If a red or yellow ability can be
used via ranged attacks the colored icon
within the conjunction wheel will have
an arrow going through it, meaning that
you can use that ability from a distance.
health and power meters topped off and let

my group do what it's supposed to
do...slaughter the enemies. There's a really
good post on the official forums detailing
color coding and straight/flush combos at
http://forums.lotro.com/showpost.ph
p?p=351682&postcount=2
Another
important
function
of
conjunctions is combinations and how
they work. Certain combos such as pairs,
flushes, or straights (of colors) will
increase the maneuver's strength, but the
damage dealt by red and yellow
maneuvers remains associated with the
player who selected those colors.
Successful combos will strengthen the
individual player's "maneuver" strength,
while blue and green conjunctions gain
an AoE in almost every combination,
therefore benefiting every member of the
fellowship.
Depending on the encounter at hand will

depend on how you start. When you are
lower level you have lesser variety in your
songs and skills, but as a general rule with
healing causing so much aggro in this
game you will want to try and tailor that as
much as possible. Remember, it's not your
job to keep everyone at full morale. It's
only your job to keep everyone alive. So
don't sweat it if you are only keeping your
lore-master or hunter hanging on by their
toe-nails as long as your tank is still alive
with the mobs focused on him. It's also not
your primary roll to CC. If you have time,
sure, but your primary role is keeping the
group alive.
Since the damage from these

conjunctions is based upon the person
who triggered as well as the classes who
do the damage it's a general rule of
thumb to let the tank and DPS classes do
red and yellow combinations and let the
minstrel pick last. Your job will be
determining whether or not to finish off
with a green or blue, or whether or not
you should help out with damage. I
always find it best to toggle blues and
greens at the end of combos in any
non-boss fight to keep my fellowship's
Your first heal, Raise the Spirit, starts at

level 1. This is your fast-cast, small heal
spell. It's there all the way from level one
to 50. Considering you won't be going up
against anything horribly difficult in the
first few levels, that's fine. You get your
first group heal, Inspire Fellows, at level
10. You'll have a bit more to offer groups
by this stage, both in terms of DPS (which
is your secondary role) and healing itself.
But level 18 is when you get Bolster

Courage, which is your slow-cast big
heal. This is your primary heal, and a
good thing too because around level 20 is
when the majority of quest lines start
leading up to fellowship quests, meaning
you'll need friends and you'll want to be
on top of your game to insure everyone's
survival.
Up until level twenty most of your
abilities will have been tier 1, 2, or 3
ballads. You'll have a fast-heal, a
slow-heal, and a group heal. The
progression is such that they set you up
perfectly for what is about to come, and
that is the core of playing a minstrel:
learning how to tier-stack your abilities
for maximum performance. And while
it's not exactly a walk in the park, it's not
that difficult as well. It simply requires
paying attention to each encounter and
adjusting accordingly.
Your tier 3 ballads are all
fellowship-affecting ballads, and they are
also all necessary for the unlocking of
your Anthems, which again give bonuses
to the entire fellowship. What that means
is you will need to be focusing on two
things during fights: healing, and getting
off tier 1 and tier 2 ballads to open up the
tier 3's, all before the timers reset to zero
and you have to start over again. You can
do this by taking a close look at each
encounter and judging accordingly. If
you are fighting more than three or four
mobs with your fellowship then it's likely

you will be focused on healing for the
most part, but if you are in the middle of a
two-foe encounter and you can see that
your next battle is going to be against six,
then you should prep for it.
At level 20 you get your first Anthem,
which is Anthem of the Free People's. This
is particularly handy for those larger fights
because it increases the morale
regeneration of your fellowship, and it
draws a LOT less aggro than a straight
heal. It's a great way to keep your
non-tanking members topped off while
you are focusing on keeping the tank alive.
At level 22 you will get your Tale of
Heroism, which is your Fate and Will buff.
This is your primary buff, as it increases
everyone's power pool, power regen rate,
and tactical crit percentages, all three of
which are extremely important. You will
get other tales as you level up, but this one
will remain your primary.
Anthem of Compassion comes at level
24. Seeing as how this is your first
de-aggro ability, it's rather important.
Whereas healing up to this stage has been
more of a hope-my-tank-has-aggro type of
situation, you now have more direct
control over how the mobs react to your
healing. Don't forget that Herald's Strike
adds a bonus to your heals, also, because
that plays an important role in how your
fights work. As a general rule of thumb

you should always try and start each
encounter with a Herald's Strike so your
heals are doing their maximum benefit,
but you won't always have that chance.
For large fights in particular you will
want to try and get off your tier 1 and tier
2 ballads as quickly as possible, toss a
patch heal on the tank/whoever else
needs it, then quickly get a tier 3 ballad
up so you can toggle Anthem of
Compassion. Once you do that you
should be free to heal without being
bothered, although any "free" mobs such
as archers who might not have been close
enough to the tank for aggro
management may end up being focused
on you regardless. Depending on the
situation you can ignore these or deal
with them yourself. Ideally you have the
burglar or lore-master CC them, but in
the case you are lacking just have the
hunter DPS them until he gets aggro on
himself. It's far easier to heal the hunter
than it is yourself, and it keeps that mob
occupied while you heal. Failing that,
you can always try and snap a fear (or
undead mez, depending on the fight) off
and give you a reprieve.
fights that might require extra resists or

you needing your Anthem of Compassion
up before the mobs are pulled. It should be
reserved for major battles.
At level 26 you get Cry of the Chorus.

This has a rather lengthy refresh timer
but it's an important ability for major
boss fights. It unlocks all tiers of ballads
and anthems at once, which gives you
access to all of your abilities at the same
time. This is particularly useful for those
You get an instant-heal group-heal at 30,

Triumphant Spirit. It's on a 15 minute
timer so this is an oh-crap spell. Still, it
can come in handy. You get Tale of Battle
at 32 as well as Ballad of Flame, which is
another t3 ballad with fire resists, useful
At level 28 things change for you. You

get Song of Soothing. This is one of the
most useful abilities you will get in your
entire career as a minstrel. It's got a short
refresh timer so you can use it frequently,
and it affects ALL mobs in an encounter,
so long as they are actively in combat. It's
a rather long cast time, but this ability
should be the first or second you get off at
the start of ALL of your fights. It also
eventually unlocks Subtle Movements,
which is a trait to further increase your
aggro reduction by 25%, and is one of the
traits I mentioned at the start of the
fellowship section of playing the minstrel.
Sometimes you will have to get a heal off
on the tank before you use Song of
Soothing, but that usually only has a
couple of mobs focused on you for as long
as it takes to get the ability off. If you can,
use this ability first, right off the bat. Just
pay attention to whether or not your tank
can afford a few moments without you
focused on him.

for those fights against fire mobs (drakes,
etc.).
At 34 you get Song of Distraction. This
is a good ability to use in order to help
your puller get as few adds as possible. It
only works on one mob, but it lulls them
into distraction, allowing you to pull
their
friend(s)
without
noticing.
Sometimes a properly lulled mob can
mean the difference between two or three
mobs in camp, or a whole lot more. It's a
non-combat lull, not a de-aggro.
Once you hit 38 you get your feign
death (Still as Death) and your Chord of
Salvation, which is an instant-cast big
heal on a 30 second timer. Combined
with your Bolster Courage, you now
have two main heals, and a whole slew
of others, to keep your party alive. Still
as Death should be used sparingly...only
in dire situations. I don't recommend
trying to use this as a de-aggro ability
because you already have several other
ways of doing so. This is a backup in
case of a party wipe.
the fellowship alive so you can all move

on to the next encounter without any
downtime. But you also have to worry
about resists, fears, crowd-control, and
many other elements depending on the
situation. Playing a minstrel means you
have a vital role to play in the fellowship. I
would argue that the minstrel is the most
important class in a group. You can
sometimes get away without a real tank,
and sometimes without a crowd-control
class, or sometimes without a hunter, but
no group goes anywhere without a healer.
The life of a minstrel is blessed in that you
will always find parties willing to bring
you on board.
If you take a look at the abilities from

