Level 100 Beorning

Hooray! Tyravorth my Beorning has reached level 100 in Central Gondor. It might not be the max level, but it's the beginning of the end.

Questing along the Gilrain river at night

Now she has to start worrying about essence gear and getting the perfect legendary items for imbuing.

Essence Gear

As a tailor, she has made a set of Anórien armour and cloak for starters. She didn't have anywhere near enough essences to fill the 18 slots, and certainly not with the essences she needs. Questing through West and Central Gondor since level 95 has so far earned her about half a dozen essences. A couple for morale and finesse, and one each for evasion, tactical mitigation essence and critical rating.

She still needs new jewellery, and the crafted jewellery has more essence slots to fill too! 

Crafted Anórien Medium Armour

There is other gear available at level 100 with stats or essence slots, but the crafted gear is easy to get.

Where can fresh level 100s get essences?

• The skirmish camp - the curiosity vendor sells level 100 major essences for 500 marks each. 
• The auction house - since level 105 is now the max level, level 100 essences have reduced in price a lot.
• Essence vendor in Dol Amroth - completing quests for the city guard factions in Dol Amroth rewards tokens used to buy essences (some RNG involved for which essence you'll get though).
• Crafting - The Dol Amroth quartermaster has level 100 greater essences recipes, and each crafting profession can make a few types. 
• Quartermasters in Central Gondor - class-specific essences can be obtained with rep tokens. 
• Questing - some quests have guaranteed essences as rewards, particularly in the epic quest chains.
• Mob drops - occasionally. Elite mobs and instances may have a higher chance of dropping something.

I decided to go the skirmish camp route for essences - I'd rather have cheap level 100 gear and save up for good max level gear.

Dol Amroth Skirmish Camp

As an aside, I hated Dol Amroth when it first came out because of all the extravagant building decorations, but after travelling deeper into Gondor where the zones become more gloomy, Dol Amroth seems beautiful and bright by comparison, and now I quite like it.

So what essences to get for a Beorning who is mainly questing?

1. Mitigation - My physical mitigation was nearly capped but I needed a lot more tactical mitigation, so that was my first priority.
2. Avoidances - My parry was capped at 13% but I didn't have much evade, so that was my next priority.
3. Defence - My critical defence wasn't too bad for solo questing - I don't see my health dropping suddenly from enemy crits, but I increased it to 50% to be on the safe side.
4. Finesse - I've noticed mobs avoiding too many of my attacks, so I wanted more finesse.
5. Might - I grabbed a couple of might essences so that I wouldn't lose too much dps/healing. My mastery has still gone down, so I will aim to add more to my jewellery.
6. Morale - I filled the rest of the slots with morale. From everything I've heard, morale is the best for survival.

Your priorities may be different, especially if you do lots of instances or pvp or have already capped your stats.

Some people suggest grouping similar essences together so that you can easily switch pieces of gear and stats to suit the situation. For example, switching between one pair of boots with lots of critical defence and another pair of boots with lots of critical rating.

Legendary Items and Imbuement

Legendary items can be a real grind if you want to max them out, and if you do - good on you! Fortunately, the grind is mostly optional. You can get through most, if not all, content without maxed out legendaries, but the more effort you put into improving them, the easier the content will be.

While I'm saving up materials and/or gold for first age items, I'm going to be trying to get lots of third age items so I can extract the legacies I want and get plenty of relics and IXP runes.

Many of the consumable items for enhancing legendary items can be used before or after imbuement with only minor differences in outcomes.

Here are a couple of guides that may also help explain the legendary item and imbuement system:

• LOTRO Players: Imbued Legendary Items - Tips, Tricks and a Guide to the Grind
• LOTRO Wiki: Legendary Items

Pre-imbuement

1. Level a legendary item up to at least level 30 to unlock six legacies.
2. Use a crystal of remembrance to add a seventh legacy.
3. Use legacy replacement scrolls to swap out unwanted legacies for more useful legacies. Most legacies will have the same effect before and after imbuement, but a few may have a different effect. Check LOTRO-Wiki (the Legendary Items page has a comparison table) to find out which legacies are affected.
4. Use a scroll of delving to unlock an extra 10 levels. This will also increase the maximum tier by one for each legacy when the legendary item is imbued.
5. Level the legendary up to level 70 and get legacy tier upgrades (saves scrolls of empowerment).
6. Use 3 star-lit crystals to increase the base dps and passive stats on applicable legendary items (e.g. 2H-weapons).
7. Spend points to rank up legacies. Make sure the default legacy (e.g. the dps legacy on weapons) is at max rank so the highest possible base stats will be on the item post-imbuement.

Imbue legendary items at the Forge-master.

Post-imbuement

The maximum tier for each legacy will initially depend on what tier the legacy was pre-imbuement.

