The Lord of the Rings Minecraft Mod Wiki
Register
Advertisement
This is a featured article. Click here for more information.


Please note that this article primarily applies to the Legacy (1.7.10) version of the mod. The Renewed (1.16) version is still in early development and may not contain all features listed below.

If you haven't done it yet, first:

Have you just gone through the Ring Portal to Middle-earth and are unsure how to proceed? Here are some suggestions which may help to keep you alive. You can also try to visit this page.

Please note that some sections of the page concern tactics and suggestions by a single user, particularly certain gameplay styles which were thought up by a single user. If you don't like a certain aspect of one gameplay style, just add a subsection with different rules.

Pages to Visit[]

This Wiki contains information relating to nearly every aspect of The Lord of the Rings Mod. Some of the major ones that new players should read about are listed below. Emphasis on major ones; the links for the pages below only make up a small portion of the Wiki's content, due to the size of this mod.

As always, the Wiki contributors and the admins are happy to answer any questions you may have, but be sure to check the FAQ first!

If you have a suggestion for the mod, feel free to give it to the admins at the Suggestions Forum.

A summation of some of the most important gameplay tips for new players can be found here.

If you don't know which faction to choose, visit this page.

Concerning Gameplay Mechanics[]

Gondorvsharadbattle

The Men of Gondor fighting against Southrons in Ithilien.

Achievements - Several goals for you to accomplish in Middle-earth
Alignment - Determines your friends and enemies in Middle-earth
Brewing - Make yourself a variety of drinks
Building Tips - Learn how to build in the style of any faction
Commands - Set alignment, gamerules, and more
Compatibility with other mods - Learn which mods are compatible with the LotR mod, and which ones are not
Elven Portal/Morgul Portal - Provides a way back to the Overworld
Factions - choose your own folk
Fast Travel System - Get to places quicker
Fellowship - Band together with other players with this party system
Invasion - Be prepared to run or fight!
Mini-Quest System - Perform tasks to earn rewards
Modifiers - The mod's own Enchanting system
Optimizing Performance - Tips to help you get the most out of this mod
Player Respawning - Handy for long distance travelers
Player vs. Player - Know how to fight your foes in Middle-earth
Regions - Explore Middle-earth in its entirety
Resource Packs - Customize your mod
Roads - The road goes ever on and on...
Shields - The new "Cape"
Shire Reckoning - Keep track of the date in Middle-earth
Trading - Buy or sell items with silver coin currency
Title - Ways you can show off your reputation
Unit Hiring - Build your own army

Concerning Blocks and Items[]

Dorwinionhouse11

A rich Dorwinion citizen.

Ancient Items - Yield useful weapons/armor, even if it isn't that of your faction
Banners - One for each faction, used to protect an area or grant buffs to your hired troops
Crafting table - To craft faction-specific recipes
Ent-draught - A magical drink for friends of Fangorn
Horn of Command - Summon or "freeze" your hired troops
Lore Texts - Books of poems, riddles and stories found randomly around the world.
Mithril - The new "diamond"
Mystery Web - Right-click to discover what's inside, but be prepared to run
Plate - Contains food
Pouch - Expand your inventory
Saddle - Now craftable, and very useful
Sword of Command - Grants the ability to target an area for hired troops to attack
Vessels - Contain drinks
Weapon Types - A rundown of new weapons added in the mod

Concerning Mobs[]

BalrogUtumno

A fearsome Balrog wielding a fiery whip.

Balrogs - The Demonic servants of Morgoth
Bandits - The most likely cause of lost possessions
Dwarves - Short folk who dwell under mountains
Elves - The oldest, wisest, and fairest race in Middle-earth
Ents - Shepherds of the forest
Hobbits - The peaceful folk of the Shire
Horses - A suitable mount
Men - Mortal humans
Orcs - A foul race bred for evil
Trolls - Large and unintelligent creatures
Uruk - Powerful mutant Orcs bred by Saruman
Wargs - Wolves of evil

Hint: Far Harad is home to many exotic creatures that cannot be found anywhere else in Middle-earth. Be wary though! Some of them are hungry predators.

