Raids

A Raid is typically a group of fellowships comprised of higher level or "level-capped" players. You can have up to 4 fellowships in a raid, so that means you can have up to 24 players in a raid -- i.e. 6, 12 or 24 players.

A Raid is a separate copy of a building's interior, a dungeon, or some piece of the game's landscape. Raids are similar to Instances, but are designed on a larger scale with encounters for two or more fellowships of players to complete. The encounters found within usually involve Arch-nemesis bosses that can require complex strategies.

No outside help by other adventurers can be rendered to those within a raid. Doing so allows game developers a greater ability to customize the details of the encounters and makes them more immersive, allowing multiple raids to enjoy the same content without interfering with each other.

Raid Locks

Raid Locks are designed to prevent any player from completing the same stage of an instance multiple times in a short period of time. For example, Raid Locks prevent a single character from slaying Helchgam over and over again in order to get his slime. End-game locks generally expire weekly, meaning any character can complete a particular boss battle no more than once a week.

Raids can only be entered by players who are a part of the raid group and have either the same or "similar" raid locks as the raid leader, or no raid locks. If a player is part of a raid that completes a stage in the instance (usually a boss fight), then the player will receive a lock number corresponding to the number of the stage completed. As the raid progresses, more such locks are obtained. A few examples of how raid locks work:

• Raid leader has locks 1,3,5; raid member has no locks -> raid member will be able to enter, and will inherit raid leader's locks.
• Raid leader has locks 1,6; raid member has locks 1,6 -> raid member will be able to enter.
• Raid leader has locks 1,3,4; raid member has locks 1,4 -> raid member will be able to enter, and will inherit raid leader's lock 3.
• Raid leader has locks 1,3,4; raid member has locks 1,3,5 -> raid member will not be able to enter.
• Raid leader has no locks; raid member has locks 1,4 -> raid member will not be able to enter.

To find out which raid locks you have, open the Social menu, then select the Group Stage Info tab. The lock numbers your character has are listed by instance under Personal Stage Information.

Lock Resets

Locks reset at specific days and times for different raids:

Reset time(s)	Raid(s) - T1	Raid(s) - T2+
Daily at 6:00 a.m. server time	Filikul The Vile Maw
Weekly on Thursday at 3:00 a.m. server time	Amdân Dammul, the Bloody Threshold The Fall of Khazad-dûm	The Anvil of Winterstith Amdân Dammul, the Bloody Threshold The Fall of Khazad-dûm The Hiddenhoard of Abnankâra
Weekly on Thursday at 6:00 a.m. server time	Throne of the Dread Terror	Throne of the Dread Terror The Abyss of Mordath Remmorchant, the Net of Darkness Gwathrenost, the Witch-king's Citadel
Twice per week: Monday at 6:00 a.m. server time Thursday at 6:00 a.m. server time	The Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu
Three times per week: Monday at 6:00 a.m. server time Wednesday at 6:00 a.m. server time Friday at 6:00 a.m. server time	Carn Dûm Dâr Narbugud
Three times per week: Monday at 6:00 a.m. server time Thursday at 6:00 a.m. server time Saturday at 6:00 a.m. server time	The Abyss of Mordath Remmorchant, the Net of Darkness
Three times per week: Monday at 3:00 a.m. server time Thursday at 3:00 a.m. server time Saturday at 3:00 a.m. server time	The Anvil of Winterstith The Hiddenhoard of Abnankâra Gwathrenost, the Witch-king's Citadel

Organization

Due to the scale and the amount of coordination required from all participants, any successful raid will need organization.

Before starting a Raid or even just a 6-player instance, you normally have to think about what configuration of player skills you will need to complete the event.

Successful groups usually have the three standard spots filled with typical classes - Tank (Guardian), Healer (Minstrel), DPS (Hunter).

However, in LOTRO, these spots can be filled or supplemented by other classes depending on the situation.

The following is a list of commonly assigned duties:

Raid/Fellowship Leader

The Leader - Raid Leader or Fellowship Leader (RL/FL) is responsible for controlling a group of allies.

Note that this is an active role during a Raid but not a combat specific role, therefore there is no particular class requirement.

