Dauntless Champion

If you've been following my Twitter account in recent weeks, you may have seen the first image entered in one of the many screenshot contests held by LOTRO Family. For those on Twitter, it was a sneak peek of this combat-oriented outfit. Now I've been able to publish it here for everybody to see. I actually had this outfit tucked away for a while. Until Vol. 4, Book 8 and The Wastes had been released, I couldn't find a location that felt appropriate. By appropriate, I mean perfect. Any of the Pelennor instances could have done, but the Battle of the Morannon space was exactly what I needed.

Not only was I content with the location, I was also satisfied with my character's appearance. However, if I could have changed on piece, it would have been the cloak. I would have substituted the Cloak of the Ibis with one of the Quartermaster of the Host's meta-deed cloaks. Unfortunately, being a solo player at heart, I tend to avoid group content. No Lang Rhuven, Skoironk, or Tower of the Teeth group dailies for me. I got as far as I could with Featured Instance daily boxes in terms of rep and deeds, but I fell short. Very short. Given those circumstances, my lack of craft resources, and the amount of time required to achieve that goal, I tossed in the proverbial towel and settled for what you see in these images. Although, now that my Warden is 115, I could go back and do those dailies...

My Warden has definitely been getting tons of love recently, both on this blog and in-game with outfits I haven't even screen captured yet. Generally, when new content arrives for LOTRO, my Warden is one of the first characters I play. It gives me a chance to gauge the difficulty of the landscape or instances. That's how I slowly made my way through LOTRO from Central Gondor to The Wastes after an almost two year hiatus. It's also how I rebuilt my wardrobe to include the most recent cosmetics.

Head: Helm of the Reclaimed City (Ashenslades green, After-battle Pelennor quest reward)
Shoulders: Pauldrons of the Reclaimed City (Lórien gold, After-battle Pelennor quest reward)
Back: Cloak of the Ibis (Ashenslades green, LOTRO Store)**
Chest: Lacquered Plate of the Ambusher (Ashenslades green, Vol 4 Book 7 reward)
Hands: War Gauntlets of the Deep (Lórien gold, T9 Metalsmith recipe)
Feet: War Boots of the Deep (Lórien gold, T9 Metalsmith recipe)

Shield: Shield of the Golden Sky (Host of the West: Armor reputation barter item)
**If you have any of the Quartermaster of the Host's cloaks, they would be a great alternative to the store cloak!