LotRO - Burglar Class Guide Group Play

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href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/burg/overview">OVERVIEW
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/burg/solo">SOLO
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/burg/group">GROUP
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/burg/pvmp">PvMP
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/burg/endgame">LEGENDARY
ITEMS | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/91049/page/2">TRAITS
| VIRTUES
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/burg/skills">SKILLS

GROUP
PLAY AS A BURGLAR

Burglars in a group are pretty awesome. Their role in a group
can be somewhat bewildering for people who do not understand the class
well - they aren't really tanks, they aren't really DPS, and they
aren't really healers. Dumping them into the single category of
crowd-control is rather narrow and only reflects a small part of what
Burglars can bring to a group. In fact, Burglars are all of these
things and more. They contribute more to the group as a whole than a
class like the Hunter, which is a very narrowly-defined role.

Basically, Burglars in a group make all the other members of
the group a little bit better. They even the odds, distract the enemies
with their dirty tricks and generally do a lot of little things that
are not readily obvious to the rest of the group. And some things that
are very obvious.

Most groups looking for a Burglar want one of two things:
Riddles or conjunctions. Either tough humanoid mobs need to be "CC'ed"
or boss fights require an extra blast of healing and/or power
restoration. 

Generally speaking, Lore-master crowd-control is better than
that done by Burglars, as Lore-masters can affect more than just
humanoids and dragon-kind. Burglars are limited to those 2 types for
their Riddles and Confounds, and encounters with beasts of nature,
insects and spiders are better handled by Lore-masters. However, when
going up against orcs, goblins, trolls, undead, merrevail, men, drakes
or worms, Burglars are more than capable. With careful timing and
attention, single mobs can be kept locked down as long as needed. This
is particularly true when the trait Perplexing Riddle is slotted and
Mischief stance is engaged. This setup makes the Riddle last for
slightly longer than the cooldown for the skill, and the first 5
seconds of the Riddle count as a stun rather than a mez - the target
can take a few hits without being broken free of the mez.

Crowd-control takes a fair bit of practice to be any good at
it. Timing a Riddle against an aggroed enemy is kind of an art form -
the Burglar must act quickly and Riddle his target before it gets into
melee range, where a mez is basically useless since it will be quickly
broken by any area-effect attacks. When running with Champions and
Hunters, particularly, Riddles will be broken on a regular basis.
Sometimes this is sloppiness on the part of the Champion or Hunter
(usually and especially the Hunter), sometimes it will be the fault of
the Burglar for mezzing mobs too close to where the fighting is
happening. A lot of Burglars tend to get screaming mad when this
happens, calling people names and generally being obnoxious. While it
is inconvenient and times and can potentially cause a wipe, it does not
give the Burglar license to act like a dingbat. Mezzes sometimes get
broken. That's something you're going to have to get used to.

A much bigger but less-visible part of the Burglar's role in a
group is debuffing. Burglars get a lot of these, and application and
removal of these debuffs can be a hectic job. Reveal Weakness is a
great start - placing this on the Target Assisstant's target causes the
recipient to take 10% more damage from all attacks (or more when
traited for it). When that target goes down, the cooldown is quick and
it can be applied to the next target within a few seconds. After Reveal
Weakness is applied, it's time to start looking into Tricks
- Enrage,
Dust in the Eyes, Disable and Counter Defense. These can be applied to
every enemy in the fight, slowing them down, making them take extra
damage, causing them to hit less, or forcing them to aggro randomly
rather than focus on one opponent. These little touches can make your
allies feel godlike without them ever knowing how it happened, and they
can be forcibly removed later for even more interesting effects. Dust
in the Eyes is a particularly good Trick for use in a group - it can be
improved with a trait to affect several targets at once, slowing them
down and giving them a 20% miss chance, and setting up several mobs at
once for quick Trick removals later as needed. Burglars also have a
number of skills that apply damage-over-time bleeds, and the bleed from
Cunning Attack can stack with itself over and over again with the right
legendary item legacies.

Understanding Fellowship Manoeuvers

The fellowship manoeuver can turn the tide of battle and make
an uncertain fight a sure thing. That can be a good thing or a bad
thing - if the fight was going your way up until a botched FM, it could
spell doom for the fellowship. Or if things are getting desperate and
everyone's out of power and running low on morale, a timely conjunction
can get everyone back into fighting form and push the tema to victory.
It all comes down to timing, coordination and skill.

The colors for FMs have fairly obvious effects - red does
direct damage, yellow does a damage-over-time, green heals morale, blue
heals power. These are arranged in a damage-heal-damage-heal circle,
and some of these colors can be hit from range by some classes while
others cannot.

In small fellowships, it is often easiest to hit a Flush - all
players hit the same color depending on what is needed for the
situation. At the beginning of a fight against a particularly tough
mob, it often makes sense for everyone to hit yellows to apply a big
bleed to the target. Near the end of the fight, all-red might make more
sense, or all-blue or all-green if the group is in need of power or
morale. In 2-man groups, Pairs are the only real option.

Small fellowship Straights are not as difficult as they may
seem at first glance, and 3-man group Straights are actually pretty
easy with a bit of planning. All that is needed is to determine the
players' order, and the rest will fall into place more or less
naturally.

