What changed in The Lord of the Rings Online™ in 2026

A level cap of 130 will be released with Minas Morgul, War of Three Peaks, and Blood of Azog around December 16th.

Angmar and Mordor will see a level cap of 120 around November 11th.

Event returns with new cosmetic rewards starting September 10th, 2026.

Angmar and Mordor will be updated to a level cap of 115 around September 9th.

Level cap increased to 115 on September 9th, 2026.

Level requirement removed for the Black and Striped Red-maw appearance item.

Crafting dialogue and quest dialogues now display properly in German.

Animations updated for River Hobbit Female and Stout-Axe Male.

Animations for Ancient Bench, Uncomfortable Chair, and Dol Guldur couch fixed.

New reward tracks available with various cosmetic items and pets.

Updated to correctly reference Battering Rams and Ballistas.

German and French translations updated.

Translation updated to 'Dachsbau'.

Animations improved for Elf and Hobbit Avatars.

Clipping issues from Promised Allies Armour sets and Mount resolved.

Changed Niveau to Niv. for easier review of player levels over 100.

Roots killed in the Delving of Frór now count toward the quest.

Errant description removed from the quest.

Several quests adjusted to bestow based on completion of monster tutorials.

The 'Sea Blue' dye's translation updated to 'Azur Océan'.

Titles have been changed to Lucky (Prefix) and Bringer of Luck, and Promising (Prefix).

Rune-keeper's Scribe a New Ending now cleanses immediately when used, and then pulses 2 additional times.

Resilience of the Aurochs potency has been reduced to +40% Healing and +10% Incoming Healing.

Sorceress's Ignite effects should now stack between multiple sorceresses and tier up as intended.

Sorceress's Umbral Spout now correctly pulls enemies (at reduced frequency) when Dread Summons is not active.

The Guardsman's Fierce Torc of the Moors now correctly requires you to be in the Ettenmoors to be worn.

In the German client, Fellowship (group) chat can once again be selected with /g.

The Warg tutorial quest 'Killing In the Name Of...' will now correctly advance when using Bestial Claws.

Reaver's Jagged Cut now correctly deals damage in an arc directly in front of the character, not erroneously offset to the right.

Farmers Faire returns on August 13th, 2026 with new High-land Pastures cosmetic rewards.

Wintersebb Drakelings found in the Isendeep Mine have learned to hunt correctly, and have now grown to their intended size.

Ignite synergy now interacts correctly with Synergy skills and the tier up bonus from the Fire Mastery I trait.

Captain's Armour of Noble Hands now requires you to be specialized in The Hands of Healing to receive the 4-set bonus.

The wood-troll Gath and the two salamanders Hurlug and Nurlug now respawn more frequently.

A change in Update 49 erroneously increased the stats on most mission monsters. This has been corrected, and mission monster stats should return to their pre-U49 values.

Adjusted invisible walls during 'The Moot' so Treebeard won't rubberband at certain locations.

Elemental Mastery I traits no longer suggest that they will allow Synergy skills to tier up synergy effects.

PvMP Settings of the Eagle now deal bonus damage only on devastating hits, rather than any critical hit.

Adjusted a Dwarf Miner during 'The Fall of Moria' so he will animate properly again.

Several major, neutral bosses in the Ettenmoors are now immune to force taunts.

Artifacts will no longer transform into relics when picked up by their own team.

Rivendell housing chair decoration can now be used with the /sit emote.

Withered Arm effect durations have been reduced to 3s, and their potencies have been halved.

Grave-dusted Boxes, Trampled Boxes, and Waterlogged Boxes, which could not be acquired, are no longer listed for barter.

The Pelennor Instance Cluster chests have been renamed for easier distinction.

Picking up your own team’s artifact from the ground will no longer improperly bestow your team’s buff.

Adjustments to the Pelennor Instance Cluster gear rewards.

Sorceress Synergy effects are now named on their corresponding skill tooltips.

Studied Spike and Breath skills no longer deal extremely reduced damage when studied in Sorceress Study slots 2 or 3.

