Branick, Teriadwyn, Pineleaf, Sanswinda, and Mortumbra are joined by guest hosts Flosiin, Kudithi, and AllupEnya for an in-depth look at the Captain class in The Lord of the Rings Online™. Thanks for listening.
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Great episode and lots of great info for running a cappy. This actually came out as i was starting to pick my cappy back up so lots of stuff to use in this episode.
Great cast yet again. As someone who’s main is kinda a cappy, (long story short, original main is a Mini, after moving to landy years ago, our Kin needed Cappy’s so rolled that class, so main is both cappy, and Mini), I was really looking forward to this topic. Your Guest hosts did a great job explaining the class of Captain, and why they play it. I would like to add a few things to what they said, Having a cappy is kinda like having three different toons to play, while we are not the best at doing the 3 main things a class can do, DPS, Tank, Healing, we are not that far from being the best at those things. While healing if traited properly, we can be a main healer in “most” instances, T1 and T2. in Tanking, when traited for it, can be main tank in most group content, again in T1 and T2. And as far as DPS, we don’t hit as hard as pretty much all classes, but we make everyone else hit things so much harder that it makes up for our own lack of damage doing skills. The only drawback to the Captain in any of these roles, (as Terry will understand from tanking on a Champ), is that the group you are playing in must remember you are a Captain, Not a Guard or Warden, not a Mini or RK, not a Champ, Hunter, Burg, or overpowered Furball. If the group your in respects this information, there is really no role that the Captain can’t perform. I use to be a off heal captain, and sometimes a dps one. Lately the folks I run with have needed a tanky type, and I have been tanking all the new content at t1 with complete success, (all but the new raid, we just have not had the numbers to run that yet,and not willing to go with a Puf accept as a support role). I am making this post way longer then I wanted too, but will forge ahead if u haven’t fallen asleep yet…. Just 1 more points really, and I think it was mentioned by a few of you during the podcast, but needs to be restated. Captains make everyone in the Fellowship so much better, that all they really need to do is be there. They could put themselves on follow and make the fellowship better then bringing another toon that is actually playing….:) (only a bit of a exaggeration…) Thanks for letting me ramble. Keep up the great Podcasts, and have a great holiday season!
Louni (AKA, Fin)
The Captain is a masterful leader, a commanding presence who strengthens allies, but is also skilled in the use of arms. Their battle cries strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, while their allies rally to their banners of war.
Always chills when see the video ;D Epic Class!
have a nice weekend o7
Because our main stat Might gives us physical and tactical mastery, we can get by with the same gear for dps and healing. We can carry extra gear if we want to do those roles a bit better.
Be curious’- fellow Captain’s, who do you put your brother skill on. For me:
Red line: Champion (if going against a lot of mobs) or Hunter/RK/Burg (for single big mobs.
Blue line: Minstrel, RK or tactical class
Yellow line (I don’t do this line very much): Champ, Guard or who might nned more defense.
I may switch brother if someone is struggling to keep power up. Or if someone is well under leveled for the instance.
In Yellow line I put it on the healer. I want to give them as much protection that I can. When tanking in yellow line, we do have some great self heals, but the old adage still holds….if healer dies, blame the tank…:)
Oh yeah Flosiin, The other two line I am with you.
Cappy, FTW!
Great show as always guys! My main is a Captain…of course, by main I mean the character I’ve rerolled about four or five times after the many long breaks I’ve taken so that my current level of 36 is the highest I’ve ever actually gotten (I must love Bree-Land or something)…as such, I was looking forward to this episode and was not disappointed.
One thing got missed though. I haven’t played a lot of other classes so maybe this isn’t a Captain only thing, but there wasn’t any talk about Battle-Readiness, Battle-Hardened, or Defeat States, which I’ve always considered to be integral to how the Captain plays. Some of the Captain’s most powerful skills…at least at low levels…are their Defeat State skills that they can use when a mob is killed.
Maybe that stuff just isn’t that important in later levels. In either case, just figured I’d mention it.
See ya next show!
Good morning to you, and well-met!
Thank you for all of your efforts; I listen to every episode while driving to work.
