Class

From Lotro-Wiki.com

Character Topics: Classes, Races, Traits, Skills, Stats, Equipment

Class is a fundamental choice of a player character for Lord of the Rings Online which determines your skills and abilities throughout your adventuring career, and also profoundly affects your stats, deeds, and the equipment available to you. Choosing a class can be constrained by the choice of race and gender.

Dwarf Elf Hobbit Man Burglar     Captain       Champion   Guardian Hunter Lore-master     Minstrel

Classes Bu Ca Ch Gu Hu Lm Mi Skills Bu Ca Ch Gu Hu Lm Mi Traits Bu Ca Ch Gu Hu Lm Mi Deeds Bu Ca Ch Gu Hu Lm Mi

Burglar

The Burglar is a master of stealth and misdirection. Burglars are able to confound foes with a variety of clever and debilitating tricks. They also excel at attacking from the shadows, allowing them to take enemies by surprise. A burglar is also known as an Expert Treasure-hunter, able to use their Track Treasure skill in order to seek out those valuables.

Available Races: Hobbit, Man

A Hobbit Burglar

For details see Burglar

Captain

The Captain is a masterful leader, a commanding presence who strengthens allies, but is also skilled in the use of arms. Their battle cries strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, while their allies rally to their banners of war.

Available Races: Man

A Man Captain

For details see Captain

Champion

The Champion is the consummate warrior, unrelenting in battle. His fervour allows him to make increasingly powerful attacks. The Champion excels at melee combat and can absorb punishment with his Heavy Armour.

Available Races: Dwarf, Elf, Man

A female Man Champion

For details see Champion

Guardian

The Guardian is a protector of the weak and defender of those in need. He is capable of withstanding mighty blows and retaliating in kind. The true Guardian stands to the forefront of battle, shielding his allies from the blows of their enemies.

Available Races: Dwarf, Elf, Hobbit, Man

A Dwarf Guardian

For details see Guardian

Hunter

The Hunter is a master of field and forest, unmatched with the bow. Hunters use their survival skills to guide their companions and lay traps for their enemies. The Hunters are at their strongest when attacking from a distance, but they are able to defend themselves in melee combat, when needed.

Available Races: Dwarf, Elf, Hobbit, Man

A female Hobbit Hunter

For details see Hunter

Lore-master

The Lore-master is a seeker of knowledge and a guardian of wisdom. He wields ancient secrets and lore to confound his foes and aid his friends, protecting them against the dark powers of the Enemy.

Available Races: Elf, Man

A male Elf Lore-master

For details see Lore-master

Minstrel

The Minstrel is the heart of a fellowship, a herald of hope and renewal. He uses his knowledge of ancient songs and lore to ward against the forces of darkness and bring relief to his companions.

Available Races: Dwarf, Elf, Hobbit, Man

A female Man Minstrel

For details see Minstrel

Rune-keeper

Mystical linguists and masters of true names, Rune-keepers can heal in one battle and hurl destructive magic in the next using an innovative attunement system. Unleash the Fury of the Storm and call down lightning upon the enemy! Reveal the Favoured of the Valar and heal your fellowship. The choice is yours...

In lore terms, the Runekeeper marks the game's first true "magic user." The Loremaster class had his or her powers explained as the harnessing of the traditional powers of nature -- calling down lightning, using water to make foes stick in the mud, or throwing a fireball made from a chemical concoction. In short, the class is more of a combat chemist than a true magician. The Runekeeper, on the other hand, actually taps into the primal physics-altering powers of creation. It's the same kind of power (though to a far, far lesser degree) as that tapped into by powerful elves like Galadriel (who serves as the model for the class).

In pure game dynamics, Steefel says that the Runekeeper will be "...a third light armor class that offers viable healing or DPS alternatives." True to the game's "hybrid class" design philosophy, the Runekeeper is being tuned to not take the thunder away from the primary healing class (Minstrel) and will focus its DPS capabilities on nuking, particularly by the application of powerful, stackable damage-over-time effects. Players will manage their role via a new "Attunement Meter" that can be geared to provide bonuses to healing abilities at the detriment of damage powers and vice-versa, depending on the current role the Runekeeper is being asked to fulfill. [1]

Available Races: Dwarves, Elves

Note: This class will become available with the Mines of Moria expansion. For more information, read the Developer's Diary

For details see Rune-keeper

Warden

Armed with spears as their weapon of choice, Wardens use a gambit system to fire off powerful combo attacks at the front lines. Unlike other classes, which have to wait for opportunities, the warden creates his own openings and then capitalizes on them. Wearing medium armor, Wardens specialize in ambushing and focusing on single enemies.

The Warden as designed takes as its inspiration Haldir, the Elf warden who protected the lands of Lothlorien from incursions by orcs and other foul things that crept from Moria. True to its model, the Mines of Moria Warden is a medium-armor tank class built around an Elf rather than a Man's idea of a heavy fighter -- sacrificing heavy protection in favor of agility and anticipation. As a result, the Warden in Mines of Moria may find his or her greatest utility not as a tank but as a support fighter -- an off-tank.

Interestingly, the Warden's gameplay mechanics owe a debt to Tekken as much as to any Elf-lord. The Warden's main abilities are triggered by a new "gambit" system. These are special attacks and status effects triggered by firing off certain combination of moves in sequence. Thus a "Power Attack" designed to take advantage of a specific break in a creature's defenses might be fired off by using four specially-colored attacks in a row, while a different attack designed to slow an enemy's attacks could be used to set up combos that let companions regain some health or power. The Warden, then, is a strategic class designed, according to Steefel, "... for players want to anticipate what they'll need 10 seconds from now as opposed to right this second." [2]

Available Races: Unknown

Note: This class will become available with the Mines of Moria expansion.

For details see Warden