40 to 50 you will see a lot of
fellowship-affecting skills that are
situational. Depending on the situation
you may find some more useful than
others. For the most part playing in a
fellowship remains the same from level
one to level fifty. Keep your head down
and try not to get hit, and keep the rest of
A Guide to Middle
Earth
Middle Earth is a vast realm of
ever-changing landscapes and difficulty.
So vast that at times you might find
yourself wondering...where do I go from
here?
Each race has its own unique starting
area. The first time you play any given
race the starting area is mandatory. You
are given the option to skip the intro
quests and area the next time you make a
character of that race, if you so choose.
However, it's an easy way to get your
first 6 levels and starter gear. If you
choose to skip an intro it will dump you
into the "real" world at level 2, with no
gear, no coin, and unless you have a set
of gear ready to twink yourself with, no
way to get started in Middle Earth.
Lord of the Rings Online is a fairly
linear game. Unlike other MMORPGs on
the market this is a storyline-based game.
This is a double-edged sword. For one, it
means that you will never have to go
looking for things to do; a linear game
leads you along on a fairly
straight-forward path. The downside to
this is that you do not have nearly as
large of a "sandbox" feel as you do in
other games. Yes, you can go anywhere
you want and do whatever quest chains

you like, but you will miss out on a
significant portion of the game if you
bypass the linear progression.
The starter areas need no walkthrough
introduction because they are extremely
easy and self-explanatory. Remember to
keep the tutorial hints on as they will
provide you with further details on
game-specific information that can help
guide you on your way to surviving in
Middle Earth. Depending on the race that
you choose for your minstrel depends on
the starting area and the storyline that you
will play through. I recommend trying
each racial starting area as a final
determining factor in picking the race for
your minstrel, above and beyond stats,
simply because each race has such a
unique storyline that it can affect some
player's enjoyment of the class they will be
playing. The writers for LOTRO have
done an exceptional job with transferring
Tolkien's world from page to the digital
world. Why not experience as much of it
as possible? And with each introductory
area having such a rich backdrop and
wealth of information, it helps set the tone
for how the rest of the game will unfold,
and will also help you understand the story
you are about to begin to be a part of.
Once you are done with the Intro areas
you will be dropped into your relative
starting area. Men start in Archet which is

part of the Bree region. Dwarves start in
Thorin's Hall, and Elves start in
Celondim, both of which are in the Erud
Luin region. Hobbits start in Michel
Delving, which is in the Shire region.
The absolute first step you should take
before you do anything is find a dynamic
map to help you in your travels.
Arguably the most popular is found at
www.mehq.net and is a player-ran map
with player-input points-of-interest. You
can sort the maps by region and using the
drop-down menu at the top quickly and
easily locate POIs on the map. This will
help you avoid ever getting lost or
needing to wait for someone to give you
help as to where or how to find
something. With this map at your
disposal you will very literally never get
lost. It has every single quest POI for
every region, so if you find yourself
sorting through your quest journal going
"hmm, where do I find that backpack full
of ore I'm supposed to pick up for this
quest?" you can simply tab out of the
game, bring up the map of the region you
need to be in, look for "backpack" in the
drop-down menu and it will show you
exactly where you need to be.
The second most valuable tool is the
database
found
over
at
http://lotro.mmodb.com/. Between this
database and the dynamic map you will
never find yourself lost or confused
about a quest. I keep both of these open at

all times in the background so if I run into
an issue I can simply alt+tab out and
verify.
Each region has specific deeds which
can be accomplished through questing,
killing, or exploring. There are two ways
to go about this. If you want to get to 50 as
fast as possible, worry about doing deeds
after you hit the cap. You can come back
when the mobs are gray and easily get the
exploration deeds while slaughtering mobs
for the kill deeds that you want to obtain.
Quest deeds you usually end up
completing as you level up, because you
will be completing more than enough
quests in each area for the most part.
Using the list provided within this guide
you can determine which deeds are going
to be best for how you plan on playing
your minstrel.
Alternatively you may choose to obtain
each deed that you want to pursue while
you are leveling up. Some perfectionists
find this the only acceptable way to do
things as it helps maximize the strength of
your class as you level up. However, it
detracts from the speed of leveling, so it is
a choice you have to make for yourself. If
your priority is getting to 50 as quickly as
possible and then worrying about deeds
for traits, then come back later. If you
absolutely can't live without those traits,
then do them as you go along. The

dynamic map will help you locate POIs
for both the exploration and some of the
quest deeds, while the kill deeds simply
require finding specific mobs and
slaughtering them until you are finished.
Since LOTRO is such a dynamic game
they have made it exceptional easy to
level up in this game. One rule of thumb
is important to remember: do quests in
order of their level. The writers have
done a stellar job of avoiding quests that
force you go to an area for a quest, then
return only to find yourself heading back
to that area for another quest a level later,
only to return again even later on. This
will still happen in some cases, but for
the most part if you do quests in the
order of levels (not necessarily the order
in which you obtained them) then you
will minimize your running around. In
some cases you will even end up
knocking out several birds with one
stone. Especially in the higher level areas
you can sometimes find yourself going
into an area and completing 5 or more
quests just by killing mobs of one or two
specific types, which is really great on
the experience points. Your quest tracker
shows quests by level and region so it is
very easy to keep track of things.
Establishing friends is also a good
idea, and finding a good Kinship (or
guild) is even better. You can use the
official LOTRO forums to find guilds
who are recruiting on your server, or keep

an eye out in the various channels for
guilds who might be recruiting. Often
times you will find yourself completing
solo quest chains that have followup
quests that lead into fellowship (group)
quests that can only be completed with
friends. It is also important to note that
some quests within your tracker will be
ranked as "small" fellowship quests, while
others will be ranked with "full"
fellowship icons. The difference is the size
of the icon representing other players
attached to the quest itself within your
tracker. As a general rule of thumb small
fellowship quests can be completed with
2-3 players, depending on the class. Some
normal fellowship quests can be done with
2-3 players as well, provided they are the
right classes and depending on the area.
Others, however, will require a full
fellowship to complete, as well as a
significantly larger period of time to
complete. It's also important to note that
while soloing can be the most effective
way to maximize your exp-per-kill from
mobs, the majority of your experience
points will come from quest completions,
not grinding mobs. As such if you can find
one or two people to make friends with
and level up with as a team you will find
the experience that much more rewarding.
Also with a duo or trio you will rarely
have to wait to find a group for the smaller
fellowship quests since you will already

have one!
Gear is not as important in LOTRO as
it was and is in other games. For
example, there are several tiers of gear.
Common (white), Uncommon (yellow),
Rare (purple), and Epic (teal). While in
other games there is usually a huge gap
between the tiers, in LOTRO there is not.
Yes, there is a difference in Uncommon
and Epic, for example, but it's not so
huge as to make content impossible were
you to only have Uncommon. The
developers of this game want gear to be
more of a choice than a mandatory
end-all-be-all focus of the game. This is
NOT a gear-centric game. This is a
story-centric game, and while gear is all
well and good and shinies are fun to get,
it is not the primary focus of this game.
A person wearing quested gear or crafted
gear, for example, can still win the same
encounters as a player wearing Epic gear
from the instance sets or boss drops. The
only difference is in the set bonuses and
some slightly-higher stats. This is not to
say that gear does not have an impact; it
can, and does. The better your gear the
easier it is to defeat a foe, but unlike
other games where some fights or areas
are impossible without the proper "tier"
of gear, there is no such thing in this
game. All players can accomplish all
content regardless of their gear. Teal sets
simply have the highest value of stats
compared to the others, but the disparity
is not so much that Epic items are godly

when compared to Rare or Crafted. They
are simply slightly better.
The best gear also comes from the
instances and full-fellowship quests, as
well as the end of larger quest chains.
Instances is by far the easiest way to earn
gear on the way up, although crafted gear
can be equal in stats. However, gathering
enough resources to make your own armor
can be a pain. If you can find crafters who
are willing to use your mats to craft you
armor, this is another excellent way to
gear up, although I find questing the
fastest, most effective way to get gear. At
the cap there are several full sets of gear
which offer bonuses for wearing the full
set, or several specific pieces. The more
you wear of a set, the more bonuses you
get. We will cover that later on in the gear
section, but it is something to remember. If
straight-up leveling is your priority, then
your best bet is to rely on quests and
instances for your gear. It's free, requires
no mats, no combines, and simply requires
the time and help of a few friends in order
to acquire.
Crafting
There are several choices when it
comes to crafting, although you don't
have to pick up a trade if you have no
desire to. Each specific vocation is made
up of three professions. A basic overview
of the choices can be found at
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Cra
fting.
The Explorer is most often the logical
choice for the Minstrel, because you gain
Tailoring as a crafting class, along with
Prospector and Forester, the skills which
allow you to mine ore and harvest wood.
Since hides drop from monsters that you
kill (bears, wolves, wargs, boards, etc.),
choosing this vocation is usually the
wisest course of action if you want a
fast-track to plenty of coin along with
making your own armor. Ore and wood
are arguably two of the easiest ways to
make money in this game, and
considering you pass by nodes aplenty
during the course of your adventures, it is
a best-choice for making sure you have
coin for a horse at level 35 and plenty of
coin to spare when you hit 50.
Each profession is broken up into tiers,
which is also explained in greater detail
at the wiki, but the basic concept is you
must reach at least a certain number of
points within a previous tier to unlock
the next tier. For harvesting this means

you must harvest the ore, wood, or hides
and then refine them in order to earn
points. Eventually you will earn enough
points to unlock the next tier and can then
harvest those nodes as well as refine them.
Once you have achieved the full amount of
points within a tier you have a chance to
"critical" or critically succeed when
refining the resources, which will give you
x3 instead of just x1 of the particular
resource.
In crafting it works similar, but the
difference is that each tier is broken up
into two phases. The first phase is spent
earning enough points by making items to
reach the point where you would unlock
the next tier. Once you reach that point
you will be given a quest. You cannot
advance to the next tier until you finish the
quest. Once you finish the quest you have
the option to master the previous tier.
Mastering the previous tier allows you to
critically succeed on items, which gives a
substantial bonus to the stats of those
items.
Various dropped items, crafted scrolls,
and even crafting tools made by a
Metalsmith, can give you bonus to the
chance you have to critically succeed on
an item. While not as important at lower
levels, they become increasingly valuable
as you reach the cap, as many players find
the crafted gear to be on-par with the

