Random: Damage Types

Introduction

Damage in LotRO comes in several different varieties, including melee, ranged, and tactical ('tactical' is basically 'magic' by any other name). Both melee and ranged weapons have a further damage type which determines their effectiveness. This damage type is most often 'Common' but can also include 'Ancient Dwarf', 'Beleriand', 'Fire', 'Light', and 'Westernesse'. There is another damage type called 'Shadow' which is not available to normal characters, and can only be used by monster players in the Ettenmoors. I'll be ignoring Shadow damage for the purposes of this guide, as it has no bearing on PvE play.

Every monster in LotRO has a chart noting that monster's vulnerability to various sorts of damage. It is possible now to view this precise info using a skill called "Knowledge of the Loremaster", available only to the Loremaster character class.

Examples:

Looking at the above three examples, we note that monsters have a genus, a species, and a name listed. So e.g. in the above examples the genus listed for all three monsters is Orc-Kind. The species of the first is Goblin, the species of the second is Orc, and the species of the third is Half-orc. Each monster has a unique name as well, in this case Gramsfoot Piercer, Tarkrip Grunt, and Half-orc Watchman.

After collecting data on over 500 creatures in LotRO it became quite apparent to me that damage vulnerabilities are based not on genus as many others have supposed, but on species. That is to say, when you wish to determine the vulnerability of a given monster to various damage types, the most informative piece of information is that monster's species (e.g. whether it is an Orc, Goblin, or Half-Orc).

Look at the examples above, and you'll see clearly what I mean. While Goblins, Orcs, and Half-Orcs are all the same genus of monster (all are Orc-Kind), Goblins and Orcs are vulnerable to Light damage and not significantly vulnerable to any other kinds, while Half-orcs are vulnerable to Beleriand damage and are significantly vulnerable to no other.

Thus far I have found no examples of monsters that violate this rule (except for certain Nemesis and Arch-Nemesis monsters, mentioned below). That is, every (normal, signature, elite, and elite master) monster I have data on thus far shares the vulnerabilities of its species. So every Orc in game that I have seen shares the vulnerabilities of the Tarkrip Grunt.

In some cases (e.g. Spiders and Insects) every member of the genus shares the same basic vulnerability (e.g. all Spiders and Insects are vulnerable to Beleriand damage). In those cases I note this under the genus. In all cases I note the known vulnerabilities next to the species.

Note that this is a work in progress and some data have yet to be gathered.

Format Used

Genus

* Species - Primary Vulnerability and Other Primary Vuln if any, Secondary vulnerability if any

Examples:

* Gaunt-Man - Beleriand and Westernesse

This means Gaunt-Men are equally vulnerable to Beleriand and Westernesse damage; both are Primary damage types since they deal the most damage. Guant-men have no secondary vulnerability (a damage type that does almost as much damage to them as Beleriand and Westernesse but less than the other damage types).

* Spider - Beleriand, secondary Light

This means Spiders are most vulnerable to Beleriand damage, but Light damage is better than the remaining damage types.

* Aurochs - none

This means that when fighting an Aurochs the damage type doesn't matter; they are equally vulnerable to all damage types.

Invulnerabilities

No species of monster I have yet seen has a special invulnerability of lack of vulnerability to a damage type or types. So for example, most people think creatures from the genus Dragon-Kind take less damage from Fire; this is not true. Likewise, the species Salamander has no special damage invulnerabilities - fire does just as much damage to them as to other monsters.

No, really.

OK, fine, be that way. Here's an example since you're so stubborn about it.

 Like all of these examples, I'm just posting one of many Dragon-kind I've collected data on. And yes, it's the same for the cold-worms of the Misty Mountains, and the fire-worms in Angmar, and for every other species of Dragon-kind I've yet seen.

It is worth noting that many creatures are less vulnerable to Common damage than to other types; overall Common damage is without doubt the least effective.

