While MMOs are home to thousands of players, there are times when you want to take on the challenge of the Dark Lord Sauron all by yourself. While not every quest is soloable, you’ll find a huge number of quests suitable for a lone hero from the Shire and through the dark heart of the Misty Mountains. This article focuses on levels 1-20, with future articles covering solo play up through 60th level.

Get familiar with the user interface and quick keys, since they become increasingly important as your character advances in level. The more comfortable you become with the various commands and icons representing the skills available for your class, the faster you can play. Speed can help you stay alive when you don’t have a Fellowship backing you up.

When making the decision to adventure alone, it’s most efficient to choose quests from the same area. This allows you complete a large number of quests at once, return to the quest hub, and then move along to the next area as your hero advances in level. You’ll find that many quests hubs tend to lead you toward higher-level areas, and that’s true of both fellowship and solo quests.

There is plenty to tackle if you have an hour or less to work with. You can craft a few items from the things you recovered on your last trek through Middle-earth. Or maybe you want to dash off on a brief foray into the wild because you need a couple more hunks of boar meat to net the reward from one of your active quests. You might have to mine for copper, tin, silver, or barrow-iron—and will likely have to slay many monsters in the process. This latter task can help you advance your rank as a prospector, all the while earning experience toward your next level.

An Elven Loremaster begins her heroics in Middle-earth