Introduction
I like Epic Battles. It’s a phrase you don’t often see in LOTRO discussions, and it’s not difficult to see why. Take a very buggy initial release, add in oftentimes awful pacing, numerous new mechanics to learn on the fly and top it off with a tutorial that explains very little about how the battles are actually fought, you get a playerbase confused and frustrated, and occasionally angry that these were our substitute for traditional group content in the Helm’s Deep expansion.
That said, after the beginning troubles I found myself enjoying the content more and more, striving to attain the highest grades for each battle and completing any side objectives I was presented with. The amount of options the Promotions system provides you with, on top of the very, very fun use of siege equipment left me with a (mostly) positive view of the system as a whole.
While Turbine has and will likely continue to fix the many bugs in Epic Battles, they have yet to provide an adequate guide to get players through their first Helm’s Dike battle and beyond. This is the key point I’m hoping to address. While some may be long past the point of changing their minds about Epic Battles, my hope is that at least one person can find the glimmer of enjoyment hidden inside this confusing, bewildering mess.
…or at least ends up hating them less than LIs. I’ll settle for that too.
The Dike
Note: This guide assumes you completed the (weak) tutorial that Turbine provided us with. I will elaborate on those aspects later on, but for now that’s how it is.
So you’ve worked your way through Western Rohan, completed the Epic Battle tutorial and have been thrown into your very first one. Your initial view should be something like this:
You will likely be wondering what on Middle-earth you are supposed to do at this point. The first piece of advice I will give you is not to panic. While later battles will kick off the moment you step into them, the Solo/Duo version of Helm’s Dike will not start until you speak to Gamling, who will be standing on top of the gate, to the east of where you spawn in.
For now I suggest holding off on actually starting the battle to become accustomed to your surroundings. The area in which the battle takes place is for the most part a copy of the Dike that you visit on the landscape. On either side of the center gate there are two ramps that go north towards the enemy army, and two that go south towards the Hornburg. You will very rarely be using the south-pointing ramps, with the exception of a couple of side objectives(I will address those in a future article). The vast majority of the battle you fight will take place on the north-pointing ramps, where the enemy forces will rush through in waves in an attempt to capture the Dike.
Only two of these ramps will be attacked at any time. Starting the battle will cause the first two to be either the west or eastern side of the Dike(which one you get first is random). When you have become comfortable in the space you are in, feel free to speak to Gamling to start the battle.
You will recieve an announcement stating which end of the Dike the enemy will be attacking first. You will also see icons on your minimap and the game map showing which ramps you need to defend.
There will be a minute or two of waiting at this point while the enemy formations move up to attack you. Later on you will able to use this time to prepare defenses, change the soldier stances, set up siege equipment and take out some of the soldiers marching towards you. For now let’s look at your allies.
Each of the ramps you will be defending have NPC allies to help you. They are made up of two groups of five soldiers, each led by a Commander. These Commanders can be given commands by you that affect them and the soldiers under their command. Right-clicking on them will open up the commands menu:
Commanders and Soldiers
Many of the options will be greyed out at this point. This is one of the hallmarks of the Officer Promotion line, as it both enhances your current commands and unlocks new ones. To begin with you have access to Heal, Haste, Damage and Armour. Their effects need no explanation but I will need to explain how their cooldowns work.
Each command the Commander can use has its own cooldown for him specifically. Other Commanders will still have those commands available to give out. HOWEVER, you giving a command will also trigger a Global cooldown for *you* using that specific command.
Example: I tell one Commander to use the ‘Heal’ command. The ability goes off and the cooldown for that Commander using ‘Heal’ triggers. While other Commanders will be able to use the ‘Heal’ command, you as a player will not be able to give out that command for a certain amount of time.
Note that the global cooldown only applies to the player that gave out the command. In duos and group Epic Battles, others players can still tell other Commanders to use ‘Heal’.
Eventually the enemy formations will reach you and begin marching up the slope towards you in waves. The number of enemies per wave varies, but is usually no more than 4 or 5(sometimes one enemy will charge up on his own, usually getting porcupined before he can even swing his sword).
For the most part your soldiers will handle the killing for you. What this type of fight really is is a war of attrition. Each wave of enemies, while quickly cut down, will often get in a few swings in on your soldiers before they go down. This is an important point because of the following fact:
Your soldiers do not regenerate Morale. This means that without assistance via Commander Heal commands or your own healing skills, your soldiers will gradually have their Morale pools grinded down over time.
Something I’ve tended to see happen with this issue is that one or two soldiers in particular will take more aggro from the enemy mobs than the others(Let’s call them ‘Leeroys’). This is a particular danger because if even one Leeroy goes down, you run the risk of snowballing the enemy assault of that section. Fewer soldiers means the enemies take longer to bring down. The longer they are alive the more damage they do. The more damage they do the quicker your own soldiers get damaged, which makes losing even more soldiers a more likely scenario.
I recomend keeping an eye out for any Leeroys amongst your defense unit, and keeping them topped up however you can.
As I mentioned earlier, the enemy will attack *two* areas at any one time. As part of a duo this is a no brainer, but on your own this can be quite stressful, as you’re forced to bounce between both areas making sure nobody dies. If you can’t find anyone to duo this with(it’s a lot more fun with someone else, trust me) then alternate between the two areas every two minutes or so, remembering to use the Officer commands and your own healing skills if you have them.
S(n)ide Objectives
At some point during this you will recieve a popup telling you about a secondary objective for the battle. Ignore it. Many of these can be quite tricky, and more importantly, time consuming. Do not allow them to distract you from the main objective. Later on with more experience and Promotion points you can juggle these side objectives while keeping your men alive, but for now don’t sweat it.
Stage 2
Fast forward again and Gamling will call out that you will soon have a break. At this point you have time to check up on any soldiers close to death(pay particular attention to the defenders nearest the gate), after which time the enemy will resume the assault, this time attacking the opposite side of the Dike. This will play out the exact same way as the first. Heal your soldiers, ignore side objectives and watch out for Leeroys.
Stage 3
Eventually the final stage of the battle will commence. For this part, the two ramps closest to the gate(the ones on either side) will be attacked. This means that one of the ramps on the last side to be attacked will be attacked twice in a row. Be aware of this as the soldiers there are likely still beaten up a bit. This stage can be more difficult because of the increased time to travel between the defense points. Stick to the advice given above and with a bit of luck you should pull through without losing any men.
After a little while Gamling will again call out, signalling the retreat. You will recieve Marks and Medallions appropriate to your overall performance in the Battle(more on that next time). Eventually the instance will rather unceromoniously kick you out, planting you back into the game world.
And that’s it! Hopefully this little article helped you struggle your way through the Dike. Next I will be covering the Rewards system, Siege Equipment and the Deeping Wall Epic Battle. Please comment if you feel I could explain any given area better, would like more elaboration on anything or if you want to call me a talentless scrub. It’s all appreciated!