Red Champion

Red Line DPS Champion Berserker Build

By Araphorn – Updated for Yondershire, U33

Table of Contents

Introduction

Welcome, here you will find an up-to-date Red Line Champion build for Gundabad update, tuned for high Single Target DPS.

Red Champion is one of the most fun melee classes to play, it has quick DPS rotations, really good mobility with Sprint skill, and recently got some great defensive buffs, making it one of the very top specs. It still requires some awareness of mechanics, as Melee classes have some restrictions in LOTRO and often get punished.

(I see this question asked everywhere for Champions, and I’ll answer it here)

Which type of weapons to use, Dual-wield or Two-handers?

As of Yondershire update, a 2-hander Weapon is superior for DPS in Red & Yellow line both.

Stat Goals

These goals are kept with Essence & Gear planning in mind, as to which Essences are to be prioritized over others. These goals can also be used when picking Virtues.

Critical Rating > Physical Mastery > Tactical Mitigation > Vitality

After Critical Rating and Physical Mastery are capped or near capped, save some room for Class & Trigger essences, and then Tactical Mitigation essences can be used. At the beginning of expansion, Essence slots are really limited, this gets easier as better items become available later down the line.

* Before planning Essences, slot the right Virtues (more on that down below). This way you can plan your setup better, and utilize Essences perfectly, and you can dump the remaining Essence slots in Vitality, Finesse, or other Stat of your choice after meeting Stat goals mentioned above.

Gear

With new Raid released, new gear for Red Champions is published in the tables down below. They will use 4-piece of the Red Line set and 3-piece of the Yellow Line set for additional Attack Duration bonus. There are 2 published Builds, one for Endgame and one for Starters.

* Currently, a 2-hander Weapon is performing better, but in the case you prefer a Dual-wield setup, an Off-hand is provided down below.

End-game Build

Armour Pieces

Gear Slot Set Piece Location
Helm Hiddenhoard Raid
Chest Hiddenhoard Raid
Shoulders Hiddenhoard Raid
Gloves Hiddenhoard Raid
Legs Hiddenhoard Raid
Boots Hiddenhoard Raid
Cloak Hiddenhoard Raid
Off-hand Hiddenhoard Raid
Class Item Hiddenhoard Raid

Jewelry Pieces

Gear Slot Set Piece Location
Earring 1 Hiddenhoard Raid
Earring 2 Hiddenhoard Raid
Necklace Hiddenhoard Raid
Pocket Hiddenhoard Raid
Bracelet 1 Storvagun Winter Festival
Bracelet 2 Storvagun Winter Festival
Ring 1 Hiddenhoard Raid
Ring 2 Hiddenhoard Raid

Starter Build

The 140 Level Gear from this Build can be acquired by playing the 3 and 6 man instances, higher difficulty will award better loot. Having this gear will allow to progress level capped Raids. As for Essences, you can use the ones you get from Questing or Crafting (whichever Tier is fine), and try to follow the Stat Goals above and Slot the ones which are needed by your Class.

Armour Pieces

Gear Slot Set Piece Location
Helm Gundabad 3-Man Instance
Chest Gundabad 6-Man Instance
Shoulders Gundabad 6-Man Instance
Gloves Gundabad 3-Man Instance
Legs Gundabad 3-Man Instance
Boots Gundabad 3-Man Instance
Cloak Gundabad 6-Man Instance
Off-hand Embers Box
Barter
Class Item Embers Box
Barter

Jewelry Pieces

Gear Slot Set Piece Location
Earring 1 Gundabad 6-Man Instance
Earring 2 Gundabad 6-Man Instance
Necklace Gundabad 6-Man Instance
Pocket Gundabad 6-Man Instance
Bracelet 1 Storvagun Winter Festival
Bracelet 2 Storvagun Winter Festival
Ring 1 Gundabad 6-Man Instance
Ring 2 Gundabad 6-Man Instance

Essences

Essence Name Essence Note
Critical Rating Use these to reach
near Critical Rating cap.
Physical Mastery Use these to reach
near Physical Mastery cap.
Class Essence Use 1 of these.
Critical Rating Trigger Use 1 of these.
Physical Mastery
Trigger
Use 1 of these.
Critical Heal Trigger Use 1 of these.
Tactical Mitigation Use these to fill
slots after above
Essences are met.

Trait Trees

There are two different Trait Trees for Red Line, depending on the fight/scenario, or if grouped/solo.

This Tree is used for harder Instances/Raids, as it is more survival based, it gives extra Tactical Mitigation, along with more Vitality. Recommended to use this for T4/T5 Instances/Raids.

Red Tree for T4/T5 Raids

Next, second Tree is more DPS based with a nice Cleave (AoE Damage from Yellow), but lesser survival. This one for easier content, but can also be used in Raids if Survivability is manageable.

Red Tree for easier content

Use these Trees as per the fight type.

35 Trait Points Build for Legendary Servers

35 Points Build

60 Trait Points Build for Beginners

60 Points Build

Virtues

These are the virtues I use to reach the Stat Goals. I use mostly Offensive options, but if need be, some of them can be switched to more Defensive options as well, depending on the type of fight. More explained down below.

