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View Full Version : Understanding Runekeepers - The Discussion!


Raukothaurondir
22 Jan 2009, 19:54
Sil asked for a post so here I am again. Like all classes you need to play it to know how to play it, not worth reading a guide on how to play so just going to post our skills here so you can have a better understanding of what we can do.


ATTUNEMENT

Goes from the steady state to either +9 battle attuned or +9 healing attuned. The higher you go one way the more skills open up for you to use.



CHILL OF WINTER SKILLS (FROST BASED):

Chilling rhetoric:
Damage skill which applies a -70% run debuff on target, speed is returned if target takes any damage.
Traited means when the target does take damage it receives a -30% debuff speed.

Writ of cold:
Damage skill which also slows attack and induction speed. Continued use increases tier and resets the duration of debuff. Goes to tier 3.

Essence of winter:
Damage skill which also lowers the targets incoming healing and increases their skill power cost. Writ of cold tiers increase the duration of the debuff.

Flurry of words:
An aoe effect which does damage over time and lowers the evade of any mob in range.

Frozen epilogue:
Damage skill which applies both the effects of writ of cold and essence of winter.
Applies to the target for 20 secs: +30% all skill induction and +18% attack duration.
Applies to the target for 30 secs: -30% incoming healing and +100% power cost.



FURY OF STORM SKILLS (LIGHTNING BASED):

All these skills have a 10% chance to apply +10% fury of storm damage and -10% fury of storm power cost for 30 secs.

Scribes spark, essence of storm, ceaseless argument and epic conclusion:
All damage based skills with various damage ranges. Epic conclusion is the big daddy especially if it crits so no surprise it needs 9 battle attuned, it also will increase your power consumption by 50% for 10 secs. Ceaseless argument is worth a note also as it has no cool down and very low power cost meaning it can be used continuosly for longer boss fights where power may be a problem.

Shocking words:
Damage skill which also has a chance to stun target for 5secs per battle attunement.

Vivid imagery:
Damage skill which stuns a max of 3 targets in 5m radius for between 5 and 10 secs.
Legendary traited will deal more damage, recover faster and daze longer.



WRATH OF FLAME (FIRE BASED):

Writ of fire:
Damage over time, increased damage with increased tiers. Goes to 3.

Smouldering wrath:
Channelling skill which damage does not interrupt, currently sitting at 180 damage every sec for 8 secs, think this can be changed with legendaries.

Scathing mockery:
Damage over time skill which effects 2 targets in 8m radius but with each 2 battle attunements will effect 1 extra target.

Fiery ridicule:
Puts a DOT on target which can stack. Also +3% damage per battle attunement.

Essence of flame:
Deals damage to a target based on the writ of fire tier.

Distracting flame:
Puts a DOT on target which also reduces your threat over time also. Lovely.



THE MIDDLE PATH:

Armour of………:
Depends on what damage type your runestone is. Fire is armour of flame and so on.
For example fire: For 20 secs you get increased defence to fire damage. Any melee damage done to you has 30% chance to reflect fire damage back at target and also put a fire DOT for 8 secs on them.

Weapon of …….:
Depends again on damage type equipped. Toggle skill you put on an ally. Fire will give small chance of applying the writ of fire debuff on any foes struck. Frost would apply writ of cold and lightning has small chance of applying a debuff which lowers resistance to lightning attacks.

Calming verse:
Lowers threat. -10% damage threat and -10% healing threat. Lasts 30 secs.

Distracting winds:
Slows target speed by 50%, effects 5 targets in 5m radius. Lasts 10 secs.

Final words:
Interrupts inductions and our corruption remover. 30 sec cool down.

Nothing truly ends:
Out of combat rez. Revived with 30% morale and 0% power.

Self motivation:
Very handy skill, gives a set amount of power back to rune keeper and costs no power to use. 2 min cool down.

Shocking words:
Melee range stun which lasts between 5 to 10 secs. Traited doubles daze time.

Steady hands:
Puts attunement back to neutral point. Handy if you are dpsing and minstrel goes down.
Also for 15 secs after using steady hands all skills will cost no power and silence will not effect the RK.



VISIONS AND FORETELLINGS:

Do not fall this day:
30 sec duration on a selected target where if they are defeated they will be rezzed instantly as if it didn’t happen. 15 min cool down.

Do not fall to ……..:
For example fire, when the next flame attack hits you it will negate 100% of the damage and the buff disappears. 10 sec cool down.

