Travelling

Game Guides Topics: Getting Started, Game Terms, Commands, Character, Grouping, Music, Travelling

Middle-earth is a big place. It's wise to know how to get around if you're going to tackle the many challenges you will face on your journey.

Old-Fashioned Running

Your feet are the most common method of travel in Middle-earth. You can toggle the run/walk option with the Insert key, and you can lock yourself in running mode (so you don't have to hold a key down) with the Numlock key.

To run from Ered Luin to the Misty Mountains takes roughly 45 minutes.

Run Speed

Run speed is the movement speed when running and this is the speed that is referenced to when talking about increases or decreases of speed. Run speed is around 6.5 m/s (metres per second) and is the base speed that buffs, debuffs, etc., relates to. Walking is about 40% of run speed which is a decrease of about 60%. A hunter may get a +15% speed bonus, which means 7.48 m/s.

For more detail, see Run Speed

Run-speed "Debuffs"

All characters run at the same speed, and there is no encumbrance penalty.
However, some monsters can inflict wounds that give you a movement speed debuff - especially Bears, Wolves and Wargs. Under such a debuff you might move very slowly.
If you injure yourself by falling, you will receive a 60% movement speed penalty that also prevents you from avoiding damage for up to 1 minute, depending on the distance of the fall. Should you fall farther than that, you will be defeated.

Run speed "Buffs"

Captains get a brief, fast speed buff for escaping danger at level 8.
Champions get a 25% speed buff for 15 seconds on a 5 minute cooldown at level 28.
Hunters gain a 15% out-of-combat speed buff at level 14, which applies to their whole fellowship if close enough. This can be increased up to 30% with Rank 5 of the Pathfinder trait.
Guardians get a trait that grants 5% increased movement speed while equipped.
Wardens get a 25% out-of-combat speed buff at level 14.

You can spend destiny points on a buff which increases your run speed for a limited time.
There are a few items that increase run speed while equipped. Normally, the increase is by 5%, but there are some rare items that increase run speed by 8%.
There are also "Movement Buffs" which can be purchased in the Lotro Store for both your character and your mount; +10% for your character and +20% for your mount. These are frequently bestowed as "Hobbit Presents."

These buffs are additive to other, normal, in-game buffs, however their duration is for a fixed amount of in-game time. That is, if you log out with 30 minutes remaining on a 60 minute buff, when you log back in, that remaining 30 minutes will be there and again begin counting down.

Some examples:

Hustle +5-8% increased out of combat Run Speed
Continuing Swiftness
Mount: Well Fed
Combat Run Speed Boost (effect)

Milestones

Characters can bind themselves to "milestones" at various locations in the world, and return to those locations at any time (with a 1 hour cooldown). The cooldown time can be reduced to 30 min with the skill Hurried Traveller (LOTRO Shop, 495 LP). It can be further reduced by 25 min to 5 min with the skill Expedient Traveller which also reduces the cooldown time of Return To by 25 min (LOTRO Shop, 495 LP).

See Milestone for more information.

"Return To" Skills

"Return To" skills allow a character to return to a specific location once an hour (one hour cool down). The cooldown time can be reduced to 30 min with the skill Returning Traveller (LOTRO Shop, 495 LP). It can be further reduced by 25 min to 5 min with the skill Expedient Traveller which also reduces the cooldown time of Milestone skills by 25 min (LOTRO Shop, 495 LP).

Once obtained, each skill can be found in your Character screen - Skills, Common Skills. You can add them to your Quick Slot bar, or access them via one of the Lua plugins, such as Travel Window.

General Travel Skills

Return to Lalia's Market can be bought from Lalia in Lalia's Market in Bree for 3 -- Requires level 10

Racial Travel Skills

Each race has a "Return To" racial trait (skill) which they automatically gain for completing certain deeds.

The use of the racial skill requires slotting of the matching trait.

Reputation Travel Skills

Additionally there are other "Return To" skills which can be purchased from following factions. Requirements for the acquisition and use of each skill is noted for each:

Return to Thorin's Gate (non racial skill), from the Dwarves of Thorin's Hall -- Requires Kindred Standing with Thorin's Hall
Return to Bree (non racial skill), from the Men of Bree -- Requires Kindred Standing with the Men of Bree
Note: The factions for Elves and Hobbits do not provide such skills for Michel Delving or Rivendell, but they can be purchased from the LOTRO Store.
Return to Nobottle, from The Yonder-watch in The Yondershire -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with The Yonder-watch and level 20
Return to Clegur, from Delving Quartermasters and Before the Shadow Mission-giver Barterers. -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with the Dúnedain of Cardolan and level 20
Return to Swanfleet, from the Dúnedain of Cardolan in Swanfleet -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with the Dúnedain of Cardolan and level 20
Return to Cardolan, from the Dúnedain of Cardolan in Cardolan -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with the Dúnedain of Cardolan and level 20
Return to Andrath, from from Delving Quartermasters in Cardolan and Swanfleet -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with the Dúnedain of Cardolan and level 20
Return to the Tracery Archives in Rivendell -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with the Dúnedain of Cardolan and level 20; only found within Delving Chest drops
Return to Ost Guruth, from the Eglain of the Lone-lands -- Granted automatically when Kindred Standing is achieved
Return to Tornhad, from the Defenders of the Angle in The Angle of Mitheithel -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with the Defenders of the Angle and level 38
Return to Trader's Wharf, from the League of the Axe in the Wildwood -- Requires Neutral Standing with the League of the Axe and level 40
Return to Trestlebridge, from the Woodcutter's Brotherhood in the Wildwood -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with the Woodcutter's Brotherhood and level 40
Return to Mirkwood, from the Malledhrim of Mirkwood -- Requires Kindred Standing with the Malledhrim
Return to Enedwaith, from the Algraig, Men of Enedwaith -- Requires Kindred Standing with the Algraig, Men of Enedwaith
Return to Galtrev, from the Men of Dunland -- Requires Kindred Standing with the Men of Dunland and level 70
Return to Stangard, from The Riders of Stangard -- Requires Kindred Standing with The Riders of Stangard
Return to Snowbourn, from the Men of the Sutcrofts -- Requires Kindred Standing with Men of the Sutcrofts and level 80
Return to Forlaw, from the People of Wildermore -- Requires Kindred Standing with the People of Wildermore and level 85
Return to Aldburg, from The Eorlingas -- Requires Kindred Standing with The Eorlingas and level 85
Return to Helm's Deep, from The Helmingas -- Requires Kindred Standing with The Helmingas and level 90
Return to Derndingle, from The Ents of Fangorn Forest -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with The Ents of Fangorn Forest and level 95
Return to Dol Amroth, from Dol Amroth -- Requires Kindred Standing with Dol Amroth and level 95
Return to Arnach, from the Rangers of Ithilien -- Requires Kindred Standing with the Rangers of Ithilien and level 100
Return to Minas Tirith, from the Defenders of Minas Tirith -- Requires Kindred Standing with the Defenders of Minas Tirith and level 100
Return to after-battle Minas Tirith, from the Defenders of Minas Tirith -- Requires Friend Standing with the Defenders of Minas Tirith and level 100
Return to the War-stead, from the Riders of Rohan -- Requires Friend Standing with the Riders of Rohan and level 100
Return to after-battle Osgiliath, from the Host of the West -- Requires Friend Standing with the Host of the West and level 100
Return to after-battle Henneth Annûn, from the Host of the West -- Requires Friend Standing with the Host of the West and level 100
Return to the Camp of the Host, from the Host of the West -- Requires Kindred Standing with the Host of the West and level 100
Return to Haerondir, from the Host of the West -- Requires Respected Standing with the Host of the West and level 100
Return to the Udûn Foothold, from the Conquest of Gorgoroth -- Requires Friend Standing with the Conquest of Gorgoroth and level 100
Return to Dale, from the Men of Dale -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with the Men of Dale and level 115
Return to Járnfast, from the Grey Mountains Expedition -- Requires Friend Standing with the Grey Mountains Expedition and level 116
Return to Skarháld, from the Grey Mountains Expedition -- Requires Friend Standing with the Grey Mountains Expedition and level 116
Return to Hultvís, from the Wilderfolk -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with the Wilderfolk and level 116
Return to Beorninghús, from the Wilderfolk -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with the Wilderfolk and level 116
Return to Estolad Lân, from The White Company -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with The White Company and level 121
Return to Limlók, from the Protectors of Wilderland -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with Protectors of Wilderland and level 130
Return to Annâk-khurfu, from March on Gundabad -- Requires Acquaintance Standing with March on Gundabad and level 130
Return to Akrâz-zahar, from Kharum-ubnâr -- Requires Neutral Standing with Kharum-ubnâr and level 130
Return to Azanulbizar, from The Haban'akkâ of Thráin -- Requires Dumul Standing with The Haban'akkâ of Thráin and level 130
Return to the Noble Gate, from the Reclaimers of the Mountain-hold -- Requires Friend Standing with the Reclaimers of the Mountain-hold and level 131
Return to Leitstáth, from the Reclaimers of the Mountain-hold -- Requires Friend Standing with the Reclaimers of the Mountain-hold and level 135
Return to Carn Dûm, can be bartered from Grúmach in Bail Avarc in Carn Dûm [Angmar Reborn] -- Requires completion of the Gwathrenost, the Witch-king's Citadel - 12 person raid.

