Pets

[Simone B.]

In this guide we'll discuss the varios pets the LM can have access to:

I've found out that someone from docholidaymmo has made a comparison among the pets (right after RoI) and here it is.

From the table below you can see that the Eagle is the pet with the best flank rate, followed by the bog, by the raven, by the bear (almost same flank chance of the raven but has the 50% of the speed of the former pet) and lastly by the Lynx. Sabretooth cat was not reported in the table, idk why (maybe has the same stat of the lynx, just with aoe attacks). Also the Spirit pet was not reported, basically because its flank rate is 100%, depends when you want to use its flanking skill :P

These stats are old, but I think that with the coming of HD they'll be more or less the same, with the exception of the damage dealt by the pets which is going to scale by pet's level.

Little note: remember that although the eagle is the pet with the highest flank rate (and it can interrupt mobs and rez you once every minute, although it is the only pet gated behind the blue trait line), the second pet in order of flank rate might be more usefull for its various ability: ranged auto-attacks on the bog guardian make kiting possible. Most pets just end up chasing the massive mob you are kiting so the ranged autoattacks are kind of nice in tricky situations. Also, it is the only pet that can provide flanks, dps, and FM's while staying out of AoE range.

	Raven	Bear	Lynx	Eagle	Bog-guardian
Total attacks recorded	486	152	281	299	203
DPS	52	93	77	50	74
Attack speed (hits per sec)	0.8	0.4	0.6	0.4	0.4
Hit chance	96%	100%	95%	95%	96%
Flank chance	5.1%	5.3%	1.4%	11.7%	9.9%
Flanks per minute	2.3	1.2	0.5	3.0	2.5
Average time between flanks	26 sec	48 sec	116 sec	20 sec	24 sec

 

  Raven Bear Lynx Eagle Bog-guardian Total attacks recorded 486 152 281 299 203 DPS 52 93 77 50 74 Attack speed (hits per sec) 0.8 0.4 0.6 0.4 0.4 Hit chance 96% 100% 95% 95% 96% Flank chance 5.1% 5.3% 1.4% 11.7% 9.9% Flanks per minute 2.3 1.2 0.5 3.0 2.5 Avg time between flanks 26sec 48sec 116sec 20sec 24sec - See more at: http://docholidaymmo.com/2012/05/08/lore-mastery-pets-pets-pets/#sthash.FKEnBwJS.dpuf

  Raven Bear Lynx Eagle Bog-guardian Total attacks recorded 486 152 281 299 203 DPS 52 93 77 50 74 Attack speed (hits per sec) 0.8 0.4 0.6 0.4 0.4 Hit chance 96% 100% 95% 95% 96% Flank chance 5.1% 5.3% 1.4% 11.7% 9.9% Flanks per minute 2.3 1.2 0.5 3.0 2.5 Avg time between flanks 26sec 48sec 116sec 20sec 24sec - See more at: http://docholidaymmo.com/2012/05/08/lore-mastery-pets-pets-pets/#sthash.FKEnBwJS.dpuf

[Simone B.]

 

Let us start with your first pet: the Raven.

The raven is good for increasing global group DPS if a lot of fire damage is being used (e.g. rune-keepers, hunters with fire-oil or lore-masters traited down the Master of Nature's Fury line) thanks to its skill Benediction of the Raven.
It's also good for reducing the damage taken by your fellowship: through Shield of the Raven's Wing for fights with a lot of tactical damage, and through Dizzy (+15% miss chance, caused on enemies by raven's critted auto-attacks. So cappies, if you can, always buff the raven as well) for enemies which deal heavy melee or ranged damage.
Ranged mobs can be made harmless through use of Distraction in combination with Wind-lore, forcing them to come in melee range (hence grabbed by tank if you are in group). The use of Distraction and the buff that comes from a lightning skill on a mob suffering from the fire-lore debuff (yellow line traits needed!) pratically reduce the ranged damage you would receive to 25% (each of them has -50% ranged damage, and they both stack)
In solo situations the raven increases the damage of the lore-master itself.
The raven has the third highest flank rate (after Eagle and Bog-guardian).

