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The Lord of the Rings Online — Update 46.1 Release Notes

Update 46.1 Release Notes

Update 46.1 Release Notes

Here are the Release Notes for Update 46.1: Kingdoms of Harad, Patch 1, released on Wednesday, February 4, 2026.

Of Special Note:
Three new Kingdoms of Harad instances have arrived!

The Kingdoms of Harad stand at a crossroads, their rivalries sharpening as a greater threat gathers strength. Gandalf has come with a warning of a darkness rising in the South. The Thardúth, ancient servants of Morgoth, rise once more, harnessing powers that could unmake the balance of Middle-earth.

**Ekal-nêbi, the Fallen Palace (6 Player Instance)**​ "The palace of Ekal-nêbi is the crown jewel of Emax Dûl, an opulent home to rulers from the kingdom of Nêshak, Nísaka... and now from Ordâkh. Hidden in the background of palace life, Thothril the Entangler, Thardúth of Damudûr, quietly began working her enchantments upon the minds of its inhabitants. Now with soldiers of Mizâdi's alliance at the palace doorstep, she asserts final control over the palace."​

**Kôth Rau, the Wailing Hold (6 Player Instance)**​ "Overlooking Damudûr, Kôth Rau serves as stronghold for those who wish to subjugate those within An Shêru. Faeron and Rhadrog have tasked you with entering this stronghold and defeating the sorceress Ombátha and the cruel Utûgi leader, Râkdakul. The hope is that with the defeat of these cruel masters, it will break the hold on those under their influence. This 6 person instance has three boss encounters located in the Wailing Hold, a fortress in An Shêru."

**The Treasure Caves of Hurum Kâna (3 Player Instance)**​ "In the forgotten caves of Hurum Kâna, a scoundrel makes his home. The self-styled brigand king, Bârlat the Bold strikes at caravans and travellers on the nearby Great Road. The Doorwards of Zajâna have tasked you with bringing Bârlat to justice. But what secrets could the caves - and Bârlat - be hiding, deep in Hurum Kâna?"​

These instances are accessible to level 160 characters that have acquired access to the Kingdoms of Harad expansion. Tiers I and 2 of these new Instances are now available! Tier three of the new Instances arrives at Noon Eastern (-5 GMT) on February 12th. The Leading the Charge Deed is available to earn until 3:00 AM Eastern (-5 GMT) on March 19th.

You can learn more about Kingdoms of Harad on LOTRO.com

. You can access the Instance Finder using Control+J or through the main menu button in-game.

The first phase of Scaling UI has arrived!

Update 46.1 includes the addition of a new User Interface Scaling feature to the game! Access these new settings in the "UI Settings" tab of the Options menu. Scaling is currently supported for the cursor, more than fifty individual UI elements, and a Global UI setting. Additionally many full screen UI elements have been updated to support wide screen displays without stretching, including the Login Screen, Character Creation and Selection, Loading Screens, and the Map Window. The MAP UI can also now be toggled between Fullscreen and Panel modes in the UI Settings.

News and Notes:

  • Premium homes will once again return 90% of their Homesteading Coin cost when sold. Note that premium houses that are released automatically as part of the transfer process will continue to return 100% of their Homesteading Coin cost via in-game mail on the destination world. Foreclosed premium houses will continue to refund 80% of their homesteading coin cost.

  • Some Tracery Token, Sealed Tracery, Enhancement Rune and other packages that were in the mail system when players logged in for Update 46 or 46.0.1 are displaying a general error when attempting to open them because they are missing their Max Content Level. This issue now is corrected as long as those packages were no longer in the mail system when first logging into Update U46.1.

  • Resolved an issue where some players could not withdraw account-bound items from their character or shared storage after transferring from a legacy world. Items incorrectly marked as "bound to another account" are now accessible as intended.

Festivals and Events

  • Legendary Servers: Ringwraith spawn announcements should now appear in all regions.

  • A Mission to Bring Good Cheer will now also advance when completing Mission: Crown of Hamât quests.

Classes: Skills and Traits

  • The 'Renewed Defences' effect once again lasts 3 minutes.

  • All DPS specializations now have inherent -50% threat generated by damage modifier (increasing the overall damage-threat differential between DPS and tank specializations).

  • For all tank specializations: threat generated from damage has been increased by 50%

  • Reducing threat copy overhead from +100% threat to +10% threat

  • The potencies of all additional threat effects (such as 'Moderately Increased Threat' or 'Greatly Increased Threat' have been doubled (+100%).