Regarding the Captain episode, I thank you for rejuvenating my interest in LotRO, and appreciate your wisdom in choosing the preeminent class to begin your discussions. The panel did an excellent job in presenting the Captain’s skills and quality.
However, it was most vexing to hear a player specializing in the Warden (i.e. non-sword wielder) blithely spout off the ill-informed supposition about the “exemplary weapon of the Captain.” To summarize the other half of an extremely passionate argument: (i) the first weapon a Captain obtains is a two-handed sword, and (ii) Aragorn never used a halberd.
Great Ep overall.. but I have to say the “Joke” of the “OP Fur Ball” is getting REALLY REALLY OLD. We get it… Also the “Champions are the greatest things since sliced bread is also getting old…
Good info here
A few quick comments not yet mentioned above:
– The essence of the Captain in my view is that because it is a true support class and can do many things well, The Captain’s real job is to look over the tide of battle and be decisive about where his skills can best be leveraged at any given point.
-Fight getting underway? Plant your banner so your Fellowship can rally around it
– Don’t forget your ‘Mark’, Which one is best suited for this fight?
– Did the whole group just take a big DPS blast? Hit Rallying Cry!
– Is there a single player that needs a heal (especially the HEALER!) Toss off Words of Courage
– Are you at a critical point in a DPS race: Time for Oathbreakers
– Wave of Adds coming out? Hit your Shield Brothers – Two Arms skills to help repulse the surge
– Special circumstances.. Time of Need, Shield of the Dunedain, Last Stand…
– Etc..
So in this Turbine built the class perfectly to match the lore, it’s a great class for those who like to think (quickly!), analyze and react by making decisions that affect the outcome of those around you. (it’s not as versatile as it USED to be before the class trait revamps, Captains were maybe hit hardest by that change from that perspective, but still powerful..). So In Fellows/Raids, The Captain is not responsible typically for any ONE Particular thing, instead they are partially responsible for EVERYTHING which is a very different experience from being a Tank, Healer or Primary DPS. In a lot of ways, I find it very freeing..
For that you give up some glory (your own meager DPS) for the betterment of others… This comes to one of the biggest drawbacks of the class. Levelling it! which can be pretty slow and tedious due to low DPS and lack of ranged skills in general.
I started a Captain because I wanted to be in Demand for Group content, which means getting it to Level Cap! If you want to get into groups, this is the class for you. Grouping is where the Captain shines, but you have to put in the work to get him there first!
Side Note: The Captain also has nice Warsteed skills. Until a recent nerfing, they were actually OP mounted with a ranged AOE blast that would one-shot groups of mobs. It was awesome. Since the nerfing, it is not quite as impressive, but still a decent option over Melee on foot where Warsteeds are allowed.
Side Note 2 : You don’t have to have a halberd, but you still get a damage boost for using one as a cappy, which is not a deal-breaker for most, but still worth doing to a lot of people.
Lastly, I geared up my Cappy initialy for being in Blue Line (HoH – Hands of Healing) as I thought it was again most useful in groups, but after the class trait revamp where Oathbreakers are only available in Red line, combined with the recent trend in Raids to have a lot of boss fights have a DPS race component to them. Cappies are almost always requested to be Redline. That does not make HoH LI legacies worthless as you can still do healing, but perhaps not AS important, so I can see where someone might still want to have multiple LI’s for Red vs. Blue (thought I don’t)
Most interesting fact about the Yellow line in my view as I believe it is the only class trait line that has such a dramatic boost to Morale for the character. To help you in tanking, there is a passive trait that increases morale and also the Steeled Resolve trait which can further enhance it. Basically, vs. other classes it is very easy to get to 40 – 50k morale very easily. My Cappy usually gets about a 10-12k morale boost when I am in Yellow Line which feels very sturdy!
Hope this was helpful for some. Cheers! Braag of Vilya
Good show, and great information, I think I am button mashing my cappie too much. I do find it interesting that captains are not targeted in the Moors, but their creepy counter part the Warleader, is always the first to get focused.
We can summon people on landscape unless the game considers it “dangerous” for the level they’re at. For example trying to summon a level 10 character in a 105 zone with enemies.