The Duties of a Captain

For raiding/tough fs purposes, you are a support class. You cannot compare to the amount of damage that Champions and Hunters can output and you cannot approach the healing ability of a Minstrel. Your job revolves around the captain strengths of buffing, debuffing, background healing with some damage thrown in as time and opportunity allow. Think about the captain keeping his fellows rallied and in the battle rather than trying to grab the glory and you won’t go too far wrong.

A captain’s priorities can best be summarised as follows:
1. Don’t die.
2. Keep everyone buffed
3. Apply debuffs
4. Heal people
5. In Harm’s Way / Last Stand
6. Rez as needed
7. Cure fear
8. Do damage.

Don’t die
A captain’s place is in the front line, beside the champion and the guardian. You are their best friend with your buffs and heals keeping them in the fight and debuffing their foes. When things get really ugly you can pull their bacon out of the fire with In Harm’s Way / Last Stand or in worst case rez them in combat.

You can’t do any of this if you’re dead.

On the face of it there is little reason for captains to die. A well equipped captain will have 3.5 – 4k morale, wear heavy armour and will generally be well down on the aggro list. We also have the skills to keep us upright in most circumstances.

Some mobs generate massive AoE damage or you pick up an add without realising it though and it is easy with so much going on to lose track of your own morale bar. This is embarrassing, not to mention being a pain for the minstrel so pay attention to it. Don’t be afraid to go 1H & Shield if you need to – you’re not here for the damage and remember to keep your defensive strike armour buff up as much as possible (every 3^rd or 4^th skill).

Keep everyone buffed
Making others shine is the area in which captains excel and if you simply stay alive and apply all your buffs in the right way at the right time you’re probably doing 50% of your job just here.

These fall into 2 categories:

Background buffs: You should have the following buffs running at all times. No excuses! They are either permanently on once applied or have 30 min duration. Note you’ll need to re-apply most of these if anyone is defeated. Don’t wait until they’re flashing btw to re-apply them, any quiet moment with 5-10 mins left to run is fine.

1) Herald (or Standard) of Victory. You need victory for the power/power regen buff – the alternative is that your LM is going to do a lot of fetching and carrying. Also equip the Captain of Victory trait. If there is a second captain in the fs they should use the Hope equivalents – makes for a nice overlap.
2) Motivating Speech
3) Apply the appropriate ‘Tactic’, normally this will mean ‘On Guard’ (parry buff) for the tank and Relentless Attack (crit buff) for everyone else. Focus is a bit useless.
4) Shield Brother: best used on your tank (1^st priority) or MA (2^nd priority)

In combat buffs: These buffs have short durations and short cooldowns and should be used immediately prior to or at the start of combat.

1) In Defense of Middle Earth (IDOME). Everyone loves this one but it only has a 5 min duration. Best used ~15s before combat starts to allow everyone to reach max power/morale.
2) Strength of Will. Gives your shield brother a 5% boost to their incoming healing for 2 mins. Doesn’t sound much but they get a lot of healing and it all makes a difference. Remember to reapply as required in long combats!
3) To Arms: Gives your shield brother a +25% damage boost for 10s. This is great for helping your tank to establish aggro (or to boost your MA). Reapply every 1 min.
4) War Cry this only opens on defeat of an opponent, if you crit your Devastating Blow or Pressing Attack or if you use Time of Need. The 10% fs attack speed buff means the fight takes 10% less time so use it as soon as possible.

Apply debuffs
Captains only have a few of these but they are important. The marks may need to be reapplied if the mob has the ability to shake debuffs so watch out for this. Also if you have 2 captains then Revealing and Telling Mark can be stacked on the same target.

1) Revealing Mark – by far the more useful of your two marks it returns healing to the person hitting the mob in proportion to the damage done. Champs and Hunters love this one. Apply once you know who the main target is.
2) Telling Mark – increases the damage taken by the marked target. You’ll only need this <10% of the time but very handy when damage is more important than healing (eg tossing trolls). Apply once you know who the main target is.
3) Oathbreaker’s Shame – this is best used mid fight once everything has settled down it accelerates the damage the target is taking very nicely. Let people know its coming so they can ready their best shots!

Heal people
Captains don’t have big heals and they’re all HoT so focus on the tank and heal early and often, taking some of the load off the minstrel. The ‘over time’ element means that to get the best out of each skill you shouldn’t re-use it until it has finished ticking (15s) but different skills do stack. Revealing Mark (above) also provides a healing boost.

1) Words of Courage (equip Fear No Darkness trait) – short cooldown single person HoT. Keep an eye on other people like the MA and Minstrel as well. This skill depletes your own morale btw so keep an eye on that.
2) Inspire – attacks target and gives your shield brother a small HoT
3) Rallying Cry – can only be used per War Cry above. Provides a handy fs HoT and equip Now for Wrath to give a power HoT as well. Keeps everyone fresh later in the fight.

