The Warden itself usually revitalizes me when I hit “the wall” with my alt leveling project. It really is a fun class that’s just “different” enough from other classes that I really get a kick out of playing it every time. Also, the fact that it’s a tank also helps quite a bit, because that’s my preferred method of playing. Or maybe it’s just a marker that my time in this leveling in this area is done. Whatever it may be, I usually start feeling better about everything when I start playing this character.
Now first off, I am a Warden dumb-dumb. Most of the other classes I play I really feel like I’ve started getting into a good “groove”, but with the Warden I discovered that at level 30 I was really behind in my class deeds. I mean really, really behind. So my main goal this time around was to make sure that I accomplished as many of these deeds as possible. To do this I utilized some of the Warden plugins, namely Warden Ease, to make sure that I was performing the correct gambit and by placing them on my Quest Tracker as a constant reminder. However, in the later levels as the deeds were completed I tried to start working on a skill rotation; starting off with an aggro gain gambit, throwing up a defensive gambit and then testing from there. The next go around though I’m definitely going to have to take a closer look at DocHoliday’s Warden posts and the Official Warden Forums to get a better idea on what works for other people and then make it my own.
Warden Skills from Level 30 – 38
| Skill | Skill Effect | Gambit | Opinion | Level Obtained |
Mighty Blow |
A gambit that is difficult for the target to parry or evade. It deals an initial amount of Main-hand Damage and then additional damage every 4 seconds for 16 seconds. |     |
I personally like this gambit. It deals a good bit of damage and it’s innately harder for the target to avoid. Plus the DoT has 4 ticks, which is pretty nice. | 30 |
Boar’s Rush |
A gambit that has an increased chance of scoring a critical hit and will Daze the target upon a Critical Hit. |     |
This isn’t a bad gambit, but it’s not great. The Daze isn’t something I would rely upon personally, especially since my warden isn’t spec’d to crit and dazes break on damage anyway. | 31 |
Muster in Esteldín |
A teleport that transports only yourself to Esteldín. | N/A | I always feel like these teleports come right as I’m ready to leave the area to which they take me. But hey, it’s better than no teleport at all. | 32 |
Wall of Steel |
A gambit that performs 3 Main-hand attacks, interrupts inductions and increases your Parry Rating at the same time. |     |
I like this gambit quite a bit as well. An attack that hits 3 times and increases your Parry Rating seems like a win-win to me for both tanking and DPS> | 32 |
Recklessness |
A stance that reduces your attack duration, increases your melee damage, but lowers your Evade and Block ratings. | N/A | This is not my favorite stance in the world. I personally don’t think that the lack of Evade and Block are worth it for soloing. I can see how some people may use this for DPS if they do not have aggro, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re going to be taking hits from mobs. | 34 |
Shield Mastery |
A gambit that increases your Block, Evade, and Ranged Block Ratings. |     |
A very good defensive gambit that boosts your defenses. Throwing this up really helps decrease your damage. | 36 |
Celebration of Skill |
A gambit that deals initial weapon damage. It also performs an initial heal and performs a HoT every 3 seconds for 6 seconds. |   |
Healing is always good, especially when soloing. | 37 |
Wages of Fear |
A ranged (25m) attack that uses your javelin. | N/A | A ranged attack…Yay? Seriously though, there will be times when you need a ranged attack whether it’s because you’re rooted, pulling, or avoiding “the poop” on the floor. | 38 |
Surety of Death |
A gambit that deals initial weapon damage, plus Light Damage. An additional Light-based DoT on the target and moderately increases your threat. |     |
I like that the DoT on this gambit is Light-based and that it increases your threat. Although I’m not sure if this is something that will make it into my normal tanking routine or not, but it can’t hurt. | 38 |
December 31, 2010 at 10:19 am
Great guide merric.
I agree on your opinion for the teleport skill, it does seem like that. you also get the evendim one around the same time you leave the place.
but I thought there was a gambit and a port at 39. Shouldn’t those be on your skill table also?
December 31, 2010 at 10:36 am
Nope, there are no active skills at 39. The next port is the one to Evendim at 40.
December 31, 2010 at 10:31 am
There aren’t any new skills at 39. The port you were thinking of is gained at level 40.
As for Wages of Fear, I suggest you include the note that it doe positional damage if you are behind the target. It’s the only warden positional damage skill that I can think of.
December 31, 2010 at 11:16 am
Thanks Pineleaf! I appreciate it.
I must have missed that part of the tooltip 
December 31, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Merric, one thing that I’ve found the ports very useful for is when later you start reaching the higher level questing zones, all the ports will take you to, or nearby, towns that have swift travel to angmar, forochel, eregion, etc. I’ve found warden ports to be layovers in many ways. For example, Ost Guruth allows you to fast travel to Rivendell many levels before you have the port to Rivendell. Also, I’ve found the warden spear DoT’s to provide some really nice DPS, even when I’m traited for pure survivability while leveling.
