So I’ve tried to write my blog so far as a collection of thoughts and ideas for fellow wardens – this post will be for those grouped with us wardens. This is both a what to do in a group (with a warden, and some are just good general practices) and what drives me batty. I’ll start with a few general thoughts and then some class specific ones.
- yes, we are tanks – and can be very good ones at that
- but a quick check of traits isn’t a bad idea – traiting full spear line is not a good sign for tanking 😉
- You should see the fist line (main threat line) or shield line (defensive and healing buffs)
- but a quick check of traits isn’t a bad idea – traiting full spear line is not a good sign for tanking 😉
- There are some wardens out there who haven’t grouped much before even at 60, so you might be well served to check to see how much they’ve tanked
- if they haven’t tanked much – if might be good to have either a champ or guard as backup
- we don’t have a quick snap agro skill – so it will take a little longer to pull agro back to us
- also, it takes us a little longer to get the initial agro – but once we have it, rarely do we lose it
- It might not be bad to check out this post of mine to see our various skill icons and animations
- Warden skills and icons
- for example, If you see us crouching down – we’re getting ready to ambush, so let us pull
- as with all tanks, it is usually better to let us do the pulling
- granted, there are some cases where root pulls are best
- decide on roles up front – we can interrupt, remove corruptions, and tank
- but it is usually optimal to spread those duties out or at least have back-ups assigned
- Picking (and actually assisting) a main assist for DPS really helps out
- you should be doing this anyway
- This will make a HUGE difference if you’re in a PUG.
- make sure the display is enabled by the group leader
- and that folks have it turned on in their UI options
- In my opinion we make better main tanks then off-tanks
- ward+guard or ward+champ is a LOT of fun 🙂
- many of us (myself included) enjoy tanking lots of mobs, don’t worry we can handle it
- we scream – seriously we’re very loud so you might want to turn down your combat sounds
- best all time for me was 2 wardens, 2 captains, and a minnie in war-speech 😉
Class specific
- Captains
- For the tactics buff, I’d ask the warden. I usually prefer parry (hardest avoidance to cap) or power for longer fights.
- silence really sucks for us (can’t taunt, nor use gambits with taunts in them) – so Muster courage is greatly appreciated
- please don’t use your snap agro skills on a mob we’re tanking – save them for the mobs beating on the squishies
- it just makes it hard to tell if we lost agro or if it will be coming back to us
- the only exception to this is when you plan to ping-pong agro (turtle fight for example)
- Guards
- put your protection on us and you’ll get our block/parry responses – and there will be quite a few
- No sense in fighting for agro – decide up front and either tank or go into overpower mode
- see the 3rd comment on captains
- Champs
- Use your Ire skills to transfer threat as needed
- Communicate concerning interrupts as we can both do them well, but only one usually needs to
- watch your initial DPS, but once we have good agro feel free to open up
- champs and wardens are pure AoE fun!
- see the 3rd comment on captains
- Burgs
- Enrage (I think that’s the skill) can be helpful to dump more agro to us
- You can get a conjunction in even when we ambush – just get it off before our daze wears off
- call out conjunction attempts as we do have some gambits with a chance to stun, which grant conj. immunity
- Any debuffs are always welcome 😉
- share the fun (sharing stealth) allows us to insta-ambush
- Loremasters
- wounds (disarms especially) and stuns suck – so help us out when you can
- we’re very power hungry, so be ready
- debuffs are your friend
- Hunters
- watch your initial DPS – once we lock agro you should be good to go, but don’t go all out at the start
- keep an eye out for poisons
- Minstrels
- Be mindful of over-healing, as we do have a bunch of HoTs and our morale will constantly fluctuate
- Call to Greatness gives us a nice defensive buff and threat bonus – good to use on start of boss fights
- If we get low on power we might suggest you not heal such that we can get to 50% morale and regen power
- RKs
- Your HoTs are a nice pairing with ours
- Using your “do not fall” skills are great for bosses with big nasty dots (thinking Forges here)
- Watch overhealing
- see 3rd note for Minnies
I’m sure there are things I’m forgetting, or that I don’t know as I haven’t played all the classes at high levels – feel free to comment or email anything I’ve left off.
I also re-found this link to the lorebook on a similar topic – warden entry.
Doc Holiday's LOTRO Blog 
One thing I have found as well is that if needed we can even off-heal. I have ran as main-healer twice, but that was only after the main healer was defeated. One was for an entire boss fight, and the other was for a few minutes until the healer was revived. While we can do it, I do not recommend doing it exclusively. We are power hogs, and spamming conviction can really drain you. Captains are much better healers, but if you don’t have one a warden can step up and keep you alive for a while depending on the situation.
Another note, I rarely use Darkness Before the Dawn to regen my power. The only real benefit is if you use the mastery builders to save on the power cost. I have found that I only get about a 50-70 power gain from popping it w/o those builders. Just all the builders alone cost ~160 power. But of course it is personal preference.
Interesting thought, can’t say that I’ve tried it – but doesn’t surprise me that it works. I’ve been more successful at keeping the group alive just by keeping all agro on me and using our leaches/heals.
And yeah, DbD is more of a band-aid while waiting for pot cool downs or your loremaster.
Very nice list, great work.
A small thought. Silence really sucks for us captains as well. We can’t use muster courage to get rid of it when we’re silenced. Catch 22. So, if we’re lucky, we’re not silenced when the rest of the fellowship is and we can “fix it all better.”
Agreed, it is incredibly annoying – but if you are out of range, or resist it as the captain its really helpful. Plus the resist buff it applies helps keep you from getting silenced again (usually)
Lore-Masters can cure silence with the same skill that gives stun immunity. Even if the Lore-Master is silenced himself, so if you’re silenced and have a LM in the group, ask for it.
Also, LM’s fire-lore (-30% melee damage for 3+ targets) and wind-lore (-50% ranged damage for 5+ targets) it will seem that you are an heavy armour and shield wielder. 😉
Honestly, every warden should have a pocket LM with them. Free Power, Stun Immunity, Heal Disarms and the various debuffs makes any Warden a super-man.
Great comments – I’m a LM noob, so I appreciate the added info!
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