PvMP Essence of the Aurochs tooltip has been fixed to show intended bonuses.

The number of Echo of Nuzêru kills needed to end Song of Nuzêru has been reduced from 8 to 6.

Ushkudâsh health reduced by ~3%.

PvMP Essence of the Eagle cooldown increased from 5s to 8s.

Players will now be unable to attempt to pick up an Artifact while carrying a Relic, and vice versa.

Conflagrate's damaging area size has been reduced from 12m radius to 7m radius.

Fixed some incorrect AoE shapes on ice pillar and fire fumarole AoE effects.

Fixed some outstanding effect stacking issues for Sorceress skills.

Additional Delving monsters in Cardolan & Swanfleet once again utilize Delving skills appropriately.

The Protection hotspot during Song of Nuzêru now dispels Twisting Shadows damage.

Sprint's cooldown in PvMP has been increased from 20s to 30s.

Armour dropped in the Pelennor Instances can now be disenchanted for Battle of Pelennor Armour Tokens.

Prepared skills no longer disappear upon death.

Fixed explosive ballistae firing AoEs that were generating additional AoEs per target.

Legendary necklaces and pocket items found in the Delving of Frór will now drop at the appropriate item level.

Explosive ballista projectiles now explode immediately upon impact.

Fixed an issue with lesser PvMP CC-break potions; they now confer brief CC immunity when used.

Kinta chairs are now usable by Stout-axes and River Hobbits.

Continuous Blood Rage once again correctly reduces Power costs.

Improved PvMP stun & root potions are now 'rare' for better differentiation in inventory and hotbars.

Rates of gear drops from the Pelennor Instance Cluster non-challenge chests have been increased.

Glaciate no longer has an induction.

Rivendell Kitchen and Oven housing decorations can now be used to cook campfire foods.

Ballista tar now lasts a little longer.

Gear and level 105 essences will no longer drop from the Pelennor Instance Cluster non-challenge chests when run above level 120.

Corrected some issues with the Dread Summons trait description.

Fixing a stuck spot in Gwaelug's arena in the delving of Frór.

The Pelennor Battle Reward barter vendor will now accept tokens plus Morgul Crests for corresponding armour pieces.

Withered arms now has a 10 second duration.

Addressed an issue with broadcast expressing capture at the wrong locations for Relics.

We have adjusted the description on the Sorceress trait 'Dread Summons' to accurately describe the behavior of the Umbral Spout.

We have reduced the distance magnitude of the umbral spouts pull effect from 8 meters to 5 meters.

Umbral Spout aura effects no longer stack with multiple spouts.

Addressed an issue with tooltip for Durability of Angmar.

We have re-enabled the first Sapling quest in the Ettenmoors.

We have normalized the range and targets on the fumaroles and ice pillar. The range is now 8 meters, and up to 5 targets can be affected.

Acid Spout effects no longer stack with multiple fumaroles.

We have corrected the run animation for female NPCs, resolving issues with NPCs moving extra slowly and potentially breaking instance dramas.

'Banish the Light' no longer stacks when applied by multiple sorceresses.

Fixed a rendering issue that caused blurry terrain when using DirectX9 and with the Landscape Lighting Quality option set to Low.

The mesh stretching and clipping issues for the Nurn Pariah Sorceress Appearance have been fixed.

We have disabled March! in the Delving of Frór.

We have resolved an issue with Artifacts in the Ettenmoors and have re-enabled artifact capture.

PvMP Essence of the Serpent will no longer cause player UI lag when equipped.

Relic capture now appropriately applies the buffs in the Delving of Frór.

Delving monsters in Cardolan and Swanfleet once again utilize Delving skills appropriately.

New entrances, bosses with new abilities, and questing updates in the Delving of Frór.

Armour of Triumphant Song no longer causes echo heal to play multiple times.

The Angmarim Sorceress is now available for purchase in the LOTRO Store.

Sprint's PvMP variant potency increased, duration and cooldown adjusted.

