I wouldn't say level up (I barely had any of the second row upgrades when I took most of them down), but just use better planning. Learn their weakness (one I literally ran up and stealth knifed in front of his guards). You can also isolate them with creating distractions elsewhere and drawing the grunts away.
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Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor |OT| One Title to rule them all
- Thread starter Levyne
- Start date
I wouldn't say level up (I barely had any of the second row upgrades when I took most of them down), but just use better planning. Learn their weakness (one I literally ran up and stealth knifed in front of his guards). You can also isolate them with creating distractions elsewhere and drawing the grunts away.
SJRB
Gold Member
The whole mechanic can be a bit overwhelming at first, but you have to remember that information is key. If you're going after a war chief, find intel on his strength and weaknesses. Then gain intel on his captains and be sure to kill them first. If not, they will be present when you fight the war chief, making that fight much harder.
Every war chief has one or more weaknesses that can be exploited. Most of them can be damaged by combat finishers, which is the easiest way of taking them out [aside from stealth-killing them if that's a weakness].
If he's surrounded by a group, be sure to take out the group first using your bow to make the fight easier. I find that in most cases the stun move [O button for Playstation] and the jump over dodge [X for Playstation] are easily the best option when fighting a war chief, as it stuns them and leaving them wide open for a flurry attack. The jump over dodge is an unlock though.
Also, don't be afraid to just run away if you're about to lose. It's better to run away than to die and moving time forward, gaining all sorts of new captains in the process.
ChubbleDucks
Member
Just picked this up on x1 and spent most of the day just going around killing things.
I have 1 orc that has killed me quite a few times already as he turns up during other captain fights and gets me with his poisoned arrows.
Managed to kill him once but didn't execute him, so he has appeared again.
I have 1 orc that has killed me quite a few times already as he turns up during other captain fights and gets me with his poisoned arrows.
Managed to kill him once but didn't execute him, so he has appeared again.
I think you can still chip away at their health by vaulting over and one strike to his back.
SJRB
Gold Member
I had one of those assholes as well. Took forever but indeed chip damage by vaulting - striking once - vault again - strike once.
By the way, anyone know where I can find the yellow-icon mushrooms for the survival challenge? I've been running around both maps but I can't seem to find it anywhere.
Miles Quaritch
Member
And finished.
Pretty disappointing end to a great game. I did like the
but still a great game and I thoroughly enjoyed destroying Orcs/Uruks, etc.
Will be getting the DLC, depending on how content heavy it is.
Pretty disappointing end to a great game. I did like the
five hands battle, was epic having my five warchiefs wreck everyone, but the fight with the Tower and the Hand/Sauron were very disappointing. Felt they could have done so much more,
Will be getting the DLC, depending on how content heavy it is.
Try looking in caves.
Miles Quaritch
Member
How far into the game are you? You unlock the branding power later on via story missions.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Oh man I just had a real bad crash shut down my PS4 kind bad. D: wtf that was not good at all...
DL version for what its worth.
DL version for what its worth.
I spoke too hastily, its not easy. I've died so many times, too many to admit. When your facing 30 orks and two captains, shits flying everwhere, its difficult. I dont have a clue what is going onl. I'm just here to kill orks and chew gum. Like is it even explained how Mcgeneric hero guy keeps coming back to life? And what happens to the runes the captain drops if you die before collecting it?
I'm liking the game alot though. Its a proper game, with emergent systems which result in situations where you can watch a captain get killed by caragors, and the results are not set rigidly. I just hope they sell enough to make a sequel, I want to see what they do with this, really push the systems. Have you as say an Ork who has to rise through the ranks of Saurons army. Get rid of the main quest nonsense and make it all dynamic, it would be awesome.
I'm liking the game alot though. Its a proper game, with emergent systems which result in situations where you can watch a captain get killed by caragors, and the results are not set rigidly. I just hope they sell enough to make a sequel, I want to see what they do with this, really push the systems. Have you as say an Ork who has to rise through the ranks of Saurons army. Get rid of the main quest nonsense and make it all dynamic, it would be awesome.
Miles Quaritch
Member
I felt like this early on too, but once I hit the halfway point and unlocked some new powers/acquired better runes and upgraded my weapons a little, literally nothing presented a challenge any more.
Enjoy the challenge while it lasts because it absolutely won't. Even when you're surrounded by three captains, a warchief and ten or so Uruks, you will be able to obliterate all of them with relative ease.
There is a story reason for why Talion keeps coming back, progress the story and it'll make sense.