  • Let Fly no longer has an induction, now has a 40m range, and now applies bonus threat for Guardians and Champions in tanking specializations.

  • The Jiret-menêsh travel skills no longer take a scenic detour to Khanâg Gur.

  • Travel skills to Ahâba and Zajâna are now more centrally located.

  • Beorning

  • Nature's Mend will no longer play its unique sound for every ally targeted.

  • The mounted skill 'Bee Swarm' no longer forces your target to move away from you.

  • Vicious Claws will longer make reference to the deprecated skill 'Mark of Beorn.'

  • Maul is once again raid-wide.

  • Maul now consumes 5 Wrath per second (10 Wrath per second while specialized in 'The Hide')

  • 'The Roar' Maul now lasts 6s (down from 8.5s).

  • 'The Hide' Maul now lasts as long as you can sustain it with Wrath, and its cooldown has been reduced to 5s.

  • 'The Hide' Maul no longer taunts enemies, but does generate increased threat each time it deals damage.

  • 'The Hide' Maul now affects enemies up to 10m away from you and has a base target count of 10 (up from 5).

  • Brawler

  • Fulgurant Strike's cooldown has been reduced by 10s.

  • Mighty Upheaval can no longer knock down foes by default.

  • Mighty Upheaval cooldown reduced from 15s > 12s.

  • The Mighty Upheaval Knockdown and Damage tracery has been split, and is now one tracery for knockdown chance (+65%-80% chance) and a second tracery for damage (+28%-38.5% Damage; replacing the Fulgurant Strike tracery).

  • Strike to the Sky can no longer knock enemies upwards.

  • Strike to the Sky cooldown reduced from 10s > 8s.

  • Burglar

  • The mounted skill 'Trick: Impugn Character' no longer changes your target's aggression.

  • Captain

  • Routing Cry now has a 12m radius when specialized in 'The Leader of Men.'

  • Gallant Display effects now tier down upon expiration.

  • Hammer-stroke Damage increased slightly.

  • Gallant Display and Routing Cry Damage increased slightly when specialized in 'Leader of Men.'

  • When specialized in 'Leader of Men' Battle Shout will now hit multiple enemies around your target.

  • Champion

  • Champion's Challenge cooldown reduced to 10s when specializing in 'The Martial Champion.'

  • Champion's Challenge debuff removed.

  • Horn of Gondor Damage increased by 10%.

  • Traiting into 'the Martial Champnion' now reduces the True Heroics cooldown by 80s.

  • True Heroics: The Martial Champion no longer restores allies' power.

  • Horn of Champions now has a 12m radius.

  • Horn of Champions no longer debuffs enemies.

  • Horn of Champions cooldown has been reduced to 12s (8s when traited to rank 2) and now costs 2 Fervour.

  • Clobber still consumes Fervour but can now be used with no Fervour.

  • Increased Second Wind restore potency contribution from Fervour.

  • Adamant base value increased from -5% > -20% (-40% with max Fervour).

  • Merciful Strike's occasional Power cost spikes have been removed.

  • Guardian

  • The Keen Blade now increases skill damage by 10%.

  • Breach and Whirling Breach have been removed.

  • Retaliate and Whirling Retaliation are once again available while specialized in The Keen Blade tree.

  • Relentless Fury has been renamed Righteous Fury.

  • War-chant's default radius has been increased 10m > 12m.

  • Demoralizing Anthem no longer changes the radius of War-chant.

  • Shield-swipe is now properly modified by Area of Effect trait bonuses.

  • Relentless Fury has been renamed to Righteous Fury.

  • Righteous Fury base cooldown reduced to 100s.

  • Bleeds associated with Brutal Assault, and Overwhelm have been renamed to more closely match their main skill.

  • Hemorrhaging Wound is now Brutal Wound.

  • Terrible Wound is now Overwhelming Wound

  • Brutal Assault's cooldown has been reduced to 8s.

  • Brutal Assault now unlocks Thrust, Overwhelm, and parry response skills.

  • Brutal Assault now applies a Brutal wound if a Deep Wound is present.

  • Brutal Assault's base damage has been increased.

  • The trait Hemorrhage has been changed to add 4% to Brutal Wound bleed damage and increases the critical magnitude of Brutal Assault by 2.5% per tier.