Legendary items for level 160 can now advance to item level 565.

Changes to the Ringwraith event including increased Tattered Shadows rewards.

Hunters now properly generate pips while moving if their pips are zero.

Armour of the Battle Cry sets now display correct effect values.

Imhûlar bog-lurkers are now correctly named.

New ballista options for defenders and battering ram variants for attackers.

Mischievous Glee skills no longer cause incorrect target animations.

Whirling Winds now sustains less damage from most sources.

Changes to the formula for earning Glory and Infamy in larger groups in the Ettenmoors.

Help panel support links now open in the system web browser.

New rewards and support for level 160 characters in the Ill Omens event.

Essence of the Storm now scales properly by item level.

Updated many quest items in Mûr Ghala to be usable for Beornings in bear form.

New mechanics for capturing artifacts, including drop-and-recover and cooldown adjustments.

A new Tier 3 deed has been added for those up to the challenge!

Rubble piles have been reduced in size to allow for easier traversal.

Rotting Blood now correctly gets removed when a player is healed to full health on Tier 3.

Tier 3 of Pagru-kirít, the Garden of Corpses unlocks on June 25th, 2026.

The Leaping Fish Kite will now work to advance the Midsummer Festival quest 'Let's Go Fly a Kite'.

Khardâmu in Pagru-kirít, the Garden of Corpses should no longer reset banner health when using Consuming Call.

Corrected an issue where the Monster Player Rewards were displaying in certain Free People character's Reward Track panel.

Overall height of the Quest Tracker has been returned to previous size, and ellipses overflow indicator has been moved.

The amount of Tattered Shadows granted for defeating lesser wraiths has been increased.

A pocket item has been added for barter that can increase lesser wraith encounter frequency from ~7 min to ~4 min.

An additional tier of Reputation has been added for the top levels of the barter system.

A new 6-player instance is available through Tier 2 difficulty, free to VIPs or unlocked with the Quest Pack: A Glorious Hunt.

The festival runs from June 11th to July 1st, featuring new rewards including cosmetics and a new horse race.

A new horse race introduced at the Midsummer Festival, allowing players to earn Midsummer tokens and a title.

Tooltips for UI elements now correctly scale with the Tooltips UI scale slider.

Fire FX for Gothmog's Mace is now only visible when the weapon is equipped.

UI content selection no longer shifts when the panel size exceeds the screen size and arrows scale better.

Cosmetic weapons Gundabad Captain's Bow and Wight's Great Axe now hide when the user is not in combat.

Fixed a bug that would result in the player ending up in the default housing neighborhood when leaving an instance.

The 18th Legendary Items Reward Track begins on June 3rd and runs until September 2nd, 2026.

The visual appearance of the Wight's Great Axe has been upgraded.

The 7th PvMP Reward Track begins and ends alongside the Legendary Items Reward Track.

Lions now have more natural looking out-of-combat idle animations.

The retry timer on all festival horse races has been reduced from five minutes to one minute.

The Timeless Elf-hawk cosmetic pet will now correctly play hawk sounds.

The Throne of the Dread Terror raid opens on Angmar and Mordor on June 11th.

All six previously-seen Veil of the Nine Ringwraiths can now appear during the new level cap.

Housing Shared Storage capacity has been updated for certain non-kinship premium houses.

Several Rivendell housing decorations have been slightly to moderately scaled up in size.

In the private instance 'The Silent Street', Telemnar now spawns correctly, no longer blocking progress.

Angmar and Mordor now have a level cap of 105, with maximum item level for Legendary Items increased to 250.

The cost to repeat festival horse races sooner than the daily cooldown has been reduced from 5 Mithril Coins to 3 Mithril Coins.

Addressed the issue in the Mission: Drive the Enemy Away where enemies continued to respawn.

Fixed incorrect physics and origin placement of Rivendell housing decorations.

Clearance boxes on housing hooks have been adjusted to match previous larger hook artwork dimensions.

Increased usage range on all housing hooks.

Music no longer stops playing when transitioning between floors in Rivendell housing.