Kamina
Golden Boy
He is possessed by the wraith who heals him and keeps him from dying/resurrects him?
NoSkillz187
Member
Shadow strike migh be the most bad ass ability I've ever seen in a game. Just being able to zip across the battle field is awesome. Great game.
Wait till you find some legendaries that give you elf arrows back per shadow strike kill. Infinite shadow striking in the middle of a crowd of orcs.
Someone mentioned that a regular ass Orc that he had previously branded ended up ascending to the rank of Captain during one of the "let time pass" sessions. I think that's really awesome that it keeps track of your minions and they can rank up on their own.
Hell yes, just got a dagger epic rune which grants me immunity to poison.
About 6 hours in and I'm killing the first batch of warchiefs. One fight I died a few times trying to storm a stronghold head on. I then smartened up and took out the bodyguards first, and since he was weak against ranged attacks I stayed on ledges creating distractions with caragors, sniping him and stalking around for elf shot.
The other one I had this objective to kill 35 orcs before he showed up, and got slaughtered on my first few attempts trying to fight them all. I then thought to run around the stronghold drawing as many enemies as I could around a fire, then blowing up the fire to nuke a bunch of them before running to the next exploding barrel/campfire, playing it a lot more like a guerrilla rather than a straight up warrior.
This game is fantastic. The warchief strengths and weaknesses, as well as a lot of story objectives, rewards smart and strategic play. It's so satisfying to make a plan to take on each captain and see it executed, or even having to improvise when things go wrong, like another captain showing up, or caragors suddenly joining the battle.
About 6 hours in and I'm killing the first batch of warchiefs. One fight I died a few times trying to storm a stronghold head on. I then smartened up and took out the bodyguards first, and since he was weak against ranged attacks I stayed on ledges creating distractions with caragors, sniping him and stalking around for elf shot.
The other one I had this objective to kill 35 orcs before he showed up, and got slaughtered on my first few attempts trying to fight them all. I then thought to run around the stronghold drawing as many enemies as I could around a fire, then blowing up the fire to nuke a bunch of them before running to the next exploding barrel/campfire, playing it a lot more like a guerrilla rather than a straight up warrior.
This game is fantastic. The warchief strengths and weaknesses, as well as a lot of story objectives, rewards smart and strategic play. It's so satisfying to make a plan to take on each captain and see it executed, or even having to improvise when things go wrong, like another captain showing up, or caragors suddenly joining the battle.
Miles Quaritch
Member
Right?
The atmosphere was incredible, but the fight (or lack thereof) was very weird. Definitely felt like they had something big planned but didn't have the time or something else forced them to go with what we ended up with.
Same for the
fight fight with the Hand/Sauron.
I had to deal with one that couldn't be vaunted over, either. I had to run around branding a legion of orcs, then stunning him with circle and hitting him from behind when I could. He also took half my fully-upgraded health each hit, and regenerated health if I let up for even a moment. Never went green, stayed red until he died.
Finally finished the game with the platinum today. Clocked in over 30 hours, but that was mainly due to having too much fun with the nemesis system. Here's what I thought:
Pros:
Nemesis System - it's screaming to be used in a more strategic game. The more I was playing with it, the more I thought "Man, a universe like Warhammer could have a lot of fun with this system". Honestly, I had some unique experiences with the orc heirarchy that will resonate far greater than the actual game. Like a level 20 orc captain who I killed 3 times, but never decapitated. Each time I'd run into him was a random, interesting way and he would keep chatting as though this time for sure he'd get me. Needless to say, I branded him and made him a warchief (his dedication was inspiriing).
Atmosphere/world - what a beautiful environment. Sure, the first map looked desolate, but that was the point! I know a few people wished the worlds were bigger, but I liked that it didn't take me long to travel across the map. I rarely needed to fast travel. I felt the maps were sized well enough that there were never any dead-zones (where no enemies could be found).
Combat - the diversity in the combat really shone through, as you could choose how you wanted to chain your combos to be a real bad-ass.
Unique Captains/Warchiefs - I really loved the fact that the enemies were randomly created with different features/attributes/names. It made each encounter feel special to my playthrough.
Cons:
Campaign story - it felt like the majority of the campaign missions were some form of tutorial for a new ability that you would have to use in the final missions. Of course once you "played" the final missions, it was such a big letdown. It really felt like they needed to finish the game, so they abruptly did.
