Scenic Tour: Before the Shadow

Before the Shadow came out with Update 34 in November 2022 and adds a new starting experience for level 1-32 characters in new regions Swanfleet and Cardolan. There are four epic quest books set before events in the Shadow of Angmar (the original base game) and there are new features for higher level players as well, including a skirmish, a 6-person dungeon and a new delving system (a scalable difficulty option for some missions with special bonus rewards).

Swanfleet

I decided to create a female stout-axe dwarf brawler (since both stout-axe dwarves as a race and brawlers are fairly new as well) to try out this area.

Thordena in the starting village of Mossward

 

The tutorial started off with a burning village under attack and then requests for your aid helping the villagers. One brawler issue I ran into though was that I received several weapons as a quest reward - a 1H sword, a 2H sword, a 1H axe and battle-gauntlets. I was able to equip the axe or the battle-gauntlets but I couldn't use any of my brawler abilities while wielding the axe. Fortunately I didn't sell the gauntlets! 

I discovered a Treasure Cache in the Howlingstones I could open at level 5 and was pleasantly surprised it actually had some nice gear in it - for level 11 and level 15. This is a great improvement on the treasure caches in other zones that require level 90 to open and contain only junk! Now exploring will be more worthwhile!

A Little Extra Steed (32%) from "A Little Extra Never Hurts - Part 2"

Speaking of exploring, Swanfleet is a large open zone with remote villages from many different cultures and lots of hills and valleys with scenic vistas. You really need a mount to get around (you can get the riding skill and a mount for free by doing the tutorial quest "A Little Extra Never Hurts - Part 2"), but there are also stablemasters in each village which helps. 

Mossward - a settlement of Men

Clegur - a settlement of Hobbits

Lhan Garan - a settlement of Dunlendings

Caras Gelebren - Elven ruins

One thing that seemed difficult to find was a Master of Apprentices who could teach you crafting vocations - usually you get an obvious quest at level 5 to visit the trainer in the starting village. Instead, following the Prologue quest chain, I went from Mossward to Clegur to Glyn Helyg to Lintrev, then Book 1 took me to Lhan Garan at level 12 where I finally found the trainer. Nearby Caras Gelebren is a great place for apprentice scholars to find relics amongst the ruins (also lots of wooden chests containing low level crafting ingredients). Tier 1 resources in general are fairly abundant here.

The main story in Swanfleet is quite interesting and the background music in the zone is fantastic and very enjoyable to listen to. By following Book 1 of Before the Shadow I finished most of the deeds in the zone and reached level 17 (quests in Swanfleet are designed for level 1-15). I liked how the Book quests take you back to Mossward where you started, ready to head into Cardolan to continue the journey. I'm curious to learn what will happen next.

Cardolan

Thordena got a makeover in the Mossward blacksmith shop before leaving for Cardolan. Silver, gold and steel blue, and she's got her backpack and pickaxe for collecting shiny ore along the way (she's an armourer). No mistaking her for anything but a metal-loving dwarf, although even I would mistake her for a male dwarf. Maybe one day she'll wear pink but I think she would be proud that people see her as just as strong and capable as her brothers-in-arms.

Thordena preparing for Cardolan

She entered Cardolan by way of Tharbad, an orc-infested ruin of a bridge, and made some interesting new acquaintances. As a result, I think it is better if new players play through the original main story first (i.e. Shire/Ered Luin/Bree-land and beyond - possibly up to at least level 105) before levelling through Swanfleet and Cardolan on another character because there are spoilers for later events in the game.

Tharbad

Herne (main town)

Cardolan looks so pretty when it's not raining. The meadows are blooming with colourful flowers, lakes and rivers glitter in the sun, there are ruins dotted all over the landscape that just beg to be explored and the views stretch so far it gives a feeling of freedom. It would be wonderful to go for a gallop on a war-steed across those fields, leaping over the rocky outcrops like the nimble goats!

Sedgemead

Tyrn Gorthad

 

On the other hand, Tyrn Gorthad looks horrible in any weather - like the Barrow-downs of Bree-land, or the Fields of Fornost in the North Downs.

