With the release of Siege of Mirkwood™, adventurers of level 30 and higher have been called to help defend Middle-earth from the ever lengthening Shadow in the East. With the new Skirmish system, players can now jump into instant-action combat from anywhere in the world and earn a variety of rewards. But how, exactly, do you get started? Listen up, Recruit: Skirmish Training 101 starts right now!

Where to Start
You will be able to participate in Skirmishes once your character reaches level 30, and you’ll also earn the title of Skirmish Recruit. You’ll probably notice that you’ve also got some new mail, so head to the nearest mailbox to pick it up and read it over. Make sure you read everything you receive or quests you’re given regarding Skirmishes; there’s a lot of information to be had, and you’ll need all of it to make the most out of your Skirmish experience.



The mail will direct you to seek out a Skirmish Camp and speak to the Skirmish Captain. There are a number of Skirmish Camps throughout Middle-earth:

• Angmar – Aughaire
  
• Bree-land – Just outside the South Gate
  
• Eregion – Near Gwingris
  
• Evendim – At the South-eastern corner of Tinnudir
  
• Forochel -- East of the Sûri-kylä main gate
  
• Lone-lands – Ost Guruth
  
• Lothlórien – Echad Andestel
  
• Moria – The 21st Hall
  
• North Downs – Just past the Western Gate of Esteldin
  
• Rivendell – Near the stables
  
• The Shire – Brockenborings
  
• Thorin's Gate – Outside of the entrance to Thorin's Hall

The Skirmish Captain will give you the Orders of War quest. Head out to a level appropriate area and start taking out agents of the Enemy (like Orcs, goblins, or Hillmen) until you’ve collected 10 Orders of War. You’ll need to be sure the enemies you’re killing aren’t grey to you; if they are too low-level, you won’t receive the drops, so aim for someplace where your opponents are close to your level. Ost Cyrn in the Lone-lands is a great option for those in the level 30-32 range. You’ll find plenty of enemies just a little under your level and perfect for the task at hand.

Once you round up your Orders of War, check your quest log again! You’ll find you have a new objective: Collect the Target List. You can pick this item up off the same enemies you’ve been killing for the Orders.

Now that you have your Orders and the List, head to a Skirmish Camp and speak with the Skirmish Captain again. You don’t have to go back to the same camp to turn in the quest; any Skirmish Camp will do, so just head for the closest one.

When you turn in the Orders of War quest, the Skirmish Captain will explain the dire situation facing Middle-earth. He’ll also send you to Second-watcher Heathstraw to start your first Skirmish. Whenever you’re ready, just speak with the Captain again and choose “Travel Now”.

Your First Skirmish



Second-watcher Heathstraw is holed up in a small fortification just outside a snowy, wintery South Bree Gate. Speak with him and again, be sure to read everything so you don’t miss out on important details! He’ll instruct you to use the horn sitting next to him. This will grant you a pair of new skills – Summon Soldier and Direct Soldier. They do exactly what they sound like. Use your Summon Soldier Skill to get your first look at your new partner in mayhem. Sure, he looks a little raw. Maybe he’s not as disciplined as you, but he has potential. Time to put him to work!

Head out from the stockade, and you’ll come upon a pair of unsavory types guarding a large banner. Take down the guards and claim the gate in the name of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth. Congratulations! You’ve just taken a control point and earned some Skirmish Marks!



You probably also noticed your Soldier is nowhere to be found. Don’t worry too much about him; he’s rambunctious and prone to getting into trouble. If he doesn’t survive the assault, just wait until you’re out of combat and re-summon him.

If you find your Soldier is running headlong into trouble or not helping out as much as he should be, try using the Direct Soldier skill. It will give your partner a little direction on what he should be attacking or healing, but keep in mind, Soldiers aren’t trained fighters. They’re just average citizens trying to help out as best they can.

Tip: You can summon your Soldier either with the Summon Soldier skill or by clicking on the round Soldier icon on your screen. This icon is only visible in areas where you can summon your Soldier.




