The Nimminas Rough Guide to Raiding

[Raedwulf]

With, it must be acknowledged, a deal of contributed from non-Nimminas members too. The purpose of this thread is to give you some notion of what is expected of you in a raiding enviorment; in particular what is expected of you if you raid with RRU. Ours are not the only tactics, but they work pretty well for us, & we're pretty successful, as a rule.

It does not (except for illustrative purposes) concern itself with raid-specific encounters. Please feel free to add any further suggestions or comments. This top post is a header to let you know what you can expect to find below; the substance of the training guide is in the succeeding posts. As usual, I reserve the right to tidy up responses in the interests of clarity; and eventually, useful comment will be incorporated into the main body. Needless to say, this is always likely to remain a work in progress...

Communication
How best to get information across when raiding.

FS Manoeuvres
Ad-hoc round the clock & how it works.

General Stuff
Anything else I can think of!

By Class
Things that you ought to be equipping or doing. Many of the remarks date from SoA. This doesn't mean it's all out-of-date; it does however mean that further revision would be in order, if people experienced with a class see something that is no longer true, or think something is missing. In particular, BRG, CPT, HNT, RK, & WDN could do with being updated.

[Raedwulf]

Communication

Can now be found here (http://www.raidsrus.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7537#post7537) in stereo! Well, both the entirely independent new version, & most of the old, excised from here...

Fellowship Manoeuvres

The beauty of Noble Blood is that if it goes wrong we get something, be it 2, 3, or 4B maneuvers. Much of the time, though, it's a waste, since we need neither the power nor the healing. So we stopped setting maneouvres in advance a long, long time ago (possibly in a distant galaxy far, far away!). "Adhoc round the clock" is a much more powerful & flexible tool for skilled players.

Straights were once the most powerful combinations in the game, and post- the Spring 2011 patch, they are being boosted again. As you all know, once you've 3 right, you got something & every following selection just enhances things even further. Even after they were nerfed in Moria, they remain at least as powerful as any other combination, far more flexible, & vastly more fun. There's nothing quite like pulling off a 6-straight adhoc... :Y

The best way of practicing this is to go deed grinding on elites (troll killing somewhere where the mobs are around your level is a good one). These days, with all classes having abilities that may initiate one, it doesn't even even need to be in company with a Burglar. Don't preset the maneuvers, don't preset the order that people enter in, don't worry about what colour you're taking. What you are aiming for is to get an instinctive feel for recognising & taking the next colour, & being able to quickly move to cancel & adjust if your choice comes in out of sequence. It doesn't take that long before you start getting the hang of this. When you then get back to raiding... All of a sudden you've got a whole lot more flexibility over the FSM you use. Alternatively, you can use Silirien's FSM Trainer (http://www.raidsrus.com/forum/showthread.php?t=457), of course!

In raids, you can, if you wish, set-up some kind of structure. One way to do it would be to nominate a Leader in each FS. This should be someone who can be relied upon to fire off the first colour quickly. It's then up to them to pick the FSM most appropriate to the needs of their group when it comes up. If you then designate the others as being melee or ranged picks, rather than 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc, the leader has the freedom to start on any colour he can / needs. Give each of the other members a sequence e.g. first / second melee / ranged. First Melee & First Ranged will, between them, take the 2nd & 3rd colours; Second Melee & Second Ranged will occupy slots 4 & 5. Which goes when depends entirely on what colour the leader selects. If Leader goes R / Y, then First Ranged is going to have to take the 2nd colour, if Leader is B / G, then it’ll be First Melee & so on round the clock (remembering that it doesn’t matter which way round the first two players decide to go, so long as everyone else follows).

Since a HNT is always capable of doing any colour, they’re the ideal class to take the final colour. GDN, WDN, CPT, & CHM should be assigned a Melee slot wherever possible (although G for GDNs is often useful), MNS & RNK are always Ranged, LMs & BRGs usually will be (though it’s not absolutely necessary). As I’ve already said, the Leader should be someone you can rely on to hit the first colour ASAP. We’ve only a couple of seconds or so to fit all six people in, so you don’t want the Leader dithering! The class of the Leader is pretty much unimportant, speed is essential. This is why I usually lead off, regardless of which alt I have out, when my groups are doing this. Finally, there is nothing to stop the Leader giving a different instruction at some point during a fight, if he feels the need e.g. “Group Two Maneuver Noble Blood”. Do it by name, & make sure you start learning which is which!

