Raedwulf
05 Jul 2008, 13:04
Loremasters
You can argue endlessly about which of Burglar and Loremaster is the more versatile. The truth is, I suspect, that such an argument is as redundant as arguing which out of the Hunter & Champion does more damage. The broad brush is that the pair of classes are designed with the same purpose in mind, the difference is in the details. So let's say that the Loremaster is the other all-rounder, good at an awful lot of things, misunderstood by non-players, under-rated, and, when played well, possibly THE most important class in any fellowship or raid! If you've ever struggled in a particular quest or fight, doing it with a LM or BRG that knows what they're about will be a real eye-opener, I promise.
What follows is now the Fifth Edition post-Isengard run-down of everything. Whilst the original was written by me, & the 2nd Ed. was mostly my revisions along with other valuable contributions (principally Notiane), the changes in the 3rd Ed. owe much more to the work of Notiane than ere; the 4th Ed. was back to me tweaking things again, and so's the 5th, unless someone else chips in. I've split it into sections to make it a little easier to edit in future and, at the moment it is still a revision in progress. Where any definite figures are mentioned, they are for the level cap (currently 75). Whilst it's obviously targetted primarily at LM's or those thinking of playing one, we hope it will also be useful to anyone else to read it in detail. If you understand what the class can do, you will understand better how what you do will help or hinder them and yourselves!
Skills
Oooooo! Lots & lots & lots of skills! Many of them useful, too, though some are more specialised than others. Many of them can also be improved upon either by traits or LI Legacies, or by the effects of equipping several in the same trait-set. A few of these effects are mentioned directly below, otherwise see the sections on traits & trait-sets, and on Legendary Items. We'll deal with them in groups, as this probably makes most sense; pets first, since they're one of the more obvious manifestations of the class. And this is where Mistress Notiane steps in...
Pets
Lots of skills indeed. Taking the pets first makes sense, as I think many players (even some loremasters) do not fully understand their usefulness. The loremaster is arguably the most powerful class. Without his pet, he is not. Whatever pet you prefer, they all have some nice skills that, if used wisely, can go far, even to preventing wipes. If you have completed the two Class Quests in Carn Dum & Urugarth, you will have a maximum of 7 available. The eagle comes by right of that just mentioned; the raven, bear, lynx, & sabretooth tiger come as you rise in your profession; the bog-lurker is the capstone Legendary trait for the Keeper of Animals trait set. As of ROI, we now also have the ludicrous & lore-breaking spirit, which is basically a Limrafn / Elhudan / Will o' the Wisp
The Bear: our personal tank. It has a trait (Hardy Bear) and is the only pet that can eat. Oats and honey, mostly. The trait I would forget about, it's a waste of space in group play, although some specific situations may justify even that. He has three skills (like all pets)
1. Roaring Challenge, target is forced to attack the bear for ten seconds, can easily be used to take a mob off a minstrel, yourself, or give a tank a few seconds to recover.
2. Shatter Arms, a damaging attack that gives +10% incoming melee and +10% incoming ranged damage. Not to be overlooked as it is a valuable debuff
3. Bear Hug, a damaging attack that applies a 3 second stun
Angrenel says: I've never liked the bear, he's bloody useless. He's remains appallingly bad at actually following you & his special attacks are not particularly useful, not least because they're all on 60-70s cd. Notiane has said that he’s useful when you’re still levelling, especially if you’ve oat/honey pots available & the trait loaded. Before the lynx is available, perhaps, if you’re trying to use your pet as a tank, but I otherwise remain unconvinced. There do seem to be some tactical uses for him to act as such, but on the whole, the trait-slot can be better used, you may not have the pots, & the raven’s just all-round better.
I know there are LMs who successfully use him as a tank, but I've been trying it in places in Moria & it's simply not worthwhile in my opinion. I know I'm an aggressive beggar, but it just takes too long to kill anything this way. He may be useful for picking up an add, but if you're in such desperate straits that him tanking something is going to save you, you're probably in such desperate straits that you're going to die anyway! Except for the Tiger, every other pet is more useful in almost every situation.
The Lynx: our personal dps machine. A stealthy pet, in solo play one of the obvious choices, its initial (stealth) attack is enough for it to take and hold aggro for quite a while, but the lynx is rather squishy. Its skills:
1. Surprise Attack, a damaging that can only be done from stealth, high crit. chance, high damage
2. Feral Strike, a damaging AoE, attack in a 90 degree arc, max 3 targets
3. Slashing Claws, another AoE, 180 degree arc, max 5 targets
Angrenel says: Agreed. The lynx is useful, particularly when solo, but you will have to work a bit to keep it alive if you're going to use it as a tank. Whilst killing speed is much faster than the bear, your healing isn't any quicker, making it a bit vulnerable. Put it another way - how many capped LMs do you see with one? Not a lot...
The Raven: in groups often the pet of choice. It has an aura that grants a shadow mitigation bonus to all the fellowship, often enough to justify choosing this pet. His skills:
1. Benediction of the Raven, a debuff to target's fire mitigation (-1170 Fire defence). Most of the loremaster's damaging skills are fire based, dps Runekeepers are often (and if grouped with a decent LM should be) fire traited, and hunters can apply (and if grouped with the Raven, again should) fire-oil. This skill can be used as follows: Target the enemy, click the skill (wait for it to catch) and put the raven on passive again. This way it does not attract aggro, and the bird never has to go into danger. Useful in places you want the pet around for its shadow mitigation.
2. Distraction, a 50% debuff to targets ranged damage, along with a +10% miss chance. Root pull, stun the archer, stun fails... You know the minstrel is just one heal away from being shot at. Wind lore (another 50% ranged damage debuff) and send in the raven with distraction. The archer will now (most likely) target the raven and if he doesn't, he is down to 25% damage. It is now a channeled skill that lasts 15s, and will also do 4 pulses for @500 base light damage (in total).
3. Evasion, a buff to the pet's evasive ability and armour, usually enough to keep itself alive at least a little longer. These last two skills make this pet very useful in tanking ranged mobs. Of course, we have BF to take care of them, but stun pull one, send in the raven on another, have your party deal with the melee, and you just bought yourself more than enough time to set up a double perma-mezz on two targets, the best bit being that if that second one wakes up, it will target the raven, not you.
Angrenel says: Lastly, he used to be the pet that would give you the most flanking maneuvers (more on that under the skills concerned). He is now third, behind lurker & eagle, but he still flanks plenty enough & remains a useful companion at all times. The shadow mitigation isn't as useful as it once was, but in the right place... No longer my favoured pet, but certainly the best of those that don't require a Legendary trait equipped.