1. The maximum tier for the default legacy can be increased towards the final tier with star-lit crystals.
2. The maximum tier for normal legacies can be increased towards the final tier with scrolls of empowerment.
3. Use IXP runes or gain IXP through game-play to increase the current tier of each legacy.

When all legacies have full final tier experience bars, the item is maximised (until the next update that increases the final tier level). Don't forget to add some good relics and legendary titles to boost your stats too - these may help reduce the need for some essences!

Cosmetics: Blue Bear

I don't normally do cosmetic outfit posts - there are other blogs like Wandering Around Arda, Material Middle Earth or The Starry Mantle that create lots of great-looking outfits and presents them beautifully.

Nevertheless, I really like my Beorning's outfits and I'd like to share them. The first I think shows an almost Elven litheness inherent in the flexibility to change between man and bear form, while the second outfit with heavier armour shows strength and her willingness to make a stand, protecting her allies from the enemy.

Outfit 1

Tyravorth wore Outfit 1 for most of the first 90 levels. She changed helms a few times - she started off with the starter Beorning headband, and at one stage wore a shiny navy and gold metal helmet, but I liked this hat best.

Oh, my characters tend to hide their weapons when they're out of combat (unless they have a really cool looking weapon).

Head: Scholar's Hat (Misty Mountains quest reward from "A Scholar's Lesson", dyed navy)
Shoulders: Battle-tested Shoulders (Level 59 quest reward, Battle-tested Armour box, dyed navy)
Chest: Ceremonial Town-saver's Jacket (from Skirmish Camp, dyed navy)
Hands: Elven Leather Gloves of Vigour (random mob drop around level 41-44, dyed umber)
Legs: Ceremonial Town-saver's Leggings (from Skirmish Camp, dyed navy)
Feet: Ceremonial Boots of the Quiet Step (from Skirmish Camp, dyed umber)
Back: Eastemnet Cloak of Might (crafted T8 cloak from tailor, dyed navy)

Outfit 2

This was taken just after the battle of Helm's Deep. The chestpiece was a heavy armour epic quest reward for taking part in the battle and she liked it better than the medium armour option. So she collected it and then raided the shared wardrobe for other pieces to go with it and dyed them navy, or umber for the gloves. I used the same cloak - I like how it dyes and the pattern isn't boring, but it also doesn't distract attention from the outfit.

Head: Inquisitive Lore-master's Hat (East Rohan quest reward from "Leaders from Moria", dyed navy)
Shoulders: Fine Grey Company Wrap (Dunland epic quest reward from Vol 3, Book 5, Chapter 1, dyed navy)
Chest: Breastplate of the Rider (West Rohan epic quest reward from Vol 3, Book 13, Chapter 6, dyed navy)
Hands: Dholen-lhaw (Dunland epic quest reward from Vol 3, Book 4, Chapter 5, dyed umber)
Legs: (not visible)
Feet: Reinforced Leather Dunlending Boots (Dunland quest reward from "Once a Servant, Now a Wizard", dyed navy)
Back: Eastemnet Cloak of Might (crafted T8 cloak from tailor, dyed navy)

Level 80-85 Frustration

My Beorning has kind-of got stuck in the early 80s and its so frustrating it's putting me off the game at the moment.

She completed all the quests and exploration deeds in East Rohan at level 83, plus all the additional quests I could find. I'm not masochistic enough to make myself suffer through completing the slayer deeds. I tried taking her into West Rohan but couldn't find any quests. A kin-mate reminded me about Hunbald near the Entwade Crossing - he starts Vol III Book 11 of the epic quest and sends you to Edoras eventually. That got me into West Rohan and to level 84. Unfortunately she died more than she should have to those annoying level 85 and 86 mounted orcs that seem to be everywhere, but she persevered.

Edoras in the distance

Then she got to the dreaded Stilling the Wade quest. I've done it before and I know you have to focus on attacking the mobs who are attacking the palisades and ignore the orcs attacking at the gate - but just because you ignore them doesn't mean they ignore you! Especially when you're low level! I hate that quest - it's the most frustrating quest in any MMO I've ever played.

So, she's got a few alternative options for levelling - start the Hytbold quests, which is probably the easiest option; go to Wildermore, which would mean getting some turbine points to unlock the zone because I'm not currently subscribed; or doing skirmishes and big battles ad nauseum. To be honest though, none of them really interest me. I wish there was another level 80-85 or 80-90 zone, and I'm sure there would be a lot of people who would agree with me if I suggested that it not be heavily focused on mounted combat - there's plenty of that in Rohan.