You can also use that button to call your Soldier to your side if he should wander off. It’s useful for when your Soldier goes tearing off after some Brigand and can’t find his way back.

Now that You’ve Won It - Hold It!
As you clear the next control point and claim the banner in front of the Bree Auction House, you’ll be faced with a counterattack. You didn’t think Sharkey’s men were just going to lie down and let you have things your way without a fight, did you? Counterattacks can occur any time you’ve claimed a control point. At higher levels and difficulties, the Enemy may send multiple waves of counterattacks. Be on your guard! It could be disastrous to move toward a new control point only to have to fight back a counterattack at the same time. A little patience goes a long way.

Special Encounters
Special Encounters are random events with tougher-than-normal opponents. Each Skirmish will have as many as two encounters. They won’t always be the same, as they’re drawn from a pool of several possible encounters. An announcement will appear both on your main screen and in your chat log informing you that an encounter is available. Seek it out and meet the challenge to earn additional Skirmish Marks and possibly other bonuses as well. You’ll run across one of these encounters in Bree just after you repel the counterattack, so be prepared!

Winning the Day
There’s one more objective in Bree. Take care of it, and Second Watcher Heathstraw will appear and praise your efforts. You’ll be teleported out of the Skirmish and back to the Skirmish Camp you started from. Nice work! You’ve successfully completed your first Skirmish, but there’s still much to learn!

Training and Trials, Part II
Now that the easy part’s over, it’s time to really dive into the meat of the Skirmish system. Speak with the Skirmish Captain again to start the second part of your tutorial. Accept the quest, and you’ll get your first look at the Skirmish Join panel -- once you finish your training, this will be how you create and join a Skirmish from anywhere in Middle-earth. For now, just take stock of all the options and select the Defence of the Prancing Pony Skirmish.



A second panel will open showing you the conditions and name of the Skirmish as well as give you the ability to enter (Travel Now), Cancel, or wait (Travel Later). Once a Skirmish is created you have 5 minutes to enter it, or it will close and you’ll need to go back to Skirmish Join to create it again. Click Travel now and you’ll be on your way to defend The Prancing Pony.



Soldiers and Skills
Before things really get going this time, you’re going to learn a little bit about how your Soldier works. Speak with Second-watcher Heathstraw and listen carefully! He’ll explain how your Soldier can be assigned roles. You can assign it Warrior, Protector, Herbalist, and other roles. Each equates to a DPS, Tank, Healer, or other class type. There are also buffers and a ranged Soldier as well. Which one you’ll want depends on your character’s class. For this tutorial, only the Warrior role is available. You can set your Soldier’s role much the same way you set your own character’s traits and skills. In fact, your Soldier has a number of options you can customise and equip including roles, appearances, skills, and abilities. You even have a Skirmish-only ability you can equip to enhance your character during Skirmishes.



Once you get your Soldier squared away, a new challenge will await. The Enemy doesn’t plan on losing this war, and he’s sent his Lieutenants out into the world to make sure of it!

Lieutenants and Evil things



Lieutenants are much harder than the normal enemies you’ll encounter during a Skirmish. Each Lieutenant has its own special effect that impacts not only how you must fight it, but how its allies fight in its presence. Some may take no damage until their allies are all defeated. Others may raise their fallen minions and send them back into the fight, wearing you down with a foe that cannot be defeated. Make sure you study these dangerous opponents carefully and learn their skills. Each Lieutenant has a weakness. Learn it, and you will win the day! The Lorebook is a great source of insight into how Lieutenants change the flow of a Skirmish ( http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Skirmish_Lieutenants).

On Your Own
Once you complete the Defence of the Prancing Pony Skirmish, the Skirmish Captain will reward you with your choice of very special instructions. These instructions will teach your Soldier how to become a far better ally. You can select any set of instructions you wish. Remember, your Soldier is set up as a Warrior at the end of the Tutorials. If you want to give another role a try, this is a great chance to get a free role and some useful skills. Make sure you use the item in your inventory once you decide. This will grant your Soldier all of the benefits of their training and make the roles, skills, and abilities available when you next speak to a Skirmish Captain.

