How To Choose The Right Race For Your Hunter In LOTRO

2008-12-04

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Basic Hunter Information

Just like with any MMO game, the most important attribute for any Hunter in LOTR is it’s agility. The hunter’s agility affects the amount of damage that you can do with ranged weapons, as well as your ability to dodge attacks. For players who are familiar with World of Warcraft hunters, this is an easy concept to grasp as different races will naturally be more fit to play a hunter than others. Different racial abilities, such as agility and stamina will always help hunter players. For this reason, the Elven race in LOTR make some of the best hunters due to their natural agility. They also are a great choice for a hunter toon since around level 20, they are able to work with a racial trait that will give them an extra boost to their bow damage.

Of course, this is not to say that the other races do not make good hunters either. Elves overall are a bit more fragile than the other races, the have lower Morale (or hit points) and lower Fate (or regeneration in combat). While these factors might not be that important to you, they can make a monster difference when you are out soloing with no one to tank for you. So, if you are more of a solo player, you might consider another race for your hunter toon, such as a Human or Hobbit. You can always choose the dwarf hunter toon as well but, you need to remember that your ranged attacks will be much less than the other races. There is a good side to this though, if you are a solo MMO player, a dwarf hunter will stand a lot better chance in staying alive if they are jumped by two or more mobs alone.

There are good points and bad points to any race when you are choosing a hunter toon. This does not mean that one is the “best” and another is the “worst”. Each player has their own gaming style and each race fits a different gaming style. You should compare the different traits and abilities of each race before you choose your race for your hunter toon so you get the best possible match for your gaming style.

Don’t Just “Go With The Flow”

Most new players will automatically choose an Elf or Human hunter toon because they assume that these are the two races that will perform the best in this role. While this is true in some areas, it is not always true for all. As we mentioned before, for those who like to solo play a lot, then a Dwarf will stand a better chance alone against multiple enemies. You can see from the table that a Hobbit also has a high amount of Morale as well as other importance attributes like Agility and Fate. This makes the Hobbit Hunter toon a great choice for those solo MMO players.

Keep in mind that throughout your time in the LOTR MMO game, you will have the opportunity to add items to your toon that will enhance different attributes. You should always be aware of which attributes your race is lowest in and start with those enhancements first. There are also many ways that you can use your ranged weapons both while soloing and while in a group that will help to maximize the effectiveness of them as well. Practice makes perfect, just like with other MMO games, so if you find that one style of enhancements or abilities is not working right for your game play style, switch.

Also in LOTR, hunters do not get to tame any type of beasts to help take the aggro off of them while you safely shoot from a distance. Since you do not have this luxury, you will have to be efficient in laying traps to help freeze your enemy in place and have your ranged attacks ready to slow them down as well.

One of the very best strategies for a Hunter in LOTR is to try to do as much damage as you can while the enemy is still out of melee range. Then, when they are in melee range, use your combat skills to finish them off. This will require planning and practice on your part before you start an attack, so you should know your maximum range, focus your toon, set any traps that are relevant to that mob, and then choose which ranged attack will do the most damage on that particular mob.

This post is part of the series: Playing a Hunter in LOTRO

Want to know all there is to know about playing a hunter class in Lord of the Rings Online? This series will give you the low down on playing one.