Current endgame in LotRO can seem like a bit of a grind and a little daunting, the aim of this guide is to remedy that. Below is a concise, but certainly not complete, summary of life at level 130, which will hopefully help you meet your character’s goals efficiently and quickly.
egions and Questlines
- Imlad Morgul and Mordor Besieged
- The Wells of Langflood
Firstly, it is important to complete the landscape quests in these regions. Not only are they good fun but are needed to unlock the instances and daily/weekly repeatable quests, and barter for good items, all of which I’ll outline below.
Once you complete the deed “Quests of Imlad Morgul and Mordor Besieged”, you’ll have access to the Reclamation quests. These are given in Echad Uial (a great spot for your milestone) by the Rangers of Ithilien and carter Prince Faramir’s attempts to retake the Dead City. More on them later…
You can barter for a return to Estolad Lan skill at acquaintance standing.
The new region, Wells of Langflood, is only a few weeks old. You should have gotten a quest in the mail to go talk to Grimbeorn at Beorninghús.
The new epic, the sequel to “The Black Book of Mordor” (itself the sequel to the main Epic line), “The Legacy Of Durin And The Trials Of The Dwarves”, also begins here. You should have gotten a quest in the mail to visit Durin by the stablemaster in Skarhald.
You can barter for a return to Limlok skill at acquaintance standing.
The importance of finished this new region lies in the barterable jewellery and armour from its Quartermaster. Again, more on that later…
epeatable Quests
The new endgame currency, and current most valuable commodity in-game, are Embers of Enchantment, or just embers.
The easiest way to get them is to disenchant level 130 gear that drop from quests/instance chests using a Flame of Ancalamír, or by completing the following weekly quests:
Imlad Morgul Weeklies (reset on Thursdays):
- Imlad Morgul: Vale of Sorcery – complete 4 Imlad Morgul scaling instances
- Imlad Morgul: The Reclamation – complete 10 Reclamation quests
- Imlad Morgul: Continued Threats – kill 8 ‘Scourges of Mordor’, otherwise known as the Nazgul weekly, completed by killing the roving Nazgul threats in Mordor Besieged
Barterable Weeklies (reset on Sundays):
- Craft for Embers – from dwarves in Skarhald, requires 7 dwarrowgleam shards
- Sigils of Imlad Ithil for Embers – from Imlad Morgul Quartermaster, costs 100 sigils
Wells of Langflood Weekly (resets on Thursday):
- Protectors of Wilderland: Bounties – complete 5 goblin bounties from Limlok
LotRO-wiki has a good guide on how/where to get Embers.
Reclamation Quests
These are repeatable dailies given by the Rangers Ereblen and Tordoron in Echal Uial in the Morgul Vale. As mentioned above, they’re available at 130 after completing the “Quests of Imlad Morgul and Mordor Besieged” deed. They are completed by running 6 of the Minas Morgul scalable instances (Harrowing, Roost, Halls of Black Lore, Filth-well, Houses of Lamentation and Deep-barrow).
Completing them gives Reclamation rep items and sigils. Increasing your reclamation reputation is a slow grind and rep accelerators are a must if you want to do it, it’s certainly not mandatory.
nstances
Instances run at 130 include:
Minas Morgul Scaleables
The 6 mentioned above and The Fallen Kings (unlocked after defeating all the Nazgul roving threats once)
Chests within these instances contain two types of loot- favourable and common. You can run the instance as often as you wish but favourable loot (including gear/runics/crafting components) only drops twice a week. You can see how many favourable drops you have left per chest in the raid lock panel (separate tab).
Remmorchant
The new raid which you all know about.
It drops the best gear (which are barterable for embers in Estolad Lan after completing the T1 deed) and is great fun. T1 resets Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays. T2 and above resets on Thursdays.
You should aim to run T1 three times a week (at least first boss and sides) whilst gearing up. Running with the kin is preferable as you can trade gear within your group.
Class specific items drop in T2 and above from the side-bosses.
eatured Instances
Not run as often as they used to be. Still drop 100 embers a day for the 130-level challenge.
Throne of Dread Terror
Level 105 raid in the Pelennor Fields
Run essentially for Ancient Ithil-coins, which are barterable for LI items (more on them later).
Most groups only run the first boss, Rakothas, in a 6-man. This raid resets on Thursdays.
WARNING: This is the last raid to use the old lock system. Careful of your locks before joining a group.
kirmish Raids
You’re joking right?! No! Skraids are back! Well not really, they’re run for seals, which can be traded at skirmish camps for Essence Reclamation Scrolls. More on them later.
The Anvil of Winterstith
Level 120 raid in Ered Mithrin
Run for Rime of the Anvil ), a rare crafting component that drops from T2 chests and side-bosses. Used to make best-in-game crafted LI relics (more later). Resets Thursdays.
Askâd-mazal, the Chamber of Shadows
A new 3-man dropping on May 20th
You’ll have to unlock the entrance, which is in eastern Foundations of Stone in Moria.
If you’re into the secret stone narrative, you can also decipher the runes that led to its discovery, via a secret clue hunt taking you through Middle-earth. Doing this grind will grant you a quest that has a goat as a reward.
SPOILERS AHEAD: Secret Event – Unravelling the Clues
rmour and Jewellery
The best armour and jewellery drop from Remmorchant, item level 426 and above. A full breakdown can be seen with the barters in Estolad Lan:
Each barterer will display the class specific armour-sets (drop at T2 and above, and can be traded for other set-pieces upon completion of T2 deed), as well as the T1 armour and jewellery (barterable for embers upon completion of the T1 deed).