Another issue that has been frustrating her and may be partly why she's finding the quests in West Rohan so difficult is because there is no might-based medium armour appropriately designed for Beornings in East Rohan. She's wearing agility gear and sure it works, but not as well, and you really notice it when you're up against mobs 2-3 levels above you, even in the tank spec. She feels so squishy and like she's swiping at mobs with rubber claws - it's taking forever to kill mobs and she's not doing much damage. Sure she would do more damage in dps spec, but then she would be even more squishy.

Sigh. I'll probably have a break from her and focus on some of my other characters for a little while. Myndariel, my main lore-master, has been doing some quests in Eastern Gondor that she skipped earlier and Melanariel, my second lore-master, is almost ready to enter Moria (I should probably make up some background story about how they are both descended from a long-lost relative called Ariel, but another time perhaps). Then there's my hunter who is busy helping Bingo, and a bunch of other characters that have been neglected in crafting halls around Eriador.

Bâr Húrin in South Ithilien (Eastern Gondor)

Level 75 Beorning and Mounted Combat

Level 75 Beorning in the Wold, East Rohan

My Beorning, Tyravorth, has reached Level 75 at last and got her war-steed and learned the basics of mounted combat. Mounted Combat in LOTRO: some people love it, some people hate it, some people just put up with it. I'd say I put up with it. It's annoying but I can do it if I have to. Fortunately, it looks like it won't be too bad on Beornings as we have a couple of ranged abilities to use.

Back to levelling for a moment. So Tyravorth got to kindred with the Galadhrim in Lothlórien then headed off to Dunland at 65. She followed the epic quest and did the required number of quests in each area for the quest deed then moved on and reached kindred with the Men of Dunland while she was in the Dunbog. Unfortunately, not long after, the people of Tâl Methedras betrayed her to Saruman and she was taken prisoner in Isengard.

Isengard prison garb

She escaped and returned to Tâl Methedras to help rescue the rest of the Rangers and get revenge on her betrayers, but was ultimately outnumbered and had to retreat. Nevertheless, the Rangers were very grateful to her and gave her gifts of cosmetic Ranger armour before sending her off to help their new ally, Prince Théodred, in the Gap of Rohan. She had just finished destroying the Dunlending supplies and defeating White Hand orcs in Cuvnerth when she reached level 74 and was summoned to Rohan. She didn't need to be asked twice!

In East Rohan, she helped the people of Langhold and received Thane Usted's war-steed after he fell in battle. At level 74, the war-steed had only one ability: Slash, a basic short-ranged attack, with a few additional effects depending on which Discipline you choose.

The war-steed disciplines for Beornings match the trait trees - Rohirrim (blue) is tanking, Red Dawn (red) is DPS, and Riddermark (yellow) is healing.

When you get to level 75, your war-steed gets more class-specific abilities (plus general abilities available to all classes):

• Ferocious Roar - a long-ranged attack.
• Bee Swarm - a long ranged attack with a DoT that can apply to 3 targets.
• Execute - a hard-hitting short-ranged attack.
• Recuperate - a heal.

Personally, my experience of mounted combat in LOTRO is less like linear jousting and more like going round and round the roundabout - I find the easiest method is riding rings around my target from a distance and shooting them with a ranged ability until dead. Usually circles (generally easier but boring and sometimes causes motion-sickness or dizziness if the circles are too small), but sometimes figure eights so we can get some straight runs and meet in the middle to use those melee abilities. Note that you do more damage if you can hit them while travelling in a straight line (maximum fury; moving in circles you lose fury and thus damage because you're constantly changing direction). When riding across fields, I tend to steer with my mouse and control speed with W (faster) and S (slower, double-tap to stop suddenly). In combat, when riding in circles I often switch to using A and D or the arrow-keys to turn (but use the mouse for doing figure eights) and the number keys for my abilities. I try not to fight standing still while mounted because you take so much more damage.

Ranged abilities are king for mounted combat, so with the Beorning I will be mainly alternating between Ferocious Roar and Bee Swarm and using Slash or Execute if the target gets close and Recuperate if I'm badly injured.

At Harwick in the Wold, there is a tutorial for mounted combat. I nearly skipped it, but checked the rewards and realised that's where you get your first Legendary War-steed Bridle, so I did it. It can be a bit annoying manouevering around the track, but I found it was easiest at a horse speed of roughly 10 m/s - I could line up for the flags and jumps and had time to realign for the next one. A couple of times I went too fast and missed them and had to go back and do them again slower. For the final part of the tutorial where you have to hit the target at each end of the tilt-yard, tab-target and use the ranged attacks! Makes it a breeze.

For spending my war-horse trait points, I tend to spread my points out - some damage, some defenses, some utility and then  once I've got all the traits I want, I spend the rest in the attributes up the top - mainly Agility for better manouevering, Strength for more damage, and Power to be able to use more abilities.