Responsibilities may include:

• Ensuring that all members arrive on time and are adequately prepared for the encounters ahead.
• Sorting and organizing raid groups for maximum effectiveness.
• Assigning roles, such as Main Tank (MT), Off Tank (OT), Main Assist (MA) and Raid Assist targets.
• Coordinating pulls to ensure the group does not threaten too many enemies at one time.
• Explaining boss encounters and their strategies to the group.
• Making call-outs during the boss encounters to coordinate in-combat strategies, and to deal with unexpected circumstances.
• Master-looting to ensure fair distribution of loot according to class restrictions and necessity.

Target marking

One of the most useful things a Fellowship or Raid Leader can do is to mark targets with an icon.

This action is most useful with Pick-up-groups (PUG)s where the individual players do not know each others characters.

This marking can tell the members of the group to attack that target while the Lore-master and Burglar mez something else that isn't marked.

Because people attack the marked target and not the mezzed target, the mezzed target will stay mezzed unless someone uses an area-of-effect attack.

Target Marking can also be used to identify certain fellowship members - typically the Healer, who uses area-of-effect (AOE) heals, requiring that individual recipients be within a certain distance of the Healer.

• Remember, in any Raid larger than six members, only the six members of the group with the Leader doing the marking can see the markings. They are not visible to the other two or three groups in the Raid. However, each group of six in the raid can have their own markings!

To do this, first you'll need to set a hot key to mark a target. I set the ` (unshifted ~) key to skull.

In Options, click Key Mapping. Scroll all the way down to Fellowship Target Marking. Click Skull, then press the ` key (or whatever key you want to use).

Options: Key Mapping

Combat Roles

Raid/Fellowship Leader • Main Tank • Main Assist • Off Tank • Nuker • Healer

Typical Combat roles by class:

Class	Pet Class	Healer	Melee Damage	Debuffer	Buffer	Tank	Crowd Control	Ranged Damage	AoE Damage
Beorning		X	X			X
Brawler			X			X
Burglar			X	X			X
Captain		X	X		X	X
Champion			X			X			X
Guardian			X			X
Hunter				X			X	X
Lore-master	X			X	X		X	X	X
Mariner			X	X	X		X
Minstrel		X			X			X	X
Rune-keeper		X	X
Warden						X		X	X

Note: class capabilities are greatly influenced by the selection of Traitslines. Allowing a particular class to perform multiple different roles depending upon which line is selected.

Trait Roles

Class	Melee Damage		Ranged Damage		Debuffer	Buffer	Tank	Healer
Beorning
Brawler
Burglar
Captain
Champion
Guardian
Hunter
Lore-master
Mariner
Minstrel
Rune-keeper
Warden

Combat Types

Melee • Ranged • Tactical

Combat Roles

• Main Tank (MT) - Primary tank, mob and boss positioning and tanking, generally always maintaining highest threat
• Off Tank (OT) - Secondary tank, holding mobs the MT is not, generally maintaining second highest threat
• Main Assist (MA) - Target selection for focused DPS

Main Assist aka Off Tank (OT) - Normally a MA isn't needed in a 6-man instance since what you usually fight in 6-man, your MT can make the shots on who to attack. an MA is usually designated in high tier (Raid) type runs and usually is either a melee damage-per-second (DPS) class or another tank type class. Any class can essentially fill this role.

DPS - These are your heavy hitters. They punish the mob while the MT keeps the aggro on the main target. It is very important that as DPS you must watch how much damage your putting out because if you put out too much, you could potentially steal the aggro away from your MT, making you an easy kill especially if you wear light armour and don't have the morale or armour class (AC) to stand up to the damage the mob is putting out. Keep a good eye on this, and put out a good solid amount of damage and your set. Hunters and Champions are the king's of melee/ranged DPS as Runekeepers excel in the magic department, though Mariners, Burglars and maybe Minstrels(keeping in mind by doing this, you could potentially lose a healer) can have a hand in this area. Area-of-effect attacks do very well to assist the MT in defeating multiple enemies.