The Eagle: My personal favorite before Moria, a nice 60 iCPR buff for your group, good skills, but it has drawbacks. It takes up a legendary trait spot, where quite often March of the Ents, Noble Savage or one of the capstone traits are better choices. Should you even think of taking out Sword & Staff... Don't! (but this isn't the trait chapter); and then there are eagles named ScreenBlocker, Visionimpaired and suchlike... says it all really. Working the Stay and Follow commands into your routine is a must with this pet. Its skills:
1. Fan the Flames, a damaging skill that removes Burning Embers pulses (BE has to be active on target) and fears that target. Nice additional CC, although slightly harder to use because of having to apply BE first.
2. Beak Rend, a skill that draws 283 morale from up to 3 targets and returns it to the eagle. Nice heal if the eagle is low on morale, but potentially draws more aggro to it
3. Sacrifice, a self ress. You die, and if the eagle is in combat it will attempt to ress you. Obviously a lifesaver. If you ever notice a loremaster going down in morale, pumping his last power to those needing it most and his eagle suddenly leaving its assigned position (stay & follow commands, remember), chances are you see a loremaster saving your group.
Angrenel says: I used to be rather against the Eagle. He's an annoying presence in the ranged portion of a fellowship / raid because he's sizeable & usually flapping right in the middle of your screen, obstructing your view, and this is still true. If you've 2 or 3 LM's flying these things, you won't be able to see a bloody thing. And I still don't think that whole 60 pts per minute of iCPR is especially significant to a LM, & doesn't really help anyone else that much either - that's what you are there for.
But he does flank even more than the raven (which means "a lot") & has one skill we forgot to mention in the earliest drafts - he Interrupts. Which is great, because it means you usually don't have any worries about being in mid-induction, or facing something (such as a boss mob) that is immune to all of your interrupts (which are all mezzes / stuns). It's still a pain having to slot the Legendary, but these days he is generally my pet of choice, partly because I seem to be the lone LM in raids a lot of the time (suddenly that +60 iCPR is more attractive), partly for the Interrupts (especially when soloing), partly for the rise (and a lot because I usually do not have enough reason to slot a capstone trait, so I have the slot available for the eagle).
The Sabretooth Tiger: Still haven't found out why I would pick this one over others. Its role is AoE damage, though it isn't noticeably better than our lynx, and it can apply a frost damage mitigation debuff. This latter might be useful next to an icy Rune Keeper, but I haven't tested or even tried that yet. I did play around with the tiger the first few levels after getting the skill, but like I said, it failed to impress me. His skills:
1. Frostbite, frost damage attack, along with a -1170 frost defence debuff, max 3 targets in a frontal arch
2. Fury of Winter, moderate age, frontal arc, max 3 targets. Also has increased citical magnitude, & will apply Flanked on a crit.
3. Throat Slash, small damage, frontal arc, max 3 targets.
Angrenel says: One place I've found the tiger useful - swarm mobs with stuns & interrupts e.g. bats. As an LM, they are a major pain in the neck, preventing you doing almost everything. Because the tiger's basic attacks are AoE, he's very good at picking them up. The other point of note is the third attack. If the mob is flanked, this has a chance of stunning them & opening a Fellowship Maneuver. A bit chancy with the second attack, but I wonder whether it has to be your own Flank? If not, 2 LMs working together, with one using raven, eagle, or, especially, the lurker, could generate an awful lot of FSMs...
The Bog Lurker. It only has one drawback - you need 5 traits from the Keeper of Animals line, plus the Capstone Legendary trait to use this pet. Fortunately, this trait line has many useful group play traits. Healer, Light of Hope, PAAI, to name a few. This pet is amazing. It survives a 3 mob onslaught long enough for me to take down a 4th, I had it tank a SR troll, dealing with a Globsnaga and a spider that spawned while taking on said troll. Adds were gone, Ugly was still standing (barely, but a mez and a heal later we were both ready to go at the troll again) This pet out-damages all others (sustainable dps, burst dps is for the lynx); flanks more than all the others (about 4 times a minute) which really helps your survivability, (SoB:Wizardry and SoB:Wizards Fire) and your dps (traited Staff Strike); and on top of all that has his skills. Solo, I right-click the first two, so he uses them when ever he can, leaving the last one alone (the fm chance will give a 6 second stun, instead of the fm) as we have more reliable stuns. In a group, I choose between the first two, the first without hunter, the second with, and try to time the third like a burglar, except a burglar must wait for critical situations, whereas I can go whenever cd expires and the target isn't stun immune.
1. Angry Bees, damage + DoT . Not much to be said. Does moderate damage (about 250 common + 250 DoT (5 x 50) at L60), enough to be used whenever it's up.
2. Root Strike, damage and a + 5% Incoming Ranged Critical Chance, for 30 sec. on a 30 sec. cooldown. Got a hunter fighting alongside? He'll love you for putting this on auto-cue.
3. Bursting Root, damage and a 20% chance of starting a fellowship manouvre
Angrenel says: I bow to Noti's expertise here. I have tried the lurker out, but not very much and almost entirely solo. I wasn't too convinced about it, but in fairness I'm not one for tanking with pets. As you may have gathered! What's more to the point is the major stumbling block of 5 blue-line traits. I simply don't like having to drop that many from the other sets, & don't necessarily agree with Noti about the usefulness of blue-line traits (3 yes, 5 no). Therefore I can't use it to get practiced with it.
The Spirit As you might guess, the jaundiced remarks about lore-breaking came from Angrenel, and it's his writing you now read. I have not really tried this pet out. It's so goddamn bloody stupid, I can't bring myself to run around with this following me. The Bog Lurker was bad enough, but this! Anyway, basically as something classified as The Dead it is of course entirely logical that the Spirit is a... healer... :? It might actually be useful in a group, especially if you're short a healer. I've seen one or two of these around, but whether people are using them because they're useful, or whether it's just for novelty value...
1. Flashing Flank, causes the enemy to become flanked. You know what your flanks are for, right?
2. Nature's Light, coats the enemy in light. Returns 5% of any damage inflicted on the mob; not just you, any of your allies that hit the enemy also get 5% of their damage returned.
3. Nature's Gift, sacrifices the pet to give a heal to you & all allies - 10% of max morale.
The Use of Pets
There is a large difference between solo and group play. Since this is a raid forum, I'll mostly (try to) cover the group thing, and largely ignore solo. You will "always" have your pet passive, to avoid having it attack at random. You may, at times, want it be it in guard mode, just to draw aggro away from yourself, so that you're free to cast, rather then be interrupted, but be careful with this. The Bog lurker can attack from range, but all other pets will get close, and if they decide to fly (or run) to an archer, chances are they draw attention from mobs that would have otherwise ignored you. Silly loremasters not telling their pet to remain passive are the one reason people yell "dismiss pet". As stated earlier, with pet we rule, without we're average, don't give people reason to go without a companion.