Fall to our wrath:
Legendary which puts on a mob a chance that they will receive some heavy damage every time they are struck. 2% chance, duration 1 min.

Fall to ……..:
Depends on runestone damage. For example fire, when skill put on mob every time they are struck with fire there is a chance they will receive some heavy damage. 8% chance. Skill also lowers the targets tactical resist rating.

The blade will not wound:
Affects the whole fellowship, next wound will be dispelled. Also increases wound resistance also. Duration 1min and cool down of 50 secs so no excuse for not keeping this skill or poison one up at all times.

The fang will not poison:
Read prior sentence and change wound to poison..



WORDS OF GRACE (HEALING SKILLS):

All the healing skills stack so even though some are small they all add up to be quite efficient heals.
All are single target, only 1 healing skill effects the group but basically we have no spike heals, it’s heals over time and stacking them up which keeps the group up.

Prelude to hope:
Small HOT every 5 secs for 30 secs. +3% healing per healing attunement.

Mending verse:
Small HOT every 2 secs for 6 secs. Traited gives a +maximum morale bonus to target for 15 secs. -2% power cost per healing attunement.

Writ of health:
HOT which can tier up to 3, increased tiers= increased heals. Un-traited means even at tier 3 if duration ends it disappears, traited means at end of duration, tier 3 goes down to tier 2, etc.

Epic of the ages:
Big single target heal, over 1k health back, only 3 sec cool down but 4.5 sec induction time.

Rousing words:
Affects whole group, 10 sec channelling time where fellowship gets a large in combat morale regeneration. Currently at + 3225.3 in combat morale regen. This skill draws no aggro.

Glorious foreshadowing:
Selected target gets +5% incoming healing for 30 secs. 3 min cool down.
Legendary trait means it can be used on the whole fellowship and recovers faster.

All fates entwined:
For a certain period of time the RK takes 10% of the fellowships damage and resists 10% of all incoming damage. Damage doesn’t interrupt inductions while this skill is being used.

That which does not kill us:
Legendary skill effects whole group. Next time a party member is hit they will receive a powerful HOT.

Rune of restoration:
Places stone on ground which gives small heals to whole group. Excellent for solo play when you come up against multiple mobs as it will aggro others while you kill one.

Word of exaltation:
-50% incoming damage to selected target, duration starts at 1 sec but lasts an extra
1 sec for every healing attunement and 2 secs for every tier of writ of health.

Essay of exaltation:
-50% incoming damage whole fellowship, heals initially then every 2 secs for 10 secs.
Gives +50% healing attuned power cost also.

Raedwulf
23 Jan 2009, 09:48
Sil asked for a post so here I am again. Like all classes you need to play it to know how to play it, not worth reading a guide on how to play so just going to post our skills here so you can have a better understanding of what we can do.

Given the number of guides I've written, you won't be surprised to find I disagree with that statement. And if a guide is useless, then all the more so a bare list of skills that only mentions one induction time out of many, & entirely fails to say anything about the effects of Middle Path spells on Attunement! C'mon, Rauk, if "you need to play it to know how to play it" is true, how is this supposed to help someone that doesn't play one to understand it??!! :S

To be blunt, if you are a RK, this is less useful than talking to your trainer, who has a full & better list of the skills. If you are not, it will give you very little idea of how a RK operates, since it gives you next to no understanding of how of our mechanics affect us.

As for, Sil, stop being so ruddy impatient, will you! I will write a guide for the class in due course when it's worthwhile! At the moment, I have no FS experience worth mentioning with the RK (running around with another RK & a WDN hardly counts as a balanced group!), & we are due to be receiving a severe tweaking, which is going to change a lot of things anyway.

Bah! ;)

Silirien
23 Jan 2009, 10:58
As for, Sil, stop being so ruddy impatient, will you! I will write a guide for the class in due course when it's worthwhile!I just want more than one oppinion? :(

Thank you Rauk!
But I'd love to see more of your personalised RNK experience, some info on how you play Runie etc.

Raedwulf
23 Jan 2009, 12:40
Fair enough, but given that I'm the most likely candidate for writing the full guide, you might wait until I've written the first draft. Then, as with the LM guide, everyone can offer their opinions & I'll incorporate all the accumulated wisdom into the next.

In the meanwhile, surely the existing RK thread in the Mines of Moria sub-forum is good enough for discussing the class? And my original blogpost, I suspect, would give everyone a better idea of the gameplay than a bare list of skills!