The first player can hit any color he wants. The second guy
hits either of the opposite type (damage or healing) - for example, if
Guy 1 hits red or yellow, Guy 2 hits blue or green. Guy 3 hits the
opposite color across the wheel from Guy 1 - for example, if Guy 1 hits
red, Guy 3 hits yellow. Direction around the wheel doesn't matter -
clockwise and counter-clockwise both work - so long as that order is
followed. Whatever color the FM starts with, it must end on the color
opposite that one on the wheel, and the middle color must be of the
other type. The different Length-3 Straights do different things, but
all of them will do some damage to enemies and heal the fellowship in
some way.

Full fellowships have a few more options available to them. A
6-man group can hit Pairs, any length of Flush, Full Houses, any length
of Straight, and a handful of Length-6 Unique combos. Flushes are
generally the easiest and require little coordination - "everybody go
green." One of the most-used FMs for pick-up groups and even among
seasoned veterans is the "all red plus a cap" series of Length-6
Uniques. Generally, the last spot is reserved for the healer, who may
be in the middle of an induction when the FM triggers and will need
time to contribute. These manouevers are very simple and direct -
capping with green will restore everyone's morale a little bit, capping
with blue will restore everyone power a bit and summon an oathbreaker,
capping with yellow will add a small damage-over-time and makes the FM
an area-effect attack.

Length-6 Straights require more strict coordination than
smaller Straights. Typically, everyone in the group will be assigned a
number and a color according to their class:

Hunters will usually want to hit red or yellow - they can
hit it from range and contribute big damage - and can go early in the
rotation. Burglars and Champions can hit any color since they will
usually be within melee range. These classes can go early. Captains will prefer to hit blue, and can go early. Lore-masters will prefer to go blue or green since they
will be at a range and cannot hit red or yellow without running in.
They can go mid or late. Guardians and Wardens will usually want to go blue or
green, but in a pinch can hit any color since they are in melee range.
Tanks will want to go later in the order, particularly Wardens who may
be in the middle of building a gambit. Runekeepers can hit any color from range, and will usually
want to go late in the order to accomodate their inductions. Minstrels should go last or 2nd last to accomodate healing
inductions and will want to hit blue or green since they can hit those
colors from healing range.

Knowing when to trigger FMs is the Burglar's art. They have 2
skills and one class tool that can be used to trigger FMs, and the
skills can have their cooldowns reset by the use of Ready and
Able, meaning they can possibly trigger 5 FMs in the space of a few
seconds. Obviously, these should be spread out a bit rather than burned
all at once, but the point is that Burglars are almost never without
the ability to pop a FM at will. In addition to the 2 standard skills
(Exploit Opening and Trip) and the class tool (Bag of Marbles), the
legendary skill Exposed Throat has a small chance to trigger FMs, and
it can be used with alarming frequency.

After a fellowship manoeuver is used on a target, that
 target gains a brief immunity to further FMs, indicated by a
small shield icon. The Burglar needs to pay attention to these buff
icons - if he attempts a conjunction when the enemy is immune, the
enemy is merely stunned (or unaffected entirely if he is also
stun-immune) and the skill is wasted.

For a play example of how to maximize the use of FMs and time
them in the most beneficial way, let's take a look at the level 65
fight against Thadur in the Great Barrows.

After the tank establishes aggro and the Burglar has landed
a few debuffs, the Burglar uses Exploit Opening. Fellowship goes all
yellow for a damage-over-time that speeds the fight up a bit. Thadur is now immune to FMs for a bit, and he soon summons
his minions to attack. The minions tear up the fellowship, and one guy
is unable to contribute as he is lighting a brazier. The Burglar uses
Hide in Plain  Sight, targets one of the tougher adds and uses
Trip. The group rolls 3 green, 2 blue - Pure of Heart - and has morale
and power restored instantly, with further power and morale restored
over time. Thadur's minions are vanquished and everyone is back on
him. He is still immune to FMs for a bit, so nothing can happen until
the buff drops or he summons new minions. The immunity drops after a
few more seconds, and the Burglar lands a lucky Exposed Throat shortly
after, triggering another FM. The group rolls all red plus a blue cap,
and Thadur takes a savage beating, once again calling forth his minions. Burglar uses a Bag of Marbles on one of the tougher mobs,
and the group again rolls Pure of Heart. Thadur is almost done. The group is doing well for morale
and power, so the Burglar doesn't worry about triggering an FM for this
part. Last wave of minions is summoned. These ones are tough and
require some finesse. Burglar uses Ready and Able to reset Exploit
Opening, Hide in Plain Sight and Trip, and then uses Exploit Opening on
the gaunt caller. Group rolls Pure of Heart again. The last stage of the fight. Thadur is ready to go down.
Burglar uses Hide in Plain Sight, then uses Trip on Thadur. Everyone
rolls red with a yellow cap. BOOM. Thadur dies, everyone gets Superior
Third Marks. The healers and tanks are congratulated for the
spectacular jobs they did, and the Burglar merely smiles knowingly.

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/burg/overview">OVERVIEW
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/burg/solo">SOLO
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/burg/group">GROUP
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/burg/pvmp">PvMP
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/burg/endgame">LEGENDARY
ITEMS | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/91049/page/2">TRAITS
| VIRTUES
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/burg/skills">SKILLS