LotRO - Champion Class Guide Skills Overview

by Nicole163 on Oct 08, 2010

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href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/champ/overview">OVERVIEW
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/champ/solo">SOLO
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/champ/group">GROUP
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/champ/pvmp">PvMP
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/champion/endgame">LEGENDARY
ITEMS | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/90510/page/2">TRAITS
| VIRTUES
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/champ/skills">SKILLS

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CHAMPION SKILLS OVERVIEW

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Striking Skills

These are single-target attacks. Runes of Striking lower the
power cost of these skills. Many of these skills can be upgraded with
traits from the Berserker line.

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Re-defining
the word "firearms"

Wild Attack
- When dual-wielding, this is a double-attack that does decent damage
and adds 1 pip of fervour. When using a 2-handed weapon or 1-hander and
shield, this does a single attack with good damage. This skill can be
upgraded with the trait Call of the Wild to generate additional threat,
and/or with Blood-Lust to generate 1 extra fervour with a critical hit.

Swift Strike - A quick single
attack
that does good damage and adds 1 pip of fervour. This skill has a high
power-cost and should be used sparingly. Can be upgraded with the trait
Swift to Anger to add 1 additional fervour pip with a critical hit.

Feral Strikes -A double-attack
that does
good damage with each swing and has a 25% chance to remove 1 corruption
from the target. Requires 3 fervour and removes 2 pips when used.

Savage Strikes - A big,
dramatic
triple-attack when dual-wielding, or a double-attack when equipped with
2-hander or shield. First two attacks (main-hand) do good damage, third
(offhand) does decent damage.

Relentless Strike - A very
powerful
attack that drains 4 fervour. This strike cannot be blocked or parried
and will never miss against on-level opponents, though it can be
evaded. When dual-wielding, the second strike does decent damage.

Brutal Strikes - This attack
does 3
equal hits that each do good damage. Dual-wielding does not add an
additional strike. Requires at least 4 fervour to use, and removes 3
fervour once fired.

Remorseless Strike - A very
powerful
attack that drains 4 fervour and does high damage. It is as difficult
to defend against as Relentless Strike (cannot be blocked or parried,
will never miss against on-level opponents, may be evaded).
Dual-wielding does not add an additional strike. This skill does
massive damage on critical hits.

Merciful Strike - A powerful
single
attack that can only be used on opponents under 20% morale.
Dual-wielding does not add an additional strike. Using this skill adds
2 pips of fervour. This skill can be improved with the trait Bountiful
Mercy to be useable when the target is at 50% morale.

Bracing Attack - An attack
that does good damage and restores a bit of the Champion's morale.
Dual-wielding adds an additional off-hand strike that does decent
damage. Costs 2 fervour. This skill can be upgraded with the trait
Braced Against Defeat to restore more morale.

Clobber - This skill does good
damage and, more importantly, interrupts inductions. This skill is the
most reliable interrupt in the game, as it has a very short cooldown (5
seconds) and does not require extensive planning to use, unlike Warden
gambits. Dual-wielding does not grant an off-hand attack. Costs 1
fervour.

Hamstring - This attack does
good damage and slows the target's run speed significantly, making it
handy for off-tank kiting. Costs 1 fervour.

Ferocious Strikes - A
legendary skill that can be attained at level 39 by collecting pages
for the Tome of Swords. Does 3 powerful strikes (dual-wielding does not
grant an additional off-hand strike) and is as difficult to defend
against as Relentless Strike. This skill generates a large amount of
threat.

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Blade Skills

These are the area-effect skills. Runes of Vanquishing will
lower the cost of these skills. These skills are generally improved by
slotting traits from the Deadly Storm line.

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Strangely,
the streaking arrow represnts slightly more danger than the four giant
orcs.

Blade Wall -A frontal area-effect attack
(180-degree arc in front) that does good damage. Generates no fervour
unless improved with the Stalwart Blade trait, which adds 1 pip of
fervour for each successful attack. Dual-wielding grants an additional
off-hand attack.

Cleave
- A full area-effect attack (360 degrees) that does good damage and has
a 50% chance to cause a bleed. Dual-wielding does not grant an
additional off-hand attack. Costs 2 fervour. This skill is replaced at
level 54 by Rend, which automatically
applies a larger bleed. The trait
Improved Rend also causes these skills to reduce the targets' armour
rating.

Blade-Storm
- A full area-effect attack that does very good damage. Dual-wielding
grants an additional off-hand attack. Costs 4 fervour; the trait Eye of
the Storm reduces this cost by 1, and the trait Winds of the Storm
allows this skill to affect an additional 5 targets.