In Harm’s Way / Last Stand
This skills combination is a classic of the captain class and essentially turns the captain into a lightning rod for party damage for 10s with the ability to both avoid defeat and (with Defiance equipped) get a small heal at the end of it. Last Stand has a 15 min cd, meaning that you probably want to restrict this skill to pressure situations (ie a bad pull) rather than every combat. Effectively you are giving people a window to get things back under control. The flip side is that if you are using Last Stand to keep yourself up anyway then you may as well use IHW (only a 5 min cd).

Timing and communication are essential with this skill. Too early and it will be wasted, too late and half the team have been defeated. Letting the other healers in the party know when you are doing it will prevent heart failure and wasted heals on their part and prime them to heal you once they see your small heal kick in – an Athelas potion is usually a good idea at this point as well. Another option depending on whether you can wait for the heal is to use your Strength of Morale racial skill to restore your morale bar instantly.

Another option worth considering is between IHW and LS expiring is to use Time of Need. This normally costs 20% of your morale – in this case it will literally cost you nothing and assuming Rallying Cry isn’t on cd you can also throw out a fs heal at a very opportune moment.

Rez as needed
Captains are the only ones other than Minstrels who can rez in combat. This is a key skill then and very much in line with the captain’s theme of keeping the fs in the fight.

We have 2 rez skills, neither of which is easy to use and both have 30min cd:

1) Cry of Vengeance has no induction but only opens on the death of a fellow for a few seconds and only works if the recipient is standing within 10m. The key to this skill is anticipating when someone is about to go down as there is a high chance you’ll miss it otherwise.
2) Escape from Darkness has a 25m range but a longish induction, making it tricky to use mid combat as it will leave your fs 2 people down while you use it. It’s often more practical to complete the fight first if you can. Its also important not to have aggro so consider using Withdraw first if needed.

Cure Fear
A number of critters – Wargs, Undead, Angmarim etc can put fear effects on your fs, denoted by purple debuff boxes. These can be removed by potions or by the Muster Courage skill, which removes up to 3 fear effects from everyone in the fs and provides a 30s +20% Fear Resistance buff. It has a 30s cd though so some care needs to be given to when to use it – when your tank has a fear effect to remove is as good a moment as any.

Do damage
The captain is a melee class and typically wields a big 2H weapon so it’s reasonable to suppose that he’s going to put it to good use. The captain also has a decent, if not spectacular range of melee skills to use on his opponents. When the fellowship is on the front foot and all is well then by all means fill your boots and swing for all you’re worth.

The captain is a floating resource though, keeping a strategic view of the situation and responding to the ebb and flow of the combat. Simple things like staying zoomed out can really help here. It is this awareness of how the combat is unfolding and at what point his talents are needed elsewhere that makes a great captain. Shifting into healing mode, reapplying buffs or the crisis management skills of IHW/LS and using rezes at the right moment all have the ability to save the day.

Finally, the work of a captain is multi layered and subtle – don’t expect the ignorant to appreciate your talents. You will know when you’ve made a difference and pulled the team through though and that sense of satisfaction is hard to beat.

Jerelien wrote:

...A captain’s place is in the front line, beside the champion and the guardian...

So, I'd call it second or third line.

Thopor wrote:

Jerelien wrote:

...A captain’s place is in the front line, beside the champion and the guardian...

So, I'd call it second or third line.

Tough to be a melee class from there - my halberd isn't that long

Very interesting article, gratz Jerelien, really good job. It`s good to know as much as possible about your brothers and sisters at arms.

I think I will spend some time today to improve my alt-capt, very interesting class.

Superb stuff, I really need some time to dig into it thoroughly. Work sucks.

Jerelien wrote:

Don’t die
A captain’s place is in the front line, beside the champion and the guardian. You are their best friend with your buffs and heals keeping them in the fight and debuffing their foes. When things get really ugly you can pull their bacon out of the fire with In Harm’s Way / Last Stand or in worst case rez them in combat.

You can’t do any of this if you’re dead.

On the face of it there is little reason for captains to die. A well equipped captain will have 3.5 – 4k morale, wear heavy armour and will generally be well down on the aggro list. We also have the skills to keep us upright in most circumstances.

Some mobs generate massive AoE damage or you pick up an add without realising it though and it is easy with so much going on to lose track of your own morale bar. This is embarrassing, not to mention being a pain for the minstrel so pay attention to it. Don’t be afraid to go 1H & Shield if you need to – you’re not here for the damage and remember to keep your defensive strike armour buff up as much as possible (every 3^rd or 4^th skill).

I cannot stress enough what Jer is saying here, it's very important to let the minstrel know when you are about to do In Harms Way - Last Stand combo, so valuable healing can go to the right sources. That is, not you. I concur that you should avoid damage at some points, as you are low on the minstrel's healing list. If it comes to a choice of damage to you or damage to a squishy fellow, the choice is usually pretty simple as we do carry heavy armour. I confess not to use a shield at most times, maybe I should. It does give a nice block bonus.
When you are hacking a mob with Revealing Mark on him, it maybe better to use a 2-hander anyways. Unless you have to aggro of ranged mobs too. Keep in mind that you can parry or block blows only from the front of you, so allign yourself accordingly. And always be on the back of a mob doing AoE damage to his front ofc.