Each pet has 3 skills. Raven's ones are:
Benediction of the raven: -10% mob(s)'s fire mitigation for 1 minute. The skill has a 5 meter radius and a 40 meter range.
Distraction: It is a channeled skill that apply a -50% ranged damage and +10% miss chance debuff to the target and also hit for light damage every 4 seconds for the whole duration of the channeling. As said, f Distraction is used in combination with the use of a lightning skill to mob under the effect of fire-lore (you need to spend points in the Yellow trait line: Ancient master), ranged enemies will only deal 25% of their usual ranged damage, and are forced to engage you in melee combat instead.
Evasion: it is a raven's self-defence buff. It gives +50% evade chance, +(raven's level x3) armour value and +30% shadow mitigation to the raven for 15s. Although the tooltip does not mention this specifically, the evade chance also protects against ranged attacks. This skill is fairly useful when your raven is taking a lot of damage and you want it to keep alive a little bit longer.

Auto-attacks cause Dizzy (+15% miss chance) to occur on an enemy target on a critical hit.
Auto-attacks have a chance to activate Flanked! on an enemy target.
Auto-attacks from the rear have a chance to activate Harried! (-25% run speed) on an enemy target.
The raven companion causes Shield of the Raven's Wing (+ ((Raven's Level × 18) + 1) Tactical Mitigation) to occur on you and and any of your fellows who are in the vicinity of the raven.

A Raven can eat Bags of Crumbs to temporarily increase its melee offence, evade ratings, fire & shadow mitigation. Bags of Crumbs are crafted by Cooks.

The next pet is the Bear (not Grylls, I don't want my pets to be eaten alive) which is unlocked at level 14.

[Simone B.]

The Bear (unlocked at level 14):
It was originally designed to play the role of an off-tank, possessing superior durability. These days, it is mostly used in groups for its Shatter Arms (+10% Incoming Melee Damage, +10% Incoming Ranged Damage) skill, which increases the DPS of a group with many ranged and melee damage classes greatly.
The bear also has a high personal damage output from auto-attacks.
However, a bear sometimes still can be useful as a tank.
In fact, a fully traited and fed bear is almost as survivable as a tanking class. It has less morale though, but is not affected by dread.
With the removal of threat transfer I'm rather unsure on how the bear can gain aggro only through raw dps :s Before  HD you used to build its aggro through Inner Flame threat transfer and through other class threat trasnferring skills (Burglar's Provoke, Champion's Ebbing Ire, etc). Now I'm more of the idea it's good as a tank for solo/duo only.
The bear's Roaring Challenge is mostly useful for briefly taking pressure off yourself or one of your fellows, to prevent potential death and/or induction setbacks.
It does not create aggro (the mob is forced to attack the bear for 10s, be carefull not to draw aoe mobs to the group), but can save your life in battle, allowing you to use long cast skills like Inner Flame or Lightning storm.

The bear as a tank could be useful for a lower level Lore-master who tries to solo hard bosses. Yet at later levels, pets like the Eagle and the Bog-guardian are preferable, because of their higher level and flank rate.

The bear has the 2nd lowest flank rate of all the Lore-master's pets (the worst is Lynx's).

Skills:
- Bear Hug: Stuns target and deals damage (it has only 3s of stun, so if you're fighting only 1 mob it's preferable to use skills with a longer stun time: Ents go to War 6s and 5 targets, Staff-strike with the Master of the Staff trait equipped (on critical hit) 5s and 1 target, Test of will 5s and 1 target.
- Roaring Challenge: Forces target to attack bear
- Shatter Arms: Increases target's incoming melee and ranged damage and deals damage

A Bear can eat Pots of Honey & Oats to temporarily increase its combat effectiveness (+fire & acid mitigation, +armour value and +percieved threat). Pots of Crude Honey and Oats can be bought at any Lore-master class trainer, but higher-level varieties must be crafted by a Cook.

Auto-attacks have a chance to activate Flanked! on an enemy target.
Auto-attacks from the rear have a chance to activate Harried! on an enemy target.

[Simone B.]