Raukothaurondir
23 Jan 2009, 16:40
OK Sil here goes.
If theres a minstrel in group I select the MA's target and hit my dps buttons randomly. If the minstrel somehow dies I hit steady hands and heal. If I'm main healer in group I do no dps and just heal. Oh yeah if I know I'm the main healer then I trait for it.
Go forth my young padawan and fulfil your potential.

Raedwulf
23 Jan 2009, 17:57
A bit more useful, thanks Rauk (& apologies if I seemed a bit ungracious earlier, but your opener just left me confused as to what you thought you were offering!). I'll try to offer some of my thoughts so far over the w/e. Hopefully, others can join in, which will make the first draft Guide that much better.

In the meanwhile, I'm moving this to the Moria sub-forum... cos it still don't qualify as a Guide! ;)

Tiermond
25 Jan 2009, 10:12
Link to the rune keepers book 7 changes, dont mean a thing to me not having played one

http://www.lotrolife.com/lotro_book_7_vol_2/

Raedwulf
25 Jan 2009, 10:27
Well, I've just discovered that a L47 RK can't take down a L49 Elite (Snowback)! Or, at least, I had one go & failed. I have been known to say that the only way I can run out of power is by constantly spamming Epic of the Ages, & that's more or less what happened.

Whilst I've done no FS stuff worth mentioning, unlike Rauk, I would say this - you need to understand what the RK can & can't do, whether you're a player or in a fellowship with one. There's a lot of whinging going on in the main forums, because people had expectations of what the class would be, & they've been disappointed. That doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with the class. For sure, it's stupidly over-powered at lower levels (well, I think so anyway). And as for higher levels? Well, I'm approaching 48 & I only die when I get careless or go for high-risk stuff as above!

What everyone needs to understand is that the RK isn't like any other class in the game. We are positioned somewhere between CHM & HNT, in terms of single target / AoE damage. However, unlike both of those classes, unlike the MNS, unlike all the other classes, most of what we do is over time! The MNS is a spike healer; HNT & CHM do their damage straight away, one hit, BANG! Runekeepers do not. Apart from our Lightning spells, most of our offense is either / both DoT and debuff. Apart from one healing spell (which, untraited, is only usable every 7.5s; 4s traited), all our healing is HoT or preventative.

A Runekeeper, above all else, has to be forward thinking, anticipating the needs of the fellowship. And the party, whether they are expecting damage or healing, has to adjust their expectations. The RK is not a MNS, not a HNT, not a CHM. In short fights, against Normal or swarm mobs, we're barely going to be able to get into our stride. We're not going to get the big numbers out (500+ healing / damage) & it's pointless to expect us to do so. Ergo, your strategy needs to be adjusted, especially if you're relying on the RK for main healing. Don't blame the RK when you die within 15s of the fight starting - look at what your own stupidity did for you!

Daphne
25 Jan 2009, 13:23
Hmm Ive managed with a lvl 48 RK to take down a 10k lvl 49 elite (sharddroppertree in Eregion) .. and generally with some exceptions (mostly Mobs that just hit to hard on cloth) I find taking down single high hitpoint mobs very easy... the key being to daze & kite a lot. Of course when you intend to use that tactic one thing you can't do is use your dot as that ticks way too long and would break the daze. And the trait that doubles daze time I would consider to be a must for any Runekeeper.

What I find problematic though is adds, one I can daze so easy peasy, two I can probably survive reasonably well, more is a case of run off screaming loudly for help. :P

I haven't really done any grouphealing yet, but I expect that the main problem is that in order to get to the better healing spells you need to build up atunement (which takes time) and that it is, as you said, mostly HoT healing. Now HoT healing in itself is quite excellent for support (so e.g. for a 12 man raid I'd consider a RK to be a superb addition), but as main and only healer it can be problematic as it needs time to build up and does not deal well with sudden spiky damage, especially if the fight starts with that. I've played an (insert evil game name) druid a lot, as well as a runepriest in Warhammer, both being mostly HoT healers too ... though without the added complication of needing atunement, and there were situations that I could not have healed if I had been the only healer there.

One spell that looks quite useful to me though is the one where damage is halved... thats what I like to call avoidance healing (as in it doesn't heal damage, but prevents it) and which in a situation of a sudden damage spike might give the RK the time needed to heal the target up. There isn't much in the way of grouphealing either soo ... long fights might be quite tricky especially with power management ... well I'm really looking forward to actually doing some grouphealing. My little RK should hit 50 today so I hope to find out soon. :)

/huggles
Daphne
:)