
Post Sections ⇅
- Solo Content
- What is a Skirmish Soldier?
- Unlocking Skirmishes
- Soldier Combat Classes
- → Archer
- → Bannerguard
- → Herbalist
- → Protector
- → Sage
- → Warrior
- → Which Class Should I Choose?
- Skirmish Soldier Set-Up
- How to Change Your Skirmish Soldier’s Appearance
- Personal Traits: Buff Yourself
- Earning Marks
- Landscape Soldier Tokens
My thanks to Eldalleth for proofing this for me.
Skirmishes in The Lord of the Rings Online are akin to smaller dungeons that have specific mechanics. While many are optional, occasionally Skirmishes form part of the Epic Questline – Moria and Mirkwood being two that spring to mind. One of the key features of Skirmishes is the ability (maybe even the necessity) to use an NPC to fight alongside you. But getting your head around how to get started with a LOTRO Skirmish Soldier can be a bit of a minefield.
Here’s my guide to help you – and likely clarify a few things to me too! So, let’s get started.
Solo Content
Just as a quick pointer, anytime I refer to Skirmishes here, I am talking about Solo ones. This is because I’ve never done a group one, nor am I likely to, so I can’t give a valid opinion. If you do group up for a Skirmish, talk to your group and see how you should spec your Soldier (and maybe your own LOTRO Gearing) before wading in.What is a Skirmish Soldier?
Combat Roles
Your Soldier can be set up to perform any of the traditional combat roles: Tank, Melée DPS, Ranged DPS, Healer and Support. The word “Soldier” is used regardless of what role you want them to play. This role is not set in stone either. So you can adapt your Soldier to the scenario in each Skirmish if you want to.Personalisation
This NPC assistant is very customisable: firstly you can choose among the roles I mentioned, then you can select their in-combat abilities and other passive attributes. And lastly, there is an array of cosmetic changes you can make to truly personalise them.Unlocking Skirmishes
If you’re new to LOTRO, then you may not yet have encountered Skirmishes, or you have just seen a prompt to take part in one.
Once you hit Level 20, you should be prompted to accept a quest called Skirmishes – Reporting In.
Follow this quest and speak to a Skirmish Captain, with the most likely candidate being the one just outside Bree, though there is one in Thorin’s Gates, right by Thorin’s Hall in Ered Luin too.
Skirmish Tutorial 1

Skirmish Tutorial 2

Soldier Combat Classes
Upon exiting the tutorials, your default Skirmish Soldier will be a Man (as in a male human) Warrior. But they can become almost anything you want or need to succeed in a Skirmishes. The most important decision will be which combat class they will be.The below screenshots are the default appearance for that class or role. Click/tap the thumbnail to view the Soldier’s full height.Archer
Bannerguard
Herbalist
Protector
Sage
Warrior
Which Class Should I Choose?

These are opinions and ideas and should not be taken as fact. It may take you a few attempts to find out what works for you.
For Healers

For Tanks

For DPS

What About Bannerguard?
These specialise in buffing you and your “group”. For Solo skirmishes, a Lore-Master may benefit from a Bannerguard as both you and your companion could both benefit from your Soldier’s skills.I’m not a Captain player, but I’m guessing you won’t need an additional bannerman if your Captain’s “Pet” is also one. But if it is not, then a Bannerguard may help you both peform better in Skirmishes.Skirmish Soldier Set-Up
So now we’ve talked about the different types of Soldier, how do you “build” one? It is a simple process but has lots of options you can customise.How to Buy Skills
Speaking to the Trainers at Skirmish Camps you can acquire and equip different skills to your Skirmish Soldier. This includes which combat roles you want them to take on and which abilities you wish to train them in. As we’ll come to later, these folk are also the people to come to when designing your Soldier’s looks.But first – practicalities, as Soldiers exist first to fight (or to aid those fighting).Buy Skills
To buy skills for them, speak to a Skirmish Trainer and purchase them using Marks.
All skills are grouped by combat role, so you can focus on acquiring or improving the relevant abilities for your Soldier.
Equip Skills
What is “Personal”?
Personal Traits relate to buffs and mitigations that apply to you while you’re in a Skirmish.
They can be useful to make yourself sturdier, or more potent in attacking, for example. Another aspect is that, if you are running with a Herbalist, healing companion, or a player-healer, then your incoming heals can be boosted.
For more on this, skip to Personal Traits.
Attributes
Attributes are combat roles you wish to train your Soldier in. I am going to call this your Soldier’s class from now on as I think that’s easier to understand. You can acquire more than one class, but for obvious reasons, you cannot equip more than one class at a time. There are more slots, because you will use those to change your Soldier’s appearance (if you have