Crowd Control(CC) - One of the most important aspects of a 6-man or even a Raid run, is having good CC. Someone needs to be able to essentially take out a mob from the battle, because at many times you may be fighting more then one target. Your MT has a hard enough job keeping the aggro of one mob, let alone a whole group of mobs would get his attention disfocused, having him ping-pong around the room to keep aggro, making his aggro keeping abilities reduced. Keeping mobs under sleep type affects or even fear type's makes the MT's job alot easier, and reduces the morale your healer will have to be keeping up. Having a good CC is essential to any good instance or raid run. Loremasters dominate in this area. While other classes like the Burglar and Mariner can also fill a spot, the Loremaster is the essential CC.

Main Healer - Some say the most important spot in a group is the main healer (MH). Your main healer is the main stay of the group. He keeps the MT and most of the group up to health in the battle, and will resurrect(rezz) any members that die after a fight. Your MH's main job is to keep the MT alive so that he keeps the rest of the group intact. If your MH goes down, your MT will follow, so it is imperative that your MH stays alive and does not get any of the agro on the mob. Healing is major agro draw, but as long as your MT gets in the initial agro, your group should be fine. MH's, make sure your only put out enough heals to keep him up, overhealing will gain you more aggro and you lose power that you could have used in dire situations. Minstrels and Rune-keepers are the best class for this but Captains can support the role.

Supporting Spots - These are usually your secondaries or your the classes that are specific or any true area, but have a place in a group itself. Off-tanks, Off healers and Off DPS are usually in the roles as well as any Buffers you might have. Captains and Mariners are the ideal Support, as are any of your secondary's that fill the role.

Here are some examples of a normal group:

MT - Guardian/Brawler/Warden

DPS - Champion/Burglar/Beorning

DPS - Hunter/Champion/Loremaster

CC - Loremaster/Burglar/Mariner

MH - Minstrel/Rune-keeper/Beorning

SS - Captain/Mariner/Burglar/Loremaster

Communication

The RL will often specify a VoIP program for everyone to use, allowing voice communication amongst the raid members. The two most common choices are Ventrilo and TeamSpeak, both easy to set up and readily available free of charge. A third option that is gaining prominence is Discord. For many high-end raiding guilds, a VoIP client is mandatory and sometimes having a mic as well. Although the in-game voice communication for LOTRO could be used for this purpose, it provides far fewer options for sound quality and customization, which can be crucial to allow all raid participants to hear each other clearly.

List of Raids

Notice: Notes are listed below the table.

