Minstrel gear/stats at level 65

[Tregarth]

I need some help. I just finished leveling my mini to 65 after leveling a Champ and a Hunter. I seem to be having a much harder time getting my stats up where they ought to be with the mini than I did with the other two. Currently, my unbuffed stats and gear are as follows:

Might 155
Agility 97
Vitality 385
Will 535
Fate 511
Morale 3806
Power 4088

Chest and Shoes - Mighty Verse
Shoulders, Legs, Gloves and Hat - Resplendent Lothlorien
Cloak - Lothlorien Stalker's Hooded

Earrings - GA Hoop of Willpower and Golloch
Neck - Wavy Silver Necklace
Wrists - GA Armlet of Power and Manadhechor (barter)
Rings - GA Ring of Tactics and SDR ring (going to replace with another GA)
Pocket - Charm of Defense (barter)

My virtues are not where they need to be so I know I need to work on those but I seem so far away from where I feel I ought to be. With my Champ and Hunter I seemed to have no trouble getting the prime stats to 600.

I do not have an opportunity to raid so the really esoteric gear is not an option but what else can I do to improve my stats? What should I realistically be shooting for? All help/suggestions appreciated.

[Reillan]

You're doing better with your champ stats than I am. I dream of the day I can hit 600 on might, agility, and vitality.

Anyway, for your minnie, you don't actually need to reach 600. Ideally, you really want to hit 540. You're awfully close to it now. I would just recommend stopping by SG and picking up a Glass Flask. That'll probably take care of it.

(you want to hit 540 because you can keep your tale of fate & will up, which'll raise both to 600.)

You can also check out my minstrel (linked in my sig) if you want to see how he's equipped.

[Tregarth]

Thanks Reillan. I went back and checked on my Champion who I have not played in a while and realized that he is not as far along as I thought. Might is getting close to 600 but Agility and Vitality are lagging a bit. He is using basically all barter jewelry.

I went ahead and replaced my Minstrel's non-GA jewelry with GA and that improved his stats thusly:

Might 97
Agility 97
Vitality 419
Will 540
Fate 553
Morale 3922
Power 4042

Will and Fate are both at or over 600 now with the tale up. I guess it was unrealistic to try and get them to 600 unbuffed.

[daronis17]

Thanks Reillan. I went back and checked on my Champion who I have not played in a while and realized that he is not as far along as I thought. Might is getting close to 600 but Agility and Vitality are lagging a bit. He is using basically all barter jewelry.

I went ahead and replaced my Minstrel's non-GA jewelry with GA and that improved his stats thusly:

Might 97
Agility 97
Vitality 419
Will 540
Fate 553
Morale 3922
Power 4042

Will and Fate are both at or over 600 now with the tale up. I guess it was unrealistic to try and get them to 600 unbuffed.

Actually, it isn't unrealistic to get Will and Fate to 600 (though 590 is optimal unless you don't like running the tale.)

-Getting the back piece Saelchol from the first boss in the Warg Pens will get you 22 more will, 4 fate, and 34 morale but you'll lose 92 power. I use it but that's up to you.

-The 25 rad hat will actually give you 45 vit, 5 will, and 2 fate while you lose a little morale and tactical crit. (there are a few more upgrades that will get you some additional vit I can list if you want)

- The glass flask from the 4th of SG will give you a nice boost as well upping your fate 31 points.

- Don't forget that there are will and fate scrolls now for your legendary weapon and songbook if you feel you need them as well.

[Ghosttaker]

Really nice earring that drops on SG for Minnies too. Glass flask will help alot. My will is maxed unbuffed and my fate is not far behind, I run the tale for wounds and vitality unless someone really complains (Yeah I know, going to sacrifice a bit of both when I find the right vitality pieces ). Balladeer's hat, you get it in 21st from your trainer is a nice piece too. Runes help a lot too on your book and weapon, you can gain a couple hundred morale and power from those too.

[daronis17]

Really nice earring that drops on SG for Minnies too. Glass flask will help alot. My will is maxed unbuffed and my fate is not far behind, I run the tale for wounds and vitality unless someone really complains (Yeah I know, going to sacrifice a bit of both when I find the right vitality pieces ). Balladeer's hat, you get it in 21st from your trainer is a nice piece too. Runes help a lot too on your book and weapon, you can gain a couple hundred morale and power from those too.

