Pets – The Bear

The second Pet Lore-master’s can command is the Bear.

The Bear can be summoned as early as level 14. It is a sturdier pet than the Raven but it has different purposes.

The Bear

The bear can be used to tank for you, but it won’t tank forever, since it does not do enough damage or aggro to be a constant threat. Like the raven, our furry friend brings a few different skills to the lore-master’s arsenal, and all of them fit the lore-master’s debuffing and crow-controlling role. The bear also attacks slower than the raven, meaning that he will flank less.

Let’s take a look at the bear’s active skills:

Roaring Challenge: This skill enables the bear to call to himself any target near him. It works as a forced challenge, meaning that no matter the enemy’s threat against you or your friends, the enemy will forcefully turn to the bear for 10 seconds. After those 10 seconds are over, the enemy will go back to its previous target.

TIP: Be careful when using this skill in a group. You don’t want the designated tank (Guardian, Warden or Champion usually) to run around because the bear stole the boss’s aggro. You can, however, use this skill if a new enemy is on the field and it’s attacking some of your squishier friends, like your healer.

TIP: If you are alone, the bear can take one enemy of you. Since it has a 20m range, the mob will have to go all the way to the bear and back while you attack him from range or mezz him from afar with Blinding Flash.

TIP: When you get a few more hard-hitting (and induction heavy) skills, you can use the bear’s forced taunt to get some breathing room to launch those attacks.

Shatter Arms: This skill will damage the bear’s target and will put a debuff on it. Whenever the Bear shatter’s arms, that foe will receive 10% extra damage from melee and ranged sources. While the lore-master only has one melee skill (Staff-strike) and its auto-attack, if you are grouped with other non-tactical classes, like Champions and Hunters they will appreciate the extra damage.

TIP: Although the Lore-master is a tactical class, some tests have shown that a big part of their damage can come from melee (Staff-strike and auto-attack). If you are comfortable in being up close with your enemy and leaving the relative safety of your ranged attacks, that is something to consider. We will talk a bit more on this subject later on, so look forward for some future tips.

TIP: Since this debuff is more aimed when you are group, you can warn your fellows if you use this skill. That way they can use their more damaging attacks and get a little extra damage in a fight.

Bear Hug: This damaging skill will also stun the bear’s target for 3 seconds. While stunned, the enemy cannot attack or avoid your own attacks, but they can miss or be resisted. I will talk about the differences between mezzes (or dazes) and stuns on a future post, since there seems to be a few misconceptions about this two mechanics.

TIP: You can use this stun the same way you use raring challenge. In a group you can use it more safely, even on the main tank’s target (if he is not immune and most bosses are) or to give your healer’s a few seconds of breathing room. Solo you can use it when you want to cast a bigger attack and your enemy’s attacks are slowing your induction.

Bears and Food:

Bears have a special item you can buy or trade that is specially made for them. Those items are a type of bear food called Honey and Oats. There are various types of this food, from the most basic that you can buy from the lore-master class trainer to more advanced types which you can buy or trade from other players that have the cook profession. Honey and Oats also has various level ranges, so as you and your bear level up you can access better types of food.

Honey and Oats from the LM trainer

Honey and Oats will increase your bears perceived threat, meaning they will look more threatening to enemies, thus tanking better for you. They will also received various bonuses to damage mitigation, meaning that they will take less damage from enemy attacks, requiring less heals.

The bear is also a useful pet. It flanks less than the raven but it also does more damage. It’s more sturdy and will hold it’s own with a few heals here and there. When solo you can use it more as an off-tank than as your tank. If you are up against more than 2 enemies, you can mezz/daze one target and send the bear to attack and distract another target while you take care of your own. The bear will survive until you can take care of it’s target. All the bears skills are also useful in a group. Specially Shatter Arms since it will raise your fellowships damage output. Save Roaring Challenge and Bear Hug as emergency skills to save your healer or another group member from unexpected company.

Level 14

Level 14 is a very special level for young Lore-masters. Not only will you be able to summon another pet companion, but you will receive one of those skills that will make you think and be strategic.

Friend of Bears: Your second pet will be a sturdy bear pet. It’s a classic tank pet, with low damage output but very sturdy. But our furry friend can have other uses. I won’t get into much details on the Bear right now. Expect a specific Bear article can be found by clicking here.