Difficulty - this game was easy, even from the beginning. I can count on one hand the number of times I died without meaning to (I did let myself die a few times to build up the rank of some captains/warchiefs). Adding to the fact that the unlocked abilities made you stronger, the game became a breeze. As a subheading to difficulty, I hated how 95% of the captains/warchiefs could be beaten with the same strategy, despite having different attributes. I hope this gets fleshed out in the sequel.
Conclusions to side-quests - luckily the game doesn't have too many that it feels boring, but when concluding the side quests, I figured there would be some kind of a reward (like an ability or rune), but there wasn't. Even a skin would've been neat. Like after completing all 24 outcast missions, get the "savior of the people" skin, who knows? It just felt a little hollow when completed.
Overall I really did enjoy my time with this game, but feel there's potential for improvement going forward. Running around in Mordor with superpowers really spoke to the fantasy nerd in me and made me wish for more. In fact, I'm planning on going back just to wreak havoc on the orc heirarchy once again! Definitely a game I can continue to play once done, but don't know if I'd replay the campaign again.
Pros:
Nemesis System - it's screaming to be used in a more strategic game. The more I was playing with it, the more I thought "Man, a universe like Warhammer could have a lot of fun with this system". Honestly, I had some unique experiences with the orc heirarchy that will resonate far greater than the actual game. Like a level 20 orc captain who I killed 3 times, but never decapitated. Each time I'd run into him was a random, interesting way and he would keep chatting as though this time for sure he'd get me. Needless to say, I branded him and made him a warchief (his dedication was inspiriing).
Atmosphere/world - what a beautiful environment. Sure, the first map looked desolate, but that was the point! I know a few people wished the worlds were bigger, but I liked that it didn't take me long to travel across the map. I rarely needed to fast travel. I felt the maps were sized well enough that there were never any dead-zones (where no enemies could be found).
Combat - the diversity in the combat really shone through, as you could choose how you wanted to chain your combos to be a real bad-ass.
Unique Captains/Warchiefs - I really loved the fact that the enemies were randomly created with different features/attributes/names. It made each encounter feel special to my playthrough.
Cons:
Campaign story - it felt like the majority of the campaign missions were some form of tutorial for a new ability that you would have to use in the final missions. Of course once you "played" the final missions, it was such a big letdown. It really felt like they needed to finish the game, so they abruptly did.
Difficulty - this game was easy, even from the beginning. I can count on one hand the number of times I died without meaning to (I did let myself die a few times to build up the rank of some captains/warchiefs). Adding to the fact that the unlocked abilities made you stronger, the game became a breeze. As a subheading to difficulty, I hated how 95% of the captains/warchiefs could be beaten with the same strategy, despite having different attributes. I hope this gets fleshed out in the sequel.
Conclusions to side-quests - luckily the game doesn't have too many that it feels boring, but when concluding the side quests, I figured there would be some kind of a reward (like an ability or rune), but there wasn't. Even a skin would've been neat. Like after completing all 24 outcast missions, get the "savior of the people" skin, who knows? It just felt a little hollow when completed.
Overall I really did enjoy my time with this game, but feel there's potential for improvement going forward. Running around in Mordor with superpowers really spoke to the fantasy nerd in me and made me wish for more. In fact, I'm planning on going back just to wreak havoc on the orc heirarchy once again! Definitely a game I can continue to play once done, but don't know if I'd replay the campaign again.
Yeah you can keep playing once story is beaten.
I hate the combat in Assassin's Creed.
Freezasaurus
Member
It was alright for the first game or two, but counter-killing everything got old pretty quickly. I don't think I'll be buying the new Assassin's Creed at all. I only got sucked into buying the last one because pirates.
a secret-boss
Banned
I was skeptical about this game from its one trick pony nemesis system, and I'm not into LotR universe
But damn had a good time. Finished the game and did all the weapon challenge. This is the first "assassin's creed" style game i did all the side/collect missions.
Disappointing last 2 boss battles.
Gimme Extended Universe LotR without the constraint of trilogy
But damn had a good time. Finished the game and did all the weapon challenge. This is the first "assassin's creed" style game i did all the side/collect missions.
Disappointing last 2 boss battles.
Gimme Extended Universe LotR without the constraint of trilogy
hunchback
Member
Can some of you experienced players suggest the first 5 skills you should pick and put them in order of importance? That would be really helpful. I'm having fun. I have a Orc named The Unstoppable. He sure is and I can't wait to brand that big boy. Have you seen the Orc who has his brain showing? That is my favorite model in the game so far. I'm curious to see how he will change if I mess him up. What level do you gain the power to sever heads? Thanks for all the help. This might be the friendliest thread.
