Irondwarf ventured beyond the black gate into Mordor. Once the home of Sauron and many deaths when it launched, is far more approacable. This time around the dwarf went into areas usually skipped like Durthang, Talath Erui and Nargonath. Memories of mobs galore and plenty of drakes and miniature volcanos sending you back to the graveyard. Difficulty was starting to creep in, but would it keep up?
Part 1 discussing Eriador and the journey up to Mordor
Light of Erendil
As you venture into Mordor every piece of gear has a special stat that you’re always a bit behind on. Having between 10 and 20% less damage done and taken made the start of Mordor a tad more challenging then the Wastes before. Once Irondwarf made it’s way to Dor Amarth and Linghris that was gone by being a few levels too high. Until he ran into the drakes of Talath Erui.
Tactical damage, the true equilizer
One part of playing without the traceries is the missing stats like vitality and damage. You’re killing a tad slower. The drakes take plenty of advantage with that lack of morale, mitigations, lower self-heals and time to kill to wipe the floor with you.
Orcs, trolls, uruks or beasts by the dozen. But 1 signature drake or even worse 3 welplings with dots and a damage aura was the clue to the first consistent hard time on his landscape journey.
Black book of Mordor and levels
After finding a few more quests to get level 116 for an extra reforge it was time blast through the remaining landscape. With enough Light of Erendil at the end of the tunnel the journey hastened along the Black book to Minas Morgul. The drakes in Book 7 proved the only obstacle to a point Durin had to do most of the killing. Standing back, try to offload the welps on Durin or run around making use of the extra melee range to get some bleeds on them.
Irondwarf made it way to Mordor Besieged at level 123 and mostly skipped to take on the instances of Barrow and Filth well on level with it’s prequests. The denser camps of Shaken Moz, Kaslokroz and Minas Morgul brought back having to cautious back to lotro. Figuring out when you could use your cooldown like Charge-knockback and Hammerdown on my guard to kill the larger groups. Saving these for the upcoming pulls were fatal 1 or 2 times as you get ambushed by a patrol, stealthed goblin or a respawn behind you.
By the time he reached the undead tier of Minas Morgul the surplus of xp made the journey easier again. Especially being able to crit on every mob gave him the damage he was missing normally.
The final l(a)eg of the journey
Gundabad is the last stretch of the journey. To make the most out of that he skipped Elderslade and Blood of Azog. These could bring quite a nice challenge with the large amount of mobs and heaps of morale (post-credit spoiler, Irondwarf would visit these places anyways). But it was time to go to Gundabad.
Ever since Minas Tirith not much has changed about creating your level 100 Legendary items and imbueing them afterwards. For this guide we’ll focus on keeping it compact and streamlined.
Functional there isnt a difference between a 1st, 2nd or 3rd age weapon. But prices have dropped so much (100-130 gold on Evernight) that you might as well get the FA symbol.
Making sure you’ve the best passive stats isn’t worth it these days. They havn’t been updated in a long while and 200 vitality isn’t worth re-crafting LI’s for days (at level 130 you’ll have >30.000 vitality.
For the next step you’ll also want some extra (any age) third age LI’s you can use as materials for getting all the final legacies on your imbued LI.
2 Preparing imbuement and legacy information
The hardest and most confusing part of imbuement is the step from the Li you created to your imbued LI. The level 100 LI is meant to be used for level 100. After (your) level 100, the level of your LI will not change once imbued or you won’t be able to get level 105/115/120/130 etc new LI’s. Normal weapons will be available, but 95% of the cases you’ll never want to switch to a non-LI weapon (even though the dps looks better).
Before you press Imbue weapon you’ll want to have 6 out 7 legacies you’ll want on your final LI. Or less if there arn’t enough good ones for your class and role.
2.1 Finding your correct legacies
Find your imbued legacies you’d want (hardest one)
Inspect a friend or good
Look for a guide or reference picture of a LI
Write down the legacies you see
Legacy names have different names before and after imbuement. Some are obvious while some are not. Examples
You’ll have a fresh level 100 FA LI. This is the streamlined approach to imbuement (there are slight changes one can make, but this will be the easiest and quickest way to imbue).
