Abilities | Character development Middle-earth: SoM Guide

Last update: 11 May 2016

You can develop the main character of the Middle Earth: The Shadow of Mordor in three different fields, which have been described in detail, on the following pages of this chapter. Each one of these fields is equally important but, they are very different from each other.

The abilities window

The first category are the new Abilities, which you gain access to as you progress in the game. The characteristic feature of the abilities is that they are passive in their character. This means that unlocking an ability gains you access to a new type of attack, or some other interesting action (e.g. poisoning of grog tanks) The abilities, themselves, can be divided into three categories:

Starting abilities - These are the abilities that you start the game with.
The abilities that you unlock as you progress into the game - they are marked with yellow padlock icons in the abilities menu. In order to unlock an ability, you need to progress to a given mission in the storyline.
Abilities to purchase - These are marked with red padlock icons in the abilities window. Each ability of this type needs to be bought.

Completing missions is a good way to gain experience

You can buy abilities thanks to Ability Points. You receive n ability point each time that you gain enough experience. The best way to gain experience is to complete missions but, you can also receive it for performing other actions.

An additional restriction is that, the abilities of higher tiers are initially unavailable to you, even if you have one, or several, ability points. You first need to unlock abilities of the lower tiers and, to do that, you need to gain enough power points. The fastest way to obtain power points in to engage in the missions marked with red icons, on the map, i.e. ones connected with power struggles between the members of the Sauron's Army. These are point requirements for the successive ability tiers:

Second Tier - 160 power points
Third Tier - 300 power points
Fourth Tier - 500 power points
Fifth Tier - 700 power points

The bellow table presents all of the abilities available in the game. The most useful ones have been marked in bold. Green color has been used for the abilities that are unlocked automatically, with your progress into the story line.