I was definitely expecting the
five warchiefs to play a larger role in the climax of the game - as you suggested, that they'd end up being turned against you by the Black Hand or something, and half-way through the battle Torvin would show up with an army of graugs and caragors - distracting the Uruks while you press on and fight the Black hand in a 1v1 duel.
Freezasaurus
Member
I liked the
warchief battle as it was, but I really wish we got to have an actual fight with that freaky guy that had his armor grafted onto his flesh. Stealth-draining him a few times was way too easy.
Huevos de Oro
Member
Finished it today, a bit over the 30 hour mark. It was a thoroughly enjoyable ride. Loved the fluidity of the combat and I hope the Nemesis system gets further polished for future games. As a matter of fact, I'm secretly hoping the sequel will pull an Assassin's Creed 2 in regards to improvements over the first one.
Yep, when Sauron briefly pulls Cerebrimbor from Talion, I was expecting that to break the mind control thing and if any War Chiefs remained, you would have to fight them before moving onto Sauron.
I tried this at a friend's house, this is AC:lotr edition and I hated it, I think I just cant deal with animations getting in my way when I try to control the mc anymore, I'm just so tired of that and it seems every freaking AAA game has that issue, also combat was pretty dull imo (but to be fair I was coming from the bayonetta demo and I guess it gets better when you get more skills or something). Oh well, glad you guys are having fun.
I guess I'm in the minority, but I rather enjoyed the story of this game. Especially enjoyed the ending. Game is my GOTY right now. What a ton of fun to play. I genuinely hated some of the orcs I came across and killing them after having been beaten again and again was one of the most satisfying feelings I've had in a game.
Two Thumbs Up.
Two Thumbs Up.
I think the bigger complaints about the end was the horrible final fight. But I agree. I enjoyed it for what it was.
Oh word. Then yeah, that's completely understandable.
cleveridea
Member
Anyone with controller issues on ps4? Game used to play fine but recently it won't register any R2 combo press with buttons eg R2 + square. It DOES register R2 & square individually but not combined. I tried a brand new controller & does same thing which sucks
So you can't do stealth finishers or ground finishers?
cleveridea
Member
Yep can't do either. Was fun for awhile forcing me trying new strategies but you come up against enemies that are only vulnerable to stealth.
I played through on PS4 and didn't have any of those issues. Weird that both buttons work individually but are not registering together. Faulty controller?
Trying to get the level 25 rune trophy. I let a level 20 captain kill me, sent him a death threat, I know his weakness (combat finishers) and his hatred (fire).
If I go in there and blast him with a fire arrow, and then use a finisher and kill him, I have a chance at the level 25 rune, right? Does the killing blow need to be the weakness?
If I go in there and blast him with a fire arrow, and then use a finisher and kill him, I have a chance at the level 25 rune, right? Does the killing blow need to be the weakness?
You can set him on fire then finish him with a combat finisher.
I just got the platinum a few hours ago.
Winterblink
Member
Holy shit, just had this guy jump in on another captain fight, LOL:
I saved my backup and I keep getting epic runes.. I think because of the death threat. Is it possible to get a regular rune with a death threat on a captain?
The death threat will do it, as it increases the likelihood of an epic rune. Get a warchief who's level 20. Know his strengths and weaknesses, let him kill you (great if you need to get him up to 20) and then EITHER exploit a weakness, OR use their hate/fear. Here's the points breakdown:
Level 20: 20 points
Warchief (+2)
knowledge of strengths/weaknesses (+1)
Revenge kill (+1)
Exploit a weakness (+1) OR use hate/fear (+1)
I went after a warchief who could be stealth killed. Got it first try this way.
What a pain. I have all Warchiefs branded, gonna have to do some shuffling.
I did read that having something else kill the guy doesn't add the death threat epic rune possibility boost... So I had that guy kill one of my warchiefs, and will try having his bodyguards (who I just branded) kill him.
edit: Got it!
Warchief +2
Knowing Weakness +1
Revenge +1
Death Threat +1
I'd recommend doing it this way, that way you have the warchief all alone AND you don't need to exploit his fear/hatred.
I did read that having something else kill the guy doesn't add the death threat epic rune possibility boost... So I had that guy kill one of my warchiefs, and will try having his bodyguards (who I just branded) kill him.
edit: Got it!
Warchief +2
Knowing Weakness +1
Revenge +1
Death Threat +1
I'd recommend doing it this way, that way you have the warchief all alone AND you don't need to exploit his fear/hatred.
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