Skirmishes

[Manderero]

This is a quick overview of the new Skirmish system within Lord of The Rings Online.

• Skirmishes start when your character reaches level 30.

In order to participate in skirmishes, you must first complete the skirmish tutorial quest. This is given by any Skirmish captain located within a skirmish camp. Skirmish camps are scattered around the world - generally near large towns.

The skirmish quest has you collect War Orders, which are found on any humanoid mob. Since this is a quest item, you will need to kill mobs around your level (ie, not grey) to get them to drop. After your 10th War Order drops, you will need to collect a Target List, which are also found on humanoid critters of your level-range.

Once you collect those items, the Skirmish Captain will have you enter your first instance. This is to get you used to summoning a skirmisher to fight alongside you in battle and a quick overview of how skirmishes work. This first skirmish is a solo skirmish and must be completed before you can participate in any other skirmishes.

Once you finish the basic tutorial, the Skirmish Captain will have one last solo skirmish that you must complete. This skirmish explains how to upgrade your soldier and how to start (initiate) a skirmish.

Your Soldier
Your soldier starts out at rank 1 - which is equivalent to level 30. This can be confusing, because when you summon your skirmisher it will appear as though he/she is the same level as you are. Your skirmisher is fairly squishy and really doesn't do much at this rank. You will need to upgrade him/her.

Upgrading your soldier
First off, there are different types of soldiers you can choose to use:

• Archer = Ranged Damage
• Bannerman = Buffs
• Herbalist = Heals
• Protector = Tank
• Sage = Ranged Tactical Damage
• Warrior = Melee Damage

If you have a tough time deciding which soldier to help you in battle, never fear, you are not completely stuck with that soldier-type. It is possible to trade out your soldier for a different type... However, keep in mind that it will cost you to level up another soldier and buy skills, so try to pick one you really want from the beginning.

Yes, I mentioned that you can buy skills for your soldier. Skills are specific to the type of soldier you have. For example, you cannot buy the 'heal skill' and hope that your archer will heal you. Only Herbalists can use the 'heal skill'. This is important to remember when you buy skills. Buy only the skills that your skirmisher can use. Luckily, the skills (found at the Skirmish Trainer) are sorted by the type of soldier. Purchasing skills works very much the same way as you would for your regular character. Simply go to the trainer, find the skill you want and click 'buy'. You will notice that unlike your regular character, you are using a new form of currency to 'purchase' these skills: Skirmish Mark.

Skirmish Marks
Skirmish Marks are obtained by doing skirmishes. The more objectives you complete, the more skirmish marks you can get.

More to come as I get time....

[Taliesin]

Skirmish marks are obtained by completing the main objectives of a skirmish as well as "encounters" or side missions that are active while you are in the skirmish. The encounters usually involve a sig mob that is pathing nearby. Be careful when activating these encounters as you will still be fighting waves of regular mobs until all rounds of attacks are complete. Skirmish marks can also be obtained by completing skirmish "deeds" such as killing a certain number of a particular mob, ex: 500 skirmish marks awarded for killing Troll Wound-Takers. These are usually awarded for Lieutenants.
Bottom line, skirmish marks are obtained by the following:

• Completing skirmish at level or higher (100% at level, increased percent above level)
• Encounters (side quests with high HP mobs)
• Deeds for killing LTs

(hope you don't mind my adding this info, had a few minutes and have been running skirmishes lately.)