Gameplay: Wardens are mobile combatants who use Javelins for initiating combat and against ranged foes. Their unique Warden Shield and a variety of defensive skills allow them to stay in the fight longer than most. Basic Warden skills build up their Gambit chain, which can be spent to unleash special Gambit skills. In Fellowships, a Warden forces enemies to attack themself, so their more fragile allies will not be harmed by the foes.
Lore: The Warden patrols the borders of civilized lands, preventing the encroachment of fell creatures from the Wild. They limit themselves to medium armour, so they can travel swiftly and silently to defend those they protect from threats. Wardens all have some military training, and have mastered a style of combat that uses combinations of basic attacks to create masterful Gambits.
The class was inspired by the marchwarden of Lothlórien, Haldir, and his brothers Rúmil and Orophin.
Below, you can find more information about the class under the different headers. These pages can also be viewed independently through the table above.
Gameplay
Wardens use the unique Gambit system in place of having regular skills. They have wide capabilities in any role they choose, able to deal damage, heal and protect themselves, and generate aggro. They build up Advanced Technique by completing Gambits, which they use to empower some of their skills.
Blue-line (Tank): Wardens specialized in the Determination trait tree use Gambits to gain threat. While lacking Heavy Armour, their Gambits allow them to considerably increase their mitigations. They are especially strong in self-healing, making up for their lack of strong defensive cooldowns. Of all tanks, they have the greatest capability at retaining threat of a huge number of enemies.
Red-line (Damage): Warden specialized in the Recklessness trait tree use Gambits to inflict potent bleeds on their enemies. Certain Gambits, like Unseen Strikes and Cauterizing Steel, consume bleeds to deal additional potent damage. They rely on their Mastery skills to quickly build up Gambits for their bleeds.
This class is incredibly hard to learn, as it requires muscle memory and a strong understanding of the class to play well. Once learned though, it is very rewarding, easily being one of the best leveling classes in the game. It is also strong at the higher end, albeit requiring greater focus than other classes.
Gambits
Gambit panel with no Gambit Icons.Gambit panel with the Power Attack Gambit.
A Warden's most powerful abilities are achieved through the use of Gambits -- advanced skills built from special sequences of basic attacks or Gambit Builders. These builders add a Fist, Shield, Spear or Javelin icon at the end of the sequence in the Gambit Panel on the player's screen. At level 1, these sequences are limited to two icons, but sequences of up to five icons are learnt as the Warden levels up.
As they level up, Wardens obtain skills which interact with gambits. From level 24, Battle Preparation allows a Gambit to be pre-built before combat, enabling the Warden to execute a complete gambit immediately upon entering combat. The gambit can be built using either the standard builders or mastery skills.
From level 30, Wardens build Advanced Technique by completing gambits. A chain of four gambits will contribute one count of Advanced Technique up to a maximum of three. Advanced Technique enhances several of the Warden's skills such as The Way of the Spear, Desperate Combat, and For the Free Peoples. Executing a skill that uses Advanced Technique will consume all counts.
From level 38, the four dual-icon gambits grant the Potency effect, which stores the next gambit executed into Battle Memory. The Warden can then execute the stored gambit without having to rebuild it.
From level 39, the Warden can make use of mastery skills to build gambit sequences faster. These are special skills that immediately grant two gambit icons without using the basic builder attacks, and have very little animation time.
These skills are granted automatically as you gain levels. Some skills have an improved version that can be obtained by leveling further or by equipping certain traits, traceries, or armour sets.
These skills are granted automatically as you gain levels. All gambits require a certain combination of builders to be able to be used. All gambits are accessed through using the Gambit Default skill.
These skills are acquired by spending trait points in the Determination (blue) trait tree. You can only obtain the Set skills if you specialize in this tree.
These skills are acquired by spending trait points in the Recklessness (red) trait tree. You can only obtain the Set skills if you specialize in this tree.
Wardens have the ability to travel quickly to many locations but are only able to do so alone, unaccompanied by their fellows (unlike Hunters who can bring their group). Most skills have a required level, as well as an additional requirement that can be satisfied in the location's region.
Assailment Wields Javelin and clever tactics to harm and hinder foes.
Though the Warden can not specialize in Assailment, the ability to harry enemies when needed can be invaluable. Assailment techniques are focused on increasing javelin damage, debuffing enemies, and augmenting your core gambits, useful when fighting either alone or in a fellowship.
Note: Some traits in this tree have an increased cost in Trait Points in order to acquire and/or rank up, regardless of specialization.
Recklessness Wields deadly, war-like techniques to defeat foes.
A powerful damaging focus that stacks single-target bleeds with resonant shouts.
+5% Warden DoT Damage
-10% Attack Duration
-40% Persevere Gambit Line Healing
Assailment Wields Javelin and clever tactics to harm and hinder foes.
Though the Warden can not specialize in Assailment, the ability to harry enemies when needed can be invaluable. Assailment techniques are focused on increasing javelin damage, debuffing enemies, and augmenting your core gambits, useful when fighting either alone or in a fellowship.