Name	Abbr.	Region	Level	Boss Encounters	Tiers	Group	Available	Prereqs	Challenge	Note
Shadows of Angmar
Helegrod: Drake Wing	Drake-wing	Misty Mountains	50-150	1	1	Raid	Free		Daily	In this wing of Helegrod, Drakes and Drakelings have built their nests under the watchful eye of Grisgart.
Helegrod: Spider Wing	Spider-wing	Misty Mountains	50-150	1	1	Raid	Free		Daily	In this wing of Helegrod, giant spiders are gathering.
Helegrod: Giant Wing	Giant-wing	Misty Mountains	50-150	1	1	Raid	Free		Daily	In this wing of Helegrod, Stone-giants swear fealty to the Thunder-lord.
Helegrod: Dragon Wing	Thorog	Misty Mountains	50-150	1	1	Raid	Free	Defeat Zaudru, Storvâgûn, and Grisgart	-	At the central courtyard of Helegrod, a fell ritual is taking place...
The Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu	Rift	Angmar	50	8	1	Raid	Free		-	In the far east of Angmar, an ancient evil of the First Age has been uncovered...
Bogbereth	Bogbereth	Angmar	50	1	1	Raid	Free	Landscape raid		Beneath Himbar, the spider queen Bogbereth gains power.
Ferndúr the Virulent	Ferndur	Angmar	50	1	1	Raid	Free	Landscape Raid		In Imlad Balchorth, the Gaunt-lord Ferndúr raises the Dead for his dark plans.
Mines of Moria
The Vile Maw	VM/Watcher	The Water-works	60	1	1	Raid	Free			In the deepest waters of Moria, an ancient terror looms...
Filikul	Turtle	The Water-works	60	1	1	Raid	Free			Nornúan, a beast of enormous size, has been discovered in the Water-works.
Scourge of Khazad-dûm
Dâr Narbugud	DN	Foundations of Stone	60	6	1	Raid	Free			Beneath the foundations of Moria, nameless creatures stir as an unspeakable plague threatens to spread througout the Mines.
Tower of Dol Guldur
Barad Guldur	BG	Dol Guldur	65-150	3	2	Raid	Free		Daily	The tower of the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur is under attack!
In Their Absence
Ost Dunhoth	OD	Enedwaith	65-150	6	2	Raid	Free	Discover	Daily	In the hills of Enedwaith, the Gaunt-lord Gortheron rallies his forces in secret.
Rise of Isengard
Draigoch's Lair	Draigoch	Enedwaith	75	1	1	Raid	Free	Discover	Daily	In a cave west of the Misty Mountains, one of the last great Dragons slumbers.
Tower of Orthanc	ToO	Isengard	75	5	2	Raid	Free	Discover	Daily	Saruman holds command over Isengard and has forged his very own Rings of Power.
The Road to Erebor (Introduced via the Riders of Rohan)
Flight to the Lonely Mountain	Flight	Erebor	20-150	1	2	Raid	Free		Daily	The army of Rhûn has conquered Dale and pursues its inhabitants towards Erebor.
The Fires of Smaug	Smaug	Erebor	20-150	1	2	Raid	Free		Daily	As the Easterlings lay siege to Erebor, the dwarves struggle to defend their home.
The Battle for Erebor	BfE	Erebor	20-150	1	2	Raid	Free		Daily	The final assault on Erebor is at hand and the commanders of the besieging army step forward to fight.
Helm's Deep
The Deeping Wall	Wall or DW	West Rohan	10-100	1	1	Solo/Duo, Raid	Free	Epic Battles		The host of Isengard besieges Helm's Deep, the strongest fortress of Rohan.
Battle of Pelennor
Throne of the Dread Terror	Throne	Old Anórien	105	6	2	Raid	VIP/QP		Daily	As the Battle of Pelennor Fields rages, a new commander arises after the fall of the Witch-king.
The Plateau of Gorgoroth
The Abyss of Mordath	Abyss	The Plateau of Gorgoroth	115	3	2	Raid	Exp/Buy	Discover	Weekly	Pursue King Váskmun Greytooth beneath the foundations of the now-ruined fortress of Barad-dûr.
Grey Mountains
The Anvil of Winterstith	Anvil	Grey Mountains	120	4	3	Raid	VIP/QP	Discover	diverse chest locks	Fellow up with the Dwarves as they pursue Karazgar into an ancient glacier.
Minas Morgul
Remmorchant, the Net of Darkness	Remmo	Minas Morgul	130	4	5	Raid	Exp/Buy	Discover	diverse chest locks	Enter the depths of Torech Ungol to face Shelob
War of Three Peaks
Amdân Dammul, the Bloody Threshold	AD	The War of Three Peaks	130	2	5	Raid	Exp	Discover	diverse chest locks	Prince Durin Stonehelmson of the Longbeards leads the Gabil'akkâ , a great host of united dwarves, to the very gates of Mount Gundabad.
The Fall of Khazad-dûm	FoKD	Moria	130	1	5	Raid	VIP/QP	Discover	diverse chest locks	In the year 1981 of the Third Age, the Longbeards made their final stand against the Balrog known as 'Durin's Bane'.
Fate of Gundabad
The Hiddenhoard of Abnankâra	HH	Gundabad	140	3	5	Raid	Exp	Discover	diverse chest locks	After the confrontation with Mótsog, Hrímil tends to her wounds. Go after her and watch the final part of Durin's campaign.
The Return to Carn Dûm
Gwathrenost, the Witch-king's Citadel	Gwath	Angmar	140	4	5	Raid	VIP/QP	Discover	diverse chest locks	Fight the new power in Carn Dûm and make sure that Angmar will not be reborn again.
Corsairs of Umbar
Depths of Mâkhda Khorbo	DMK	Cape of Umbar	150	3	5	Raid	Exp		diverse chest locks	Pursue Azagath, Belondor and Nakási into the depths before they can unleash the power that is sleeping below.
Legacy of Morgoth
Utug-bûr	TBD	Urash Dâr	150	6	4	Raid	Exp		diverse chest locks

• Exp - Expansion
• VIP - A paid subscriber
• QP - Quest Pack

Raid Quests

Raid Quests

See also

• Raid Progression