Bear summoning Skill

Cracked Earth: Another damaging Nature’s Fury skill (meaning that will cost you morale along with power) with a twist. It’s ranged damage tactical skill, with an area of effect radius. Besides doing damage, this skill will also put a debuff timer on the affected enemies. After that timer is down, the affected enemies will be rooted in place for 30 seconds. Its a very important skill that some veteran lore-master’s forget when we talk about crowd control.

TIP: The timer is usually 10 seconds after you cast this attack. After those 10 seconds, all affected enemies that didnt resist de debuff will be stuck in place, unable to move. With 3 yellow line traits the timer is reduced to 5 seconds.

TIP: Remember that although rooted enemies are unable to move, they are still awake. So ranged enemies will continue to attack you if you are in range of their ranged attacks.

TIP: The rooted state can be broken with damage. Every attack has a 25% change to break the rooted state, so be careful using area of effect skills (like Gust of Wind or Cracked Earth again, for example) on a group of rooted mobs.

TIP: On multiple enemy encounters you can start the attack with cracked earth. Run (or kite) a little bit while you wait for the root to kick in, then pull one or two at a time.

TIP: The rooted effect can be reapplied, but it requires timing. The reapplication is different from the Blinding Flash method, since the rooted effect does not stack or refresh. You can recast Cracked Earth when the enemies you want to root (and are already rooted) have 9 seconds or less remaining on the rooted effect. It’s all about timing. If the 10 seconds debuff wear off while the enemies are still rooted, they will not be rooted again. Its preferable to give a few seconds even if it means that they will move for 1 or 2 seconds before the root reapplies again.

TIP: Boss type enemies are usually immune to roots.

Cracked Earth ingame Tooltip

Note: This post was rewritten due to the changes to the Lore-master in the Volume 3, Book 2 changes. They will come into effect on the 8th of September 2010.

Pets – The Raven

Let’s talk about the young Lore-master’s first pet: The Raven.

Lore-master’s can summon the Raven when they reach level 4. Now that we’ve discussed what every pet has in common, let’s get into a bit more detail on the Raven.

The Raven

The Raven at the early levels may seem somewhat underwhelming. Its damage is low, has a small morale pool and only one skill and one aura buff. But don’t be discouraged by it. It’s a wonderful companion and, well-played, can help the Lore-master immensely.

Let’s take a look at the raven’s active skills:

Benediction of the Raven: When you first get the Raven this will be your only skill. When activated, the raven will cast a debuff on your enemy that will make him weaker against fire damage. In rating terms, it will roughly be equal to 10% extra damage from fire attacks. You can place this skill in auto-attack mode (by right clicking it) and the raven will use it every time its available. Since this debuff is placed on the mob, every member of your fellowship that has a fire damage attack will benefit from this weakness as well, such as Rune-keepers or Hunters using fire-oils.

TIP: This skill does not draw aggro, much like the skill Sign of Power: Command, but your pet will immediately attack the enemy after launching the attack. If you only want the raven to place the debuff, just press the pet follow command immediately after using this skill.

Distraction: The raven acquires this skill when the Lore-master reaches level 10 (and the raven is level 8). When this skill is activated, the Raven will fly around the selected enemy in circles, creating a distraction. The affected enemy will have its ranged attacks reduced in half and will add a 10% miss chance to its attacks. In practical terms, this will make the affected foe stop his ranged attacks and come into melee. Since ranged enemies will do less damage in melee, it’s a good thing and don’t be afraid to use it. While using this skill, the raven will also apply a light damage over time. This skill also uses up 1 power every second from the Raven, so your little friend won’t be able to keep distraction forever on an enemy.

TIP: This skill can also be put on auto-fire mode, but i don’t recommend it. Since the raven won’t do any attacks while doing distraction and you will not receive any flank events (we will get on that later).

Evasion: When the Lore-master reaches level 16 (and raven level 14) your feathery friend receives its last skill. Evasion is a defensive skill that enables the Raven to avoid most of the attacks done against him. It also adds a bit of armour rating plus what roughly equals to 20% extra shadow defense.

TIP: You can use this skill to keep one enemy busy if fighting more than one mob, instead of saving it for an emergency. Your little pet won’t sustain much damage for the 15s the skill lasts and it will give you time to finish any extra enemies.