Angrenel says: Wise words! If Noti has covered grouped pets, I ought to do solo, but in truth, I'm pretty unsubtle. I hit things & the pet does what it does. If you've the lynx, send it on the stealth attack before you do anything. With the raven, I usually use Gust of Wind followed by Rising Dawn, or RD first, depending on the range. That will trigger the raven to attack. Mine has BotR on default, so that it will always use it when it can. Burning Embers is used immediately after the raven puts it on (which will be before the mob recovers from the RD stun); after that just get on with killing...
The Choice of Pets
That largely depends on what you are going to do and what classes you travel with. The Bog-lurker is a choice you can hardly go wrong with, but is not always available due to trait requirements. Are you in a place with heavy shadow damage? Raven, obviously, and he would be my second overall choice, because of the Fire mit. and ranged damage debuff. Are you in a group with a minstrel, captain, guardian, champ and burglar? That fire mit. debuff benefits you, but no one else; the bear's armour rend may well be more useful (except that there's the CHM.. ;) - Ang). He can also be used to tank, certainly if you brought some Oats and Honey, although he's obviously not a substitute for a guardian or warden. Group struggling with power all the time? I mentioned the drawbacks, but slot the eagle trait. Lynx and Sabertooth I wouldn't use in groups, but I reckon even they serve some purpose, especially in the 3 man instances. And there's *sigh* the spirit if you're short on healing - Ang.
Healing
You have no less than 7 healing skills. Inner Flame, it must said, is fairly useless. The only situation I have found this to be otherwise is if you are perilously low on health with a single powerful enemy against you. If you can keep that mob stunned, you can use this to give yourself & your pet an average 700 health back. The only other scenario is if you can get your pet to tank one mob, whilst keeping any others rooted / stunned. In any other situation, either the mob will go down before you do & you heal quicker out of combat than with this; or someone else will heal you; or there is at least one mob hitting you so you can't use it anyway! Back from the Brink is your out of combat ress. Useful if there's no minstrel around, but don't charge in with it if there is! The minstrel may well still have a ress deed to complete & BftB needs Shire Sweet Leaf to work as well (it ought to be Athelas, but they used that for healing pots...). Wisdom of the Council is your "Get out of jail" card - it'll give you something in the region of 50% of your morale back (give or take 10%), & some brief protective after-effects too; 10m CD though, so use it wisely & not too well i.e. frequently! Sign of Battle: Wizardy & Sign of Battle: Wizard's Fire are free self heals of slightly erratic availability. Normally they do a small amount of Light / Fire DoT. However, these are two of the three skills that are boosted by your pet flanking a mob (Improved Staff Strike is the other). This is indicated by a debuff icon & some pinky arrowheads briefly flanking the mob. Once flanked, they now give you a heal, if you can use it while the flank lasts. This is worth 20-25% of your morale & only has a 10s CD. It's a major factor in solo survivability. In fact... But I'll cover that elsewhere... ;)
This leaves the 3 best known heals, Leechcraft, Tend the Sick, & Beacon of Hope. This latter is the easiest to use, since it's more obvious when someone's health is down, as compared with spotting a disease or wound debuff. At the cap & traited (as it should be), it heals over 1,200 hp, more if it crits, so it's not to be sniffed at, though it allegedly generates very high threat. I can’t say I’ve ever really noticed, and in any case, the activities of your fellows means that you probably won’t retain any attention for long enough to cause you a serious problem. It is an other people only skill, though it does work on your pet. Although the untraited 30s CD (still 20s traited) means you'll never rival a Minstrel, 2 LM & a CPT in a group makes a MNS entirely superfluous, in most ordinary cases.
Tend the Sick (disease-wipe) is always available, in-combat or out; Leechcraft (wound-wipe) is only available out-of- unless you have a particular trait slotted, in which case both of these also become AoE. You can tell a good LM from a bad one simply by whether they remember to keep an eye out for diseases. These things can be bloody debilitating - lose 200+ points from two or three stats across a party & see what happens! Both of these also apply a minute-long +10% resistance buff, so can be used preventitively. As far as I know, both also stack with the Minstrel's Ballad of the Stout, so you can keep your Minstrel well protected against the effects of wounds & diseases. Tinubelin points out that, since disarms technically are wounds, your melee types will love you if you clear these. However, it also has to be acknowledged that disarms are normally short duration & if it's important enough to matter, you're probably already too busy to have time!
That buff effect is well worth emphasizing. In the words of Notiane,
The Proof Against All Ills trait is what makes us better healers then minstrels (no we're not). Prevention is the best medicine (yes we are). All that damage the group does not do because of those nasty diseases, power drains, loss of stats; all that extra damage the group takes because of those nasty wounds, DoT's, armour debuffs. No, we will never out-heal a minstrel, but to have all those debuffs removed from the fellowship prevents a LOT of the need for healing. PAAI - always have it slotted (Well, alright, solo, you may not have to, but I never take it out).
Now Improved!! Your L62 skill combines TtS & Lc. One trigger now clears wounds and diseases - very useful. As far as I know, though, you will still need PAAI slotted to clear wounds in combat. More to the point, it's PAAI that makes it an AoE effect across your fellowship.
Buffs & Debuff
There's a few of these... First I'll deal with Signs of Ancient Magics. There are 6 of these - 2 Signs of the Wild, 4 of Power. The 2 Wilds are pet buffs, much of a muchness, though SotW: Rage increases the frequency of flanking maneuvers (NB: It doesn't actually tell you that in the descriptor, but it does!). I therefore mostly use Rage. In raiding, Notiane prefers SotW: Protection in spaces where the pet could get hit by AoE. Rage is only useful if it’s attacking. As he rightly points out, this doesn't happen all that often when raiding, so there'll be no flanks anyhow. Solo it should be Rage almost always, unless you’re using your lynx or bear (who both flank less anyway) as a tank – Protection again…
Of the Powers, Vigilance is a straightforward +3 stealth detection, so has its uses in certain areas. By far the most useful are Command, & Righteousness. Command applies a nice debuff to mobs & I don't think I've ever come across an immunity - -603 parry, +20% attack duration, & a 1s CD paired with a 30s duration. It also doesn't trigger the mob, so it's the very first thing you should use & use it on everything in sight! Righteousness is your anti-stun & is a party saver in places. With a 30s duration & a 5s CD, it is possible to keep an entire party anti-stunned. Better yet, traited it has a duration of a minute. Get into the habit of using it! The fourth sign is See All Ends. This doesn't do quite what it says. It doesn't reduce the chance of you being hit by a crit, it reduces the chances of a target mob achieving a crit. This is a very important difference. Rather than protecting you from being hit with a crit by any mob, it protects the whole party from being hit by a crit from a single (usually boss) mob.