While doing the quests in the Southern Old Forest (I was going to skip them because they seemed so far out of the way, but I'm glad I did them, there's a good story there), I swam along the Brandywine River between Bree-land and Cardolan and discovered the entrance to the Woe of the Willow instance (which is part of the Wildwoods quest pack). It was pretty easy but not very interesting, and doing it solo, all I got was some medallions and rep tokens.

Entrance to Woe of the Willow instance (1-3 players, lvl 20-140)

The quests also took me into the Sarch Vorn dungeon in Cardolan. The final boss fight was a good challenge - make sure to remove corruptions and debuffs and run away to heal up. It finished off that story-line and set me back on the path towards my next goal: Caranost.

Entrance to Sarch Vorn (1-6 players, lvl 20-140)

In Sírlond, the friendly camp near orc-infested Caranost, I found the Quartermaster for the Dúnedain of Cardolan. I was able to get the Return to Swanfleet and Return to Cardolan travel skills. They also have a bunch of housing decorations available.

The red flowers all over the zone took on a new meaning after learning about the Battle of the Deadmount. The main story in Cardolan is quite interesting and helps fill in some lore. I was level 30 when I finished the quests in Cardolan and I was recommended to continue questing in North Downs or Lone-lands until I reached level 32 then I can continue Book 4 of Before the Shadow. I had almost completed the Deeds of Cardolan so I finished that first. Here's a tip for completing the Slayer of Cardolan:

• Orcs - Tharbad, Caranost
• Half-orcs - Nímbarth, Amon Firn
  
• Goblins - Haudh Nirui, Hove Farm
  
• Dead - Tyrn Gorthad, Dol Ernil, Amon Firn

Steed of Cardolan's Dawn

Completing the Deeds of Cardolan earned me a nice mount: Steed of Cardolan's Dawn!

I followed Halbarad to North Downs to continue helping the Rangers near Esteldín. When I reached level 32 I got a quest to talk to Candaith near Weathertop in the Lone-lands. He sent me to Rivendell. And there, the Before the Shadow story ends as Elrond says thanks for the news, now please continue to protect Middle Earth.

You can join back into the main Epic Quest at Book 4 (recommended level 37) or there is also an option to join the Further Adventures of Elladin and Elrohir (Elrond's sons) on a mission to investigate the Black Riders. The Further Adventures scales with level but ends up in Lothlórien. Or, you could go questing in Evendim or the Trollshaws. I've enjoyed this alternate levelling path through Swanfleet and Cardolan and the new lore I've learnt so I'll continue with the Further Adventures and see what new stories await me there.

Conclusion

When they first announced the Before the Shadows mini-expansion I wasn't really interested (mostly because the cost seemed high for a "mini" expansion) even though it was aimed at players like me who have levelled up lots of characters through the original starting zones. I'm glad I finally tried it because it was really good! It had a great story, some interesting zones, some nice rewards and fairly good pacing - I was close to the target level for all the quests and didn't feel like I was running out of things to do or leaving things undone to keep up with the main story. The levels flew by and the ending leads you back into the main game quite nicely as well.

One aspect of Before the Shadow I didn't try was the Delvings but from what I understand it involves repeating instances over and over again with different/more difficult challenges each time. I find repeating instances boring, so that's not for me, but I hope other people enjoy it.

Overall, I think Before the Shadow is a great prequel to the main story and is a good option for veteran players levelling alts, but not recommended for new players.

Introducing the Brawler: Level 1-20

The brawler is a melee class that was added in Update 30.3 In October 2021. It costs 1000 LOTRO Points to unlock.

All I knew about the brawler class before I tried it was that they use fist weapons and some people on Reddit said they were good at end-game raids. I like trying out all the classes, so here I will record my experience levelling a brawler from level 1 to level 20, talking about skills, specs and anything else that might be useful to know.

Level 1 Woman Brawler

Here's our brand new woman brawler and some information about her:

• Wears heavy armour
• Wields battle-gauntlets
• Primary stat is Might
• Uses Mettle as a resource - some skills build up Mettle and others spend it
• Starting abilities are Low Strike (a melee attack that builds up Mettle and sets up the target to receive a Vulnerable debuff), Dextrous Hook (a melee attack that builds up Mettle and sets up the target to take extra damage) and Overhand Smash (a hard-hitting melee finishing attack that costs Mettle).