  • Tireless Blows has been renamed Faultless Assault.

  • Faultless Assault increases the damage dealt by Brutal Assault by 5% per tier.

  • Into the Fray has been renamed Sting of Justice.

  • Sting of Justice increases the damage of all bleeds by 3% for tiers 1 through 5, and adds an additional 5% at tier 6 for a total of 20%.

  • Sting of Justice no longer confers a 100% chance to critically strike on Virtuous Charge.

  • Overwhelm now applies an Overwhelming Bleed if a Deep Wound is present.

  • Brutal Charge has been renamed to Virtuous Charge.

  • Virtuous Charge no longer grants a 100% critical on your next melee skill at Max trait level.

  • Virtuous Charge now guarantees that the first successful melee skill strike after activation will knock the target(s) down.

  • Virtuous Charge now dispels the speed boost and knockdown bonus on a successful damaging skill. The slow immunity remains until expiration.

  • Protection by the Sword now requires you to target a player other than yourself.

  • Protection by the Sword bestows a 5% bonus to Parry and Partial Parries on the target, and when the target of Protection by the Sword within 20m parries or partially parries, the Guardian unlocks a parry response.

  • Hammer Down's cooldown is reduced to a base of 30s.

  • The trait Rupture no longer causes Hammer Down to apply an incoming damage bonus to bleeding targets, and instead applies a bleed that similarly scales based on the number of bleeds it consumes on your target.

  • Ruptured Artery now lasts for 8s.

  • Force Opening's cooldown reduced to 6s.

  • Forced Opening damage increased.

  • The potencies of 'Force Attack Duration' traceries have been reduced to 20% of current values.

  • Hunter (NOTE: Saved Trait configurations have been reset due to changes to the Hunter traits.)

  • All Hunter skill damage has been increased. For most skills, damage has been increased by 15%. Some key Bowmaster skills have been increased by 20%.

  • Induction times for Barbed Arrow and Swift Bow have been reduced slightly.

  • Volley's base effect is now granted as a bonus trait while specialized in 'The Huntsman.'

  • Volley now only buffs Focus Spender Damage.

  • The original Volley trait is now inaccessible to Bowmaster and Trapper Hunters.

  • Huntsman bleed removal bonus damage effect potency increased.

  • The traits Plant Feet and Critical Precision have swapped places, making Critical Precision a Bowmaster-exclusive trait.

  • Swift Mercy's base proc chance has been increased from 20% to 30%.

  • Deadly Precision has been moved to a position shallower in the Bowmaster trait tree and is now 2 ranks.

  • The Strength trait has been moved into the Bowmaster's passive-capstone trait position.

  • An issue with the Storm of Arrows trait tooltip has been fixed.

  • An issue with the Huntsman's Blades trait tooltip has been fixed.

  • The Umbari Armour of the Jungle Ghost 6-piece bonus once again correctly adds a stun and interrupt to Explosive Arrow.

  • Lore-master

  • The mounted skill 'Sign of Power: Inspiration' no longer applies a damaging effect while in the Red Dawn stance.

  • Fixed a bug where Storm and Staff visual effects was showing out of combat while using a movement style.

  • Fixed a bug where Storm and Staff visual effects was still showing when players had disabled avatar attack effects.

  • Minstrel

  • Call to Greatness no longer resets allies' capstone skill cooldowns.

  • -120s Call to Greatness Cooldown (some set bonuses also reduced from -60 to -30)

  • Call to Greatness now causes all of your ballads to be AoE skills that each grant 3 of their respective ballad buffs, as well as one of two effects, depending on your specialization:

  • Watcher of Resolve: Immediately restores 50% of maximum Morale, and +25% Max Morale, x0.5 Incoming Damage, -15s Anthem Cooldowns for 15s.

  • Warrior-skald: -30% Chance for Codas to cash out Ballad Buffs, +25% Outgoing Damage, and 15s Anthem Cooldowns for 15s.

  • Bolster Courage Healing increased by 15%

  • Bolster Courage Power cost increased slightly.

  • Raise the Spirit healing has been increased by 30%.

  • Rune-keeper

  • Writ of Health Healing reduced by 5%.

Combat and Monsters

  • A handful of player effects which deal bonus damage according to your player level now correctly deal greater damage for player levels 151-160.

Quests

  • Langhar will now tell you where to go next if she's defeated by the goblins during 'Instance: The Skin-changer's Heritage.'