In Lore of the Second Age, you have Air- Fire- & Wind-Lore. Fire & Wind apply big debuffs to melee & ranged respectively. They do stack with each other, & also aggro the mob, although without breaking stuns). Since immunities to these two (Fire particularly) are not infrequent, you'll likely find SoP:C is most useful. Having said that though, both still are useful. Wind- has an AoE effect, and a sufficiently short cooldown that it’s well worth using regularly (even on melee types). The longer CD on Fire- means being sensible about how you use it - no point putting a damage de-buff on a mob you’re then going to stun!
Air- is a buff of 1m duration & CD, so you can only cast it on one other person (not self-, though it’s another that does work on your pet). It has been significantly changed in Moria. It reflects a very small amount of damage back to the attacker, though that can be a significant sum once it adds up over a long fight! The second (new) effect is a minute chance (1%) to negate a small amount of common damage. If you carry enough blue line traits (see below) though, it becomes a guaranteed effect. Even though the negation is only against common, put it on your main tank & keep it on, if you can. In a Nemesis fight, you could be adding as much as a thousand points of dmg by this alone, & could be saving them from even more.
Lost Knowledge covers a huge swathe of spells. For this section, we've Ancient Craft, a sizeable AoE armour debuff (-1,620AV), it's also the precursor for Lightning Storm; Ancient Wisdom, self-only Will buff (+60, +80 traited, so a permanent fixture for any LM); Sticky Tar, -10% Fire Mit. & -50% Speed while in it (again, worth emphasizing that fire debuff effect, as Elenariel says. It’s not just for slowing mobs down!); and the 3 Warding Circles - Creatures of Nature, Dead, and Drakes - which increase tactical damage to, & miss chance for, any poor unfortunate mob in it of the type vulnerable. Last one to mention - Dispel Corruption. Corruptions are mob self-buffs. Every class has a skill to remove them, we just have possibly the best of them. DC is on a 30s CD, but wipes 3 Corruptions, guaranteed. Simple as that!
Killing Stuff
Burning Embers - Decent combo of fire dmg & DoT (for 10s), all fire; plus -30% Speed & a 30m range. It's your stock attack - use it early & at maximum range!
Cracked Earth - A moderate amount of AoE fire dmg, & a 10s delayed 30s root. It can be tricky to get this to work properly. In solo play, if you want the root don't use DoT after you've cast this. If you've used BE first, then that will have expired by the time the root kicks in.
Ents Go To War - Big AoE fire dmg & 6s stun. However, it's a 5m CD & you have to have the Legendary trait slotted.
Gust of Wind - A moderate amount of AoE common dmg. What is often missed though, & makes this useful, is the extreme range (40m) & the miss debuff it hits the mobs with. Clarifying what I said in the original draft, this is well worth using on anything as your second skill of the fight (the first being SoP:C), but most especially, do not forget to use it on EM's & upwards. Why? It's offering +7% Miss for 2 minutes. Yes, two minutes! Like your “healing” buffs, this will save a deal of work for the Minstrels - given that auto-attacks are about every 2s, that's an extra miss every 30s or so.
Light of the Rising Dawn - Decent light dmg & a 3s stun. Not much else to say, except try to time its use so you don't hit something with stun immunity on! Elenariel rightly comments that its short casting time makes it a useful interrupt skill. What's more, in my experience, it also often works on mobs that are are otherwise stun immune.
Lightning Storm - Big AoE Lightning dmg. With any luck, you can get up to 1000hp / strike on each of 5 targets. The down side (apart from the 5m CD) is that Ancient Craft (see above) has to be applied first. The application of AC can be rather erratic, which often makes LS unavailable. Essentially, you have to target something that someone else isn't hitting, cast AC on it, then cast LS. Otherwise, 9/10, the mob you hit with AC is dead before LS kicks in, unless you do another AC-affected targets to pick on... It has to be your AC too; not another LM's.
Sticky Gourd - Moderate fire dmg. There's not a lot of difference between this & BE. Does a little more damage for a little power at a little less range on a longer Cd, with no DoT. But then there's the capstone Legendary trait...
Storm-Lore - A moderate amount of AoE Lightning dmg & a weak 3s stun. Weak because it affects only 3 targets. Most other LM AoE spells affect 5 (GoW actually does 6). It's also horribly expensive. It costs 4.5 times as much power as the first 5 listed here, & more even than LS (with the traits I usually have, anyway). Nevertheless, a useful stun if you’re in trouble!
Test of Will - Moderate Light dmg & a 5s stun. It also has a long 40m range, & when it crits, you can get some really serious dmg out of it. It is actually supposed to have an enhanced crit chance, but I can’t say that I’m convinced that's true.
Improved Staff-Strike - Hefty dmg (for an LM in melee, anyway!), this gives you about 150% of your regular dmg. If you've the right trait equipped there's also a chance to stun for 3s, & if the mob is flanked, more bonus dmg as well.
Crowd Control
Every one of your roles is important. Using the above, you can significantly affect fight duration & party survivability. What you're best known for, though, is your Crowd Control. Ignoring the short-duration stuns created by the Killing Stuff above, your 2 principle weapons are Blinding Flash & Herb-Lore. The latter is a 30s AoE root, though it's weak root in the sense that it'll only hold 3 mobs & it's not entirely stable either. Mobs will sometimes break free early, so keep an eye out. If you have the trait Deep Lore equipped, it will root 8 mobs. The trouble is that, whilst Deep Lore gives you +5 targets to all AoE skills, how often do you actually need that... Usually, it's better replaced with something more useful.
[COLOR=black]Blinding Flash is your best CC weapon, though it's a mezz, rather than a stun (i.e. breakable by dmg or DoT). It's another with 40m range, making it immensely useful. With a 30s duration (provided you're not slotting too many red line traits) & a 15s CD, you should have no problem keeping 2 mobs out of the fight. Barring accidents, anyway! That alone vastly eases the tasks facing you & everyone else. Blinding Flash (& the Burglar's Riddle) is the lead-off action in very many fights (*cough* after SoP:C of course *cough*). If your party isn't giving you a chance to use them, shout at them once. If they persist in being dumb, leave! No reason why you should die for their stupidity. The weakness of BF is that it doesn't work on the Undead. For that you have Bane Flare.