Identify it, add item XP till you reach level 60. Don’t add any other items yet.
Identify your LI and check off which LI’s you already got (3 legacies)
Add item XP to your LI to get 3 extra legacies
You now should have a LI with 6 legacies take note of which you miss
Remeber you’ll need only 6 out of the 7 legacies you decided on in step 1.1
Next up you’ll replace legacies from donor lvl 100 third ages
Any major legacies can be seen on a third age without adding xp. Start of with a third age that has a major legacy you need on your imbue list. Add enough xp to get it to level 31. Deconstruct it and take out any legacy you need. Preferably a minor one (easier to get major legacy).
Add said legacies to your FA li till you get 6/7 legacies. Then it’s ready to imbue it.
3 – Imbuement and best practices
Once you’ve imbued your li you’ll want to add a few items to let it reach the full potential. First the few missing items you havn’t added in part 2.
3.1 – Crystal of remberance and scroll of delving
Add a crystal of remberance after imbue to get a blank legacy. This legacy can be used to select any legacy from a dropdown menu. Choose the missing legacy you skipped out of before.
Add a scroll of delving to get an extra tier on all legacies (equalling 7 scrolls of empowerment). If added before imbuement you’d get 1 free scroll worth of delving.
3.2 Anfalas scrolls of empowerment and crystals
These buggers are you main way to improve your weapons. For more on why to add them check part 4 and where to get them part 5. The main thing to remember now is that these item unlock extra levels so that allows you to get stronger effects while the item xp actually give the effects. Each improvement needing 30.000 item xp.
3.3 Item experience runes
Heritage runes or item xp come from quests, barterers and instances. If you plan to quest for the forseeable future you dont have to worry about getting extra runes. However if this is a new or extra LI while you’re level 130 you will want to find extra runes.
Sources for item xp
quest tokens – Nearly all quest tokens can be bartered for heritage runes
Quick instances – Halls of crafting, Grand stairs, DN are quick instances with lots of chest that contain 50-100k runes
Current dailies – Minas Morgul instances at level 122 contain plenty of quests and runes that add up over time.
Quickly maximizing select legacies
You might want specific legacies to be maxed before others. Your DPS legacy, bear form damage, DNF cooldown will add more utility then a smaller one such a +agility or hunter bleed damage. The item xp added is evenly spread across all legacies (1st imbue around level 40).
Maximize the current xp before adding/unlocking extra legacy levels. This will allow you to unlock 1 specific legacy to it’s full potential at a time. Using the xp you get focussed on 1 legacy. Do be carefull about wasting extra xp. If you use a 600k rune with only 30k needed the item will be fully consumed.
3.4 Gems, runes and settings
Every level jump since level 100 has added new types of gems, runes and settings to put in your LI beyond the previous Tier 1-10 items. Dont worry too much while leveling since each new type is far superior then the previous ones as stats requirement has inflated.
One special type of rune is worth an extra mention Rune of striking, binding or enchantment boost your base damage/healing. At level 115 they only come from instances, but at level 120 and 130 they come in different qualities. Quest tokens, instance drops or raid drops. These add roughly 25% damage/healing compared to not having one slotted (at 130).
At a later stage there are crafted relics you can add. The latest ones from the Vale of the Anduin in combination with raid and instances drop from Skarhald. Pretty effective, but also quite expensive or hard to attain.
3.5 Weapon titles and damage types
Nearly every legendary weapon comes with the Common damage type. And all enemies will have a higher mitigation to common damage then other variants such as Ancient dwarf or westernesse. But the one you’d want is Beierland. This has the least reflect from mob types or other averse effects.
Each comes with some extra stats that you can most ignore (too low to affect you). So you can choose any nice name or the cheapest option you’d want. Except for tactical class items that can get 5% light, fire or lightning damage on them. For a full list of all options visit this wiki page
4 – Power curve of legacies (your level vs LI level)
A usual imbued LI starts of with 40ish levels unlocked for possible item xp. If you continue questing from level 100 you won’t need to worry too much about maxing out your LI at the start. It might even make the game too easy as the landscape isn’t meant to be taken on with a fully maxed out LI.