It also helps to know that a FSM is going to be coming, so BRG's, if you're setting one up, let your group know. Even GDNs can give a warning if they're trying to start one from Turn The Tables, their knockdown recovery skill. It may be only a split-second warning, but it's a split-second extra for people to start reacting, & the longer notice any class can give, the easier it is for everyone to add something to the manoeuvre. In any group these days, you should get plenty of opportunity to practice. Most classes have some way of triggering a FSM post-Moria, though none are so reliable as the BRG. The efficacy of this tactic has been well-proven by RRU, so you had better get practicing!! :Y

The most important thing to emphasize, though, is that the aim is to get as big a functional FSM as possible. If a 6-man fellowship starts with RRY, you can, of course, screw around resetting the 2nd & 3rd ones to try to build a straight. Time is always of the essence though, and it's easy to fail to get anything useful at all. Consider a typical raid fight where there's multiple mobs, and people are often having to switch targets to get onto the manoeuvre in the first place [TIP: Bind your Fellowship Skill Assist key so that it's right next to your movement keys. I use F so it's under my left hand]. In that situation, unless everyone is actually on the RAT to start with, you won't build a full six. So if you have e.g. RRY why not just tack another Y on? Four out of six is a pretty good result, and a pretty powerful one too (also easy, because every combo of two pairs is valid).

Remember a functioning FSM is your target. A straight 6 is great, but a Full House (they only work as 3/2 melee OR ranged colours) is almost as good, and pairs are no worse than a four straight.

Oh, & if anyone wants to say something along the lines of “But we need to make sure the MNS is getting a Blue, especially if there’s a Noble Spirit summoned", the MNS is the last person who should be getting a spirit! The Spirit won’t save the MNS if they attract aggro, & often won’t get into the fight either, besides which an LM can make better use of the power. Give the spirit to an LM, or to someone that’ll actually get the damn thing fighting!

[Raedwulf]

General Stuff


First of all, the utterly, absolutely, blindingly bloody obvious. Before you go into a raid make sure you

Have checked your traits
Have repaired
Have enough healing / power pots...
...food...
...poison / fear / etc pots...
...travelling rations (if you're expecting to be summoned).
Have the right equipment on (Radiance armour, choice of LI's, etc)
And emptying your bags is probably a good idea too!


On an impromptu raid (e.g. turtle), it's fair enough if you're missing some of these. On a pre-arranged raid, it's inexcusable not to be properly sorted out in advance. You won't impress anyone; you may piss the Raid Leader off, and that is a bad idea! ;)

Raid Assist Targetting. Personally, I don’t like this – it does nothing to encourage intelligent or skillful play - & I would be happier if it wasn’t there. But it is, & we use it. So make sure you do!! And that’s about all that needs to be said.

Better communication aside, if you’re paying attention, you also get very good audio-visual clues as to what your companions are up to. This is particularly true of induction skills, where there is usually a fairly lengthy animation accompanied by a sound effect. If you can learn to associate at least your own animations with their actions, it means that if you can see / hear another player of the same class, you’ll know what they’re doing & this can also help reduce needless duplication of effort. If you can learn other classes' audio-visual cues too, so much the better.

Speaking of awareness, many people also need to work on their general awareness of what’s happening around us. In some cases, we’re pretty good at this; in other places we’re not. Let’s face it, LOTRO isn’t exactly difficult to play. Select your target (or RAT), spam away through your skills till the mob is dead. You don’t need to pay much attention to killing an NPC because mostly they just stand toe-to-toe with you. As long as your avatar is facing the mob, there’s no further need for you to pay much attention to it, so what’s to stop you looking around & making sure you know what’s happening elsewhere in the melee? The Left Mouse Button is your friend – spin that camera! There’ll be more on this in the By Class section…

