Shadow of Mordor Walkthrough

In Shadow of Mordor, Talion the ranger is having an idyllic and disciplined life guarding the Black Gate. Idyllic enough that he has time to spar with his son and make romantic gestures to his wife. His wife begs him to leave the life of the Rangers of Gongor. The fateful night of attack on the Black Gate only amplifies his wife's words, as Talion's family is captured and slain before his eyes.

Talion survives, only to be raised as an undead, his body possessed and blended with the wraith and previous forge of the Rings of Power, Celebrimbor.

Thus begins the exploits of Talion, Shadow of Mordor in the legendary lands of Middle-Earth.

This Middle-Earth Shadow of Mordor walkthrough will guide the heroes Talion and Celebrimbor in striking deep into the heart of the dark soulless armies of Sauron.

The Rings of Power were designed by Sauron. Sauron disguised himself as an elf and taught Celebrimbor to forge the rings. Three rings were forged for the Elves, seven rings for the Dwarves and nine rings for men. Sauron forged his One Ring at Mount Doom so he could control all the sovereigns who wore the rings. The elves detected Sauron's telepathic presence and hid their rings. The dwarves could not be controlled by Sauron. The men became Sauron's most feared lieutenants - the Nazgul.

Talion is resurrected in the silver tower forge, a shining beacon of light in the wraith world.

• Get all the silver tower forges in Mordor so Talion can fast travel in Mordor.
• The tower forge will also uncover the fog or mist masking the lands of Mordor.
• Claim all the silver forges in Udun, and then later Nurn (beside the Sea of Nurnen).

The next task of the undead Talion is to decide which areas in his combat skills to specialize in initially.

• [Hint] - the best way probably is to use a sneak approach and hide in the bushes. As Talion and his XP, power and Miriam grow, start investing in his bow and other melee skills.

Eventually, Talion will grow powerful and be able to hunt down and slay powerful captains (over power level 15).

Of course, the armies of Uruks cannot overcome Talion in the latter stages of the game, and the sneak approach is no longer needed.

But the sneak, backstab, air assassinate, brutalize and terrify uruk approach is always extremely satisfying.

Slaying the ordinary uruk becomes boring for Talion. The next stage in the main quest storyline is to slay the captain, starting with the slaver and the butcher. Typical uruk captain nicknames, obviously.

As captains are slain, Sauron's army begins to weaken. But the Dark Lord's army is never ending.

Talion gets careless and is slain. Talion is undead and gets resurrected every time. However, all captains involved in Mordor's power struggles, namely

- feast power struggle
- duel
- ambush
- invade
- recruitment, etc

all gain power points, becoming harder and harder to slay. One in particular surely become the ranger's ultimate nemesis.

Such is the power play in Mordor and this is the Nemesis System in Shadow of Mordor.

Talion does not falter and is steadfast in his resolve. He rises each time, more determined than ever to pursue and take out his nemesis. Of course, the rewards are -

• get runes from death of captains, especially epic runes.
• Sauron's army is decimated.

• [Note] - for exciting gameplay, always leave a nemesis to gain more and more power, for future duels.

Talion's thirst for revenge is unquenchable. Captains no longer satisfy his power play. He goes for the warchiefs, hoping to lure out the Black Hand of Sauron.

To defeat the warchief, Talion must

• interrogate and identify the war chief
• eliminate his bodyguards.

Then systematically eliminate the warchiefs. Here is an example.

• Ratbag

No not Celebrimbor, but Ratbag, originally a lowlife orc. He indulges in the help of Talion and eventually becomes a warchief. Can you believe that?

• Gollum - needs no introduction.

No Middle Earth legend can be complete without the ultimate precious friend, Gollum. The Gollum storyline helps to uncover the truth about Celebrimbor the forge of the Rings of Power.

• Hirgon - Talion's ally and compatriot to free the slaves.

Again, no Middle Earth legend can be complete without the struggles of the slaves of Mordor against their oppressors.

So rise to power the ranger and ally - Hirgon. Complete the main story mode quest and lure out the Black Captain.

• Hirgon conspires with Talion to bring down the Dark Monument. This is the Dark Monument Quest.

Hirgon needs Talion to protect him and secure a few areas as they march through the area to the bridge. Under the bridge,Talion must protect the cart. The lethal shadow strike ability is particularly important here. Teleport kill the archers one to another and continue until the cart is underneath the bridge.

Then watch the explosion.

The Black Captain led Mordor's first onslaught and slew Talion's wife. Defeat him. However, defeating the Black Captain will not be easy. Here's how its done.

• Defeat the Black Captain

The Black Captain the Hammer will be surrounded by uruks. Use the uruks and hit them hard to create hit streaks. Do this away from the Black Captain but not too far away. Then go to the Black Captain and use charged hit streaks to damage the Black Captain. Be careful of his melee attack and his ranged attack. Talion gets three hits at the Captain before he retaliates. Then the Captain will summon more uruks. Repeat the process until the Black Captain is defeated.

"Is vengeance not sweet, Ranger?"

It's sweet indeed, and the first boss of the Shadow of Mordor game falls.

With the defeat of the Black Captain, Talion will unlock the second map of the dark world of Mordor - the Nurn.

This area is actually a green area filled with more uruks. Talion will have to repeat the forge capturing system and then eliminating the uruk captains and warchiefs and secure this area. Eventually, he will reach the Lord of Mordor.