Tip: Use your radar mini-map. If you’re disoriented as to which direction an attack will come from, a quick glance at your mini-map will point you in the right direction.



Red banners indicate the source of an attack or an unsecured control point. Green banners represent secured control points or areas where an attack has successfully been repelled.

Moving Forward
With the Tutorials complete, you now have full access to the Skirmish system. How many Skirmishes you have access to depends on your level. At level 30, you’ll have 2 Skirmishes and can unlock more as you progress through your adventures in Middle-earth.

The Following Skirmishes unlock as you level. The lowest level listed is required before you have access:

• Siege of Gondamon: Level 30-65 (Defence)
  
• Trouble in Tuckborough: Level 30-65 (Offence)
  
• Stand at Amon Sûl: Level 35-65 (Defence)
  
• Survival -- Barrow Downs: Level 40-70 (Survival)
  
• Thievery and Mischief: Level 45-65 (Offence)
  
• Defence of the Prancing Pony: Level 50-65 (Defence)
  
• Ford of Bruinen: Level 55-65 (Defence)

These Skirmishes will unlock once you have attained the correct level and completed their associated Epic Quest:

• Strike Against Dannenglor: Level 60-70 (Offence) Volume II, Book 9, Chapter 4
  
• Protectors of Thangúlhad: Level 60-70 (Defence) Volume II, Book 9, Chapter 14
  
• Breaching the Necromancer's Gate: Level 65-70 (Offence) Volume II, Book 9, Chapter 15
  
• Assault on the Ringwraith's Lair: Level 65-70 (Offence) Volume II, Book 9, Chapter 15
  
• The Battle in the Tower: Level 65-70 (Offence) Volume II, Book 9, Chapter 18

You’ll notice Skirmishes have two primary forms: Offensive and Defensive. You’ve already experienced both types. The First Skirmish Tutorial you completed was an Offensive Skirmish; you moved through the town taking control points. In the second Tutorial you held back an attack on the Prancing Pony, a Defensive Skirmish. The third Skirmish type, Survival, is a timed group Skirmish that challenges you to survive against ever increasing odds for as long as possible. How long can you hold out?

You likely noticed during the second tutorial that your Soldier became far more useful when he had a role to base his actions on. With the addition of skills and abilities, he’ll be even more useful to you in future Skirmishes. Remember to spend some of your Skirmish Marks to level up your Soldier. He doesn’t earn XP like you do; he only earns what you’re willing to give him. Here’s a tip: you can level up your Soldier’s role and abilities to significant levels. In some cases you can actually level your Soldier beyond your character’s current level. What level 32 Hunter wouldn’t like a level 45 pocket healer along for the fight?

Soldier Tricks and Tips



While you’re preparing your battle plan, you should take a few minutes to stop by a Skirmish Camp and have a chat with the Skirmish Trainer. Trainers have all the skills, roles, abilities, and other combat tools you’ll need to set up your Soldier just the way you like. You have at least one role and several skills after finishing your tutorial, but here you’ll see the whole gamut of abilities you can purchase for your Soldier. When making a purchase, keep in mind that some skills only work with certain roles – for example, you can’t teach an Herbalist how to use a Warrior skill. If you aren’t seeing many options, check the top of the window. You’ll find a checkbox that will allows you to turn off the display of any unearned skills or abilities. Uncheck it and it will display everything available from the trainer.

Once you have your Soldier’s new skills sorted out and have leveled them up a bit, check with the Skirmish Captain to customise them. Think of a Skirmish Captain as a Bard for your Soldier. You’ll visit the Captain to slot your Soldier’s skills and abilities or change them when the need arises. Just as with your own Virtue and Traits panel, you’ll find that more slots open up as you level your characters. This lets your Soldier grow as you do and become more and more powerful as you take on more challenging Skirmishes.