At level 75, Tyravorth's now got enough class trait points to put some in a second tree. I've been levelling using the blue tree but she's filled out what she wants there and is now putting points in red to do more Thrash damage and Bleed damage and then she'll go for critical strike and melee damage. However, since she's got to East Rohan, she's been trying out the red tree again and putting some points in blue to get extra wrath from Hearten and increase Biting Edge AOE damage and then I'm not sure whether to go for extra Vitality and Slam damage from blue, or maybe increase Vicious Claws damage and get a healing buff when using Slash from the yellow tree. In her blue tree spec, she's doing around 400-600 dps, in her red tree spec, around 800-1200 dps but she still takes a lot of damage when red-specced.

So, my Beorning is finally on the last leg of the levelling journey - her next big milestone will be reaching max level.

I hope to take her through Gondor slowly. Myndariel, my main character, rushed through it and skipped parts because she was already level 100 and just wanted to see the new content quickly then get back to work on her reputation grinds for the World Renowned title. Myndariel also hasn't cared much for getting the best gear, just enough to get through the content. I'd like to get Tyravorth some better gear and get her stats and virtues capped to make her the toughest little bear she can be.

Legendary Titles for Beornings (and Might-based Classes)

So my Beorning just got a new legendary weapon and needs a new title. Which titles would be useful and where do I get them from?

Here are a few suggestions that may be useful for might-based classes. Note that higher tier titles are generally available at higher levels and offer higher stats.

Legendary Weapon Titles

Regarding damage types, in general use Beleriand (good against a range of common enemies), use Westernesse against undead-type mobs and Light or Cries against orcs and goblins.

Tip: If you switch between roles in groups and use the same legendary weapon, Might of Eldar Days is probably the best title to use as it increases both physical and tactical mastery as well as avoidance (mainly parry).

DPS Weapon Titles

Recommended while Levelling:
Conflict of Eldar Days - Beleriand Damage and Physical Mastery.

Recommended for Level 100:
Potency of Eldar Days - Beleriand Damage and Critical Rating.

Guardian of the Deep Halls - Ancient Dwarf Damage (tier 1)
From epic quest Vol 2, Book 1, Chapter 10 or from repeatable quest The Training Hall [54] in Dolven-view, Moria.
Scion of the Drowned Kingdom - Westernesse Damage (tier 1)
From epic quest Vol 2, Book 1, Chapter 10 or from repeatable quest The Morroval-outcasts [57] in Dolven-view, Moria.
Hero of Caras Galadhon - Beleriand Damage + Damage to Orc-kind (tier 1)
From barterer in Caras Galadhon, Lothlórien (requires Ally standing with Galadhrim).
Conflict of Eldar Days I - Beleriand Damage + Physical Mastery (tier 1)
From repeatable quest The Defense of Galtrev [75] in Galtrev, Dunland.
Might of Eldar Days I - Beleriand Damage + Might (tier 1)
From Limlight Gorge Rewards Vendor in Stangard, Great River (requires Ally standing with Heroes of Limlight Gorge).

Conflict of Eldar Days II - Beleriand Damage + Physical Mastery (tier 2)
From repeatable quest Parphád: Order of Magnitude [85] in Hytbold, East Rohan.
Might of Eldar Days II - Beleriand Damage + Might (tier 2)
From Eastemnet Miscellany Quartermaster in towns throughout East Rohan.
Potency of Eldar Days II - Beleriand Damage + Critical Rating (tier 2)
From barterer in Forlaw, Wildermore (requires Kindred standing with People of Wildermore).

Conflict of Eldar Days III - Beleriand Damage + Physical Mastery (tier 3)
From Quickbeam in Derndingle, West Rohan (requires Friend standing with The Ents of Fangorn Forest).
Potency of Eldar Days III - Beleriand Damage + Critical Rating (tier 3)
From Dol Amroth Quartermaster in Dol Amroth, West Gondor (requires Friend standing with Dol Amroth).
From Quartermaster (Pelargir) in major towns in Central Gondor (requires Friend standing with Pelargir).
From Quartermaster (Rangers of Ithilien) in major towns in Eastern Gondor.

Tanking Weapon Titles

Recommended while Levelling:
Grace of Eldar Days - Beleriand Damage and Evade.

Recommended for Level 100:
Keeper of Eldar Days - Beleriand Damage and Critical Defence.

Defender of Eldar Days I - Beleriand Damage + Parry (tier 1)
From epic quest Vol 3, Book 5, Chapter 4 or from Limlight Gorge Rewards Vendor in Stangard, Great River (requires Ally standing with Heroes of Limlight Gorge).
Grace of Eldar Days I - Beleriand Damage + Evade (tier 1)
From Limlight Gorge Rewards Vendor in Stangard, Great River (requires Ally standing with Heroes of Limlight Gorge).
Vitality of Eldar Days I - Beleriand Damage + Vitality (tier 1)
From Limlight Gorge Rewards Vendor in Stangard, Great River (requires Ally standing with Heroes of Limlight Gorge).