- Nathegar, 46 Warden
December 31, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Great points Nath! I agree that they do have good side-locations especially with Ost Guruth. I’ll keep those DoT’s up in my rotation as well.
December 31, 2010 at 5:32 pm
My warden is 61 now, and I have to say, three of my favorite gambits are in this list. Shield Mastery is a fantastic starting gambit, as it provides the same protection as Shield Up, but with a minute duration, instead of thirty seconds. Celebration of Skill is of course vital for “turtleing up” when under heavy attack. And I really actually like Boar’s Rush, as it provides a decent amount of DPS, and when you get your Masteries, will be very easy to build. The daze enables you to slip in that Critical Strike that sometimes ends the fight right there.
A side note about Wages of Fear. Aside from the awesome name and tooltip text, it is a great tool. I am like a lot of other wardens I know, and I use an underpowered javelin, because the legacies are fantastic on it. I am actually using the same javelin I got in the intro. Still, after using Ambush, I use Critical Strike, then make sure I’m behind the mob, and let that sucker fly, and I can sometimes crit for 700. Standard is 400-500. That is a good way to knock off a little mob health before buffing up, and it also assures you of a little extra aggro.
Just my 2 coppers
Namárië
January 1, 2011 at 8:19 am
I agree with Geldarion, a lot of the gambits in the list have common and situational uses later on as well. I’ll elaborate on the ways I use the above gambits personally:
Mighty Blow – DPS Rotation, usually third after two gambits you get later. I build it with Spear-Shield-Fist+Spear. Later on you want to use your bleeds and fist DoTs on mobs that will take more than one rotation to kill, and focus on direct damage like Onslaught when the DoTs won’t get their full tick usage.
Boar’s Rush – I rarely use this, I prefer Onslaught for direct damage coupled with Wall of Steel since you have to refresh it often enough.
Wall of Steel – Parry is harder to cap than Evade and Block, so I would always put this up before something like a Dance of War or Defensive Strike, but after Shield Mastery. Useful when tanking or when spear traited soloing.
Recklessness – This stance is only useful if you aren’t the tank, someone who’s main tank sitting in this is like an (attempted) main tank champ sitting in Fervour. However, I always use this in the Ettenmoors because Wardens are not the first target, so doing more damage quickly helps us get creeps off the squishier classes. The only time I’ll not use it in the moors is when I’m tactically retreating, then I’ll switch into Determination to keep myself up. Another note is that with the full Helegrod set, this stance loses its penalties and just becomes +dmg and -duration.
Shield Mastery – This is the first gambit you should use once threat has been established. You can even build it quickly while waiting for mobs you jav pulled with Shield+Spear-Fist+Shield, assuming you don’t intend the latter to quickly build War Cry. If you don’t refresh this at all times before it runs out, you simply cannot blame the healer for why you went down, end of story(okay well, you can blame them if they started going war speech).
Celebration of Skill – Rotate this with the next in the line gambit and Conviction to get the most HoT bang for your buck. Usually this will take a back seat to leeches in multiple mob situations, but 3 or less and I use this as the returns are greater.
Wages of Fear – As Pineleaf mentioned, its main usage is positional damage. If a mob gets away from you and you notice it, throw a wages at its back and it will remember you’re there. This is also extremely helpful along with Hampering Javelin in the moors, because usually when a Warden starts wailing on someone they helpfully turn their backs to us.
Surety of Death – I do end up working this one into my DPS rotation but it’s a bit of an afterthought. It’s rarely worth Fist traiting so it doesn’t see the bonuses the spear DoTs do unless you have a legacy for it. Still it can be built quickly with Fist+Shield in any scenario where you don’t need War Cry or Conviction.
Jacbo
65 Hobbit Warden
Officer of Keepers Vow
Dwarrowdelf Server
January 1, 2011 at 9:40 am
Thanks guys for throwing in your input. I really appreciate it!
January 1, 2011 at 11:09 pm
When I’m solo’ing, I switch back and forth between Ambush and Wages of Fear to kick off the fight. When going up against a tough boss or tanking for a group I use Ambush, Critical Strike, and Wages of Fear to solidify my hold on a main boss.
Another thing I accidentally learned is that Ambush has no induction timer when launched from stealth mode. Of course this may be something everyone already knows, in that case it’ll go on the list of things everyone assumes that Zide knows, but haven’t told him because they assume he knows.
January 5, 2011 at 3:53 am
By the way, a new version of WardenEase has gone
up.