In the introduction, I was sent to talk with a few people in the starting area to find out about the current situation, then promptly told to visit the brawler trainer and practice using my skills on a training dummy. As a result, I got some better battle-gauntlets. At level 4, I earned my first new skill: Sinister Cross, a melee attack that builds up Mettle and sets up your character to receive a higher tier of the Innate Strength buff. At level 5 I gained some passive skills, allowing me to use fiddles or bassoons as musical instruments. We get a ranged skill at level 6 called Hurl Object, which involves throwing a mug at your target and also slows their movement speed.

Also at level 6, you can choose one out of two specialisations:

• Blue = The Fulcrum - described as a tanking spec and offers some taunts and increased mitigations as well as a morale-bubble.
• Red = The Maelstrom - the DPS spec which increases damage.
• Yellow = The Fundament  - can't be specialised in, but offers some extra utility (like AOE and group buffs).

I chose Red and gained Shattering Fist (a finisher that decreases target armour) and Pummel (a channelled finishing skill that deals damage every second for 3 seconds). At level 7 you get your first trait point that you can spend on your chosen specialisation. You get a new trait point every odd level.

After completing the introduction, don't forget to check your mail for the adventurer's gift. It contains several useful items and starts a couple of quests, including one that rewards 5 Tokens of Salutations which can be traded with the Barterer for a pocket item that increases run speed plus some health or power potions. The run speed buff can be quite helpful, especially if you don't have a mount.

I did the quests to gain a crafting vocation and chose Armsman so I can be a Weaponsmith and make my own battle-gauntlets. Then I went back to questing and reached level 8 and got the Get Serious skill which gives a +25% damage buff for 6 seconds on a 30 second cooldown. That will be very nice when fighting bosses and elite mobs! 

At level 10 we got a 3-target melee finisher called Backhand Clout. At level 12 we got a single-target melee finisher, Knee Strike, which also slows target movement speed. At level 15 we get another single-target melee finisher, Helm-crusher, which also stuns the target. We also received a quest to visit the Brawler trainer at the Bree Jail. He says Brawlers have a reputation for getting into trouble but he knows someone who could use a Brawler's help to get out of trouble; Derwent Bindweed has been threatened and bullied and needs someone to help him stand up to the thugs so they'll leave him and his family alone.

Rough Fellows shouldn't mess with a Brawler!

Bindweed was very grateful for the assistance and I returned to the Brawler trainer and received some nice battle-gauntlets and the title of "Good Puncher" as a reward.

The next skill became available at level 18. Weather Blows is a buff that reduces damage taken for 15 seconds and provides a large heal. I was in the middle of fighting three level 21 elite mobs in the Southern Barrow-Downs when I hit level 20. I got the Undying title and 4 new skills: Slip Free (removes crowd control - this would have been helpful when Barrow-Bats kept stunning me), Helm's Hammer (a single-target melee attack that removes corruptions), Fulgurant Strike (a single-target melee attack that interrupts spells) and Ignore Pain (removes debuffs such as poison - another skill I really wanted while fighting Noxious Barrow-Wights!).

I headed back to town and visited the Skirmish Camp to see if I could upgrade any gear. Here's how her stats look now at level 20:

Level 20 Woman Brawler

 

I still hadn't tried out Blue spec, so I went back to the Barrow-Downs and did a few more quests in Blue spec. In Blue spec, I had a few new skills: Come at Me (a multi-target taunt), Iron Will (a buff similar to Weather Blows that reduces damage taken more but doesn't give the heal), and Joy of Battle: Heal (a buff that causes your outgoing attacks to also heal you for 15 seconds, on a 3 minute cooldown).

Then I headed to the Training Hall in Bree and tested both Red and Blue specs' DPS with no consumable buffs active over 3 minutes or until I ran out of power, and took a screenshot at the end to eliminate the effects of DoTs that kept going after I stopped attacking. I repeated this three times and recorded the best result below. For Virtues, I had 8 ranks in both Zeal and Confidence. For traits, in the Blue spec I had points in Vitality Increase and Parry Chance, while in the Red spec I had points in Setup Attack Damage and Dextrous Hook Training.

My rotation was basically use my three mettle builders, then use Get Serious if it was off cooldown, then use a mettle spender which was off cooldown, then rinse and repeat.