You can argue endlessly about which of Burglar and Loremaster is the more versatile. The truth is, I suspect, that such an argument is as redundant as arguing which out of the Hunter & Champion does more damage. The broad brush is that the pair of classes are designed with the same purpose in mind, the difference is in the details. So let's say that the Loremaster is the other all-rounder, good at an awful lot of things, misunderstood by non-players, under-rated, and, when played well, possibly THE most important class in any fellowship or raid! If you've ever struggled in a particular quest or fight, doing it with a LM or BRG that knows what they're about will be a real eye-opener, I promise.
What follows is now the Fifth Edition post-Isengard run-down of everything. Whilst the original was written by me, & the 2nd Ed. was mostly my revisions along with other valuable contributions (principally Notiane), the changes in the 3rd Ed. owe much more to the work of Notiane than ere; the 4th Ed. was back to me tweaking things again, and so's the 5th, unless someone else chips in. I've split it into sections to make it a little easier to edit in future and, at the moment it is still a revision in progress. Where any definite figures are mentioned, they are for the level cap (currently 75). Whilst it's obviously targetted primarily at LM's or those thinking of playing one, we hope it will also be useful to anyone else to read it in detail. If you understand what the class can do, you will understand better how what you do will help or hinder them and yourselves!
Skills
Oooooo! Lots & lots & lots of skills! Many of them useful, too, though some are more specialised than others. Many of them can also be improved upon either by traits or LI Legacies, or by the effects of equipping several in the same trait-set. A few of these effects are mentioned directly below, otherwise see the sections on traits & trait-sets, and on Legendary Items. We'll deal with them in groups, as this probably makes most sense; pets first, since they're one of the more obvious manifestations of the class. And this is where Mistress Notiane steps in...
Pets
Lots of skills indeed. Taking the pets first makes sense, as I think many players (even some loremasters) do not fully understand their usefulness. The loremaster is arguably the most powerful class. Without his pet, he is not. Whatever pet you prefer, they all have some nice skills that, if used wisely, can go far, even to preventing wipes. If you have completed the two Class Quests in Carn Dum & Urugarth, you will have a maximum of 7 available. The eagle comes by right of that just mentioned; the raven, bear, lynx, & sabretooth tiger come as you rise in your profession; the bog-lurker is the capstone Legendary trait for the Keeper of Animals trait set. As of ROI, we now also have the ludicrous & lore-breaking spirit, which is basically a Limrafn / Elhudan / Will o' the Wisp
The Bear: our personal tank. It has a trait (Hardy Bear) and is the only pet that can eat. Oats and honey, mostly. The trait I would forget about, it's a waste of space in group play, although some specific situations may justify even that. He has three skills (like all pets)
1. Roaring Challenge, target is forced to attack the bear for ten seconds, can easily be used to take a mob off a minstrel, yourself, or give a tank a few seconds to recover.
2. Shatter Arms, a damaging attack that gives +10% incoming melee and +10% incoming ranged damage. Not to be overlooked as it is a valuable debuff
3. Bear Hug, a damaging attack that applies a 3 second stun
Angrenel says: I've never liked the bear, he's bloody useless. He's remains appallingly bad at actually following you & his special attacks are not particularly useful, not least because they're all on 60-70s cd. Notiane has said that he’s useful when you’re still levelling, especially if you’ve oat/honey pots available & the trait loaded. Before the lynx is available, perhaps, if you’re trying to use your pet as a tank, but I otherwise remain unconvinced. There do seem to be some tactical uses for him to act as such, but on the whole, the trait-slot can be better used, you may not have the pots, & the raven’s just all-round better.
I know there are LMs who successfully use him as a tank, but I've been trying it in places in Moria & it's simply not worthwhile in my opinion. I know I'm an aggressive beggar, but it just takes too long to kill anything this way. He may be useful for picking up an add, but if you're in such desperate straits that him tanking something is going to save you, you're probably in such desperate straits that you're going to die anyway! Except for the Tiger, every other pet is more useful in almost every situation.
The Lynx: our personal dps machine. A stealthy pet, in solo play one of the obvious choices, its initial (stealth) attack is enough for it to take and hold aggro for quite a while, but the lynx is rather squishy. Its skills:
1. Surprise Attack, a damaging that can only be done from stealth, high crit. chance, high damage
2. Feral Strike, a damaging AoE, attack in a 90 degree arc, max 3 targets
3. Slashing Claws, another AoE, 180 degree arc, max 5 targets
Angrenel says: Agreed. The lynx is useful, particularly when solo, but you will have to work a bit to keep it alive if you're going to use it as a tank. Whilst killing speed is much faster than the bear, your healing isn't any quicker, making it a bit vulnerable. Put it another way - how many capped LMs do you see with one? Not a lot...
The Raven: in groups often the pet of choice. It has an aura that grants a shadow mitigation bonus to all the fellowship, often enough to justify choosing this pet. His skills:
1. Benediction of the Raven, a debuff to target's fire mitigation (-1170 Fire defence). Most of the loremaster's damaging skills are fire based, dps Runekeepers are often (and if grouped with a decent LM should be) fire traited, and hunters can apply (and if grouped with the Raven, again should) fire-oil. This skill can be used as follows: Target the enemy, click the skill (wait for it to catch) and put the raven on passive again. This way it does not attract aggro, and the bird never has to go into danger. Useful in places you want the pet around for its shadow mitigation.
2. Distraction, a 50% debuff to targets ranged damage, along with a +10% miss chance. Root pull, stun the archer, stun fails... You know the minstrel is just one heal away from being shot at. Wind lore (another 50% ranged damage debuff) and send in the raven with distraction. The archer will now (most likely) target the raven and if he doesn't, he is down to 25% damage. It is now a channeled skill that lasts 15s, and will also do 4 pulses for @500 base light damage (in total).
3. Evasion, a buff to the pet's evasive ability and armour, usually enough to keep itself alive at least a little longer. These last two skills make this pet very useful in tanking ranged mobs. Of course, we have BF to take care of them, but stun pull one, send in the raven on another, have your party deal with the melee, and you just bought yourself more than enough time to set up a double perma-mezz on two targets, the best bit being that if that second one wakes up, it will target the raven, not you.
Angrenel says: Lastly, he used to be the pet that would give you the most flanking maneuvers (more on that under the skills concerned). He is now third, behind lurker & eagle, but he still flanks plenty enough & remains a useful companion at all times. The shadow mitigation isn't as useful as it once was, but in the right place... No longer my favoured pet, but certainly the best of those that don't require a Legendary trait equipped.