Dying to succeed? Someone charging around madly, desperately trying to avoid a killing blow, or just shed aggro, is causing unnecessary on-screen confusion for everyone; is making it much harder for healers to help (presuming that they don’t wander out of range entirely); is probably making it impossible for off-tanks to rescue them; is not doing the things that their class is there for! A large part of military training is based on making the soldier look after his buddies first & foremost, rather than himself. It works too – more success, lower casualty rates. If anyone thinks this doesn’t apply in game, try a PUG raid, especially up in the Moors. There, where players' first concern is often for themselves & their precious MvP stats, it only takes 2 or 3 people to panic an entire raid. I haven’t done a lot of MvP, but I’ve seen more than enough of that. Two or 3 people running quickly becomes 6 or 7, at which point if everyone doesn’t run, a decently organised opposition will mince whoever tried to stand & fight. If you want to succeed, work for the party first, yourself second, & it’ll come!

[Raedwulf]

By Class - Ranged

I won’t have much to say here about the Raiding necessaries for some classes, because I don’t play them (or at least don't raid using them very much). So this section is not all my work! I’m sure others can add stuff - feel free to do so. Ultimately, I'll edit into this bit somewhere... ;)

Loremasters
First & most important, RTFM! Alright, Guide, not manual ;) - it's here (http://www.raidsrus.com/forum/showthread.php?t=208). It's almost completely up-to-date & whilst it's a general guide to the class, not to raiding, there's an awful lot of information in there for you to mull over, & perhaps some things you've never considered.

You can do a fair amount of damage, but you know what? In a raid, it’s normally the last thing we care about, & the bottom of your priority list unless you've been told to trait red-line. Power-sharing, wound / disease removal, stunning & anti-stunning – these are your most important duties by far. Wounds can kill, diseases can be hugely debilitating, long stuns wreck the efficiency of the group. They all need to be dealt with promptly. I have been the Minstrel watching my power bar disappear down to zero, whilst the LM who should have been looking after me was running around doing heaven-knows-what with a full bar of power! That’s one LM that won’t be along on any of my raids for a very long time, & any LM who fails to be vigilant about these basic duties is not going to be a popular pick for the Raid Leaders. We always have a surfeit of LM’s to choose from, & no-one wants an incompetent along.

It’s a good idea to use your skills early & preventitively if you get the chance. +10% wound resistance means that much less chance of the minstrels risking aggro; +10% disease resistance means that much less chance of… well, a -200-and-some Vit disease is instantly going to knock 600+ morale off of someone’s health bar & that’ll have to be healed as well, once you wipe the disease. Likewise, don’t wait until someone is out of power or dying before you use Share the Power or Beacon of Hope. As soon as someone is missing enough of either to get full benefit from your skill, use it. They’re then full again & you’re on CD for your healing, or regenerating your power. With Blinding Flash, don’t be afraid of using as soon as the CD is expired. If you’ve only only one mob to look after, by all means stun it every 15s. That way, if it resists, you’ll have BF back again by the time the mob escapes the earlier stun. Assuming you're not on a heavy red trait-line, anyway!

You should routinely have Proof Against All Ills equipped in proper raids (ie. not the Watcher!). This not only gives you in-combat wound removal, it makes both that & Tend The Sick AoE effects. Dunadan Learning makes your anti-stun last 1m, or there's a rather useful Legacy on your Book that can provide a decent extension to duration. Think about whether you need one or both of them. There are mobs around who dish out long stuns, even up to 30s. You need to be using Word of Righteousness preventitively because, often, those very long stuns are not removable. We certainly do not want to see half the melee section of a raid asleep for the duration...

Power and Wisdom, which improves your Power of Knowledge, is a very useful raid trait. At least one LM in a raid ought to have it. Going back to my opening line, if your damage output is a distant second to your other duties it means that red-line traits (Awareness of Body, Flame of Anor, Harmony With Nature, Master of Staff) are all replaceable. I keep HwN if at all possible, because you will inevitably do some damage & this gives you a big cut to power cost & induction time, but if you're being asked to run Ancient Master, or you need 3 or 4 Blues for the support effects (healing & the 4-Blue Air Lore bonus), something has to give.