If you don’t want to make the trek to a Skirmish Camp and you’re near a housing neighborhood, you can pop in and visit the Trainer and Skirmish Bard inside. Every neighborhood has one in the central court near the shop. You’ll also find that housing areas are the only place you can summon your Soldier outside of a Skirmish. You can see cosmetic changes you’ve made this way without having to go back into a Skirmish just to see how your Soldier looks with a new appearance. It’s also a great opportunity to show off to your friends and compare notes.




Tip: If you are in a housing neighborhood, summon your Soldier and offer to spar a friend. Your Soldier will assume their assigned role while you spar!

Building Your Own Skirmish
When you were given your second tutorial Skirmish, you got a peek at the Skirmish Join Panel. This is where you can create and configure your Skirmishes. You can use the Skirmish Join tool from anywhere in Middle-earth. You do not need to be in a Skirmish Camp: just hit CTRL-J and get to work!



Most Skirmishes will allow you to select from four group sizes: Solo, Small Fellowship (3 players), Fellowship (6 players), and Raid (12 players), as well as three tiers of difficulty. The larger the group size and the higher the difficulty, the more Skirmish Marks you can earn. You may also adjust the level of the Skirmish to suit the average level of your group. This will affect each player individually. Players above the set level will see a reduction in Marks as the difficulty has declined, while players under the set level will see an increase as their difficulty has increased. Keep this in mind when you create your Skirmishes.

Once you’ve set your options, hitting the ”Create” button will send an invite to any members of your fellowship and open the Join dialogue box.

Tip: Don’t forget, your friends don’t have to be in the same location to join! They will get the join dialogue no matter where they are in the world. If they accept, they’ll be teleported into your Skirmish and when it is over, teleported back to the exact location they were in before joining.

Tip: If you created a group Skirmish, you can invite players into your fellowship after the Skirmish is created. However, you can only invite as many players as the group setting of your Skirmish. So you can’t invite 4 players into a Small Fellowship, but you can invite up to 5 into a Full Fellowship.

The Wages of War
As you complete Skirmishes, you’ll earn Skirmish Marks. There are a variety of Marks, and each serves a purpose.

Skirmish Marks
These are the core currency of the Skirmish System. Everything available at Skirmish vendors requires some amount of Skirmish Marks.

First, Second, Third, and Fourth Marks
Depending on the fellowship size and level of your Skirmish, you’ll earn different combinations of these Marks. Many items will require some number of these Marks in addition to the normal Skirmish Marks to purchase. They can also be bartered up and down as well. For example, you can barter a first Mark and a stack of Skirmish Marks up for a second Mark, or a second Mark down for a first Mark. This way, no matter your level or your preferred group size, you’ll always be able to barter for the Marks you need. Of course, you can also barter all of the numbered Marks for various amounts of Skirmish Marks.

Campaign Marks
Campaigns are sets of three Skirmishes. Each of these sets has an associated Mark that only drops in one of the related Skirmishes. For example, the Eruilan Campaign Mark is awarded in those Skirmishes tied to the Eruilan campaign. These are Trouble in Tuckborough, Siege of Gondamon, and Stand at Amon Sûl. These Marks drop randomly off encounter monsters and the end bosses in those Skirmishes.

Rich Rewards
Once you’ve earned your Marks, there’s a wide variety of items to spend them on. Head over to a Skirmish Camp and check all the vendors. There’s something for everyone at every level. Soldier upgrades and skills, cosmetic items, class quest items, Legendary Item enhancements, and more.



Check out the Lorebook for an excellent player-written overview of the rewards you can earn. (http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Skirmish_Compendium#Curiosities)

Making Your Own Way
You should now have a much better handle on how to use and benefit from Skirmishes in The Lord of The Rings Online™. If you still have questions or aren’t quite sure you understand all the moving parts of Skirmishes, you can refer to the following Skirmish Developer Diaries:

Part 1: Overview

Part 2: Story Instances

Part 3: Randomization and Scaling

Part 4: Skirmish Soldiers

Part 5: Rewards

Part 6: Accessibility

Part 7: The End

Still stuck? Check out the Community Created Guide, Skirmish Compendium, in the Lorebook.