The Lord of the Rings Online has a lot of mounts. Other games
may have more variety in terms of species (LotRO has only
horses/ponies and goats so far), but what they lack in genera
they make up in variety, with well over 50 unique mounts ranging
in style from from simple, unadorned workhorses to
lavishly-barded show-ponies to big-headed mountain goats.
Getting Your First Standard Mount
Way back in olden times, characters had to be level 35, undergo
a series of grueling quests and pay 5 gold to get a horse. Times
have changed, and those of us who did these things when we had
no other options envy you kids with your Turbine Points and your
rock and roll music.
Nowadays, you can get a horse starting as soon as you earn
Novice standing by completing the introductory quests in Archet
or Thorin's Gate. The riding skill can be purchased starting at
that level through the LotRO Store for 95 Turbine Points. This
is available to all subs
plans, from F2P to VIP.
VIP players have an alternate route to earn the riding skill
for free, but must wait until level 20 to use it. At level 20,
VIP players can complete a quest at Hengstacer Farm in the
Horsefields north of Bree, and earn the riding skill without
spending Turbine Points. The quest involves timely delivery of
horses to 3 distant locations and then completing a timed
obstacle course around the farm.
Once you have the riding skill, however obtained, you can buy
your first mount at Hengstacer Farm from Eogar, son of Hadorgar.
A standard mount costs 500 silver, has 100 morale and moves at
+62% run speed. Standard mounts come in four flavors: Bay,
Blonde Sorrel, Bloodbay and Chestnut. The purchased steed will
add a skill to the Mounts tab on your Skills panel, allowing you
to summon it. For Hobbits and Dwarves, the steed will be a pony,
and for Elves and Men, it will be a horse. There is no
difference between ponies and horses except for size.
If you don't have the riding skill, you can still buy and ride
a horse: the Bree-land Starter Steed, which costs 200 silver,
has 80 morale and moves at +32% run speed. It is only slightly
faster than a Warden running with Forced March, but it is just a
little bit better than walking. On the other hand, it's 200
silver that you can hold onto until you do have the riding
skill, and then spend on a standard mount which is faster and
sturdier.
Getting More Mounts
After buying your first standard mount from Eogar, you get a
discount on the other mounts available at Hengstacer Farm,
including the Document of Ownership needed to buy festival
mounts. You don't get the discount by buying the Bree-land
Starter Steed. Seriously, just don't buy that one.
You can own one of each type of mount. This allows you to
coordinate your ride with your outfit if you are so inclined.
Technically, you can buy as many of the steeds as you want, but
you will only get one of each skill, and the purchased skills
can't be traded.
Besides the steeds at Hengstacer Farm, there are seven other
types you can earn or buy:
- Reputation mounts - All reputation factions have a mount you
can buy when you reach Kindred standing. These typically cost
4 - 6 gold, have 250 morale and are standard speed (+62%). - Festival mounts - During seasonal and anniversary festivals,
special "themed" mounts can be earned by competing in the
races at the Bree-land Festival Grounds and the Shire race
track. These are not really "races" in the traditional sense,
but timed obstacle courses - make it around the track within
the allotted time and you can win a race token. The cost for
these horses is typically one race token, 12 - 20 festival
tokens, and one Document of Mount Ownership (an item sold at
Hengstacer Farm for the same cost as a standard mount). These
horses typically have standard morale and standard speed. - Ettenmoors mounts - There are two steeds available in the
Ettenmoors, and they require PvMP renown to buy them. Prized
Mahogany Bay Steed requires Glory Rank 9, costs 5 gold 400
silver, has 250 morale and +62% run speed. The Peoples'
Courser requires Glory Rank 12, costs 8 gold, 735 silver, 40
copper, has 250 morale and +68% run speed. Because these
require Glory ranking from PvMP as Free People, they are
available only to VIPs.alt="metadeed" style="float: right;" checked="true">
- Meta-deed mounts - These are earned automatically by
completing sets of related deeds. Once all the deeds in the
list are completed, the mount is automatically added to the
Mounts tab. Meta-deed mounts typically have 250 morale and
+68% run speed. - Pre-order and promotional bonus mounts - These are only
available prior to the release of new expansions. Pre-orders
for the original release of Shadows of Angmar, the Siege of
Mirkwood expansion and the Rise of Isengard expansion all came
with special bonus mounts. Additionally, unique mounts are
designed as prizes for some events like PAX and are given to
attendees. The stats of these mounts vary widely. - LotRO Store mounts - So far, there have been three of these:
Steed of Night, Steed of Minas Ithil, and Steed of Bright
Days. These are exclusive to the LotRO Store, typically cost
1995 Turbine Points, and have 250 morale and +68% run speed.
They also sell standard mounts in the store - Temporary Mounts - These ones are bought with Turbine Points
from the LotRO Store, and one is given as part of the starting
package for new characters. You get a whistle to summon a
standard horse, and the whistle disappears from your inventory
after it expires.