In a raid, you may have to operate without a pet. If you are allowed to keep one active, please think twice about flying an eagle. Two or 3 LM’s with eagles up can make it next to impossible to see what the hell is going on! Your Raid Leader may explicitly bar you from using it, be warned! On the whole, the raven is probably the best raid pet (unless you're on full blue & have the Lurker available), and saves you a Legendary slot, too. If you do have the eagle, park the blasted thing out of the way somewhere. ;)

The only other thing to reiterate is that your observation of the whole melee & your communication with the rest of the raid are vitally important. In particular, make sure that you & your Champion(s) understand each other – see below.

Minstrels
Like the Champions, your guide (http://www.raidsrus.com/forum/showthread.php?t=314) is a bit iffy, but at least semi up-to-date. It’s pretty hard for a Minstrel to make themselves unpopular, but do nothing bar being a healbot & people will quickly conclude you’re a bit of a waste of space. There has been the occasional fight, such as Narnulubat or the Balrog in the Rift, where you have precious little time for anything else. The rest of the time, don’t be lazy – contribute. Your buffs are the next most important talent here. Make sure you have Smooth Voice in your equipped traits since you can then get to Tier 3 Ballads and Anthems without needing to target any of the Enemy. Those anthems are important - -40% threat, and & +120 iCMR are not to be sniffed at. Alas for the nerfing of AotValar! Your buffs are, to all intents & purposes, passive healing. Increased AV for the party means less damage for them & less aggro for you. Get as much off as you can.

Don’t be afraid to use War-Speech. You won’t be able to stay in it, but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t start each fight in it. You can go round your W-S dependent skills once, maybe twice if you’re lucky, before switching it off to get full healing power. And if all else fails, there’s always just hitting something. You’ll probably never contribute much damage output, maybe no more than 6-8% of your fellowship’s total, but that’s no reason to be lazy. With an average of 2-3 Minstrels in a 12-man raid, & 4-6 in a full 24-man, that’s a fair few thousand pts of damage gone, if all the MNS decide they don’t have to bother fighting. Besides, it’s more involving & more *fun* hitting things! Just don’t waste much power on it & stay out of the way of AoE damage if you can.

Don't forget Call to Greatness either. Pre-Moria effects listed below, courtesy of Bino & Tarinas between them:

Burglar - +15% damage to positional attack skills. Surprise Strike is recovered every 5 seconds
Captain - Grants a defeat event. Grants the Battle-readied state every 5 seconds.
Champion - Grants a defeat event and 2 Fervor. Grants 1 Fervour every 5 seconds.
Guardian - +25% threat generation. Grants the Guardian's Ward effect every 5 seconds.
Hunter - +10% threat generation and grants 3 Focus. Grants 2 Focus every 5 seconds.
Lore-master - +3% chance for enemies to resist Blinding Flash. Recovers Blinding Flash every 5 seconds.
Minstrel - +10% to healing done. Recovers Chord of Salvation every 5 seconds.

As Bino correctly pointed out, it can only be used on your own fellowship members. Tari also had this to say (SOA):
"If I am forced to heal early as a minstrel and aggro three or four enemies, I will usually just take the hits as I know they won't be hitting me for long. If it's a little further in a fight and I've been forced to do a lot of healing and suddenly get multiple enemies after me, I'll hit Hammerhand then Song of Soothing to remove most of the enemies from myself. Feign Death is only for emergencies as you don't lose the aggro; the second you get back up, they will run for you again if you are still the highest on the aggro list, so it's only useful if you can lay still for 15-20 seconds and hope people are hitting the adds.

Something else worth thinking about, if both minstrels are healing a lot - if one hits SoS, then it is likely that all the enemies will go straight to the other minstrel. This is something I've had happen to me far too often and it's typically one of the reasons I am seen with aggro a lot. I don't use aggro reduction skills in the situations when I know they will just run to the other minstrel. Since I typically have more morale, I can take a few more hits and its easier for people to remove the aggro from the healers if the mobs are just attacking me as opposed to running all over the place! :p In other words, if you find yourself in this situation, it may be best to just let them carry on hitting both of you and shout out for help, rather than drop the aggro, get the other minstrel killed, and then have them all run back to you."

