Gameplay
Champions use melee skills to either deal damage, or generate aggro, depending on the specialization. Their basic skills generate Fervour, which can then be expended to use their more powerful skills. Most skills are categorized into either Strike Skills or Blade Skills, which are affected by certain traits. Champions also have several utility skills, like 
Champion's Challenge and various horn skills, that can provide valuable support for the fellowship.
- Blue-line (Tank): Champions specialized in the Martial Champion trait tree use a combination of Blade and Strike skills to generate passive aggro, making up for their lack of Force Attacks. They rely on their healing skills like
Bracing Attack, 
Dire Need, and 
Fight On to help them survive when 
Unbreakable and 
Adamant are on cooldown. Champions in this specialization need to time all of their important skill usages, as their cooldowns are exceptionally long.
- Red-line (Single Target Damage): Champions specialized in the Berserker trait tree primarily use Strike skills to deal damage to their enemies. Their core damage rotation involves keeping Fervour spenders like
Brutal Strikes, 
Remorseless Strike, and 
Ferocious Strikes on cooldown, and filling the space in-between with skills like 
Devastating Strike, 
Swift Strike, and 
Wild Attack. This specialization is very fast-based, and requires practice to play well.
- Yellow-line (AoE Damage): Champions specialized in the Deadly Storm trait tree primarily use Blade skills to deal damage to a large number of enemies. They use a combination of Strike and Blade skills in their rotation to deal a mix of AoE and single target damage. With their large number of damage cooldowns, they can choose the moments when to ramp up their damage. This specialization is slower and more methodical than playing in Red-line, and is a strong specialization when dealing with a dynamic fight encounter.
This class is recommended for newer players who want a faster and easier experience in landscape, as the core gameplay loop is simple compared to some other classes. While the class has two damage specializations, only one of them sees significant endgame play at any given time, due to the intertwined skills and traits.
Fervour
Fervour is a skill resource used by Champions. Certain skills build Mettle (up to a maximum of five) while others spend it. When out of combat, Champions will gradually decrease Fervour down to zero.
The Champion gains increased bonuses from each point of Fervour they have, tracked through the 
Fervour effect.
For more information, see Fervour.
Strike & Blade Skills
Some Champion skills are classified as either Strike or Blade skills. These classification tags are relevant for certain traits. Champions specializing in the Berserker trait tree mostly use Strike skills, and those specializing in the Deadly Storm trait tree mostly use Blade skills.
For more information, see Strike Skills and Blade Skills.
Guide to the Champion
This page is still in the works. Please see the Champion class page for general information as well as skill and trait specifics. The Champion class requires nothing to unlock.
Preview
The champion is a hybrid class between a tank and a melee DPS (They can be geared and traited to focus on more DPS than tanking and vice versa). They are more durable than burglars and hunters but less durable than guardians and wardens. They do less damage than burglars and hunters but more damage than guardians and wardens. Due to this they are quite popular in groups as off tanks or full DPS though they are fully capable of being the main tank in some cases - with support of course. However, the champion's hybridization also can make them less attractive to groups that are seeking pure tanks, pure DPS, or ranged DPS. For example, champions are fairly useless in a raid such as Draigoch, which requires almost all ranged DPS.
Choosing a Race
The champion class is available to the races of man, dwarf, and elf. Stat-wise, dwarves tend to make slightly better champions (guardians as well arguably) due to their +15 might and +10 vitality racial trait - but this is fairly negligible overall. Men also make good champions due to their +15 might and +5% incoming healing modifier.
Combat
In combat, champions use a few basic skills to generate fervor which can then be spent to execute more powerful attacks. While their single target DPS is respectable, the champion stands out among the DPS classes in its AoE skills. No other class can provide consistent AoE like the champion. This does, however, cause problems for inexperienced champions who recklessly spam their AoE skills which then causes the tank to lose aggro or kills a specific enemy that causes a failure of an instance challenge. It is very useful though for end-game grinding and situations where lots of DPS is required. Champions have one self-heal which provides about 800hp at level 75 and a temporary armor buff which grants an additional 2000-3000 armor. They also posses two shields which protect for about 2000-5000 damage. Champions have access to three stances glory, ardor, and fervor which, with the changes made in Update 6, can significantly change the effects and cooldowns of various skills. Glory focuses on tanking, ardor focuses on AoE skills, and fervor focuses on pure DPS.
Equipment
Champions utilize heavy armor to improve durability in battle. They wield bows for their ranged weapon and can either dual wield or use a 2-handed weapon. Champions can use any type of weapon with the exception of crossbows, javelins, and staffs. The two primary stats champion gear should focus on are might and vitality - focusing primarily on might. The most important stat for a champion is physical mastery which might is the primary contributor of (1 point of might is equivalent to 10 points of physical mastery). At level 75 most pieces of champion gear will also include a physical mastery bonus in addition to might. Furthermore, slotting the correct relics on Legendary Items will also increase physical mastery by at least 5000. Agility should also be geared for in moderation to augment hit and critical hit ratings.
Dual-Wielding vs. 2-handed weapons
The question many new champions often ask is whether it is better to dual-wield two weapons or to use a single two-handed weapon. The general consensus as well as logic point to dual-wielding as the better option. The combined damage of any two comparable one-handed weapons is always greater than the base damage of any two-handed weapon of similar quality. Furthermore, the damage is dealt more swiftly and in more intervals so if one attack misses the second or third has a chance to hit. In addition, using a two-handed weapon sacrifices an extra set of stats that would be provided an off-hand weapon - two-handed weapons have bigger stat bonuses to compensate for this but again these bonuses are always smaller than the combined stat bonuses of two one-handed weapons. You can also load a Combat Analysis plugin to check for yourself the effectiveness of dual-wielding vs. 2-handed weapons.
Champion Traits
for beginners-kind-of-text --- pending
Virtue Traits
Other Traits
Champion Good-to-Know
for beginners-kind-of-text --- pending