Defender of Eldar Days II - Beleriand Damage + Parry (tier 2)
From Eastemnet Miscellany Quartermaster in towns throughout East Rohan.
Grace of Eldar Days II - Beleriand Damage + Evade (tier 2)
From Eastemnet Miscellany Quartermaster in towns throughout East Rohan.
Vitality of Eldar Days II - Beleriand Damage + Vitality (tier 2)
From Eastemnet Miscellany Quartermaster in towns throughout East Rohan.
Keeper of Eldar Days II - Beleriand Damage + Critical Defence (tier 2)
From barterer in Forlaw, Wildermore (requires Kindred standing with People of Wildermore).

Keeper of Eldar Days III - Beleriand Damage + Critical Defence (tier 3)
From Dol Amroth Quartermaster in Dol Amroth, West Gondor (requires Friend standing with Dol Amroth).
From Quartermaster (Pelargir) in major towns in Central Gondor (requires Friend standing with Pelargir).
From Quartermaster (Rangers of Ithilien) in major towns in Eastern Gondor.

Healing Weapon Titles

Recommended while Levelling:
Knowledge of Eldar Days - Beleriand Damage and Tactical Mastery.

Recommended for Level 100:
Potency of Eldar Days - Beleriand Damage and Critical Rating.

Knowledge of Eldar Days I - Beleriand Damage + Tactical Mastery (tier 1)
From repeatable quest The Defense of Galtrev [75] in Galtrev, Dunland.
Might of Eldar Days I - Beleriand Damage + Might (tier 1)
From Limlight Gorge Rewards Vendor in Stangard, Great River (requires Ally standing with Heroes of Limlight Gorge).

Knowledge of Eldar Days II - Beleriand Damage + Tactical Mastery (tier 2)
From repeatable quest Parphád: Order of Magnitude [85] in Hytbold, East Rohan.
Might of Eldar Days II - Beleriand Damage + Might (tier 2)
From Eastemnet Miscellany Quartermaster in towns throughout East Rohan.

Knowledge of Eldar Days III - Beleriand Damage + Tactical Mastery (tier 3)
From Quickbeam in Derndingle, West Rohan (requires Friend standing with The Ents of Fangorn Forest).
Potency of Eldar Days III - Beleriand Damage + Critical Rating (tier 3)
From Dol Amroth Quartermaster in Dol Amroth, West Gondor (requires Friend standing with Dol Amroth).
From Quartermaster (Pelargir) in major towns in Central Gondor (requires Friend standing with Pelargir).
From Quartermaster (Rangers of Ithilien) in major towns in Eastern Gondor.

Legendary Class Item Titles

Class item titles generally provide extra mitigation and a choice of offensive or defensive stats.

Recommended while Levelling:
Ardent Might - Physical Mitigation and Might.
Enduring Might - Tactical Mitigation and Might.

Recommended for Level 100 DPS/Healers:
Ardent Strike - Physical Mitigation and Critical Rating.
Enduring Tactics - Tactical Mitigation and Critical Rating.

Recommended for Level 100 Tanks:
Ardent Shield - Physical Mitigation and Critical Defence.
Enduring Support - Tactical Mitigation and Critical Defence.

Stout Defender - Physical Mitigation (tier 1)
From repeatable quest A Flight of Drakes [54] in Echad Dúnann, Eregion.
Firm Resolve - Tactical Mitigation (tier 1)
From repeatable quest The Training Hall [54] in Dolven-view, Moria.
Ardent Warrior I - Physical Mitigation + Physical Mastery (tier 1)
Enduring Force I - Tactical Mitigation + Physical Mastery (tier 1)
Ardent Counsel I - Physical Mitigation + Tactical Mastery (tier 1)
Enduring Wisdom I - Tactical Mitigation + Tactical Mastery (tier 1)
From repeatable quest The Defense of Galtrev [75] in Galtrev, Dunland.
Ardent Defence I - Physical Mitigation + Parry (tier 1)
Ardent Hope I - Physical Mitigation + Evade (tier 1)
Ardent Strength I - Physical Mitigation + Block (tier 1) *not good for Beorning*
Ardent Vitality I - Physical Mitigation + Vitality (tier 1)
Ardent Might I - Physical Mitigation + Might (tier 1)
Enduring Might I - Tactical Mitigation + Might (tier 1)
From Stangard Rewards Vendor in Stangard, Great River (requires Ally standing with Riders of Stangard)