Hunters
You have a simple, straightforward task – shoot things (so simple that, shockingly, Nimminas have never got around to writing a Guide for you! :shock:). Apart from either being the RAT, or following the RAT, you’ve precious little to worry about. Therefore you have more time than almost anyone to be keeping your eyes & ears open for incoming trouble! It’s noticeable that our original 3 Raid Leaders were Hunters (& so was the 5th), and I don’t think that’s entirely coincidental either. So keep your eyes peeled & talk when you need to. Of course, if you should spot any poison whilst doing so, deal with it. The earlier any sort of debuff or DoT is removed, the less healing there is for the MNS in the long run.

Before Moria, Haleabor noted: In a Raid where you face big bosses it's easy to forget to use Merciful Shot (check!) as you can only use it when the target is below 50% health. So you spend 5 minutes not using it...it's easy to forget once you can...and it does a lot of damage, especially on a crit.

Hunters don't use traps enough...I know it's not as effective as LM root or tar...but it still stops 1 melee Mob for 10 secs joining the fight...could mean all the difference. Now I'm as guilty as everyone else on this..in fact I can't even remember where my trap skill is on my toolbar.... and maybe there's some "not cool" reason why we don't do it. Either way I think we should think about using it again. [NB: Post-Moria, you have the Combat Traps trait, of course]

Runekeepers
Could do with a contribution from someone!

[Raedwulf]

By Class - Melee

Champions
Again, there's a guide. - read it (http://www.raidsrus.com/forum/showthread.php?t=209). Whether or not you are officially the off-tank, you are the player in the raid with most interest in making sure that mobs who should be safely stunned & out of the way actually are. To this end, make sure you have good communications with your LM’s (& BRGs to a lesser extent). If something gets where it shouldn’t, you need to get its attention, get it out of the way & stop attacking before the LM stuns it again. It is in your best interests and the LM’s to get this working since, otherwise, neither of you can use your AoE effectively.

If you can act pre-emptively, so much the better. And you’re one of the classes that ought not to need reminders about observation, but I’ll say it anyway – keep aware of what’s around you if you’re going to AoE. It’s much easier to move a mob out of the way, so that you don’t have to worry, but if there is one in the way… Not all of your AoE’s work all round – a little bit of intelligence will allow you to continue to use at least some of what you have available.

You are also the Minstrel's best friend. Off-tank or not, you’re probably best placed to rescue them from aggro, since GDNs are usually better off staying dealing with whatever they’ve currently got, & WDNs often already have a train of mobs in tow. Don’t be afraid of switching stances during a fight – Glory is immensely useful for tanking or a sudden rescue.

Guardians
A bit like the Hunters, you have a pretty simple function. Whether you’re the main- or off- tank, or just picking up what comes along, you’ll often have ample time to look around. In a raid, it’s probably better not to have Vexing Blade traited, & that saves you worrying about whether you’re hitting something you shouldn’t be. Also bear in mind Challenge is an AoE effect and, as far as I’m aware, is also capable of breaking mezzes.

Lastly, think before you valiantly charge through the party to rescue someone on the other side – if you drag a mob doing AoE damage through the middle of the group, no-one’s going to applaud your efforts! It’s probably better to let the CHM, WDN, or CPT do any rescuing, definitely so if you are the Main Tank. More often than not, you’ll have the attention of the biggest, nastiest mobs on hand. It’s better for the raid if they are kept as stationary as possible, so that everyone knows exactly where they are. The Guardian's Guide (http://www.raidsrus.com/forum/showthread.php?t=396) is reasonably up to date, and so is the Tanking Guide (http://www.raidsrus.com/forum/showthread.php?t=398).

If you are Main Tanking, the most important thing for you to remember is to stand still as much as you possibly can. No, it isn't always possible. Lately, Turbine seem to have a fad for giving boss mobs AoE hotspot attacks (poison clouds, acid puddles, & so on). Nevertheless, the more you move, the more the nastiest boss in the fight moves, the more confusion & chaos reigns. By moving excessively, you make it far harder for adds to be quickly disposed of; you make it harder for the healers to keep everyone in range; you may cause huge amounts of damage to your fellows who thought they were stood safely out of the way; you make the fight much more difficult than it need be!

Captains
I freely admit to not knowing a great deal about how Captains operate. I’m not going to comment on buffs – you know their merits better than I do. Fear removal; like wound, disease, & poison; is best done as early as possible, & with a whopping +20% bonus resistance is definitely one to use preventitively when facing mobs such as Angmarim who use fear a lot. Lastly, the standard “Keep your eyes open” – the Champions are the first ones to pick up loose trouble, but you’re next in line, not spare GDN’s! If you’re unaware, you’ll be unable to help.