The raven also has 2 passive skills:

Shield of the Raven’s Wing: This passive buff work’s as an aura around the Raven. It affects all your allies and gives a substantial shadow damage defense.  On level it’s usually around 10%.

TIP: This protection is specially useful on dungeon bosses, that do shadow damage. On open world enemies, the dead and unseen are known to do shadow damage.

Dizzy: Raven’s have a hidden skill that Lore-master’s cannot control. The dizzy skill is automatically placed on a foe when the Raven achieves a critical hit. When the dizzy effect is on the enemy, it applies a 15% miss chance on that enemy.

So, that’s the raven for you. As you must have noticed, the raven has no direct attack skills. All of the raven’s skills are support skills and will come in handy to the young and experienced Lore-master’s alike. Its fast attack speed is an advantage and it makes the raven the most reliable flanker (we’ll get more on that later) from all the non-legendary pets. Its low armour is compensated by its natural avoidance and its own Evasion skill. On the low side, it is a low DPS pet, so don’t expect big yellow numbers coming out of this little friend and it has a low morale pool.

If any seasoned Lore-master would like to comment, please do. It’s always welcome to learn new strategies and young Lore-master’s can grow with your experience.

Pets

Pets (or companions) are one of the many things that set the Lore-master class apart from all other classes in LOTRO. They are special characters that the Lore-master can call to his aid. All pets are creatures of nature, whether they are birds, cats or more weird things, they always respect the Lore-master’s command.

All pets have common skills and modes, so let’s discuss that before we get into specific companions.

You will notice two things when you summon your pet for the first time:

One thing will be pet portrait, with its name, morale and power bar. You can use this portrait to select your pet with your mouse (you can also press the F1 key two times to select your pet). If you select the pet’s portrait with your right mouse button you will have the option to rename your new companion.

Raven's Portrait

The second thing will be your pet’s skill bar. This skill bar has 7 common controls:

Full pet bar. The last 3 skills are Raven specific.

Three controls for your pet’s movements.

Attack: You send in your pet to attack your selected target.

Follow: Your pet interrupts its current action and starts following you.

Stay: Your pet stays in its current position. If in Aggressive mode, it will attack any enemy that enters its line of sight, useful to guard a location.

Four controls for your pets actions and decisions (stances), when in battle. The first three modes are mutually exclusive, which means that your pet can only be Aggressive, Passive or on Guard. The special assist stance can be used along with any stance.

Aggressive: Your pet will attack any enemy within its line of sight.

Passive: Your pet will only attack when ordered, using the Attack skill described above.

Guard: The pet will only enter combat if attacked or if the Lore-master itself is attacked.

Assist: The pet will attack what the Lore-master attacks. This special mode can be activated manually or be turned automatically if you select it with a right mouse button click.

You can drag the skills from the pet bar onto your own skill bar. That way, not only can you can use the pet commands as your own skills, but you can also use keyboard shortcuts for them, specially for the attack and follow commands so you can quickly control your pet in and out of battle.

You can integrate your pet's skills on your own skillbar.

In a group setting it’s recommended that your pet to be on passive mode. That way your pet will not attack unwanted mobs into the group. It takes a bit more of micromanaging, but its safe. But I recommend playing with all modes. If you are alone it can be specially useful to activate the guard or assist mode, but watch out for ranged enemies as they can back up, your pet will follow and can pick a few more foes than you can burn.

The next 3 icons will be pet specific. In the next post we will discuss the ravens skills into more detail.

Update: Added information about pet levels.

All pets have a character level 2 ranks below the Lore-master. So, when you are level 20, your pet will be level 18. Lore-masters should keep this in mind when fighting Orange (3 levels above) or higher enemies, since your pet will have a hard time launching attacks on such high levels enemies. There are exceptions though: Legendary pets like the Eagle or the Bog are only one level below the Lore-master. Also the trait Hardy Bear will increase the Bear one level.

Also, when the Lore-master reaches a new level, you’ll need to dismiss and recall your pet, for it to level up as well (thanks to Ketani for reminding me). To dismiss your pet, just right click on your pet’s portrait and select “dismiss”.

If any expert Lore-master would like to share his/her tips, they will be most welcome.