Until level 120 areas you can quest with just a normal imbued LI. Past this level you’ll want to start adding crystals and scrolls to get extra damage and legacies. Don’t wait a month while you do Minas Tirith dailies till you cant see straight. Continue your journey.
You’ve chosen to upgrade your damage and skill legacies. This is usually done by either Star-lit Crystals for dps/healing or Scrolls of empowerment for skill legacies. Usually with Anfalas versions of these.
These can be gotten from game resources, instances or the store (quite expensive). We’ll focus on repeatable sources as you’ll need plenty of those.
The classic way to get crystals is through a mix big battles and Rakothas or festival if you want to avoid groups. In update 26 the motes and embers option got added (see 5.3)
The classic way to scrolls is a mix of dailies in Minas Tirith and Osgiligath, Featured instance run (if quick runs are available) with big battles and other instances supplementing your supply. In update 26 the motes and embers option got added (see 5.3)
5.3 Motes and ember option
In update 26 to alleviate the need to grind older content for crystals and scrolls SSG added the option to use the level 115+ currency as an alternative. These are a great way to aquire them quickly for players with alts or secondary LI’s. To aquire motes and embers you need access to a good geared character or have later area’s dailies and weeklies unlocked.
These scrolls also come come with a maximum tier of legacy they can be used on. Less then 10 tiers below the maximum (enough for questing and instancing).
5.4 Efficient farming
Each option will come at a time spent or a limit on how many times you can run them. Below you’ll find a list of the best option to get the scrolls or crystals
Minas Tirith dailies
3 quest areas which give you tokens you can exchange for Smith tokens of which 4 give you 1 scroll. Focus on the north gate and south gate leaving the cisterns only if you really have to.
Featured instances
The current rotation makes these hardly worth the time spent. Each instance will give you 0-2 (lower level) or 1-3 scrolls and some embers for the challenge. Only run these for fun or if it’s School of Thram midraim.
Big battles
Pelagrir gives the most quests and the most merits. The other ones drop off quite quickly in efficiency. Less quests and jewelry has gotten worse past level 120.
Rakothas and Throne of the dread terror (ancient ithil coins)
Quickest source, but requires a group and decently geared main char. 6 man version reward around 17 coins which can be used on crystal (6), scrolls (3) or legacy replacement scrolls (see part 6). Can be upped by going with 3 or 4 players instead of 6. Or going beyond the 1st boss in the raid (more coins per char, but second boss is a pain).
Motes farming
At 100 motes per scroll and 250 per crystal this the easiest way to get your first batch unlocks. Motes come from dailies and weeklies in Mordor, Dale-lands and Skarhald. The instances also drop gear which can be ashed into motes.
After imbuement, the scrolls can be used to unlock legacies through tier 74 and the crystals can be used to unlock the main damage/healing legacy through tier 58.
160 per purple item 320 per teal item 160 for “challenge”
Tier 1 no motes Tier 2 teals only Tier 3 All 3 sources
Tier 3 has 2 locks per week
Weeklies
200-400 motes
Takes a while
Weekly
Raids
See before
Untested
Ember farming
At 100 embers per scroll and 250 per crystal for the lower end versions these are a good source. The higher legacies come at too great a cost. use the other sources for the last unlocks. All embers come from max level activties and are also used to barter the second best gear. But priorities depending you can get embers easier then motes for most people.
In addition, the Adventurer’s Quartermaster offers scrolls that unlock legacies through tier 79 and crystals that unlock the main legacy through tier 63
How you spend your time or what options you have available is up to you. If it’s your first character focus, you got an army of alts waiting for Rakothas or got 1 really good geared character raiding the suggested route can be a mix of all above.
First character
Minas Tirith dailies, some big battles and continue enjoying the game. Mix in some instances and use your motes to upgrade you LI.
1 main character
Same as your first character, but you can start using embers, Rakothas and weeklies to replace Minas Tirith farming or other more time consuming parts.