For example:

 As you can see, Beleriand and Westernesse damage work well against Gaunt Men, other damage types less well, and Common damage works quite poorly.

Nemesis and Arch-Nemesis Monsters

Note that Nemesis and Arch-Nemesis creatures may lack the vulnerabilities of their species and occasionally have unique vulnerabilities. So e.g. the boss Thrang in The Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu is an Orc, yet he is not vulnerable to Light (he is instead and unlike all other Orcs vulnerable to Fire).

In the long run, I would like to attach screenshots with examples of each species to show the actual data. For now I'm just assembling data from my library of screenshots and summarizing them below.

Damage Vulnerability Summary

Ancient Evil - Beleriand

* Gaunt Man - Beleriand and Westernesse

* Grim - Beleriand

* Morroval - Beleriand

* Nameless - Beleriand

Beast

* Aurochs - none

* Badger - none

* Barghest - none

* Bat - none

* Bear - none

* Cave-claw - Ancient Dwarf

* Craban - none

* Dread Turtle - none

* Elk - none

* Hendroval - none

* Kergrim - Fire

* Lynx - none

* Mammoth - none

* Rat - none

* Sabertooth - none

* Shrew - none

* Slug - Fire

* Snowbeast - Fire

* Toad - none

* Warg - none

* Wolf - Fire

Creatures of Nature - Fire

* Bog-Lurker - Fire

* Huorn - Fire

* Roots - Fire

Dragon-kind - Ancient Dwarf

* Drake - Ancient Dwarf

* Salamander - Ancient Dwarf

* Worm - Ancient Dwarf

Dwarf - none

* Dwarf Brigand - none

Giant-kind - none

* Giant - none

* Ogre - none

Man - none

* Angmarim - none

* Brigand - none

* Gauredan - none

* Hill-Man - none

* PaleFolk - Light

Object

* Siegecraft - Fire

Orc-kind

* Goblin - Light

* Half-orc - Beleriand

* Orc - Light

* Uruk - none

Spiders and Insects - Beleriand

* Crawler - Beleriand

* Insect Clouds - Beleriand

* Neekerbreeker - Beleriand

* Sickle-fly - Beleriand

* Spider - Beleriand, secondary Light

The Dead - Westernesse

* Corpse-candle - Westernesse

* Darkwater - Westernesse, Fire/Light? (need more data)

* Decayed - Westernesse, Fire? (need more data)

* Shade - Westernesse

* Wight - Westernesse

Troll-kind

* Etten - Light, secondary Fire

* Gorthorog - Light and Fire

* Troll - Light and Fire

* Wood-Troll - Fire, secondary Light and Beleriand

Unseen - Light and Westernesse

* Wraith - Light and Westernesse

The Reputation Dungeons of Haudh Iarchith and Sarnur feature monsters with a special damage resistance, noted below. Look for the buff symbol indicating the monster has a special invulnerability, then refer to the below to learn how to get past it.

Haudh Iarchith - unknown

Sarnur - Ancient Dwarf, secondary Fire and Light

Weapon Damage Type Summary

Ancient Dwarf

- Primary Damage on genus Dragon-kind (all), species Cave-claw, Rep Dungeon Sarnur

Beleriand

- Primary Damage on genus Ancient Evil (all), genus Spiders and Insects (all), species Half-orc

- Secondary Damage on species Wood-Troll

Fire

- Primary Damage on genus Creatures of Nature (all), species Gorthorog, species Kergrim, species Siegecraft, species Slug, species Snowbeast, species Troll, species Wolf, species Wood-Troll

- Secondary Damage on species Etten

Light

- Primary Damage on genus Unseen (all), species Etten, species Goblin, species Gorthorog, species Orc, species PaleFolk, species Troll

- Secondary Damage on species Spider, species Wood-Troll

Westernesse

- Primary Damage on genus The Dead (all), genus Unseen (all), species Gaunt-Men

Original article found here