For information on how best to fight each of these mobs, look here.

Concerning Structures[]

Rivendell houses

Elven houses in Rivendell

Angmar Tower - Ruins of evil
Dol Guldur Tower - Its looks are fearsome enough
Dunlending Hill Fort - Dunlending strongholds
Dwarven House - The doors are visible only at night
Dwarven Mine - Better than abandoned mineshafts
Galadhrim Treehouse - Homes of the Galadhrim Elves
Gondor Fortress - Contains a beacon of Gondor to call for aid or to entertain pyromaniacs
High Elven Hall - A grandiose Greek-like haven
Hobbit Hole - Home sweet home for halflings and gluttons
Mordor Tower - Layer upon layer of Orcs
Rohan Fortress - Reenact the Battle of Helm's Deep here
Southron Settlement - A stunning southern-style complex of houses, towers, bazaars, and fields
The Pits - Experienced players only! Entrance to Utumno
Wood-elven Tower - Strongholds of the Woodland Realm

There are many more generated structures in the mod; see here for a more comprehensive list.

Things to Avoid[]

Read here for a list of things that you shouldn't do in Middle-earth.

Words of Wisdom[]

Be Swift in Collecting All the Crafting Tables[]

The new crafting tables in the mod allow you to make stronger-than-average weapons and armor unique to each faction, so you would do well to collect all the ones available to you (you need at least +1 alignment for a specific faction to use their crafting table). The category page for all current crafting tables can be found here.

Collect From Hobbit Holes at the Beginning of Gameplay[]

HobbitHoleB28

A Hobbit hole.

As of Public Beta 13, your Ring Portal will always spawn in the Shire. No doubt when you enter Middle-earth, you will see many, many Hobbit Holes spread across the land. The chests in these structures hold almost anything you might need at the beginning of your adventure. Items such as books, string for bows, bottles, mugs, and lots and lots of food (unsurprising, since Hobbits eat about seven meals a day). Rumor has it that in Hobbit Holes with both expensive chandeliers (gold or silver made) and expensive flooring (stone or clay bricks), you can find a chest containing valuables under the rug in the foyer. Hobbit Holes have doors. You don't have to break the windows when entering/leaving them. If you want to be good that is.

Fort Besieging Tips[]

If you want to know how to lay siege to an enemy fort and take it over, click here.

Fort Defense Tips[]

If you want to know how to build a stronghold against enemy players and their armies, click here. Try adding some Defensive Traps to your fort for better protection against your enemies.

Enemies (Excluding Spiders and Wargs) can Open Doors[]

Unlike in vanilla Minecraft, running straight into your house with an enemy on your back won't get the enemy off your back. Instead, it will simply open the door and walk right in to get you. The same can happen if you do not put iron bars or glass panes in your windows. If you do put glass or iron bars in your windows, though, enemies can't see you. They also cannot open iron doors and gates, nor tunnel through walls (except for the bombardier, who can blow through walls, even though he never does this intentionally).

Get as Much Alignment as Possible[]

Alignment bar

When you've found a faction that you like, try to get as much alignment with that particular faction as you possibly can. Besides from being able to use their crafting tables and not being attacked by that faction, getting lots of alignment with the particular faction gives you several other benefits; it allows you to trade with some NPCs, and to hire units. Getting higher alignment will make hiring units cheaper, too, so get alignment! A final benefit of getting a lot of alignment with that faction is the ability to get a shield for that faction, which doesn't offer any protection bonuses, but it sure looks cool!