  • "The Fall of the Mírdain" lead in quest for the "Doom of Caras Gelebren" skirmish now requires the server to be at or above player level 60, when the skirmish is also available.

  • Fixed an issue where you could not re-accept 'Our End of the Deal' if you abandon it because Mizâdi is missing from the bridge-fort to Emax Dûl. You can now also accept this quest from Kotráka Saiya inside the palace Royal Living Quarters if you abandon it while inside the palace.

  • Rotating and static Regional Quests introduced with the Kingdoms of Harad expansion pack are now bestowed from four settlements throughout the expansion regions. New Regional Quest boards at Sul Mádash, Zajâna, Jire-menêsh, and The Dawn-warden settlements will display the bestowal for these daily and weekly quests.

  • Changed the names of some NPCs involved with "The Song of Waves and Wind: Chapter 13" so they match the quests.

  • Quest dialogue in 'Fate of the Moulder-wood' has been revised to account for some previous adventures.

  • Fixed the interactions on the quest "Daily: Crystals to Send Below" to allow for quest completion.

  • All daily and weekly quests that are part of the Mûr Ghala end game are now appropriately displaying their minimum level of 160.

  • A typo in the the An Shêru quest Mounting a Rescue has been corrected.

  • Khagâmi's position in Gadim-ûn has been shifted slightly so that she appears to be floating less.

  • The named ents in the Mordor Allegiance quest "Chapter 3: High and Low" now properly all have distinct appearances.

  • A text change has been made to Rhadrog's dialogue in the An Shêru quest Taking a Rest. Players who had this quest in progress will need to pick the quest up again from Khagâmi at the crossroads in An Shêru due to versioning.

  • The Mûmak Trainers' Horn used in the An Shêru quest Befriending a Behemoth can now be used in combat to better facilitate quest completion in a fellowship.

  • During the Quest Scholarly Pursuits, the NPC Caebar and the collectable berry bushes should now be properly selectable via the player mouse.

  • A typo has been corrected in the An Shêru quest A Letter to Meshaget.

  • Typos have been corrected in the An Shêru quest Instance: A Gift for the Future.

  • The An Shêru quest Instance: Into the Quelling-house can now be run in a Fellowship.

  • The An Shêru quest instances Taking a Rest and A Personal Matter, will now always take place at night

  • Removed an icon suggesting that a daily quest was available at the Fields of Sarhazai.

Tasks, Deeds and Reputation

  • The Hamati task quests "Mûr Ghala Hamâti Task: Sun-baked Axes" and "Mûr Ghala Hamâti Task: Sun-scorched Sword Sheaths" had their turn-in items reversed. This has been fixed. Note: these task quests will be versioned upon release.

  • We have added four new deeds to track the completion of the end game daily and weekly quests available in the four regions of Mûr Ghala.

  • We have extended the reputation tier for the Temamir of Jiret-Menêsh to Kindred.** **

  • We have increased the achievable reputation with Zajana to Kindred.

  • The deed "Treasure-seeker of Mûr Ghala" now correctly is listed under Mûr Ghala. This deed will be versioned upon release of 46.1.

  • The Hamati task quests "Mûr Ghala Hamâti Task: Sun-baked Axes" and "Mûr Ghala Hamâti Task: Sun-scorched Sword Sheaths" had their turn-in items reversed. This has been fixed. Note: these task quests will be versioned upon release.

  • All quartermasters involved in the quests for reputations now have the corresponding barter profiles for their factions.

  • We removed the sparkles that make the reputation objects found throughout Mûr Ghala appear to be lootable regardless of reputation rank or keys.

  • Many bounty quests in Mûr Ghala now reward you with reputation upon completion.

Missions and Delvings

  • Adjusted the bestowal text on the mission Routing Reinforcements to be more relevant to activity inside of the mission.

  • Addressed an issue where the granted skill used in the mission, Disrupting Control, would advance the quest when used on orcs.

  • Added an exit door to Mission: Arms Saboteur and Mission: Routing Reinforcements

Instances and Skirmishes

  • The Acid Wing in the Tower of Orthanc raid is once again accessible to players.

  • Voice-over has been added to Dun Shûma, The King's Fortress

  • Gwathrenost, the Witch-king's Citadel: Shard of Tauressaur's Rain of Splinters damage has been reduced.

  • Ene

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