LOTR Rise to War Gandalf the White Guide and Build

With no doubt one of the most iconic and most loved characters from the LotR movie series as well as Commander in the game. In LOTR Rise To War Gandalf the White has great base stats all across the board and he is Tier 2. Gandalf the White is resurrected and stronger than Gandalf that was brought back to life by Valar after he died in the fight against Durin’s Bane. The first thing that you need to notice and acknowledge is his base trait which is “Strategist”.

“Strategist” trait will give Gandalf +25 (Commander) Focus, +2 Skill points, and 10% bonus Burn and Poison damage. Gandalf the White’s highest stat is Focus. Focus reduces the damage that his designated army receives during battle. Every time when your Commander levels up you will have a skill point to spend in their skill tree. There are four main skills and thus four different focus points in Gandalf’s skill tree which we will talk about here.

Note that each of these four main skills has two additional skills connected to them which you will unlock upon leveling the main skill to level 2. On Commander Respect level 0 you will have two starting main skills.

Respect level 0 Build

The first skill of the two starting ones is “The White” and it’s pretty much on par with the second skill when it comes to importance, the second skill maybe gain a slight advantage because of pure non RNG bursts in damage.

“The White” skill when active will give:(After the Commander deals damage) [Against 1 enemy target] % chance of dealing additional % of Focus damage. At the max level of “The White” skill Gandalf will also receive additional +12 focus. This is a bit of RNG skill but nonetheless, it’s excellent for additional bursts during battle.

Since Gandalf is a Strategic Commander this skill is his primary skill and you want to level it up whenever it’s available to do so. As mentioned above upon leveling “The White” skill to level two you will unlock its two additional skills which you will be able to level up.

These two skills are:
Magical Barrier: (Army) Defense +% during combat (effect modified by Focus stat). chance of avoiding the next instance of damage for 2 allied units [on skill LVL 1],
Blindside: Deals % Focus damage (effect modified by Focus stat) and inflicts Stun for 1 round against 1 enemy target. This skill has 2 rounds of cooldown.

Naturally effective stats % rise as you level up addressed skills.

Second, Gandalf the White’s first two skills are “Wizard” which when active will give:(Round 1) [Against 2 enemy targets] inflicts Stun on round 1 and reduces defense by -amount for 3 rounds. At the max level of “Wizard” skill, Gandalf will also receive an additional +15 focus.

This is the skill you should focus on upon unlocking it because it will stun enemies in the first round as well as reduce their defense up to 50.00 on max level thus giving you a big strategic and power advantage in battles.

Upon unlocking this skill you should reset your skill points and max “Wizard” first, and put the rest of the skill points into “The White”, and at least 1 skill point into “Blindside” skill for optimal best Gandalf build on Respect level 0.

Two additional skills that you will unlock upon leveling “Wizard” to level 2 are:
Pipe-weed Connoisseur : (Commander) Focus +% and (Commander) Might -%.
Surge: Deals % Focus damage twice (effect modified by Focus stat). Each separate attack chooses a different target. This skill has 2 rounds of cooldown.

Naturally effective stats % rise as you level up addressed skills.

Respect level 3 Build

Upon reaching Respect level 3 with Gandalf the White you will be able to unlock and level up his third main skill called “White Council” and when active it gives:(All allied units) First 3 instances of damage received -% (effect modified by focus stat). Like every other main skill, these stats rise as you level up the skill.

At the max level of “White Council” skill, 3 allied units under Gandalf’s leadership will receive Stun immunity while damage is increased. Note that “White Council” skill is referenced as a “title” rather than “skill” which essentially means once it’s unlocked and you have a skill point in it, it will act as a passive skill.

This shouldn’t be your focus point but rather a skill that you might bounce back and forth to depending on the enemy that you will be fighting in the late stage of the game and in case you are dealing with a lot of stuns.

Two additional skills that you will unlock upon leveling “White Council” to level 2 are:
High Alert: (Allied units) Focus, Burn, and Poison damage received -%. Pretty decent damage mitigation skill, spend points if you deal with some Commanders that heavily rely on Burn/Poison damage
Champion of the Light: All allies deal +% damage to Orcs, Uruk-hai, and Trolls

Naturally effective stats % rise as you level up addressed skills.

Respect level 5 Build

And finally upon reaching Respect level 5 with Gandalf the White you will be able to unlock and level up his fourth main skill called “White Rider” which when active will give:(Against enemy army) Damage received +%, stacks each round (up to 4 rounds). Like every other main skill, these stats rise as you level up the skill. At the max level of “White Rider ” skill, the Damage bonus will be affected by Gandalf’s Speed.

Note that “White Rider ” skill is referenced as a “title” rather than “skill” which essentially means once it’s unlocked and you have a skill point in it, it will act as a passive skill. This is let’s just say a bit questionable skill and this is why he might not be Tier 3 Commander if the damage was affected by Focus this would be an amazing skill, but since Gandalf isn’t speed centered Commanders, this skill gets into one of those “decent” categories of skills. Nonetheless, it’s a great skill since it debuffs enemy units and they receive more damage on each hit.

Two additional skills that you will unlock upon leveling “White Rider” to level 2 are:
Horsemanship: (Mounted units) Damage dealt
Reinforcement: (Round 7 onwards) [2 allied units] Recover % HP each round

Naturally effective stats % rise as you level up addressed skills.