¶ A Guide to Playing the (Red) Warden with Ease
Every LOTRO player who picks up the Warden class has to deal with the Gambit system from level 1. It is arguably one of the most complex game mechanics due to the sheer number of Gambits at your disposal; while memorising them is challenging enough, knowing which Gambit chain to use and in what situation is also a daunting experience. A lot of players, including myself, have given up on the class because of that.
But does it have to be that complicated? Can it be simplified so we can enjoy this complex, fun, and engaging class?
This is the question I will attempt to answer in this post by breaking down the most useful Gambit chains and how to effectively use them for landscape questing and deeding, as well as 3–6 man instances and missions.
In my opinion, these are the most common activities we perform in almost all combat encounters:
- AoE damage
- Single-target (ST) damage
- Heals
- Utility (cleanse/interrupt/buff/debuff)
Thankfully, the Warden’s Gambit system provides all of these in a fairly consistent and (semi) intuitive way. This guide assumes you will be speccing into the Red-line Warden. As a Red-line, you are the "bleed king", as your trait points boost both the damage output of your bleed ticks (DoT) and the number of ticks applied. A Red Warden dishes out both single-target and AoE bleeds in a powerful and satisfying way! A typical landscape AoE fight goes like this:
- You will cast a series of AoE DoTs in quick succession that hit 4–5 mobs in your encounter.
- Once the DoTs are ticking down on the enemies, you will cast a Gambit chain that delivers a "cash out" ability. This will not only deliver its own damage but will also consume all the DoTs you applied earlier, dealing bonus damage for every DoT consumed. (ps. these cash out abilities are only available at levels 47 & 49)
- At this point, most of the enemies should be dead or very close to dying.
- If you need to heal yourself during the fight, you can weave in either (or both) of the following:
- Morale-tap: Fierce Resolve, Resolution and Exultation of Battle
- Self Heal: Persevere, Safeguard, Celebration of Skill and Restoration
If you are dealing with a single-target situation (e.g. a boss or an elite mob), use the similar approach, simply replacing the AoE DoTs with single-target DoTs.
¶ The Setup
Before we jump straight into the action, let's make sure we have the "correct" setup first. Muscle memory plays a big role in playing a Warden. It is important to train the "correct" Gambit chains from lower levels so they become second nature, allowing you to pull off more complex and powerful ones as you level up.
The three "builder" Gambits: Spear, Shield, and Fist, should be placed in that order, typically assigned to your hotkeys 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The fourth key should be assigned to the Gambit Default (the "execution" button). This setup ensures that to "build" and "execute" your Gambit chains, you will simply be pressing 1-2-3 and then 4.
The hot key assignment is optional, but it helps immensely, as most online guides and discussions assume this specific order. For the purpose of this guide, we will also use 1-2-3 to represent Spear, Shield, and Fist Gambits respectively. You will be required to perform your own mental gymnastics if you choose to place them in a different order!
We will cover the Gambit chain rotations and combat strategy you need in three levels of complexity: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced.
My suggestion, if you are new to this, (or you are returning to this class and need a bit of warming up), is to start by practising the Basic tier rotation and the Gambits suggested in that group. Once you have built up the muscle memory to comfortably pull off these Gambits and as you gain levels to access higher-tier skills, you can progress through the Intermediate and Advanced levels.
¶ Basic Rotation (early levels, up to mid-late 30's)
- Stay in the melee stance In the Fray
- Open the fight with non-Gambit skills such as Hampering Javelin or Ambush
- Build and execute AoE Gambits: 3-2-3-2, 3-2-3, 3-2
Or use ST Gambits if appropriate/necessary. [Note: Unerring Strike is available at level 40. If you haven't access to it yet, just use Mighty Blow & Power Attack.] 1-2-3-1-2, 1-2-3-1, 1-2-3
- Healing Gambits if required: 2-1, 2-1-2, 2-1-2-1
- Morale-tap Gambits to DoT the enemy and HoT yourself!: 3-1-2, 3-1-2-3
¶ Tips to Gambit memorisation
- ST DPS - start with Red (spear 1), and build from there >> 1-2-3, 1-2-3-1, 1-2-3-1-2
- Heals - start with Green (shield 2) >> 2-1, 2-1-2, 2-1-2-1
- AoE DPS - start with Yellow (fist 3) >> 3-2, 3-2-3, 3-2-3-2 [or] 3-1-2, 3-1-2-3
¶ Class Trait Line reference
Start with Red line obviously, this is from a level 120 character.
¶ Intermediate Rotation (Levels late 30s-50)
In this level range, you'll learn a few more tools in your Warden toolkit, so let's introduce and discuss how to weave those in your rotation.
- You will learn Potency at Lv38 which triggers Battle Memory for you to save a Gambit you have just successfully executed. The saved Gambit can be used immediately again and will be lost if you're out of combat. I'd suggest you place this skill on hot key 5.
- Typically I'd use Battle Memory to store healing Gambits (so I can have immediate heal button option) or powerful 5-builder Gambits, be it DPS, Heals or Morale-tap.
- You will also have access to powerful 5-builder Gambits in all your major Gambit lines in both DPS and Heals front!
- ST DoT - Unerring Strike - Lv40
- AoE Heals and Hot - Conviction - Lv43
- Dmg, Heals and HoT - Restoration - Lv45
- AoE DoT - Desolation - Lv45
- AoE MT - Exultation of Battle - Lv50
- You will now have ST and AoE Cashout abilities:
- Cauterizing Steel - Lv47
- Unseen Strikes - Lv49
- We will now use Battle Preparation as and when required.
Note: this is unlocked at Lv24 but for simplicity sake, we'll start using it in the Intermediate bracket. Feel free to include in your rotation early if you wish.
- Warden's Triumph is now available at lv42 which is a strong buff for your main damage abilities.
¶ Mastery Skills!
- At level 39 you will learn 9 Mastery skills for each of your Stance (melee or range - we'll focus on melee ones here). Mastery skills lets you activate two Gambit builders with one button and there's 9 variations to choose from. They effectively allows you to execute long builder gambits using fewer keystrokes.
The way I utilise them to gain efficiency is to place them in the order I execute most frequently. (I will discuss toolbar optimisation later on!). Each Mastery skill has a cool down of 15s, which can be reduced by Traceries (again topic for the next post.)
Rapid Techniques is a capstone Yellow line skill that gives you a 6 sec window where Mastery cooldown is removed.
Okay here's the rotation (ST or AoE)
¶ Prep
- Before the fight > Battle Preparation > Warden's Triumph 1-3-2-1-3 for DPS buff
¶ Opener
- Trigger Potency by Deft Strike (ST) or Goad (AoE)
¶ DoTs
- Apply ST DoTs : 1-2-3-1-2, 1-2-3-1, 1-2-3 [Unerring Strike line]
- Or AoE DoTs: 3-2-3-2-3, 3-2-3-2, 3-2-3, 3-2 [Desolation line]
- Note: use Mastery skills to reduce the gambit builder key press.
¶ Heals of Morale-tab if necessary
- MT: 3-1-2-3-2 / 3-1-2-3/ 3-1-2 [Exultation of Battle line]
- Heals: 2-1-2-1-2 / 2-1-2-1 / 2-1-2 / 2-1 [Restoration line]
¶ Cashout
- ST: 1-2-1-2-1 Cauterizing Steel
- AoE: 1-3-1-3-1 Unseen Strike
Note: I find you rarely need to use Cashout abilities with landscape mobs since they die fast. Use them if you are on higher difficulty level or on an elite/boss fight.