Wells of Langflood provides excellent landscape gear, either via quests rewards, or through barterable items from the Quartermaster at Limlok. These include teal shoulders and bracelets.
The new epic through the Wells will also provide a teal cloak and gloves.
Minas Ithil guilded crafters can also craft T1 Remmo almost-equivalent gear with ithilgalad crafting components which drop from the MM instances. These include the current best-in-class off hand weapons and shields.
WARNING: The ithilgalad crafting component boxes and what they craft are not account-bound, but the crafting items within are, so don’t open them unless you have the appropriate guilded crafter you want on your account. You’ll have to send the boxes on to another player otherwise.
Examples include
The Adventurer’s Quartermaster can barter decent teal armour, weaponry and jewellery for 3500 embers per piece.
Jewellery also drops from the Minas Ithil instances, with a barterer also in Estolad Lan.
BOTTOM LINE: Get the Wells of Landflood gear and get started on T1 Remmo. Top up with adventurer’s teal gear whilst you wait for drops if needed. Save up components and get a guild kinnie to craft you the items you need.
irtues
Virtues have been revamped, with a new levelling system involving virtue xp (VXP).
VXP is rewarded for completing a deed or certain repeatable quests. Only one Virtue can be ranked up at a time – the Virtue that is specified as “Earning” in the Virtue panel.
The current maximum rank achievable for Virtues is 68 for a character at level 130 (the effective maximum rank is based on character level).
Here’s the good bit, each virtue has a passive stat which contributes to your character whether the virtue is slotted or not.
Offensive virtue (rank 68 at level 130) = + 3360 Tactical and Physical Mastery
Defensive virtue (rank 68 at level 130) = + 1050 Maximum Morale
There are 7 offensive and 14 defensive virtues, so that amounts to a considerable boost. Get working on them!
ssences
Essences are slottable items that provide stats to certain items like armour and jewellery. They were introduced at level 100.
At level 130, the essences to aim for are the tier 4 warmly-moonlight essences. These are craftable with an auto-bestowed recipe at Minas Ithil level.
A crit of this recipe will provide a “Warmly Moonlit (Tier 4) Essence Box“. This mystery box will either provide you with a basic essence or, rarely in my experience, a trigger essence.
Trigger essences can provide an extra stat buff for yourself or your fellowship.
WARNING: Each trigger essence has a type, such as Fury or Beneficence, and only one equipped essence of each type is able to trigger at a time. So, no point slotting multiple because their buffs do not stack.
To guarantee a critical crafting success and a mystery box, you should use a “universal optional crafting ingredient”. These are account-bound and are rewarded for completing ten tasks weekly per character (auto-bestow quest upon completing a task, resets on Thursdays).
So, collect task items for your alts and hand them in weekly! A good place to farm task items for lower level alts is the South-guard Ruins in Andrath in Southern Bree-land. Mobs here drop two task items (broken hatchets and worn sword-sheaths) which can be turned in at the level 11-20 task board in any housing neighbourhood (just port to the kinhall). Thanks, Brag, for this system.
tats
What stats to aim for and which essences to use is a very personal/class specific choice. I’d be happy to talk to any champs about my opinions, and I’m sure experienced/geared players of other classes within the kin would be willing to do the same.
For stat caps at level 130 see this page, level 130 equivalents are under “required rating” in the table.
egendary Items
The links above provide really good info on where to get crystals and scrolls.
With the most recent update, the Traveller’s Quartermaster now offers special Scrolls of Empowerment and Star-lit crystals for Motes. These items can be used on any legendary item before it is imbued to improve the legacies. After imbuement, the scrolls can be used to unlock legacies through tier 74 and the crystals can be used to unlock the main damage/healing legacy through tier 58.
The Adventurer’s Quartermaster offers the same scrolls and crystals for Embers (100 and 250 each respectively). In addition, the Adventurer’s Quartermaster offers scrolls that unlock legacies through tier 79 and crystals that unlock the main legacy through tier 63 (1000 and 2500 respectively).
Once you’re geared you’ve more than enough embers to use on scrolls. Personally, I don’t spend embers on the level 79 scrolls, too expensive. I use my Rako coins (read above) for crystals and run the Minas Tirith dailies for any added scrolls I need.
elics
Glimmering Ithil Runics drop from favoured loot chest in MM instances and are currently best-in-game for LI settings, gems and runes.
Next best Ithil settings, gems and runes can be bartered for sigils (250) at The White Company Quartermaster in Estolad Lan and Echad Uial.
Top tip: There are three weapon specific runes that cost 500 sigils to barter, these are the ones you should use your glimmering drops on first.
I mentioned earlier that you need Rimes of the Anvil from the Anvil raid to craft the best-in-game crafted relics. This recipe auto-bestows in the Ironfold crafting tier.
Your rimes can be traded for the “Artefacts of the Vale” components at a Wilderfolk Rewards Quartermaster in the Vales of Anduin.
L;DR
Embers are your friend: run the repeatable Imlad Morgul and Wells weeklies for them
- Run MM Reclamation instances for favoured loot when favoured chests available
- Run T1 Remmo (at least first boss and sides) 3 times a week to gear yourself up. Run with kin so we can trade amongst ourselves
- Complete Wells of Langflood and use the barter armour and jewellery to start
- Craft the best essences; run tasks for crit success item
- Get working on LI’s and Virtues!
Be active and sign-up for raids! Let’s get T1 done so we can all barter whatever gear we want!
Questions, additions and comments welcome!
Le meas,
Eres