Guardians: What they want YOU to know

[Mangala]

General

Guardians are tanks. Heavy armor and aggro management.

Instances usually go better if you let us control the pace of the exploration. Please don't start pulling mobs unless you're asked; that's how fellowships wipe. If we stop, there's usually a good reason.

Many of our attacks are reaction chains which require us to be getting attacked by the mob.

Keep us healed. Although we can heal ourselves a little, our power is better used to keep aggro.

Our Repair bills are a lot more than yours. Contributions are appreciated.


Aggro

Hunters especially (who do lots of DPS at range) should hold-off on using their best attacks until the Guardian has locked aggro (usually when the mob is under 60% health). If you're pulling too much aggro, please use your Endurance stance and Below Notice.

Unless pulling on purpose, we prefer other players to only attack the mob we (either the Main Tank or the Off Tank) are attacking. If you attack another mob, you risk pulling aggro. Everyone attacking different mobs can make the battle last far longer than it should.

The wavy red lines above a mob's head indicate we have landed a move that generates a good bit of aggro. This may be useful to watch for if you are waiting to deal out full DPS.

Don't run from the tank. It's the absolute worst thing you can do, and everyone does it! If you are getting hit, don't run around like an idiot. Stand still, and we will come to you. Better yet, bring the monster to us! Whatever you do, don't run away from us, and don't run in circles.

If you tend to pull aggro a lot, or if you are a Minstrel: SIT IN THE POCKET!
The pocket is an area directly behind or to the side of a Guardian where you are out of reach of attackers, but the Guardian can easily turn and regain aggro.

It is FAR more difficult to "steal" aggro and pull a mob off of you, than it is to get & keep aggro to begin with.

Often guardians will use our various AoE attacks to try to build up at least a little aggro on all the mobs present. If you are a class that can mez or root, please let us know ahead of time so that we don't let loose with a swiping attack that will knock out of mez the mob that you just mezzed half a second ago without telling us.

Some Helpful Info On Agro Management


Miscellaneous

Acorns are items that allow you to call the Guardian to you. We can make them at level 38. We can make lots of them, but you can only carry one acorn at a time.

The guardian cannot be summoned into (or out of) an instance. Acorns can be mailed, so you can effectively fed-ex a guardian to you if you're both near a mailbox.

[Jarkko]

BUMP!

I thought this would be a great post to be viewed again as we have now new people and people returning to LOTRO. Aggro in LOTRO is not exactly similar as in WoW or WAR for example, so might be a good idea to check that link at the end of Mangalas post


I have a friend on Laurelin server, who asked some advice on tanking with his guardian. He is duoing with a burg most of the time, they are at level ~30, and I posted some hints (from my limited experience) and maybe they could be useful for us here too

Anyway, even though the burglar does not hit as hard as hunters or champion, the burglar still hits a lot harder than a guardian; please take a look at your skills that builds threat. If you are at around 30, then the skills to build up threat aka aggro aka hate fast are Shield Blow and Vexing Blow); ideally you should save your Challenge to "snap" aggro from your party members when nothing else helps (like the healer is getting killed by adds or something). Shield Taunt is a nice tool to use against mobs far away, like ranged DPS mobs targeting the healer or for example grab the aggro from the "mezzed" mob after it breaks the mezz (for example, the riddled mob goes straight for the Burglar after the riddle breaks; not that it is really danger for the burglar (the Burglar can usually avoid being hit from one mob) but it would extremely important to snap aggro from targets that were mezzed by lore-masters). In combat vs many targets it is usually a good idea to bang a Sweping Cut or Whirling Retaliation to build up some aggro on all targets. Also any self-healing abilities will build up some aggro on every single mob in the neighbourhood, so please use them freely when possible

If you have still aggro problems, the burglar should "spam" Provoke when he gets it at 34. Of course Provoke has to be used when the mob is targeting the tank already, I think it is a good opening move after the guardian has got the initial aggro. Notice that some other classes get similar aggro re-dircecting skills too, and it might be an idea to ask them to use those skills to redirect aggro to you, as it makes life so much easier for all.

[Caradir]

In LOTRO agro isnt just the Guardians job.

EVERY class has a way to manage their own agro, and should be learned.

Hunters have stances with various agro generation Strength is full on agro, with Endurance at the bottom end of agro and Precision in the middle. They also have Beneath Notice which is a 60% agro dump ( 5 min cd), why wouldnt you use that when it becomes available until the group gets more experience, and you know your own threat boundaries.

Champions get 2 agro managing skills Raising Ire (take 15% of a fellow members agro unto themself 20s cd) and Ebbing Ire (give 25% of their agro to a fellow member 2 min cd)  im sure you can see  the uses in them. They also have Glory Stance (which is their Tanking stance +60% threat generation)

Minstrels have Song of soothing to reduce agro, but the only way a Minstrel ,generally, grabs agro is overusing the group heal or just after hitting the oh shit heal (Triumphant spirit) solo heals are less agro intensive and more power efficient.

Other classes will follow