Virtues for Red-Line

Here are the Virtues which go along with the Stat Goals:

  1. Zeal (Great for Mastery and Critical Rating)
  2. Valour (Great for Mastery, Finesse and Critical Rating)
  3. Confidence (Great for Critical Rating and Finesse)
  4. Wit (Great for Finesse, Mastery and Critical Rating)
  5. Loyalty (Great for Vitality and survival)
    • If you need extra Survivability, swap Wit with Fidelity

If you don’t have these virtues, here are some alternatives:

  • Fidelity (Great for Vitality + Tactical Mit)
  • Tolerance (Gives great amount of Tactical Mit, decent Physical Mit and Resistance)
  • Innocence (Gives great amount of Physical Mit, decent Tactical Mit Mit and Resistance)

Legendary Items

With U30.3, disabled Weapon Swapping in combat and the loss of Crit Multiplier legacy, left Champs in an awkward position. However, they did get a big +30% base damage boost, so they are more or less at the same DPS level they were before the LI revamp.

One thing to note is that 2-Handers weapons are now taking the edge over a Dual-wield setup, as all skills have a much higher tooltip with a 2-Hander equipped, and the Off-hands are way below the DPS rating at the moment. This might change, but for now a 2-Hander Weapon is superior in Red-line.

*Note: The way I have setup new Legendary Items is in a way that the Class Item can be shared with Yellow Line, reducing some resources load. All the general Traceries which are used in both Red and Yellow Line are placed on the Class Item, and Line Specific Traceries are placed on the Weapon. Furthermore, there is no need for Words of Power: Damage Over Time traceries, as Champ really does not have good DPS output with bleeds, so Morale and Mitigation ones are used instead on Red Line Weapon.

1-Hander Weapon

TBD – May come back in the future 🙂

2-Hander Weapon

Type Sockets
Heraldic Tracery Heraldry of the Ox
Word of Power Base Morale Multiplier
Word of Power Incoming Damage Reduction
(Tactical)
Word of Mastery Brutal Strikes Damage
Word of Mastery Devastating Strike Damage
Word of Mastery Fear Nothing Cooldown
& Incoming Healing
Word of Mastery Ferocious Strikes Damage
Word of Mastery Remorseless Strikes Damage
Word of Mastery Wild Attack Damage
Word of Craft Heroic Precision
Word of Craft Heroic Precision

Champion’s Rune (Class Item)

Type Sockets
Heraldic Tracery Heraldry of the Ox
Word of Power Area Effect Target Count
Word of Power Single Target Attack Criticals
Word of Power Single Target Attack Damage
Word of Mastery Battle Frenzy Cooldown
Word of Mastery Blade Wall Damage
Word of Mastery Fight On Critical Chance Buff
Word of Mastery Horn of Gondor Damage
& Mitigation Debuff
Word of Mastery Rend Armour Reduction
& Bleed Damage
Word of Mastery Swift Strike/Blade Damage
& Power Cost
Word of Craft Heroic Alacrity
Word of Craft Heroic Alacrity

*Note: No Red-line specific traceries are used in this Rune (Class Item), thus making this Item usable in Yellow-line also, if you play both Specs.

Rotation

Here is what I do on Red Champ:

  1. Weapon Swapping in Combat is disabled as of U30.3. So this rotation will consist of using only 1 Weapon.
  2. Your rotation should always start with pre-buffs:
    • Keep Fervour at max before entering combat.
    • Use Controlled Burn.
    • Start the fight with Champion’s Duel .
  3. Start with Wild Attack to get your 5% crit chance up. If it doesn’t crit, don’t stop, just keep rotation going, use Wild Attack again soon to get that buff up.
  4. After your buffs are up, use Devastating Strike.
  5. Now that all your buffs are up, now it’s time to start using spenders. Start with Ferocious-Battle Frenzy-Brutal-Clobber-Swift Strike-Remorseless. These are your spenders.
  6. When those are on cooldown, keep Wild Attack crit chance up (It lasts for 10s and it helps if you can track it via a plugin)
  7. Try to also use Brutal Strikes twice every ~10-12s. This will help bridge your rotation gaps. If you still get a gap, use Blade-wall.
  8. Just like Brutal Strikes, keep Blade-wall also almost on cooldown, this is your filler skill when your Wild Attack Crit is up, and your spenders such as Brutal/Fero are on cooldown.
  9. You also only want to use Remorseless Strike when your Emboldened Blades stack go over 3 or 4, this can be tracked via a Plugin.
  10. Your Ferocious/Brutal-Clobber rotation should always be on cooldown. But try to use those 3 Skills after a Devastating Strike, you may have to wait a few seconds for that, so just use Blade-wall to bridge that gap or refresh Wild Attack crit.
  11. Mostly, Red Champ is all about keeping all your Spenders on cooldown, and managing your buffs simultaneously, this can take some practice but you will eventually get the hang of it.

Consumables

There are the consumables I use on Champ:

  1. Crafted 10s Horn. These are invaluable for Instances/Raids, your group will always ask for these, so keep them with you. (You can only use ones which say ‘Most effective against targets of your level or lower.’)
  2. Fervour pots. These are great for the instant 5 Fervour and Dev Magnitude for big hits. I typically use them only while I’m heavily buffed or if there is an Oathbreakers on the boss.

This is the Food to use:

Updated as of U33.

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