Minstrel gets more Cowbell in Book 11 update of LotRO: Shadows of Angmar

It’s a good time to play as a Minstrel in Turbine Inc.’s MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar indeed. Why, you ask? Because this month is Minstrel Month, that special time of the year where the development team rolls out some very much-needed improvements for the main healing character class of the game. So, without further ado, let’s get to the good stuff and see what’s in store for the all-singing, all-dancing minstrel class of The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar!

First up in Turbine Inc.’s MMORPG is the Minstrel’s new solo skills, or the skills added to make a solo session with a Minstrel just a bit more easier. These are War Speech, Call to the Elder King, Call to the Second Age, and Chant of the Oathbreaker. War Speech is a toggled stance that powers up both Piercing Cry and Chant of the Oathbreaker, the chant a damaging skill that also makes your foes more susceptible to the effects of Songs and Cries.

War Speech, when enabled, also decreases your ability to heal – so if you’re the only Minstrel in your fellowship, focusing on attacks might not be a good idea. Call to the Elder King and Call to the Second Age also damage your opponents while weakening their defenses and increasing your fellowship’s movement rate respectively.

Next are buffs, and the new ones are: Tale of Battle, Tale of Warding, Call to the Fellowship, and Call to Greatness. The two Tales increase various stats such as Vitality, Wound Resistance, Armour, and Hope – very handy during battles. Call to the Fellowship is a fellowship-wide buff that makes your next Fellowship Manoeuvre more effective, and Call to Greatness is a buff that gives 15 seconds of goodness to a character, depending on the class.

Click on the full article link to read up on the new instruments and new heal and various other skills added to the Minstrel in Turbine Inc.’s The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar.

It’s a good time to play as a Minstrel in Turbine Inc.’s MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar indeed. Why, you ask? Because this month is Minstrel Month, that special time of the year where the development team rolls out some very much-needed improvements for the main healing character class of the game. So, without further ado, let’s get to the good stuff and see what’s in store for the all-singing, all-dancing minstrel class of The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar!

First up in Turbine Inc.’s MMORPG is the Minstrel’s new solo skills, or the skills added to make a solo session with a Minstrel just a bit more easier. These are War Speech, Call to the Elder King, Call to the Second Age, and Chant of the Oathbreaker. War Speech is a toggled stance that powers up both Piercing Cry and Chant of the Oathbreaker, the chant a damaging skill that also makes your foes more susceptible to the effects of Songs and Cries.

War Speech, when enabled, also decreases your ability to heal – so if you’re the only Minstrel in your fellowship, focusing on attacks might not be a good idea. Call to the Elder King and Call to the Second Age also damage your opponents while weakening their defenses and increasing your fellowship’s movement rate respectively.

Next are buffs, and the new ones are: Tale of Battle, Tale of Warding, Call to the Fellowship, and Call to Greatness. The two Tales increase various stats such as Vitality, Wound Resistance, Armour, and Hope – very handy during battles. Call to the Fellowship is a fellowship-wide buff that makes your next Fellowship Manoeuvre more effective, and Call to Greatness is a buff that gives 15 seconds of goodness to a character, depending on the class.

Following buffs are heal skills, namely Chord of Salvation and Gift of the Hammerhand. Both are instants, with Chord of Salvation able to heal more than Raise the Spirit the moment it’s casted. Gift of the Hammerhand protects by making incoming damage reduce power instead of morale, so a one-two punch with Chord of Salvation and Gift of the Hammerhand should save someone on the brink of death instantly. Neat.

And now that we’re done with combat-related stuff, let’s move on to the fun stuff. A new skill granted to Minstrels, Irresistible Melody, makes any character in the immediate vicinity of the Minstrel break into dance. Definitely a must for parties, or simply to make everyone around you do the monkey.

There’s also the neat deal of new instruments available for the Minstrel, namely the Bagpipe, Cowbell and Moor Cowbell – each one fun to mess around with. Of course, while anyone can learn how to play the Cowbell, only Minstrels can use the Bagpipe and the Moor Cowbell – until they use the new Mentor System, which lets any Minstrel teach any character how to play these exclusive instruments. There’s a huge cooldown for this skill, however – a Minstrel can only teach one character for every five days.

That’s it for this massive update for Minstrel Month in Turbine Inc.’s The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. Now, aren’t you glad you made a Minstrel for a character? While being powerful with a sword certainly looks badass, there’s nothing like being able to make your fellowship dance uncontrollably with the power of music. Dance, puppets, dance!