Funding a second weapon or character
Do your normal activties you’d do, but siphon of gold earned and embers for extra scrolls. At the moment (U26) the ember gear is close to Floodfells, crafted or Boss 1 Raid gear. 3500 embers is quite a few scrolls and crystals.
Try to do some extra rakothas, some extra T2 harrow/roost or a Glimmerdeep level 120 T3 for 400-600 motes (perhaps add in some Thikil Gundu).
A lot of extra character or raiding
Perhaps you’re raiding alot or have done a ton of Minas Morgul questing. Leverage those locks and extra crafting boxes you get. Gold is your best friend as well (on evernight 40-45 g or 100 g per crystal). You might not be the only ones, but sell that extra shard or item you’re not needing.
6 Replacing legacies or new LI’s
Some time has passed and a few patches have changed your class skills. That 200 vitality that was good for your runekeeper is now better served with a new lightning skill. It’s possible to replace single legacies without throwing out your entire LI.
Imbued legacy replacement scrolls
This item will allow you to replace 1 legacy with the same drop down choice menu as the crystal of remberance gave you. It will retain all the unlocks from the replaced legacy, but will need the item xp added again.
These items are hard to come by (7 quest chains) and only have 1 repeatable source ingame (Rakothas and Throne raid). For a full list see this page
However it’s usually cheaper to replace 1 or 2 legacies then completely redo a LI.
Remaking a new LI
Offcourse there are exceptions to the rules. If you havn’t added any scrolls to an LI and need to replace 4-5 legacies it’s going to easier to start from scratch. It’s not often, but for some cases its the preferred method.
Example, you imbued a small rk stone with all 3 damage types with fate, will and vitality. The last update made lightning runekeepers pretty nice and now you’d want to do both, but you never really made it good. Now you’d want a full set of fire and lightning damage without healing bonusses. It’s going to be easier and quicker to create a new LI and add scrolls.
1 legacy replacement scroll equals 5 crystals or 10 scrolls (which both got alternative sources then Ancient ithil coins or single quest rewards). It might be wise to spend the create a new LI.
7 – Final note and revamp
There are parts that this guide hasn’t touched up on such a the choice of not imbueing a legendary weapon, using a normal weapon for certain skills or truly maximizing a LI (see passive stats). These will come into play at the far top end of gameplay. A normal LI will be more then enough. Especially with the games ever changing patches and gear.
Legendary item revamp (soon ‘tm)
A request to change the way LI works has been asked for since the dawn of men. But atleast it’s a bit more tangible this year. Don’t stop upgrading your LI cause it’s still a good few months away (or who knows). Here is what we know (and deduce) from the little information we’ve so far.
We are also looking at more substantial changes for later in the year. It is important for us that the players feel that their progress on their Legendary Items carries forward into the new system, and we are discussing design changes with that in mind.
On stream the current design change is an “essence-like” system. Which i translate as flexible socketing system like the virtues instead of the rigid LI’s we’ve now. You’d use 1 weapon in which you add or replace legacies as you’d do with essences now.
This could be tied to your class tree on switching or a weapon with sockets and the legacies/buff being literal essences. At this moment i’d all speculation and wishes/curses.
This week’s Thursday stream from LOTRO featured Community Manager Andy “Frelorn”Cataldo and developer Trevor “Jinjaah” McEwen discussing the new system for Legendary Items coming in Update 16. For those who missed the stream, the recording is available as a highlight on LOTRO’s official Twitch channel, and was also posted on YouTube.
For those who just want the short version, there’s a partial transcript posted on the forums, but I highly recommend watching the full video:
The release notes for Update 15.3 are available on the forums. As expected, this update has addressed the music system, but there were some other fixes included as well. Two of the more significant changes that caught my eye were the following:
The OSX Launcher will no longer download all the splash screens every time you start it. It does make an HTTP request for each splash screen to see if you have the most recent one on disk each time.
Morskor in Barad Guldur will no longer become invisible every time he takes flight.
![[CC] Imbued LI guide 2020 (U26)](https://lotroplayers.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Critter-casual.jpg)
