Ten Ton Hammer | Ten Ton Hammer's All-New Rune-keeper Class Guide for

style="width: 640px; height: 213px;"
alt="LotRO Rune-keeper Guide"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93431">

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89646" alt="divider">

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/runekeeper/overview">OVERVIEW
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/runekeeper/solo">SOLO
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/runekeeper/group">GROUP
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/runekeeper/pvmp">PvMP
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/runekeeper/endgame">LEGENDARY
ITEMS | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/93446/page/2">TRAITS
| VIRTUES
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/runekeeper/skills">SKILLS

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89646" alt="divider">

RUNE-KEEPER LEGENDARY ITEMS

style="border: 0px solid ; width: 240px; height: 450px; float: left;"
alt="A Rune-keeper Legendary Item"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93432">

Clearly,
Fizban's Alchemical Analysis had something to do with lightning and was
hazardous for beasts. That's the perplexing part.

The Rune-keeper is one class that really benefits from
specialization. DPS specialists can hit massive, staggering numbers
with their big attacks, and healing specialists can keep whole groups
standing against overwhelming odds. And it is very easy for
Rune-keepers to specialize. All it takes is picking a trait line and
pairing it with the appropriate rune-stone.

It is also possible
to run with specialized rune satchels, but many Rune-keepers will carry
a balanced satchel and only worry about specialization for the
rune-stones. After all, there is limited room on the Legendary Item
panel, and with 3 trait lines to spec for, that leaves very little room
for leveling alt-LI's to decon for relics.

For a lightning-spec
DPS stone, usually crafted from flint, the important legacies to look
for are Fury of Storm Damage at first identification, and Fury of Storm
Critical Multiplier and Vivid Imagery Targets from a reforge. Battle
Attuned Skill Power Cost is also a good legacy for any DPS-spec stone.

For
a fire-spec damage-over-time stone, usually crafted of obsidian, the
legacies to look for are Wrath of Flame Damage Over Time and Fire Skill
Damage when first identifying the thing. There are no Pool B legacies
that affect fire skills specifically, but Target All Skills Resist
Rating is a good legacy to get from a reforge.

A good
healing-spec stone can be lightning, fire or cold-affinity, so long as
it IDs with + Healing, + Healing Over Time and Healing Attuned Skill
Power Cost. When reforging a healing stone, pick whatever Pool B
legacies accentuate the native properties of the stone (fire,
lightning, ice, etc.).

All rune-stones also have static,
non-upgradeable base legacies, including Tactical Offense, base stat
increases and some other handy things. A good one will have + Fate
and/or + Will.

Stone-swapping
is kind of an art-form. For example, imagine your group is going into a
fight against a boss that deals fire damage. Chances are, a
fire-damage-dealing mob will have high fire mitigation, so hanging on
to a fire-affinity stone likely doesn't make all that much sense.
Instead, use the fire-affinity stone to apply fire-mitigation buffs to
your fellows, and then switch to a cold- or lightning-affinity stone
for the fight. The base damage type of the stone does not have to match
the stone's specialization; a stone that is fire-attuned might have all
great lightning legacies, for example. The legacies have little to do
with the stone's affinity.

Rune-satchels can be just as
specialized. A
heal-spec rune-satchel will ID with Writ of Health Healing and Self
Motivation Power Return, and get Mending Verse Healing from
reforges. It is equally possible to get a good
lightning or fire-spec satchel, but with 3 specialized rune-stones,
this leaves very little room on the LI panel for adding new "trash" LIs
to level and decon for relics.
A good balanced bag will have legacies that affect the skills the
player uses most often, so it is difficult to really narrow down one
ideal balanced satchel based on Pool A legacies.Regardless how the bag
is spec'ed, Word of Exaltation Cooldown is a very useful Pool B legacy,
and is a must-have for a heal-spec satchel.

More information on LI legacies
can be found on the href="http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Legendary_Items_Guide">Lorebook.

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89646" alt="divider">

style="width: 640px; height: 213px;"
alt="LotRO Rune-keeper Guide"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93431">

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89646" alt="divider">

RUNE-KEEPER TRAIT LINES

style="border: 0px solid ; width: 240px; height: 400px; float: left;"
alt="Rune-keeper trait line"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93445">

All
of the icons for the class traits show a guy in a pointy hat. When you
are traited this way, very few people will be making fun of your taste
in head wear.

Rune-keeper trait lines are quite
straightforward.
Since the class was first implemented at the same time as the 3-line
class trait system, this makes sense. While some other classes have a
confusing mixture of class traits in lines that may or may not make
sense, the Rune-keeper lines are super-easy to figure out.