With the addition of Mini-Quests, getting alignment has never been easier. If you want lots of alignment with a faction, make sure your alignment with that faction is 0 or higher, then talk to several NPC's. If those NPC's offer you a quest that involves killing units that you're going to have to kill anyway to get alignment for that faction, do not refuse it! For example if a soldier of Gondor asks you to kill spawn of Mordor, always accept it, even it he tells you to kill 100 enemy units. Try to get five "unit-killing" quests, then go ahead and start attacking enemy units. Once you've reached your quota with one of the quests, go back to the NPC that offered you the quest, and right-click him. He will offer you alignment and silver coins (which can come in useful for hiring units at a later time or for trading with an NPC). You can right-click him a second time and ask him for another quest, or ask another soldier. Using this method, you can effectively quintuple the amount of alignment you get per NPC slain.

Note that for every enemy that an NPC asks you to kill, you will get one alignment point and silver coin. For example if an Uruk wants you to kill 24 Rohirrim, he will give you 24 Isengard alignment and 24 silver coins as a reward.

Minecraft_Tutorials_E01_"How_to_Survive_Lord_of_the_Rings_Mod"

Minecraft Tutorials E01 "How to Survive Lord of the Rings Mod"

Here is a tutorial of the mod for new players.

Utilize Bronze[]

With the addition of the new alloy bronze into Middle-earth, the player can cut down on iron use. At first, you may forget that a bronze pickaxe can mine all the same ores as iron. But why use your hard-earned iron for mining? It has other important uses such as alloying and armor making. Always go equipped into your mine with bronze picks instead of iron.

Different Styles of Gameplay[]

These are some different ways to experience gameplay in Middle-earth. This section will include tips on how to do things such as playing a nomadic game using The Lord of the Rings Mod, and instructions for some new gameplay possibilities that the new game mechanics of Middle-earth have opened up.

Achievements

Achievement panel.

Achievement Collector[]

This style speaks for itself. Basically, the goal is to try to collect as many achievements as you can without going to Creative Mode. A good way to achieve this is to go one biome at a time, starting with the Shire. Even though some achievements are for things you would be doing anyways such as mining and killing mobs, some are for things you wouldn't think of yourself, like reaching the ultimate alcohol tolerance. Using this gameplay style gives you a well-balanced experience of the mod.

To see a list of all achievements, go here.

Nomadic Experience[]

This is a style of gameplay in vanilla, but there are a few things to remember when trying it in Middle-earth. When you're going to play a Middle-earth nomadic game, it might be best to start the game in Creative Mode. This is so you can make a portal from square 1 without having to find gold in the Overworld first. Though as of Public Beta 25 you can spawn directly into Middle-earth by changing your world type to "Middle-earth" (Don't worry, you can still go back to the Overworld by making a Elven or Morgul portal).

If you want a slightly easier playing experience, start out in the Overworld and make the ring portal as you would normally. By the time you've crafted a gold ring you'll probably have enough iron to make a suit of armor, which should make things easier in Middle-earth.

Once you get to Middle-earth, just pick a direction and start walking (try going east like Bilbo, or maybe visit the far west and the Blue Mountains). The big difference between gameplay in Middle-earth and gameplay in vanilla is this: You are no longer aiming to defeat the Ender Dragon. Mini Quests have been added, and though they're a good way to raise your alignment, you'll still have to set another goal. A good objective for this style of gameplay at the moment is to just raise your alignment as high (or as low) as you can by fighting enemies, or simply try to make your way to Mordor in one piece.

Hostile Take-over[]

To play this style, you simply kill every mob you see, good or evil. This makes running blindly through battle much easier, not having to know what you are hitting. However, with this gameplay style, you don't get many of the alignment benefits, and everyone will see you as a target, so this style should mostly be played by hardcore Minecraftians.

Barbarian Gameplay[]

For this type of gameplay you can join a rather rugged faction (Rangers or Dunland) and support them or you can go it alone. Basically what you do is go to a peaceful biome (Shire) or a more scarcely populated place (Trollshaws and Lone-lands) and raid camps, towers, and houses for loot. You can take troops along with you and start massacring the inhabitants or burn and destroy structures. A variant of this style is the No-Impact style, which is a cross between Nomadic gameplay and Barbarian gameplay. No-Impact involves not building a base, not farming, and replanting any trees you cut down. Players wishing for a D&D style game may opt for this style.