The Eagle: My personal favorite before Moria, a nice 60 iCPR buff for your group, good skills, but it has drawbacks. It takes up a legendary trait spot, where quite often March of the Ents, Noble Savage or one of the capstone traits are better choices. Should you even think of taking out Sword & Staff... Don't! (but this isn't the trait chapter); and then there are eagles named ScreenBlocker, Visionimpaired and suchlike... says it all really. Working the Stay and Follow commands into your routine is a must with this pet. Its skills:
1. Fan the Flames, a damaging skill that removes Burning Embers pulses (BE has to be active on target) and fears that target. Nice additional CC, although slightly harder to use because of having to apply BE first.
2. Beak Rend, a skill that draws 283 morale from up to 3 targets and returns it to the eagle. Nice heal if the eagle is low on morale, but potentially draws more aggro to it
3. Sacrifice, a self ress. You die, and if the eagle is in combat it will attempt to ress you. Obviously a lifesaver. If you ever notice a loremaster going down in morale, pumping his last power to those needing it most and his eagle suddenly leaving its assigned position (stay & follow commands, remember), chances are you see a loremaster saving your group.
Angrenel says: I used to be rather against the Eagle. He's an annoying presence in the ranged portion of a fellowship / raid because he's sizeable & usually flapping right in the middle of your screen, obstructing your view, and this is still true. If you've 2 or 3 LM's flying these things, you won't be able to see a bloody thing. And I still don't think that whole 60 pts per minute of iCPR is especially significant to a LM, & doesn't really help anyone else that much either - that's what you are there for.
But he does flank even more than the raven (which means "a lot") & has one skill we forgot to mention in the earliest drafts - he Interrupts. Which is great, because it means you usually don't have any worries about being in mid-induction, or facing something (such as a boss mob) that is immune to all of your interrupts (which are all mezzes / stuns). It's still a pain having to slot the Legendary, but these days he is generally my pet of choice, partly because I seem to be the lone LM in raids a lot of the time (suddenly that +60 iCPR is more attractive), partly for the Interrupts (especially when soloing), partly for the rise (and a lot because I usually do not have enough reason to slot a capstone trait, so I have the slot available for the eagle).
The Sabretooth Tiger: Still haven't found out why I would pick this one over others. Its role is AoE damage, though it isn't noticeably better than our lynx, and it can apply a frost damage mitigation debuff. This latter might be useful next to an icy Rune Keeper, but I haven't tested or even tried that yet. I did play around with the tiger the first few levels after getting the skill, but like I said, it failed to impress me. His skills:
1. Frostbite, frost damage attack, along with a -1170 frost defence debuff, max 3 targets in a frontal arch
2. Fury of Winter, moderate age, frontal arc, max 3 targets. Also has increased citical magnitude, & will apply Flanked on a crit.
3. Throat Slash, small damage, frontal arc, max 3 targets.
Angrenel says: One place I've found the tiger useful - swarm mobs with stuns & interrupts e.g. bats. As an LM, they are a major pain in the neck, preventing you doing almost everything. Because the tiger's basic attacks are AoE, he's very good at picking them up. The other point of note is the third attack. If the mob is flanked, this has a chance of stunning them & opening a Fellowship Maneuver. A bit chancy with the second attack, but I wonder whether it has to be your own Flank? If not, 2 LMs working together, with one using raven, eagle, or, especially, the lurker, could generate an awful lot of FSMs...
The Bog Lurker. It only has one drawback - you need 5 traits from the Keeper of Animals line, plus the Capstone Legendary trait to use this pet. Fortunately, this trait line has many useful group play traits. Healer, Light of Hope, PAAI, to name a few. This pet is amazing. It survives a 3 mob onslaught long enough for me to take down a 4th, I had it tank a SR troll, dealing with a Globsnaga and a spider that spawned while taking on said troll. Adds were gone, Ugly was still standing (barely, but a mez and a heal later we were both ready to go at the troll again) This pet out-damages all others (sustainable dps, burst dps is for the lynx); flanks more than all the others (about 4 times a minute) which really helps your survivability, (SoB:Wizardry and SoB:Wizards Fire) and your dps (traited Staff Strike); and on top of all that has his skills. Solo, I right-click the first two, so he uses them when ever he can, leaving the last one alone (the fm chance will give a 6 second stun, instead of the fm) as we have more reliable stuns. In a group, I choose between the first two, the first without hunter, the second with, and try to time the third like a burglar, except a burglar must wait for critical situations, whereas I can go whenever cd expires and the target isn't stun immune.
1. Angry Bees, damage + DoT . Not much to be said. Does moderate damage (about 250 common + 250 DoT (5 x 50) at L60), enough to be used whenever it's up.
2. Root Strike, damage and a + 5% Incoming Ranged Critical Chance, for 30 sec. on a 30 sec. cooldown. Got a hunter fighting alongside? He'll love you for putting this on auto-cue.
3. Bursting Root, damage and a 20% chance of starting a fellowship manouvre
Angrenel says: I bow to Noti's expertise here. I have tried the lurker out, but not very much and almost entirely solo. I wasn't too convinced about it, but in fairness I'm not one for tanking with pets. As you may have gathered! What's more to the point is the major stumbling block of 5 blue-line traits. I simply don't like having to drop that many from the other sets, & don't necessarily agree with Noti about the usefulness of blue-line traits (3 yes, 5 no). Therefore I can't use it to get practiced with it.
The Spirit As you might guess, the jaundiced remarks about lore-breaking came from Angrenel, and it's his writing you now read. I have not really tried this pet out. It's so goddamn bloody stupid, I can't bring myself to run around with this following me. The Bog Lurker was bad enough, but this! Anyway, basically as something classified as The Dead it is of course entirely logical that the Spirit is a... healer... :? It might actually be useful in a group, especially if you're short a healer. I've seen one or two of these around, but whether people are using them because they're useful, or whether it's just for novelty value...
1. Flashing Flank, causes the enemy to become flanked. You know what your flanks are for, right?
2. Nature's Light, coats the enemy in light. Returns 5% of any damage inflicted on the mob; not just you, any of your allies that hit the enemy also get 5% of their damage returned.
3. Nature's Gift, sacrifices the pet to give a heal to you & all allies - 10% of max morale.
The Use of Pets
There is a large difference between solo and group play. Since this is a raid forum, I'll mostly (try to) cover the group thing, and largely ignore solo. You will "always" have your pet passive, to avoid having it attack at random. You may, at times, want it be it in guard mode, just to draw aggro away from yourself, so that you're free to cast, rather then be interrupted, but be careful with this. The Bog lurker can attack from range, but all other pets will get close, and if they decide to fly (or run) to an archer, chances are they draw attention from mobs that would have otherwise ignored you. Silly loremasters not telling their pet to remain passive are the one reason people yell "dismiss pet". As stated earlier, with pet we rule, without we're average, don't give people reason to go without a companion.
