Middle-earth: Shadow of War (Shadow of Mordor Sequel)

Just invested $45 into loot boxes to complete the warmonger (fire stuff) equip set. Definitely worth it.

what the hell is all this talk about shelob and lootboxes

someone fill me in

Tuco said:

Just invested $45 into loot boxes to complete the warmonger (fire stuff) equip set. Definitely worth it.

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Way way WAY too obvious dippy mc dip.

Oh Jesus fucking Christ Tarrant. Why. How. How.

Quick video of me killing an orc and running when my radar says he has silver coins:

So after investing $50 into Tolkien bux for Warmonger gear my apocalypse build is really coming along.

Everything I touch ignites and blankets the ground in fire. Standard attacks, bow attacks, stealth attacks, everything. The fire itself heals me 14hp/sec, any enemy that dies around me gives me a bunch of HP. The fire itself lasts a tremendous amount of time. Orcs go crazy around me as they disintegrate. Any captain that's not immune to fire is easily dispatched.

I'm trying to figure out how to combine poison with the fire to launch balefire, but I don't know if it's possible to work properly. I don't know what happens if I poison an orc who is on fire, or if the balefire will heal me, or if I can do an poisoned elven rage and then light orcs on fire etc.

There's also a fire-immune epic olog I found (and had to shame) that carries some kind of fire cannon. If I can pal around with him it'd be amazing, but I don't want to grow attached to any orc in this game. I'll still try to cap him and build him up as my follower even if he's just going to betray me or die to a random poison attack. I'm a little worried that his fire and my fire will interfere with each other though.

So I got this ring:


And spent a minimal amount of time coming up with a build/strat that utilizes it to the fullest.

I didn't know what curse did to opponents until I played with it tonight, but as far as I can tell it just causes grunts to flee instantly. It applies on captains but I don't know if it hurts them or changes their status effects.

Here's what I came up with in a few minutes:
1. With the Bright Lord's bow I can AE freeze everything with a head shot, which applies curse to er'body.
2. I have a dagger that generates 4 elf shot for every brutalize attack.
3. I can use brutalize (and drain) on cursed grunts.
4. With brutalize+unyielding ferocity, I get almost a full might bar for a brutalize.
5. The bright lord's bow gives focus on hit, which helps maintain focus.

As far as I can tell, the only thing that removes elven wrath is being cursed myself (ironically)? Elven wrath resource persists through zoning and death.

Anyway, I think I'm going to put the 9999900% chance to curse ring in the "don't use pile", because it's just too OP.

Fuck this one particular orc | PC Gamer
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Fuck this one particular orc
By Tim Clark 13 hours ago
I am being bullied by Mozû the Blight in Shadow of War, and it feels bad.





COMMENTS
Mozû greets me again

Let me begin by warning that for the rest of the piece I will be relaxing our usual rules regarding bad language. I am doing so to tell you that Mozû the Blight is a motherfucker. I first meet this orc captain, and absolute scumbag, as part of the Arena quest in Minas Ithril. Mozû is the final opponent, and from his dialogue I think he's actually an undefeated nemesis enemy imported from my Shadow of Mordor save file, which would at least explain his insane smorgasboard of resistances and abilities. These are what makes Mozû such an asshole to fight.

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He's immune to arrows, fire, ice, quickly adapts to being vaulted over, and regularly emits disorientating howls—but that's definitely not the full list. Consequently, landing any sort of blow on the bastard is a nightmare. He also has a metric ton of health, which I swear at one point was regenerating. The only thing that reliably hurts him is poison, which is how I eventually beat him (after multiple failures) thanks to figuring out I have a lower level weapon that randomly inflicts poison on crits.

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Making a monster

A few hours later, Mozû is back. This isn't unusual for Shadow of War's captains, as those with the 'Death Defying' perk will keep coming at you, much like talkative boomerangs. Due to his previous poisoning, Mozû's face now looks like the aftermath of a fire in a chemistry lab, but otherwise he's in good spirits. I naively forget about his annoying combination of abilities and enter the fight on autopilot, treating him like the other captains I've been dispatching. Big mistake. More than a dozen orc grunts swarm around us, I can't get his health low enough, and eventually I lose.

Only you don't just lose to Mozû. Instead of getting a quick-time prompt for a saving parry when you're weak, instead you get 'Humiliated', which is another of his infuriating abilities. The upshot of being humiliated is that you get to keep your life, but you don't get the health boost from a successfully blocked death strike. Instead you're thrown back into the fray with a sliver of health, which in my case usually leads to another loss.



