Monolith takes us to the land of Mordor. Before the quest to destroy the one ring, a man named Talion works to battle Sauron’s evil forces and avenge the death of his family.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Walkthrough [Guide]
Written by Dalton “HorrorSpooky” Cooper and Trade
Copyright 2014
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Legal Information
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=TABLE OF CONTENTS=
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1. Introduction and Controls
2. Main Missions
Prologue
The Slaver
The Spirit of Mordor
An Interested Party
Climbing the Ranks
Shattered Memories
The Outcasts
The One Truth
The Warchief
Untouchable
Finish Them
Cry Havoc
The Dark Monument
The Black Captain
The Messenger
Queen of the Shore
The Power of the Wraith
The Cure
Big Game
Hunting Partners
The Great White Graug
The Rescue
Cleansing Flames
Hunt the Hunters
Dead Shot
Untouchable II
Lord of Mordor
Mordor in Flames
Survival Challenges
Hunting Challenges
Abilities
Attributes
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1. Introduction and Controls
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As Talion, you are infused with a ghost spirit that allows you to come back from the dead. This spirit gives Talion special abilities to help him in his adventure as well.
The following control information is taken directly from in-game materials such as the digital manual. In the Xbox One version of the game, the digital manual can be accessed by using the voice command “Xbox, Help”.
BASIC CONTROLS
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LS – Move
RS – Look Around
A (hold) – Run
A (tap) – Dodge
RT (hold) – Stealth
LB – Wraith World
RS (click) – Identify Target (in Wraith World)
View Button – Map
Menu Button – Menu
COMBAT CONTROLS
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X – Attack
Y – Counter
B – Stun
B (hold) – Drain
RB (hold) – Grab/Mount
X (repeatedly to stunned enemy) – Flurry
X (repeatedly to grabbed enemy) – Shank
RB (to grabbed enemy) – Throw
RT + X (to downed enemy) – Ground Execution
B + Y – Execution
X + A – Wraith Flash
LT (tap) – Throw Dagger
LT – Ranged Mode
RT (in ranged mode) – Shoot/Charged Shot (when held)
STEALTH CONTROLS (hold RT)
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X – Silent Kill
Y – Brutalize
B – Drain
A (hold) – Crouch Run
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2. Main Missions
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This walkthrough was created using the Xbox One version of the game. However, I will also mention the DualShock 4 controls on PS4 as well. Whenever a specific button is called out, the Xbox One button is on the left and the PS4 button is on the right, divided by a slash.
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PROLOGUE
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This prologue serves as a tutorial for the game’s combat mechanics. First block all of your son’s attacks by tapping the Y/Triangle button when it appears above Talion’s head. Then lay into him with strikes when prompted to do so by pressing X/Square.
Uruks will then appear. Fight them off using the basics of combat and the game will continue to teach you more. When an enemy is on the ground, you can perform an execution by holding the right trigger and then pressing the attack button. You can sprint by holding A/X, and you can add a “tackle” to the end of that sprint by pressing the right bumper. The right bumper is also used to grab enemies if you wish to do so.
When that sequence is over, there will be a short scene before the next actual gameplay segment. This a cute little scene that shows you how to use stealth. Hold the right trigger to enter stealth mode. Use stealth mode to sneak up on your wife. Press the “attack” button to attempt to kiss her. Dawww. How romantic!
Next you have to use stealth for less-sexy purposes. Kill the nearest Uruk with a stealth kill. Then hang tight until the other two separate. Go for the one on your left first. Then kill the one on your right. Killing them all with stealth kills triggers yet another scene.
When that scene is over, tap the right bumper to re-forge. This opens the tower and unlocks the region. If you are familiar with the Assassin’s Creed series of games, it’s a similar concept to climbing the towers and scanning the area. Collectibles and other info will appear on your map once you have done this in any given area.
Anyway, jump off the top of this place the next time you have control of Talion. Push the left stick forward and then tap A/X to accomplish this. When you hit the ground, you will have four Uruks to fight. The Wraith (the spirit that is attached to Talion) grants you access to a bow. Hold the left trigger to aim the bow. You can then charge your shots with the right trigger and aim the cursor of the bow using the left stick.
Use the bow to pick off as many of the four Uruks as you can from long range. If they charge and get close, switch to melee combat. You will learn some of your other abilities by engaging them in melee fights, such as the Wraith Stun, which is accomplished by pressing B/Circle.
When these four Uruks are defeated, a fifth one will attack. You have to interrogate this one. Go up to him and hold the right bumper and then tap A/X. You only have one option in regards to this Uruk, which is to gain intel. This is the Nemesis system at work. You will learn about Gimub the Slaver, which unlocks him in the Sauron’s Army menu. Make Gimub your main target for now.
You are then given a brief explanation of the three different mission types in the game. There are Gold missions, which progress the main story. Then there are Red missions, which are “Power Struggles” that you can intervene in to shift the balance of power within the Uruk rankings. The White missions are side missions and collectibles. You can gain Mirian for completing those, which you use to purchase upgrades. Going through the Power Struggles will allow you to unlock completely new ability tiers to consider.
As of right now, there are two main missions available to you that can be completed in any order. For the purpose fo this guide, at any point that there are two main missions available at one time, I will be doing them in alphabetical order, so you may have to do some scrolling if you decided to do a different mission than I did and want information on that.
Right now you have two main missions available to you. They are The Slaver and The Spirit of Mordor. Let’s do The Slaver first.
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THE SLAVER
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A lot of missions in the game have bonus objectives to complete. The bonus objective here is to kill the four archers in the camp. Before doing that, however, you need to identify Gimub. Tap the left bumper to enter Wraith mode, and then push in the right stick to identify Gamub. This will give you some information about his strengths and his weaknesses as well.
Exit Wraith mode. Take a look to your left to see the first archer. Take him out with a shot from your bow. Climb up to where he was standing and look straight across for a second archer, who will be standing nearer to Gamub. Kill this archer with a charged range shot, then immediately take cover so that you don’t get seen.
The third archer will be to your left when facing the direction of the second archer you killed. Pop him off. Walk across the ropes that connect the various battlements. Kill any Uruks you see with ranged shots. The final archer is on the far end of the camp. Kill him, and then you are ready to take out Gamub.
Engage Gamub in any manner you wish. He’s not a hard fight. If you take him head on, anyone in the camp that you didn’t kill yet will rush the battle and join, but even then they are weaklings at this point in the game and you should be able to wipe them out with relative ease.
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THE SPIRIT OF MORDOR
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Go to Ratbag. The interrogation will begin as a cut-scene, but then you have to manually go to the soldier that is one rank higher than Ratbag in Sauron’s army. He is Goroth and he is a Caragor tamer that is hilariously afraid of Caragors.
Move with Ratbag. The two of you will reach some ruins. A bonus objective will appear that tasks you with making sure that Ratbag doesn’t get to 50% health or less. Don’t really worry about Ratbag as the enemies will mostly focus on you anyway, and there’s only a handful of them.
The toughest enemy here is the one with the shield. To deal with shielded enemies, you need to vault over them and attack them from behind. Kill all of the enemies here and then move with Ratbag until he climbs up on top of some more ruins and then stops. Goroth is in the nearby stronghold.
If the alarm is activated while you are in the stronghold, you will automatically fail this mission. Kill the nearest Uruk from afar, and then move along the ruins right outside the front of the stronghold. Get into the bushes when the coast is clear, and then create a distraction. To create a distraction, aim the bow and then tap Y/Triangle. Nearby enemies will be drawn to the noise. Do this on the far wall so you can climb over the side of the stairs.
Kill the two Uruks in the next room with the slaves. Then climb up the wall to the archer and kill him as well. This will trigger a cut-scene. When the cut-scene is over, head on to the hunting grounds. Go to the tower here so that you can reforge and activate your knowledge of this region. Goroth is also around here, so it is wide go here anyway. Point him out with your Wraith form, and then wait for him to go near the Caragor cage.
Shoot the Caragor cage with a charged shot to break the front of it. This will in turn release the beast and Goroth will run away screaming like an idiot. At that point you simply have to kill him. If you have the ability that allows you to ride Caragors, you can ride the Caragor and use it to kill him instantly.
Regardless, Goroth has to die. Killing him will trigger the cut-scene that ends the mission.
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AN INTERESTED PARTY
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Jump in and out of Wraith mode to follow the footsteps of Gollum. His footsteps will lead you to a slave being abused by some Uruks. The bonus objective of freeing four slaves pops up at this point. Kill the Uruks around this slave to check the first one off the list.
