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 | |
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 | |
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.

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.

Use these Trees as per the fight type.
35 Trait Points Build for Legendary Servers

60 Trait Points Build for Beginners

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.

Here are the Virtues which go along with the Stat Goals:
- Zeal (Great for Mastery and Critical Rating)
- Valour (Great for Mastery, Finesse and Critical Rating)
- Confidence (Great for Critical Rating and Finesse)
- Wit (Great for Finesse, Mastery and Critical Rating)
- 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:
- Weapon Swapping in Combat is disabled as of U30.3. So this rotation will consist of using only 1 Weapon.
- 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 .
- 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.
- After your buffs are up, use Devastating Strike.
- 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.
- 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)
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- 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.’)
- 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.
\****/