Did I mention Mozû has also acquired a ranged hook attack?
Okay, fine. Next time I'll go in better prepared, use the surroundings to my advantage, maybe blow some stuff up... But if anything it goes even worse next time. Mozû chalks up another win, and I have to listen to him bang on about how great he is and how much I suck, all while his cronies chant "Mo-Zu! Mo-Zu!" Also bear in mind that each time we battle Mozû runs his smug mouth during the intro, whenever he humiliates me, and at the end of the fight. So with all that goading, it doesn't take long before I am, in Hearthstone terms, completely on tilt.

I keep queuing up the nemesis mission to challenge Mozû, keep playing more recklessly, and keep losing. After each fight he levels up and I don't, further decreasing my odds of beating him. It doesn't help that Mozû starts reacting with disbelief that I'm still coming back for more. And, I am ashamed to type it now, but the truth is I probably lose half-a-dozen times in a row before taking a break.

Tilting intensifies

At that point I decide to take the mature approach, leaving Mozû alone for the time being so I can come back once I'm overleveled. In a rare act of patience, I actually complete an entire other region, after which I feel like a confident, independent ranger. It turns out these feelings are misplaced. I return to Minas Ithril only to find that Mozû has leveled up in lockstep with me. No matter. I've learned so much on my travels, and unlocked crucial new skills, which should make for a fairer fight.

Nope.

Mozû has also learned new tricks. In a bitter irony, despite the fact his sole fear is being poisoned, Mozû has seemingly taken a crash course in poison bomb making at Mordor University and these almost one-shot me. I try a few more times, face flushed with increasing fury, at the end of which Mozû has reached level 31, is laughing harder than ever, and I'm still marooned at level 24. I feel actual shame as I depart for another region.



Don't bother fighting from range. The asshat is arrowproof.
Once there, it's probably only five minutes before the prick turns up. "Ranger! Didn't think you could escape, did you? I've followed you for miles…" Holy shit, this guy. Let me enjoy my videogame! I go to bed livid, wondering if Mozû is out there online terrorizing anyone else as part of the game's vendetta missions. Perhaps we could form a support society.

Two things will happen in the next 48 hours. Either 1) I work out a way to finally overcome Mozû. I refuse to recruit him into my army, because of the embarrassment of having him help me, and I certainly won't send a follower to assassinate him, not that I have any powerful enough ones. Or 2) I delete Shadow of War and go back to complaining about card games. Note that this article will be updated accordingly. Meanwhile, feel free to suggest advice in the comments below (on the assumption that I already know I need to git gud). More practical advice is desperately needed. Mozû must die.

You know, I could write an equally enthralling story about any NPC in any game ever launched. People are being overly-extravagant in their story telling when in this game, as this all plays out in about 20 seconds. Title Tuco's last post as "This is what it looks like when on Warner Brother's Payroll".

Tearofsoul said:

I am going to wait for all DLC come up first as usual.

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Speaking of which, they announced on a live stream (I make it a priority to watch every one of them) that the first DLC will come with unlimited shadow wars. Turns out the #1 complaint about the game is that there's only so much emergent fort defense gameplay before Sauron gives up.

Utnayan said:

You know, I could write an equally enthralling story about any NPC in any game ever launched. People are being overly-extravagant in their story telling when in this game, as this all plays out in about 20 seconds. Title Tuco's last post as "This is what it looks like when on Warner Brother's Payroll".

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Shadow of War has the most complex and story-driven random mobs in any game ever.

Nirgon said:

Can u make caster build or just Assassin Creed build

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Neither, really.

It's more of a batman build than anything. A competent fighter with an ability to sneak attack and a wide variety of tools/abilities.

The game randomly generates a bunch of tough named captains with random strengths and weaknesses, and you have a variety of ways to exploit their weaknesses. If you go through the game just being a one-trick pony, you'll run into an unkillable captain and have to re-adjust. The game also doesn't really let you create a bad build, because you can only put a few skill points into one type of attack. The game also lets you adjust your skills at will, even in combat, so it's pretty easy to re-adjust.

One of the builds I'm running now is probably as much of a caster build as you can get. I have a PBAE poison attack that I combo with a ranged AE fire attack that causes balefire. I have a bunch of stuff that kicks in when enemies or myself are on fire, including a pulsing AE fireblast. When it works I'm pretty much an invincible fire god, but I can also run into a particular tough captain that's immune to fire and I have to adjust to less developed abilities.

I think the next build I'm going to try is a beastmaster build that lets you summon an army of wargs.

Game of the Year level graphics