A Look at Legendary Bridles, Part 2: Legacies

Now that we have taken an overview of legendary bridles, let’s take a deeper look at the legacies. As stated in the previous article in this series, bridles have the same three types of legacies as other legendary items: an inherent legacy, three major legacies (revealed on identification), and three minor legacies (one revealed at each of the three first reforgings).

During the first three reforgings, you always receive a minor legacy. This is probably for the best, seeing how the greatest challenge with minor legacies is getting just the ones you want (since an item only has three out of a pool of 15).

Inherent (Fury Bonus Contribution Rating)

For bridles, the inherent legacy is Fury Bonus Contribution Rating. This is the only legacy that appears to improve with the bridle’s equip level. The table below lists the Fury Bonus Contribution Rating by equip level and rank. The numbers in bold are the numbers I have confirmed, while the lighter ones are inferred from the pattern of the known data.

Level

Rank 1

Rank 2

Rank 3

Rank 4

Rank 5

Rank 6

Rank 7

75

169

338

507

676

845

1014

1183

76

1690

2028

2197

2366

2535

2704

2873

77

2028

2197

2366

2535

2704

2873

3042

78

2197

2366

2535

2704

2873

3042

3211

79

2366

2535

2704

2873

3042

3211

3380

80

2535

2704

2873

3042

3211

3380

3549

81

2704

2873

3042

3211

3380

3549

3718

82

2873

3042

3211

3380

3549

3718

3887

83

3042

3211

3380

3549

3718

3887

4056

84

3211

3380

3549

3718

3887

4056

4225

85

3380

3549

3718

3887

4056

4225

4394

85 SA

4056

4225

4394

4563

4732

4901

5070

 

This table includes entries for each equip level for Third Age bridles and level 85 for Second Age bridles. It does not take into account adding Star-lit Crystals. The most striking point is at level 75. The Fury Bonus Contribution Rating is trivial at level 75 and only becomes significant with level-76 bridles.

The real question is what do these numbers mean? While fighting on your war-steed, you receive a bonus to your damage and healing based on your Fury. The amount of this bonus is based on your Fury Bonus Rating, which is shown on your mount character panel. The only input I have seen to this so far is from the bridle’s Fury Bonus Contribution Rating (the Fury Bonus Rating is 0 when I have no bridle and equal to my bridle’s Fury Bonus Contribution Rating when I do have one). If your rating is 0, then you receive a 5% bonus per 100 Fury (your Fury is given on a scale of 0 to 1000).

Let’s look at the bonuses for a level-85 bridle (table includes both 3rd and 2nd Age values):

Rating

Bonus / 100 Fury

Bonus at Full Fury

0

5%

50%

3380

6.4%

64%

3549

6.5%

65%

3718

6.5%

65%

3887

6.6%

66%

4056

6.7%

67%

4225

6.8%

68%

4394

6.9%

69%

4563

7.0%

70%

4732

7.1%

71%

4901

7.1%

71%

5070

7.2%

72%

 

Each rank thus improves the damage/healing bonus by just under 1% when at full Fury. Except with the starter bridle, the greatest bonus is received just by equipping the bridle.

If you just sit on your mount and whack the enemy from a standstill (and thus rarely build fury), then this rating means little to you and you can pretty much ignore the bridle’s equip level. If you charge in with full Fury then fight the rest of the battle at a standstill (or at a slow speed), then you will likely want to equip a bridle at or near your level but not place any points into improving the rating. If you prefer fighting at full Fury, though, then you will most likely want to get this legacy as high as possible to maximize your damage and healing potential.

The main advantage of the inherent legacy is that it affects all damage and healing skills. The disadvantage is that you need to build Fury to gain the most benefit. We will see that a 1% increment is quite common in other legacies also. Those other legacies won’t require Fury but they will have some other limitation imposed upon them.

Major Legacies

Major legacies are tied to the type of bridle you are using. If you are using the wrong type of bridle on your war-steed (a heavy bridle on your light war-steed, for example), your major legacies will have no effect.

Each bridle type has a pool of six major legacies. As usual with legendary items, three of these legacies are revealed when you identify the bridle. You will not reveal any additional major legacies during reforgings. With such a small pool, you have a decent chance of getting a bridle with the major legacies you want (and if you don’t get the desired combination, you shouldn’t need too many attempts to get a usable legacy scroll). As expected, you cannot place a light major legacy on a medium or heavy bridle.

Three of the major legacies for each bridle are associated with the associated steed’s capstone traits. Look at the medium mounted combat skill tree below.

Medium-Traits-Tree.jpg

Note: A revamp of the mounted combat trees was implemented since the original publication of this article.

 

The three traits at the bottom (one for each color) are the capstones. These traits affect certain several class skills while you are in the discipline associated with that branch. These capstone traits read differently depending on your class. For example, if you are playing a warden, Shields Will Be Splintered reads as follows:

While utilizing the discipline, Red Dawn, the following skills will greatly reduce enemy armour and inflict heavy bleed damage when a critical hit is landed: Assault of the Eorlingas, Strike with Power, Clash of Steel and Will, Skill of the Eorlingas.

The legacy adds to the bleed damage generated by a critical hit.

How useful the trait is depends on how much time you spend in the associated discipline. If you are always using the Riddermark discipline, then the Shields Will Be Splintered trait isn’t going to do you much good.