drops from instances. As such, critically
crafted gear can be well worth the time
invested.
NW portion of the Shire. Make large

circuits, staying within the bog. You will
also find plenty of Rowan wood.
Choosing a vocation is entirely up to

you. The Explorer is possibly one of the
best when it comes to the Minstrel class,
although the others can help as well.
Woodsman, for example, would allow
you to craft your own instruments, but
would not allow you to mine ore, which
is one of the easiest ways to earn coin in
the game.
For Barrow-Iron, Silver, and Ash, you

have two choices, both of which are in
Bree. You can either make circuits around
the Barrow Downs or you can head north
to the Bree Fields and make large circuits
along the northern ravine edge, all the way
to Trestlebridge and then back.
Resource Farming
Regardless if you are farming ore and
wood for cash or for your own crafting,
there are several routes through each area
that will warrant you the best amount of
ore and wood. Hides are a different
matter entirely.
Between ore and wood, ore is the more
valuable. If you chose the Explorer craft
the best thing to do is track ore instead of
wood nodes, because where there is ore,
there is usually wood. As a general rule
of thumb you can farm 3 stacks of ore
and 1 stack of wood per hour, or vice
versa depending on which you choose to
track.
For the first tier of ore, which is Tin
and Copper, head to the swamp in the
For Rich Iron, Gold, and Yew wood the

best choice is both west and east of
Esteldin in the North Downs, as well as
north of Othrikar in the same zone. Just
make large circuits and you will find
plenty of resources.
For
Dwarf-Iron,
Platinum,
and
Lebethron wood you can make what is
known as the Evendim (also dubbed
Everswim because of the large lake in the
western area of the zone) lake run, which
consists of heading to the western edge of
the lake and making a large circle of the
land there. You can also find it in plenty
all over the Trollshaws, especially the
wooded areas.
Ancient Iron, Ancient Silver, and Black
Ash wood can be found in any of the
40-50 zones. There are no specific routes
that are the "best", persay, because the
nodes are found in plentiful array all over
the place. Just be sure to harvest all that
you see.

Hides drop from creatures. If you are
farming for hides your best bet is to find
an area thick with bears, wolves and
boars (or similar) and start slaughtering.
As a general rule you can farm hides
while farming other resources, as the
areas you will be making circuits through
will have plenty of wildlife along the
way. If you use the aforementioned
routes you can easily earn 2-3 stacks of
ore + 1-2 stacks of wood + 2-3 stacks of
hides per hour. It slows down a little
towards the higher tiers as you will be
sometimes fighting mobs that take
slightly longer to kill, but you still
manage to rack up tons of resources.
Leveling
As stated before, each race has a
specific introduction into how their race
fits into Middle Earth. Each intro area
has a distinctly different feel. The first 6
levels are done in these introduction
areas. You cannot accept kin invites
during this phase, nor will you come
across any other players. These instances
are "tutorial" instances for all intents and
purposes. They do, however, give you
some starter gear, coins, and the ability
to get to level 6 before they dump you
into the real world.
These introduction areas also introduce

you to the concept of the Book quests. The
Book quests are epic quest lines that
coincide with the actual Tolkien storyline
that the Fellowship is processing through.
At various points in time you will be
assisting the Fellowship, or members of it,
through these Book quests. Each Book has
a series of chapters. When you first get
done with the Intro area you will have a
quest line in your tracker that falls under
the Prologue area. This is the "main"
storyline. While there are literally
hundreds of quests throughout Middle
Earth, and you are in no way required to
complete the Book quests to level up to
the cap, these Book quests lead you into
many scripted instances, major plot and
story-advancing areas, and overall contain
some of the best gear and the funnest
content of the game. You absolutely want
to do these quest lines in coordination with
your other quests.
After the intro, as we mentioned above,
you are dropped into your starter area. The
first thing you want to do is find a
Milestone and use it. You will have been
given a Map at the end of the Introduction.
This map allows you to recall back to your
"bind" point, which is any Milestone you
choose to set your bind point to. Since you
will be spending till around your mid teens
in these areas, use the Milestone that is
most centrally located for you. You can
change your bind point at any given time

by using a Milestone. Certain outposts
along the way will have bankers and
trainers so you will find it worthwhile to
change things as you progress.
You also should find the nearest
Stable-Master and "unlock" his stable by
clicking him. This will allow you to ride
a horse to this location in the future. If
you do not unlock the location you
cannot ride to the location from
somewhere else. Always remember to
talk with your local Stable-Master when
first arriving in an area.
While crafting is not something
everyone wants to get into, it is important
to at the very least have some form of
gathering skill for making money.
Mining, or Prospecting, is a guaranteed
money-maker, and considering you will
need 4 gold 220 silver for your horse at
level 35, you will want to have some
form of alternative income other than just
quests and vendor trash. There are
several paths to choose from, so take the
time to look them over. Prospecting is
the best paying, although you will get
plenty of hides from killing mobs (used
by tailors) and if you go with Explorer,
you can mine ore and wood at the same
time, plus gather hides from killing,
which means you are able to gather three
different types of components at the
same time, which equals lots of money!
If you start as an Elf, you will set your

Milestone to Celondim. If you are a Dwarf
you will set it to Thorin's Hall. If you are a
Man you will set it to Archet. If you are a
Hobbit you will set yours to Michel
Delving.
The starting areas are very linear, and
require little/no effort. They will introduce
you to the world of Middle Earth and start
you down the path that will begin to draw
you into the conflict that is affecting all of
the Free People. While you will get a quest
from each starting area to head to Bree,
don't head out just yet. It's worth your time
to finish all of the quests in the starter
areas, as it will get you to level 15 or 16.
Keep in mind also that green and low-blue
quests are still worthwhile to complete
because the quest exp is still good enough
to make it faster than grinding mobs.
NEVER grind mobs in LOTRO for exp. It
is unproductive and a waste of time.
Always quest. If you don't have a quest for
a mob, leave it alone. You will waste your
time if you bother with it.
The starter areas will get you equipped
in some better gear, give you your starter
quests, introduce you to how the game
works, and involve you in a few
fellowship quests which will allow you to
start playing your class in a group setting
from time to time. All roads lead to Bree,
however, so once you wrap up the quests
in your starter area and progress the

Prologue quest to the point where they
tell you to seek out Strider in the
Prancing Pony, it's time to head out to
Bree. You can either travel by foot, or
you can take a Mount from the local
Stable-Master and quick-travel for 1
silver to Bree. You can only quick-travel
from your starter areas to Bree.
Reputation
Reputation is another factor of Lord of
the Rings Online. There are several
different Reputation systems throughout
Middle Earth. Each race has an
associated faction they can earn
Reputation with, as well as certain areas
throughout the game which have a
faction associated with them. As you
earn ranks within the Reputation system
it allows you access to special vendors
who have unique items, abilities, and
other sundries which you can purchase
from them if you have the corresponding
level of Reputation.
A detailed list can be found at
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Rep
utation
(15-18) Bree Land

Ah, the lovely little village of Bree.
Centrally located just north and east of the
Shire, Bree is a haven for all of the races.
It is also the central hub for quite some
time. As soon as you get to Bree set your
Milestone to the one in front of The
Prancing Pony. There is a Bard inside, as
well as a minstrel trainer, so you will want
to use this as your headquarters for awhile.
There are two stable-masters in Bree.
One at the west gates and one at the
south-eastern gates, down by the Auction
Hall.
After you've set your bind point and
gotten your horse points, go inside the
Pony and advance the Prologue quest into
the first Book quest. Strider will send you
on a series of errands that are very easy
and straight-forward. You can easily run
the first few up to chapter 9 at level 15.
Once at chapter 9 you will probably need
to wait a couple of levels, or find help.
Chapter 11 will require a full-group.
Once you have run those quests as far as
you can for your level, head back to Bree
and simply make a rotation around the
city, picking up every quest that you can
find. You will notice that you get a couple
of quests to run to the Lone Lands as well
as some instance quests for the Great
Barrows. Ignore these quests for now. The

Great Barrows should not be attempted
until you are around level 24, and only
with a full fellowship. The Lone Lands
you can wait to do until you are level 19
or 20.
Most of the Bree quests can be done
solo, although a few lead to fellowship
quests. If you are in a hurry you can blow
off the fellowship quests, but I suggest at
least trying to get groups for them as you
find them, because the exp and rewards
generally make it worth it. Plus you'll
need all the coin you can get on your
way up the ladder.
Once you have made your rotation
around Bree, you can start running the
quests, in order of their level. As linear
as things are, it's fairly straight-forward
and easy enough to simply grind your
way from 15 to around 18-19 in a matter
of just a few hours.
There is also a small camp west of
Bree, along the road, called Aldo's camp.
You will pass through it on one of the
chapters of the first Book quest-line.
While the quests here are lower level,
you can do them if you find yourself
bypassing the Fellowship content of Bree
lands. The same applies for the Buckland
quests, as they are lower level. Even so,
they give decent xp and are worth
looking at if you are simply looking to
grind the fastest way up the levels and
bypass the group content as much as
possible.
The Old Forest can be a pain, and you'll
have to go in there for several quests, both
now and later on in the game. There is an
excellent map to be found at
http://community.codemasters.com/fo
rum/showthread.php?t=191870
which
gives you a very clear picture of how to
navigate the Old Forest, which helps
alleviate any headaches due to the
maze-like environment.
Do all of the quests you find in Bree.
Most of the chains will end up in either
small fellowship or full fellowship quests.
I don't recommend spending an inordinate
amount of time looking for a fellowship.
Just keep your eye out for other players,
and ask around in the LFF channel from
time to time, or if you are in a Kinship ask
them. But if you can't find the help you
need within a night or two, bypass them.
It's much quicker to just keep moving
forward on the solo quests than wait
around for a fellowship that may or may
not ever happen.
Remember those quests that wanted you
to head to the Lone Lands? Now's the time
to worry about them. Don't worry about
the run to Trestlebridge just yet...that's for
later on.
(18-22) Lone Lands