Now continue following the footprints. You will be able to see some slaves working nearby through the walls while in Wraith mode. You can easily kill the Uruks here with stealth kills. There is one archer standing on top of the ruins. Shoot the hive of Morgai Flies to get rid of him. When he’s dead, these other three slaves will be freed and the bonus objective will be complete.
Continue following Gollum’s footprints and you will be led to a pack of Uruks that are traveling together. You can easily weed them out with stealth kills as they walk up the hill. The last couple might notice you, and at that point you can just kill them and continue following the footsteps.
Gollum winds up leading you straight to a cave. Chase him into the cave and then the footsteps end at an object on the ground. Use the right bumper to pick up the object. This triggers a cut-scene. When the scene concludes, you will be aiming your bow in slow motion. Wait for the Caragor leaping at you to open its mouth a bit and then send an arrow flying straight into it to kill it with one hit. Most Caragors besides this one will take two headshots with the bow to kill, however.
Exit the cave through the other side to find a cluster of “hunter” type enemies. These enemies are distinct because of their weapon of choice. They use spears instead of the swords or bows that you’ve encountered so far. To dodge spears, simply roll out of the way when they are coming at you. The game will warn you when a spear is being thrown your way, so don’t stress about keeping an eye on them that much.
Try to pick these guys off at a distance at first. A Caragor will join the fight and help you attack them. When they’re all dead, the Caragor wil turn on you and try to fight you as well. It will also try to fight you if you hit it on accident, so be weary of that.
Killing all of these enemies will cause another cut-scene to occur and the mission itself will end as well.
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CLIMBING THE RANKS
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It seems that Ratbag has got himself into a bit of a pickle. And by “pickle”, I mean that they are straight up trying to decapitate him. What a bummer. Upon arriving at the area where Ratbag’s execution is taking place, immediately climb up on the nearest ridge and stealth kill the archer there.
From this position, you can kill the other three archers with arrow shots and not have to worry at all about being detected. Enter Wraith mode by tapping the left bumper and the other archers will be highlighted yellow, as the bonus objective is to kill them all without being detected.
When you kill the archers, you can then engage the enemies below in any manner that you wish. Brogg, the captain here, needs to be kept alive though, so try to just wear him down and kill the other enemies around there.
When you have lowered his health enough, a green skull will appear above Brogg’s head. Hold the right bumper to grab him and then choose to interrogate him. Unlock information about his leader, on the four warchiefs, and his apparent twin brother, Mogg. Check out Mogg’s strengths and weaknesses, and then exit the Sauron’s Army screen.
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SHATTERED MEMORIES
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Meet up with Gollum by the wagon. Follow him through the ruins. Stick behind cover with him when he does so. He will point out a couple of archers that are walking around at the top of the ruins. The bonus objective here is to kill them with headshots, so do your best to snag headshots on them.
Upon reaching the destination, enter Wraith mode and then follow the footsteps to find the next artifact. Pick it up. A scene will trigger, and then you will be introduced to a new enemy type.
These enemies are called Ghuls. They are easily killed, but they swarm you in large numbers, and that can spell trouble for Talion. Honestly, the fastest way to kill them is to let them swarm you and just mash on the attack button, but if Talion’s health gets low, make a break for one of the crates around here and climb on top of it.
On top of the crate, you can just drain the Ghuls and refill Talion’s health. After that, it is safe to hop down and continue attacking them and killing them. During all of this, Talion will learn a new ability called Wraith Flash. For Xbox, you need to press A and X together simultaneously to use the Wraith Flash ability, which will knock back as well as kill the Ghuls that are directly next to Talion.
Killing all the Ghuls will complete this mission.
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THE OUTCASTS
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Meet with Hirgon at the designated location. Then follow him to the first area that has the herbs you need to make the poison. You can stealth kill the enemies here or you can engage them directly. The latter option will see Hirgon join you in battle, but be careful about that as he can take damage and die, which will result in you failing the mission.
To find the herbs that you need, activate Wraith mode. The herbs will be highlighted in a gold light to separate them from the other herbs lying around. You can collect them the same way that you collect any of the other herbs in the game. Simply approach them and then press the right bumper.
With the first three herbs collected, follow Hirgon to the second location. Here there will be a Caragor and two more herbs. The Caragor will sniff you out if you get too close, so I suggest killing it from afar and then collecting the two herbs. With those two collected, follow Hirgon to the third and final area.
This third area doesn’t have any threats, just three more herbs to collect. When you have the three more herbs, that will be enough to make the poison. Now go with Hirgon to the fortress. Your goal is to place the poison in five separate barrels of grog while not being detected. If you are seen, then you will automatically fail the mission. The bonus objective is to stealth kill at least five enemies.
The first enemy you need to deal with is the archer in the closest battlement. Wait for him to turn his back and then climb up and stealth kill him. Drop down and start making your way to the first grog barrel, ignoring the enemies around the camp fire.
There are slaves and enemies everywhere. You can free some slaves by killing the enemies that are in charge of them if you so desire, but be sure to do so with stealth kills as to avoid detection.
The first grog barrel you’ll see will be on a bridge guarded by two enemies. Fire a distraction arrow in front of the barrel. That will allow you to sneak up on the first one, stealth kill him, and then stealth kill the one closest to the first barrel with no trouble. Drop the poison into the grog by pressing the right bumper.
Turn around and move towards the caged Caragor. There is another vat of grog right near here, so dump some poison into it. Keep going this way until you see a hive. Below the hive is another vat. Use a distraction arrow to make sure the nearby enemies are looking in the wrong direction, then drop down and poison this vat.
On top of the building that the hive is attached to is an archer. Climb up there and then kill him. The other enemies in this area will start to thin out from eating the grog, so don’t get into a rush.
Stealth kill any remaining enemies, or pick them off from afar with your bar. Drop into the pit and drop poison into the next vat. One more left. Return to the bridge, drop down, and then place the poison in. Use any distraction arrows if needed to get enemies looking the other way.
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THE ONE TRUTH
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This is another Gollum mission. When it starts off, follow Gollumn’s footprints through the ruins. You will end up seeing a Graug. You don’t stand a chance of killing the Graug, but you need to get into its lair.
The game will point you directly to what you need to shoot at in order to lure the Graug away. Take the shot and then immediately start sprintingo the mouth of the cave. You only have 20 seconds to get there. The Elven Swiftness ability makes this mission and the bonus objective that is added to it later a lot easier, so I highly recommend looking into purchasing that ability if at all possible.
Once inside the lair, follow the footprints some more until you reach a room full of footprints moving in a lot of different directions. The footprints that go up the wall are the ones you want to pay attention to. Follow them up the wall and they will lead you to the next artifact. Collect it and then Ghuls will swarm into the place as well as the Graug.
A new ability is learned at this point called Shadow Strike. For the cost of two Elf-shot arrows, you can teleport to any enemy that you hit. Instead of pressing the attack button when aiming the bow, press the dodge button to use the Shadow Strike ability.
Use it on the Ghuls to zip out of this cave. You have two minutes to escape the lair, but the bonus objective is to get out of there in under one minute.
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THE WARCHIEF
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When you arrive at the stronghold to fight Mogg the Other Twin, the Warchief that Ratbag wants to kill, you will be introduced to new enemy types called Berserkers. These are the “heavy” enemy types and they need to be stunned first or else they will just block and counter all of your attacks. You can stun them using the B button on Xbox or the Circle button on PlayStation. Other enemies can be stunned as well, which opens them up to critical attacks.
The bonus objective is to kill one of the two Berserkers using a ledge kill. Ledge kills are activated by first hanging on a ledge near an enemy, holding in the right trigger, and then tapping the attack button like you would perform a stealth kill.
Climb up the nearby fortification unseen, then aim the camera so that one of the two Berserkers are highlighted. You will be able to tell they are Berskers because they are bigger than the usual enemies and they are carrying around two hatches. Hold the right trigger and then press either the Y button or the Triangle button to draw their attention.
When one gets close enough, execute the ledge kill. Then kill the other Berserker as well. Killing them both will draw the attention of Mogg the Other Twin into the battle.
Mogg himself is not all that tough of an opponent, but he will be joined by plenty of his followers and the fight can get a bit overwhelming. If you drop in health, there are herbs around here, marked on your map, that you can retreat to and utilize in order to stay alive for this battle.
You should have information by now that will tell you that Mogg is weak to ranged attacks. Use the ranged attacks on him at a distance, then go in close and just wail into him and you should do fine. Just watch out for the other enemies there and be ready to counter and dodge their attacks as needed.
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UNTOUCHABLE
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You should be familiar with this stronghold. It is the one that you attacked during the mission called “The Outcasts”. You return to it here, but this time you have a goal of killing 20 enemies without taking any damage. This is what you need to do in order to draw out the next Warchief, Buth Sword Master.