From Arakasi (again this is from SoA days):
Your job is buff, tank and heal. Our DPS is a joke, so no point in mentioning it. Picking aggro off a squishy, while the Guardians and Champions deal with the rest. Add the occasional heal.

Banners
When there is only 1 Captain in a fellowship, use your traited hope banner.
When there are 2 Captains in one fellowship, agree in advance who will slot a different banner. The Captain who will take a different banner can then slot an improved Banner of War or Victory.

Resurrections
We have 2 skills to rez people; Cry of Vengeance and Escape from Darkness. As with any class that can rez in combat, you are not supposed to rez someone unless asked by the raid leader. Cry of Vengeance however, is not a skill that allows for this approval. The short window in which it can be used, gives you only one option: use it when it triggers. If you're popping it, shout in TS or raid chat, so that not two captains use CoV on one death.

Buffs
Depending on class, use the appropriate buff. Some Lore-masters and Minstrels prefer the ICPR buff, others the Crit chance buff. Be sure to ask these types of classes what they prefer. As for the rest, a tank usually wants the Parry chance buff, DPS will want the Crit chance.
IDOME and the +5% morale buff go without saying, have them up.

Shield-brother
Shield Brother gives us an additional attack, which does low damage, but heals your shield brother. It does burn power, so be careful with it. The main use of Shield Brother are the +25% damage/heal buffs. I find these most useful on a tank or minstrel, those who usually take a lot of damage. By contrast, Evelynn (Joerg) remarks: "I prefer to use the 'http://lotro-wiki.com/images/thumb/3/3d/To_Arms-icon.png/18px-To_Arms-icon.png (http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Image:To_Arms-icon.png) To Arms' Buff on DPS classes (Hunters are usually my choice for shield brother because of that)."

Fear removal
Very important, but something to note for non-captains: we have a 30s cooldown! We cannot use it all the time, unlike the Lore-master's wound / disease removal.

Legendary traits

In Defence Of Middle Earth: If you don't have this slotted, shame on you!
Oathbreaker's Shame: If you choose to slot this, make sure you use it on the right NPC - something that has to go down QUICK.
Shield of the Dunedain: This is my choice, it gives a -75% on all incoming damage, which is very useful in a tight spot.
Defy Corruption: Improves the resurrection skills. Escape from Darkness will revive someone with more Morale and Power, Cry of Vengeance can rez 2 targets now.


Burglars

A Burglars thoughts on raiding. Tiermond's specifically, from July 2009

Post Moria there are 3 ways to play a burglar depending on how you are traited. For solo play or the moors the Quiet Knife traits can give a nice dps boost, but no raid leader is going to pick a burglar purely for their dps. Primarily you are in the raid for your debuffs, with secondary roles as backup crowd control and dps.
This leaves 2 trait lines - either Mischief Maker, Gambler, or a hybrid of both. Having 3 traits in the MM line gives 40sec trick durations, having 5 and Little Annoyances traited gives a 1 minute trick duration. Often in raids you need to keep one mob disabled while dps'ing another. In such situations, the extra trick duration means a lot less running back and forth between mobs.

Mischief Maker Traits
Opportunist - Boosts Counter Defence - essential trait for when you need to take a boss down fast
Trickster - AOE DITE has it uses when mobbed but not essential.
Disabling attack - For those bosses that hit hard; pretty much an essential trait for all raids.
Blind Fury - Randomised aggro, and forces ranged to melee, very useful trait to have.
Perplexing Riddle - pre Moria this was a must have, post moria if you have 3 traits in the MM line you have an extra 5 secs on your riddle, which doesn't break for the first 2 secs. So this is now largely redundant.
Appraising Eye - an extra 2% on reveal weakness. Would anyone notice the difference? Useful as the 5th trait to slot.
Confound the Fools - turns confound into AOE and adds a 5sec stun, never slotted it as there's more useful traits.
Complicated Terms - reduces resists for confound and riddle. When I riddle something, I want it to stick not to get resisted, so a trait I always use.

