How to Suddenly Improve Gear at 121

Now that the cap is well above 115, few people linger in Ered Mithrin long enough to get motes gear. The result is that getting to the Vales (120) can be a shock. You’re walking along, admiring the pretty scenery near Beorn’s lodge when “Yark!” you are assassinated by a small forest creature. What happened?? I hear this from kinnies on a regular basis. Well, it’s not you: it’s the game. At 120 there was a big increase in stats on armour and you really feel it if you are leveling fast and don’t stop off to grind out the best gear (and who does, these days?)

First, you need to get your LI up to max asap. Really. But that’s a subject for another thread.

Second, if you are doing the epic (and you should), there are some teal item rewards in the Vales that are the same as the motes gear you would have ground out in Ered Mithrin.

Third, and the real topic here, is that at level 121 you can spend a few minutes a day to run very quick instances that have a good chance of dropping highly useful gear pieces that can really boost you and make the whole Vales experience easier. You DO need Imlad Morgul content for this method:

The following three instances from the Morgul Vale are quick and freely drop jewelry and the occasional armour piece. Mostly these are item level 401-407 at tier 1, but remember that the goal here is to boost up your gear to get you through the Vales. You have access to these at level 121:
1. Harrowing of Minas Morgul — auto bestow in your instance finder at 121.
2. Shadow Roost – at 121 you can discover it, ask a kinnie to summon you to it
3. House of Lamentation — same as #2, you need a summon

To get the most gear faster, ask a 130 kinnie of your same class to run the instance with your at 121 (or whatever level you are) and then their drops will apply to your class and they can hand them off to you at the end.

Each of the above instances can be run in about 10 minutes, and you can do them solo if you choose. I advise getting someone to teach you the mechanics the first time, though.

Enjoy!!!