LOTRO Rise of Isengard expansion date

Rise of Isengard will be the third full expansion for Turbine MMO The Lord of the Rings Online.

The expansion arrives on 27th September.

Rise of Isengard takes you to the home of wizard Saruman, who betrays the goodies and joins Sauron. You'll go inside Saruman's iconic Orthanc tower. But the press release doesn't mention a battle with Saruman himself.

Two other new regions - the Gap of Rohan and Dunland - will also be added. Each will be stuffed with quests.

Rise of Isengard pushes the character level-cap to 75 (from 65), which means lots of powerful new skills and deeds to customise heroes with.

There's a new 24-man raid to conquer, too. This culminates a boss battle with Dragioch, "one of the most powerful creatures of Middle-Earth".

Rise of Isengard can be pre-ordered today, and there are varying benefits for doing so.

Grab the Base Edition and you'll be gifted a Steed of the Gap horse with matching red cloak for all your account's characters. You'll get a Guard of the Isen title, plus 25 per cent XP boost for all characters up to level 65 that you own.

Pre-order the Heroic Edition and you'll get all that plus armour with your Steed of the Gap and a choice of colours: red, green or white. You'll get an extra 1000 Turbine Points to spend, too.

Opt for the Legendary Edition to get all that plus all three Steeds of the Gap for all your characters, and access to Path of the Fellowship quest packs Trollshaws, Eregion, Moria, Lothlorien and Mirkwood.