Angrenel says: Wise words! If Noti has covered grouped pets, I ought to do solo, but in truth, I'm pretty unsubtle. I hit things & the pet does what it does. If you've the lynx, send it on the stealth attack before you do anything. With the raven, I usually use Gust of Wind followed by Rising Dawn, or RD first, depending on the range. That will trigger the raven to attack. Mine has BotR on default, so that it will always use it when it can. Burning Embers is used immediately after the raven puts it on (which will be before the mob recovers from the RD stun); after that just get on with killing...
The Choice of Pets
That largely depends on what you are going to do and what classes you travel with. The Bog-lurker is a choice you can hardly go wrong with, but is not always available due to trait requirements. Are you in a place with heavy shadow damage? Raven, obviously, and he would be my second overall choice, because of the Fire mit. and ranged damage debuff. Are you in a group with a minstrel, captain, guardian, champ and burglar? That fire mit. debuff benefits you, but no one else; the bear's armour rend may well be more useful (except that there's the CHM.. ;) - Ang). He can also be used to tank, certainly if you brought some Oats and Honey, although he's obviously not a substitute for a guardian or warden. Group struggling with power all the time? I mentioned the drawbacks, but slot the eagle trait. Lynx and Sabertooth I wouldn't use in groups, but I reckon even they serve some purpose, especially in the 3 man instances. And there's *sigh* the spirit if you're short on healing - Ang.
Healing
You have no less than 7 healing skills. Inner Flame, it must said, is fairly useless. The only situation I have found this to be otherwise is if you are perilously low on health with a single powerful enemy against you. If you can keep that mob stunned, you can use this to give yourself & your pet an average 700 health back. The only other scenario is if you can get your pet to tank one mob, whilst keeping any others rooted / stunned. In any other situation, either the mob will go down before you do & you heal quicker out of combat than with this; or someone else will heal you; or there is at least one mob hitting you so you can't use it anyway! Back from the Brink is your out of combat ress. Useful if there's no minstrel around, but don't charge in with it if there is! The minstrel may well still have a ress deed to complete & BftB needs Shire Sweet Leaf to work as well (it ought to be Athelas, but they used that for healing pots...). Wisdom of the Council is your "Get out of jail" card - it'll give you something in the region of 50% of your morale back (give or take 10%), & some brief protective after-effects too; 10m CD though, so use it wisely & not too well i.e. frequently! Sign of Battle: Wizardy & Sign of Battle: Wizard's Fire are free self heals of slightly erratic availability. Normally they do a small amount of Light / Fire DoT. However, these are two of the three skills that are boosted by your pet flanking a mob (Improved Staff Strike is the other). This is indicated by a debuff icon & some pinky arrowheads briefly flanking the mob. Once flanked, they now give you a heal, if you can use it while the flank lasts. This is worth 20-25% of your morale & only has a 10s CD. It's a major factor in solo survivability. In fact... But I'll cover that elsewhere... ;)
This leaves the 3 best known heals, Leechcraft, Tend the Sick, & Beacon of Hope. This latter is the easiest to use, since it's more obvious when someone's health is down, as compared with spotting a disease or wound debuff. At the cap & traited (as it should be), it heals over 1,200 hp, more if it crits, so it's not to be sniffed at, though it allegedly generates very high threat. I can’t say I’ve ever really noticed, and in any case, the activities of your fellows means that you probably won’t retain any attention for long enough to cause you a serious problem. It is an other people only skill, though it does work on your pet. Although the untraited 30s CD (still 20s traited) means you'll never rival a Minstrel, 2 LM & a CPT in a group makes a MNS entirely superfluous, in most ordinary cases.
Tend the Sick (disease-wipe) is always available, in-combat or out; Leechcraft (wound-wipe) is only available out-of- unless you have a particular trait slotted, in which case both of these also become AoE. You can tell a good LM from a bad one simply by whether they remember to keep an eye out for diseases. These things can be bloody debilitating - lose 200+ points from two or three stats across a party & see what happens! Both of these also apply a minute-long +10% resistance buff, so can be used preventitively. As far as I know, both also stack with the Minstrel's Ballad of the Stout, so you can keep your Minstrel well protected against the effects of wounds & diseases. Tinubelin points out that, since disarms technically are wounds, your melee types will love you if you clear these. However, it also has to be acknowledged that disarms are normally short duration & if it's important enough to matter, you're probably already too busy to have time!
That buff effect is well worth emphasizing. In the words of Notiane,
The Proof Against All Ills trait is what makes us better healers then minstrels (no we're not). Prevention is the best medicine (yes we are). All that damage the group does not do because of those nasty diseases, power drains, loss of stats; all that extra damage the group takes because of those nasty wounds, DoT's, armour debuffs. No, we will never out-heal a minstrel, but to have all those debuffs removed from the fellowship prevents a LOT of the need for healing. PAAI - always have it slotted (Well, alright, solo, you may not have to, but I never take it out).
Now Improved!! Your L62 skill combines TtS & Lc. One trigger now clears wounds and diseases - very useful. As far as I know, though, you will still need PAAI slotted to clear wounds in combat. More to the point, it's PAAI that makes it an AoE effect across your fellowship.
Buffs & Debuff
There's a few of these... First I'll deal with Signs of Ancient Magics. There are 6 of these - 2 Signs of the Wild, 4 of Power. The 2 Wilds are pet buffs, much of a muchness, though SotW: Rage increases the frequency of flanking maneuvers (NB: It doesn't actually tell you that in the descriptor, but it does!). I therefore mostly use Rage. In raiding, Notiane prefers SotW: Protection in spaces where the pet could get hit by AoE. Rage is only useful if it’s attacking. As he rightly points out, this doesn't happen all that often when raiding, so there'll be no flanks anyhow. Solo it should be Rage almost always, unless you’re using your lynx or bear (who both flank less anyway) as a tank – Protection again…
Of the Powers, Vigilance is a straightforward +3 stealth detection, so has its uses in certain areas. By far the most useful are Command, & Righteousness. Command applies a nice debuff to mobs & I don't think I've ever come across an immunity - -603 parry, +20% attack duration, & a 1s CD paired with a 30s duration. It also doesn't trigger the mob, so it's the very first thing you should use & use it on everything in sight! Righteousness is your anti-stun & is a party saver in places. With a 30s duration & a 5s CD, it is possible to keep an entire party anti-stunned. Better yet, traited it has a duration of a minute. Get into the habit of using it! The fourth sign is See All Ends. This doesn't do quite what it says. It doesn't reduce the chance of you being hit by a crit, it reduces the chances of a target mob achieving a crit. This is a very important difference. Rather than protecting you from being hit with a crit by any mob, it protects the whole party from being hit by a crit from a single (usually boss) mob.