All of the Travel Skills mentioned above can also be purchased from the Lotro Store for 295 .

A purchased skill can be used by any character and any race above level 10 without further prerequisites, except that they can only be used after you have visited the respective location.
Note Especially: All Races can use purchased skills instead of slotting a Racial Trait.

Journey to skills (Allegiance)

Once you complete the first chapter for an Allegiance, you receive that Allegiance's travel skill:

Journey to the Hall of the King (Race of Man)
Journey to Bâr Thorenion (Hobbits of the Company)
Journey to the Hall Under the Mountain (Durin's Folk)
Journey to the Court of Lothlórien (Elves)
Journey to the Hall of Vérnozal (Zhelruka)

PvMP

For PvMP, there is a travel skill to Glân Vraig. Completion of Tutorial: Outfitted for Battle is required.

Return to Glân Vraig

Maps

There are also "Map to <location>" items available for purchase from the LOTRO Store for a nominal fee (10 ) or occasionally found as drops, mail attachments, or quest rewards. These "Maps" are available to many locations not accessible to either Milestone, Stable travel or Hunter Camp Fires.

All of these maps are one-time use, although they stack and can be bought in batches, and will transport the character only directly to the named location.

These are also occasionally found in Festival Gift-boxes, as Hobbit Presents or included as other official LOTRO promotions.

Housing

Player characters are able to return to both personal and kinship homes and also visit other kinship member's primary residences. These four skills will appear in your Skills panel under "Housing."

Upon joining a kinship, you will automatically receive the skill Travel to Kinship Member's House
If you are a member of a Kinship that owns a house, you will automatically receive the skill Travel to Kinship House.
Similarly, if you purchase a home in one of the LOTRO housing developments, all characters on your account on that server will receive Travel to Personal House.
Similarly, if you purchase a home in one of the Premium Housing developments, all characters on your account on that server will receive Travel to Premium House.

Stables

Many settlements, from large cities to small camps, will have a Stable-master on hand with a few mounts ready to speed you away - for a small fee - to a number of nearby locations (or occasionally not-so-nearby). These travel routes can either be normal travel where your character will actually traverse the intervening distance atop a horse or goat, or "swift", where your character is almost instantaneously transported to the destination.

Characters are invulnerable (aside from the occasional game bug) while travelling using a Stable-master's steed, and can dismount at will at any point when not swift travelling.

See Stable-master for more information, including costs, routes, and locations.

In Game Travel Reference

For an in-game Travel reference use the "Travel Locations Reference Lua" by Vinny"

"This plugin provides details on all the travel locations in the game except for some boats. For each location you can list all the destinations with costs and travel restrictions. It can also find the best route between any two stable locations and factor in Milestone/Return/Guide/Muster skills, even providing a clickable icon for the skill when it provides the best route."

For a convenient way to manage your Milestones and Travel skills use: Travel Window Lua by D.H1icks.

This plugin creates a single window that contains all the available travel skills, including the race, class and reputation skills.

For details on how to use Plugins see: Plugins

Travel Discounts

Those available to a character appear in one's Skills - Passive Traits under Discounts.
Travel discounts are indicated by a Horse Head icon, and are usually related to achieving "Friend" reputation with a particular Faction.
These are normally a 10% discount and tied to specific Stable-masters related to a specific Faction.

Factions in East Rohan provide a 25% discount.

Note that the Faction a Stable-master belongs to is not identified in-game and is occasionally different than what is expected.
There is also a "Travel Discount," which was available to Founders through the 2nd year of LOTRO, which is a 20% discount and is additive with Faction discounts.

Moria quest hub Goats

Goats are available in several quest hubs in Moria to provide free instant travel to other quest hubs or settlements. These goats follow one of 2 patterns:

Specific quest only - The travel route is one-way and only available while you have a specific quest in your active quest log.
Access gated permanent - The travel route is two-way (a goat exists at both ends) and usually goes between a small remote quest hub and a nearby settlement. The goat on one side or the other is not usable until some quest has been completed.

Player owned mounts

Get a steed of your own!

Getting your mount

Your character needs to do two things: acquire the Riding passive skill, and purchase a mount.

You can acquire the Riding skill in several ways:

Completing the introduction quest A Little Extra Never Hurts -- Part 2 will grant the skill and a mount.
Purchasing it at the LOTRO Store at any level, as soon as your character has the Novice trait (that is, as soon as they finish the Introduction quests, usually at level 5-6).
If you have a VIP account you can get the Riding skill for free at level 20, by completing a quest with Éogar, son of Hadorgar, at Hengstacer Farm, which lies north of Bree (Look for the horse on the map).

