Rohan: Warsteed Traiting, part 2

Part 1 began with a discussion on Warsteed traiting.

So, the first choice to be made is warsteed type: Light, Medium, or Heavy.

Let’s kick start this section with the Light Trait set.

Part 1: Trait line Overview (Part 1)

Part 2: Light Traits (you are here)

Part 3: Medium Traits (Part 3)

Part 4: Heavy Traits (Part 4)

Part 5: Comparisons (Part 5)

The Light Warsteed:

For each trait set, there are options to put points into a build for (1) Stat Modifiers, (2) a Red trait tree line called Red Dawn, (3) a Blue trait tree line called Rohirrim, and (4) a Yellow trait tree line called Riddermark. That is a lot of R’s… read them again as they are the basis of all traiting.

Stat Modifiers: You can allocate as many as 5 points per stat. The Light trait stat modifiers progress like the following table.

Table 2A: Light Horse Type – Stat Modifiers – 25 points

Agility	Strength	Power	Endurance (morale)	Armor
30	60	225	135	150
90	120	360	225	300
180	180	585	360	450
270	240	810	495	600
390	320	1080	675	750

We can come back to the stat modifiers on wrap-up, but they are fairly straight-forward. Moving on to the three trait trees... each of the three trait trees have a “cap trait”, which is the last trait in the chain.

Red Dawn:

Here is what the Discipline says for the Runekeeper.

There are two skills associated with Light Horse – Red Dawn traits. Those are Feign Injury (7) and Adrenaline Rush (9). When traited with those traits, skills are added to your arsenal. These will be the same for all classes.

The table below is hopefully easy enough to understand. There are 24 points that can be spent in the Light warsteed Red Dawn line. When reading the table:

• “Pts to get” are 1 unless otherwise specified.
• The Trait is Passive unless it is marked in the “Skill?” column.
• A, B, C for a skill refer to the skill having up to 3 points that can be spent on that skill.
• (A Pre-requisite reference of 5B, for example, means the trait opens up after the second point is added to skill #5).

From the RK perspective, the Red line traits are based on doing Damage. When in Discipline “Red Dawn”, the RK skills do Fire Damage. There are two class specific traits: “Vicious Attacks” and Wrath.

Table 2B: Light Horse Type – RED Trait line (aka RK warhorse Fire traits) – 24 points

Trait Name			Pre req	Pts to get	Function		Skill?
Long reach	1	A			+2 max distance of ranged skills
		B			+5 max distance of ranged skills
		C			+10 max distance of ranged skills
Forceful Blows	2	A	1A		+400 Critical	-800 enemy armor
		B			+800 Critical	-1600 enemy armor
		C			+1200 Critical	-2400 enemy armor
Combat advantage	3	A	2B		+500 Physical Mastery	+700 Tactical Mastery
		B			+1000 Physical Mastery	+1400 Tactical Mastery
		C			+1500 Physical Mastery	+2100 Tactical Mastery
Exceptional Tactics	4	A	2B		+400 Finesse
		B			+800 Finesse
		C			+1200 Finesse
Deceptive Appearance	5	A	2B		-10% damage threat	-10% healing threat
		B			-20% damage threat	-20% healing threat
		C			-30% damage threat	-30% healing threat
Vicious Attacks	6		5B	2	RK: moderate bleed applied for skills: Invoke the Elements, and Oration of Embers
Feign Injury	7		6	2	Causes enemy to stop attacking. CD: 5 min, Duration: 5 sec Cost: 181 power, 47 Mount power		skill
Adrenaline Rush	8		6	2	-100% warsteed power cost. Must be at less than 30% power. CD: 3 min, Duration: 10 sec Cost: none		skill
Wrath	9		6	3	RK: While in RED DAWN discipline, +25% critical chance for skills: Fixation of Flame, Oration of Embers, and Resolution of Fire

Rohirrim:

Here is the Rohirrim Discipline as it looks for RK. The skills will change to be Healing skills.

Rohirrim Discipline is for protection. You get the idea; it is mitigations and such. However, Rohirrim is also the heart of your warsteed power and morale (endurance) management.

There are two Rohirrim skills: Invigorate and Bolstering Cry. One is a power restore and the other is a morale boost. Both skills are variable (I think they are based on character level).

Similar to the previous table, here is the Blue trait line. To get all these traits and cap the Blue line requires 28 points.

Two traits are class specific: Quickness and “Motivation through Aggression”, which are the capstone and the next to capstone skill.

Table 2C: Light Horse Type – BLUE Trait line (aka RK warhorse healing traits) – 28 points

Trait Name

Pre req

Pts to get

Function

Skill?