Obviously the best way to go about this is to stick to stealth as much as possible. You can technically complete this objective and still be seen without failing, but it is extremely easier to just go around the camp slowly and pick off the enemies with stealth kills and ranged headshots.
Seek out the captains especially. Buth is hard enough to deal with in a head-to-head fight without having to deal with his captains, so try to thin them out first. When Buth does finally arrive, you will immediately notice something about him that makes him especially formidable: his sword is tipped with poison.
If hit by his sword, you will start to suffer from the effects of it and your health will constantly drain for a short period of time. This is why it is vital to make sure Buth doesn’t hit you with his sword. Trouble is, Buth is strong against ranged attacks and is in fact IMMUNE to them, so that is off the table.
Again, the best bet is a stealthy approach. A stealth kill on Buth will kill him in one hit. He has a tendency to walk around and mumble to himself, so try to take advantage of a situation where he is alone and then sneak up on him and end his miserable existence. Another Warchief in the books.
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FINISH THEM
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This Warchief won’t show his face until you defeat five of his loyal supporters in open combat. That means stealth is not an option for this mission. You have to not only engage them in open combat, but you must also perform either ground or standing executions on them when you kill them, and you must do this to five of them.
This can be extremely difficult because while you are focusing on killing his supporters, there will be a ton of other enemies around you as well, and they will also probably be able to sound the alarm and constantly draw waves of enemies to you.
Retreat to herbs if you need to. Keep at it until finally Kruk appears. Kruk has a crossbow as well as a poison-tipped blade. I found that blasting him with charged shots from afar was a very effective way of dealing with him. Six charged shots will take his health down almost all of the way.
Kruk is surrounded by his bodyguard captains a lot of the time. You can try to fight them as well, but that will make this battle much harder. Honestly, they are better off ignored for now because they’re just going to split and run off anyway after you kill Kruk successfully.
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CRY HAVOC
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35 enemies need to be killed after the alarm is sound in the fortress. So just run up and start attacking them. Let the enemies sound the alarm, and then start laying waste to them all as they start showing up in waves.
When 35 are killed, Stakuga Jaws will introduce himself. This terrifying monstrosity will automatically block any attempts at stealth killing him. Really the only way to take him out is with ranged attacks of the charged up variety.
Just let him chase you throughout the compound. Get up to high areas and collect the Elf-Shots as you go. Charge up, shoot him in the head, and then flee when he gets too close. It is a long process, but it is by far the safest way to handle Stakuga. His attacks will take your health down to practically nothing, and that is just one swipe. He has a shield and will pretty much always block any attempts to vault over him as well.
Caragors will piss him off, so don’t get any Caragors involved. They will distract him, but they will also just make his attack go up.
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THE DARK MONUMENT
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Before starting this mission, you need to kill four Warchiefs. You can choose to kill all five of them if you so wish. To find the Warchiefs, interrogate enemies that have intel. Then complete their missions.
Anyway, when you have killed enough of the Warchiefs, you will then meet back up with Hirgon. Follow him to the first location that you need to kill all of the enemies at, and then do just that. Follow him to the next location and repeat the process. This is also where you will find the wagon.
In the midst of all this, you will realize that the Ghuls are now openly fighting the Uruks. There are a couple of sections where you will have to battle the Ghuls as well and defend Hirgon from them as he is pretty useless at fighting the Ghuls himself.
Escort the wagon into the stronghold and protect it from the enemies. Archers will show up and a bonus objective of getting headshots on them will also pop up as well. Kill the archers and continue to protect the wagon from any damage it may sustain.
Eventually, it will fall on Talion to push the wagon to the monument. Hold the right bumper when standing behind the wagon to begin pushing it forward towards the monument. If you reach the monument with the wagon, there will be an explosion.
This mission combined with the previous three Warchief battles actually only counts as one singular mission, by the way. The Warchief murders are side things that you can do as a part of the “Power Struggles”, which you can read more about in that specific section of the guide.
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THE BLACK CAPTAIN
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This is a boss fight with “The Hammer”, also known as The Black Captain. You fight him in the area where you just pushed the wagon and made it blow up the Dark Monument.
Compared to some of the Warchiefs that you had to fight, going against The Black Captain is actually not that difficult in the grand scheme of things. He has a more complicated attack pattern, but his attacks generally do less damage and he himself is much easier to damage than some of the Warchiefs.
He has a variety of magical attacks. He can slam the ground and send a shockwave, and he can also shoot projectiles, the latter of which he mainly uses to disrupt your bow use.
Whenever his weapon flashes with flames, that means he’s about to hit you with an attack that can’t be countered, so get ready to roll out of the way. Typically, he will stick to attacks that CAN be countered, so don’t sweat it too much.
The easiest way to defeat him is to just spam bow shots at his face. There’s plenty of Elf-Shot lying all over the place for you to collect. The downside to this is that if you try to climb too high up, you will be forced back down as you will be outside of the mission parameters. Regardless, take advantage of “Focus” so that you can nail him in the face and don’t have to worry about being hit by any Uruks that are walking around.
When his health is extremely low, he will kneel on the ground. Approach him then to trigger his death sequence. You have to move the icon into the circle on the screen like you would if you were performing a “Last Chance”. A Last Chance is when Talion is downed and if you are able to push the cursor into the circle and then hit the button that pops up fast enough and successfully, Talion will be given a second chance at life. Anyway, this is the same concept of that, except you are using the gameplay mechanic to perform an execution rather than save Talion from being killed.
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THE MESSENGER
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Starting this mission will take you to the second major region of the game. This region comes with it’s own hierachy of Sauron’s Army, so it’s like starting from scratch in that regard.
You can’t really explore the region just yet, but you should hit the closest tower as it is on the way to your objective. Your objective is to reach a wagon, the only thing left of a caravan of enemies that have been killed by ghuls.
Enter the Wraith world using the left bumper and start following the ghul tracks. They cross right into a small area of about five or six enemies that you can slaughter or ignore as you wish. Keep following the tracks and they will lead you to a lair of ghuls.
You aren’t supposed to be seen by any of the ghuls, as they will then attack you in a large swarm that is difficult to fight off. Unlike previous stealth missions in this game, you don’t fail the mission if the ghuls see you; instead you will have to stop them from escaping.
Ghuls that try to escape will be marked by the “beast claws” that are often seen above caragors; basically just three red slashes. If you do get seen, then these ghuls need to be killed immediately because if they escape, you will fail the mission.
It’s actually extremely easy to just move through the area in stealth and not be seen by ghuls. The only rough patch comes up when there path forks, with a hall full of ghuls and an artifact on the left. Grab the artifact and then climb up the wall here and quickly move on.
Upon reaching the artifact in this cave, collect it and you will then be thrust into a boss battle of sorts against the Ghul Matron. This is an extra powerful ghul that has the ability to poison you. For the first half of the fight, it will just be you and the Ghul Matron one on one, but other ghuls will be added to the battle shortly.
I recommend pelting him with as much elf-shot as you can at first. Engaging him in melee combat is a bit tedious, but it is also one of the more effective ways to deal with him and not take damage yourself. The trick is to hit him twice and then immediately dodge out of the way as he will almost always use a powerful attack that can’t be countered. He will sometimes do smaller attacks that CAN be countered, but these are few and far between for this battle.
Killing the Ghul Matron doesn’t signify the end of the mission. You then are given two minutes to escape from the cave. There is a bonus objective here as well to kill at least 30 ghuls with fire. This is extremely easy. Just run up to a campfire, lure the ghuls near it, and then shoot the fire with your elf-shot to cause it to explode and kill them. Repeat the process until you have killed 30 ghuls in this fashion and then exit the cave before the timer hits 0.
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QUEEN OF THE SHORE
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Queen of ‘da Shore!!! Ahem. Anyway, you have two minutes to reach the destination, and you can’t be spotted. There aren’t a lot of enemies out and about anyway, but there will be a patrol of three you come across moving in a single file line. Just pick them off one at a time and make your way to the wagon. There are archers positioned, but you should be able to reach the objective before they are able to spot you.
When the cut-scene is over, you have a new primary objective as well as a new bonus objective. The primary objective is to brand six archers, and your bonus objective is to brand six of them within three minutes.
This is actually very easy to do. You can’t get spotted, but even then, it is a walk in the park. To perform a branding, hold the right trigger and press B if playing on Xbox or Circle if playing on PlayStation. Stealth brands are what you will want to do for this part.
When they’re all branded, push “up” on the d-pad to activate them. Then fight alongside your archers to kill all of the enemies here. Reinforcements will be called to the location, so continue fighting alongside your mind-controlled archers to take out the enemies that show up.