How To Make The Most Of Your Mounts
Back in the good old days of yore, mounts used to be items you
carried in your inventory bags. That changed long ago, and now
they are skills. One thing that hasn't changed: you still can't
ride more than one mount at a time. You can, however, use
plugins to enhance your mount-ownership experience.
Horsey!
by
rushl adds an element of whimsey to your mount selection
process. It will randomly select one of up to 30 of your mounts
every time you click it. This may prove to be somewhat
inconvenient in Moria, where horses are not allowed, but it can
be fun in surface-world areas.
The Mount Carousel by Marll (one for Men
&
Elves, one for Hobbits
&
Dwarves) adds a scrollable carousel selection widget for a
more consistent selection process. This one has a right-click
function to separate the goats from the horses/ponies.
Wheel
by imez adds a different kind of scrollable selection carousel.
This one has the added benefit of being totally customizable.
If you only care to use one mount for everything, you can drag
that mount from the Mount panel to a quickslot, and map that
quickslot to a mouse button or keyboard key on the Key Mapping
tab in your options. For my own personal setup, I have Quickslot
60 (the last one on bar 4) mapped to Mouse Button 4 (the
"forward" key on my Logitech gaming mouse). With that set up, I
can click
button to mount and dismount my Nimble Black Goat.
All mounts come with standardized, conventional names - Sage,
Fancy, Sundrop, Firefoot, etc. That's all well and good, but for
some people, their horse represents an aspect of their unique
personality, and a standard default name simply will not do. You
can rename your horse to better fit your character by
right-clicking on the Mount Display Panel and selecting Rename.
Be warned, though, that some names are "blacklisted." For
example, I tried to name my Lossoth Tundra Steed "Chewbacca"
because it is shaggy like a Wookiee, but the name was disallowed
- "Specified Companion name is invalid." Sadface. Likewise, some
lore-specific names (e.g. Shadowfax) will be disallowed.
Technical Aspects
Mounts can only be summoned outside of combat, and characters
cannot engage in most combat activities while mounted. Some
skills like stances can be activated, and some emotes can be
performed from horseback, but not all of them. You can also play
music from horseback.
Mounts with higher morale can take more of a beating from
hostile mobs. A 250-morale horse can barrel through a camp of
orcs without the rider being knocked off, but a 60-morale goat
will not likely be so lucky. Also, the faster mounts take less
damage than the slow ones - they move out of range quicker. The
mounts with 250 morale and +68% run speed are "EZ-Mode" - you
can blast through very high-level, densely-crowded hostile areas
without much bother. That's why they're harder to get than
regular mounts.
As fast as the +68% run-speed mounts are, they are still not
quite as speedy as the greased-lightning horses hired from
stables. But they do have the benefit of not being restricted to
set routes - stable-hired horses can't be steered for off-road
travel. For some travel destinations, even a +62% run-speed
horse is slightly faster than a stable-hired horse, but for
shorter trips, a stable horse is often faster.
Horses and ponies don't work in Moria. They are just not
sure-footed enough to handle the rubble-strewn paths and winding
staircases of Khazad-dum... and the Dwarves likely don't want to
spend all their time cleaning up after them. Only goats are
allowed within the confines of Moria. Goats are natural
climbers, and their spoor is easy to clean up. And while they
may not look as regal and majestic as a sleek horse with
glorious barding, they are versatile and noble in their own
right. They can be used anywhere horses and ponies can.
Standard Mounts from Hengstacer
Farm
alt="Bree-land Starter Pony">
Bree-land Starter Steed
80 Morale
+32% Speed
Bay Steed
100 Morale
+62% Speed
Chestnut Steed
100 Morale
+62% Speed
Blood Bay Steed
100 Morale
+62% Speed
alt="Blonde Sorrel">
Blonde Sorrel Steed
100 Morale
+62% Speed
Reputation Mounts
All reputation mounts are 250
morale/+62% speed unless otherwise indicated. Cost ranges from 4
- 6 gold, or can be purchased with barter items (leaves,
branches, tokens, etc.)
