Post by brendur on Jan 13, 2010 17:27:40 GMT -5
Brendur’s Black Book of Backstabbing, Bluffing, Baiting, and Boisterous Burglary
There’s a special place in this world reserved fer Burglers, in the back, watching from a distance, with all the loot in hand.
So in the recent past couple of weeks, I’ve had several people come up and ask me about the finer points of being a Burglar, which was to say the least, very flattering to think people consider me a competent Burglar. Unfortunately usually when anyone asks me I’m running from something I pissed off, so I very rarely give a satisfactory answer. This odd fact coupled with our fearless leader deciding to start her own life of crime has spurred me on to write this little post for fans of the five fingered discount. Now if someone asks me about being a Burglar, I can simply point them to this thread on the forums so they can see my opinion splattered on the page. If you want the raw numbers of the Burglar I’m afraid you’ll have to go elsewhere, you’ll find nothing here but general advice, hints, and my overall experience with the Burglar class. Also this isn’t a finished work by a long shot, I’ll be adding on links to sites that I used to help build Brendur up to where he is now. Plus, I welcome any fellow Burglar lovers to throw in their own advice if they so wish, after all I’ve played all of this game as a Gambler, so my experience in the other two slots are quite lacking. So, that being said, on to the meat and potatoes!
Class Job- Yes, I know this is plastered on just about every post that talks about the burglar, but I feel to get a proper assessment of the class before you, I need to discuss the different class jobs and their order of importance.
1. Debuffer- Yup, first and foremost a good Burglar has to remember they are the debuffer of the group. Many classes will boast that they can take a hit, dish out a hit, or heal. The Burglar takes the enemy and brings him down to the party’s level, slowing him in his tracks so that the party can run circles around him. This means keeping up with Spot Weakness, and always making sure that there is a trick up on your opponent. One of the most important debuffs you have though, are the stuns that allow the party to pull off Fellowship Movements.
2. Crowd Control – A burglar’s second most important job on the field is crowd control, while not in the same league as the Lore Master, when the Lore Master’s tricks run dry, the Burglar has more than enough to back him up. I’m not just talking about Riddle here either, down the line the Burglar will find he has access to roots, movement slowing effects, and even abilities that allow him to disrupt the current aggro built up on a spawn. All of this allows the Burglar to carve up and distribute the battlefield as he sees fit.
3. Damage- I hesitate to list this. Whenever someone mentions a class does good damage, people get this gleam in their eye and start chattering about statistics, and suddenly I’m surrounded by a bunch of min/maxing ninja monkeys. However, Burglars DO have a good damage output, in fact a third of their skills are dependent upon their ability to inflict critical hits upon the enemy. Just don’t expect to ever get the same raw numbers as a Hunter, Rune Keeper, or Champion. They have their playground, we have ours. On the whole, it pays to consider the Burglar class as a one-shot pistol when it comes to damage: They take a long time to reload, so hit where it counts.
So why play as a Burglar? - While a good few Burglars will take offense to this question I think it reasonable enough, after all this class isn’t for everyone. Burglars I’ve found to be excellent survivalists. When the apocalypse comes and nuclear fire rains from the skies, nothing will be left but cockroaches, and those cockroaches will all be Burglars. Forget Stealth. Forget that they have a skill that lets them duck all aggro and go straight into stealth to scurry away. They have ditched the ability to excel in any field to become veritable swiss army knives with a trick for every occasion. While it’s not necessary to have a Burglar in your party, it certainly makes whatever goal you had in mind easier. I’d recommend this class to anyone who prefers quick thinking to blunt force, much of this class is thinking on your toes, and reacting to whatever your opponent throws at you. Finally, should you choose the Burglar as your class remember that it is a support class. While the Burglar has good soloability, if he or she doesn’t react with the intention of supporting their group, then they miss out on much of what this class has to offer.
Burglar Mechanics - My views on the Burglar mechanics. Need I say more?
Mischief Vs. Stealth – to me, this is the axis by which the Burglar is defined, depending which you lean towards will have a vast effect on how you play your Burglar, so paying attention to it is key. If you don’t know already, Stealth and Mischief are the two opposing “stances” that a Burglar can take. Stealth is self explanatory, you’re a sneaky bastard, striking from the shadows and depending upon ending the fight quickly to survive it. Mischief however forgoes stealth in favor of crowd control, better Power management, and more effective tricks. Early in your career you’ll be switching back and forth between them quite a bit, but don’t worry, with traits you can focus on whichever one you are more comfortable with. Personally, I go with stealth because…damn it, there’s my ex! *POOF*
Tricks or Treats! – Tricks, which are the backbone of the Burglar’s debuff system, are also the “fuel” for three other debuffs in their arsenal. The way the system works is that a burglar lays down a trick on an enemy, then triggers one of the debuffs, which consumes the effects of the original trick for a greater effect and for Gamblers, an additional gamble. Because of this it’s important to have several Trick rotations in mind for different enemies, allowing you to lay down another trick on your enemy as soon as the first one is consumed. Also for gamblers, keep in mind that your Gambles do no stack, so if you need the effect of one of the debuffs, your previous gamble is forfeit.