Once you have hit 18/19, it's time to
move out to the initial Lone Lands quest
hub, the Forsaken Inn. This will be your
base of operations for the next couple of
levels, but I would not change my bind
point from Bree just yet, as there are no
trainers in the Lone Lands.
Firstly, pick up all of the quests in the
Inn and outside of it. You'll want to do
all of the initial steps because they all
lead up to chains, and several of them
require you to run back to Bree. Ignore
the quest that requires you to run to Ost
Guruth. You'll want to do this quest later,
as it's the next quest hub. My
recommendation is to stay here until you
level 20, ignoring any quests that have
you return to Bree just yet. Wrap up as
many chains as you can to get you to
level 20, then recall back to Bree to train.
You will have a few quests to turn in, as
well as one followup that you need to do
before you head back to the Inn, which
requires you to kill some wolves in the
mountains.
Once you get back to the Inn, finish all
of the chains you can, up to the
Fellowship quests. At this point you can
either sit around and wait for a
fellowship, or you can move to the next
town, Ost Guruth.
Once you get to OG, you can begin

again with the quest chains. If you are
careful you can easily get to 22 or 23 here
before you need to worry about a different
area. Once you get to the point you are left
with only fellowship quests or orange/red
quests, you will want to head to
Trestlebridge for the first few chains there.
Also you will have a quest in the low 20's
to run to a small area north of the Shire.
There are a few quests to run there, most
of them solo, and if you choose you can go
there and do them. I generally do not
recommend it as it takes quite some time
to travel and there's plenty of other things
to worry about in the meantime.
(22-24) Trestlebridge
Trestlebridge fills the gap between 22
and 24 in Lone Lands. There are plenty of
solo quests here that lead up to a few
impressive chains in the Nan area of
goblins. Groups are usually always
running here, so it's easy to get them if you
need. Run the chains until you are
completed with them. Don't worry about
heading to Esteldin just yet...that's a stop
for later on.
(24-26) Lone Lands

Once you get done in Trestlebridge,
you can head back to Ost Guruth and run
the remaining quests + Book 2 in its
entirety. This should push you to level 26
or 27. Book 2 will require a group for
most of it, especially the last few steps.
You will also get the starter for Book 3,
which takes place within the North
Downs. You will want to be sure to
advance this quest to the point it asks you
to travel to Estledin. You can ignore the
Garth Agarwen quests for now, as they
are all full-fellowship quests and require
a minimum of level 30 to run the
instance.
(26-36) The North

Downs (Estledin,
Othrikar, etc.)
Estledin, within the North Downs. This
is the next major hub. Once you get here,
you will want to do several things.
Firstly, set your new bind point. The
reason for this is because Esteldin hosts
all the trainers, a crafting area, and a
bank, so it's the logical next step to set up
as your headquarters. Secondly, run
around like a mad bunny and pick up
ALL of the quests you can find.
Secondly you will want to go due west out

of Esteldin, once you get settled in, and
pick up the quests from the two farmers.
Esteldin is the start of what the rest of
the game is like: a plethora of quests. If
you thought there were plenty of quests
before, just wait! This is when leveling
really starts to pick up and you will find
yourself literally rocketing through the
levels.
Remember to run the quest chains in
order of the level, not in the order which
you received them.
When you find yourself running out of
blue and white quests, simply run down to
the Elven village south of Estledin along
the road. You will need to do a starter
quests here but once you are done it
unlocks another bunch of quests from the
NPCs in the village. Run these until you
are done.
Also check out the Dwarven village of
Othrikar, which is North of Esteldin along
the road. This is another smaller quest hub
that will have plenty of quests for you to
do.
You will eventually make your way to
an Earth-kin camp which is just outside of
Estledin to the east, which is another
smaller quest hub.
The Dol Dinen quests require a group
and are a hell of a lot of fun so try not to
miss out on these if you get a chance. It's

not an instance, just overland elite mobs.
Wait until level 30ish to run Book 3.
You will need a group for most of this
other than the first couple of stages. Once
you are done you will be asked to travel
to Rivendell to finish. Rivendell is also
where the next few Book series start,
although you won't want to set it as your
hub for some time. Wait until level 45 to
worry
about
any
more
Book
quests...more on this later. You will,
however, want to go to Rivendell as soon
as you get the opportunity, because the
start for a rather lengthy quest chain that
takes place in the next leveling area will
start with Aragorn in Rivendell. You can
get there one of three ways. One, you can
find a hunter to give you a teleport. Two,
you can use your racial trait to go there
(if you are an Elf). Otherwise you will
need to head to Ost Guruth and head
east, on foot, and make your way through
the Trollshaws. It is not an easy journey,
nor is it short. Prepare to burn up 30
minutes of time to make this trip.
(36-40) Evendim
Evendim is west of the North Downs.
Just follow the road through the Fields of
Fornost. Tinnudir is the city you are
looking for. Just head due west past the
cross roads and you will find it located on
an island. I would recommend binding
here, as there are trainers, and you'll be
spending the next few levels here.
Most of these quests are solo. You will
have some quests from the island, and
some from the town of Ost Forod, which is
north of the cross roads. Run the quests
until you are completely out of them. They
are very straight-forward, and very easy.
The Aragorn chain is particularly fun,
because it's very long and has an amazing
story behind it. It will eventually lead to
fellowship quest within the Tomb of
Elendil at level 40.
Once you get there, be sure to talk with

Aragorn to start his chain to restore his
sword, Narsil. Eventually he will ask you
to talk to a Ranger friend of his in
Evendim.
(40-50) Rivendell,
Trollshaws, Misty
Mountains, Angmar,
Forochel
The first thing you should do when you
hit 40 is return to Rivendell and set your
bind point. At level 40 you can
fast-travel from Rivendell to many areas
of the game, as well as vice-versa.
Rivendell is like Bree...it has an Auction
Hall, Banker, Trainers...everything you
will need.
From Rivendell you will want to travel
to the area south, the Trollshaws. This
will have some low 40's quests you can
work on, as well as some fellowship
quests. You can also pick up all of the
quests in Rivendell. Once you've done all
that you can, head north of Rivendell into
the Misty Mountains. Do all of those
quests that you can as well until you have
nothing left but orange/higher quests.
Once you hit 43ish you will be heading
off to Angmar, which is north of the
North Downs. The first camp is the Earth
Kin camp, in the southern part of the
zone. There are quite a few quests here,
most of which are solo. Just north of here
is the main camp of Men as well, which
has many more quests to start. The place
is called Aughaire, and you will also get
your first full armor set. This is when you

will want to finally ditch that Medium
Armor trait and slot something else in its
place, as the set you earn from the quests
at this camp is a light armor set. These
quests are all low 40's quests and lead to
mid-40's, which also lead to many other
areas within Angmar. You will spend a lot
of time here. Between Angmar, Misty
Mountains, and Trollshaws, you should
find yourself an easy path to 45, although
you might need to bounce around between
them a bit here and there.
At 45 you can head to Forochel and
work on those quests as well, although
your priority at level 45 should be doing
Books 4 through 6 in their entirety, as you
will gain access to eastern Angmar after
completing Book 6, which is rather
important for getting to future Book areas
as well as some of the dungeons for your
class quests.
By the time you get to 47 you will likely
start running into a lot of group-only
quests. In specific, the Book quests are
mostly group-only, although they have
parts which are soloable, especially books
4 and 5 since you saved them until you are
higher level. If you find yourself running
out of things to do as a soloer or if things
are just a bit too hard for you until you get
that next level you will probably have to
spend some time looking for a group. Just
keep track of those fellowship quests and

if you haven't found someone to help you
knock them out already, now's the time.
As a general rule of thumb groups are
extremely easy to get as a Minstrel, since
every group needs one, so you shouldn't
have any problems.
(50-60) Eregion, The