You can purchase a mount in several ways:

The standard mount can be purchased as soon as you have the riding skill, from Éogar. He has several types (colours) available. The first one you buy is 500 ; with the first one, you get a trait that gives you a 60% discount in any other you buy from him, so the price drops to 200 . You will get either a horse if you are Elf or Man, or a pony if you are Dwarf or Hobbit.
There are other types of mounts as festival mounts (purchasable during festivals), faction mounts (purchasable after achieving reputation levels with a specific faction), etc. More details at the Mounts page.

You can test the mount system at an early level for free if your character was created after the introduction of F2P. The character will receive a Gift Box which will give a Temporary Horse item. This item allows you to call a special horse for a real-time day, anytime you want, without the need for the Riding skill.

Riding and Combat

You cannot fight while mounted, and you can't mount your steed in combat, except in the Mounted Combat areas of East Rohan and West Rohan, all of Gondor, and Mordor
Taking direct damage reduces the mount's morale bar. It disappears after 4-5 hits or 1 crit, and you get dismounted. Some mounts are sturdier than others.
This changes once you reach East Rohan and earn a War-steed.

What else should I know?

Your mount is a skill, so you mount (and dismount) your steed by clicking on the skill icon. This icon can be dragged to a quickslot.
There are also several Lua plugins which make mount selection simpler for those with many mounts -- "Mount Carousel Men and Elves" is one such.
You dismount also by clicking the Dismount button that appears when you're mounted.
You can also configure a keyboard-toggle to mount and dismount. In-game, visit "Options/Key Mapping" Scroll down to the "Miscellaneous" section (about 2/3 of the way down) and find "Dismount/Remount". Click on that, and the next key you press will be selected as your keyboard Mount/Dismount toggle. This toggle "remembers" what mount you last used and will automatically select that mount for you.
You'll get dismounted if riding through water that is too deep.
Mounted movement speed is slowed by falling injuries; however falling while riding a horse doesn't cause you to dismount.
You can make your mount jump by pressing space while moving.
You can't ride indoors or inside a dungeon.
You can interact with an NPC, mailbox, or door while mounted.
If you have completed the "Proving Your Quality" race and have purchased a mount by accident that you do not want or cannot use, you are now in luck! Horse-master Éogar has a quest that allows you to swap your mount for a receipt that can be used to purchase a different mount. Once you have your receipt from Éogar, speak to Cam Applewood, Éogar's stablehand, to select a different mount.

Mustering Horns

Mustering Horns are found in various locations around Middle-earth. Typically, they are associated with a questing area where Fellowships are normally needed and almost always have a Camp Site Fire nearby to which a Hunter can bind.

See Camp Site Fire for a list of locations.

Any character can use a Mustering Horn to summon other members of their Fellowship to join them at that location. All that is required is that the summoned character be of the appropriate level.

Class-based Travelling

Certain classes have unique travel abilities.

Guardian

At level 38, Guardian's Promise creates an Acorn Whistle that Guardians can trade or mail to another character. Anyone holding a Guardian's acorn and fellowed with them can summon the Guardian to their location.

Captain

At level 40, through the use of a Finely Carved Rallying Horn a Captain can summon members of his Fellowship to his side.

Hunter

The Hunter has the unique ability to travel to various locations around Middle-earth taking the members of his fellowship "along for the ride." When a Hunter uses one of these "wayfaring" skills, any member of the fellowship close enough to the Hunter will have the option to travel to the same destination for free.

See Wayfaring for a list of Hunter Wayfaring destinations.

At level 20, Hunters also gain the ability to quickly escape from danger with the skill Desperate Flight which instantly transports them (and only them) to a nearby rally location.

Finally, Hunters level 26 and above can "bind" to a Camp Site Fire in much the same way as any character can bind to a Milestone. Once bound, the Hunter can use the skill Return to Camp to transport the fellowship to that location.

Warden

The Warden has a unique skill called "Mustering," which allows the Warden to transport themselves quickly to certain locations to enable them to defend some outpost or other. Unlike the Hunter, the Warden can not take anyone along with them on their journey.

See Warden Travel Skills for a list of Warden Muster destinations.

Mariner

The Mariner has the ability to travel to various locations around Middle-earth and bring the members of their fellowship along with them. When a Mariner uses one of these "sailing" skills, any member of the fellowship close enough to the Mariner will have the option to travel to the same destination.

See Travel Skills for a list of Mariner Sailing destinations.