Mae govannen! Within this guide to the Lore-master class for Lord of the Rings Online you will learn about their play-style, virtues, useful professions, tips on how to play, and suggestions for builds.
The Lore-master was the first class I played in LOTRO when it launched in 2007 and remains a favorite to this day. If you like the idea of playing a wizard-like character that can summon companions to adventure with, this class may be just what you’re looking for!
This guide will benefit new players and those who would like to get to know the class, join me as we dive into the world of a Lore-master.
Story of the Lore-master
In the First Age, the Lore-masters were known as Lambengolmor, skilled historians of linguistic study who wrote about the Elves and their languages. Inspired by Elrond, Half-Elven the Master of Rivendell, the Lore-master class is in tune with relics of the past, nature, and the elements, utilizing this knowledge to defend against the evil forces in Middle-earth.
Play-style of a Lore-master
The Lore-master plays an essential support role in LOTRO and is the only class that can wield a staff and summons nature pets to fight by their side. Their abilities are a mix of nature magic like fire, lightning, and frost. They can attack from range and combat in melee with their Staff-strike and Staff-sweep skills.
Solo & Fellowship Play
In solo landscape content and with small fellowships, the Lore-master uses its support skills, damage abilities, and light healing. When specialized in the red traits, Master of Nature’s Fury can provide a nice burst of AOE damage. In the blue line, Keeper of Animals, they contribute damage and support with their pets.
Raiding as a Lore-master
For a raid environment, the Lore-master’s expected role is to support debuff and crowd-control with a focus on The Ancient Master specialization. While “support” may sound like a menial task, it’s very busy in combat. Lore-masters are genuine masters of crowd control, supplying debuffs that are indispensable for a raid group.
Can the Lore-master Heal?
The Lore-master can provide supportive heals but they are not a healing class. If you’re looking for a class with healing specializations try the Minstrel, Rune-keeper, or Beorning. The healing skills a Lore-master learns are minimal in comparison to the healing classes. At level 5 they learn Light of Hope which heals an ally or companion but not themselves. Wisdom of the Council is a self heal/buff at level 30, and Water-lore at level 77 is a heal-over-time.
Pets the Lore-master Can Summon
As a friend of beasts the Lore-master will learn to summon 7 different pets to assist them in combat. Here’s a quick list of pets and their most notable uses:
| Pet | Level Learned | Role | Notable Utility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bear | 1 | Tank | Armour Debuff |
| Raven | 15 | DPS | Fire Debuff |
| Eagle | Keeper of Animals | Support | Combat Resurrection |
| Bog-lurker | 20 | DPS | AOE Damage/Debuff |
| Lynx | 30 | DPS | AOE Damage |
| Spirit | 40 | Heal | Miss Chance Debuff |
| Sabertooth | 56 | DPS | AOE Frost Damage |
Best Race for a Lore-master
Selecting a race depends on how you want to play. In general Man or High Elf offer the best racial skills for a Lore-master. Here is a breakdown of races for this class:
Man
The Race of Man offers Man of the Fourth Age adding +20 Will and the Easily Inspired passive for +5% Incoming Healing.
Additionally, the Duty-Bound skill gives a buff to the Fellowship of +5% max morale for 10 minutes and the Strength of Morale skill gives an extra heal of 2200-3300 morale which can be beneficial for the Lore-master, though both of these skills have a 30 minute cool-down.
High Elf
High Elves offer a bonus to Light-type damage and a bonus to Will. Grace of the Firstborn boosts your out-of-combat run speed by 10%.
Peace of the Eldar gives +20 Maximum Morale and +60 non-Combat Morale Regen allowing a little more health. Wrath of the Firstborn is a +5% combat boost for the fellowship that lasts 10 seconds on a 10-minute cooldown.
Elf
Elves offer the Silvan Shadows skill allowing you to stealth while remaining still, on a 30-minute cooldown and their Power of the Eldar skill grants +2% Maximum Power to your fellowship for 10 minutes.
Hobbit
The Hobbits offer 1% Fear Resistance with Hobbit Courage and +15 Vitality with Hobbit-toughness.
Lore-master Stats & Equipment
The Lore-master can equip Light armor and their primary stats are Will for damage output and Vitality for a good Morale pool to survive attacks.
At higher levels you want to add Tactical Mastery and Critical Rating. Tactical Mastery increases your damage and healing output, and Critical Rating increases your chance to land a critical hit and the magnitude of a devastating hit for your attacks.
Weapons & Legendary Items
A Staff is the Lore-masters weapon of choice and at level 40 they can learn the passive trait Sword and Staff allowing them to wield a sword as an off hand weapon.