The lynx is available to lv 30+ LMs.
It is naturally in stealth mode and tends to be more fragile than other pets, having lower morale.
It has the ability to deal a lot of burst damage. The strongest attack of the lynx, Surprise Attack, has a high chance of a critical hit and can only be used from stealth (put it on auto-fire by right clicking on it).
After use, the lynx will remain out of stealth for the rest of the fight. It also has a couple of AoE skills. The DPS (sustained damage) of the Lynx is average. The auto-attack damage is mediocre and it flanks little (so you won't have many opportunities to use flank based skills, especially the healing of wizard's fire. So it's not the best for long battles.), although critical hits on auto-attacks do apply the DoT Savage Bleed on enemies (that strikes only every 5 seconds for 10 seconds).
The lynx is a popular pet choice for leveling or questing Lore-masters who are not traited down the Master of Nature's Fury line.

The lynx has an awful flank rate.

In order to improve the critical rate you can use a Brooch of rage.

Lynx's Skills are:

Surprise Attack : Sneaks up to targeted foe and does a sneak attack with amazing critical damage (This is the most powerful skill of the lynx, having a high chance to crit. If your lynx companion is not set on passive, this skill is most effective when set to auto-fire, so that the lynx will always use it first when attacking from stealth.)
Feral Strike : AoE attack 90° front arc, max of 3 enemies hitted.
Slashing Claws : AoE attack 180° forward arc, max of 5 enemies hitted.

Auto-attacks have a chance to activate Flanked! on an enemy target.
Auto-attacks from the rear have a chance to activate Harried! on an enemy target.
Auto-attacks cause Savage Bleed to occur on an enemy target on a critical hit.

A Lynx can eat Cuts of Meat to temporarily increase its fire/shadow defence, melee critical & defence ratings. Cuts of Meat are crafted by Cooks.

[Simone B.]

The Sabertooth Cat becomes available for the Lore-master at level 56. It is two levels lower than the Lore-master itself.

It's primary role is to deal damage to several targets at once, similar to that of a Champion (auto attack and skills are AoE). It is the only Lore-master pet that does not deal common damage on auto-attacks. Instead, it deals frost damage. Since most enemies are more susceptible to frost than to common damage, the sabertooth's DPS is high compared to other pets, especially on multiple targets. It also has the ability to initiate fellowship maneuvers, although unreliably. Still, many Lore-masters didn't use the sabertooth regularly. This is because the relative damage output of pets was (and maybe it's still) a lot lower than that of players, meaning that the outgoing damage of a pet does not influence fights that much. Therefore, players often choose their pets on ground of other benefits, like flank rate or debuffs. That said, the sabertooth is very effective for killing multiple weak targets without the Lore-master having to bother about them, for instance by putting it on an enemy that spawns multiple weak adds continuously. It can even be used to complete tier 1 skirmishes AFK.

The sabertooth cat has an average flank rate (probably because it deals damage to multiple targets).

Sabretooth cat's skill:
Frostbite: Frost damage in frontal arc, reduces the target's frost defence (Using this skill causes Frost Debuff to occur on an enemy target, -cat's level x 18. The main reason to use this skill is the frontal AoE damage. The frost defence debuff is less important because there are no skills that deal much frost damage: most frost damage skills are mainly debuff skills -e.g. Gust of Wind of the lore-master and the frost skills of the rune-keeper-. However, it does increase the damage of the sabertooth cat companion itself).
Fury of Winter: Frost damage in frontal arc with improved critical magnitude, causing Flanked! on critical hit (This skill is good in combination with Throat Slash: if it crits, you can use Throat Slash for a chance to open a conjunction).
  Throat Slash: Frost damage in frontal arc with chance of initiating a Fellowship Maneuver against a flanked target (Using this skill has a 20% chance to cause Vulnerable to occur on an enemy target, thus triggering a FM. This skill is good in combination with Fury of Winter: if Fury of Winter crits and creates a Flanked! event, you can use Throat Slash for a chance to open a conjunction-FM).

A Sabertooth Cat can eat Cuts of Meat to temporarily increase it's melee critical & defence ratings. Cuts of Meat are crafted by Cooks.

[Simone B.]

Spirit of Nature, your little ball of light to cut through the Darkness.

The Spirit of Nature is the pet introduced in Rise of Isengard expansion, it obtained by a Lore-master at level 70. It is three levels higher than the Lore-master itself.