Critical Chains – to fully illustrate a Burglar’s ability to “dig in” once they’ve got the upper hand, Lotro has assigned Burglars a number of skills which are tied into a critical chain tree, IE they are dependant upon the Burglar getting a critical hit to be activated. Hence, it’s important to keep an eye on these skills during the course of combat, as you never really know when your next crit is. There are some skills in the Burglar’s arsenal that force a critical hit, but keep in mind they have high cool downs, so use them sparingly.
Burglar Traiting Lines – The three deliciously murderous routes you can take your Burglar!
The Mischief Maker – You remember that Mischief/Stealth axis I mentioned earlier? Well this trait line is all the way over on Mischief’s side. The Mischief Maker focuses on making his tricks more effective and accurate. As for the stance Mischief, it makes it less entangled with Stealth by offering up more incentive effects while under the stance. A real fellowship oriented trait line, the Burglar who takes this will excel at debuffing his enemies and will have all the more potent crowd control, in exchange, he gives up some of the soloability of the Burglar.
The Quiet Knife - In direct opposition to the Mischief maker, this trait line is all the way over on Stealth’s side of the play ground, and focuses on maximizing the Burglar’s abilities in damage per second output. Allowing the Burglar to hit hard coming out of stealth then improve his bleed damage to finish the opponent off, this trait line is good for folks who like a quick fight that was stacked in their favor to begin with. The rewards for slotting traits from this line are also a bit more immediate than in the other two, this with the combat capability it grants the Burglar, makes it a popular choice for the speed levelers and soloers. In groups however be cautioned, even with the full trait set bonuses, a Burglar still takes back seat to the other DPS classes.
The Gambler – So we’ve covered Mischief and Stealth’s ends of the pool, where does that leave this trait line? Right smack dab in the middle. If Burglars are Jacks of all Trades, than the Gambler emphasizes this point, which for me is why it’s my personal favorite. Rather than strengthening damage or tricks, the Gambler opens up an whole new avenue for the Burglar with a mechanic called “Gambles” , a debuff that activates upon using one of the three trick fueled debuffs I mentioned above. These Gambles provide varying strengths of debuffs, damage, and even crowd control, however their activation is all percentage based, so it’s never a sure thing that they will fire off. With the unreliability of Gambles, and the rather unapparent rewards for this trait line in the beginning, this can be a hard set of traits to work with. Down the line however, the Gambler traits all show a sort of synergy that when used properly, turn it into a very efficient choice for the Burglar.
more to come...
There’s a special place in this world reserved fer Burglers, in the back, watching from a distance, with all the loot in hand.
So in the recent past couple of weeks, I’ve had several people come up and ask me about the finer points of being a Burglar, which was to say the least, very flattering to think people consider me a competent Burglar. Unfortunately usually when anyone asks me I’m running from something I pissed off, so I very rarely give a satisfactory answer. This odd fact coupled with our fearless leader deciding to start her own life of crime has spurred me on to write this little post for fans of the five fingered discount. Now if someone asks me about being a Burglar, I can simply point them to this thread on the forums so they can see my opinion splattered on the page. If you want the raw numbers of the Burglar I’m afraid you’ll have to go elsewhere, you’ll find nothing here but general advice, hints, and my overall experience with the Burglar class. Also this isn’t a finished work by a long shot, I’ll be adding on links to sites that I used to help build Brendur up to where he is now. Plus, I welcome any fellow Burglar lovers to throw in their own advice if they so wish, after all I’ve played all of this game as a Gambler, so my experience in the other two slots are quite lacking. So, that being said, on to the meat and potatoes!
Class Job- Yes, I know this is plastered on just about every post that talks about the burglar, but I feel to get a proper assessment of the class before you, I need to discuss the different class jobs and their order of importance.
1. Debuffer- Yup, first and foremost a good Burglar has to remember they are the debuffer of the group. Many classes will boast that they can take a hit, dish out a hit, or heal. The Burglar takes the enemy and brings him down to the party’s level, slowing him in his tracks so that the party can run circles around him. This means keeping up with Spot Weakness, and always making sure that there is a trick up on your opponent. One of the most important debuffs you have though, are the stuns that allow the party to pull off Fellowship Movements.
2. Crowd Control – A burglar’s second most important job on the field is crowd control, while not in the same league as the Lore Master, when the Lore Master’s tricks run dry, the Burglar has more than enough to back him up. I’m not just talking about Riddle here either, down the line the Burglar will find he has access to roots, movement slowing effects, and even abilities that allow him to disrupt the current aggro built up on a spawn. All of this allows the Burglar to carve up and distribute the battlefield as he sees fit.