Mines of Moria
South of Gwingris almost to the far end

of the map is Mirobel, at the fork of what
is now a dry riverbed of the river once
known as Sirannon. This river flowed into
Moria to the east.
Halfway between Gwingris and Mirobel
is Echad Eregion, another settlement. East
along the dry riverbed, at the first pass
before the Walls of Moria is Echad
Dunann, the fourth and last settlement
within Eregion.
It's important to note that in order to
swift travel within Eregion, a specific
Quest Completion Deed will need to be
done.
- Eregion
- The Mines of Moria
Gwingris
Eregion
Introduced with the Mines of Moria
expansion, this area borders the
Trollshaws and is the first place players
headed for the Mines of Moria will enter.
To the north, entering from the
Trollshaws, it is wooded and bordered by
hills and mountains in the north, turning
to grass and thin woods as you move
southward. The first settlement found is
Gwingris, almost right on the border and
housed within the ruins of the ancient
city by the same name. The Elves of
Rivendell are attempting to regain a
foothold in this region.
In Gwingris, you'll find a stable master

and several quest-givers. Quests here
begin at about level 48 and center mainly
around the evils in the woods of Glad
Ereg, directly south of the ruins of
Gwingris.
Quests of note include the Foul Wood
chain, given by Lithuilas, the final of
which gives a bow (29.1 DPS Beleriand
Damage, +1% Critical Hit chance with
Ranged Auto-attack, +208 Ranged Critical
Rating, -3% Incoming Ranged Damage)
that any Hunter would enjoy having or a
staff (29.1 DPS, +29 Might, +29 Agility,
+29 Vitality, +208 Melee Critical Rating,
10% chance of increasing target's
susceptibility to Fire damage) that most

Lore-Masters would like.
Another fork in that quest chain (Seeds
for the Future) culminates in a final quest
that gives great light torso armor with
452 armor plus other bonuses.
The Roosting Tree quest line gives a
good set of heavy leggings (692 armor,
+29 Agility, and more) while the Lost
Goods chain rewards a Rune Stone (Fire
Affinity, 29.1 DPS, +29 Will, +29 Fate,
and more) for the Rune-keeper.
Echad Eregion
Another small outpost of Rivendell
elves holds this former city. There is
another stable master and several quest
givers as well. Most of these quests can
be soloed, but some have signature
enemies that will require some skill to
defeat alone. These quests are mainly of
levels 49 and 50.
Quests of note include the Pembar
series of quests, which reward several
good items including heavy armor (+312
Wound Resistance Rating and other
buffs) and a good 1-handed hammer
(25.6 DPS, Ancient Dwarf-make, plus
other buffs).
-3% incoming Melee damage, +45

Maximum Morale) while the earring given
in that same quest would make any player
envious.
Mirobel
Echad Mirobel is the Elven outpost that
is very near the old, ruined city of
Mirobel, which was once a great school. It
is now infested with Dunlendings,
Half-Orcs, and worse. There is a stable
master and a few vendors.
Many of the quests in Echad Eregion
lead here and back again with only a
handful originating in Mirobel.
Echad Dunann
This is a large outpost of Elves and
Dwarves with several amenities including
a stable master, supplier, healer, and so
forth. This is the stronghold that guards
the Walls of Moria and is where most of
the quests within the Walls of Moria
originate.
This is also where the Epic quest chain
for Book 1, Volume 2 begins, which your
character must complete in order to enter
the Mines of Moria.
Further in this chain is a medium helm

of note (197 armor, +24 Vitality, and
more). Later, a heavy shield that is one of
the best quest rewards in the game up to
this point (1,350 armor, -10% incoming
Ranged damage, +424 Block Rating,
The Mines of Moria

Under the Misty Mountains in the land
of Rhovanion, north of Rohan and west
of the Mirkwood Forest are the mystical
Mines of Moria. Long abandoned by the
Dwarves who made them, after their
greed unleashed the Balrog from the
depths, the Dwarves now plan to retake
Durin's Halls.
When you first gain entrance to Moria,
you will find yourself in the first
encampment of Dwarves on the western
end of the map. Directly east is the Great
Delving, gateway to Moria.
There are many areas to this vast
complex of mines, tunnels, huge caverns,
and splendid Dwarf-hewn rock works.
North of The Great Delving is the
western end of the long halls called
Durin's Way, where most of your
adventuring will likely start. Directly east
of the Delving is New Khazad-dum and
further east is Old Khazad-dum with an
exit from the mines east of that to Dimril
Dale and Lothlorien.
South of the Great Delving are the
Silvertine Lodes, then the Water-Works,
east of which are The Flaming Deeps,
then the Redhorn Lodes, and finally the
Foundations of Stone. The instance area
Zirakzigil is also inside Moria.
Most of your adventuring will be

quested from The Great Delving and
Durin's Way. At the center of Durin's Way
is the 21st Hall, where you'll spend your
crafting time and work with your
Legendary Items.
Durin's Way
Capping the northern end of the map,
this is the hub of the Dwarves' activities in
the Mines so far. Here you'll find
Three-Forks Camp (Dolven-View), the
instance entrance to Zirakzigil, The Stone
Hall, 21st Hall, and entrances to
Zelem-Melek
and
Nud-Melek
(Khazad-dum).
Most of the quests here begin in
Dolven-View and eventually lead to the
Stone Hall and the Twenty-First Hall.
They center around Orc, Goblin, and
Merrevail infestations of the area. Quests
are of level 48 and higher, most beginning
at around 50, and are small group and
fellowship quests for the most part. Many
can be soloed by a strong player, however.
The introductory quest "Welcome to
Moria" will introduce you to most of the
NPCs within these areas of Moria,
including quest-givers.
Damage-dealers will like the Great
Hammer of Moria (29.67 DPS, 2-handed,
with other buffs) that comes from the
quest of the similar name.

The same quest also rewards The
Shield of Moria (heavy, 1,296 armor,
plenty of other buffs) if your character
prefers armor.
Many class-specific and Legendary
Item quests are also available in Durin's
Halls,
mainly
in
The
Stone
Hall/Dolven-View.
The Great Delving / The Silvertine
Lodes
These two areas are side-by-side (or
over-and-under if you prefer). The Great
Delving is a part of Durin's Way and the
Silvertine Lodes are more or less
underneath it. Most of the quests here
involve killing goblins--there are several
camps of them--and finding specific
items within them. Solo players will need
to be over level 53, but fellowships can
be lower in level.
While the rewards in the Silvertine
Lodes aren't spectacular enough to
mention by name, they are consistent and
a lot of 3rd Age legeldaries drop here.
The Mark of Loyalty, Know Thine
Enemy, and Lawlessness Among
Goblins are quests worth doing. You'll
find all of the quest-givers are in one area
at the entrance to the mine shafts.
The
Flaming
Water-Works, and
Stone
Deeps,
The
Foundations of
While very different from one another in

appearance and name, these areas are
intricately tied together and lie next to one
another on the map along the southern end
of Moria. Collectively called "The Lower
Deeps," these areas house many of the
more challenging quests within Moria.
Filled with Orcs, worms, and servants of
Saruman, these areas are dangerous and
bloody. Most of the quests here are of
level 53 and higher.
The Fungus series of quests will be of
interest
to
light
armor
wearers
(Lore-masters and Rune-keepers) as a
reward includes a great piece of light
armor (508 armor, +59 Power, +35 Will,
and more). The same quest chain yields a
heavy shield (1,486 armor, +46 Power,
+50 Morale, and more).
Another quest in that chain rewards with
a good 1-Handed Sword (+134 Morale,
chance of morale transfer from opponent
to wielder on hit).
The quest titled "Kheled-menem:
Ghashug" gives a great Warden's Shield
(826 armor, +18 Agility, Might, Vitality,
and more).
Other Areas Within Moria
The other areas within Moria contain
many more quests and instances.
Especially in Khazad-dum. Most of these
are fellowship quests of higher level. They
center around Legendary Items, the Epic

quest line, and the final level 60 quests
for characters to cap their levels: which
ends in a confrontation with the Balrog
himself.
In The Shadowy Abyss (below
Nud-melek, a part of Zelem-melek), is
literally the bottom of the mines. The
only outpost is the Shadowed Refuge and
the area is filled with Orc-kind and
worse. There are many mine nodes,
however. Keep your eyes open for trolls,
especially if you're solo.
(60-65) Mirkwood
It's shockingly fast to gain five levels
in Mirkwood. The region is chock full of
quests as you make your way from the
west end to the east end of the map. The
average player can easily get from 60-65
in about a week while the more hardcore
types can swiftly blow through the
content in a couple of days. Mirkwood
isn't a very big place, and the main
storyline neatly connects the various
quest hubs together.
Before you start your journey, keep in
mind that many quests offer IXP as
rewards, not to mention that every kill
grants you more IXP. Don't let them go
to waste! If you're level 60 and your
current weapons are maxed out, equip
any level 59-60 LI to collect those
precious points. However, remember that

deconstructing a level 60 LI beyond level
11 only yields a Moria IXP rune, which
can't be used on level 61+ LIs. Therefore,
as soon as you hit level 61, immediately
equip any old level 61 LI, and deconstruct
that level 59-60 LI. Pour the rest of your
IXP into the level 61 until you hit level 65.
Once you have an LI you'll want to keep
indefinitely, deconstruct that level 61 LI
and put the points into your active
weapon. This will save you from spending
a lot of time in grinding IXP runes for
your LI.
Although the ideal level to enter
Mirkwood is 60, some players may feel
overwhelmed and not ready. Don't worry;
there is no rush. You can finish up any
leftover quests you have in Moria;
alternatively if you want to take it easy, do
the simple, non-combat repeatable quests
in Lothlrien. Better yet, you can gain a
level or two in a few skirmishes, the most
significant addition to LOTRO since the
legendary item system. I'll discuss
skirmishes in a little bit. However, for the
sake of the guide, I'll assume that you land
in Mirkwood at level 60.
You can easily solo your way to 65, as
there are only a couple of quests that
require a small fellowship. Feel free to
skip them if you have trouble finding a
group. The most group quests (3- and 6person group instances, and the raid) are

