Where Can You Use Your War-steed?

The release of the Rohan expansion is rapidly approaching. The most important feature that is being added in this expansion is mounted combat. This includes a new class of mounts: the war-steed. While we will be looking into all aspects of the mounted combat system here at WARSTEEDS, the first question we must answer is where you can use your war-steeds and fight from horseback?

The simple answer is “In Rohan.” Sig gives slightly more information here. Below, I will discuss this question a bit more in depth.

I will look at six types of areas in how they relate to war-steeds and mounted combat.

No Mounts Allowed

The strictest areas are those locations where no mounts are allowed at all. This includes most indoor locations and skirmishes. When you are in one of those areas, all of your mounts are grayed out, thus making them unavailable. If you somehow arrive at such a location mounted, you will be immediately dismounted. This is true even if the location is within Rohan.

You war-steed is no different from any other mount in this regards. If you are not able to mount one of the traditional riding mounts due to location, you would not be allowed to mount your war-steed either. If you cannot mount your war-steed, you obviously cannot participate in mounted combat.

Goats Only

In the next class of locations, you are only allowed to ride goats. War-steeds are either horses or ponies (there are no war-goats). Therefore, you will not be able to summon your war-steed while within the confines of Moria. If you arrive in Moria on a non-goat mount (such as via a port to the 21^st Hall), you will be immediately dismounted.

Let’s face it: would you really want to ride your war-steed in Moria? I don’t know about you, but I would rather be able to stop on a dime while in Moria. The last thing I want to do is plunge down one of the cracks that decorate the floors of Moria.

Once again, if you cannot mount your war-steed, you obviously cannot participate in mounted combat.

Normal Mounts Allowed but No War-steeds

I only know of one area where you can summon a standard horse or pony but not a war-steed: the Ettenmoors. This was obviously done for the sake of balance. Could you imagine what would happen if the freeps could run around the moors on their war-steeds (even if they weren’t allowed to fight on them)?

No Mounted Combat

In the next class of locations, you can summon any mount you wish, including your war-steed. You can travel through such areas as much as you wish on your war-steed but all of your mounted combat commands will be unavailable. You can use the Quick-stop command, as it only affects the movement of your war-steed.

This class includes most PVE locations in the game. Any PVE location outside of Rohan that allows you to mount a horse or pony will fall in this group. Therefore, you can travel to The Shire and ride your war-steed but you cannot attack anything there until you dismount. You will likely move around much more quickly on your war-steed once you get used to the controls.

This class also includes towns within Rohan. Towns are confined areas that are not suitable for mounted combat and it is likely the local thane wouldn’t appreciate fighting in the streets.

Mounted Combat Possible

In the fifth class, you can mount, ride, and fight on your war-steed. The question is if you really want to? These are parts of Rohan that are outside the town limits but that include circumstances that may make fighting on horseback more challenging. This type of area generally includes at least one of these conditions:

1. Terrain ill-suited for mounted combat (forests, swamps, and rocky areas)
2. Closely-packed enemies (generally non-mounted)

Fighting in areas with closely-packed opponents is likely to result in your fighting every monster in the area. You could avoid this by just standing still while you fight from your mount. That would give up speed and fury but at least you will be in a position to make a quick getaway if things go sour. Since your mount will take some of your incoming damage, things are less likely to go sour in the first place. Another reason you may prefer to fight this way because you gain more mounted experience for kills you make from your war-steed than you do while fighting on foot.

On the other hand, you will be giving up all of those skills you’ve been earning for the last 75 levels. You have a much wider variety of skills from foot than while mounted and such skill may prove useful under some circumstances.

Well suited for Mounted Combat

Finally, we have those areas that are well suited for mounted combat. These are the open plains of Rohan where mounted enemies abound. Here, you will likely be at a disadvantage if you don’t fight on your war-steed. You have room to move and fight. These are the areas for which mounted combat was designed.

What if you become dismounted? Fortunately, you can summon your war-steed while in combat. Of course, if there are several orcs slicing at you with swords, there is little chance that you’ll be able to successfully do so.

Welcome to Rohan and be ready to mount and fight.

May your steed protect you and your reins never break,

Pineleaf Needles