Yellow Lore-master ‘Ancient Master’ Build
By Araphorn
Table of Contents
Introduction
Welcome, here you will find a great build for Yellow Lore-masters, built specifically for MM T3+ content, which requires a LM to have a high morale pool along with great finesse.
A spot for LMs is always there, in just about any content. In 3-mans, LMs replace the healer, in 6-mans a LM is required for the overall debuffs, especially ones which increase DPS, and in raids LMs are required for just about everything a LM brings. This is something which has always been the case since LOTRO started, and it isn’t something which is going to change, so having a LM yellow spec is always good to have.
A Lore-master has lots utility if played right, they bring debuffs which reduce target’s damage, by quite a margin, and they also have debuffs which makes your group deliver more damage to targets. Moreover, LMs also have to control their Pets, which have further unique debuffs, and LMs also have off-healing utilities, which helps the tanks/group. There’s usually no rotation gaps/waiting periods on LM, it always something to do, something to refresh, which makes the class a little challenging in raids, but fun at the same time.
Stat Goals
*This applies to all levels, from 0 to 130.
There are no primary stats on a Yellow Lore-master, they need a little bit of everything, balanced. I would say first to build for Morale, till it’s at an acceptable level, then take other stats up. 400K to 450K morale unbuffed is a minimum for Lore-masters for T3+ content, so they don’t tax their healer. After that is achieved, Finesse should be taken to 30% for T3, and 40% to T4+ so no debuffing skills get resisted.
Vitality > Finesse > Tactical Mitigation > Physical Mitigation > Tactical Mastery
With Endgame gear and correct placement of Essences, Virtues and so on, self buffed stats should be around:
| Morale | ~400,000+ |
| Finesse | 30% for T3 | 40% for T4+ |
| Critical Rating | 600,000+ |
| Tactical Mastery | 500,000+ |
| Tactical Mitigation | 40% |
* While you are gearing up, remove all Essences from your current Gear, and then slot Essences as per the Stat goals. After you have met the Stat goals, then place the right Virtues (more down on that down below). This way you can plan your setup better, and utilize Essences perfectly, and can dump the remaining Essences in Vitality or other Stat of your choice after meeting Stat goals mentioned above.
Gear
The new Armour Set from Remmorchant Raid called ‘Beast Unshackled’ is best in slot for Yellow Lore-masters. It reduces Catmint’s cooldown by 30s, which allows you to use that skill every 15s. Catmint is generally only used to buff the potency of Raven debuff and Spirit’s Morale mark. So, with the Catmint set, it gets very easy to keep both Pets marks on the target full time.
Armour Pieces:
- 4x The Beast Unshackled
- 2x Ancient Lightning
These 6 pieces (Greater) upgradeables are from the Remmorchant Barter in Estolad Lan. If you don’t have access to this set, you can easily use the previous (Old) dropped Raid Armour of Item Level 430, which is also barterable. Make sure to not mix the sets, new Set bonus doesn’t combine with the old one.
Cloak:
Off-hand:
Stickpin:
Jewelry Pieces:
Earrings:
Necklace:
Pocket:
Bracelets:
Rings:
Essences
Use these only to reach Critical Rating of 600,000+.
Use these only to reach Tactical Mastery rating of 500,000+.
These are filler essences, use these once Critical Rating and Tactical Mastery are at acceptable levels, and after slotting 4 Trigger essences.
Special Trigger Essences to use:
These are the 4 recommended Trigger essences for LM.
Trait Trees
There are two ways to trait a Yellow LM for instances/raids. One is to build for a little bit of DPS from Lightning-storm, and the other way is pure Yellow-Blue for extra morale/mits and lower inductions, which help with Water-lore spam for healing. You generally only need to trait for Yellow-Red (Lightning-storm) for DPS heavy fight, where the group can use your help.
Here is the build for Yellow-Red:
I have everything important from Yellow line here, and Catmint from Blue. While also having maxed out damage for Lightning-storm, which can hit really hard if the target is debuffed and has Oathbreakers on it.
Next, here is my tree for Yellow-Blue, I use this tree if I’m solo-healing the instance (3-mans for example) and if my group doesn’t require me to DPS at all.
This Tree has everything important from Yellow line and the best stuff from Blue.
Virtues
These are the virtues I use to reach the Stat Goals. You can play around with these to get the numbers you want, but I would not recommend using any Mits virtues (apart from Fidelity) as you don’t gain much from them.
By using these Virtues, I reach my Stat Goals, while still maintaining a good Morale pool.