located at the camp in Dol Guldur, but
you don't have to worry about doing
them until you hit 65.
Western Mirkwood
As mentioned earlier, when you
complete the Mirkwood Landing
instance, you wind up in the "real"
version of the Mirk-eaves. As you pick
up the quests, don't forget to check out
the Malledrhim barterers; one of them
offers some nice earrings. Wardens and
Hunters should pay special attention to
these barter NPCs, as they also have the
Muster in Mirk-eaves and Guide to
Mirk-eaves skills, worth a few feathers
each.
When you've finished with Mirk-eaves
you may be tempted to head to the
Haunted Inn in the Dourstocks since the
Book quest leads you in that direction,
but hold off on that. Instead, head to
Echad Mothelen (13.5 S, 58.1 W) first, a
small campsite with NPCs that give a
healthy number of quests. It's a short but
worthwhile detour on route to the
Haunted Inn. Once you reach the Inn,
pay a visit to the Malledrhim NPCs
inside; one of them offers some nice
bracelets. After finishing with the
Haunted Inn quests, head south to
Estolad Mernael (16.9 S, 51.5 W) in the
swampy Drownholt.
In certain locations, doing all the quests
will unlock repeatable quests, with
Malledrhim feathers as rewards. These
feathers can be traded for level 65 morale
and power pots, a cheap and easy
alternative to buying them off the AH.
There are several repeatable quests,
though some aren't worth doing because
they take too much time or require you to
go to some out of the way place to kill
mobs. For the fastest way to earn feathers,
I recommend talking to Handelen in
Thangulhad (12.7 S, 46.6 W) and accept
the quests "Scouting in Force" and "An
Eye on the Enemy". If you have your quest
tracker turned on, simply ride on your
horse and follow the arrow. Very easy and
fast.
Central Mirkwood
Make your way to the elven hideout of
Ost Galadh, in Emyn Lum. This is right
smack in the middle of the map, so you
can't miss it. Again, check out the
Malledhrim barter NPCs for goodies such
as recipes, jewelry, and LIs. This is the
new 21st hall in the sense that you have
almost all the important NPCs and
facilities here (e.g. crafting hall, bard,
Relic-master and Forge-master). Oddly
there is no AH, so if you're not a hunter or

warden that can easily port anywhere, if
you need to visit an AH, use your racial
map to visit one in any of the starter
areas. You can also swift travel from Ost
Galadh to Calas Galadhon for an AH.
Do all the quests in Ost Galadh, and
when you've finished you can either go
north to the spider infested Scuttledells
or south to Iavassul's Watch (16.4 S, 50.5
W) in Taur Morvith. You'll eventually
want to quest in both areas so it doesn't
matter which you visit first.
There is one special repeatable quest in
Ost Galadh that shouldn't be missed. It's
a crafting quest that you pick up from the
Relic-master called "Silken Threads".
The quest takes you to the Scuttledells
where you're supposed to collect 25
pristine webbing from spiders. To make
this quest go faster, enter the spider cave
at the very northwest part of the
Scuttledells. The reward for turning in
this quest is a Compendium of
Middle-earth II, a special crafting
component used to make orange crafted
relics. There's a similar crafting quest in
Anazarmekhem called "Trace Metals" in
which you have to collect 15 iron ingots
and 10 burnished worm scales. Kill orcs
for the ingots and worms for the scales.
The rewards is a Compendium of
Middle-earth I, a crafting component
used to make teal crafted relics.
Eastern Mirkwood
Head a little north and east to the
outpost of Thangulhad, in Gathburz. As
usual, see what the Barter vendors have to
offer. There are some nice level 65 cloaks,
and morale/power pots as well. There are
plenty of quests here so you might be here
for a while. Be careful while you wander
around, as you may run into signature
level mobs. Soloing one isn't difficult, but
you may get in trouble if you accidentally
aggro another mob in the process.
You'll most likely start on the Mithechad
(17.6 S, 48.3 W) quests in the Ashenslades
when you hit level 64. Finish off with Dol
Guldur. If you do the book quest chain at
the same time as you're doing these quests,
you'll hit 65 easily without the need to do
any repeatable quests or mob grinding.
Even when you hit 65, you don't have to
stop questing if there are still some
available. Remember that many quests
offer IXP as rewards, so finish as many
quests as possible. Also, if you haven't
reached Kindred reputation with the
Malledrhim yet, do some of the repeatable
quests in Thangulhad and the Ashenslades.
There's also one more quest hub, Barad
Angol (17.4 S, 44.5 W) for you to check
out if you wish.
In Dol Guldur, you'll find that many of
the quests are for group instances.

Remember that the Medallions of
Mirkwood only drop in these group
instances, so if you want those stat
scrolls start running those instances. On a
related note, the medallions can also be
bartered for +15 and +25 radiance gear,
another reason why you may want to run
those instances, particularly the easier
3-person ones. Visit your class trainer to
see what gear is available and how many
medallions are required.
Minstrel Class Quests

and related Deeds/Traits
You will have several class-specific
quests as you progress through the world
of Middle Earth. These quests will test
the strength of your knowledge, the
sharpness of your wit, and the tone of
your voice. They will enable you to
become a stronger minstrel, to tell
greater tales, and to bring more renown
to the fellowships you are a part of.
A Song for Company

This is a level 15 quest, and the first
class quest that you run into. It is available
from any minstrel trainer you run into
across the realm. More than likely you will
be somewhere close to Bree at this point
which is a good thing, because the quest
will start and end at Piper Prescott, a bard
of great renown who is located within the
Prancing Pony tavern.
The first step is to speak to one of your
minstrel trainers. They will then send you
to The Prancing Pony in the city of Bree.
There, seated casually near the center of
the room, proudly providing entertainment
for the packed crowd, you will find Piper
Prescott, one of the more famous Minstrels
of the land.
Piper tells you a tale of a young hobbit
in need of assistance, and gives you
directions as to find him. Simply leave the
Pony and head west out of the gate. Leland
Underhill will be just outside of the gates
proper, on the left-hand side of the road.
He needs your help on a little adventure.
You cannot be in a Fellowship to do this
quest, and you will get a prompt on your
screen that will remind you. Once you are
by yourself you can speak with Leland and
he will transport you to a special
quest-instance.

The instance itself is fairly simple. You
are supposed to help Leland recover
something that was stolen from
him...which turns out to be nothing more
than his lunch! Hungry hobbits just won't
do, so after you help him defeat the
bandits and win back his lunch, he's
content. In fact, he offers to share with
everyone, including the bandits who
originally stole it from him.
After you are done you simply talk to
Leland and he will transport you out of
the instance. Once you are out you can
head back to the Prancing Pony and talk
to Piper. He's pleased to hear about your
successful return, but offers up another
small challenge: tell the tale to the crowd
and see how they react.
Once you jump on top of one of the
tables, ignoring the food and drink of the
patrons because as anyone who is anyone
knows you just can't get in the way of a
minstrel and his business, simply click
on the note within your inventory to tell
the Tale of Leland's Lunch to the crowd.
Once you are finished you can talk to
Piper once again and he will reward you
with a completed quest, as well as the
Medium Armor trait.
The Medium armor trait is arguably
one of the most important, if not the most
important trait you will get until level 50.
This allows you to wear both light and
medium armor, which is a great benefit
to you as you level up, because it allows

you to mix-and-match different types of
armor to get the max benefit. Once you get
to 50 and start working on an Instance set
or a class set from the Rift you can slot
something else in place of the Medium
Armor trait, but once you get this at level
15 I highly recommend that you slot this
trait and keep it slotted until you reach
Angmar and get your first full set of light
gear with bonuses. Other minstrels might
argue that you can put more "useful" skills
in its slot, but I would disagree. Yes, at the
higher levels you will have other skills that
are definitely more useful than wearing
medium armor, especially when you have
acquired a full instance set of light gear or
the Rift set, but for leveling up and the
maximization of stats, I would absolutely
take this trait and stick with it.
A Minstrel's Hope
This is the level 30 class quest for the
Minstrel, and the second in the chain of
quests that culminate at level 50. Once
again, any minstrel trainer in the world
will have this quest for you once you ding
level 30. If you use the leveling guide
provided within this guide you will be
somewhere in the North Downs around
level 30. Your trainers will ask you to seek
out Leigh Putnam, who is located in the