So the traits I'd recommend from the Mischief Maker line for the most utility in raids are Opportunist, Disabling Attack, Complicated Terms, Appraising Eye, and Blind Fury.

For the Last 2 traits I take 2 from the Gambler Trait Line, this gives a debuffing gamble from Clever Retort and the more debuffs on a boss the better.

Sidestep - I have never unslotted it since getting it. Having the maximum possible evade is essential to any burglar.
Swift and Subtle - +10% Subtle Stab damage and a debuff if using SS when a gamble is applied.
Cruel Odds - Burglar's Advantage and Double Edged Strike have a 10% chance to apply a critical vulnerability debuff, 25% chance if gamble applied.
Overwhelming Odds - After an FM, boosts the burglar according to the fm. Not really that useful.
Honed Wit - Clever Retort cooldown reduced by 30secs
Even the Odds - probably only useful if going all out gambler.
Footpad - +2 stealth level, not that you use stealth much in a raid. Burgle has a 60% chance of a debuff gamble, but then burgle only works from stealth. All in all, not that useful for a raid.
Leafwalker - +20% stealth speed, although again, you won't spend much time stealthed in a raid. Provoke can do a disabling gamble from stealth.

So the 2 Gambler traits I would choose for raiding are Sidestep and Cruel Odds, although Swift and Subtle is quite nice too as an alternative.

Other trait combinations can work as well but means a lot more running around applying debuffs. If there are 2 burglars in the raid, having one MM traited and one gambler traited would be very interesting to try.

For Legendary Traits I use
Exposed Throat - Essential, nice damage plus a 20% chance of s 6sec stun and a fm
Little Annoyances - Improves Small Snags debuff, reduces the cooldown and gives an extra 20 sec duration for tricks
Stick and Move - helps keep the crit chain up helping with the dps.

General Advice for Burglars when raiding

You can never have enough power! I tend to go through it fast, despite having a fair bit of ICPR equip. Use Clever Retort, fm's and blue pots, and don't let yourself run out.

After an FM theres a 1 minute immunity to more FMs, so you need to keep track of when you can and can't launch one. Watch for the stun immunity and the symbols above the heads of the other fellowship so you know when one has been triggered by the other group. Try to avoid starting them on anything that isn't a raid assist target, as people having to switch targets makes it much less successful. That said if the group needs a big heal fast dont hesitate to switch targets to lauch an fm if the raid assist target is immune.

You need eyes in the back of your head! Always keep half an eye out for stray mobs at the back of the group that need riddling.

If an archer is causing a nuisance, use traited enrage to pull it into melee, then follow up with Startling Twist to stun it and remove the enrage. It should be easy then for an off tank to pick it up, or for you to riddle it.

Always carry plenty of Marbles. You never know when you might need an extra FM and everything else is on cooldown.

Said Derigar, pre-Moria:
Traited riddle is a must for basically all aspects of burglar play, the others are open to debate a bit. I'd highly recommend at least one traited trick, but two or three can be very useful for aiding the group. Given the choice, i'd use the following under these conditions:
- DiTE if you know you're going to be pulling enemies in small groups a lot
- Enrage if you want the option of forcing ranged enemies into melee, which has its uses (in The Rift, orcs at fumeroles or the drakes by the wall before Zogtark both instantly come to mind)
- Disable if you are going to be fighting a strong boss or singular enemy (less essential as this skill is powerful even untraited)
- CD if you want to kill the enemy as quickly as possible.

Personally, i'd go for DiTE and enrage/disable, but it should be adjusted based on the area you are fighting in. For the rest of the traits, the stealth based ones are not overly useful in raids as you'll likely be just running around with mischief on the whole time anyway.

As for legendary traits, exposed throat is a must, but be careful about using this skill on tough bosses, as you may need to use a FM later but find the immunity still active. I'd advise against stick and move just because you shouldn't care about your crit chain and equally won't be getting attacked too often in a raid for it to actually make a difference.

Wardens
Could also do with a contribution from someone!

[Raedwulf]

Reserved

[Raedwulf]

Tweaked somewhat in advance of the new content. Pay particular attention to the section on FSMs! And if anyone wants to write me something for the By Class sections for Warden & RK, I would be much obliged...