3. Damage- I hesitate to list this. Whenever someone mentions a class does good damage, people get this gleam in their eye and start chattering about statistics, and suddenly I’m surrounded by a bunch of min/maxing ninja monkeys. However, Burglars DO have a good damage output, in fact a third of their skills are dependent upon their ability to inflict critical hits upon the enemy. Just don’t expect to ever get the same raw numbers as a Hunter, Rune Keeper, or Champion. They have their playground, we have ours. On the whole, it pays to consider the Burglar class as a one-shot pistol when it comes to damage: They take a long time to reload, so hit where it counts.
So why play as a Burglar? - While a good few Burglars will take offense to this question I think it reasonable enough, after all this class isn’t for everyone. Burglars I’ve found to be excellent survivalists. When the apocalypse comes and nuclear fire rains from the skies, nothing will be left but cockroaches, and those cockroaches will all be Burglars. Forget Stealth. Forget that they have a skill that lets them duck all aggro and go straight into stealth to scurry away. They have ditched the ability to excel in any field to become veritable swiss army knives with a trick for every occasion. While it’s not necessary to have a Burglar in your party, it certainly makes whatever goal you had in mind easier. I’d recommend this class to anyone who prefers quick thinking to blunt force, much of this class is thinking on your toes, and reacting to whatever your opponent throws at you. Finally, should you choose the Burglar as your class remember that it is a support class. While the Burglar has good soloability, if he or she doesn’t react with the intention of supporting their group, then they miss out on much of what this class has to offer.
Burglar Mechanics - My views on the Burglar mechanics. Need I say more?
Mischief Vs. Stealth – to me, this is the axis by which the Burglar is defined, depending which you lean towards will have a vast effect on how you play your Burglar, so paying attention to it is key. If you don’t know already, Stealth and Mischief are the two opposing “stances” that a Burglar can take. Stealth is self explanatory, you’re a sneaky bastard, striking from the shadows and depending upon ending the fight quickly to survive it. Mischief however forgoes stealth in favor of crowd control, better Power management, and more effective tricks. Early in your career you’ll be switching back and forth between them quite a bit, but don’t worry, with traits you can focus on whichever one you are more comfortable with. Personally, I go with stealth because…damn it, there’s my ex! *POOF*
Tricks or Treats! – Tricks, which are the backbone of the Burglar’s debuff system, are also the “fuel” for three other debuffs in their arsenal. The way the system works is that a burglar lays down a trick on an enemy, then triggers one of the debuffs, which consumes the effects of the original trick for a greater effect and for Gamblers, an additional gamble. Because of this it’s important to have several Trick rotations in mind for different enemies, allowing you to lay down another trick on your enemy as soon as the first one is consumed. Also for gamblers, keep in mind that your Gambles do no stack, so if you need the effect of one of the debuffs, your previous gamble is forfeit.
Critical Chains – to fully illustrate a Burglar’s ability to “dig in” once they’ve got the upper hand, Lotro has assigned Burglars a number of skills which are tied into a critical chain tree, IE they are dependant upon the Burglar getting a critical hit to be activated. Hence, it’s important to keep an eye on these skills during the course of combat, as you never really know when your next crit is. There are some skills in the Burglar’s arsenal that force a critical hit, but keep in mind they have high cool downs, so use them sparingly.
Burglar Traiting Lines – The three deliciously murderous routes you can take your Burglar!
The Mischief Maker – You remember that Mischief/Stealth axis I mentioned earlier? Well this trait line is all the way over on Mischief’s side. The Mischief Maker focuses on making his tricks more effective and accurate. As for the stance Mischief, it makes it less entangled with Stealth by offering up more incentive effects while under the stance. A real fellowship oriented trait line, the Burglar who takes this will excel at debuffing his enemies and will have all the more potent crowd control, in exchange, he gives up some of the soloability of the Burglar.
The Quiet Knife - In direct opposition to the Mischief maker, this trait line is all the way over on Stealth’s side of the play ground, and focuses on maximizing the Burglar’s abilities in damage per second output. Allowing the Burglar to hit hard coming out of stealth then improve his bleed damage to finish the opponent off, this trait line is good for folks who like a quick fight that was stacked in their favor to begin with. The rewards for slotting traits from this line are also a bit more immediate than in the other two, this with the combat capability it grants the Burglar, makes it a popular choice for the speed levelers and soloers. In groups however be cautioned, even with the full trait set bonuses, a Burglar still takes back seat to the other DPS classes.
The Gambler – So we’ve covered Mischief and Stealth’s ends of the pool, where does that leave this trait line? Right smack dab in the middle. If Burglars are Jacks of all Trades, than the Gambler emphasizes this point, which for me is why it’s my personal favorite. Rather than strengthening damage or tricks, the Gambler opens up an whole new avenue for the Burglar with a mechanic called “Gambles” , a debuff that activates upon using one of the three trick fueled debuffs I mentioned above. These Gambles provide varying strengths of debuffs, damage, and even crowd control, however their activation is all percentage based, so it’s never a sure thing that they will fire off. With the unreliability of Gambles, and the rather unapparent rewards for this trait line in the beginning, this can be a hard set of traits to work with. Down the line however, the Gambler traits all show a sort of synergy that when used properly, turn it into a very efficient choice for the Burglar.
more to come...