Class deeds will involve 3 types; Quest-based; Offensive, which requires attacking a hostile target; and Defensive, where the character is attacked by a hostile combatant. With respect to trivial (grey) mobs, offensive skills used against them, do not advance class skill deeds, but defensive skill deeds do. Thus, lower-level training-dummies can be used to advance defensive skill deeds, regardless of player level.
Class deeds require the character to have completed the player introduction quests.
Individual Deeds are not visible in the Deed Log until the appropriate skills trigger the Deed
Individual Meta Deed Tiers are not visible in the Deed Log until at least one of the 3 individual deeds are completed
All Individual and Meta Deeds are logged in the Deed Log under "Class/Race/Epic" on the "Class" tab and are called "Class Deeds - tier N"
Completion of Class Quests (levels 15 and 30) does not grant LOTRO Points or show up in the Deed Log, but can trigger the appropriate Meta Deed Tier to show up in the log
Note: While many Deeds list only the In the Fray (melee) version of a skill, the Assailment (ranged) version of that skill will also increment the deed
Wardens are mobile melee combatants who use Javelins for initiating combat and against ranged foes. Their unique Warden Shield and a variety of defensive skills allow them to stay in the fight longer than most. Basic Warden skills build up their Gambit chain, which can be spent to unleash special Gambit skills. In Fellowships, a Warden forces enemies to attack themself, so their more fragile allies will not be harmed by the foes.
Most of the Warden's skills for both roles are Gambits, advanced skills built from special sequences of basic attacks.
On the one hand, they can deal a high amount of sustained damage, by relying on a big number of bleeds or DoTs ("damage over time" effects). Most of them deal Light damage, while some of them deal physical damage.
On the other hand, they can draw the attention of enemies and use Gambits which apply temporary buffs to their defences or HoTs ("heal over time" effects).
Gameplay
The Warden is mechanically the most unique class in Lotro. Most of their skills are Gambits: skills that need to be built from special sequences of basic attacks or Gambit Builders. These Builders apply a buff to the Warden and add a Spear, Shield, Fist or Javelin icon at the end of the sequence in the Gambit Panel on the player's screen. Later on, Wardens can make use of Mastery skills to build Gambit sequences faster. These are special skills that immediately grant two Gambit icons, without using the basic Builder attacks and gaining their buffs.
Gambit panel with no Gambit Icons.Gambit panel with the Power Attack Gambit.
Suppose you want to build the Power Attack Gambit with sequence , shown in the image on the right. There are several ways to do this.
Instead, you could follow up Quick Thrust by the Mastery skill Shield and Fist, which immediately adds a Shield and Fist icon.
Finally, you could start with Spear and Shield and end with Warden's Taunt.
Making effecive use of these Mastery skills and their cooldowns is essential to become a good Warden.
While the Warden mostly uses attacks in their melee stance In the Fray - Stance, they can also change to their ranged stance Assailment - Stance and use their javelin weapon to attack from afar. All Builder and Mastery skills that add one or more Spear icons will add Javelin icons instead in this stance.
Further in this section, I will be discussing the most useful skills when DPS'ing or playing as a Tank. This guide is not meant to be strictly followed: at all times you have to keep an eye on what is happening around you, if a new group of enemies appears, your Morale is getting low or specific instance mechanics require using less used skills. Cooperating with your fellows is the key to defeating a difficult boss.
Determination (blue): A tanking build which boosts defences while healing, able to survive attacks from many foes at once.
Recklessness (red): A powerful damaging build that stacks single-target bleeds with the potential for sweeping AoE blows.
Assailment (yellow): A ranged support line that debuffs enemies while dealing significant damage from afar, useful when fighting either alone or in a Fellowship.
DPS
Wardens can compete with most other common classes for DPS roles. They can output reasonable single target damage as well as area of effect (AoE) damage. However, their strength does not lie in burst damage in contrast to Hunters and Champions, but in damage over a longer time period. Moreover, their DoT effects only stack once, making a second DPS Warden in a group suboptimal.
Two trait trees can be used to improve your damage:
The Recklessness (red) trait tree is generally the preferred choice. It has a lot of traits that improve initial damage and damage over time. The capstone skill Recklessness greatly increases your damage for a short time.
The Assailment (yellow) trait tree focuses mostly on improving the damage and debuffs of javelin skills. However, the capstone trait Seize the Moment gives a chance for these skills to remove the cooldown on your Mastery skills. This lets you quickly build several 5 icon Gambits in a short time. By switching to In the Fray - Stance stance after this proc, this allows for big damage bursts.
Both lines mostly use the same skills and bleeds, but I will focus on the mechanics of the red line.
You possess several Gambits that apply strong DoTs to one or more targets. Since they minimally last for 24 seconds (and longer with certain bonuses), a number of them can be kept up at all times and result in a lot of damage over time. Below, the most important skills are listed. However, depending on the mechanics of the fight, you might consider using other Gambits.