Housing Shared Storage capacity has been updated for certain premium houses.

The Avalanche skill has been reworked to more reliably fire following the unstable buff.

Missions in Sul Madash and Zajana should be rotating properly.

Housing landmarks in Rivendell Housing have been adjusted to improve loading and access.

Increased the default movement range of non-mobile yard hooks.

Numerous terrain texture issues in Idagal have been resolved.

The original scene file usage in Eastfold neighborhoods has been restored.

Server boundary physics issues in Idagal have been resolved.

Audible music now updates immediately when changed in a housing decoration slot.

Corrected an issue that prevented selling a house in a French client with certain addresses.

Join Shâra Mizâdi in Ingarûma for the epic conclusion of the 'A Glorious Hunt' storyline.

The mysterious ruin walls in Nan Dhelu have been removed from non-instance landscape.

An adjustment has been made to improve game performance in heavier instances and raids.

Timeless Elf-hawk pet now correctly plays hawk sound FX.

Numerous floating item and stuck spot issues across the game world have been resolved.

The Elderslade quest 'Reclaiming Supplies' has been fixed and is now completable.

The deed tracking the acquisition or use of the Ringwraith Baubles from the legendary server has been fixed.

In the Anniversary Mission: The Fortress of Olnathron, an issue has been resolved that caused Olnathron to become unattackable after a player wipe.

Tyrant Tharbîl once again displays his correct name.

The Folly of Nagakhêdi: Maukhorn's Avalanche ability should more reliably fire when the Tank is under the effect of the Unstable Buff.

The description text for various Baubles now display properly in German.

Fixed an issue with shared housing storage where the bank capacity would not correctly calculate for Rivendell housing, Belfalas Islands, and Rohan Towers and Caves.

The Rohan Sutcrofts quest 'Foes From All Sides' now advances and completes correctly.

Meet up with Shâra Mizâdi in Hanamíku in Pahar Hatokáli to resume your journey.

The appearance of Arodel in the Book 15 Daughter of Strife session play has been reverted to the original appearance.

Powerful members of Kishâsu’s Risen have invaded the Hatokáli Fells near Mut-hûru and Imizíla.

Armour of Triumphant Song no longer erroneously causes the echo heal from Triumphant Spirit to play more than once per player.

New premium neighborhood, Rivendell Steadings, opens on April 30th.

Players can now access the new Rivendell Steadings housing neighborhood starting April 30th.

Race of Man run animations were reverted to pre-U48 animation style.

Adjusted rock placement in Rohan to allow completion of 'Searching for Erkenbrand' quest line.

The Scorpion Trophy Housing Items have been renamed to better match their poses.

One of the builders in the mission 'Workers Released' was floating. They have been grounded.

The 'VIP Rewards' quest is once again available to all subscribers starting at level 5.

The appearance of the Tarkrîp Scrappers in the Anniversary Mission: Thornley's Revenge has been corrected.

Mûr Ghala Quartermasters now allow filtering barter profiles by reputation level.

Enemies will no longer glide across the landscape when pathing in the mission 'A Harsh Truth.'

The Sutcrofts quest 'Thatching a Plan' now correctly requires you to collect 7 reeds, instead of 8.

Adjusted Eastfold neighborhood to bring back trees around the yards and cleaned up errant trees.

Enemies will now spawn each time a boat is burned in the mission 'Deny Their Escape.'

Adjusted rock placement in Elderslade to fix issues in The Lord of Gundabad story instance.

The sub quests now state that you must 'Complete Quest: NAME' for clarity.

The bestowal text for the quest has been re-written for clarity.

Adjusted pathing issues across the Hatokali Fells.

New missions and rewards including Quintessential cosmetics and a 19-year Gift Box.

The 19th Anniversary event begins on April 23rd, featuring new missions and rewards.

New dog and parrot cosmetic pets available for barter during the anniversary event.

Four new missions set in the Lone-lands and North Downs available during the festival.

New weekly quests to earn Virtue XP from Embers traders.