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THE POWER OF THE WRAITH
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The plan now is to build an army of Uruks so that you can better take on the forces of darkness. To do this, you have to have an enemy under your control rise through the ranks and become a Warchief like you did for Ratbag in the other region of the game.
The way you go about it this time is a little bit different, however. First you must locate the captain, Grublik the Follower. Once you’ve found him, murder everyone that is around him and then beat him down until his skull is green.
Grab him and then “dominate” him like you would if you were gaining intel from an enemy. There will now be an option to take control of him. Do this and then go to the sight of his “Recruitment” mission. Recruitment missions are Power Struggle missions and you may have encountered them before.
The gist of the Recruitment missions is that you follow around whoever is doing the recruiting for their cause and protect them from death. There is a bonus objective of staying above Grublik as you follow him around that you can easily complete just by sticking to the top of the ruins. Use your bow to kill the enemies from above that try to resist. There may be a lull in enemies popping up, and in that case I found that they would start to appear if I just hid behind a wall. Furthermore, Grublik’s followers may take notice of you and try to kill you, so you should press “up” on the d-pad at that point to “activate” them or just hide behind a wall until they continue to the next recruiting area.
Once the recruitment has finished, Grublik will become bodyguard to Tarz the Knife, the first Warchief you fight in this area. Sneak your way to the vantage point that is designated in his fortress. You can be seen as long as you reach the vantage point before the alarm is sound.
Press up on the d-pad to then activate Grublik and watch as he starts to battle Tarz. Tarz is immune to ranged attacks, so drop down and get in on the action yourself. You will have Grublik and all of his allies helping you in this battle as well, so it’s actually very easy to kill Tarz.
Completing this mission unlocks an overall objective of “branding” the other four Warchiefs. So this time you do have to interact with every Warchief in the region to advance the story to its conclusion.
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THE CURE
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The goal here is to infiltrate the fortress, clear three separate areas without raising the alarm, and then also brand five enemies using stealth brand attacks. The latter objective is the bonus objective for this mission in particular.
The first area just has a few enemies standing around. I recommend going to the rooftops, branding some archers stealthily, and then calling upon them to serve as a distraction and help you pick off the enemies. The archers are really invaluable here, as they will pick off enemies that try to light the beacon, which in turn is what raises the alarm.
After clearing the first area of all enemies, head to the second area. This place is a fenced-in area that has a Caragor caged up. Release the Caragor and brand the archers near here and this place is easy pickings. When that’s done with, head to the third place, which features a powerful captain.
Brand more archers, and then fire a distraction arrow so all the enemies are looking away. Either brand or stealth kill as many of his people as you can, then use slow-mo arrow shots to pick off the rest of them. When you have no one around to run to the beacon with a torch, turn your attention to the captain and kill him.
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BIG GAME
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Meet up with Torvin so that he can teach you about taming caragors. At this stage in the game, you probably have already done this yourself, but just humor Torvin for the time being.
Follow him until you see a wild caragor. Run over to it and dodge any of its heavy attacks. When the counter button pops up, tap it. You’ll then have a chance to tame the beast by mashing on whatever button pops up on screen, and then performing something similar to how the Last Chance gameplay mechanic works in this game.
Upon doing this successfully, you will now have full control of a caragor. The bonus objective of killing more enemies than Torvin will then pop up, and this bonus objective will extend from now until the end of the mission.
You can attack with your sword, your bow, or with the caragor. To heal the caragor, “bite” enemies and hold down the bite button to consume them, which will heal any damage the caragor has taken.
After killing the first batch of enemies, follow Torvin to an area with more enemies as well as three archers. You are instructed to take out the three archers, so do that first and then help Torvin thin out the rest of the enemies that are here.
When that’s done, go with Torvin to a large patrol of enemies. Stay on the ridge and pick off the shielded ones with your bow before hopping down and killing the rest with the caragor.
One of the enemies will try to make a break for it and get reinforcements. Chase him down and kill him before he can escape. Return to the area where you left Torvin, and you will find that is gone. Enter the Wraith World and follow the footprints to find Torvin being attacked by two enemies.
The game then teaches you how to hop off the caragor and tackle enemies to the ground. To do this, hold the right trigger and press the attack button on a highlighted enemy. Kill the two enemies that are attacking Torvin to complete the mission.
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HUNTING PARTNERS
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Return to Torvin and follow him to the area where the Graug appears. Wait for it to kill the Uruks, and then hide in the bushes and watch it. When it starts to eat, move behind it in stealth mode and then press the attack button, while holding in the right trigger, to start “bleeding” the Graug.
This will attract Caragors to the Graug’s location. Mount one of the caragors and then use it to make the Graug chase you to the designated location where Torvin is going to distract it. When the Graug is distracted by Torvin, turn around, charge a shot completely, and then blast the Graug directly in the head.
This will stun the creature. A short scene will play, after which Torvin will realize that the Graug is not dead yet. Hop off your caragor and go to the Graug. Mount it. Complete the QTEs that follow. These will consist of holding in the right bumper when prompted and pressing the counter button when prompted as well.
With the graug mounted, you can then use it to kill the Uruks that show up. The bonus objective is to eat the Uruks using the Graug, which is an easy bonus objective to accomplish. The controls for a Graug are very similar to the controls for a caragor, so this should be even easier since you just did a caragor mission.
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THE GREAT WHITE GRAUG
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First time a caragor. Then go with Torvin to the lair of graug that killed his old partner.
Unfortunately, you have to fight the beast by yourself. If it steps on you, you will immediately die. So yeah, we can’t have any of that, now can we?
To hurt the graug, make it chase after you by running away from it. It will then roar and the camera will zoom in on its face. That is an indication that you need to shoot it in the head as it is charging at you. A charged shot is not necessary. Dodge out of the way as soon as you hit it in the head, and then it will smash into a wall.
This will stun the graug. Go over to it and press the right bumper to do an attack and deal some damage.
Some ghuls will pop out of the ground and start fighting the graug, but they are really just dinner for him. The bonus objective pops up to shoot at least three ghuls out of his hand. To do this, you can either shoot his hand or shoot his head after he picks up a ghul. If he eats a ghul, this will replenish some of his health.
Stand by one of the infinite elf-shot reservers that are dotted all over this area and just kill the ghuls from afar with quick shots. When they’re all dead, the cycle will repeat itself until the graug is dead.
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THE RESCUE
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When you arrive at the fortress, your first goal is to brand six enemies without raising the alarm. This is very simple to do. Climb the nearest battlement and get two just off the connected rooftops. Then drop down behind the crate with the blue tarp on it, get two more here, and then the next two are just up the next ramp. Simple.
When that’s done, go to Lithariel. She will be surrounded by various enemies that you either have to brand or kill. Take them out and then go to her and hold the right bumper to start dragging her out of the place.
At each objective marker, you will need to drop Lithariel and kill all of the enemies that show up to try to kill her, you, and the enemies that you have “bound”.
Just keep killing the enemies and moving forward with Lithariel until you finally manage to get her out of there.
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CLEANSING FLAMES
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These next few missions are all about branding Warchiefs. In the previous region, you had to kill them, but now you have to brand them. Your missions may be a little different than the ones I encounter based on how you have influenced the ranks of the Uruks so far. Furthermore, if you screw up and kill one of the Warchiefs, or something else happens to them, you will have to brand whoever takes his place. If a branded Warchief of yours dies, you will have to brand another one. Five most be branded by you simultaneously in order to unlock the final main story mission of the game.
To lure out the Warchief, burn his supporters. Do this by shooting fires around them or barrels of grog. When five have been burned, he will show himself.
Retreat to the rooftops and hide. When he’s underneath of you, perform a stealth brand. That will be the second Warchief that is under your control. Three left!
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HUNT THE HUNTERS
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For this one, you simply have to kill five Hunter type enemies. Uthug will show up. He’s afraid of fire, so blow something up around him and he will then start to run away. Chase him down, grab him, and brand him.
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DEAD SHOT
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Kill archers to draw out Ishmoz. He is afraid of betrayal, so get a branded soldier near him and he will flee. Chase him down and brand him as well.
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UNTOUCHABLE II
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Just like the first untouchable, kill enemies without being hit. This will draw out Narug. Beat him down to the point that you are able to grab him, and then brand him.
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LORD OF MORDOR
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When you arrive on the shore, you will be against a small army of Uruks, but you have the Warchiefs you branded with you at least. There is a single enemy here that is about Warchief level that has to be defeated before you can progress.
Defeat these enemies and then move deeper into the fortress. When the scene is over, you will have to destroy “The Tower”, represented by the second Black Captain.
To hurt him, sneak up behind him and then perform a stealth drain. Do this to him three times. If you need to locate him, enter Wraith World and he will be pointed out to you through the walls.