If you don't want to run Moria instances (though I think you only need 3 tokens for the Balladeer's hat) you can just buy the Helm of Excellence from one of the rep vendors (forget which one) in Mirkwood. They are basically identical. You will lose fate and tactical crit with either of these hats but you will gain a lot or morale.

The earring being referred to is Amarthloch which drops from the 3rd boss in SG. You will lose the 20 vit and about 40 morale from the aureate hoop of willpower but you will get 5 will and fate and about 30 power.

[ConstantiaChlorus]

A great easy way to start is check with all of the mirkwood reputation vendors. They sell near clones of some of the best jewellery that we had in moria. There's even an exact clone of the ancient signet pendant at one of them I believe.

The mirkwood rep vendors feel to me like a reboot. If you're leveling a toon late in game and you don't have a lot of good 6 man instance items, the mirkwood rep vendors seem purposefully designed to get a toon at a playable level. I hope they did that because of what's coming next in the game.

Between the moria rep vendors and the sword halls DG tokens you can get any toon or alt passable for current end game. Good luck!

[hucklebarry]

There is better gear out there, but below are some pieces I use. unbuffed, I am at:

624 Will
546 Fate
484 Vitatlity

I would also recommend getting coin gear from Moria and Mirkwood. Either 4 moria and 2 mirkwood or 3 and 3.

[item]sage's greenwood necklace[/item] Should be cheap since it just takes ore and a dawn-rose, I believe

[item]amarthrin[/item] from a mirkwood 3 man

[item]turingor[/item] from HoM

[item]Saelchol[/item] from mirkwood 3 man

[item]curuloch[/item] from HoC

[Reillan]

yeah, there is better equipment out there, and you can hit 600 unbuffed ... I just don't think there's a point to doing so.

[Fruinjuice]

With the cap at 650 now, I tend to target 540 unbuffed on will / fate. With my Tale up, this gets me to 600, which I am fine with solo. If I'm in a raid / 6-man, I assume that I will have a Captain with me who runs IDOME all the time for the +50 to all stats. There - capped!

Aside from the great suggestions above, don't forget your LI Runes and Settings!

For your morale / power - look at getting high Tier Runes in your LIs. Getting a Tier 8 Ancient Rune of Thunder (?) in both equipped LIs gives you a boost of 300 power / morale!

I know it's a grind, but you'll be running SH quite often if you want to raid. And even if you don't, the ratio of relics and IXP over time can't be beat.

[ConstantiaChlorus]

With the cap at 650 now, I tend to target 540 unbuffed on will / fate. With my Tale up, this gets me to 600, which I am fine with solo. If I'm in a raid / 6-man, I assume that I will have a Captain with me who runs IDOME all the time for the +50 to all stats. There - capped!

This is so often forgotten to the detriment of much wasted time and other stats

[Cloudie-wan]

Don't fear losing a tiny bit of power for more morale. I have a pretty low power pool at around 4k, like you, but I also have an unbuffed morale of over 5k without sacrificing my icpr or mitigations.

My current stats, unbuffed, are:
Might 172
Agility 211
Vit 509
Will 561
Fate 460

Have you thought about trying for the [item]Amber Ring[/item]? It's a a really rare drop, but it's from a level 56ish instance so it is pretty easy to farm for. I'd also recommend runs of Halls of Crafting since there are two nice earrings in there as well as a pocket piece.

[daronis17]

With the cap at 650 now, I tend to target 540 unbuffed on will / fate. With my Tale up, this gets me to 600, which I am fine with solo. If I'm in a raid / 6-man, I assume that I will have a Captain with me who runs IDOME all the time for the +50 to all stats. There - capped!

Aside from the great suggestions above, don't forget your LI Runes and Settings!

For your morale / power - look at getting high Tier Runes in your LIs. Getting a Tier 8 Ancient Rune of Thunder (?) in both equipped LIs gives you a boost of 300 power / morale!

I know it's a grind, but you'll be running SH quite often if you want to raid. And even if you don't, the ratio of relics and IXP over time can't be beat.

This is also a very good idea because solo, the little extra healing bonus will not make a difference between 600 and 650. I'm trying to get my will and fate to 600 and my vit to 550 so I can run the vit tale and then have a cappy's IDOME give me 650 of all three stats. Currently I'm at 580 Will and Fate and 520 Vit but after I max out my two legendary items and get the stat scrolls on them I should be close to my goal. All that being said, the only real noticable improvements from 600 to 650 would be the 150 morale and power you would get with Vit and will respectively. I guess I'm just OCD with my stats and want them at max anyway