Shadow of War: Health, character status and death mechanics Middle-earth: Shadow of War Guide
Last update: 20 December 2022
Although the main protagonist of Middle-earth: Shadow of War is very powerful, he is still vulnerable to orcs' attacks and can die easily if you won't take care of Talion's safety. On this page of our guide, you can find the most important information about health, statuses and Talion's "death":
- Healing. Let's start with healing. Your character can regenerate his health, although this takes a lot of time (you must be outside of a fight) and you won't heal yourself completely. However, Talion can drain Uruks and get a lot of health back. Draining itself takes a little bit of time and it leaves Talion defenseless during this process. Because of that it is recommended to fall back and escape from a difficult battle, find a single target and treat him as a living medkit. In critical situations you can drain a rat but this will regenerate a small amount of your health.
- Last Chance. When you are about to die your enemy will try to finish you off. You must press the button that is displayed on the screen when a moving circle gets inside of a gloving circle. When you do that your character performs a counterattack and gets a bit of health back. Number of Last Chances is displayed below the health bar.
- Status effects. Both Talion and his enemies can receive unique status effects during fights. Special attacks can stun and leave your character defenseless for a brief moment. When you are cursed, you start losing health and Rage and your Might will be depleted immediately. Poison makes your health go down gradually and you won't be able to see counter icons. When you are set on fire, you keep receiving damage until it extinguishes.
- Death. Your character wears the ring and because of that he can't die. However, when an enemy knocks you down and finishes off, you are moved to a safe location and a lot of time will pass in the game's world. An orc that finished you off gets a promotion (receives a few levels and a better rank), new captains appear etc. You don't have to fear losing that much.
Note: The game becomes more and more difficult over time and fights with captains can be really demanding. Enemies can deplete your health with only a few hits and normal difficulty level offers only two Last Chances. A good idea is to form a habit in which you, e.g. have a short fight, jump on an enemy and perform stealth kill, have another short fight and run away. This hit & run strategy and healing on single orcs allows you to defeat almost any enemy in the game.