Each class in LOTRO has a Class Slot on your character panel, for Lore-master this slot is equipped with a Lore Book. These books can be purchased from your Class Trainer, and they can be crafted by a Scholar.
When you reach level 45 you can begin the level 50 Epic quest for your first Legendary Item, Lore-masters Staff of Legends, continue the story to get your second item, a Lore-masters Book. LI’s are the most powerful weapons you can equip and they level with you as you advance.
? Visit your class trainer at level 15, 30, 50, and 58 to complete the quests offered, they reward items, titles, and trait points.
Best Crafting for Lore-masters
The best crafting professions for a Lore-master are the Explorer, Tinker, or Historian vocations for their usefulness to the class.
The Explorer vocation specializes in Tailoring, Forester, and Prospector. The Tailor can make Light armor, which is some of the best gear you can obtain especially while leveling.
Tinkers are Jewelers, Prospectors, and Cooks. The Jeweler can make useful jewelry, Brooches are your class ranged item, and unique Talismans that can change the appearance of your pets.
Cooking is always helpful to make buff foods for yourself and your pets, though it relies on the Farmer profession from other Vocations.
Historian has the Scholar, Farmer, and Weaponsmith. The Scholar can make books for the Lore-master, though after level 50 they will not be as useful because you will replace these with your Legendary Items. If you like making buff scrolls, dyes for your cosmetics, and Farming in general, this may be a good profession for you.
For an overview of all the Vocations, check out our LOTRO Crafting Guide.
Which Virtues are Best for a Lore-master?
The following virtues are most useful to slot for the Lore-master:
Wisdom provides Will, the Lore-masters most important stat, along with Tactical Mastery, and Finesse. This is useful for all three specializations because it buffs our damage and critical rating.
Loyalty gives Vitality, Armour Value, Incoming Healing Rating and the passive bonus of Maximum Morale. Vitality and Max Morale provides more health, Armour Value increases it’s toughness, and Incoming Healing Rating allows for more healing.
Honesty gives Tactical Mastery Rating, Will, and Critical Rating. Tactical Mastery increases the amount of offensive damage you do and your outgoing healing.
Confidence offers Critical Rating, Finesse Rating, Evade Rating and passive bonuses for Physical Mastery Rating and Tactical Mastery Rating.
Wit provides Finesse Rating, Critical Rating, Physical and Tactical Master Rating. Wit will give you the most Finesse Rating which is helpful for critical attacks and mastery.
Other Virtues that are defensive and can help with survival are Fortitude for Maximum Morale, Tolerance for Tactical Mitigation, and Innocence for Physical Mitigations.
Tips for Playing a Lore-master
The Lore-master is considered an advanced class to learn, below are some tips for playing the LM:
- The key to learning your Lore-master is to understand that you are a master of control, with a variety of abilities to debuff, root, snare, stun, and daze your foes. Controlling the battle field is at the forefront of your strategy, using the full range of your skills and your pets will help you and your team take down enemies effectively.
. - The Lore-master has many stuns, the first 3 are learned between levels 10 and 18:
- Blinding Flash a 30 second daze that interrupts.
- Bane Flare a 15 second AOE daze, damage breaks it.
- Light of the Rising Dawn damages and stuns target for 3 seconds.
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- Get to know your Pets various special abilities and when to utilize them, you can dismiss a pet in battle and summon another, cycling through them depending on the skills needed for the fight.
. - Pet Food can be made by a Cook and provides your pets with stat buffs.
. - Your pets perform an action called Flanking, when using the following skills after a Flank you will gain a temporary buff:
- Staff Strike gives a DPS boost.
- Wizards Frost provides a small heal.
- Wizards Fire restores power and a short buff to DOT effects.
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- Harried is a debuff your pet has a chance to place on an enemy when attacking from behind, this will slow the target for a short time.
. - In the Character Panel you will see a Ranged Weapon Slot along the bottom, the Lore-master can equip a Brooch here that provides extra stats. Jewelers can craft Brooches and they can be traded or bought from the Auction House.
. - Get to know your Utility skills, here’s a quick list:
- Knowledge of Cures cleanses the target of wound, fear, poison, and disease.
- Call to the Valar immune to induction setback.
- Clever Escape removes crowd-control effects like stuns and dazes.
- Dispel Corruption removes corruption from the target.
- Back from the Brink revive a defeated ally.
- Knowledge of the Lore-master is a skill that can be used on a target to learn their weakness and strengths. A panel of information about the target will open upon use of the skill. Using the skill does not cause aggro.
. - Friend of the Wild is a passive skill that allows the Lore-master to summon 9 special non-combat pets (each must be learned). The quest Lore-master: Friend of Hares starts with Radagast the Brown in the Lone-lands at level 29. You must first complete Chapter 15 The Red-pass to start his quest.