besieged town of Trestlebridge, which is
located in the North Downs. You can use
a horse to get here from Bree.
Trestlebridge is in dire straits at
present. They are besieged on all sides by
orcs. It is up to you to help rescue some
of them and help lighten the mood
around town with your songs of glory
and deeds!
Once you get to Trestlebridge just
follow the main path through town until
you see Leigh Putnam. She will explain
the situation to you. Once again, you will
need to be solo in order to gain access to
the instance where the actual quest takes
place. Once you are out of a fellowship
simply talk to Leigh and she will
transport you and her into an instance.
Follow Leigh as she makes her way
through the cave tunnels to the refugees.
Once you arrive it appears as though
everyone is safe. None of the refugees
think they need to follow you back to
town. They think all of the orcs have left.
But just when things seem to be taking a
turn for the better, Leigh's brother shows
up with another of Trestlebridge's finest,
shouting that orcs are hot on their heels.
Your role in this particular fight is to
keep the two NPCs alive throughout the
fight. There will be several waves of
mobs. They are signature, so you really
want to try and avoid aggro if you
possibly can and let the two NPCs take
all of the damage. Simply assist and patch

heal as necessary. Don't forget to use your
Song of Soothing as often as it pops in
order to de-aggro and keep everything
focused on the two NPCs. After two
waves of multiple orcs you will get a
single orc boss.
Once you have helped defeat the orcs
everyone
is
entirely
grateful...and
rightfully so. You did, after all, just save
their skins from the orc pits. Leigh
congratulates you and offers to take you
out of the instance.
Once you are out you can hail Leigh for
completion of the quest. Along with the
completion you gain the Glorious Anthem
trait. This gives you a 15 second increased
to the duration of your Anthems, as well as
a line bonus of 0.3 to morale regeneration
in combat.
The Finest Melody is

Understanding
This is the level 45 class quest. Once
again it is available at any minstrel trainer
across Middle Earth. You will be required
to speak with Baillindiel. It is a simple
turn-in quest. By the time you get this
quest you will be bound in Rivendell, so
simply fast-travel to Bree, then fast-travel
to Celondim, turn around to the docks and

viola.
A Lesson from Lindir
Articles on Harmony
This is a level 50 quest you will
receive after turning in The Finest
Melody. It is basically one big
gathering/kill quest. There are multiple
steps to this and the following quest, so
do not be deceived. You will gather the
first set of components only to be told
you need another set. Be prepared to do a
lot of hiking around and farming mobs,
both solo and in the higher level
dungeons. A great list can be found at
http://www.pooh.cz/lotro/a.asp?a=20
14367 detailing where you can find each
component.
Implements of Song
This is a level 50 quest you will
receive after turning in The Finest
Melody. It's pretty much the same as the
previous. A bunch of components that
need to be gathered. Like the previous
quest (which can be done at the same
time) there are multiple steps. You can
use the chart from the above link to help
you find where and what drops the items
you need.
After you are done with the two prior

steps you will be sent to Lindir in
Rivendell where you will be given your
final legendary skill, Fellowship's Heart.
Lindir can be found in the Last Homely
House (Elrond's home) in the Hall of Fire.
Instances
Instances within LOTRO are few and far
between. There are only several "major"
instances until you hit level 45. That is,
instances which don't correspond with the
Epic Book quests and have their own
separate quest chains. Many people bypass
them entirely as they can slow the leveling
process considerably, which is a
downright shame in my opinion. Gone are
the days when players used to thrive on
dungeons. Now it's all about solo play and
rapid advancement. But if you are up for a
challenge and you like going in with a full
group and taking several hours to
complete quest chains, getting phat lewts
and knowing you personally were
responsible for kicking the butt of the boss
mobs, then you will want to be sure to
check out the following. Keep in mind that
most of the instances within LOTRO take

4-6 hours to complete the first couple of
times through, so you should make sure
to have plenty of time to go in
beforehand. While the instances and
dungeons within LOTRO are not nearly
as challenging as in other games (this is a
game tailored for the casual player after
all) they are still a heck of a lot of fun
and can add a little something extra if
you find yourself needing a dungeon run
or fights requiring more than just 2 or 3
people.
Great Barrows
The Great Barrows, also known as GB,
is the first instance within LOTRO. It's
set for the mid-20's and if you picked up
the quests from Bree and ran all of the
chains to their end, you should have
several quests for this instance. It will
require two runs to fully complete as you
cannot get the followup for the main boss
mob until you get the 2 key pieces from
the two mini-boss fights, and then turn
them in back in Bree. It's rather large,
and can take a few hours, so save this for
a time when you know you can dedicate.
Garth Agarwen
The second major instance within Lord
of the Rings Online. It is also known as
GA. There are several "outer" quest chains
that lead to inner quests, and I highly
recommend doing them if you can get a
static group together. If you can't get a
static group together this place can be a
pain because there are so many quests and
so many different chains that trying to find
pickup people with the same steps as you
is nearly impossible.
The place is also a maze, in and of itself.
You can find a really good map over at
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.
php?t=117001 to help you with your
transition.
You have to kill mobs in particular order
to get the keys to unlock other portions of
the dungeon. The twins drop the key to get
into Ivar's area, and Ivar drops the key to
get into the Red Maid's area. The only two
challenging fights in this zone are the Red
Maid and Ivar, and out of the two Ivar is
the hardest. The Red Maid is a straight up
tank-and-spank mob, although she does
have a nasty knockback. Ivar is a bit more
of an issue. When you take him out you
should focus on his elite add first, then
him. Every time he spawns an elite add,
kill it. Ignore the banner adds because he
will eventually drain their health

completely. This is a long fight. Use
ALL BLUE conjunctions every time you
get them to counter his power drain.
Have the lore-master feed power to you
and the tank + drain from Ivar/his add.
It's fairly straight-forward, just that his
power drain can be a bit of a pain.
38-40, so be prepared. There is a map with

the
linear
route
at
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Area
:Fornost. You can accomplish pretty much
all of the inner quests if you follow this
route, so you shouldn't have to do more
than one run. Unless you want to out of
fun! While lengthy, this is a great dungeon
for the level.
Fornost
Fornost is the third major instance of
LOTRO. It's rated for 38th to 40th level
characters, but I would recommend
waiting to level 40. If you ran Esteldin
quests you will have gotten a few starters
for here, and once you head up to
Fornost proper you will find a camp
which has even more quests. You can run
the outer quests with 3-4 people fairly
easy, but once you get to the inner quests
inside the instance you will want a full,
well-balanced group. You will absolutely
need a lore-master, a tank, and a
minstrel. A burglar too if you can find
one. And keep in mind, getting to the
final boss in here can literally take 6-8
hours if you go in at the appropriate
levels. Frustratingly, most players bypass
this dungeon entirely because it "takes
too long", but if you are a person who
really likes a challenge you won't want to
skip this place. It's an absolute blast. But
it does take 6-8 hours if you go in at level
Urugarth
Also known as Uru, this dungeon is best
suited to a team of 48+ adventurers,
although it is rated for 45+. It is located
within Angmar. It is not for the faint of
heart or those who do not have the time to
go. It will take several hours, but is well
worth the time. All of the instances within
Lord of the Rings Online are extremely
well done, and this is par for the course.
You should absolutely do the quests for
this area, as well as run the dungeon.
There's an absolutely phenomenal map
with the path and walkthrough over at
http://www.pooh.cz/lotro/a.asp?a=20
14335. There are also quite a few
class-specific items which drop here in
relation to the class quests for 45-50, so
you will be coming here on probably more
than 1 occasion.
Carn Dum
Barad Gularan
Also known as CD, this is another

high-level instance in Angmar, rated for
45th to 50th level. You will need items
for your level 45 class quest from within.
This is one of the larger dungeons and
has several areas, revolves around
several quest lines, and requires a
well-oiled team of players to complete. A
really great guide with maps and tips on
the boss mobs can be found at
http://allshallfade.guildlaunch.com
/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1130023&
;gid=17132 which I really love. There
are also Book quests related to this
dungeon, and there are specific keys and
locks which must be met in order to gain
access to the dungeon. This is the only
single-fellowship instance in the game
which requires you to have locks.
Also known as BG, this is one of the

premier high-level dungeons of LOTRO.
You should be level 50. It is also an
extremely short and straight-forward
dungeon, only taking a couple of hours to
complete if you avoid any wipes. It can be
found in north-east Angmar. Related quest
information
can
be
found
at
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Bar
ad_G%C3%BAlaran. This is mostly a "for
the fun of it" dungeon, as there really
aren't any class-specific quests that relate
to it.
Glinghant
Also known as The Gardens, it is one of
the several instances of Annuminas and is
in the top 3 dungeons which should be
focused on after you are done with book
quests and sundries, as you can earn a full
set of Annuminas set armor by completing
the three dungeons within the area. Keep
in mind that all of the Annuminas
dungeons cannot be entered unless specific
outer areas are cleared of mobs and
"unlocked". The NPC factions will
occasionally take back control in this
dynamic setting, so at times you might
find access to the Annuminas dungeons