Do this three times. You will then hear Ioreth singing. Go to her and then hold the B/Circle button when it pops up on the screen until the meter has been completely filled.
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MORDOR IN FLAMES
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You will begin this fighting against the five Talons of the Black Hand. They are like Warchiefs. You will once again have your own Warchiefs to back you up in this battle, and you even start the battle on the back of a freaking caragor!
Kill the five Talons of the Black Hand. Then you will be thrust into a series of QTEs after you have climbed the tower. Complete the QTEs and you will have successfully beaten all of the main story missions in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor!
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3. Outcast Rescue Missions
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To unlock Outcast Rescue Missions, you must free groups of slaves from the Uruk that are forcing them to work. However, they have to be very specific groups of slaves.
Slave groups that can be rescued and will then reward you with a new Outcast Rescue Mission are the ones that are marked on the map with a small white fist. Go to these groups, attack the Uruk there, and let the slaves run free. Doing this will unlock a new Outcast Rescue Mission in the region.
Outcast Rescue Missions are all the same thing, more or less. You are tasked with freeing slaves from posts, with an added bonus objective that is usually just requiring you to kill Uruks in a specific manner.
To free slaves from posts, approach their post and press the right bumper. The bonus objectives for these missions are all self-explanatory.
Since these missions are all really self-explanatory, I am simply providing checklists of the missions for each of the two major regions in the game, which are Urdun and the Sea of Nurden, so you can keep track of which of the Outcast Rescue Missions that you have completed, as they are unlocked out of order in the main game.
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URDUN
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Urdun is the first region that you play in Middle-earth.
[ ] The Fallen
[ ] Shattered
[ ] Resistance
[ ] Hold Your Tongue
[ ] Unleashed
[ ] Over the Edge
[ ] Worked to Death
[ ] Drink Up
[ ] Venom
[ ] Borrowed Blades
[ ] The Watcher
[ ] The Uprising
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SEA OF NURDEN
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The Sea of Nurden is the second major region in the game. You unlock it by progressing naturally through the main story of the game. Afterwards, you are able to freely fast travel between the two regions.
[ ] The Name of Power
[ ] The Evil Eye
[ ] The Hunger
[ ] Unchained
[ ] The Stand
[ ] In the Flesh
[ ] Last Hope
[ ] Unbroken
[ ] Light in the Darkness
[ ] Nowhere to Hide
[ ] Weapons of War
[ ] To Freedom
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4. Legends
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Legends are challenges that test your ability with Talion’s three different weapons. Talion’s weapons are his sword, his bow, and his dagger. Each weapon has 10 different Legends associated with it.
Explore new areas and complete missions in the main story to unlock the legends. Urdun and Sea of Nurnen both have legends for you to complete.
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SWORD LEGENDS
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Talion’s main weapon in hand-to-hand combat is his sword, which he can use to execute enemies in mid-combo.
ARISE
—–
You are in a small cave and 40 Uruks burst in. You have to kill 40 of them. Bonus objective is to combat drain (A+B or X + Square, depending on platform, will later be known as “combat brand” depending on how far along you are in the main story). You don’t have to kill them with your sword. You can wipe out almost all of them just blowing up the barrels of grog in the cave, which you would do with your bow, so keep that in mind if you are having troubles with this one.
BANE OF SHADOW
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There are three “elite” guards throughout the fortress. Each is guarded by two huge shielded enemies. Just run to each one, kill them in any manner, and then run to the next. You can do this stealthily or just go in, uh, “swords blazing” and either way you will do just fine.
CUTTING THE LINES
—————–
There is a group of Uruks that are getting trained. Kill all of them. Also kill at least 5 of them with combat executions, which are performed using either A + B or X + Circle depending on your platform of choice.
INTO THE PIT
————
You have to kill 50 Uruks, and you have a bonus objective of getting a 100 hit combo. All told, this is just a mindless bloodbath. If you get close to 100 and you are nervous about getting hit and losing your combo, whip out your bow for some easy additions to your combo streak.
NAMELESS THINGS
—————
You have to go into a cave and kill three nests worth of ghuls. The bonus objective is to kill at least 10 ghuls with a single use of Wraith Flash. Wraith Flash is activated by pressing A + X or alternatively X + Square if you are playing on PlayStation.
Nest by nest, just wipe out the ghuls. After wiping out the third nest, a Ghul Matron will show up, along with an endless swarm of smaller ghuls. If you kill the Ghul Matron, the mission will be completed.
POWER OF THE ONE
—————-
Before you can do this mission, you must have the Dispatch ability first. When you have that, this mission will unlock on the Sea of Nurnen map. Go to the battle area and fight with the Uruks, branding a few of them.
The goal here is to have 10 Uruks die by a branded Uruk killing them. Get five combat brands in as quickly as possible, and then just watch the hell break loose.
When the 10 limit has been reached, press the “down” button on the d-pad to dispatch of them, killing all of the Uruks in the area that you have under your brand control.
THE DARK RIDER
————–
Mount the caragor. Tame it, and then head to one of the three execution areas. You have about three minutes to kill every Uruk at each execution. Rush in with your caragor and kill them. You should try to keep the caragor alive as long as possible due to travel purposes, but if it dies, you will not fail the mission. The bonus objective is to use the “bite” attack to kill at least five Uruks. The bit eon the caragor will heal it, so that the bonus objective is ideal for keeping the thing alive.
THE FELL BEAST
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The first objective here is to mount the caragor. Just tap the right bumper to accomplish this. Tame the beast and then head off for the first of the three Uruk patrols. You can go to them in any order. Just pick one and sprint there immediately.
Your goal is to get rid of the three patrols within three minutes. Each patrol consists of three Uruks. You don’t have to kill every Uruk in each patrol; you can instead just scare them off by killing their friends. However, a bonus objective is to kill 5 Uruks with the “bite” attack of the caragor. To use the bite attack, knock an enemy down and then press Y/Triangle.
It is worth noting that you can accumulate the kills for the bonus objective with Uruks that aren’t even a part of the patrols. Time is of the essence though, so keep an eye on the patrols. When a patrol is considered disbanded, you should start heading immediately to the next one. Don’t fret too much about completing the bonus objective because you can easily do it within the first two patrol encounters.
THE RED TIDE
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Kill groups of Uruks at the docks. There is a bonus objective to melee execute the “Defenders” at each area. The Defenders, by the way, are the big dudes with the shields and spears and everything.
THEY SHALL NOT PASS
——————-
A couple waves of Uruks will attempt to cross the bridge. Among them will be a couple of “torchbearers”. You will know when there are torchbearers because they will be highlighted yellow with objective markers above their heads.
Kill the torchbearers with ranged, charged shots with your bow, and then take out all the other enemies just using your sword. What I like to do is brand the enemies, which seems to make less spawn, so you have a pretty easy time of just standing there and letting the timer of three minutes run down.
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BOW LEGENDS
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A spiritual elven bow, aiming Talion’s bow allows him to “focus” and slow down time around him, which in turn allows him to get critical hits on most enemies. Mastering the bow is a major key to mastering combat in Middle-earth.
A ELBERETH GILTHONIEL
———————
Archers will come in from both sides. You have an infinite supply of Elf-Shot in the tent you’re standing in. You are to kill all of the archers while also shooting for the bonus objective of getting 10 headshots on them. While you have Focus, this is really easy. When your Focus runs out, take cover and wait for it to replenish.
JAWS OF STEEL
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In this mission, you are to kill the 10 marked guards while staying within the green radius. There is plenty of Elf-Shot, so there is no trouble here. You can shoot down the bait to attract caragors. Do this and let the caragors kill five Uruks (doesn’t have to be the marked ones) and you will complete the bonus objective for this as well.
SHADOW AND FLAME
—————-
30 Uruks must be killed by shooting barrels of grog. The bonus objective is to do this without taking any damage yourself. Just hang tight behind cover and wait for them to line up around the grog barrels. Then blast them away. You might even get 10 with a single barrel explosion, and there’s more than enough grog barrels all over the place for you to complete this objective.
SHADOW UNDER SIEGE
——————
You have to stay within the green radius that is outlined on your map. You have to kill 10 of the designated enemies within the fortress’s walls, while simultaneously dealing with the enemies that come rushing out to attack you. You can utilize explosive barrels to wipe out the vast majority of them, and in fact, burning them is part of a side objective anyway, so just shoot any of the barrels visible from your location and you should not only be able to kill the majority of the targeted enemies that you are supposed to kill, but also satisfy the requirements of the bonus objective as well.
SWIFT MERCY
———–
There are a bunch of Uruks that are vomiting and deathly ill. Help them out by putting them out of their misery using the bow. This mission tasks you with killing 15 of them with “quick shots” and the bonus objective is to kill at least four without leaving focus.