Ranged Resounding Challenge: AoE attack which applies a strong Light DoT to up to 6 targets. Note that this is the version of Resounding Challenge in your ranged stance: the melee version does not apply a DoT.
Ranged Unerring Strike: single target attack which applies a bleed with damage type equal to your weapon. This skill is only usable in your ranged stance.
In addition to the bleeds of these skills, there are also a few bleeds that are applied in other ways.
As the only Medium Armour class tank in the game, the Warden's Physical and Tactical Mitigations cap at 50% instead of 60%. At baseline, they receive higher amounts of incoming damage than other tank classes. However, they can raise their mitigations above this cap when in the Determination specialization. They receive a passive 5% mitigation and can build another 10% by using self-buffs. Incoming physical damage is further reduced by blocking, parrying and evading attacks. Finally, Wardens can sustain themselves quite well with HoTs and Morale-taps.
Compared to other tank classes, they can output reasonable damage while tanking by using their Light DoTs. However, they provide little support to fellowship members in contrast to other tank classes. And most importantly, they only have a single emergency skill with a long cooldown, which makes tanking as a Warden less forgiving.
Below, an overview is given of the most important skills when tanking. Depending on the mechanics of the fight, you may want to prioritize keeping up different self-buffs or HoTs. A plugin like BuffBars or BuffMonitor can aid in tracking the durations of your buffs.
Taunts
Warning Shot: single target taunt with a short cooldown
Never Surrender: big self heal which triggers when you fall below 15% of your Morale
For the Free Peoples: lets your builder skills tier up a fellowship-wide incoming damage reduction buff for a short time
At the start of a fight, you want to make sure enemies stay focused on you by building Threat. Dealing damage to an enemy or healing someone who is attacking an enemy generates threat. Enemies will always attack the character that is generating the most threat. Therefore, as a tank, you want to generate lots of threat to keep your lightly armoured fellows from getting attacked. When traited blue, your threat from damage is build with a ratio of 3:1 instead of the normal 1:1. A Taunts can be used when someone else is generating more threat than you and thus the enemy is turning to him/her: you then copy that character's threat with a small bump of additional threat (so the enemy is focused on you once more) and force the enemy to attack you for a short period (ignoring threat).
Using a strong Light DoT which affects a lot of enemies is ideal to build threat at the start of a fight: e.g. Ranged Resounding Challenge or Brink of Victory. By using these skills, you don't need to rely on Defiant Challenge and you can use the skill to keep the mitigation buff up. When the needed buffs are active, you can also consider using a Light DoT to help your group with killing the enemies.
Equipment
The Warden is a Medium Armour class and can use almost all weapons and a Javelin (see Passive Skills). At level 30, they gain "Master Training" traits for all usable weapon types: this increases their damage slightly, but more importantly improves the small bonuses each weapon type has. It is also the only class that can wear Warden's Shields, which are a bit tougher than normal Shields. From level 20 onwards, they can carry Warden Carvings. From then on, they can also use Shield-spikes and Oils, though these items provide little benefit to Wardens. See Warden Items Index for an overview of all items.
Important Stats
Depending on whether you're playing as a DPS or Tank, you want to pay attention to other stats.
When you're playing as a DPS, you mostly want maximize your damage output by increasing the following stats:
Critical Defence (reduces the incoming damage from critical hits)
Choosing crafting professions
The crafted items that are most useful to a Warden come from the following professions.
Tailor: being able to craft medium armour you can wear, makes this one of your best choices.
Jeweller: rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings make up a lot of your equipment slots, so this is a good option too. Furthermore, Hope Tokens are consumables used at all levels.
Cook: Food can be consumed by all characters, which makes the cook a fine choice for you as well.
Woodworker: Javelins, Warden Carvings and Battle Hymns are crafted by woodworkers. At higher levels, you can start using Legendary Weapons and so this profession becomes less interesting.
Scholar: Scrolls of Battle and Warding Lore are consumables used at all levels. Moreover, you can craft Oils, which change the damage type of some of your Javelin skills, as well as class-specific consumables for other classes.
Weaponsmith: here you are able to make metal weapons and shield-spikes. Just like the woodworker profession, this option becomes less interesting at higher levels.
Notice that these are all production professions, but the components used in their recipes can only be obtained by appropriate gathering professions:
Prospectors gather and refine metal ore for weaponsmiths and jewellers.
Advanced Technique by completing Gambits, which they use to empower some of their skills.
Unseen Strikes and 
Cauterizing Steel, consume bleeds to deal additional potent damage. They rely on their Mastery skills to quickly build up Gambits for their bleeds.
Battle Preparation allows a Gambit to be pre-built before combat, enabling the Warden to execute a complete gambit immediately upon entering combat. The gambit can be built using either the standard builders or mastery skills.
The Way of the Spear, 
Desperate Combat, and 
For the Free Peoples. Executing a skill that uses Advanced Technique will consume all counts.
Potency effect, which stores the next gambit executed into 
Battle Memory. The Warden can then execute the stored gambit without having to rebuild it.
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