blocked until you unlock them. More
information can be found for each
specific area at the links provided. Most
of the quests are repeatable, as well. The
set armor as detailed later in the guide is
quite nice, and well worth the time if you
don't plan on Rifting, or even if you do,
as it provides you with another
alternative while you are earning your
Rift set. The Garden is a short instance,
taking only an hour or hour and half at
most for a well-oiled team of players.
Fear and disease can be a pain here so
either have high resists or bring potions
with you. The place is fairly linear, and
the end boss requires a full fellowship
and is a high-DPS fight. He'll spawn
adds periodically through the fight but
your best bet is to simply ignore the adds
by either CC or having your Guardian
AoE taunt and simply burn the final boss
down as fast as possible, then worry
about the adds. A fairly simple DPS
fight. A good overview can be found at
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Gli
nghant.
Ost Elendil
Also known as OE, this is another
Annuminas dungeon. It is the second most
difficult, but is also fairly short if you
know what you are doing and have no
wipes. The first few times through you
might take longer but once you get it
down, it's very quick, taking only about an
hour to an hour and a half. A decent
overview
can
be
found
at
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Ost
_Elendil.
Haudh Valandil
Also known as HV, this is arguably the
hardest instance in the entire game. You
will absolutely want a well-balanced group
for this. You will need a Lore-master for
sure for wounds/disease curing, a
Guardian for tanking, and a Captain for
buffs/rezzing/summoning in case of wipes.
Additionally you can fill up the last two
slots as you see fit, but a Burglar and
Hunter or Champion are good picks. You
will not want to go in here with duplicate
classes...a balanced group is key to
success.
There is a detailed overview of this zone
to
be
found
at
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Hau

dh_Valandil but the most important key
to this instance is a well-balanced group
of skilled players. People who have run
challenging content in other games will
find this to be one of the funnest
instances in the entire game, and well
worth running on multiple occasions. For
newer players, this place is absolutely
challenging and may take multiple runs
to clear.
The Rift of Nurz

Ghashu
The Rift is a 12 man instance,
culminating in a fight with a Balrog. This
is quite possibly the most challenging
instance within the entire game. The boss
mobs drop gems which can be traded to
an NPC in exchange for gear...each boss
mob drops a specific gem for a specific
piece. There are many different tactics
and strategies across the 'net that people
use for this encounter. This is located in
NE Angmar and is best left to level 50. A
basic guide to the instance and mobs can
be
found
at
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/The
_Rift_of_N%C3%BBrz_Gh%C3%A2shu.
This is a lengthy instance and works
off of a lock system, meaning you can
save your progress if you find that you
cannot complete this area in one evening.
The zone resets each Thursday evening.

Most guilds break this up over 2 nights,
although the more "hardcore" guilds will
do this in one.
Gear Sets
For the most part you will be earning
quest gear as you level up from one to 50
throughout Middle Earth, but as you get
into the higher levels of the game and
specifically certain areas you will find
armor sets and jewelery sets that are
extremely fun to earn and worthwhile
because of the set bonuses you will receive
from wearing full sets. The bonuses range
depending on how many pieces of the set
you are wearing.
There are also Reputation-based sets of
gear that can be acquired from maxing out
your faction with the various Reputation
factions available as detailed earlier on in
the guide. With such a wide variety of gear
available to you at the max level, it's really
up to you as to what you want to focus on,
because each set will have its own unique
bonuses and looks.
It is also important to note that while the
Rift set is arguably the "best" in the game,
gear is not the same in LOTRO as it is in
other games. Yes, Rift gear is nice, and it

has slightly better stats and different
bonuses than the Rep sets, PvP set, or
Instance sets but that is really all it is...a
different set. The stat differences do not
make the Rift set "godly" in comparison
to the other sets, which means you can
function at pretty much the same level as
anyone else even if you don't have one
set or another. Player skill factors more
in this game than armor, whereas in other
games it was the other way around.
There is no gear disparity in LOTRO.
You do not "need" tier 1 to get to tier 2
to get to tier 3 and so on and so forth.
While gear can help make fights
substantially less difficult there is not a
single encounter in the game that
requires a specific set of gear or a
specific arrangement of your traits in
order to defeat. Any players who tell you
otherwise are locked in the mindset that
gear>skill, which is not the case.
Skill>gear in this game.
Reputation Sets
There are various reputations throughout
Middle Earth, and maxing your faction
with each can lead to some rewarding
benefits. Along with a drastically reduced
repair bill and other nice perks, you also
gain access to gear sets which can only be
purchased from the various Rep vendors
once you have reached that prestigious
level. The best guide you can find that
shows you each distinct set and lists of the
faction necessary to earn them and which
factions have what can be found over at
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Cat
egory:Reputation.
Instance Sets
There are 2 instance sets of gear within
LOTRO. A set from the Angmar
dungeons, and a set from the Annuminas
dungeons. The Angmar set is easier to
obtain and takes less time, but the stats are
significantly less. As of book 14 (July
2008) the stats on both sets have been
significantly increased. As you can see
over
at
http://www.lotro-europe.com/news.ph
p?id=6798&type=Dev the new stat
bonuses are quite nice.

Both sets are earned through a
barter-type system where you gather
components from within the dungeons
off of boss mobs and regular mobs and
trade them at Quest NPCs for each
dungeon area.
Rift Set
As previously mentioned, the Rift set
of armor comes from the gem drops off
of the boss mobs within the instance
itself. You can find the NPCs who trade
gems for armor in Angmar, at the ranger
outpost called Iorelen's Camp. You can
find
basic
information
at
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Ior
ellen%27s_Camp.
These sets are class-specific, which
makes them extremely fun to get. And
they look pretty darn cool!
Helegrod Set
Similar to the Rift, the Helegrod set is
based upon barter items looted from the
boss mobs within Helegrod. Unlike the
Rift, Helegrod is a 24 man raid zone, and
the only one to-date within LOTRO. Each
class-specific armor set is bartered from
vendors within Elrond's house in
Rivendell. You will need specific drops
from the boss mobs to earn your set.
Crafted Set
Crafted gear in LOTRO is really nice.
Unlike in other games, it's actually viable
gear, instead of just thrown in for the sake
of giving people the ability to craft. In
most cases crafted gear is actually better
than similar level gear from the quests. At
the cap it is comparable to the Instance
and Reputation sets, but slightly less than
the Rift set.
A great overview can be found over at
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Cate
gory:Recipes. Just follow the tabs and you
will see the recipes by tier, as well as what
the resources required are, and also the
regular successful combines along with the
critical success combines making it easy
for you to make the best educated decision
as to what kind of gear you want to have

for your playstyle.
Conclusion
Earth as the Minstrel, teller of tales, singer

of songs, and bringer of light into the dark
places.
In closing, the Minstrel is almost a

hybrid class that has a multi-functional
purpose within Lord of the Rings Online.
The beauty of the game, and the class, is
the ability to perform under a variety of
circumstances without breaking a sweat.
There will be small occurrences where
players might feel the need to deviate
from this guide, and that is fine. LOTRO
is an extremely casual-based game that
does not require strict adherence to gear
or stats, whereas other games you might
have played place a heavy emphasis on
those two factors. With that being said,
LOTRO is a far more relaxing and
enjoyable setting than many other games
on the market, because you can focus
less on the gear and stats and more on
actual enjoyment of the game. But for
those of you out there who derive
enjoyment from min/maxing, then this
guide will help you get started.
The minstrel class is a highly
rewarding class to play. You will never
lack for groups, and you have the highest
survivability rating of all the classes in
the game. You can fear, mez, FD, heal,
DPS, and flat-out kick butt. There is no
situation that you cannot adapt to.
Best of luck in your adventures, and
may you enjoy your time within Middle

Minstrel Guide

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The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide

The long version

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide

The short version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Hope and Dread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide

Basic Skills and Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide

(15-18) Bree Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide

characters from a US server to a European

When creating your Minstrel there are

There is also the choice between a

The race of your character is purely

It is also important to note that there is

You can also visit the official Lorebook

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide

Lost Dwarf-KingdomsReduced Fate

Virtuous DwarfThis gives you a +1 to

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide

-Reward is the Dwarf-Endurance Trait,

-Rank 3 is available at level 35

-Rank 2 is available at level 35

-Defeat 150 Trolls

-Rank 1 is available at level 13

-Defeat 50 Dourhand Dwarves

-Defeat 100 Dourhand Dwarves

Fading of the FirstbornReduced Fate

Enmity of the Trolls

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide

-Rank 3 is available at level 35

-Defeat 250 Orcs

-Rank 1 is available at level 13

-Reward is the Eldar's Grace Trait. This

-Rank 2 is available at level 19

-Defeat 100 Drakes

-Defeat 100 Goblins

-Rewards you with the Elf One-handed

-Rank 3 is available at level 25

-Reward is the Power of the Eldar Trait.

Enmity of the Orcs

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide

-Rank 1 is available at level 13

Hobbit ToughnessImproved Vitality

-Reward is the Stoop for a Stone Trait,

Resist CorruptionImproved shadow

-Defeat 100 Wolves

Small SizeReduced Might (-8)

-Defeat 150 Wolves

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide

-Rank 3 is available at level 35

-Rank 1 is available at level 29

Gift of MenImproved Fate (+15)

Strong MenImproved Might (+15)

-Reward is Hobbit Stealth. 30 minute

Virtuous ManThis gives you a +1 to

-Defeat 100 Goblins

-Reward is Hobbit-Silence. This is a

Enmity of the Wargs

-Reward is the Man of the Fourth Age

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide

The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Online Minstrel Guide