| Text | Champions are perhaps the best soloing class in Middle-Earth. The fact that they can wear heavy armor, as well as dishing heavy damage often causes those who have not played the class to have a bit of class envy towards them. Champions can fill in as a tank if no guardian is available, though doing so will make them forfeit most of their damage dealing capabilities. It is always preferable to have a guardian as a main tank because they have more hit points, better taunting ability and can dish more damage than a champion who is in tanking mode. However, it is the ability to serve in multiple roles if need be that make a champion desirable in group play. If your main tank should go down, the champion can switch to a shield and one handed configuration, turn off their fervour generation and fill in for them. They are best suited for their role as a DPS (Damage Per Second) class, however.
Fervour
Fervour is unique to champions. It is a reflecting of how much rage you have accumulated in any given fight. It is gained in two ways, the first is by using certain abilities such as [skill]Wild Attack[/skill] and [skill]Swift Strike[/skill]. These abilities will generate Fervour when used. The other way is via your offensive stance, which should be toggled on for most of your Champions career. Any time that you are not tanking this should be on. It will cause you to automatically accumulate fervour and to regenerate power more quickly, but causes you to forfeit your ability to Evade, Block or Parry. Most of your other special attacks or abilities have a fervour cost associated with them. This causes the champion to make some choices in combat, should they choose to use a triple attack at the cost of three fervour, or build their fervour to a full five points in case they need to use an area effect stun? These sort of decisions are what makes playing a champion an enjoyable experience.
The Area Effect
Champions are arguably the best class in the game when it comes to dealing Area of Effect (AOE) damage. They have a variety of differnet attacks from the level 1 [skill]Blade-Wall[/skill] to damage dealing attacks such as [skill]Blade-Storm[/skill] or stunning attacks such as [skill]Sound the Attack[/skill]. Champions also obtain horns at level 20, which will do an area of effect stun, but have a 15 minute reuse delay. The number of monsters which can be stunned varies by the quality of the horn used.
Dual Wielding or the Big Bang?
Champions can dual wield from level one onward, but can also train themselves in the use of two handed weapons. There are pros and cons to each. The main advantage of a two hander is that your special attacks will do much greater damage. As a champion myself, I let the gear dictate which of the two I will use at any given time. A good two hander will outdamage two pretty good one handers. But generally I prefer to dual wield because you attack faster and in general it seems that you deal more damage. When tanking a spear makes a reliable weapon because they have a higher damage than most other one handers, as they cannot be dual wielded. This makes them ideal if you need to go into a shield + one handed tank role.
Another thing that deserves mention here is the use of daggers. There are many daggers that have a high DPS available in the game, but their use as a primary hand weapon has a trade off. They are very fast, but their damage is low. This means that your special attacks will do less damage, but you will attack quicker. When dual wielding daggers I have found power to be an issue. You will often run out of power before the end of a fight.
Damage Per Second or Off Tank?
Champions can fill in as a tank if the need truly arises, or in their more traditional role as a damage dealer or class. It is important to note that they can not effecitvely fill in as both at the same time. To maximize their DPS they will forfeit their ability to evade, block or parry. In exchange they receive faster in-combat power regeneration and additional fervour generation. Fervour is key to a champion's success as a damage dealer because many of their special abilities have a minimum fervour requirement. At level 15 champions can use light shields, and after completing their level 30 class quest they gain a trait which allows for [trait]Heavy Shield Use[/trait]. They do not gain the ability to taunt an opponent into attacking them until level 22, however, and any time they are tanking they will be forfeiting most of their DPS. This is a common misconception about the class by those who have not played it. The champion is either DPS or a second tier tank, but cannot be both at the same time.
There are a few abilities which a champion can posses which will help improve their tanking. The first is the [skill]Dire Need[/skill] ability. This allows a champion to trade half of their power for hit points when in a time of need. The skill can only be used once every half hour, so should be used wisely. Once you have used the ability 150 times however you will receive a trait which you can slot to reduce the reuse timer to twenty-five minutes. Human champions can additionally receive a racial trait for slaying Hillmen which will allow them to heal themselves of 3000 Morale once per hour. If you know that your champion will be filling in as a tank on a semi-regular basis then this is a reason to play as a Man. A less powerful but more frequently accessible skill is the [skill]Bracing Attack[/skill] ability, which will restore a portion of your Morale for the cost of three fervour.
Another useful ability when tanking is the [skill]Exchange of Blows[/skill] ability. This ability will cause you to automatically return a blow when you are damaged from time to time. Later in your career you will can gain a class deed for the use of this skill which will allow it to go off more often and to generate more hate from a monster when it does, which will improve your ability to hold a monster's attention.
Utility, Or the Lack Thereof
The one area where Champions are lacking is in the utility area. They don't have many extras that they can offer to a group, other than their DPS or off tanking. One useful ability they do receive though is [skill]Clobber[/skill], which will interrupt any time delayed actions that your opponent is making. This is useful for interupting heals or abilities. Your AE stuns can also come in useful in a punch. Finally [skill]Sprint[/skill], while not useful for a group can save your life when solo by allowing you to escape danger quickly.
Tactical Notes
[skill]Flurry[/skill] is received at a low level and grants you a 15% increase to your attack speed for 20 seconds, at the cost of two fervour. In general this is not very useful. Your usually better off using that fervour on an attack, unless you are fighting a long fight. Flurry is useful however if you use the trait to upgrade it. This will increase it to a 20% raise in attack speed and the duration raises to 30 seconds. Luckily its an easy deed to raise, as Flurry can be used when not in combat. Any time a battle finishes and you have two or more fervour left over you should click Flurry to increase the deed.
[skill]Merciful Strike[/skill] is a very useful ability. It can only be used when a monster is low health (below 15%) and the damage is only slightly above average. It does not cost any fervour however, has a moderate power cost, and it will grant you two fervour. In multiple mob fights this is extremely useful.
[skill]Relentless Strike[/skill] is a devastating attack. It does cost four fervour but in general once you obtain it, it is your best attack. If you are fighting red or higher mobs though then it will miss much too often, even though the description says that it will never miss. On much higher level monsters you are better off using [skill]Brutal Strikes[/skill].
[skill]Fighting Dirty[/skill] is another ability which sounds useful but in practice seldom is. It can only be used on opponents who have low health, and makes your next AOE ability do more damage to them. If you are fighting AE mobs though there usually isn't enough time to get this off and then an AE.
Final Thoughts
Champions are a very fun class to play, which is useful both in groups and in solo play. We hope this guide provided useful to aspiring Champions. |
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