Greetings my intrepid followers.

In this article I discuss my favorite game of all time and its fantastic gameplay options.

First, you command a party of six with guest team-ups by Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Faramir and Eowyn. Your main character and protagonist: Berethor is an honorable soldier of Gondor traveling through Middle-Earth with his team of warriors in pursuit of Boromir. What follows is a thrilling journey through various lands fighting Orcs and a variety of monsters.

Each battle is turn-based. In addition you can equip your character with items you collect in chests and from battles or vary the different players’ abilities to put down your foes. With Berethor, for example you can equip ‘Ent Bark’ in battle to harden his own armor or simply work on developing his sword craft so he has more attacks.

In Moria and Rohan your characters are surrounded and must battle in limited sequence. Don’t worry. Just level up your characters before these battles and make good defensive moves so you won’t be massacred.

As per your playable characters here are some tips for each one:

Elegost-the archer of the group and the mysterious Dunedain ranger with attitude. He can steal health and slow opponents with his Bow Craft. In the early stages of the game it is quite easy to build his Bow Craft because it’s very relevant for the amount of Wargs you deal with. However, my advice to you is split that amount of time working on his Ranger Craft as well. His skills are very OP later in the game and some of them are just as effective as Berethor’s.

Idrial-not known for her sword craft skills, Idrial is the outspoken by-the-book Elf representing Galadriel and Rivendell. Idrial is very important to the team as the healer. She can restore her own AP and heal massive amounts of damage to the party. In the early going you might want to hone her Sword Craft as well because she has some pretty good moves such as ‘Stun Strike‘ and ‘Weakening Slash‘ which weakens foes. Her armor is pretty good so I would bolster her Shadow and Blunt Defense if I were you.

Morwen-ahh yes! Morwen is the character who needs the most work. You find her in Rohan fighting off Orcs and angrily making her way to Helm’s Deep in search of her family following her battle. Morwen, when you find her, is low on armor and low on defense. She’s a heavy hitter but has low dexterity for the first few levels. I got the most complaints online about her and her low defense. Quick remedy: outfit her with high armor such as the Ancient Elfstone of Armor Defense and Elfstones for Piercing and Slashing Defense. With enough defense and MUCH patience you can get her up to par with her teammates after leveling a few times. Her saving grace is her high melee damage (but what else can you expect from dual axes?) and high dexterity. Check out her stealing skills. They’re very good especially Cloak of the Plains.

Eaoden-the horseman of Rohan with the mighty spear! Eaoden is a late addition to the group. Indeed, I would liked to have learned more about him, which would have required more character development from EA and a longer Rohan stage. Eaoden is master of piercing attacks with high damage from his spear. My favorite of these is Edoras Wrath followed by Invigorating Blow. Eaoden’s Spirit Power attacks are very helpful too. Although a horseman of Rohan having Shadow Spirit abilities makes little sense I won’t complain when I can drain health from enemies and channel it to allies. If you’re gonna use Eaoden arm him with Elfstones of Armor, Slashing Defense and Piercing Defense at first since his armor is subpar until Minas Tirith. Also, keep using his Spirit Power attacks since they get better and better. Once Eaoden reaches level 91 he is VERY OP. I encourage trying it.

 

 

Hadhod-the lovable Dwarf with attitude. He is a feisty character with lots of rage and power in his attacks. You find him on the way to Moria and he is definitely helpful to have in that dark world. Hadhod goes through axes and hammers that cause heavy damage from Orcs to Men to Trolls! You eventually learn to Counter Attack as Hadhod and make all his hits critical. Even at the start of the game he can taunt and use Stone Shield to protect party members from trolls, the Watcher and the Balrog’s powerful attacks. He is by far one of my favorite characters. Hadhod already has good weapons, powerful attacks and good armor. I suggest boosting his dexterity since it is very low (especially in Moria and Rohan). As far as powers are concerned I suggest getting Flames of Ruin since it is VERY OP and getting Berserk and Rampage of Durin.

Berethor-the champion of Gondor…who fled from the Battle of Osgiliath. Berethor is the hero of this game and the main character for game play. He is strong, his armor is consistent, his Leadership Skills and Sword Craft are very well rounded and his backstory is fleshed out well enough. When you play as Berethor you can easily get Orc Bane and Company Valor in the early going, which is good since these are indispensable moves. For Leadership Skills I recommend getting Fellowship Grace (especially for Moria), Royal Grace (for Rohan) and War Cry and Last Gasp by the game’s end. Berethor’s sword skills are very good and I recommend getting these moves first: Ecthelion Wrath, Uruk-Hai Bane (useful in Rohan), Targeted Strike and Gondor Rampage (I would recommend a stunning attack but if Idrial and Hadhod have them then no need). You’ll enjoy playing as Berethor and he is well rounded enough that the only Elfstone he needs is Elfstone of Blunt Defense.

 

Thank you for reading.