It was designed as a debuffing/healing pet, lacking auto-attacks (and therefore having no flanks from auto-attacks). One of its skills grants a flank event, though. Another skill puts a debuff on the target that reflects a small percentage of damage one deals as morale, much like a weaker version of a Captain's Revealing Mark. This can be kept up fifty percent of the time, granted the mob does not resist. The last skill of the Spirit of Nature is an AoE heal (10% of the healed player max morale, can be altered by incoming heal modifier). Enemies in the vicinity of the Spirit of Nature will suffer a miss chance debuff (+5% miss chance, so pretty high). The pet can be useful in situations where much common damage is taken, especially if many people get hit.

The Spirit of Nature has no flank rate at all. Instead, it has a skill that forces a flank event.

Spirit of Nature's skills:
Flashing Flank: Guaranteed flank event (Using this skill causes a flank event to occur. It is the only existing skill that forces such an event. The cooldown is 45 seconds though, and many pets will flank at the same rate or more often without having to use a skill for it. The only advantage of this skill thus is that you can choose yourself when you want a flank, at the expense of having less of them)
Nature's Light: Reflects a small percentage of damage you deal to the target as morale (This is arguably the most useful skill of the Spirit of Nature. Using it applies a debuff to the target that reflects five percent of the damage you deal as morale. This works for everyone in your group, much like a weaker version of the Captain's Revealing Mark. Nature's Light has a duration of thirty seconds and a cooldown of one minute, meaning that you can keep it up fifty percent of the time, granted it does not resist. If it does, you will just have to wait one minute before you are able to try again. Over all, it can be seen as a skill that adds a tiny bit of extra healing to the group)
Nature's Gift: Heals ten percent of one's maximum morale to nearby fellowship members (Using this skill gives you and surrounding fellowship members a mediocre heal of ten percent of their maximum morale - in reality usually equal to one healing skill of a healing class player).

This pet does not have any auto-attacks and is thus the only pet that cannot activate Flanked! or Harried! on an enemy target. It does not cause any other special effects either.
A Spirit of Nature cannot eat. There is thus no food to make it stronger.

There are various appearances of this pet and they change the form of the pet itself (it is the only pet to do so because all other pet's appearances are different from the original one by colours). These are:
  Spirit of the Bear
  Spirit of Tundra Cub
  Spirit of the Raven
  Spirit of the Lynx
Spirit of the Sabrecat
Spirit of the Boar
Spirit of the Aurochs

 

Edit: I find this pet extremely useful in Helm's Deep battles. Firt of all his +5% miss chance debuff is not to be underestimated and, more importantly, its Nature's gift skill can be used to heal EVERY character in the skill radius, which means that soldiers and commanders will be healed for a good 10% of thier morale. I also suggest to set that skill on auto-fire (rightclick it) so every 60 seconds you have your heal coming out.

[Simone B.]

The Bog-guardian becomes available to a Lore-master at level 58 or around that level (or so it was before HD was released, since needed to acquire a book from the Iron Garrison in Moria).

It has a high survivability due to its high morale and high level. It also deals high auto-attack damage, even though this is common damage. Moreover, it is the only pet that is ranged. The bog-guardian has the ability to deal a damage over time ranged attack. It also has the ability to apply an increased incoming ranged critical chance debuff on a target. This can be useful in a fellowship with a lot of Hunters, although the bear with its Shatter Arms debuff might in some cases be a better choice. In either case, this debuff is useful for the bog-guardian itself. It also has a skill that has a 20% chance to pull off Fellowship Maneuvers. The bog-guardian is a good pet for difficult solo situations due to its high damage, survivability and flank rate. It can temporarily take the role of tank and keeps the Lore-master's morale and power up with its many flanks.

The bog-guardian has the 2nd highest flank rate.

Bog-guardian skills:
Angry Bees: Unleashes bees that deal damage over time (damage related to bog level every 2 sec, for a total of 10 sec)
Root Strike: A powerful root attack that deals damage and increases the ranged critical chance on the target (+5% Incoming Ranged Critical Chance. This skill is most useful when playing with one or several Hunters in a fellowship. Of course, it also increases the damage to the target from the bog-guardian itself a bit)
Bursting Root: Deals damage and has a 20% chance to open a fellowship maneuver with a 6s stun (This skill has a chance to start a conjunction, making it a useful skill to use each time it is off cooldown - CD = 1 min - when playing in a fellowship).