Jerelien wrote:

Keep everyone buffed
4) Shield Brother: best used on your tank (1^st priority) or MA (2^nd priority)

2) Strength of Will. Gives your shield brother a 5% boost to their incoming healing for 2 mins. Doesn’t sound much but they get a lot of healing and it all makes a difference. Remember to reapply as required in long combats!
3) To Arms: Gives your shield brother a +25% damage boost for 10s. This is great for helping your tank to establish aggro (or to boost your MA). Reapply every 1 min.

I have debated with myself alot about this lately, that is choosing your shield-brother. For a long time I felt that it should be the MA. That way I could heal him most effectively, and the minstrel could focus more on the tank. That way I could also boost the MA's damage for grabbing the aggro of appearing adds. Also group placement suits this better, as Inspire requires the SB to be within 5 meters from the captain for it to work. That is usually the case with MA, but not always with the tank.
The thing that could sway the scale to the other side is Strength of Will. As I understand it, it buffs the healing amount that SB is getting by 5 %, also from others than the captain. Constant 5 % increase to minstrel healing is alot.

Jerelien wrote:

Apply debuffs
Captains only have a few of these but they are important. The marks may need to be reapplied if the mob has the ability to shake debuffs so watch out for this. Also if you have 2 captains then Revealing and Telling Mark can be stacked on the same target.

1) Revealing Mark – by far the more useful of your two marks it returns healing to the person hitting the mob in proportion to the damage done. Champs and Hunters love this one. Apply once you know who the main target is.
2) Telling Mark – increases the damage taken by the marked target. You’ll only need this <10% of the time but very handy when damage is more important than healing (eg tossing trolls). Apply once you know who the main target is.
3) Oathbreaker’s Shame – this is best used mid fight once everything has settled down it accelerates the damage the target is taking very nicely. Let people know its coming so they can ready their best shots!

Completely agree. Macro OS too. Also 5 min cooldown can go many times in a long fight, don't be afraid to use it.

Jerelien wrote:

Heal people
Captains don’t have big heals and they’re all HoT so focus on the tank and heal early and often, taking some of the load off the minstrel. The ‘over time’ element means that to get the best out of each skill you shouldn’t re-use it until it has finished ticking (15s) but different skills do stack. Revealing Mark (above) also provides a healing boost.

1) Words of Courage (equip Fear No Darkness trait) – short cooldown single person HoT. Keep an eye on other people like the MA and Minstrel as well. This skill depletes your own morale btw so keep an eye on that.
2) Inspire – attacks target and gives your shield brother a small HoT
3) Rallying Cry – can only be used per War Cry above. Provides a handy fs HoT and equip Now for Wrath to give a power HoT as well. Keeps everyone fresh later in the fight.

Much of captain healing is indeed pre-emptive. Use your Words of Courage alot, it always gives more morale than it takes. Same with Inspire, use often. Some people complain that this is very power-hungry skill. And it is, but I would skip on a couple of regular damage skills rather than not healing people. Captain is the second best healer by far, but only if you use heals often. I don't care much for those captains who only heal with Rallying Cry and think it's enough.

Jerelien wrote:

In Harm’s Way / Last Stand
Another option worth considering is between IHW and LS expiring is to use Time of Need. This normally costs 20% of your morale – in this case it will literally cost you nothing and assuming Rallying Cry isn’t on cd you can also throw out a fs heal at a very opportune moment.

Wow, I had not realized this. Very useful indeed.

Few quick responses:

Don't Die
In most cases a 2H weapon is fine as you don't have aggro and you have healing mark on your opponent anyways. In some cases where damage can't be avoided its worth considering the shield option. The point is that you're better to stay healthy than deal damage. If you're going to off tank then definitely go with shield once you have aggro. A captain in this mode is a blocker, buying time.

The captain in the successful 3-man Mordi fs I posted about was using 1H Axe (pretty sure it was Stone-biter) and Shield (Calenglad's if speccing for power regen I'd guess). The point being that his role in the fs seemed to be to stay alive for buffs, heals & rezes, with dps being very much a secondary thing.

Buffing
The SB skills are very much oriented towards a tank imho. Even the +25% damage for 10s is better for grabbing aggro than anything else. From a dps perspective you'd be nearly better to just hit the mob yourself. Only real exception to this is if you've got a hunter winding up a heartseeker.

Healing
I like that Inspire ticks for 15 s and WoC ticks for 12 so if you use Inspire and then WoC they will expire at ~ the same time. With Fear No Darkness you can heal 995 damage every 15s, pretty good if you keep it up.

IHW/LS
Should have said re Time of Need that my assumption here is that you're at 1m anyway post IHW. I think ToN just has a morale cost, making it a no brainer to use at that point. I rarely use this skill otherwise but it was the one time it struck me as being useful.