- Loyalty (Number 1 virtue for Morale, for any class)
- Fidelity (Gives decent Morale + Tactical Mits)
- Confidence (Great for extra Critical and solid Finesse)
- Wit (Great for Finesse and Critical, a must have for LM)
- Wisdom (Great for extra Will and Finesse)
If you don’t have these virtues, here are some alternatives:
- Tolerance
- Innocence
- Compassion
Legendary Items
These are pretty straight-forward for Lore-masters, there’s no weapon swapping, but only Book swapping for extra Fire-lore strength (optional if you are not doing T3+ content).
Lore-master’s Staff
| Type | Post-Imbued Legacy |
|---|---|
| Major | Burning Embers Initial Damage |
| Major | Fire Skills Critical Damage |
| Major | Light of the Rising Dawn Base Critical Damage |
| Major | Light of the Rising Dawn Damage |
| Major | Tactical Skills Direct Damage |
| Minor | Lightning-storm Base Damage |
| Minor | Test of Will Damage |
Relics:
Lore-master’s Book (Class Item)
| Type | Post-Imbued Legacy | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Beacon of Hope Magnitude | |
| Major | Burning Embers Critical Chance and Burning Embers Critical Magnitude | |
| Major | Signs of Power Durations and Signs of Power Debuff Ratings | |
| Minor | Armour Debuff Potency | |
| Minor | Light-type Damage and Lightning-type Damage | |
| Minor | Charged Air Reflect Damage | Use Wizard’s Fire Critical Chance instead if you want to share Book with Red Line |
| Minor | Pet Morale | Use Fire Damage Over Time instead if you want to share Book with Red Line |
Relics:
Swap Legendary Items
There’s just one Swap Book required for Lore-master:
Non-Imbued Lore-master’s Book Swap (Class Item)
| Type | Pre-Imbued Legacy |
|---|---|
| Major | Target Resistance (Debuffing Skills) |
| Major | Target Resistance (Fire Skills) |
| Minor | Bane Flare Targets |
| Minor | Fire-lore Debuff Strength (Rest 3 legacies can be random) |
Explanation:
- Target Resistances: Although not required, but a good place holder on the swap, may even help with resists.
- Bane Flare Targets: This is a very important swap, this book must be swapped to every time Bane Flare is hit, don’t forget to swap back to Main book.
- Fire-lore Debuff Strength: Pretty mandatory for T3+ Raids/Instances, it must be swapped for every Fire-lore/Wind-lore application, then Main book can be swapped back to. This legacy is not needed for anything under T3 content.
Rotation
Here is what I do on Lore-master.
- Before starting the fight, put a few Water-lores on the tank, along with an Air-lore. Throw tar on the area the boss should be at, along with Warding Knowledge Circle.
- Start the fight with Fire-lore (use swap book if you have), then Frost-lore. Use Wind-lore after, so both the debuffs are at the same duration (swap your book back).
- Now it’s time for pet debuffs, summon Nature Spirit pet first and use Catmint, then apply Nature’s Light pet skill to put a 10% morale return mark for 30s.
- Ask your group leader when they want Ancient Craft and use it accordingly.
- Then dismiss the Spirit pet and summon your Bear and apply its Shatter Arms skill for a incoming damage debuff.
- Then dismiss Bear and summon Bog-lurker and apply Root Strike skill for incoming ranged critical chance debuff (Only summon this pet if you have a Hunter in your group)
- Now is a good time to refresh Wind-lore (which will refresh Fire/Frost-lore). You can also use Signs of Power now, Command and See all Ends.
- If you have the Catmint set, your Catmint will come off cooldown right about now, use it and do the same thing for Raven pet, apply Benediction with Catmint.
- While you have rotation gaps, you can use these gaps to refresh Wind-lore on target(s) to renew your Fire/Frost-lores, give some Water-lores to tank, do some CC as per the instance requirements.
- It also helps a lot to have a shortcut on your quickslot for dismissing pets. You can do so by typing this in the chat box:
- /shortcut 1 /pet release
- Keep Warding Knowledge Circle on boss on cooldown as much as you can, along with Sticky Tar. Ancient Craft refresh as per group requirements. If they don’t ask for it, then keep it on cooldown.
- Stun immunity on tank as per instance requirements.
- Juggling all Pet skills debuffs takes time to get the hang of, but don’t let them interfere with your ability to refresh Fire/Frost-lores on time with Wind-lore, and other important things.
- To summarize, keep Fire/Frost-lore always on targets, keep your pet skills (names mentioned above) on target as best as you can, priority is Nature Pet > Bear > Raven > Bog-lurker, only Spirit and Raven require Catmint. When you have done that, watch out for CC requirements and help your tank with Water-lores.
Consumables
There are the consumables I use on Lore-master:
Updated as of U29.
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