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href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/warden/overview">OVERVIEW
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/warden/solo">SOLO
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/warden/group">GROUP
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/warden/pvmp">PvMP
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/warden/endgame">LEGENDARY
ITEMS | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/92663/page/2">TRAITS
| VIRTUES
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/warden/skills">SKILLS

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WARDEN CLASS OVERVIEW


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alt="A Man Warden"
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If
the distinctive notched shield doesn't tell you right away that this is
a Warden, the tough-guy face should.

Reminiscent of the hoplite warriors of ancient times, the
Warden is
a relic of a lost age. He is a one-man army against the forces of
Mordor, standing firm behind his notched shield and building deadly
combo attacks for a wide variety of effects. He is quick to put himself
between dangerous foes and protected allies, and able to move swiftly
wherever the need is greatest.

The Warden is a premium class, only available to VIP players
or
Premium players who have purchased the option from the LotRO Store. And
they are premium for a good reason: they are one of the most advanced
classes in the game, and quite powerful in the right hands.

In a group, the Warden is a highly-mobile tank. He is not the
damage-soaking brick wall that is the Guardian, but rather more nimble,
with a much broader array of self-heals to keep him standing. Most of
what the Warden does is drawn out over time: heal-over-time,
threat-over-time, damage-over-time. While Guardian threat is instant,
Warden threat is slower to build but can hit very high numbers during a
long battle.

Wardens are one of the very strongest solo classes
in the game, capable of taking on large groups and very powerful mobs
without assistance of any kind. With ramped-up DPS and self-heals, the
Warden can stand tall against elite mobs that would tear many other
classes to shreds.

The Warden class is available to all races except Dwarves, and
is
limited to VIP players or Premium players who have purchased the class
from the LotRO Store. Race of Man, being the strongest of the available
classes at the start of the game, is a solid choice for Wardens, but at
later levels, no single race has a distinct advantage over any other,
and any available race is viable.

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KEY
ATTRIBUTES

The strength of the Warden
class lies in Gambits - different combinations of three basic attacks
that are built up piece by piece until they make the "recipe" for a
more powerful skill. Gambits come in several flavours: some are
defense, some are offense, some are self-heals, some are
threat-builders. Unlike some classes that can get away with a
"button-mashing" style of combat, Wardens are careful planners,
building specific Gambits for specific applications.

Warden
tanking relies on two things: building threat and self-heals-over-time
(hereafter referred to as self-HOTs). Building threat involves a fair
bit of forethought and careful planning since they have no forced-aggro
attacks (except for one legendary skill with a dreadfully-brief
5-second duration), but once a Warden gets aggro, it can be tough for
other group members to pull it off of him. And if another group member
does manage to pull aggro, the Warden can leech that person's
accumulated threat away, causing the mob to return to him. 

Wardens have more self-heals than Guardians do, and healing
also generates threat.
More importantly, the self-heals can be used to allow the Warden to
take on very powerful mobs by himself, without the aid of a healer or
anyone else. With the right setup, Wardens can solo a lot of content
intended for groups.

Like Hunters, Wardens have the innate ability to fast-travel
pretty much anywhere. However, unlike the Hunter wayfaring skills,
Warden musters cannot transport groups of people. They affect the
Warden only, allowing him to quickly go where he is needed.

SECONDARY
CONCERNS

While Gambits are powerful, they do not work in the same way
as regular skills. They cannot be slotted on the quickbar
and must be built up to be used. This involves memorizing a number of
different combo attacks for different effects, and those of us with
spotty memories may have some difficulty keeping all the different
Gambits straight without the aid of a spreadsheet or some other kind of
external reference chart. This gets particularly difficult at higher
levels when the Warden wants to use longer Gambits requiring 4 or 5
basic attacks in specific sequences. This is the primary reason why the
Warden is considered an "advanced" class.

When tanking with a
Warden, it is important to remind the group that Wardens do not have
instant-aggro or forced-attack skills like Guardians do, except for one
legendary skill. DPS classes will need to take this into account and
"ramp" their damage accordingly, and the players who are unfamiliar
with the mechanics of the class (or who are too lazy to be bothered
ramping their DPS) will likely complain when they inevitably pull mobs
off the tanking Warden. Once aggro is lost to other members of the
group, it can take some time to get it back.

Power drain can
become a real issue for Wardens. Using the carvings helps a bit with
that, but since physical stats (Might, Vitality, Agility) generally
take precedence over mental stats (Will, Fate), power pools are often
smaller, and the carvings only affect one style (Fist, Spear, Shield).
Bring lots of power-restoring potions.

Unlike most other classes,
Wardens have no panic-button skills, excluding racial abilities. When
things get hairy, the Warden will need to kite mobs and use self-HOTs
or use racial skills to escape.

On some servers, Wardens are
something of a controversial class, and player experiences tend to run
either hot or cold. The people that enjoy the class are often adamant
and vocal adherents, and the people that dislike the class are often
adamant and vocal detractors.

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IN SUMMARY


The Warden of href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro">the Lord of
the Rings Online

is one tough cookie. Don't let the medium armour fool you - these guys
can stand alone, toe-to-toe against the toughest mobs and come out on
top. Arguably the most capable solo class in the game, the Warden is
powerful enough that it has been marked as a premium class, available
only to VIP players and Premium players who purchase the class from the
LotRO Store. It is also a very advanced class, relying on stringing
together powerful Gambits through sequences of basic attacks.
Button-mashers need not apply.

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href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/warden/overview">OVERVIEW
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/warden/solo">SOLO
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/warden/group">GROUP
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/warden/pvmp">PvMP
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/warden/endgame">LEGENDARY
ITEMS | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/92663/page/2">TRAITS
| VIRTUES
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/warden/skills">SKILLS

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

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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