THE NAME OF THE ABILITY	TIER	EFFECT AND COMMENTARY
Detonate	1	Allows you to blow up barrels and fires, thanks to shooting arrows at them. This is an excellent ability, whose additional asset is that you do not need to worry about taking damage from the explosions.
Elven Swiftness	1	Allows you to move faster and raise the multiplier, thanks to a successful landing, after the vault over an obstacle.
Execution	1	Allows you to kill the opponent with the special attack, which becomes available after you land a combo. This is a very useful ability, especially in fights against greater numbers of enemies.
Impact	1	The opponents, whose attacks you gave countered, can be stunned or repelled.
Ride Caragors	1	Allows you to harness a caragor after you jump onto its back. It is a very useful ability, especially if you want to eliminate a group of monsters, or the enemy Captain/Warchief with a fear of caragors. Note - Harnessing a caragor requires you to complete a simple minigame.
Strike from Above	1	Attacking an opponent from above kills him. This is a perfect ability but, it is worth noting that only works against the opponents that are not alerted (therefore, it may be used as an element of acting from shadows)
Wraith mode Stun	1	Allows you to stun the opponent and deal a combo. I strongly recommend that you use this one often, because it comes in handy in, nearly, every battle.
Brutalize	2	Upgrades the Strike from Above ability, which makes the execution from above strike fear in the hearts of the nearby opponents and makes them flee.
Caragor Hunter	2	Allows you to harness a caragor after you interrupt its charge. IT is a very useful ability, especially if you want to eliminate a group of monsters or an enemy Captain/Warchief with fear of caragors.
Critical Strike	2	Brings up the multiplier faster. I recommend that you buy this one, soon after you unlock the second tier of abilities, because it makes it much easier to score a higher multiplier.
Last Chance Finisher	2	After you complete a minigame, while at the brink of dying, you can kill the opponent that attacked you. This is a useful ability, because you will be able to eliminate the attacker immediately and you do not need to fear his attacks against the weakened you.
Pin in Place	2	Allows you to stop orcs, thanks to shooting arrows at their lower limbs.
Poison	2	You can poison barrels with grog. The orcs that drink the poisoned grog may either die immediately, or start fighting each other. During the regular game, it is not an ability that would be used too often, unless you do not mind waiting until the orcs drink the poisoned grog.
Shadow Strike	2	Uses two arrows to teleport to the targeted enemy and deal damage to him. This is one of the best and most useful abilities in the game. You can use it to move around the battlefield faster, or to reach the enemies that are difficult to reach and attack them by surprise.
Stealth Drain	2	Allows you to drain the opponents for energy, after you attack them by surprise. It is not too much of a facilitation, because you can drain the other opponents for energy, also the ones that are aware of your presence.
Throwing Daggers	2	Allows you to use throwing daggers. Their only advantage is that they can be used to stun enemies temporarily, because they deal minimal damage.
Wraith mode Flash	2	Allows you to blind opponents, thanks to special attack, after you land a combo. This ability is very useful, especially while fighting ghuls or big groups of orcs.
Brace of Daggers	3	Upgrades the Throwing Daggers ability, which allows you to throw three daggers at a time.
Combat Drain	3	Allows you to drain the opponents, for energy, during a fight. The action becomes available after you land a combo.
Graug Hunter	3	Allows you to harness a graug after you perform a surprise attack on it. I recommend that you hunt these on a regular basis, because thanks to graugs you can quickly eliminate a group of opponents or an enemy Captain/Warchief with fear of graugs.
Lethal Shadow Strike	3	Upgrades the Shadow Strike ability and allows you kill the targeted opponent after a successful teleportation. It is a very useful ability, especially if you do not want to alarm the rest of the opponents, with the teleportation.
Shoulder Charge	3	Upgrades the standard charge. After upgrading, it can be used to ram through the enemy shields and to tackle monsters down. This is a useful ability, because it makes many of the battles much easier.
Swift Finisher	3	Shortens down the time necessary to finish off the knocked down opponent. It is a very useful ability because, by default, your character requires quite a lot of time to kill the knocked down opponent and, as a result, this action is often interrupted by another opponent.
Vault Stun	3	Jumping above an opponent allows you to stun him. I recommend that you take interest in this one, especially that fighting some types of opponents requires you to perform vaults (e.g. against orcs with shields).
Wraith mode Finisher	3	The heads of the defeated opponents, or of the ones that you drained for energy, may explode. This may deal damage to the rest of the opponents and frighten them.
Blade Master	4	Upgrades the Critical Strike ability and allows you to land a special attack right after you obtain x5 multiplier (instead of the standard x8). It is imperative that you obtain this ability, because this will allow you to kill, or weaken enemies in a much easier way.
Brand	4	Allows you to brand the enemy, thanks to which he starts fighting for you. This is one of Talion's best abilities and I recommend that you use it on a regular basis, as soon as you obtain it. Remember always to pick allies that will be most helpful to you. survive in the battlefield the longest.
Death Threat	4	Allows you to send a threat to a selected Captain or Warchief of the Sauron's Army. It is a VERY interesting ability, because it raises the possibility of dropping an epic rune, by the opponent that you have threatened. I recommend that you use this ability each time that you intend to attack one of the stronger Captains or Warchiefs.
Fire Arrow	4	Allows you to set on fire the arrows that you shoot. This becomes available after you land a combo and can be helpful while, e.g. fighting the members of the Sauron's Army with low resistance to burning.
Resilience	4	Allows you to receive one blow from the enemy, without resetting the multiplier. I recommend that you buy it only later into the game, i.e. when the majority of the battles become more difficult. It is, then, easier to make a mistake and, thanks to this ability, not necessarily do you need to take the penalty.
Shadow Mount	4	Upgrades the Graug Hunter ability and allows you to mount a caragor or a graug without any additional obstacles. The only requirement is that you harness the monster using the Shadow Strike action (teleportation). I recommend that you take interest in this one, because it shortens time necessary to take control over the beast.
Wraith mode Blast	4	Allows you to cause an explosion that encompasses all the enemies around your character.
Critical Strike II	5	Speeds up the process of raising the multiplier even further, thanks to well landed blows. Just like in the case of the base version of this ability, I recommend that you do not wait for too long, before buying it.
Dispatch	5	Upgrades the Brand ability, thanks to which you can kill the branded enemies at will.
Double Charge	5	After you land a combo, you can perform two special attacks, instead of one. I recommend that you unlock this ability, because special attacks help with each battle that you fight.
Flame of Vengeance	5	Deal double the damage, starting with the moment of a properly landed combo. This ability is useful especially when you need to defeat the more demanding opponents.
Quick Draw	5	Shortens the time necessary to draw the bowstring, while using the bow.
Shadow Strike Chain	5	Allows you to combine Shadow Strike attacks, i.e. the ones connected with teleportation.
Wraith mode Burn	5	Allows you to use attacks that launch flames that either stun or kill the nearby, stunned opponents.

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