Tough Exterior

1

A

+250 Physical Mitigation

+250 Tactical Mitigation

B

+500 Physical Mitigation

+500 Tactical Mitigation

C

+750 Physical Mitigation

+750 Tactical Mitigation

Fast Manoeuvering

2

A

1A

+300 warsteed Evade

B

+600 warsteed Evade

C

+1200 warsteed Evade

Defensive Riding

3

A

2B

+240 Block

+400 Parry

+120 Evade

B

+480 Block

+800 Parry

+240 Evade

C

+800 Block

+1200 Parry

+480 Evade

Invigorating Presence

4

A

2B

+500 Inc. Heal rating

+500 Out. Heal rating

B

+1000 Inc. Heal rating

+1000 Out. Heal rating

C

+1500 Inc. Heal rating

+1500 Out. Heal rating

Bond of Power

5

A

4B

+108 Mount ICPR

+252 Mount nCPR

+90 ICPR

+180 nCPR

B

+216 Mount ICPR

+504 Mount nCPR

+180 ICPR

+360 nCPR

C

+324 Mount ICPR

+756 Mount nCPR

+270 ICPR

+540 nCPR

Invigorate

6

5B

2

Restores 762-1088 Mount power initially, Restores 508-725 Mount power every 2s for 10s. CD: 3 min Cost: 181 power

Skill

Bond of Morale

7

A

4B

+81 Mount ICMR

+162 Mount nCMR

+90 ICMR

+180 nCMR

B

+162 Mount ICMR

+324 Mount nCMR

+180 ICMR

+360 nCMR

C

+243 Mount ICMR

+486 Mount nCMR

+270 ICMR

+540 nCMR

Bolstering Cry

8

7B

2

+3104 Mount morale CD: 3 min Cost: 196 power

skill

Quickness

9

A

4B

RK: Oration and Debate skills have -2s cooldown

B

RK: Oration and Debate skills have -4s cooldown

C

RK: Oration and Debate skills have -6s cooldown

Motivation through Aggression

10

9A

3

RK: While in ROHIRRIM discipline, (chance) Restores 10% morale and 10% warsteed Morale to self and fellowship within 40m 25% chance to apply when using the skills: Fixation of Health, Amelioration Oration, Debate the People, Resolution of Enduring Life

Riddermark:

Here is the Riddermark Discipline.

All three horse types start off very similar on this trait line. The numbers are different (Light has better handling than the others) but the traits are the same. The “... of the Herd” trait, which is also a skill, is a fellowship bonus and there is one for each horse type. 

Riddermark has three traits that offer skills: Dash (speed), Caution (defense), Speed of the Herd (fellowship buff). This trait line requires the least amount of points to obtain at 17 points.

The Riddermark is the Runekeeper’s Lightning Discipline. The skills change to lightning attacks while Riddermark stance is set. Only one trait is class specific: the capstone, Disengaging Strikes.

Table 2D: Light Horse Type – YELLOW Trait line (RK Speed/Lightning traits) – 17 points

Trait Name			Pre req	Pts to get	Function	Skill?
Fleet of Hoof	1	A			+5 Acceleration Rate
		B			+12 Acceleration Rate
		C			+22 Acceleration Rate
Born Sprinter	2	A	1A		+1.0 mps max speed
		B			+1.0 mps max speed (stacks)
		C			+1.0 mps max speed (stacks)
Agile Movement	3	A	2B		+5 warsteed turn Rate
		B			+10 warsteed turn Rate
		C			+15 warsteed turn Rate
Dash	4		2B		+3 max speed (up to 16.0 max) CD: 20s, Duration: 12s Cost: 202 Mount power	skill
Hard to Tire	5		4		Dash skill becomes a Toggle, runs until out of power Cost” 17 Mount power per second
Caution	6		3B		Forces the enemy to ride at a distance on your right flank. CD: 30s, Duration: 10s Cost: 154 Mount power	skill
Speed of the Herd	7		6	2	Fellowship within 40m: +500 Mount power, -10% attack duration, +3% Evade CD: 30s, Duration: 1 hour Cost: 196 Power, 96 Mount power	skill
Disengaging Strikes	8		6	3	RK: While in RIDDERMARK discipline, 50% chance to dismount target when critical hit for skills: Fixation of Storms, Oration of the Bleak Sky, Resolution of Storms

Dana, How would you build a Light horse?

Good question. If you don’t have any traits in the Blue line, your skills will deplete your warsteed power very quickly. I also love ranks in the Power stat. I want to stay fighting hard as long as I can. While I am not a Fire RK, the warsteed Red line modifies skills to do a great job at Fire DoT bleeding enemies to death. It isn’t as fast as I am used to as a Lightning RK, but you can hit an enemy with a few Fire DoTs and they will die while you have run far away on your speedy Light horse.

Final tip for all horses: If you are in a fight and run out of Power, move away slightly from the fight out of immediate danger, then dismount and remount. You CAN remount while in combat. The warsteed power and morale resets and you can get back to killing the enemy. It is easy to do this within a few seconds.