Steadfast Protector - Physical Mitigation (tier 2)
From repeatable quest The Siege of Barad Morlas [57] in Echad Dúnann, Eregion.
Iron Will - Tactical Mitigation (tier 2)
From repeatable quest The Ghost-Forge [57] in Dolven-view, Moria.
Ardent Warrior II - Physical Mitigation + Physical Mastery (tier 2)
Enduring Force II - Tactical Mitigation + Physical Mastery (tier 2)
Ardent Counsel II - Physical Mitigation + Tactical Mastery (tier 2)
Enduring Wisdom II - Tactical Mitigation + Tactical Mastery (tier 2)
From repeatable quest Parphád: Order of Magnitude [85] in Hytbold, East Rohan.
Ardent Defence II - Physical Mitigation + Parry (tier 2)
Ardent Hope II - Physical Mitigation + Evade (tier 2)
Ardent Strength II - Physical Mitigation + Block (tier 2) *not good for Beorning*
Ardent Vitality II - Physical Mitigation + Vitality (tier 2)
Ardent Might II - Physical Mitigation + Might (tier 2)
Enduring Might II - Tactical Mitigation + Might (tier 2)
From Eastemnet Miscellany Quartermaster in towns throughout East Rohan.

Stalwart Guardian - Physical Mitigation (tier 3)
From repeatable quest Midnight Raid [60] in Echad Dúnann, Eregion or from Legendary Vendors in Enedwaith.
Resolute Heart - Tactical Mitigation (tier 3)
From repeatable quest The Spider-nest [60] in Dolven-view, Moria or from Legendary Vendors in Enedwaith.
Ardent Warrior III - Physical Mitigation + Physical Mastery (tier 3)
Ardent Counsel III - Physical Mitigation + Tactical Mastery (tier 3)
Enduring Force III - Tactical Mitigation + Physical Mastery (tier 3)
Enduring Wisdom III - Tactical Mitigation + Tactical Mastery (tier 3)
From Quickbeam in Derndingle, West Rohan (requires Friend standing with The Ents of Fangorn Forest).
Ardent Strike III - Physical Mitigation + Critical Rating (tier 3)
Ardent Shield III - Physical Mitigation + Critical Defence (tier 3)
Enduring Tactics III - Tactical Mitigation + Critical Rating (tier 3)
Enduring Support III - Tactical Mitigation + Critical Defence (tier 3)
From Dol Amroth Quartermaster in Dol Amroth, West Gondor (requires Friend standing with Dol Amroth).
From Quartermaster (Pelargir) in major towns in Central Gondor (requires Friend standing with Pelargir).
From Quartermaster (Rangers of Ithilien) in major towns in Eastern Gondor.

Level 50 Beorning

Over the Christmas break I have been on a levelling marathon to get my Beorning from level 30 to level 50. She was in Evendim for 10 levels and reached kindred with the Wardens of Annúminas just from questing and there were still more quests to do. She then headed to the Trollshaws and did Books 4 and 5 of the epic quest which took her into the Misty Mountains so she quested there until 45, with a small detour to Angmar to complete the first 6 chapters of Book 6 and unlock access past the Line of Doom, better known as Rammas Deluon.

Saw Grimbeorn at Vindurhal, Misty Mountains

At level 45, she started the quest for a legendary weapon and headed to Echad Dunann in Eregion. In the Walls of Moria instance, she did the orc cave but forgot to do the cave with the worms and lost dwarves. She tried not to, but she could take on three level 50 orcs when necessary as a level 45 blue-line Beorning. Making sure to buff yourself and debuff your enemy, and interrupt whenever possible helps. In general though, she's found a nice rhythm for cycling through her abilities that works for her.

Beorning's first Legendary Great Axe

So she got her legendary great axe equipped (which looked rather dull and ugly so she kept her previous cosmetic weapon displayed) and added an Ancient Dwarf damage title (good for fighting cave-claws in Sarnúr and Moria) then headed off to Goblin-town in the Misty Mountains. She had a bunch of quests there and thought it would be a good place for some quick XP and lots of rep tokens. She reached kindred with the Mathom Society without ever visiting the Shire.

Her weapon needed reforging so it was back to Rivendell and a few more epic quests. I decided not to head straight back to Eregion to face the Watcher, which is what I would normally do, but chose instead to go visit Sarnúr and get some rep with Thorin's Hall to get a nice fast goat for Moria. I found some quests for Sarnúr outside the Blue Stone Garrison in Thorin's Hall. It took me about two hours or so to go from acquaintance to kindred, mostly just running around the Sarnúr Hall and Keep - I avoided the lower levels with the trolls and elites. I also got several slayer deeds done for killing brigands and hendroval in Ered Luin and Dourhands and beasts in Sarnúr.

Sarnúr

She got her goat and fell in love with it - it's saddle blanket matched her outfit and it just seemed more sturdy and practical with its sleeping roll and storage packs than the fine-boned horse she had been given by the Wardens of Annúminas.

