Much to my chagrin, I’ve not had a lot of time to play LotRO in recent months. At least not as much time as I used to have. When I do log in, it’s been to spend time with my Rune-keeper, Risalin.
I finally reached Level 20 the other day. This took longer than it needed to, largely because I found myself compelled to spend time running about the Shire completing deeds. I found all of the farms and electrocuted more beasts than I could probably count.
Last I wrote, I was only Level 12. 8 levels later, Risalin has found himself more powerful and capable of more skills.
It’s certainly arguable that the Rune-keeper is underpowered in terms of attack power. Turbine has admitted this and the class is getting what sound to be decent buffs for the upcoming Book 7 update. That said, it’s not been much of an issue for me thus far, but it can be difficult to do things alone. Many of the Rune-keepers attacks stack and this is their real strength, in my opinion. You can lay many attacks on an enemy that build up and finally take it out. The class also has a dedicated stun and other abilities stun or slow down enemies. I find myself changing targets as needed to manage this and keep as much damage off of me as possible.
Part of the difficulty is the dual nature of the class. It’s similar in nature to Greenskin Shamans in Warhammer Online in a basic sense, but instead of attacks raising your healing, your attacks raise your attack power. As it gets higher, you’re unable to use some of your better healing skills. This is probably well known to many by now, but it bears repeating. It makes it difficult to reverse your attunement so that you can heal after attacking for a while. There are skills that neutralize your attunement, which can be lifesavers … but often I find myself using these beforehand simply because they provide useful benefits (one restores some Power, for example).
In some ways this is the fun aspect of the class. It’s not simple to play because while you can cover multiple angles, you can’t cover them well all at once. You need to predict where things are going during a tough fight almost constantly. I guess that’s not for everyone, but it’s what keeps me coming back to it.
Risalin has acquired several skills since my last post, which I’ll cover below by category.
Chill of Winter
Essence of Winter: Essence of Winter is a favorite of mine because its visual effect is similar to freezing your foe in ice and then hitting them with a hammer. It causes decent damage, lowers your enemy’s incoming healing and raises your enemy’s power cost.
Wrath of Flame
Writ of Fire: Writ of Fire has a notably shorter induction time than Fiery Ridicule. I tend to use Fiery Ridicule as an opener only because of this, so Writ of Fire has become my main fire attack once the battle has started. Like many Rune-keeper skills it can be stacked to increase damage and refresh its duration.
Fury of Storm
Ceaseless Argument: Another lightning-based attack for the Rune-keeper. This one raises all Fury of Storm damage by 10% and lowers all of its costs by 10%. It requires you to have 6 battle attunements, so it’s not something you’ll be using as an opener.
The Middle Path
Self-motivation: This skill restores a good amount of Power to your Rune-keeper and attunes 3 notches back to neutral. It can be a great way to switch paths after a steady bout of attacking or healing. Definitely a useful ability.
Nothing Truly Ends: This skill was a bit of a surprise for me, as I really haven’t looked into the Rune-keepers upcoming skills until they could be trained. It brings a target back to life out of combat with 20% Morale and 0 Power.
Words of Grace
Writ of Health: Writ of Health adds to the Rune-keepers stackable healing abilities. It restores morale over time. Stacking it raises its strength and refreshes its duration. It requires 3 healing attunement, and is a good followup to Mending Verse.
I’m still enjoying the class at this point. As I mentioned, lately I’ve largely been concentrating on deeds. It really remains to be seen how easily I can tackle Level 20 content with my Rune-keeper. Still, even after all of this time the class still remains interesting and challenging. I am greatly looking forward to comparing how I stack up before and after Book 7’s changes.
I have to say I am happy that they’ll be toning down the lightning sound effects. It’s far more annoying when other Rune-keepers are the ones making all of the racket, but it’s still a bit much either way.
