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alt="LotRO Rune-keeper Guide"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93431">
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
SOLO
PLAY AS A RUNE-KEEPER
alt="A Rune-keeper soloing"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93441">
Thank
you for listening to Radio KZAP, Home of the ROCK!.....
Soloing with a Rune-keeper is an exhilarating experience. This
is an "all-out" class for solo play - the goal is to unleash as much
damage in as short a time as possible, to keep enemies from closing
into melee range where they might take advantage of the Rune-keeper's
physical squishiness.
Facing
multiple enemies - more than 2 at a time - can be tough for the
Rune-keeper, and this is true throughout the character's career. While
he does have some impressive crowd-control, getting smacked on by even
one enemy mob can set back inductions, and getting hit by multiple mobs
at once can make healing impossible when it is needed.
To
offset this somewhat, start with a healing rotation before engaging
enemies. Prelude to Hope, Mending Verse and Rune of Restoration can all
be used without healing attunement and are available out of combat, so
throw those up before hurling lightning and fire. Rune of Restoration
is particularly valuable for the start of a fight: if there are
numerous enemy mobs, the rune can "tank" for a few seconds, allowing
the Rune-keeper to deal with the enemies one at a time. The class trait
Rune of Endurance will
help with this: in addition to providing +30% healing per pulse, the
rock will be +30% sturdier, enabling it to "tank" for a bit longer.
In
order to hit the big numbers, it is imperative to build
battle-attunement quickly and to keep it high for as long as possible.
Don't waste time between fights - get to the next one quickly before
the attunement meter drops. If you are able to hit the high-attunement
skills sooner rather than later, the fights will go faster and the
Rune-keeper can minimize personal risk. The longer you can stay in
combat, the longer you can keep your attunement high and hit the big
damage skills more often. If you have to kite weakened mobs to the next
group to keep your attunement high, by all means do so.
Keep in
mind, though, that the Rune-keeper will want to hold some skills in
reserve. Shocking Words, for example, is best saved for when the
Rune-keeper has 9 battle attunement, when it has a 68% chance to stun
the target. Some skills do additional damage per pip of
battle-attunement, so holding those in reserve for higher attunements
might make sense.
At higher levels, attunement can be quickly built by the use
of enamels.
Technically, these can be used starting at level 10, but at very low
levels, the extreme cooldown on these consumables renders them largely
useless. The cooldown on Red Enamel, usable at level 40, is only 3
minutes, which is much more reasonable. Apply a quick enamel after the
first lightning bolt and you instantly have 4 battle-attunement pips.
For endgame content, these enamels are critical.
alt="A Rune-keeper soloing"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93443">
...This
Epically Concludes our broadcast day. Have a great night and be sure to
tune in tomorrow!
As a primary DPS
machine, your goal is to deal consistent, large numbers to your
enemies. No other skill in the game has as much potential for this as
Epic Conclusion. With the right setup of traits and item legacies, the
Rune-keeper can expect to hit 5-digit damage numbers with Epic
Conclusion. Of course, this takes some planning:
- Equip
the traits Thunderous Words, Harsh Debate, Closing Remarks, Tale of the
Storm and Master of Tragedy. This will allow equipping the capstone
legendary trait for the Solitary Thunder line, so equip that one also. - Get
a legendary rune-stone with Fury of Storm Damage, Fury of Storm
Critical Multiplier and Target All Skills Resist Rating legacies.Build
up those legacies, and add relics that improve Tactical Offense,
Tactical Critical and Fate. Also equip a top-tier chisel. - Target your enemy. Hit with Scribe's Spark and Ceaseless
Debate until the trait-granted buffs for these skills land, then hit
with Vivid Imagery.
You will have a greatly-increased chance to land a critical hit with
Epic Conclusion, and with the buffs from Thunderous Words and Harsh
Debate, the Closing Remarks trait will cause Epic Conclusion to do 100%
more damage. - Throw Epic Conclusion.
This won't land 10k+ hits every time, of course, since you're
still dealing with random numbers, which don't always work in the
player's favor. But when you want to see the big hits, this is the
process.
Understanding Attunement
The attunement panel is specific
to the Rune-keeper. In a nutshell, it represents momentum: the more
momentum you build in a given direction, the more effective you are
with that aspect and the harder it is to switch back. Imagine it as a
ball rolling through one of those wooden mazes. To get the ball to
change direction quickly requires drastic tilting of the board. It's
the same with attunement.
alt="Large attunement panel"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93442">
The
large attunement panel, which can be moved around the screen with CTRL
+ \
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alt="Small attunement panel"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/93444">
The
small attunement panel, which stays on the toolbar.
The
attunement panel has 3 basic states: Dagor (red; battle-attunement),
Nestad (green; healing-attunement) and Thalas (yellow; neutral or
steady attunement). Using
attack skills will slide the meter to the red side (the left) by 1 pip,
and using healing skills will slide the meter towards the green side
(the right) 1 pip. Using neutral skills, such as buffs, will slide the
meter towards the middle, away from either extreme.
More
powerful skills require higher levels of attunement. For example, Epic
Conclusion, the big-hit attack skill, requires 9 pips of red
(battle-attunement) and is not available until those 9 pips are gained.
Some skills require only that there are no pips of the opposite
attunement. Other skills have additional or improved effects when the
Rune-keeper has higher attunement in that area. So attunement is very
important.
The highest attunement the Rune-keeper can reach in
either direction is 9 pips. It takes a bit of time and effort to build
attunement that high, and getting back from that extreme takes some
work. Using neutral-attunement skills will gradually cycle the
Rune-keeper back from either extreme and allow him to start building
the other way. Unlike battle-attunement and healing-attunement,
neutral-attunement does not stack up and make neutral skills stronger.
If the Rune-keeper is already at all-the-way neutral and uses several
neutral-attunement skills,he does not become more neutral, and using
either a battle-attuned or a healing-attuned skill will slide the scale
one pip in that direction, away from neutral.
The one thing that is important to remember about attunement
is that it is difficult for Rune-keepers to switch roles on the fly. If
he is in healing mode, it takes drastic measures to switch to DPS mode,
and vice versa. Switching modes is not a simple matter of just toggling
a different stance and using a different set of skills.
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
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