Even the bravest, most heroic, or just plain crazy adventurer eventually needs a little help. A fellowship, The Lord of the Rings Online’s name for groups, is a gathering of up to six players working together to complete a task or take down an enemy.

Any player can start a fellowship by using the /invite <playername> command. When you’re invited to join a fellowship, a display panel will appear showing you the names and classes of everyone currently in the fellowship. You can choose to accept or decline the invitation. Once you’ve accepted an invitation to a fellowship you’ll notice some changes to your UI. Instead of just your own vitals on the screen, you’ll now see the vitals of every member of the fellowship. You’ll also notice that members of your fellowship show up in your radar. If you ever get separated, this will help lead you back to your group.

The flow of combat will change when in a fellowship. A tank class, like a Guardian, can now focus more on holding the monster’s attention while damage-dealing classes can worry less about being beaten to a pulp while they lay the smack down. There is no one class that is the most valuable member of a fellowship; however, the player that understands their role and how to control their threat level is always a welcome addition.

Fellowships, no matter their size, have powerful combined attacks available to them. Some classes can trigger these Fellowship Maneuvers (some players may refer to them as Conjunctions) by using specific skills, but all classes have a random chance of triggering them. When a maneuver is triggered, and you’re in range, you‘ll see the fellowship maneuver wheel appear on your screen.

Depending on the number of players in the fellowship and their skill selections, a Fellowship Maneuver can deal out massive spike damage, restore player health, place a punishing damage-over-time effect on an enemy, restore players’ power, or in some cases provide a combination effect. The more players who contribute to the maneuver, the powerful it will become.

There are many possible combinations that make up fellowship maneuvers and just as many effects. The LOTRO Lorebook has extensive information on the mechanics of fellowship maneuvers.

A well balanced fellowship that learns to work together and employ fellowship maneuvers effectively can safely adventure throughout Middle-earth with little to fear!