Protector of Song

The Protector of Song

The Protector of Song is a powerful trait line which focuses on effects which buff or enhance a Minstrel and his Fellowship. Healing effects in this line are either very small or very indirect, with more of an emphasis on preventing damage or otherwise improving the Minstrel and his Fellowship's situation. The best part about this trait line is that it has good synergy with both of the other Trait Lines, meaning that almost every minstrel will want to slot at least a few traits from the Protector of Song to compliment his build.

Battle-Hymn

• Acquire: Use Anthem of the Valar 250 times.
• Effect: When you use Anthem of the Valar, your in-combat regeneration increases, exactly as though you had used Anthem of the Free Peoples (though this one only affects yourself.) If you tend to use Anthem of Valar a lot, especially while soloing, this a nice trait to have slotted. It pairs very well with the Warrior-skald trait line and War-speech mode, because the in-combat regeneration isn't considered "Healing" and thus isn't penalized in War-speech.

Flow of Harmony

• Acquire: Use Tales 150 times.
• Effect: This decreases the “maintenance" power cost of Tales that the minstrel uses, such as Tale of Warding, Tale of Battle, and even the combo tales that become available by equipping the Legendary Trait associated with this line. Saving power is a very good thing, as Minstrels frequently run out in extended combat. A very good trait for the line.

Glorious Anthem

• Acquire: Complete "A Minstrel's Hope" quest.
• Effect: All of your Anthems last 15 seconds longer. This includes the healing effect from the traited version of "Anthem of the Valar" and the Legendary Trait skill "Anthem of the Wizards." Anthems are some of the best effects a minstrel has access too, and if he uses his anthems frequently (which he should, if at all possible) this is a very nice trait to have. Note that in the Watcher of Resolve trait line, Anthem of Compassion becomes a tier 3 ballad, meaning it is no longer affected by this trait (though it is affected by bonuses which increase the duration of your ballads, such as Strength of Voice and the 3-trait bonus of this line.)

Heralded Resolve

• Acquire: Use Herald's Strike 250 times.
• Effect: Heals yourself when you use an ordinary "Herald's Strike." The heal is slightly better than the heal the group receives with the "Noble Cause" version of Herald's Strike, though it only affects the minstrel. This trait pairs very well with "Herald's Hammer" which increases the damage of Herald's Strike, but doesn't work so well in War-speech mode, which will cut the healing done in half or more, depending on how far down the Warrior-skald line the minstrel is slotted. Either way, this trait is best when soloing.

Heralded Savior

• Acquire: Use Song of Aid 400 times.
• Effect: Song of Aid lasts 10 seconds longer and recovers slightly faster. Song of Aid can be useful at times, but a minstrel will never rely on it. There are better traits than this.

Lyrics of Bravery

• Acquire: Use Ballad of Unshakeable Will 1,000 times.
• Effect: This trait raises your fear resistance by a very large amount. While not a "must have" trait, if the Minstrel is intent on pursuing this line, this is a nice "hands off" trait to have, especially when fighting enemies which make use of fear effects.

Smooth Voice

• Acquire: Use Piercing Cry 600 times.
• Effect: This will make your "Ballad of Balance" and "Balled of Vigour" into songs that can be used outside of combat as longer-duration group buffs rather than attacks. This is great for grouping minstrels more than soloing. It buffs your whole group without any need of an enemy target. Furthermore, the healing buff which unlocks the next ballad tier lasts a whole 20 seconds from each of these two skills, instead of the default of 10. Note that it takes a little bit longer to tier up ballads this way and in dangerous combat, the minstrel may not have enough time to do this and heal. In moments where the fellowship is doing fine on morale though, they are useful skills to have, and the trait is worth it.

Strength of Voice

• Acquire: Use Ballad of War 500 times.
• Effect: The effects of all your ballads are increased by 10 seconds. If you use you ballads a lot (soloing minstrels generally) this is a great trait for you. It's also good for improving the duration of tier 3 ballads on the entire fellowship, such as Ballad of War, or the Watcher of Resolve enhanced version of Anthem of Compassion (which becomes Ballad of Compassion). This trait also stacks with the 3-trait bonus of this trait line.

Master of Tales

Legendary

• Acquire: The Mines of Moria.
• Effect: This trait gives you access to two new tale abilities that combine your other tales together. These new tales are Tale of Heroism and Warding, which combines Tale of Heroism and Tale of Warding, and Tale of Frost and Flame's Battle, which combines Tale of Battle, and Tale of Frost and Flame. Of the two, Heroism and Warding is probably the best, because it comes with a huge bonus to armor rating (due to tale of Warding's major fourth-trait bonus of this line). This bonus to armor rating improves all mitigations, including frost mitigation and fire mitigation, and while not quite as much as Tale of Frost and Flame, its close enough to be much more worth it. This is probably the best legendary trait from Mines of Moria.