 

Here are my DPS results (collected with the CombatAnalysis plugin):

Statistics	Blue Spec (Tank)	Red Spec (DPS)
Total Damage	56041	69804
Time	1 min 33.4 sec	1 min 33.8 sec
Avg DPS	599.9	744.4
Min Hit	57	66
Avg Hit	397.5	495.1
Max Hit	2565	3454
Attacks	144	141
Crit Strikes (%)	34 (23.6%)	34 (24.1%)
Power (%)	10/1000 (1%)	8/1000 (0.8%)
Skill Priorities	Low Strike Sinister Cross Dextrous Hook Get Serious Overhand Smash Knee Strike Helm-crusher	Low Strike Sinister Cross Dextrous Hook Get Serious Shattering Fist Overhand Smash Knee Strike

 

In both specs, I ran out of power after about 90 seconds. Brawlers have great burst damage but would need to slow down or get some power regen from somewhere during a long fight. The DPS of both specs is crazy high compared to other classes at level 20 (for example, based on my studies, red spec Hunter with 213 DPS was the next best).

 

General Observations

It felt a lot like playing a burglar without stealth. Both burglar and brawler are melee single target specialists with limited ranged and AOE abilities. Both burglars and brawlers have several target debuffs to use, but brawlers use less damage-over-time abilities.

Most mobs died in 1-3 hits. Some named elites in the Barrow-Downs took 4 hits. Red spec has a skill called Pummel and I tried using it but mobs died before I finished channelling so it wasn't worthwhile. I rarely needed to use Hurl Object on fleeing targets because they were usually affected by Knee-Strike which slows run-speed, so I could finish them off with an auto-attack before they could get away.

 

Definitely need some more healing abilities. I was getting stunned and dazed and poisoned in the Barrow-Downs and was helpless while mobs attacked and my health plummeted and I relied on healing potions to stay alive. Finally getting a cleanse and a crowd-control breaker helps.

It seems that brawlers have a lot of stacking passive buffs to damage. For example, each point of mettle gives an extra +3% melee damage and you can have 9 points (+27% melee damage!). I wouldn't be surprised if those passive buffs get nerfed/reduced in the future to bring DPS more in line with other classes.

Specialisations

There didn't seem to be a lot of difference in play style while questing between red and blue specs. They both use more-or-less the same abilities. For leveling and soloing I would recommend Red because it does more damage and Blue doesn't really offer any benefits until high level. Is Blue good in groups? I don't know - maybe at higher levels when they have more skills and traits? This is definitely a class I want to level up and see what else it has in the toolbox. Also, there seems to be a few interesting traits locked behind the Yellow tree which would be nice to have.

Stats

• Might - your main stat that increases your damage
• Critical Strike - increases your damage
• Evade and Parry - gives bonus Critical Rating and Finesse respectively in the Blue spec, in Red spec, can automatically deal damage on evade and parry
• Mitigations and Resistances - reduces damage taken
• Morale and Vitality - bigger health pool increases survivability

These stats should help make the levelling process a bit easier in the beginning. Look for heavy armour or jewellery with Might and Critical Rating, Morale or Vitality. If a piece of gear has Fate on it, it will also increase your critical strike chance. You might not find much Evade on gear yet, but increasing Agility also increases your Evade chance. The best place to get Mitigations and Resistances at low levels is probably from virtues.

 

Virtues

Before you gained levels of Virtues by completing specific deeds, now you can choose which Virtues to level. Here are my recommendations for Brawlers:

• Zeal - gives might, physical mastery and critical rating plus extra physical mastery
  
• Confidence - gives critical rating, finesse and evade plus extra physical mastery
• Valour - gives physical mastery, finesse and critical rating, plus extra physical mastery
• Innocence - gives physical mitigation, resistance and tactical mitigation, plus extra morale
• Compassion - gives physical mitigation, tactical mitigation and armour, plus extra morale

 

Pros of the Brawler Class

• High single-target DPS
• Unique play-style punching mobs with fists instead of using weapons

Cons of the Brawler Class

• Limited ranged and AOE abilities
• Limited healing abilities

I hope this has been helpful. Feel free to leave any questions or advice for new brawlers in the comments below.