Skills
On the Skill tab you’ll find specific abilities your Soldier can use in combat. They are grouped by class, allowing you to quickly see relevant skills. Use these to “patch” your weaknesses. So, for example, I use the Herbalist’s Nature’s Power skill to replenish power on my Guardian, as that can sometimes be an issue for me in longer fights.Training
This relates to passive attributes that help your Soldier to perform better in combat. Examples are- How well they use their armour to protect themselves.
- The strength of their combat abilities.
- How well they can block, parry or evade attacks.
All Basic Skills and Training Options
Protector

Draws a single enemy’s attention.

A self-buff that aggros any mob that attacks them, keeping the aggro their way.

Shouts to draw attention of nearby enemies.

Hits all nearby enemies, making them more angry at the protector. This is a good thing.
Warrior

Causes a bleed damage-over-time to a single enemy.

A strong attack against a single enemy.

A low-damage attack against nearby enemies.

A higher-level damaging attack against nearby enemies.
Archer

Allows the archer to replenish their Power gauge by a brief pause in attacks.

A strong shot against a single enemy.

A special kind of attack to reduce aggro against the Archer.

A shot with a high chance of a critical hit. Bonus damage is inflicted when a hit is critical.
Bannerguard

Grants an ally a temporary boost to Armour rating.

Powerful melée attack (against a single enemy, I think)

A cry that grants a low amount of healing-over-time.

A shout that draws aggro from nearby enemies.
Sage

Chills the air around them, slowing down enemy attacks for a time.

Reduces enemy resistences (Tactical).

(Crowd Control) Damages a foe, while also rooting them to the ground.

Powerful AoE (tactical) attack.
Herbalist

Restores an ally’s Power (over time).

A medium one-shot heal.

Buffs an ally’s defences.

Grants an ally a medium-strength heal-over-time.
For All Soldiers

Gives your soldier more morale.

*Darth Sidious voice* Unlimiteeeed Poweeeeeer! I mean, *cough* gives your Skirmish Soldier more power. Yeah, that.

Increase your soldier’s power regeneration.

Increase your soldier’s morale regeneration.

Increases defensive manoeuvers: block, parry and evade ratings.

You’ll never guess what this is for? Oh, you did. Spoil sport.

Increase evasion – the ability to avoid damage. I’m presuming this could be full or partial evasion. I’ll try and fact check that.

Increases your Soldier’s critical rating: the chance (and potency) of especially damaging hits. Does this affect heal critical, I wonder?

Increases Tactical Mitigation: reducing damage from non-physical attacks (think light, sorcery, lightning)

Increases Physical Mitigation: reducing damage from physical attacks (If you were a Tater: boil ’em, mash ’em, stick ’em in a stew).

Increases the amount of morale your Soldier gains from being healed.

Increases Morale and Power gauges.

You guessed it! Increases a soldier’s Finesse rating.

Increases a Soldier’s Resistence rating.
For Specific Soldiers

Increases melée and ranged damage for Soldiers who use physical skills.
Archer, Warrior, Protector, Bannerguard

Increases damage dealt and healing done for Soldiers using tactical skills.
Protector, Bannerguard, Sage, Herbalist
Extra and Heroic Skills


Equipping Your Choices
Check Your Allowances
Once you have purchased the skills and attributes you want from the Skirmish Trainer, you need to speak to the Skirmish Captain and select Manage Your Traits. On the right, you’ll see the same tabs as you had in the purchasing window, but only listing those you have bought.Filling the Slots
Choose Attributes first – especially which combat class you’re going to use. From then, you can only slot relevant skills and attributes to that class. So, you cannot have Light Armour Training on your Protector, for example. Not all skills/training have class limitations. I have my Herbalist running with some Evade Training sometimes – the less damage they take the more time they have to heal me!Soldier Ranks and Levels

