Sol Confederacy

CLASS INTRODUCTION

Armed with spears as their weapon of choice, Wardens use a gambit system to fire off powerful combo attacks at the front lines. Unlike other classes, which have to wait for opportunities, the Warden creates his own openings and then capitalizes on them.

The Warden design takes its inspiration from Haldir, the Elf warden who protected the lands of Lothlórien from incursions by orcs and other foul things that crept from Moria. True to its model, the Warden class in LOTRO is a medium-armor tank class built around an Elf rather than a Man's idea of a heavy fighter...sacrificing heavy protection in favor of agility and anticipation. As a result, the Warden may find his or her greatest utility not as a tank but as a support fighter (an off-tank).

Playable Races: Elf, Man, Hobbit
Group Role: Tank
Armor Class: Medium

TEKKIN, ANYONE?

As one of the two new classes available with the Mines of Moria expansion, this class is not for "button mashers" or people who like to level up quickly and easily. It is an advanced class that often requires thinking at least 2 or 3 steps ahead. The power of the Warden comes from the gambit combat system, reminiscent of combo moves found in console video games such as Tekkin, Mortal Kombat, or Street Fighter.

Warden skills are divided up into Spear, Shield, and Fist categories. Most players assign these skills to the 123 keys on the keyboard, with 4 being assigned to execute the gambit. For example, the "Celebration of Skill" gambit is Shield/Spear/Shield/Spear, or 2121. Gambits range in difficulty from two to five icons in length.

WHAT IS A "LIGHT TANK" OR "OFF-TANK?"

Wardens are defined as a tank class (like the Guardian), but do not work in the same way. Guardians are mitigation tanks, meaning they have skills and equipment to lower the amount of incoming damage they take. Wardens are self-healing tanks, meaning they take more damage, but can heal themselves as well. This is important when grouping, as healer classes do not need to pay as much attention to the Warden, who can generally tank a boss level MOB by themselves with little attention.

The role of the light tank or off-tank is to handle a 2nd boss MOB solo while the rest of the group focuses its attention on the main boss. The off-tank must also be prepared to steal aggro (Threat) from a group member if needed or assist the main tank. Be sure to read the section on Group Roles for more info.


THE NUMBERS

In combat, Wardens are generally middle of the road. They do not possess any "nuke" or high damage skills like the Hunter, and are not a consistent DPS class like the Champion. Damage output lies somewhere between Guardian and Champion...after all, this is a tank class. Most Warden damage, heals, and threat comes over time:

DoT - Damage over time.
HoT - Heal over time.
ToT - Threat over time.

Power Attack is a 3 gambit skill that does some initial damage along with a DoT "bleed" that causes additional damage in the form of "ticks" every so many seconds. The real power of the Warden comes via stacking. DoT/HoT/ToT skills of different tiers can be applied on top of each other for extreme damage. Tiers are dependent on the number of gambit icons. For example:

Spear (DoT) Gambit Tiers
Tier 2 - Power Attack (3 icons)
Tier 3 - Mighty Blow (4 icons)

Shield (HoT) Gambit Tiers
Tier 1 - Persevere (2 icons)
Tier 2 - Safeguard (3 icons)
Tier 3 - Celebration of Skill (4 icons)

It should be noted that executing gambits of the same tier or using the same gambit twice in a row simply resets the timer and does not stack. Also, different damage types do stack, even if they are the same tier. Spear damage causes bleeds, while Fist causes light damage. For example:

Tier 3 - Mighty Blow (Spear/4 icons)
Tier 3 - Surety of Death (Fist/4 icons)

This is why a Warden is able to solo (with careful planning) an Elite boss level MOB while the rest of the group focuses on another. Because of stacking, it is possible to execute the following sequence with a level 40 Warden:

Power Attack, Mighty Blow - x2 bleed DoT
Warcry, Brink of Victory, Fierce Resolve, Celebration of Skill, Surety of Death - x3 light DoT, Morale steal, x2 HoT

The above is a very deadly combo, and the numbers above your target's head will be streaming so fast you won't be able to count them all. It is not uncommon to be able to stack 5 or more DoT skills on a target.


BUT I LIKE SWORDS!

If you've ever seen the movie 300, you should have a basic understanding of what a phalanx army is, and why it is so powerful. The shield and spear are the foundation of the Warden class, and you would be wise not to deviate from it. When it comes to Power efficiency and DPS, the spear is hands down the winner for this class. Period. The Mace comes in second, and is a good alternative if you are tanking in a group. Daggers are completely useless to a Warden, and Swords aren't very far from useless. Even for race of Man with a trait bonus to sword damage, the spear is still the victor.

VERSATILITY

Perhaps one of the biggest draws (and drawbacks for that matter) is the versatility of the Warden. With planning and trait/virtue selection, a Warden can be configured for DPS or tanking rather easily, depending on the situation. While this can be viewed as a positive, the downside is that the Warden doesn't do any one thing extremely well.

Wardens are comparable to Paladin classes in other games. It is a melee class with moderate damage output and the ability to dish out light/holy damage and self-heal with limited effectiveness. Where the Warden varies greatly is that the class does not provide group buffs.

Most solo players will likely focus on Spear, which gives the most damage output. A combo of Shield and Fist traits will give the Warden excellent survivability for group encounters, converting the class into more of a tank. Personally, I have found that a Spear focus with some additional innate armor bonus traits works best for me in most situations. Tanking at lower levels is more difficult because you will not have the more powerful aggro steal gambits.