A Bog-guardian can drink Bowls of Water to temporarily increase its ranged offence rating, fire and acid defence rating and maximum power. Bowls of Water are crafted by Cooks.

This pet is very helpful in kiting thanks to his ranged damage. When you kite it stands still, out of aoe attacks from mobs, and dps them to death, instead of running to melee with the risk of being defeted like other pets.

[Simone B.]

The Eagle becomes available to a Lore-master while you trait down the blue tree (it's at the 2nd level from top). It is the only pet that is gated behind a trait line, the others are all free. It is only one level lower than the Lore-master itself.

It is a versatile pet with a good survivability, due to its high level, high morale and self-heal skill. It is especially useful in situations which require crowd-control, since it can fear enemies. Its numerous flanks keeps the morale and power of the Lore-master up and in the worst case, it can revive the Lore-master itself. Its DPS is not too bad either: its auto-attacks deal almost as much damage as those from the Bog-guardian. The eagle has a special ability called "Eye peck": when in combat with a foe, it will sometimes interrupt the enemy's inductions. This makes the eagle useful for specific fights in which the enemy has dangerous abilities, like summoning adds or causing knockbacks. In long group fights (e.g. raids) in which toons can go pretty low on power, the eagle can provide the nearby fellows with a higher In-Combat Power Regeneration.

The eagle has the highest flank rate.

Eagle's skills:
Fan the Flames: Deals fire damage and fears the target for 15s but consumes the DoT of burning embers (This skill can be used to fear enemies when under the Burning Embers effect. It is useful for separating an enemy from it's allies, for instance to make it easier to keep it dazed or rooted).
Beak Rend: Deals AoE damage (3 targets, 5m radius) and heals self (This skill can be used to heal your eagle companion. The fact that it deals more damage than an auto-attack and can hit multiple targets makes it suitable for dealing damage as well. Beak Rend deals an unspecified type of damage, which cannot be mitigated by enemies. This means that the pet's level is the only variable affecting the damage of this skill. It cannot crit and does not have a damage range.)
Sacrifice: Revives the Lore-master from defeat (Using this skill causes Survivor -10m duration- and, after the revival is accepted, Recently Revived -30s duration but that matters only to wardens, who need (or needed? Don't know warden's modifications) this effect in order to use the skill Never Surrender- to occur on yourself. This skill should be set to auto-fire -right-click it-, as it will only trigger on defeat of the Lore-master. Note that the eagle must be in combat -i.e. attacking or being attacked- to be able to use the skill. LM revives with 50% Morale and 25% Power).

Auto-attacks have a chance to activate Flanked! on an enemy target.
Auto-attacks from the rear have a chance to activate Harried! on an enemy target.
The eagle companion causes Nobility to occur on you and and any of your fellows who are in the vicinity of the eagle (Nobility used to give a set amount of 60 in-Combat Power Regeneration regardless of the lore-master's level. Since update 7 -May 2012-, the value depends on the eagle's level. At eagle level 55 it is 68.4, at 56 it's 69, at 74 it's 84, at 75 it's 85.2 and at 77 is 120. After Helm's Deep will be live, the bonus is finally scaled based on Eagle's level).

An Eagle can eat Bags of Crumbs to temporarily increase its melee offence & evade ratings, as well as fire/shadow mitigation. Bags of Crumbs are crafted by Cooks.

[Simone B.]

With the Update 11: treachery of the White Hand, mounted combat has been revisioned. Thus the Lore-master can obtain the assistance of another pet: the war-wolf.

To obtain it you have to spend skill points on your mount's yellow line and get the ability called "riding companion".

The war-wolf functions like a skirmish soldier, but is a bit more effective than the skirm buddies (or rather have more brains? who knows).

If used wisely it can be quite effective, especially as an aggro magnet while you burn down mobs one by one.
There is no pet bar for this pet, all you can do is summon it and/or make it attack a specific target, which also means that this pet has no skills and stances of any kind. The "default stance" for the wolf is similar to other pet's "Guard" stance, so it will attack targets that you have already tagged or can be directed manually.
Beware of run speed: if you have a light war-steed and have configured your traits and bridle for extra speed then you may outrun the wolf, making it disappear after a while.