Medium

Since we have looked at the medium tree, we will look at the medium major legacies first. First, there are the three capstone legacies:

  • Shields Will Be Splintered damage (+1% to +10% on Table A – Full)
  • Survivability Damage Shield Chance (+1% to +5% on Table B)
  • Strong Willed skill duration (+1 to +5 on Table B)

As you can see, these add direct percentages rather than ratings that later get converted into percentages. This is true for all of the legacies that affect either your damage or healing.

The tables referenced in the legacy descriptions are given at the end of this article.

The next legacy adds to your chance to parry while fighting on the associated war-steed. Each of the three bridle types has a major legacy that improves one of the three basic defenses.

  • Rider Parry Change increase (+1% to 5% on Table B)

The final two legacies affect given effects of your class skills. How useful they are will depend on how many class skills you have that generate these effects. The damage over time pulses legacy will only be useful if you have and use skills that inflict damage over time.

For a warden, the only damage-over-time class skill available while in Red Dawn is Assault of the Eorlingas.

  • Class skill damage over time pulses ( +1 to +9 in 9 ranks)
  • Class skill slow duration (+1 to +5 on Table B)

As you can see, most major legacies tend to be highly specialized. The most general of them is the parry chance.

Light

The light bridle major legacies work in just the same way. In this case, the defense improved is evade rather than parry.

  • Disengaging Strikes dismount chance (+1% to 5% on Table B)
  • Motivation through Aggression Heal Chance (+1% to 5% on Table B)
  • Wrath Critical Chance (+1% to 10% on Table A)
  • Rider Evade Chance increase (+1% to 5% on Table B)
  • Class skill dismount chance (+1% to 5% on Table B)
  • Class skill damage over time (+1% to +10% on Table A)

Heavy

The heavy bridle only includes one legacy that affects class skills. The remaining legacy instead improves the rider’s armour value. The defense bonus legacy for the heavy bridle is block chance, which naturally requires that you have a shield equipped.

  • Spears will be Shaken Slow Duration (+1 to +10 on Table A – Integer)
  • Benevolence healing rating (+600 and up)
  • Conservative Combatant power cost  (+1% to +10% on Table A – Full)
  • Rider block chance (+1% to 5% on Table B)
  • Rider Armour Value (+133 to +1199 on Table D)
  • Class skill forced movement duration (+1 to +5 from Table B)

 

Table A: Nine steps (1 to 10)

Rank Full Modified Integer
Rank 1 1 1 1
Rank 2 2.125 2.1 2
Rank 3 3.25 3.2 3
Rank 4 4.375 4.3 4
Rank 5 5.5 5.5 5
Rank 6 6.625 6.6 6
Rank 7 7.75 7.7 7
Rank 8 8.875 8.8 8
Rank 9 10 10 10

 

Table B: Five steps (1 to 5)

Rank 1 1
Rank 2 2
Rank 3 3
Rank 4 4
Rank 5 5

 

Table C: Nine steps (112-1000)

Rank 112 133 8
Rank 1 112 133 8
Rank 2 223 266 16
Rank 3 334 399 24
Rank 4 445 532 32
Rank 5 556 666 41
Rank 6 667 799 49
Rank 7 778 932 57
Rank 8 889 1066 66
Rank 9 1000 1199 74

 

 

Minor Legacies

Minor legacies are divided into two groups: those that affect class skills while you are in the associated discipline and those that affect your steed’s stats.

For the traits that affect class skills, each stance has one that improves healing, one that improves direct damage, and one that reduces power costs. These do not affect side effects (such as bleeds, slows, and forced movement), as those are affected instead by the major legacies.

  • Red Dawn skill healing (+1% to +10% on Table A – Full)
  • Red Dawn skill power cost (-1% to -10% on Table A – Full)
  • Red Dawn skill direct damage (+1% to +10% on Table A – Modified)
  • Rohirrim skill healing (+1% to +10% on Table A – Full)
  • Rohirrim skill power cost (-1% to -10% on Table A – Full)
  • Rohirrim skill direct damage (+1% to +10% on Table A – Modified)
  • Riddermark skill healing (+1% to +10% on Table A – Full)
  • Riddermark skill power cost (-1% to -10% on Table A – Full)
  • Riddermark skill direct damage (+1% to +10% on Table A – Modified)

The final six minor legacies affect the stats for the war-steed. These stats can also be improved through spending trait points.

  • War-steed agility (+8 to +74 on Table C – 8)
  • War-steed strength (+8 to +74 on Table C – 8)
  • War-steed Armour
  • Maximum War-steed Power (+112 to +1000 on  Table C – 112)
  • Maximum War-steed Endurance (+112 to +1000 on Table C – 112)
  • War-steed evade rating (+117 to +1050)

Too bad you get only three minor slots, right? Naturally, if there is a major that you expect to never use, you could always replace it with a minor legacy if desired. Just remember that once you replace a major with a minor, you cannot go back and place a major there later on.

Conclusions

So, where should you concentrate your item advancement points? That will most likely depend on your class and play style. For now, I tend to place my points in the minor legacies, especially if I have the Red Dawn damage bonus and additional war-steed power legacies. We will see if I change this stance as I become more familiar with the mounted combat system.

I should note that at the end of Book 9 in the epic story, you receive a Second Age bridle of your choice. I therefore recommend that you have some sort of idea of your favorite type of war-steed before you finish Book 9. While you can survive with the wrong bridle, especially while you are leveling, you will have more options available if your bridle matches the war-steed you ride most often.

Next time, we will take a look at the other way you can enhance your legendary item: relics.

May your shield protect you and your spear never break,

Pineleaf Needles

 

One comment

  1. Bookmarked. It is another great post on Legacies, Pineneedles! 🙂

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