This is actually very easy. A “quick shot” refers to when you don’t charge your bow. So simply pop off quit shots in succession to take out the Uruks. When you need more ammunition, there’s plenty of Elf Shot lying around here so that you can replenish your supply of arrows.
THE EYE OF VENGEANCE
——————–
You need close range bow kills. Five of them. And you have a minute to run around and do it. Easy. Just get real close to one, aim the bow, blast an enemy in the head. Then go to the next enemy, get close, blast them in the head. Shouldn’t even have to replenish your supply of arrows.
THERE IS NO ESCAPE
——————
In order to this mission, you must first have the Pin in Place ability. I also recommend you have the Shadow Mount ability, as it makes this mission an absolute cake walk.
The bonus objective is to pin at least three of the Uruks in place before they reach their destination. The main objective is to just kill all of them. Shadow Mount the Graug that they are running from, then use it to kill them all. With the Graug, these Uruks don’t stand a ghost’s chance in hell of getting out of this alive.
THE SECRET FLAME
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For this mission, you need to kill 50 ghuls using explosive barrels. Run into the ghul lair and then lead them into the room with all of the grog barrels. Let a bunch amass around a single barrel, and then blow them to hell. Keep doing this and you should be fine. The bonus objective is to only use five barrel explosions to kill all 50, which is actually very easy to accomplish if you really let a ton run into the room before you start blowing things up.
THE SPIRIT OF FIRE
——————
To do this mission, you must first have purchased the ability to use fire arrows with your bow. Once you have fire arrows, this is just a test to see if you can kill five Uruks with fire arrows. Spoilers, you can definitely do that, and easily so.
To use fire arrows, you must first have a Hit Combo up. You know you have a Hit Combo because the number representing your combo will be blood red. Then pull out the bow and instead of pulling the right trigger to fire an arrow, push the right bumper to shoot a fire arrow.
You can charge the shots as normal by holding in the right trigger before unleashing the fire arrow. Enemies hit with fire arrows will die from burning to death shortly after being hit, even if your initial attack did not kill them.
In addition, there is a bonus objective to light barrels of grog on fire. Get in combat, get a Hit Combo, and then light the various barrels in the area on fire before fighting and killing the Uruks with the fire arrows in order to complete this bonus objective.
THE STORM OF WAR
—————-
Mount the Caragor. The bonus objective is to complete this mission within five minutes, which is extremely doable, especially since you can keep draining your caragor to replenish your arrows.
The goal is to kill 10 scouts while riding on the back of the caragor. Replenish your supply of arrows when it gets low by draining your caragor of its health, but be careful about it taking damage. If the caragor takes too much damage and dies, then you fail the mission.
There are three scouting parties, each consisting of four Uruks. This means that you don’t even have to kill everyone in each scouting party to complete it. Just wipe out the first eight that are a part of the first two scouting parties, and then just snag the last two from afar in the third scouting party. Easy.
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DAGGER LEGENDS
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The dagger is what’s left of the sword that Talion’s son used to fight. The dagger is used in stealth kills.
A KNIFE IN THE DARK
——————-
There are some ruins with various enemies around it. You have to either kill them or stealth brand them. Stealth brand at least five to complete the bonus objective. Stick to the heights of the ruins as much as possible and just go about it slow and calculating and you will be fine.
CLEAR THE SKIES
—————
Stealth kill 10 archers and ledge kill 5 of those 10. Due to the verticality of this particular fortress, this is a cakewalk. Hang from ledges, attract archers to you, repeat. You can get seen as long as no one sets off the alarm and you won’t fail the mission.
DEATHLY WHISPER
—————
You have to kill 5 Uruks while they are investigating your position. The bonus objective is to do this while also avoiding detection. To get an enemy to check out your location, hold the right trigger, highlight an enemy, and then tap Y/Triangle. Hide, wait for them to approach your position, and then stealth kill them quickly.
DISPLAY OF POWER
—————-
There is a specific guard on a stage (of sorts) that you need to kill using a brutal execution. The bonus objective is to stealth kill five Uruks. Simply move along the rooftops and take out the archers with stealth kills and you will satisfy the bonus objective easily.
When you near the building that the guard is standing by, use your bow to pick off any remaining archers that may be looking for you. Then go to the roof right above the guard’s head, aim at him, hold the right trigger, and then perform the brutal stealth kill in front of all of his followers.
You can technically be seen and still complete this mission, but it is much more annoying. You will fail the mission if someone manages to get to the alarm, however.
FATAL SECRETS
————-
This stealth mission may remind you a lot of many of the missions in Assassin’s Creed IV. In it, you follow and listen to people! There is a Messenger that you need to follow. Get as close to him as possible, keep the camera trained on the Uruks he talks to, and then these Uruks, the “intel” ones, will be marked. The messenger will then move on.
Kill the marked Uruks. Do a lethal shadow strike to at least two of them to get the bonus objective completed. There are four total targets for the messenger to listen to. Wait and make sure the messenger and all of his bodyguards leave the area before you engage and kill the Uruk that they gave the intel to.
When all four of the “worms” are dead, you will then be tasked with “shooting the messenger”, so to speak. The stipulation that was previously held on this mission will be lifted. You can now be detected without having to worry about failing the mission. Chase the messenger down and murder him to complete the mission.
SHADOW AND STEEL
—————-
There are five defenders that need to be stealth killed without the alarm in this fortress being raised. The bonus objective is to accomplish this while killing at least three Uruks (doesn’t have to be the Defenders) with the Strike from Above ability.
The nearest Defender will be standing around with a couple of Uruks. This guy is one of the more difficult to kill without being detected. Fire some distraction arrows so that everyone is looking away from him, then try to sneak up from behind or drop down on him to kill him.
Shimmy along the outer edge of these docks and lure the Defenders and anyone around them away from their friends so that you can just pick them off one by one throughout the fortress.
THE DARKNESS WITHIN
——————-
This is a multi-objective mission that may test your patience. The first part is to get to the executioner area without being detected. The trick to this is to take the zipline down, then stick to the top of the ruins. There will be two Uruks that may pose an annoyance. Use a distraction arrow to make them look the other way and then climb up to the top of the tallest tower in the fortress.
Next you have to brand seven archers without being detected. Just stick to the outer walls of the fortress. Shimmy along and brand each archer as you go. Brand any other Uruks walking around as well just for the hell of it.
Once all seven are branded, wait for the patrol to walk into the area. Push up on the d-pad to launch the ambush. Then help murder the patrol of Uruks that are in the area.
THE MITHRIL BLADE
—————–
Use stealth kills to get rid of the Slavers. You have three minutes to do this. The bonus objective is to do this without being seen. The Slavers are indicated by yellow markers on the map.
Go to the first run. You can move a bit faster while in stealth if you hold A/X while simultaneously holding in the right trigger, by the way. The next two are kind of close to each other. The bigger one, the one on the right, should be killed first as he stands still and his buddy tends to walk around. When his buddy has his back turned, kill the bigger one and then immediately go after the smaller guy and kill him as well.
There will be a battlement on your right that has about five Slavers on it. Climb up there and just take them out one by one. It’s real simple, actually. Then just go out into the field and take your pick of whoever is left. If you have the Strike from Above ability, it makes this Legend mission even easier as you can jump off the battlement and get kills faster. This does make a bit of noise though, so be prepared to get out of there quickly so that you can still fulfill the bonus objective of not being seen.
THE SCOURING OF THE SHADOW
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This mission is really difficult if you don’t take it slow. If you DO take it slow, then it’s actually pretty easy. Just pick any of the three areas. Go to it. Lure one enemy out at a time, preferrably near a ledge, and then kill them. Keep doing this until all of the torchbearers in each area is dead. Brand any non-Torchbearer enemies you come across, which will make this mission even easier.
THE WRAITH
———-
Simply stealth kill 5 Uruks. The bonus objecive is to kill at least 3 of those 5 with a Strike from Above. Either way, this mission is very easy. Simply hang on a ledge and lure the first two Uruks to you. Stealth kill one after another, then climb up the nearby tower and pick off three more using the Strike from Above attack. If you get detected, you will fail the mission, so hide whenever necessary.
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5. Challenges
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In both regions of the game (Uruk and the Sea of Nurnen), you will have two types of challenges. They are Survival Challenges and Hunting Challenges.
Survival Challenges task you with collecting specific herbs. Herbs will show up on your mini-map as you explore the area. Their practical use is to heal Talion when he is damaged, though they are also to be collected to complete the Survival Challenges.
When you open your map, the icon that represents the herb you’re looking for is shown. This way you can know exactly which herbs you need to collect in order to complete the challenges.