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Lore-master Build Suggestions
There are three Class Trait specializations and each of the builds can be customized to the players preference. Below is an overview and some suggestions to consider when creating your build.
Keeper of Animals (Blue Line)
The Keeper of Animals is the spec for a Lore-master who wants to fight alongside their pets and utilize them to the best of their abilities. In the blue line, your pets receive bonuses to their stats and damage output. Additionally you gain a passive bonus called Coordination, when a pet lands a critical hit your next skill with an induction is instant cast.
Pets Build for Lore-master
For the blue line build, it’s worth spending all points and getting Synchronized Movement and a Murder of Crows. You’ll also unlock Eagle-Friend to gain the Eagle pet, which provides the Sacrifice ability, a combat rez, that can be really helpful. In addition, the blue line specialization offers a lot of passive bonuses for your pets.
What you choose in the other lines depends on whether you want more damage or defensives. For this build, I opted for Master of Fire and Tactical Damage in the red line boosting fire and tactical damage. Then finished up with Fire Lore for added melee mitigation, Mending Lore for extra healing, and Power of Knowledge to increase power and damage.
Notable Blue Line Skills
These essential skills from the Keeper of Animals blue line and your pets:
Inner Flame heals your pets and you, it’s a must have for it’s help with survival and the damage buff you gain every time it’s used, buffing fire and lightning skills for 20 seconds.
Prepared Materials reduces induction cast times by up to 15% when fully traited.
Catmint is a buff you place on your pets that lasts for 12 seconds and increases damage or debuffs depending on the pet. The tool tip explains what it does for each pet. You will want to have this skill for any challenging content, especially for raiding with the Ancient Master build.
A Murder of Crows is a powerful DOT and debuff with a 2 minute cooldown. This skill replaced the Sic’Em trait in Update 33.
Master of Ancients Fury (Red Line)
The red line Lore-master build is for ranged DPS with powerful AOE fire and lightning skills. For this build, you will have passive bonuses to fire-type damage and a chance for lightning skills to strike twice.
The best pets to compliment your damage in this build are your felines, the Lynx and Sabertooth, as they will receive a boost to attack damage and a minor increase in Morale. Swapping out pets for different challenges is recommended.
Lore-master Red Line Build
This build is really straightforward with 53 points in the red line to get all the skills and the remaining points are spent in the blue line to get Catmint and Synchronized Movement for the skill speed.
Essential Red Line Skills
Some of the notable skills and buffs you can learn when in the red line specialization are:
Ents Go To War has a unique animation and a long cooldown of 5 minutes however it does fire damage to multiple targets and stuns. The damage can be increased quite a lot with the Master of Fire trait you pickup in the red line.
Ring of Fire places a ring on the ground that does fire damage to enemies and places a debuff reducing their block, parry, and evade.
Lightning Storm is a massive AOE damage skill that can be further buffed to do more damage.
Rapid Fire reduces induction cast times by 25% when fully traited.
Nature’s Fury places an AOE that does frost damage and applies a debuff to the targets with a chance for lightning damage.
Fire Shield has a chance to apply a shield boosting defenses and reflecting damage to attackers.
Ancient Master (Yellow Line)
The Ancient Master specialization in the yellow line is the support build used for Raid content and group play. You gain Test of Will a damage and stun skill and passively Burning Embers will deal bonus damage to stunned targets.
Playing the Lore-master support specialization will involve casting debuffs, stuns, buffs, and restoring power to the fellowship while cycling through your pets to use their special debuff skills. Refreshing your skills will maintain a steady group-wide advantage over the enemy.
Lore-master Yellow Build
Cap out all the traits in the Ancient Master tree and then spend points in the Keeper of Animals to get Cat Mint.
Notable Yellow Line Skills
With Ancient Master here are some of the key skills you gain in this specialization:
Force of Will is a passive that increases the debuff times on many of your skills making them last longer.
All of the lore traits, Fire, Frost, and Storm increase your damage and their additional tiers add debuffs to the targets. Wild Fire and Chill Wind spreads the debuffs to nearby enemies.
The Ancient Master skill enables Fire-lore and Frost-lore to cost no power and target up to 6 enemies.
Quick Hands reduces the induction cast time of your spells by 15% when fully traited.
Disable increases stun duration and Enfeeble will strengthen the debuffs of Ancient Craft, Sign of Power: See All Ends, and Sign of Power: Command by double for the first 10 seconds.
Share the Power allows the Lore-master to restore Power to their ally, and Share the Power Fellowship will restore Power (at a lower rate) to nearby party members. Power of Knowledge and Power Flow increase the amount of Power restored.