Tyravorth and her Thorin's Hall goat

Finally she headed back to Eregion, but not to continue into Moria just yet - she still needed to level her prospecting some more to be able to mine khazâd skarn so she decided to do some questing. Doing some quests would unlock swift travel options to and from the various stable masters which might come in handy some time too. Unfortunately I got a bit bored being sent back to fight the half-orcs and worms around Pembar over and over again, but then I realised I only had a day and a bit to get to level 50 before the New Year so I'd better buckle under and quest harder (I was still level 47).

Pembar - the bane of Eregion questing

She was sent to Echad Dunann and quested near there until she got the Silent and Restless (Advanced) deed done. She found that there were another tier of that deed to do, but her bags were full and her legendary weapon needed reforging so she decided to finally head into Moria, at level 48.

She completed Vol II Book 1 and got her Beorning Carving for the class slot which seems to improve healing and defences as the base stat increases Tactical Healing Rating and she also got a "Bear Form Critical Defence" legacy. Upon reforging the axe she got the "Chance for Attacks to Return Wrath" legacy which sounds very useful. She had to go to Dolven-view to visit the forge-master but fortunately the stable-master had the route unlocked so she could get there quickly, then head back to do the quests at Durin's Threshold.

Old Silvertine City

Level 50 arrived as she entered Old Silvertine City and reported in to the dwarf by the door. She had just finished the quests in the Great Delving and Silvertine Lodes. Taking on the level 50-53 mobs was not a problem and questing went much more quickly and efficiently than in Eregion. She picked up a heap of legendary items for other classes - especially Guardian Belts and Rune-keeper Rune-stones, but no upgrades for Beornings. The quest rewards were nice and they still offer the boxes of Might-based medium armour, but you can't open them until level 50 so now I have a few of those to open and see what gear I can improve.

Reaching level 50 is a milestone. The game changes once you start using legendary weapons. Instead of just levelling yourself, levelling your legendaries becomes a mini-game. Gift of the Valar can also level you to level 50, and for Beornings who choose this, rest easy - you'll have all the important abilities you need. It might take a little while to get used to swapping between man and bear form, but you'll get there.

I'm still enjoying the blue trait tree. I've got 30 trait points in it so far and am working on filling out the Tactical and Physical Mitigation traits so that I don't need so much from gear or virtues. Having two interrupts has been very helpful in bear form, especially when fighting two mobs that both want to stun you. I hate being stunned, and yes I use Shake Free, but it has a 2 minute cooldown so it's better to prevent the stun than rely on that. I save that for when I'm stunned and losing too much health because multiple mobs are attacking and I need to start healing up quick.

I'm still wishing we had a snare instead of a fear. About the only time I use Grisly Cry is when a mob is running away at low health, sometimes it will finish them off. I also don't use Counter and Counterattack as much as I perhaps could. I tend to use it when my healing spells and potions are on cooldown and evasion is my next best option until they're available again. Counterattack doesn't hit very hard, but it adds wrath, which could be useful in bear form to be able to get another Thrash in.

So, at level 50, Beornings are definitely fun to play and can handle most situations. They've got a nice rotation and plenty of tools. I guess the next mission is to reach level 75 and find out what the mounted combat is like.

Beginner's Guide to Beornings

I'm still a beginner Beorning but I'd thought I'd share what I'm learning about the class as there is a shortage of guides and information out there. So I've added a guide "For the Beornings" with a list of articles which so far includes my reviews of level 30 red and blue trait trees and a look at stat priorities and virtues. I'm not sure about the order of stat priorities but I hope the information about how stats affect Beornings may be useful, and if anyone has better suggestions, please let me know!

Level 30 Beorning Review - Blue Line

In my first look at Beornings, levelling in the red trait tree ("The Claw"), I found the class interesting but had a few frustrations with the gameplay. I have recently levelled a second Beorning to level 30 using the blue trait tree ("The Hide"), and found it a much better experience for solo questing.

My blue line Beorning

One of the first things I noticed was that it was so much easier to generate wrath in blue line compared to red line. Having Hearten provide wrath at a low level on a short cooldown was fantastic - now I could reliably generate wrath and have a heal-over-time effect while my character transformed into a bear and she would still be healing and generating wrath for a little while, letting her stay in bear form for longer.

She was a lot less squishy in blue line. My red line beorning would frequently drop below 50% health, but that has been very rare for my blue line beorning. In blue line, she could handle a lot more mobs - she took on 8 wargs in the Lone-lands near where you summon Shadepaw for a quest and survived; she killed one in man form while generating wrath, switched to bear form, killed 3, switched back to man to heal and regenerate wrath, finished off another one, switched back to bear and killed the final 3 and still had about 40% health at the end.