In Lore of the Second Age, you have Air- Fire- & Wind-Lore. Fire & Wind apply big debuffs to melee & ranged respectively. They do stack with each other, & also aggro the mob, although without breaking stuns). Since immunities to these two (Fire particularly) are not infrequent, you'll likely find SoP:C is most useful. Having said that though, both still are useful. Wind- has an AoE effect, and a sufficiently short cooldown that it’s well worth using regularly (even on melee types). The longer CD on Fire- means being sensible about how you use it - no point putting a damage de-buff on a mob you’re then going to stun!
Air- is a buff of 1m duration & CD, so you can only cast it on one other person (not self-, though it’s another that does work on your pet). It has been significantly changed in Moria. It reflects a very small amount of damage back to the attacker, though that can be a significant sum once it adds up over a long fight! The second (new) effect is a minute chance (1%) to negate a small amount of common damage. If you carry enough blue line traits (see below) though, it becomes a guaranteed effect. Even though the negation is only against common, put it on your main tank & keep it on, if you can. In a Nemesis fight, you could be adding as much as a thousand points of dmg by this alone, & could be saving them from even more.
Lost Knowledge covers a huge swathe of spells. For this section, we've Ancient Craft, a sizeable AoE armour debuff (-1,620AV), it's also the precursor for Lightning Storm; Ancient Wisdom, self-only Will buff (+60, +80 traited, so a permanent fixture for any LM); Sticky Tar, -10% Fire Mit. & -50% Speed while in it (again, worth emphasizing that fire debuff effect, as Elenariel says. It’s not just for slowing mobs down!); and the 3 Warding Circles - Creatures of Nature, Dead, and Drakes - which increase tactical damage to, & miss chance for, any poor unfortunate mob in it of the type vulnerable. Last one to mention - Dispel Corruption. Corruptions are mob self-buffs. Every class has a skill to remove them, we just have possibly the best of them. DC is on a 30s CD, but wipes 3 Corruptions, guaranteed. Simple as that!
Killing Stuff
Burning Embers - Decent combo of fire dmg & DoT (for 10s), all fire; plus -30% Speed & a 30m range. It's your stock attack - use it early & at maximum range!
Cracked Earth - A moderate amount of AoE fire dmg, & a 10s delayed 30s root. It can be tricky to get this to work properly. In solo play, if you want the root don't use DoT after you've cast this. If you've used BE first, then that will have expired by the time the root kicks in.
Ents Go To War - Big AoE fire dmg & 6s stun. However, it's a 5m CD & you have to have the Legendary trait slotted.
Gust of Wind - A moderate amount of AoE common dmg. What is often missed though, & makes this useful, is the extreme range (40m) & the miss debuff it hits the mobs with. Clarifying what I said in the original draft, this is well worth using on anything as your second skill of the fight (the first being SoP:C), but most especially, do not forget to use it on EM's & upwards. Why? It's offering +7% Miss for 2 minutes. Yes, two minutes! Like your “healing” buffs, this will save a deal of work for the Minstrels - given that auto-attacks are about every 2s, that's an extra miss every 30s or so.
Light of the Rising Dawn - Decent light dmg & a 3s stun. Not much else to say, except try to time its use so you don't hit something with stun immunity on! Elenariel rightly comments that its short casting time makes it a useful interrupt skill. What's more, in my experience, it also often works on mobs that are are otherwise stun immune.
Lightning Storm - Big AoE Lightning dmg. With any luck, you can get up to 1000hp / strike on each of 5 targets. The down side (apart from the 5m CD) is that Ancient Craft (see above) has to be applied first. The application of AC can be rather erratic, which often makes LS unavailable. Essentially, you have to target something that someone else isn't hitting, cast AC on it, then cast LS. Otherwise, 9/10, the mob you hit with AC is dead before LS kicks in, unless you do another AC-affected targets to pick on... It has to be your AC too; not another LM's.
Sticky Gourd - Moderate fire dmg. There's not a lot of difference between this & BE. Does a little more damage for a little power at a little less range on a longer Cd, with no DoT. But then there's the capstone Legendary trait...
Storm-Lore - A moderate amount of AoE Lightning dmg & a weak 3s stun. Weak because it affects only 3 targets. Most other LM AoE spells affect 5 (GoW actually does 6). It's also horribly expensive. It costs 4.5 times as much power as the first 5 listed here, & more even than LS (with the traits I usually have, anyway). Nevertheless, a useful stun if you’re in trouble!
Test of Will - Moderate Light dmg & a 5s stun. It also has a long 40m range, & when it crits, you can get some really serious dmg out of it. It is actually supposed to have an enhanced crit chance, but I can’t say that I’m convinced that's true.
Improved Staff-Strike - Hefty dmg (for an LM in melee, anyway!), this gives you about 150% of your regular dmg. If you've the right trait equipped there's also a chance to stun for 3s, & if the mob is flanked, more bonus dmg as well.
Crowd Control
Every one of your roles is important. Using the above, you can significantly affect fight duration & party survivability. What you're best known for, though, is your Crowd Control. Ignoring the short-duration stuns created by the Killing Stuff above, your 2 principle weapons are Blinding Flash & Herb-Lore. The latter is a 30s AoE root, though it's weak root in the sense that it'll only hold 3 mobs & it's not entirely stable either. Mobs will sometimes break free early, so keep an eye out. If you have the trait Deep Lore equipped, it will root 8 mobs. The trouble is that, whilst Deep Lore gives you +5 targets to all AoE skills, how often do you actually need that... Usually, it's better replaced with something more useful.
[COLOR=black]Blinding Flash is your best CC weapon, though it's a mezz, rather than a stun (i.e. breakable by dmg or DoT). It's another with 40m range, making it immensely useful. With a 30s duration (provided you're not slotting too many red line traits) & a 15s CD, you should have no problem keeping 2 mobs out of the fight. Barring accidents, anyway! That alone vastly eases the tasks facing you & everyone else. Blinding Flash (& the Burglar's Riddle) is the lead-off action in very many fights (*cough* after SoP:C of course *cough*). If your party isn't giving you a chance to use them, shout at them once. If they persist in being dumb, leave! No reason why you should die for their stupidity. The weakness of BF is that it doesn't work on the Undead. For that you have Bane Flare.