Fighting Dirty
- A Burglar-worthy attack that does modest damage against opponents
below 25% morale, and causes subsequent area-effect attacks to do an
additional 25% damage. This skil can be upgraded with the trait Dirt
Cheap, enabling it to be used on targets at 50% morale. Adds 1 pip of
fervour.

Sound the
Attack - A full area-effect attack that does good damage
and stuns up to 5 opponents for 3 seconds. Can be upgraded to Horn of
Gondor with the trait Mighty Blast, which does additional damage and
checks against cry resistance rather than block/parry/evade. Costs 5
fervour.

Raging Blade -A legendary skill attainable at level 39
by collecting
pages for the book The Artisan Blade. This skill does 2 high-damage,
full-area-effect attacks and generates significant threat.
Dual-wielding adds an additional off-hand attack. Costs 5 fervour.

Great Cleave
- A non-damaging skill that makes all area-effect attacks cost 1 les
fervour for 15 seconds. This skill is transformed into Deathstorm
when
the legendary skill Deathstorm is slotted, and using it will reset the
cooldowns for all area-effect attacks and make them cost 0 fervour for
a short time.

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Stances

These are toggled skills that change the way the Champion
fights. Stances can be switched mid-combat to better react to changing
battle conditions as required.

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Limbo
LOWER now! How low can you go?

Fervour - This stance is the
default offensive stance for soloing. It increases outgoing damage by
15% and in-combat power regeneration by a set number, and 1 fervour pip
is generated ever 5 seconds while in combat. The Champion cannot block,
parry or evade while in Fervour stance, and incoming heals are reduced
by 30%, making this a less-than-ideal stance for use in a group.
Fervour generation is increased by slotting 4 traits in the Berserker
trait line.

Ardour
- This stance is slightly more defensive than Fervour stance. In-combat
power regeneration is increased (though not as much as in Fervour
stance), the Champion gets a boost to all critical defense ratings, and
1 pip of fervour is generated every 9 seconds. Parry and evade ratings
are reduced, but block rating is unaltered by this stance. Despite the
relative hit to damage output and decreased fervour generation, this is
a slightly more ideal stance to use in a group if the Champion
anticipates needing any sort of healing.

Glory - This stance is the off-tanking
stance. In-combat power regeneration is increased (though to a lesser
degree than either Ardour or Fervour stance), all critical defense
ratings get a significant boost (higher than Ardour stance), and
block/parry/evade ratings remain unaltered. However, this stance
reduces outgoing damage by 15% and generates 60% more threat, and
fervour generation is slow at 1 pip every 12 seconds. Slotting 4 traits
from the Martial Champion line makes Glory stance increase maximum
morale while toggled.

Continuous Blood Rage - A legendary
skill attainable at level 58 by completing (something in Moria).
Less of a "stance" than a "fast-burning fuse," Continuous
Blood Rage shakes off roots, stuns, dazes knockdowns and conjunction
stuns, and makes the Champion immune to all combtat states while
active. It also increases outgoing damage significantly and adds 50% to
all resist ratings except disease. However, this frenzy comes at a
terrible cost: incoming healing is reduced by 90%, and the Champion
burns morale every second while it is active. Keeping this skill active
for an extended period of time may make the Champion impervious to
crowd-control, but it will also make him more vulnerable to defeat by
ordinary means because of the heavy per-second morale drain.

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Picking Fights and Staying In Them

These skills are best used to initiate battles, or to prolong
fights in a productive way.

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The
effects of Red Bull on a Champion.

Let Fly - A basic ranged
attack with a
bow that does decent damage.

Champion's Challenge -A ranged
cry that
does no damage but forces aggro for 10 seconds.

Battle-Frenzy
-Instantly increases fervour. The base is 3 pips, but this can be
increased with the trait Fervent Rage, which causes it to add 5 pips,
filling the fervour meter.

Flurry - Increases the
Champion's attack
speed by 15%. Can be improved with the trait Flurry of Blows, which
makes the effect last longer and further increases attack speed. Costs
2 fervour.

Sudden Defense - Dumps all
fervour and
boosts parry and evade ratings.

Exchange of Blows - A buff
that has a 50% chance to reflect
common damage back onto the attacker. Costs 2 fervour.

Sprint - Increases run speed
to 125% and ignores the effect
of slowing debuffs. Improved by the trait Athletic, which reduces the
cooldown by 2 minutes.