How to Change Your Skirmish Soldier’s Appearance
Appearance choices are slotted into the Attributes line of the Trait Trainer UI.
But first, let’s head to where you can acquire different appearances: the Cosmetics vendor in a Skirmish Camp.
There you’ll find a range of options allowing you to personalise your Skirmish Soldier, in exchange for Marks and
Medallions.
Appearance Options
These are the aspects you can customise. Some will depend on the race and gender you have chosen for your character.- Race
- Dwarf
- Elf-Maiden
- Elf-Sire
- Hobbit-lad
- Hobbit-lass
- Man
- Woman
- Hair Colour
- Hair Length
- Hair Style and/or Beard
- Outfits: there are some outfits that are common to all Soldiers. Others are Race/Gender-specific. No, your Elf-Maiden may not have a Hobbit Mayor’s outfit!
How Much Do Soldier Customisations Cost?
For the race options, these are just 5×




Slotting the Soldier Appearances
As I said earlier, these go into the Attributes section, along with your Soldier’s class. As nothing else goes on that row, it gives you plenty of scope to customise your assistant.Personal Traits: Buff Yourself
- Defences: Block, Parry, Evade and Armour Rating
- Mitigations: Physical and Tactical
- Mastery: Physical and Tactical
- Incoming Healing
- Attacks: Armour Penetration, Critical Rating, Finesse

Increases your block, parry and evading ratings.

Yep, increases your block rating.

Increases your ability to resist some effects.

Increases Finesse Rating.

Buffs your Tactical Mitigation.

Improves your Critical Rating (applies to attacks and heals)

Increases your Physical Mitigation.

Improves how much your morale increases when you are healed.

Buffs your Tactical Mastery rating – the amount non-physical attacks damage for, and how much morale your healing skills restore.

Improves your armour penetration. The amount you pierce your foes – not the other way around!

Guess what? Magically increases how strong your armour is. Only in Skirmishes, sadly.

Increases your Physical Mastery: increases the amount of damage dealt for physical attacks (You have my sword, and my bow, and my axe. And now I’m weaponless.)

Quack! I mean, erm, improves your Evade Rating. *eyeshift*.

Because parrying slowly is proven to be fatal.
Earning Marks
Just a brief note here: making your Skirmish Soldier better, stronger, faster will cost more and more

- In Skirmishes: defeating certain enemies, and clearing “encounters”. Defeating the end boss and therefore completing the Skirmish will give you the greatest rewards.
- Skirmish Deeds: For example, clearing all the encounters from a Skirmish. This will be done by completing each one several times, as the Encounters are randomised.
- Skirmish “Slayer” Deeds: When Lieutenants are defeated, they progress their own deeds. As with other slayer deeds in Middle-Earth, there is a stage 1 and an “advanced” with different rewards for each. See the Lieutenant Deeds on the Wiki
- Landscape Deeds: Some general LOTRO Deeds also grant
Marks as rewards.
- Steel Tokens: You can convert
Steel Tokens to
Marks during the LOTRO Anniversary
- Warbands: Ah, I had forgotten this one. Thanks LOTRO-Wiki! Yes, Warband Boxes may also drop
Marks.
Landscape Soldier Tokens
How to Get a Landscape Soldier Token
The Wiki’s link above shows that they are very expensive if purchased for Marks/Medallions. There are other ways:- From the LOTRO Store for 100×
LOTRO Points.
- The
Mithril Coins trader at a Skirmish Camp.
- They can drop as Hobbit Gifts.
- Sometimes they are the weekly freebie code too.
Limitations
The key limitations of using your soldier this way are:- Outdoors Landscape Use Only: You can’t use your soldier in certain places like Bree. You also cannot take them into indoor questing areas.
- Time Limited: you can only use them for the length of time your tokens allow. You can “save” up to five hours worth at a time, by using five tokens. But you can’t add more “air time” to that until you’re under the four hour mark.
- No Mounts: they can’t ride mounts, so don’t expect them to help you with Mounted Combat!
TL;DR Go Custom-build your LOTRO Skirmish Soldier and Dive in!
It turned out that covering the Skirmish Soldier was like “Skirmception”, each layer revealed more layers! But we’ve covered most things, at least! So now you can go ahead and build and customise your own Soldier. And don’t forget the two Skirmish-based events: Ill Omens and the Treasure Bugan Event.Have fun in Middle-Earth, friends!