As you visit each region, the known herbs for that region, aka the ones that you have seen (not necessarily harvested) in your journey will also be displayed, so you know exactly which area to visit.
Hunting Challenges are the same idea, but involve killing certain animals. For example, the first two sets of Hunting Challenges are killing spiders and then flying animals.
The game will notify you when you are in the vicinity of an animal that you are to be hunting at the moment. They can usually be killed in any manner.
So, what is the point of completing these challenges? Well, there’s 10 each. Completing each set grants you bonus Mirin that can be used to upgrade Talion.
In order to get 100% completion in the game, you have to complete all 10 of the Survival and all 10 of the Hunting challenges.
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SURVIVAL CHALLENGES
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Survival Challenges task you with collecting the various herbs that are found in the game. After you have fully explored the game world, you should be able to see which herbs are in each region of the game, which makes it very easy to just hop between regions and start collecting the herbs that you need in order to complete your collection.
I am not offering strategies for finding the herbs, because finding them doesn’t really require strategy. Simply visit a region of the game world that contains the herbs you need, and then run around until you’ve found all of the herbs in the area that are required.
Southern Udurn Pass is one of my favorite places to farm. It is a relatively small region, so if you sprint, a large portion of the area will be shown on your mini-map. Almost all of the herbs you need will be there, usually multiples of them as well.
SURVIVAL CHALLENGE 1
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Niphredil: 2
SURVIVAL CHALLENGE 2
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Pipeweed: 3
Lothrond: 1
SURVIVAL CHALLENGE 3
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Remmenthond: 2
Azuradan: 2
SURVIVAL CHALLENGE 4
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Niphredil: 2
Lothrond: 2
Azuradan: 1
SURVIVAL CHALLENGE 5
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Blue Milk: 4
Mallos: 2
I know I said I wasn’t going to offer strategy since most of this is very easy, but there’s an even EASIER way to get Blue Milk and Mallos. Go to the Southern Udun Pass tower in Uruk (fast-travel there). Just south of the tower is a cave. Outside the cave is a Mallos and inside the cave is Blue Milk. You can just keep advancing time with the tower and repeatedly harvesting both plants, assuming you kill the two Uruks that are always in the cave bossing around some slaves.
SURVIVAL CHALLENGE 6
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Elgaran: 3
Earthbread: 3
Go to the western part of Southern Udun Pass to find both of these growing in near vicinity of one another. Told you Southern Udun Pass was great!
SURVIVAL CHALLENGE 7
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Gwinuial: 2
Alfirin: 4
Alfirin can’t be found in Uruk, so you technically can’t complete this challenge until you get to the second major area of the game, which is called the Sea of Nurnen. In fact, once you fast-travel there, just go directly to the west and you will bump into two along the way easily. So then just advance time once more to get all four Alfirin that you need.
SURVIVAL CHALLENGE 8
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Naugrimbas: 2
Carandol: 3
Orchamarth: 2
SURVIVAL CHALLENGE 9
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Athelas: 7
SURVIVAL CHALLENGE 10
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Blue Milk: 3
Elgaran: 2
Gwinuial: 2
Southern. Udun. Pass. Fast-travel there. Check the cave for Blue Milk, then follow the wall west to snag a Gwinuial, and then the Elgaran at the end where you got it before. Just a couple of time advancements and you will have completed every Survival Challenge in the game!
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HUNTING CHALLENGES
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Along with the Survival Challenges are Hunting Challenges. These task you with killing the various animals and monsters of Middle-earth. I recommend completing quite a bit of these first before progressing too far in the main story as some of these are incredibly hard to complete UNLESS you are encountering the beasts as a part of the main story. Fair warning!
HUNTING CHALLENGE 1
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Objective: Kill 3 Spiders
Strategy: It is likely that you will just complete this one on accident just by running around the game world. Spiders are EVERYWHERE in this game. The easiest way to kill them, I’ve found, is to simply run over them and squish them underneath your feet!
HUNTING CHALLENGE 2
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Objective: Kill 5 Flying Creatures
Strategy: There are numerous flying creatures in the game, but the easiest to find and kill are bats. Bats are located in caves. They can be found in caves at both night time and during the day.
My favorite cave to farm bats is the one in the Southern Udun Pass, itself located in the Uruk region. Just south of the tower in that area is a cave that always seems to have bats in it, as well as
HUNTING CHALLENGE 3
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Objective: Kill 3 Caragors
Strategy: Guess where you should go? Yep, Southern Udun Pass. There are three cages of Caragors here, so all three are in one spot. You may need to advance time a few times to get them to pop up on your map, but they will be here in due time. Of course, if you have this challenge active while progressing through the main story, it is highly likely that you will complete this challenge in that manner as well.
HUNTING CHALLENGE 4
——————-
Objective: Kill 4 Rats
Strategy: This is one of the most frustrating Hunting Challenges in the entirety of the game, in my opinion. The damn rats sometimes don’t want to spawn. I found that switching between the two major regions of the game made them spawn a lot more frequently.
Anyway, rats are only found in strongholds. The message of “THE BEAST YOU ARE HUNTING IS NEARBY” will not pop up on the screen when you are near rats. They
are small, so that makes them a little difficult to see, but once you find one, more will respawn in that same area repeatedly.
A way to flush out some rats is by exploding barrels in the strongholds. The game tells you what was killed in the explosion. Look for Mordor Rats, and then stick to that area until you’ve killed all four rats necessary for this really annoying challenge.
HUNTING CHALLENGE 5
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Objective: Kill 8 Ghuls
Strategy: Ghuls are only found at night or in the main story missions. Again, I recommend doing as many of these challenges as possible as you progress through the main story to alleviate annoyance.
Anyway, Ghuls will spawn at night anywhere where is solid ground in the game. They die with one shot, but they tend to travel in packs, which makes them a little more formidable than they otherwise would be. You will definitely kill 8 of them if encountered in the main story missions, but otherwise you will have to run around Mordor and wait for them to spawn. Keep an eye on your mini-map; they show up as smaller version of the beast claw marks that represent the Caragors and the Graugs. You can also hear their screeching sounds to know that they’re nearby.
HUNTING CHALLENGE 6
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Objective: Kill 3 Bats
Strategy: The cave just to the south of the fast travel tower in Souther Udun Pass always has bats. Advance time so that it is the day time there, and then just at the entrance of the cave you will see bats. If you run near the cave, they will fly out into the sky. Use the bow to take them out. This is an easy one as long as you know where to find the bats.
HUNTING CHALLENGE 7
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Objective: Kill a Graug
Strategy: This is another challenge made a million times easier if you wait until they are encountered in a main story mission. You kill multiple Graugs in the main story of the game. Finding them out in the wild is somewhat trickier, but by no means is it impossible.
If not doing this as part of the main story missions, you need to go to the Barrows of Udun. Keep advancing time there until a Graug spawns. If it is a horned Graug, return to advancing time (unless you have the ability to instantly mount them) until you get a regular Graug.
Shoot a couple of charged shots into its face and then mount it. Once you have mounted it, hold the right trigger and then press the B (Circle on PlayStation) button to kill the mount. This will complete the challenge.
HUNTING CHALLENGE 8
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Objective: Kill a Dire Caragor
Strategy: The main story mission called The Great White Graug will have you fight a Dire Caragor and you can choose to kill it there. Otherwise, you can find them in the Sea of Nurnen region. They will not spawn in the Urdun.
Dire Caragors look a lot like regular Caragors. You will know that a Dire Caragor is “dire” because it will have larger beast claws representing it on the mini-map. Their Beast Claws and health meter will be displayed, kind of like if you were fighting a Graug. You can mount them and then kill them instantly, or just take them on in a fight; they aren’t all that death, really.
HUNTING CHALLENGE 9
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Objective: Kill a Ghul Matron
Strategy: Unless you kill a Ghul Matron as a part of the main story, you are probably going to have one hell of a time completing this challenge. But don’t worry, you can still encounter them in the wild…it’s just a bit more challenging.
The best places to be are the Black Road and Southern Black Road. I like to get a Caragor and just run up and down them until some Ghuls spawn. Remember that you have to be doing this AT NIGHT or the Ghuls will NOT spawn.
When the Ghuls have all spawned, kill the Caragor and dismount it. Kill a couple of the Ghuls. The others will have “alarm” symbols over their heads and retreat to their mounds. Let them go and then a Ghul Matron will show up. Kill it and the challenge is completed.
HUNTING CHALLENGE 10
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Objective: Kill a Horned Graug
Strategy: “The Great White Graug” mission in the main story is the easiest way to do it, but fear not; Horned Graugs will still spawn in the open world. The area I go to is the same that I went to for killing regular Graugs, which is the Barrows of Udun. If it is a regular Graug and not a Horned Graug, then just keep advancing time at the tower until you get a Horned Graug.
