Yellow Captain

Last Updated: U34 (22/10/22)

The Guardian is one of the core tank classes in LOTRO, and is able to fill the tank role in any group.

Guardians are built to withstand punishment of all kinds, with high mitigations, morale, and plenty of active defensive capabilities.

With a toolkit designed around generating threat and sustaining themselves against multiple foes, the Guardian excels in any situation that requires a tank to hold large numbers of mobs, making them invaluable in many instances and raids.

Recommended Build

Below is a recommended setup for Blue Guardian designed to achieve a variety of end-game content U34 and beyond. As with all our guides, this is our opinion based on a high level of experience, along with advice from other experienced players in the LOTRO Community.

Class Traits

Generalist Tanking

This 98 Point setup can be used in almost every tanking circumstance.

In situations where being stun management is required, 'Reversal' can be given 5/5 points, removing points from 'Defensive Expertise'.

Note: I would also recommend creating a secondary trait tree specialising in Red, the Keen Blade. Trait enough points to 6/6 in 'To the Rescue', as well as 5/5 in 'Improved Shield-Spikes'. Before combat, you can swap to this line to apply your Shield-Spikes, and use charge to get a knock-down on your first skill in combat.

Legendary Items

Tanking Weapon + Belt

There aren't many decisions to make with Guardian Tanking LIs, we mostly just pick the traceries that improve our tanking. I will explain some decisions below.

Heraldries
I have chosen to recommend the Heraldry of the Sturdy Ox to acquire the +1.5% Physical Mitigation set bonus they provide. This is because Guardians often end up over-capped on Physical Mitigation, and yet this set bonus is a must-have.

Words of Mastery
The only Word of Mastery you might want to change is to slot Shield Damage in place of Charge Duration and Speed. This is because War-Chant's damage is affected by the Shield Damage tracery. At this time I would recommend staying with Charge Duration and Speed as Guardians are often asked to kite in the current instance cluster, and the Vitality is worth more than the Tactical Mitigation on Shield Damage.

Words of Craft
The obvious pick is to take two Willpower traceries to acquire the +1.5% Tactical Mitigation set bonus. Aside from this I have chosen to take one Gundabad Word of Craft: Anger, and one Gundabad Word of Craft: Haste. The Anger traceries have proven quite effective in boosting the Guardian's ability to hold aggro on mobs without the use of a forced taunt. However, instead of slotting two, I have chosen to slot a Haste tracery to improve In Combat Run Speed enough to stay just ahead of mobs you might be kiting. If kiting becomes less prevalent in the meta, I would suggest swapping the Haste tracery with a teal Anger tracery.

Note: It does not matter which item you place each tracery as I am not recommending sharing items between builds on Guardian.

Tanking Weapon

Heraldry
- Heraldry of the Sturdy Ox

Words of Power
- Area of Effect Target Count
- Base Morale Multiplier

Words of Mastery
- Adaptability Block & Parry Rating
- Catch a Breath Cooldown & Heal
- Charge Duration & Speed
- Force Taunt Duration
- Guardian's Ward Damage & Parry Chance
- Guardian's Ward Duration & Block Chance

Words of Craft
- Grand Willpower
- Grand Willpower

Tanking Belt

Heraldry
- Heraldry of the Sturdy Ox

Words of Power
- Incoming Damage Reduction (Physical)
- Incoming Damage Reduction (Tactical)
- Incoming Heal Bonus

Words of Mastery
- Guardian's Pledge Cooldown & Magnitude
- Stamp Cooldown & Damage
- Turn the Tables Cooldown
- Warrior's Heart Duration
- Warrior's Heart Morale Heal & Maximum
- Warrior's Heart Stoic Bubble Strength

Words of Craft
- Gundabad Word of Craft: Anger
- Gundabad Word of Craft: Haste

Stat Goals

Guardians do not require a large variety of stats to be successful in T3+ content.
As a tank, your mitigations should be reaching the T3+ Cap when fully buffed. The values below assume you are benefiting from a variety of buffs (For a full list and explanation, see here).
Since Guardian's make wide use of War-Chant to grab initial aggro, Finesse is also recommended.
Once you have these stats at the required values, morale is the most valuable stat to stack.

1,436,900

Physical Mitigation

1,254,466

Tactical Mitigation

600,000+

Finesse

1,400,000+

Morale

Note on other stats:
One might assume that other so-called 'defensive' stats are worth building on Guardian above morale. Incoming Healing and Critical Defence are the prime culprits, though Block, Parry, and Evade fall into this category as well. Whilst these stats do provide some benefit to Guardians, the amount you will passively gain from gear will exceed what would be considered 'fine', and even if this were not the case, extra morale would always be preferred in the current meta. For more information on stats in LOTRO and their uses, click here.

Recommended Virtues

Below are the top 8 virtues by stat value for Blue Guardians.
Stats used for consideration were Morale, Physical & Tactical Mitigations, and Finesse.
As gear improves, you will need fewer Mitigations from Virtues, so choose the best 5 for your situation.

Loyalty

Vitality, Armour

Score - 5.21

Fidelity

Vitality, Physical & Tactical Mitigation

Score - 5.18

Compassion

Physical & Tactical Mitigation, Armour

Score - 3.93

Innocence

Physical & Tactical Mitigation

Score - 3.03

Tolerance

Physical & Tactical Mitigation

Score - 2.96

Honour

Morale, Tactical Mitigation

Score - 2.92

Charity

Vitality, Physical Mitigation

Score - 2.51

Wit

Finesse

Score - 2.16

Blue Guardian Videos

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Vuldyn

About the Author

Vuldyn is long-time LOTRO player, and active member of the community. As one of Redemption's Leaders, and with many high-tier raid completions to his name, he is eager to share his expertise with players new to the end-game scene.