New quest line featuring Shâra Mizâdi's hunt, with quests released over time.

Gear sets updated to fixed level and item level.

Brooches and Stickpins renamed to reflect new benefits.

Mischevious Delight's power restore issue resolved.

Armour of Triumphant Song 4-set bonus now benefits the entire Fellowship.

Various fixes to Hunter skills including Plant Feet and Silver Arrow.

New and returning rewards available in Adventurer's and Traveler's Steel-bound Lootboxes.

New rewards available including housing decoration items.

Fixed issue with mariner skills generating multiple hotspots.

Bleed skills now correctly benefit from Traceries.

Cooldown reduction for Armour of the Dôlo's 4-set bonus reduced from -1s to -0.5s.

Plant Feet skill description corrected for its defensive bonuses.

Now deals less damage.

Initial cooldown and cooldown increased.

Duration reduced from 60 seconds to 45 seconds.

Now ramps up every 25 seconds instead of every 20 seconds.

Visual issues resolved; requires unhooking and rehooking to take effect.

Appearance of Daffodil Banners in quests 'Springtime's Colours' and 'Flower Envy' has been corrected.

Now correctly states that Tier 3 Heroic Spear of Fate effect removes Mastery skill cooldowns briefly.

Health values increased by 10%.

Visible effect for 10s when the skill is usable.

Changed to improve game performance issues.

Now requires killing each boss once on Tier 3 difficulty.

Map to Clegur no longer shares cooldown with Map to Spring Festival.

Now requires killing each boss once on any tier instead of completing the instance quest three times.

Now requires completing each boss on each respective Tier.

Completing Ekal-nêbi on Solo/Duo mode now counts towards the 'Challenges of Mur Ghala (Weekly)' quest.

Tracery Token packages now correctly stamped with level 160 and usable.

The month of March now displays properly on the German kinship calendar.

Skill and trait tooltips now resize correctly without issues.

New quests and rewards for the Spring Festival, including cosmetics and a goat mount.

Movement altering abilities are now disabled during the Shrew Stomping event.

Quest area overlays now display correctly on the Map UI.

New missions available in Mûr Ghala from Várudar in Adagím and Jôrlar in Zajâna.

Reduced number of adds and adjusted damage triggers for the encounter.

Mischievous Delight now properly restores Power to allies.

Celandine in the Hobbit tutorial Instance: A Road Through the Dark will no longer T-pose.

Character panel contents now scale correctly within the panel.

Monster Player Reward tracks extended to 3 months, coinciding with Legendary Item Reward Track.

Volatile Mushrooms now respawn correctly after a group wipe on Zamâktar the Putrescent.

All Festival Banners now use the correct appearances.

Folly of Nagakhêdi Tier 3 will now open at Noon Eastern on March 26th.

Players are now able to exit The Haunt of Kidu-bala.

The effects for Smashed Bones in The Wailing Hold now stack correctly.

Ordâkhai Battle-cats will now attack on their own without needing to be attacked first.

The treasure cache in southern Idagal has been moved for better access.

Fixed a bug causing the Inspect display viewport to scale uncontrollably.

Blue line version of Ferocious Roar will now properly bestow the Rattling Roar deed.

New rewards available for the Legendary Items Reward Track, accessible to players starting at level 45.

Fixed issue with class filter menu in the Open Groups tab of the Social Panel.

Prevented the Wound-crazed Olog from being unattackable during the instance.

Reduced damage from Blade Flurry, Flesh Rend, and Poisoned Blades.

A new raid has been introduced, requiring Kingdoms of Harad expansion for access.

Bloodletter's Melee Damage buff reduced from 3/6/9% to 1/2/3%.

The quest can now be cancelled and will no longer auto-bestow.

Fixed spawning issue for Haunting Specters in Ekal-nêbi.

Fixed the quest Recovering Relics to require items from the Ordakhai at Jag Golód.

Hunter damage reduced by 5%.

Strike as One now lasts 15 seconds with varying buffs based on solo or group play.