Horned Graugs are MUCH more difficult to kill than regular Graugs, that is why I recommend you get the Shadow Mount ability before attempting this challenge. With the Shadow Mount ability, you can instantly mount a Horned Graug. Then when you have it mounted, hold the right trigger and press B/Circle in order to kill it.
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6. Collectibles
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There are two main types of collectibles in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. They are Ithildin and Artifacts.
Both Ithildin and Artifacts can only be seen while in Wraith World. To get into this state, simply tap the left bumper.
While most games may have hidden collectibles, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor displays the collectibles directly on the map every time you overtake a new tower.
So to see the collectibles, simply go to them on the map, enter the Wraith World, and then collect them by approaching them and using the right bumper.
The only other thing to note is in regards to the Artifacts. When you have collected an Artifact, you will be asked to find the “memory” on it. To do this, rotate the object using the left stick until you see a blue light flash. Then tap the action button to read and listen to the memory that is stored in the object.
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7. Upgrades
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Talion has two primary skill trees that can be upgraded. The first one is the Abilities skill tree. The second is the Attributes skill tree. In this menu you can also check your total progression in the game if you use the triggers to scroll all the way to the right to the third option.
Whenever you can unlock a new Ability or Attribute, you will be asked to push “right” on the d-pad to jump to that screen immediately.
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ABILITIES
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Abilities are unlocked using ability points. Ability points are gained by earning enough XP to fill the bar and essentially level Talion up. There are five tiers for the Abilities tree, and they are also split down the middle to differentiate between Ranger (Talion) and Wraith.
New tiers are unlocked by completing the Power Struggle mission and killing captains in Sauron’s army.
RANGER
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Abilities under the Ranger side of the Skill Tree focus on upgrading the physical prowess of Talion. They are colored red.
—TIER 1—
Execution – Y + B with charged Hit Streak
Impact – Countered enemies will be stunned or knocked backwards
Strike from Above – RT + X for aerial executions
—TIER 2—
Brutalize – Stealth kill that causes nearby enemies to flee
Critical Strike – Double Hit Streak gains
Last Chance Finisher – Chance to finish off an enemy during Last Chance
Poison – Poison grog barrels
Throwing Daggers – Tap let trigger to throw daggers
—TIER 3—
Brace of Daggers – Three daggers can be thrown in quick succession
Shoulder Charge – Dash attacks can damage shields and knock enemies down
Swift Finisher – Reduces ground execution time
Vault Stun – Vaulting over enemies stuns them
—TIER 4—
Blade Master – Reduces Hit Streak threshold to 5 hits
Death Threat – Threaten a Captain to make them more likely to drop Epic runes
Resilience – Absorb one hit without reseting the Hit Streak
—TIER 5—
Critical Strike 2 – Triple Hit Streak gains
Double Charge – Perform two special attacks with charged Hit Streak
Flame of Vengeance – Hitting enemies with a glowing sword deals double damage
WRAITH
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The spiritual abilities of Talion are upgraded by purchasing from this section of the Skill Tree. They are colored blue.
—TIER 1—
Elven Swiftness – Tap A when going over obstacles for speed boost and +1 HS
Detonate – Fires and barrels can be blown up if shot with an arrow
Wraith Stun – Stun enemies and hit them with a flurry of sword strikes
Ride Caragors – Use RB to mount Caragors
—TIER 2—
Caragor Hunter – Counter Caragor attacks
Pin in Place – Bow attacks on legs will pin enemies in their place
Shadow Strike – Teleport to a targeted enemy
Stealth Drain – Drain while in stealth
Wraith Flash – Use X + A with charged hit streak to blast and stun enemies
—TIER 3—
Combat Drain – Instantly drain Uruk when Hit Streak is charged
Graug Hunter – Use right bumper to mount and ride stunned Graugs
Lethal Shadow Strike – Shadow Strike will cause deaths
Wraith Finisher – Enemies killed by Wraith attacks will explode
—TIER 4—
Brand – Brand enemies so they fight by your side in combat
Fire Arrow – Fire arrows with charged Hit Streak
Shadow Mount – Instantly mount a Graug or Caragor with Sahdow Strike
Wraith Blast – Wraith Stun upgraded
–TIER 5—
Dispatch – Down on d-pad to simultaneously kill branded Uruks and Monsters
Quick Draw – Greatly reduces the time it takes to charge bow attacks
Shadow Strike Chain – Chain together Shadow Strike attacks
Wraith Burn – X + Y with charged Hit Streak to kill any stunned Uruks
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ATTRIBUTES
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Mirian is the currency in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. It is acquired by completing a wide variety of different tasks. One way to use Mirian is to improve Talion’s attributes. The Attributes skill tree is split into two different sections. They are Resources and Weapons.
RESOURCES
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Max Health Up (100M) – Increases max health by 20
Max Health Up II (320M) – Increases max health by 20
Max Health Up III (640M) – Increases max health by 20
Max Health Up IV (1050M) – Increases max health by 20
Max Health Up V (2100M) – Increases max health by 20
Max Elf-Shot Up (130M) – Increases max elf-shot by 2
Max Elf-Shot Up II (370M) – Increases max elf-shot by 2
Max Elf-Shot Up III (870M) – Increases max elf-shot by 2
Max Elf-Shot Up IV (1750M) – Increases max elf-shot by 2
Max Elf-Shot Up V (2400M) – Increases max elf-shot by 2
Max Focus Up (100M) – Increases max focus by 20
Max Focus Up II (320M) – Increases max focus by 20
Max Focus Up III (640M) – Increases max focus by 20
Max Focus Up IV (1050M) – Increases max focus by 20
Max Focus Up V (2100M) – Increases max focus by 20
WEAPONS
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Sword Rune Slot (60M) – Unlocks a Rune slot on your sword
Sword Rune Slot II (60M) – Unlocks a Rune slot on your sword
Sword Rune Slot III (380M) – Unlocks a Rune slot on your sword
Sword Rune Slot IV (800M) – Unlocks a Rune slot on your sword
Bow Rune Slot (60M) – Unlocks a Rune slot on your bow
Bow Rune Slot II (180M) – Unlocks a Rune slot on your bow
Bow Rune Slot III (380M) – Unlocks a Rune slot on your bow
Bow Rune Slot IV (800M) – Unlocks a Rune slot on your bow
Dagger Rune Slot (60M) – Unlocks a Rune slot on your dagger
Dagger Rune Slot II (180M) – Unlocks a Rune slot on your dagger
Dagger Rune Slot III (380M) – Unlocks a Rune slot on your dagger
Dagger Rune Slot IV (800M) – Unlocks a Rune slot on your dagger
Storm of Ufrael (2500M) – 20 seconds of unlimited executions (LS + RS)
Flame of Azkar (2500M) – 15 seconds of unlimited Elf-shot/Focus/Fire Arrows
Shadow of Acharn (2500M) – 20 seconds of unlimited Stealth Kills (LS + RS)
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8. Power Struggles
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A major gameplay mechanic in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is the Nemesis system. This system refers to the fact that the enemies in the game will compete with one another for ranking, and that the player can directly influence the hierarchy and chain of command in Sauron’s dark army.
Some of these missions will be required in order to complete the main story. However, there will be plenty of other opportunities throughout the game. Power Struggle missions will be displayed as orange missions on the map, and they will come, go, and evolve as the ranks of Sauron’s army does the same.
There is a wide variety of different mission types and ways to go about them based on how the hierachy looks in your own game. I will just go over a few different ones now so you can have a general idea of what to expect, though keep in mind that there are more types than this, though they are all very open about what you must do to accomplish them.
Betrayal – An enemy you have “bound” will attempt to betray a captain or Warchief. Help the betrayal go off successfully and you will have an Uruk loyal to you rise through the ranks.
Duel – Two Uruks decide to duke it out with one another. Influence one way or another by getting involved in the fight yourself.
Recruitment – A Uruk wants to recruit more supporters for his cause so that he can take over the position of one of his superiors. Help him recuit by staying out of sight and protecting him along the way, and then ultimately help him in his betrayal.
There are three subsets of “Power Struggle” missions. Showdown missions are ones where you can go to take on a Warchief, one of the highest ranks of Uruks that are in the game.
Power Struggles shares its name with some of the various missions that I listed above. Participate in these missions to influence the hiearchy of Uruks.
Finally, there’s Vendetta Missions. Vendetta Missions refer to Captains that have managed to kill others online, and you can go avenge their deaths for a bonus reward.
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9. Conclusion
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I hope this guide helped you complete Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor!
Please feel free to check out all my other content on CheatMasters.
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