Hire

Unit hiring panel

Open War Gameplay[]

In this style of gameplay, you take advantage of many of the new mechanics in the mod, especially those of alignment and unit hiring. There are several subtly different ways to play this style, but the objective is the same: Kill as many enemies as you can while looting structures and maintaining an army of soldiers! There might not be all that much building or mining in this style of gameplay but there will surely be a lot of fighting, so you might want to try counting the number of enemies you kill in each battle like Legolas and Gimli do.

For more info on the Open War style of gameplay, see this page.

Settling Gameplay[]

This form of gameplay comprises of picking a biome, settling there, and basically continuing your normal Minecraft existence. In this type of existence the new blocks, units and mechanics are not to be disregarded, e.g. building a castle out of Gondor bricks or surrounding your home with guards, the basic concept of this gameplay style is still firmly based in the original Minecraftian concept of surviving and building.

Pacifism[]

If you want to refrain from fighting at all, check out this wiki page. It tells you how to play the mod and become friends with all factions, although since Update 35, it is difficult to have positive alignment with factions that are mortal enemies. An example is Mordor and Gondor. By default settings, you can only choose one to have positive alignment with, the other needs to be zero or lower.

Warmonger's Playstyle[]

The contrary of pacifism, the aim is to get negative alignment with all factions. To learn how to achieve this, read here.

Exploration[]

This type of gameplay is similar to the Nomadic Experience, but instead of wandering aimlessly, you set up multiple bases and resupply checkpoints. Here you try to visit as much as possible, and set up a base in as many places as possible. Whether you do so for fun or to collect resources easier, that's your choice. A good idea is to set up a base in each biome using the local style. You could also do the builds in the hierarchy of the species. (which is to say, Elves, Dwarves, Men, Hobbits, and finally, Orcs.) A good idea for good players is to head to Lindon first, Then Lothlorien. Set up a main base that you can return to. A good idea for evil players is fast travel to Isengard first, Then Angmar Set up a main base that you can return to. Put storage space in the main base for all the items you will collect on your travels.

Drunkard Mode[]

In this type of gameplay, you aim to unlock an absurdly high alcohol tolerance, and try the potent version of every beverage (including Termite Tequila!). This means that you will have to travel nomadically across all of middle earth, even venturing as far as Near (or Far) Harad. An extra challenge is to build your self a wine cellar of sorts, with one of each drink. Some of the main "Endgoals" include gaining the alcoholics shield, Drinking potent vodka without any effects, and drink termite tequila without dying.

Hardcore Mode[]

For all its beauty and wonder, Middle-earth is still a very dangerous place. While Hardcore Mode is not a new concept for Minecraft, the massive amount of new gameplay features included in the mod allows for a number of potential end goals for your Hardcore experience.

  • Master Slayer: Defeat a Boss. Depending on your alignment, your end goal could be to summon and defeat either a Mallorn Ent or a Hill-Troll Chieftain.
  • Hell and Back: Travel to Utumno, and escape with your life.
  • Path of the Fellowship: Keep a gold ring in your inventory, travel to Mount Doom, and throw it in. Whether you actually take the path Frodo took or take your own path is up to you. Waypoints are optional, though if you're looking for a greater (or longer) challenge, you might try not using them.
  • The Road to Erebor: An alternative version of the goal above is to simply make it to the Lonely Mountain alive, most likely without using waypoints. For a bit of extra flair, you could hire thirteen Blue Mountain Dwarves (Standard or Warrior, it's up to you), and try to keep as many alive as possible during your journey.
  • Master Explorer: Travel to every biome in the game without dying! To make this even harder, you may opt to do this without using anything but your bare fists and some food.
Gameplay mechanics of the Lord of the Rings Mod
Advertisement