Added option to purge character bound items from carry-alls in shared storage.

Fixed animation issue in the Minas Tirith quest, In Days of Youth.

Raging Blade damage increased by 25%.

The Eriador map now properly displays Yondershire in French and German.

Burglar damage reduced by 5%.

Charge cooldown reduced from 60 seconds to 40 seconds.

Searing Embers damage reduced by 10%.

Come at Me now correctly taunts enemies for 5 seconds.

Vulnerability now reduces enemy Critical Chance instead of Incoming Damage.

Dungeon maps correctly show the player arrow again.

Lua support for UI scaling has been disabled due to the need for additional compatibility development.

The new Lua UI.Window functions have been temporarily removed and should not be used.

Fixed a bug that caused certain UI elements to re-position incorrectly when the screen size changed.

Lua Plugins are now supported by UI Scaling.

The quest 'Daily: Recovering Relics' is disabled due to a bug and cannot currently be progressed.

Sand Blast has been adjusted from a 60m radius explosion to a 10m radius.

Bârlat the Bold should no longer use Shower of Jewels and Gold Pile simultaneously.

Tooltips that are too large for the screen no longer reset to minimum size and instead correctly scale to match the screen.

Fixed an issue where Mizâdi would go missing if you canceled 'Clearing the Way' before completing it.

Summoned Grasping Shadows now have more threatening skills.

Barlat's enrage timer effect should not start until the fight begins.

Sorceress Ombátha adds will stop spawning following a boss kill.

The damage zone generated at the end of Ratúlko the Bloody's Barbed Chain ability is now visible.

Deeds now bestow correctly on all tiers.

Sea-farers essences can once again be disenchanted into the appropriate malleable essences.

Leading the Charge and vanquisher deeds rewards were corrected.

Player map marker no longer goes invisible on some maps.

Fixed an issue where the guard summoned by the Palace Sentries would not aggro if players ran away.

Tier three of the new Instances arrives at Noon Eastern on February 12th.

The shields from the Kingdoms of Harad instances will now correctly bind to account on acquire.

Fixed a bug that caused UI Elements to shrink when the HUD is toggled off then on.

Corrected an issue that caused player storage items to have a mismatched selectable area with their visible image when scaled.

Fixed an issue where the deeds were not bestowing upon entering the instance.

Bârlat's Overseers' Impaling Strike skill now has an induction and deals damage in a frontal arc.

Râkdakul's Calamity mechanic now correctly drops two damaging areas, then puts down safe locations.

The Curtain Pulls in the 6-player version of Dark Priestess Barkhuráni's encounter will now disappear after they have been used.

Map cursor coordinates now correctly match the map scale.

Crafted class items with essence slots will now properly appear as a choice when right-clicking a valid essence to slot.

Premium homes will now return 90% of their Homesteading Coin cost when sold.

Various Champion skills have been adjusted for balance, including cooldowns and damage.

Cooldowns for Fulgurant Strike and Mighty Upheaval reduced.

New User Interface Scaling settings added to the Options menu, supporting various UI elements and widescreen displays.

Resolved issue with Sign of Power: Inspiration skill applying damage effect incorrectly.

Threat generated from damage for tank specializations increased by 50%.

All DPS specializations now generate -50% threat from damage.

Fixed cooldown and effects of Call to Greatness skill.

Quest now advances when completing Mission: Crown of Hamât quests.

Players can now withdraw account-bound items after transferring from a legacy world.

Various quests have updated dialogues and NPC names for consistency.

Ringwraith spawn announcements now appear in all regions on Legendary Servers.

Ekal-nêbi, the Fallen Palace, Kôth Rau, the Wailing Hold, and The Treasure Caves of Hurum Kâna are now available.

All Hunter skill damage increased, with some key skills boosted by 20%.

Nature's Mend sound effect and other skills adjusted for better gameplay experience.

Adjustments made to Guardian skills, including cooldowns and damage modifications.

Corrected an issue with Tracery Token packages displaying errors in the mail system.