Regarding being less squishy, I think that is largely due to the buffs and debuffs available in the blue line. For man form there is Guarded Attack which increases armour by 10%, while in bear form Claw Swipe reduces the amount of melee, ranged and tactical damage dealt by nearby enemies. Trait points spent in increasing vitality also helps. The red line focuses more on critical strikes and bleed damage rather than survival, although they do have Expose which reduces enemy mitigations by 40%.

Blue line also has slightly more AOE potential, with Biting Edge in man form and Claw Swipe in bear form, while the red line only has Biting Edge and has trait points to make it single target (although why anyone would willingly give up their only AOE attack is difficult to fathom).

The dps was lower and fights took longer in blue line compared to red, but that is to be expected. Out of curiosity to see how big the difference was, I killed ten level 30 Bog-wardens in Harloeg, Lone-lands, in each spec; gear, virtues etc. were the same. Note, my character doesn't have her virtues and gear maxed for her level, so better players would get better results. She used the same type of rotation for both specs - shoot to pull mobs into melee range, use each of her man form attacks to generate wrath then switch to bear form and use Thrash until the mob was dead (usually 1-2 Thrashes). Using Claw Swipe or Bash wasn't necessary and increased the fight duration.

Here's some data:

The red trait tree is good at single target damage while the blue trait tree is good at surviving any situation. Having tried levelling solo with both specs, I'll be sticking with Blue - it feels more like how I imagined Beornings would play; changing forms often and being tough.

Level 30 Beorning Review - Red Line

I've been levelling my little Beorning lately and she has just reached level 30. She is mostly questing solo, with occasional skirmishes for variety, using the red ("The Claw") trait tree. These are some of my thoughts about the class so far.

My Beorning

First Impressions

The introduction in the Vales of Anduin was too short. The zone was practically deserted and I don't think it gave much background lore on what it means to be a Beorning.

So many times I wish I had a proper gap-closer to get into combat without face-pulling. I wish Rush was either targeted so you charge directly at a mob, or that Bee Swarm had no wrath requirement so it could be used to start combat (I know you can use Ferocious Roar to generate wrath even out of combat, but it has a long cooldown). Even having Vigilant Roar taunt mobs in man form would be useful. Using the bow auto-attack helps, but it's not really ideal - I'd prefer to have a specific skill rather than an auto-attack. I'd like to see them make entering combat a better experience.

AOE could be a little frustrating at times. In man form, we had Biting Edge as an AOE move (although it didn't do much damage and the cooldown seems too long), but mostly it was burn them down one by one. Having Hearten to heal and Cleanse to remove debuffs was a life-saver. In bear form, they died pretty quick with Thrash but it required having a lot of wrath built up to get all the mobs down before the wrath ran out. I also seemed to take a lot of damage in bear form and couldn't use Hearten so had to rely on potions. I got Relentless Maul at level 30, which is a bear form AOE, so it might get better.

I spend most of my time in man form because it takes a while to build enough wrath and usually by the time I have, the mob is almost dead so it's not worth changing to bear form. I mostly only change to bear if it's a longer fight against an elite, or I have lots of wrath and several mobs to kill close together. I believe it gets easier to build and maintain wrath later, so this is fine for now.

Bear Form
(demonstrating Relentless Maul)

I spent most of the first 30 levels dual-wielding clubs but recently changed to a two-handed axe. At first, combat felt so much slower with the two-handed axe, like I was waiting longer between abilities, but I was hitting much harder and when I get a crit mobs die fast. I've seen some discussion on the forums about dual-wielding being better for man form and two-hand weapons being better for bear form. I think I'll stick with two-handed weapons for now, but maybe compare weapons again at a higher level.

Gear hasn't been too much of an issue, with quest rewards (the boxes of might-based medium armour are great), crafted jewellery and occasional pieces from the skirmish vendors. I need better weapons though. I also need to work on increasing the right virtues to boost stats and hopefully make her a little less squishy.

Conclusion

Overall, I'm finding the class enjoyable enough that I want to stick with it. I think it will get better at higher levels as we get more abilities and traits.

Pros

• Interesting class with ability to change forms
• Good self-healing in man form
• ST damage is good

Cons

• Takes a lot of damage, particularly in bear form
• AOE damage is not great
• Initiating combat can be frustrating, especially with no wrath

Scenic Tour: Vale of Anduin

I've recently started a little Beorning and so far I'm finding it an interesting class but it doesn't feel fully developed. The starting area was the same. The Vale of Anduin is a pretty little glen but the village seems practically deserted and the introductory experience was so short that you don't really get to find out what it means to be a Beorning. You get sent on your way to Archet and instead of giving you quests to level up and learn your class and history, you're just automatically made level 5 - what a shortcut!

The entrance to the Vale of Anduin

Carrock, with the stairs built by Beorn

Who lives here? What are other Beorning like?

Sigh. Home alone.