Dire Need - Drains half of the
Champion's current power and
returns it as double the amount of morale. The trait Time of Need
improves this skill, causing it to add 5 pips of fervour and recover 5
minutes faster (default is 30 minutes).

Hedge - A small melee attack
that removes the disarmed
effect, increases parry and wound resist ratings and makes the Champion
immune to further disarming attacks for a short time. This skill is
improved by the trait Tight Grip, which reduces the cooldown and
extends the duration of the buff.

Fear Nothing! - Instantly
removes up to 3 fear debuffs and
adds 2 to fervour.

Adamant - Reduces incoming
ranged and melee damage by 10%
for 30 seconds. This skill is improved by the legendary trait
Invincible, which increases the damage reduction to 30%.

Blood Rage - This skill
instantly recovers
the Champion
from dazes, stuns, knockdowns, and conjunction stuns at the cost of
morale.

Rising Ire - Instantly
transfers 15% of total accumulated
threat from a group member to the Champion, useful for keeping healers
aggro-free when the tanks are busy. Costs 2 fervour.

Ebbing Ire - Instantly
transfers 25% of total accumulated
threat from the Champion to another member of the group. Useful for
transferring aggro to the tank after taking it off the healer. Costs 4
fervour.

Fight On - A legendary skill
attainable at level 39 by
collecting pages for the book the Joy of Battle. Sucks the power out of
nearby enemies and transfers it to the Champion, in a similar fashion
to the Guardian skill Thrill of Danger. Additionally, the Champion does
25% extra damage for the duration of the effect. When the skill wears
off, the Champion's in-combat power regeneration is reduced to 25% of
normal.

Controlled Burn - A legendary
skill attainable at level 45
by completing both class quests. Using this skill activates improved
versions of Flurry (20% reduction to attack duration) and Exchange of
Blows )75% chance to reflect common damage), increases in-combat power
regeneration and outgoing damage, and adds 1 pip of fervour every 5
seconds.

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Defeat Events

These skills are only usable after an enemy has been defeated
by the Champion or his group.

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The
reward for killing an orc: 30 XP and a heavy metal album.

Second Wind - Restores a small amount of
power. The trait Vigour of Champions empowers this skill to restore
more power.

Heroics -This skill restores the power
of allies after the defeat of a foe, draining the Champion's power.
This skill is replaced at level 64 by True Heroics, which adds a
secondary 30-second self-buff according to the Champion's current
stance: Fervour - +30% incoming healing Glory - +15% melee damage Ardour - +60% to in-combat power regeneration No stance - no buff.

Blocking Blades - Boosts Champion's
parry rating until out of combat for 9 seconds.

Red Haze - Adds a pip of fervour, and an
additional pip every 15 seconds until out of combat for 9 seconds.

Boast - While not necessarily available
only after the defeat of an enemy, this skill recounts the tales of the
Champion's many, many victories to all those who are nearby, causing
them to cheer.

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Class Tools

All classes have a few specialized
tools that only
they can
use. Champions have a few neat ones.

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Tarkrip
Blade is not a fan of smooth jazz.

Runes
- These items go in the class item slot on the
character record panel, and come in two flavours: Runes of Striking and
Runes of Vanquishing. Runes of Striking lower the power cost of
"Striking" skills, i.e. single-target attacks, and Runes of Vanquishing
lower the power cost of "Blade" skills, i.e. area-effect attacks. Basic
versions of these runes can be purchased at any Champion class trainer,
and more advanced versions can be crafted by tinkers. Legendary runes,
available to premium members who purchase the Mines of Moria expansion,
are also craftable by tinkers, and are discussed in greater detail on
the Legendary Items page located href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/guides/classes/champion/endgame">here.

Champion Horns - These can be made by
woodworkers. Champion horns do not inflict damage, but stun groups of
enemies for a duration depending on the level and quality of the horn.
Low-level, low quality horns have short durations and affect few mobs,
and high-level, high quality horns affect more mobs for longer. They
have a 15-minute cooldown across the board.

Shields -While not technically
a
class-specific item, Champions are one of only 2 classes able to use
heavy shields (when traited with Heavy Shield Use; otherwise they are
limited to light and medium shields the same as Captains and Minstrels).

Weapon Selection - Champions
have the widest selection of
available weapons. While they cannot use class-specific weapons
(halberds, for example), they can use basically
everything else, and they have 3 configurations (2-hander, dual-wield,
1-hander plus shield), which makes them somewhat more versatile than
many other classes.

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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016