Normal Factions
checked="true">
Men of Bree
Mathom Society
Thorin's Hall
Eglain
Rangers of Esteldin
Wardens of Annuminas
alt="Rivendell">Elves of Rivendell
Council of the North - Prized Ashen Steed
Council of the North - Prized Angmar's Free Peoples Steed
Lossoth of Forochel
Iron Garrison Miners - Tame Redhorn Goat
(100 Morale, +32% speed)
alt="Moria">Iron Garrison Miners - Prized Nimble Redhorn Goat
alt="Galadhrim">Galadhrim
Malledhrim - Prized Smokey Black Steed
Malledhrim - Prized Malledhrim Steed
Grey Company
Algraig
Special Factions and PvMP
alt="Inn League">
Inn League
(Note: Riding this horse causes the character to
experience the "drunk" effect)
alt="Ale Assoc.">
Ale Association
(Note: Riding this goat causes the character to experience
the "drunk" effect)
alt="Moors 1">Ettenmoors - Glory Rank 9
Ettenmoors - Glory Rank 12
(+68% speed)
Meta-deed Mounts
These ones are automatically earned
by completing the sets of deeds indicated. All are 250 morale,
+68% speed except where noted. The Prized Ost Dunhoth War-steed
is not currently available, though it was for a while and some
players already have it.
Grey Steed
Complete Volume I Book 15
(150 Morale, +62% speed)
Elf Ambassador's Steed
Reach Kindred standing with Elves of Rivendell, Galadhrim
and Malledhrim
Eriador Steed
Reach Kindred standing with all reputation factions
(except Eldgang, Inn League and Ale Association)
Dunedain War Steed
Complete Saviour of Eriador Meta-deed (Shadows of Angmar
instances)
Nimble Black Goat
Complete Saviour of Khazad-dum Meta-deed (Mines of Moria
instances)
Wild Mountain Goat
Complete Saviour of Lothlorien Meta-deed (Lothlorien
instances)
alt="BG">Galadhrim War-steed
Complete Tempest of Dol Guldur (Mirkwood instances)
alt="INA">Prized Ost Dunhoth War-steed
(Not currently available)
Pre-order and Promotional Mounts
These mounts come with promotional giveaways, expansion
pre-orders or the occasional lottery.
Bree Founders Steed
LotRO Gold Edition, Shadows of Angmar Pre-order
100 Morale, +32% speed
Cremello Steed
Lottery, Convention promo
Dusky Nimblefoot Goat
Siege of Mirkwood Pre-order
60 Morale, +62% speed
alt="isen-red">Red-clad Steed of the Gap
Rise of Isengard Pre-order
250 Morale, +62% speed
alt="isen-white">White-clad Steed of the Gap
alt="isen-green">Green-clad Steed of the Gap
Festival Mounts
These are only available during
seasonal festivals. All have standard morale and speed. Some of
these are no longer available, and some older, discontinued ones
are absent from this list.
Anniversary Steed
Blue Roan Steed (Spring)
alt="spring springtime">Springtime Steed
alt="summer - pale golden summer">Pale Golden Summer Steed
alt="summer - summerfest">Summerfest Steed
alt="summer - lithe festival">Lithe Festival Steed
alt="Harvestmath">Harvestmath Steed
alt="sable harvestmath">Sable Harvestmath Steed
alt="skele paint">Painted Skeleton Steed
(Rare - from a loot drop in Haunted Burrow during
Harvestmath Festival)
alt="yule fest">Yule Festival Steed
alt="yule festival glitter">Yule Festival Glittering Steed
Store Exclusive Mounts
These mounts are exclusive to the LotRO Store. When they are
available, they cost 1995 Turbine Points (or less when they
are on sale). These are all 250 Morale, +68% speed.
alt="minas ithil">Steed of Minas Ithil
alt="bright days">Steed of Bright Days
Steed of Night
A friendly shout-out goes to LotROSteeds.com,
run by a fellow Arkenstoner who has assembled a very detailed
and attractive site with loads of information about the various
mounts. They have some amazing pictures of the few horses not
shown in these lists (specifically, 2 older Festival mounts and
the Ost Dunhoth War-steed from before it got removed) and more
detailed descriptions of each horse. Also, a hearty thank-you to
the good people of Arkenstone and Landroval servers who
generously posed with the 9 mounts pictured that I don't (yet)
own.
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