The Solitary Thunder line, as the name implies, increases
lightning-based DPS and makes for a stronger solo build.
Icy Discourse is the only trait in this line that doesn't directly
affect lightning-based DPS. The set bonuses improve the skills Chilling
Rhetoric,Shocking Words and Sustaining Bolt, increase the critical
multiplier of all Fury of Storm
skills by 30%, and increase the Rune-keeper's run speed by 3%. The
capstone legendary trait, Perfect Imagery, improves the skill Vivid
Imagery, causing it to increase the critical chance of all Fury of
Storm skills by 30% for 15 seconds, lengthening the daze by 5 seconds,
increasing the damage and reducing the cooldownby 2 minutes.

The
Cleansing Fires line is probably the least-used Rune-keeper trait
line. In general, this line
increases thedamage-over-time power of fire-based skills. Half of the
individual traits affect fire-based damage skills, while the ones on
the bottom row affect utility skills. Linnod of Subtlety is an odd duck
in this line, as it affects the threat-down skill Calming Verse,
increasing the duration and further lowering the threat. The line
bonuses make fire skills quicker to use, reducing cooldowns or
inductions.
The capstone legendary trait, Mystifying Flame, improves the
threat-down skill Distracting Flame, causing it to almost completely
reduce the Rune-keeper's threat, increasing the damage, reducing the
cooldown and applying a tactical resistance debuff. This is a good line
for running group content, as the damage-over-time skills generally
generate much less threat and consume much less power than the
rapid-fire, big-number lightning blasts.

The Benedictions of Peace line
improves healing abilities. The individual traits all serve to improve
healing skills in various ways and reduce threat, and the line bonuses
do basically the same. The capstone legendary trait, Wondroud
Foreshadowing, improves the skill Glorious Foreshadowing, causing it to
affect all members of the fellowship, reducing the cooldown by 60
seconds and increasing outgoing heals by 5% for 30 seconds.

With
few exceptions, it pays to specialize according to specific tasks. It
is difficult to argue against the power and worth of the line bonuses,
so building a good "generalist" mix and match set is going to be
tricky. For most common tasks, a setup with 4 Solitary Thunder (whole
top row) and 3 Benedictions of Peace traits (Rune of Endurance,
Memorable Prose, Author of Exaltation) will work nicely. This provides
a good balance between very high DPS and capable healing, and would
work just fine for running as main healer for a 3-man group.

For
main-healing in a 6 or 12-man group, go 5 Benedictions of Peace and 2
Solitary Thunder. For a decent raid-spec DPS build, use 5 Solitary
Thunder and 2 Benedictions. Some Rune-keepers prefer to slot Cleansing
Fires over Solitary Thunder for the improved DOT aspect -
lightning-flingers tend to chew through power a lot faster than the
more subtle, laid-back DOT-ers, and they tend to generate considerably
more threat. The main issue with traiting for Cleansing Flames arises
during a number of boss fights with scripted interludes. During these
scripted events, bosses will wipe all debuffs and DOTs, and they will
need to be reapplied afterwards, which can be inconvenient and draining.

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89646" alt="divider">

style="width: 640px; height: 213px;"
alt="LotRO Rune-keeper Guide"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93431">

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89646" alt="divider">

RUNE-KEEPER VIRTUES

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/89462"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 240px; height: 340px; float: left;"
alt="Minstrel Virtues"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89462">

The
clever eagle recommends focusing on Fate and Will.

Tactical
classes generally all follow the same guidelines for selecting virtues:
Will and Fate first, then Vitality, then the rest of it. Rune-keepers
will follow the same virtue setups as Lore-masters and Minstrels.

Wisdom is the obvious first choice: +30 Will, a nice boost to
non-combat power regeneration and some handy wound resistance. Idealism
is also an excellent choice: +30 Fate, +8 Will, +1014 Fear Resist
Rating. These ones are no-brainers.

Empathy is also good for tactical classes (+15 Fate, +450
Armour Value, +609 Fear Resist Rating), as is Confidence (+15 Will,
+2029 Fear Resist Rating, +202.5 non-Combat Power Regen). It seems like
all the Virtues that jack up Will and Fate also jack up Fear Resist
Rating, so be prepared to stand tall while others cower around
you.

Being something of a squishy class, it
will pay to increase Vitality. Loyalty is a good choice - +30 Vitality,
+62 Max Power, +150 Armor Value. While the increased armor rating has
little value for light armour classes, Loyalty is a trait that is good
for
pretty much every class.

Once you start getting good gear at high levels and can afford
to trade out some Will and Fate, it's time to slap some patches on the
weaker areas. Swap out Empathy or Confidence and look at increasing
defence, morale or power: Innocence os a good defensive trait (+1000
melee defence rating, +1014 Poison Resist Rating, +230 Shadow Defence),
Valour gives a good boost to morale and Honesty provides a good boost
to base power.

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89646" alt="divider">

To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Lord of the Rings Online Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

Featured

RUNE-KEEPER LEGENDARY ITEMS

RUNE-KEEPER TRAIT LINES

RUNE-KEEPER VIRTUES

About The Author

Comments

Related Content