There really isn’t much that changed for me with the Minstrel in these levels. My plan for leveling pretty much just stayed the same as always. But I really can’t say I had many complaints. I just take things easy and try not to pull more than two to three mobs at a time while making sure that I drop out of War-speech or even run away when things get out-of-hand. Even so, I also consider this class to be on the other spectrum of The Captain, and my experiences pretty much affirm when and where I am going to have difficulties on some of the classes that I consider to be more difficult to play.
However, I did find myself pleasantly surprised this time around upon finding that I had an easier time with some of the tougher Eregion mobs than some other people I noticed leveling up along with me at the same time. Don’t get me wrong though, there were still a number of Merric deaths, but as I got more attuned as to when I should drop War-speech things went much more smoothly. The ability to heal ones’ self and still do some decent DPS helps both in landscape and in Skirmishes really goes a long way to making the experience much better. Still I’m thinking that the Rise of Isengard revamps are going to make the experience all the better.
| Skill | Skill Effect | Opinion | Level Obtained |
Anthem of the Valar |
An Anthem that will perform a light-based AoE damage attack and remove a Corruption buff from the enemies that are hit. | I personally enjoyed using this skill as during my leveling I was mainly using War-speech and any boost to DPS helped. Granted, I usually used this as things were winding down or if I was about to switch into healing, but it was a decent skill to use. | 40 |
Lay of the Hammerhand |
Allows you to put a buff on yourself that will allow you to take damage to your Power instead of your Morale. | Ah, Lay of the Hammerhand. From an outsider’s point-of-view I always wondered why Goldenstar never liked this skill. I mean in theory it sounds really good. But in reality all it really does is eat at your power to the point where you’re better just spamming heals or turning tail and running if you’re in a bind. | 42 |
Tale of Warding |
A toggled aura that increases the Hope and Armour Value of yourself and those within your Fellowship. | This is definitely not a bad Tale to have up, but as you can only have one up at a time I usually choose to go with Tale of Heroism instead. I just like the added DPS more than I do the bonus to Armour Value and I can offset the Hope with other items. However, if I was to group I could see myself switching over to this Tale instead. | 44 |
Call to the Fellowship |
Adds a 15 second buff that increases the restoration and damage from all Fellowship Skills | Again, this isn’t a skill that I used at all so I’ll let others chip in on their thoughts. I personally am not sure I would remember to use it without making a special effort. | 46 |
Gift of the Hammerhand |
Allows you to put a buff on an ally that will have them take damage to their Power instead of to their Morale. | This is much like Lay of the Hammerhand, but you can place it on another person in your Fellowship. | 48 |
Rally! |
An in-combat only res that revives a target with 80% Morale and 60% Power. | This wasn’t something that I used since I didn’t group at all during these levels, but I know that in can in-fact be quite a useful skill once earned. | 39+ Legendary Class Book |
Symphony of the Hopeful Heart |
This puts a 5 meter radius area on the ground that will grant those inside it +4 Hope and 10% Incoming Healing. And if you leave the area after being in it for a while you are given a buff to Resistance and Avoidance Penetration. | This is definitely a very useful group skill that I have enjoyed quite a number of times. I mean who doesn’t enjoy bonuses? | 39+ Legendary Class Book |
Anthem of the Wizards |
An Anthem that performs a light-based AoE attack which will reduce a targets’ movement by 30% and increase their attack duration by 20%. | Another good skill for solo DPS and even groups if you can get the debuff to land. Like all Anthems it requires a recent Tier 3 ballad and it resets your ballad counter. | 39+ Legendary Class Book |
Fellowship’s Heart |
This Fellowship-wide skill removes existing fear, wound, disease and poison effects. It will remove up to 3 Fear effects, applies an initial heal and a heal-over-time. | A great skill, but one that is (understandably) a bit long in the cooldown. Another downside is that it can be a huge aggro attractor as well since it is a huge heal for the entire Fellowship. | 45+ Level 45 Class Quest |
July 8, 2011 at 8:38 am
What trait line are you using Merric? I assume Warrior-Skald
July 8, 2011 at 9:28 am
Yep, I should have added that. Yeah, it’s almost all completely warrior skald.
July 8, 2011 at 8:56 am
Lay of the hammerhand is useful for running into areas for getting that quest item where you have to run through a large amount of mobs. Use hammerhand run to quest item and click on feign death
It is also a lifesaver for those times when your life is low (almost immediate cast) and especially when your health potion is on cooldown as you can drink a mana potion and survive even longer
Fellowships heart cost too much and has a long cooldown to be practical to slot. I like Rally but it seems too situational to hog a slot. You have to be in a fellowship and in most cases the group can survive and revive after combat or the person you rally dies quickly thereafter. The cooldown is long enough to make it borderline useful
July 8, 2011 at 9:30 am
Awesome tips! I really appreciate them quite a bit. I usually think like a tank, so tips like this come in really hand, lol. I appreciate it!
July 8, 2011 at 10:04 am
I use Hammerhand and feign death all the time to get to those bosses you have to kill that always seem to be in the back. Get to right where you are out of range and release feign (or hobbit silence – twice the skill is fun)Then buff up and solo that boss!
July 8, 2011 at 10:14 am
Good stuff! I really need to get this mindset established.
July 8, 2011 at 11:41 am
If you trait Anthem of the Valar with Battle-hymn you get some very usuful icmr. With Anthem of the Free Peoples and Valar both giving icmr you can live a long time without the need to drop from war speech.
Also Hammerhand can be useful if you are heal kiting mobs
July 8, 2011 at 3:52 pm
So much this. I’ve saved a small fellow or two with heal kiting.