[Simone B.]

And last but not the least, LMs can summon purely cosmetic pets which can't attack, nor defend, nor they have any skills.
The passive skill Friend of the Wild is required, in the past it was obtained by rescuing some animals from Agamaur at the behest of Radagast in a class quest, now I think that such quest can directly be taken by radagast instead of having to visit the class trainer (after the quest you'll chose your first cosmetic pet between the 3 you have rescued).

The pets are obtained after reading a Tome of the "animal". Non-combat pets do not attack or provide any other benefits, they simply follow the Lore-master around, sometimes impressing onlookers.

The tomes seem to be occasionally found as loot on Boss mobs, such as the Goblin-town, Barad Gularan, Helegrod and Carn Dûm bosses, and so on. They also have a rare chance to drop from high-level humanoid mobs throughout the world. Some tomes can be bought from reputation vendors.

All of the world drop tomes can also be purchased at the Lotro Store for 350 Turbine points.

Tome of the Hare is a quest reward for the completion of Friend of Sparrows, the last quest in the A Friend of the Wild quest series from Radagast the Brown. I imagine it will be obtained through drops as well, since the rescue quest will have a reward choice.

Tome of the Sparrow may be purchased from Atharbain within Imlad Gelair in Rivendell and requires Kindred standing with Elves of Rivendell. Will probably be available as a choice in the rescue quest.

Tome of the Turtle may be purchased from Maneser Goodbody within the Mathom-house in Michel Delving and requires Ally Standing with The Mathom Society. This is likely another option for Radagast's rescue quest

Tome of the Dog can be found as a world drop in lvl 45 and above areas.

Tome of the Cat can be found as a world drop in lvl 45 and above areas.

Tome of the Fox can be found as a world drop in lvl 45 and above areas.

Tome of the Frog can be found as a world drop in lvl 45 and above areas.

Tome of the Snake can be found as a world drop in lvl 45 and above areas.

Tome of the Squirrel can be found as a world drop in lvl 45 and above areas.

[Hayburn]

Simone B. wrote:

Edit: I find this pet extremely useful in Helm's Deep battles. Firt of all his +5% miss chance debuff is not to be underestimated and, more importantly, its Nature's gift skill can be used to heal EVERY character in the skill radius, which means that soldiers and commanders will be healed for a good 10% of thier morale. I also suggest to set that skill on auto-fire (rightclick it) so every 60 seconds you have your heal coming out.

This is very powerful. Most heals I've recorded with one skill use has been 130k morale, with about 20 NPC's around me. Not sure if it's intentional, but pet skill cooldowns also reset when you resummon it. Realized this once when i was switching raven for spirit, but it also works if you dismiss your spirit and summon it again. No cooldowns left after that.

[Nerglor]

Not a LM here, but if you can find the cargul in CD he has a decent drop rate of pet tomes...as well as instrument mentors

[Simone B.]

Hayburn wrote:

<table border="0" width="90%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td><span class="genmed"><strong>Simone B. wrote:</strong></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="quote"> <p>Edit: I find this pet extremely useful in Helm's Deep battles. Firt of all his +5% miss chance debuff is not to be underestimated and, more importantly, its Nature's gift skill can be used to heal EVERY character in the skill radius, which means that soldiers and commanders will be healed for a good 10% of thier morale. I also suggest to set that skill on auto-fire (rightclick it) so every 60 seconds you have your heal coming out.</p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>This is very powerful. Most heals I've recorded with one skill use has been 130k morale, with about 20 NPC's around me. Not sure if it's intentional, but pet skill cooldowns also reset when you resummon it. Realized this once when i was switching raven for spirit, but it also works if you dismiss your spirit and summon it again. No cooldowns left after that.</p>

Have noticed today that the devs have fixed this.
The spirit pet now have a buff after it has been summoned which called "Preparing nature's gift". It will last 30s, after that you'll be able to use the skill (but for me it's not working on autotrigger). Before it, it's not possible to cast such skill.
I'll take a screenshot and post the buff here.