Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor continues to amaze just about anyone who’s bothered to play Monolith’s new open-world adventure, but some players are still having a hard time taking down the toughest challenges from the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor campaign.
Fortunately, I’ve already had a chance to watch the credits roll on Mordor and remembered to take a handful of notes that struggling players might find helpful the next time they sit down for a few hours with Talion and Celebrimbor. Obviously, some of these are going to reflect my own personal play style, but I’d bet there’s probably something here for anyone still struggling to complete the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor campaign.
Finish Towers Before Missions
For whatever reason, I’ve fallen into a habit of knocking out whatever outpost/fast-travel content has been included in the open-world games I’m playing and the same proved to be true during my first completion of the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor campaign.
Not only will restoring the Forge Towers substantially increase your number of available spawn points on the map – theoretically cutting down on some of the extra running that can follow a mid-mission death – and also gives players a chance to familiarize themselves with the map. That way, next time you’re forced to retreat from battle, you have some idea as to which ways are/aren’t safe to run.
Plus, who doesn’t love an easy Trophy/Achievement?
Always Make Death Threats
While some of you may have been hesitant to make use of Death Threats in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, I think it’s important to remind readers that following through on your threats of violence will increase your likelihood of finding an epic rune by forty percent. Granted, you’ll probably still need to take down a high-ranking captain to guarantee an appearance from one of the game’s golden runes, but that shouldn’t stop anyone hoping to one day complete the Shadow of Mordor campaign.
If you’re having trouble delivering the kills you promise, browse through your current list of captains and try to find one that can be one-shot with Talion’s bow. Make the threat, track your target and use your Focus ability to drop the target before he or his forces even realize you’re in the area. After repeating that process a couple of times, you should find yourself with the runes and Mirian you need to continue making progress.
Minions > Corpses
Despite being one of the most-heavily marketed aspects of the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor experience, you will be several hours into Talion’s story before Celebrimbor suddenly remembers that he can give our hero an unexplained set of mind control powers. And, from that point forward, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is like a whole a new game.
Do yourself a favor and dominate every Uruk you come across, provided you won’t get yourself killed in the process, and make a point of converting Sauron’s archers over to your side anytime you’re planning to attack a heavily-guarded captain or warchief. A little ranged damage can go a long way, especially when it comes to distracting the various guards who’d otherwise make it quite difficult to focus your attacks on the commanding officer you’ve come to brand.
Kotaku’s Patricia Hernandez may have already tracked down the best example of your Brand ability’s potential; specifically, this video of YouTube user Schreckstoff eliminating 24 Uruk captains with a single button press. Obviously, you’re probably not going to be looking to mimic the feat, but it should show you just how important branding can be when tackling the final challenges from the Shadow of Mordor campaign.
Always Make Use Of Nearby Plants
This one is pretty self-explanatory. If you see an herb on the ground, in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, then you should probably eat it.
As you’ve likely already realized, there aren’t any potions or other healing items to be looted in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, which makes the herbs you recover one of the only recovery methods available to Talion throughout the campaign. Sure, a few of the runes you can recover will give you a chance to heal in certain combat situations, but herbs provide the only consistent method of healing Talion’s injuries.
Unfortunately, the plants can rarely be found in places where enemy counts are the highest (like strongholds), so it’s best to make sure your health is full before heading into an area housing one or more captains of Sauron’s army. 1Even if you don’t need much health at the moment, there’s a good chance that the plant will be one of the many you need to find for the game’s survivalist quests.
Bottom line: there’s really no reason not to spend half a second picking whatever herbs you encounter on your travels.
Break Duplicate Runes
While the Nemesis system may provide you with a neverending stream of Uruks to slaughter, the same can’t be said for the runes that players can use to alter the statistics and magical properties of Talion’s weapons. Unless you’re fortunate enough to find a high number of epic runes, you should probably expect to find more than few duplicates among the remains of the Uruk leaders you depose.
Thankfully, Monolith has included a system that allows you to break useless and/or duplicate runes; a process that bestows the player with a bit of extra Mirian to put towards their next ability or upgrade.
My personal rule of thumb is not to keep more than one of any rune, unless I’m going to socket it right then, and I make a point of clearing out low-level entries in my collection pretty regularly. You may only get 25 Mirian per rune but that can start to add up pretty quickly once you’re pitting Uruk captains against one another (and reaping the benefits) with some regularity.
Embrace Chaos
So you’re still having trouble taking down a specific captain(s) or warchief(s), and are starting to think about calling it quits on the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor campaign. Let me ask you a few questions first.
Did you free every Caragor? Drop every Mogwai nest? Detonate nearby fires and/or barrels of grog? Did you have intel on the nearest captain’s strengths and weaknesses?
Because, unless you’re facing off against an Uruk captain who hates and/or is immune to the aforementioned damage types, your goal should be to make every battle in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor as chaotic as possible. Even if your antics don’t terrorize your target, your actions should do plenty to thin the Uruk captain’s reinforcements and give you a decent opportunity to secure the kill.
Preparation is vital to finding success in the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor but its still only one part of the equation. Next time you go out on the hunt, remember that many of Mordor’s toughest residents can be turned on one another, and introduce a bit more chaos into your next big battle. If all else fails, you can always try leading your foe(s) to a graug’s lair and let the hulking creature do your dirt for you.
Get Pin In Place ASAP
Not really much to explain here. Activate the Pin In Place ability as soon as you have a chance and you’ll (almost) never have to worry about Uruk captains escaping again. Going forward, a simple arrow to the foot/calf will render most enemies incapable of moving. Worst case scenario, you might have to hit him with the ability a second time while you finish off the Uruks still defending your target.
The Pin In Place ability even comes in handy when assisting the Uruk captains you’ve branded, especially if/when you decide to send one of your melee officers into battle against an opponent who excels in ranged combat. Just pin the archer in place and watch your chosen Uruk fighter(s) make quick work of their fellow commanding officer.
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for additional Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor coverage, including our recent-published review of the game, for however long Monolith continues to develop new Shadow of Mordor content in the months ahead.
Have you been having trouble with some aspect of the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor campaign that we didn’t cover? Want to offer your own tips for beginning or experienced Shadow of Mordor players? Don’t understand how anybody could need help with the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor campaign?
Let us know in the comments section!
